SpinTunes 24 Round 1 Challenge - 'The Game Is Afoot!'

[BoffoYux]

SpinTunes 24 Round 1 Challenge - 'The Game Is Afoot!'

ST24 Round 1 Challenge

Here we are at the beginning of a new SpinTunes tournament. Over four rounds, you'll need to impress our judges with your songwriting skills if you want to stay in contention. If you play your cards right, and if the dice roll in your favor, who knows? You might take home the title of SpinTunes 24 Champion.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The starting line is here at Round 1. Read on for your challenge:

The Game Is Afoot!: Write and record a song that is directly or obliquely about any sort of game.

Examples:
"Anyone for Tennis" by Cream
"Centerfield" by John Fogerty
"Drown the Clown" by They Might Be Giants
"The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers
"Little Games" by the Yardbirds
"Pac-Man Fever" by Buckner & Garcia
"Pinball Wizard" by The Who
"Snooker Loopy" by Chas & Dave
"Video Games" by Lana Del Rey
"Your Move" by Yes

Submitting Entries:
Your entry must be received by Sunday, March 9, 2024 @ 11:59 PM EDT. Otherwise it'll be posted as a shadow. Received means that it has to appear in my e-mail inbox (spintunescontest@gmail.com) by the given deadline. I will be going by the time stamp on the e-mail. One minute late is too late.
You are allowed and encouraged to submit a draft of your song early just in case something horrible happens and you miss the deadline. Then you can add polish to your song and send in a better version closer to the deadline. The last version received prior to the deadline is your official entry.
Lyrics are mandatory. No instrumentals. Having no lyrics will get you disqualified.

SUBMITTING BY EMAIL: Send your file in a format that BandCamp accepts. (.wav or .flac) (at least 16-bit/44.1kHz) Do not send MP3s.
Name your file the song's title + your band name.
The subject line of the e-mail should identify the challenge and your band's name. Something like this would be fine: "ST24R1 - All the Robots".
Include the song lyrics in the body of the e-mail.
Include information on anyone that needs credited if you collaborated with someone.

ALTERNATE FILE SHARING OPTIONS: If your file is too big for an email attachment, you may email me a link to where I can download the song. The email still needs to land in my inbox by the deadline.

If you have a Bandcamp account you can just send me a link to your song if you include all the info I mentioned for emails. Info such as lyrics and song credits can be included in the email or on the song's Bandcamp page. Make sure you have it set as a free download, and have it set so that I don't have to put in an e-mail to download it if you pick this option.
You may also use a file sharing service such as DropBox, WeTransfer, Google Drive, etc. Include in the email any required information (such as lyrics) that you couldn't include in the file. Make sure I have permission to download the file, and please follow directions so your file doesn't wind up in my spam or trash folder accidentally.

SONG BIOS: In addition to lyrics and any necessary credits, you are welcome to include a "song bio", with any information you feel is useful. This could include your inspiration for the song, citations for any obscure references within the lyrics, an explanation of how your song met the challenge, etc. Some challenges may require you to supply certain info in your song bio. Since the judges are volunteers with lives outside of SpinTunes, song bios can help them zero in on aspects of the song you feel are important. However, if your song requires a multi-paragraph explanation in order to understand and appreciate it, this is probably a sign that it doesn't stand up well on its own, and its ranking may reflect that.

Side Notes:
You can send in an entry to SpinTunes 24 without competing. Just tell me it's a "Shadow Song". It will be played at the listening party, but won't be ranked and you might not receive feedback from the judges. Check the FAQ if you don't know what that means. You can even complete past challenges from previous contests. It's a nice way of playing along if you can't commit to the schedule or you just want to get your feet wet.
The only other way to get your music played at the listening party is to cover "Today's The Day" by Inverse T. Clown or "Right Again" by Mandibles.

[BoffoYux]

Round 1 listening party: Monday March 10 - 8 pm EST

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnR9xFhpvg0

I'm guessing about 2 hours of original songs if a good chunk of the artists get a song submitted in time!
Hope to see you in the chat.

Don't forget the clocks change 1 hour ahead that Sunday!

[glennny]

I'm assuming this is a actually 8PM EDT

[BoffoYux]

I'm assuming this is a actually 8PM EDT

I think I reversed them. We are in EDT since Sunday's change. (UTC-4)
So, we'll be live in less than 4 hours from now.

[BoffoYux]

30 official songs and 4 shadows this round! I'll see you guys at 8pm EDT!

[DutchWidows]

ST24R1 Reviews

Trying to do some super quick reviews. I set myself the rule that I had to be able to type anything I wanted to say within the duration of the song, in one listen. I’d only skimmed them quickly in the preceding couple of days, so it was reasonably strictly applied. Only one song gave me a problem with that rule; probably no surprise as to which…

[Edit: two post-hoc slight alterations, one to remove clumsy wording that came off overly mean, and one to clarify that I liked the song, but didn't actually say that.]

West of Vine - Easy Modes & Cheat Codes
Good lyric and good strong vocal, possibly a little high in the mix at times..?
Towards the end some of the guitars go a bit awry timing-wise to my ear. Solid song though.

Joy Sitler - Dress-Up
An impressive amount of words to fit in to such a short period of time, though that does give it a very rushed feel. The bits I liked the best were where the vocal holds a note, or just pauses. Lovely lyrical pay-off at the end. This one took more than the length of the song to type this out. Mostly for this extra bit though.

This Big Old Endless Sky - I Love a Sunburnt Country
Love the opening high hat - I was almost expecting a Stone Roses song to follow (though I can't remember which one - Elephant Stone maybe?) Great energy – love the guitar sounds throughout. That main repeating guitar is so insistent but it never gets tiring on the ear. Love the vocal. I like this version of Gizo a lot. I would like more of this version of Gizo.

The Pannacotta Army - Covfefe
A lovely little slice of chill with a reggae feel. The instrumental details are all really well done, particularly the incidental guitar lines in the chorus - a very engaging listen. Lovely vocal performance. Only tiny nitpick from me is the “your pal Elon” line – just feels a bit forced, an almost awkward, 'on the nose' politicisation for my tastes (I prefer the more oblique political tone throughout the rest of the song). Otherwise, no notes.

Jim Tyrrell - Game Over
Voice and guitar sound great and it holds attention even with a sparse setting for the most part. I found I wandered a touch by the end. “Couldn’t play Connect Two” is a really funny line!

Stacking Theory - Andrew Management Issues
First up - great song title. This is very chill; the pedal steel works really well in this setting. Not sure this is the stickiest of Stacking Theory songs, but it’s a lovely listen. A whole album of this would be a blissful way to spend an evening.

We Happy Few - Playing Games
Are the drums live? They sound good. Love the vocals. The slide guitar parts are really nice. It’s all round a great sound you got going on here. More of a psychological game going on here, which is totally legit.

David Taro - The Hardest Game
The opening guitar figure, which I think recurs in the chorus, is gorgeous - it’s kind of a long, meandering part and shouldn’t work as a ‘riff’, but it just does. The little slides (?) in the middle of it just drag you (me) along. Great vocal. And pretty much all of the games included! The chorus is really sing-along-able. Super production chops.

The Moon Bureau - Carcassonne, and On, and On
Love the TMB sound (double ‘the’ in that sentence?) – jangly guitars to die for, all day long. Nice Sting reference. Chorus is a lovely reverb-laden vibe. The delivery of the title word is superb. No notes really.

Jealous Brother - Kings in the Corner
Good groove, and nicely balanced sound – it all sounds good. The more stuttery rhythms of the second and third sections work well, but break my mood a little. Never that keen on political lyrics that are overly ‘on the nose’, but I think these just stick to right side of my arbitrarily drawn line. I really liked the ‘come on’ and guitar solo at the end; the solo was a touch over-long for my anti-guitar solo tastes, but that’s just me.

▷ - Golden Child
This is a jam. Bleepy music is not really my thing, but I really, really like this. That ‘attack’ section is awesome. And good to have at least two Steves. “And here is your drop” – drop - made me laugh! And Australian Glennny was right – I had no idea what Golden Child is and I’m not going to look it up. The aside at the end was excellent. “No, don’t read that bit”. Ace.

Brian Gray - Hide and Seek
Feels immediately super-accomplished; lovely melodies, instrumentation and playing. The voice sounds oddly detached though. Not sure why, but it kinda drags me out of the song. The chorus is great, and the song-writing detail in the bio about what the verses should do from a narrative perspective makes me think that I should think more about that kind of stuff. A lovely song, slightly spoilt for me by the detached nature of the vocal. Mostly because I couldn’t work out why it bothered me. The pay-off in the chorus (‘And an evening song about learning the longest way ‘round is the shortest way home’) is a brilliant line. The gang vocal near the end is great.

Hot Pink Halo - A Numbers Game
Very dramatic, orchestral opening, though it turns out to be a false dawn as the song embarks on a less-orchestrated path. I liked the start, but it felt a bit bolted on to me as it never returned. This has a cool 80s feel to it, which I suspect is mostly related to the drums (which I love). The pictures painted by the words are superb, but I wanted more of a melodic hook to grab me and drag me in. Happy to accept that this might be a failure of my ‘one shot’ listening approach though – it doesn’t leave any space for a ‘grower’.

chewmeupspitmeout - Bored Games
This one was a bit a quieter and needed more volume; wish Bandcamp normalised stuff, though I guess that brings its own problems. The chorus of this is excellent – this is what I wanted from the HPH song – just a melodic or lyrical hook to pull me in. The guitar is great – sounds a really good riff – but it wanted it higher in the mix; the vocal dominates a bit (though the vocal is excellent). The chorus is a real treat each time it comes around – the BVs are ace. Board/bored - neat!

Vehicles of Beware - The Gambler
I know nothing about Steely Dan, so I don’t know how ‘esque’ this is. I like the funky piano. Good mix, really nicely balanced – the detail stands out, like the ride cymbal. Funky guitar solo – lovely tone on that guitar. The chorus hangs together super well, even with the slightly staccato delivery, which my ears don’t naturally gel with. But that’s more on me, I think.

The Dutch Widows - The loneliness of the third choice goalkeeper
I really like exactly two things in this song. The rest is fine; nothing special.

Celestial Drift - Jigsaw
The singer is an awful person. The narrator I mean, not the creator. Unless they’re the same. The sound of this screams ‘American’ to me, which is not a diss, just how I categorise things in my brain, but the chord choices and melody stop it descending into (what I imagine is) cliché territory (not being an expert of American sounds, beyond my categorisational biases). The 120 volt bit at the end, is just ‘ugh’. As I said, an awful, awful person. Good song though - I liked it.

Siebass - The Least Dangerous Game
Was grateful for the explanations of ‘DBZ’ and ‘JRPG’, otherwise, I wouldn’t have known what this song was about. The placement of this song after Celestial Drift makes the line ‘We are all made up of the sum of our traumas’ particularly pointed. Great bass work. The rhythm guitar and drums are excellent, particularly under the guitar solo, and I found myself focussing on them more than the solo. Maybe the guitar solo was a touch on the quiet side..? This is a sentence I’m not sure I’ve written down before (see 'anti guitar solo' comments elsewhere).

SunLite - No Fun!
Totally solid start – good sound, maybe vocals a touch quiet, but that could be my speakers. The chorus is super – really hooky. Couldn’t decide on what game was being played - checkers, maybe snakes and ladders, maybe it’s all a metaphor for something else? No idea, but I like that I don’t know. An air of mystery is how I like lyrics.

Sober - Blue Shells
A very different Sober… That voice though works in any context - said it before, but Sober could sing the phone book and I’d listen. But don’t actually do that though... The balance on this didn’t quite sound there to me – I wanted the drums and guitars louder, and little less vocal, even though that vocal is great. The bass is superb – very New Model Army tone to it (look them up, kids) - got a really nice twang to it. Solid song, but needed a slightly different mix balance for me.

"Fourty-Two" - Tarot Cards
I love the opening two lines – really nice writing. The musical setting is tastefully done, sparse but not suffering from it. Really nice vocal, got almost a smokiness to it that’s very easy on the ear. The chorus has a nice feel, but I wanted more from it. It’s not my song, but I do love a chorus that soars off into the sky. I hate when reviewers look for a song to do something that the writer didn’t do – it’s their song not yours – but I’m a hypocrite. This has a lovely sound, but there’s not much development to it and I’m left wanting more.

Tunes By LJ - Showdown
Really smooth sound to start – nice bass and vocal sounds great. Canters along without feeling frenetic. The guitar that comes in on the fifth (?) line, comes in kinda hot and dominates till we get to the chorus. I like what it’s playing though. The stabs in the chorus are super – is that the clav that’s been mentioned on the Discord? I like it. The high vocal in the chorus is awesome. And then it’s gone. Doesn’t overstay, leaves me wanting more.

Governing Dynamics - Falling For Maybe
Love the GD guitar tone and playing - right up my street. The doubled vocal sounds really good. Drums sound great, maybe a little low in the mix at times. The chorus is singable, and this is a good thing. ‘Failing for maybe’ is a great title.

Pigfarmer Jr - Hangman
Big guitars, nice mix, drums are good. All the important point checked off for me! The vocal melody’s strong and the chorus is great – really memorable. Some of the guitars sound like the timing gets a lost. I think it’s the very ‘on the beat’ feel and maybe it’s the reverb or something. Just a little drag. Not sure. But I’m not allowing myself a second listen to check – my views may develop with more listens, but no-one will ever know. Solid song.

Dog Star Pilot - Some Kind Of Pawn
Dog Star Pilot is a great name. Coming straight after PF Jr, the guitar rhythms are very similar. Sounds deliberate (though, obviously it’s not). Another where a simple presentation – guitar and vocals – doesn’t detract, just suits the song. The harmonies keep the music interesting, and just as I was starting to think about needing some musical development, it ends. Short and sweet.

Boffo Yux Dudes - Fizzbin, Fizzbin
Lovely rhythmical start – hand claps, drums, tambourine (or cymbal or cabassa maybe?). Really nice mix – sounds like just percussion, bass, piano and vocal – but had me bopping along. The intertwining vocals towards the end are really nicely done. I really enjoyed this one.

Ominous Ride - Hide and Seek
Some lovely bubbly sounding things going on – maybe a wah’d guitar? Nice. The bottom end of the drums could do with a touch more volume and maybe the vocals a hair less, but otherwise, this a perfectly good mix. The piano in the chorus lifts things nicely. I liked the repeated ‘back when...’ bits at the end.

Dream Bells - Roses
Nice pad to open, and when those drums and vocals join – quite superb. The etherealness of the vocal is particularly nice – reminds me of music of my youth (e.g. Cranes, Cocteau Twins). This is a total vibe song – I can’t understand a word of the lyric from the singing (other than ‘just the same’), but it doesn’t matter at all – it’s the sound of it I love. I would happily listen to an album of this. Really nice production – brittle almost. It’s great.

Möbius Strip Club - To Victory or to Glory
What a cool melody to wake up with! Got slightly confused reading along, as some words are missing at the end of the chorus – ‘nothing’s off the table’...? Who doesn’t love the word ‘whither’ in this context? Strong chorus vocally, I wondered if the instrumentation needed to step up too, but when your vocal is this good, maybe that’s just window dressing. The overlapping vocals at the end got muddled for me – they maybe needed more separation, unless that melding was the point, which it might be. Certainly when it resolves to the unison, it’s just lovely. That last note! Woof.

Flintsteel - Tarnished
Not sure if the bio contains a typo, but I like the concept of a ‘videoed game’. Big start – those guitars are huge! The drop into the groove of the first verse with just bass and drums is excellent, and it makes the guitars more impactful when they return. The build with guitars in the second verse is good. I love the vocal on the (first) “become the elden lord” line – super deep. Good guitar solo, bit more widdly than I usually like, but totally suits the song.

Charlie Cheney - Swifter! Higher! Stronger! [SHADOW]
This has a very theatrical, enunciated vocal – puts me in mind of a show tune, like one being delivered on stage. I imagine great vocal projection to the back row. No idea if that makes sense as a review point, but this review is more vibes than detailed analysis, so take what you will from it. The musical section just before the ‘the universe...’ section was lovely – I wanted that to hang around a bit more. The doubled vocal is really nice – again, quite theatrical – but nice. Cool cheer at the end.

Eric Baer - All The Marbles [SHADOW]
I really like the vocal here – it’s quite reminiscent of E from Eels. Setting it with just the banjo (?) works well. Sounds like some other things in the background - something with more sustain to it, but it’s not prominent enough for me to be sure. Another with a lot of words in a short period, but doesn’t feel overly cramped.

f6b62652-a4e5-43ac-9b70-33e135d62c4b - Conway's Game of Life Data Sonification Test [SHADOW]
I don’t know what this is, but I quite like it. I clicked the link for the description, and that didn’t help me any.

Definitely Not Secretly ...? - Definitely Not Secretly ? [SHADOW]
It’s a shame that DNSG hasn’t made a return. I liked that guy. Nice school teachery moment from Micah.

[TunesByLJ]

West of Vine - Easy Modes & Cheat Codes

Great energy in the vocals, we get launched up there at young federale and we stay there the whole rest of the song. The section after the chorus is an effective way to add some variety without bringing the energy down. Love the baritone guitar solo - what a great instrument. I did notice some sloppy rhythmic alignment between strums and drums, a little effort to tighten them up would go a long way.

Joy Sitler - Dress-Up

You and Sober both share an enviable quality - you’re able to wear the familiar trappings of your chosen genres while staking out a slice of unmistakable originality and authenticity via the lyrics you write. This was an incredibly efficient use of 58 seconds, I don’t actually feel like you undershot the length here. One of my faves of the round!

This Big Old Endless Sky - I Love a Sunburnt Country

I haven’t been around here that long but I love how many layers there are to this Gizo character. I primarily think of you as Stacking Theory but you’ve got a whole Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde thing going on. Great song, has an early Queens of the Stone Age vibe to it.

The Pannacotta Army - Covfefe

I’m back at the beach and I’m ready to order another panna cotta to my cabana. Another effortless groove from the groove king himself. Great buildup from verse to chorus, the addition of the organ and guitar plunks is so good. Lyrics are fun and clever. Another favorite.

Jim Tyrrell - Game Over

Ruthlessly competent blues song. Lo fi recording actually enhances the vibe. That MTG reference is subtle but the nerd in me sees the nerd in you. A simple and straightforward entry from you but a great one nonetheless.

Stacking Theory - Andrew Management Issues

The fact that Andrew is a typo is actually so funny, Andrew management is hilarious. Time between snare hits is longer than 2 seconds? Yep, that's a Stacking Theory song! The echo-y steel really takes center stage here, gotta give a hat tip to Sober for that. Great premise for a song, and I love that you committed to the bit, making a sad and earnest soundscape out of an otherwise jokey premise.

We Happy Few - Playing Games

Love the vocal performance on this, you’ve got a great voice and you know how to use it, especially “all so easy.” Lead guitar texture on the chorus is great, really helps sell that high point. The bass is well done too, tastefully playful. Drums might be going a bit heavy on the washy cymbals.

David Taro - The Hardest Game

Right out of the gate we are up and running on an infectious and driving groove. Immediately catchy and fun and doesn’t let up. I could have maybe used more dynamic variety - a bit more space in the instrumental during the verse would add a lot here. The lyrics are a bit cliche for my liking but certainly well delivered. This should do well!

The Moon Bureau - Carcassonne, and On, and On

Great chorus that counterbalances the lower energy verse. The synth jingle after the chorus was an interesting choice, I think it's a nice melodic touch. Not sure I love the glockenspiel or whatever that is in the outro though.

Jealous Brother - Kings in the Corner

I’m no fan of Trump but this was too on-the-nose for me lyrically. If you want to write a song about politics, subtlety is your friend (see songs from Pannacotta Army and Sober). Musically competent, guitars sound great, nice rock solo there at the end.

▷ - Golden Child

This might actually be my favorite of the round. I cannot imagine how you actually made this song or what your creative process is like. This is so intricate and complex, lots of cool swung rhythms, microtonal harmonies.. I’ve hit replay on this one more than any other song. Keep doing your thing!!

Brian Gray - Hide and Seek

Love that you included all those classic Irish sounds here, though some work better than others (pan flute sounds great, the midi fiddle doesn’t quite work). The lyrics are plain and earnest but undeniably charming. Love the rhythm shift at the end.

Hot Pink Halo - A Numbers Game

Not loving the long synth pad intro - I’m skipping it on re-listens. Once this gets going it's quite nice! The production is really interesting, I actually like the way the beat cuts in and out, it's hip and unconventional.

chewmeupspitmeout - Bored Games

Great guitar riff to kick things off. The percussion doesn’t really work for me, I would prefer to hear a more natural sounding drum patch. The chorus has a lot of potential but it feels a little under baked, feels like it needs to be fleshed out a bit more. Solid ideas here though.

Vehicles of Beware - The Gambler

I have dinged people in the past for trying to imitate other acts, but I’m such a fan of the source material here I’ll give you a pass. This is so clean and crispy. You have a great voice, though I don’t quite love the octave down in the chorus, it's a little off balance. I want to hear a lot more from you!

The Dutch Widows - The loneliness of the third choice goalkeeper

What a fascinating choice of topic. It would have never occurred to me to see sadness and regret in that, but it's surprisingly compelling. Love the way the beat slowly builds and changes over time, a bit unconventional but adds some nice dynamics. The snare is a little hot but it adds propulsion. Bridge is a little too abbreviated, I wanted more of that verby distorted guitar!

Celestial Drift - Jigsaw

The only song in this batch that actually made me laugh out loud. Simple and effective delivery, doesn’t need to be any more complex than this. Banjo and guitar are very tastefully done, solo sounds great.

Siebass - The Least Dangerous Game

That bass absolutely rips. I haven’t played most of the games you mentioned but I was hooting and hollering when you hit the Zelda melody in that guitar solo. (Do you listen to Triple Click?) I love the chromatic chord progressions, it's all a bit atonal but suits the energy really well.

SunLite - No Fun!

Mario kart intro riff is great. The lead guitar on the prechorus is a bit overpowering (tune your guitar!), but the dynamics between verse and chorus are nice. Chorus in particular sounds great, and the key change at the end sticks the landing really well.

Sober - Blue Shells

The classic mario kart politics metaphor deployed to great effect. #FreeLuigi. This is a lot more distorted than I’m used to from you. Excellent work, this will undoubtedly do well.

"Fourty-Two" - Tarot Cards

Dueling guitars are really, really pretty. Percussion is tasteful and clean throughout, especially the cymbal buildups to accentuate your verses. Your vocals could use a bit of cleanup - just a little tuning and alignment would go a long way. This is a diamond in the rough - there’s a ton of potential here.

Tunes By LJ - Showdown

I was at a work conference most of the week and had a friend staying with us last weekend so I didn’t really get a chance to work on this until Sunday morning. I am very happy with how quickly it all came together. It’s a bit of a departure from my typical genre comfort zone but the clav is so much fun. There are a few changes I would make to this if I had a bit more time but lo and behold that’s the nature of things.

Governing Dynamics - Falling For Maybe

Love the guitar harmonics in the intro. Great earworm pre-chorus, the rhythm change in the guitar helps a lot. The chorus is nice, but the transition from the chorus back to the verse is a bit flat, I wish there was something else to distinguish them. Lyrics are great as usual, no surprise there.

Pigfarmer Jr - Hangman

Very clever chorus, love the concept. Vocals are well done, but the rhythm could stand to be tightened up a bit between guitar chords and snare hits.

Dog Star Pilot - Some Kind Of Pawn

One of my favorite lyrical concepts of the round. Really unique and creative, and well executed. The instrumental under it is a bit flat and repetitive though, I would have loved a bit more dynamic variety.

Boffo Yux Dudes - Fizzbin, Fizzbin

You opted for a one-word chorus, which was an actual challenge in ST20! This reminds me of a children’s song, educational and literal and goofy. The percussion and piano both sound a bit canned and stale, though I do admire how ornate the percussion actually is.

Ominous Ride - Hide and Seek

Really cool sound, reminds me a bit of MGMT. Good blending between synths and guitars, though the synth stabs are a little too much on the high end. The vocals are a little too muddy and verby, hard to follow without the lyrics sheet. Loved the chord progression change at the end.

Dream Bells - Roses

No one else sounds quite like you. I’m still trying to decide which aughts band you remind me of most. The drum patch is really well mixed, and it propels the whole thing forward while keeping things chill. I would play a snowboarding video game that sounds like this.

Möbius Strip Club - To Victory or to Glory

The way this builds over time is so fun and epic. I’m not really sold on the first verse, but once it kicks into gear I’m totally hooked. I’m not really a fan of the unison melody between vocals and synth - your operatic singing is so good on its own! There’s some sloppiness throughout but I’m willing to forgive a lot of it in the face of that sheer propulsive energy. What an ending holy crap, goosebumps!

Flintsteel - Tarnished

The year is 2003 and I have brought the family computer to a basement LAN party. We boot up a game of Warcraft 3 and this song comes on. I’m having the time of my fucking life. The lyrical topic being my favorite game 20 years later only makes the experience feel more wholesome. In a not too distant alternate universe I am also making music like this. That solo is so sick!