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Balearica Island has the kinda beat that goes RATATA (NSC 227)

How should the Balearica Island 150 entries milestone be celebrated?


  • Total voters
    5
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Morty

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Joined
October 3, 2009
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4,193
Location
Trondheim, Norway / Niavara, Balearica Island
Re: Balearica Island celebrates Mr. Duck (NSC 224)

My expectations for 2084 in 223 were way off. Altho it was close, it managed to sneak into the final, which was a lot better than the result I expected. Didn't manage to get a top 20 result in the final tho, but just being there was a bit of a win. :D

2023 has been a big year for Disney fans, celebrating the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company. And on top of that, Donald Duck celebrates his 75th year in Norway. So I figured, what better way to end 2023 than sending something Donald Duck related to the last NSC edition of the year? And I found something pretty cool. In 1995, there was a eurodance single release in Germany featuring the German Donald Duck voice Peter Krause, and it was published by Walt Disney Music Company. So this is actually an official Donald Duck release. :eek: It's called Mr. Duck (That's Donald!).

There's a few different versions of it. The eurodance radio edit is called "Donald Will Tanzen Mix", then there's a rave edit called "Oh Boy Oh Boy Mix", the club mix is called "Jetzt Zeig Ich 's Euch Mix), there's a rave mix called "Ravin' Mad Donald Mix" (and it is pretty mad too), and finally the "Donald's In Da House Mix". Someone's been having fun, and I want that CD. ;) I considered the "Donald Will Tanzen Mix" for a while, which has a longer part with Sabine Heil singing, but eventually decided on the "Oh Boy Oh Boy Mix" instead:


Expectations? I don't know why I bother, since I'm usually very off, but since Papendink has returned (and is in my semi), I think I will be avoiding 0 points at least. ;) But I will be very surprised if Donald qualifies to the final. Also, according to Discogs, one of the producers (Frank Meyer-Thurn) died in 2009, just 49 years old. :(

In the WLSC, the Markus Schulz vs Grube & Hovsepian remix got a normal result for me, and finished in the bottom 5. Due to very busy days lately, and not thinking I can vote in both NSC semi(s) and WLSC in the same week, I had to sit out of WLSC 265, but I hope to be back in 266. :)
 

Morty

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Joined
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Posts
4,193
Location
Trondheim, Norway / Niavara, Balearica Island
Re: Balearica Island looks forward (NSC 225)

The German Donald Duck did better than I thought he would. Didn't qualify to the final (insert rage noises by Donald here), but wasn't actually that far off. 13th is a pretty good result. :)

And I'm actually staying in the 90's. In Norway we have a word called "Norgesvenn", "friend of Norway". Typically used for international artists, politicians and celebrities that frequently visits Norway or have a personal connection to Norway. We're a small country up here, so to get recognition from foreigners is often popular among us. My personal favorite among those might be Tiësto, who had his international breakthrough with "Theme From Norefjell", so Norway has always been a special place for him. DJ Sash! is another, I've seen him play 6 times in Norway, and he keeps coming back, and altho I think he's a little too active with his microphone when he plays, there's no denying that he knows what he's doing, and his long line of hits never disappoint. He also won NSC for Prasia all the way back in NSC 35, but in the 15 years I've been in this contest, he's only been performing once, when ChessLand sent "La Primavera" to NSC 96. Just a couple of days ago, Sash! posted on his Facebook and Instagram about the video for his 1999 hit "Adelante", which was shot in Norway. I had no idea. :eek: And my immediate thought after that was that I need to send Adelante to the NSC, because it was also already one of my biggest favorites by Sash! before this shocking revelation. ;)


Not expecting to qualify to the final with this, and the recent collapse in diplomatic relations between ::bal and Onlar is unlikely to help in that matter, but if Adelante can squeeze into the semi top 15, that'll be a great result. :)

After skipping WLSC 265, I rejoined in 266, and decided to do another Disney themed entry, which I found while searching for my NSC 224 entry. It's a eurobeat cover of Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca", which was sent to NSC 6 by Phinechendza. It's made by Dave Rodgers, and it's called "Livin' La Vida Mickey":


It was all started by a mouse. Mickey Mouse. But this song is actually about Minnie, who's the one "living la vida Mickey". ;) Got a similar result to Donald, finishing in 14th, altho with fewer competitors than Donald, so Donald won that battle.

WLSC 267 is also happening, and this time I've gone for a remix of Rihanna's "Unfaithful" (sent to NSC 10 by Streets ET), made by DJ Bass (formerly known as Adam B.A.S.S. and Dya-Mond X, and currently known as Ay-Zed). I also considered the Nivara remix of Comeea's cover, and Exit Eden's cover, but eventually decided on the pretty amazing trance remix by DJ Bass.


Probably another bottom 5 result coming up here. :p
 

Morty

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Joined
October 3, 2009
Posts
4,193
Location
Trondheim, Norway / Niavara, Balearica Island
Re: Balearica Island is a 90s b*tch (NSC 226)

HUUUUGE update right here! :D

And we start off with the main contest, NSC. A bottom 3 semi result for Adelante. A bit disappointing, but also not a shocking result. What was more disappointing was that Alice Deejay and E Nomine also both failed to qualify to the final. A bad edition for the old classics. :(

For NSC 226, I struggled a bit to find an entry. It's not because I have nothing to send, I rather have too much, but the struggle is figuring out which direction I want to go for each edition. And I have once again decided to throw away all hopes of reaching the final, and go with what's becoming one of my favorite genres. Hardtechno. :D Maddix and The Rocketman has recently teamed up for a couple of tracks, one of them is "90s Bitch", and it sounds awesome. The video is also pretty good, reminds me of the video for The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up", and given the titles of the two tracks, I don't think that's a coincidence. ;)


The Rocketman participated in NSC 215 for Arirang, coming up just short of qualifying. I think this attempt will be much further away, but we'll see. :)

WLSC next. The DJ Bass remix of Rihanna in WLSC 267 got a very similar result to Dave Rodgers in the previous edition of WLSC. One position higher, one point more, but still bottom 5. At least I'm stable. :p

For WLSC 268, an interesting band suddenly popped up on Facebook, as they're playing in Norway in April. They're called Hellsongs, and it's a Swedish band known for making pop/lounge versions of classic hard rock and metal songs. I usually go the other way around, occasionally sending metal covers of pop songs, and figured this could be a cool twist. So I went thru their discography, and found out that only one of the 50ish songs they've covered has been sent to NSC. :eek: And that was Rammstein's "Engel", which was sent by... ::bal. And I've kinda decided to NOT send covers of ::bal entries to WLSC, so that went out the window. :( I think they're working on a new album tho, so maybe something I can use will pop up. :)

So that meant it was back to the drawing board, and since the theme of WLSC 268 was flashback, I decided to follow along, and pick an entry that could be tied to a special memory. And I'm just gonna paste what I wrote in the WLSC thread:

As you might know, I go to a lot of concerts, and I usually have to travel pretty far to attend these concerts as well. If it's not in Trondheim, then I usually have to drive a minimum of 4 hours each way to get to the concert, usually more. And I usually travel alone, because most people aren't that into long car trips, but I like driving, and I'm used to it. My mom on the other hand hasn't attended a lot of concerts, I think you can count on one hand how many concerts she's been to in her life. :eek: In 2011, the city of Gjøvik celebrated their 150th anniversary, and Canadian superstar Bryan Adams was performing. My mom has always been a big fan of Bryan Adams. So I took her to Gjøvik, and we saw him play, a day or two before my nephew's baptism. There was a lot of rain those days, and there was a point where we were unsure if we would make it back home in time for the baptism. I did my research tho, and found roads that weren't affected by the ongoing floods, and it all turned out to be a memory for life, for both my mom and me. xheart

So my entry was going to be related to Bryan Adams. Somborian Republic sent Do's cover version of "Heaven" back in NSC 40, and I think "Heaven" is one of the most covered songs in history. And DJ Sammy & Yanou's cover might be one of the most remixed cover songs ever. :eek: I only searched for the electronic covers and remixes for this, and still had 75+ to choose from, and it took me several days to pick an entry. I've even made a screenshot of that project:

SEhIpqJ.jpeg


I put way too much work into this. :p Time well spent when my apartment is a total mess? Maybe not, but it was a journey. I found potential entries from unusual countries like Vanuatu, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, and Albania, as well as loads of other countries, and I eventually managed to narrow down to 3, all of which are remixes of DJ Sammy and Yanou's cover. An 8+ minutes trance remix from 2001 by Green Court from Germany, a near 6 minute UK hardcore remix from 2007 by Chaos (or Ted, as his mom calls him, according to his Soundcloud), and a 3 minute hardstyle bootleg from 2016 by Theo Gobensen from Singapore.

In the end, after replaying all 3 over and over, the choice was Chaos. I've sent quite a few hardstyle entries to WLSC already, and recently also a few trance entries, but never any hardcore entries, neither Dutch (gabber), French (Frenchcore) or British (UK Hardcore). I don't think either of the 3 remaining candidates would score me a top 10 finish, and I was kinda expecting a bottom 3 result with this, but at least with Chaos I got to add one more genre to my WLSC history. :)


And it got a surprisingly good result, finishing in 8th. It was still bottom half tho, as there were only 14 entries, but the points score was surprisingly high for a UK hardcore track.

And while we're at it, I've also picked an entry for WLSC 269, and that was a lot easier. Within Temptation posted a Ukrainian cover of "Faster" on their Facebook page, and since I still support Ukraine, and this cover sounds awesome, I didn't even bother looking for alternatives. My entry is Hold My Borsch - Faster (or Швидче, as it maybe should have been titled):


The original was sent to NSC 65 by Horehronieland (currently known as Waiting Iist), and it scored a 6th place back then. I don't think this will follow up the success I had with my previous Ukrainian entry, but hoping for a top 5. :)

But wait, there's more. :eek: Some spinoff action, another AATW, but with an unusual twist. This time we were looking towards Natia instead of Earth, and we were looking at artists that have represented one of the nations who has received the most points from ::bal in NSC, the current #8 - ::rum. And there was obviously a lot of great artists to choose from there. I went for an artist that was "only" a featured artist in NSC 181, the Russian singer Глюк’оZа (Gluk'oZa). Only got a :10: from me in the final of 181 (not unusual, Rumia has gotten my final :10: 7 times), because Roseland sent Mark'Oh, but the song and video combination of "ЖУ-ЖУ" really stuck with me. And I've found the follow-up to that video in "Мотыльки", featuring the Ukrainian rapper Kyivstoner. I read that Глюк’оZа was banned from entering Ukraine in 2020 due to visiting Crimea, but she's collaborated with several Ukrainian artists before (e.g. Artik & Asti), so I'm just going to assume she's against the war, like I assume most Russians with some knowledge of the outside world is. Either way, it was really an easy choice for me to send this:


The result was pretty good, 8th place in the end. :)

Also, some sad news from the ::bal NSC entry YouTube playlist. My NSC 188 entry, the Conrad Edit of Agnes Obel - Fuel To Fire, is now nearly completely restricted on YouTube. PIAS (fuck you Sam) has blocked it in every single country and territory, apart from these: Antarctica (population 1100-4400), Saint Barthélemy (9100), Bouvet Island (0), Western Sahara (594400), Heard Island and McDonald Islands (0), and French Southern Territories (200). That means worldwide, there are about 600000 people who can access it, and I don't think any of the 1600 viewers live in those areas. I don't think I can even access it with a VPN. :( Why block a video with 1600 views in 9 years? Are the greedy bastards really losing out on massive revenue on this video? xangry

Anyway, while it's annoying that it won't pop up when I listen to my playlist anymore, the song can still be found on Conrad's Soundcloud:
 

Morty

Well-known member
Joined
October 3, 2009
Posts
4,193
Location
Trondheim, Norway / Niavara, Balearica Island
Re: Balearica Island has the kinda beat that goes RATATA (NSC 227)

Not the greatest result for 90s Bitch, but 18th also means it could have been worse. :) So I'm sticking on a similar route for NSC 227. KREAM has made a really good (altho a bit too short) remix for a collab between Skrillex, Mr. Oizo and Missy Elliott, called "RATATA". And the timing for this entry is actually really good. Until this week, I had no idea KREAM were Norwegian. I thought they were Dutch or something, but no, they're from Bergen. And next month, I'm actually going to visit Bergen, Norway's second biggest city, for the first time. And considering it's taken me 40 years to finally go on a trip to Bergen, this could be my only trip there. :eek: Probably not tho, the reason I'm going there is an event where they play early hardstyle, and if it's any good, it might not be the last time I go to one of those events. ;)


Not expecting to reach the semi top 20 tbh, but the important thing is that the beat goes RATATA!

In the WLSC, Ukraine has once again proven to be a success for ::bal. Швидче (aka Faster) finished 2nd, making it my second best result in the contest. :D

I was actually going to skip the next WLSC, due to being away for Easter, but then the theme (comics) was perfect for me, and recent events in Ukraine meant that the schedule would actually work for me. Would have preferred Ukraine to be safe and free tho. The entry isn't related to the theme this time, I simply decided that "Coco Jamboo", originally sent by the Roman EmpireRomeria in NSC 8, was going to be the base for my entry. Once again I was torn between a few possible versions in the end, and I'll give a shoutout to the Roki'X bootleg of Lubella - Koko Jambo (which I believe is from a Polish TV commercial), DJ Splash's hands-up remix of Mr. President's original (altho it is also listed as a remix of Stian K's cover version), and a metal cover by UMC feat. Dennis Poschwatta (from Guano Apes) and Jacky Vox (because there's always a metal cover in the mix as well).

But the winner of the Coco Jamboo battle is from Balkan, and it's been on a journey. Bosnian rappers and producers Jala Brat and Buba Corelli has made several songs together, one of them being the heavily Coco Jamboo sampled "Coco" in 2022. Pretty popular too, it has 40 million YT views. Then they were joined by Swiss-born Austrian rapper and producer RAF Camora and German-Kosovar rapper Dardan for "Coco 2.0", which is shorter than 2 minutes long, and probably made for TikTok (because kids these days apparently have a really short attention span). Twice as many rappers, half the song length. :unsure: Another Bosnian took care of that tho, N3R4 remixed it into a 4 minute track, which combines the lyrics from both Coco and Coco 2.0, and that became the ::bal entry for WLSC 270:


Maybe different enough from Mr. President's original to possibly even be accepted in NSC, but I'm playing it safe to avoid more controversy than necessary, and it's going into my WLSC history instead. Being optimistic for a change, and hoping the Balkan banger can reach the top 10. :)
 
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