The Syndicate

Wow, nice! I need to compile mine as well.

I know it's probably unusual, but even as a huge music nut I generally don't pay attention to lyrics much at all. That's why a language barrier usually doesn't phase me. I'd say like 90% of the time I give nearly all of my attention to the music and if I happen to passively pick up the lyrics, then great. The other 10% of the time the lyrics are particularly noteworthy and actually make my already positive or negative extant view of the album more pronounced.

Also listened to TVZ today. It's an album I'm familiar with, but don't spin very often. Probably heard it 5 times or so before today. It's nonetheless really dang good and a worthy exception to the "I don't like country unless it's bluegrass" outlook I generally can have. A strong 3.5 stars.

My bad for missing the poll guys! I was "in the zone" working all weekend and didn't really wander elsewhere on the interwebs.

Just watched your reviews, Rico, loving them still as always! I generally agreed with you on these two, though I like Songs from the Big Chair more than you do enough to give it a 3.5.

I also listened to Moor Mother earlier this morning and would give it a 2.5. It was more intriguing than enjoyable for me, though there were occasional moments I thought it could turn into something pretty cool (I also agree with Rico that there's some Shabazz Palaces influence in there and I LOVE them), but the rapping was too spoken wordy for me to get into a groove and the samples/music itself were often too dissonant. It was pretty tough to get through as well. Really neat stuff from an artistic perspective, and pretty unique despite moments where I thought I was listening to dalek + Death Grips collab in terms of the beats, but I don't think I'd ever revisit it.

I'll nominate Leucocyte by Esbjorn Svensson Trio.

RYM
Youtube

[mention]birdwithteeth11[/mention] and [mention]NewTraditionalist[/mention] might be interested in this too.

Let me think of one and suggest it, sorry Rico! Thanks for the mention.

I also realize I'm not as behind as I thought I was! I'll get to Fetish Bones sometime this weekend.

Lastly, a Monday start would work just fine for me.

I'm a bit behind, sorry folks! Intend on catching back up this week.

I'm sorry I haven't been more active here myself!

Songs from the Big Chair is a solid synthpop/new wave album. I'd give it a 3.5.

I already spend way too much brain power rating things. I know I would love to dig deeper than by 0.5, but I don't even want to tempt myself with that rabbit hole.

Just caught up on the last three Rico reviews too. Keep them up, man, they're awesome as always!

Woo! Caught up today. Here are my thoughts on the past two albums as well as this week's.

Mobius Trip - 3.0
First Utterance - 3.5
Faces in the Rocks - 2.5

Bowman was thoroughly pleasant, although a bit rough around the edges. I echo others who said the vocals weren't so great. My enjoyment dipped a bit in the second half of the album as the songwriting got a bit weaker and samey for my taste, but it still was enjoyable overall. I love me some solid synthpop though and this album definitely had its awesome moments. I also was a bit surprised by the instrumental/ambient pieces which were quite enjoyable as well. Overall a good album for sure.

Comus is an old acquaintance of mine as well. I have a weird relationship with folky stuff; it tends to be a more hit or miss area for me (like blues). That said, this one is an incredibly enjoyable listen. Despite knowing this album for a long time and always enjoying it, it never has made it to my favorites, and I think that's just because of my pickiness re: folk and its inconsistency. If all the songs were to the level of "Drip Drip", it'd be a 4.0+ star album for sure. Such an amazing song. I'd say the second half of this album is worse than the first too, but it's strong all throughout. There's a reason this one's so well acclaimed.

As for Mariee Sioux, sad to report that this one did very little for me. I was pretty bored from about two minutes into the first track through the rest of the album. I wouldn't say any of it was even remotely unlikable though, just inoffensive. Maybe I'll give it another try later in the week and see if it elicits some other reaction from me.

Hey folks! Sorry for my absence, looking forward to checking out Bowman and re-listening to Comus this weekend.

Hey folks! I listened to Toehider and The Stooges both today. I gave Toehider a 2.5 and The Stooges a 3.0.

Toehider was definitely an interesting and more diverse listen than I was anticipating, but it seems G-Man came to many of the same thoughts I had while listening to it -- I thought it was flawed because it sounds jumpy and derivative. Doesn't help that I'm not the biggest fan of Queen, Muse, or MCR for that matter to begin with. But I didn't dislike it by any means, it's just more not my thing than anything, and I think it was a pretty eclectic group of songs. Unfortunately it had trouble keeping my interest overall. That said, I'd be interested to hear a subsequent album.

G-Man introduced The Stooges excellently. The album is a freaking classic for a reason. I have the utmost respect for its place in rock history, and if anything it doesn't get enough recognition for its influence on punk and the 1970s and 1980s in general, despite being pretty widely acclaimed. With all of that said, the album is very much not the type of music I find myself naturally inclined to enjoy. So although I do think the album is fantastic and among the best straight up kick-your-ass proto-punk/hard rock releases I can think of, I have to be in a very specific mood to get any real enjoyment out of it. I know it puts me in the minority, but I've always had that relationship with this album and The Stooges in general. Consequently, since I'm rating entirely based on my enjoyment and not considering historical significance at all, I couldn't justify giving it anything higher than 3.0.

I'm going to be traveling again later this week and into next week, so I'll get to the Week 21 album late next week.

My thoughts on Circlesongs very much mirror Jay's -- it's definitely cool and intriguing, and I respect it, but I don't really enjoy it or get much of anything out of it personally. I gave it a 2.5 as well. I hope to revisit it at some point, but I do have a busy week ahead of me. Thanks for sharing it nonetheless, nutella, it's a pretty interesting album.

I can understand Jay's frustration; I'm a RYM album labeling freak too, so it always irks me when an album is mislabeled for the same reason.

I'll probably check out Circlesongs sometime today actually, because starting tomorrow one of my best friends is coming into town to visit, then we have a bachelor party this weekend, so between all of that and making sure I still work on the dissertation, today will probably be the only chance I get.

Ricochet wrote: ↑Mon Jul 17, 2017 1:56 am
Spoiler: show

Excellent review as always, Rico. I nearly spit out my breakfast at your opening though.

I can understand your criticisms about the album in particular, although I personally don't have much of a preference for one vocalist over the other (perhaps a slight for Gerrard), and the ambiance is why I like that album the most.

Nice Schulze drops too. I am really looking forward to revisiting some of his works and listening to a bunch for the first time once I reach him in my ratings marathon, probably like 2 years from now.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Sat Jul 15, 2017 12:41 pm I've listened to a number of Dead Can Dance albums now, and it seems clear to me that this one was their best. I even listened to a compilation without realizing it (ewww compilation) and preferred this.

Yeah, everything just kind of comes together in the best way for them on this album. I was hoping to find another album of at least this caliber when revisiting their discography but came to the same realization. Still a solid discography though for sure, at least for my taste. Just nothing else this good.

Awesome list, Jay! I took a glance through all of them last night; I'll have to look at each listing in greater detail. I hope to have a similar list once I'm done going through and rating all of this stuff... check back with me in a year or two.

Glad you like it so much, nutella! I would give this album a 4.0 myself. It's really got some moments that reach 4.5-level for me, like most of the opening track, "Xavier", and "Summoning of the Muse", just not the entire album. Nonetheless, it's definitely a solid favorite of mine for a reason and I love every track pretty much.

If you (or anyone else is) are interested in hearing more of DCD's stuff, even though I personally don't feel they ever quite capture the quality of this album, I'd nonetheless recommend diving deeper because their discography is still full of solid albums.

Here's how I rated all of their albums (listed chronologically):

Dead Can Dance -- 3.0
Spleen and Ideal -- 3.5
Within the Realm of a Dying Sun -- 4.0
The Serpent's Egg -- 3.5
Aion -- 3.0
Into the Labyrinth -- 3.5
Spiritchaser -- 3.0
Anastasis -- 3.5

So I would recommend any of the 3.5's as a listen to after WTROADS album, but The Serpent's Egg or Spleen and Ideal specifically might be the best second DCD album selections due to their close chronological proximity to the sound on this album.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2017 9:01 pm To be fair, the music does warrant a unique, non-rock genre name. I don't think it would fit adequately under any of that. Just "darkwave" should be sufficient.

I first listened to this album in April of 2011 and apparently found it enjoyable (3.5 rating). I don't believe I have listened again since though. There's an unfortunate sea of music I have heard once and never revisited simply because there isn't enough time in the universe. In that regard it's good to return to this to see if my initial impression had any meaning, or if it still does six years later. This will be important to me in that it'll lend a little support to (or take away support from) the notion that music doesn't necessarily need to be heard repeatedly to be worthy of a good rating. Sometimes I am tempted to just drop ratings by default of things I haven't heard in eons, but it isn't logical in my opinion. If I had enough time to listen to everything more than once I would do so.

I'm halfway through it now and it's very cool.

I know what you mean entirely. Definitely so much great music out there and not enough time to hear it all. Like you, I obsess over my ratings, especially if it's an album I've only heard that first time -- and I only started rating earlier this year.

I can fathom the perceived elements of cheese or walking the line in various tracks. Still love the album though. And I feel like it suffers least from that of any of DCD's work. Their other releases are generally solid but can't capture this level of quality without sounding inordinately cheesy.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2017 8:44 pm I am starting "In the Realm of a Dying Sun" now. Before I get too deep I want to comment on the name of the genre. I understand G-Man's incredulity, though I don't think there's anything silly about "neo-soul", here we have "neoclassical darkwave".

Neoclassical darkwave.

Neoclassical darkwave.

Come on.

Lol, the subgenre is a bit silly, though I do agree with you that it's a unique record and would be just fine under "darkwave". I'm perhaps too often an obsessive genre classifier myself, but sometimes I do find RYM's subgenres to be silly ("Brutal Prog", "Neoclassical Darkwave").

Hey folks, looks like that playlist linked on Youtube has the songs but in the incorrect order. Try this one instead if you're using Youtube.

Oh cool! Thanks for voting my submission, folks!

This album doesn't have a particularly strong emotional attachment or story for me, but it is definitely a favorite of mine, and I think it's just really unique and neat. Hope you all like it.

Man, that was tough to get through, not because I thought it was a poor quality product or anything, but it just really wasn't my thing. I'm ridiculously picky when it comes to what soul I actually like though, and I've yet to find a neo-soul album I actually enjoy all the way through, so I guess it's not at all surprising. I gave it a 2.0. Sorry, Golden. I'm on a rough streak with albums in here it seems.

I'll be listening to it today! It's been a busy week.

Also, I just wanted to say that I appreciate reading everyone's thoughts on these albums, but I definitely want to give a shout-out to Rico for his video reviews. Despite being really busy I always make time for and looking forward to them because I find them really informative and interesting. Keep up the awesome reviews, Rico!

Evening, folks!

I gave All Hail West Texas another listen and unfortunately my opinion hasn't really changed much. Though I will say the opener was my favorite song and a bit memorable second time around. I tried Tallahassee as well due to nutella's suggestion and I can see the appeal a bit more with that one, but I still had the same problem with the music just failing to move me in any way whatsoever nearly the entire time. I would give them both a 2.5. I guess these albums just probably aren't for me. I really appreciate checking them out though as well as the suggestion for a different album.

I also went ahead and cast my votes. Tough call!

G-Man wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2017 12:22 am For the next poll, I am nominating this gem:

Album: Fun House
Artist: The Stooges
Released: July 7, 1970
Genre: Proto-Punk/Hard Rock
7 Tracks, 36:35
Available on Spotify and YouTube

A classic indeed. Looking forward to revisiting this, I haven't heard it in ages!

Morning, folks!

I actually found time for all three yesterday while I was working, and assigned my ratings as follows:

Last Dinosaurs - In a Million Years - 2.5
Pandora's Box - Original Sin - 1.5
The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas - 2.5

Last Dinosaurs was an interesting listen, and I must say it was refreshing with this (and all three of these even) to hear an artist I've never heard of before. Awesome to hear new things.

But anyway, this album started out sort of solid but then quickly started becoming monotonous and headed towards slumpland with every song trying too hard to imitate the same general sound. I also tend to have issues really becoming emotionally attached or intrigued by indie rock in general, not sure why, so there's nothing particularly noteworthy to say about the band being significantly worse than others like Arcade Fire or such in that regard. For whatever reason most well-acclaimed indie rock acts get the "this is good, but not great" reaction out of me or "this is great, but not amazing" reaction at best. There are a few notable exceptions (namely Guided by Voices), but yeah. The whole general umbrella of lo-fi/indie rock/etc. can be very hit or miss for me (more on this for Mountain Goats).

Pandora's Box, well... it was interesting and bombastic at least. Just not my thing. I had a really hard time making it through most sections of the album, but it had its OK moments. Like Rico, I have a hard time not hearing how any artist could create such a work while taking him or herself seriously, but it's too tough to tell in this case.

The Mountain Goats, this was a disappointment for me. I have heard good things about them in the past but just never checked them out. What I heard pretty much continuously inspired a response of indifference. I had a hard time caring about any of the songs and they all just kind of went in one ear and out the other. Unlike other lo-fi bands that have been more successful to my ears like Guided by Voices, I don't remember what any of these songs sound like. Obviously I need to listen to it again, but I wasn't really impressed or unimpressed; I just didn't really think much of anything about any of the songs. I didn't particularly think the songwriting was noteworthy in any way positive or negative.

I will at least be revisiting The Mountain Goats later this week.

Also, I think I will change mine. Not feeling like submitting hip hop again this time, though I think I will try again in the future with perhaps a different album.

I would like to submit:

Dead Can Dance - Within the Realm of a Dying Sun

YouTube playlist

RYM listing

Hey guys! Sorry I have gotten behind here, it's been hectic! I look forward to hearing Last Dinosaurs, Pandora's Box, and now The Mountain Goats, which are all new discoveries for me. Should be listening to them this week if not today.

So I listened to echolyn (2012) again, and my feelings about it haven't changed really, despite the distance from it for at least a few years. I still feel like it's a disappointment especially after Mei and The End Is Beautiful, which are these incredible and emotive records, but this album rambles a bit too much for its own good and many of the compositions fail to develop as well as the single-long song of Mei and the similar-length songs on TEIB. Even compared to their earlier work like As the World which I quite like but isn't as emotive as their later releases, I feel it falls a bit short IMO. It's a solid release, enjoyable, and I definitely like it nearly all throughout, but I just can't connect to a lot of it like I can Mei and TEIB, and as a result I wouldn't say I really enjoy it.

As such, I'm giving it a 3.0. It's good, but not amazing or anything. It'll be interesting to revisit it specifically within the context of echolyn's entire discography when I get to them alphabetically in my ratings and see whether my feelings about those other albums remains the same, but until then, that's my opinion on this album.

I will be listening later today! Have to finish The Cure's discography first.

I am looking forward to this for sure. Echolyn is one of those bands I found and really enjoyed back in my trying to find prog bands outside of the 60s-70s I really liked phase, and I always thought The End Is Beautiful was an excellent and underrated album. mei is really good too. For whatever reason, I think because I was starting to move onto different genres by then, but I never have given this particular release that much attention. I think I've only heard it a handful of times and it's been a while. I remember being somewhat disappointed (only because the high standards of previous releases) but still liking it. I definitely think it'll be neat to rediscover it now.

Ricochet wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2017 1:36 pm Jay doesn't love us anymore.

But yeah, my own schedule will make it impossible to focus on this until next week, so if people could still use this week to catch up and/or actually listen to APP, I'd propose we put things back on track starting this Sunday.

That works for me. Despite being incredibly busy I thankfully still have lots of time to listen to music.

Ricochet wrote: ↑Sun May 28, 2017 3:46 pm (Spoilers tag text, sans putting it in a quote, doesn't work in the green skin btw. It's all a sea of white inside.)

Good to know, thanks! I'm just using the default white until we get the black/red combo back.

Also, mostly for Rico's knowledge so he can update the chart if he wants, I've done a bit more re-calibrating of my ratings system as I've continued to find what feels most comfortable to me, so I've had a bit more of a downgrading for some albums.

I think the only two that have been affected since I last gave an update though are (1) The Family Crest, which I relistened to a couple weeks back, and I downgraded to 3.0, and (2) the Fishmans album, which I still love, but I downgraded to 4.5 because I'm reserving my 5.0's much more cautiously.

So my album rankings go like this:

Spoiler: show

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with that new set of placements.

Listened to APP earlier this morning! Sadly it doesn't sound near as good as it once did to me, it is clearly disjointed and bloated, and the Hare story is just ehhh. I don't hate that bit's inclusion, I just don't love it either. It is at least mildly amusing.

Some really good musical moments and lyrics (I still love the wet her drawers line), and certainly one I'll listen to again, but definitely a flawed album. I'm giving it a solid 3.0.

Hey everyone! I'm sorry for being out of touch with this, I lost track of everything about a month ago when I was out of town for a conference, then you know, the site hiccuped for a few weeks, and since then I've been working like a crazy person.

Is APP the only album I've missed then? Cool. Maybe I'll listen to it today in fact.

Hey guys, things have been crazy busy! I did get around to this week's album though and I'm giving it a 2.0. I'm not averse to solid EDM but this one was rather disappointing and hard to get through with any real enjoyment. Not really bad or anything though.

FYI I'm also modifying my rating for Woodface. Mulling over Crowded House some more this past week and although I love it, I realize I see the album as really more of a 4.25+, so I think a downward revision to 4.0 is required.

triceratopzeuhl wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:Option A is fine with me. Though I also wouldn't be opposed to:

Quin wrote:I'd vote C, but I'd also make it so one person can only have one Album in the queue at a time - once their first album finishes, they can submit the next one.
I don't like Option B because I do think it helps to keep folks from clogging up the queue, and I say that as someone who had to wait during this last five-week grouping. Didn't bother me at all.

Clearly this group needs hip hop, so I've decided to nominate my favorite hip hop record, De La Soul Is Dead.
Not Stakes Is High?

I haven't decided between 3-4 5 potential nominations yet

The run of four albums from De La Soul's debut through Stakes Is High is of such high quality that it is nearly unparalleled in all of music, IMO, so I wouldn't argue much with you, but my preference for them is as follows:

De La Soul Is Dead (5.0) > 3 Feet High and Rising (4.5) > Stakes Is High (4.0) = Buhloone Mind State (4.0)

I'd say I feel really firm in that ranking now, but it's definitely changed over the years. De La Soul Is Dead has grown on me big time.

Option A is fine with me. Though I also wouldn't be opposed to:

Quin wrote:I'd vote C, but I'd also make it so one person can only have one Album in the queue at a time - once their first album finishes, they can submit the next one.

I don't like Option B because I do think it helps to keep folks from clogging up the queue, and I say that as someone who had to wait during this last five-week grouping. Didn't bother me at all.

Clearly this group needs hip hop, so I've decided to nominate my favorite hip hop record, De La Soul Is Dead.

triceratopzeuhl wrote:It's like GYBE but the actual music never starts

If I wanted to listen to garbage truck noises I would just open my window

I'm giving Whole Stories a 2.5. It was interesting I suppose, but it's not particularly engaging and does toe the line between music and sound/noise perhaps too much for me. I do intend to listen to it again at least once before the week is up though.

Ricochet wrote:
Epignosis wrote:Sometimes experimental music isn't music. It's just experimental. To my mind, experimentation is best when you find something cool and refine it.
I'd like to hear an example of experimental music that you consider to be either cool, refined, music, any or all of these.

MovingPictures07 wrote:
I just finished. Here's my Bowie rankings:

Spoiler: show
1) Low
2) Station to Station
3) Blackstar (RIP)
4) Hunky Dory
5) Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)
6) The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
7) "Heroes"
8) Aladdin Sane
9) Lodger
10) The Next Day
11) Diamond Dogs
12) Earthling
13) Heathen
14) 1.Outside
15) The Man Who Sold the World
16) Let's Dance
17) Young Americans
18) 'Hours...'
19) David Bowie (1969)
20) Reality
21) Black Tie White Noise
22) Tonight
23) Pin Ups
24) David Bowie (1967)
25) Never Let Me Down

What's different for you about Blackstar so that it made the top 3, as opposed to, say, how you viewed Bish Bosch?

Aside question, if, let's say, Walker would have made his album in a moribund state and then pass away sometime after its release, would your thoughts on the album differ in any way now?

A fair question, given Bowie was clearly influenced by Walker in his final few albums, but especially Blackstar.

Spoiler: show

Spoilered because I don't want to derail the thread and my answer is directed at Rico specifically, but folks can read my ramblings if they wish.

thellama73 wrote:
MovingPictures07 wrote:I've been busy binging David Bowie's discography chronologically as I've been working my ass off the last couple of days, but I should be putting in a first listen of this sometime soon (probably tomorrow). Looking forward to it as well! I'm pleased that so many albums nominated so far have been ones I've never heard before.
Lodger is very underrated.

Isn't it though?

I just finished. Here's my Bowie rankings:

Spoiler: show

I'm tired though, so this album will be first thing tomorrow morning.

Also, Rico, I gave Arthur a 3.0 FYI.

I've been busy binging David Bowie's discography chronologically as I've been working my ass off the last couple of days, but I should be putting in a first listen of this sometime soon (probably tomorrow). Looking forward to it as well! I'm pleased that so many albums nominated so far have been ones I've never heard before.

Agreed, I expect two reviews next week, Rico.

After first listen, I thought Arthur was a mix of pretty damn good and just OK. "Victoria", "Australia", and "Shagri-La" are the clear highlights.

In the end I gave it a 3.0.

Looking forward to listening to this later today! I've only heard a little bit by The Kinks in the past (mostly just listening to the Village Green Preservation Society a handful of times), and I've never heard this album.

An update for Rico (and anyone else who cares): I revisited my ratings for all of these albums over the last few nights, and I have revised my ratings for Bisch Bosch (2.5) and Berry Is on Top (2.5), which fell just a bit because I'm mostly bored with both and otherwise the moments of enjoyment and displeasure cancel each other out just too much. All other ratings remain the same.

I got it, Jay, no worries! Next up we have...

Week 8: Kinks - Arthur

Submitted by triceratopzeuhl

Available on Spotify and via the YouTube link in the OP

Let's talk about this thing!

Ricochet wrote:If y'all poop on APP for a third time, I might just push R.E.M.'s Murmur.

Just nominate Murmur instead.

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