The Syndicate

Finally starting the hamsteak album. Interesting enough sound so far (on the second track and definitely getting the Flaming Lips comparison on the synth). Also voted on the next poll, looking forward to those

Just listened to Fun House. I think I must be too young or something, or it's just not really my style of music, but I didn't really get a lot out of it. But as with some previous submissions (like Chuck Berry) I can recognize and appreciate the Stooges' influence on future genres. Particularly the vocal style is really not enjoyable for me, but I liked some of the bass, guitar, and drum parts, and the bits with saxophone were groovy as hell. I think this would be a 2.5 or even just 2 if not for the sax but the good parts were enough for me to bump it up to a 3.

I'm going with a 4 for Toehider. I even more thoroughly enjoyed it on second listen and also followed along with the lyrics which are excellent (and pretty hilarious at times -- I did gain some appreciation for the goose song lol) and really impressed me overall (the story in the long track is pretty well done too). And realizing that this is literally just one guy made it all the more impressive to me. I can't deny the common sentiment here that he wears his influences on his sleeve, but he seems to embrace that transparency, just runs with it and does some really cool stuff of his own even when the inspiration is obvious. This also held true as I listened through his 12-EP compilation -- I thought there was some really good stuff in there (and it looks like there's one more full-length that's not on spotify but I will check out on bandcamp). Anyway this album was pretty solidly interesting and fun for me, and even got me to enjoy the bits inspired by genres I'm generally less excited about. This album/artist definitely left an impression on me (at this moment The Thing With Me is stubbornly stuck in my head) and is one I might save and go back to now and then.

Btw Epi I haven't seen you participate in here in a while but have you listened to this week's album? I really think you'd like it.

I'm checking out Toehider's other stuff on Spotify, this EP-compilation deal (guess it's all on bandcamp too). Liking it so far. This is a really interesting artist speed, thanks for showing us.

I definitely agree with the Muse comparisons lol (and as they overlap with the Queen comparisons)

Glad you like it G-Man. And Rico, your review really made me want to listen to more of his stuff. I know we had one or two others when I was little (I think at least the Mozart one with Chick Corea) but I'm definitely going to check out Play on your recommendation.

I just finished a listen of the Toehider album and I have to say it really surprised me and mostly in a good way! I wasn't thrilled by the first track so I was afraid it would be more of the same, but the second track utterly blew me away and the rest of the album kept me on my toes (heheh) with lots of unexpected flourishes and nods to various genres. Not all of them were my thing, but for the most part it was a fun and interesting listen. The 12-minute track was pretty fantastic.

I think the "jazz" label might just come from the improvisational aspect of how the "circlesongs" were created, but yeah I don't know that I'd call it jazz purely based on that. But I love it, the harmonies are fantastic. For me this album is one of the standouts of the strange multiple-genre range of CDs that my family kept in the house on rotation when I was growing up, and my brother and I share a hyper-familiarity and love for this music. Tracks 3 and 6 are my favorites.

Ratings update- the Dead Can Dance album is a 4 for me, I enjoyed it just as much on second listen and have checked out a few of their others as well. As for Circlesongs I think I'll give it a 4.5 -- there are parts where it gets very repetitive and less interesting, but I find it really pleasant/soothing to listen to (probably in part due to personal significance and how familiar I am with it).

Fun reading through your list Jay. I have a lot of comments but I don't want to ramble about it here as I could never have the patience or decisiveness to make such a list myself, but might there be a way to leave comments on specific slot descriptions on the list? I had several thoughts/agreements/disagreements while reading through it that could be fun to discuss. Maybe on discord. Also some surprising absences (personally the Decemberists come to mind, I wouldn't leave The Crane Wife out of a top 100 myself, but maybe you never got into them or they're not your thing and that's fair but slightly surprising to me based on others you have up there) -- I can think of a couple artists that I could recommend based on your taste if you're not familiar with them.


Back on topic, I really enjoyed my first taste of Dead Can Dance. This album might end up being a 4 for me, it's just about up my alley (if again a little on the cheesy side, but overall I loved its sound).

Three tracks in and I love it already. I get a little bit of the cheese factor, but just in that it feels like a movie soundtrack/incidental music with a rather ominous tone. Like I'm exploring an ancient cave or a spooky forest at night. Lovely listening.

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.

Sounds good to me. Haven't listened yet but I bet I'll love it.

Oop, I never gave a rating for AHWT. Going with 3.5 for that I guess. And let's say 3 for CBR These numbers mean very little but I don't like leaving holes on Rico's chart

I enjoyed it at first but I do agree it dragged on a bit too long.

I think a lot of appreciation for the Mountain Goats is dependent on context and personal relation to the lyrics as well as knowledge of John Darnielle as a person (he's a really cool guy btw and has a fun sense of humor and some online presence I think, overall a really interesting personality). His lyrics are incredibly poetic and deal with a lot of his own personal experiences including abusive situations, depression, etc and I think they're very evocative in a lot of ways. For context, a lot of my friends from college are really into his music and many of them personally relate to the lyrics and also just have some group associations with many tMG songs -- specifically, I was first introduced to them my freshman year through a friend from my dorm who hosted "singalongs" playing the ukulele and singing various folk songs, sea shanties etc but also a ton of Mountain Goats songs and I learned a lot of them through that context.

So for me, there's a bunch of Mountain Goats songs pulled from various albums that I know through that context and have attached some personal/friend-group meaning to. A couple of them are from AHWT, but most of the ones that are important to me are from those other four albums I mentioned, maybe a couple others. Certainly their most well-known song is "This Year" which is pretty powerful; a few of my personal favorites are "Up the Wolves," "Sax Rohmer #1," "No Children," "Oceanographer's Choice," and "Cry for Judas," just to name a few because I am really rambling here lol. I do recommend checking some of these out if you guys are interested, but yeah in the end I think a lot of it comes down to how you're exposed to them and what you associate the lyrics with. I can understand not being thrilled about the music itself, most of it is not very complex and the emotion lies in the delivery and poetry of the lyrics.

Sorry if I'm being annoying, it wasn't even my submission lol so you don't have to listen to me but I'm just gonna put this one here because I think it's a one of their best (I believe it's about confronting an abusive childhood and the delivery of the chorus/last verse is really powerful)


Also for a laugh check out this goofy song John Darnielle wrote earlier this year based on his young son's interpretation of the upcoming Star Wars title "The Last Jedi." It's about eating bones.

@Rico, my Pandora's Box rating is 1.5 at most

If this wasn't your thing I would strongly recommend checking out some of the Mountain Goats' later stuff (Tallahassee, Sunset Tree, Heretic Pride, Transcendental Youth, etc.) I think a lot of their stronger material is in those albums.

Oh it's the Mountain Goats this week! This album I'm quite familiar with, has quite a few special tracks though I don't think I'd say it's my favorite of theirs -- though it's hard to say what is, with tMG I tend to have a scattered bunch of particular songs that I like/are important to me that are picked out from various albums. I'll go more in depth later about the somewhat unique context of my familiarity/interaction with Mountain Goats music

Alright, done. I'm giving it a... 1.5 or 2? I enjoyed the instrumental tracks and like two others, but for the most part this was too.... too.

Alright, listening to Original Sin. It sure is over the top, lol. Can't say it's not entertaining though. I liked the title track actually, and the dream about the mirrors Not a big fan of the few tracks in between those though. Right now I'm on "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" and it's... yeah, over the top. But yeah JJJ was right, this is... an experience. Not my kind of thing really, I definitely agree with Trice that it's the pinnacle of bad 80s cheese, but a few bits of it have been enjoyable in a particular way.

And now that the next album has been posted I finally listened to Last Dinosaurs. I agree with the assessments that it's pretty average sounding for its genre. Wasn't crazy about the guy's voice, but the songs were alright, some pretty good guitar bits, but nothing really too special. Fun enough to listen to but not something I would seek out. 3.

ETA As I recall my favorite tracks were Zoom and Used To Be Mine. Idk I'll give it another more attentive listen.

A little behind. Finally listened again to Echolyn, this time following along with lyrics and found them quite poetic and emotional at times. Solid album, I get the complaints that it's kind of generic as prog goes (as are the vocalists) and it drags on a bit in some places but overall I enjoyed the instrumentation, melodies, themes, and particularly some lines/verses that were really striking. 3.5 I guess.

Will get around to Last Dinosaurs soon.

Just finished a first listen, it was overall enjoyable with a few especially standout moments but I wasn't really paying full attention the whole time so don't really have very strong impressions. It's... long.

Ah, ok.

Wait, my research shows that this band has 2 self-titled albums that appear to be totally different, one from 1991 and one from 2012. The link above is for the newer one, but is that the one Epi intended or not? I guess I could listen to both

Listened to APP again. I suppose it's a 3.5? Numbers are meaningless

Yeah lol I forgot that happened after deadmau5 Can't remember what I rated it either. Probably 3.5?

yooo let's get this show back on the road

it's been so long, I think I listened to deadmau5 and I vaguely remember finding it pretty dull/decent for background music or maybe dancey if in the right mood but it wasn't very exciting. yeah it's coming back to me now, I definitely posted about it but it was during the period of time from which the posts are lost. I should give it another listen but IIRC I rated it a 2ish?

insertnamehere wrote:Voted Option A.

I'm submitting an album that's more or less diametrically opposed to Bish Bosch: All Hail West Texas by The Mountain Goats.

Good one!


I'm having trouble with this poll, I like all the options...


Anyway, I'd like to submit Bobby McFerrin's "Circlesongs."

My high school orchestra director drilled into me the opinion that the only correct definition of music is "organized sound," which I think is better articulated by AP's description of intention. So I tend to be pretty generous about what I consider music, and this album is still close to the borderline for me but I definitely see intention and skill in the organization/production/juxtaposition of the various sounds. I do agree with G that there are definitely some parts that feel more musical than others, but overall I recognize/appreciate it as a work of art (and again I find it interesting on a more anthropological level as well). As for rating I think I'll go with a 2 out of 5.

It's not even in the same ballpark as Bish Bosch, lol.


Tbh I posted a little prematurely, and I think I'm enjoying the second half a bit more than the first.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I'm almost through my first spin of Whole Stories. I like the part with the noises.

Spoiler: show

Don't mind me, I have barely dabbled in this genre. I don't actively dislike it, and nor does it do anything for me. I laughed a bit when the lady was trying to keep people in an orderly line. 2.5 first impression.

Yeaaaah this is... well.... different. Thoughts below (having gone into this with no "spoilers"/not even knowing what genre this would be, I'd like to give everyone else a chance to do so)

Rico I said 3.5 for Arthur but was apparently ignored

I actually quite enjoyed Arthur. I think I give it a 3.5 (if I may be generous it's leaning upward to 3.75)

Looking forward to listening to this next one. Completely unfamiliar, should be fun.

Bit behind this week -- only just now on first listen and it's 9pm on Friday But I'm about halfway through and I'm pretty thoroughly enjoying it so far, so I'll definitely listen a couple more times.

thellama73 wrote:

nutella wrote:I've also been mentally comparing them to REM. Similar sound and I enjoy them in sort of the same way.

Funny, I made that same comparison, not so much in sound, but in my feeling that I wouldn't turn them off if they were on, but wouldn't seek them out either.

Yeah, same.

I've also been mentally comparing them to REM. Similar sound and I enjoy them in sort of the same way.

lol JJJ nice ranking descriptions.

@G-Man, I largely agree with your assessment of Woodface, with maybe a slightly more positive stance. It evokes a genre that I'm pretty neutral toward, but within that range I think it's very good music and pleasant to listen to, and there are a few standout-ish tracks for me.
I'm listening to Together Alone as well and getting a similar impression. Again, lovely music, and I think I can see why it's a beloved album to some (and obviously everyone has a different emotional history with music and I don't have the same connections but I know the feeling so I understand), but it doesn't have a hugely unique impression on me.

haven't watched rico's review yet, looking forward to it

Ok I'm enjoying it a lot more on second listen, and I understand more of how JJJ described what he sees in it. Awesome songwriting indeed. Very pleasant listening, might end up as 4 stars and I'll probably also check out Together Alone as well since you guys mentioned it was good.

Hm, so I had a first listen but I wasn't very attentive/it was in the background so I can't really say much until I listen again. I suppose I enjoyed some of what I heard and they do seem to have some really lovely ballad-ish melodies -- "Fall At Your Feet" is pretty much the only track that stood out to me during my inattentive first listen, and I also separately listened to "Don't Dream It's Over" (which I don't even think I recognized despite it being apparently their most well-known). I get the impression I've somehow completely missed out on a huge musical institution with a lot of material that a lot of people are familiar with/emotionally connected to, and I'm kind of simultaneously overwhelmed by that and yet so far I-don't-want-to-say-underwhelmed-but-not-particularly-whelmed by what I've heard, it just felt like pretty standard pop rock. That's not a bad thing at all though, it just doesn't really stick out to me as particularly unique, but I do appreciate the songwriting talent that a couple of you have pointed out. I look forward to hearing it again.


On another note, I think I've submitted all my Rico-scale rankings for previous weeks, but I'll try to summarize the way MP did. Even though it feels weird to rank these albums with such varying genres. It seems the lowest I feel capable of giving is 3.0 because I take the description "worth a listen" quite literally and something has to be really really bad for me to not consider it at least worth one listen. I was almost tempted to rank Chuck Berry lower because I found it pretty boring all things considered, but taken in context I really appreciate its influence and I definitely enjoy a lot of the then-innovative guitar work on it. But, it does feel like I should rank it somewhat lower than my other 3.0s (Bish Bosch and Crazy World) because I definitely enjoyed them significantly more than it. So with that in mind here's my attempt at an order:

Beneath the Brine - 10/10 or 5 stars
World Music - 7.5/10 or 3.75 (if it must be in .5s then 3.5)
98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare - 7/10 or 3.5
Bish Bosch - 6/10 or 3.0
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - 6/10 or 3.0
Chuck Berry is On Top - 5.5/10 or 2.75

Some of these could be higher, some could be lower, idk I'm just incapable of ranking things lower than 5/10 unless they're really really really bad, that's just how I am

Interesting that I use the word interesting so much.

Interesting that your drops are exactly the tracks I enjoyed/thought were most interesting.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:Maybe Back to the Future is an early option for Movie of the Week [Week 1].

Let's do it.

nutella wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:I absolutely recognize what Chuck Berry did for music, and the man was a complete legend. I therefore feel a bit terrible saying this, but...

Spoiler: show

...in terms of enjoyment this release was barely a 3.0-star ("marginally enjoyable") affair for me. If not for "Johnny B. Goode" and "Maybellene", it would be a 2.5 ("epitome of unimpressive").

There's no denying the quality and influence, but it's just not really my thing at all, and I honestly wish it was. I just was never much of a Rock & Roll, R&B, and blues rock guy, and that's perhaps the one constant that's remained in my musical taste over its entire development (save a few exceptions that would be lucky to be considered for a 3.5 or 4.0 rating).

The aforementioned two cuts are classics, but other than that I found myself just really bored more than anything. I don't think this would normally be anything I would ever play of my own freewill pretty much ever again.

Now with all of that said, especially given its length, I'll be listening to it a handful of times or so I'm sure before the week is up.

I agree with 100% of this post. It's really not my thing/is pretty uninteresting to me, but I appreciate it for what it is and his/the genre's place in music history.

Actually the part of MP's opinion I don't entirely agree with is the exception tracks. For me the standout tracks in terms of musical interesting-ness are "Jo Jo Gunne" and "Hey Pedro" and maybe to a lesser extent "Anthony Boy." I do appreciate the ones MP mentioned for their epitomal/classic status and influence but the ones I mentioned are what save the album from being totally boring.

Also Quin if you have the time you should try to catch up with the previous albums in the thread at some point

(and watch all of Rico's reviews lol)

MovingPictures07 wrote:I absolutely recognize what Chuck Berry did for music, and the man was a complete legend. I therefore feel a bit terrible saying this, but...

Spoiler: show

...in terms of enjoyment this release was barely a 3.0-star ("marginally enjoyable") affair for me. If not for "Johnny B. Goode" and "Maybellene", it would be a 2.5 ("epitome of unimpressive").

There's no denying the quality and influence, but it's just not really my thing at all, and I honestly wish it was. I just was never much of a Rock & Roll, R&B, and blues rock guy, and that's perhaps the one constant that's remained in my musical taste over its entire development (save a few exceptions that would be lucky to be considered for a 3.5 or 4.0 rating).

The aforementioned two cuts are classics, but other than that I found myself just really bored more than anything. I don't think this would normally be anything I would ever play of my own freewill pretty much ever again.

Now with all of that said, especially given its length, I'll be listening to it a handful of times or so I'm sure before the week is up.

I agree with 100% of this post. It's really not my thing/is pretty uninteresting to me, but I appreciate it for what it is and his/the genre's place in music history.

I do know that one song by CBR that was really popular like ten years ago, Put Your Records On, and I guess it was ok but nothing really special (nice voice I guess), but otherwise I'm unfamiliar. But now seeing how you describe her various albums I'm pretty tempted to check her out soon even though she didn't make this round's list.

I'll listen to the Chuck Berry album first though. But not now, now is bedtime

Do you have a lastfm page Golden? I'd be interested in seeing what else you listen to.

I voted for yours this time at least. Not sure how much I'd like it, but I feel like the point of this thread is to get exposed to and to appreciate various genres one wouldn't typically go for, and I have been trying to diversify my taste recently anyway. I do love Janelle Monáe though and she's considered neo-soul, is she similar?

Wait what is that Rico? A recommendation playlist?


Btw I guess I'll give Crazy World a 3 out of 5.

Aaaaaaa you guys the family crest just announced tour dates and if all goes well I'll see them on May 27th i'm so excited

In the middle of my first listen of Crazy World. Quite good impressions so far. I was pretty familiar with "Fire" before but never heard the rest of the album and it's fantastic in context. I've enjoyed every track i've heard so far, it definitely hasn't ceased to be interesting/entertaining. I'd say there's a pretty stark contrast from Bish Bosch in that respect -- there may be a few stylistic constants throughout but the overall sound is constantly in flux and quite musically complex and it's holding my attention really well.

OK, reading along with the annotations definitely greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the lyrics. Super interesting, I recommend that everyone who's saying the lyrics are nonsensical or the album overall is boring try this. I can understand thinking the album is pretty musically boring, but it's made up for by the bits of bizarre instrumentation and endless creativity in the lyrics.

I agree with INH that Epizootics is the most musically interesting track, while Zercon was the most fascinatingly complex to follow along with the lyrical analysis (though all of the tracks have this quality to various extents -- this sure was a ride).

Though I'm not much of one to rate things numerically, I'll try to keep up since Rico's recording them. 3/5.