The Syndicate

Cool, I might start a thread later today and will tag some folks who might be interested.

Would you be interested in hosting one or should I start us off and have you guys submit? I'm quite new to it as well, have just submitted to two of them but I feel like I get how it works well enough to do one.

here's an example basically the host chooses some set of categories, they can be weird abstract ideas like the ones here, or specific criteria like cover songs or fast songs,and players submit one song for each category, can be any genre though the host can suggest what they like/dislike, then the host listens to all the submissions and ranks them based on how well they fit the cat and how much they like them, revealing each submission in a countdown. It seems like a fun way to recommend music and get a wide variety of genres. I have no idea why it's called walrus btw.

we should do saw again fools!!!!! And/or we could try "walrus" which is a music sharing game I discovered on MU

I'd love to get this rolling again soon if others are up for it!

Oh hey Young the Giant just released a new album, lol

Just saw Timber Timbre live! They put on an awesome show. I could post in the concerts thread but nobody else has since last time I did lol and we listened to them in SAW so hey whatever

just listened!! I'd known a few songs by Young the Giant (none from this album) but never really got into them, but they are talented. This was a fun album, pretty much every track was solidly enjoyable. Will be listening again.

Finally listened and loved it. Beautiful music. Having played violin before but not at a nearly high level I'm always in awe of the technical skill and sheer beauty that the masters like Perlman show.

Yikes dude

now that's one I wouldn't play in public

OK, put on Emotion again today and just bit the bullet and moved it up to a 4.0, who am I kidding I enjoy it too much

Also gave Lanquidity a first pass today, it was nice and cool for jazz I guess

sweet, looking forward to the new submissions!

reviews update: As I think I said earlier I gave Emotion a 3.5 but seriously considered a 4. One thing that held it back a little bit was that it suffers from its length and lost some of my attention by the time I got to the last 5 tracks or so, but still good. I also gave Time's End (and its sequel which I listened to an equal amount) a high 3.5 -- quite beautiful, enjoyed the bits I recognized and I found it nice as background music for working. Haven't gotten around to Sun Ra yet.

ok cool, I didn't feel like that term alone covered the heavy sample-y nature of it

I knew you'd be into it.

what do you think as far as genre tags though idk what to call it lol

k I've decided on a submission: The Books - Thought for Food / 2002 / aleatoric/folktronica/sound collage / 12 tracks / 38:31 / available on spotify, youtube and bandcamp

Omg I recognize the fairy music from botw *heart eyes* I'm not familiar with majora's mask specifically but I really should check it out from what I've heard.

This is all incredibly beautiful so far I love it

oh I still haven't listened to this yet but I didn't realize it was zelda music? coolio looking forward to it!

lol looks like g meant to reply to the picture telephone thread

Good stuff. Solid pop album, fun listening and well-composed songs. High-leaning 3.5, will definitely listen again

K.... makes some sense. I'd be so uncomfortable though

G-Man wrote: ↑Thu May 24, 2018 5:44 pm I haven’t been able to listen to this one at work because girl pop is one of a few genres that will draw stares and questions from my co-workers. I never gave more thoughts on Loretta Lynn either, so I guess this means I am in catch-up mode again.

I mean....you...there's .... you own headphones, no??? In what kind of workplace do your coworkers know what you are listening to??

Sounds nightmarish.

I feel similarly to MP on this one. It's just very much not my thing. I guess with some of the context G gave and judging by the lyrics about her life and stuff, I can see why it can be appreciated for sentimentality or whatever, but it's not the kind of thing I can connect to at all and I didn't really find anything about it interesting musically either and didn't get any enjoyment out of it overall. I'll say 2.0 as well.

speedchuck wrote: ↑Mon May 07, 2018 3:34 pm I won't derail any current discussion, but I just want to say, I will still be listening to every submission at least once. I enjoy it, and it broadens my horizons. I'm a couple albums behind right now, and my reviews are getting less and less depth-filled, but the main purpose was for me to go through every album, get a new experience, and note whether I liked it or not.

So I'm still enjoying this topic, even if this is a dry spell for discussion considering how busy everyone is.

Samesies samesies

Sweeeeeeeet hope y'all enjoy these guys

OK, catching up on ratings. I think last time I said a number in here was for Los Campesinos so next up is my submission Esben and the Witch which I never actually stated my rating for but it's 4.0 I guess. Then:

Emilíana Torrini - Fisherman's Woman: 3.5
Explosions in the Sky - The Wilderness: 3.5
Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime: 3.0
Royal Blood - How Did We Get So Dark?: 4.0
Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica: 2.5
Aphrodite's Child - 666: 4.0

Idk man ratings dont make sense

Finally listening to 666 and loving it so far. "The Lamb" is amazing. Excellent sounds are happening.

I don't know what "rearranged soundtrack" means but I'm psyched.

Agh I have such a long and growing list of things I want to submit, but all in due time.... for this batch I will go with:

The Reign of Kindo - Rhythm, Chord & Melody / 2008 / Jazz-y indie rock / 12 tracks / 58:23 / Available on Youtube and Spotify

Well I'm listening to R Plus 7 now and loving it, so

idk.... part of me feels like even dataplex was more interesting than this. in some sense of interesting at least. Like definitely this kind of music is always interesting in a way because of the sampling/"plunderphonics" and I usually appreciate that kind of thing but I'm just not really getting a lot out of it atm

I've been falling behind but I listened to Operation Mindcrime as well as both of Royal Blood's albums at work today. All fine/enjoyable but I will need a couple more listens/hopefully more attentive listens if I find the time. I should try to catch up on actually giving ratings for the last several albums as well

Got one listen of emiliana in last week, will need more to form an opinion. Was nice though. Familiar with Explosions in the Sky but not this album afaik so looking forward to it. I <33333 post rock.

yeah I very much understand the gripes about the vocals

glad you like it!! you're probably even more sold on it than I am lol. but I do really enjoy most of it, and definitely The Jungle is the highlight for me as well

Uhh I don't think I ever gave final ratings for the last couple albums. Probably in the 3.5-4 range for both Petrushka and No Blues

I'm an ethereal wave tbh

also go back and listen to previous submissions lol catch up on the whole thing eventually

Los Campesinos! is one of those bands that I've been peripherally aware of for years as they're stylistically adjacent to a lot of stuff I've listened to and I've heard a couple of their songs here and there ("By Your Hand" is the only one that's really stuck with me, suuuuper catchy) so I'm familiar with their general sound but never really got into them for whatever reason. Just listened to the album and it was pretty fun and the lyrics are well-written but not very much of it stands out to me. Maybe I missed the window in which I would have connected/clicked with this band more, idk but it largely feels generic to me now. Good for sure, and the kind of thing where I can appreciate how their music might be really important to a lot of people, but I'm not totally wowed.

Yeah my current submission is not really a particular favorite of mine or anything like my previous submissions have been, it's just what I felt like submitting for whatever reason

Oooo they're fun, thanks for submitting

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2018 5:44 pm I listened to Petrushka once the first night it was up here and I remember nothing about it. I rated it 3.5 so it must have been agreeable. I'll listen again before the week is over. My brain is overexerted these days and I struggle to retain anything.

i feel this yo

I'm cool with G going first! More people should submitttt

Esben and the Witch - A New Nature / 2014 / post-rock/alternative darkwave(?) / 8 tracks / 54:28 / Available on Youtube, Bandcamp, and Spotify

Great summary. This album is solidly awesome and very dense. The samples and everything are really cool and the lyrics.... there is SO much going on there, with fantastic delivery as well. I've recently gotten into the habit of checking out the Genius annotations for basically everything I listen to because there's often cool meanings behind lyrics to catch, and this is one of those cases (as often with hip-hop albums in general) where I really can't even keep up with how many references, plays-on-words, etc are crammed in there. Truly fantastic

speedchuck wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2017 12:03 am 41. nutella - Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, Stuart Duncan, Yo-Yo Ma - The Goat Rodeo Sessions
Spoiler: show
I don't really like bluegrass. As much as I love stringed instruments, and as much as I like the concept, bluegrass just doesn't appeal to me. Just like with country music, I dislike to voices. And on top of that, bluegrass always seems to have the same circular, bouncing rhythm.
So while I approached this album with trepidation, I was rewarded with a mostly-instrumental album, completely free of faux southerners, that did not jangle along with the traditional rolling banjo. No. This was art, and I loved every second of it. I mean that in the most literal sense. The moment-to-moment music was perfect in sound, pleasing, interesting, and fun. The album was structured in a way that game me a distinct feel of what the band was trying to do, especially with the songs that had lyrics, but it didn't feel constrained by the structure.
And the energy here was just astounding.
I don't know what separates this album from... say Leucodyte. It's hard to say. There was enough structure to please me, and the instruments took me in various directions. The pieces weren't busy enough to throw me about, but each instrument was giving its all. It was like listening to one of my favorite prog bands freestyling on a sound test, but with less solo wankery and more strings.
I nearly gave this a 4.5/5, but while I loved every second of the album, I don't see myself coming back to it on the regular like I have with Beneath the Brine and other 4.5s. I have trouble articulating why, but I'd draw it down to preference. I can't sing along, and the music doesn't pump me up. It's background music, and art that I can appreciate with awe. By filling 2/4 of my 'things I look for in music'', The Goat Rodeo Session earns a well-deserved 4.
4/5

Well put!! This articulates a lot of why I like it as well.

Btw I definitely recommend Nightwish's other albums as well if you end up liking them. All pretty awesome symphonic metal. I think Imaginaerum is my favorite, but a lot of their ~real fans~ seem to prefer their earlier ones in the era when Tarja Turunen was the lead vocalist, she's quite talented.

I definitely intend to check out the rest of Ayreon's albums eventually. Might have to take a break from the cheese though lol

I have something in mind for the next submission period (I actually have quite a few candidates, it'll take so long to get to everything I want to submit

) And cool, I'll check out your reviews!

Alright I gotta admit I'm really enjoying Ayreon so far. I'm listening to Part 2 now lol. It's suuuuper cheesy and not really the most original or impressive musically imo, but part of me is a real sucker for nerdy huge-scope concepts such as the premise of the Dream Sequencer and traveling back through human history, and I think it's done in a fairly compelling way. It's good fun. Probably like a 3.5?

Also I noticed one of the guest vocalists is Floor Jansen who later joined Nightwish -- [mention]speedchuck[/mention] I'd definitely recommend their album Endless Forms Most Beautiful, it's slightly less cheesy and less coherent as a concept album but pretty musically enjoyable and has some similar themes re: evolution and human history.

Anyway, yeah this is not the kind of thing I'd always be up for, and it is pretty over-the-top cheesy, but that's the type of project it is and the type of artist this guy seems to be, and the premise of the concept/project is compelling and I think it's executed well for what it is.

Marina is 4-4.5 stars for me. Totally love it.

Will probably get to Ayreon tomorrow

Oh boy cheesy epic scifi. Sounds fun

...I've known and loved the song "I Am Not A Robot" for years but for some reason never really got around to checking out anything else by her. Now I realize that's been a gross oversight on my part. Loving the album.

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