The Syndicate

Ooh, I like this. I'm definitely in.

Easier for me to suggest songs than albums, usually.

nutella wrote: ↑Mon Sep 16, 2019 12:58 am we should do saw again fools!!!!! And/or we could try "walrus" which is a music sharing game I discovered on MU

Explain Walrus pls.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Thu Jul 05, 2018 1:56 pm I get the impression we could use a collective break from SAW, which is perfectly fine. It's been going for over a year! We can resume this at a later time when it's better for everyone.

I'm going to leave this album for another week. If someone else disagrees, they can move it forward.

M Plus 7 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 19, 2018 1:16 am I've been busy. I'll catch up soon, sorry!

Ditto.

My headphones are not working again. Can't listen at work. Gotta get some new ones.

G-Man wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 11:54 am That feeling when you call a co-worker into your office to discuss something important and you realize partway through your conversation that Aphrodite's Child's "Infinity" is playing on your speakers.

I am thrilled that this happened.

was the first google result though.

You people and your concertos

Thanks G-Man

Huh. I was kind of average on Lanquidity until the final track started. It's very, very good. The hook of the track is more standout than previous tracks, and I really like it.

G-Man wrote: ↑Wed Jun 06, 2018 1:31 pm Help me understand Time's End. Is it the actual soundtrack to a video game? Is it original music that someone came up with to fit a video game? Or is it some kind of pet project that turned a simpler video game soundtrack into a full orchestral suite?

It's pretty music, I'll give you that, but I can't find a foothold on what I'm listening to.

It is an orchestral project that takes many of its cues from the opening arc of a Zelda game. While it is now officially licensed by Nintendo, this project was made by an individual studio. It came out in December of 2012, on the day the world was supposed to end. While much of the arrangements echo Koji Kondo's tracks from the actual game, there are additions, transitions, and tweaks that were not there in the original simple/catchy video game loop. Theophany, the author, has taken all of the arrangements from other parts of the game and mixed his original renditions into something wonderful.

So it's basically the third thing you mentioned, though he adds a lot more into it than just the orchestration upgrade. By focusing on a specific arc in the game, the album promotes a feel of narrative and story, as well as being able to pull other tracks in to supplement that.

I'll admit, it probably hits harder if you've played the game. But I love it regardless.

G-Man wrote: ↑Wed Jun 06, 2018 12:17 pm You know what might be funny? If we set aside one submission phase and had everyone submit an album that they think is bad and that everyone will probably agree is bad. I need to fill in the lower end of my list.

That would be fun. If we get 2 or 3 more motions for this, we can do it next time!

My submission:

Alan Parson's Project - Tales of Mystery and Imagination / 1976 / Progressive Rock / 11 tracks (on youtube) / 42:38 / available on Youtube

Golden wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 9:06 pm I just don't have time to fully participate which makes it feel mean to submit.

Don't worry about it.

The five or six of us that are consistently listening, commenting, and discovering music would like some outside influence.

If you want to look at certain albums that catch your eye, we've got them for you. And nutella's submissions are always good IMO, so that's a good place to look.

We need more submissions for the coming weeks! [mention]nutella[/mention] [mention]M Plus 7[/mention] [mention]Boomslang[/mention] [mention]insertnamehere[/mention] [mention]thellama73[/mention] [mention]G-Man[/mention] [mention]JaggedJimmyJay[/mention] [mention]triceratopzeuhl[/mention] [mention]A Person[/mention] [mention]Ricochet[/mention] [mention]Charlie Blackmon[/mention] [mention]Quin[/mention] [mention]Golden[/mention] [mention]sprityo[/mention] [mention]dunya[/mention] [mention]ColinIsCool[/mention]

You've been mentioned because you've submitted before. Please submit again! It takes very little time, and we need the variety.

Time's End II is just as good in my opinion. While Time's End focuses on the first time loop in the game, Time's End II carries the player through all the forest/swamp related tracks on the way to waking the first giant. Each one is a concentrated adventure, with very different tones to them.

I might like the eclectic-but-still-epic nature of Time's End II better than Time's End, but it may just be because it's newer to me.

Since I put last week's album up a day late, I'll update this tomorrow with MP's submission. Now is not a bad time to submit more albums, either.

G-Man wrote: ↑Sun Jun 03, 2018 10:16 pm Quin is. At least that who I sent a picture to.

Don't make me leave this here another week guys. :P

(I can update this after Memorial day)

Yeah, I've got headphones at work. I would listen to none of this out loud except for like Petrushka and Goat Rodeo Sessions. Even then, I might be asked to keep it down. I don't have my own office.

[mention]JaggedJimmyJay[/mention] What do you think of Emotion?

I've actually been listening to this one ahead of time, just a bit. It's really good. Better than I expected from "Call Me Maybe." The songs are catchy, stick with me, and somehow feel deeper and better than most pop I hear on the radio. Which is weird because the songs themselves are pretty simple and plain lyrically.

Maybe I'm just longing for other eras. A lot of this sounds like other decades of pop. 80s, 90s, 00s... in the 201X years, lots of pop has been depressing, muddy, and almost grungy. Even happy songs have some kind of pretentious seriousness, 'soulful'ness, or... fake coolness to them. To me, this sort of thing works for rock better than pop. Emotion throws that all away and enjoys itself. It's upbeat and fun. Emotion isn't worried about taking itself seriously, delivering a message, or giving us a feeling of hope in a dark age. There is no dark age here.

I'll probably listen again before I decide on a rating. It might even be a 4, though.

First impression of the album:

Van Lear Rose starts off sounding rather normal. It is old, soulful country, sung by a woman who is 70 but sounds 45. The problem I have with most country music is the accents, so at first I struggled to stay with it. But the genuineness of the album's tone kept me going, and after the first few songs, I began to see the rock influence. The latter two thirds of the album were not what I was expecting after the first third. The songs were varied, gritty at times, and utilized the talents and timbre of Loretta Lynn really well. She fits in so well with the rock instrumentation that I'm surprised I haven't heard that combination of tone and instruments before.

3.5/5

It was all just decent country until I got 5 tracks in, to "Have Mercy." Dang, that isn't something I've heard before. Nice.

Good grief, this woman has 41 studio albums! From 1963 to 2018. Mad respect already.

All of the albums so far in order of preference. I'm listening to anything 3.5 and up again when I get the chance. Those are the ones that I really liked.

And you're caught up! Congrats JJJ!

I guess that cheesiness you sensed is what made me think if Rishloo with this album.

Rhythm, Chord, and Melody is really living up to it's name. It has the melodic instruments of Family Crest, holding together the "keys and strings" in beautiful melodies. But the music holds a frantic pace a lot of the time, sounding more like the melodic soft version of a prog band like Rishloo. (There may be more apt comparisons, but this is what comes to mind.) The music is both melodic and busy at times, in a way I don't usually hear. That makes it unique, though not necessarily better than if it chose one or the other.

Like with most of Nutella's submissions, the music is pleasant. Each individual instrument is played with skill, and none of them sound harsh or annoying. No grating singers, bagpipes, organs, or overdriven guitars here. It all sounds good, if a bit overwhelming with density at times.

That's my impression of the music, anyway. The songs didn't have strong individual hooks, and they were busy, but it was still a good sound. The vocalist really tied it all together.

3.5/5 I think.

Edit: Heh I clicked reply instead of edit. Just doing more music reviews, nothing to see here.

I'm going to listen to Nutella's submission tomorrow.

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.

nutella wrote: ↑Sun Apr 29, 2018 9:21 pm I don't know what "rearranged soundtrack" means but I'm psyched.

Me neither. I made up the genre because I don't know how to do genre and there is no wikipedia page for this thing.

Man I have had no bloody time this past week.

Theophany - Time's End / 2012 / Rearranged Soundtrack / 10 tracks / 54:33 / Available on Youtube and Bandcamp

IDK how to genre

G-Man wrote: ↑Wed Apr 11, 2018 11:39 am I'm on the opposite side of the fence regarding the vocals. On a number of tracks, I thought to myself "man this song would rock more if Axl Rose was the singer."

Unpopular opinion on my end, I think. Axl Rose's voice wears thin on me about two minutes into any GnR song. He's too whiny and nasal.

Edit: It's fine not to focus on the story. But I think the story gives a different feel to the album in the musical delivery alone. To each their own. This album may not be for you.

G-Man wrote: ↑Tue Apr 10, 2018 3:02 pm Not to hold us back or anything, but I just got through my second spin of Operation: Mindcrime. Perhaps its my musical biases (an/or those I inherited from my father) but I'm not hearing anything that wows me. For those who rate this album highly, what should I focus on when I give it another spin? Is their any particular instrument virtuosity I may catch with my headphones on?

It's not my brand of metal, so most of it comes through as more or less standard hair-band era big sound that still plays ad nauseam on some rock stations. Am I missing something or is this album perhaps just not for me?

I would guess that it's not for you. I can see the big hair metal sound, but I enjoyed the album for its story, the dynamic vocals, and the really, really high quality 'big hair metal' sound.

Same sound, but I wouldn't equate Queensryche to Bon Jovi or Def Leppard or Motley Crue. This music has more to it than "PARTY" and "LOVE" and "INSPIRATION" and "SEX EUPHEMISMS." It's about politics, an underground revolution, brainwashed assassins, the influence of religion, forbidden relationships, etc. And, in my opinion, the music and vocals reflect that, demonstrating the difference between "The Needle Lies" and "Pour Some Sugar On Me."

But if you're looking for a different sound or some revolutionary use of metal instruments, you won't find it here. That's what I was looking for the first time I heard the album, and I was disappointed as well.

Hope I'm not jumping the gun too much here. I'll explain really quickly who this band is and why I submitted them. If you don't want to ruin the surprise, go ahead and start listening.

Royal Blood is not in my top 10 bands. They aren't in my top 15. They might be in my top 20. Point is, I didn't submit them because they are just the best gosh-darn act ever. I submitted them because they are unique.
RB is a recent rock band out of Britain, with two albums out. This is their second. The first album is more of the same, some better, some worse. I was introduced to Royal Blood when I was talking to a friend of mine, who plays the bass guitar. I play the drums. I joked that we should try jamming sometime, thinking that it was obviously a joke since you can't play music with only backing instruments. My friend immediately introduced me to Royal Blood to prove me wrong.
There are only two members in Royal Blood, a bassist/keyboardist/vocalist, and a drummer. The bassist mostly sticks to the bass guitar alone, giving the band a unique sonic texture. Generally, the two only record music on their album that they can play live, so the one bass guitar is all the tone that they have in most songs. By using a bass pedal that does something funky with the octaves, the band manages to emulate grungy guitar and sick drops into the low bass tones.
This dynamic is, again, unique, and it's interesting listening to a band that has these limitations. Their music takes a simpler form, and may not be for everyone, but it's something different, and I hope you enjoy it!

P.S. I kinda wish I had submitted their first album. On repeated listens, I've decided that it is the better of the two. Nevertheless, I have submitted what I have submitted.

4.5/5 (or maybe a 4/5, we'll see once I dwell on it.)

I've heard Operation: Mindcrime before. It was okay. I was doing all of the Ayreon stuff, and I stumbled across it. At the time, I was disappointed, having expected something else, something with a little more variety, I guess. More dialogue, less exposition in the lyrics.

I dunno what past me was thinking. This is really fun, some of the better progressive metal I've heard.

I just had the most surreal musical experience of my life.

I was listening to the Wilderness, first track. Minding my own business. And I also hear, about 2 minutes in, a phone ringing. At first I think nothing of this. But then on the second ring, I noticed an unusual pattern. The phone ring... was a part of the music.
I'm not exaggerating when I say I hit a solid 2 seconds of confusion. The brrrrrrr of the phone ring lasted exactly half a measure, and the time between rings was a measure and a half. Down to the hundredth of a second, the ring was timed to start in the middle of a measure and end on the downbeat that started the measure again. It was perfect. Boom. Clap. Brrriiiiiiiig-Clap. It added to the music. No tonal inconsistencies, no timing mishaps. I was a part of a transient experience.
I paused the music. I had to make sure. Yes, the phone kept ringing. I knew the sound well, and I hear it all of the time in my office. But I couldn't separate it. For that moment, Explosions in the Sky had another instrument in their mix, and I will never be able to hear this song the same way again.

Album's pretty grand, BTW. I don't know that's it's really uplifiting to me, though I could see how it would be to others. I would need context to give music like this an emotional response. But it's good. Varied. Pleasant. Wistful. Contemplative, but explosive. Would listen again.

I've been too busy to hit up Torrini. Listening to it now, and it's surprising me. I expected more soft folksy sound, given the choice of instrumentation and the airy vocals. But I'm really liking this despite myself.

4/5 from me. I'll move on to G-Man's submission today.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Thu Mar 15, 2018 4:33 pm The album has improved quickly with repetition. Even when I was feeling less enthusiastic, I felt an urge to play it again -- perhaps to reassess given the initial impression, or perhaps a sign that my first perspective wasn't entirely reflective of my true feelings. I dunno. It's working quite well now though. I am a big fan of the drums on this sucker, throughout the album. 3.5 right now, and probably closer to the 4 side than the 3 side.

I had to try a few times on this album as well. I usually don't put in the effort to do that, but I wanted to this time.

Best thing about this album is that Bass Guitar. It's crunchy, grungy, and yet clear. I want it to hold me.

A New Nature

I just knew... I just knew from the warm guitar and bass tones at the start of this album that I was going to like it. As the music picked up more and more, I liked it more and more. It edged toward being drone-y at times, which I don't generally like, but the muddy tones were just clear enough for me to pick out.
But the vocals weren't clear. They weren't clean, or pleasant. They were moaning, groaning, alternately weak and soft and faltering and bleh. I do not want to hear a woman droning words repeatedly over the music. It wasn't all bad, I suppose. I found myself thinking several times that I was overreacting. And then the singer would draw out some line waaaay longer than it needed to be, sounding horribly drone-y and almost in pain. It was just on and off, the whole time.
Had to get that off my chest.
If this music were just the same, but instrumental, I'd probably give it a 3.5 or 4. The tone build and fall successfully, turning a sound I'd usually hear from an unmixed 'artistic' garage band playing in a smoke-filled venue into music, passion, warmth, and energy. When the music really picks up, especially during the instrumental parts, I feel like I could just listen to these musicians warble on for hours.

3/5

nutella wrote: ↑Thu Mar 08, 2018 1:06 am also go back and listen to previous submissions lol catch up on the whole thing eventually

That's just impossible.

ColinIsCool wrote: ↑Mon Mar 05, 2018 4:08 pm LC! are one of my favorite bands and this album ranks very high in their discography for me. I have a lot of thoughts on it but for now I'll say that it's probably their most competent and all-around solid release (but not my favorite). Obviously, the vocal style of Gareth Campesinos doesn't bother me, but I'm wondering if it does anybody here. I'm used to people not digging this group, but I'm curious to hear y'all on it

Gareth has an interesting voice. For me, his distinctive vocals mirror those of other bands I enjoy, bands that have goofier or more fun-loving vocalists. I didn't mind it, but it didn't fit the big sound that the band was going for in some places. My opinion, of course.
This is an album that grows on repeated listens. The mix is pretty clear, despite the amount of things that are going on, and the lyrics are easy to follow a lot of the time. Nothing here wow-ed me, but it also stood out and had its own distinct sound. Like you said, it's solid.