The Syndicate

I don't know why you need a nomination and voting phase. No offense, but I think that's silly and going to keep you bogged down. Get the first x number of people to recommend one album each and use that.

I mean...what are you voting on if you (presumably) haven't heard the offerings before? And if you have heard them, doesn't that make you biased?

I don't know. This would be more interesting if you just invited people to list one album, and it goes in the queue.

And a week? How long does it take you to listen to a record a few times and form an opinion? It took me over a year to appreciate Jethro Tull's A Passion Play, but I get the impression most of you won't be giving us A Passion Play.

My two cents worth.

A week is too long, was what I was saying. Albums take 40-78 minutes to listen to in most cases, and most people will be listening while doing other things. I guarantee you a week to listen and comment will drag your thread into the territory of "Oh I meant to get to it but forgot" more often than you would like.

Golden wrote:I wouldn't want to go much shorter than a week. Music does take time to digest, I'd want to listen to it, let it sit, listen to it again.

Ariana Grande doesn't take a week to digest, Golden.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:Truly all the details aren't that important, I just want to listen to music.

Get a queue going. Same as the speed queue.

My suggestion:

Echolyn- Echolyn

Links would be nice too.

Echolyn - Echolyn
Released in 2012
Progressive Rock
8 Tracks
70:44

I prefer "Listen to Shit You Ain't Heard Befo"

I haven't even heard it once and I can already tell it sucks.

MovingPictures07 wrote:

Epignosis wrote:I haven't even heard it once and I can already tell it sucks.

I should have specified that my sentiment of being honest with each other doesn't apply to you.

"Lush orchestration"
"Over the top"
"Trying too hard to be epic"

Yeah, I could never like anything like that.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:Yeah I think that's just Epi making a joke. He hasn't heard it yet, and the qualities he was disparaging are hallmarks of his precious progressive rock anyway.

When you're into this:



You're not frightened away.

I suppose I should listen to this shit.

First of all, the lead vocalist is clearly a male. I don't understand how anyone thought otherwise.

So far I have a new favorite.

That vibrato is incredible. It makes me think of Kevin Max from DC Talk, an amazing singer.

I'm sorry- this fellow is a talented vocalist.

Golden wrote:

Epignosis wrote:First of all, the lead vocalist is clearly a male. I don't understand how anyone thought otherwise.

It is really androgynous.

Then check your ears. He has an incredible range. Fantastic vocalist.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I like the vocals too. I think they suit the music very well. I tend to be a fan of this sort of colorful indie stuff though.

I'm three tracks in.

I planned on doing stuff while listening.

I have done nothing but just sit here with my hand on my chin enjoying what I am hearing.

Fourth track starting now.

I also know why I like this singer. He sounds like the lead singer from Ritual.

As far as I'm concerned, this thread is already a success.

Well done nutella.

Golden wrote:

Epignosis wrote:

Golden wrote:

Epignosis wrote:First of all, the lead vocalist is clearly a male. I don't understand how anyone thought otherwise.

It is really androgynous.

Then check your ears. He has an incredible range. Fantastic vocalist.

Checked them. They're still there.

Do you not recognize falsetto?

thellama73 wrote:I thought he had a rather feminine voice as well, so Golden isn't crazy. Took me a minute to tell whether it was a man or a women in the first track.

No. You're both crazy.

Contrary to what was said by others here, I think the vocalist is phenomenal and fit the ostentatious nature of the music perfectly.

To me, this is the Electric Light Orchestra without the rock and roll element and with a better singer than Jeff Lynne. And I like Jeff Lynne. "As We Move Forward" contains the same melody and chord progression as an ELO song ("Waterfall" in case you are wondering). Even the inflections are similar on the chorus.

As a huge ELO fan, that's something.

This blew me away. Thanks nutella. Good first pick.

5/5

And I almost never award those on a first listen. This clicked with me instantly and completely.

S~V~S wrote:

Epignosis wrote:

Golden wrote:

Epignosis wrote:First of all, the lead vocalist is clearly a male. I don't understand how anyone thought otherwise.

It is really androgynous.

Then check your ears. He has an incredible range. Fantastic vocalist.

Can we do this without judging other peoples opinions? I am already intimidated posting in this group as so many of you come from a music background or site. Saying things like this make people like me even less likely to join this type of discussion.

Thank You.

I wasn't judging his opinion. I thought I was being...fraternal? More along the lines of:

"Man, Stephen Curry is the greatest basketball player ever."

"Then check your eyes. You clearly didn't see what a mess he was against the Nuggets last night, who are awful against point guards."

Maybe I'm just hanging around on DFS sites too much.

I haven't listened to crap this week except my own sighing.

Finally got a chance to listen (it had to be done in spurts, unfortunately, as I don't have 2+ hours of uninterrupted listening time).

In a nutshell:

Dig the music, but the gimmicky vocals in places largely detract from the otherwise pleasant experience. The third piece was significantly enjoyable, particularly with the staggered bass line. Sometimes (as with the extended reggae piece), I feel like I'm listening to Muzak- I know that's rather disparaging to say, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it. It just doesn't move me. "In the Flight" was a good tune, and I found the slick violin glissando a swell turn on an otherwise repetitive number.

"Long Season" is worth the price of admission alone, however. 4/5 for that. 3/5 for the concert.

I listened to The Family Crest a second time today.

I found that I could hum several of the instrumental or vocal passages with ease. If I can do that on a second listen, it almost always means I'm in love.

I forgot to post my opinion of Goat.

My first impression was that it made me hearken back to Amon Duul II's album Yeti, something I like but don't listen to very much anymore. It has that gritty, repetitive, psychedelic quality. In some respects, they're more like The Mars Volta. Dig the organ on "Disco Fever." "Goatlord" and "Det som aldrig förändras" are excellent- highlights of the album.

Overall, good stuff, but not something I would reach for often. 3/5.

I have yet to work up the strength.

Ten seconds in and I already hate it.

insertnamehere wrote:Y'all people quitting halfway before you even get to hear Epizootics!

Epi what now?

nutella wrote: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.

It's art. I get it.

It's bad art. A cross in a jar of urine is art. It's bad art. It doesn't take any talent to deliver. This album is talentless. If I am going to spend my time listening to music, I want to hear skill.

insertnamehere wrote:There's a difference between saying that this album isn't your kind of thing, and Scott Walker has no talent or skill. I'll fight the latter tooth and nail.

Explain to me what talent or skill Scott Walker needed to make this album.

Besides being able to shit, I mean.

Echolyn - Echolyn (2012)

THIS IS THE STORY OF THE HARE WHO LOST HIS SPECATACLES

Do it.

APP > everything else JT ever did except MitG, their magnum opus.

thellama73 wrote:

Epignosis wrote:APP > everything else JT ever did except MitG, their magnum opus.

Fully agree, although I also have a deep fondness for Heavy Horses.

We never finished that Jethro Tull mafia, did we?

I got behind in my ratings there. Bish Bosh drained my enthusiasm. If I had to pick a favorite track, it would be "Epizootics!," but other than that, I don't get how this experience can appeal to anyone, but it does, and that's cool. 1/5 and moving on.

I think I listened to The Crazy World of Arthur Brown out of order, so I had go back and hear it properly. The caterwauling vocals occasionally distract from the overall presentation rather than contribute to it. Sometimes I am reminded of the more psychedelic side of Grand Funk Railroad ("Mean Mistreater" springs to mind). "Fire" is one of the grooviest songs I've ever heard. Love that organ riff. "Rest Cure" was too out there for my tastes, and I didn't care much for the James Brown cover. Overall pretty good stuff. 3/5

I dig Chuck Berry (RIP), but I agree with the consensus that growing up in the wake of what it inspired (and what that inspired), I regard it as something primitive and well...not as interesting. But that's okay. Early rock and roll is ridiculously simplistic but probably sounded revolutionary at the time. Of course, it doesn't help being a musician who has played in many cover bands that played some Chuck Berry. Try asking me what I think about "Sweet Home Alabama." 3/5

Yawn.

Tardy as usual am I. Woodface was an entirely pleasant experience, but at the same time, it wasn't engaging to me. I will give them this: Unlike many pop rock groups, Crowded House knows how to lay down a respectable bass groove. The vocal harmonies were not my favorite, but they were unique in a way that I appreciate (I think super sleek vocal harmonies are fine- see: Eagles, The- but I like vocal harmonies with some distinction and character- Yes is a band that gets it right. Even if Steve Howe on his own is a horrid vocalist, he sounds great and important with Anderson and Squire, filling out the low end).

Good songwriting, great bass work, intriguing harmonies- overall, very good pop rock music that I was happy to be exposed to. 3/5.

Arthur by The Kinks is okay stuff, decidedly British of the time, but this particular album I find fits right in that unfortunate wedge between accessible and quirky, and that wedge is "forgettable." I don't care for the vocals and never have. They're awfully nasally and the harmonies tend to be discordant.

I do appreciate the historical theatrics (histrionics? ), and I think the lead guitar has some swell moments.

But this is a 2/5 for me. Decent music, but there's so much more music in this same style I like better.

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'll keep nominating the same old shit until it gets reviewed, I guess.

I got behind because I didn't feel inspired to sit through forty minutes of someone recording the sounds of the city. But I have.

Before I get into this spiel, I will remark that at times when the recorder interjected, I was reminded of "Thela Hun Ginjeet" by King Crimson.

I want to start with the end of the first half, when we get the intent of the production. Rosetto says she's been recording things, she takes them home, makes notes, cuts them up, and then reassembles them so that they have some kind of "narrative structure." The trouble is that I couldn't follow any narrative. I heard a bus driver (?) yelling at people on a bus (?). I heard a British(?) lady communicating something I couldn't follow. I didn't get any sense of narrative: What I heard was random noises from the outside world, which is something I can hear just by going outside in the city.

I'll give my two cents here, which I already know some will reject: This sort of thing may seem artistic, but it requires almost no skill to produce. The artist has no control over the "composition" (using that term loosely). There's no composition or performance on the part of the recorder other than sonic arrangement, and even that element seems minimal. Yes, I understand there is an art in arrangement, but here is my question: In music, people can generally agree if a singer is off key or if a drummer is off beat or if a recording engineer mixed the guitar solo too low. How do you judge the artist merits of a field recording? From my discussion with others on this subject, the answer I got was essentially, "If you like it, you like it."

Right-o. But that's true of everything, and isn't a particularly helpful answer if you're trying to convince me that this is art. Art implies creativity, and in this instance, was anything created? Again, perhaps you can argue that arrangement itself is an expression of creativity, but If that's all there is to it, then maybe I'll record forty minutes of my kids fussing and crying, arrange it to form some "narrative structure" and bingo- I'm an artist.

In discussing this with others elsewhere, some of us regarded field recordings as "bootlegs of the real world." If a person goes to a concert and records what's there, we call that a "bootleg," and even then, one wouldn't listen to that and feel that the bootlegger (rather than the band) was exhibiting some sort of artistic genius. However, it would seem that if the bootlegger took the recording home and chopped it up and reassembled it to have some kind of narrative, all of the sudden his "work" has a fancy French genre.

Sorry. I don't buy it.

Ricochet asked me what the difference was between hearing a bus driver yell at people on a bus and reading a chapter about the same subject. I said that when I read a chapter from a book, the author is going to tell about the bus driver and describe the scene his or her own way. If I asked Stephen King, John Irving, Margaret Atwood, and Anne Bradstreet to write a chapter about a bus driver yelling at people to move back, they are all going to produce different results that I can enjoy independently. The Bradstreet version should be especially good considering she wouldn't have any idea what a bus is. If King, Irving, Atwood, and Bradstreet were all sitting on that bus with the same recording device, we would hear more or less the same results. Yes, I get they would eventually go back and assemble their sounds into different orders and do "things" to the recordings. But I don't see what's so special about that.

I regard this as the difference between, say, Thomas Cole and Jackson Pollock. Anyone can make something that resembles a Pollock piece. Good luck trying to create something that looks like "The Voyage of Life" unless you are truly that talented.

And that's where I stand on that. 1/5

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Fri Apr 21, 2017 12:36 pm I consider "skill" to be irrelevant as a factor for determining the artistic merit of something.

I know you say so, but I'm skeptical regarding how true that really is.

I say give APP some more time.

nutella wrote: ↑Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:21 pm 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

That is correct.

The 1991 album was the debut. I spoke with the lead songwriter inquiring about this duplicate title (among many other things), and he told me that at the time, the band believed this was going to be their last album (it wouldn't be), hence the "bookended eponymity" as it were. My pick is the latter work.

G-Man wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:54 am Halfway through and it's been enjoyable. Of the four tracks, the longer two have been better. I'm not completely sold on the singer's voice though yet. On the opening track he sounds like Justin Hawkins without the theatricality.

Which one? They have two leads. Ray Weston is the lead singer on "Headright," while Brett Kull is the lead singer on "Past Gravity," if that helps.

G-Man wrote: ↑Tue Jun 06, 2017 10:23 am

Epignosis wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2017 4:45 pm

G-Man wrote: ↑Mon Jun 05, 2017 11:54 am Halfway through and it's been enjoyable. Of the four tracks, the longer two have been better. I'm not completely sold on the singer's voice though yet. On the opening track he sounds like Justin Hawkins without the theatricality.

Which one? They have two leads. Ray Weston is the lead singer on "Headright," while Brett Kull is the lead singer on "Past Gravity," if that helps.

The first track, "Island." It's a pretty solid tune but the vocals don't gel with me. I'll have to listen for the different vocalists the next time through.

Both vocalists sing lead on that track. Weston is the first vocalist you hear. Kull sings "To me you are an island..."

I still have two albums to comment on, which I will do this weekend now that school is out (although my opinion of A Passion Play hasn't really changed since I wrote about it almost ten years ago). I'll comment on Echolyn too, since I actually interviewed the lead songwriter years ago and then contacted him again just last summer. He sounded excited to talk to me me, as strange as that sounds. Very cool fellow.

You are such a dick. An incredible, wonderful dick.