The Syndicate

Wait that's where it already was. Confused.

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

After one listening as background music while I was working, I liked it quite a bit. They put me in mind of Noah and the Whale a bit, maybe even Modest Mouse. I definitely liked the vocals.

I will listen to it again later paying more attention to lyrics, not just to the general feel of it.

I listened while I worked this evening, so as usual lately I was distracted. It was pleasant enough though if not especially engaging. I wouldn't speak ill of it at least. I'll listen again later in the week and hopefully have something more interesting to say. I rarely seem to have time at this point to just sit down and focus on an album.

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.

I'll post some final thoughts on Petrushka tonight after one more listen with my headphones on.

As for Los Campesinos!, it's got a pretty standard 21st century indie pop/rock vibe. I missed immersing myself in this sound by about six months. I caught The Strokes when they were brand new and sort of pulled back from the emerging indie pop/rock sound when pop stations started picking up bands like The Killers and Modest Mouse. I hear plenty of that arty/performance-minded influence here.

That doesn't mean I disliked it though. I was biased against anything too poppy or emo back then, and the indie rock/pop sound always veered dangerously close to those lines. I've warmed up to the craftsmanship of the genre over time. A few of the songs had guitar and vocal layering combos that reminded me of Billy Corgan's work during the Zwan experiment, which is a welcome sound to my ears.

The comparisons being made in this thread are super interesting to me. Modest Mouse are one of my favorite bands and I've never thought of them as being that much alike, but then again, I can see how they have a lot of attributes in common: dense lyrics and big indie rock guitar sounds are a few. I haven't heard Zwan but I love Siamese Dream so I'll have to remember to check that out in the future.

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.

how do i participate in this

Enrique wrote: ↑Wed Mar 07, 2018 2:49 pm how do i participate in this

At will! Just listen to whatever is up for the week and tell us what you think. When the current queue is ending we’ll submit new suggestions and carry on. We’d love to have you take part.

Cool, cool. I'm in.

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

nutella wrote: ↑Wed Mar 07, 2018 2:17 am 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.

I feel this. To me every song sounded more or less like the same major key sound and blended together. Nothing stood out, nothing felt particularly exciting. I only ever remember Los Campesinos! from "You! Me! Dancing!", which is a great song (okay I haven't actually heard it in years but I remember it being) and I've been tempted to listen to that EP or whatever. That's also from a long time ago though and it's hard to be consistent over such a long period.

Hey, welcome, Enrique! Glad to see you and Colin here.

It's been... an insane week for me (but very awesome), so I've actually barely listened to any music this week (by my standards anyway, which I guess means <10 albums). I'll get to this today or this weekend and let you all know my thoughts and such.

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.

speedchuck wrote: ↑Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:07 pm

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.

Then you, my friend, are Mr. Impossible.

So... I struggled with Los Campesinos!, but unfortunately that's a long-running trend of my experience with Indie Rock sort of stuff. I'd say my lack of enjoyment with it falls about the same way I feel about Arcade Fire and the like though, so it's not anything against LC! in particular. Nonetheless, I do appreciate Colin putting forth a more lesser-known group and one that clearly has significant meaning for him for his first submission.

I’m going to be on the road a lot tomorrow. If someone else wants to introduce the next album, have at it.

Sure I'll do i- oh whoops nvmd

Is it even clear which album is next? "ordered by the time elapsed since the last submission was run per user" whatever this means

Ricochet wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 5:17 am Sure I'll do i- oh whoops nvmd

Is it even clear which album is next? "ordered by the time elapsed since the last submission was run per user" whatever this means

the order is listed in the OP. yours is last at request.

Final verdict on Los Campesinos, I liked it as background music, if it shows up in my background rotation, I would be ok with it. But it doesn't stand out; I tend to play mellower indy as life background, and nothing about this would make me say, when a song came on, "Wow! This is Los Campesinos!". It's kind of blendy to my ear.

A 3 out of 5. I liked it enough that I did not erase it from my playlist history, but not enough to seek out another album by this group.

I loved Los Campesinos! back when I discovered them in 2009. That's 9 years ago and my taste has changed a little bit but I can still appreciate their music. This is probably LC's most upbeat album musically speaking (I haven't listened to their 2017 release...maybe another submission for ColinIsCool). There's some twee pop in here mixed with the indie rock that is actually inoffensive and pleasing with decent synths and arrangements. I loved the lyrics, none of the cliche stuff you expect to hear and I hope everyone read along to the lyrics cos it does make a difference. Despite the more upbeat kind of music, it's still filled with sad songs about heartbreak or death or whatever like on songs What Death Leaves Behind, Avocado Baby and Cemetery Gaits.

I wouldn't call it a 5/5 album, but I'd give it a strong 3.5/5 even leaning 4/5 after repeated listens. Would have been an easy 4/5 9 years go for sure.

Dunya got me thinking; I wonder how I would have rated all of these albums differently 9 years ago.

Hey look at that, Week 51.

I hope we make it until at least Week 100.

Looking forward to this album, nutella! Maybe I'll even give it a listen later today.

MovingPictures07 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 1:17 pm Dunya got me thinking; I wonder how I would have rated all of these albums differently 9 years ago.

I have all my RYM ratings to go through man. Lots of edits needed to reflect dunya today.

dunya wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 1:31 pm

MovingPictures07 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 1:17 pm Dunya got me thinking; I wonder how I would have rated all of these albums differently 9 years ago.

I have all my RYM ratings to go through man. Lots of edits needed to reflect dunya today.

Yeah, it's been interesting to think about how I have been rating things the last year or so since I started rating vs. at any time in the past. Even in the past year it's been about reassessment to some degree as things have grown on or off even in that time, let alone a decade. Every time I listen to something anymore I pull up the RYM page for the album to reassess my rating for it. Lol.

So I'd say my ratings are very accurate of my current tastes... but it takes a lot of upkeep to maintain that, that's for sure. It's super fun though.

Thanks for listening, everybody. I can't say I agree much with the running theme that the particular brand of indie here is ordinary, but I wasn't expecting people to take to it anywhere near as much as I do, so I'm glad you liked it. Onto this week's!

dunya wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 12:37 pm I loved Los Campesinos! back when I discovered them in 2009. That's 9 years ago and my taste has changed a little bit but I can still appreciate their music. This is probably LC's most upbeat album musically speaking (I haven't listened to their 2017 release...maybe another submission for ColinIsCool). There's some twee pop in here mixed with the indie rock that is actually inoffensive and pleasing with decent synths and arrangements. I loved the lyrics, none of the cliche stuff you expect to hear and I hope everyone read along to the lyrics cos it does make a difference. Despite the more upbeat kind of music, it's still filled with sad songs about heartbreak or death or whatever like on songs What Death Leaves Behind, Avocado Baby and Cemetery Gaits.

I wouldn't call it a 5/5 album, but I'd give it a strong 3.5/5 even leaning 4/5 after repeated listens. Would have been an easy 4/5 9 years go for sure.

I would recommend Sick Scenes if you liked this one, but it's actually closer to their debut for me in terms of what it feels like. They're getting older and writing a lot about that so I think there was a bit of an idea to revisit what it was they were doing and feeling then.

Seriously, thanks for participating, Colin. It's cool to have a wide variety of tastes in here, even if it means inevitably some of us won't necessarily take to the submitted album.

yea, [mention]ColinIsCool[/mention], don't feel down. I submitted a Drake album as my first submission and I took all their insults personally and hated everyone on here for like a whole week. I chilled down when I realized that they simply have awful taste in music

dunya wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 2:03 pm yea, ColinIsCool, don't feel down. I submitted a Drake album as my first submission and I took all their insults personally and hated everyone on here for like a whole week. I chilled down when I realized that they simply have awful taste in music

Hey.

But seriously, I know what you mean too, [mention]ColinIsCool[/mention]. I'm certainly not an expert in Indie music for good reason, so don't take my comments on it to heart. I don't even like Arcade Fire.

I feel somewhat similarly when I throw electronic albums up for submission and people clearly don't get it.

I am afraid to submit an album, I am afraid I will be laughed out of the place

Like the thing I am most into right now is Jazz bagpipes, something I think NO ONE else likes

S~V~S wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 2:47 pm I am afraid to submit an album, I am afraid I will be laughed out of the place

Like the thing I am most into right now is Jazz bagpipes, something I think NO ONE else likes

Do it. Seriously. I think we're generally pretty non-judgmental and civil around here. And you're great.

That sounds up my alley. (we need a bagpipe emoji, apparently.)

MovingPictures07 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 3:00 pm Do it. Seriously. I think we're generally pretty non-judgmental and civil around here.

dunya wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 3:02 pm

MovingPictures07 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 3:00 pm Do it. Seriously. I think we're generally pretty non-judgmental and civil around here.

Well, yeah, dunya obviously excluded.

dunya wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 12:37 pma strong 3.5/5

now wait just a damned minute

I don't feel down at all! There really is no account for taste so having feelings about someone else's feelings about music is not my thing

ColinIsCool wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:12 pm I don't feel down at all! There really is no account for taste so having feelings about someone else's feelings about music is not my thing

Re: A New Nature

Genres: Ethereal Wave, Post-Rock, Gothic Rock
Secondary Genres: Post-Punk, Dream Pop

This looks promising.

I'm an ethereal wave tbh

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

Okay, I'm a fan of this for sure. I'll be listening to it again with anticipation. I'm thinking light 4.0 after one listen.

MovingPictures07 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 12, 2018 11:49 pm Okay, I'm a fan of this for sure. I'll be listening to it again with anticipation. I'm thinking light 4.0 after one listen.

Listening to it again and my impressions are pretty much the same as they were after listen #1.

I'm trying to think what keeps this from being an ideal record, despite the fact that I think it's really cool. I will admit that this album isn't exactly the most unique thing in the world. Many artists since Cocteau Twins in the 80s have sought to create their own brand within the space of gothic-rock and ethereal wave (and I suppose the same could be said of post-rock since Talk Talk in the late 80s), but simultaneously I wouldn't say any artist immediately comes to mind as a convincing parallel to what Esben and the Witch accomplish on this album. It's an interesting blend of influences but still by no means feels overly derivative; I'd say the band still occupies a relatively unique space in those aforementioned, crowded genre "tents", so to speak. Perhaps this might be a bit mood-dependent for me as well, maybe due to the vocals more than anything, which are great really, but I can't foresee wanting to spin it all the time. But even if I did listen to it when my mood wasn't exactly compatible, I still think I would get quite a bit of enjoyment out of it.

All of that said, this is a new favorite of mine for sure. It makes for a pretty great addition to my other favorites, so I'm sticking with the 4.0 rating. I'd say I'm now a casual fan of this band.

I'm not sure any particular track sticks out because during both listens I felt I was listening to a rather cohesive album. I'd probably pick "The Jungle" as the highlight if I had to pick just one though.

Thanks for the submission, nutella. Not sure how I didn't know about this band already, but very glad I do now. I'll be likely checking out their other releases as well.

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

I will try it again tonight, I was distracted by politics when I was listening to it last night. I loved the instrumentals, but I find that I am verrrryy fussy about female singers. With the exception of Bjork, I have very little in my playlists that has female singers, except some fairly old punkish/post punkish things like Siouxie or Blondie.

I tend to judge "ethereal" by Bjork, and i found the vocals too bland to really catch my attention. But as I said, I was distracted, and that is me. Objectively, I could see why others would like this.

S~V~S wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:19 am With the exception of Bjork, I have very little in my playlists that has female singers

do you like PJ Harvey?

dunya wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 10:57 am

S~V~S wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 6:19 am With the exception of Bjork, I have very little in my playlists that has female singers

do you like PJ Harvey?

Actually I do. I like Patti Smith, too. I think that, for the most part, I find the female voice bland unless it covers alot of range.

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

speedchuck wrote: ↑Wed Mar 14, 2018 11:25 am 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

Yes! I loved the instrumentals, I could listen to this all the time... with a different singer. Maybe I was blaming it on the female voice in general, whereas it actually was more THIS specific female voice.

As I said, I will try again without distraction tonight.

yeah I very much understand the gripes about the vocals