The Syndicate

Pretty, but short. Hard to be engaging when you’re just over a minute long. Ori’s a good game, though. Need to finish it someday.

One of my most vivid memories from my first month of college involves a conversation with people I didn’t really know, in which they expressed excitement over the latest New Politics release and their desire to go to music festivals what seemed like once a month. It was at that point that I realized I had no idea how to communicate with extroverts even in college. Ah well.

I suppose that doesn’t really have anything to do with anything. This song’s OK. I heard it on the radio a bunch in high school (at least I think it was high school).

They had us in the first 4 seconds, not gonna lie. Those vocals… wow. They’re certainly… impactful. I really like the general vibe and the backing track but the way this vocalist enunciates is a major turnoff. Will say subsequent listens made it a little easier to swallow, but I still wish this song was being fronted by someone else.

I can’t muster up much stronger commentary for this than “it’s kinda nice, I suppose”. This vocal style has never SUPER done it for me, but it’s alright. The guitar work is fairly nice, but everything is super super understated and I just can’t really get into it.

Yeah, Bruno Mars is like, fine. I like Uptown Funk a lot! Pretty sure I heard this one on the radio a fair bit back when it first came out, which kind of inoculates me to any sort of emotional response it may otherwise be able to elicit, and the song itself is… pretty safe, pretty bland. Don’t hate it, but like. Whatever.

I’m… I’m sorry, I’m just incapable of viewing Jimmy Buffett as actual MUSIC, yknow? He’s an excuse for my parents to get day drunk and hang out with a bunch of other 50 and 60something white people. He’s the reason Margaritaville exists (did you know there’s one on the San Antonio Riverwalk? Did you know you should eat literally anywhere else?) My brain is just pure TV static listening to this. Is this in my walrus? How did we get here? I’m giving it a 5.

This is more of a hard genre whiff than anything else. This sort of overproduced top 40 nonsense just REALLY doesn’t do it for me. There are individual elements I could point to that I like - the acoustic guitar interludes are fairly ok, and she’s undoubtedly a talented vocalist - but the whole package is just… eurgh. Sort of thing that makes me change the station if I hear it on the radio.

[mention]MacDougall[/mention]
[mention]NANOOKTHEGREATANDFEARSOME[/mention]
[mention]Timsup2nothin[/mention]
[mention]cayvie[/mention]
[mention]Hally[/mention]
[mention]vanity.[/mention]
[mention]Keldeo[/mention]
[mention]nutella[/mention]
[mention]LordQuas[/mention]
[mention]TonyStarkPrime[/mention]
[mention]Ranmilia[/mention]
[mention]Boomslang[/mention]
[mention]M Plus 7[/mention]
[mention]G-Man[/mention]
[mention]JaggedJimmyJay[/mention]
[mention]birdwithteeth11[/mention]
[mention]Sloonei[/mention]
[mention]Queen Pink[/mention]
[mention]Epignosis[/mention]
[mention]Enrique[/mention]
[mention]motobot[/mention]
[mention]Marcher Jovian[/mention]
[mention]Turnip Head[/mention]
[mention]dobby[/mention]
[mention]Mistyx[/mention]

[mention]MacDougall[/mention]
[mention]NANOOKTHEGREATANDFEARSOME[/mention]
[mention]Timsup2nothin[/mention]
[mention]cayvie[/mention]
[mention]Hally[/mention]
[mention]vanity.[/mention]
[mention]Keldeo[/mention]
[mention]nutella[/mention]
[mention]LordQuas[/mention]
[mention]TonyStarkPrime[/mention]
[mention]Ranmilia[/mention]
[mention]Boomslang[/mention]
[mention]M Plus 7[/mention]
[mention]G-Man[/mention]
[mention]JaggedJimmyJay[/mention]
[mention]birdwithteeth11[/mention]
[mention]Sloonei[/mention]
[mention]Queen Pink[/mention]
[mention]Epignosis[/mention]
[mention]Enrique[/mention]
[mention]motobot[/mention]
[mention]Marcher Jovian[/mention]
[mention]Turnip Head[/mention]
[mention]dobby[/mention]
[mention]Mistyx[/mention]

Ah fuck. One of the few examples of a song where I’m forced to really really care about the lyrics lol, and the rest of the song bangs too. This is just… how can I not give this the win? I love this. This rules. G fucking G.

I fuckin’ love Japanese band names. This sounds like the sort of song that was used for an anime opening, but it’s not one that I’ve ever heard before, so I think it escapes the sort of “not a real song” stigma that anime openings kinda pick up for me sometimes, which allows me to fully enjoy everything the song has to offer. And man, I fuckin’ love this style, and I fuckin’ love this song. Good shit. I’m not a weeb.

In high school, I listened exclusively to bad ska (read: Reel Big Fish). Nowadays, I listen exclusively to good ska (read: Streetlight Manifesto). Draw your own conclusions. The horns at the beginning of this song are orgasmically good.

So I absolutely love Chris Cornell and basically everything he was ever involved with, so… yeah. Audioslave good. This song bangs. Big fan.

Yeah yeah ok. I love this song, have this album on vinyl, know the words by heart (I think)... been here, done that, great song.

It’s super simple but there’s something absolutely enamoring about that guitar riff that runs under most of the song. Maybe I just really like this sort of guitar tone? Whatever it is, it’s really fucking good, and there’s a constant forward momentum to the track that keeps me super engaged. Goood shit.

If I had gotten an earlier start with music I probably would have been very into Death Cab in high school - but that’s ok, because I’m very into Death Cab now. Good pick.

Incredible band name. Vocals took some adjusting but once I settled in I could really appreciate the construction of the song. Piano is an excellent texture here. Idk man its Good Song.

This is actually one of my favorite albums of all time, and although it isn’t necessarily one of my favorite tracks off of said albums, that still means this song slaps.

Solid late-night vibes. Glitch-like noises in the intro are super interesting, and then the song settles down into a nice groove that’s just really pleasant to listen to. The vocals were a bit jarring at first but they honestly fit the song super well. Sonic Youth continues to be one of those bands where I just really really like every song I hear by them but am too lazy to go find more myself.

I never played this game, nor listened to its OST, because it’s a shit game; however, I’ve always had a soft spot for Sonic music, and this is no exception. Nostalgic despite its ostensible unfamiliarity, and I continue to love Crush 40’s style even beyond the point of reasonability.

Stomp clap stomp clamp. Excellent vocals and interesting background textures. Not the sort of style I typically dive into but it executes that style very well and makes me wanna listen to the rest of this album. Also aren’t we a bit early to the spooky category huehuehuehuehue

Lmao this song is good you can’t change my mind.

The more Tears For Fears songs I hear, the more I think I should be listening to more Tears For Fears, cause this is pretty neat. Took me a while to rank because I did a lot of judging way too late at night and I kept dissociating to this one, but I think that’s a good thing given the genre? And the production is excellent, as per usual for them. Strong sub.

So it’s no small secret that I’m kind of a philistine when it comes to T-Swizzle, but I enjoy this a fair bit more than I expected to. The song’s very saccharine and the lyrics are lol, but the mood’s infectious and the instrumental actually kinda bangs. I guess this is what happen when your song is scientifically engineered to be popular, heh.

Life is hard, and so am I. This is the most 90s thing ever and I’m kinda into it. Vocalist sounds like he’s singing this song with a fist currently being driven into his gut, but like, in a good way. Kinda hurts to have it this low, but it’s a strong category - competition’s tense from here on out.

The instrumental carries this track. Vocals aren’t my favorite here - but that guitar is sick enough to give the song a sense of forward momentum that it really needs. Sick riff in general, and then the solo is pretty damn good as well. And when the second guitar kicks in? Choice.

My only prior exposure to John Butler is a really really cool live solo acoustic performance, so this is… somewhat different from that, but it’s still quite nice. Hits the sweet spot of a kinda post-grungey sound that actually does it for me, and the backing textures of the guitar/strings are like. Classically vintage late 90s/early 00s in a good way. Idk, this is bringing me back to a really particular time and I’m enjoying it.

Lmao those random noises in the middle of the song. I dig the overall groove of this, though I kinda wish it progressed into being something more. Don’t really think I have much else to say about it beyond that? Just sort of a pretty good song.

I like a lot of the big new wave hits, but the rest of the genre often feels very samey to me. Quite a bit of this song sounds like any other Depeche Mode or Tears For Fears song you could pluck off one of their albums - which isn’t to say I don’t enjoy it! It’s just not particularly interesting in the grand scheme of things. I dunno if this is an album track but it feels like one.

I’m giving you the bonus points because I’ve never heard this particular cover before… but I definitely like the Sia version better. I think Sia’s voice and the production on that version is more able to hit the emotional climax that this song really craves, whereas this version winds up being like a very good American Idol performance of the same song. I certainly don’t NOT enjoy it, it just makes me wish I was listening to the other one.

My ADHD hates this song. I want so terribly desperately to score it higher but between the soft synth pads and the breathy voice I just cannot for the life of me maintain any degree of focus while it’s playing. This is probably the one I had to listen to the most while judging because I just plain kept forgetting what it sounded like. There are cool things going on here, but they keep falling into the black hole that is my brain.

The biggest knock on this song is that it’s generic. I feel like I’ve heard it a million times before, even though on an intellectual level I know I haven’t. The individual sounds come together nicely but it just… doesn’t do anything particularly INTERESTING, yknow? The guitar is the nicest part of it but it still kinda feels like I stumbled upon someone’s youtube cover of a OneRepublic song or something.

I actually had to watch this movie for a leadership class I got swindled into taking in high school, so that was fun. The song itself is thoroughly uninteresting until like 30 seconds before the end, which isn’t exactly the best look when you’re a 5 minute song. Unrelated aside: still weirds me out that Haley Joel Osment’s face looks exactly the same as it did when he was a kid.

Feels bad to rate this so low, but… the nostalgia isn’t really there for me. I have utmost respect for Fred Rogers as a person and an entertainer, but I don’t know if I’ve ever actually seen a single episode of Mr. Rogers’s Neighborhood. Might’ve been before my time, tbh - I’m not 100% sure when it aired - but whatever the case, the emotional appeal’s a miss, and the song itself is kind of whatever.

After shaking off my initial reaction of uncontrollable giggling, I came to the sudden and stark realization that this song fucking blows.

[mention]MacDougall[/mention]
[mention]NANOOKTHEGREATANDFEARSOME[/mention]
[mention]Timsup2nothin[/mention]
[mention]cayvie[/mention]
[mention]Hally[/mention]
[mention]vanity.[/mention]
[mention]Keldeo[/mention]
[mention]nutella[/mention]
[mention]LordQuas[/mention]
[mention]TonyStarkPrime[/mention]
[mention]Ranmilia[/mention]
[mention]Boomslang[/mention]
[mention]M Plus 7[/mention]
[mention]G-Man[/mention]
[mention]JaggedJimmyJay[/mention]
[mention]birdwithteeth11[/mention]
[mention]Sloonei[/mention]
[mention]Queen Pink[/mention]
[mention]Epignosis[/mention]
[mention]Enrique[/mention]
[mention]motobot[/mention]
[mention]Marcher Jovian[/mention]
[mention]Turnip Head[/mention]
[mention]dobby[/mention]
[mention]Mistyx[/mention]

You managed to find a song by one of my favorite prog/math bands off their one album I haven’t fully explored, so props for that. I love CHON and I love this song. The technical complexity within such a mellow packaging is just… I love it. Their guitar tones are so good, the drumming is so good, everything about it is so good. Thanks for this. Gonna get off my ass and spin this album now.

Yeah, this is killer. I’m in love with these vocals - so expressive, so fuckin’ good, and the way the instrumental goes from fairly standard in the verses to just exploding into the choruses is really compelling. This is just super fuckin’ cool and I want more.

2 years ago I might have tanked this song, but as I get older and angrier I’ve come to appreciate some well-placed musical screams. The instrumental on this track is already killer, and when the horns kick in at the very end? Oh baby.

Forget Sad Girl Autumn, this is Pissed Girl Autumn and I love it. Raw angry girl rock really scratches the itch for me, and the guitar work is fantastic. Really regretting not digging into this artist after hearing them on RB3 lmao.

Oops my inner edgelord is showing. I’m not SUPER into Manson but he’s got a fair few songs that are impossible not to headbang to, and I’m adding this one to the list. The song just never lets up. Great mood piece.

Pure dirty rock n’ roll. Good stuff. Mac length writeup for Mac song.

Perhaps lacks the emotional punch of the previous track, but makes up for it in sheer v i b e s. The bassist is poppin’ off and the guitar tones are pretty sweet as well. Appreciate the amount of space there is to sit back and enjoy the composition. Good shit.

Congrats! You found my not-so-secret weakness for folk punk. The vocals are raw in the best way, the accordion is absolutely filthy, and the banjo is deployed for great effect. Great example of punk music conveying powerful emotional intensity without resorting to pure speed. Will be checking out this band further.

The guitar on this track is SO FUCKING GOOD. Like holy shit. The vocals were a little hit or miss for me at times but I could listen to a good blues rock track literally all day. Good sub.

This hits that sweetspot of dirty 90s alternative that’s juuuuuuuuust right. Perfect amount of distortion, perfect amount of reverb, just a sweet sound. Love the aesthetic.

Honestly it takes a VERY strong track for me to want to listen to VGM outside the context of the game it’s in. This hits the mark. I absolutely love the jazzy instrumentation, and that bass tone is sublime. Almost makes me want to play Xenoblade, which is I think the first time I’ve ever uttered that sentence.