The Syndicate

It makes me chuckle because I'm 8 years old. Different ideas are welcome.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:It makes me chuckle because I'm 8 years old. Different ideas are welcome.

I don't really care, I just find it simultaneously weird and amusing.

You could just add a "The", for "The Syndicate", thus making it TSARS.

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

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

Yeah, severe accute respiratory syndrome isn't something you want your music thread to be confused with.

G-Man wrote:Yeah, severe accute respiratory syndrome isn't something you want your music thread to be confused with.

I'm on board with Russian oligarchs, though.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:

Week 1: The Family Crest - Beneath the Brine

Submitted by nutella

Accessible on Spotify and via the link in the OP

Another random suggestion (sorry for trying to assert dominance over the thread):

Perhaps this information / the album cover could be in the OP each week as well, that way it's easily identifiable what album/artist we're listening to? Plus album covers are cool, and it'd be neat to have that in the OP.

Sure I'm down. And hey look at the thread title!

Sweet! I'm excited that you all get to hear what has been my favorite band for the past year If this strikes your fancy I also heartily recommend their other album The Village as well as their two EPs. I love every bit of music they've ever made all of it is amazing and I never get tired of it I'm obsessed and should shut up now and let you form your own opinions

PSA for anyone using youtube, the video linked is missing the last track which you can find here. Also, the times listed for the tracks in the description are messed up, but there's a comment with the correct ones.

Can't say I'm a fan of "SARS" either lol. What about "Album Sharing Shenanigans" or ASS for short?

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:Sure I'm down. And hey look at the thread title!

nutella wrote:Sweet! I'm excited that you all get to hear what has been my favorite band for the past year If this strikes your fancy I also heartily recommend their other album The Village as well as their two EPs. I love every bit of music they've ever made all of it is amazing and I never get tired of it I'm obsessed and should shut up now and let you form your own opinions

PSA for anyone using youtube, the video linked is missing the last track which you can find here. Also, the times listed for the tracks in the description are messed up, but there's a comment with the correct ones.

Can't say I'm a fan of "SARS" either lol. What about "Album Sharing Shenanigans" or ASS for short?

Sweet, looking forward to hearing it!

And thanks for the info, since I'm a loser who doesn't have a subscription to Spotify (yet) and will be using Youtube.

nutella wrote:What about "Album Sharing Shenanigans" or ASS for short?

Coming up next Sunday, in our secondly weekly ASS...

I don't have Spotify either.

Golden wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

Golden wrote:

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:~ I don't want a small portion of the participants getting all the glory, and that's possible with repeating polls.

A one poll stand down after your album is selected? Or is that discouraging.

I must be being dense right now; what is meant by a "one poll stand down after your album is selected"?

It's probably a bad idea. I just meant that people who get selected one week take a week off from nominating, so they aren't on the poll next week. Would mean the same five people don't get picked week after week.

See I like the idea of having the folks behind our first batch not submitting for the next poll. Those left in the mix could change their offerings or keep them the same. Yeah, it creates a queue-like system but it also helps ensure that each of us gets to share. Otherwise it might become a case of trying to cater to what we think peope might want to listen to rather than offering up something we'd like you to try out, for better or for worse. It won't take long to lose interest if your options continually get passed over.

Simply put: If I'm going to listen to your weird music, I want you to eventually listen to my weird music.

G-Man wrote:Simply put: If I'm going to listen to your weird music, I want you to eventually listen to my weird music.

Yeah, that's what I think too. I think a one poll stand down should be fine, since it inherently comes with having had people discuss your choice recently already.

G-Man wrote:

Golden wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

Golden wrote:

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:~ I don't want a small portion of the participants getting all the glory, and that's possible with repeating polls.

A one poll stand down after your album is selected? Or is that discouraging.

I must be being dense right now; what is meant by a "one poll stand down after your album is selected"?

It's probably a bad idea. I just meant that people who get selected one week take a week off from nominating, so they aren't on the poll next week. Would mean the same five people don't get picked week after week.

See I like the idea of having the folks behind our first batch not submitting for the next poll. Those left in the mix could change their offerings or keep them the same. Yeah, it creates a queue-like system but it also helps ensure that each of us gets to share. Otherwise it might become a case of trying to cater to what we think peope might want to listen to rather than offering up something we'd like you to try out, for better or for worse. It won't take long to lose interest if your options continually get passed over.

Simply put: If I'm going to listen to your weird music, I want you to eventually listen to my weird music.

This is an understandable and agreeable perspective.

As someone whose album got picked this first week, I personally wouldn't mind having to wait until Week 3 to submit a new one. Waiting just one week isn't bothersome or anything.

Technically it's five weeks.

Yes, that's right. Still not a problem I think.

I forgot for a minute there that we were taking a week to listen to each album.

Would it be unkind to Nutella for me to say that I didn't love this album on the first listen?

Hey, this is the place for analysis. It's ok not to like things (some of you aren't going to like my tastes, and I'm not sure I'm going to like some of yours). But, I think the idea is to put your finger on why.

Golden wrote:Hey, this is the place for analysis. It's ok not to like things (some of you aren't going to like my tastes, and I'm not sure I'm going to like some of yours). But, I think the idea is to put your finger on why.

I dug some of the lush orchestration, but the whole thing felt sort of cheeseball and overwrought to me. Like it was trying too hard to be epic. It reminded me a little of The Darkness with that vocalist really taking things over the top.

I intend to listen to it more before making a final opinion though. One hearing is surely not enough.

Oooh, lush orchestration. This might be my kind of thing.

Golden wrote:Hey, this is the place for analysis. It's ok not to like things (some of you aren't going to like my tastes, and I'm not sure I'm going to like some of yours). But, I think the idea is to put your finger on why.

I agree completely with this. Obviously we are all different people here with I'm sure extremely varied musical tastes. I think it's best to be honest with each other but also open-minded.

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

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.

We're obviously not going to like everything we hear here. Honesty is ideal, so long as nobody is an arse (and I don't anticipate that). My first exposure to the album was positive though. I'll probably listen again tomorrow and see how my feelings develop.

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.

Epignosis wrote:

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.

Yeah the whole point of this is to share our tastes and we won't all agree. I can see why this album won't be everyone's thing, I totally know what you mean by it being kind of over the top. I just happen to like that Fwiw I'd say that The Village is notably less over the top/"epic" than this album while still containing a really interesting blend of influences.

I love the orchestration. So far, two tracks in, I can say I would like this much better if it were instrumental only. I really, really don't like the vocalist. Her (?) voice does not seem to go well with the instrumentation. Perhaps it is me; I cannot think what vocalist I might like better with this. I really like the music as an instrumental.

Also reading back on the comments, I think taste is SO subjective. Some of the judgy comments bother me a bit. Constructive criticism is good, just saying something sucks, not so much. So I made a foray into this, but maybe will back right back out

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.

Ah, I stumbled into an inside joke.

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.

S~V~S wrote:I love the orchestration. So far, two tracks in, I can say I would like this much better if it were instrumental only. I really, really don't like the vocalist. Her (?) voice does not seem to go well with the instrumentation. Perhaps it is me; I cannot think what vocalist I might like better with this. I really like the music as an instrumental.

I completely agree. I would like it much more if it were instrumental.

I also forgot that no good music has been made after 1989, so that's probably part of it.

thellama73 wrote:

S~V~S wrote:I love the orchestration. So far, two tracks in, I can say I would like this much better if it were instrumental only. I really, really don't like the vocalist. Her (?) voice does not seem to go well with the instrumentation. Perhaps it is me; I cannot think what vocalist I might like better with this. I really like the music as an instrumental.

I completely agree. I would like it much more if it were instrumental.

I also forgot that no good music has been made after 1989, so that's probably part of it.

I knew it was only a matter of time before you dropped that Walter reference.

Actually, he means the Taylor Swift album.

Golden wrote:Actually, he means the Taylor Swift album.

MovingPictures07 wrote:

thellama73 wrote:

S~V~S wrote:I love the orchestration. So far, two tracks in, I can say I would like this much better if it were instrumental only. I really, really don't like the vocalist. Her (?) voice does not seem to go well with the instrumentation. Perhaps it is me; I cannot think what vocalist I might like better with this. I really like the music as an instrumental.

I completely agree. I would like it much more if it were instrumental.

I also forgot that no good music has been made after 1989, so that's probably part of it.

I knew it was only a matter of time before you dropped that Walter reference.

Walter was the wisest man I've ever known.

I'm pretty sure a long time ago there was a regular on the RYM boards with "Walter" in his username who would insist that music made after 1989 was all bad. Same reference I guess? Or maybe the same person?

Anyway, that's complete nonsense.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I'm pretty sure a long time ago there was a regular on the RYM boards with "Walter" in his username who would insist that music made after 1989 was all bad. Same reference I guess? Or maybe the same person?

Anyway, that's complete nonsense.

He did have a RYM account, so I'm sure you mean the same person.

I plan on listening to this at least once a day for each of the days we are considering it. Doing a basic run-through now. What exactly are we evaluating? Are we using any kind of common rating scale for the songs and album as a whole? I have two rating scales at my disposal, personally. Are we just judging for discussion or are we going to come up with an average group rating to track as we go along? Am I over-thinking this already?

G-Man wrote:What exactly are we evaluating?

Whatever you want.

G-Man wrote:Are we using any kind of common rating scale for the songs and album as a whole?

Nah. Whatever you want.

G-Man wrote:I have two rating scales at my disposal, personally. Are we just judging for discussion or are we going to come up with an average group rating to track as we go along? Am I over-thinking this already?

If enough people rank (keyword rank, not rate) the tracks on the album, I will compile a group average ranking just for kicks. It'll be a neat little bit of numbers porn for those who enjoy that sort of thing, but it isn't required. I intend to do a ranking once I have more exposure.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:I'm pretty sure a long time ago there was a regular on the RYM boards with "Walter" in his username who would insist that music made after 1989 was all bad. Same reference I guess? Or maybe the same person?

Anyway, that's complete nonsense.

Yeah, that's him! Lol.

I never could tell whether he was serious or joking.

I won't be doing any kind of systematic rating or ranking of the albums. I'll just post my thoughts and opinions about them.

G-Man wrote:I plan on listening to this at least once a day for each of the days we are considering it. Doing a basic run-through now. What exactly are we evaluating? Are we using any kind of common rating scale for the songs and album as a whole? I have two rating scales at my disposal, personally. Are we just judging for discussion or are we going to come up with an average group rating to track as we go along? Am I over-thinking this already?

I'm going to rate each album as we go for sure, reassessing after each repeated listen. Not sure what else I will do.

walterdigstunes was the greatest reviewer in the history of music

Walter's so-called axiom was so easy to invalidate, starting with his own amendment to the so-called sacred timeline rule, in that pre-89 artists would not automatically turn to shit once stepping into post-89, but would carry on as legit great artists, due to their "superior intelligence in creating art" or something - nevermind the idea that aging well and wisely is hardly proven in music, given that more than half of the "old timers" have sounded embarrasing in more recent decades. But that would mean that Radiohead (a band technically formed in 1985) would count as good. Which he never allowed. So there goes his "logic". I don't recall how he felt about Porcupine Tree, but if he approved of them - or, even better, if he approves these days of Wilson's reworking of prog recordings - he's even more of a hypocrite.

He was an utter troll who picked a good theme to act obstinate about - a closed loop in which you would only feed him troll food and he would only bait you back. A heartily passionate troll for his 20-year-or-so bubble of prog rock and whatever else he liked - especially when it comes to King Crimson, iirc - but a troll nonetheless.

A troll, but a troll who in this instance was correct.