The Syndicate

What's going on? I thought I clicked on The Syndicate. This looks more like ProgArchives.

Next thing you know there will be 10 polls on Yes vs. Genesis.

MovingPictures07 wrote:What's going on? I thought I clicked on The Syndicate. This looks more like ProgArchives.

Next thing you know there will be 10 polls on Yes vs. Genesis.

Yes is still better than Genesis. I don't care if those polls always went the other way.

thellama73 wrote:A troll, but a troll who in this instance was correct.

I was both born in '89 and am a musician. If he is correct, then it would mean my life is meaningless. Much as I'm not generally much of a fan of myself, I still choose to hence not believe him to be correct.

After a full listen (I got a better offer mid-listen last night ), I'd say it's decent. It had what felt like an intentional hipster vibe, though it didn't sound too pretentious like some hipster music does. Some of the songs sounded like this group may have been influenced by a few other artists that I have in my own music collection. I think I agree that the music is better than the vocals. I'm going to look up some information on the group before my next run through. I didn't dislike the album, so additional listens are welcome. We'll see if any of my opinions change from my initial gut-check reactions.

MovingPictures07 wrote:What's going on? I thought I clicked on The Syndicate. This looks more like ProgArchives.

Next thing you know there will be 10 polls on Yes vs. Genesis.

If those are my only options, then...

WHICH
IS
BETTER
YES OR GENESIS?
I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED
TO KNOW

A Person wrote:WHICH
IS
BETTER
YES OR GENESIS?
I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED
TO KNOW

Genesis k

Going to listen to Beneath the Brine for the first time now. I'm stoked!

MovingPictures07 wrote:Going to listen to Beneath the Brine for the first time now. I'm stoked!

Oh man, that opening to the first song, that draws me in for sure. Nice.

I won't further comment until I've heard this whole thing at least once though.

MovingPictures07 wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:Going to listen to Beneath the Brine for the first time now. I'm stoked!

Oh man, that opening to the first song, that draws me in for sure. Nice.

I won't further comment until I've heard this whole thing at least once though.

Would you say this is an accurate description?

thellama73 wrote:It starts with a flute playing the same note twice. Then a cello. Then a choir, violin, and drums. Then a singer sings some words. That's as far as I've gotten so far.

thellama73 wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:Going to listen to Beneath the Brine for the first time now. I'm stoked!

Oh man, that opening to the first song, that draws me in for sure. Nice.

I won't further comment until I've heard this whole thing at least once though.

Would you say this is an accurate description?

thellama73 wrote:It starts with a flute playing the same note twice. Then a cello. Then a choir, violin, and drums. Then a singer sings some words. That's as far as I've gotten so far.

Yeah, I think so.

Okay, I lied; I will say one thing before finishing the album:

Not sure where the vocals criticism is coming from. I mean, they're not mindblowing or even amazing, but I think they sound just fine alongside the music. I'm digging it.

I listened to the first 2 tracks so far (I assume... the YouTube clip doesn't split them)

It's interesting. I think the melodic choices are a little more mainstream than I was expecting (probably just because I expect you all to be weirdos). I hear Muse influences in the first track. I really enjoyed the track, including the vocalist. Next pass I'll try to listen to the lyrics more closely. If I had one criticism, that cello player is attacking the thing so hard that you get those tuneless screeches, which clashes with my classical musician sensibilities perhaps, or maybe it's just a love/hate relationship I have with strings generally. It does have a bit of 'cello guys' to it though.

The second track was nice but gave me less to talk about.

Golden wrote:I listened to the first 2 tracks so far (I assume... the YouTube clip doesn't split them)

It's interesting. I think the melodic choices are a little more mainstream than I was expecting (probably just because I expect you all to be weirdos). I hear Muse influences in the first track. I really enjoyed the track, including the vocalist. Next pass I'll try to listen to the lyrics more closely. If I had one criticism, that cello player is attacking the thing so hard that you get those tuneless screeches, which clashes with my classical musician sensibilities perhaps, or maybe it's just a love/hate relationship I have with strings generally. It does have a bit of 'cello guys' to it though.

The second track was nice but gave me less to talk about.

Interestingly, I like the cello playing more than most of the other musicianship, because it sounds so real. The rest of the orchestration gives the impression of being composed of sampling (it may not be, but it sounds so smooth that I suspect it) whereas the cello is unmistakably a human player, and I like that.

I see they have a real violinist and flautist, but I think I heard some sampled violin section behind it to give it body. I'll have to listen again.

MovingPictures07 wrote:Okay, I lied; I will say one thing before finishing the album:

Not sure where the vocals criticism is coming from. I mean, they're not mindblowing or even amazing, but I think they sound just fine alongside the music. I'm digging it.

I only listened to about a 3rd of it last night but I agree, they seem like decent indie style vocals.

After first listen, I gave the album 3.5 stars ("solidly awesome") on RYM. That pretty much sums up how I feel about it so far. Didn't blow me away, but it was solid and absolutely worthwhile, and I look forward to revisiting it throughout the week. It'll be interesting to see if my opinion changes or not in subsequent listens.

Nice choice, nutella.

A Person wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:Okay, I lied; I will say one thing before finishing the album:

Not sure where the vocals criticism is coming from. I mean, they're not mindblowing or even amazing, but I think they sound just fine alongside the music. I'm digging it.

I only listened to about a 3rd of it last night but I agree, they seem like decent indie style vocals.

Yeah, agreed.

For nutella (and anyone else who wants to see them playing) here is their npr tiny desk concert:



(I am just a lurker in this thread.)

I don't like his (her?) voice. It is jarring to me and doesn't mesh well musically with the instrumentals imo. The vocals stand out too much and it is almost discordant to my ears/taste.

Personal preference, I guess.

S~V~S wrote:I don't like his (her?) voice. It is jarring to me and doesn't mesh well musically with the instrumentals imo. The vocals stand out too much and it is almost discordant to my ears/taste.

Personal preference, I guess.

I'm drawing an interesting parallel with you saying this right now; I remember a few folks on ProgArchives who couldn't stand The Decemberists for nearly the exact same reason you describe here. Colin Meloy's vocals never bothered me either, but now that you mention this, it was a parallel that struck me as intriguing and worth bringing up. I know you're a Decemberists fan so you likely don't feel that way about them, but perhaps it's an indie thing?

MovingPictures07 wrote:

S~V~S wrote:I don't like his (her?) voice. It is jarring to me and doesn't mesh well musically with the instrumentals imo. The vocals stand out too much and it is almost discordant to my ears/taste.

Personal preference, I guess.

I'm drawing an interesting parallel with you saying this right now; I remember a few folks on ProgArchives who couldn't stand The Decemberists for nearly the exact same reason you describe here. Colin Meloy's vocals never bothered me either, but now that you mention this, it was a parallel that struck me as intriguing and worth bringing up. I know you're a Decemberists fan so you likely don't feel that way about them, but perhaps it's an indie thing?

I generally don't like indie music, and I fully agree with SVS's assessment, so I suspect that's it.

Golden wrote: I hear Muse influences in the first track.

Ha! I thought the exact same thing! One of my thoughts coming off the album was that the vocalist emulates a hybrid of Muse's Matt Bellamy and Fun.'s Nate Reuss at times. I also feel like I hear some Ben Folds and Keane influence on a couple of tracks.

G-Man wrote:

Golden wrote: I hear Muse influences in the first track.

Ha! I thought the exact same thing! One of my thoughts coming off the album was that the vocalist emulates a hybrid of Muse's Matt Bellamy and Fun.'s Nate Reuss at times. I also feel like I hear some Ben Folds and Keane influence on a couple of tracks.

Now that you mention it, I would agree all of those are audible influences. I never felt like they wore any of those even close to too heavily though.

I listened to a few more tracks while getting ready for work. The fourth? Track, with its New Orleans and charleston influences is completely gorgeous, it may enter my play list. It's interesting how eclectic this is, i agree with others that influences aren't worn too heavily, but it doesn't hurt that it's hard to hear the same influence twice. I really enjoyed the fifth track as well.

I understand what some are saying about the vocalist. In some places, it's almost melodic speaking rather than singing. I don't think the first track was the best showcase of them, though, and in other places I hear the influence of jazz greats like Etta James and billie holiday. It's not someone I could listen to A Cappella, but then neither is Etta James. I feel the vocals do enhance rather than detract from the music here.

@llama - techniques like sampling (or even a hideous technique like autotune) only bothers me when it takes me out of the music, although I get what you are saying about the greater depth of a real human. I just think that can be achieved on the cello with slightly less vigor.

MovingPictures07 wrote:

S~V~S wrote:I don't like his (her?) voice. It is jarring to me and doesn't mesh well musically with the instrumentals imo. The vocals stand out too much and it is almost discordant to my ears/taste.

Personal preference, I guess.

I'm drawing an interesting parallel with you saying this right now; I remember a few folks on ProgArchives who couldn't stand The Decemberists for nearly the exact same reason you describe here. Colin Meloy's vocals never bothered me either, but now that you mention this, it was a parallel that struck me as intriguing and worth bringing up. I know you're a Decemberists fan so you likely don't feel that way about them, but perhaps it's an indie thing?

No, I like a lot of indie music. This vocalists voice actually reminds me of the vocalist for an old post punk band, Orange Juice. I liked their sound, I liked the lyrics, but I just could not get past the singers voice. Something in the tone of it. And yeah, Meloys voice is quirky and I know my husband didn't like him at all, he thought he sounded like he was whining. The first time I heard him sing before the Decemberists in a small venue in Missoula, we left that night and I was enraptured with him, and Jerry HATED him, lol. So I think it is just taste in general

Embarking on a second listen now.

S~V~S wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

S~V~S wrote:I don't like his (her?) voice. It is jarring to me and doesn't mesh well musically with the instrumentals imo. The vocals stand out too much and it is almost discordant to my ears/taste.

Personal preference, I guess.

I'm drawing an interesting parallel with you saying this right now; I remember a few folks on ProgArchives who couldn't stand The Decemberists for nearly the exact same reason you describe here. Colin Meloy's vocals never bothered me either, but now that you mention this, it was a parallel that struck me as intriguing and worth bringing up. I know you're a Decemberists fan so you likely don't feel that way about them, but perhaps it's an indie thing?

No, I like a lot of indie music. This vocalists voice actually reminds me of the vocalist for an old post punk band, Orange Juice. I liked their sound, I liked the lyrics, but I just could not get past the singers voice. Something in the tone of it. And yeah, Meloys voice is quirky and I know my husband didn't like him at all, he thought he sounded like he was whining. The first time I heard him sing before the Decemberists in a small venue in Missoula, we left that night and I was enraptured with him, and Jerry HATED him, lol. So I think it is just taste in general

Hmmm, interesting. I'm not sure what it is then exactly. I didn't seem to notice anything particularly distinct. I'll try to pay more attention to the vocalist upon second listen.

thellama73 wrote:Embarking on a second listen now.

I will try again, maybe he will grow on me?

MovingPictures07 wrote:

S~V~S wrote:

MovingPictures07 wrote:

S~V~S wrote:I don't like his (her?) voice. It is jarring to me and doesn't mesh well musically with the instrumentals imo. The vocals stand out too much and it is almost discordant to my ears/taste.

Personal preference, I guess.

I'm drawing an interesting parallel with you saying this right now; I remember a few folks on ProgArchives who couldn't stand The Decemberists for nearly the exact same reason you describe here. Colin Meloy's vocals never bothered me either, but now that you mention this, it was a parallel that struck me as intriguing and worth bringing up. I know you're a Decemberists fan so you likely don't feel that way about them, but perhaps it's an indie thing?

No, I like a lot of indie music. This vocalists voice actually reminds me of the vocalist for an old post punk band, Orange Juice. I liked their sound, I liked the lyrics, but I just could not get past the singers voice. Something in the tone of it. And yeah, Meloys voice is quirky and I know my husband didn't like him at all, he thought he sounded like he was whining. The first time I heard him sing before the Decemberists in a small venue in Missoula, we left that night and I was enraptured with him, and Jerry HATED him, lol. So I think it is just taste in general

Hmmm, interesting. I'm not sure what it is then exactly. I didn't seem to notice anything particularly distinct. I'll try to pay more attention to the vocalist upon second listen.

Yeah no accounting for taste. For instance I like Johnny Lydon/Rotten, and I know he's like nails on chalkboard for alot of people. One of my friends, whenever he comes on, calls Neil Young "That dog in heat" ha ha.

I have to say I'm enjoying the album much more on the second listen. I've concluded that there are no samplers and all the instruments are indeed played by humans, which is nice. Some of the "whoa oh oh" vocals on the second and third tracks are mildly annoying to me. They remind me of The Polyphonic Spree. But I don't mind the vocals as much as I did, and some of the arrangements are very nice and intricate.

thellama73 wrote:I have to say I'm enjoying the album much more on the second listen. I've concluded that there are no samplers and all the instruments are indeed played by humans, which is nice. Some of the "whoa oh oh" vocals on the second and third tracks are mildly annoying to me. They remind me of The Polyphonic Spree. But I don't mind the vocals as much as I did, and some of the arrangements are very nice and intricate.

So far the second and third tracks are the weakest for my money. That's through around six or seven.

More thoughts after the second listen:
Some of the songs are excellent; I particularly like The Water's Fine. And as I said before, I appreciate the lush orchestration and arrangements.

I do find that the album runs out of steam at about the 35 minute mark, and the last few tracks feel more or less like repetitions of what has come before. I also find the tone of tracks like As We Move Along and There's a Thunder overly saccharine. That sort of "gosh, look how amazing everything is!" attitude wears thin after a while.

Apparently not included in the youtube link is the album's last track, the frustratingly ambiguous "Make Me a Boat", available here. Does it mean "transform me into a boat" or "fashion a boat for my use"? The lyrics are no help.

thellama73 wrote:More thoughts after the second listen:
Some of the songs are excellent; I particularly like The Water's Fine. And as I said before, I appreciate the lush orchestration and arrangements.

I do find that the album runs out of steam at about the 35 minute mark, and the last few tracks feel more or less like repetitions of what has come before. I also find the tone of tracks like As We Move Along and There's a Thunder overly saccharine. That sort of "gosh, look how amazing everything is!" attitude wears thin after a while.

Apparently not included in the youtube link is the album's last track, the frustratingly ambiguous "Make Me a Boat", available here. Does it mean "transform me into a boat" or "fashion a boat for my use"? The lyrics are no help.

Interesting. After my first listen, I thought that "As We Move Forward" was the best song. On my second listen, I'm not so sure, but I still like it more than you apparently do.

Here's a playlist I've been using to that has all the tracks. If you have ad-block, it flows right through.

Golden wrote:I listened to a few more tracks while getting ready for work. The fourth? Track, with its New Orleans and charleston influences is completely gorgeous, it may enter my play list.

Yeah I love Howl

juliets wrote:For nutella (and anyone else who wants to see them playing) here is their npr tiny desk concert:



(I am just a lurker in this thread.)

I just watched this the other day, it's great! They also have an Audiotree one which I haven't watched yet.

Llama, I also love The Water's Fine, and yeah I do get what you mean about the tone of those tracks toward the end but I still enjoy it also lol that first interpretation of make me a boat never occurred to me

nutella wrote:Llama, I also love The Water's Fine, and yeah I do get what you mean about the tone of those tracks toward the end but I still enjoy it also lol that first interpretation of make me a boat never occurred to me

Make me a boat
And set me afloat
And carry me home
Find me a wave
Thats soft and safe
And made for me

Seriously, which one is it!?

OK, after a second listen, I really love the lyrics,I love the arrangements, melodies and instrumentation on pretty much every track. If it had almost anyone else singing I would put this in rotation. I don't know if it's the androgynous sound of the singer, or the feel I get that he is consciously trying to sound quasiclassical, or what it is about him, but I just don't like his voice

Sorry. I will give this 50% on whatever scale we are using. I love most of it, but I found the vocals to actually be an irritant.

I'm on my third run through the album now. I definitely think the first half is stronger than the second, though I can't tell if that's the product of the music truly being more appealing or me simply running out of gas as a listener. I quite like the album though and am glad you brought it to us, nutella. I intend to listen to their other album The Village too soon. It's a pleasing sound.

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.

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

It is really androgynous.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.