Quests & Challenges

Album: Ibn El Leil by Mashrou' Leila
Favorite Tracks: Maghawir, Tayf, Ashabi (honorable mentions to Kalaam, 3 Minutes, and Icarus but honestly all of these songs go hard. There wasn't a single one I didn't enjoy.)

@dracosauria I was super curious about this album because I love discovering stuff outside my general bubble, and while I'm usually more neutral when it comes to pop, I was looking forward to what Mashrou' Leila brought to the table. Safe to say: They did not disappoint! I was personally hoping for a little bit more traditional arabic influence instrumentally (and some songs like 3 Minutes or Icarus did deliver on that! just more of a background role), but I'm still so, so enamored with how they craft their sound.

On the surface it might seem like fairly standard-fare synthpop/rock, but the way they weave those synths together with the rest of the instrumentation had me fawning several times over. In some places I found it reminiscent of Woodkid, actually. Generally I think they make great use of the instruments chosen! (The brass in Maghawir and Bint el Khandaq. Mwah. Actually Maghawir overall!! That outroooo.)
And my god, the lead singer's voice. I don't know what to call it other than beautiful. The way he conveys his emotions through song is just. Wow. Again, enamored. The range he's shown also impressed me, from the high notes of Aoede and Ashabi, the more spoken-song lines of 3 Minutes, to the melodic and somber tones of Marikh.

Unfortunately I don't speak arabic, so I had to rely on english translations, and as it often is with those, I feel like some of the finer meanings got lost on the way over (There was, luckily, a yt comment that went into some of those, which was nice!). But even from what was there, it's clear these guys have many poignant things to say. Some very powerful messages in every single one of these songs. Definitely shed my share of tears, heh. Kalaam in particular got me good - Shivers every time.

I did notice I was paying a little less attention to/having less to say about the instrumentals on individual songs as I went further into the album, but I think that might've just been me getting used to their sound. Like I said, I love the way they make use of what they got here and they do throw in some fun curveballs every now and then. I think the vocals carry a lot here too.

Overall, I can definitely recommend this album, sit down and treat yourself to this beautiful experience. 10/10, going into my bookmarks for sure. Thank you so much for this rec <3 (Forgive me if my speech is absurd or unclear etc. I love to ramble and I hope I got to convey how much I adore these tracks :D)

Also as an aside, highkey obsessed with the sculpture from the album art. The details on that. waow

@CosmicHurricane can I claim Scraw's Entertainment for the Braindead by Roadkill?

@SatyrGatyr -- Yep! I have you down on the spreadsheet now
I believe that only 10 more people have their albums unclaimed!

@CosmicHurricane claiming VA-11 Hall-A - Second Round by Garoad as suggested by @/humbleddarkmage ! listened to a preview and it rlly drew me in, love some good vgm ^_^

@PallasiteMatrix

Thank you for giving what I figured would be the more daunting of my three options a chance! ^_^ I liked your thoughts on Speybay Switch in particular as that perspective on the song had never occured to me before!

@sakigamis -- Finished listening to Experience the Paths Vol. 1!

I have to say, despite having heard the ending of Grasp the Stars through those YouTube advertisements, I still didn't expect it to be quite so EDM-heavy lol. It's not necessarily a problem -- got me out of my typical genres! -- I was just thinking of something slightly more akin to, say, the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 soundtrack (unofficial recommendation btw it's great).
Which isn't to say it doesn't sound like Xenoblade! I liked how there was also quite a bit of orchestra, especially strings. There were also a handful of songs that had really nice guitar solos in them, and I was biased towards those :P
I do have one major complaint about the album as a whole, though -- I feel like each song was far too short. Most of the songs were around 2 minutes long, which in my opinion isn't enough time for them to reach their full potential.
Nonetheless, good album! 7.55/10!
Favorite Songs: Exodus of the Five Dragons (8.75), Fables About the Stars Part 1 (8.6), Next Stop, the Stars! (8.4), In the Name of Landau (8.3), In Torrid Heat (8.25), Galactic Roaming (8.15), Ichor of Two Dragons (8.1)
(guys I promise this is only 21% of the album lmao)

I'm also hoping to listen to IGOR, but after that I don't know.

@CosmicHurricane
Can I claim Girls, Girls, Girls by Mötley Cruë? Wish I had run across this earlier so I could have recommended some songs!

@mgcltwo Here's my review of Gloom Division!

To be honest, Youtube has been recommending this band to me for a few months so I decided to finally try listening. I really like the funky vibes, all of their songs are so catchy! I actually ended up listening to the other album I saw which was Razzmatazz as well, so I'll give reviews on some of those songs too.

For Gloom Division, the first song Downside already got me. The little scale upward when he says "darling I need you here tonight" sounds soooo good. Reminds me a little of Panic at the Disco?

Gloomtown Brats I think is my favorite song from this album, or at least in the top 3. It's SO catchy, I was driving home while listening to this and I was jamming lol.

Infatuation and What Love have this sort of dreamy quality to them. I like the change in vibe from the first two songs, somehow it really matches. What Love in particular reminds me of the backrooms and I'm not sure why??? Specifically the beach/pools in the sky level (it was in the game The Backrooms that's hosted on Playstation Dreams).
You can see it here at around 53 minutes in.

SIXFT is really good! Kind of uhhh reggae I think? Very catchy, also one of my favorites.

Kiss and Tell is also really catchy! C'est la vie!!

A Letter and Satanic Panic made me feel like they were really just kinda going ham at the end of the album XD They're just doing whatever they want. Very experimental sound!

And Sunnyside is a bop as well!

~

For Razzmatazz:

The harmonies on Clusterhug sound SO good omg.

Kiss Goodnight is one of my favorites, so catchy I found myself singing along!

Need You Here actually made me cry, the first time I was listening I thought it was just a generic love song lyric wise, but then that part in the middle where the girl is speaking recontextualized EVERYTHING. And then the second and third times I listening I cried hard. And then that high note toward the end... OOF perfection. I think this is my favorite song by them, it made me feel things TuT

And Razzmatazz was really good as well! Super catchy, although I was still recovering from Need You Here LOL.

Thanks for the rec! It was a fun time listening.

[quote name="CosmicHurricane" date="2024-04-22 20:24:43" ] @sakigamis -- Finished listening to Experience the Paths Vol. 1! I have to say, despite having heard the ending of Grasp the Stars through those YouTube advertisements, I still didn't expect it to be quite so EDM-heavy lol. It's not necessarily a problem -- got me out of my typical genres! -- I was just thinking of something slightly more akin to, say, the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 soundtrack (unofficial recommendation btw it's great). Which isn't to say it doesn't sound like Xenoblade! I liked how there was also quite a bit of orchestra, especially strings. There were also a handful of songs that had really nice guitar solos in them, and I was biased towards those :P I do have one major complaint about the album as a whole, though -- I feel like each song was far too short. Most of the songs were around 2 minutes long, which in my opinion isn't enough time for them to reach their full potential. Nonetheless, good album! 7.55/10! Favorite Songs: Exodus of the Five Dragons (8.75), Fables About the Stars Part 1 (8.6), Next Stop, the Stars! (8.4), In the Name of Landau (8.3), In Torrid Heat (8.25), Galactic Roaming (8.15), Ichor of Two Dragons (8.1) (guys I promise this is only 21% of the album lmao) I'm also hoping to listen to IGOR, but after that I don't know. [/quote] @CosmicHurricane I'm glad you liked it, even if it wasn't quite what you expected! I hear your complaint about the length--it is, unfortunately, the nature of the beast with OSTs. If you're ever curious, all the trailers these tracks come from are on Youtube with the same titles as the songs! Also, if you want something more orchestral, Genshin's OST might be more your speed? "The Stellar Moments" and "Footprints of the Traveler" are the equivalent albums there (the former is character trailers, the latter is version update trailers). Really, though, HOYO-MiX's whole discography covers, like, every genre in existence, I think. Also, I want to mention that I was actually pretty worried that my "challenge" might come across as aggressive or something like that, so I really appreciate that you took me up on it and gave the album a fair shot! A lot of people are really dismissive of everything Hoyoverse does but they put a lot of heart and soul into their games and especially into the music, imo. <3 (Also x2, I'll listen to the album I claimed soon, maybe even later tonight! I wanna be able to listen to it beginning to end without interruptions and really pay attention to it.)