Round 11 Early Impressions:
1: Now I remember what the inside of a squirrel's brain feels like.
2: This could be the best thing you've sent me, with an artist that has more range than I realized.
3: Buddyhunter1 - Riverside - Hmm, maybe the second time's (third time?) the charm.
4: Sacul - Kate Bush - This is on the minimalistic and repetitive side of what I like, but it's so haunting and beautiful that it might overcome it.
5: I don't know if this drastically moves the needle on my overall preexisting opinion of them, but the drumming is still just as stellar as I expected it would be.
6: This band used to constantly be compared to one of my absolute favorite bands, and I still don't really see it, but they're decent enough on their own merits.
7: Memorability is going to be the question, but the sound and elements are there. I may have been sleeping on this band.
8: Evermind - Thrice - I didn't realize that this band had this sound in them. Let's see if it blossoms on later plays.
9: Unlike an earlier round, this could turn out to be a photo finish.
10: TAC - Alice Cooper - I have the feeling this might translate better in a more theatrical live environment than it does on album, but it is certainly a fascinating historical exercise.
11: Crow - Intronaut - This might be the second best thing you've sent me. As I had anticipated, the bass playing is a highlight.
12: HOF - Big Big Train - I was worried that this would be too overly simple and happy for me at first, but the way it builds is impressive and gradually becomes more to my taste.
13: Yeah, so this is the miscreant little brother of a style I casually like.
14: I'm probably unlikely to ever truly love this group, but this is a solid batch of songs that's probably better than what most have heard from them.
15: This might be a bit too quirky for my taste, but maybe it'll grow on me.
16: I wish the first song had the production quality of the second, but I may have been sleeping on this band too.
17: Puppies_On_Acid - Enslaved - Here's the other band that is even more frequently compared to one of my absolute favorites, and while they're alright, I wish I could splice the two of them together into one band, but I guess that would actually just create a different version of the band they're compared to.
18: SoundscapeMN - Kevin Gilbert - This is some of the most unusual and difficult to categorize of the accessible rock/pop I've heard, which could be its strength.