Listening Party: The Midnight 'Syndicate' Album
Added 2025-10-18 00:00:13 +0000 UTCThis is a VOD from a special livestream listening party. While this isn't a K-POP band, occasionally I want to share with you my reactions for some of my favorite non K-POP artists.
The Midnight is one of two artists that I consider my FAVORITE band. 'Syndicate' is their latest album release and it is an absolutely crazy musical journey. To quote some of the people who tuned in to the livestream "I feel bad for the people who miss out on this listening party experience".
It's one heck of an album. Kick back and give it a listen!
Comments
I discovered this band because of you, you played one of their songs during a live stream I think. It’s one of my fav bands now. Saw them live in Montreal it was insane! So I owe you big time, thanks a lot!
maskedriri
2025-10-18 18:06:10 +0000 UTCBut would a LP hit the same when I’ve heard it already 😭
Jet
2025-10-18 07:10:58 +0000 UTCGod what a comment. Absolutely floored me 😭 I enjoyed reading every thorough breakdown of your reaction to each song. Comments like this are so moving! I feel self conscious sharing my personal non Kpop interests sometimes so I’m glad I could awaken you to The Midnight 🥹 Also thanks for bringing up those other artists! I’m gonna check them out 🫡
Jet
2025-10-18 07:09:16 +0000 UTCLong Comment: So cool to get a sneak peak into other music you like outside of K-pop! Definitely going to listen to this album on my own to fully get the entire soundscape blasting in my ears. I love the 80s synth vibe that a lot of this album carries throughout & I'm 100% checking out more from them! PD I was happy to see you step further out of your "analysis" mode from reacting and instead just get hyped and astounded to an artist you love and are fully invested in. & if you like your diehard intrests like I do PD, you wont mind this really long comment abt my appreciation for this album 😊 As we went through each song, I was liking it IMMEDIATELY, but by the time it got half way into "The Right Way" I realized how much I am invested too 😅 I straight up am thinking "Where has this artist been all my life?!" My core music taste is defined by sounds/artists like 5 Seconds of Summer (all solos from the members as well), anyone from DPR, Djo, Keshi, The Rose, Seventeen, Conan Gray, The8's recent solo music, Half•Alive, & V of BTS's solo work....and this album checked a specific kind of box to fit my perfect sound literally with every song! I am also a sucker for perfectly executed instrumental breaks, ESPECIALLY with guitar solos, so I was absolutely starstruck & enveloped in every section like that in this album. For each song I have a little description of why I liked it & what feeling or visual I got from it (mind you I'm doing this along with your reaction & then tweaking bits after): Syndicate (intro) : That opening sequence makes me visualize someone in space looking over the horizon of a fantastical fictional planet knowing despair is coming. Like, it got me hooked from the beginning. Then the synth, guitar, and drums came in & I was stuck with my jaw dropped banging my head to the music. I am 100% use this song as a "travel song" in a space/galaxy D&D campaign I'm gonna start home brewing soon. Shadowverse: Absolutely loved the synth pattern come in & his vocie stunned me! I absolutely love his vocal style & how it melds in the instrumental beautifully, basically just to give you goosebumps across the whole album. & that GUITAR SOLO damnnnnn, I had a disgust face just from how good it was. Runaways: I loved the opening with the feature! Their voices matched so well on this song. The high notes and then the layering with the saxophone towards the end was beautiful. Speaking of Sax....that saxophone solo honestly startled me right way but I absolutely adore it!! I'm so happy to hear they use saxophone a lot in their songs & I can't wait to hear more! Friction: Loved the fast paced "night club" vibe to this song. Also I have to agree that the way he says friction makes it feel like he's literally giving "friction" to the word. Once again, I feel like its a given that I will eat up any guitar solo 🤣 & this song was no exception bcz hell yea it was sick! The Right Way: Ok the upbeat drum tempo mixed with the otherworldly synths in this song is immaculate. This song paints such a beautiful picture with the lyrics as well & I always fall in love with songs that have lyrics I can appreciate as well as the sound. Afterglow pt 1: This song stole my soul. It sent me to peace & space in my mind at the same time. The instrumental, the lyrics, his voice...like all of it. Honestly nothing else to say about this song other than I transcended when I heard it, especially that guitar solo into the drowning synths. Digital Dreams: I really liked the high synth melody pared with the lows & once again I caught myself really honing in on the lyrics throughout the song. Outside of the core symbolism & lyrical takeaways, this song made me picture someone having TV passively playing in the background in their bedroom during a cold snowy night & instead is just zoning out thinking about life. Like, the thoughts are profound but in a confined "normal" space, like the instrumental. (Just like you said lol) Sentinels: This song is so strange in the BEST way possible. I honestly didn't mind the vocal effect throughout the song bcz of the driving beat/synth soundscapes & hard hitting lyrics that are just immaculate. (I pulled up genius lyrics for this I'm that invested 🤣) Chariot: Ok so first off, his vocals style in the parts of the song without effects were AMAZING, that low sensual singing paired with those high notes! Even still, the vocal effect sections were just as interesting with the rise in the inturmental. That switch up had me just as shocked as you but jamming 100%. I need to rave to this song!! First Night In Paris: Your opening comment to this song was hilarious 🤣 It does have that epic "heist chase music" sound to it, but then when those synths go bigger towards the middle & end it is amazing!! Feels like you successfully escaped but are still slightly in danger. Afterglow pt 2: Ok so the "unofficial Afterglow remix of the album" goes crazy! I love the added uplifting fast paced drum & bass added to this song that I already loved. I will definitely have both "Afterglows" on repeat. Fatal Obsession: Immediately adored the opening sound & the feature again! Absolutely fits the song & The Midnight's singer's vocals. And you bet I was hyped when the Sax came in again! Quiet Earth: This song scratched an itch in my brain the whole time it was going! I imagined walking though a "technologically advanced" magical forest. I'll put it in D&D terms, if a civilization of Artificer/Druid muliclass wood elves lived in a city in the middle of an enchanted forest. I live for good ethereal instrumental driven songs, so this was FOR ME. Also, on the off chance I do get drawn to write music, I always write lyrics as poems first then imagine how it would sound 🤣 Long Island: This song paints such a deviatingly romantic picture and I love it. The lyrics are so beautiful and it sounds even more like a "poem in song form" then Quiet Earth at some parts in the verses. The bridge to the end was my favorite part & it really drove the songs message even deeper into my mind with the instrumental sound like "floating off to sea" like the last lyric. Love is an Ocean: The background waves crashing in the intro immediately transported me to a foggy early fall morning on the beach after a storm with crashing waves spraying slight sea foam in the air. So grey and cloudy you can't tell where the sea ends and the sky begins. The breaking vocal synths in the chorus sound so cool & the fade to near silence before the s Sax came in was immaculate. I fully agree with you about wanting to drown in this song! Sanctuary: This song for me really lives true to its name. It sounds like a sudden reassuring hug after going on a treacherous adventure full of pain and loss. The lyrics also add to this sort of feeling and omg they are incredible. The vocal effect also makes it feel like an inhuman entity is trying to tell you its going to be ok. Or the fact that it could be anyone, with no depth of knowing who is comforting you. Then that damn BEAT came in! I was aghast with my jaw on the floor once again!! Absolutely astounding. I once again agree, play this as I die. (Wrote all of this before hearing your ending MV visual idea & I love your interpretation!) Summer's Ending Soon: This song sounds like the closing song to an inspirational 80s-2000s movie, but the lyrics are also devastating. The "Sunset's eulogy in real time" line, along with bascally the whole song tbh, almost made me cry and is immaculate. These lyrics are top tier for this album, and that is SAYING something bcz many other songs had an incredible message/visual image to the lyrics. The ambiance outro to this song made it just sit in my soul for a second to reflect on the lyrics and whole experience of the album. So, overall this album was “immeasurable/10" & I loved it. Your notes before & after the last song made me love The Midnight's even more and even further affirmed that I need to do a deep dive into their discography. I just wanna get a Walkman and ride a bike on a summer night at 3 in the morning in a small town near where I live listening to this album on repeat. Honestly all of these songs gave me heavy inspiration & in my opinion that is the highest compliment I can give to music. Thank you so much PD for sharing this reaction on your channel bcz otherwise I would have never been aware of the gem that is this album, and I do not say that lightly. That is the end of my album analysis, now for some absolute nerding out abt my own fav group 🤣. So first off, THANK YOU to whoever said Ashton Irwin & Calum Hood in live chat because 5 Seconds of Summer is exactly the artist I was planning on recommending to you. I think you would LOVE the members solo music especially. Since this reaction for one of your favs happened to have a mention to my ult group for life, here's a little guide to their solo stuff if you want to check it out! 😊 I would honestly recommend to listen to ALL the 4 members solo music, not just Ashton & Calum because Luke & Michael's albums are also amazing (Luke's music makes you question life so just a warning for that). But based off the suggestion of just two of the members, there's 3 albums between the two members. Ashton Irwin's album "Superbloom" was the first solo project released by a member back in 2020 then he made "Blood on the Drums" last year. Calum Hood's "ORDER chaos ORDER" album came out earlier this year. These 3 albums are amazing, but I would like to also leave here the names of the other two members solo work. Luke Hemmings (main singer in 5SOS) released the album "When Facing The Things We Turn Away From" in 2021 and his second album called "boy" last year. Michael Clifford was the last of the 4 members to release a solo album just late this summer & his is called "Sidequest". His album is more punk rock vibes just warning you now lol. And if you want to listen to 5SOS as a whole, I recommend Youngblood (if you haven't heard it on the radio already lol), Red Desert, Bad Omens, TEARS!, and NOT OK. All of these are one song off of their last 3 albums since 2018 (Bad Omens & TEARS! are from the same album however) & NOT OK is off their upcoming album 6th release for "Everyone's a Star!" P. S. If you got to the bottom of this message...Thank you for coming to my TED Talk 🤣
Natasha Huppler
2025-10-18 05:41:22 +0000 UTCOOO IMMA BE BACK LATER TONIGHT!!! ETA: Okay, I thought I could post comments tonight, but I have to gather my thoughts - I've got a long work day tomorrow, but I hope to post on Sunday. Oh, so looking forward to watching and listening. I will say I love what they've done with Tyler's vocals, just mixing it up a bit. Omg I am excite!
Oro The Nymph
2025-10-18 00:10:11 +0000 UTCEver since you posted about Lady Gaga's Mayhem I've always wished for a listening party for it 😭 maybe something to check in another stream? Btw I love The Midnight thanks to your recommendation years ago 💕
Julian
2025-10-18 00:05:47 +0000 UTC
