(6) Hungersite - 02/08/2025 vs. (11) Pancakes - 02/15/2025

was kinda underwhelmed by both, and actually all 4 jams in today's matchups. But since I'm voting all Vibes on this year's JOTY, I went Pancakes here. The 6/22 Mountain Jam hungersite coming up on Monday or Tuesday's matchups, and the one from Cleveland, which somehow didn't even make the top 128 are great.

The issue with the Hungersite, *for me, is that mins 10-16 - which is like half of the jam - consists mostly of a tension section that, while interesting, I've heard now heard a thousand times (by several different bands) and has become something of a jam band gimmick. Cool turn & segue to a classic rock-y ending with elements/call backs to the tension section though.

*I realize that lots of people adore this style. And that's great. This particular one fell a bit flat for me unlike, say, the GR Madhuvan

I feel for the Midwest voters who keep having to vote for their favorite children.

These are both special for different reasons. But for a JOTY competition, this Hungersite's brand of special wins the day imo. It is badly underseeded, it should have been at least a 4 seed. Much like the Jive Lee/Modern matchup this week, these two never should have had to face off in round one.

I would write a lot of words about why I think Hungersite is the better pick here for a jam of the year bracket, but Isaac already did that. Read his comment. Kid’s a beast.

I wish Pancakes was longer, but still gets my vote over this Hungersite. And I was in attendance for the Hungersite! I like it, but don’t love it. The cakes jam is more my cup of tea.

Gah – what to do with this one. On the one hand, the Hungersite is truly great – frenzied (but clean) dissonant interplay creating steadily more dense internal tension. The genre at its best. On the other hand, Rick’s other worldly guitar work in this Pancakes. It is one of the most singularly gorgeous, awe-inspiring things I’ve heard him play. I am freshly blown away every time I go back an listen (which is often). I think I have to give the nod to the Hungersite after a few back to backs only on the basis of quantity of great stuff but I don’t feel great about voting out this Pancakes.

Neither were in my bracket, but enjoy both jams a lot! I gotta go pancakes here.

Despite this Pancakes’s emotional soloing, it has no reason to be in this JOTY bracket. Not a knock on this pancakes, which is absolutely beautiful, but is more formulaic as an emotionally charged Rick shred-fest rather than strong improv. Again not hating on it, just not what I look for in JOTY.

Hungersite on the other hand was my #4 jam and is the biggest seeding crime in this bracket. I love the DnB and Flamingoes esque groove the rhythm section finds early on. More specifically, I love the uneasy tension Rick and Peter add over this groove to really make it feel different and unique. This jam ebbs and flows really well into and out of dissonance, but always keeps a feeling of looming uneasiness. The feeling of anxiety that this jam generates when I listen to it is something that I find unique and rare, which is why this jam landed so high on my list and my favorite in the region.

This hungersite is great and then in the last 3-4 mins it takes off to become insane. Good pancakes but this hungersite is awesome

Hungersite should win

This is a vote FOR this Hungersite and in no way a vote against this Pancakes. This Cakes contains some of the most emotive guitar playing I’ve ever heard. Truly spectacular! The MKE Hungersite just does more things for longer and they are all great.

Cakes over a very good but unmemorable Hungersite. sometimes a motif carries a jam. this is one of those times.

While this Pancakes is very pleasing to listen to, I feel it’s kinda short, and is one of those songs that kinda got crammed into that second set of night three in Grand Rapids (I’m actually kinda surprised it made the cut). Given that we got a massive, top-tier Pancakes just a few days earlier in Toronto… I would have happily traded this shorter ‘cakes for an additional 14 minutes added onto the Dark Horse that followed, but as I tell my kids… “You get what you get and you don’t have a fit”.

Hungersite is one of those songs that never really blows me away, but this one is pretty feverish… and gets crazy and chaotic enough for me to give it the push through to the next round.

I actually enjoy the dissonant jam in Hungersite here much more than most dissonant Goose jams. It's quite good. Unfortunately, the straughtforwardness of the Pancakes wins out for me here. I love the riff Rick finds and just sticks with for the whole jam, interpolating and evolving it throughout. Sometimes simple is better!

Let me start this by saying I like this pancakes a lot and ranked it #53, it’s definitely worth a listen.

This Hungersite is not going to be everyone’s favorite and I imagine the bliss goose crowd will hate it but please give it a try. It’s so fresh, unhinged and experimental getting to places that at times can feel scary and uncomfortable but the ability to bring it all back in a way like they do here is just phenomenal. This jam is why I loved February run so much. Not afraid to get out there and try something new for them. Jams don’t have to be feel good grooves to be excellent, sometimes it’s the unhinged exploration into uncharted waters that make a great jam. I hope goose does more of this style moving forward. Easy vote for Hungersite, #15 on my bracket.

LFG PANCAKES

The best version of the year (Everwise a close second) just beautiful, probably suffers here bc its not a super long jam.

Dont get this Hungersite love at all. Grand Rapids was eons better for my tastes.

Hungersite all day. It's my no. 28 and an absolute badass of a jam. As time has gone on, I confess I've gotten less and less interested in the '94-Phish, "Westville Rockdale"-style jams. I wasn't crazy about them in the first place, but I appreciated the experimentation and risk-taking. But when Goose played this Hungersite, is was only their second such jam IIRC. Moreover, I kinda love it when the band starts in a Westville-Rockdale space but then slowly coalesces or transitions into a more cohesive theme, and this Hungersite does that incredibly well. The final few minutes of this jam come on like a freight train, and the force is multiplied by the chaos that preceded it.

This Pancakes didn't end up making my top 64. I mean, there are two minutes towards the end where Rick starts this beautiful, trilling, swirling phrasing on his guitar, and it's arresting and unique. I do love those two minutes. But it never really felt like the rest of the band got on board and started jamming. It was more, like, just a good example of Rick's phrasing and general guitar playing. YMMV.

Pancakes in general has some of the best goose jams I've ever heard (specifically - 3/4/22, 1/27/22 (FTP), 4/7/24), and this one is cool/good for sure, but I don't think it holds a candle to the old ones, and the 2/10/25 Pancakes from Toronto on the bracket is way better than this 2/15 one. Flipping over to the other side, this is a great / unique Hungersite that goes out with a f'ing ripping assault the last 2/3 minutes, and was one of many highlights from what I personally think was the best show of 2025 on 2/8 in Milwaukee!

This pancakes in criminally underseeded.

This Pancakes has subconsciously in my top 4 since the very beginning and I was ready to send it all the way, but man is this Hungersite fucking good.

Still going Pancakes, but I'd be lying if I didn't faulter slightly. I'll be happy with either one making it through

This Pancakes doesn't sustain greatness long enough for me to take it seriously a JOTY contender. I'm not as high on this Hungersite as many are, but it still packs enough goods to take this matchup.

Dissonant vs pure

Pure wins for me

I was at those MLK shows and was blown away by this Hungersite but.... This pancakes is one of my most listened to songs. Going for the stack.

I have a hard time voting for any Hungersite after my beloved 2/15 version got voted out </3

Jokes aside, this one was close and neither jam realllllly gripped me too much. Going Hungersite here for the dissonance and rocking energy it brings at the end.

I adore this Pancakes (don't sleep on it!). But this excellent Hungersite (one of the few I've ever liked at all) wins easily.

Don't listen to Mr. Big Podcast Ryan Storm below. The emotion they play with during that solo has not been matched all year.

This pancakes is amazing and is unbelievable especially for the length

Goat Hungersite. Do the right thing and vote for the jam. Not because Pancakes made you feel something.

This Hungersite is undoubtably great, but this Pancakes makes me feel something I've never felt before. And in a close match like this, sometimes you gotta ride with the vibes.

Pancakes FTW

I was in attendance for the Pancakes which is great and probably the best top-to-bottom show they played in 2025. That being said, I had this Hungersite ranked 15 so it gets my vote.

Hungersite of the year!

Let me preface this by saying Hungersite and Pancakes are probably two of my least favorite Goose songs. I know they are fan favorites, especially Hungersite, but I am just not a big fan. Indubitably I probably groaned when I heard the opening notes of both live. I don't remember anything about the Hungersite. It wasn't until the bracket came out that I relistened, mostly because I was curious why/how it got such a high seeding. Well, it probably deserves a higher seeding. Amazing Hungersite, love the dark groove they get it in almost immediately. Some good exploration, and love the absolutely screeching guitar Rick hits with about 2:40 remaining. I am a huge fan of this version, and it deserves to go far...
Except for this Pancakes. At set break of the show I was talking with a fellow gosling and they said they wanted to hear Pancakes, and I replied that was the one song I was hoping to avoid although admittedly they jam it well. We agreed to disagree. Anyways this Pancakes is just dripping with EMOTION. What a punch that is packed into these 15 minutes. I really think that the "shorter" jam is better- because every note is executed flawlessly and with intention- there is no filler or fluff (cough cough Bend Thatch cough.) I think it deserves a much higher seeding than 12, and it is going up against a Goliath in this Hungersite. I have listened to this Pancakes a whopping 75 times. I know it won't win JOTY, but this Pancakes wins my JOTY.

This Hungersite is absolutely unhinged and incredible, doing something completely outside the usual realm for this song. It's underseeded.

Rick's solo in Pancakes brought me to tears last February when I saw it live, but it really doesn't hold a candle in a JOTY setting. Let's remember what this tournament is about, folks

What a fantastic Hungersite - complex, varied, so many twists and turns. With this much variance there's so much room for error but they nailed it. That said, this Pancakes was one of my most re-listened jams all year. The last 5-6 minutes is so beautiful. Pure joy. It's got my vote.

This hungersite takes you on a journey of you let it. Up there with best exploratory dissonant jams, which isn’t usually may favorite.

The most painful matchup of the first round for me. Two of my most listened to jams. The Pancakes features maybe the most gorgeous 4 minutes of Goose since the Mission Arcadia. The Hungersite is one of the weirdest and best jams they've ever played and egregiously underseeded as a 6.

Voting Hungersite but wish I was happier about it.

The absolute, most tasty and delicious stack of pancakes to ever grace this Earth. This is peak Goose. Absolute JOTY worthy

It's almost like everyone didn't get enough of the Bears and Packers rivalry this year, and we needed at least one more WI vs MI matchup in JOTY as well. Loved loved this Hungersite, but I think I gotta go Pancakes here