(1) Madhuvan - 02/15/2025 vs. (16) Arcadia - 02/11/2025

Bummer for this amazing Arcadia but it can’t take the Madhuvan down! Also AAT, I suggest y’all hide the vote count until voting closes and the results are final.

Hadn't heard this Arcadia, so it was great to listen and be amazed. Easily the best Arcadia from this year. With that said, the Madhuvan gets my vote easily.

Holy underrated Arcadia. This Mad is great and has some oomph too it near the end, but compared to other mads this year, this one is okay. This Arcadia should've been seeded higher imo, this one takes my vote.

Edit: And PLEASE make the votes NOT visible until after the voting time is up. Creates more tension and doesn't skew the votes!

Wishing this Arcadia was seeded higher, it's Madhuvan easily... for now. I don't think this Madhuvan takes the crown this year.

Iwats…..I am still digging out of the muck almost a year later. Mad ftw.

Voted Arcadia, I really think it’s the better jam. To each their own but this should be the first 16 seed to get an upset

This Madhuvan is easily better than Raleighuvan, which won the whole thing a few years back. No reason why it shouldn't have a legit shot at the title this year. Elite material from first note to last.

In another year where Arcadia rarely did anything notable (aside from just being typically awesome), this is one of a couple that did... something... ish... kinda sorta. It's a perfectly enjoyable listen and I was pleased to go back to it while reviewing this matcup.

Ridiculous that this Arcadia is a 16 seed!

2/11 Arcadia - buildup to this is nothing special but I absolutely love 13:20- the end. Gives me feelings of hope but also slight feelings of unsure / spookiness. Awesome guitar from Richard and Peter’s doing awesome stuff with the keys. Think this jam should be seeded way higher and has a real unfortunate first matchup.

2/15 madhuvan - this madhuvan is awesome and gets way out there and whacky. I don’t think this jam should be the top ranked seed but regardless, it wins this matchup somewhat easily, definitely a way more unique and full jam than the Arcadia

Agree with others here — take away the real time results to remove “popularity” bias. Madhuvan ftw though 😜

Can the good people of the Goose community handle this level of evil? That's the only question to ask on who is coming out of the Royal region.

Vote tally should be hidden until after votes are cast. This will skew the entire bracket.

No it won’t happen, but this Arcadia would be a great upset!

Arcadia definitely surprised me - love this Madhuvan and expect it to go far but had to give the Arc some love.

Removing the live vote % tally until the voting window closes would be the right move and help keep the final results a surprise for each match - seems like a lot of great respect for this Arcadia below, and don't think enough people gave it a shot, or just saw the vote tally here already being one sided and will never give it the proper listen / vote it deserves.

Haiku time

Mad Monster Encore
Dissonant and Powerful
Big Pod Favors Lots

Arcadia Bliss
Nebula Canadian
Underrated True

Sorry to Big Pod
Your hype falls away quickly
Arcadia love

This Arcadia is incredible. Deserves to get past the first round

Hugely underrated Arcadia!
Might be the best Arcadia they’ve played in the last few years. Nebula within the jam is icing on the cake. It got my vote. This Madhuvan is good but isn’t all that unique from other dark Madhuvans of 2025 imo.

This is a classic example why the bracket should be unseeded/anonymous/unnumbered. I finished listening to Madhuvan and thought, "Easy yes" and then I finished listening to this Arcadia. WOW--blown away.

Seeds works on competitions that are left on the field/court, not in voting--they skew.

It's a real shame this Arcadia is a 16 seed - completely overlooked and underrated. Top 5 jam of 2025 in this book (#3 overall). Hope it gets at least a few more votes to tip the scales against a great 1 seed jam in this Madhuvan (even though it won't beat it)!

i voted for Arc. Mid Mad

Great Arcadia! Should’ve been a higher seed. Who seeding this thing anyway???

And while this is not my personal favorite Madhuvan of 2025, it’s still a killer version that deserves to move on.

Yeah, this Arcadia’s got me runnin’ from the start. I was dancing around my office space; supposed to be cleaning it. I loved the energy from start to finish - real good throughout AND/BUT

Howeverrrrrr 🥹 this mmmmmmm Madhuvan took me for a ride and I caught that wave, y’all. I’m gonna get deeper (into the forest) later because this jam is comin’ back…😮‍💨
🌊 they crushed it and took me along the whole time 🌊😮‍💨
Here we Gooooose 🎶

The Arcadia won't win, but it should. Which isn't to denigrate the Madhu at all; so much good stuff to pick from.

Without a doubt Arcadia... so many better Madhuvan jams - too much "noise" in this one, only picked up at the end. Arcadia was solid and delightful all the way through

Both Canada shows are so underrated

Spooky Madhuvan is hard to beat

Wonderful Arcadia but it stands no chance against this Madhuvan.

This Madhuvan is a top notch jam but I prefer Arcadia for this matchup. Don't hate me, too early in the process!

Madh takes this easily and deservedly, but this under-ranked Arc deserves some repeat listens before it's jettisoned.

Somewhat of a tangent, but why doesn't the 12/30/22 Arcadia come up more when talking about the all-time Arcadias?

This all-timer Madhuvan wins for me, but not by much. I absolutely loved this Arcadia and had it as a 2 seed (my no. 8 overall). It's my favorite Arcadia since *the* Arcadia in 2021. I was surprised that it wasn't higher on folks' lists. The chord progression of the key jam reminded me a bit of Radiohead's Airbag: powerful, rocking, intense, and unlike any other jam this year. I think this jam would've been ranked much higher had it been played at a larger show. Oh well. I'm glad it made it to the bracket.

I would love to have seen this Arcadia in a matchup that might be close - it's very very good. But this is not that matchup. Farewell proper Arcadia. I would love to see more of you in 2026

Let's go 1/2 step !!

Agreed, I love a good Arcadia but it's not taking out this #1 seed Mad Huvan.

Excited to vote against this Madhuvan another 4 times probably. It'll win here but that doesn't mean i have to like it. Let's focus on getting 1/2 step to the next round. Also nice job on the website guys!

This Madhuvan is definitely JOTY. Very experimental yet calculated and perfectly paced, almost like they wrote a psych-prog song live. Deep darkness and a supremely bright and soaring finale.

Love this Arcadia but tough draw against what very well may be the JOTY

This Arcadia is good and you should go listen to it. Madhuvan takes it by miles though.

That Arcadia though….almost as good as Milwaukee’s Arcadia a few days earlier.

madhuvan is so good but that arcadia is a fantastic contender and I think I know where my vote's going.. variety!

Arcadia for the upset. LFG

While this Mad probably is a JOTY contender, I do really enjoy where this Arcadia goes

JOTY

So you're telling me the year of the Snake was also the year of Madhuvan? Not a coincidence

Testing, testing Is this thing on?? So excited for the format. Kuddos to the code guy (Neal). This Madu is excellent and will coast through until the true test vs EMG of MKE.
Ps. MKE-Madu is better than both!

And so it begins!