(3) Everything Must Go - 02/13/2025 vs. (6) Factory Fiction - 06/06/2025

i get the two EMGs mixed up bc neither of them do much for me, lets go TUMBLE next round!

Ok, which FF is it, the 13 minute or the 17? Or do both count as one?

Ok, I love the EMG...but I go feral for fiddlers factory.

EMG is good but Factory and that entire show blew my mind.

The fact this absolutely unreal monstrosity of an EMG was only the 4th best jam played in the month of February tells you everything you need to know about February '25 Goose supremacy.

Nothing against this powerful Factory Fiction ending. Denver got the goods in this one. But this one isn't even as close as the seeding would imply, far as I am concerned.

This wasn’t my favorite EMG of the year but it’s hard to deny its greatness. It feels like it doesn’t do a lot of different things but what it does and builds to is fantastic nonetheless. I ranked it #7 overall putting it as a 2 seed for me.
On the flip side I had this FF as my #12 ranked jam and strongly considered moving it into the top ten. I absolutely love the dissonance and the simmilar space as the GR Madhuvan. The way the band starts from near silence and builds this jam floored me in the moment and continues to floor me on relisten. My only knock on it that moves it below GR EMG is the reentry out of the jam into the song proper was flubbed a bit by Mr. Mitarotonda.

I’m not as blown away by either EMG from February as a lot of folks seem to be (I had them both ranked somewhere in the middle of my bracket), but I do appreciate and respect them both… and am happy that we’re here talking about this version from Michigan.

While Fiction always seems to rip, I feel this one from Colorado is incomplete. Maybe it’s just my OCD, but the fact that it gets split and we're only voting on the instrumental finale to a massive FF sandwich filled with AEIOU > Echo > Psycho Killer > Echo… just doesnt work for me. In the moment at Fiddler’s, however… this split Factory Fiction serves as the framework for what might be the best individual set of the year.

Vote goes to EMG, but respect given to this Fiction. It's great, but it just doesn’t quite fit the mold, in my opinion

After the shocking loss for Pancakes yesterday, this makes me very happy to see this remarkably powerful EMG safely advancing in dominant fashion to the next round - its JOTY quality all around and hope/confident that it beats the Chicago Tumble next round and puts an end to the hype around the Westville AIN in the Elite 8 - not just because I don't dig the AIN, but because this EMG truly is special.

EMG probably deserves to win but I'm going to vote for FF because ya know 'attendance bias', or something like that.

I voted MSG Red Bird bc it was the best RB I had heard since SPAC 23 in the first round. This Factory Fiction is excellent. It's a sandwich quite literally in one of the best sets Goose has ever played. The Reprise I guess we were supposed to be judging although fantastic, I can't vote for as JAM OF THE YEAR v EMG. Perhaps moving forward we should include more sandwiches? Have a SOTY? There are so many other single songs that could have and should have made this bracket.

There was a period of time this year I toyed with making this EMG my #1 JOTY. Ended in my top 5, but it's that good to my ears. The first section between 9-12ish minutes is simple but beautiful. And then a furious dark build into the peak. There's not a wasted note in the entire thing, you can hear how locked in they are. My preference between this one and 2/8 depends on the day.

I was in Chicago for the Tumble and it was great but to me this EMG is easily better and I'll be voting for it next round.

EMG offers more than this Factory. Love the chaotic energy in this Factory but it doesn’t do enough to take down this huge EMG.

🏭

EMG gets my vote here. One of the best top to bottom jams of the year which should defeat this good FF jam.

Storm Alert!

We need a return to jam vehicle status for EMG in 2026, this version is absurdly good

Tight matchup with the second part of this fantastic Factory Fiction - a rare occasion where I'm voting against the all-out dissonant jam!

My vote for Factory is really for the whole series of Psycho > Echo > Factory, and only because the MKE EMG is slightly superior to this one in my hearing.