Against Me! - Shape Shift With Me (September 16, 2016) Album • Page 10

Dave Hause used to sing for The Loved Ones, which were a criminally underrated band

 

Laura Jane Grace on Her Memoir Tranny, the Caitlyn Jenner Effect, and Unexpected Celebrity Supporters

 

Amazing band

 

Picked up the book tonight. Very excited to start reading.

 

Revisited the AM! discography today and this one stuck out even more than when I first heard it. Probably tied with TDB, reminds me a lot of Searching For A Former Clarity but with a more rock n roll feel. Laura has got to be one of the most underrated lyricists we have.

 

I love this album. It really hit me in all the right places last year.

 

White crosses and new wave remain criminally underrated

 

I always thought New Wave was their most critically acclaimed and also did the best commercially, what part is underrated?

 

the part where their fan base calls it's their weakest or one of their weakest, they were called sell outs for that album pretty routinely

 

I think most of the fan base have gotten past that. I don't frequent AM! forums or anything, but on AP and here, and when I go to their shows, that album and the songs seem extremely well recieved to me

 

New Wave is still super meh to me outside of a few songs.

 

My point ^

 

I love New Wave and TDB equally in their discography.

 

Tho to be clear it's not because they sold out or anything hah

 

White Crosses is sooooo goood

 

I still need to check this album out and Laura's book. I loved a good handful of songs off TDB. New Wave and White Crosses actually mean a lot to me though. Love those albums. ( I'm more of a fan of their later stuff)

Also, an unpopular opinion...Occult Enemies is my all time favorite Against Me! Song.

 

Yeah I like White Crosses quite a bit.

 

White Crosses is one of my favorite albums of all time.

 

yep

 

I WANT TO SMASH THEM ALL

 

"Paralytic States" still crushes me just like the first time I heard it. Still probably my favorite AM! song but "Delicate, Petite, and Other Things I'll Never Be" is giving it a run for its money.

 

Side note: You could make a fucking AWESOME album out of the b-sides from New Wave and White Crosses as well as the Russian Spies/Occult Enemies 7". Thats a rock solid 10 track album right there.

also I never realized how much Springsteen, Tom Petty, and even Joan Jett have influenced Laura and the last few AM records. Also fun fact I never knew this but Laura said The Mountain Goats are a huge influence on her songwriting so thats really cool.

 

That song is probably the song that hits me the hardest in the *trans feels* of any other song by the band. Also probably my favorite AM! song, if I had to pick.

"Agitated states of amazement, never quite the woman that she wanted to be" is like the most incredible and simple way I can describe, like, seeing my transition progress over time. I about lose it every time that line is sung.

 

yeah i can totally see that. im going to tread carefully here because i care about you obv since youre my dearest wife, but while ill never understand what you or any trans person has gone through, i still feel an emotional gutpunch from a lot of TDB and even Shapeshift. I guess its because, like you said, Laura has a way of taking a complex feeling or emotional state and putting it into such simple yet incredibly powerful words. I guess it boils down to while i dont "relate" to what Laura says, which is fine, I still can appreciate and.....marvel I guess at both hers and others that have transitioned incredible bravery. Both albums are just so massively important. idk i hope im making sense and not being a weirdo

 

I really really wish the 7" tracks that were Shapeshift With Me b-sides had been released digitally because I've heard both songs and theyre great especially "Stabitha Christie" I just want them in my iTunes library lol