The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 76

Wow I'd kill to hear that for the first time again!

 

Crazy

 

I assure you, if we do Christmas albums, somebody is gonna have to listen to Jingle Cats.

 

I didn't give my recs as many listens as they deserved this week :'( regardless, here's what I thought of them:
Sometimes Things Just Disappear by Polar Bear Club: sometimes I get so mad at myself for not getting into bands when I hear about them. This album would've been extremely my shit in early high school, and the blend of emo, hardcore, and pop punk probably would've kept it in rotation for years. This headspace isn't really where my head's at these days, so it won't be on often, but I definitely liked this enough to put it on sometimes and even check out their other material when I get the time. The most striking thing is how much it throws me back to that specific time period where a bunch of bands in that scene had that ambitious, cross genre appeal. It's like reconvening with an old friend, yknow? What makes this one specifically so cool is that a lot of that stuff from that time doesn't hold up at all, but this one was still able to grab me. I'm interested to see if they grew their sound more, or if they kind of stayed that blend of sounds. I didn't spend quite enough time to be able to talk about the lyrics, but the vocals were an interesting part of the music for sure, changing from gruff to melodic pretty deftly. I'd call this one a win, @carrytheweird

How the Lonely Keep by Terminal: this one had a similar thing as the PBC album in that it immediately transported me to other albums of it's time and made what I was hearing feel familiar. I think that worked in it's favor for sure, and they seemed like a talented band. I was bummed to see that they only had the one album, because I would've loved to see where they go next. The vocalist does this whispery sing scream thing that people do when they haven't grown into their voice or aren't super confident about it. The instrumentation was cool considering how young the band seem, which makes me doubly bummed they broke up. They really had nowhere to go but up and they started out pretty good. I'm hesitating to gauge the longevity of this band for me because I can't tell if I like the potential they had or them more, but I know I at least enjoyed the listen. Thanks a lot for the recs!

 

@Cody I can't view yr profile so hmu so we can exchange albums pls :)

 

Triple post but I forgot to listen to Wolves fuck I'm sorry @WolvesAreCircling182 I swear to God I will do it though. I committed

 

i liked el cielo by dredg a lot more than i was expecting to. i knew next to nothing about this band, but for whatever reason in my head they sounded like tool. they do not sound like tool. it was a little bit proggy, but not overbearingly so. a lot of the songs felt like they were a couple of different songs mashed together; i though "sanzen" had ended two or three different times over the run of the track because it changes moods fairly abruptly a few times. i liked the interludes a lot too; i was worried, with there being so many, that they might fuck with the way the album flowed, but no, they all fit perfectly. i loved "brushstroke - an elephant in the delta waves" especially. a very unique sounding song. maybe my favorite album ive gotten from this whole thing, really.

i was vaguely familiar with blindside before. i think i knew "all of us" from about a burning fire and was pretty into it. it reminded me of the ffaf album i listened to last week - except this one was far more memorable for me. i cant lie, it was pretty standard early 2000s post-hardcore fare, but its done well. it actually reminded me at points of far, whose water & solutions is one of my favorite albums, especially vocally. i liked that there wasnt too much screaming, too, because i like when its used more as a texture than as a focus, and i think this album does a great job of that. i can see myself listening to this a lot as well.

great picks @Larry David!

 

I haven't heard it but I will!

 

now I have something to rec you if I get you!

 

I will wait until we're paired

 

@mattfreaksmeout what did you think about mae and anberlin?

 

Fixed for you.

 

Fuck, thanks for fixing my missed opportunity

 

I only managed to listen to Wolves by SOTY (as if you guys second guessed that anyway) as recommended by @WolvesAreCircling182 and I listened to it a handful of times just so I didn't have a knee jerk reaction to it. Unfortunately my opinion of it isn't going to be as glowing as some of you may have hoped. I've never listened (or heard of, actually) of this band before so it was nice to give something new a listen to. I went in with blind ears and high-ish expectations from what you guys have been posting here.

It starts off relatively strong with a less than minute or so intro of wolves (get it? because it's the name of the title!) howling and a man panting heavily with church bells ringing out and leads into the first song "How Can We Go On?" which gave me a glimpse of what the rest of the album would sound like. Both clean and screamed vocals, (sometimes sound more yelpy than screamed actually) some very nice drumming by Josh WIllis and gang vocals which are used sometimes more than needed.

The first half of this album is actually very strong, HCWGO, Bang Bang, Miracle, I Swear I'm Okay and Can Anybody Hear Me do enough to keep me going through this album. However, a pattern I noticed is that this album only has 2 songs that are less than 4 minutes long (excluding Youth and the intro which are instrumentals that only go on less than a minute) and it shows a lot of the time, especially in the latter half of the album. I think this album would have benefited by a cut down of a lot of the songs by about 30 seconds-1 minute as it just makes the songs feel more bloated than they should be.

The song structure also makes the album feel predictable at times as they seem to follow the pattern of: slow intro (sometimes with electronic elements), build up in the middle, big finale where everything comes together. There's nothing wrong with this formula, but it happens more than I would have liked to. The electronic elements themselves were used pretty well (Like Ghosts, for example, used them pretty decently) and weren't too overbearing on the music itself so kudos to them!

Last point I would like to touch on is the vocals, Dan Marsala is a talented vocalist on this and I assume does the clean and the scream vocals as there's no distinct difference in either of them. However, the vocals can grate on after a while as they do have that pop punk tinge to them as well as the production cleaning it up to make them sound as clean as they could be.

To sum it all up: I liked the album, it definitely had its strong moments, it's a shame it was more top heavy than balanced out throughout. The songs go on for a minute too long at points and almost bleed together near the end, I think cutting down a few songs by a minute or 30 seconds and having a couple of more instrumentals (such as Youths) would have helped reduce the filler.

Recommended songs: How Can We Go On?, Bang Bang, Miracle, Can Anybody Hear Me?, Like Ghosts

Score: 6/10

 

I always felt that they were at their peak when they went almost melodic hardcore. Good review!

 

@bachna84 it's on my list to get to today! I was out of town this weekend and didn't have a lot of time.

 

I know, you were in the great city of Cleveland!

 

That is correct. That city is actually a lot cooler than I thought it would be.

 

I’m glad you feel that way!

I’ve lived in Northeast Ohio for most of my life and worked in downtown Cleveland for close to 10 years, so it’s very near and dear to me.

I hope you enjoyed Say Anything!

 

Damn straight it is. I, like @bachna84 am a clevelander. I moved 7 years ago but I still bleed that city. Glad you enjoyed it

 

@Drewski and I have agreed to terms.

I will be listening to:
Fucked Up - David Comes to Life (2011)
Trophy Scars - Alphabet. Alphabets. (2006)

He will be listening to:

Starset- Transmissions
Jimmy Eat World- Integrity Blues

 

I realize also I have recommended Starset and Jimmy Eat World to two people this week and no Wolves. Is this surprising @bachna84 ?

 

I’m stunned!

 

You didn't even recommend it but got mad at me for recommending a different album named Wolves? Get outta here Kevo.

 

To be fair I am 75% sure both my partners have heard it already so I didn’t ask lol