The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 122

I am sorry to hear this man. We are here for you, and you know I am in DMs at any time.


@skurt mind taking his partner since yours is MIA

 

Sure, who's his partner?

 

@ChaseTx

 

Thanks, I appreciate it!

 

Today ended up being busier than I thought, but here are my reviews! Better late than never haha

@elemenohpe recommended me Steely Dan - Katy Lied and The Elected - Sun, Sun, Sun

Steely Dan - Katy Lied
So the only thing I've heard by Steely Dan is Aja a few times. After listening to Katy Lied it makes me want to revisit that and everything else they've put out. This is album aligns perfectly with my tastes right now. These songs seem to be classic pop-rock with jazz elements incorporated as well. All the chords and progressions they use are super colorful and interesting and work well with all the guitar lines and vocal melodies that are going on. The rhythms that are used throughout are super unique, as well, like on the chorus of Bad Sneakers. Those triplets at the end of the vocal line are super cool and I haven't heard anything quite like it before haha. Overall, this was a great album and I will definitely return to this in the future, as well as check out more of their other works.

The Elected - Sun, Sun, Sun
Right as I started this album I knew something sounded familiar, but I didn't know what it was. After a quick google search, I realized it was because the singer is from Rilo Kiley. I don't know if it was just because I discovered that, but this album does kind of sound like a Rilo Kiley album to me (that's not a bad thing, though,I love Rilo Kiley). The album is a bit on the calmer side with lots of acoustic-guitar led songs and quite vocal lines, especially in the first half. The second half of the album starts to dip into other genres a bit, like with Did Me Good, which is a super modern sounding blues song, and then followed by The Bank and Trust, which almost sounds like a folk song in a way. I love that the instruments that are used on the album aren't just confined to guitar, piano, bass, and drums. I love myself some good sax lines, and Did Me Good has plenty of them. I can see myself returning to this in the future, but maybe not as often as Steely Dan haha.

Anyways, overall these were two great albums! Thanks for the recommendations @elemenohpe

 

Finally catching up....

@Patterns in Traffic recommended these stellar albums:

Joywave – Content

This was a very cool listen that I’ve been meaning to get around to for a while now. Their debut was awesome when I first heard it. There are a lot of awesome melodies on this new album with a lot of raw electronic sounds. I can see myself coming back to this one big time, especially when I’m in the right mood.

Lola Ray – I Don’t Know You

Never heard this band before and was actually kind of hard to find. This is early-mid 2000’s to its core and I loved every second of it. Listened to this album while driving and it fit perfectly with the palm trees surrounding the streets. I really dug the production on this album too. Funny oart is they were signed to Good Charlotte’s record label! I never would’ve guessed that until I looked them up.



@Raditz recommended these lightyears ago, better late then never.

Dead By Sunrise – Out of Ashes

Oh Chester Bennington, how you are missed. I’ve always known about this project, but never listened to it. Brings tears to my eyes hearing his voice in something other than LP. It really makes me appreciate what he gave us while he was still with us. This is straight rock music with a very clean production, but Chester’s voice brings the songs to life. What special talent.

A Static Lullaby – And Don’t Forget to Breathe

Holy early 2000’s post-hardcore scream. I’ve heard the name before, but never listened to them. Listening to this literally took me back to my early high school days going to local shows with bands that sounded just like these guys. Withered and Annunciate While You Masticate are such jams. Probably a very unpopular opinion, but I got some S/T The Used vibes listening to this one. I think it could be production and vocal delivery, but damn did I miss out back in the day!


@BTDandFeelingThis, there you go coach.

 

Half Waif
Probable Depths
2016



I'm getting this session 6 write-up in just before the deadline! I feel like I'm in school all over again :)

@ImAMetaphor assigned this album to me and I must admit that I wasn't familiar with Half Waif at all. I did a little background research and I discovered that three of the members of Half Waif are also in Pinegrove, who I am a little more familiar with. These three members are Nandi Plunkett (keys and vocals in Pinegrove), Adan Carlo (bass in Pinegrove) and Zack Levine (drums and vocals in Pinegrove).

This album was a very quick listen at only 8 tracks and 27 minutes and it was over before I knew it. This isn't typically the style of music that I seek out. It's very subdued and there aren't really any upbeat songs. The keys and electronics add a lot of depth to the songs and Nandi's vocals were very pleasant. If I had to assign a genre I guess I'd say something like indie-pop?

I honestly do not know how often I will be returning to this album, but I could see it being one that I go to when I want something quiet and relaxed in the background.

My favorite songs to date are Nest, Turn Me Around, and Know Your Body.

 

So I am pretty late with my review for Night Verses - Lift Your Existence that @elemenohpe recommended.

I missed out by listening to this so late. This album is perfect for me. Reminds me ALOT of Armor For Sleep - What to do When You're Dead so much that I thought they might share some members (they don't). I've only listened to the album twice so far and want to listen again when I can read along with lyrics but I'm not sure when that will be. The atmospheric quality of some of the songs really impressed me along with just the overall urgency that this album has.


stand out tracks - "Introducing: The Rot Under the Sun" "I Don't Want my Loved Ones to Die" and "Blind Lighthouse"

I really loved this album after the first listen and it will be a new regular in my rotation. Will also be looking into the rest of their discography.

Thank you very much @LMNOP for the rec, and sorry I was so late with the review.

 

So this week I've been paired up with @nickyeatworld, he will check out;

The Riot Gang - Ice Age

While I will listen to;

Origami - I Angeli Oshibayutsa.

 

Our very own @skurt has had a devastating family emergency and has to sit out for a bit for his mental sake.


Please give him your thoughts.

 

Sorry @skurt I hope everything is ok

 

Thanks guys

 

Take care, man!

 

Thanks buddy.

 

okay lightning round
first my recs from @Cody
Fela Kuti – Zombie

I think this was my favorite of the two I was recommended. I didn’t know what Afrobeat was going in, and on my first listen it seemed like it was a jazz album, though some further research has shown me it’s not that simple. Further research showed me that Fela Kuti is quite the outspoken/politically driven artist, which made it feel like there was a dimension of the music I wasn’t quite getting due to the language barrier. That being said, I think that all politically driven music – whether it be made by a marginalized group (difficult to define in a global perspective) or done with explicit political overtones or somewhere in between – has this kinetic excitement and sense of possibility. That the music is jazz based obviously helps that feeling flourish, with the title track in particular being helped along by a propulsive funk element and a sense of community coming from the vocal interplay. I’m struggling to describe the details of the music because I have less of a nuanced vocabulary to speak on some of what I’m hearing, but I will say that this problem manages to avoid something that plagues a lot of jazz; it is technically impressive but it doesn’t do so at the expense of being melodic and fun to listen to, with the technicality best exemplified in tasteful ways, whether it be a phrase played and then played again with different emphasis or subdivisions, or smooth tempo shifts. If I had one gripe with this album, it’d be the live track tacked on the end. With all the energy overflowing from this one, I kind of expected the live album to ratchet that up a bit, but of course it’d be difficult to reflect such a thing with music this complex. I liked this a lot overall, and I’m interested in listening to more of this.

Talk Talk – Laughing Stock

I expected this to be the album I liked the most of the two; a quick google search described Talk Talk as a rock band, sometimes delving into new wave and some artier tendencies. This album comes towards the end of their career and is definitely indulging in some jazzy/post rock moods. I didn’t connect with this one as much as I did with Zombie, and I think part of that is that I haven’t listened to this one enough. It’s not as immediate and definitely sticks to slower, almost ambient territory at times. This isn’t necessarily a negative though, especially because the strength of this album is how cinematic it feels. With the careful moodiness exhibited here, it could’ve easily soundtracked some old 70’s noir film, and I’m very about that vibe. It just takes a little longer to unpack, is all. I’ll definitely be coming back to see how it grows on me.

for this session, i was partnered with @Zac Djamoos and these were his recs:

Arrange – Plantation

This one was pretty cool. It has a singer songwriter vibe to it, but almost all the songs feature some electronic/ambient flourishes. The vocals sound like they’re double tracked and very reverbed out, so a lot of these songs give off almost a dream pop vibe. On my first listen I compared it to that Mother Evergreen album if they really really dug the Twin Peaks soundtrack? All this makes it sound really diverse, but it’s actually very cohesive. It would almost border on being a little samey throughout, except that most of the songs are in and out before they’ve overstayed their welcome, and the larger product feels like a collage made out of a bunch of smaller collages, so there’s always something to latch onto. Subsequent listens definitely gave the songs more of a form and their own identity, and where I wasn’t sure if I’d check this out again after my first listen, my second one onward had me appreciating it a lot more. Thanks for this one, feels very weather appropriate right now.

Strangelight – 9 Days

So there is a Geoff Rickly project that I hadn’t listened to, and it was this one. No idea that it existed, didn’t even know it was a Geoff project til I was looking for the album. This is pretty classic post-hardcore in the vein of Fugazi and Quicksand, with a little sprinkling of Slint here and there. This is a little slinkier and more sleek than any of those bands, but even so, almost none of the melodies went where I expected them to, and that made a lot of these songs a little unsettling. Geoff’s voice was definitely a contributing factor here, he definitely got a little weird with his voice in places, which, combined with him sounding like he’s singing/shouting from the bottom of a well gave things an eerie vibe. Like, there’s a part in Mosh Party AD that sounds like it’s supposed to be almost celebratory but Geoff’s voice just makes it seem weirdly sinister. THIS WAS REALY WEIRD is what I’m getting at, it’s like the alternate universe where Thursday never created No Devolucion and instead just got darker and creepier. I like this, and I really wish there was an album from this project but instead Geoff leaves me cold once again. I’ll keep revisiting this one.

 

oh and this week i'm paired with @littlejohn who gave me
Gatsby's American Dream - Volcano
Blood Brothers - Crime

I gave him
Cymbals Eat Guitars - LOSE
Pianos Become the Teeth - The Lack Long After

 

ATTENTION EVERYONE.

I am in the process of building a CMCS ‘staff’ or chain of command if you will. This, I believe, will aide in times like this where someone has to take a break, as well as generally make things run smoother and be more accessible. I have DMed 4 members I felt up to snuff, and am waiting on responses. If you feel you could fill these roles or have any suggestions for someone, DM me. I’ll make an announcement later.

 

@skurt my thoughts are with you and please let me know if there is anything I can do.

 

Thanks, much appreciated.

 

Alright everyone, I would like to introduce to you Our New staff team and layout. let’s give a Welcome to the new faces.

President- @BTDandFeelingThis
CO-President: @skurt
Vice President: @bachna84
Staff:
@Sheaver10
@Nate_Johnson
@Michael Schmidt

Mine and @skurt duties will be the same as before, with making the pairings, benching non active members, keeping everyone updated and updating the master record of albums. @bachna84 as Vice President will assist us in these tasks especially in the absence of either skurt or Myself, well as monitor tardy write ups.

The three staff members will be the ones who you shall direct any concerns, ideas and proposals to make the club better, questions, and so on to. Any they cannot address themselves they will pass up the hieraechy. They also will assist in monitoring tardy write ups.

All four of us also will be the stand ins when a round has odd numbered participants, or if someone can not participate or joins mid session and a new partnership is needed.

I will flesh out the duties, roles, and what not as we go but this is the general layout I have now. Thank you all for being the best part of the CMCS.

 

Updated post to include 3rd staff member

 

Thanks so much for all the support today int his thread folks. I am sitting out session 7 because my grandma who i was super close to passed away today, all of your well wishes mean so much.

To my session 6 partners @Craig Manning and @bradsonemanband this mean my reviews of your recs will unfortunately be posted later than they normally would. Sorry about that but I promise they will be posted sometime!

 

sorry for your loss, take as much time as you need

 

Thanks!

 

I’m happy to support this amazing group of people and something that fosters something I love.