The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 134

Glad you dig The Riot Gang Nicky and I can confirm they are a really good live band (seen them in Orlando of all places). I'm running a bit behind on my write ups but I have listened to Origami and I'll get something posted over the next few days.

 

The great @Colin Your Enthusiasm and I exchanged one album for this session.

I will be listening to Paper Rival - Dialog

He will be listening to Harvey Danger - Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone?

 

Okay. Okay. Enough with the hippy dippy shit! Haha

 

(ALFM)

 

I don’t have time to do this guys. Thanks for including me I had fun and I’m bummed.

 

Get me off the bench on the next session.

 

stick a fork in me coach..

I'm done. for now.


I will still finish my write ups for the current session and the one that just ended.

Just don't think I have time to really try.

 

Want to take his partner for this session that just started? It was @Rob Hughes

 

If he can’t ill do it. I’m almost caught up.

 

I apologise for this being a little less coherent - sickness and meds have made me a little muddled. The second record @Zac Djamoos recommended for me was:

Apologies, i have none - Pharmacie



I didn't even realise these guys were British until i did some research, having heard their name a bunch, it just never dawned on me that they were from my side of the pond. When the record opened up I was a little skeptical but won round incredibly quickly. The London band manages to toe the line between apathy and aggression and it's none more clear than on the album opener "Love & Medication" ("Why can't he just shut the fuck up for a minute? Why can't he just shut the fuck up and listen?"). Immediately I felt like this an album I'd turn to at much lower parts in my life for a real companion, there's been so many albums that do "pissed off" so well and this oozes that vibe.

That being said, there were moments lyrically where I felt a mark was missed or a sentiment was misjudged. There's a place for hyperbole and context of course, but on first listens hearing a line like "I can't help thinking that if you mention suicide again...I swear I'll kill you myself" ("Wraith") landed awkwardly and uncomfortably, which is a shame because this song really bangs. I love how it demonstrated multiple angles of the band's sound - with lower register vocals, shouting, melancholy and all out rock. This tended to be a common feeling for me - sonically I would really find myself connecting with the music, and I could really associate with a lot of the anger and desperation but there would be a lyric that would tip it too far over the edge for me and smack me out of what I was enjoying with a feeling of contradiction or hypocrisy. The most jarring of these lyrical moments came during "Everyone Wants To Talk A Mental Health" where the lead singer belts out "Now everybody wants to talk about mental health like everybody thinks by talking they can work their problems out. I've never been one for talking about myself, so if talking is the only way to solve this...I don't want to sort it out. I'll keep it in, chew it up, spit it out with unwanted aggression" - as a band who clearly bases their output around the struggles with mental health, and this obviously being a very personal scenario, it still felt like it's condemning the idea of seeking help and instead bottling stuff up to turn it into a rage (I understand in this case, that rage leads to music, but it still felt oddly conflicting and slightly careless to me. Especially as someone who understood the tightrope that the singer walked in his lyrics a decent amount). Consequently those moments really did stop me enjoying this record as much as I might have otherwise on first listens.

That being said, I find myself coming back to the album as a whole and really enjoying it. There are moments that I wish were handled or written differently and the vocals started to grate on me after a while (I enjoyed hearing the singer diversify his delivery more than just shouting in quite a flat way most of the time, because when he did, it was so cool and interesting to hear the mixture of his abilities), but the recording and songs are so great and if I wasn't in such a good place in my life right now, this album would be a best friend - so I can't judge too harshly on content that may seem jarring to me in a moment now, when I can see it's weight and necessity as therapy in another situation.

This was definitely the most confusing album I've been recommended so far, but only because I can't quite put my finger on my thoughts and align them neatly. It's a record I really enjoyed listening to and still come back to despite having some pretty big issues with it.

Recommended Tracks: "Love & Medication", "Wraith", "Killers"

 

@Wall Of Arms no worries! I’ve got your reviews coming up soon; I’m sorry it’s taken so long. I can see what you mean about the lyrics, but it doesn’t bother me bc I don’t think any of them are framed as being positives, but I’m glad you liked it overall

 

I have next weeks session pairings made. Not saying anything until Friday though :)

 

I'm sorry @js977 but I won't be able to participate this week

 

Alright here are the first two of six albums I am reviewing this week. These come from @iCarly Rae Jepsen who decided to put me in a damn time capsule and send me all the way back to 1995 with two albums from that year. Here we go.

Alanis Morissette- Jagged Little Pill



Well this was extremely out of my comfort range. To start, of course I know who she is. Who the hell seriously has not at least heard OF her, even if they haven't heard her songs? That being said, I was born in 1987 so when she came around and was all over the radio after this debut album of course I had heard those while riding in the car with my mother or my dad way back then. 'You Outta Know' and 'Ironic' especially are the two I remember from those days. Aside from those singles though, and her cover of 'Castle Of Glass' at the Chester Bennington tribute show I don't think I had ever actually taken the time to sit and listen to her music, so this was a first for me.

Listening to this album was a nostalgia trip, not because I knew the songs but because of that sound. This was the beginning of pop and rock kind of colliding on a scale that is a lot more towards the pop side of the spectrum like you see today. The grunge and alternative influences in these songs are definitely able to be heard though and as you go through the album its kind of a fun ride if not only for the time capsule this album really is. 'Head Over Feet' was actually a song I had heard back then as well, but I totally forgot about it until listening to it for this write up. I may actually think that is my standout from this album, and lo and behold it was a single (one of SIX. You don't see that much these days, having that many singles from an album.) Also, funny thing I learned researching this album; the hit single 'You Outta Know' is about Uncle Joey from Full House. That's kind of..odd to learn.

The music itself though is crafted nicely for this spectrum of music. It is one of the pioneers of it after all, if not at least one of the mainstays people from my generation remember from it. I won't say its something Ill revisit, because its not really me. I will say though that I can respect the art of this music, because that's what this album is. Its art, its crafted masterfully. Her vocal prowess is also pretty dang good, which makes sense seeing how long she lasted.
7/10

Rancid- ...And Out Come The Wolves

Oh man do I love a good Ska album. Believe it or not, as much as I am a fan of pop punk and alternative rock music, I am also a fan of some good ska. I grew up on Less Than Jake and other ska acts of that era, but with this being released in 1995 it kind of flew under my radar although I was well aware of plenty of Rancid songs. This album hits that sweet spot between my loves of ska and punk rock. At 19 tracks and ranging 50 minutes long, this like many ska albums does not feel that long.

If I had to pick one word to describe the album, it would be fun. The songs are full of energy, they explode into your ears and make you just want to dive in to the following song. Or go grab a skateboard and hit the half pipe. Whichever floats your boat. 'The 11th Hour' is a good follow up to the 1:25 intro to the album, and the ska and punk influences of the album never cease from there on out. No song on this album sounds the same though, it flows well and you can easily pick out favorites while also enjoying the album as a whole. Armstrong's vocals are top notch in these tracks, especially my personal favorite 'Time Bomb'. That track is fast, it has a catchy beat to it, and the chorus just makes you want to sing along with it. 'Junkie Man' is another favorite, exploding with some nice guitars at the intro of the song and then blending into the background with the rest of the instruments beautifully. The lyrical themes of the songs are also just outrageous in the best way possible, dealing with undertones of love, drug use, and many other topics.

'She's Automatic' was one of the high points of the album. The song just sucks you in, and the lyrics of the song and the beat seriously remind me of an old school party where you just want to grab your significant other and just start dancing. This is one of the 'love' songs on the album, though it also deals with lust. I am more likely to return to this album than the other one I would say, especially the songs I mentioned. I loved this album and will definitely revisit it.
8/10


Thanks for the recs, Ian! These were good!

 

You did not mention the best song on that album: Olympia, WA. Jk. What a classic album. That album was in my middle school basketball pre-game rotation.

 

7/10 for Jagged Little Pill?! I call for a re-vote!

 

I'll post my review tomorrow. They're written but they're on my laptop rn

 

I'm usually such an early bird with my reviews but I'm having a hard time tearing away from new FOB. Will get it done in a timely fashion tho!!! Every time I go to put on music I just wanna hear IF YOU WERE CHUUUUUUUURCH so I gotta get that outta my system somehow

 

Luckily one of my write-ups is on Mania :)

Hopefully going to type it up tomorrow

 

Nice! We will have a couple of nice write ups for MANIA. I love that record. Good for them!

 

Me and @marioeatworld have chosen records for our world-eating pairing

I will listen to
Jeff Rosenstock - Post

and Mario will listen to

Dolores O'Riordan - Are You Listening?

 

@Sheaver10 and I exchanged two albums this week and this is the first one I'm ready to write about.

Fall Out Boy
Mania
2018



I have been a Fall Out Boy fan since 2003, shortly after the release of Take This to Your Grave. I've followed them pretty closely ever since and they have constantly evolved over the next 15 years. I remember I was at work (in February 2013) when I found out that they were returning from their hiatus and they announced a tour and an upcoming album. That was probably the most excited that I've ever been about Fall Out Boy. I was looking forward to seeing what direction they'd go in after the roughly 4 years since the release of (the fantastic) Folie a Deux. Their first post-hiatus release Save Rock and Roll did not disappoint and I enjoyed their early 2015 release American Beauty/American Psycho. Having said all that, I think that Mania is going to end up being my favorite of their post-hiatus albums to date. It's still a bit early to say, but I found Mania to be a very consistent, enjoyable listen.

Mania had a bit of an odd rollout. Originally, Mania was scheduled for a September 2017 release and the lead single Young and Menace was released roughly 4 months prior to that. Nothing too strange there. The follow-up single, Champion, was released in June, but in early August Patrick Stump announced that the album would be pushed back to a January 2018 release date. The reason he gave was that the album wasn't ready and that it felt rushed. He basically said that they weren't going to put out an album that they didn't feel was a strong addition to their discography.

At that point, I had already purchased tickets for my wife and I to attend their Mania Tour in October. I was pretty excited to go to that for a few different reasons. One, I had actually never seen Fall Out Boy live before (my wife had). Two, I was going to the Cleveland show which was the opening date of the tour. And three, I was excited to see how the new album would translate live. After the August announcement pushing the release date back, I wasn't sure what was going to happen with the October show. Would it still happen? Would it still be called the Mania Tour? Would they play any Mania songs other than the two that had already been released? Would Young and Menace and Champion even be on Mania? Clearly I had a lot of questions. About a month and a half after the August announcement, they released the fantastic third single The Last of the Real Ones and I was a lot less worried about things.

My wife and I had a great time at their October show in Cleveland (here's the set they played Fall Out Boy Setlist at Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland) and I was lucky enough to see the live debut of the song Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) which was later released as their fifth single shortly before Mania's release. In addition to Wilson (Expensive Mistakes) they also played the other Mania songs that I had heard up to that point (Young and Menace, Champion, The Last of the Real Ones). About a month after seeing them, they released HOLD ME TIGHT OR DON'T.

So when @Sheaver10 assigned me this album shortly prior to Mania's release, I was very familiar with 5 of the 10 tracks on the album and I fully intended to listen to it the day it came out anyway. I made sure to listen to the album in entirety in the order that it's intended to be in (PSA: The Correct Track Listing for Fall Out Boy's 'Mania' • chorus.fm) and I was blown away. I can honestly say that I like each and every track on the album and the album flies by. I like that they kept it fairly short (10 songs, 36 minutes) and there really isn't much "fat" anywhere on this album that could be trimmed. Musically, I think the album's very good. It's much closer to American Beauty/American Psycho than it is to Take This to Your Grave, which is obviously to be expected. Patrick's voice somehow keeps getting better and better and the songs are just incredibly catchy.

At this point, most people have likely made up their minds whether they are Fall Out Boy fans or not. If you liked Save Rock and Roll or American Beauty/American Psycho, get ready to listen to another Fall Out Boy album that you love. If for some reason you haven't listened to Fall Out Boy post-hiatus, definitely check this album out if you are a fan of massive, anthemic, catchy songs that you won't want to stop listening to. I know there are plenty of people out there who want them to make From Under the Cork Tree 2.0, but that's not happening. It's time to give that hope up and appreciate the direction that Fall Out Boy has moved in.

I really love the whole album, so it's difficult to narrow down my favorite tracks but I'll try. To date, my favorites (in some order) are probably the lead track (on the proper tracklisting) Stay Frosty, Royal Milk Tea along with the singles The Last of the Real Ones, Wilson (Expensive Mistakes), and Champion. The only part of the album that I consider a misstep is the choice of guest vocalist on Sunshine Riptide. I do not enjoy Burna Boy's part on that song, though I'm sure many people dig it. That's fine-maybe it'll grow on me (but I doubt it).

I'm going to be listening to this album a bunch for the foreseeable future! Thank you @Sheaver10 for making me do a write-up for this album!

 

@BTDandFeelingThis looks similar to your new catchphrase ;)

 

It is. But I’ll allow it

 

Nice! Such a good write up! Also glad you enjoyed it (even though I was cheating cos i hadn't heard it either haha).

I hope you're ready to be disappointed by my literacy skills ;)