The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 155

Nice reviews and I am glad that you enjoyed them! I love your descriptions of me, haha!

 

@BTDandFeelingThis I’m so happy you enjoyed NUFAN, out of both my recs that was the one I was unsure how you’d feel about it. Tony Sly was such a great lyricist and it’s so sad that’s he’s not around anymore. Definitely check out some of their other work as some of the best tracks aren’t on that album. If you do Try More Betterness by them next as that’s my favourite album by them

 

I’ll add it to my to do list for sure! Thanks!

 

At long last, I was matched this week with the President and Commander-in-Chief of CMCS, @BTDandFeelingThis. He recommended albums by two bands that need no introduction, as they are both veteran bands that have found a good deal of success. However, despite hearing several singles from these artists, I had never listened to any of their albums in full before this week. I’m glad I had the opportunity to change that.



Hawthorne Heights – If Only You Were Lonely

I’m somewhat familiar with Hawthorne Heights, having heard “Ohio Is for Lovers,” “This Is Who We Are,” and “Saying Sorry” among a few other singles through the years. "This Is Who We Are" kicks off the album, and the listener is immediately greeted by the familiar screamo-style guitar tone of the mid-aughts, applying rock distortion with a dash of metal to the opening riff. This gives way to a surprisingly delicate clean vocal, which is soon joined by screaming vocals in the prechorus. The chorus has a blend of sung and screamed vocals with a fast melody that is really catchy and enjoyable. Unlike a lot of the music I listened to 10 years ago, the hook here really holds up and I was solidly on board to hear the rest of the record.

Track two, “We Are So Last Year,” introduces some piano into the proceedings, which brought some appreciated diversity to the band’s sound. The piano also returns in the closing track “Decembers.” “Pens and Needles” and “Dead in the Water” bring trademark screaming breakdowns, which were definitely fresh and in vogue in 2006 when this album was released. “Saying Sorry” features another catchy, if a bit repetitive, chorus. There is some really nice lead guitar work throughout the album, although it often sits far back in the mix, and I had to really listen for it to fully appreciate it. With a talented guitarist like this, it would have been nice to hear him featured a bit more through emphasized lead guitar lines or solos. To its credit, “Cross Me Off Your List” did have a nice solo, and also featured some acoustic guitar mixed with the usual heavier guitars.

The lyrics on the album aren’t especially deep or inventive, but that doesn’t really detract from my enjoyment when listening to this style of music. Overall, Hawthorne Heights showcase an expertise for crafting catchy, dynamic rock songs throughout If Only You Were Lonely which mix softer and more sentimental sounds and subject matter with elements of hardcore and screaming vocals. Though some of these elements seem cliché when listening in 2018, I realize that this is mostly because so many bands in the interim have duplicated the sound that Hawthorne Heights and their peers popularized around the time this album was released.

This would have been in my regular rotation had I heard it in 2006. As it stands today, I can’t see myself going back to this too often, but I did genuinely enjoy the time I spent with it and I’m glad that I have now experienced the entire album. “This Is Who We Are” is still a certified jam and it was a pleasant surprise to rediscover a great song that I had forgotten about. I’m interested to hear what Hawthorne Heights is churning out today, so I will definitely be checking out their other releases to see how they’ve evolved.



A Perfect Circle – Thirteenth Step

Similar to Hawthorne Heights, I had only heard a few A Perfect Circle singles before this week, including “Weak and Powerless,” “Blue,” and “The Outsider” from this album. I remember enjoying those songs, so I’m not sure why I never checked out the full album, but better late than never!

The album opens with the nearly 8-minute long “The Package” (there’s a joke in there somewhere). The first half of the song is sparse, with mostly percussion and some light guitar backing Maynard James Keenan’s distinctive voice. It then kicks into high gear with louder drumming and the addition of heavy guitars. Keenan’s vocals follow suit, and his recognizable growl creeps into his vocal delivery as the intensity rises. Even as the song gets louder, it remains somewhat of a slow burn until it fades out.

“Weak and Powerless” is the perfect song to follow this up, as it picks up the pace and features the familiar chorus heard on rock radio in the early ‘00s. This is a great song, and for the first time I noted the nice guitar work behind Keenan’s held out notes in the chorus, which really brings the song to life. This is followed by another slower song, “The Noose,” which is a pleasant listen and gets really engaging at the end with the introduction of some very cinematic-sounding guitars. “Blue” is next up, and it features a rhythmic verse and a kind of pop-style chorus that you wouldn’t really expect to hear from APC. Really nice track.

From here, the album embraces the softer side of the band’s sound. Most of these songs ebb and flow, and build tension that never quite releases. I found myself wanting the band to let loose, but the intensity stays low throughout “Vanishing” (kind of meandering with a nice atmospheric sound) and “A Stranger” (acoustic guitar-centric with well-placed strings at the end) before we get to the great alt-rock song “The Outsider.” The band really picks up the intensity on this one, and it highlights the tenacity and range of Keenan’s vocals.

More midtempo songs follow, with the instrumental “Crimes” and string-based “The Nurse Who Loved Me.” I was surprised to hear these followed by the heaviest song on the album, “Pet.” It’s placed very well in the tracklist here near the end, sandwiched between some of the slower cuts. The song does a great job of grabbing the listener’s attention back and breaking up some more similar-sounding tracks. The album then closes out with the mostly instrumental “Lullaby” and the cinematic closer “Gravity,” which is a compelling closing track that ends the album with a catchy vocal and a soft fadeout.

Overall, I really enjoyed this album. It was much different than I expected from the songs I had heard previously. This is a fairly low intensity record, but there is a lot more space and beauty than I would have anticipated in these songs. Over the course of the week, I grew to appreciate this album as one cohesive piece of work, to be digested in one sitting. It really is a journey, with tension building sometimes for multiple tracks before it is finally released on the more energetic cuts sprinkled throughout the album (“Weak and Powerless,” “Blue,” “The Outsider,” “Pet”). This was a great album to experience and it’s about time I check out Mer de Noms and probably some Tool records as well. This rec couldn’t have come at a better time to get me prepared for the new APC album that was just announced for later this year. Thanks for the great recs @BTDandFeelingThis!

 

Glad you enjoyed both albums, albums I hold dear to be in fact :)

If you are curious on modern HH look up their EP Hurt. They also have a new one in the pipeline due this year

 

Will check out Hurt.

PS I've been familiar with that APC album art for years, but I just noticed for the first time today that it's a slug on her face. I guess I never studied it too closely, but I always assumed it was an oddly shaped banana or something.

 

Lmao I thought that too way back when first time I saw it

 

If you are about to listen to Tool for the first time let me tell how excited 15-year old me is for you

 

Yeah I was 13 when the "Schism" video was all over MTV and I think it freaked me out so I never really checked out their music beyond singles. I've had the urge to check them out a few times over the past few years, but it looks like their albums aren't on streaming services, so I haven't cared enough to take the time to track them down.

 

It’s not ideal, but the albums are on YouTube

 

that's not even the weirdest video lol

 

APC and Tool are amazing. Check out Puscifier as well. This song is amazing:

 

They’re on Apple Music I think l. Not sure

 

They are not. They made a statement a while ago they didn’t want people streaming their music.

 

But yet APC is. Weird

 

@nickyeatworld unfortunately had a partner who ghosted him this session (I just now found out) so we decided to have a quick trade.


He gave me:
Pulse Ultra - Head Space

I gave him:
Matchboock Romance- Stories and Alibis

 

Hey, I'm way behind on stuff here, so I gotta drop out. At some point I'll post all the reviews for the backlog I have buuuuut not sure when. Sorry to my partners :/ school is hella overwhelming right now and I don't have anything resembling a rhythm rn

 

It happens. The door is always open!

 

@Larry David recently recommended me Tiny Moving Parts, Swell (2018) for our exchange. TMP is a band I have heard in passing, but haven't dug into. I mostly was aware of them as part of the scene of bands with Sorority Noise, The Hotelier, etc. As many on this site are probably well aware, they recently released a new record to kickoff 2018.

This is an interesting band. They wear their hearts on their sleeves, both in terms of their lyrics and their musical influences. The style of their dual vocal parts and the emotional lyrics are very much from the early 2000's emo/punk scene. They have very obvious math rock parts mixed into most of their songs that take the popular noodling sound to another level. However, the music overall, is steeped in '90s and current emo music. I guess at this point, that combination is not surprising given the overlap within those genres and eras.

Overall, this was an album that was a pleasant surprise. I can definitely see myself returning to it throughout the year. I am curious as to how well it holds up, but so far so good. My favorite songs on it are Wildfire and Smooth It Out. Whale Watching is also up there. My only critiques would be that it does tend have a similar feel the whole way through. There seems to be a lot of vocal runs and melodies that get re-used quite a bit. And some of the math parts can be a bit much at times, but I get what they are going for. Thank you, Larry for kicking off 2018 releases on a high note for me.

 

I reviewed this album just a page or so back myself. Definitely a good start to 2018

 

Nice! It's a fun listen. I can see it really connecting with a lot of young kids and being a gateway band of sorts.

 

I can definitely understand math rock being a negative point but at the same time I think Tiny Moving Parts has enough variety in their sound to set themselves apart from math rock bands like TTNG whom I personally have a hard time getting into.

 

tiny moving parts is very far away from being a 'math rock' band. math rock is also such an odd and kinda unfair descriptor that i wished we did away with altogether

 

It's not so much that they incorporate math rock parts. It's more so it can be a bit formulaic at times. Just as hardcore and metalcore can be the same at times by shoehorning in a breakdown. It's not always necessary to me, that's all. But the noodling and shoegaze influence is big right now with the up and coming crop of bands, so I get it. They are building off that and taking it up a notch by going more mathy.