The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 312

@Larry David and I traded this past week and he gave me:

Father John Misty: God's Favorite Customer (2018) Sub Pop Records

Father John Misty is the moniker of Josh Tillman and has an extensive resume with his most notable contribution being the drummer for Fleet Foxes. This is his fourth full length under this name and sees him as a singer/songwriter. Not one of this era mind you, but legends such as Bob Dylan, Elton John and the Beatles come to mind with a modern twist that at times reminds me of The Arcade Fire. I want to take a second to give a nod to the production on this album, which is fantastic and is all thanks in part to Tillman himself with the help of some fellow collaborators. It works so well for this type of stripped down and raw sound he is going for and everything is showcased beautifully, from the piano to his amazing vocals.

With that being said, I will then transition and say that it is not an album for everyone or every type of setting for that matter. This album is a very open and honest album for Tillman himself and shows us all the demons he has been dealing with since the last album, Pure Comedy. We get topics of drug addition, depression, thoughts of suicide, even discourse among his marriage. If someone is going through any of this, you will most certainly resonate with this record and find solitude in it. I give musicians so much credit for being open and honest and allowing us a glimpse into their lives. These albums are sometimes necessary for them to "get it out" in order to process everything and move forward anew. These types of albums are the ones that we instantly connect to if we are going through something similar and we will always hold dear, but at the same time, they can alienate people and may seem too personal.

The other thing about this record is that it is not one that can be played in every type of setting. To quote my wife when we were listening to it: "This is a record that you put some headphones on, sit in a comfy chair, grab a glass of wine and just cry it out." There are not many "upbeat" songs on the album with my favorite song on the album, Date Night, being one of them. The overall feel of the album is piano ballads and slow burning numbers that are beautiful and grand. This is not an album to hit play on, on a warm summer day, with the sun beating down on your face or with the windows down in your car blasting it. I love the folky yet grandness of it and every time I listened to it, I discovered something new, especially the sporadic use of a harpsicord.

I won't go through song by song because after a few listens they do have the same overall feel but it is definitely a grower of album and I learned to appreciate it more and more. As I mentioned, if you are a fan of singer/songwriters from another time mixed with a modern twist, then Father John Misty is for you. With time, I am sure it will grow on me and I am really excited to see where it fits at my EOTY list.

Recommended

RIYL: Classic singer/songwriters, The Arcade Fire, folk rock

Favorite songs:
Date Night
Mr. Tillman: I love the fact that he is essentially singing to his real self and almost breaking the fourth wall in this song.
The Songwriter: This is a great song and is him putting his wife in the shoes of being the songwriter. I had read that a lot of their discord was due to the fact that he was posting their "dirty laundry" out there for everyone in his songs.

 

I like a few of their songs, they're getting quite big over here and I'm definitely keeping my eye on them. I thought their last release was good but inconsistent so I'm interested in this one!

 

Great review, and definitely agree with the Beatles and Elton John comparisons. Easily a top 5 for me currently and easily the best thing he's done

 

Thank you! For some reason there is something holding it back from creeping into my top 10. I think its because it’s a “mood” record and how slow and toned down it is.

 

@highfidelity203 recommended i listen to White Sea - In Cold Blood and I am very late on the review because I had family in town and have been in a big xtina mood so she's kinda been hogging my music listening. Anyway, to my ears this was a very big, dramatic pop production. Vocals were big and soaring too. I liked it for the most part. I think sometime it got a lil too theatery for me in like a verging on cheesy way but it was an interesting album and had a lot going on. I would say I liked it and wouldn't mind if someone played it in the car but idk if I'd seek it out again. It wasn't bad but nothing rly grabbed me or compelled me to listen again, tho I'd be open to other releases because I think she has something special

 

Also @anonimito and I traded and they're gonna listen to

Roxiny - Rituals
Astro - Astro

And I'm gonna listen to

Speak Low if You Speak Love: Nearsighted
Zealyn - Limbic System

 

Alright, review time. I have one from @ugman_2000 ..

Barely March- Marley Barch

I had NO idea what to expect going into this one, between the bizarre album name pun on the band name (Which did make me laugh the first time I read it), and the album cover. What I heard when I listened was this an example of long island punk that I haven't heard in a long time, mixed with influences of something new. As the story goes, the front man of this band was dumped by his girlfriend back in December. He spent the course of this past winter feeling sorry for himself and recording songs of self loathing on his mother's laptop, and this is the shining result of that self wallowing. Lyrically, that theme is completely across the board on this album. Musically, this album delivers exactly that; long island punk music with well crafted guitars, some great riffs, and some wonderful added effects that you don't normally hear in that type of song (there is even one song that features a freaking Kazoo in the intro), some falsettos, and more. I promise you though, this album is a lot more fun than what anything I just explained to you sounds like.

This record is just a little crazy. Between song titles such as 'Mambo No. 6', 'Live Fast, Cy Young', and 'Thinking Emoji', it was clear that even if that story of how this record came to be is true, the guy apparently was having fun with it in the back half and naming the songs anything he damn well pleased. Musically, the album sits very well in the new wave long island Punk scene for the most part, though there are plenty of songs such as 'Thinking Emoji' that do have an old school early 2000s feel to it, and is one of the better songs on the album featuring a gnarly and fun chorus, some very nice bass lines intertwined with the guitars, and some of the more fun lyrics within the album. There is also a sea of wave off synths on this album lacing through each track that seems to tie everything together, amidst the lo fi guitar, the heavy bass lines, and thumping drums; there seems to be a synth in almost every song. The good thing about this album is that every song is fun, there are no 'boring' tracks on it; its good old fashioned punk with some new pop twists...new wave pop punk as it were. However, as I stated earlier, this was supposedly recorded on a laptop; and it shows. The production on this album is a bit wonky in spots and outright bad in others, though that seems to lend to the self deprecating and loathing that these lyrics hold, as that seems to be the theme through it. There also seems to be nods to the feeling that 'perhaps being this beat up is kind of stupid, but fuck it', and musically this fits with those themes. At 37 minutes this album is a quick listen, and plenty of the tracks are fun and driven listens that will in the moment have you wrapped up in it. My problem with this album was after the sixth track, 'Surf Wax Antartica', which is arguably one of the best songs on the album, the last four tracks kind of fell flat and never really stuck with me. They weren't bad, but they just didn't get their claws in me like the previous tracks do. Even the much more subdued 'I Was A Teenage Gary', which contains child backing vocals and a xylophone playing along with a drum as the majority of the music seemed to hold me more than the last four songs.

Is it perfect? Not in my eyes, but it definitely recommend it to fans of that more lo-fi punk/pop punk sound. Its definitely a unique album if anything, as the absurdity of some of the tracks and track titles just stands out so much, but not in a bad way. I can see Barely March turning into something wonderful given some advancement, but as it stands right now I don't know if I will return to this album all that much. I would recommend this album if you were a fan of bands like Tiny Moving Parts, Toy Cars, and bands of the early NJ pop punk scene such as TBS and Brand New in their beginning days. If that sounds interesting to you, give it a go! Stand Out Tracks: Literally the first 6 out of 10 songs.
7/10

 

And here is one from @bachna84

The Starting Line- Based On A True Story

This is a band that I was vaguely familiar with before this session. I knew a handful of songs from them throughout the years, including two from this very album, but I had never actually sat down and listened to an entire album of theirs despite seeing them live on Warped Tour way back when and remembering liking what I had heard. This Pennsylvania pop punk band has been around for a while and is one that people should, like I was, be vaguely familiar with. Diving into this album, I definitely got vibes similar to Cartel and The Academy Is.., and was transported back to the early 2000s pop punk that I loved so much in high school. With lyrics of love and one night stands, heart break and yearning for something more, this album is absolutely a time capsule of its era. This album seems to lyrically tackle the themes of growing up through most of the tracks, and the thirty second intro that this album starts with sets up the theme of the album title, with sounds of a film production beginning and a director barking orders. But then, the album finally gets going, and I was taken back.

As soon as the second track starts off, you are treated to what this band is all about. Catchy guitar lines that will be ear worms, thumping drums, and bright and shiny pop punk lyrics that may not be the best well written but definitely serve their purpose and are something you can sing along with. The album is filled with easy listen songs, and second track 'Making Love To The Camera' sounds just like something that would have been on a college dorm room mixtape in 2005, and this by no means a bad thing. I actually found this song very fun, and it got me in the mood to listen to this album. The third track is probably one of my favorites on the album, 'Inspired By The $'. This song has some surprising aggression and grit amongst an album filled with sunny pop punk songs, while not straying too far from the path that the rest of the album takes. The guitar on this song sounds great with some nice riffs and an impressive bridge, the bass lines on it are top notch, and the drums roll nicely through the ears. The lyrical theme of the greedy thirst for money is a bit predictable, but its done well here. The following track, 'Bedroom Talk' was one that when I first heard it I was put off about. Dealing with 'the passage from being a boy to a man', the song was filled with cringey lyrics such as "I'm going to tear your ass up like we just got married..", and I will admit that I eye rolled hard the first time I heard that. However, that is not enough to prevent me from liking a song; and I was surprised to find I found the song being caught in my head in subsequent listens, liking the guitar riffs on this song and the overall flow of the song, as well as its simplistic theme even if the execution took me a bit to get into it. 'Surprise, Surprise' is the best song on the album, I will say that from the get go. A great drum roll, a nice guitar riff, and some cool keyboard in the background start the song off before it erupts into something great; a fun summer pop punk song that was made to be played in the car with the windows down on a nice summer day. The tempo of the song is nice, and the flow of the song is up beat and smooth through the entire piece.

The band also tries some different works here or there. 'Photography' is a 6 minute track that is played as an acoustic ballad that also works in a mellow piano and violin, along with some of the best lyrics on the entire album. The chorus was one that I found myself singing along with before the end of the first listen, and one that I wanted to come back to almost immediately. 'Autography' is a nice sister song to the track before it, Photography, and contains many of the same nuance sounds and instruments, but is the other side of the coin by being an upbeat pop punk anthem as opposed to a soft ballad. 'Artistic License' has probably one of the more heavy guitar riffs from right out of the gate compared to the rest of the album, and can sound like early Fall Out Boy in certain places of the song.

This is a fairly good album with a lot of fun to be had. I found myself enjoying it a lot more on subsequent listens than I thought I would on the first listen. As I said at the beginning of this review, the album is definitely a time piece of 2005, and while not all of it holds up as well as it did back then, this album is still a good time. It takes me back to my days in high school and college, movies like American pie, hanging out with friends. and going to Warped Tour. If you were a fan of any of the bands I compared this album to in this review, I would recommend giving this album a go. Its pop punk at its brightest and most sugary for the most part, with the themes of love and 'the girl' dominating half the time. Sometimes in a world of dark emotions and bands that are filled with the melancholy and darkness to match; a bright and sunny sound like this one is something we need to keep our heads up and remind us of simpler times in both our lives and our thoughts. Stand out songs: Making Love To The Camera, Inspired By the $, Bedroom Talk, Surprise, Surprise, Photography, Artistic License, Stay Where I Can See You, Cut! Print It.

7.5/10

 

Excellent write up!

 

@Night_Sky and I have traded for next week.

He gave me:
Delta Sleep - 'Twin Galaxies'
Slotface - 'Try Not To Freak Out'

I gave him:
Matt Skiba & The Sekrets- Kuts
Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness- S/T

 

He's in for a treat, Kevin!

 

Great reviews as always @Bad Frequencies I’m happy you enjoyed the album (well at least half it lol). I was less keen on the second half but it grew on me a lot after a few listens and now I love it all.

From what I know about Barely March apparently it started as a joke project on a forum, which then turned into a proper album that managed to gain a bit of traction in the music media and has now turned into a fall blown project. I agree it’s not a perfect album but I find that lends to its charm.

I’m looking forward to what he does next as for a debut self released album I think it’s pretty damn good.

 

I AM TOO POOR FOR ALL THESE AMAZING TOURS

 

Also god damn am I gonna have a great singalong to Nervus at 2000 Trees.

 

You and me both Sam, so many good bands at Trees this year.

 

Great review! I honestly never really thought about the theatrical aspect of this record until you mentioned it but I can totally see it now that it's been pointed out. Fun fact - she was the keyboardist for M83 when they were touring Hurry Up, I'm Dreaming.

 

This week I was partnered with @Nate_Johnson. I was assigned Wooden Shjips- V. I assumed when he assigned it that the band name was a typo, but in fact that is how the band name is spelled! I was instantly intrigued when I saw that despite being only 7 songs, that the length of the record was 43 minutes still. I had never heard of this band prior to this assignment. I saw the band described on Apple Music as a genre I’ve never heard of Psych-Drone. Whatever it was, I enjoyed it.

The record begins with some trippy guitar, and driving bass and drums on “Eclipse” The vocals were distant and reminiscent of the 70’s as the music was as well. His singing voice reminded me a good amount of what I’d expect to hear on a Flaming Lips record, which is definitely a good thing. The band leaned heavily on the music in the first track, with minimal vocals. The next track was “In The Fall” starts with a heavily distorted bassline, and some more heavy effect pedal work on the guitar parts. The vocals also had some effects that were put into the singer’s vocals to continue transporting you to a different time. “Red Line” begins very upbeat, and instantly sounds vastly different musically from the first track. It reminded me of a track I could see Portugal. The Man doing, especially vocally. Despite being upbeat, the music remained extremely psychedelic, and the guitar continued to shine throughout the song. There was an absolute seamless transition to the next track “Already Gone” which continued with the upbeat tempo of the previous track. The vocals appeared to be more in the forefront of this song, with a memorable catchy guitar part that repeated throughout the track. If this band were to release a single for the record (which would seem highly unlikely) this would be the obvious choice. It was also by far the shortest track on the record, clocking in at 4:20(which there’s no way was accidental) “Staring At The Sun” was also pretty upbeat in comparison to the first two tracks, and continued to make me think this band was born in the wrong decade. The effect used on the guitar in the verse reminded me of one of my favorite songs of that time period, Buffalo Springfield- For What It’s Worth. This was also the longest song on the record, and one of my favorites. The next track “Golden Flower” started similarly to a few of the other songs with heavily distorted bass with a distant lead guitar part leading into the vocals. My only complaint with this track was that the bass in the mix was a little too heavy, as they just continued with the same bassline throughout the track, while the guitar in the track was much more interesting. The record ended with “Ride On” which was a slow-burning final track. The tempo of this song was by far the lowest on the record, and set the tone perfectly for a last track.

The album art was definitely very accurate to what you should expect when going into the record. I also wish I would’ve partaken in some “higher level meds” prior to listening to the record, as I believe it would’ve elevated the experience of the record, for sure. The record is something I wish I would’ve had in my hands when I was younger and was always searching for music like this to enjoy with my friends on late nights when we were smoking. I think that this band would be very fun to see live, and I’d assume they probably extend the length of these songs from 5-7 minutes studio length to closer than 10 minutes live. This is also definitely a record that relies heavily on the music. The vocals throughout aren’t very memorable, and don’t rely on hooks or being catchy. Sometimes the lyrics themselves are hard to make out, which I feel like is intentional. It’s definitely a record, and band I’ll re-visit and try to catch live sometime, as well. Thanks for the recommendation!

Favorite Songs: Eclipse, In The Fall, Staring At The Sun, Ride On

 

I'm shocked that you haven't heard their debut album, Say It Like You Mean It!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Did I use enough exclamation points???)

Anyway, I'm glad that you, for the most part, enjoyed this album. My favorite tracks on it are Artistic License and Surprise, Surprise, but the whole thing is great.

 

Great review! This is a highly recommended album for summer.

 

@Larry David @KidLightning Saw the Pen and the Piano tour in Baltimore last night. Probably one of my favorite shows ever. You could tell those guys were having a blast and they can all sing their asses off. Couldn't help but laugh at Clark and Stone in the windows with the fans blowing during "Summer Breeze."

 

Any of you see this? Alkaline Trio are back touring.

 

This album sounds like something I would like. Perhaps I’ll check it out some time soon

 

Right so I've got 3 album reviews outstanding, 1 from @Bad Frequencies and 2 from @anonimito , these reviews probably won't be brilliant as my brains fried but I don't know when I'm next going to get a chance to do them so they're getting done now

Conditions - Fluorescent Youth (2010)



First up is @Bad Frequencies rec, Fluorescent Youth by Conditions, who if you're unfamiliar with play what could be called emo or post hardcore. @bachna84 also reviewed this recently for Kev in here and did a stellar job with the review, pretty much nailing all this things I was going to say about the album so I'll keep this one short and sweet.

This album is awesome and it's been great delving into this one, I think this is my favourite rec I've had from Kev so far so that's cool. One bonus of not reviewing it straight away is that it's grown on me more and more with every play through (and I've played it a lot over the last 2 weeks). This album to me sounds like the perfect blend between Anberlin and Saosin, the vocalist Brandon sounds so much like Stephen Christian from Anberlin on some songs it's uncanny.

This album is a big slab of emo from the late 00's early 10's and sounds very much of that time but that's by no means a dig, the standard is top notch. I love this album from start to finish but if I had to pick a few favourites I'd say they're When it Won't Save You, ....Made Ghosts (both upbeat musically with great lyrics) and Comfort Far Away (which is a bit of a slower number that reminds me a little of 30stm when they go slower). I particularly love the lyrics to WIWSY which really hit home with how I've been feeling recently.

Anyways thanks @Bad Frequencies for recommending such an amazing album that I'm not going to be letting it slip from my regular rotation anytime soon.

Edit: Forgot my RIYL/Favourite Tracks

RIYL: Anberlin, emo from the 00's done to an excellent standard
Favourite Tracks: When it Won't Save You, ....Made Ghosts and Comfort Far Away

 

Tonic - Head On Straight (2002)



Next up is this album that @anonimito rec'd me from Tonic Alt Rock/Post Grunge album from 2002. I'd heard the name Tonic before I think from the odd track coming up on Spotify Radio playlists when I've been listening to bands like Stone Temple Pilots, Gin Blossoms or any other late 90's alt rock bands. This is the bands 3rd album and it got nominated for a Grammy in the best rock category the year it came out.

I have to admit out of the 3 album reviews I'm doing tonight this is the one I've listened to the least so again the review will be quite short. This album is alt rock/post grunge reminiscent of bands like Lifehouse, Goo Goo Dolls, 3 Doors Down and Live. I enjoy a lot of that sort of music but for some reason I never ended up listening to Tonic back then (a lot of those types of bands never made it over in the UK).

I find this sort of music a bit hard to review, like it's nothing mind blowing but it is pretty strong song writing and there's certainly lots of catchy moments with great vocals throughout this album. The vocalist reminds me a little of Myles Kennedy from Alter Bridge in places.

Anyways I enjoyed the album from the couple of plays I've given it but I definitely need to give this one more time to fully get into it. I can certainly see me going back to it because I definitely enjoyed it enough to know I need to give this one a bit longer and because I'm a sucker for this genre I know I'll get well into this with time.

I will add one negative comment to this though, the track Irish is bloody awful and it feels really out of place on an otherwise enjoyable album.

RIYL: 00's Alt Rock bands like Goo Goo Dolls, Third Eye Blind, Lifehouse
Favourite Tracks: Liar, Count On Me, Take Me As I Am

 

Great review and really enjoyed it when I reviewed it. I’m diving their discography as a sort of “bonus” between @anonimito and I. They are a bunch of highly talented artists.