Albums in Stores – Jan. 24th, 2020 • Page 4

Ummmmmmmm

You comparing my album to GAD and ATAL is a dream come true. Like, I would NEVER dare say that I sound like them because they're the gold standard I aspire to!

 

Those were my almost immediate first impressions, I love that dark/weird area of what's barely able to be called "pop-punk". For real though, it's very good. I've been sharing it with friends all afternoon, & I'll be listening to it a lot more!!

 

I am awkwardly / flattered-ly(?) giggling in public right now, thanx u v much

Totally agree about the weird tangential spin-off's of pop-punk. I realized recently that I almost never listen to music that's purely "punk," but I love when "punk" gets used as an ingredient in other genres

 

Thank you, Chris!

 

Funny you say GAD because I was thinking The Money Pit, but dismissed because thought it was just recency bias. Been jamming them lately.

Good call. Definitely.

 

Early favorites from Unfall are Programming the Soul and Unfallinlovewithable.

Caspian is great. Nostalgist is obviously amazing. Wildblood and Ishmael are really cool too.

 

Had never heard of Higher Power before but I'm 3 tracks in during my nightly gym trip and digging it so far! Thanks for the recommends!

UPDATE: The track "King of my Domain" is so damned good.

 

dolorifics - Welcome To Dolograd
Folks - Folks

 

@Chase Tremaine I'll be finally giving your album a listen later today during my gym visit. I suck at reviews but I'll give you honest feedback as best I can whether I love it or hate it.

I saw someone say it's by far the best release by a forum member. If that is true for me, it would take a lot because the "Out Of Service - Burden" album was in my top 2 albums of 2019 and gave me the same feels as Brand New used to before their downfall and I'm pretty sure they have a forum member.

Looking forward to the listen!

 

Thanks so much for listening and I look forward to your feedback!

And to be clear, while the comment that other user gave me was one of the most incredible compliments I've ever received, that shouldn't be misconstrued into making this a competition between forum members. Out of Service does indeed include at least one Chorus user, and I too love them and their music :)

 

Let the competition begin! Fight to the death lol

 

The handful of bands that I’ve checked out that have a Chrous member in them are all pretty good. Emerson, 20storiesfalling, Chase, Even the Trees, Out of Service... all stuff I’ve come back on my own to after initially being pointed in that direction from here. This place is lowkey a hotbed for good music... shocker, I know! ;)

 

Those are wonderful favorites! The shortest song and the longest song, hahahha

I looooved Caspian. Just purchased it. It's wild to me how seamlessly the two songs with vocals fit in with the rest. I didn't even realize that a major shift had happened when "Nostalgist" started, Kyle just fit in so naturally with the overall sound. I was really impressed by the diversity of sounds, styles, and instruments on this one, even though the heaviest, guitar-led bits were still my favorites

 

Got to check those out. Finally got to the gym and am about to start this Chase Tremaine album.

 

@Chase Tremaine I listened to it, wrote a long ass review of it while I listened through....and then accidentally deleted my post. Lol

It's real good. The guitar work is strong and has awesome transitions and moments in each track. I like the lyrical contradictions in some of the songs too. I had highlighted certain lyrics in my original post....but oh well. Great job. It's going to be in my rotation for sure.

 

What a bummer! I hate when that happens. I wish I could have read it, but I totally get you not wanting to type it up again. Thanks though! Super stoked you enjoyed it :)

 

@Jason Tate was nice enough to recover my clumsy ass blog style review of your album (thanks). I enjoyed it.

@Chase Tremaine album review as I listen through:

About to start. Album title is "unfall" not a real word in English at least. Minus 1 point. Lol kidding..

Matter is super catchy and the lyrics are simple but relatable. I dig this. I like that it's hopeful and positive. I need more of that in my life. The guitar solo around the 2:50 mark and the riff and flow at the end are super cool.

Search for Myself - the guitar struck me right away as awesome. It reminds me a bit of TSC how you find moments to add little intricacies and finger picking into your instrumentals as opposed to just strumming through the basic chords like so many do. Why don't artists all choose to have the lyrics viewable in streaming services?? I find the lack of lyrics frustrating. Do they make u pay extra? There's a lot of cool layers. Again this track is hopeful which I dig 100%.

Worth the Wait - I wasn't as big into the beginning of this track like I was the first two. I tried to follow the lyrics but they aren't gripping me. The instrumental is still decent but also my least favorite of the three thus far. There was a band called "The Weakend" that released one EP which I loved and then disappeared, parts of the instrumental rhythm transitions reminded me of them....

Programming the soul - some cool transitions on this track and I liked the "give me the x and ys" part and the "the more I love the less I'm loved, the less I'm loved the more I want". This breakdown was sickkk but I wish it ended with like a long scream. That's just me. I also found the insertion of the horns or whatever that is a bit distracting at the end but I do like to be surprised so I'm not sure how I feel on that.

Counsel (The help I get) - I like the subtle keys. Your vocal style is a bit different on this song and I really like it, your in like a lower key and it's working. I notice you also playing with lyrical contradictions to add some flair and catchyness to the track. Hate and love on this and the love/want on the prior track. I dig it.

Lonely Saints - I weirdly thought of Armor For Sleep listening to this one and I don't know why bc it doesn't sound like them. There are hit and miss parts of this if I'm being super picky but again there's some really cool transitions that keep it interesting and cool throughout. You mix things up super well in your song writing man good stuff. The keys and lead guitar in the outro segment were fun to finish my last set to.

Humanizer - it's becoming more and more clear with each track that you're strong point is being super creative in transitioning the beats and instrumentals with flair and a smooth ease. Sometimes your vocals in choruses are slightly flat compared to the always bouncing with interest instrumentals around them but again I'm digging deep for criticisms. This is damned good. "You're stress stress stressing me out" is going to be stuck in my head all week. Vocals at the 3:50 mark are strong.

Cave - Instrumental is super fun right off the bat but it backs off into a more mellow place where I wanted it to be an upbeat increasing tempo from the early push. It's good but not one of my favorites. The vocals are a bit forgettable for me. Admittedly though I didn't listen to the lyrics on this one. I've been doing too much typing and too little lifting on this gym visit ‍♂️.

Honest Tree - cool beat as per the usual but I heard certain lyrics come off as religious with absolution and a priest and that's not my thing. I'm probably way off context bc I'm tiring in my workout and losing focus. I'll have to go back to these last few tracks again in the near future. The verses sound good. I like the mixing.

Unfallinlovewithable - First, what did the spacebar button do to upset you? Lol I get it, the ending of the unfall album. You hit some notes in this track vocally but I was hoping for a big finisher that never came. I could be way off but I sense maybe a bit of a hesitancy to go all out and risk sounding imperfect vocally. I wanted to hear you get loud and stretch your vocals in a longer note at least once or twice on this record and feel it but that's about the only thing this album didn't have. Don't be afraid to go for it and let loose. You sometimes would rather let your admittedly super cool riffs do the talking for you instead.


Final feelings: I'm super blown away - especially compared to my expectations. I will 100% have this on rotation.

Note for Chase: I know nothing about music. While I'm a huge music fan I have no music education, I don't know proper terminology, I'm tone deaf AF and I am completely unqualified for 90% of what I wrote lol. I just felt an honest live as I went commentary would be more useful than simple blanket praise. Keep it up man, you are super talented. I could easily see you going places if you commit to it.

 

Incredible, man. Thank you so much. And I'm super impressed that Jason was able to dig this up! What a pro

A few comments for you:

- You got some big laughs out of me with your "not a word" and "space bar" comments
- Maybe I'll have a "duh" reaction when tell me, but who is TSC?
- I wasn't given an option whether or not to include lyrics on the streaming services. If you'd like to read along, I highly recommend using Bandcamp. (Or you could shoot me a few bucks and I could mail you a physical copy with the full lyric booklet.)
- You're spot-on when catching the religious language that's used on "Honest Tree," but ironically the line you specifically referenced, "I don't need a priest or booth," is me taking a dig at Catholicism. #notafan
- I totally can see your idea for ending "Programming" with a big scream -- but hey, you get an scream at the ending of "Cave," instead! :) Also, fun fact on "Programming" -- while the horns stick out obviously for the first time at the very end, the horns are actually there for both of the breakdowns, layered over the guitars
- On "Humanizer," I actually agree that my vocals sound a bit flat/lifeless during the choruses. The sad fact of this album is that I was forced to record vocals for ALL ten songs while sick. I got struck with illnesses multiple times throughout 2019, and I was never able to shake them off prior to the producer needing me to finish our sessions. So ultimately, I'm happy with the vocal takes we get, buuuuut, if I ever get to record again, I really hope it's under different circumstances. So that's why you don't really get the big vocals moments on "Unfallinlovewithable" that I would've liked to provide -- it was the last day of studio time, and with the vocal range that I had access to that evening, I ended up singing a bunch of parts in falsetto that were originally intended to be big and full-voiced.
- I completely disagree that you're unqualified to write all of that! Your insights and judgments were great, as far as I'm concerned, and you don't need to be a good player of music to be a good listener or critic of music

 

TSC = The Spill Canvas

Lyric Booklet = I'd love to support. DM me and I'll venmo you a few bucks and you can send me a booklet. Physical copy not necessary. It's all on my phone but I'll pay the price of the full copy whatever that is.

The Scream in cave - I don't remember hearing it so now that's going to be the first track I listen to at the gym tonight so I can listen for it.

Humanizer & vocals - ahh that sucks about being sick but why not Billie Eilish it up and record it your bedroom? If it works for someone that swept the big awards at the Grammys why not you?

Unqualified - some people can hear a person sing or play a note on the piano and be like ahh that note was "F3" and that amazes me. Maybe I could learn but I feel I barely have time to live as is. I try to be a good dad and husband and that really just leaves only some gym time, some time here on Chorus as my squeezed into life outlets that are mine to keep me sane. There's so little time for me, I feel like I give it all to them but I refuse to be like my parents so... it's worth it. Maybe one day I'll get some music education and understand keys and notes and all that.

But really, you're album was super good and really enjoyable. You've got a heck of a lot of talent. More than many bands touring for a living for sure. The fact that you let some nobody like me critique your awesome art and you took it in stride in a positive and constructive and kind way tells me you've got what it takes to succeed not just in the scene but in life. It would have been so easy for so many in your position to crush even the slightest critique and put me in my place. Best of luck to you and DM me so I can venmo a payment and give u the ship info.

 

Ya know, if it makes you feel better, I'm 100% not the type of person who can hear a note and tell you what note it was. In fact, I quite often feel tone deaf myself, believe it or not.

Also, GET OUTTA HERE WITH THAT EILISH CRAP I can't afford the type of mics she certainly uses. I actually love her album, and to this day, I cannot fathom making something that sounds THAT good in my own bedroom, hahaha

 

yo, everyone needs to listen to Welcome to Dolograd by Dolorifics if you have a passing interest in The Cure, Nightmare of You or the 80's (not synth).

someone mentioned them in this thread and holy shit this is so so good.