Chorus.fm Record of the Week Club • Page 8

finished the album up. it’s honestly hard for me to critique because I feel like it’s a band who formed and got a record deal before they even knew who they were, went through anything serious, knew what they wanted to sound like or had a solid grasp on what their ethos was. because for me, after listening to that album, I couldn’t tell you what a single song was about. I assume love is a big topic tho. what’s done is done but I feel like maybe they should’ve released this album as two EPs and toured on them. then after having gained life experience record their debut album. I honestly don’t mean to be too critical but I can’t even remember a single lyric and I just turned it off. definitely a snapshot in time

 

Listened to the Ambry album too, had never heard of them, but they sound like exactly what I was listening to in 2005.

Coming to it now, without any memories associated to it, or without the pleasure of nostalgia, it feels a little rough, and I’m not sure it’ll be one I’ll be returning to.

Sounds like 100 different bands at this period, but I don’t think they’re doing anything distinctive to stand out. It’s only a debut record, and maybe they’d have gone on to have done more interesting stuff if given a chance.

I would have loved this at 14 though.

 

oh boy "Better Scene Than Heard"
expectations have been throughly set

 

Yeah this took me back to the scene days, having your little secrect underdiscovered and local bands was important. For us it was The Valley. As 16yr olds we'd go to the 16yr old parties, get 16yr old drunk, take over the speakers and try to scream along lmao. We were sure theyd make it, Parkway drive played near the park near my house for free, bring me the horizon played in a shed at a different park on a Wednesday, i didnt go because dad said i couldnt miss soccer practice.

 

I ended up working from home all week, so I didn't get my usual commute time for a focused listen of this week's album. I finally got a chance to listen to Music for Airports this morning while working, and it was a super pleasant listen for that setting. I think "1/2" was my favorite track because it kind of combines elements of "1/1" and "2/1" and was the most active track musically, from what I recall. I love spinning vinyl while working from home, but for the most part I've stopped doing it because it distracts me and I end up being way less productive. I should probably seek out some more ambient stuff like this without vocals that can help me get in a zone without pulling my focus.

I thought it was interesting that sampled choral vocals were utilized so heavily on this record. They fit really well in the soundscapes here, but it is so easy for that patch to come across as cheesy because it's a staple on every cheap keyboard in existence nowadays. I would imagine in 1978 it was pretty cutting edge, though. This record is probably why that sound is so ubiquitous now!

 

Had never heard of Ambry before and decided to google them. Found two reviews that were very scathing. I’ll keep an open mind when listening though.

 

Update: Listened to the album while running errands. It's very much a nostalgia trip but also VERY scene. It really does nothing to reinvent the wheel while instead HEAVILY "borrows" from other acts. Each song I kept thinking: "that is from Tell All Your Friends or that is from Through Being Cool". Even so much so as down to the cadence of the way the vocalist sings. The band would have fit right along on the Drive Thru records roster. My other criticism is the length: no album from this genre should be 47 minutes and most songs are over 3 minutes. The previously mentioned albums are almost 15 minutes shorter. It was fun to revisit this type of sound and it had a time and place in my life but I have moved on. Thanks for introducing me to a band I had never heard before and sorry if I was too harsh.

 

c’mon now, Drive Thru signed more interesting bands than that

 

I was trying to give my review a positive spin instead of completely dissing on it.

 

I was thinking of maybe doing Fiona Apple next but if somebody doesn’t pick something noisy, I will

 

Need somebody to pick a Hum record

 

I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't totally hate Ambry haha. But yes, that album feels wayyyy to fucking long.

 

Can I get in on this @Aaron Mook ?

 

Yes! Will add you to the main post

 

I reckon the Ambry album might have a neat fragmented snapshot feel if you rigorously slashed most of the songs down to a tight 2 — 2½ minutes. There'd be plenty of energy to carry you along — Linguistic Relativity for Horses aside — the drumming's pretty tight, and the overwrought, incoherent lyricism might take on its own charm in that format. There could be a 25 minute album there.

As it is, the lack of distinctive personality cannot hope to justify all those four and five minute songs, especially given that the singer flails and fails to find hooks.

The drum/breathy intro on Dancing With My Confusion is the uncool young brother to the Around The Fur intro.

 

I don't dislike the Ambry album, definitely would've been something I would've messed with back in high school. Also not something I will ever go back to, haha.

 

I'm halfway through Where Are Your Boys Tonight? right now and thinking about/revisiting a lot of albums from this era, so this is both the best and worst time to hear this Ambry album. It's such an obvious relic of its time, clearly made by people who loved Thursday and Taking Back Sunday and The Used but don't quite have the chops to hang with those bands, especially when it comes to lyrics. I'm having a lot of fun listening to it in that context. Every local scene probably had a band or two like this — the best in their area but couldn't make it happen nationally. The ones from my area were what got me into this music in the first place so it's always interesting hearing a similar thing from somewhere else in the country.

 

The Ambry record isn't on YouTube Music, so I had to listen to it via one of those YouTube videos that puts the whole album in one long video. It was uploaded by a channel called "B-side Archive (Obscure Music and Lost Media)" haha. I've come across a few channels like this and I appreciate having a document of some of these smaller bands that made a splash in the MySpace/Purevolume era and don't have a current presence online or on streaming services. Besides being a fun nostalgia trip to be able to revisit some of that music, it's important to preserve art, even the obscure stuff.

Soapbox aside, I actually enjoyed the album quite a bit. As others have said, it was kind of a melting pot of a lot of emo and hardcore influences from the early 2000s. TBS was the most obvious direct comparison for me, but there were so many moments where different bands popped into my head (or I struggled to figure out what song or artist my subconscious was making a connection to). I heard some The Used, especially in the last third of the album, and one of the early tracks reminded me a lot of The Classic Crime.

I don't disagree with the "jack of all trades, master of none" criticism that's been discussed here, but for me it was fun to hear all the different sounds and references. Since I don't listen to this style of music much at all anymore, it kind of served as a highlight reel and brought to mind a lot of different music and memories. I think if they had chosen a more narrow lane and stayed within one sound for the whole album, it would have been a much less interesting listening experience for me in 2024 haha.

While I can't really call out specific tracks by name since the single video format made it hard to follow where I was on the tracklist, I definitely appreciated some of the little interludes and the one song that started acoustic to break things up a bit. I couldn't make out a ton of lyrics (which is probably for the best from what I can gather from the commentary here), but the musicianship was pretty engaging for this genre and I didn't mind the singer's voice.

Overall, for me this album served as a proxy for any number of small or local bands of this ilk from the early to mid-2000s. It was so exciting to have access to an endless number of these types of bands, and I spent so much time digesting as much of it as I could. It was the first time that it felt like a new favorite band could be moments away at any given time, and I couldn't get enough of that feeling.

In all honesty, I doubt I will listen to this record again, but my time with it kicked up so much nostalgia for that time period, despite never hearing this particular album before.

 

Damn, this really does sound like Geoff Rickley fronting TBS lol

 

This 100% would've probably worked for me in high school, but it is tough for me to get through now lol

 

it sure isn’t an easy one to finish

 

Who’s pick is it?

 

@The Lucky Moose

 

oh actually maybe @OhTheWater

 

Yeah I dropped out