The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 107

No you did great. Nice, detailed. Honesty is really the best policy on these.

 

Great Review and I spun that CD so many times I had to replace it. I first heard one of their songs on the early Tooth & Nail compilations, Songs From the Penalty Box and knew I had to check them out.

 

Thanks! I appreciate that. I never heard any of their comps, actually. I got into that label via Purevolume and Myspace haha. Blindside was one of those bands I remember seeing, but just never clicked on their page to listen. Very weird haha.

 

@Michael Schmidt how you liking your first session of the club?

 

For the bonus week @Patterns in Traffic had given me:

Backwards Dancer-Backwards Dancer (2016) Equal Vision Records

Backwards Dancer are band fronted by Ex-Hotelier member Zach Shaw and are signed to Rory Records, an imprint of Equal Vision records that is run by none other than Max Bemis of Say Anything fame.

If you go into this thinking it’s going to sound just like The Hotelier then you would be hugely disappointed. Their sound can best be described as indie rock mixed with a 90’s alternative sound that brings to mind bands like Nirvana and early Foo Fighters. The Hotelier and Backwards Dancer are like Yin and Yang with one being upbeat and pop oriented and the other being dark and aggressive, sound wise that is.

The first song on the album, Airy, opens with guitar feedback and fast drum that’s sets the overall tone of the album. It’s a great way to open the album but feels a little overused as they do it again on another song, The Radio. The whole record has this palpable aggression throughout that finally slows to a halt on the final appropriately named song, (blank).

Zach’s vocals are a mix between Conor Oberst and Francis Mark. You can tell this is a very personal record for him as the topics deal with depression, acceptance, loss and grief. I think the reason it took me so long to review this record is because it took me MANY listens (10 to be exact)to decipher and truly understand the content within the songs, but even then I didn’t feel connected to him. As I mentioned before, this is an aggressive and dark record and from the first note, Zach is running a sprint to the end only to crash from emotional exhaustion in the final track.

This was a good record even though I only found myself enjoying a handful of tracks. They can write amazing songs when they put their mind to it, that’s for sure. I’m hoping their next effort will pull me in even more. This will definitely get placed in my rotation of enjoyable albums to listen to.

Favorite songs:
-I Saw Your Spirit: By far the most complex song and showcases what they are truly capable of.
-Vanishing, Panicking: It has this Death Cab For Cutie mixed with The Cure vibe that ignited at the end to invoke some Nirvana.
-Artists as Characters: This song reminds me a lot of Modest Mouse

6/10
.

 

It’s good so far. Only had the one album so it’s not like I had heavy lifting to do. I kind of missed writing reviews. I like that there is no format requirement. You don’t have to worry about length, mentioning multiple songs, talking about the production, or having a compelling narrative. I like that autonomy.

 

Thanks for giving it a listen! Glad you enjoyed it.

 

Glad you like it. The idea was just to share favorites and expose to new music. Felt off to require formats and length. It’s suppose to be fun Not English III in college. Looking forward to when we finally get paired lol

 

Haha I am going to get myself mentally prepared to listen to a Breaking Benjamin record ;)

 

Nah. I usually try to aim for ones you’d like. I’d only resort to that if you heard everything else I have to offer

 

Nice review! I remember picking this album up in 2002 along with SR-71's Tomorrow while I was on vacation with my family. I had only heard "Pitiful" before I bought it, but I ended up listening to the album at least 20 times that weekend. It immediately became my favorite album, and Blindside my favorite band, at a really formative time in my life. I have so many memories and emotions tied to those songs that the album will always mean a lot to me even as it ages and my tastes change. It's probably the number one album I'd like to own on vinyl, though I seriously doubt it will ever be pressed. So cool to see it recommended and discussed 15 years later!

 

Glad you enjoyed it and nice write up! I found the album to be kind of a throwback to early-2000s hardcore/emo like The Used and Finch. It was in my top 20 at mid-year but fell off a bit by the end of the year. "Artists As Characters" is such a banger.

 

Apparently they played Silence in full back in 2015! I did not know this.

Blindside Setlist at The Door, Dallas

 

Yep, I went to NYC to see the first of those Silence shows. That was something I couldn't miss.

 

This week I'v been paired up with @Fucking Dustin;

I'll be listening to, Skylar Spence - Prom King
The Money Pit - The Money Pit

While he will check out, Sincere Engineer - Rhombithian
Davey Dynamite - Holy Shit

 

Yes! So glad you enjoyed them, particularly FFAF! A lot of their more recent stuff is a bit heavier than Hours, but their 2 subsequent albums, Tales Don’t Tell Themselves and Memory and Humanity, are along the same lines, so you might enjoy them as well (if you find time between listening to all your recs!).

 

I for sure plan to! That was a good rec for me definitely

 

Oh Hours is sick

 

This is the slowest this thread has been since it’s creation :/

 

Here’s some activity. Courtesy of @ChaseTx i will be listening to:

Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor’s Guide To Earth
Bad Bad Hats - Psychic Reader

And he will be listening to:

White Lung - Paradise
Ryn Weaver - The Fool

Also I’m way behind on my reviews.

 

Ok I owe an apology to @Patterns in Traffic on traffic because I'm a few weeks overdue

He recommended:

Butch Walker - Afraid of Ghosts. This was right up my alley. I love this kind of folk, intimate singer songwriter thing. It reminded me a lot of Ryan Adams. It grew on me a lot as I listened to it over the past few weeks, and I think that will continue as I get to know the album better. The album is solid front to back, but my favorite right now is "Bed On Fire". Really glad I heard this one.

The Alternate Routes - Good and Reckless and True. I tried to get into this one, but it didn't really click for me as much. At times it felt a bit too radio rock for me, and I think the vocals were a little too polished. I did like when the album departed from it's core sound though. "Hollywood" is a good example of this, more of a bluesy ballad. I enjoyed "Endless Conversation" as well. And the final two tracks were solid.

I'll try to get @js977 's in this week since I don't have the holidays as an excuse to fall behind

 

I'll review my picks from last session tomorrow and from this session at the end of the weekend

 

I have mine from @JRGComedy which was Partner - In Search of Lost Time

First of all I wanna say that when I tried to tag them in this post I kept wondering why their name wasn't dropping down and then I realized I did not @ them. So I have that. Secondly yeah I mentioned that I accidentally listened to this out of order the first time and it was confusing with the skits and things lol. I realized my bad a few songs in and tried again! Musically I thought it was really fun. The melodies and instrumentation was fun. I enjoyed the vocals too. Lyrically it was a lil off with me. Definite lovable goofball stoner vibes which is fine but not totally my thing so I didn't really connect on that level. Except maybe Daytime TV cause I was a latchkey kid and we'd be home alone all summer watching daytime tv so I totally get that lol. Record also made me feel like I should probably own sweatpants but I do not!! Lyrically it kind of reminded me of older pop-punk but not sexist and obnoxious. Like in that silly joking way where theyre not always taking themselves seriously. Which I'm not a huge fan of pop punk but I wouldn't mind if it took cues from this album. Also this just... Sounds Canadian. Not in a bad way lol but it is distinctly Canadian ha. My faves were prob Play the Field, Daytime TV, and Angels of Ontario. If someone played it in the car or at a party, or invited me to a live show, I think it would be fun. I'll probably pull Daytime TV out to add on a playlist. Not sure if I'll take initiative to listen again in full but we will see!

I also recommend u listen to this album in order

 

Glad you found some things to enjoy in it! I'm liking The Horrors so far, but I definitrly need a few more spins before a write-up.

 

Can I be in the next round I need more songs to drink dasani to