The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 151

That one and Boys Night Out - Trainwreck are both really good.

 

Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes
1983



I took on a second partner for session 9 with @iCarly Rae Jepsen and was assigned the self-titled debut album by Violent Femmes. I had heard of them before, but was only familiar with their song Blister In The Sun, which most everyone has probably heard by this point. It's a great, memorable, catchy song but for whatever reason I had never checked out any of their other material until now.

I did a little background research on Violent Femmes and discovered that they were from Milwaukee. I have no idea why, but for some reason I thought they were a British band. Anyway, from what I read a couple of their primary influences were The Velvet Underground and Talking Heads, which I can hear when listening to this album.

Wikipedia classifies this album as "folk punk" and that sounds pretty accurate to me (as I've said before, I'm not good at assigning genre to albums, so I'll go with what Wikipedia says). If I had to describe it with my own words I'd go with alternative, I guess.

The music itself is catchy and never gets boring. The bassline throughout many of the songs is infectious and drives the songs. Lead vocalist Gordon Gano has a unique delivery that I really enjoyed. Vocally, he reminded me at times of Rivers Cuomo (Weezer) and I really liked the lyrics. The vocals were very easy to decipher and I really liked how it seemed like the songs were song in such a casual, nonchalant fashion.

During my background research, I found a couple bands that were influenced by Violent Femmes - Wilco and Barenaked Ladies. I'd say Wilco was probably influenced more from a musical standpoint and Barenaked Ladies were probably influenced more from a vocal standpoint (at least for their first few albums).

All in all, I'm really glad that I was recommended this album! They have eight more full-length albums after this one that I'd like to get around to at some point. I'll definitely be returning to this album though. It's 35 years old, but it feels pretty fresh to me.

My favorite tracks to date are Please Do Not Go, Prove My Love, Gone Daddy Gone, and one of the bonus tracks Gimme The Car. Honestly, Blister In The Sun is right up there too, but I wanted to focus more on songs that I hadn't heard before.

I'd recommend this album to fans of The Velvet Underground, Talking Heads, Wilco, early Barenaked Ladies, Cracker, and fans of folk punk/early alternative music. If you're not familiar with the song Blister In The Sun, please go give that a listen now! It's only about two and a half minutes long and it's a very iconic song.

 

@sophos34 and I will be exchanging two albums this week.

He will be checking out:
Tiny Moving Parts - Swell
Hopesfall - The Satellite Years

I will be checking out:
Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory
Charli XCX - Pop 2

 

I’m excited for my @sophos34 reviews today

 

The two that you’re checking out are incredible

 

Vince- yes
Charlie- I only know of her by name

 

Our newest member, @theagentcoma and I will be exchanging.

They will be listening to:
Shame:Songs of Praise
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Wrong Creatures

I will be listening to:
Hooded Menace: Ossuarium Silhouettes Hollowed
Chemicaust: Unleashed Upon This World

On a side note, I am really excited to have some of the metal thread join us and add some diversity to this thread. They are all very knowledgeable in this area and can help expand everyone’s listening experience!

 

Our other new member from the metal thread @ugman_2000 and I have traded.

He gave me:
Audio Karate - Space Camp

No Use For A Name - Hard Rock Bottom

I gave him:
Northstar- Pollyanna

Starset- Vessels

 

first album i was given
armor for sleep - what to do when you are dead

i heard car underwater when i was like 12 years old, thought it was decent but it didnt make me checking out the band so i never heard this album in full. i probably should have because this is the kind of stuff i would've eaten up from ages 12-17. nowadays, i find it to be alright, pretty enjoyable, but cant say ill be having it in rotation from here on out. they do the emo pop punk sound from that era super well, but without nostalgic attachment i dont really have much reason to return to it since my tastes these days dont include much of this kind of stuff.
6/10

second album
mike shinoda - post traumatic EP

i had this in my library to check out anyway because i loved the first few linkin park albums and wanted to hear mike's first output after the passing of chester. as expected its really somber and emotional in feel, mike's rapping is how its always been, which is to say not too bad but not mind blowing either. his lyrics are really heatfelt and personal and overall this short EP is a good insight into where he's at right now
7/10

third album
hawthorne heights - hate EP

i loved the first two HH albums when i was way younger but never kept up with them after casey passed away. my first thought upon hearing this is this was almost definitely self recorded because the production is horrible, the guitar tones are unbearable and the whole thing sounds sloppy as hell. the rawness just doesnt suit them. the songs themselves are alright, kind of like armor for sleep in that its a style i would've liked a lot more many years ago but today is just eh to me. pretty decent but yeah not sure ill be coming back to it
5/10

 

I figured AOS was a gamble though I am glad you liked Mikes EP.

HATE was the first EP of three HH self produced. By the third one HURT(which I warned youxwas the best one before this lol) is much much better quality and style wise

 

i really do wish i wouldve checked out armor for sleep back in the day because then this album would have a place amongst my nostalgic staples, its as good as a lot of that era but yeah without the nostalgia its hard for me to have an attachment to this style these days. i meant to put 6/10 instead of 5 oops lol

ill have to give the next two a shot then because the recording quality was really distracting for me, especially because my memory of HH, the first two records, is a really big clean sound

 

You’ll like the next two progressively better. By the time HURT rolls around, they’re at their best sound in years imo

 

@skogsraet assigned me Maxo Kream- Punken

I had actually never heard of Maxo Kream, and based on his discography it looks like he is on the newer side.

The record starts with a really strong track "work" which is separated into two separate parts which was unexpected when the music first cut out. The first few tracks were all great and flowed very well. I liked how he didn't rely on huge choruses and hooks, and how the beats were simplistic and subtle. He definitely isn't looking for radio hits, and while the record has good guest spots, he didn't rely on them to carry the tracks.

The album dropped off a bit for tracks 7-9. It starts with an interlude, and the tracks flow almost like incomplete tracks, which threw off the flow of the record.

The record picks back up its pace from the first five or so tracks when "Roaches"'and "5200" hit back to back to end the record.

Thanks for the rec @skogsraet !

Favorite tracks: "Work" "Grannies" "Hobbies" "Roaches" "5200"

 

as for this week, all i know of tiny moving parts is i saw them open for touche amore and i gathered their guitarist likes finger tapping a lot and their songs arent that good, hoping this new album wins me over because i havent checked it out yet. have never heard of hopesfall so i have no idea what to expect there.

 

I think the new TMP is the best thing they’ve done so far. I hope you don’t hate it.

The Hopesfall album is early 00s in the vein of Poison the Well, I’d say. I enjoy them quite a bit, but I’m not sure how much that has to do on when I got into them.

 

my initial impression of hopesfall is that it sounds like really early silverstein

 

Hopesfall is supposedly working on new material.

 

Last week, @Colin Your Enthusiasm recommended to me Attack in Black - Marriage. This album is a blend of Folk/Indie with a Punk side. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by how much I like this album. I got hooked from the beginning with some great tracks like Come What May and Young Leaves. My personal favorite is If All I Thought Were True with lyrics like: "In this great divide that is my life, I fear to think of all I'd undo, if all I thought were true." Other favorites were Inches and Ages, Foot Prints, The Love Between You and I. Overall, I really enjoyed the variety in the album and will be coming back to it.

I will definitely be checking out their two other albums, since they are folkier than this one and my favorite tracks were the folkier tracks.

8.5/10

As a bonus, he also recommended Citizen - As You Please later on. I didn't give this album as much attention as the other one since it was more of a bonus, but I'll say that I enjoyed it, but not quite as much as Attack in Black. It's definitely not the same style of music though, as this one is more Rock/Alternative with some screaming throughout. Some standouts were the opening track Jet, Control and closing track Flowerchild.

8/10

 

Hopesfall....now that's a blast from the past

 

i'm partnered with @JRGComedy again for this week.

He is listening to Spraynard - Mable

I'm listening to A Vulture Wake - The Appropriate Level of Outrage

 

I haven’t heard that Attack in Black album for ages, loved that back in the day.

If you didn’t know @Micool1 they were the backing band for City and Color (Dallas Green from Alexisonfire) for a little while. I think they played on the Bring Me Your Love album (or at the very least were his backing band on that tour).

 

Love how much you love this and how it's being passed forward now.

 

May as well pay it forward right?

 

For real? That's a cool fact!

 

I noticed that multiple of my partners have been benched or have asked to be benched after partnering with me lol I need to step up my recing game!!!