The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 32

I don't @bachna84 Quit making excuses. @skurt deserves better

 

I hope I get your next week!

 

I can't wait until someone recs The Canyon by The Used. Oh wait, TUG is not in this club, so I guess it won't happen...

 

I respect all of you too much to recommend that album.

 

I would recommend Wolves to him if he was here haha

 

So we can hear his blasphemy about how there so emo in his review?

 

And how they ripped off The Used's self-titled.

 

little late to the dead poetic game but New Medicines is one of my favorite records. every song is terrific. Vices largely sucked but in coma, paralytic, and vices are career highlights. i wish more came out of rike's side project.

 

People doing round 2 reviews yet or?

 

Go for it

 

I reviewed some recommendations from @AlwaysEvolving21. Thanks for the picks!

Face to Face - Protection (2016)



Ah, #ThrowbackTuesday. As an elementary and middle schooler in the late 90's and early 00's, I would listen to pretty much whatever my older brother listened to and watch as he covered the closet door of our shared room with countless free stickers from the Warped Tour. Bands like NOFX, Screeching Weasel, Pennywise, Bad Religion, Lagwagon, Millencolin, No Use For a Name, every Punk-O-Rama compilation, and of course, Face to Face, were in constant rotation on his boombox. So nostalgia factor aside, my Face to Face knowledged is vaguely centered around their self-titled album and their live record.

When I went to check out when this album was released I was shocked, and happy, to see that Face to Face was still laying down riffs in the year 2016 with this release. Unfortunately, that's about where the positive buzz runs out for me on this one. Respect to our punk forefathers, elders, and all those still out there making the dream happen, but there's simply too much other interesting music being played, even in this specific punk styling, for me to go back to this thing more than two or three times. That machine gun slap bass line (think the beginning of Less Than Jake's "Plastic Cup Politics") seems to factor into every song and the guitar work feels limp, uninspired and formulaic. I enjoy the lyrical themes—self-reliance, friendship, trust and community—but that's about it for me on this thing.

Standout Tracks: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

—————

The Swellers - Ups and Downsizing (2009)



My experience with Flint, Michigan punk outfit The Swellers was contained to 2011's Good For Me, a fun romp through digestible and earnest punk music. Ups and Downsizing certainly feels like a rougher-around-the-edges predecessor, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, as this sounds a lot like a band experimenting to find their musical footing.

There's a little bit of everything here: driving, dynamic breakdowns and bridges ("Feet First"), and a spectrum of punk styles including the poppier side ("Ups and Downsizing") and faster/more traditional ("The Iron"). There's even a ballad of sorts ("Stars") though it meanders across a long runtime en route to its payoff. Is it anything groundbreaking? Definitely not. But it's played confidently and with gusto. Ups and Downsizing appears to be one rung of the ladder for the upward trajectory that The Swellers were on before they called it quits in 2015, which is a shame.

Standout Tracks: Fire Away, Feet First

 

Mannnnn, I loooooved that Face To Face album

 

i have listened to both records @Patterns in Traffic suggested, just have not had the time to do a write-up. my task at work rn is too reformat a bunch of old janky law articles, so by the time i'm done at work, the last thing i want to do is type. @ComedownMachine and i just swapped recs.

basically i'll be doing a post on all three here in the next couple of days, after that i should probably sit out until classes are on break as i clearly am having a harder time juggling this than i expected. sorry for the delay!

 

You could also bump down to taking just one album instead of 2-3. But the decision is yours!

 

My thoughts on the rec's from @BTDandFeelingThis - looking forward to next week.

A Perfect Circle - Thirteenth Step (2003) - I did NOT expect this, thank you for keeping me on my toes. My background with APC is little to none, I listened to a couple songs of off eMOTIVE back in the day but had no idea there was anything before that. I've always known of Tool/A Perfect Circle but never really gave them a chance. The albums kicks off with an epic 7 minute song, the heavy bass-lines and driving drums really drew me in from the start and then my teeth were kicked in about 4 minutes into the track. One hell of a way to start an album, I respect that. As the album progresses I'm a big fan of the softer vocals and ambient sounds, as opposed to the more "rock" parts, he has a distinctive voice that I'd love to hear shine through. I can definitely see myself revisiting some of those quieter tracks, "The Noose", "Vanishing", "A Stranger", and "The Nurse Who Loved Me". The latter really caught me off guard, I was not expecting a fucking FAILURE cover, are you kidding me?!? They changed it from an largely acoustic track, to a more orchestral arrangement and pulled it off. Absolute highlight on the album and genuine surprise. My journey (it sure felt like one) ended on, what I think, is a great 1-2 punch for a closer. "Lullaby" got real weird and worked as a perfect interlude before the final track "Gravity". Overall, I enjoyed when the band got quiet, let the vocals stand out, and when the songs were able to breath a little.

Blink-182 - California (2016) - Not gonna lie, nervous to post my thoughts on this one. From the first note sung, you can tell this is a Blink album. "Cynical" starts off strong and fast, Mark sounds incredible here and the addition of Skiba really helps them elevate these songs. Rolling right into the second song, "Bored to Death", I had to pause for a second. Is this the same opening drum/riff as "Feeling This" because holy hell did that sound familiar and further confirmed that this is in fact a Blink-182 album. After these first two songs, nothing really grabbed me too much until the after the middle. It was also at this time I realized there were 16 songs! I think that is entirely too long and because of that a majority of the songs blend together. After "Built This Pool" (I don't get it and probably never will), there were a couple more personal standouts. I could throw "No Future", "Rabbit Hole", and "The Only Thing That Matters" on my summer playlist and they would fit right in, my non-music nerd friends would also immediately know this was Blink. Having not listened to a full Blink-182 album in years, I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would but I would cut maybe 4-5 songs to make it more digestible, that's a whole lotta pop-punk in one large dose.

 

Really Glad to see you enjoyed both albums!! Also love that you have props to ‘The Noose’, my favorite APC song. And No Future, one of my personal favorites off California that doesn’t get enough love imo.

 

It’s been great so far.

 

The only song I know by Dead Poetic is New Medicines.

 

@mescalineeyes I'm listening to White Lung's Deep Fantasy atm. Excellent so far!

 

If you like that song you should like the rest on that album. My personal favs are Molotov, glass in the trees, and dimmer light.

 

So for Week 2, @Erwin89 and I are partners.

I gave him: Daytrader - Twelve Years and PVRIS - White Noise
He gave me: The Descendents - Hypercaffium Spazzinate and Marina & The Diamonds - The Family Jewels

He keeps PM'ing about PVRIS so I'd say I nailed at least one pick.

 

Descendents and Marina ftw

 

Daytrader! I love this thread. 14/10.

 

that's the wrong PVRIS album omg

 

Both are equally great for different reasons.

Daytrader forever.