The Wonder Years - Sister Cities (April 6, 2018) Album • Page 194

Wow I knew people didn't like that guy around here but not about the apparently rich and extensive history of users v he who is now dubbed Ronald McDonald. I was just trying to find Sister Cities tracks on YouTube. Only the singles are on there (anyone know why?) but I saw Ronald had mentioned the album. Could not believe how bad his take was. Anywho I have hardly seen any of Ronald's videos before and won't worry about checking out any more. Did not know he spouted alt right bs either.

All this to say sorry I mentioned it, and I will not do anything to promote Ronny boy again.

 

Wait so is his name actually Ronald McDonald or does the forum just automatically change it? Legitimately have no idea who y'all are talking about. But it is kinda funny.

 

Forum just automatically changes it, I suppose. Although I haven't actually tried it myself, so let's give it a go: Ronald McDonald . The person everyone's talking about a certain youtube music "critic" who had a pretty bad take on the new album.

 

Anyway it's only right since I derailed the thread to move the conversation back to the album.
After a lot of listens I am firmly in the "probably their best, not my personal favourite but it's still great" camp.
I think I'm just at a point in my life right now where things are pretty good so I'd rather blast Suburbia on a long drive than Sister Cities on my headphones.

 

Anyone else think the first track is a poor kickoff to the album? The production/mixing on it sounds vastly different than the rest of the album, it's weird

 

Sister Cities is the first album by TWY that i really like. Easily in my top 5 of 2018 so far.

 

At first, yes. I felt Pyramids of Salt would work well as the opener. After a few listens Kyoto became my favorite track and I like the immediate opening. When the audio picks up I’m hooked in.

 

Raining in Kyoto has probably become my favorite TWY track, so, not for me, but I can understand why someone would feel that way.

 

The first time it took me by surprise for sure but I think that's what they were going for.
It definitely changes volumes.
Mainly I was just taken aback by how aggressive it was. I blame whoever (drew?) posted that Sister Cities was the heaviest song on the album. After reading that I did not expect the opener to be the heaviest song they'd ever made.

 

I think Kyoto is a really cool opener

 

Kyoto works well as an opener. Musically it sets the scene perfectly, the drums sound like pouring rain and that guitar lead has a cool oriental sound to it. I like that it’s the most immediate opener they have, I also love that it’s an interesting bridge between this album and NCTH. As dark as NCTH was, there was a small light at the end of the album with the title track. It almost elicits a “when it rains it pours” type of scenario, since Kyoto deals with such a dark and somber topic.

 

I love the opener, but production/mixing-wise it does sound lower/rawer than the rest of the album... not in a good way.

The only track I'm not into is "Heaven's Gate (Sad & Sober)", though.

 

I'm not huge on When The Blue or Ocean Grew tbh, but I really dig the middle section of the album, some solid jams

 

Reckon Heaven's Gate is the weakest track on the record, but the chorus is excellent and the coda is really powerful. The 'It was always going to end like this' line transitioning into a song about being scared about dying in a plane crash is a brilliant bit of sequencing.

 

Agree Heaven's Gate is probably my least favourite at this stage. Having said that just typing this has caused the chorus to be stuck in my head, and I like the outro

 

Heaven's Gate has grown on me a ton and it's gone from my least favorite to more middle of the pack (which is a really good thing, considering how much I love this album). Right now my least favorites are probably either Sister Cities or the Orange Grove and I still really like both of those

 

I don't know how anyone can hear the double tracked drums in the verse of Heaven's Gate and call that their least favourite song. Although it is one of the most glaring examples of the weird mix on the record (especially in the beginning).

 

You are all insane. If “you were the rifle on the wall and it was always gonna end like this” doesn’t cut you deep in your lil’ emo spirit idk what to tell you.

 

Man, I love Heaven's Gate.

 

Getting to this a little late, sorry! We got Hostels and Brothels, Hoodie Weather, Me Vs The Highway and I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral. It was great, especially some of the banter around some of the songs. Dan really hates Summers in PA haha

 

That’s my least favourite song on Suburbia so I can see where he's coming from. Even if it's still a banger.

 

Funeral in VIP that's amazing. Also jealous of Highway.

Love Kyoto..I agree it sets a good time for what's to come. I'm wondering if an instrumental intro of some sort would have been nice.

 

Yeah for sure, he said he'd replace it with any of the bonus tracks/b-sides. I stand by the fact Rob Gordon was robbed of a spot purely by it having a similar name to My Life as a Pigeon. That song rips.

 

Rob Gordon is one of my favorites of theirs.

 

Yeah I'm not sure why they left that off either. SOMEOOOOOOOONE KEEPS PUTTING ONNNN THE SAD SONGS