The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Illusory Walls (10/8/21) • Page 12

this is pretty cool. ive basically not ever listened to this band but I wasnt expecting pseudo prog rock out of them at all.

 

Hell, I wish there was a way to timestamp the vocalists who are in the band, especially for the older stuff. It sounds like there’s a different dude singing in the same nasally voice every other song.

 

You're referring to Thomas Diaz probably. He passed away a few years ago (RIP). He resigned from the band way before that due to health issues though (some of the early-TWIABP lyrics reference these health issues). He was the reason I fell in love with this band originally. I'm still not over him being gone really, it comes to mind often. I was always waiting for him to make some solo music, or something, but it never happened.

He was the original lead-vocalist for the band, kind of. It's what made their sound so unique to me, the instrumentation combined with his unique vocal inflections.

David Bello is fine but his vocals, without Thomas contrasting them, dont carry the music as much for me.

Forever heartbroken that we lost Thomas.

 

It TOOK a decade, the flip of a brooooken coin

 

Goinh thru the discog cause I’m writing about this and I truly really do not get why people think always foreign is some pop rock sellout record

 

I super like Always Foreign

 

Yeah, I meant after this EP and after he had stopped being in TWIBAP. This EP was out before "Whenever, If Ever" released. Thanks for linking it though, especially in case others didn't know about it!

He had such a distinct voice and inflection. It was integral to the band's appeal for me originally.

 

Blank // Worker feels like it could delivered by Aaron Weiss with a melody that reminds me of the outro lyrics from Rainbow Signs.

 

who thinks this, it is patently ridiculous

 

Seemed to be the consensus with the reviews I read, as well as a large contingent of people on this site haha

 

It’s not a poppy sellout, but a lot of the songs are more direct and have pop punk stylings. Cool if you prefer that, I prefer the post rock inspired atmospheres of Harmlessness and the prog style of this record much more.

 

It seemed to me that the general consensus on Always Foreign was that it was more basic and wasn’t too good, but I really love that album. It’s not pop rock by any means but it definitely does seem more accessible than all of their other releases. I guess by accessible, I mean that the songs are shorter and more concise, the song structures more regular and predictable, and the melodies more easy to follow.

Always Foreign was how I became such a big fan of The World Is. I had listened to Harmlessness once and it didn’t click, but I was way into Always Foreign when I first heard it. It wasn’t until after I saw a show of theirs that I really dug into their other music. Harmlessness is now my favorite, but I wouldn’t have gotten to that place without Always Foreign. I think the songs are great, too, even though they are more straight forward.

 

I still don’t really think that’s true tho, part of why I think it follows more from whenever if ever than harmlessness. WIE is really pop punk at times, and I think that really undersells how wild always foreign gets at points—the entire last third of that record is as post rock as they’ve ever gotten until now

 

Always Foreign feels very Broken Social Scene to me.

 

Ooooh gonna have to check out Broken Social Scene then! I’m a huge fan of Always Foreign. Not sure it’s my favorite of their work but I think I connected to it the fastest.

 

BSS is some of the best indie of all time, no doubt

 

You Forgot It In People and the self-titled are masterpieces. Damn I wish I could experience listening to them for the first time again.

 

So this is tremendous and the last song immediately feels like an all-time great closer. I liked their last two but didn’t feel passionate about or connected to them. This one really hit me though.

 

I really wish Your Brain is a Rubbermaid was longer. When the song gets loud until the end is probably my favorite moment of the record.

 

100%

 

If anyone wants to read some shit that sucks

Album Review: The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – 'Illusory Walls' - The Alternative

 

why does it suck?

 

Dude’s a terrible writer!

 

Maybe I missed some discourse but it reads fine to me.