I dabbled in Codeseven back in 2004/2005, and know a couple songs on this album pretty well, though I haven't listened in years. I remember having the CD in my hand a few times, but I never pulled the trigger, so I've never heard the full album. Looking forward to rectifying that 20 years later!
Listened to Replica on my road trip. The car isn’t usually my first choice for a first listen, but in this case it was a solid setting for it. All the textures and layers kept me guessing and focused during the last hour of a 10 hour drive. It’s definitely a genre that's a blind spot for me, but it feels like it has a little more complexity than the lofi stuff I put on in the background. Listening to it almost felt like listening to a film score in a way. I don’t know how often I’ll dive back into this one, but I genuinely love Sleep Dealer and Child Soldier. I will definitely give this another listen with my headphones though. I think I probably missed out on quite a nuance and detail with my car speakers. Side note, explain came on shuffle on my second to last day of driving, right when I was starting to come down with a fever and it felt like I was losing my mind haha. Not saying that as a criticism, it was just the combination of the dream like sound, me being tired and somewhat feverish was the perfect storm.
Late to the convo sorry. The OPN record is sick. All I’ve heard from him is the Uncut Gems soundtrack and I don’t listen to anything like this in general. I got kind of a Social Network vibe from the title track, which was beautiful.
This album is great and has shades of pretty much everything that comes later. I still think Age Of and Garden of Delete are his two most realized projects, but R Plus Seven comes close if only because of that ethereal bit in the closing track.
I've grown out of a lot of AP-adjacent music, so I'm pleased to say I'm really enjoying this! I'm glad it's as chill as it is. "All the Best Dreams" is a great introduction to the record (and for me, the band). Reminds me of another ill-fated EVR band, Tallhart.
Codeseven album is pretty solid. The first 3 songs were the highlights for me. I can hear a bit of Deftones influence in their sound too
I wish there were a little more energy in the vocals at times, there are songs where I imagine him recording it laying down in bed
Thoughts on Codeseven: Pretty sure I've heard "All the Best Dreams" before. I remember this bassline! I like how the intensity picks up in the second half. Some nice little hooks in "Nasty Revolution." "Roped and Tied" sounds super familiar to me too. I may have heard more songs on this record than I remember. "The Day That Doesn't End" is as close as they get to a pop song, and it's great. Really nice chorus on that one. "Alt. Wav" is the song I'm most familiar with. This was my introduction to the band. Great song. Really takes me back. I like how "The Devil's Interval" heavily hints at a darker sound, but never quite leans into it. Creates a cool dichotomy of both sounding pretty and giving a sense of unease. That applies to the album at large, IMO. This album actually reminded me of Copeland at points. Beautiful and atmospheric, but with a sense of melancholy and enough hooks to keep you engaged. This is very much up my alley, and I can see myself coming back to it. I'll have to check out the new album! Thanks for the rec, @Nate_Johnson !
Copeland and Receiveing End of Sirens is what came to mind for me too, kind of strange id never heard Codeseven my friends went through a big phase of listening to stuff just like it, 2004 may have been a couple years early.
Listened to the Codeseven album, hadn't heard of them prior to this, but they feel like they would have been a band that would have been popular on AP and the likes around the time, though maybe I just missed them. Sounds like a product of it's time and influences, you can hear the mid-90s post-hardcore sound here, bands like Far etc, as well as bands like Deftones. Similar sort of sound and influences to Moving Mountains maybe. It maybe did get all sonically similar, but I really liked the drumming in particular, and was a decent listen.
I've gotten really into Japanese indie over the past few years and I say that was largely kicked off by Sakanaction's brilliant 834.194, released in 2019. I feel like they'd be a pretty big hit with most users on this site, but they have very little English language coverage.