The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 224

John Baizley-esque from Baroness!

 

@Colin Your Enthusiasm and I traded and he gave me:

Black Foxxes: Reidi (2018) Spinefarm

Black Foxxes are a band out of Exeter, England that formed in 2014. Reidi is the bands sophomore full length. Musically they mix elements of the 90's grunge scene, indie rock, shoe gaze and some alt rock. The title of the record is Icelandic for Rage and is inspired by frontman, Mark Holley's trip to Iceland in-between their debut and this album. In an interview with Depth Magazine, he states: "it is based around light and dark, rage and happiness". This album lyrically is extremely dense with topics ranging from anxiety, depression, thoughts of suicide, etc. In multiple interviews, Mark is very open about the fact that he suffers from severe anxiety and depression using music as his way of coping with it on a daily basis. If you don't pay attention to the lyrics you would never notice how dark they are because they are bathed in the beautiful music the band creates.

Mark's vocals are impressive and remind me a lot of Stevie Nick's with this storyteller aura surrounding them. He puts so much effort in speaking every word so clearly you hang on them waiting for the next one. You can feel the pain in his voice as if he could crack at any second while having to relive it every night on stage. For this I give him so much credit.

Opening track, Breathe, has this beautiful warmness to it. Building and building with him screaming:
"I wanna set myself free..."

Wanting to end it all but a voice echoes back:
"Breathe, she said"

We will get through this.

Manic In Me was the first single released by the band and has a video released for it. It has footage of Mark with his time in Iceland and is essentially how the anxiety controls you and you are forced to deal with it and uses weather symbolically in how you have no control over it.

My absolute favorite track on the record is Saela, which means happiness or bliss. I am so happy they made a video for it. It just has this feeling of rising from the ashes of your doubt and despair. The song is about breaking free of the things that confine you.

JOY is another one that had a video released for it and is by far the biggest nod to 90's grunge and I love the distortion on the guitar. It is just them raging all over the place. I love the trumpet that comes blazing in at the three minute mark and him yelling:

"Come call me erasable!"

As if saying, I DARE YOU you to try and defeat me and get the better of me.

My other favorite track is Am I Losing it. I love the shoe gaze sound to it and the melody is so infectious. It's about cementing your purpose and place in this great big world. Where do I fit in?

Sometimes there is an album that makes you feel something and this is that album. I will be listening to this a great deal and can't wait to see where it fits at my end of the year list.

10/10

Favorite Tracks:
Breathe
Saela
Am I Losing It

RIYL: 90's grunge, shoe gaze, alt rock, indie rock

 

/If we are doing this...

1. Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation
2. Hours
3. Welcome Home Armageddon
4. Chapter and Verse
5. Memories Don't Tell Themselves
6. Conduit
7. Memory And Humanity

Also, Black Foxxes first record is incredible but I haven't heard the second, excited now.

 

Have the latest pairings been posted yet? Wasn’t sure if I missed them

 

Next week’s pairings haven’t been posted yet!

 

Good! Because I still have a few more to do!

 

I need to be benched again. The next few weeks are gonna be busy and I won't be able to keep up.

@Nate_Johnson still planning on taking the time to do my write up soon.

 

Your write up will be done tomorrow.

 

@Colin Your Enthusiasm had given me a bonus album for our trade and it was:

Strata: Strata Presents the End of the World (2007) Wind Up

Strata are a band formed in 2000 and are from Campbell, California. Strata Preseents... is their sophomore full length. While the first record saw them heading in a nu metal sound, this one went more atmospheric and progressive. Their sound can best be described as a mix of Circa Survive and the Mars Volta. Front man, Eric Victorino, has very unique voice and reminds of similar front men including Anthony Green, Francis Mark of From Autumn to Ashes and Jason Butler to name a few.

Let me start off this review by saying that anything following the Black Foxxes recommendation had a pretty big mountain to climb. With that being said, I will be honest and say that I did not enjoy this album. I give the band so much credit for stepping out of their nu metal comfort zone but I think they spread themselves a bit too thin and the album is all over the place. One second they are paying ode to Circa Survive and the next they are attempting Mars Volta or even treading old waters with a nu metal sound. Lead single Cocaine (We're All Going To Hell) even has a reggae sound to it.

My other big complaint about the album is the production. In one song, the vocals are muddied in the mix while in another the drums sound like hitting plastic buckets.

I really enjoyed the songs that sort of stripped all the extra stuff away and just had this beautiful atmosphere to them but they were few and far between.

At the end of the day, they made an honest effort to try and break free of the over saturated nu metal scene, but I would personally rather listen to the previous bands I had mentioned. I love the variety in Eric's vocals and the ability to mold into whatever direction the sound was going in.

I told myself that this album, like the Better than Ezra one I reviewed, deserves more time and is a grower. I will keep it in my rotation but I don't see myself revisiting it as a whole.

5/10

Favorite songs:
Hot/Cold (Darling, Don't)
Coma Therapy
Love is Life

 

Sorry to hear it didnt grab you as much as Black Foxxes. Personally i love this album but i havent revisited it in a little while. I don't hear any reggae on Cocaine. What part specifically are you referring to? This band imo shares similarites on this album at least with dredg and kaddisfly but yes his voice is an acquired taste. Not everyone will love it but i know i do.

 

The opening of the song sounds reggae-ish they me and they revisit it later in the song. It seems like an odd choice for a single and why the label wouldn’t have picked the songs I mentioned that I did liked, that draw comparisons to Dredg, etc. When they do that sound, they do it amazingly.

 

Great now I can't stop singing "She don't like cocaine, baby"

 

I’ll give that song credit in that it’s infectious.

 

Hah I love that song, but once it's in your head, good luck.

 

this week @skogsraet gave me Primary by Kari Faux
I wasn't familiar with her at all before being given this, overall this was really pleasant but definitely more lo-fi than what I typically listen to

standout tracks Gotta Know, Lowkey, Color Wheel

 

Hey guys. I suck at deadlines but I got reviews for albums recommended to me for few previous weeks.

@highfidelity203 gave me records by Towkio and The Honorary Title.

Towkio – WWW.



I am not a die-hard hip-hop fan but I like some records. The best of them is without a doubt “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy”. And while “WWW.” is obviously not on MBDTF unreachable level it kinda sounds like it. It is really great hip-hop record with really cool sound made of various music styles. What I like about it the most is the fact that it doesn’t have usual trap-like beats which made a lot of current hip-hop artists sound almost identical. Every song have it’s own twist with some great hooks and music guests (SZA really make “Morning View” out-of-this-world). I see a lot of Kanye’s influences in production while Towkio’s delivery and cool flow sometimes remind me of Chance the Rapper.

If you’re into hip-hop music I think this album is a must listen. I will listen to it again very soon.


The Honorary Title – Anything else But the Truth



Great mid-00s indie rock record. The second I heard the first song I bet they used some songs bu this band on One Tree Hill. And of course I was right with 5 OTH episodes using their songs.

This record has everything great about that era of american indie rock with some feel-good jams that make you tap your toe (“Bridge the Tunnel”) and some heartbreaking emo songs to give you goosebumps (“Revealing Too Much”). It takes me back andI like it more and more with every listen.

---

@Michael Schmidt recommended Red City Radio.

Red City Radio – Titles



Do you want summer to come sooner? Well play this pop-punk records and summer comes immediately! Ignore that fact that album cover looks a little dark. From the first seconds of “Two Notes Shy” and until the end of “The Silence Between” this record make you sweat like it’s July with it’s uptempo catchy music (and I mean Blink-182 level of musical catchiness) with great hooks and pretty unique raspy voice of the main singer who adds some melodic hardcore delivery. It is one of the best pop-punk records I heard in a long time.

---

And finally @ugman_2000 recommended The Sleeping


The Sleeping – Questions and Answers



This album stands out as one of my biggest discoveries during membership of Chorus Music Club Society. It has everything I like: great catchy melodies, incredible bass work (I mean it, the guy is the beast), powerful guitars, inventive drum beats and overall nonstandard delivery. It is really hard to label this band because they are obviously emo-punky but every song have so many different things happening. Singer sounds a lot like Tim from Rise Against but with even stronger voice. Every song is great with Don’t Hold Back being the super great. If I heard this song in 2006 I would listen to it nonstop for weeks. In fact I already listened to this album more times that i thought i will.

If you never heard this band you probably should at very least check their song “Don’t Hold Back”. It is surefire hit.

 

Good job man!!

 

Glad you enjoyed The Sleeping so much @nickyeatworld that’s definitely one of my favourite emo records from back in the day.

I should have my review up tomorrow.

 

I'll be catching up on what I have to write up very soon, thanks for being patient if you're my partners!

 

I kinda forgot how fucking much I love "Revealing Too Much". What a fucking song!

 

Also that Red City Radio album is really good too. I wasn’t as keen on their last album but their new EP is really good.

 

This is me too.

 

My local record store said their most anticipated vinyl is their new EP.

 

I’ll have reviews for @Cody and @SamLevi11 tomorrow night! Looking forward to posting these

 

CHORUS MUSIC CLUB SOCIETY
Pairings for 04/02-04/09

@JRGComedy // @Micool1

@broken22 // @anonimito

@JediMasterKevo182 // @Patterns in Traffic

@Kiana // @Nate_Johnson

@SamLevi11 // @bachna84

@Cody // @ugman_2000

@cshadows2887 // @Davjs

@Michael Schmidt // @Larry David

@iCarly Rae Jepsen // @highfidelity203

@skogsraet // @sophos34

@JediMasterKevo182 // @disambigujason

Not on this list or want in? Send me a DM!