The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 225

I still need to be benched indefinitely :(

I'm out of town this week and still have to catch up

 

@skogsraet oh shit fuck yes!!!

 

Round 3 with @JediMasterKevo182 will go as follows.

I'm checking out
Starset - Vessels
Senses Fail - If There Is Light It Will Find You

And he will be listening to
Radford - Sleepwalker
Lovedrug - Everything Starts Where It Ends

 

Awesome reviews - I'm glad you enjoyed the recs! The follow-up to Anything Else but the Truth is excellent too.

 

I'm a little delayed on this review but here is goes - a week or two ago @Patterns in Traffic and I traded and the second record I was assigned was the following:

American Hi-Fi - Hearts on Parade (Maverick; 2005)

I'm going to begin this review with stating that up to this point Hearts on Parade has been my favorite record I've received since joining the Music Club (unfortunately it was dethroned the following week by one of @cshadows2887 recs). I had never before heard an American Hi-Fi record or song outside of their hit single "Flavor of the Week". I wasn't aware the band had much of a career after that record and often confused them with another "one hit wonder" SR-71. Upon doing a little research I discovered American Hi-Fi have released 5 full length albums with Hearts on Parade being their third release. Later albums were released in between band members' other obligations. For example, vocalist and principal song-writer Stacy Jones serves/served (not sure if he still is) as the musical director and drummer Miley Cyrus' band as well as Matchbox 20's touring drummer for a period of time.

Hearts of Parade is an incredibly fun power-pop record from a group of seasoned musicians. The album opens with "Maybe Won't Do" and from the opening drum beats to the fuzzy bass and staccato guitar riff this song hooked me right away. The chorus comes almost out of nowhere but is both memorable and fun. "Hell Yeah!" begins with a quirky vocal part and bouncy keyboard part with the verse sung entirely in falsetto. The chorus explodes and feels like a lost summer anthem. "The Geeks Get the Girls" follows and according to wikipedia this was the first single from the record and it's lost on me how this wasn't a huge hit (I suspect timing and the musical landscape in 2005 has a lot to do with it). This song wouldn't have felt out of place the first American Pie soundtrack. The remainder of the record barrels through various incarnations of power-pop and infectious choruses. The second to last song of the record "Where Did We Go Wrong" has the band trying on a bit of ska/reggae which suits them nicely.

My only criticism of the record is the band rests a little too comfortably into their power-pop writing without pushing any boundaries but at the same time it feels like this record wasn't written to change the listener's impressions of the genre. I will most definitely be returning to this record and am excited to check out the band's other material. It would be nice to hear their later year's output, I can see them nestling nicely into a slightly more mature sound.

7.5/10

Favorite Tracks:
Hell Yeah!
The Geeks Get the Girls
Where Did We Go Wrong

 

Awesome review! Glad you enjoyed it so much. I went out on a limb a bit with this rec because when you recommended Hanson I assumed you'd be down for some pop music. This is by far the poppiest AHF release and I recall most of their fans absolutely hating it when it first came out. I don't know if the general attitude towards it has changed at all over the years (pop isn't a dirty word anymore like it was at the time) but I saw a recent interview where Stacy Jones himself criticized the album. I always thought it was pretty infectious and underappreciated.

Their other albums have much more of a rock edge, but they all maintain a sense of fun and pop sensibility. I wouldn't steer you away from anything in their discography. Their debut self-titled album (with "Flavor of the Weak") was a big foundational record for me and still holds up.

Not sure if Stacy is still involved with Miley Cyrus but he is still the touring drummer for MB20. I saw them last summer and kept imagining a world where they let him take the mic and rock "Flavor of the Weak" haha.

Also you didn't mention it in your review but "Separation Anxiety" is probably my favorite track on HOP. So good. It's probably also the song that gives the best indication of what you could expect from their other albums.

 

Nice - I'm excited to check out more of their discography. Where would you suggest I venture to next? "Separation Anxiety" was great as well.

 

@SamLevi11 and I have decided on what we'll be exchanging for this session:

I will be listening to Boston Manor - Be Nothing.

They will be listening to Cecil Frena - The Gridlock

 

Can't wait to hear new Boston Manor. Album is done. They worked with Mike Sapone.

 

The new single was great. Reminded me of the better songs on Be Nothing. but with better production. Band haven’t put a foot wrong so far and they kill it live every time I’ve seen them.

 

Never heard of Cecil Frena and I’m gonna try and not find out anything before I listen. I like the idea of knowing absolutely nothing about what I am going to hear.

 

They're a band that I've seen discussed quite a bit but have never checked out! Looking forward to giving them a listen.

 

I love Boston Manor!

 

Album is good and so is this ep:

 

I'd probably go to the self-titled. It will give you a good baseline as to what to expect from the rest of their discog.

The Art of Losing hints a little bit more at the pop direction they ended up taking with HOP, but as a whole it's my least favorite AHF release. Still not bad by any means. The most recent two albums do a good job blending the rock and pop sides of their sound. Fight the Frequency in particular is probably their least known album but it ranks right behind the self-titled for me.

 

The guys from Boston Manor are hyping the Shame record up quite a bit.

 

this EP is so good. Not a fan of the first one though.

I first saw this band in 2014 supporting Moose Blood and wasn’t impressed at all but they are so good live now. One of the best new UK bands alongside Trash Boat, Creeper, Nervus, etc

 

I'm just really excited because they worked with Mike Sapone and Drowned in gold was great.

When The Xcerts worked with Mike Sapone we got this great album out of it:

I would even say that Mayday Parade album a band i was never really into was good too because of Mike. Sapone makes any band he works with better imo.

 

A GOAT producer in the scene.

 

@Larry David and I traded and he gave me:

Camp Cope: How to Socialize and Make Friends (2018) Run For Cover

Camp Cope are an alternative rock band out of Melbourne, Australia. They can best be described as a mix of Courtney Barnett and Juliana Hatfield with a throwback emo sound. How to Socialize and Make Friends is the all female trio's sophomore debut.

Front and center in this band is lead singer, Georgia "Maq" McDonald. Her vocal style borders on yelling with some imperfections but that is not really the point, it is more about the topic at hand in the song. Throughout the albums 11 songs and 38 minutes we explore a variety of topics that are very relevant in today's political and social climate. I almost think of this as a political emo record. At first I was really mesmerized by her voice and there are songs where she truly brings the point home but by the end of record you realize she is not the most talented of singers and feels like she is yelling directly at you. This can best be described in the song, Anna.

My other big issue with the record, beyond the vocals, is the lack of variety in the music itself. I realize that is not the focus and the lyrics are most important but it just felt like one long song.

After realizing the lyrics were the center point of the album, I really took some time to dive into them and they are great. I really enjoyed her use of both accepting and rejecting religion in a lot of her songs. My favorite lyrics came from the song The Omen:

"And I've never needed God,
I think I kind of knew that all along,
To need a promise of heaven,
To do good deeds,
Always seemed inherently wrong"

This is one of the many issues I have with religion myself, but that is a topic for another day.

She brings it up again in the song, Face of God, where someone is left in the wake of a sexual assault. It details a person who is full of self-doubt and others who don’t want to believe that people we admire can behave badly:

“Not you,
no,
they said your music is too good.”

Something the sits very close to home with a certain beloved band on this site.

The last song I want to draw attention to is the cleverly titled: "The Opener". It serves as a double meaning, giving the middle finger to the barriers they face as women in the music industry.

To close this review, I love the message but the delivery was off for me personally. I think with time I could grow to enjoy the vocals but prefer artists such as the aforementioned Courtney Barnett or someone like Julien Baker far more. Despite this, it was a really unique record I would have most likely not listened to.

4/10

Favorite Songs:
The Opener
The Face of God
The Omen

 

Appreciate your honesty. Nice write-up bud

 

@Kiana told me to sign up so I'm here for it.

 

Nice review. I loved their debut but I think this album is a fair amount weaker, although I still enjoy it. Nice to see you picked out two of my favourite moments though. I think the vocals are definitely a dividing factor on this band, and can make or break them for you, and whilst I mostly love them, I think at times they get a bit too much for me too.

 

can I join this?

 

@CobraKidJon and @mad send me a DM and we can chat. Our fearless leader @JediMasterKevo182 is on a well deserved vacation of sorts.