The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 275

I like This Calling

 

Same their first few albums are pretty good. They just got incredibly bland imo when their music shifted to a more radio friendly sound and Labonte can’t seem to stop running his mouth nowadays.

 

Great reviews! I think the OLP album is in my top 10 of this year so far. Really great late-career stuff from them.

That Faulter album is definitely a throwback to early/mid-2000s emo/pop rock, but damn if it doesn't have some great stuff on it. I think they were more or less a local band that I came across on MySpace haha. This was their only full-length, but they did have an acoustic EP after this that was very pretty.

 

I can’t remember if you are going to review this one or not @teebs41 but this is pretty cool!

Tooth & Nail Records

 

That last part made me lol

Favorite tracks: ALL OF THEM!!!!!!!!!11!!1

 

Glad you enjoyed Remo Drive, it's one of my favourite emo/indie rock releases of the last few years. It's fun, energetic and youthful, and it seems from the EP they just released that they have some more great material coming!

 

Yeah this BadBadNotGood band sound pretty damn awesome, I’ll add this to my work playlist tomorrow.

 

That album is fantastic.

 

Julien Baker - Turn Out The Lights

Julien Baker is a singer and song writer from Memphis, and her second full length was praised by a lot of people on forums, in bands, and in the press last year. Named “Turn Out The Lights”, this album appears to have shot Julien Baker into the spotlight, yet I had never been able to click with the singles, for whatever reason. So I was interested in giving the full release a go when offered the chance.

Honesty and emotional integrity plays a large part in this album, and for that reason I think it’s important to point out that the intro track features her walking into the studio unedited, before playing the piano. It's a trick used by countless artists in the past, but it works in seting you up for naked emotion to come, as the intro track segues into “Appointments”. It was the album's lead single, and is a wonderful and delicate track that immediately lets you know what this album is about. Piano and guitar intertwine with Julien’s fantastic vocals creating a truly beautiful sound. It’s a sound that for the most part stays throughout the record, changing where necessary for effect. Whilst before I had appreciated it, it was only this week that I truly connected to this track.

Where this album really hits is the lyrics. Whilst I cannot claim to know what Julien Baker was going through, the lyrics seem to deal with mental health, and the huge emotional impact it can have on relationships, both romantic and otherwise. Throughout the album, a feeling of desperation and isolation persist, and it makes the album an incredibly heavy listen, but one that is worth it.

It’s an album I personally have connected to very intensely, and that actually make it very difficult to listen to. Second track “Turn Out The Lights” makes simple statements that hit home, with lyrics such as “So why is it easy for everyone else? I'm not always like this.”

There are several points throughout its roughly 40 minute run time where she creates wonderful and memorable moments, like when the music cuts out on “Sour Breath”, which left me with goosebumps. A less talented vocalist could never full off many of the things that Baker does, and her pitch perfect, yet fragile sounding, vocals carry this album a long way amongst minimalist backing.

Later on, “Hurt Less” seems a more optimistic track lyrically, as Baker sings “This year I've started wearing safety belts when I'm driving, because when I'm with you I don't have to think about myself, and it hurts less.”

Overall I found this album a very difficult listen, but one that clicked with me. I had heard the two singles of this album once or twice before but they didn’t connect like I thought they should. This time, they did, and I found an album of huge emotional depth, and already intend to listen to her debut album very soon.

9/10

Recommended Tracks: Appointments, Turn Out The Lights, Sour Breath, Hurt Less

Thanks to @Larry David for the rec.

 

Just checked that new EP and it sounds really fun. I like that even though they songs are mostly pop-punky the rhythm section reminds me more of Vampire Weekend than usual obvious punk

 

Ok, one of our newest members @ryanfears and I have traded.

Our theme this week will be pop punk related bands.

They will be listening to:
Sink the Ship: Persevere

I will be listening to:
All Time Low: Last Young Renegade

 

still can't really participate in this again quite yet but you can bet this is still the best thread on the site

 

Would you do a 7D bracket?

 

Read that as 1D at first.

 

You’re 1D first

 

Let me know when that one starts.

 

0/10

 

Same!

 

Over the course of our last few pairings, @Bad Frequencies has been educating me on the life and times of Hawthorne Heights. He first introduced me to their 2006 scene classic If Only You Were Lonely, and then recommended their EP trilogy Hate, Hope, and Hurt. After becoming acquainted with the band, I was anticipating their 2018 release Bad Frequencies and I wrote up some first impressions last week in this here thread. Now I have been able to experience one of the remaining missing links in their discography, their 2010 album Skeletons. This is an interesting album as it goes in more of a straight pop-rock direction and almost ditches the screaming vocals entirely. It sits between their early screamo phase and more experimental output from the EP trilogy.



The first three tracks are all pretty straightforward pop-rock songs with clean vocals, proficient guitar work and catchy hooks. I've said this before in my reviews, but I find that the band's poppier fare sounds very much like Yellowcard. I drew this comparison again in track two, "Nervous Breakdown." "End of the Underground" features some lower-register singing and riffing that reminded me of some of what was to come on the Hate EP. It also contains one of the very few spots on the album with unclean vocals.

"Drive" throws some synth lines into the mix, and "Gravestones" is a highlight on the album with a train drumbeat and acoustic guitars in the verses. It's a nice midtempo number with a simple but infectious chorus and touches of slide guitar. Highlights on the second half of the album include "Abandoned Driveways" and the final three tracks "Hollywood & Vine," "Unforgivable," and "Boy."

Overall, this is a solid album with quite a few catchy and memorable tracks. You can hear the band starting to spread their wings and distance themselves from their screamo roots, and they try a few different styles here to varying degrees of success. It's a precursor to them going full experimental on Hate and Hope. I think I prefer this poppier side mixed a bit more with the aggressive aspects of their sound. Their 2018 album Bad Frequencies does a pretty good job blending the two. But while this isn't my favorite of the Hawthorne Heights albums I've heard, I appreciate what the band tries and accomplishes here, and I will never turn down some nice pop hooks. There are some tracks here that I will definitely return to.

 

Skeletons is their most under rated record for me, and still has some huge memories. It reminds me of summer 2010 a lot.

 

Great writing I’m glad you liked it! Skeletons is a good album imo, and as @SamLevi11 is kind of underrated.

I think there’s only 3 albums left to give you

 

Hehe you are correct. Eventually I'll be a connoisseur

 

Here's my CMCS essay @Bad Frequencies

I want @teebs41 to at least have a little competition!

I like that the CMCS brings people together who clearly love music and facilitates the exchange of music between people with diverse musical interests. I know that there have been several albums (and artists) that I would not have checked out had I not been assigned them here! It's also been fun assigning people albums that are important to me, whether they are old favorites or recent albums that I have just discovered and want to share. It has been really neat to see what type of music people tend to assign and after several months here I feel that I have a pretty good handle on what a lot of the people here like to listen to. That helps me when I get paired up with those people because I tend to have an idea of what they'd hopefully enjoy. There have been times that I've heard a new album and have thought to myself that it'd be perfect if I was ever paired with [insert CMCS member here].

Oftentimes, my favorite part is seeing who I'm paired with and coming up with the album(s) that we're exchanging. I think that's typically a pretty enjoyable part of the process. I enjoy seeing what everyone is assigning everyone else and that often leads to good discussion about bands that I haven't thought about in years. It's also a bit surprising at times when albums that I assumed that everyone on this site has heard are assigned. Better late than never! And then of course it's always fun to read someone's thoughts on the album(s) that you assigned them. I like seeing if our favorite tracks align and it's cool to read a fresh perspective on albums that I may have been listening to for the last 20 years. Lastly, I have enjoyed spending time doing my write-ups. So far to date I have written a total of 38 reviews/write-ups! I think that my writing has (hopefully) improved a bit over the course of the last several months and writing about the albums has made me do some background research on the artists a bit which is not something that I have always done.

The next two questions are a bit difficult and I don't want anyone to take offense to being left out of my answer!

My two favorite received recommendations that I've reviewed to date have probably been Starset - Vessels (recommended by @Bad Frequencies) and Jamie Lenman - Devolver (recommended by @ugman_2000). I had heard of Starset prior to the CMCS but had never heard anything by them. @Bad Frequencies actually recommended me their debut album Transmissions a few weeks prior to their follow up Vessels, but Vessels stood out to me more. I enjoyed the music on both of them and I had the opportunity to see them live earlier this year when @Bad Frequencies generously gifted me a ticket to their Cleveland show! So that was really cool. I wrote about the Jamie Lenman album a couple of weeks ago and I really can't say enough good things about it. It was one of those albums where I couldn't wait to write about it and I hope that at least one person in here checked it out based on my write-up. It's a really great album that I wouldn't have checked out had it not been for the assignment. I'll toss out a few albums here as honorable mentions - these are all albums that have been in frequent rotation for me in the past several months: Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory (recommended by @sophos34), Creeper - Eternity, In Your Arms (recommended by @Bad Frequencies), House Of Heroes - Colors (recommended by @anonimito) and Boston Manor - Be Nothing. (recommended by @SamLevi11).

The two favorite reviews written of the albums I assigned is a bit tougher because not all of the reviews are fresh in my mind! The review that @ugman_2000 wrote for Deafheaven - Sunbather was excellent as was their review for Casey - Where I Go When I Am Sleeping. The review that @anonimito wrote for Teenage Wrist - Chrome Neon Jesus was excellent as well. Some honorable mentions go to @SamLevi11 for the Spanish Love Songs - Schmaltz review and to @Michael Schmidt for the review of Smashing Pumpkins - Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness. Again, I apologize to everyone who I omitted here - there have been lots of great write-ups and I appreciate each and every one of you!

I'd say that my favorite addition to the club has been concert reviews. I know there have only been a few in here to date, but I always enjoy reading about other people's concert experiences!

All in all, this has been a fun past six months (time flies!) where I've discovered some great new artists and I look forward to discovering more over the next six months (and hopefully beyond)! Thank you @Bad Frequencies for working weekly to keep this running and for your constant positivity.

 

Great essay man. It makes me happy to see such positivity come out of this club and see how much you guys enjoy this.