The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 337

Just trollin a bit. I did love that album

 

I am just giving @Bad Frequencies a hard time about retiring albums, since they’re all ones he recommends regularly. No need to take me seriously ;)

 

Everyone welcome our newest member @K0ta

They gave me:
Soccer Mommy - Clean
HalfNoise - Flowerss


I gave them:
Conditions- Flourescent Youth
Out Of Service- Morning

 

Obligatory @teebs41 tag

 

Welcome @K0ta!

@broken22 message me and we can finalize a trade!

 

only give to people if they want to listen though! but thank you!

 

Park
Building A Better ____
2006



Last session I was paired with @edisnfg and he assigned me Park's 2006 album Building A Better ____. It's a bit of an unusual title, but frontman Ladd Mitchell has said that the band refers to this album as "Building" or "Building A Better" and the working title of the album was actually Building A Better Pirate. Anyway, Park is a band that I have heard of, but I have never listened to any of their music until now.

Park is an indie rock/emo band out of Springfield, Illinois who formed in 1996 and have undergone several lineup changes in their history. Frontman Ladd Mitchell (vocals, guitar) is the only member of the band that has been in all of their lineups. Building A Better ____ is the band's fourth full-length album and also its most recent. In early 2007, it was announced that Mitchell would be leaving the band and that the band would be breaking up. However, in 2013 the band reunited and are working on a new album (if the internet is to be believed). Since their reunion, they have released an EP of new material (2014's EP titled Jacob The Rabbit).

The album opens with one of my favorite tracks, The Trophy Wife. The lyric "I only wanted to be loved by you" is repeated and it's definitely an earworm. The vocals are very well done and it's a very catchy track and solid start to the album. I also really enjoyed the guitar in this song. Mississippi Burning follows it up and it's another of my favorites on the album. A highlight of this track is the female vocals in portions of the song. Who Is Aliandra features the lyric "building a better you" which is obviously a reference to the album's title. It has an extremely catchy chorus and is yet another of my favorite tracks on this album! A lyric that I enjoyed on this track was "You look so hot tonight I'd swear you were steam". Angles And Errors slows it down a bit, which is a nice change of pace. The song explodes in its final minute and that's the highlight of this track for me. A Message is next and this song to me was just fine. I guess I was expecting it to be a highlight since the album closes with an acoustic version of this track, but not much stood out to me here. It's certainly not a bad song, but I just haven't connected to it in any meaningful way to this point.

Chica Chica opens the back half of the album and it's another catchy track and the vocals here really shine. La Amoureux slows it down again, but it's another track that I haven't really been able to connect with much. Irukandji is next and it's the longest track to this point at nearly four and a half minutes. It's another good song, but it didn't grab me in the way that the album's first few tracks did. I think that for me personally this album is a bit top heavy since my favorite tracks to this point were the first three on the album. That's certainly not to say that the following songs are bad (because they aren't!) but they just weren't standouts to me. Obviously this is my personal opinion as people tend to have different songs that they connect with. Also, it's certainly possible that my opinions on this album may change after repeated listens.

Next up is the song Intro, which is obviously not an Intro since it's near the end of the album. It's a short song at roughly two minutes in length and it's a catchy track that leads into the album's final track, Hide And Seek. This is another of the album's longest tracks at roughly four and a half minutes. This is another solid track that explodes in its final minute (similarly to Angles And Errors) and it makes for a great closing track, and another one of my favorites on the album. The song ends with about a half minute of silence before the bonus track, A Message (Acoustic) begins. The acoustic version of this song was very well done and I actually liked it better than the regular version.

This is an album that I wish I would've heard when it was released. It definitely has that mid-00s sound to it that a lot of other bands in that era had. I was reminded at times of bands such as The Early November, June, The Audition, and Halifax. I really did enjoy this album and I really don't have anything negative to say about it other than that I found it a bit top heavy. The vocals and instrumentation were spot on and the songs were very catchy overall. The lyrics were simple, yet enjoyable, and I've connected to several of them. This is an album that I think a lot of people on this site would enjoy a fair amount!

I would recommend checking out the following tracks: The Trophy Wife, Mississippi Burning, Who Is Aliandra, Hide And Seek, and A Message (Acoustic).

Check out this album if you enjoy mid-00s indie rock/emo/alternative music!

Thanks for the recommendation @edisnfg ! I'll be revisiting this one for sure!

 

Awesome review! Glad you dug it!

 

Should have my review from last week up this time tomorrow. I was going to do it tonight but Doom isn’t the best genre to get you going for an England World Cup game lol.

This weeks reviews for Nate will probably follow in the next day or two as well.

 

Sorry I'm just getting a chance to check the thread...I actually didn't even know about Wide Open and Watching Time Run! I'm gonna go check those out immediately...thanks for the heads-up! You made my day!

 

You're in for a treat! Hope you enjoy!

 

Starset - Vessels


This week, I was recommended to listen to this album by @Bad Frequencies.

In fact, after a quick listen to a couple of songs, I based my recommendation to him (Night Verses - Lift Your Existence) on what I was hearing. I had never heard of this band, so I was excited to check this one out.

Let me start this review off by telling you that the alt/rock genre tends not to be one of my favorites...if the song sounds like it could be on the radio, it tends to be a little outside of my realm. This is not for any pretentious reason...it just doesn't seem to "click" with me for whatever reason. As an example: I'm only a casual fan of bands like Foo Fighters, and I'm not a very big fan of Linkin Park. I can appreciate their music for sure...it just doesn't do much for me as a rule.

I feel like this album falls within that space...many of the songs sound like they could be right at home on alt/rock radio. In fact, after a bit of research, I see they've even successfully charted a song or two over the years. The strong vocals and "heavy but melodic" sound - mixed with catchy and soaring songwriting - lend themselves well to radio airplay. One thing is for sure - for the sound that Starset is going for, they're doing it right.

From the first chorus of "Satellite" to that of "Die For You", I can see these guys playing arenas if things went well for them. There are absolutely some standout songs on Vessels, in my opinion. "Starlight", "Into the Unknown", and "Monster" are all awesome songs which I found myself digging as I listened, and singing in my head for a long time after. Still, other songs felt like they blended together a bit, and I found myself unsure if I was still listening to the same song after some time had passed. The word that kept coming to mind as I listened was "formula". These guys definitely have one...heavy guitars, softer verses with strong choruses, and soaring, atmospheric sound is the recipe they use to create their music.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable listen...one that I will return to again over time. It's not right in line with my usual tastes, but that's what's awesome about CMCS...I probably would never have given this a listen, and I'm definitely glad that I did. Thanks for the recommendation, @Bad Frequencies!

TL;DR - Strongly recommended for fans of alt/rock in the vein of Linkin Park, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and even a little bit of Acceptance thrown in there at times. A fun album that rocks hard but leaves a lot of room to breathe.

Top tracks - "Starlight", "Die For You", "Monster", "Telepathic", "Satellite"

 

Also glad to see you dug this album, it's funny to see that aside from 'Hide and Seek' most of your recommended tracks are different to what mine would be. 'Irukandji' is 10/10 for me.

 

40 Watt Sun - Wider Than The Sun (2016)



So @Anthony Brooks gave me this album to review last week, sorry it's a bit late it's been a busy week/weekend. Anyways onto the review, this is the sophomore album by 40 Watt Sun who are/were a 3 piece doom metal band from the UK. I'd heard the name of the band before but I'd never actually checked out any of their work so I was quite looking forward to this one.

I said this band "were" a doom metal band above, the reason I said this is because on this release they definitely shed the metal aspect of that tag they previously held but damn this album is still doomy everywhere else in it's sound (I'd say they now sit in a kind of doomy post rock sound). This album is six tracks long with each song bar the last clocking in at over 9 minutes. These songs are built upon the layering and building of the slow paced dark soundscapes that the band create interspersed with Patrick Walkers beautifully haunting melancholic vocals.

This album is a bit difficult to breakdown and review as it's been hard to find myself in the right mood to listen to this album this past week (part of the reason the review has been a bit late coming). The weather here in the UK has been ridiculously sunny and hot which doesn't really fit with the tone of this album at all (I've basically wanted to listen to ska all week lol).

I will say I can tell this album is good, Patrick Walker has a lovely tone to his vocals and the musicianship on this album is top notch with the way they craft these big sprawling soundscapes. Patrick's soaring vocals are definitely a highlight on here for me and when time permits I intend to check out his previous output in the band Warning. I can tell this album is definitely something I will dig later in the year when the colder months kick in and will definitely revisit it then but for now this is the best I can do with this album, sorry Anthony.

One thing I will add that while looking into this album I came across this interview with Patrick which I thought was quite interesting. It seems he's quite a private individual that rarely gives interviews at it seemed he had some interesting viewpoints about how he presents himself and his art.

A Rare Conversation with 40 Watt Sun's Patrick Walker

RIYL: Hauntingly beautiful vocals over doomy post rock.
Favourite Tracks: Stages, Pictures

 

Excellent review! I fell in love with this album in January so i totally get how it could be tough to get into right now with this heat wave. But you touched on the parts i like most - how the layers build upon themselves and the stunning vocals. “Stages” knocks me on my ass every time.

And thanks for linking to that interview. Gives some really good insight. I don’t know much about this band or warning, I’ve just recently started to dive into their older work.

 

Apologies for my tardiness lately, I’ve been going through some shit and it’s made writing feel like a chore, and I couldn’t even muster up the effort to open word and start. Better late than never right? These two reviews I owe people will be a bit shorter but I wanted to get SOMETHING down.


Betty Who - Take Me When you Go


Betty Who is an Australian pop star and this was her debut record on RCA Records. The first track features a nice bass line that reminded me of Jaws Theme Swimming by You Know Who, and the lyrics seemed to indicate losing a lover to a rival female, but still wanting them back, and the end of the song seemed to have a “stronger together” theme where she urges the audience that “if you have a broken heart… You’re just like me.”

Stylistically this album reminded a little of Emotion by Carly Rae Jepson which is my favourite pop album of the last few years, particularly the song Somebody Loves You. It has many of the same themes and explores a similarly 80’s throwback sound, and I was surprised that (at surface level) it seems none of the same writers are involved. Third track Glory Days is reminscient of Katy Perry and later day Taylor Swift and this may be the creeping influence of song writing juggernaut Martin Johnson. Regardless, the album is flawlessly produced and her vocals soar throughout.

It’s a pretty consistent album, with no songs that massively grabbed me, but very few songs that turned me off, which is honestly quite rare for a pop record in this style. Missing You feels a bit slow and sluggish, and Better doesn’t pick up the pace and atmosphere like I would have liked a track following it have done, but otherwise I enjoyed every track on here and found them all to be pretty catchy and feel good which is what I look for in an album like this.

I believe she has a second record but I have not heard it, so it will be interesting to see how she has progressed.

7.5/10

Recommended Tracks: Just Like Me, High Society, Somebody Loves you, All Of You

RIYL: Early Katy Perry, Later Taylor Swift, Carly Rae Jepson

Cheers to @cshadows2887 for a surprisingly very enjoyable pop record by someone I had never heard.

 

Sorry to hear things haven’t been great for you recently mate, hope that starts to change soon. Don’t worry about review lengths, we’re all happy for just a paragraph if you’re struggling to find time.

Anyways great review, I’ve never heard of her but this sounds like something I’d enjoy. I must remember to check this out at some point.

 

I would 100% recommend it. It's a very enjoyable album and not what I expected at first glance. It feels very modern and it's fantastically produced.

 

Here's a couple of reviews, I was a little behind thanks to a very hectic life schedule the past week. But here we are. No rest for the wicked.

First, two albums from @Patterns in Traffic from TWO WEEKS AGO (one of the latest I have ever been. I am so sorry!)

The Classic Crime- Phoenix

This is another one of those bands that I had never heard of prior to this trade session; and yet somehow this is their fourth album release from 2012. The album art instantly hit me as cool when I saw it, and I was eager to dig into the album. Patterns hasn't let me down before, so I was excited to see if his streak continued. Luckily, I can say that with this one he has. As soon as I dove into the intro track 'One Man Army' I knew this Seattle based alternative rock band was something I was going to enjoy. This intro was fantastic; starting off slow with some nice string work that quietly becomes louder and louder until the vocals kick in, followed by some well timed guitars and drums. Each time the intro track escalates a bit more, everything becomes more passionate and more sonically expansive. There is a lot of cool things going on in this song, and its a sure taste of things to come with the rest of the album. Passionate, sonically expansive, and well produced. This intro song was a song that resonated with me, and those screams at the end of the song were something I ended up belting along with on repeated listens.

'You And Me Both' keeps up the energy of the album with some extremely nice guitar work that is almost rapid fire through the song, and the lyrics are very emotional dealing with a breakup that the singer is on a head on collision for, and both parties are miserable. "And you wonder why my eyes don't leave my phone. Its no wonder that you feel like you're alone. I think I need a new story, one where I take on the world. The world Im living is boring. Its killing you and me both." is a great chorus, and with the firey music behind it, this was an excellent second song on the album. The next few songs keep that amazing energy and pace going, in fact the first seven songs on this album are absolutely incredible. 'Beautiful Darkside' is an amazing ballad like song, and 'Heaven and Hell' is simply beautiful sonically and vocally together. The passion in these songs is not heard in just the vocals and lyrics, but you can hear it in the guitars too. These guys have some impressive musical chops and the layers of sounds behind the lyrics speaks for themselves. 'The Precipice' is an acoustically driven heartfelt song that will be stuck in your head, and includes some of the best sounding lyrics on the entire album and some of the best examples of drumming too. 'Let Me Die' is ferocious, and the chorus to this song is one that will have you singing along instantly and wishing you were seeing them live, this sound would sound amazing in a live venue. The chorus is grand, epic. There are some pop punk moments on here too, such as the aforementioned 'Young Again' as well as 'Glass Houses' which has some very good lyrical moments to it. 'What I'd Given Up' is an anthemic banger of a song, and one that will be stuck in your head for quite a while after hearing it for your very first time, and its a damn fun one to sing along with as well.

There is no filler songs on this album, nor are there any bad songs. I really liked this album a lot and have almost no complaints for this one. If I HAD to pick something to complain about, it would be that out of 13 tracks, the first 8 are by far the best. Some sequencing reordering could have given some more strength to the other songs; even if none of them are bad in the current order. I will be listening to this album for quite a while, and I will probably be adding this to my list of albums that I recommend to people in here. Its just that damn good. If you like bands like House Of Heroes, Anberlin, and Acceptance, you will like this album and band. Major props to these guys with this album, I look forward to diving into more of their work.
Stand Out Songs:
One Man Army, You And Me Both, Young Again, Beautiful Darkside, Heaven And Hell, The Precipice, Let Me Die, Glass Houses, What I'd Give Up, City Of Orphans.

Damone- Out Here All Night

You know the drill. Never heard of these guys, got them in a trade, I was excited to check it out, blah blah. All joking aside, I have literally NEVER heard of this band and I was a bit weary to what I was going to hear based on the album cover. I was taken by surprise when the intro song 'Now Is The Time' came on. This is a pop punk album leaning just as much into the punk spectrum as it does the pop side; with a fantastic female vocalist whose lyrics and vocals are insanely well fit for this sound and add to the pop side AND the punk side extraordinarily well, with a big dash of 80s influence in there. Its a 2006 album, and it holds up pretty well. This is an album that I am surprised I didn't hear more of back in the day, sonically it is definitely rock radio aimed; and this is not a bad thing when done right. This is definitely a rock album, and it has some extremely fun moments.

Lyrically, the album sits between the light and dark side of things; there are some fun and bright songs and some very gritty darker songs. The title track 'Out Here All Night' and 'What We Came Here For' are anthemic, aggressive bangers with some damn nice power chords and some excellent choruses, especially the later. The guitar riffs are ringing, the power chords are shredding, and the lead vocalist's voice works wonders in this setting. 'Stabbed In The Heart', while lyrically dark, is one of the brighter sounding songs on the album with some great vocal work; its a softer side of things with an almost acoustic sound to it for the most part, until the chorus kicks in and everything just takes off. Singing of lost love and the pain it causes when someone you loved chooses not to love you back, and yet somehow sounding so damn happy about it and being catchy; its quite the feat. 'On Your Speakers' almost has a Bon Jovi sound to it, and is very much a pop rock song with some cool background sounds and a very simple yet well crafted vibe to it; and the chorus is very catchy as seems to be the MO of this band. 'Outta My Way' has a cool 80s rock vibe to it, and it sounds like it could have been on a skateboard movie soundtrack from the 90s such as Grind or something. Songs like this are reasons why this album is a fun listen.

This is one of those albums to throw on when you're driving late at night and heading to go out with your friends, or heading to the bar. Its just fun, and the ringing power chords just scream to be heard. This is a good album, and while its not one I will revisit all the time; it is one that I will come back to when I just wanna listen to something really fun and has a party vibe to it. Pop Punk meets 80s, this album is a fun ride.
Stand out tracks:
Out Here All Night, What We Came Here For, Stabbed In The Heart, On Your Speakers, Outta My Way, New Change Of Heart

 

Here is one from @ineverlose

Night Verses- Lift Your Existence

I have heard a lot of people talk about this album but I myself never decided to give it a chance. I was fortunate to get paired with ineverlose, and be given a chance to listen to this album. They believed, based on my love of Starset- Vessels, that I would like this album. Now, after having dug through this album multiple times I can say that they were right. The production is crisp, the songs are layered and have a lot going on sonically, and vocally these guys are impressive. This album is full of dynamic moments; switching from softer tones to loud and explosive on the drop of a time, with a lot of things going on in the background of each moment that you don't notice until multiple listens in. The post rock guitars of the songs in tracks like 'Celestial Fires' is insane, and the rolling drums in the harder and faster moments is impressive. These guys remind of what you'd get if you mixed Every Time I Die with Starset's first album Transmissions with a dash of Hopesfall. These songs are very instrumentally driven, full of scope and focus that this band really has the chops to do; its firey and aggressive, with plenty of moments to both bang your head to as well as sing along with. Occasionally random instruments are encompassed into the sound, such as bongos and synths, and they are utilized well. My point being, this is a very musically diverse and experimental post prog rock sound.

The album is a bit on the longer side clicking in at 74 minutes, but it doesn't feel like that as these songs take you on their journey. From start to finish, this is an album made to be listened to on the whole as opposed to selective tracks in my opinion, though a lot these songs could be tossed on a playlist; songs like 'Antidepressants' are just so much more powerful in a whole album listen, especially when it bleeds into the haunting almost space like intro of 'Parasomnia'. The haunting soft verses and the explosive choruses of that song are insane, and that is a talent that these guys have on a lot of these tracks. Each of these songs serve a purpose and there are no filler tracks, that is why I believe that the album is best listened to as a whole. There are no bad songs either, some songs are stronger than others and there can be the occasional chorus that should have been the ante upped a bit IMO, but overall the 74 minute ride of this album is well worth the journey. You get these strong, aggressive moments like 'Pull Back Your Teeth', these more somber yet energetic songs such as 'Cathexis', and then the literally insane explosive and to the walls 10 minute closer 'Phoenix I. Rising II, Falling', which takes everything that this album has built up into and just lets it loose and explodes into the atmosphere. Songs like this one show their flexibility and ability to make a song go in different directions, sometimes surprising you with the way it goes.

This album is a great listen. It doesn't overstay its welcome, and its something I wouldn't have listened to outside of this club. It has one foot in my wheel house and one foot outside, and I am so glad that I have gotten to listen to these guys finally. I will return to this album quite a bit, especially when I am on a long car ride or am in the mood for some ambient and aggressive prog rock. This is a dang good album, and if you like anything I said I recommend you give it a listen. There is a lot going on in this album, the layers to these songs alone, just like with Starset's Vessels, begs for repeat listens with headphones in to try and pick up on everything going on here.
Stand Out tracks:
Time Erases Time, Celestial Fires, Antidepressants, Parasomnia, Pull Back Your Teeth, Cathexis, I Don't Want My Loved Ones To Die, Phoenix I. Rising II. Falling

 

Glad you liked these! This is my favorite Classic Crime album but their debut is also really really good. The rest of their discography is kind of hit or miss for me but I'm always excited to check out what they do. "Beautiful Darkside" and "Heaven and Hell" are so incredible back to back. One of my favorite sets of consecutive tracks in recent memory. I agree that the front half of the album is stronger, but the stuff on the back half has grown on me over time, especially "City of Orphans."

Damone is such a cool band that I wish would have stuck around a little longer. I thought they were destined for big things with that singer and their radio-ready sound, but they never quite caught on. I saw them at a local radio station's summer music festival when this album came out and they were incredible live. They really embraced the rock side of their sound and the guitarist played some killer solos. One random music memory I'll never forget was when I was on vacation with my family when I was around 18 and I found out Candlebox was playing at a local bar while we were there. I ended up going to the show by myself even though I'm really not familiar with Candlebox outside their one big radio hit. In the middle of their set they whipped out a cover of "Out Here All Night." I was so surprised because the song was only a year or two old and Damone was obviously not well known. I was sure I was the only person in the place who knew the song haha

 

I love The Classic Crime. Albatross is my favorite, but I’ve enjoyed all their other stuff to some extent!

 

@Bad Frequencies

Hey Kev I’m going to have to skip next weeks round. I’m pretty busy this weekend and I’m away from Wednesday to Sunday next week at a festival so won’t have the time.

 

CMCS PAIRINGS
session 07/09-07/16

@badfrequencies // @broken22

@Nate_Johnson // @teebs41

@Patterns in Traffic // @Chase Tremaine

@anonimito // @edisnfg

@iCarly Rae Jepsen // @highfidelity203

@cshadows2887 // @Kiana

@CSWAPPO // @jorbjorb

@bachna84 // @Bad Frequencies

@Micool1 // @ineverlose

@Davjs // @summertimejesus

@ryanfears // @ejsz

@disambigujason // @K0ta

Did I forget you?? Want to join?? Let me know!

 

@Bad Frequencies can I start with a clean slate this week? I never even made arrangements for this week haha.