The Chorus Music Club Society • Page 390

I'm going to do this weeks, then I'd like to be benched for a bit. Change of job and address has made life hectic for the past couple weeks.

 

You aren't hating on one of the greatest bands of all time, are you?

 

Of course not.

 

Good! In celebration, watch the video I made a few years back

 

Wow, that’s awesome

 

I just wanted to remind everyone that the upcoming session is a “catch up” week! I know that I have a couple reviews to catch up on and I’m sure many of you are in the same boat.

As a reminder, if you’re caught up and would be interested in a “bonus” trade, please post in here and we’ll see if we can get you paired up with someone!

 

Hop Along - Bark your Head Off, Dog



Hop Along are an indie rock band from Philadelphia, and prior to this week, the only song I had really heard from this band was the lead single from this album, their fourth proper full length.

Opening with that song, “How Simple”, it puts its strongest foot forward, with a hugely catchy and impressive pop rock song that is one of my favourite tracks of the year. Singer Frances Quinlan has a voice that is soothing and disarming, whilst the musicians behind her are similarly talented, with many of the songs on this album reminding me of a less electronic-leaning and more indie rock version of After Laughter era Paramore. The melodies are fantastic as Quinlan sings “how simple my heart can be… Don’t worry, we will both find out just not together.” The lyrics on here are mostly simple, but are phrased in ways that sound relatively unique and snappy and that makes them seem fresh despite sometimes treading well worn topics.

The simple pop rock songs are something Hop Along do brilliantly, with closer “Prior Things” being another great example. It has a very positive summer vibe, whilst still containing introspective lyrics that are present throughout the album. The song opens with some exciting sounding violin strings, and strings themselves are constant on the album. I don’t know if they were such a feature on previous releases, but it sounds ambitious for a self-produced record. There are some nice lyrics and rhymes on this song, such as when Quinlan sings “You were on vacation. Vacation means leave, means obliterate all prior things.”

Whilst they definitely excel at the simpler side of their sound, Hop Along don’t shy from trying more expansive song structures and there are a few weirder and unique songs on here. Penultimate track “Look of Love” is a strong deep cut, and is the longest on the album at over six minutes. It contains the title of the album, and the lyrics themselves seem to tell the tale of a neighbour’s dog who took a dislike to Quinlan, before being hit by a car. She feels relieved due to her fear of the dog, but the sight of it transforms her view of the dog and visa versa, as she sings “And now I can get close enough, close enough to see you're overgrown with a look of love.”

"Fox in Motion" is another great track, and one that most reminds of newer Paramore material, with some guitar effects and an instrumental end allowing bassist Tyler Long to shine, as he does throughout the record.

There is one or two slightly less impressive tracks though. Mainly track two, “Somewhere a Judge”, which I found sounded like a worse version of a Death Cab For Cutie track. Even then, the song wasn’t bad, I just felt it lacked the personality of the other songs.

Overall this was a hugely enjoyable album, one that had been recommended to me before by a friend, but I had never fully listened. Now after this I am excited to go back and delve into their discography and see what I have been missing.

8.5/10

RIYL: Paramore, Death Cab For Cutie, Lemuria
Recommended Tracks: How Simple, Look Of Love, Prior Things


Cheers to @marioeatworld for giving me the push to listen to this album, as I have been meaning to for quite some time.

 

Second review

WATERMEDOWN - The Same View with a New Light


WATERMEDOWN is the name of a project by singer/guitarist Jonny Mays. I couldn’t get any information on where he is from, or even find a facebook page for the act, so information is certainly scarce. He is signed to Equal Vision and this is his third album, released last year under the title “The Same View with a New Light”.

Opening with the track “For Everyone’s Sake”, my first thoughts were “This guy listens to The Hotelier”. It is a very similar introduction to the album, even down to the yelp before the guitars and drums truly kick in. The vocals are very strained and impassioned and are definitely not traditional, however they really emphasise the emotional lyrics here, as Mays sings “I'm not proud of the person I am, I'm not fond of the way that I've been. Lately acting out, lashing out, breaking down, placing blame on everything but myself.” It’s a plea to be a better person that features Mays telling himself to “wake up”, before ending in alarm clock noises.

The album then follows this with two poppier rock tunes, with bands like Tigers Jaw and Hot Mulligan definitely being a large influence on these songs, with nice winding guitar lines and catchy melodies, however the songs follow the album theme of very few choruses or true hooks. “Redefined” is the fourth track, and begins to bring in influences outside of pop punk, with American Football style passages and guitars and all three of these songs are very solid and enjoyable tunes.

Fifth track “Dead Things” was the first true change of pace. It is a more subtle, poppy song, with a catchy guitar line and electronic elements. The lyrics are hugely pro-vegetarian, as Mays sings “Oh, another one dead is another one fed, but if you can make bread with three ingredients, I don't think, despite its convenience, what you're doing's worth it and I doubt that those dead things in your kitchen would have consented to being eaten.” It’s a song sounds like it could be on an advert, although presumably not for McDonalds.

“Search Boxes” is a short acoustic song about no longer checking your exes social media, and reminds me of the shorter songs that Modern Baseball would have on Sports. Stagnant follows this and is a great American Football style Midwest emo track, with some rather over the top but emotional lyrics that further the idea of a journey of improvement, as Mays sings “'I’ve been stagnant paralyzed. I feel nothing for anything else other than your eyes. How they reflect mine, how they constantly move me closer to the person I promise I'm trying to be.”

Closer Three Over Ice is a nice acoustic song, featuring some really sweet melodies and female backing vocals, and some sadly nostalgic lyrics, with the opening with “Once upon a time I felt young, I felt love for myself over everyone.”

The album isn’t flawless at all. The vocals can be grating at times, and it loses steam towards the end due to a tracklisting that seems to get slower as it progresses, and even the strong “Fickle” struggles to regain it. Also, the penultimate song “On A Paper Trail” has rather bizarre lyrics and is too long, at over six minutes I found myself getting bored.

Despite that, the album is a fun listen, and I will definitely keep an eye on this project.

7/10

RIYL: American Football, The Hotelier, Mom Jeans
Recommended tracks: For Everyone’s Sake, Redefined, Dead Things, Three Long Over Ice

Thanks to @GBlades for the interesting rec.

 

Graham Colton Band
Drive
2004 (not 2018 as Apple Music and Amazon say)



I was paired with @Patterns in Traffic a couple sessions back and he recommended Graham Colton Band's 2004 album Drive to me. @Patterns in Traffic described it to me as "kind of country-tinged rock" and said that he thought I may enjoy it based on my recent enjoyment of Lori McKenna's terrific new album. Prior to this recommendation I was completely unfamiliar with Graham Colton Band (and Graham Colton in general) so I went into the album for the most part expecting a country album.

The opening track Don't Give Up On Me surprised me a bit as it leaned more toward the pop rock direction. It's an upbeat song with a very catchy chorus and solid instrumentation. It's immediately apparent that this is a talented band and the vocals are fantastic. The second track Since You Broke It confirms what I heard on the first track. The vocals are really impressive and it features another catchy chorus. I'd describe this as pop rock bordering on alt-rock. First Week is next and the band nails the chorus yet again. The keys add a nice touch to the song and this is my favorite song on the album to this point.

Morning Light is another highlight for me. It's a bit of a slower track highlighted by its heartfelt chorus. The melody in the chorus reminds me a bit of All Time Low's A Daydream Away. Sending A Note is a good song, but it's a bit melancholy and I tended to prefer the more upbeat tracks on this album. It's still an enjoyable track though and I appreciated its lyrics. Cigarette is next and it's perhaps the catchiest track on the album. The band is really firing on all cylinders as the instrumentation is top notch and the chorus and the bridge are very catchy. It's a song that I can see getting stuck in my head a fair amount.

Killing Me is another song that is a touch slower, but it's certainly not a ballad - there really are no ballads on this album. The backing vocals add a nice touch to this song. How Low was one of the tracks on this album that was a bit middle-of-the-road for me. It's certainly not a bad song by any stretch, but I preferred most of the other songs to it. Cut is another example of how talented Graham Colton is from a vocal standpoint. This is a very well crafted, catchy song and the high pitched vocals in the chorus work well.

The album's penultimate track South is one of my favorites and I enjoyed its lyrics a fair amount:

You don't know what you got until it all goes south
You think you got alot until it all runs out
There's something about you that I can't get out my head
And I won't wake up

I've said this countless times already, but the vocals are again very impressive and really shine in particular toward the end of the song. All The World Tonight closes the album out and it's the longest track on the album by a good margin at over 6 minutes. Its bridge and instrumentation toward the end is the highlight of the track for me and it's a fitting ending to a very good album.

This was the only album by Graham Colton Band, but since the release of this album, Graham Colton has released three full-length albums and several EPs. I haven't listened to any of them, but if they're anything like this album, I'm in for a treat!

There are a few other fun facts that I'd like to share about Graham Colton:

-Graham Colton is from Oklahoma City and he played quarterback on his high school football team, leading the team to a state championship and setting multiple passing records along the way. Former NFL star Wes Welker was a childhood friend and teammate of Colton.

-The Graham Colton Band formed a friendship with Better Than Ezra and the band performed with them off and on over a couple years and collaborated with Better Than Ezra frontman Kevin Griffin on several songs.

-The band also supported artists including Counting Crows, John Mayer, Maroon 5, and Dave Matthews Band.

-Graham Colton dated Kelly Clarkson for a period of time.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable album that I'd recommend to fans of pop rock and catchy, authentic music with fantastic vocals.

These are my favorite songs that I think you should check out: Don't Give Up On Me, First Week, Morning Light, Cigarette, Killing Me, and South.

First Week:

Morning Light:

Cigarette:

Really great recommendation @Patterns in Traffic ! I will definitely need to check out his other material!

 

Alice In Chains - Rainier Fog (2018)



So @Nate_Johnson gave me two albums the other week and this is the first of my two reviews. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Alice In Chains they're a rock band that came out of the grunge scene of the late 80's early 90's. They went on to sell a ridiculous amount of records across the 90's before their hiatus in the late 90's. unfortunately in 2002 their main vocalist Layne Staley sadly passed away due to his drug addiction getting the better of him. In 2005 the band decided to get back together with a new vocalist William Duvall. This album is now the third album with William, whom he also shares vocal duties with the main songwriter and guitarist Jerry Cantrell.

So I have mixed feelings on this album, I'm a big fan of all of Alice In Chains output with Layne and I like the first album with William, so I kind of knew what I was getting with this rec. The band have slowly over time mellowed their sound down a bit, it still has lots of riffs and Jerry's trademark guitar wailing throughout a lot of these tracks but the general pace of this album is a more chilled than their earlier output. That's not to say their early stuff was all about pace, it's just there were usually a few tracks with a real rock an roll swagger to them that seem to be missing from this album and I think they're much needed when the album plods along for best part of an hour.

Musically the band still sounds great, Jerry's guitar playing is beautiful in places, bringing real emotion to the tracks and while William is not the genius that Layne was, he still sounds great and does a good job with the songs, especially in showcasing his impressive range. Saying all that though I do have a big problem with this album and that is just the songs aren't up to scratch for me, they're not bad but equally they're not amazing and when compared to their earlier output, they just fall way short (even compared to Black Gives Way To Blue, Williams first album). There's nothing bad on this album, it's good hard rock music it's just there's nothing that memorable to me. I've listened to this album a few times now and bar a couple of tracks there's nothing that's got stuck in my head. The tracks I liked and can actually remember are Rainier Fog, Fly, All I Am and Never Fade, the latter being the best of those 3 imo/ Other than those everything else is just a bit meh for me.

So yeah this was a hard review for me because I love this band but they're now 2 for 2 on albums that I feel are pretty forgettable. I guess when you're a band that have been around for as long as this you only really need a couple of tracks that are worth putting in your set and this album does meet that criteria but man, what I'd give for a AIC album where there's a real anger and urgency to it like their earlier output.

Thanks for getting me to check this album out Nate (I'd been holding off as I was scared I'd have this reaction to it) and sorry it didn't click for me but I'll just go back to listening to their Layne stuff.

If anyone hasn't heard Alice In Chains before I definitely recommend checking them out, they're an incredible band and all their albums with Layne Staley are full of amazing songs that really showcase why they're held in such high regard. I'd say start with either Dirt or Jar of Flies/Sap depending if you want rocking AIC (Dirt) or mellow AIC (JOF/Sap).

RIYL: Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, 90's Rock
Favourite Tracks: Rainier Fog, Fly, All I Am and Never Fade

 

I still need to check this out (it's one of 55 albums on my list of "new" releases that I want to get to!).

Good review though - I appreciate your honesty! There's nothing wrong with criticism and it's not like you trashed the album or anything.

 

I had a feeling this is how I'd find this album, it's why I'd been putting it off. I'm a massive fan of the whole grunge scene and you'd see a lot of them in my top 20 bands of all time but man it's so sad what happened to many of it's incredible artists. Because of that I'm happy that AIC are still putting music out, even if I don't enjoy it that much.

 

Nate my other review will probably be tomorrow, I need to give it another listen before I write it up (you can thank Spiderman for the delay).

 

Good review and that’s okay you didn’t connect with it. I personally love it but agree that overall, it feels the most mellow of their records since the reunion.

My god, when they did the blackdiamondskye tour with The Deftones and Mastodon, THEY BROUGHT IT and played every heavy song they have ever written. One of my all time favorite bands and Jerry is a genius so I can’t hate on them ever.

 

Awesome review! I love this artist and this album so much. I think Colton is most famous for opening for/dating Kelly Clarkson (there are a disgusting amount of tribute videos for the two of them on YouTube) and for his solo song "Best Days," which was popularized by American Idol a while back. I think because of this he's always been shoehorned more into the pop world and not really considered a cool artist to like in this scene. But he's such a great songwriter and one of my favorite artists.

This album is incredible and one I can go back to at any time and enjoy all the way through. "Cigarette" and "First Week" are infectious as hell and great introductions to his sound.

It's funny you mention Kevin Griffin. Colton often tells a story during his live show about how they had a songwriting session together and Griffin brought an idea to the table but Colton preferred to work on a few of his own ideas. Griffin ended up taking his idea to Howie Day shortly after and it was "Collide" haha.

His solo stuff is also great. It leans into the pop/singer-songwriter genre a bit more but it's the same great songwriting. I would definitely recommend it! His most recent album "Lonely Ones" is actually a pretty big stylistic departure for him and has some experimental elements to it.

 

Final of my three owed reviews. This is a rec by @ugman_2000.

RVIVR - The Beauty Between


RVIVR are a punk band band hailing from Olympia, Washington, who formed after guitarist and vocalist Mattie Canino’s previous New York based band Latterman dissolved. Taking his knowledge and experience, Canino formed RVIVR, with Erica Freas (guitar/vocals), and Kevin Rainsbury (drums) rounding out the lineup. The Beauty Between is their second album, released in 2013, and featured Joey Seward on bass following the departure of long term bassist Nell Tallos.

The album opens with “The Seam”, a short and winding song that is mostly instrumental that reminds me of Against Me! or The Menzingers when they embrace their most old-school punk leaning elements. It’s a style that runs throughout the front half of the album, with a pace that never really lets up. Second track “LMD” has a fun guitar solo and truly kicks the album off, with a beer drinking, dance-inducing fast paced ramshackle style. Third track “Spider Song” is an early highlight, with Freas on vocals and some nice lines talking about losing touch with loved ones, as she sings “You can love someone and just not stay friends, wake one day to find they’ve faded away, and in the daytime I know I’ve faded plenty on my own.”

The next few songs are all the same style, but to me it began to feel a little samey. It was a relief then when seventh track “Paper Thin” begins with a slower and slightly different vibe. It kicks in halfway through, but there was enough change to make an impact. Ninth track “Ocean Song” was also a highlight with some lyrics speaking very frankly about mental health, when Freas sings “Feels like there’s something dead inside of me, it’s a constant fight to keep every light burning and now I don’t feel like there’s anything left.”

Songs 10-12 are a three song run called “The Hunger Suite”, with each part containing a very distinct style and combining to make a fantastic piece of music barely short of 10 minutes long. “Suite I” is my favourite, with a slow song with almost hypnotic chant style vocals that slowly builds, and is the longest song too, as Canino and Freas both sing “I’ve got a disease, the kind that you can’t see, but I’m just the same as anybody.” “Suite II” is a more traditional fast punk song but is one of the better songs in this style, whilst “Suite III” is a very short song consisting of three different variations of a chorus, but it’s an enjoyable song regardless. The closer “Party Queen” was another highlight, as it was one of the catchier songs on the record and I enjoyed Canino’s vocals more than usual on this one.

The vocals on this record definitely won’t be to everyone’s taste, as they are certainly not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. My main gripe with the record however is mostly the lyrics, as I found whilst there were good lines here and there, that most of the lyrics could definitely be described as “filler” and a lot actually came across as being very basic. For someone who is rather lyric driven a lot of the time, this meant that whilst I could appreciate the music, I couldn’t form any attachments to the songs. The music itself always felt fun, and the bass tone in particular was really nice on this record, with the production shining throughout and never making the instruments sound muddy or losing their grit.

Despite this, it was a very fun record and could be a great option for a record to stick some songs in a pre-drinking playlist and have fun.

7.5/10

RIYL: Hotwater Music, The Menzingers, Against Me!
Recommended Tracks: The Hunger Suite (all three songs of it), Spider Song

 

Ryan Star
11:59
2010



I was partnered with @anonimito this past session and when messaging back and forth they decided to recommend a Ryan Star album to me. They gave me two tracks to sample (Start A Fire from 2010's 11:59 and Spaceman Fugitive from 2014's Angels + Animals) and asked me which one I preferred. I enjoyed both, but enjoyed Start A Fire a bit more due to its catchiness and pace, so @anonimito assigned me 11:59 and told me that it was his more "mainstream" album. They also recommended checking out the three bonus tracks if I was able to.

I had never heard of Ryan Star prior to this recommendation, so I did a bit of background research. Prior to 11:59, Star released one studio album (2005's Songs From The Eye Of An Elephant, which was released independently). 11:59 was his second studio album and his major label debut (Atlantic Records). 11:59 charted at #31 on the Billboard 200 upon its release and it contains a couple songs (Breathe and Start A Fire) which had some degree of radio success. There were videos made for several tracks on the album and his songs were featured in several TV shows and movies. Additionally, he toured with artists including Bon Jovi, Train, Collective Soul, Rob Thomas, and Goo Goo Dolls. It seems as though he got a good bit of exposure from being on a major label.

Based on what I read and what @anonimito told me, I had a good idea of what to expect heading into this record - mainstream rock with alternative and pop influences. Opening track Brand New Day was just that. It's a solid start to the album and I'd classify it as alternative rock. I enjoyed this song a fair bit from the lyrical perspective:

Send me a sign
Turn back the clock
Give me some time
I need to break out
And make a new name
Let's open our eyes
To the brand new day

Right Now follows it and it's a catchy rock song with an anthemic chorus. I liked the vocals and the instrumentation a lot on this track. At this point, it's quite apparent that Ryan Star is a talented songwriter and vocalist. The next two songs are two of my favorites on the album. Last Train Home is another well written song with a very good chorus. I particularly liked the bridge of the song. Breathe is next and it's possibly the catchiest song on the album to this point. The vocals are great, as is the bridge, and the higher pitched vocals are a highlight for me. We Might Fall is the softest song on the album to this point, at least at the beginning of the track. It builds throughout and features the piano prominently. I appreciate the diversity of the album and a change of pace track like this helps the album not to feel stale. This Could Be The Year is a solid song, but it didn't really stand out to me much in particular. I do appreciate the song's sentiment though:

This could be the year
This could be the moment
You've been waiting your whole life
To show the world that you are ready
Hold your head up high
and touch the sky
Cause you know this is everything, everything
So take your shot it's all you got to be

The next two tracks are two more of my favorites on the album. Unbreak has a sweeping, catchy chorus and it's a really great song. Start A Fire was the first song that I had heard on this album as I detailed above and it really is a catchy song with an infectious melody.

Losing Your Memory is the second to last track on the regular version of the album and it's also the longest track at nearly 5 minutes. It features the piano and it's also very unique in the fact that it features bagpipes as well! This song is definitely a ballad and it's a solid one. 11:59 closes out the regular version of the album and it's a fitting final track. The vocals are great on this song (which is really no different than the rest of the album) and it features a powerful, sweeping chorus with optimistic lyrics:

Please don't leave
This could be the best time of our lives tonight
You and me, don't let the moment pass by
Put the windows down and drive

As mentioned previously, there are three bonus tracks and as luck would have it they were available on Apple Music. You And Me is the first bonus track and it falls in between the other two bonus tracks in terms of tempo. It's a good song and the vocals here remind me a bit of Eddie Vedder's vocals. Gonna Make It Right is next and this is the bonus track that's a ballad. Really the first half of the song is a ballad and it builds a bit from there. This song was my favorite of the bonus tracks and I liked its inspirational lyrics:

I'm gonna make it right, gonna make it right,
I've been knocked down, but I've got one more fight
I'm running in the night, but I'm running to the light,
This is the time and the place and I swear
That I'm gonna make it right

Finally, the deluxe version of the album closes out with Back Of Your Car, which @anonimito mentioned to me was one of their favorite Ryan Star songs. This was the most uptempo of the bonus tracks and I enjoyed it a good amount. All three of the bonus tracks were on par with the rest of the album so I don't know why they weren't just released on the regular edition!

Based on my limited research, it appears that Ryan Star and Atlantic Records parted ways in the years following 11:59's release and since then he has released a couple of EPs and at least one studio album (Wikipedia lists a 2015 album but it says the release date is TBA so I'm not really sure what's going on there). I know from my back and forth with @anonimito that his other albums are a bit different stylistically that 11:59, but I'll have to check them out regardless!

Thank you for the recommendation @anonimito ! I'd recommend this to fans of talented singer-songwriters in the rock spectrum.

Please give these tracks a listen: Last Train Home, Breathe, Unbreak, Start A Fire, Gonna Make It Right, and Back Of Your Car.

And here are two of my favorites for you to check out right now:

Breathe:

Start A Fire:

 

And with that, I'm all caught up (at least according to my records)!

If I've ever partnered with you and you think that I owe you a review, please let me know. It's possible that I may have missed one inadvertently!

I'm happy to see some people using this week to catch up! There have been some very good reviews written in here in the past couple of days.

 

Great review Sam, I’m glad you enjoyed it. You definitely highlighted all my favourite tracks on the album. I adore the Hunger Suit trio and Party Queen a lot, they tend to make it into a load of my playlists nowadays.

I’m hoping that when their new album drops that they take the next step up. I think they showed real promise on this album, shame it’s taken them so long to follow it up.

 

Awesome review! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! You picked out all my top favorites. I agree that his voice and the lyrics are the stars here, and in all of his albums.

 

I noticed that it has been five years, but they released an EP last year, is there definitely new music coming?

 

There’s been talk of it but nothing officially announced. The band have also started playing shows again, which they hadn’t done for a while. They’re actually over here soon supporting Propagandhi

 

Yo, this new Dirty Nil album rules. Gonna give this to someone soon for sure.

 

Also anyone got any fun recommendations? I'm looking to listen to something new.

 

If you like electronic-based pop and a lot of catchy tracks, my go-to is Jome: Tunnels. Not sure if it's your style, though!