The Early November Band • Page 9

I think I'm a pretty decent writer overall, and I love writing album reviews, but I when I read what Jordan writes it just seems unfair. He has a way with words.

 

thanks a lot!

fuck, this is too nice! for the record I also think your reviews are top notch, even if we disagree about that Somos record

 

You're welcome! Also, thank you so much!! And dude, that Somos record SUCKS, they went away from literally everything that made me love Temple. Haha.

 

I certainly don't love it like I love Temple, but there's still a whole lot to like about it

 

I can't believe it's been ten years since THTMTP came out. Gonna have to spin it today.

 

they tried their hand at something they weren't ready for/capable of and missed

I hope this is just s stepping stone into something better because they really disappointed

 

That first Somos record wasn't great imo so how much could the second really disappoint? The second is more interesting and has more going on, even if it's not something that works every time, at least not yet.
On the other hand, TMTMTP is a very interesting follow up to a great debut album, right guys? SO GOOD

 

The first Somos album was a fresh and aggressive take on a rather stale and boring genre, pop punk. It was loud and abrasive, but catchy. The band knew what they were and stayed within their boundaries to create something really fun and great. First Day Back is just an over-ambitious, confusing step for the band. For what they tried to do, the album was about twenty minutes too short, they completely took away their loudness and even some of their catchiness for an over-produced, over-complex mess of songs - especially the shorter electronic songs, which are terrible. I just really hate that album and haven't been disappointed that severely by a band that showed such promise early on in a long time, but that's just me. I'm sure Tiny Engines took a big sigh of relief when they realized they didn't have to be associated with such a terrible album.

 

Ooh, okay. We had completely different reactions to that first album. I didn't think it was any more aggressive than anything else coming out at the time, and it seemed really derivative to me. That being said, I don't deny that it was really tight in playing and performance, it just wasn't an album for me. I tried a few times, had it on my ipod for a pretty long while, and the hooks slid off me like water. It just felt like I'd heard it before, and the lyrics, which usually end up being where I can forgive a lot, didn't interest me because they felt pretty clumsy. It's been a minute since I listened to it, maybe my feelings have changed, but I just didn't really like it. Doesn't make it not good, just not for me.

 

Fair enough. You didn't have expectations (particularly relating to sonics / atmosphere / general sound) into album two, especially for a logical progression's sake, so it makes sense that you feel differently about their discography as a whole.

 

definitely a misstep

Temple of Plenty has a very characteristic mix of pop punk's energy with a very melancholic, almost dark atmosphere, all wrapped up in catchy hooks

the new record was above and beyond their capacity - they very consciously decided to move away from what knew how to do best but failed... it's a shame really, because the direction of the split singles was extremely promising, and it seemed they were ready to claim the title of the most interesting pop punk band out there- instead they decided to become a run of the mill, boring, more "mature" indie rock band

 

Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. Those EPs showed a lot of hope. And in a way, it's a shame, if the album was like, 14 tracks, and they had saved those EP songs for LP2 I think I would've ended up liking the album much more than I do. The length and sequencing could've and would've been much, much better. A big reason I despise the album is because of the ridiculous litany of 2 minute electronic songs that are basically throw-away / just there to be there / noise tracks cluttered in-between the actual rock songs on the album.

 

Lol was it really the 10 year yesterday? Wow, I had totally spaced but I actually listened to their entire discog yesterday. Good timing on my part!

 

Also, the entitled, greedy fan in me says we hardcore TMTMTP-ers should revolt at year's end if this band doesn't play a TMTMTP 10 Year Holiday show like they did for TRTC. Ha.

 

yeah, it's definitely an album full of baffling decisions... and that's saying a lot considering it's a 20 min album

I like the last track, tho

 

It's not an excuse, and I don't consider it as such either (especially since I'm so hard on them for First Day Back) - but I heard from inside sources that the label rushed / constrained them in both time and capital. Maybe that's why so many Hopeless releases are awful these days...?

 

Haha, I would be so happy if this was a thing, but they totally won't. Ten year stuff is weird when you're in the middle of an album cycle, technically

 

They've referenced that they were considering doing something / planning for it as recently as early this year. I think it would've been this summer if not for Taste of Chaos. Now a holiday show seems more likely. Also, I think it's fair to say that this winter will mark the end of the Imbue cycle - especially after 4 big tours: the headliner, the support for Bayside, Taste of Chaos, and the support for Mayday Parade in Australia.

 

I know what you're referring to, I thought they ruled out actually playing it in it's entirety? Though I could see maybe doing separate shows for each disc if they were so inclined. Yeah, TEN has small cycles, so that seems fair.

 

I think the smartest way to do it would be a two-night event: Night one, All of The Mechanic front to back, and then at the end of it play the rock songs off of The Mother in order. Night two, Ace plays The Mother acoustically in its entirety (with maybe Joe or Bill doing some percussion / piano etc.) and taking some time to explain the whole process of writing such a behemoth of a record. Obviously they're all very busy and it would take a significant amount of time to relearn some of those songs and be able to play it well, so I'd be happy if they did anything to celebrate the record, but I think that format would be ideal.

 

That TMTMTP documentary is so cool

 

Yeah, I can see this happening like as a possibility but it's so exclusive sounding and I hate that haha. Nothing cool happens in the south east.

wtf what documentary??

 

That was a really good watch. Watching the part where Ace and everyone just got burnt out was a little hard to watch. That part felt voyeuristic in addition to just watching artists you like being visibly frayed. But wow so great to watch the process overall

 

sorry if this is the wrong thread for it, but how come Ace's I Can Make a Mess stuff is so weird to find online? Like half of them are on bandcamp, half aren't. There's weird stuff with the ones that are there, like Gold Rush only being four songs long (which I only found out it wasn't supposed to be like a half hour ago) and one of the songs on Dustin' Off being like half of the length it's supposed to be.