The World Is A Beautiful Place... - Always Foreign (September 29, 2017) Album • Page 36

To The Janitor To The King is what got me into this band. gutted about this.

 

heartbroken from this, Getting Sodas is an even harder listen now

 

Saw them in a basement in New Hampshire with Algernon and Deer Leap back before the Deer Leap split when he was the singer, I didn't get into any of their stuff really past him as the main vocalist.

These lyrics from Beverly Wyatt always got me.

"there should be a scar from the hours we've wasted at work
why should living be something we earn?
there should be a mark from the launch when we outgrew this earth
this ship keeps us safe until we return."

 

Revisiting this tonight, and I think it’s better than I gave it credit for. Might be their most consistent LP, but it doesn’t have the highs of the other two. Marine tigers until the end is a really beautiful run

 

Watching Minding the Gap and one of the dudes in it is wearing the The World Is A Beautiful Cat... shirt.

 

Hey all, I'm currently going through some of the stuff I missed this decade and this band is definitely on the list. Not sure if the name turned me off, more likely I just got stuck into some other records and then decided these guys required some deep listens I didn't have time for. But I'm listening to Whenever If Ever now and really liking it, especially January 10th. I'm going to listen through the discography and will come up with my own favourite tracks. But what are considered their best/signature tunes?

EDIT -- Quickly want to add that Wendover has put a huge smile on my face as a huge Modest Mouse fan.

 

The tracks you're mentioning ("Wendover") and "January 10th" are from Harmlessness (the album after "Whenever, if Ever").

 

So they are.. this is how uninitiated I am. In fairness those album covers are very similar! Guess I'll start with that album then.

 

Their half of their split with deer leap is their best work imo. They had a different vocalist prior to harmlessness though who can be a little offputting, so keep that in mind

 

Honestly, this is a band i think most famous for their albums more so than any singles. Their albums all work as amazing pieces together with every song flowing into each other. Id say their split with deer leep + harmlessness are their most famous? Hard to say though tbh.

I Will Be Okay. Everything.
From the Crow's Nest
Victem Kin Seek Suit
Eyjafjallajokull Dance
January 10th
I can be Afraid of Anything
Heartbeat in the brain
picture of a tree
Getting Sodas

are all songs i think can be considered "classics" . TBH just go album by album.

 

g i g l i f e

 

Personally, I think "Mount Hum" is the best song they've ever written. The last few minutes is just sublime.

 

January 10 I think is still the best song they've done. I Can be Afraid of Anything is second, then Getting Sodas


Whenever, if Ever is a great album for the dead middle of summer when it's so hot and muggy idk why

 

Their best song is still “To the Janitor, To the King” (especially this performance)

 

if we going on personal favourites id say Hilltopper or Marine Tigers are the best songs they've ever written , but i know im in the minority with that here.

 

BTW that retrospective podcast was real good and super entertaining. Its nice to hear they are working on new songs/material. Always afraid they are about to break up for some reason

 

i would put Marine Tigers up there as well, especially taking the video into account

big fan of Gram too

 

I think it’s because every EP or album has kind of pushed them forward in popularity/recognition, but Always Foreign kind of kept them stagnant I feel like. It didn’t really push them much forward. From the reviews and critiques I’ve read online, I think it got a pretty lukewarm reaction from fans as well. I will admit, Nicole being kicked definitely affected their sound, but I think it might actually be my favorite album. It also felt like they didn’t really tour on it either. And when I saw them open for Mewithoutyou, it honestly wasn’t good. They only had 2 guitarists (Tyler had just left again the band again, and it was the first tour for his replacement) and the set list was kind of weird. But due to the album’s reception, not much touring on it, and constant member changes, talk of a live album that has yet to be released, I was starting to feel like the end was coming as well.

 

i've never enjoyed their live show

 

I enjoy those things. I don't know if it was intentional, but it seemed like they had to sidestep any discussion of turmoil they've had over the years. There wasn't a lot of mention of specific band members. And that's fine. I thought they'd ask about Tom. I'm sure it isn't easy to deep dive into something when a bunch of lyrics were written by people who have passed or had to leave on bad terms.

 

The three closing songs on here are really great. Honestly this feels more like a return to the sound of the early EPs and WIE to me, going back to that emo/post-rock kinda sound as opposed to the more straight up 90s indie rock kinda deal of harmlessness and it really sucks this didn’t catch on like that album did. I’m not sure why because it is a really really good album. Idk if maybe the time had just passed for a true follow up to WIE but it’s a shame

Will agree that I think they’re not good live tho

 

Am I pretty much alone in that Harmlessness is the only record I really like?

 

this album is the closest theyve gotten to sounding like Broken Social Scene, and thats exactly where i like 'em

 

Whenever, If Ever, Death to New Years, the original Formlessness and the Dear Leap split are all awesome

Harmlessness and Josh is Dead are p cool

could never get too into the rest & Between Bodies is the most pretentious bs ever