• Check out the relaunch of our general collection, with classic designs and new ones by our very own Pissog!

new 2009 albums

  • Thread starter Thread starter DM
  • Start date Start date
The new Decemberists album... I kinda like it, but it's really not great. It's a concept album, and I get that, but it's so farfetched and the music all blends together into a bit of a muddled mess. It's very reminiscent of the Tain which succeeded primarily because of it's shortened length. I can take about 20 minutes of the Decemberists pretending to be a prog rock band, but 54? I don't think so.
 
I've listened to the new Cursive album, and it's alright, but nothing great. I still like The Ugly Organ a lot better. =) My favorite album so far this year is Scrambles by Bomb the Music Industry!

I shall download the new Appleseed Cast album soon.
 
I honestly don't get what you guys like about Cursive or Appleseed Cast. Perhaps I'm just too much of a music nazi, or perhaps I have terrible taste.
 
Mormoopid said:
I honestly don't get what you guys like about Cursive or Appleseed Cast. Perhaps I'm just too much of a music nazi, or perhaps I have terrible taste.
Click to expand...
what Cursive have you heard?

Domestica, Ugly Organ and Happy Hollow (especially Ugly Organ) are all worth checking out.

but i can't stand The Appleseed Cast, so i know how you feel on that one.
 
To understand, you'd have to tell me what you've heard from each and then explain why you didn't like it. Then I could point you in the direction of what you would like, if anything.
 
First impressions on the new Decemberists...

Well, It's not really like what I liked from Castaways, it just lacks that style and maybe they're just a one-shot band for me, but I really don't like the style they've stepped in.
 
For Cursive it has to be the vocals. I can't stand them, I've tried like 8 songs now...

For appleseed cast, I definately heard the songs Posiedon and Innocent Vigilant Ordinary. The music just seemed rather boring to me, not much there keeping my attention. What do you reccomend of theirs that isn't so dull?
 
Two Tongues: Two Tongues
I have to say, I love this album. I was intrigued with the concept of putting Say Anything and Saves the Day together with both vocalists sharing the lead, and I was not disappointed. They compliment each other in so many different ways that it's a wonder why they haven't done this before.

I can see many people being put off by Chris Connely's voice, especially how it's been the past few Saves the Day albums, and while I'm on the fence about him, he is an irreplaceable member of this band. If it were not for him this would be a bad Say Anything album instead of a potentially amazing combo effort from two great names in emo/pop rock.
 
Mormoopid said:
For Cursive it has to be the vocals. I can't stand them, I've tried like 8 songs now...
Click to expand...
From what album? Although if his voice is the problem, then there really is no hope. At first I thought his voice wasn't that great, but I started Cursive with The Ugly Organ, and so the great instrumentals kept me listening to it, and eventually I just started liking his voice more and more. After that I went to Happy Hollows, Domestica, Burst and Bloom,Storms of Early Summer, and now Mama I'm Swollen. They are all great to me, Ugly organ and Domestica are the best in my opinion, followed by closely by Happy Hollows. Mama, I'm Swollen is a weird album though in the way that I still like it, but it doesn't really feel like Cursive.

So yeah I kinda went off on my history of Cursive after the first two lines, but getting back to the point you either love the voice at first, get used to it and love it, or don't listen to cursive.

I really advise starting with The Ugly Organ if you haven't.
 
Mormoopid said:
For Cursive it has to be the vocals. I can't stand them, I've tried like 8 songs now...
Click to expand...

Like Llama said: Tim Kasher's voice is a voice you either appreciate or don't. I love it because it exudes emotion in every word, he really puts me into the song with him. I wish you could be more specific on what you've heard, but if you hate him that much I'm willing to bet you've listened to some of their early stuff when he screamed more (and as a result would break his notes constantly). The Ugly Organ is probably his strongest album as a vocalist, and I'd also recommend listening to "Bad Sects" and "Flag and Family."

For appleseed cast, I definately heard the songs Posiedon and Innocent Vigilant Ordinary. The music just seemed rather boring to me, not much there keeping my attention. What do you reccomend of theirs that isn't so dull?
Click to expand...

"Poseidon" is off their second album, back when they were still a bit more emo. "Innocent Vigilant Ordinary" can be a boring song if you haven't listened to the rest of their library, it's definitely off their weakest album Two Conversations. To give you the best idea of what the band is all about, listen to the following songs:

Storms
Strings
The Last Ring
Fight Song
February
Sunlit and Ascending (I include this because it's on my blog and therefore easy to link to)

If after all that you still dislike either band, you probably never will. They just might not play to your tastes.
 
Bah I'm unable to find them on youtube with any quality DM. Seems they are plagued by the same lack of youtube exposure that Vendetta Red is.

also, holy shit, new Yeah yeah yeahs. I really like their singer...
http://www.yeahyeahyeahs.com/

Doesn't sound as good as show your bones, but worth a download to be certain.
 
Mormoopid said:
Bah I'm unable to find them on youtube with any quality DM. Seems they are plagued by the same lack of youtube exposure that Vendetta Red is.
Click to expand...

When I have some time this weekend (probably Sunday, as I'll be drunk all night tonight and all day tomorrow) I will put together a playlist for you, zip it and throw it up on mediafire. Just make sure you send me a reminder message on Facebook, because my memory is for shit and that's the only way I'll do it.
 
I'm really looking forward to the new Spheric Universe Experience album in April. They're not very well-known, but judging by their first two albums, I can safely say that it will likely be good.
 
C'est Com... Com... Compliqué from good ol' Faust is out and is, of course, quite good!

Nisennenmondai is releasing a new album on my birthday (5/5)! Unfortunately I've got no idea about how to acquire it outside of pen pal connections or something.
 
DM: Can do, I'll facebook you with the reminder.

Monkfish: thanks.

Everyone: The new Yeah Yeah Yeah's is pretty sweet, I really like some of the tracks, some of them are kinda bleh though.

xBLUEx said:
I can't wait till blink-182's new album. My favorite band.
Click to expand...

Wow I hadn't even heard of this at all. Looks like they gave up on their shitty post breakup bands and decided to swallow their pride.
 
Llama said:
They are all great to me, Ugly organ and Domestica are the best in my opinion, followed by closely by Happy Hollows.
Click to expand...

i honestly dont see why people like domestica so much - it has like 1 good song (the martyr) which is not half as good as most songs on happy hollow, ugly organ or even mama, im swollen
for the record my favourite album of theirs is definitely happy hollow, which has a whole bunch of great songs (dorothy at forty, big bang, at conception, rise up! rise up!, and kinda hymns for the heathen)
though in true cursive style a great album features several shitty ass songs
see: harold weathervein, bad science, donkeys, most of domestica !
 
Stoo said:
i honestly dont see why people like domestica so much - it has like 1 good song (the martyr) which is not half as good as most songs on happy hollow, ugly organ or even mama, im swollen
for the record my favourite album of theirs is definitely happy hollow, which has a whole bunch of great songs (dorothy at forty, big bang, at conception, rise up! rise up!, and kinda hymns for the heathen)
though in true cursive style a great album features several shitty ass songs
see: harold weathervein, bad science, donkeys, most of domestica !
Click to expand...
When I first started listening to Cursive, which was over a year ago, I thought the same way you did, I loved Hollows and thought the Ugly Organ was good, but couldn't stand up to Hollows because every song was great, and then I listened to Domestica and couldn't see why people liked it.

I have listened to all Cursive's albums, many, many, times since then and while Hollows is great, in the end I feel that the story told in Domestica, and how emotional it is, coupled with the great instrumentals, and Kasher's voice beat out Hollows. The Ugly Organ has me feeling the same way, but the instrumentals have been given new life with the addition of Gretta Cohn. Then comes Hollows, while the story of religious hypocrisy, and the addition of the horn in Hollows was good, it wore off on me after a while, and just didn't give me the same feeling as the previous two albums had. Next came Mama, I'm Swollen, after the first play through I loved it and started to listen to it a lot, but I came to the realization that while it is good music, it was missing something, and didn't feel like true Cursive, nonetheless I still liked it, but it has worn off on me the quickest, I still listen to Let Me Up, Mama, I'm Swollen, and We're Going To Hell, but I have stopped doing album play throughs.

This is all just the way I feel about it, My mind has changed about these albums various times, but as it stands here today, I put Domestica and The Ugly Organ on top followed (as I said before) closely by Hollows.

And if you can say the only good song Domestica has is The Martyr, you haven't been listening to the whole album enough.
 
The only real 2009 album I've picked up is Sagarmatha. My previous stuff with The Appleseed Cast is Two Conversations, which I though was pretty decent. I've always thought about picking up another one, but good thing this new one's out.

So first impression is, yeah, whoever said there is more postrockish deal here is right (although then again have only listened to one previous album).

As the Little Things Go is a solid song, not into post rock anymore since like two years, (have really been only into God is An Astronaut, and a couple other post rock bands) been this is a really solid track that ends up just right when the vocals kick in.

Otherwise really really like Like a Locust, nice chill song that has a nice beat to it, been listening to it alot. Then like the short One Reminder song its another chill song with me really liking the acoustic in it. Also The Summer Before gets a mention.

Other songs are all solid so far and I'm enjoying it.

Last 2009 thing is that one band with like the Pains of being Pure at/of Heart or whatever they're called. My radio station really likes there single so I've been hearing it alot and I like it.

As for upcoming stuff I got to look back into that future release thread or whatever as there was a band that really picked up my interest I think it might've been Emily Haines band or something.
 
Stoo said:
i honestly dont see why people like domestica so much - it has like 1 good song (the martyr) which is not half as good as most songs on happy hollow, ugly organ or even mama, im swollen
for the record my favourite album of theirs is definitely happy hollow, which has a whole bunch of great songs (dorothy at forty, big bang, at conception, rise up! rise up!, and kinda hymns for the heathen)
though in true cursive style a great album features several shitty ass songs
see: harold weathervein, bad science, donkeys, most of domestica !
Click to expand...

I'm coming from a completely different POV than both you and Llama. I've been listening to Cursive since around the time they picked up Gretta Cohn, and I can safely say that their sound has gotten progressively weaker with every album since the Ugly Organ. Losing Cohn was a terrible blow, but on top of that they've progressed out of the relationship-based music that they thrived on years ago and are now getting a bit too preachy and poppy for my tastes.
 
DM said:
I'm coming from a completely different POV than both you and Llama. I've been listening to Cursive since around the time they picked up Gretta Cohn, and I can safely say that their sound has gotten progressively weaker with every album since the Ugly Organ. Losing Cohn was a terrible blow, but on top of that they've progressed out of the relationship-based music that they thrived on years ago and are now getting a bit too preachy and poppy for my tastes.
Click to expand...

I completely agree, its just the way I started Listening to Cursive that set my opinion apart from yours. After having listened to all the albums so many times, I definitely see anything after The Ugly Organ being weaker than the two previous albums, but that is not to say the albums that came after The Ugly Organ were bad, they are still good, just not as great as Domestica, and The Ugly Organ. I'm not completely sure where the first two albums fit in here though.

The stuff I have put in bold is exactly why Hollows and Mama just don't feel the same as the previous albums, good but not entirely the same Cursive.
 
For me, the first album was very raw and showed their talent for atonal guitar work, but in itself it was still very basic screamo and only hinted at their potential. The second album really began to flesh out their sound as they took the music in a more artistic direction overall, but some songs still lacked commitment to the sound. Everything came together perfectly on Domestica.
 
I can agree with you on the first album, the second album was definitely an improvement, I love When Summer's Over Will We Dream Of Spring, Proposals, as well as The Road To Financial Stability, but the album as a whole doesn't flow as well as Domestica, and all albums to come after it.

Anyways back to the thread, I hear the Built To Spill is releasing an album this year, I also hear that it has some tracks that were dropped from You In Reverse, should be interesting.
 
i didnt like mama im swollen very much, with the exception of from the hips, which is probably the best song ive heard this year.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top