I have stated in a few posts that Falling Up are putting on
a Kickstarter project to fund their latest album. Apparently this latest album
will be their last. I am sad to hear this and I hope that the Kickstarter pulls
through with the fans. I would hate to have missed out on their last album.
Faith No More will be getting back together! They are going
to start recording a new album if they haven’t already started. They will put
out a new single for the album on Record Store Day’s Black Friday event. I am
excited. They are one of my favorite bands and I was so sad when they broke up.
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart will be putting out an
album of B sides soon. I don’t have a date on it yet. Here is an acoustic
version of the track called Summers
of Dreams that will be on the album.
Nada Surf will also be putting out a digital B sides album
in the future. No official date on that one either.
Here we go...
This is the second album from CCBB. There were 500 copies of
the album pressed on vinyl with the pre-orders also receiving a tote bag,
button, sticker, scratch card and a live cassette. Unfortunately, I didn’t find
out about the band until after the third album was released so I did not get
these extras. After listening to the album it comes off as a non-linear story
of a dysfunctional relationship. I could probably rearrange the tracks to make
it linear but the band put the songs in the order for some reason. The songs
are fun either way. I actually put this album on random because of this and the
album still works well.
There are a few songs that were released as singles.
The first is the song called Title Track. It is a punk track that takes its
style from Man or Astro-Man? There are no lyrics for the track and they pull it
off well. The song is bass guitar driven with a cool distortion pedal on the
bass. The guitar just hits initial notes to accentuate the bass line and the
drums are for the most part the same. It is a great song and I wish there were
more tracks like this, especially if they can do this so well.
The second track put out as a single is called Monster. It
starts off with some movie sound effects like wind blowing and water flowing
and moves on to doors creaking and floor boards creaking with reverse talking
before the music kicks in. It is a cool surf style track like The Munsters
opening theme song. The song is fun for me because it still keeps its comedy in
the lyrics too. In the chorus they sing, “Gonna eat your brains, gonna eat your
eyes, and leave you for the flies, and then I’ll smoke a cigarette.” It is a
great track for Halloween with your adult friends or whatever.
The third single from this album called Lie. The lyrics talk about being confused about who is good and who is bad in this world that we live in. It totally makes sense to me because people do good and bad things in this world. It is a bit extreme to say that you don't want to be around people because of this problem though. The chorus is very catchy though and makes for a great song. I will say that the groups song-crafting has grown exponentially with this album. I like that they have kept their comic sensibilities at the same time too.
The album is full of great tracks that were not put out as
singles too. They did do another track that is similar to the track Dirty Song
from their first album. I think it is just as funny and it is also not approved
for young ears or the work place. The song is called I Am A Slut. The chorus it
hilarious and the break down is even funnier. In the chorus she sings, “I am a
slut, you can bust a nut, bust it in my butt, cum all over my face.” She sings
the same thing again with the last line changing to, “Piss all over my tits.”
The break is a bit more graphic so I will just say that the funny part is that
she says something so wrong and the other members of the band take in a sharp
breath and she says “What?” like she didn’t know it was wrong to sing in the
song. Way to funny! I won’t sing it but I will laugh every time.
There is so much more melody in this album and I am a slut
is really the only dirty song this time. The only thing that I didn’t like was
the answering machine recordings. They don’t really fit in the album.
This is the latest album from Eternal Summers, the third
album not counting the single compilation. It was released earlier this year.
It was released on CD, DL, and LP. The LP was put out on orange marble to those
who preordered from Kanine Records. The album shows that taking a new producer
can make dramatic changes that can be good and bad. I think that I like the
super polish for the most part. It reminds me of the tale end of the shoegaze
movement from bands like Lush and, to some extent, Luscious Jackson (who were
not a shoegaze group). The album puts the lead singer, Nicole Yun, in the
spotlight through the album, which may not have been needed 100% but still
sounds very good.
There have been a couple of singles released from the album.
The first is called A Burial. This track is more along the sounds of a standard
pop track with a bit of distortion. The vocals are on the lower tones of the
female spectrum. I have been getting into this style quite a bit lately. The
vocals in the chorus are what really get me though. They remind me of what Lush
has done with some of their hits. It is absolutely beautiful the way that she
goes from the low tones to the mid tones. It is done in such an artful way. The
music that is backing the vocals is still that same 90s revivalist sound. I
like that an awful lot as well. That is what I like so much about the band Yuck
too.
The second single to be released from the group is called Gouge.
It is a quicker moving track from A Burial but not by much. Nicole sings in a
higher register with this track, making me feel lighter after listening to A
Burial. The guitar work is super sweet on this track with a cool phaser pedal
being used on the guitar giving the song an astral feel. The lyrics are not
exactly so light but the vocal sounds over power the actual words for me on
this one so I can look past them and float in the music of the song.
Overall this album is really great and I hope they continue
to make this great music. I will keep buying it.
Flowers – Rough Trade Bonus Disc
When I got my copy of the new Flowers album, Do What You
Want To, It’s What You Should DO, I also got in the box this CD. It contains
songs that I do not have from the group. These songs are not on the demo
downloads that I have from the group or from any of the other EPs from the
group. I am happy that I have the songs but I always hate it when a group puts
out such limited songs. I guess if I didn’t know that they existed in the first
place it wouldn’t matter so much but with the internet, i.e. discogs, it is
hard to not know about all of the super limited releases that a band puts out
in their catalog. That being said, I have this six song EP and I am glad to
have it. All of the songs are super short like they were demos or the extra
tracks that did not work on the album. It reminds me of what Radiohead have
done in the past. They usually make so many songs more than what will be on the
album and those extra songs will usually be on an EP or appear as B sides on
the singles after the new album has been released. The songs on this bonus disc
are probably just that. They are good songs but either didn’t fit thematically
or musically with the album. They may also have not fit physically as well
since the album is already fourteen tracks long. Either way the extra tracks on
this disc are of varying quality sound wise like they were not produced by the
same person that did the new album. They were probably recorded by the band and
left off the production table. I actually like the sound of these tracks over
the new album because the vocals aren’t so thick. If you like Flowers and find
this CD then get it. Since it is a Rough Trade exclusive then go there and get
it if you are close to one. I am still kicking myself for not getting the Odd
Box single when I could have!
That is all I have for now...
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