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Post by ganews on Feb 1, 2024 8:23:21 GMT -5
The February poll winner is MSPAINT, "Post-American". Post your thoughts below!
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repulsionist
TI Forumite
actively disinterested
Posts: 3,557 
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Post by repulsionist on Feb 1, 2024 18:34:42 GMT -5
Congrats on the win, monodrone. I've listened to the first 4 songs. I prefer my hardcore punk, metal, rap to avoid the tenderness of hope. Innovative use of synth as the principal melody maker in the context of ranting lyrics, strident music. I dare say I hear-feel a bit o' Bizkit somewhere in the recipe here. Keep it up, kids. You're having fun. |
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Post by ganews on Feb 1, 2024 22:51:32 GMT -5
I spent the first three tracks thinking to myself, "Who does this remind me of? Some late 90s, early 2000s, nu-metal-adjacent, influenced by Zach de la Rocha, but who..." And then it finally hit me: P.O.D. Then the more it went on, and by the time the vocalist has articulated words like "alive", the more completely this idea took over my mind. Like I might have to listen to it again just to take it on its own terms. I will say that I was super-excited to text my best friend from high school who was a big fan of "The Fundamental Elements of Southtown". And also to text monodrone because surely he would actually remember P.O.D., but then I figured he must have been the one who nominated this.
I like punk. The KEXP punk show has been my regular Sunday listen since the blues show was cancelled, but I'm not much of a fan of hardcore. Still, I think I like this band more when they scream a bit. Mostly they sound like Rage Against the Machine but 20 years later with a much less interesting guitarist.
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Post by Nudeviking on Feb 1, 2024 23:59:35 GMT -5
I spent the first three tracks thinking to myself, "Who does this remind me of? Some late 90s, early 2000s, nu-metal-adjacent, influenced by Zach de la Rocha, but who..." And then it finally hit me: P.O.D. Then the more it went on, and by the time the vocalist has articulated words like "alive", the more completely this idea took over my mind. Like I might have to listen to it again just to take it on its own terms. I will say that I was super-excited to text my best friend from high school who was a big fan of "The Fundamental Elements of Southtown". And also to text monodrone because surely he would actually remember P.O.D., but then I figured he must have been the one who nominated this.
I like punk. The KEXP punk show has been my regular Sunday listen since the blues show was cancelled, but I'm not much of a fan of hardcore. Still, I think I like this band more when they scream a bit. Mostly they sound like Rage Against the Machine but 20 years later with a much less interesting guitarist.
I would hope their guitarist is much less interesting since they don't have one just a bassist and a keyboard guy and a drummer. |
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monodrone
Prolific Poster 
Come To Brazil
Posts: 2,551
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Post by monodrone on Feb 2, 2024 10:12:23 GMT -5
I spent the first three tracks thinking to myself, "Who does this remind me of? Some late 90s, early 2000s, nu-metal-adjacent, influenced by Zach de la Rocha, but who..." And then it finally hit me: P.O.D. Then the more it went on, and by the time the vocalist has articulated words like "alive", the more completely this idea took over my mind. Like I might have to listen to it again just to take it on its own terms. I will say that I was super-excited to text my best friend from high school who was a big fan of "The Fundamental Elements of Southtown". And also to text monodrone because surely he would actually remember P.O.D., but then I figured he must have been the one who nominated this.
I like punk. The KEXP punk show has been my regular Sunday listen since the blues show was cancelled, but I'm not much of a fan of hardcore. Still, I think I like this band more when they scream a bit. Mostly they sound like Rage Against the Machine but 20 years later with a much less interesting guitarist.
Payable On Death, of course. I had not put that comparison together in my head before but I can hear the similarity between the vocal delivery on Southtown specifically and some parts of this. I don't think I'd even thought of any of it as sounding late 90s/early 2000s but that might be because such music registers as 'normal', 'neutral' and 'unremarkable' to me. |
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monodrone
Prolific Poster
Come To Brazil
Posts: 2,551
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Post by monodrone on Feb 2, 2024 10:14:31 GMT -5
I spent the first three tracks thinking to myself, "Who does this remind me of? Some late 90s, early 2000s, nu-metal-adjacent, influenced by Zach de la Rocha, but who..." And then it finally hit me: P.O.D. Then the more it went on, and by the time the vocalist has articulated words like "alive", the more completely this idea took over my mind. Like I might have to listen to it again just to take it on its own terms. I will say that I was super-excited to text my best friend from high school who was a big fan of "The Fundamental Elements of Southtown". And also to text monodrone because surely he would actually remember P.O.D., but then I figured he must have been the one who nominated this.
I like punk. The KEXP punk show has been my regular Sunday listen since the blues show was cancelled, but I'm not much of a fan of hardcore. Still, I think I like this band more when they scream a bit. Mostly they sound like Rage Against the Machine but 20 years later with a much less interesting guitarist.
I would hope their guitarist is much less interesting since they don't have one just a bassist and a keyboard guy and a drummer. and this is, to me, the thing that makes these guys more interesting for an album club than the other more traditional hardcore bands that I listen to a lot. They've got some of the hallmarks of the classic hardcore sound with the mid-tempo stomps and some barked vocals but everything that surrounds it is something else that I don't know what it is. |
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Post by pantsgoblin on Feb 2, 2024 11:53:29 GMT -5
ganews will be glad to know I got something from his links. What I was expecting to be a traditional hardcore band are actually synth-punks, increasing my interest significantly. I was also interested to know that Hattiesburg appears to be a punk-oriented Athens, GA for the 21st Century and hearing that name will forever make me think of this exchange:
Zorak: What y'all doing?
Space Ghost: "Y'all"? Where'd you learn to talk like that?
Z: Hattiesburg
SG: What were you doing in Hattiesburg?
Z: Kickin' it
I'm not as familiar with the nu metal-era rock that others are detecting; moreso, this material for me recalls arty, political no wave-inspired bands from the '80s and '90s (think Cop Shoot Cop, Unsane, etc.). The tracks definitely blend together like, for me, most hardcore but the record benefits mightily from its brevity, making it a solid noise slab with moments of unexpected beauty from the keys. Coupled with Deedee's slam-dance lyrical positivity, it makes for a unique and satisfactory listen.
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Post by Desert Dweller on Feb 2, 2024 12:51:06 GMT -5
This is not my style of music, but since I was one of the people complaining, I am going to give it a listen this weekend. Or maybe this afternoon. Edited to add: I listened to the first four songs during lunch today. An interesting pick so far, thanks monodrone. Yes, it is less hardcore than I was expecting. Was not expecting the synth! So, it's synth-punk, with a dash of nu-metal. I like punk, but hardcore not so much. So, yeah, this was much more interesting than I thought it would be. Can't say I'm loving it, but I am interested enough to listen to the rest of it later tonight. |
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Feb 3, 2024 21:14:13 GMT -5
I think monodrone posting about this album is where I initially heard about these guys, and this was one of my favorite albums of 2023, so I’m looking forward to revisiting this.
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Post by Jean Luc de Lemur on Feb 4, 2024 18:20:26 GMT -5
I prefer my hardcore punk, metal, rap to avoid the tenderness of hope. […] You're having fun. They've got some of the hallmarks of the classic hardcore sound with the mid-tempo stomps and some barked vocals but everything that surrounds it is something else that I don't know what it is. The “tenderness” was a big part of the appeal to me, actually. As much as I respect the musicianship behind a decent amount of hardcore stuff I’m usually not in the mood and the vocal timbre is a turnoff, but this was passionate-but-almost pleasant, a lot of fun. |
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Post by Desert Dweller on Feb 5, 2024 0:27:16 GMT -5
Listened to the rest of it. Yeah, I did really like the use of the synth, which gave the songs a bit more musical variety than you might hear with a guitar/bass combo.
The main reason I don't typically listen to hardcore is that I cannot stand the screamed vocals. For me, when all the vocals are screamed this way it makes everything sound unimportant and samey. If everything is screamed then no words are more important than others. It's the same reason I don't like repetitive drone and other electronic sounds nor lot of loops in pop and R&B. If everything is given the same emphasis, then nothing is important. This is why I often complain about how all of new music sounds dull to me.
Therefore, with hardcore, the only thing that can make the vocals interesting to me is the lyrics, and whether the singer has any talent with delivery. And I don't find a lot that I like in hardcore lyrics, and I find that often the singers are defaulting to hitting rhythm without really considering the actual word flow. (Good rappers are much better at this.)
However, the lyrical content here was a bit different. As others of mentioned, there is a lot more hope in this, almost optimism! I found the lyrics to be a bit more passionate than I expected. I also liked the way they could use the synth to reflect the lyrical content.
Still not really my thing though, as I am still turned off by the screamed vocals.
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