Islands - Arm's Way

didn't these guy used to be some other guys that sucked?

probably.

after i played this album i really wanted to hear a suede album for some reason. i needed to wash the canada out of my glamartrock.

i don't know if the world needs more henry darger aping album art

didn't these guy used to be some other guys that sucked?

The Unicorns. Lots of buzz, never understood why. Couldn't understand the praise for Islands, either. And I like indie. A lot.

it's fucking awful, the ultimate end of all the annoying Montreal indie trends (long tracks, elaborate arrangements, shoddy vocalists) in the worst way possible. 68 mins? fuck off.

i hated that return to the sea shit

annoying Montreal indie trends

Who are the Montreal indie acts again (besides Unicorns/Islands)? Not The New Pornographers, tho they are Canadian.

arcade fire, the gy!be / silver mt. zion / dmst folk, dears, stars, 1/2 of broken social scene, plants and animals...you get the idea.

I will listen to this album only because Jim Guthrie colaborates with islands on some songs. Jim Guthrie is the man. Lots of his songs are extraordinary despite them being thrown in with filler songs.

what the fuck?! The last Islands album was amazing! Easily one of the best indie albums of the past few years, and way better than all this Broken Social Scene/Arcade Fire/Fiery Furnaces bullshit that we've had to put up with for ages. What album are you guys listening to?

As soon as I listen to the new album, arm's way, I will explain my qualms with the album if I have any. But I will also compare this music to the trend of floweriness and pseudo-hippieness that is destroying music. There will be a logical explanation as to why that kind of music sucks. I will also iterate that certain instruments and moods along with certain singers voice and style = the downfall of all modern music. I will have a proper thesis statement that will explain why _________ band's are crappy. There will be logic and forethought in my dissertation of why "flowery" bands suck. I want to prove once and for all what specific music characteristics destroy a band that could have been otherwise very good. There is usually just a couple bad decisions in the song making process, that are impossible to overlook when listening to that song. It's unfortunate that a couple kinks can destroy a band that has lots of potential. But as you know, its the flaws that stick out more than the good parts.

can't wait for that.

video for title track-- pretty awesome tune, in my opinion. And weird video too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mds1X4WOfM8&e

Still waiting for the Lorax dissertation. This album is growing on me, lots of great little "moments" to discover.

It's definitely harder to understand than the previous album, but there are some great moments. "Vertigo" for example is fantastic.

the new Papaer Airplanes is the Islands schtick done right.

er, Paper.

I loved Return to the Sea - not overdone like Broken Social Scene's 18 million instruments, just a lot of sound and much better than the couple of songs I liked on the Unicorns album (they weren't that great, just a cfew singles IMO). However, I thought this album was bland and uninteresting as hell. Nothing ever drew me in to want to listen to more.

i think it takes a lot more time than "Returns to the Sea." Things are buried much more. I went back to it after a couple months of not listening to it, and found that I really liked it after initially not being so impressed.

I'll give it another try. I hope it's a grower, because the first album was good.

just coming back to this. whence cometh the hate? sounds like a sort of gypsy of montreal... and how can that be bad?

"Return to the Sea" is a brilliant album that I am certain to keep coming back to in the years to come. Even that album is rather insular, but "Arm's Way" is more impenetrable and sometimes downright perplexing to me ("Do You Want to Spend Your Life in Jail?" comes to mind). It's also darker. A LOT darker. Gone are the steel drums, recorders, sunny horns, etc. For that reason it falls squarely in the "difficult second album" mold, and in this case I don't think it's as good. I like every track on "Return to the Sea" except for "One." I don't quite like all the tracks from "Arm's Way." I think I like about half of them, and another quarter are alright. The high moments are pretty transcendental though-- the title track and "Vertigo" are superb!

i never get the hate for godspeed

Gone are the steel drums, recorders, sunny horns, etc.

sounds like i need to get hold of the first album too, then!

also, i had no idea they used to be the unicorns. i have one of theirs as well, and have liked it.

You don't have "Return to the Sea"? Oh that's definitely the one to get if you're going to get one. I could listen to that album on repeat for hours-- and I'm not a big indie rock guy at all.

"Return to the Sea" strongly resonates with me on a very emotional level for some reason, the way "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" did back in 1997. Maybe not as strongly, but still. And like that album, even though the music is often upbeat, it still is lined with sadness, regret, and loss. But it still has humor and fun attached to it. I think I could listen to "Rough Gem" a million times in a row.

just listened to who will cut our hair today. it's great, i dont care what you guys say! :p

it's interesting how little the Unicorns sound like Island

Islands, I mean

there's definitley similarities between Who Will Cut... and Return to the Sea

Really? I don't really see much similarity, really. A little bit, but I would never have linked the two if I didn't know they were related.

just coming back to this. whence cometh the hate? sounds like a sort of gypsy of montreal... and how can that be bad?
― CharlieNo4, Wednesday, October 22, 2008 1:59 PM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

way too flowery, all of it

the Islands lyrics are not flowery at all for the most part--particularly the new album. Even the first album is not particularly flowery. Most of the songs have the subtext of human extinction and/or environmental destruction. There are upbeat moments ("Don't Call me Whitney, Bobby" is the most upbeat on the album), but even that one seems to be about wasting away from anorexia and rickets.

this album is a dissapointment. too flowery. just like the new caribou. i prefer the original 'a little lost' but the youtube video for it is excellent.

― CaptainLorax, Sunday, September 9, 2007 2:03 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark

captainlorax has been posting for a fucking year huh

jesus christ almighty

when do I get commemorated for that

the last song on this album ("Vertigo") is really great.