thread of best rock album of year 2017, 'a black mile to the surface' by manchester orchestra

https://soundblab.com/images/albums/Blackmile.jpg

i have listened to this three times in a row today and i kind of feel like it's the best record of its kind since brand new's the devil and god are raging inside me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaeWss85_vg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hru_Dzv1olM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71U_qjHLM58

looking forward to digging into this

noticed this comparison in the Exclaim rave, might be worth exploring

With songs that are crisp, emotive and hymn-like, Black Mile can prompt admiring comparisons to Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket; it's also probably the closest thing to the little-known yet incredible Clean Head by Oceana, an EP that never got the proper followup it deserved.

Alien -> Sunshine -> Grocery is just absurd

yeah it is!

I wouldn't think to compare this to The Devil and God - it feels much more even-keeled emotionally, dynamically, sonically - but it sure is gorgeous. Is there a good interview or writeup somewhere that talks about the overarching concept or w/ever?

i mean i'm not comparing it sonically, mostly just as really coherent album statement that seems to totally fulfill the band's potential in atmosphere and depth

rock albums assembled in such a way that they seem to get deeper as they go

yeah I can def hear that.

the Oceana EP mentioned in that writeup is actually a pretty apt comparison!

https://open.spotify.com/track/4452im0oupzzOYPHCqcLyx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQh3k-n_tcQ

this song is so fucking good

the piercing harmonies in "the moth" are like

http://68.media.tumblr.com/d9d94c54bf63885abc4eb0eaeaa2348b/tumblr_otmh5bYkWq1s86mfwo2_250.gif

I'll try these tubes. I still find it weird that the cd I got from them in 2006 (LP2) looks like something they burned themselves

the cd I got from them in 2006 (LP2)

you mean i'm like a virgin losing a child? i've never owned that one but i guess it wouldn't surprise me if its presentation were super austere

i have listened to only this album for the past 24 hours. i have decided the best moment is in "the grocery" is when he sings "this is the onlyyyy. WAYYYYY to go"

I'm still deciding how I feel about the dialed-back intensity but the cohesiveness and command of mood is really impressive

this is great. a band i've been ignoring for years, basically.

i don't really know their earlier stuff. is this one of the better rock bands that the "cool" music press has been ignoring for a decade in favor of declaring rock dead?

With songs that are crisp, emotive and hymn-like, Black Mile can prompt admiring comparisons to Band of Horses and My Morning Jacket; it's also probably the closest thing to the little-known yet incredible Clean Head by Oceana, an EP that never got the proper followup it deserved.

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Friday, July 28, 2017 10:00 AM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I heard a lot of BoH when I listened to this. might just be his vox.

i don't really know their earlier stuff. is this one of the better rock bands that the "cool" music press has been ignoring for a decade in favor of declaring rock dead?

yep!! also if you dig this record you'd probably also like mean everything to nothing

good to know.

def BOH happening, not just in the vox, xpost. i don't mind, i like BOH

yeah i dont mind altho I havent listened to BoH since their 2nd album i dont think.

Lead, SD is really really good and imo very essential to the album

I'm still deciding how I feel about the dialed-back intensity but the cohesiveness and command of mood is really impressive

― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, July 29, 2017 9:32 AM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think the heavier moments on here feel earned, cos of this ^

I'm down w the wall of reverb that closes out the album.

felt weird fastening the word "rock" to the thread title as it applied way more to their previous record, cope, which is pretty paint-peeling and has like 100000 guitars overdubbed on it which consume all of the remaining instruments; this is chamber music in comparison, but the overwhelming sense of dread running through all of their music is sustained on this record and is even kinda dramatically enhanced by the immaculate production

I need to go listen to Cope then

i like how impressionist the lyrics are that's what reminds me the most of devil + god that kind of abstract emo'tion. it's just painfully beautiful at some pts.

brad how have you never forced me to listen to Cope!? this is crazy good. fitting my mood much more rn.

thought this was good
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/manchester-orchestra-a-black-mile-to-the-surface/

Hull’s been given some serious source material, namely the birth of his daughter and co-writing the mostly a cappella soundtrack for the farcical body comedy Swiss Army Man. One might think exposure to that much real and cinematic flatulence might lighten Hull’s mood a little.

kinda glossed over that part.

no one *ever* talks to me about new music irl (outside of ilxors i'm in touch w/) but sure enough i was at a party on saturday and two friends asked me about seeing manchester orchestra next month. i said to myself, "hey, there was a recent ilx thread about them!" and that i would probably be down.

i like this album, it was made by ppl who understand and love rock albums.

It's funny how much sonic DNA this and the new Brand New wound up sharing

otm

they both sound perfect to me atm

i had not heard about this band until tonight and this album is hella excellent

i have been listening to this nonstop for days.

Way back when, in my limited exposure, I thought this band sounded a bit like a b-list Arcade Fire. I hadn't heard anything from them until this album, which I sought out due to ILX enthusiasm, and ... well, still sort of sounds like AF to me, specifically "The Suburbs," which I like, but I couldn't make it through this album. Maybe it's his voice? I'll give it another shot soon at some point. Want to try to Brand New, too, though I've never heard a note of that band and think I always thought of them as, like, Yellowcard or something.

Should concede that I know next to nothing about "emo" as a genre, short Rites of Spring and Jimmy Eat World, so maybe it's just not for me.

their label's marketing has been effective on social media in that I see reference to this thing non stop all the time, everywhere, despite no one I personally know ever recommending it

i don't really hear anything tying this band to arcade fire but i get hull's voice potentially being a dealbreaker

i regret the thread title but how could i have known that brand new would release a record this year

i like this album, it was made by ppl who understand and love rock albums.

otm

I was not into that brand new lp, but I've never been a fan

xxp - Fleet Foxes is what the singer's voice reminds me of.

i really liked the video for The Gold

A weird album for me. I love the first three tracks and the last four, but the four in the middle don't do anything. It's like a big black hole in the middle of the album. I'll keep trying, maybe they'll grow on me.

the silence and the grocery are just massive

i have decided the best moment is in "the grocery" is when he sings "this is the onlyyyy. WAYYYYY to go"

this, with 'there is nothing you keep, there is only a reflection' in the silence being a close 2nd

"lead, sd" is prob my favorite song of the year

yeah

some of the guitar tones and the more circuitous playing on this record remind me of later red house painters/early sun kil moon

I can hear that

fun show tonight, their songs are super singalongable

tigers jaw was dope too

the tinny, trebly guitars/synths(?) that perk up in "Lead, SD" really remind me of the Wrens

I just keep going back to the opening track.

this record is a fuckin classic, top to bottom

and it keeps getting better

Anyone heard the demos EP yet?

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6rUs44L7H_Amz_OcM1ilkksN3YIS-eMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ui9umU0C2g

holy shit

oh nice, i just re-listened to this album two days ago. holds up!

i'm relistening to it now and yeah! it's so beautiful

What's up with all those lyric and chord sheets?

i think the first part of the video is from when they actually recorded it for the album

just wanted to alert ppl who like this album to the bad books (collaboration between andy hull and kevin devine) record that's coming out soon, and also to this gorgeous new song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxc14_TnT50

the other new songs have been cool too

the bad books album is INCREDIBLE

lol I mentioned it again on the emo thread. it's very good. the penultimate track is especially gorgeous.

it's the first bad books record on which their songwriting voices feel really united imo. i was a little wary of the whole album being acoustic guitar-based but the arrangements are all such slow gorgeous aches it's hard to complain. also this is a lyrical peak for both of them

I agree with all that. "Army" does lay it on a bit thick but it feels more or less earned by then

"army" has absolutely ruined my life