C/D : The Gaslight Anthem

you all suck fyi

the HOOSlight anthem

<3 <3 incomprehensible hoarse vocals in the background of the chorus <3 <3 <3

i still listen to the 59 sound like once every two weeks, i'm sure this new one is going to own but it has a tough act to follow

Heavily influenced by late period Replacements and some Hold Steady, I think.

I would have said mid-Period Replacements.

I can't let HOOS ride on this alone, loved the last alum lots. Excited for a new one, but yeah, will be hard to top The '59 Sound.

ok i have now listened to 'american slang' 20 times tonight and am beginning to want more songs like it to listen to so this album needs to hurry

they cut me to ribbons and taught me to drive
in a dream i had ohhhh in a dream i had
i had your name tattooed inside of my arm
in a dream i had ohhhh in a dream i had

^^^ dope

didnt even notice til tonight that dude actually does a full throated non-background-vocal glory note at the end and its kinda thrilling

oh here's the youtube btw if you want that

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

*digs new album*

*feels bad for band that album leaked 2 months early, am probably going to wait for release date*

*digs new album*

― my two percent's worth (k3vin k.), Wednesday, April 21, 2010 6:41 AM (Yesterday)

This.

Yeah it's good, maybe not 59 Sound good on first listen, but it's early days.

Also, the sun's just coming out, there's a whole summer of adventures and possibility ahead, it's exactly the right time for music like this.

Their Facebook page has a stream of "American Slang" (just the title track, mind you) with noticeably better sound quality than the Youtube and Myspace feeds.

Didn't discover "'59 Sound" until this year (!!! late to the party again), loved it, so, totally looking forward to a new record.

"Bring It On" is a killer track.

I think this album is just about every bit as good as the last one.

BTW, why can't bands (labels) be more careful with their albums? Leaks this early are pretty inexcusable/inexplicable.

i know it's early, but they have made another classic album imo

and you're slow like motown souuuul

Between this and the new Against Me! it's a great year for post-warped tour rock.

my favorites are "american slang", "orphans", and "the spirit of jazz" but i'm feeling this whole thing. not sure about that retarded mayer affect he's putting on for "the diamond church street choir" but the song picks up eventually.

really? people who like some music i like seem to like this band. i just find them so grim.

Grim? Grim is about the furthest adjective that comes to mind when I think of these guys, I actually find most of their stuff to be uplifting.

maybe i need to give them another chance. they seem like "blue-collar springsteen rock" without his sharp lyrics and insight -- but again, maybe i judged too quick/harshly.

I think this one is certainly, well, grimmer than the last, at least. Lots of bittersweet, getting older, rearview mirror stuff. Don't know how much "insight" I'd cite in them, but they do capture the same sort of innocently myopic desperation that Springsteen did. "We have to get out of this dead-end town to make a record!" sort of stuff. Lots of riffs on the healing/escapist power of listening music, too, when you're living in said podunk. Mean streets of New Brunswick?

Okay, I haven't heard anything off the new one yet, so maybe I shouldn't be so quick to dismiss "grim".

the music itself is anything but grim

No, the music is exultant. The lyrics are a tad grim. But barely.

and you're slow like motown souuuul

― my two percent's worth (k3vin k.), Sunday, April 25, 2010 5:10 PM (5 days ago)

Was listening to this tonight and the second track, "Stay Lucky" is freaking fantastic. They've got amazing narratives, and I love the very end when he whispers something like, "if you're in new york over the next eight days, let me know," like their protagonist has been waiting inside, dreaming about when he was younger, but when Gaslight Anthem is in town, let them know and they'll reignite his youth. (At least that's what I got from it.) I love this Rock + Roll redemptive stuff, esp whispered at the end like it's a guilty secret that Rock n Roll will save you.

The Spirit of Jazz is my favourite so far. I don't think this one quite has the rush and momentum you get from the first few tracks on The 59 Sound but it's still so so great.

"Queen of Lower Chelsea" is their "Straight to Hell."

just listening to that EP for the first time now, "blue jeans and white t-shirts" is slaying me

― k3vin k., Saturday, October 31, 2009 6:10 PM (6 months ago)

this is such an incredible song...it's not 'stripped down' as much it's like, a monday practice in the NFL. no pads, half-speed

Loved 59' Sound. Didn't know there is a new one coming out soon. I'm Stoked!

Gaslight (the flick) is on PBS atm. Probably unrelated, but there's no Gaslight thread.

keep thinking this thread is about the gaslamp killer

rip gaslamps

this new not-even-out-yet album is great in the car, unsurprisingly

can see as how 59 sounds would be catchy, rousing and affecting as hell, if you listened often enough to get the hooks planted in your brain. problem is there's nothing that makes me want to listen more than once, if that. it's not a bad record. in fact it's pretty damn good for what it is. but i don't like being told i'm supposed to feel ecstatically wistful unless there's something in the sound & lyrics to separate it from the post-soul-asylum pack. and i don't like the feel of emo americana (or whatever this kind of thing is called) unless it's hitched to a version of cheap retro pop i can relate to.

Emo Americana!

Btw, I felt the same way about 59 Sounds. American Slang distinguishes its hooks much earlier and much quicker. They've become, imo, much more deft songwriters since 59 sound.

contenderizer instead of wondering what you would feel like if you listened more than once, try listening more than once. i think i felt similarly after the first time i heard it, and now it's easily one of my ten favorite records of the past 3 years

yeah, after grumping about it, i noticed that i still had bits of it bouncing around not unpleasantly in my head. and i suspect that part of my reticence is simple jadedness. i'm a replacements fan from way back when and even dug the early soul asylum records, esp made to be broken, so maybe it's just hard listen w/out prejudice. still, i think i would like it more if it had angry banjos and drunk yelling into a single room mic.

Can't believe there is still over a month until this comes out and I hear the whole thing.

xp which songs were your favorites, if you remember?

mine was "great expectations" for the longest time but i think i like "high lonesome" the best now

great expectations and meet my by the river's edge are the ones i remember best now. plus a line about "high-top sneakers and sailor tattoos" from what song i don't know, but it stuck in my craw in the sense that it seemed to draw too clear a box around the whole thing.

why does the dude go from the line about "southern accents on the radio" directly to the i'm on fire reference? seems confused. i'm resistant to the lyrical angle as a whole, the pileup of outlaw-country-classic-cars-sailor-jerry-runawaywithmebaby WE COOL ROCK BAND signifiers. still, i get that he's not just kissing yesterday's ass. in part he's talking about the desire to adopt a tougher/cooler alternate identity of some kind, an internal escape vehicle that parallels springsteen's muscle cars. which is cool, but i dunno. though he confronts it, he's still wrapping himself in and never really moving outside those colors. love when he lets his voice howl a little though, like towards the end of the miles davis song. wish they'd let the music get a little weirder, wilder, rawer on occasion, but maybe that'd kill the vibe. seriously torn here cuz I dig almost every song here on a gut level, but i'm also almost constantly cheezed out. monroe hips and all. i'm on fire in the jersey rain...

okay, i'm giving up and just deciding to like this. i blame the slower stuff like "even cowgirls get the blues" and "here's looking at you kid", which on this second pass stick out as the most endearing & affecting tunes. like "here comes a regular" and "skyway" on those replacements albums.

yeah "here's looking at you, kid" is great, probably their second best slower song after "blue jeans and white t-shirts"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cunR6Jz0ARQ