Years & Years

Yeah that one is great too!

monotony they are totally a dime-a-dozen blog band, so much of the flava here comes from the fact that I could also conceivably describe them as Sam Smith X Walk The Moon.

They strike me as so much more obvious than a dime-a-dozen blog band, but in the best possible way - they're going for the biggest hooks, the most obvious melodies, the stadium sing-along lyrics. I could never imagine the likes of Passion Pit or Hot Chip writing such immediate songs.

Yeah that too, they are totally unrestrained by notions of indieness.

I feel like coming up with the most gruesome metaphors possible, like, they are the Imagine Dragons to (insert here).

Thanks for making this thread, was toying around with making a thread for these guys but wasn't sure they were big enough to merit it…

I don't get how "King" is their big hit because their other songs are so much better.

Shine hasn't been released yet. Would be very surprised if that didn't also top the charts.

Surprised to learn that Take Shelter peaked at 140 though - I thought it was much bigger than that.

they even have a toyboy & robin remix

I'm a little confused. So we're comparing them to Sam Smith, Walk The Moon and Imagine Dragons as if that's a good thing? Or does Tim F take pride in liking bands that sound terrible on paper?

Not pride, but I'm increasingly of the view that anything worthwhile derives at least some of its worth from containing hints of things that sound terrible on paper.

And it's much more interesting to work out why those hints work in a particular case than to try to construct everything as belonging to a closed circle of good taste.

"king" is so good that i'm scared to listen to any of their other songs

i feel like they're all similarly good-but-ignorable/forgettable

I found "King" can be slightly improved by singing it as "OH! I was a fing...er in your butthole".

Big tune, though.

lol that is indeed better

"Desire" is Monsta Boy via actual monstrous boys.

ok i take back what i said before, i like "shine" quite a bit now

i re-listened to all the others tho and still am not feeling them

They're like populist junior boys

Really like "worship" and "memo" although king is still best

Where is Brad

I sent him a link to their SoundCloud a couple of weeks ago, he liked it

it's true, i like these guys. deej sent me "memo" earlier and it's very pretty

i think i would loathe the material of "eyes shut" if articulated by any other group

That song is almost bad enough to destroy any excitement I have for the album, it's really bad

i mean the appeal of this band for me was always the way they balanced between tasteful and tasteless. "eyes shut" sounds like a reorganized "see you again" but i still... don't really hate it exactly

meanwhile i've been listening a two song playlist that consists of "shine" and crj's "boy problems" on repeat

Whoa, turns out I've been listening to the album version of "Eyes Shut" this whole time, the EP version is a bit better

"Foundation" is a marvellously tense and brooding number, the darkside counterpart to "Memo".

"king" reminded me of savage garden

Yep! They would do a dece cover of "to the moon and back".

the darkside counterpart to "Memo".

want someone 2 bury me alive 2 "memo"

savage garden is an extremely positive comparison in my book

I don't know why i wasn't caring at all about years & years, but the savage garden reference makes me want to listen to them.

savage garden makes the most sense of any comparison lol

ok this album

"Gold" is on repeat over here.

"shine" is just the best song in the world basically

'King' sounds like Bros produced by Hot Chip

come on guys, this music is crap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFXlWfzW9Uo

come on guys, this music is crap.

i'm convinced

i own two savage garden albums and haven't the slightest idea which song(s) y'all are thinking of when comparing years & years to them

"shine" is just the best song in the world basically

― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Friday, July 10, 2015 8:14 AM (8 hours ago)

i am almost beginning to agree with this tho

This is another case of Tove Lo-ism for me. By definition, it should be my thing, but it's not and I actually kind of actively dislike it.

Can't get over how amazing "Memo" is, and how accurately Ollie captures that sense of desire rendering you vulnerable and ashamed that is... If not unique to the gay experience then certainly uniquely framed by it.

"Without" is just so fucking gorgeous.

come on guys, this music is crap.

― cod latin (dog latin), Friday, 10 July 2015 15:20 (Yesterday) Permalink

yes everyone is lining up correctly

Can't get over how amazing "Memo" is, and how accurately Ollie captures that sense of desire rendering you vulnerable and ashamed that is... If not unique to the gay experience then certainly uniquely framed by it.

― Tim F, Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:35 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I mean three out of the five singles to date have been about this to some extent so it's obviously an idee fixe but I think "Memo" captures it most nakedly and powerfully.

fav of the new records is "Ties"

Mine is probably "Worship" which I hadn't heard before.

Are these guys this year's The 1975?

their style is more in my zone personally but the parallels def seem obvious

coming in peace here to observe that the posters on the london underground for both bands have been strikingly similar in style & layout - the comparison occurred to me when i first saw the y&y poster - later, i saw this thread and the savage garden comparisons etc and listened to a song or two and all was confirmed

july 6th

put it in my veins

also curiously totally medieval. good soundtrack for wooden planet spec script alien3 probably

― r|t|c, Wednesday, January 4, 2017 2:08 PM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

god bless rtc

already freebasing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psn18d-4hBI

not feeling this new single, feels way too twee and like it was written as a commercial jingle?

co-written/produced by Steve Mac so that explains that

yeeeeeeah... i think the songwriting is great but it almost sounds like a sigala song

*cough*

oh boy

I was underwhelmed by the singles but this actually turned out alright I think. “Karma” and “Hallelujah” both slap and “All For You” especially. It’s a bit les Kitsuné than the first one production-wise.

It's gotten surprisingly positive reviews (my take goes up on Monday). "Surprisingly" because while Alexander is more confident he's also turned the act into Maroon 5 with himself as Adam Levine. The other two are barely involved. Far less angst.

The leaked tracks are awful, but look at the credits (Julia Michaels, Thomas Hull).

what are leaked tracks? the album is out

ok listening now

what u think deej

The album is a lot stronger than I was expecting based on the two singles. Not sure what they were thinking with those choices when they had Hallelujah, Karma, Rendezvous and Up In Flames right there.

what are leaked tracks? the album is out

― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), S

"Sanctify" and "Hallelujah."

They were mad to leave "UP in Flames" off the album: an excellent freestyle-soaked banger w/the record's most confident Olly performance.

It's on the deluxe edition, that is (you can stream it on Spotify).

Yeah, Up In Flames is so great. It screams lead single, not bonus track.

listened to this a couple of nights ago but was doing other things at the time...there wasn't much that grabbed me but I need to give it a closer listen

this feels like their Urban Legend

this doesn't have the frisson of the debut but that's not surprising at all.. what could really? accepting that fact i feel pretty good about how this turned out actually. the singles sound better in context.

I've made my peace with Sanctify as it works as a decent introduction, I still can't stand If You're Over Me. I really like the rest of it. Karma is the one. I keep getting it stuck in my head.

i like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuIrr-qJ_UQ

^^

Been listening to the bonus tracks on Palo Santo a lot. Damn -- "Howl."

New track out now (video premieres on Monday)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGfaYTIYh40

this is not surprising whatsoever but how did i not know that Y&Y is an Olly Alexander solo project now (announced last month that the other two members left although one of them will continue as part of the live band)

"now"

I mean the last album had a couple token band songwriting credits. He's it.

i can't tell if i like this song or not. i think i do the more i listen to it... it really wallops you in the face from the jump in a way that feels a bit off but halfway thru it clicks into place a bit.

I went to see Years & Years live around the time of the first album and really enjoyed it - the music was good, he was a great performer despite his obvious limitations as a singer, and it really did feel like a celebration of queer identity.

What we saw of the BBC New Years & Years special was rubbish and I was surprised at how much I didn't enjoy it. The actual sound was terrible which didn't help, but it feels like all the things that made them so exciting and interesting to begin with have been lost at the expense of trying to make Olly Alexander into a superstar.

i suspect that it becoming a defacto olly solo project with the second album (and officially with the third) didn't really do anyone any favours at all

i hardly watch any TV but every time i do he seems to be on. it really seems he is well on his way to being a household name in the uk.

I'm not sure it's working with the music though. Apparently his new single has been one of the most played songs on radio over the last few weeks yet it's still not been able to get any higher than 94. It will be interesting to see if it jumps up the charts now the Christmas songs are all disappearing, somehow I doubt it. The lead single, Starstruck got a massive push too and didn't reach the top 30. I'm not sure why these songs aren't connecting with the public. They're not great, but seem like the kind of songs that would do well right now.

Totally agree with Boxedjoy about the BBC special. Very disappointing. They really won me round on the Christmas TOTP performances back in 2015, but this didn't have any of that charm or warmth.

yup, i don't think he is becoming a household name for his music. i'm guessing the majority of people who know of him now have never even heard of years & years.

I think if he is becoming a household name it's more to do with It's A Sin than anything Y&Y have released in the past few years.

i guess they figured the years & years name had some brand equity but it's pretty bizarre the way he uses that name for music, even tho he's well known by his real name for acting, just seems confusing. like when he did the royal albert hall xmas special they did this whole intro about how "he" was in "it's a sin" and then introduced "him" as "years & years." i feel like they should've either kept the group together as an olly solo project in everything but name (which is basically what paramore is for hayley williams) or just let him go by his name for his music

as for the music itself, i think it's prob furthering his goals of becoming a very famous person who does different kinds of art including pop that hits the charts but might not be huge smashes. there was something about the sound & writing of the first album that felt like a band working towards a specific kind of artist goal but that all mostly seems to have been abandoned after that. who knows how that one was made, honestly -- who drove it creatively etc, what the motivations were w/ the music after that, what new voices got in the mix or were given more weight. i liked "starstruck" but it just didn't stick for me & the stuff after felt very generic & less personal. the lyrics feel deemphasized w/ the kind of pop he's making now. oh well, happy for him anyway. the first album still means a lot to me

he truly was inescapable on british TV around xmas, i think i saw his face like 9 days in a row. feel like he'll be around as a british celeb for a very long time popping up on TV as a game show panelist or competition judge, shit like that, if he doesn't actually become a real deal TV & film actor who doesn't need to do that kinda stuff (tho honestly it seems like he enjoys shit like that i.e. being on celeb gogglebox so i bet he'll fill that role regardless)

I'm disappointed he's turned into the Ed Sheeran of/for the twink set

i feel like they should've either kept the group together as an olly solo project in everything but name (which is basically what paramore is for hayley williams)

eh paramore isn't really a good comparison because there's always been other major creative forces besides hayley (for the last decade taylor has been just as key to the band as her) & then even the hayley solo albums still strangely had taylor heavily involved everywhere.

the first years & years album had everything credited to the three of them + a few other producers they worked with, but the second album, while they were still a 'band' only had the other two co-write/produce two tracks (one of which was a bonus track), with the other tracks all just being credited to olly + a wider range of pop producers. those two 'band' tracks were among the most reminiscent of the debut's house-pop sound too, he tried to branch out away from that sound on a lot of tracks but the further away he got the worse the results were. & now of course it's officially a solo project. it's definitely an awkward transition where the second album was a creative shift to being nearly an olly solo album but they didn't commit to that then & now he's sticking with the name even though he's already very famous under his real name. one of the original years & years guys is still in the touring band apparently though, just no creative involvement anymore?

like i would say a better comparison for keeping the band but becoming a solo project in all-but-name is maroon 5?

Otm

jordan are you british now?

first record is still so wonderful

Yeah.

The second is half wonderful, and I love its bonus tracks.

Thoughts on the new album? I'm underwhelmed. He's becoming more conventional or is more distracted.