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

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63uaPVN0sGA

full album performance

and it appears they're dropping a single or something on 02/18

oh i just came here to post that live video!!!

I'm guessing from this that catherine marks will be handling their new stuff as well? a very good thing

The Million Masks of God out 04/30, single's real good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-voZou1JllY

fucking fantastic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6YUHe3ArHQ

I can't help but long for a little more specificity in Andy's lyrics...like I would never have had any idea about the "concept" aspects were it not for extramusical interview chatter and internet speculation. mostly I hear a lot of first-person angst from a bunch of undifferentiated "characters"

ironically I think I notice this more now because he's grown so much as a vocalist

the concept of the album is not as huge and ranging as a black mile, it is just about contending with death afaict... it makes it less impressive(?) lyrically but some of it still really strikes me ("daddy's at the hospital / the gator finally got him")

i guess i'm going through the whole discography again

That's not a bad idea. Listening to Mean Everything To Nothing is good for me anytime and all the time.

i’m like a virgin is a really good record but the production... isn’t amazing. very 2006 dry and brittle indie rock tones. annoyed that the acoustic tracks are mastered at a different volume than the rest of the record. i know people who still think is their best, which i think i understand... there’s this eerie open-ended feeling that persists through the second half. but it’s also just a little rickety compared to the fully-formed albums that come after it. maybe i’d feel different if i’d heard it at the time, i only got into it in the last few years

i've been listening to mean everything to nothing since 2009 (i checked it out because i saw manchester orchestra open for brand new in san jose and ... didn't quite know if i liked them or not) so it's hard for me to think any new things about it. it's a really great record, production is incredible, guitar tones are perfect warm buzzes especially on "in my teeth" and they start doing that built to spill-esque overdriven dual guitar effect i love dearly on both this album and simple math. really weirdly constructed, it shifts gears about five times in the opening run and then settles into a kind of suite of gentle epics in the second half from "i can feel a hot one" to "the river." i read an interview with hull where he said he recorded the vocals when he was sick so they would sound as shredded as possible so now i can't stop thinking about that when i'm listening, thanks andy

Surprised there's been no Pitchfork review of this yet

still listening to this like once a day

"bed head" song of the year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj2hSxy8kbU

Really liking this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrAURfbK8Ls

new MO number for a DC soundtrack thingie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OMpofOS85o

this might be a controversial opinion but I think Million Masks is even greater record than A Black Mile to the Surface? It doesn't have highlights like "Lead, SD", but as a whole I think it flows better.

ha, I almost revived this thread to say that on recent revisit I felt an emptiness/hollowness that's difficult to put my finger on, I think it's mainly that I'm struggling to connect with the lyrics. I think by the end I'm also a little worn out by the roaring climaxes

i think i might agree it’s even better than the last one

it's unreal how good this album is

if you like this record i also recommend the new foxing

loving that too

one year i'd like not to have the exact same year end list as you but btwn this, foxing, wolf alice, the maine & pale waves, i don't think this will be that year

"way back" is the best song ever

what the hell @ 'dinosaur' bridge

this is some trail of dead tier stuff

Anyone else been listening to their new EP that came out earlier this month?

Pretty good although the whole thing is very much them in subdued mode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovD37YQWnkE

I posted about it in this thread:
it's harder now to POLL you - manchester orchestra: the million masks of god

The rerecorded/reimagined 10th anniversary edition of Bad Book's II out today and sounding fabulous