charly bliss: guppy

I don't know if this really count as "another guitar band discovers synths" -- the hooks are still there, and there's a long gap from this to landfill synthpop. also, it's great, kind of reminds me of fight like apes

yeah i kept wanting to post “the bones of this song are good who caaares”

enh sonics matter, and despite the trad instrumentation on the last album, the sound was more distinctive. this sounds like a million other acts to me (for now, anyway)

maybe it's just that Eva's voice stands out to me more contrasting w/ the crunch

I mean, <i>Guppy</i> also sounded like a million other acts, they just happened to be really good ones

And many of them were from 20 years ago.

that too

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

Why does this one suck too? I'm worried.

"capacity" doesn't suck wtf

this one doesn't suck either but i'm still adjusting to it

You're right. But it's not super great or anything. xp

This one for sure sucks.

how do you tell which songs suck

For this band it's easy.

"Is this a song that only Charly Bliss could write?"

If the answer is yes, then hold on to your butt.

If the answer is no, then this sucks and why are they doing this??

feel like the great thing about this song is how the bridge completely takes over the middle of it

i don't think i'm a fan of this one : /

i like this a lot, the progression and accumulation is really satisfying

can't imagine complaining about the guitars on this one, at least

Here's my main gripe, and it may make sense or it may not, but apart from the songwriting itself on the first album, the thing that hooked me so deep to it is that everything they were doing just felt they were a conduit for pure crunchy pop rock energy captured from the ether. Nothing about it sounded like *work*, like these songs were birthed, fully formed and any and all fine-tuning was unnecessary. Ten perfect musical prizes.

Chatroom, especially, but Capacity as well, sound like the portal closed. They sound plotted, sculpted, and engineered to be *a sound*. And it comes through abundantly clear.

I dunno. The immediacy and impulsiveness is missing. If that makes any sense.

They're ostensibly fine songs, well-written, etc. They don't even sound phoned-in or anything. They did a good job with them.

They just don't kick me in the guts.

yeah I wouldn't say either song sucks exactly, I'd still rather listen to them than half the singles out this year, but there is a bit of sophomore slump to them

meh.
maybe album #3 will align with my taste more again.

album 2 isn't even out yet!!

but the direction seems clear, no?

JF otm. Neither of these songs are bad, but they also sound like they could have been made by a gazillion other bands. I loved the energy of Guppy.

I like this band a lot but I'm not convinced the first album is as wildly original or distinctive as is being made out here.

the first album isn't wildly original at all but it did feel distinctive enough in how good it was at the particular power pop sound it was aiming for

the new songs are enjoyable enough but i agree with those that feel they don't really capture what made the debut so good

This band was never very original; in fact Guppy remains wildly overrated. However, "Chatroom" is ace. I love it when plain-jane indie bands swing for the pop fences like this.

Lemme ask you this: do you prefer your music made with considered precision or more of a spark of immediacy?

Despite the fact I'm a huge Def Leppard fan, I generally get more of a kick from the latter.

These songs (and this album?) seem to be the product of the former, and that's the opposite of what I found so great about them.

About Charly Bliss, that is.

Just heard the new album for the first time. First impressions are that it's not the instant classic that Guppy was, but it's a good album. They have not done a Haim on us. The guitars have not totally disappeared although it is very keyboard heavy. There aren't exactly many tracks that could fit on the debut.

I'm hoping it's like the second Alvvays album where some of the songs initially seem a bit too slight, but they end up getting stuck in my head with me eventually enjoying the album as a whole as much as I loved the debut.

Just heard the new album for the first time

h-has it leaked?

Yeah, these new songs = not my taste at all. Still listening to "Percolator" and "Glitter" a lot, though.

h-has it leaked?

― josh az (2011nostalgia),

I have a stream of it to review.

It's extremely rare that I would get something sent this early.

Both new songs are v. enjoyable.

You're a cop.

How do you do, fellow Brooklynites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQZdBVgkYCg&feature=youtu.be

love this new one (guitars and power pop choruses are back).

that embed doesn't work so here it is again:

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

song kicks ass

soz thanks, don't know what went wrong there.

fuck yeah, this rules

Got an advance of the new one in full. Opening track is a very smart way to start.

I really wasn't feeling the new album that much after my first play, but now I'm five plays in I'm already as obsessed with it as I was with Guppy. The title track in particular is really hitting me hard. I love how much bolder Eva's lyrics are overall.

They're one of the best groups around.

^^^^

also imo ppl spoke too soon about the sound change

also imo this album kicks a ton of ass

"hard to believe" as penultimate track is expert sequencing

and in time i will probably prefer this to guppy