i think there's a strokes song that really resembles "blown to bits"
overall this album doesn't have quite the same sense of dynamics or density of hooks (but that comes with the lower tempos generally) which were part of what made the debut so good
― ufo, Thursday, 9 May 2019 13:19 (four years ago) link
OTM
― nostormo, Thursday, 9 May 2019 13:21 (four years ago) link
oh it's "all the time" of all things, they have pretty similar choruses
― ufo, Thursday, 9 May 2019 13:21 (four years ago) link
i think this record is way more dynamic than the debut
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 9 May 2019 14:08 (four years ago) link
less within the songs themselves than from song-to-dog i guess, but this album has a really beautiful arc
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 9 May 2019 14:09 (four years ago) link
song-to-song* lol
oh man, we're not gonna agree on this one, huh?
anyway, _for me_ it's pleasurably boring. It's okay and I get the appeal but as someone how still puts on Guppy to heighten the mood two years later, I can't see how this record would ever come close. Completely different mood, and not one I necessarily needed from Charly Bliss.
― fragglerock, Thursday, 9 May 2019 14:13 (four years ago) link
this is really bizarre to me, i guess we’re not hearing the same record!
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 9 May 2019 14:14 (four years ago) link
When I listen to Guppy I hear a young band cramming a ton of interesting ideas into their songs. However for me the listening experience is a bit tiring at times. Young Enough is less fatiguing on my ears. Course I’m old so ymmv.
― o. nate, Thursday, 9 May 2019 14:15 (four years ago) link
just one song but “over you” doesn’t strike me as a distinct mood from guppy at all
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 9 May 2019 14:19 (four years ago) link
like i don’t mean to split hairs this much but this album is a same-band-with-new-tricks situation imo and there’s v little to complain about bc the new tricks are so well integrated, plus there are plenty of guppy-style bangers
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 9 May 2019 14:28 (four years ago) link
this is otm ^
it's more dynamic than guppy, less densely hooky (but still hooky), moodier and a little less one-note (although that one note on guppy was as good as it gets).
they've basically followed up an incredible debut by doing something that's really hard: make a second record that is still "them" but also incorporates some new ideas, shows a little range/ambition and points them in a direction going forward.
it's impressive! does it all add up to "better than guppy"? time will tell (but that is an insanely high bar, btw)
("under you" and "hard to believe" rule)
― alpine static, Thursday, 9 May 2019 15:48 (four years ago) link
... is "bleach" in 6/4? i love it deeply
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 9 May 2019 23:35 (four years ago) link
the way eva's voice ascends and descends according to the synth melody is wonderful, it's like "scare u" x1000
― american bradass (BradNelson), Thursday, 9 May 2019 23:36 (four years ago) link
This is fucking brilliant
― boxedjoy, Friday, 10 May 2019 07:13 (four years ago) link
I feel like if you loved "Guppy" because it was a great pop-punk album then this isn't the album for you but if you loved it because of the great lyrics and hooks and wanted to see them go bigger, bolder and more confident, then this is everything you could want from them
― boxedjoy, Friday, 10 May 2019 07:15 (four years ago) link
IT’S GONNA BREAK MY HEART TO SEE IT BLOWN TO BITS
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 10 May 2019 15:15 (four years ago) link
alfred would like this record. alfred to thread
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 10 May 2019 15:18 (four years ago) link
guppy is possibly the best power pop album ive ever heard but young enough is just pretty good
― ufo, Friday, 10 May 2019 15:20 (four years ago) link
you were still just a kidyou’re a beautiful boycrushing cigarettes just to prove a point
^^ my fav part of the title track rn
― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, 10 May 2019 15:32 (four years ago) link
"under you" feels like a weak spot strengthened by its placement but otherwise i think i already like young enough (even) more than guppy, what a perfect progression of songs... one that cldn't fit the soft combustibility of something like "glitter", so i'm just glad we have both albums
― lowercase (eric), Friday, 10 May 2019 15:45 (four years ago) link
i do wish it wasn't so in-the-red production-wise
― lowercase (eric), Friday, 10 May 2019 15:49 (four years ago) link
― american bradass (BradNelson)
Yeah, I've had this in my head a lot recently. I think this might be their best song.
― kitchen person, Friday, 10 May 2019 16:07 (four years ago) link
People make some OTT claims for Guppy considering its a pretty great piece of 90s nostalgia and that's about it, but it clearly has a fizz that this one lacks.
The production does the new one no favours, blowing the sound up like this makes everything feel that little bit emptier.
― Matt DC, Sunday, 12 May 2019 10:33 (four years ago) link
Blown To Bits is terrific though.
― Matt DC, Sunday, 12 May 2019 10:34 (four years ago) link
Guppy really was as good as this sort of thing gets for me, a step above all the 90s bands they're drawing so heavily from
― ufo, Sunday, 12 May 2019 12:21 (four years ago) link
oh my god y’all this album is better than guppy
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 12 May 2019 13:20 (four years ago) link
i mean i shared y'all's reaction when i first heard "capacity" and "chatroom" but i hear that emptiness as space and atmosphere now, plus these songs are fucking great, i think their songwriting advanced considerably
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 12 May 2019 14:06 (four years ago) link
How could I not adore an album whose sound world exists in the space between Hole’s “Awful”, Paramore’s “Daydreaming” and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Hysteric”?
The title track destroys me.
― Tim F, Sunday, 12 May 2019 21:21 (four years ago) link
otm. also add, i think, some rilo kiley song that didn’t exist before this record (“camera”) and taylor swift’s “clean” (“hurt me”)
― american bradass (BradNelson), Sunday, 12 May 2019 22:20 (four years ago) link
I need to step away from this album. Wasn't enthralled the first listen and it's been diminishing returns since. Hopefully I'll get something out of it when I revisit it but for now I'm firmly in the fragglerock camp.
― Fetchboy, Sunday, 12 May 2019 22:51 (four years ago) link
But it so isnt.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 12 May 2019 23:37 (four years ago) link
I've been thinking a lot of Rilo Kiley when listening to this actually - lyrically the subject matter isnt too far removed from The Execution Of All Things on eg "Capacity", also you can kinda hear how both bands have singers who've come from a performing background and bring that precision of charisma into their performance
It also makes sense because people went off Rilo Kiley when they started realising their mainstream potential too, More Adventurous is the best RK album and also the album where they became more obviously ~refined
― boxedjoy, Monday, 13 May 2019 00:41 (four years ago) link
i mean i shared y'all's reaction when i first heard "capacity" and "chatroom" but i hear that emptiness as space and atmosphere now
yeah in hindsight "capacity" was a great intro to the album bc it in particular continually shades the space w various melodic elements & the reverberating percussive punctures; and like i feel like lesser bands wld've made the chorus of "chatroom" denser, but e.g. the way the guitar seems to shift from reflective shimmer in the chorus to center of accumulation in the bridge w/o changing tone is why it's so satisfying... if guppy feels gaseous young enough is fundamentally solid; the former is maybe more formally memorable but the addition of synths here definitely doesn't feel like just expansion, they illuminate the surfaces the songs glide across (such that the rhythmic steadiness is the point-- see the way the drums build up by switching back mid-bridge on "bleach", the friction at the whim of momentum-- & also why the great pacing is esp notable). idk i think it's really impressive how they're going for something so different while still being recognizably themselves, altho it also means "this is better than that" is a hard sell
― lowercase (eric), Monday, 13 May 2019 02:00 (four years ago) link
the new album does make a couple songs on guppy feel a little aimless to me
― lowercase (eric), Monday, 13 May 2019 02:01 (four years ago) link
(well a softer word than aimless... a little less aimful, in comparison)
― lowercase (eric), Monday, 13 May 2019 02:19 (four years ago) link
this does the same thing the first album did: nice opening run of tracks, then gentle slump into mediocrity
it's decent music but no better imo. if you put the start of this album with the end of the beths album you'd have a decent 90s pop album
it seems insane to claim this is the best pop-rock/powerpop going but instead of providing loads of things i prefer i'll leave you all to it *shrug*
― imago, Monday, 13 May 2019 08:25 (four years ago) link
just provide like 3
― alpine static, Monday, 13 May 2019 09:32 (four years ago) link
speedy ortiz - foil deer for absolute starters
― imago, Monday, 13 May 2019 09:33 (four years ago) link
trust fund - bringing the backlinedoes mitski count? yessad13's solo albummike krol?
― imago, Monday, 13 May 2019 09:41 (four years ago) link
pup!
― imago, Monday, 13 May 2019 09:50 (four years ago) link
p much all of those records have nothing to do with this one besides being superficially more complicated
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 13 May 2019 11:53 (four years ago) link
the pup record’s songwriting isn’t this strong
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 13 May 2019 11:54 (four years ago) link
lol i need to wait til i'm not tired before commenting ig
― lowercase (eric), Monday, 13 May 2019 11:58 (four years ago) link
anyway the only comparison itt that might make me want to listen to something else instead is bc nothing touches taylor swift's best song
― lowercase (eric), Monday, 13 May 2019 12:01 (four years ago) link
lol i was reaching a little for that comparison point. “hurt me” still sounds like a t. swift song though
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 13 May 2019 12:07 (four years ago) link
Young Enough makes me madder every time I play it. This is the final time. Y'all enjoy, but if anyone says it's objectively better than Guppy I'm cursing your family.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 13 May 2019 14:08 (four years ago) link
I think this is probably a lot like how I felt about Last Splash vs Pod.
― o. nate, Monday, 13 May 2019 14:15 (four years ago) link
it’s objectively better than guppy
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 13 May 2019 14:29 (four years ago) link
imagine being mad at this record
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 13 May 2019 14:30 (four years ago) link