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

oh the verses of "annie" also seems to rhyme with "the mistake"

i guess you'd think all these inter-song echoes would make the world of each record feel narrower but it actually makes it bigger, like the low-key mysticism people find in coincidence

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