[sapphiremodena]

It's almost here, folks.

I've been waiting a long time for this. Only 3 days and 4 nights left until Matthew Good's new solo album, Avalanche, is released. I've had the pleasure of hearing 7 songs in full, and the other 6 songs I have heard 1 to 2 minute clips of each. For a minute there I was wondering whether or not this album would live up to my expectations. But then after listening to over half the album, my anticipation is growing exponentially. I just can't wait to hear it in all of it's entirety.

Within the last month, and especially within the last few weeks, the album has been getting lots of acclaim from both fans and critics alike. I've gotten 3 of my friends hooked on his music now, and they're all excited about the release.

The thing that surprised me about Avalanche is that it's rather uplifting as compared to Matt's earlier works before he went solo. The symphonies are smoother, the drums are more noticeable, and most of all, I can hear abundances of interesting sounds and effects and it makes me wonder where the hell he was able to find all of these trinkets and toys. It reminds me a bit of Radiohead's OK Computer, but a little more upbeat. There isn't a dud on the album, all of the songs are great. My personal favourites, at the moment, and from what I've heard, are: 'House of Smoke and Mirrors', 'Avalanche', 'Near Fantastica', 'While We Were Hunting Rabbits', 'Double Life', 'Lullaby for the New World Order', and 'It's a Long Way Down'.

Ok, so I just named 7 of the 13 songs as my favourites. The point is, the whole album is stellar. For anyone looking for something to try out, this is a pretty safe bet.

Matthew Good. Avalanche. March 4th. I wish it were Tuesday already...

Here are some clips from Avalanche: http://music.sympatico.ca/fa/matthewgood/

Enjoy, folks. Good night.

 

[Trounce]

I can't wait. This is the CD I've been waiting for since 'Audio of Being'... it's going to be spectacular.

 

[sapphiremodena]

10 hours... and I'll be getting an autographed copy.

 

[sapphiremodena]

So I bought the album this morning.

This is the without a doubt the best album I've heard in years.

Here's what I think of each song.

01 - Pledge of Allegiance: Bells. I love the bells. Like a big jam session with vocals and bells and a choir. Did I mention I like the bells? Pink Floyd fans, check this one out.

02 - Lullaby For The New World Order: The drums and acoustic guitar and bass all tie in so well with the symphony. And then there's the five-finger picking of the strings by Christian Thor Valdson. He is a great guitar player. Love that guy. Too bad he's only on the one track.

03 - Weapon: The first single off the album. I've heard this about 500 times already. But the album version is a lot better than the radio edit. A good rock song, I've just heard it to the point where it is no longer that exciting to me, but rather just a good tune to tap the feet to.

04 - In A World Called Catastrophe: The second single off the album. It's been on the airwaves for less than a month now. Good song.

05 - Avalanche: What can I say. This song is just great. In my opinion, it's probably one of the best songs he's ever written. Matt feels the same way, as do a whole bunch of fans.

06 - 21st Century Living: ...."I'd like a supersized death with a coke" ....Wow.. I sure wasn't expecting this. "Fake lightning flashes, over the starlight, a deer in your headlights, so gun it."

07 - While We Were Hunting Rabbits: I haven't been moved by song like WWWHR in a very long time. Absolutely excellent. Tympanis, choirs, huge ****ing orchestras. It's a magnificent track, and it's an epic 8 minutes long. "And I dance, and I sing, I'm a monkey in a long line of kings... 'til now I was a soldier, 'til now I dealt in fear, these years of cloak and dagger have left us disappeared. And I dance, and I sing, and I'm just a boat on the ocean, and I'm just a ship, lost at sea..." This song is so tremendously great. I love it.

08 - Bright End of Nowhere: A great track. Sad and nostalgic, warm yet depressing. "The lights are out baby, so hear me out, the lights are out, and I'm a mouse." Matt's voice is so damn beautiful when he sings that last line. Very, very good song.

09 - Near Fantastica: He's still got the rock in him. Many of the lyrics for this song were actually written about 6 or 7 years ago. Excellent song, and one of the most instantly likeable songs on the album. An epic 8 minutes long.

10 - Song For the Girl: In my opinion, the weakest of the songs on this album. But some people think otherwise. Just my opinion. Still a decent song, I just don't like it nearly as much as I do the rest of the CD.

11 - Double Life: Yet another rocker. Very catchy, yet still good after many listens.

12 - A Long Way Down: This song was written in a day. It sure doesn't sound like it though. Starts off as a great song, then has some sort of horn-type thing sound along with heavy pounding on the deep end of the piano. There's a very distinct instrument in there that I have heard before in a song be The Eels, I just can't remember what the instrument was called.

13 - House of Smoke and Mirrors: A truly excellent song. Has a very sad feel to it. Among the best 3 songs on the album in my opinion. The lyrics are good, but a lot of that comes from how they are sung. "I've fallen asleep again, and when I wake up you won't be here, don't you think I don't know why? I've been asleep for years. You see right through me."

Ahhh, finished. Here's some excellent articles on how Matt's changed in the past couple years. It's a very dramatic change. He's like a whole new person. He's actually happy, and it comes through in spades on Avalanche.

Links:
Globe and Mail Article: From Bad to Good

An article on the recording of the album: Interview with Taylor Matthews

Official Matthew Good website: MG.net

Official MG fansite: Nation of Cool

Matt feels that Avalanche is his best work yet, and I think I'm going to have to agree.

Enjoy.

"This key is to your kingdom
This key is to your heart
Neither one a doorway
But both of them a part
So one foot in front of the other"

 

[sapphiremodena]

*bump*

Someone try this album out. It's amazing.

"Buy in it'll shut you up
Try it, it should should you up
We've brought someone in to shut you up
It's a life's work

While we were hunting rabbits
I came upon a clear
The sky its stars like fortune drilled me
Until now I was a soldier
Until now I dealt in fear
These years of cloak and dagger
Have left us disappeared

And I dance and I sing
And I'm a monkey in a long line

Buy in it should shut you up
Try it, it should should you up
They've brought someone in to shut you up
And its getting to be light work

While we were hunting rabbits
I came upon a clear
The sky its stars like fortune filled me
Until now I was a soldier
Until now I dealt in fear
These years of cloak and dagger
Have left us disappeared

And I dance and I sing
And I'm a monkey in a long line of kings
And we dance and we sing
And we're all monkey's in a long line

I'm just a boat on the ocean
And I'm just a ship lost at sea"

-While We Were Hunting Rabbits

 

[meursault]

Alrite, I'll bite. I bought it yesterday, after being blown away by "Weapon" and kind of annoyed by "...Catastrophe"

In my own opinion, it's no "Edges of Twilight," "Aenima" or "Turn On The Bright Lights" (brutally brilliant albums I can think of off the top of my head), but it's still miles better than Audio of Being (I'm not too big of a MGB fan).

"Here's what I think of each song" (Sorry for hijacking!)

01 - Pledge of Allegiance: The bells are to be admired. It's rather mellow, which was not what I expected from such a bombastic title (and Matthew Good IMO is infamous for bombastic/hard titles/songs, sortof)

02 - Lullaby For The New World Order: I haven't really given this song a fair shake, but I'm sure I'll like it when I do. The use of strings and guitar sounds interesting. Another bombastic title, another interesting song, I guess.

(EDIT: I like the acoustic version of this song better.)

03 - Weapon: I've heard this 500 times too, and I never get tired of it. Matthew Good isn't big on writing cohesive lyrics, but some lines are conceits (did I use that word right?) - "here by my side, you are destruction," I love that line. At this point, I think strings and guitars = good stuff.

04 - In A World Called Catastrophe: Eh. I don't like this song as much as I don't like "Aftermath" in The Tea Party's "Transmission." I mean, why? Anyways, there are plenty of songs that I hate initially that I grow to love, hopefully this will be one of them. The meandering guitar is already a redeeming quality to the song. Matthew Good's voice in this song is (at least for now) not. "My native tongue is blasphemy?"

05 - Avalanche: Yes, holy crap, what an amazing song. It's my second favourite song You have to love the falsetto note thrown in there for the first few lines.....wow. I get a sense of symmetry with this song. I love symmetry. What a *insert expletives* amazing song. Just....damn.

06 - 21st Century Living: ...."I'd like a supersized death with a coke" That is probably one of the best lines in the album. Reminds me of Beautiful Midnight. If there was less Good-manifesto and more music, I'd say this was a great song, but unfortunately....
I'm sometimes turned off by people ranting about anti-corporatism, especially artists. Even GYBE! admits their hypocrites, and they keep their politics (well, not really) out of the music. There was a good article on how celebrities manipulate the attention they recieve to vent their (sometimes misinformed) takes on contentious issues on the public.
*apologizes for his own rant* Moving on....

07 - While We Were Hunting Rabbits: THIS is my favourite song. I was seriously moved, and if I hadn't listened to "Specialist" by Interpol, I would say that this was the best song in a long, long while. Good redeems himself from "...Catastrophe" and thensome here. What range! He should go on American Idol and beat the nuts off the competition.
Again, Good is good with the conceits. With the choir, it's not hard to see thousands of people lying on boats, singing....

The string ending is beautiful. I get shivers.

EDIT: Timpanis rock. They always give me the feeling of doom. I like doom.

08 - Bright End of Nowhere: It's okay. I don't have much else to say about it. When I listen to repetitive bands like Delerium, there's usually a saturation point where I say "Well, it's good, but enough." I think I reached this point here.

EDIT: Okay, man was I wrong.

This is the kind of song you listen to if you go on a long drive to nowhere in particular. Very mellow. Let's forget "saturation point," shall we?

09 - Near Fantastica: Great song in terms of sound. Somehow, the saturation point was raised. I kind of get annoyed with the "chorus." The sound (the pianos and the drums and the guitar samples/riffs) is great though. Good's talk of "the computer" and lies again kind of annoys me for some reason. I'm sure he's a profound guy (I remember liking some of his Manifestoes), but....ugh. Don't worry, Matthew....I feel the same way about many people, Jeff Martin, Maynard James Keenan, that guy from GYBE (Effrim)! People who shut up and play are heroes.

Who cares, anyway?

Alluding to Frank Herbert's "Dune" didn't seem to make alot of sense in this song.

*from here, the review tapers off, because I haven't really listened to these songs justly, I'll edit when I do*

10 - Song For the Girl: This song's okay. That's all, really."Up again, down again, out of your head..." How do you do that, exactly? Jump on a trampoline and take a hit of acid?

32 listens (something like that, well that's an exaggeration you get the idea) and nothing.

64 listens and still nothing.

11 - Double Life: Good song, decent lyrics, I guess. At this point, I'm waiting for another "While We Were Hunting Rabbits"
....
12 - A Long Way Down: Well, it was a try. Violins, pianos, drums, Good. Chorus = catchy, but in a good way.

13 - House of Smoke and Mirrors: Good lyrics, great range, decent song (decent to me is better than good)....I wonder why....no politics.

It took some listens to really appreciate the song. Not a "Hunting Rabbits" (if you will) but....I want a "Hunting Rabbits!" I guess I'm a sonic brat.

That was all. Of the last twelve months of music, this would be pretty high on my list of stuff to listen to, but it didn't destroy and rebuild my universe like I hoped every album I buy would.

Maybe it's just the circumstances. To any MG fans, I might have (and most likely) read into the lyrics wrong. Don't take me seriously. I sure don't.

I'll end off with a funny line. Paraphrased (I think it was from one of his "manifestos"):

"Dear Mr. Good
...the world is a better off place without you. Your music is good but your personality sucks. Please remedy this."

PS - I would get this AFTER Interpol's TOTBL, Trail of Dead's STAC and the Amelie Soundtrack. But that's just me.

"There, I said it."

 

[Trounce]

It's on order from amazon.ca so I'll get it next week; can't wait!

I, though, absolutely loved Audio of Being. Like more than any album of 200(2)?. 'The Rat Who Would Be King' still haunts me to this day, and his range is breathtaking. There is not one bad song on the CD and I believe it was much much better than Beautiful Midnight.

I was surprised as hell, mersault, to hear Trail of Dead's Source Tags and Codes on this forum. They are a pretty unknown band, and I bought it on a whim having never heard them before, and ended up loving it. It's so different, such a mood-changer. It's a frustrating listen, though, because it's definitely not 'happy' or 'uppity' music, but it's certainly not relaxing. It always makes me frustrated, but in a good, calm way. I like that.

I have to give Interpol a listen. I'm so caught up in Doves fever at the moment.

Thanks for the awesome reviews, guys. I'll be making my own additions as soon as I receive the album.

 

[meursault]

Quote:

Originally posted by Trounce ...I was surprised as hell, mersault, to hear Trail of Dead's Source Tags and Codes on this forum. They are a pretty unknown band, and I bought it on a whim having never heard them before, and ended up loving it. It's so different, such a mood-changer. It's a frustrating listen, though, because it's definitely not 'happy' or 'uppity' music, but it's certainly not relaxing. It always makes me frustrated, but in a good, calm way. I like that. I have to give Interpol a listen. I'm so caught up in Doves fever at the moment. Thanks for the awesome reviews, guys. I'll be making my own additions as soon as I receive the album.

Ah! Trail of Dead? To be honest, I only listened to them because my girlfriend shoves them down my throat in response to me shoving Shpongle (totally different sound) down hers.

But STAC is one amazing album, I love every song on that thing. Same with Interpol, I'm sure you'll love them - but for god's sakes, get Specialist! (It's on their EP and Jap import version of TOTBL).
You won't regret getting Avalanche.

I said it's not one the most amazing albums of the year, but....it's growing...

I will now try these so called Doves.

 

[sapphiremodena]

I can't stop listening to While We Were Hunting Rabbits. I've had the album since Tuesday morning and I must've listened about 50 times already. I'm addicted to the song.

I've been meaning for a very long time to listen to Trail of Dead and also to Interpol, but I've been too busy or lazy to pick up either one. Spring break is next week for me.

Quote:

"Dear Mr. Good ...the world is a better off place without you. Your music is good but your personality sucks. Please remedy this."

Hahahaha... I love "inside" jokes. For example:
(Avalanche is a very good album, and you sure won't regret picking it up, but his best work is still "Under the Table and Dreaming".)

Jeez... I was just on a fansite and it says that Avalanche has already sold 50,000 copies in 3 days. To get an idea of how much that is, Beautiful Midnight, MGB's best selling album, sold 24,000 in it's first week.

 

[Trounce]

OK, I've listened sufficiently to this album to make my interpretations with confidence.

Just to start off, my favourite song on the album is not 'Hunting Rabbits' but rather 'Avalanche." It's reminds me most of my favourite song from 'Audio of Being' and (still) my favourite Matt Good song, 'The Rat Who Would Be King." It's an epic song and absolutely blows me away. Matthew Good has the vocal range to sing well this type of music, and does so incredibly ably and amazingly.

Obviously my next favourite song is 'Hunting Rabbits'. It is absolutely beautiful. The chorus is so catchy. I love it. Enough said.

Onto the more obscure songs. '21st Century Living' is an intense ramble with an electronic back. This song could have sucked, but the lyrics are brilliant and contain a healthy cynicism that gets one thinking. Awesome song.

Next, 'Lullaby for the New World Order' is an airy ensemble with an onboard orchestra sound; awesome. A little poppy, but I like that.

I haven't listened to the second half enough to comment, but from what I've heard, they sound very similar, which is a plight many people have exclaimed about Matt Good in the past. I'm not going to pass judgement, because after a few listens, every song opens up its pandora's box of secrets and becomes unique.

Can't wait to listen more!

 

[Trounce]

Anyone else want to comment on this brilliant album?

 

[sapphiremodena]

I can't stop listening to it. I've probably spun it about 75 times already. And only 14 days have passed.

I seriously can't wait for the concert. It's going to be amazing. The only sad thing is that "Rabbits" will not be performed live. Apparently Matt has tried, but he can't even come close to recreating it, and it just wouldn't do it justice. But there's been talk about him finding new spins on both old (MGB) and new (solo) songs, so I'm sure it will be great.

[on a side note: If you own the cd, go to houseofsmokeandsmirrors.com and you can enter to win passes to the soundcheck of your city's concert.]


God I love this album. I wonder if Odin or Zanth have heard it yet, I know that they're fans. I think Gloco might be a fan too. Can't remember.

 

[sapphiremodena]

*bump*

 

[Trounce]

I'm going to have to tone my opinion of this album down just a tad. It's a bit too "poppy" for me, and some of the tracks sounds almost the same. Another thing is that there are a few duds, meaning that while the entire album would be brilliant by any other pop artist's viewpoint, compared to the standards I know of Matt Good in the past, they are lacking.

Recently, I have been listening to Beautiful Midnight more, and would have to say that it's their best album, just slightly better than Audio of Being. I love Audio of Being. I think that 'Advertising on Police Cars' and 'The Rat Who Would be King' are two of the most powerful songs I've ever heard. 'Avalanche' and 'Rabbits' are the equivalents of those songs on the new album, and while I like 'Avalanche' better than 'Police', I think 'Rat' is a MUCH better song than 'Rabbits'. Phew! See the connection?

While I still think that Avalanche is an amazing album, there are only a few songs I want to listen to, as opposed to his previous albums, especially Beautiful Midnight, which I can listen to from start to finish and feel completely satisfied. The last song on Beautiful Midnight, 'Running for Home', is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard and a perfect album-closer.

In order of rating now,

Ghetto Astronauts - 2 stars - too "rocker" for me
Underdogs - 3 stars - an awesome precursor to Midnight, but still a little inconsistent
Beautiful Midnight - 5 stars - Just a perfect album from start to finish.
Audio of Being - 4.5 stars - Carmelina and a couple other duds keep this from perfection.
Avalanche - 4 stars- I know, I know. But it's got a great first half =)