Album Rating: 4.5

The Rank Your Albums series caught up with Greg and he says the band all agree that ATP is 1 and OTIP is 2. That's okay but he says they don't do anything musically interesting on OTIP and I don't understand that... it was the last album that they did anything musically interesting.

Album Rating: 5.0

nah, you could argue both. musically, OTIP is very simple. standard 4-chord progressions, power chords, nothing fancy. The one exception I can think of is intro to Burn After Writing.

I read that whole Rank Your Records piece and it was super interesting. Learned a bit from that. Greg's albums rankings mirror mine 100%

totally get what greg is sayin about them "not really knowing what they were doing" on OTIP, in contrast to their conscious application of songwriting skill on ATP. i feel like a lotta band's best albums are "lightning in a bottle" moments where it's totally born from passion and urgency but also happens to come together perfectly; whereas they might have a later album that's not quite as good but feels really clearly like a product of mastery of their sound. for example twy's suburbia and greatest generation reflects that dichotomy to me

Album Rating: 4.0

yeah songwriting is tighter on after the party but feels more meticulous than otip

Album Rating: 4.5

In the article, Greg said that they all had new relationships when they were recording AtP, but recently he posted a celebratory 15 year anniversary post with his girlfriend. Where is the truth?

I am a strong proponent of the fact that some of the best music comes from artists that have “no idea what they are doing.”

Album Rating: 4.0

"they don't do anything musically interesting on OTIP"



Just goes to show artists dont know shit about their own shit. Is he talking instrumentally? Because instrumentally OTIP is their most interesting.

Album Rating: 4.0

"standard 4-chord progressions, power chords, nothing fancy."



Theres more of that here than OTIP. OTIP had great leads.

Album Rating: 4.0

"I think some of the melodies are so strong and there’s really good ideas there, but we didn’t know how to trim the fat off of them. There’s songs where it’ll go to these weird outros and it’s like, what are we doing?"



Ugh, this is a problem a lot of musicians have. They think its maturing to start "trimming the fat" by using boring verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus structures and cutting anything unique and weird out.

"Ugh, this is a problem a lot of musicians have. They think its maturing to start "trimming the fat" by using boring verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus structures and cutting anything unique and weird out."

Man this is so true. It doesn't help that music writers constantly conflate the two.

kinda sounds like you aren't a musician. you aren't entirely wrong, but saying a musician shouldn't refine their process or trim ideas that don't translate to an audience is some armchair philosophy

"Just goes to show artists don't know shit about their own shit." i hate this lol.

I always see it as a delicate balance between unique but also accessible. What does Sgt Peppers, OK Computer, or Soft Bulletin have in common? They're all pretty unique sounding records at times but also very accessible for the masses. Notice how all these albums are incredibly highly praised.

Having an album that's too accessible looks like you're selling out. Having an album that's too unique and weird might alienate your fans.

IDK maybe I'm boiling it down into way too simple of a concept, but it's just how I've always seen it.

Album Rating: 4.0

yeah while the audience likes it when the band doesn’t sound like they know what they’re doing, the more it becomes the bands job the more they want to fix those mistakes and streamline their craft. say what you will about them losing anything that made them “unique and weird”, but that’s just kind of what happens when bands get older and from their perspective makes sense

Album Rating: 1.5

It's not like their music has ever been complex tbh

Album Rating: 4.0

"kinda sounds like you aren't a musician."



actually i am, not that that really matters anyways.



"saying a musician shouldn't refine their process or trim ideas"



yeah except i didnt say that. clearly Greg and i just have different ideas of what "refinement" and "trimming the fat" means. being safe and not trying new things and taking no risks and trying to be as squeaky clean as possible by lazily following the formula of what youre "supposed to do" isnt refinement to me. i like it when bands keep weird little quirks in their music.



"i hate this lol."



whats the problem with it? its pretty well known that musicians usually have a very different view of their own work compared to their fans.

Album Rating: 4.5

>Ugh, this is a problem a lot of musicians have. They think its maturing to start "trimming the fat" by using boring verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus structures and cutting anything unique and weird out.



Too fucking true... I don't see them ever writing another song like The Obituaries, Sculptors and Vandals, or Mexican Guitars. They've grown into a straight 4-chord rock band and while I'm glad that's not all the do live, I do groan a little bit every time I have to hear House on Fire or Midwestern States

Album Rating: 4.5

>yeah while the audience likes it when the band doesn’t sound like they know what they’re doing, the more it becomes the bands job the more they want to fix those mistakes and streamline their craft. say what you will about them losing anything that made them “unique and weird”, but that’s just kind of what happens when bands get older and from their perspective makes sense



Thrice went through the same process and it was heartbreaking to see. Not sure how much was just Dustin deciding "we're not gonna sit in the dark anymore" was a deep line and how much was the band overall losing passion, but Palms was such a fucking disappointment.



On the contrary, Thursday went out on their best album after jumping into the deep end and blending their post-hardcore with the most memorable rock production I've ever heard.

Album Rating: 4.0

"They've grown into a straight 4-chord rock band"



yep. i think it worked here, it was fun to hear jukebox Menzingers. but the singles for Hello Exile sound like autopilot. theyve found their formula and theyre going to stick to it now. i knew this sound wasnt going to get very much mileage. Strangers Forever and Anna are almost like Menzingers parody songs, and they dont come across as genuine. now its like they feel like they have to fit a certain blueprint and thats what theyre doing, whereas before it always felt like they were just doing what came naturally. i guess they feel forced to me. its only three songs, so hopefully the rest of the record can change my mind, but im not too hopeful. theyre bad indications.



also, Greg: stop doing that extremely lazy thing where you keep leading back into the final chorus by doing a quieter or build-up version of the chorus, come up with some more interesting ideas. and it often happens on songs where youre already doing the chorus 3 fuckin times.

Album Rating: 3.0

I don't think it worked here

Album Rating: 5.0

1. it absolutely did work here

2. I agree adolf, that final chorus thing is becoming a bit overdone