|
| |
|
|
|
Review Summary: Slightly more formidable than unexpected loose bowel movements Wizzard's Roy Wood sang “I wish it could be Christmas every day”, but that would be shit, wouldn't it? The novelty vanishes in that preposterous scenario, along with the agonising anticipation that makes Christmas the cherished celebration it is. I reckon by day ten of this perpetual holiday hellscape, everyone would have offed themselves.
The Joy Formidable share a similar pipe dream. They want their albums to be epic, their songs massive, but when everything is made to sound big, nothing actually does. Hitch wants to be the biggest sandwich ever made, but it's just a big, stodgy loaf of fucking bread. These tracks are only as long as they are so that they can call themselves long. In fact, the only track on Hitch that can justify being over 6 minutes long is the closer 'Don't Let Me Know', which actually seems to make a concerted effort to build and emote, but most listeners will be dead by the time it rolls around. It's not enough of a reward for anyone who's braved the preceding hour of white noise. It reminds me of my dad being gifted a pencil by his place of work for being an employee for 25 years.
The majority of Hitch is just such a struggle. Everything sounds ridiculously flat, not least of all Ritzy Bryan's vocals, which fail to ever convey anything that could be mistaken for emotion, always muddied by unnecessary double tracks. It's such a pleasant respite when, halfway through the record on appropriately titled 'The Gift', one of the male members takes over vocal duties. His voice is fragile and weary. When he's done, he sighs, and a lead guitar takes over the lamentation. It's a really fine track, made especially noteworthy because it's the closest thing to variety that Hitch has.
It's all well and good to set out to make a masterpiece, but if you mix paint of every colour on a palette, eventually it just turns grey.
|
Album Rating: 2.0
To give you an idea of how highly this band thinks of themselves, see this Facebook post mocking a 16-year old writer for mischaracterising a flute:
---------
Dear Izzie,
The "intangible sort of whistling pipe effort" on Underneath the Petal is a wind instrument called the Flute. It was invented about 40,000 years ago. Here's a nice picture. Hope that helps with any future music-journalism endeavours. Love The Joy Formidable
Artrocker : "questionable ‘Underneath The Petal’, incorporating twanging guitars, a random piano, and even some intangible sort of whistling pipe effort manages to snake its way in ..."
---------
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
Wow I bet they're a riot to hang out with.
Review is excellent, I'll only check this if I'm really bored one day soon.
Pos'd.
| | |
I thought this was a bit better than a 2, but nowhere near the quality of The Big Roar.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
2 was being quite fair considering I don't think I'd be able to subject myself to this again
| | |
I actually liked a bunch of songs off of their first album. was a cool shoegazey alt band that gave me SSPU vibes in a good way. shame to see their other stuff isnt as good
| | |
yeah their first album and the Balloon EP are both sweet. it's too bad they fell off. kinda sounds like the wrong people got control of their sound or somethin. or the band just lost their heads
| | |
This is disappointing, some of the songs aren't all that bad, but the production is absolutely terrible. Shame, because I've enjoyed most of what they've done up until now.
| | |
"but most listeners will be dead by the time it rolls around"
pos
| | |
This sounds like a chore to get through. Never liked their other stuff anyways. pos!
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
Thanks for the pos's.
The Big Roar is solid for a debut, the singles are catchy and it knows when to exercise restraint, but they just keep making the same mistakes.
| | |
Great review. A guy at work found out that I was into 'guitar music' and was really shocked I had not listened to these guys. I wasn't impressed and judging by this damning review they have only gotten worse.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
In case anyone's interested, they posted this in response to some of the backlash following their sarcy slagging off of a writer who bad mouthed them:
----------
"Here's us setting the record straight regarding the Artrocker review and our response.
If you care about being a good music writer you know that it comes with responsibility. Opinion aside, good writing deserves care and accuracy and once you place your opinion in the public domain - you know that's its open to its own scrutiny, that people can agree or disagree with what you've written. We rarely read reviews- we've always appreciated that they are subjective, 1 persons meat is another's poison. But the one thing we've NEVER subscribed to is journalists being able to say anything they like about us and our work without expecting a reply.
Some of the comments here, suggest that we should never answer; that it's one way street, an open platform for a writer to humiliate or disregard a musician or body of work whilst we sit mute. And the media expects it too, the accountability is gone because they expect most bands to be too shit scared of rocking the boat."
----------
Embarrassing band.
| | |
What is embarrassing about that? They're just conveying their right to comment on someone's review. We all do it here, not sure why an artist would be exempt from that privilege.
| | |
I agree with Hopelust they can bash ppls reviews but it might change ppls opinions of them by doing so
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
They for sure are well within their rights to comment on a review, but their original comment homed in on a throwaway phrase from the review and mocked it in a passive aggressive, toys out the pram way. Didn't seem to want to address any of the actual points being raised in the review, so I don't understand the free speech martyrdom. Seems like they're trying to nullify the rest of the review cos the author didn't use the word "flute" when describing the flute.
So, mostly embarrassing because this album is pretty dang bad, and they seem dumbfounded that anyone would think so.
| | |
"So, mostly embarrassing because this album is pretty dang bad, and they seem dumbfounded that anyone would think so."
I've only heard one track so I can't comment, and I'm not about to start a dispute over the supposed ignorance or pretentious nature of the band. However, I will say that generally, any artist with a sense of self-respect isn't going to say "thanks for the tip!" for unwanted "constructive" criticism.
Sometimes it's easy to forget that, when writing a negative review, one is directly contesting with something that has likely been the brainchild of the artist for the better part of 2-3 years. Writers can also go off after simply one listen (or less!) of an album, which can take less than an hour, while the album itself took much MUCH longer to create. And at the base of it all is the fact that it's generally the artist's livelyhood at stake, so when a music journalist throws a negative review down the line, they better know what the fuck a flute is. That, in my opinion, is the only embarrassing part of all of this.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
I can appreciate that obviously you're gonna be proud and defensive when it comes to your music, but it doesn't make qualms any less valid. And whilst it's up to the band if they want to respond to criticism, I personally don't think it's necessary unless there's some sort of gross misinterpretation of intention or something. If the review was positive there wouldn't have been a "pfft it's called a flute mate" response. I'd say I'm less defending the journo in question (the review is kinda badly written) and more of the opinion that the post was a bit bratty in its publicness and snobby sarcasm.
I'll concede that "embarrassing" was the wrong choice of word. I think I just am sad that this album is the result of "taking time".
| | |
Fair enough. It definitely sucks when new music from an artist you respect and enjoy doesn't turn out to be great... or even good, for that matter.
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
I've had it much worse than this, too. I vehemently dislike TV On The Radio's newest album and they're one of my all time favourites.
| | |
| |
