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GF music review club


Carvalho Diablo
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The Future Isn't What It Used To Be by Exit Calm

 

I am going to say straight off the bat that I struggled with this one. On the initial play through I was left with this feeling that I should be enjoying this album much more than I actually was. The fact that this was proving not to be the case turned into a bit of head scratcher for me. This album was obviously not quite working for me but putting my finger on to the why was proving troublesome. Music is often about how it makes you feel and trying to put that into words isn't always easy at least for me.

 

First of, I think I went through a similar process to Carvalho - ticking off mentally the various references to other bands. I did wonder for a while if this might have been the issue for me. Perhaps they were a little too derivative.  Thinking about it a bit more I realized that wasn't really fair. Most music we listen to derivative. I know if I was going to criticise this album for that I may as junk most of music collection too. No it wasn't that.

It had to be something else.

 

So I listened to it a few more times this time paying more attention to each song and I think I finally got what was troubling me. There were snippets, passages of play, certain guitar sounds, and I found myself thinking oh yes I really like that, that's more like it. The band can certainly play there is no doubt about that. My problem, and it most probably is all mine, is to these old ears those snippets never joined up long enough for me to really enjoy what I was hearing. There were always too many bits in the middle where I screwed my face up.

It's a real shame because I really wanted to like this but I well and truly bounced off this. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Future Isn't What It Used To Be - Exit Calm.

 

Three tracks into this and I REALLY like this album. It sounds predictable to say but the first track could be U2. When they were really good. But only the first track. The next two tracks have a swagger all of their own, although I can't help but think of The Verve again when they were really good. But all of this seems unfair on this album as it's nice to hear an album I have not heard of before and listen to it and just think of this album alone. 

 

The Rapture

 

As said in the intro this is U2 in their pomp and a great opener 8/10 easily.

 

Albion

 

Maybe a down-slide but not by much, and the last third of the track knows it will deliver. 7.5/10

 

Fiction

 

Good lord. This song rocks and this band knows how to rock it. This part of the record feels like someone sat down and really thought about how they wanted this track to sound and didn't stop until the track sounded like it. I love it. 9.5/10

 

When They Rise

 

Nice track, lots of swinging guitars and the vocals are understated which suits this nicely. Really into this. 8/10

 

Higher Bound

 

I am thinking of Elbow and also a band that I used to really like and I can not name them. But I hear them here. Definitely an album track but a nice one and there's no shame in that. Take a (El)bow. 7.5/10

 

Holy War

 

Oh. My. God. I thought Fiction was going to be the best track on the album. That's a reasonable assumption as I thoroughly enjoyed it and gave it 9.5/10. And then this track came on. This is dirty. This is swagger. This is rock. Where has this album been hiding and why haven't I heard of it before. And the vocals swirl over the top of it. And why is this track not played on every single radio station in the country. In the world. Maybe I'm going over the top here but I don't care. It would be a shame to lower the score of Fiction from 9.5/10 as it thoroughly deserves it. But this is worth more than an extra 0.5. Therefore it gets 13/10. I'm nervous about the rest of the album now as I think this is as high as it's going to get and it's probably downhill from here...

 

Promise

 

Yep, it was inevitable. But that's OK. This is a filler track but I'll get over that by skipping it on. 4/10.

 

Glass Houses

 

But this track opens up nicely with some good riffs and dirty drumming. Still not up to the opening tracks for me personally but it's OK 6/10. I'm not convinced this track is worth almost 6 minutes when Holy War is just over this. It's very competently put together but suffers from what came before.

 

Open Your Sky

 

I wonder if this track is worth over 6 minutes? In all honesty, no but it's still a decent closer. 7/10.

 

But the first six tracks of the nine are well worth the entrance fee with Holy War standing above all the other tracks. 8/10 overall.

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6 hours ago, REDTALISKER said:

I believe it is my turn but it's all gone quiet on the thread. Are people still interested in this going on?

It has gone quiet, I still listen but I'm not sure how many others are now. Definitely at least three others.

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 The GF Music Club Youtube channel

 

Unfortunately Sun isn't on Spotify yet, but here's the link and the embed to our club's Spotify playlist.

 

The GF Music Collective on Spotify

 

<iframe src="https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/carvalho666/playlist/3k64dON6XvCI1W9GFNH8Gr" width="300" height="380" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>

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Ah fuck it, still haven't got the hang of this new forum embed shit yet.

 

Further to RedTalisker's earlier point about the club going very quiet, it's undeniably true sadly. The club is only as good as those participating, it's no good if we're only posting album links without any reviews coming back in, there's a bunch of other threads where that happens already, but I'm happy to cntinue with the club even if there are only a few of us left who are regularly contributing.

 

Our more recent list of members :

 

Shooter

Moof

Skids

Boss

Howie

Winston

Me

Zonko

RedTalisker

Clarence

BabbsBurst Nad

and Stig

 

Those names in bold are those of us who, in my opinion, have been active members over the past few months. Some of the other lads have been less so. No finger pointing, life gets in the way, people have other stuff to do, Red Dead Redemption 2 etc.

 

So I'd be happy to just keep the club going for those of us who'd like to review and participate. For those other lads on the list, they're still very welcome to join in too. Even Stig.

 

Next man up with his debut AOW is Clarence. His selection due around 3 weeks time, around 21st November.

 

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As usual, I'm a week late with a review.

 

Exit Calm - The Future Isn't What It Used To Be

 

My first impressions are that they sound like a band who were influenced by the whole Indie Britpop scene, but missed the boat in terms of age; sort of a too young for Korea, too old for 'Nam thing, and thus slightly fall between two stools to my ears.

 

The opening few tracks are a bit hit and miss. Rapture is solid, then Albion seems to lose a touch of the Northern edge to the vocals, lapsing too close to mid-atlantic for my liking, before Fiction takes things up a notch. If anything, this seems to be a microcosm of the album as a whole, or at least my take on it. Indie underpinnings, with a touch of a slower pace, in the Elbow mould, but taking the odd detour along the way. It'd be wrong to label it generic, but formulaic would perhaps be fitting. I always felt I knew when the vocals would kick in and was never really challenged to think about what was going on. That's not a criticism, as I like tracks that come in when you get the itch.

 

My main gripe would be the drums never hitting hard to get my blood up, as the frequently soaring vocals would be a nice juxtaposition, even if they do stray towards Travis levels of breathiness some times, as in Higher Bound.

 

Fiction and Promise are my high points, with the former having a solid drum beat in the the intro, and the latter going for some pleasingly crunching guitar and straining vocals to hit a crescendo (more my cup of tea). At the start of the album I thought I knew where it was going, but as things progressed it got a bit more experimental, as the tracks got longer, yet I still couldn't quite click with it. It feels like solid driving music, and I'm a man who doesn't drive. There's not a bad track on the whole album, but I'm not sure the risks were taken to make one I truly loved either. Ying and yang and all that bollocks.

 

I'd give it an inoffensive but slightly middle-of-the-road 6/10. No major criticisms, but nothing I really hankered to hear more of afterwards either.

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1 hour ago, TheHowieLama said:

I still listen to every album that is put up and have found some good new music - there was a stretch of a couple that were not for me so I didn't really bother piling on. 

 

Howie, that's understandable mate. There have been some that we've all not liked for whatever reason but have still reviewed. At least throw in a one line yay or nay on it so we know it's proper shit... and that you've at least listened to it.

 

Same for everyone or else this doesn't really function as intended. 

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I'd never heard of Exit Calm today and never knowingly heard one of their songs.

So I went to youtube and found that the album had been uploaded by some massive nobber called Carvalho Diablo. 

"that can't be a good start" I said to myself.

I proceeded anyway.

 

Track 1 The Rapture.

Very good opening track, enjoyed that and surprised by it's intensity, normally openers are gentle affairs.

This had a Bunnymen and Joshua Tree era U2 feel about it. Maybe a touch of Everything must go Manics too.

 

Track 2 Albion

Not bad, I prefer the opening track, but still good enough. This has more of a Stone Roses feel about in places. The Second Coming sound. Very Indie/90's rock/new wave feel about it.

 

Track 3 Fiction

This is Stone Roses again. Again very 90's Indie Rock feel about it. Elements of U2 Bullet the Blue Sky chucked in.

Good song overall.

 

Track 4 When they rise

Again has a Bunnymen/Icicle Works and 90s Indie feel to it. Slower early tempo to it, but rise the same levels in places.

Again enjoyed the song.

 

Track 5 Higher Bound

In a similar Cast/Charlatans but more full sound version.

Whilst it was listenable, this was more Egg Bound than Higher Bound.

Weakest song on the album so far, maybe by design, less anthemic.

 

Track 6 Holy War

Again a good, fuller sound Indie rock song, a similar template to tracks 1 and 3.

Probably the second best song on the album so far.

 

Track 7 Promise

This is Second Coming Stone Roses again. A 4 and a half minute jam, that's been done before, that rises and falls in rocky melody.

 

Track 8 Glass Houses

Again it's musically good, solid drum beat, well played and well delivered, it doesn't vary much from the other tracks, it rises to an Indie crescendo, anthemic and then falls to a more pulsing rhythm. 

 

Track 9 Open your Sky

What can I say that I haven't said before? It's another good, solid 90's Indie rock tune that starts slightly more like an atmospheric ballad.

But again, it's Stone Roses with a touch of The Cure post Disintegration. With 87-89 U2. In the best 3 songs on the album.

 

Having never heard of the band before I can say that I enjoyed listening to The Future isn't what it used to be. 

It has been done before by numerous bands over the last 30 years, but at least it was done well.

I really like The Rebound the opening track, Fiction, Holy War and Open your sky.

It's not an album I'd buy but I would listen to it again.

It's well played and produced Indie Rock. You'd tell a mate to give it a listen.

Overall I'd give it a solid 7/10, had I never heard the 50 bands that had done it before, then I might have given it an 8.

Glad I listened to it though.

 

 

 

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On 10/31/2018 at 12:58 PM, Carvalho Diablo said:

Ah fuck it, still haven't got the hang of this new forum embed shit yet.

 

Further to RedTalisker's earlier point about the club going very quiet, it's undeniably true sadly. The club is only as good as those participating, it's no good if we're only posting album links without any reviews coming back in, there's a bunch of other threads where that happens already, but I'm happy to cntinue with the club even if there are only a few of us left who are regularly contributing.

 

Our more recent list of members :

 

Shooter

Moof

Skids

Boss

Howie

Winston

Me

Zonko

RedTalisker

Clarence

BabbsBurst Nad

and Stig

 

Those names in bold are those of us who, in my opinion, have been active members over the past few months. Some of the other lads have been less so. No finger pointing, life gets in the way, people have other stuff to do, Red Dead Redemption 2 etc.

 

So I'd be happy to just keep the club going for those of us who'd like to review and participate. For those other lads on the list, they're still very welcome to join in too. Even Stig.

 

Next man up with his debut AOW is Clarence. His selection due around 3 weeks time, around 21st November.

 

 

 

 

What do i owe in terms of reviews? 

 

I’m sort of back something of a less hectic life. I’m think Bad Brains was the last one I started to listen to. 

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4 hours ago, Skidfingers McGonical said:

What do i owe in terms of reviews? 

 

I’m sort of back something of a less hectic life. I’m think Bad Brains was the last one I started to listen to. 

Think  you've missed a few mate :

 

The Fall - Infotainment Scan

Smashing Pumpkins - Adore

Exit Calm - The Future Isn't What It Used To Be

and this weeks AOW Cat Power - Sun

 

Goood  to have you back mate.

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