charly bliss: guppy

http://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2017/02/guppy_sq-0f206a75110d9dc3170c3ad5bb741f80c2764aec-s500-c85-1486480037-compressed.jpg

hi everyone this is my fav band in new york, like most bands in new york they recall the '90s but this is more specifically the belly/veruca salt axis if a little squeakier and more invariably bright

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_2UqssvaSc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGhFsNP_Rdk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-grIezjeaw

album out april 24

<3

as expected this thread will be authored by me and johnny fever, no features

very catchy

this is what all bands in nyc sound like now?

j/k tho i feel like there's not an insignificant amount of '90s throwback rock bands here or in philly

these guys have a particular ear for hooks though imo and prioritize the pop as much if not slightly more than the power which sets them apart

i've been waiting for a thread where i could casually drop the names of letters to cleo and eve's plum and not feel unwelcome.

also, they seem like they should be from boston, not new york.

I will admit and acknowledge that the throwbackness of Charly Bliss is what drew me to them initially, but Brad is right that they write exquisitely hooky songs that take the whole enterprise well above pastiche.

I've been trying to nail who exactly Eva's voice reminds me of. I'm still not there, but one day it will come to me.

kind of close vocally: paula kelley of the drop nineteens (speaking of boston):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaN1rMjH18E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKl8Gw68awY

song r0cks

is this album out yet?

sorry, reread OP

my god, this is the new best band ever

this is the closest 90s thing to charly bliss imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glDFPjrolx0

yes! that dog. was what immediately came to mind for me, too. charly singer is a bit squeakier than Anna Waronker, but yes.

Yeah, BradNelson is OTM that they bring the hooks. Thanks for pointing this band out

Charly Bliss are great. They've been around for awhile—"Love Me" was one of my favorite songs of 2014—I'm glad they're finally releasing an album (thankfully it's not loaded with old songs, like Bully's debut; "Ruby," "Percolator," and "Gatorade" are the only tracks already released). Does anyone else prefer the Audiotree Live version of "Percolator"? I love her yelp in the beginning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elL0ktbhhnM

Great song and love the video for it. "Black Hole" is "Bad Box" on their audiotree live performance for those interested.

this band seems great

Guppy streaming now at NPR.

http://www.npr.org/2017/04/13/523437524/first-listen-charly-bliss-guppy

omg

oh yeah this is precisely as good as i expected it to be

yeah this totally rules, hooks for days

mentioning belly made me very curious.

This is everything I wanted it to be <333

unsurprisingly I love this album, but it is way more like kay hanley than tanya donelly, both in sound and songwriting

Yeah, there's nothing Belly-ish about this at all. I like it more than I ever liked Letter to Cleo, though.

I'm not sure why they re-recorded "Ruby." I mean, it's about 99% the same, but the tiny differences are throwing me off.

btw the answer to who her voice reminds you of is mz moxy, or at least it is for me

This album is a miracle

And yeah I hear Letters to Cleo here more than anyone else, but they never made an album this consistently good

"DQ" is so killer

Of the songs posted itt, I quite like "Glitter." The rest are somewhere between "yeah, this is catchy" and "but did I really need another Letters to Cleo record?" Still, I'll check out the album. Hoping "Glitter" isn't the only track with synths on it.

it's not! did....did you not need another letters to cleo record?

I liked LtC, but I haven't touched their 90s records in years.

I mean we just DID get another letters to cleo record also

and that's not counting Weaponize or either of the Palmdale EPs

yeah also that!

Can't stop playing this album. Definitely my favorite of the year so far. Torn between "DQ" and "Glitter" as the best song on it.

i really like the rerecording of "ruby" and generally how much synth they layered over this thing

I came around to the new "Ruby"; took some getting used to. Was listening to the A Lot to Say and Soft Serve EPs today and realized just how much progress they've made with Guppy (really glad Eva takes lead vocals on all 10 tracks).

Also, she's quickly becoming one of my favorite lyricists. So funny, bizarre, and self-deprecative, but not in a classically emo tear-yourself-down kinda way. So many quotables on this record, but the opening lines of "DQ" are my favorite: "I laughed when your dog died/it's cruel, but it's true/take me back, kiss my soft side/does he love me most now that his dog is toast?"

katherine this is great! http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/23085-guppy/

Doesn't sound like them particularly but something reminds me of The Blake Babies.

I made a post in this thread yesterday giving Katherine a hi-five for namedropping Stretch Princess in 2017, but it disappeared. I can't let that acknowledgement go unappreciated though, so I'm posting it again.

"jawbreaker soundtrack" could be swapped out for "she's all that soundtrack" or really just like any soundtrack between 1995-2005

Love this album.

this is great, they totally get that the best of this stuff was about hard rock as much as it was about hooks

ennhhh, not especially

I want to like this so much. They kind of have "Erica band" written all over them and yet I find her voice so awful and grating that I can't listen to any of it beyound a couple seconds. :/

this is a total sugar rush

seeing them tonight. this album is so catchy.

Eva Hendricks last night: "Do you guys love the song "Minneapolis" by that dog.?"

Hey, I like this record.

It looks like some other old person beat me to the that dog comparison, but it's accurate. These are some catchy songs, and toadilly unique vocals.

Charly Bliss are a dynamite act!!!

i'm not old enough to remember it from the 90s but when i was in college my roommate and i watched every spike jonze music video :)

lovin the album btw. it's almost slight in its hyper-focused aesthetic, but perfecting the micro-est of pop micro-genres is the noblest pursuit imo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9DEK9mNVRU

^^the song that hooked me initially

That's definitely Camp Crystal Lake

this album makes me so happy

it reminds me of Be Your Own Pet in a lot of (good) ways

Four months later and this is still my favourite album of the year. like nothing else even comes close to this for me, pretty much every song is fantastic.

it is very good. i've come back to it more than any other new album as well.

samesies

i don't know if i will really put it at #1 at year's end, but it will be top 5 and i probably listen to it more than whatever will be ahead of it

I really hope this crushes it in the year-end album poll

the choruses on this are never leaving my brain these days, I wake up most days with something from this playing in my head

i love this album! a fun tidbit i also just learned is that the male guitarist was the voice of "dash" in the movie the incredibles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2GZT5f4J7U

seeing them and wolf parade in a tiny venue on Saturday, extremely stoked

that's a great video

would love to see WP

This album never wears out.

Glitter never fails to sounds absolutely magica

*magical

saw them last night, the listed set times were more of a lie than pizzagate and qanon combined (I'm old, live nowhere near brooklyn and work 9 to 5 so I'm probably just complaining unnecessarily) but the set itself was amazing

I just don't get big gaps between artists playing, fair enough when you're with someone but as a regular single gig goer they are just painful. Finish the show earlier and we can all go home, or get an extra local band to play a set.

Old and cranky I am.

But yes they put on a great show, always seem thankful to the crowds which I love

few bands seem as genuinely appreciative of the attention as this band, it's v charming

my sister saw these folks open for Death Cab the other night and I'm listening to this album now and it's good I think

you are a right thinking person

New album out on May 10th!!

https://lnk.bio/charlybliss?fbclid=IwAR0Ha37znKyFb7i3KsOh8SILR0CZfzqlQS_08Sxl1w_QxkQ4nLavmxIDfBg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3yayHHmUxs

you beat me to it!!!

Haha, I was surprised to be the first one. Video directed by Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast. Two of my favourites!

Oh great another guitar band discovers synths.

wasn't really expecting them to suddenly get into the synths but i like it, the verse reminds me a fair bit of LC!

I appreciate the dedication to accurate 90s recall of the guitars to analog synth shift that happened mid decade, but tbh this song is underserved by Moogs.

Nice

Just noticed that Heaven isn't on the new album. That's a shame.

Normally, I'm all synths >>>>>>> guitars but yeah, really don't feel this applies here. Lovely melodies as usual, but so much of what made their debut great were those punchy, sparkly guitar hooks.

Aweh I really like this!

I hate to be a "I miss the guitars" guy but I miss the guitars

i assume y'all will get some of what you want on the actual record

yeah, i expect this track will fit better into an album compared to how it seems as a standalone.

I hope we get some more guitars. But the fact that they left Heaven off the album makes me think otherwise.

i think "heaven" was written and recorded before any of the new album, is why it's standalone

they played it at the guppy release show i attended two years ago

part of team sceptical/concerned over here.
Guppy was probably my most-played record of 2017 and this... reminds somewhat of Kero Kero Bonito during the snythy beginning and Carly Rae Jepsen towards the end?

And even though I absolutely love KKB and CRJ, this just isn't what I want from Charly Bliss.

I don't know, I enjoy songs with a lovely chorus and harmonies, so I like this a lot. And it does have guitars. Something for everyone.

I don't know if this really count as "another guitar band discovers synths" -- the hooks are still there, and there's a long gap from this to landfill synthpop. also, it's great, kind of reminds me of fight like apes

yeah i kept wanting to post “the bones of this song are good who caaares”

enh sonics matter, and despite the trad instrumentation on the last album, the sound was more distinctive. this sounds like a million other acts to me (for now, anyway)

maybe it's just that Eva's voice stands out to me more contrasting w/ the crunch

I mean, <i>Guppy</i> also sounded like a million other acts, they just happened to be really good ones

And many of them were from 20 years ago.

that too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXrJwXRyitg

Why does this one suck too? I'm worried.

"capacity" doesn't suck wtf

this one doesn't suck either but i'm still adjusting to it

You're right. But it's not super great or anything. xp

This one for sure sucks.

how do you tell which songs suck

For this band it's easy.

"Is this a song that only Charly Bliss could write?"

If the answer is yes, then hold on to your butt.

If the answer is no, then this sucks and why are they doing this??

feel like the great thing about this song is how the bridge completely takes over the middle of it

i don't think i'm a fan of this one : /

i like this a lot, the progression and accumulation is really satisfying

can't imagine complaining about the guitars on this one, at least

Here's my main gripe, and it may make sense or it may not, but apart from the songwriting itself on the first album, the thing that hooked me so deep to it is that everything they were doing just felt they were a conduit for pure crunchy pop rock energy captured from the ether. Nothing about it sounded like *work*, like these songs were birthed, fully formed and any and all fine-tuning was unnecessary. Ten perfect musical prizes.

Chatroom, especially, but Capacity as well, sound like the portal closed. They sound plotted, sculpted, and engineered to be *a sound*. And it comes through abundantly clear.

I dunno. The immediacy and impulsiveness is missing. If that makes any sense.

They're ostensibly fine songs, well-written, etc. They don't even sound phoned-in or anything. They did a good job with them.

They just don't kick me in the guts.

yeah I wouldn't say either song sucks exactly, I'd still rather listen to them than half the singles out this year, but there is a bit of sophomore slump to them

meh.
maybe album #3 will align with my taste more again.

album 2 isn't even out yet!!

but the direction seems clear, no?

JF otm. Neither of these songs are bad, but they also sound like they could have been made by a gazillion other bands. I loved the energy of Guppy.

I like this band a lot but I'm not convinced the first album is as wildly original or distinctive as is being made out here.

the first album isn't wildly original at all but it did feel distinctive enough in how good it was at the particular power pop sound it was aiming for

the new songs are enjoyable enough but i agree with those that feel they don't really capture what made the debut so good

This band was never very original; in fact Guppy remains wildly overrated. However, "Chatroom" is ace. I love it when plain-jane indie bands swing for the pop fences like this.

Lemme ask you this: do you prefer your music made with considered precision or more of a spark of immediacy?

Despite the fact I'm a huge Def Leppard fan, I generally get more of a kick from the latter.

These songs (and this album?) seem to be the product of the former, and that's the opposite of what I found so great about them.

About Charly Bliss, that is.

Just heard the new album for the first time. First impressions are that it's not the instant classic that Guppy was, but it's a good album. They have not done a Haim on us. The guitars have not totally disappeared although it is very keyboard heavy. There aren't exactly many tracks that could fit on the debut.

I'm hoping it's like the second Alvvays album where some of the songs initially seem a bit too slight, but they end up getting stuck in my head with me eventually enjoying the album as a whole as much as I loved the debut.

Just heard the new album for the first time

h-has it leaked?

Yeah, these new songs = not my taste at all. Still listening to "Percolator" and "Glitter" a lot, though.

h-has it leaked?

― josh az (2011nostalgia),

I have a stream of it to review.

It's extremely rare that I would get something sent this early.

Both new songs are v. enjoyable.

You're a cop.

How do you do, fellow Brooklynites.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQZdBVgkYCg&feature=youtu.be

love this new one (guitars and power pop choruses are back).

that embed doesn't work so here it is again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQZdBVgkYCg

song kicks ass

soz thanks, don't know what went wrong there.

fuck yeah, this rules

Got an advance of the new one in full. Opening track is a very smart way to start.

I really wasn't feeling the new album that much after my first play, but now I'm five plays in I'm already as obsessed with it as I was with Guppy. The title track in particular is really hitting me hard. I love how much bolder Eva's lyrics are overall.

They're one of the best groups around.

^^^^

also imo ppl spoke too soon about the sound change

also imo this album kicks a ton of ass

"hard to believe" as penultimate track is expert sequencing

and in time i will probably prefer this to guppy

<i>and in time i will probably prefer this to guppy</i>

Ok, that sounds serious

I will give this album a fair listen, but I'm still skeptical.

If this were the 90s and Charly Bliss were Letters to Cleo , Guppy would be the cd still in everyone's collections (Aurora Gory Alice) and Young Enough would be the cd in every music store's used bin (Wholesale Meats and Fish).

"Capacity" hits a nerve for me in a very real and specific way and I've gone from being fond of it as a single by a band I really like to easily one of my favourite singles released in a long, long time - I'm very excited to listen to this album

i get the chorus stuck in my head a lot (often while i'm thinking about the big thief album lol)

Guppy would be the cd still in everyone's collections (Aurora Gory Alice) and Young Enough would be the cd in every music store's used bin (Wholesale Meats and Fish).

― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, May 8, 2019 6:08 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this seems backwards

Just based on the sampler tracks, this album sounds more appealing to me than Guppy, which I was never really sold on.

this sounds good on first listen but i kinda doubt itll stick with me as much as guppy did

and in time i will probably prefer this to guppy

― american bradass (BradNelson)

I think I already do!

this album sounds more appealing to me than Guppy, which I was never really sold on.

i literally have no idea how this could be

Not feeling this so much. I mean it's not bad but Guppy had a sharper production and better melodies. This is Charly Bliss taking one step forward towards accessibility.

guppy was incredibly accessible though, is the thing?

I love how much bolder Eva's lyrics are overall.

staring at cars
selling your art
feeling so sure you're waking up tomorrow

better son or daughter
drunk walking home
making the choice to be completely alone

Guppy would be the cd still in everyone's collections (Aurora Gory Alice) and Young Enough would be the cd in every music store's used bin (Wholesale Meats and Fish).

lol the latter is a WAY better album!

Yes but this is even more friendly and poppy, with softer guitars and keyboards.

Xxpost

i guess but i still feel all their sharpness in stuff like "camera," "bleach," "hard to believe," etc.

"camera" is maybe the best song here besides the title track

It's a good record. But Guppy is better. First impression.i might change my mind after a few spins who knowd

i think there's a strokes song that really resembles "blown to bits"

overall this album doesn't have quite the same sense of dynamics or density of hooks (but that comes with the lower tempos generally) which were part of what made the debut so good

OTM

oh it's "all the time" of all things, they have pretty similar choruses

i think this record is way more dynamic than the debut

less within the songs themselves than from song-to-dog i guess, but this album has a really beautiful arc

song-to-song* lol

oh man, we're not gonna agree on this one, huh?

anyway, _for me_ it's pleasurably boring. It's okay and I get the appeal but as someone how still puts on Guppy to heighten the mood two years later, I can't see how this record would ever come close. Completely different mood, and not one I necessarily needed from Charly Bliss.

this is really bizarre to me, i guess we’re not hearing the same record!

When I listen to Guppy I hear a young band cramming a ton of interesting ideas into their songs. However for me the listening experience is a bit tiring at times. Young Enough is less fatiguing on my ears. Course I’m old so ymmv.

just one song but “over you” doesn’t strike me as a distinct mood from guppy at all

like i don’t mean to split hairs this much but this album is a same-band-with-new-tricks situation imo and there’s v little to complain about bc the new tricks are so well integrated, plus there are plenty of guppy-style bangers

this is otm ^

it's more dynamic than guppy, less densely hooky (but still hooky), moodier and a little less one-note (although that one note on guppy was as good as it gets).

they've basically followed up an incredible debut by doing something that's really hard: make a second record that is still "them" but also incorporates some new ideas, shows a little range/ambition and points them in a direction going forward.

it's impressive! does it all add up to "better than guppy"? time will tell (but that is an insanely high bar, btw)

("under you" and "hard to believe" rule)

... is "bleach" in 6/4? i love it deeply

the way eva's voice ascends and descends according to the synth melody is wonderful, it's like "scare u" x1000

This is fucking brilliant

I feel like if you loved "Guppy" because it was a great pop-punk album then this isn't the album for you but if you loved it because of the great lyrics and hooks and wanted to see them go bigger, bolder and more confident, then this is everything you could want from them

IT’S GONNA BREAK MY HEART TO SEE IT BLOWN TO BITS

alfred would like this record. alfred to thread

guppy is possibly the best power pop album ive ever heard but young enough is just pretty good

you were still just a kid
you’re a beautiful boy
crushing cigarettes just to prove a point

^^ my fav part of the title track rn

"under you" feels like a weak spot strengthened by its placement but otherwise i think i already like young enough (even) more than guppy, what a perfect progression of songs... one that cldn't fit the soft combustibility of something like "glitter", so i'm just glad we have both albums

i do wish it wasn't so in-the-red production-wise

you were still just a kid
you’re a beautiful boy
crushing cigarettes just to prove a point

^^ my fav part of the title track rn

― american bradass (BradNelson)

Yeah, I've had this in my head a lot recently. I think this might be their best song.

People make some OTT claims for Guppy considering its a pretty great piece of 90s nostalgia and that's about it, but it clearly has a fizz that this one lacks.

The production does the new one no favours, blowing the sound up like this makes everything feel that little bit emptier.

Blown To Bits is terrific though.

Guppy really was as good as this sort of thing gets for me, a step above all the 90s bands they're drawing so heavily from

oh my god y’all this album is better than guppy

i mean i shared y'all's reaction when i first heard "capacity" and "chatroom" but i hear that emptiness as space and atmosphere now, plus these songs are fucking great, i think their songwriting advanced considerably

How could I not adore an album whose sound world exists in the space between Hole’s “Awful”, Paramore’s “Daydreaming” and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Hysteric”?

The title track destroys me.

otm. also add, i think, some rilo kiley song that didn’t exist before this record (“camera”) and taylor swift’s “clean” (“hurt me”)

I need to step away from this album. Wasn't enthralled the first listen and it's been diminishing returns since. Hopefully I'll get something out of it when I revisit it but for now I'm firmly in the fragglerock camp.

oh my god y’all this album is better than guppy

But it so isnt.

I've been thinking a lot of Rilo Kiley when listening to this actually - lyrically the subject matter isnt too far removed from The Execution Of All Things on eg "Capacity", also you can kinda hear how both bands have singers who've come from a performing background and bring that precision of charisma into their performance

It also makes sense because people went off Rilo Kiley when they started realising their mainstream potential too, More Adventurous is the best RK album and also the album where they became more obviously ~refined

i mean i shared y'all's reaction when i first heard "capacity" and "chatroom" but i hear that emptiness as space and atmosphere now

yeah in hindsight "capacity" was a great intro to the album bc it in particular continually shades the space w various melodic elements & the reverberating percussive punctures; and like i feel like lesser bands wld've made the chorus of "chatroom" denser, but e.g. the way the guitar seems to shift from reflective shimmer in the chorus to center of accumulation in the bridge w/o changing tone is why it's so satisfying... if guppy feels gaseous young enough is fundamentally solid; the former is maybe more formally memorable but the addition of synths here definitely doesn't feel like just expansion, they illuminate the surfaces the songs glide across (such that the rhythmic steadiness is the point-- see the way the drums build up by switching back mid-bridge on "bleach", the friction at the whim of momentum-- & also why the great pacing is esp notable). idk i think it's really impressive how they're going for something so different while still being recognizably themselves, altho it also means "this is better than that" is a hard sell

the new album does make a couple songs on guppy feel a little aimless to me

(well a softer word than aimless... a little less aimful, in comparison)

this does the same thing the first album did: nice opening run of tracks, then gentle slump into mediocrity

it's decent music but no better imo. if you put the start of this album with the end of the beths album you'd have a decent 90s pop album

it seems insane to claim this is the best pop-rock/powerpop going but instead of providing loads of things i prefer i'll leave you all to it *shrug*

just provide like 3

speedy ortiz - foil deer for absolute starters

trust fund - bringing the backline
does mitski count? yes
sad13's solo album
mike krol?

pup!

p much all of those records have nothing to do with this one besides being superficially more complicated

the pup record’s songwriting isn’t this strong

lol i need to wait til i'm not tired before commenting ig

anyway the only comparison itt that might make me want to listen to something else instead is bc nothing touches taylor swift's best song

lol i was reaching a little for that comparison point. “hurt me” still sounds like a t. swift song though

Young Enough makes me madder every time I play it. This is the final time. Y'all enjoy, but if anyone says it's objectively better than Guppy I'm cursing your family.

I think this is probably a lot like how I felt about Last Splash vs Pod.

it’s objectively better than guppy

imagine being mad at this record

imagine being mad

I definitely do prefer Young Enough to Guppy already. It kind of reminds me of how I felt about the second Japanese Breakfast album (which ended up as my favourite album of 2017). Everything feels so much bolder, especially with how Michelle and Eva get more personal using the music to talk about recent traumatic experiences (Michelle losing her mum and Eva coming out of a terrible relationship). They're both very cathartic and moving records in that way. Even though they both have more polished production, the hooks and songwriting are still very much there and sound like a natural development of what made the debuts so strong. It's no surprise that they're buddies with Michelle directing the Capacity video.

Right now, Young Enough is my album of the year. I really didn't see that coming after the singles and my first couple of plays of the album.

Charly Bliss aren't very original as a band and probably never will be, but within the borders of the power pop/indie genre they are quite good at what they do.

Maybe the debut is better than the new one, maybe not. The differences aren't that big.It is (and will probably always be for this band) more or less more of the same thing.

one thing is for sure is there is music involved and you can definitely hear it with ears

On first listen, I'm kind of in love with it.

No idea if or when I'll prefer this to Guppy but so far loving the hooks, phonetically and otherwise. Shades of Joe Pernice at his "fell over ourselves all summer" peak.

the best love songs are about self-abnegation so tbh "Under You" totally rules

think my favourites here are "camera", "chatroom" and "hard to believe", still a really solid & enjoyable album

couple of spins and this is good, not sure yet if it's better than Guppy but there are some moments that suggest it could be. Title track is gorgeous and heartbreaking, also really liking "Camera" and "Hurt Me".

oh god, i adore this, hooks are just heart bursting. best compliment i can give is that it's the only thing recently that's managed to tear me away from the go-betweens. these first two records are an incredible feat.

i didn't connect with the songs they prereleased individually but i am in love with this album and how it's sequenced. "blown to bits" is an incredible opener.

I've been listening to this on my commutes and it is simply fabulous. Gigantic hooks, smart lyrics, slick production. One of those albums where I'm looking forward to my next chance to crank it.

This feels like a good-to-great pop record that's really hamstrung by the laziness and obviousness of its production choices. Like, I find myself weirdly resentful of the way synths are used on records like this, like they're just there to add ballast and when you get to the end of the record you realise you haven't heard a single interesting or distinctive sound. Everything's blown up to such an extent that the record feels flat rather than big.

Also like a lot of bands who feel more about energy and momentum rather than rhythm it feels like they struggle to keep things interesting when the tempo drops a little bit. Like a song like Young Enough could really work with a different approach but it feels like a big stadium song that's constructed in the way that you might build a wall, just thudding and leaden and predictable.

^

yeah I can agree with that

I think I agree with that too. Great songs, so-so sound.

I thought the production on this was good and suited the songs.

i guess this really illuminates what kind of a music / Charly Bliss fan I am, but i think "Hard to Believe" is my favorite song here

and i love the rest of it

but

that chorus

Agreed. I think the last indie band that could write choruses like this was the New Pornographers, but I don’t think even they ever had so many good ones on one album.

I like a lot about the new album, but there are too many instances of the campfire indie stomp thing (more than zero). Every time it crops up it takes me out of the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNneb7pj3n8

i posted something like this in the Weyes Blood thread to crickets, but...

anyone hear the quick wrong note in "Hard to Believe" at 2:06/07? love that kind of stuff.

i can't stop listening to this song.

someone actually commissioned kay hanley to review the record, which is perfect https://www.talkhouse.com/charly-bliss-flirts-with-the-brutal-truth/

I don’t know how to review an album. It’s too much responsibility. Why did I agree to this? Argh.

lmao relatable

i love this

Caught their show last night at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland, and man was it great. This was their first time playing the big room -- they've played the much smaller adjacent tavern before -- and the energy onstage was just unbelievable. Definitely one of the best shows I've seen in the last 10 years or so. The interplay between Eva, Spencer and Dan is so energetic and infectious it's impossible to stand still while you're watching them. Can't remember the whole set list (I'm gonna be 50, gimme a break) but it included

Blown to Bits
Percolator
Ruby
Hard to Believe
Heaven
Chatroom
DQ
Black Hole
Young Enough

and five or so others. And they closed with an encore of "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers.

(I just realized last night that Eva said her first big inspiration for learning to write songs was Rilo Kiley, and both bands have former child actors in them.)

A couple of phone pics I snapped:

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/62315899_369167847286633_7547021008163569664_o.jpg?_nc_cat=108&_nc_eui2=AeF-BxRmW1Vn9CTRT2cG6w-3dSpJs1NuzK2zogD8HE6ThFJ30bYMxAK9YI41flIA4wJIPO9NfMOgFa2imSog3JM09lTC4K29PB5IiYzBDv87aQ&_nc_oc=AQkVjNaZSh5kgY5d9npRAYO98Vx_dJxryOSo67L6MpnFJu0JEJkZXRJKXWmvMuv8yE45-qY3jS-Ry9WdTgOg8EX6&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=49486b925ab34df67e4dea3452900bf3&oe=5D9A2D53

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/62508100_369167880619963_3747143190898016256_o.jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_eui2=AeGI_rMobmsTrzuGbsKH_JxtWu0nK22JN_0kYMZ-Ox9a9_ZEaQlR_7Hno-7GcDn3B85XMwr20OsBe1uFKqcS_JqMq7BzSOfZC3VaYJaazqbfSw&_nc_oc=AQlwb62G7oRhBrTPVa3XREnAL-dciaN7AW-a-igGg4M78362GwiN_VR6v0F8WPUa2Cnc_9BwFEt5rL94jtNEMOJh&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=d90b96b629dcaeab509c8b57009d7c32&oe=5D9DE151

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/62239347_369167960619955_6306320813091979264_o.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_eui2=AeGWva-Z_AG6tfTBmFQPbxM3SWLq5nprIZceR6pBIpJ_Zt8rslzUyoANdTakaCYjJA8-Q_RiKjcDd6_t8p27zQMvZc51IicxRBkn3E17RygygA&_nc_oc=AQkHDObdRKpkp6_XIcqJAFwq_vSfGQW1BfIL6zuhGaYxF5Kc4YiSuWiiQYdLc3yQoYeTgbuiZbUVw6nPSGcBTnfN&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=168d6577f85fdb5dc31528f2d9c3bb35&oe=5D9D3266

aw i love those photos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwszMAktc-M

Christgau's take: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3xqmj/robert-christgau-reviews-charly-bliss-young-enough

He mostly likes it except (typically) wishes it was a bit more political and not so bougie.

hey so just to check in we now all agree that the new one fucking owns right? good

Nah, still hate it.

what's the irish phrase? git tae fuck?

I've made peace with the fact they don't owe me another album that hits me the way Guppy did, so y'all enjoy.

I'm a sucker for albums about bad relationships tbqh

I can't fault them for changing things up a bit, because they're still exceedingly competent about it. It's just not my particular bag. otoh the other big disappointment I had this year (Marina's album) comes down entirely to the fact she's become incredibly timid in her musical expression and the result is devoid of personality and risk. Charly Bliss didn't get shy. They just got more polished.

Not a day goes by that "Capacity" isn't playing in my head at some point. And also usually "Camera."

"Under You" gets me right in the pit of my self-abnegating heart

I'm pretty far removed from feeling relationship shit deeply at this point (I haven't so much as dated since 2012), so nothing about love and loss hooks me to the degree it might have in the past.

interesting -- not that the songs aren't about that but I wouldn't call charly bliss's core appeal their being about deep relationship shit

You're right. Not saying they really go spelunking into the deep, but silby's apparently taking that away from listens to the album.

did I say deep?

"pit of my self-abnegating heart" insinuated as much. Ignore me, though!

The whole of this exchange is very low stakes for me, and I'm really just basing all my objections on the synths lol

I mean I think it's high-impact, like cf. the two most romantic things I've seen in the movies lately are Max giving blood to Furiosa and the consensual mushroom poisoning in Phantom Thread if that gives you a sense of my brain I don't know if I think it's deep

the synths are good they're like woomwoomwoom and then on other songs the guitars are like grangrangrang

I normally don't post on ILM lol but something like one album per year totally wrecks me and this year it's this one so I wanna yell about it

Go off! I'm glad people still have that energy. I don't anymore, even if I'm totally into something. I've only posted a couple times on the Meernaa thread, and that's my clear 2019 fave.

oh I meant, the core appeal seems to me like the hooks, where basically anything could be sung over them and it'd still be great; the lyrics are a bonus

find it impossible to think of the lyrics as a "bonus" in an album like this but the world is full of different kinds of people and that's great

at first i was indifferent, but this is a grower it seems

Saw 'em in Sydney a couple of weeks back, and they were great. Feel like the newer songs have more of a kick live with a higher tempo and less emphasis on the synths. They really just sounded more like Guppy songs, and for the better. Anyway, they had great energy and seemed like they were having lots of fun.

Mr. Brightside cover was cool.

I have to admit that I've warmed up to it (some more) in the last months. Now it's... fine.
But yes, as Johnny Fever said, they don't owe me a Guppy 2 and that's perfectly okay.
By now I'm just glad that this seems to be enjoyed by a lot of people.

new ep! https://charlybliss.bandcamp.com/album/supermoon

lovely news! still going back to young enough pretty regularly

and to drop it on a rare occasion i can listen at work, so thoughtful!

fans of guppy who couldn't get down with the new lp: idk, seems like this is for you

how do they write so many good songs

was mid supermoon and came to post the same thing

Niiiice!

Holy shit @ "Threat." I'm constantly wrestling with whether or not I was that guy in my youth, and I don't think I was to that degree, but I feel this in my bones.

This new E.P sounds somewhat like a bunch of Demos. Everything is quite basic, thin and...boring :(

"heaven" giving me breeders vibes.

these songs are all pretty good except for "supermoon"

ended their set tonight with a dancing on my own cover

best band in the world

ended their set tonight with a dancing on my own cover

― devvvine, Wednesday, November 6, 2019 3:11 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

inject it into my veins

and yeah, the new EP is so-so but Supermoon and Heaven are great

And when the sidewalk ripped up our frozen feet
I can't protect you now if I couldn't save you then
You were still just a kid
You're a beautiful boy
Crushing cigarettes just to prove a point

Young Enough is such a great album.

new music tomorrow, yippee skippee!

Great news. I saw them in April and they said the album was finished. The new material sounded really good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzoS0wt7D-U

it's quite a pop move, not bad but doesn't really play to their strengths either

Hard no

feel like i've heard this song 50 times before, and that's just in ILX EOY singles polls

don't think it's good enough to make the eoy poll really

you just wait lol

i'm talking about its slightly-superior forebears mind

Hmm yeah, I don't think they played this one when I saw them. It's not great. The other songs sounded so much better, especially the emo ballad.

jfc why are they so terrible now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBuM5eyjXtg

Yeah I don't like the way they've gone with these post- Young Enough tracks. To me that one was the perfect middle ground between a glossy slick sound and 4 people just playing in a room. The sonic whiz-bang cluttered production style is not doing them any favors.

bliss is back, album in august. single is not doing much for me...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o01RqjMBS7I

The relief I felt when I saw those two singles from last year didn't make the album!

would say this is better... it ain't percolator though

Song doesn't really go anywhere, but yeah at least it's not that quasi-hyper-pop vibe (although the production suggests that could still be in the mix). Oh well. I really like the second album, maybe that's all the Charly Bliss I need.

it's been so long that it kinda felt like they'd already released a disappointing third album i'd forgotten about

The worst creative crash and burn I've seen a band willingly engage in since Bloc Party.

It was a fun day when I noticed Brad is thanked in the liner notes for Guppy

i've gotten to live a few of my dreams and that was one of them

can't blame a band for trying new things, pushing themselves, expanding their sound, evolving, etc. — it's their band to run, after all, not mine — but sometimes the best move would be to just make the first album over and over again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqqS7G6onhE

this one's decent

I really like that. Maybe there's hope for the album after all.

it's the first track to really make the case for them as as Pop band

Nope

Would be a great song at maybe 20% faster tempo.

these both had to grow on me but it was very nice to even belatedly realize that “nineteen” is a fucking amazing song

Yeah nineteen is great idk why everyone is moaning itt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-07cof4iIQ

pretty good!

they're clearly not going to repeat the debut and maybe that's ok?

i keep going back to "nineteen"... staggering

but i really like the new one too... reminds me of shiny late-'90s corporate alt rock

my scientific analysis

Guppy: Seasons 1-8 (Classic)
Good Enough: Season 9-17 (Still Damn Good)
since: Modern Simpsons (never will be want i want them to be again, but still comforting)

works for a lot of artists

Young Enough* (but also good enough)

That checks out. I haven't watched new Simpsons seasons since the Guppy period.

Um this is really good???? ivy OTM about “nineteen”, it’s Britney “Everytime” level crushing

I DIE A LITTLE
JUST TO BE LET IN

Yeah, for some reason these songs sound much better to me within the context of the album.

i think "i don't know anything" is my favorite song here that isn't "nineteen," very candid lyrics, sounds like a slow motion sugar crash

oh god not to belabor the point but "nineteen" is the best song of the year, nothing even close

i was also certain that "in your bed" was gay as hell but i checked a track-by-track they did recently and it's just about a newly blossoming female friendship.... (ok sorry, to me that's always going to be gay as hell)

omg, 'nineteen'. i'm crushed.

This is the best Taylor Swift album in years

some songs have a carly rae jepsen vibe or is it only me?

oh yeah they sure do

keep me down!
cuz i live to drown in love like this!
i want you to be my last first kiss!!!

This is my favourite pop album this year
Carly comparisons spot on

basic/parodic to say but yeah this hits me in all the e-mo-tion, 1975, hearthrob ways

i would've stayed until the LIGHTS. WENT. OUT
forty stories til i HIT. THE. GROUND
you couldn't pay me to go BACK. THERE. NOW
so i tell myself so! it! might! come! true!

sun goes down, come get me now
hate it when you're not around

;_;

"last first kiss" definitely the best song that's ever been made

YEAH IT HURTS TO TRY BUT IT KILLS TO MISS stuck in my head on loop

Still not convinced that this album is as good as the previous two…. but Calling You Out might be the best thing they’ve ever done?? And it might be the song of the year??

"last first kiss" definitely the best song that's ever been made

otm. i have been crushing hard on someone and as a result i've been playing this song several times a day

Never thought I'd be saying this, but I think this album could've benefited from a couple of ballads or slower songs to mix things up. It's like a dozen highly-caffeinated three-minute urgent pop anthems in a row. I brought this on a road trip, and the first 5 or so are a heady rush but then I lose focus because of the similarity of tempo and chords and the vocal register begins to sound a bit strained. Or maybe I'm just getting old.. The album still kicks ass though.

seeing 'em tonight, first time since 2017. think Forever has ended up my fave of the three.

Y'all should make a new Charly Bliss thread to bump so I can quit being reminded how much they suck now compared to Guppy.

I've made peace with the fact they don't owe me another album that hits me the way Guppy did, so y'all enjoy.

― Johnny Fever, Friday, August 2, 2019 12:19 PM (five years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I love the chorus: “I’m not… I’m not dead” Just that simple ungrammatical repetition turns it from a nothing to a great pop chorus. It’s Ramones-esque in that way- so dumb it’s brilliant.

xp At least update the title

first song on the new album triggers that "I am about to watch Clueless" feeling

I love Guppy and this one. I probably need to give the 2nd more listens.

"bleach" is still their best song imo

well, other than "nineteen"

"does anyone remember the album Guppy? this one's for all the Guppyheads out there" --Sam Hendricks last night. though I felt like the whole show had a similar (amazing) energy to when I saw them back then.

also didn't realize Forever was recorded here, so the "Nineteen" / "Last First Kiss" saxophonist (Lee Tran) ended up playing with them for those songs, that was great. and led me to this ep.

ivy's persuasive boosterism has gotten me over certain not-for-me directional choices to appreciate some of the new stuff a bit more. who knows what the future holds

I had put off listening to this because I really did not enjoy the singles after Young Enough and it was exactly the one direction I hoped they didn't go in. So this being excellent has been a very pleasant surprise!

Last First Kiss >>>>

Same. I feel I should go back and relisten to those singles because at the time I also didn’t like them but I’ve totally come around to their sound on Forever.