Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There

1. "Intro" 0:54
2. "Chaos Space Marine" 3:36
3. "Concorde" 6:03
4. "Bread Song" 6:20
5. "Good Will Hunting" 4:58
6. "Haldern" 5:05
7. "Mark's Theme" 2:47
8. "The Place Where He Insertet
the Blade" 7:13
9. "Snow Globes" 9:13
10. "Basketball Shoes" 12:37

This will be hard to compete as the best album of the year, and it just started.

Wat better than their first LP imo

*Way*

well it helps that they've got actual songs this time instead of doing dreadful spoken word over post-rock

was amused to learn the bassist is karl hyde's daughter

True

the 00s are really back huh... animal collective made a good album, this album, wet leg, etc.

this band is valuable as a case study in hype

nonetheless i will give this a fair shake

More like a 90's comeback in the case of this band i think

Worst Band Names

well i mean the whole late 90s to mid 00s period of post-rock like gy!be, sigur ros, etc. but also chamber pop like arcade fire etc. too is what they're heavily drawing on.

they're not bad at it now (moving away from last album's spoken word made a gigantic difference) so i get why there is the interest but my appetite for post-rock from that time is still pretty low so i don't think i'm going to come back to it

probably would have loved this in high school though lol

oh god yes of COURSE, this is Agaetis Byrjun all over again (a thought that is being reinforced two and a half songs in), both in terms of music and hype

it sounds so earnest to a level that feels really out of place these days

emo was a popular music and it still is, but this doesn't have the charm or dare i say wit of emo

the instrumentation still sounds like the inspirational music behind adverts for good causes

time to take on literally all of RYM. pray 4 me

Have not listened yet, but apparently Basketball Shoes is about having a wet dream about Charli XCX (it does not mention XCX in the album version, but apparently she was mentioned in the original lyric).

so honest and raw. so unfiltered

so creepy.

made it approximately 40 seconds into the first one

they cancelled their upcoming tour

We have some news to share concerning the future of the band. Please read on for information on upcoming shows, but it seems right to pass on this message from Isaac first pic.twitter.com/3HHmSwBDQj

— BlackCountry,NewRoad (@BCNRband) January 31, 2022

"well i mean the whole late 90s to mid 00s period of post-rock like gy!be, sigur ros, etc. but also chamber pop like arcade fire etc. too is what they're heavily drawing on."

Tindersticks too. The combination bwtween post rock abd chamber pop is pretty original.

Totally embarrassing. Whenever it’s slow it’s nearly unlistenable, and when the band perks up it’s pleasant but rarely anything more. Wood’s one of the worst lyricists I’ve ever encountered (well, he’s not as bad as Mr. Cigarettes After Sex, but...) - how are people seriously hailing an album that ends in a wet dream about Charli XCX as one of the best anythings?

otm

the sheer fervour of the RYM support feels like gaslighting and is also a surefire way of realising just how terrible a lot of nerd tastes are lol, yours a jaded snob ect

I didn't make it to the end. Would have been my album of the year in 1995 maybe but now, not so much

ILM became too old lol

More like GY!BE than Sigur Ros to my mind, but yes it's music out of time.
It's charmingly scrappy to me, and I don't really care that the lyrics are odd or self-conscious or random.
I don't think it's AOTY but I do love a few of the songs a lot.

The one track I heard sounded like Xiu Xiu fronting Arcade Fire which should be right up this place’s alley so why the backlash?

i don't have much appetite for the type of post-rock they're doing and the lyrics range from overwrought to embarrassing.

sounded like Xiu Xiu fronting Arcade Fire which should be right up this place’s alley

lmao

anyway, can't get past the band name, sorry

I've noticed that they are on Ninja Tune. Does that label do Indie rock now? I'm more familiar with their Amon Tobin, Coldcut, DJ Food, Kid Koala kinda thing.

it's not totally leftfield for them but certainly not their usual thing

the lead singer everyone hates seems to have left the band (with a weird futurama-quoting message to fans)

I like this on first listen, maybe not as much as the first album. Sad about Issac, hope he is ok, was going to see them in a few months but now no.

Thought the vocals on the last album were obnoxious but gave this a go given the P4k praise...it's really good!

A lot of the lyrics are still cringeworthy. "Snow globes don't shake on their own" is not a lyric that needs to be repeated a dozen times.

But the vocals are generally more subtle, there is more focus on melody, the build ups are more dramatic -- it's really well-done.

the RYM hype around this and Squid is insane; are these bands actually that popular or are they the new Fishmens? (and Fishwomens?) I liked Squid a lot but didn't get a whole lot from the first BNCR album. It reminded me of The Bongos but less exciting and the tunes weren't as good and the singer is uh...well. They definitely have a lot of potential though and the fact that the bassist is Karl Hyde's daughter is super cool...she looks just like him!!!

The one track I heard sounded like Xiu Xiu fronting Arcade Fire which should be right up this place’s alley so why the backlash?

― zacata, Saturday, 5 February 2022 12:49 (four days ago) link

I haven't heard this yet but I think you're confusing ilx with r/indieheads or something.

idk maybe its just that the average RYM user is like 22 and were in diapers during the early 00s indie rock explosion so something like this sounds genuinely new and exciting

black crebel notorcycle rub

I'm old and i still like this

Surprisingly, there weren't many good (if any) combinations between Post Rock and Chamber Pop. Until now.
So i don't think this is a "more of the same" record, fwiw

so Tyler Hyde is going to be the new vocalist? she appears on a few Underworld tracks like "Ova Nova" and "Nylon Strung" and she has a pretty good voice. seems better than the current guy at least

find it hard to hate on this band given how young they are. but I still don't get how their two albums have like 30,000 ratings combined on RYM. whatever, even if you don't like the music the popularity of a band like this is an unambiguously good thing in my view

maybe its just that the average RYM user is like 22 and were in diapers during the early 00s indie rock explosion so something like this sounds genuinely new and exciting

probably a little but it's also just that post-rock like gy!be never went out of fashion at all on rym so they're super excited to have a new band that's doing the big post-rock crescendo thing well while having a distinct take on it.

I don't understand the RYM hive mind. Like, how can this (snoozefest) and the new Death's Dynamic Shroud (epic banger) both be so acclaimed?

Or maybe it's not RYM. Maybe I just need someone to explain young people to me.

the rym hivemind just has particular tastes. they're often not very good but that's how it is

BCNR are critically acclaimed, too