Dammit I didn't mean to submit that, I meant to preview/go advanced to get the bigger box and type more.
But since posts have to be approved by monitors (even in your own journal) I guess I can't just edit the post now can I.
Anyway, over the past few weeks I found the magic of
The The. I'd heard the band's name ages ago and never thought I would even check them out, I mean that's just a silly name. I don't think I'd ever heard their music, and there's plenty else out there to keep me occupied. I think how I ended up discovering them was on RateYourMusic.com, I was checking out
The Smiths, since I finally started listening to them heavily this year, and associated bands, and saw that Johnny Marr had played with
The The on some albums. Seeing that
Soul Mining was the highest-rated album, I checked out some clips on Amazon, deemed it worthy of my attention, and downloaded it a few weeks later. The first time I played it, I went walking near the lake on my lunch break. It sounded good but not mind-blowing. At one point I sat on a bench watching people, soaking in the sun, and enjoying the music. The song "Giant" came on and really struck me. It was partly the synths and partly the lyrics, such as "how can anyone know me when I don't even know myself". This struck a nerve because I often feel this way. So such a lyric combined with such a beautiful synth line, that won me over. My only complaint about the track is that it's a bit overlong, but so good I don't mind most times. The final track, "Perfect", was really great too. It wasn't long before I played the album a second time, and more songs like "This Is the Day" and "Uncertain Smile" jumped out. I think I've played the album 4 times over the past week, and that's a lot for me, for any album. Needless to say I've really been enjoying it, especially the lyrics to "This Is the Day" and "Perfect".
All in all what's weird about this album is that it's totally not what I expected. Based on what I read, and maybe the artwork, I had expected some depressing post-punk or something. Instead I got something rather poppy actually, with great synths that make many tracks danceable. It's possible I heard a few of these tracks during 80s night at a goth/underground club I used to frequent in Houston during the 90s. I just really love these songs, because they are somehow very nostalgic to me even though this is new to me. I have no doubt I'll consider this one of my favorite albums in due time.
I will now share a few YouTube clips with you, despite their rather shyte quality.
(crap video & sound but goddamn such a good song):
I've already checked out the next album,
Infected, and will listen to
Mind Bomb probably this weekend. I don't anticipate being as blown away by anything after
Soul Mining though, but will surely welcome it if they do. Nothing really jumped out for me on my first listen of
Infected, but it's also not one of the highest rated albums so I'm not too worried. Just thought I'd go in chronological order.
Feel free to recommend me anything (other bands) based on the 3 or 4 songs I mentioned loving.