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AnOceanPearl

Vancouver Megathread

By AnOceanPearl, in Matthew Good

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Bigger Than Jesus

Bigger Than Jesus

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Posted

Personally, I think the songs on this album are fantastic. Lyrically and instrumentally, I really enjoy the album. That said, and this is in no way an insult to the album, I don't really like the mixing/production of it. I find that if you look back at all the albums Warne Livesy produced, the music and vocals sort of unite, they flow together (if that makes sense). You got a sense that everything belonged. With this album (and Hospital Music, for that matter) I find that it sounds like a lot of things thrown together- it sounds like a bunch of separate tracks rather than one solid mix.

 

I know people may disagree and that's cool. Just my own observation, and I'm in no way trying to shit on the album itself...because it's pretty awesome.

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bryce

bryce

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The constant build up of Last Parade, along with the overall feel of the song and the lyrics (which are both well written and well-delivered) really makes for an amazing opener.

 

I absolutely love the segue between the first few songs, especially when The Boy Who Could Explode starts up (musicgasm). The atmosphere and ambience represented here is unmatched by so many other bands/musicians and including this is something I really appreciate in musicians. It's little things like this that really set apart something in my mind, and in reality, it's not terribly hard to pull off, it's just that few musicians take the time or put the thought into doing so. Both of these songs are amazing, and I think whales keeps it going nicely.

 

Us Remains Impossible sort of feels like a MGB song to me. There's more to it than that, but it has a nostalgia element to it maybe because of the verse guitar. I go back and forth on it.

 

I really like how On Nights Like Tonight begins, but it sort of loses me when the dual vocal part comes in like 30ish seconds in. I love the "who's at the helm" part though. There's an interesting time signature quirk in the middle of this song... nine bars of three (eight would be standard). A rarity in Matt's music, that--because of my nerdery--I wish there was more of.

 

Volcanoes is fucking incredible. It's my favorite by far with amazing lyrics and music to match. The build when the "chorus" if you can call it that (gonna buy me a volcano...) comes in is my favorite part of the album. The vocal delivery here is amazing and the harmony adds tremendously to it.

 

I think the lyrics to A Silent Army in the Trees offer a great juxtaposition of how war is so nonchalantly accepted in our culture (kids playing with guns and army men) with the reality of kid growing up and actually having to deal with the horrors of war and violence. Unfortunately I don't think the music really carries the same weight of the lyrics, but that's what I get for reading them before hearing the song I suppose. Musically it feels a little too up tempo, but I suppose that could just as easily reflect the lighter side of the comparison and less of the dark that I was expecting.

 

Fought to Fight It makes me think of the Audio of Being. Maybe it's the strong bass line at the beginning or the powerful drums with the future-y accent on some of them (synth or something). Feels slightly like "...Mass Production" perhaps. This isn't really a bad thing for me though and in fact I really like it. I love how the "fought to fight it" section is lyrically omitted on the second pass through in favor of the just the instruments playing. Nice touch there.

 

Vancouver.. great beginning. Sort of a weird song altogether. Fits well next to FTFI. I love the downtown chant and the lyrical change between stepping over sleeping people -> stepping over the dead. I imagine this could be big in concert.

 

Empty's Theme Park.. best closer since House of Smoke & Mirrors? Great atmosphere, vibe, vocals/harmonies, and I love bouncy precision of the drums.

 

This album does an amazing job (sort of like hospital music did) of mixing the orchestration and layering of avalanche (something i love) while still maintaining a very cool slightly dark lo-fi quality to the music. the two really balance one another well and prevent either from being overbearing.

Edited by bryce
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Devil On Rollerskates

Devil On Rollerskates

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Based on my first few listens, another solid record from Mr. Good. Like many of his albums, and indeed many of my favourite albums by other artists, it took a while to grow on me, but now I think it's great. I don't think there's a single weak track on Vancouver. Standouts for me at the moment are On Nights Like Tonight, The Vancouver National Anthem and Empty's Theme Park. I might have a different top three after my next listen. Last Parade is a vast improvement over the demo version (when it was called Portrait Of An Artist In The Jungle). I like the beats in Fought To Fight It, and the woman saying, "Ah, it's like a breath of fresh air". I agree.

 

This is me, btw, I haven't posted in a while and had forgotten my password lol. To add to this, Volcanoes is spectacular, and Silent Army is lyrically brilliant and I love the "I'm on fire" part.

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Manchalivin

Manchalivin

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Vancouver iTunes Stream: Tuesday, Sep 22nd

 

On Tuesday, September 22nd at 10am EST Vancouver will begin streaming in live format at full CD-quality via iTunes Radio, and also here on the website through an exclusive player that will also tap into the stream.

 

This stream differs in a few ways from the album stream currently available on the website. It will not play start to finish but rather is a live stream that plays the entire record in rotation. When you tune in you

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Morglor9

Morglor9

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I finally figured out what wasn't quite right about this album, and I think I've got it. From the outset, I expected it to be more bitter... when he talks about Vancouver (the city) he seems to love it, but there's a lot of underlying bitterness. I half expected a couple songs along the lines of "Fuck the Olympics" to be in the track listing, I guess... Oh well. Still pretty great.

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Rebabaluba

Rebabaluba

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wheres the itunes stream!!!!??

 

I'm not sure about that. I thought I was just listening to the regular stream on his site because I missed the 10 am EST start up. But in between ONLT and Volcanos Matt said "This is Matt Good and you're listening to the itunes stream of Vancouver" (or something along those lines).

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Zukiki

Zukiki

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Vancouver is avalible for Pre-order on iTunes and it comes with 3 bonus tracks:

 

Silent Army in the Trees (Live Acoustic)

Black Helicopter (Live Acoustic)

99% of Us is Failure (Live Acoustic) [Pre-Order Only]

 

My guess is that this is from Massey Hall 2 years ago (Not from the Live CD) as I'm pretty sure he said he recorded that one too.

 

If this was anyone but Matt Good I might be a little annoyed that I feel compelled to buy the album 3 times (CD/Vinyl/iTunes), but he is, and it'll probably be worth it.

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Curtster

Curtster

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Vancouver is avalible for Pre-order on iTunes and it comes with 3 bonus tracks:

 

Silent Army in the Trees (Live Acoustic)

Black Helicopter (Live Acoustic)

99% of Us is Failure (Live Acoustic) [Pre-Order Only]

 

My guess is that this is from Massey Hall 2 years ago (Not from the Live CD) as I'm pretty sure he said he recorded that one too.

 

If this was anyone but Matt Good I might be a little annoyed that I feel compelled to buy the album 3 times (CD/Vinyl/iTunes), but he is, and it'll probably be worth it.

I know what you mean. I'll buy the hard copy CD, and I'll the Silent Army and Black Helicopter acoustics individually from iTunes. I'm not the going to buy the whole album on iTunes just for 99% acoustic. If they recorded that whole show, I really want to hear the whole thing though.

 

When Massey Hall came out, I bought the first half off of iTunes when it come out early on there, then bought the CD later when that came out. Every artist is doing stuff like that now, trying to get people buy the same thing twice haha. It's not Matt I would assume, it's the record label.

Edited by Curtster
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Manchalivin

Manchalivin

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I like the album version of Silent Army in the Trees and it might be one of the better songs on Vancouver but I really like the acoustic live version from over a year ago or whenever and think acoustic fits this particular song the best. And I am not really an acoustic person, I usually prefer it electric. There are just some songs where acoustic hits the spot for me . I think I just like that it sounds more serious and the album one sounds more cheery or upbeat than I think it should. I think that's my favourite version of the song even though it's only under 3 minutes long.

Edited by Manchalivin
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Curtster

Curtster

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I must say that I really miss the guitar solo in the demo version of Silent Army, the guitar on the album version just seems a bit bland to me after the demo. I was completely in love with the demo of On Nights Like Tonight, and I can't hear the same emotion in vocals on the album version. It's my fault really, I over-listened to the demos I guess and got attached to certain parts haha.

 

Although with every other song, the album version is waaaay better than the demos for me.

 

Edit: just wanted to add that the album as a whole is really growing on me now. I listened to it through once on the first day of stream, and have resisted listening again since. I am just listening to the iTunes stream right now, and am enjoying it a lot more than the first listen. It probably has a lot to do with the sound quality being a lot better. I have thought all along though that this is Matt's best solo album for me.

Edited by Curtster
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Rebabaluba

Rebabaluba

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I'm glad I didn't listen to the demos. I think too many people got used to the demo versions so they weren't fond of the final results because they weren't exact replicas. I'm going to listen to the demos now that I've listened to the album just to hear the evolution of the songs. Matt should release demos after he has released the CD so that fans can get a glimpse of the initial idea and so they don't overplay them and criticize his finished work.

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johnerwin

johnerwin

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I know what you mean. I'll buy the hard copy CD, and I'll the Silent Army and Black Helicopter acoustics individually from iTunes. I'm not the going to buy the whole album on iTunes just for 99% acoustic. If they recorded that whole show, I really want to hear the whole thing though.

 

When Massey Hall came out, I bought the first half off of iTunes when it come out early on there, then bought the CD later when that came out. Every artist is doing stuff like that now, trying to get people buy the same thing twice haha. It's not Matt I would assume, it's the record label.

 

I don't think you can buy individual track...I'm pretty sure it's the whole album or nothing for the pre-sale.

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Curtster

Curtster

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I don't think you can buy individual track...I'm pretty sure it's the whole album or nothing for the pre-sale.

Only the 99% of Us is Failure acoustic is listed as "Presale only" on iTunes. So I think once the album is out, there will be a bonus track version available on iTunes that will include Silent Army acoustic and Black Helicopter. So you will probably be able to buy those two tracks individually once the album comes out, I think, I might be wrong though.

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