Moving Walls Released!!!

[patrickjnixon]

Wowowowoowowow listening now. Unbelievable!!!!!! Released on YouTube Music... I imagine everywhere else. 
 

wowowowow this is so good!!!!
 

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l_X7PXxbw2nxDiCEIqlh1TQVAFkRsNZEw

[NonPopulus]

Incredibly written and produced record. Hats off to Matt and the rest of the team that made this one happen.

[Gomo]

Very different from the past handful of albums. He hasn't used this much acoustic since Hospital Music so it's nice to hear it again. I feel like this album has more of a cohesive sound and theme than the past few albums too. I just haven't figured out what that theme is yet. Upon first listen Boobytrapped is my favorite track, then Thorn Bird, Selling You My Heart, Radicals, The Heights, and Parts. Only song I didn't really care for was Dreading It. About to get on a plane but can't wait to listen again later. 

Edited February 21, 2020 by Gomo

[crthiel]

I'm glad others look to be enjoying the album. I kind of even forgot about it but it popped up in my spotify today. 

I'm about halfway through it now and I've been bored to tears since it started. I guess this album is just not for me. I love me some rock n roll and this just isn't it. 

No worries though. I'll bet it'll still be great live if I'm able to catch a show this time around. 

[daniel_v]

On 2/21/2020 at 10:52 AM, crthiel said:

I'm glad others look to be enjoying the album. I kind of even forgot about it but it popped up in my spotify today. 

I'm about halfway through it now and I've been bored to tears since it started. I guess this album is just not for me. I love me some rock n roll and this just isn't it. 

No worries though. I'll bet it'll still be great live if I'm able to catch a show this time around. 

I wouldn't say I'm bored to tears by it, but I agree that out of everything he's ever released, upon a first listen this probably the one that ranks at the bottom of my list for him right now.

Like you, I'm glad others are enjoying it and I can understand why too- a lot of the songs have a very uplifting sound to them and it seems like on this album Matt wanted to the lyrical content to be front and centre, which I can appreciate since most of the time Matt is a very prolific lyricist (this album being no exception). Furthermore I can appreciate the fact that as usual he's trying to branch out and do something different from a sonic perspective. But for me, it just doesn't really work. 

Don't get me wrong, even weak songs by Matt still aren't bad, but I just find that there are a lot of songs on this album that sound very similar to each other, and more importantly sound somewhat only half baked/a little lazy. Take "Your Rainy Sound" for example. It has a beautifully driven and inspiring opening intro/verse to it, but what should only be a pre chorus- one that leads into a thundering real chorus that compliments how powerful the intro/verse is- ends up being the chorus. As such it feels like the entire songs suffers as a result. The same critique applies to "A Thousands Tons", imo. It's got a galvanizingly haunting pulse that starts off the song, which then moves into a crescendo like mountain movement which makes you think it's going to lead to an explosively intense new section of the song, but then it just stops, goes back into where it was previously, and then ends. It's like having to listen to the album version of Something Like a Storm again. You think it's going somewhere amazing and then....it just fades into nothing. I hate when songs do that.  

To be clear and fair though,  there are definitely some good ideas in here, and I really appreciate the uplifting/inspired feeling that a lot of them have. "Dreading It", for example, is a fucking beautiful song to me. The lyrical content and the sonic composition are driven and have a worthwhile/meaningful theme and ending to them. I'm really looking forwards to hearing this one live because if there's one weak spot in the song it would be that it feels like the drumming at the end should have been more heavy. When allowed to on the stage Blake always nails it and I think if he has the freedom to let loose  he could help make it an even stronger ending.  One of Them Years and Selling You My Heart are other stand outs to me. They still sound like Matt and have an interesting/meaningful progression. 

I guess ultimately what fails for me though overall is that a lot of these songs don't really sound like Matt Good songs. Save for Matt's vocals, they sound like they could be from any number of different adult contemporary artists out there over the last few decades, which is of course disappointing because in the past one of the things I've always loved about Matt is that even if you took away his vocals you could always identify that it was "his" sound. As the years go on it seems like he's losing that drive/originality that made his music so great. There are still powerful ideas within his songs, but when it comes to consistency and even movements within individual songs it seems to be getting more rare that he's able to do finish them with as strong a drive as they started with (another good example of this is There the First Time- it has a wicked first half which moves into an amazing bridge that makes you think something even bigger is coming afterwards, but then it just moves back into what came before it). If I were to compare this album as a whole to anything it actually reminds me a little of Our Lady Peace's "Burn, Burn". That album was a very different sound for the band, but if it wasn't for Raine's vocals, most of the tracks on that record (save for Monkey Brains) could have been from a hundred different mundane  and indistinguishable pop rock bands in North America. I feel the same way about this one for Matt. Save for a couple good songs, the rest of them kind of sound like filler songs, and again, even where there are some good ideas, it feels like the rest of the material was just slapped together like a baloney sandwich for the sake of having a completed song. I almost wish he would take longer between albums and work on the songs more so that the final product is stronger. I'll take quality over quantity any day of the week. 

All that said, this is all just my opinion after a first listen. Upon multiple listens I may appreciate it more and I'll fully admit all of the above is nothing more than a subjective opinion. 

Edited February 22, 2020 by daniel_v

[RickDalton]

Boobytrapped is my favorite musically but Beauty is my favorite lyrically, it brought a tear to my eye  

[Emu]

I tend to agree with Daniel. I'm biased because I haven't liked an album since Vancouver, and even then there's like 4 songs on that album I dislike. I still try each new album though. So far I only dig the opener and Selling You My Heart. Selling You My Heart sounds like it could easily be from 15 years ago.  

 

Maybe I'm insane to even compare his new albums to Audio of Being or Avalanche. It'd be an incredible feat to top either of those. But I feel like his current style is freestyle poetry put to uninventive chord progressions. Everything before felt like painstakingly hand crafted melodies, with clever lyrics written to fit the melody. 

 

I queued up Boobytrapped and then On Nights Like Tonight from Vancouver. The latter is just so much more coherent, better mixed, better drumming, nice climax at the end, incredibly melodic. Meh, I'm probably just old, bitter, and grasping at the past. See you next album. 

[Guest Rhu8ar8Pi3]

1 hour ago, Emu said:

I queued up Boobytrapped and then On Nights Like Tonight from Vancouver. The latter is just so much more coherent, better mixed, better drumming, nice climax at the end, incredibly melodic. Meh, I'm probably just old, bitter, and grasping at the past. See you next album. 

I remember you. You seem to make a lone appearance when a new album comes out or if something major happens in the world of Matt Good. Until next time; see you next album.

[Gomo]

Welp this thread took a turn.

[Gomo]

I dunno, upon second listen I think people are being a little harsh. I guess my only criticism would be I'd like to hear more range in his vocals throughout the album. But like I said even if all the songs sound similar, to me this is more of a successful album concept than Chaotic Neutral (and there are plenty of great songs on that album including one of his best ever Cold Water). I've always felt like Chaotic Neutral and Something Like A Storm are just kind of a hodgepodge of songs thrown together (I think I'm still salty that the awesome 20 minute demo was scrapped and replaced with something that isn't in the same league). Moving Walls feels like all the songs belong together.

I also disagree with the idea that these "don't sound like Matthew Good songs." That's kind of a weird criticism in my opinion. Artists should always be putting a new spin on their sound. When listening to this album I hear familiar moments with new twists which is a natural progression of course. One of my favorite albums is Adore by Smashing Pumpkins. I don't think you could say any of those songs sound like their prior work, but it's pretty great.

Emu, no albums since Vancouver? That's rough. Lights was eccentric and I get not liking that. Arrows was pretty accessible though and I feel like it holds up well.

[Williammunny11]

9 hours ago, Rhu8ar8Pi3 said:

I remember you. You seem to make a lone appearance when a new album comes out or if something major happens in the world of Matt Good. Until next time; see you next album.

While I am a firm believe in the idea that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I’m not sure I will ever understand why someone would take the time to tell a forum of hardcore fans that -  

A: I haven’t liked so and so in x number of years/albums, and B: this new album isn’t going to change that. 

There’s something to be said for waiting more than 12 hours to tell the world you like or dislike anything. As someone whose written a lot of review-based articles over the years, I can assure that first impressions are often fluid, especially with things we love.

Keep all of that in mind, I’d urge anyone who was turned off by the record to give it another spin at some point. It’s dense, and incredibly emotive, and probably won’t hit the same way on any given day - all the more reason to revisit at a later date

As far as my thoughts on the album, keeping in mind what I just wrote, I want to let the album sink in before I really offer my thoughts, but suffice it to say, I am incredibly pleased with what I have heard. I don't want to be a prisoner of the moment, but I suspect that I will be listening to this album for months to come.

Edited February 22, 2020 by Williammunny11

[Some Random]

i LOVE sicily and dreading it.

that's it. all the respect in the world to matt as an artist, just not my thing.

and respect to crusader for keeping the bored going. i thought social media would replace message boards.

[trufflepigs]

I love the new album, it's beautifully written. I like how he has stepped away from "his" sound a bit, it's quite refreshing. 

[mfrg]

When I wrote this album I knew that a lot of this would emerge. The reality is that many are stuck in the past and can’t get beyond what they perceive as what my “sonics” should be. 

 

Songwriting is not paint by numbers. My favourite song is Tangled Up In Blue by Bob Dylan - a song of verses, amazing lyrics, but no choruses, and no massive sonic shifts. Storytelling is an art.

 

A Thousand Tons, for example, tells a story, and how it’s musically arranged matches it. Explosions or “big finishes” etc are not the point. The emptiness that it suddenly returns to is the point. The reality is the “typical” course of action is deferred to as “what should be done” rather than attempting to seriously examine how the song imparts a message.

 

I have, over the last few months, contemplated retiring. I have confronted what actors must endure with regards to type casting, and given my age and the fact that I can just make music at home for myself and my friends, it might be more fulfilling. I’m almost 50 and have zero interest in making consecutive Beautiful Midnights, etc. That was decades ago. And even those albums since, especially the last one, were written without facing any internal compulsion to change. And that’s on me. After Lights, I should have just kept going. 

 

When I sat down and wrote Arrows it was just easy. I’d seen the dissatisfaction on the faces of concert goers on the Lights tour and knee jerked. It’s something I should never have done. The same is true of Chaotic Neutral which should have sustained the vibe of Harridan, Tiger, Cold Water, Los Alamos, etc, without the interjection of “rock songs”. Again, that’s on me. 

 

At some point you’ve got to look at yourself and make a decision. The knee jerk reactions that occur given significant successes decades ago cannot be the present. In fact, in many cases, they should never have remained in your subconscious and turned you away from going somewhere else. 

 

In the end, given music today, all of this is basically pointless. Artistry has no worth. For a monthly fee on a streaming service you can listen to whatever you want. Ask a plumber to work for $8.99 a month and they’d laugh at you. Reading comments complaining about ticket prices is also rather hilarious when you think that people pay over $100 to see a stadium show sitting in the nose bleeds. 

 

It’s all relative, and to me all very perplexing and disheartening. 

 

Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi sold for $450 million dollars in 2017. It is the most expensive piece of art ever sold. To me, Mozart is worth no less. In truth, his collected works, given the impact they’ve had, are worth vastly more. But you can download all of Don Giovanni for the price of a monthly music subscription. 

 

What artists do is not pedestrian. Were that the case, everyone would be an artist. There is good and bad art, art is subjective. There are artists whose genius is not realized in their lifetimes, there are artists whose genius alters the discourse of entire generations during their lifetimes. There are catchy tunes that are massive hits that are laughed at a decade later. There are albums that sell next to nothing that spread like spider webs to influence thousands in the deepest recesses of their soul. 

 

The most important aspect of art is, in truth, not how it initially impacts us, but how it challenges us intellectually and spiritually to succumb to something we are not so easily accustomed to. Satiating the masses at any given point given popular methodologies is not difficult. Challenging individuals to discover something buried within them that transverses the barrier between instant gratification and the longevity of a love affair is not the goal of an artist, but the dream of every artist. Because to accomplish the latter is to leave a legacy. 

 

In the words of Marcel Duchamp - “What art is, in reality, is this missing link, not the links which exist. It's not what you see that is art; art is the gap.” 

 

So mind the gap. 

 

Edited February 22, 2020 by mfrg

[juanpe]

I haven't received my physical copy yet, but I am SO glad that the whole album can be heard in the MG official YouTube channel...

Listening to it all the time... so so SO good!!!

 

I can't stop listening to One of them years... In love with it!

Edited February 22, 2020 by juanpe

[mackie1023]

Thanks Matt, for taking the time. 
 

I personally can’t wait to hear some of these songs live. Keeping the opener as one of them years would be amazing. A Thousand Tons is going to translate really well too, loving that track. 
I’m still digesting it as a whole - because there’s a lot to take in. The strings add so much depth. I feel like I want to listen to it immediately after listening to lights, so I might try that later on. 

Will be interested to see what makes the acoustic cut for Buffalo (thanks for that too!). 

[daniel_v]

1 hour ago, mfrg said:

When I wrote this album I knew that a lot of this would emerge. The reality is that many are stuck in the past and can’t get beyond what they perceive as what my “sonics” should be. 

 

Songwriting is not paint by numbers. My favourite song is Tangled Up In Blue by Bob Dylan - a song of verses, amazing lyrics, but no choruses, and no massive sonic shifts. Storytelling is an art.

 

A Thousand Tons, for example, tells a story, and how it’s musically arranged matches it. Explosions or “big finishes” etc are not the point. The emptiness that it suddenly returns to is the point. The reality is the “typical” course of action is deferred to as “what should be done” rather than attempting to seriously examine how the song imparts a message.

 

I have, over the last few months, contemplated retiring. I have confronted what actors must endure with regards to type casting, and given my age and the fact that I can just make music at home for myself and my friends, it might be more fulfilling. I’m almost 50 and have zero interest in making consecutive Beautiful Midnights, etc. That was decades ago. And even those albums since, especially the last one, were written without facing any internal compulsion to change. And that’s on me. After Lights, I should have just kept going. 

 

When I sat down and wrote Arrows it was just easy. I’d seen the dissatisfaction on the faces of concert goers on the Lights tour and knee jerked. It’s something I should never have done. The same is true of Chaotic Neutral which should have sustained the vibe of Harridan, Tiger, Cold Water, Los Alamos, etc, without the interjection of “rock songs”. Again, that’s on me. 

 

At some point you’ve got to look at yourself and make a decision. The knee jerk reactions that occur given significant successes decades ago cannot be the present. In fact, in many cases, they should never have remained in your subconscious and turned you away from going somewhere else. 

 

In the end, given music today, all of this is basically pointless. Artistry has no worth. For a monthly fee on a streaming service you can listen to whatever you want. Ask a plumber to work for $8.99 a month and they’d laugh at you. Reading comments complaining about ticket prices is also rather hilarious when you think that people pay over $100 to see a stadium show sitting in the nose bleeds. 

 

It’s all relative, and to me all very perplexing and disheartening. 

 

Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi sold for $450 million dollars in 2017. It is the most expensive piece of art ever sold. To me, Mozart is worth no less. In truth, his collected works, given the impact they’ve had, are worth vastly more. But you can download all of Don Giovanni for the price of a monthly music subscription. 

 

What artists do is not pedestrian. Were that the case, everyone would be an artist. There is good and bad art, art is subjective. There are artists whose genius is not realized in their lifetimes, there are artists whose genius alters the discourse of entire generations during their lifetimes. There are catchy tunes that are massive hits that are laughed at a decade later. There are albums that sell next to nothing that spread like spider webs to influence thousands in the deepest recesses of their soul. 

 

The most important aspect of art is, in truth, not how it initially impacts us, but how it challenges us intellectually and spiritually to succumb to something we are not so easily accustomed to. Satiating the masses at any given point given popular methodologies is not difficult. Challenging individuals to discover something buried within them that transverses the barrier between instant gratification and the longevity of a love affair is not the goal of an artist, but the dream of every artist. Because to accomplish the latter is to leave a legacy. 

 

In the words of Marcel Duchamp - “What art is, in reality, is this missing link, not the links which exist. It's not what you see that is art; art is the gap.” 

 

So mind the gap. 

 

Feel like I should apologize.

It's been a while since you've been here, Matt. I wrote what I wrote and I'm not going to be a fake sycophant by erasing it/pretending like I didn't write it- or even back tracking- but had I known you for sure were going to read my post I would have crafted it with much more care and diplomacy. I'm not naive enough to think that you care what a random, over opinionated fan like myself has to say on a message board, but on the off chance my words did get to you, you have my honest apologies and regret.

I've said this before, but I'll say it again- your music over the decades has given me and hundreds of thousands of others more than any other artist ever has and I think I speak for the majority of us when I say we are eternally grateful. My initial opinion on this album is nothing more than that- an initial opinion- and does not cancel out all of the good you've done in the past. Likewise, most importantly, I certainly hope you don't focus on the few negative reviews as much as you focus on the vast majority who have expressed their gratitude to you for this album. You go on any social media outlet- be it Youtube or Facebook- and you'll see just about every comment noting how they love this music and- in the case of the Sicily video- noting how it actually saved their life. With regards to the few negative reviews here- including mine- you're never going to please everyone and nor are you required to. You do what you do and it's always been honest. Regardless of perceptions, I think everyone here respects you for that. 

Anyways, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the song writing process too.

Cheers, Matt. 

[Gomo]

Thank you for the new album, Matt! Congrats on the release.

And thanks for the insights. The point about the value placed on the Da Vinci painting vs. the works of Mozart was really interesting. Had never thought of it that way. I've connected with all kinds of music throughout my life, and in turn I have personally placed way more value on music. That is to say I've spent way more money on music than visual art, but more importantly I've felt deeper emotional connections with music than any other creative work.

The thought actually crossed my mind recently that you might consider retiring soon (just based on your general feelings about the music bizz that you've shared throughout your career). I selfishly hope that doesn't happen yet, but in the end "Life's for the Living" so enjoy it however you must. But before any of that I'll see you at the NYC show April 18th. Can't wait.

Edited February 22, 2020 by Gomo

[gweeps]

2 hours ago, mfrg said:

 

The most important aspect of art is, in truth, not how it initially impacts us, but how it challenges us intellectually and spiritually to succumb to something we are not so easily accustomed to. Satiating the masses at any given point given popular methodologies is not difficult. Challenging individuals to discover something buried within them that transverses the barrier between instant gratification and the longevity of a love affair is not the goal of an artist, but the dream of every artist. Because to accomplish the latter is to leave a legacy.

 

 

I wish more folks would judge a new album based on how it fits with the rest of the canon. You can't really appreciate it otherwise e.g. if you only like early Beatles you can't truly understand their creativity.

[PlasticSoldier]

Going on the whole "This isnt the Matthew Good I know!" Or whatever feeling people have towards it not being the same... what albums are the same as the previous?

There are parts sure, but they are their own thing, and stand out as such. 

I find I am really enjoying this album. 

Thanks Matt for posting too! Always nice to see some insights. And I hope retiring isn't too soon, but that's more for myself loving having new music and new shows to see.

[Guest Rhu8ar8Pi3]

I love Boobytrapped. I hope we get to hear the orchestral parts of Boobytrapped at the live concert, because it is stunningly beautiful.

I look forward to element of surprise in hearing the new songs live for the first time at the full band and acoustic concerts in April.

I'll try to refrain from reading any concert reviews and watching concert video clips until then.

[Guest Rhu8ar8Pi3]

On 2/21/2020 at 3:46 PM, daniel_v said:

 I feel the same way about this one for Matt. Save for a couple good songs, the rest of them kind of sound like filler songs, and again, even where there are some good ideas, it feels like the rest of the material was just slapped together like a baloney sandwich for the sake of having a completed song. I almost wish he would take longer between albums and work on the songs more so that the final product is stronger. I'll take quality over quantity any day of the week. 

I was a little offended that you used the analogy of a baloney sandwich. Matt and baloney don't belong in the same paragraph.  *just kidding*  

[daniel_v]

6 minutes ago, Rhu8ar8Pi3 said:

I was a little offended that you used the analogy of a baloney sandwich. Matt and baloney don't belong in the same paragraph.  *just kidding*  

Honestly, even though I know you're just joking, that is an analogy I really do regret using now. People who know me know that even though I sometimes choose my words very carefully, at other times I just write whatever is sitting at the top of my head, especially when it comes to topics I'm passionate about. The original post I made here was a mixture of both. I wanted to make sure I was honest, but also fair and not by any means fully negative either. Either way, the baloney comment was below the belt. If I was Matt and I read a long time fan make that kind of a comparison it would probably sting me a little too and the last thing I've ever wanted to do is cause any kind of pointless discomfort to someone who has done as much for me as Matt has done through his music over the decades. As I noted, I should have been more careful and diplomatic about how I wrote that paragraph. Just because I don't find as many of his songs as moving as I used to does not by any means mean that  I'm not still grateful for the songs (new and old) that I still do like. Likewise, the quality over quantity comment was probably unfair too since in the past people (not me though) have complained about his albums not having enough songs on them. Like I said, he can't please everyone and I really do hope he focuses more so on the vast majority of positive comments people are making everywhere about his album instead of possibly allowing the few less than positive ones like mine to get him. 

[juanpe]

I have already listened to the 15 songs once.

The word that comes to my mind to define this new album is "intimate". Some songs have already filled me up with one listening (One of them years, for example, which is my favorite song so far; Sicily; Boobytrapped, another of my favorite ones or Selling you my heart). It's true that I expected something different for the new songs. I miss the guitars as in the previous MG's works (very much, actually).

That is why, I guess, some of them have not filled me up yet. I should give it a second/third listening to really appreciate some of the songs included in the album.

Best,

Juanpe

[IamNick]

i LOVE this album. maybe one of my top MG albums. so far highlights are Fingernails, Thorn Bird, and Radicals. This will likely evolve as i listen more.

 

matt's analogy of the typecast actor is sad to me; i wish he could just make the music he wants.