#afut

[zandoog]

Once concorde hits its over

[donoteatmymoths]

jayvik is so ants from up there coded someone see my vision

[no-tengo-ojos]

Going to listen to Ants From Up There again but through my sound system and lie on top of it so the only thing my body can feel are the vibrations and tears streaming down my face

[gordonstanheight]

black country new road while making ants from up there:

[warryboy3148]

i like to imagine The Ant From Up There from the concorde bcnr music video and sza from thst one hot sauce interview thing idk i didnt watch it are cousins

[starlingfawn]

throws more squid art at you

listen to this,,!!!!!

[morethananhour]

relistening (and listening to bush hall) to bcnr before listening to their new album to be the true and correct decider on what their best release is

[post-modern-prometheus]

watching the bush hall concert movie like WHAT DO U MEAN IM GOING TO SEE BCNR LIVE. WHAT DO U MEAN IM GONNA GET TO EXPERIENCE THESE SONGS IRL.

[geckocult]

GOT MY FOREVER HOWLONG CD EARLY

great album, I personally like it more than AFUT

top 3:

Socks - Track 3

Goodbye (Don't Tell Me) - Track 11

For the Cold Country - Track 8

and Two Horses (Track 5) is a SERIOUS runner up

[llucas45]

My initial thoughts on Black Country, New Road's new album, Forever Howlong:

In most ways, I view Forever Howlong as a marked improvement over BC,NR's previous (live) album.

Firstly, the vocals are great! I'm really happy with the new singer. I found myself genuinely impressed by the melodic lines being pulled off Another highlight is the great arrangement. Everything is really nicely detailed and full. With that said, I do find myself missing the outstanding guitar work of band's the Isaac Wood era. The textures are also really nice-- I especially liked the intermittent harpsichord and woodwinds.

One aspect that holds the album back is the lack of dynamics. For example, i think 2 Horses could be significantly improved if it had a more pronounced crescendo. The absence of really distinct quiet or loud sections diminishes the impact of the tension/release of the songs, which generally is very important to me.

The songwriting is pretty solid here across the board. I can't say that the lyrics have even close to the impact on me that Isaac's did, but to be fair Wood is one of my favorite songwriters of all time. There aren't as many truly breathtaking moments on Forever Howlong as there were on AFUT, but there are still some, and going into the album I new not to expect another AFUT, which is easily one of my top five albums of all time.

Another area of criticism I have is a slight lack of consistency. I found Besties, Two Horses, Happy Birthday, For the Cold Country, and Nancy Tries to Take the Night to somewhat outshine the rest of the songs, which could come off as a little forgettable at times.

I was really looking forward to the release of this album, and I'm not at all disappointed. I'm very happy with the dirextion the band is taking, and I'm excited to see how the band grows from here

8/10

[paranoidandroidofficial]

Ants from Up There is genuinely the best album of the 2000s [including the 2010s and 2020s] (with 1 exception)

This is the second-best album of the 2000s, beaten out only by a life-changing transcendental experience in a cd case trying to be an album (LYSFLATH by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Listen to it. right now. it's so good.). I could ramble on for HOURS about how great AfuT is, but I wanna keep it brief, so I wanna look at it from a few angles: The album itself, its competition, why I think this beats the competition, and what could beat it.

The Album

Ants from Up There is a 2022 post-Rock album made by the British band Black Country, New Road. It's about an hour long, it has 10 songs, and it's an emotional masterpiece. I will make a more detailed review of this album someday, but here are my main pros about it, and my only con.

It only has 2 lackluster songs, and even then, one of them is an intro track, and the other is a break song and a line of demarcation to separate the great songs from when the album goes sicko mode, so I really don't have an issue with them being there.

It actually has a semi-remedy for what would normally be insane tonal whiplash with how different "Chaos Space Marine" is compared to the rest of the album, and that is by putting it as the second track, after an intro track that sounds similar in tone and energy, so that way, it feels like it and the intro are in its own little duo while the other 8 songs are their own separate thing. it doesn't completely solve the issue, but it makes it easier to put up with :)

the concorde comparison actually makes sense when you look into it. Concorde was a plane model that cost billions in the late 60s and 70s to produce, and only amounted to about 20 planes ever being made, and they only saw it through to the end because they had put so much money into it already that it would be more wasteful to quit. That's what Isaac means when he compares his relationship with a woman to Concorde; he's already sunk so much time and resources to this relationship that it would just be a waste to suddenly quit. I think it's pretty clever.

the music is so fucking good. like, no joke, this album has some of my favorite musical moments in recent memory, like the first chorus of Bread Song being in free time (basically saying "fuck time signatures, and fuck bpms" and playing without them), the insane drumming during "Snow Globes", the piano during "The Place Where He Inserted the Blade"... the everything in "Basketball Shoes". I have more to say about that last one specifically.

The lyrics are so strong. I normally am neutral towards relationship stuff in songs, since I don't truly understand the nuances and stuff of relationships, and therefore, can't really relate or get most relationship songs on first listen. If I do, they're either sledgehammer blunt, or I can tie them to something not explicitly related to relationships, or I'm completely wrong. This is sort of an exception. I say sort of an exception because while I didn't really fully get the lines on my first few listens, I was certainly able to understand the general mood of the lyrics, and that mood was unbridled pain as a result of heartbreak, and while heartbreak is something that I don't relate with at all (can't get your heart broken if you've never been in a relationship before. Haha... im such a fucking loser), and therefore, doesn't really get a reaction out of me most of the time... this was absolutely an exception, because here, you can tell that this really hurt him, and it hurt him badly. It also doesn't hurt that Isaac Wood is just an incredible songwriter in my opinion.

All of the last 3 tracks. Just everything about them. Especially Basketball Shoes. That riff during the first part, the ending of the second part, that intermission between the second and third parts... the third part in general. Isaac Wood's vocal delivery during that last part is insane. It is so fucking good. No complaints.

The only con I have with the album is that it can somewhat feel a little lop-sided. Not in the sense that 1 side is all bangers, and the other side is nothing special, but the first half of the album is still great, but that second half is the stuff of legends, and honestly, I kinda wish it were a bit more even... but if it were, then there would be an alternate timeline where I complained that the album never takes a break, because i am never truly satisfied with the media i am given and i need to bitch about something. This is mostly just a nitpick if anything, because like I said... this album's back half is the stuff of legends.

The Competition

[BTW, im only counting albums from after october 2000 to before February 2022, since the actual best album of the 2000s imo was released on October 2nd, 2000, if I remember correctly, and this album was released on February 5th, 2022.]

To Pimp a Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar: Let me get the one that'll piss off the most people out of the way first. I don't think TPAB is better than AfuT for 1 simple reason... there are skippable songs on TPAB. Now, there are 2 skippable interludes on AfuT, but the thing is, I never skip them, because Intro fits as an extended intro to Chaos Space Marine, and Mark's Theme lets me know that this is when shit gets real. On TPAB, here are the skips that I consistently skip, or consider skipping: For Free? (Interlude). I love this song, but I think it's an understandable skip. These Walls. That intro is why I skip it sometimes. Mortal Man. Once Kendrick finished reciting the full poem, that's when I just call it quits, and say the album's finished. Momma. On a bad day, the drums might get on my nerves. But that's not very often. For Sale? (Interlude). barely an interlude, but it's like an interlude in 1 sense; when i see it, my natural instincts make me press the skip button. Yeah, that might be all, and most of the time when I do stuff like listens for reviews, I don't skip these, but if I'm doing it casually, then... I might skip these! Can't say the same for AfuT, where I normally don't skip a single song! I will admit that TPAB is actually pretty close to matching AfuT.

In Rainbows - Radiohead. the only thing I can really say is that I just like AfuT more. No intricate reasonings, or any of that. Just... I like it more.

The Glow pt. 2 - The Microphones. This one is the closest one on this list. This one is very similar to AfuT lyrically, and I'd even say that The Glow matches AfuT lyrically, but AfuT easily beats out the Glow musically. I like the music on The Glow, but if given the choice between indie folk mixed with a dash of noise rock and some of the best post-rock ever committed to tape, I'm choosing the latter before you finish saying the question.

To Be Kind - Swans. Honestly... I can't really say why I like this more than To Be Kind. I guess I like Isaac Wood's voice more than Michael Gira's, but To Be Kind also has some killer music, and some great songwriting (not on the level of AfuT, but still great), so... I guess I don't really know why I prefer AfuT. I just do.

Deathconsciousness - Have a Nice Life. Simple answer... the lyrics on AfuT are just better in my opinion. The lyrics on AfuT really make you understand the pain that this breaking relationship has been causing Isaac, while the lyrics on Deathconsciousness never reach the highs that the lyrics on AfuT reach at some points... maybe except for the last verse of Earthmover, but all of Earthmover is damn near perfect.

Teens of Denial and Twin Fantasy - Car Seat Headrest. AfuT is better musically, but that's not the only reason. Teens of Denial's lyrics read like an angsty teen trying to understand his feelings and cope with them, while Twin Fantasy's lyrics are about the LGBTQ experience. Now, I understand the lyrics of Teens of Denial, since I'm currently going through the process of understanding and coping with my emotions, but I'm... not a member of the LGBTQ community, even if I support it, so I think of Twin Fantasy as just a love album so I can understand it just a little better... but AfuT's pure heartbreaking lyrics are more emotional, and just better written in my opinion, even if I respect Teens of Denial and Twin Fantasy to a similar degree.

What could beat Ants from Up There?

Now, this album is my 4th favorite album of all time, and so let's take some aspects from the albums that already have beaten it.

from (dark side of the moon), an infinitely replayable quality. While I've heard AfuT like 6 times at this point, I'm not sure if it'll hold up like dark side of the moon has, so just in case it doesn't, this is here.

from (ok computer), a dangerous level of nostalgia and personal importance. OK Computer got me into music, and the only album that's ever beaten it is literal musical perfection, so I feel like this dangerous blend of personal importance and nostalgia could be key to making the ultimate "Ants from Up There-repellant Spray".

from (lysflath), make the music sound straight out of heaven. Like, genuinely transcendental music. stuff that sounds like a sneak peek of heaven itself.

now onto the stuff that isn't on any of those albums... more balanced tracklist. make each half as equal as you can.

and lastly... have at least 1 vocal delivery that's on par with, equal to, or better than the vocal delivery on the last part of "Basketball Shoes".

Anyways, in short, Ants from up There is the best album from the past 2 decades, and BCNR have solidifed themselves as one of my favorite bands.

[zandoog]

[marlboro-freds]

thinking about intro from AFUT and how fucking amazing it is to set up an equally beautiful album

[kurtcobainindresses]

there are so many shows i want to go to next month but i can only do two of these at most :(

i don't know if i want to see mitski (+ : it's an intimate acoustic show so less crazy tiktok stans / - : the aforementioned stans and the fact that it might be a shorter set list)

or bcnr (i kinda liked the live album they put out this year but i miss isaac wood so much and knowing for a fact that they won't play any of the material from afut or ftft makes it seem a lot less worthwhile :((()

or see wednesday again after i saw them in june (they were great and i'd love to see them again so really no minuses here except for the fact that i've already seen them. also they're the cheapest act out of the three)

what do you guys think

[michaelsjunkyard]

Record 2: Black Country, New Road’s debut album “For The First Time”!!!!!

GRAHHHHHH IM SO HAPPY TO HAVE THIS IVE BEEN CHEWING ON IT SINCE I BOUGHT IT CHBZNAJDODJSJSKNFND

Ok ok uh, the cover is the basic album cover, with some added credit to the photographer!

This record involves a lyric booklet with added pictures/imagery to go alongside the actual songs (I might post the pics later bc they're actually really cool,,)

The entire booklet feels like such a bts thing… almost as if we're not supposed to be viewing it. God I love this fucking album.

The record itself is double sided, with a really simple design that simple states ‘BC,NR’ and ‘A/B’. The first side has the first 3 songs of the album, second has the last.

It is genuinely such a different, beautiful experience listening to this on record. BCNR is one of, if not, my all time favorite bands and I feel like their debut album gets hidden under a lot of the hype around AFUT (then again, Bush Hall is even worse butttt that’s a post for another day).

FTFT has such a hauntingly serene sound to it and being able to have a physical copy of it is just… unexplainable.

So happy to have this. Sound quality is amazing, songs are perfect.

10/10, no questions asked.

[starlingfawn]

my beloved finch [not a fursona!!!] her name is finch and she's a wolf with very fox-like features,, she is bcnr inspired!!! originally she was just a furrified afut-based oc but i got wayy to attached to her haha...

her wings aren't functional nor are they accurate to actual plane wings,,, just an oversimplified version ^^"

im a big bird nerd irl so i just had to name her after a bird... the guy on her wing is a zebra finch [not a lore related thing i just felt like drwing a bird...]

lore is a big wip