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thisaintascenereviews · 5 months ago

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Thks Fr Th Mmrs: A Mid-year Checkin

The summer is a mark of many things, whether it’s being outside, longer nights, the Fourth of July, fireworks, hotdogs, beaches, summer break, and the middle of the year. We’re over a week into July by this point, and while new releases have slowed down for a moment (I’m writing this on the 7th, but it’ll be later when I post this), we still got a ton of great pieces of media within the last few months. Whether it’s TV shows that people can’t stop talking about, movies that win audiences over, or albums that we’re all sure to be spinning by the end of the year, we’ve been eating good when it comes to new media. There are plenty of things to talk about, especially new stuff that I didn’t talk about in the last checkin piece I made back in April. Just like last time, however, I’m not doing this alone! I’m bringing along my buddy Jake, so we can talk about all things fandom, whether it’s music, movies, or TV. Hell, even video games aren’t off the table, but if you’re looking for new stuff that you haven’t heard, seen, or played in the first half of the year, or want to see what we’re into, you’re in the right place! We also talked about stuff that wasn’t necessarily new, but it may be new to us, since you don’t have to spend the year getting into stuff from that year, you can consume whatever you want from whenever you want.

With that said, in case you missed our first piece back in April, we talked about TV shows and movies like Fallout, Invincible, X-Men ‘97, and the Mean Girls musical, as well as talking about video games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Mafia III, and Fallout 4, and the new albums from bands like Cory Wells, Too Close Topic Touch, Bayside, Sum 41, The Ghost Inside, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Neck Deep, Fluorescents, Dustin Kensrue, Lil Dicky, and Justin Timberlake, among others. We got plenty more to talk about today, however, so to welcome you aboard, let me first kick to you, Jake — how have the last few months been for you in terms of consuming media? Has there been a lot that you’ve been really into that’s come out since we last discussed our favorite things, or have you still been sinking into your teeth into some, if not all, of the same things we talked about back then?

It’s funny, because in terms of music, so much new and exciting stuff has come out in the last couple months, and I’ve been all over it, but in terms of other forms of media, I’ve been kind of stuck in a bit of a rut. For example, I’ve been sitting on the last couple chapters of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth for almost two months now after 160 hours, but it’s been a struggle to get myself to finish it, which in turn has made me hesitant to really start anything new. Same with TV shows; while I did watch the new Star Wars series The Acolyte and mostly enjoyed that, and I’m really loving this current season of the Criminal Minds revival, I haven’t really felt motivated or energized to start a new thing. That being said, I do wanna touch on both of those things at least briefly. The Acolyte was a super fascinating look into a new era of Star Wars removed from the Skywalker saga, and while I think it suffered from some pacing and format issues (mostly in that it felt like a movie cut up into 8 pieces), I loved the bold swings it took and hope we get to explore more of that in a potential second season. As for the Criminal Minds revival, the original series is a major comfort show of mine, so I was bummed when the original series ended in 2020, but also okay with that, because 15 years is a long time, and the show was past its prime. But, when it was revived just a couple years later for streaming as opposed to network TV, it was just the shot in the arm the series needed. Because it’s on streaming, the creative team isn’t beholden to the rigid network procedural format, and they’re able to tell darker stories and really dig deep into both the main BAU agents and the killers they’re chasing, and they’re also able to be way more serialized in their storytelling, versus the case-of-the-week format they did originally. The second season of the revival has been particularly awesome, because they’re really running with the new format to dig into the entire series’ history, and I’m super stoked to see how it wraps up with the finale that’s airing the week of writing this.

Throwing it over to you, Bradley, what have you been getting into since the last time we did this?

You know, I can sort of say the same thing, because aside from a few TV shows that just wrapped up recently, I’ve been diving headfirst into a lot of music. A lot of new music, mind you, but I’ve also been revisiting some stuff I used to be into around a decade ago, and it’s been a pretty cool experience. I’ll talk about that in a bit, however, but I’ve been mainly watching The Acolyte and fourth season of The Boys. I feel the same way about The Acolyte; I love this new era of Star Wars we’re exploring, and despite issues with pacing, it was an interesting show about a mystery that didn’t amount to a whole lot, and I had a lot of questions in the finale, but it left a lot open for another season. The Boys, however, has been ramping up with its penultimate season, because as far as we know, season five is the last one, but the characters are getting more unhinged and the political commentary is more on point than ever (even having its last episode mirror something that just happened while being written and shot months before). It’s getting good, so it’ll be interesting to see where the last season goes.

Aside from those two relevant shows that just wrapped, I’ve also been watching the 1998 anime Cowboy Bebop, because I’ve been getting more into anime, and it’s been a fun ride of watching one of the most influential and critically acclaimed anime series of all time. I’ve been a couple games, too, including the first Kingdom Hearts game, which is fitting with Final Fantasy, and that’s been a lot of fun, but I’ve recently taken a liking to playing online multiplayer on 2018’s Battlefront II, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s nothing special, just being either a clone, stormtrooper, rebel, or battle droid, and playing what amounts to capture the flag, but it doesn’t get old to me for whatever reason.

Now it’s time for the reason we’re all here — music. A lot of new music has come out in a last few months, and despite it being relatively slow the last couple of weeks, it’s still been a great summer for new and exciting music. Before we talk about that, however, are there are any albums from the first time that we did that you’re still really into, or have your thoughts changed on some? I’ve got a couple of albums that were in my top ten that I’ve changed my thoughts a bit on, not necessarily in a bad or dramatic way, but the more you listen to something, the more your thoughts can change one way or another.

I wouldn't necessarily say that there have been any albums that I've changed my mind on, but as more stuff has come out, albums that I thought were gonna be really high on my list may not be anymore, or may eb off my list entirely. I still really like all of those albums, but I think it's a testament to just how strong the last few months have been in terms of music. I will say this, though; while my number one album is still Bayside's There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive, pretty much the entire rest of my top 10 has shifted pretty dramatically, and I'm excited to talk more about that!

How has that been for you, though?

That’s actually what I was going to say, too, because while I’ve changed my thoughts on a few albums (mainly loving them when they first came out to not loving them as much now, but still enjoying them; the new JT album is a good example of that, actually), it’s more so that a bunch of new albums came out in the last few months to replace a lot of what I originally had in my top ten! I’ve got three ealbums from the last we time did this still in my top ten, and one of them is the new Bayside album as well! I’ll spoil it a bit early, but even that album isn’t my frontrunner anymore for AOTY, which shows how strong this year has been so far. With that said, a lot of my honorable mentions are albums that originally appeared on my list a few months back, but my overall list has changed dramatically. What are some albums from the last few months have crept their way into your overall favorites?

I have a feeling this one might end up on both our lists, so I'll start with the new Bimuri album, American Motor Sports. This thing almost has no business being as good as it is, and yet every time I listen to it, I just have the biggest smile on my face. It's really a perfect album for this time of year; you have infinitely catchy hooks, heartfelt lyrics, and a sound that on paper, perhaps isn't the most unique, but Johnny Franck pulls it off flawlessly. If you haven't, check out the album with all the visualizers/musicvideos, too; they're so ridiculous but they only add to the enjoyment for me. I also wanna give a big shout to The Home Team and their new album The Crucible of Life. I think you put it best in your review when you said that these guys are carrying the torch from Issues (RIP), their self-described heavy pop sound is fully refined here, and while I don't think it quite makes the upper half of my list, it's a damn great album that I've been going back to quite a bit. Finally, I'd like to at least briefly touch on the new Bring Me The Horizon album, Post-Human: Next Gen. This thing was all I listened to for the first two weeks after it came out, and I think a lot of that had to do with how the album felt both fresh but also very much like a loving throwback to that early and mid-2000's hard-rock/alt metal that I grew up with. It's absolutely a nostalgia thing for me, but I also think, a few nitpicks aside, BMTH really made something unique and memorable in a genre that so desperately needed it.

How about you? I think I know what a few of them are, but I'm curious if there might be some unexpected ones on your list.

Oh, man, you know the new Bilmuri album is on there! American Motor Sports is a fantastic album, and like you said, it’s not a super unique album, but the songwriting is top notch. I need to check out some of the music videos, too, because if there is one thing I know about his music, it’s that he loves memes and ridiculousness. The Home Team’s new one is good, too, but what kept it from my top ten is how some of the songs fade into the background, despite being so good. The new BMTH album is the same, actually, but both of those are some great picks, and a couple of highlights in a crowded year.

As for me, most of my list is composed of new albums from the last time we sat down and did this! For starters, the new Knocked Loose album, You Won’t Go Until You’re Supposed To, is a big one; they came back with a super heavy album, as well as a really short one, but it’s a blast. Rapper turned country artist Shaboozey dropped a cool album a couple months back with Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going, but a lot of the new stuff on my list are all rap albums.

I didn’t listen to much in that vein last year, but what I’ve heard this year is great. For starters, Childish Gambino dropped two albums this year, and while I enjoy his latest (and final) album, Bando Stone, I enjoyed the finished version of his 2020 album, now entitled Atavista, a lot more. Denzel Curry’s recently released King Of The Mischievous South, Vol 2, and that’s easily in my top three of the year, and because of that, I listened to That Mexican OT’s newest album from in the beginning of the year, because he’s featured on there. My (current) favorite this year, however, has become the new Lupe Fiasco album, Samurai. I’ve always been a fan of his stuff, but this is such a short and sweet album, it’s easily listenable and you can listen to it whenever and wherever.

Man, even if it's not totally my thing, that new Knocked Loose album goes hard, you really can't deny that. Same with the new Lupe Fiasco album; it's a genre I'm not super entrenched in, but I really don't see how you listen to that and not at the very least respect the hell out of it.

Before we close this thing off, is there anything coming up that you're looking foward to? The main one for me is probably the upcoming Four Year Strong album. I've had a blast with the singles I've heard, and they always bring the goods, so I'm pretty confident about that one. I'm also really looking forward to the new Siamese album. They're a very solid and criminally underrated band, and I've really enjoyed what they do in the heavier rock scene.

Honestly, the new Four Year Strong album comes to mind, as I’ve been a huge fan of them for years, so it’s crazy that they’re still putting stuff out, but I saw that Siamese announced a new album! That could be good, especially since I enjoyed their debut quite a lot back in the day. I’m not looking forward to anything else in particular, and I think part of the fun is just seeing what comes out every week, and being surprised. As I write this, rapper Yung Gravy dropped a country album today, and for the record, it’s pretty fun, but I had no idea that was even coming out today. I know there are some albums I’m looking forward to, but they’re albums coming out in the next few months, versus August.

I think you raise a pretty good point there, actually; it has been a ton of fun just kinda browsing the new releases and seeing if anything sticks out. It's not quite the same, but it reminds me a lot of going to FYE back in the day and just picking up a random CD that'd grab my attention, especially on release weeks when not a lot came out that was on my radar.

In any case, though, it was a blast getting back together to do this, man! I'm excited to do it again in the fall, and finally at the end of the year for our big year-end celebration.

Man, you and me both. I loved going to stores and just browsing to see if anything caught my eye, especially when a lot of those stores had more CDs. Nowadays, most of these stores don’t have anything at all, or the couple of bigger new releases, and that’s so depressing. It’s still exciting to see new stuff, nonetheless, especially when you’re not anticipating anything, kinda like this week, actually. Anyhow, it was certainly a blast getting back together to do this, for sure! I’m always pumped for these pieces, because there’s nothing like nerding out and fanboying over the stuff we’ve been loving throughout the year.

#midyear checkin #AOTY #2024 #the acolyte #final fintasy vii rebirth #rock #metal #heavy metal #pop #r&b #metalcore #soul #pop-punk #the boys #knocked loose #Bilmuri #bayside #the home team #Lupe fiasco

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