theway-i-see-it

[theway-i-see-it]

# 2 - Chroma - Cartel

chro• ma - Chromatic purity: freedom from dilution with white and hence vividness of hue. The aspect of color by which a sample appears to differ from a gray of the same lightness or brightness and that corresponds to saturation of the perceived color

Who the fuck knows what that means?! It doesn’t matter because I love this album. This was the first CD I put on my first ever iPod (black nano). I got it for Christmas in 2005? along with with iPod and immediately loaded it on there and then listened to it all of Christmas day, even when I was visiting family. This album quickly became the only thing I listened to.

I discovered Cartel while I watching MTV one summer day and the video for “Honestly” came on. It was that first version of the video with the really colorful rooms and people trying to online date? I’ve watched that video so many times. I fell in love immediately because it was just right up my alley as a 6th grader lol. They remade the video later on to be just the band playing in different rooms and it was terrible, so I don’t count it. This was the song that made me fall in love with pop punk and I will always be grateful to Cartel (and MTV?) for that.

I have such distinct memories of laying on the floor in my room at my dad’s house when I would get home from school and blasting this album on my little stereo. Every single day. I think I’ll love this album for the rest of my life because it helped me ~grow up~. I was always alone after school when all my friends were at jump rope practice, and this album was kind of like my friend. But it holds up very well today I think. It’s very pop punk-y, but a different kind. Cartel is very set apart in my mind from a lot of other bands.

I remember I would always skip “Q” & “A” if they ever came on during my shuffle because I just couldn’t get into it as a 6th grader. I was always like why would anyone want to listen to a 9 minute song?! But revisiting those two songs as an adult, I appreciate them a lot more. It’s the kind of stuff I’m a sucker for now. I love the callbacks they have from other songs and the musicality of it all.

I think about this occasionally, but Cartel is like a perfect band to me. Will’s voice is amazing and has such a range that’s not just pop punk. All of these songs you can’t help but air guitar to because they’re just fun and loud. I read a review of Cartel once, probably in AP, that described their guitars as bombastic so whenever I think of Cartel I always think of that word. 

I wish I hadn’t stopped following this band when the second album came out, as I did with so many bands, because everything they have put out is amazing. I revisited all of their music last spring and fell in love all over again. I’m so attracted to their sound. Cartel was so underrated because of the Band in a Bubble thing and it’s a bummer. I’ve seen them a few times over the years but never during this era and I definitely missed out on a lot of amazing tours from what I’ve read. I went to the 10 year anniversary tour when I moved to Chicago for school and it was such a cool and strange experience. I was so much more grown up hearing these songs but they’ve stuck with me all this time. It just felt good.

10/10 recommend this album.

Favorite Song: Gotta go with “Honestly” on this one. A classic.

Favorite Line: “Who you are is not up to them” OR “If you’re not getting answers ask better questions”

Here’s some art I did because I HATE looking at the album cover. It’s so plain and boring and the colors are so ugly. This isn’t much better but it’s what I think of when I hear the word “chroma”.

[theway-i-see-it]

#1 - A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out - Panic! At The Disco

I tried to start this blog weeks ago but then I was trying to listen to this album and take notes while also playing a video game and it didn’t work out so well. And then I just got distracted and unmotivated as the days passed so I’m finally back to start again! Hopefully I’ll start doing these once a week on Saturday or Sunday and I can do them before everyone in my house wakes up because that’s usually how I waste time - planning to do all this stuff and then ending up on the couch talking to my roommates and watching dumb shit on YouTube. Anyways, here are some thoughts about PATD’s first album and the first album I ever willingly bought myself (with my parents’ money because I was in like 5th grade and did not have a job).

Wow what an album. This came out in 2005 and I think it still holds up fairly well. Even though it was a super weird album when it came out. I remember hearing The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage on Alt Nation (Channel 21 on Sirius radio) and then afterward the DJ said something about how Pete Wentz discovered them. I was OBSESSED with Fall Out Boy at the time so I immediately was like I have to hear more from this band. I remember being at the mall one day with my family and we were in Best Buy buying an Xbox 360 I believe. My twin sister and I went to look at the CD section and we found this and From Under The Cork Tree. We shared CDs because why would our parents buy us two of the same thing if we were together all the time? Fall Out Boy was my favorite band and I wanted their album so badly, but I knew my sister wouldn’t want to “own” the PATD album so we compromised and I bought Fever and she bought FUCT. So at least we had both on our roster. 

I don’t remember what was going through my brain when I first heard these songs, but I know I had this album on repeat for months. I remember hanging out at a friend’s house, but I wasn’t playing, I was listening to this on my walkman. It was the smartest thing I’d ever heard (because I was like 11?). All of the lyrics and sounds are so sharp and sassy and quick. Some of the words Brendan was singing I had never heard before (surreptitious comes to mind) and I just felt cool to be listening to something so ~sophisticated~. I also thought the Introduction and Intermission songs were so genius. I had never heard anything like this before. It was so fun and performative and different. Everything is so Vaudevillian/Cabaret/Circus-like and they did it so well for being 18 year olds. The band had just graduated high school when they recorded this and they were babies with no knowledge of the world. It’s funny because I was looking up to them but they had no idea what they were doing. I still have never seen PATD live and one of my biggest regrets was not going to see them during this album cycle. 

Later I found out Ryan Ross had included a ton of references to Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club) books in his lyris, so I decided I wanted to read some of his stuff. I told my mom I wanted to get the book Invisible Monsters from the library, but she had my grandma read it first to make sure it was appropriate for a 12 year old to be reading. It wasn’t and I still haven’t read it. Somehow I did manage to read Haunted, which scarred me for life because I actually almost fainted reading that book (and upon a quick google search, there have been 73 cases of people fainting during live readings of this book so I’m glad I’m not alone). Now I wonder how fucked up Ryan Ross must’ve been to be reading that kind of stuff. It made for a good album but like why was he reading that?

Another thing I remember from this album is reading liner notes for the first time (it’s not as important for something like Hilary Duff or whatever I was listening to before). These liner notes were set up like little poems instead of strictly lyrics. I found hidden words and phrases that were not actually in the songs. That was super cool to me. And reading through you really get more of a feel for what’s going on conceptually, which is a lot about fame and attention and spotlight. It’s funny because they had barely experienced any of that when they were writing this, but it was definitely foreshadowing. 

Anyways, I love this album and always will. There are a lot of weird things about it that I pick up on now at 23, but it will always be special to me. It’s just so different from a lot of music out there. 

Favorite Song: This is kind of hard. Time To Dance has always been my favorite song on this album, but I think it might be a tie between that and But It’s Better If You Do. I get major Moulin Rouge vibes, which is one of my favorite movies as an adult so I guess it’s fitting.

A fun memory: The first concert I went to willingly was the Honda Civic Tour with Fall Out Boy, +44, The Academy Is..., Cobra Starship, and Paul Wall. In between sets I Write Sins Not Tragedies came on and everyone yelled “whore” as loud as they could when it came time. I don’t know why, but 12 year old me felt a sense of belonging then and I always remember that moment as what made me fall in love with concerts.

[theway-i-see-it]

Hey what’s up

Welcome to my blog about music~. There are a lot of blogs about music on the internet so like this doesn't matter that much. I just wanted a place to dump all my nostalgia because I have a lot of it. I'm basically just going to go through my CD collection one album at a time (hopefully once a week) in the order that I bought them (because yes, I've kept a list) and talk about a bunch of memories I have related to those albums. Maybe talk about my favorite parts. Maybe throw up some art if I feel motivated.

I've had this idea for a blog rolling around in my brain for like 6 months now and I finally decided to just go for it. Mostly because I FINALLY just shipped my CD collection to Chicago from MA after 4.5 years of living here. I'm not planning on making it a big thing and probably won't promote it anywhere, I just kind of want it as a dumping ground for my thoughts about music I like. Maybe I'll have some ~fresh new takes~ in the year 2018 (hence "brand new eyes"). And it's always fun revisiting music I haven't listened to in a while.

Thanks for reading if you're reading. If you're not, keep doing what you're doing.