AnOceanPearl

Right now I am really enjoying this album, but the true test is going to be if I end up coming back to it later on. I listened to Something Like a Storm for a couple of solid weeks right after it came out and then didn't have any desire to listen to it after - similar things happened with Arrows and Chaotic Neutral but it took a bit longer for those two. My tastes have changed so much over the 20 years I've been listening to Matt that it was bound to happen that I wouldn't connect with some of his work, but I feel like Moving Walls is the right album at the right time for me and it's been a treat to listen to - so much so I think I am going to go to both Vancouver shows. There's a few tracks I tend to skip (Beauty, Your Rainy Sound, Fingernails), but the Lumière Noire-A Thousand Tons-The Heights sequence is my favourite 3 song sequence on an MG album since Mildred-Zero Orchestra-Non Populus and I'm going to be arguing with myself all year which of A Thousand Tons or The Heights is going to hit my Fave Songs of 2020 playlist at the end of the year, which I think is a good sign for the album's potential longevity in my life.

I could write so many words about this album.

Louise Burns in November.

Weyes Blood was super good. Natalie Mering is a great songwriter and has an amazing voice. We can add Big Thief to my list of October shows. Considering going to see Pete Yorn.

Finished Nier Automata and I don't even know what to say about that game except go play it. It's strange, it's touching, it's over the top, it bucks convention and it's just really really fun. Now onto Breath of the Wild.

Add Clairo in October to my upcoming shows. Clairo is so good.

Weyes Blood - August 14th Carly Rae Jepsen - August 29 K.Flay - Sept 9 In the last year or so I've seen: Laura Stevenson, Margaret Glaspy, Louise Burns, Trailerhawk, Now Now, Boygenius (Julien Baker/Phoebe Bridgers/Lucy Dacus, who also played their own sets during that show), Matt Good acoustic tour, Kina Grannis and some others that I probably can't remember.

Playing Nier Automata for real this time. Got through like 6 hours when I tried last year and then got waylaid by other things.

And going to see Now, Now on July 31

Seeing the dreampop band Winter on August 15th. I literally found out about this band like 2 hours ago. Can't argue with a ticket for $12.50 (including fees). July though September is looking alright for me.

Fuck.

Trailerhawk tonight. A Place to Bury Strangers on Wednesday (probably/possibly) Kina Grannis in July. MG, Louise Burns and Margaret Glaspy in the span of like 7 days in September.

Matt is apparently playing a free show in New Westminster as part of Recovery Day BC on September 8

Far Cry 5 completed. I wish the story was as good as the ideas of the story that are present in the soundtrack. There's a huge disconnect that's very Far Cry and very jarring. I think they had a chance to tell a really cool and relevant story and chose the route of... well not doing that. Playing Nier: Automata now.

I agree with the Loser Anthems thoughts - I rate those songs pretty highly. The tour that could have been...

I feel so lucky I got them all on release day. They sound great. I'm especially impressed with Audio and I am hearing my favourite album in a whole new light. Some of the more subtle and ambient sounds (think the outro vocals in Advertising, the reverb on the guitars in the Fall of Man, some of the phaser on the guitar in Influence, the background "have me some gun" in chorus 3 of Protest Song) and the more powerful moments of the record (the final "if this is us in control of our selves", "love's not enough", "no pain, no gain, no pain") really really stand out and it just makes me really happy.

I uploaded pics of the interior stuff. All the lyrics are one of the sleeves, credits on the other. The song title Near Fantastica is not bolded like the rest of the titles lol Edit: I uploaded pics to the folder I previously linked in case anyone was confused about that.

Avalanche album art is the same as the initial limited edition run (despite what Amazon shows!) and I am pretty sure is the same tracklisting as that release, but I'm not about to pull my copy out of the frame it's in. Double gatefold. If anyone is concerned about buying an original run of the Avalanche vinyl on ebay or something later on, the current release has the musicvaultz logo on the backside and that will be an easy way to distinguish it. Audio is NOT a double gatefold, despite it being a 2LP release. 3 songs per side, in album order. Black cover. Album art is the same as the CD release with some of the images rearranged on the disc sleeves and one new piece of art as well. Loser Anthems/Lo-fi is basically what you see on the store page plus some new art for the disc sleeve. Here's a link to a google drive folder with some pictures I took of the new art for Audio/Loser Anthems and the images in the centre of the discs themselves! https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1k8q80rHs9P9cwjHcNDAkQ5c3DE31lF1Q?usp=sharing Edit: the store page for Avalanche says "Bright End To Nowhere" but the record shows the correct title. Edit 2: Audio plays at 45 RPM, Avalanche/Loser Anthems and 33 1/3

I pre-ordered via Amazon and they got delivered today. I'll snap some pics when I get home from work if anyone wants to see.

I honestly haven't listened to any MG since about 2 or 3 weeks after SLAS was released, but I'm already emotional about hearing remastered Audio of Being, and while I was planning on only getting the AoB/Loser Anthems vinyls, the thought of hearing Weapon/Avalanche/Near Fantastica/Bright End/HoSAM on the new vinyl was too tempting, so why not? The Hospital Music and BM remasters gave me a whole new appreciation for those albums, both of which I've listened to hundreds of times, so I'm looking forward to hearing what tiny little bits I can pick out of these new ones.

Shadow of the Colossus, PS4 styles. So happy.

I just checked because I had easy access to the discs at my house. Kept (black) in the (grey) Dark (white) That stuff is on the spines. Under the disc is just crew/recording info. On the inside of the spine, it says "help us get rid of the Matthew Good Band" which I either never noticed or completely forgot about. There is no difference in the content of the booklet or what's under the disc in any of the 3 versions. I believe "A Pleasurable Headache" came with the first X number of copies sold, and those versions may have also had a cardboard sleeve to put the disc + Headache together, but if that's the case, I know I lost my sleeve years ago.

My first playthrough on normal difficulty was probably about 8 hours or so. Then I played it again on easy with a guide to collect all the collectible stuff and that was probably about 5 hours. I barely ever complete a game and then restart it right away to do that kind of stuff. I'm back into playing Horizon Zero Dawn now that the DLC is out. Starting a New Game+ run, but doing it on Very Hard (I did normal on my vanilla playthrough). I am not really good at this game any more, but I'm excited to re-learn it. Gonna have to get good so I can do an Ultra Hard NG+ run to get the trophy for that. (I barely every play games on their hardest difficulty - I've finished Mass Effect 2 on Insanity once and one of the CoD on the hardest difficulty once).

I played through the Call of Duty: World War 2 single player campaign twice this weekend - once just to play it and experience, and a 2nd time to get all the collectibles and some trophies. It's a pretty good amount of fun and has some cool mechanics in it.

Horizon did have some decent (but not amazing) UI customization options so you could de-clutter your screen. I think the setting I went with only had health bars etc display in combat and the rest of the time it was just the compass. I wish more games would allow you to fine tune most, if not all elements of the UI during gameplay.