instro2

Avalanche is one of those albums I can keep in my car (come to think of it, I have the album in my car right now) and never get tired of it. You say least focused effort, I think the exact opposite. Its the perfect blend of musical tastes, without getting mediocre. In my opinion it cannot be beat and will remain his top album in my mind, and one of my favourites in general. To be perfectly honest, I find his last album incomplete. It doesn't speak to me the way his other albums did. I get the same feeling out of this album as I did hospital music. Its lacking the 'adventure' and feels like a mix of songs thrown together. I'm actually happy others are loving it, and I'll still support MG however I can.

With every MG album, you have a nice blend of 'catchy' songs. I guess its part of the charm. This album doesn't have it. Alot of people are mentioning the brass. I can see both sides. Zero Orchestra is a little over the top, yes. I loved Non Populous since I first heard it. After hearing the rest of the album it remains my favourite. It belongs on Avalanche, really. My fiance absolutely loved Vancouver, infact we went to our first MG concert last year. I know shes going to hate this album. Does that mean its bad album? Absolutely not. Its just a different direction.

Listening to this stuff is actually pretty depressing. Knowing we will never get this kind of stuff again... Its like missing a family member or friend who died.

Thanks ;) I actually filmed all the videos on my knee. Really hard to zoom in too, I was guessing half the time. Opening my flip screen would just draw more attention. Matt would probably like to punch me in the face however.

Matt sounded good. The chorus sounded good. It was the rest of it that sounded bad. My fiance went with me and she agreed, it just didn't sound right. Might I add that Mother Mother was pretty decent too. I enjoyed it more than I thought I was going to, then again I only heard one song from them before going into the show. Theyre much more intense live than on CD, the recordings don't do them justice. Also picked up a signed copy of the cd and a scarf.

Went to the Kingston show aswell. Every song was top notch except for Giant. It sounded god aweful for some reason and its really unfortunate because its one of my favourites. Took some video, I upped some on youtube you can check out. I'll try to fix the audio because of the bass distortion. Its really hard to film with a cam without trying to get busted (considering I was basically right beside a staff member) I'll get around to posting more of it if anyone wants more.

Nah just kidding. Bring it.

Not sure who you're directing this to, but the problem has nothing to do with the 'movement'. Those songs on Hospital Music (even though Girl Wedged is more of sound bite composition than a coherent song) the fact remains all three of them are different. The first three tracks on Vancouver are so similar I didn't even know what track I was on while doing something else. Someone else pointed out that he didnt even know if he was on track 1 or 2, and thats the exact feeling I had. It's perfectly fine having two songs as one composition, but when THREE songs (with all do respect) are pretty similar, it tends to make it longer than it should be and really kills the momentum of the album. I absolutely hate skipping songs on an album, especially when theres nothing wrong with them, but I find it too long and I want to skip through just to get to something different. I've streamed the album to a couple of people and they agreed. Am I making any sense whats-so-ever? I'm not downing the album by any means, I'm just saying if anything, thats my only beef. Track placement is so important and it can really make or break an album. I'm no producer, I have 0 experience in the music industry, however when more than one person starts to comment.. ehh its gotta have some kind of weight behind it. Just wanted to clarify what I meant, not trying to start any wars. ;)

Matt, I'm just curious. Would you consider Avalanche one of your more 'experimental' works? If not experimental, maybe more adventurous? That album was actually what got me into listening to music - lets face it, its not a typical rock album. Thats the kind of album that sounds like it took ages to record and mix, however that wasn't the case. I'm not the only one who describes your new work as a cross between Hospital Music and Avalanche, which by all means is a compliment.

Hi Matt, Just my opinion; I find the first 3 songs sound the most alike, so having them in a row right off the bat is an odd choice. I know it was clearly intentional, I just think if they were spread out on the track order it would make the album more 'level'. As for the guitar stuff some others were commenting on, I don't know what theyre talking about. The string arrangement sounds great, as always. I'm a fan of music, not an armchair music producer. (However if I knew anything about producing music I'd probably sit behind my monitor and bitch for fun anyway.) Oh, and one more thing. Are you planning another 'create a video' contest?

Personally I find the first part of the record the weakest and the middle part pretty damned good (unlike some of the comments). The first 3 songs are alright, but you can predict exactly how the whole song will sound within 30 seconds. I find those 3 tracks kind of blend into eachother because they have a similar vibe going, there isn't one that stands out from the other. I didn't actually tune in until Us Remains Impossible started playing.

This sounds promising. I found that after Avalanche, everything released afterwards felt so 'empty'. (Not saying they were bad by any means, I base it on how I still listen to Avalanche on a regular basis compared to the others.) I hate to use the word 'epic' but thats how I would describe Avalanche, and I get the same vibe from this song. I'm hoping the rest of the album follows along the same path.

Whether 9/11 was an inside job or not, this is true. They took advantage of a bad situation to "Fight terrorism" by spending billions of dollars at the cost of their nation. Not to mention the horrible things that go down there (I know a couple of soldiers and you wouldn't believe what they do to innocent people) not because they want to, but because they're told to.

I've seen most of those videos a long time ago. I don't want to come off as a nutbar, but I just like being open minded. Alex Jones does seem over the edge, however he does provide sources to most of his allegations - compared to some nerd who whips up youtube videos with random shit thrown in just to hype up a bunch of nothing. I find talking about conspiracies is alot like taking about religion. For every person who believes in it, theres equal amount of people who don't. I mean lets face it, no one wants to hear about doom and gloom, especially when you can't control it.

AoB is probably one of my top three album favourites. However I do agree anti-pop seems thrown in there, and rat who would be king is a great track. I enjoy Fall of Man simply because its one of the heavier songs. It applies to the stressful time the whole band was going through.