Mean Everything To Nothing , the second album from Atlanta's Manchester Orchestra, is everything you want a rock record to be: raw, urgent, emotional, and 100 percent authentic. "There is nothing fake about this record," says frontman and lyricist Andy Hull. "There's not one fake sound on it. We recorded it live because we wanted it to sound like a band, and I think it does: live and loud!"
Inspired by the pounding, primal assault of Weezer's Pinkerton , Nirvana's In Utero , and Foo Fighters' The Colour and the Shape , this young band has created its own version of what a classic rock album should sound like, complete with fiercely beautiful melodies, shifting guitar and keyboard textures, loud/soft dynamics, and an urgency in each band member's performance, especially Hull's cathartic vocals.
The drama is magnified by the fact that the album's first six songs bleed into one another without stopping. The blistering opener "The Only One" immediately gives way to the propulsive "Shake It Out" and the torrential first single "I've Got Friends," followed by the anguished "Pride" and the menacing "In My Teeth," before slowing down on the darkly funny "100 Dollars." Then the album pauses and down-shifts into less relentless yet equally gripping territory on songs from "I Can Feel A Hot One" (which was featured on Gossip Girl last September), to the ruminative closer "The River."
The breakneck pace is both exhilarating and exhausting, which Hull says was intentional. "I like the fact that there isn't a chance during the first six songs to say anything if you're listening to it with somebody. It's seamless. We did that to emphasize that there are two halves to the album." The first half is a brooding tale of teenage angst and anger -- the confusion and disillusionment of growing up and becoming an adult. The second half is about redemption and an overall re-evaluation of the self. It's about Hull beginning to realize in his own words "that things are not ok, I am not ok, and there's a beauty in that -- a calming, a forgiveness," he says.
Be sure to check out the new single "Pose" from D'Aaron Anthony, as featured on DJ Vlad's Unsigned R&B Starz Vol. 2 Mixtape! The music video is coming soon! And watch D'Aaron Anthony live at The Venue of Scottsdale for Sean Kingston show performing "Wish He Was Me" with Nasty Nate and Rees
also spent my wonderful friday night watching youtube videos and caught your interview on beattv. what an asshole interviewer. was impressed you two did the whole interview without any physical violence; watched it again and found it disturbing as you were mocking his racial bigotry, he had no idea how offensive anything he said was.
anyways, cheers guys! and please come to toronto sooner than later!
hey love your guys music so much it has taught me alot and made me wanna pursue my music and into singing it woud mean the world if you checked out my page and songs and to whoever is reading this i have cover songs from nevershoutnever! the scene aestetic and more! love you guys -Travis-February Critical
hahaha holy crap Robert Mcdowell, I cant believe I just now figured out that you're in this band. Haven't seen you since the Perimeter days. Well good for you man, glad to see you're doing well.
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