Evasive ultrapop-hardcore collective The Armed and their intense music

Like, I hadn't realised that say the chorus of An Iteration is all about the bass until just now

This is gonna be like Weyes Blood where the one that launches them into the mainstream is still amazing but the previous one is where they achieved godliness

this is good

feel like this band is extremely my thing on paper and less so in practice. maybe they're not there yet

i only watched that live video and it turned me off - four guitarists playing indiscriminate mush on shiny new guitars (though i approve of the st. vincent signature guitar that one dude is playing), the token woman who wears skimpy clothes and who you can't hear at all and doesn't play an instrument even though there are four dudes playing guitar, how anti-styled they all look, etc. i like the faux-andrew w.k. playing andrew w.k. chintzy synth fine. the non-musical antics described in the pitchfork review sounded reasonably amusing. guessing this is just "not for me" or i am "too old" for it bc i know that a lot of the band members have cred.

ugh why did i post all that, i don't know anything about this band

I've said it in other threads but I love this band and the show i saw them play in bk right around the release of the previous album was some of the most fun I've ever had at a live show. This new one sounds a lot like Cleric meets Melt-Banana meets top 40 pop/rock. I wasn't convinced by the rollout but hearing it all as one album, I love it. "BIG SHELL" is exactly why I dig this band.

This is the worst sounding record since Loveless and they deserve a medal.

i like quite a few bands that only have one mode but when i listen to an album by these guys i really enjoy it while it's on and when it's over i feel like i just listened for the hidden harmonies in my garbage disposal for 40 minutes

i get way more actual dynamics out of like ... a converge record

there are parts of this, when there are multiple vocalists going off, that sound sort of like how I imagine a 2021 blood brothers reunion record would sound like (though sadly not as hooky)

also while I do like them and this record it doesn't bode well that it takes this level of extramusical art-fuckery to get a metal band the ol' Pitchfork BNM these days lol

Tbh I should have opened with either of the other two advance singles, both of which are better than All Futures

And yeah, Pitchfork were always going to be all over this lot eventually. They just wanted it. And they got it. Lol

needs more crabcore

Their music does nothing for me but the Stereogum feature about the two main dudes' nutrition and weight-lifting regimens was pretty funny. Maybe the only thing Ian Cohen's ever written that I enjoyed!

"all futures" is my favorite song i think. maybe i'm doing it wrong

it's got a sense of space they usually lack for me

blood brothers comparison otm

It's also kind of weird to me that the weightlifting aspect is so prominent in discussions of the music because it doesn't even strike me as a good weightlifting album? A good running album maybe. I'd way sooner put on one of the last two Code Orange albums.

I don't do much lifting so maybe I'm not the best judge tbf

I really liked the last album but everything I've seen about this campaign completely turns me off

I've deliberately tried to keep this thread to the music lol

Like shouts out to p4k for waving the BLM flag for half a decade but not thinking its a little suss that a band that's 87% white releases an album album that looks like the alt-R&B debut of Hydrox Frank Ocean

https://img.discogs.com/RuWnTijgsdek3w0vGIxtL5rrnqo=/fit-in/594x596/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-18314782-1618526827-3105.jpeg.jpg

Everything about this screams "the 1975" to me where it's like 75% pretty passable happy-shiny depression rock and 25% regurgitating contemporary signifiers as if having the internet makes you Andy Warhol and millennial music critics go bananas

"ultrapop," fuck off

you're angry that they're using black models on their album covers now?

regardless, pretty sure their ideals are ultra-progressive and leftist

anyway, 'ultrapop' is a great title that MAY WELL have been taken from someone's RYM review of Only Love, as was pointed out recently

When asked about the term “ultrapop” on writer Dan Ozzi’s Substack podcast,
When asked about the term “ultrapop” on writer Dan Ozzi’s Substack podcast,
When asked about the term “ultrapop” on writer Dan Ozzi’s Substack podcast,
When asked about the term “ultrapop” on writer Dan Ozzi’s Substack podcast,
When asked about the term “ultrapop” on writer Dan Ozzi’s Substack podcast,
When asked about the term “ultrapop” on writer Dan Ozzi’s Substack podcast,
When asked about the term “ultrapop” on writer Dan Ozzi’s Substack podcast,
When asked about the term “ultrapop” on writer Dan Ozzi’s Substack podcast,
When asked about the term “ultrapop” on writer Dan Ozzi’s Substack podcast,
When asked about the term “ultrapop” on writer Dan Ozzi’s Substack podcast,
When asked about the term “ultrapop” on writer Dan Ozzi’s Substack podcast,

who gives a shit

whatever man, I liked their last album but I'm prolly not gonna bother with this

you should at least listen to the music. bandcamp link is above

"a life so wonderful" is an emo song and is my actual favorite here

Like shouts out to p4k for waving the BLM flag for half a decade but not thinking its a little suss that a band that's 87% white releases an album album that looks like the alt-R&B debut of Hydrox Frank Ocean

Is this parody.

Hydrox is the original chocolate sandwich cookie. Oreo came later.

Whoa

Is the criticism that they're overcompensating for their shortcomings via extramusical online-leftist catnip as marketing tactic or something?

terrible

that dude has nice thighs though

anyone who likes this band should get some fuckin taste and listen to elder instead

<3 map

I listen to both

album's solid but it's no twenty one pilots trench j/k

well i'm not kidding but i'm kidding

anyone who likes this band should get some fuckin taste

Dude, there are people on this board riding for Tramp Stamps with a straight face. Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

album is really solid. I like everything about them. the music delivers imo. the live show is a blast. the non music creative side of things is a funny mindfuck and way more interesting than the norm.

also, I like Elder.

yup ^^

(i do think Only Love is a bit better than this new one)

tramp stamps are good

not sure why we keep bringing up music that doesn't resemble the armed but it's fun

ironically they also remind me of parts and labor

Several listens later: straight fire beautiful album

deffo prefer only love, but having a good time with this

I'd say early off at least as good as the last one. Which was the first one I heard, and I was unaware of all the surrounding narrative til this thread. I read that Stereogum link, read whatever two articles were linked off that, still not really understanding or caring. Kurt Ballou's involved? Cool, cool. Otherwise whatever, I played this loud when I was getting up this morning and may do again tomorrow morning, it seemed good for that. There wasn't any pushups or such involved, I just made coffee and showered and fed the cat, so maybe I was doing it wrong

listened to the song linked at the top at the thread. will not be listening to anything else by choice.

I still can't understand how anyone thought the headphones-plugged-halfway sound was a good idea. I also don't like the stupid prog rock guitars, so maybe this band is just not for me. Maybe I'm just angry that actually good metalcore/hardcore doesn't get the attention they deserve and I've probably missed out on a lot of it because mostly this kind of gimmicky crap gets attention and exposure. Everyone please go listen to the Portrayal of Guilt and Be All End All records that were released this year, they are actually good and you don't have to wonder if your speakers are broken.

I'd like to think that people will read the above post and be directly inspired to listen to The Armed by it

lol, you're probably right.

and their intense...movies?

https://ultrapop.live/tickets

Will watch and report back

bangers!

between this and the new L'Rain single, Intensified Strokes is a flavour that's in. the 20-year recurrence thing eh lol

I saw this band live about a year ago and it was impossible to comprehend what was going on

i believe that is more or less the idea

not much that's baffling on this new album, wall to wall pop splendour, aside from a really out of place penultimate track that combines breathy folk with smooth jazz and it doesn't work at all. BUT THE REST IS GOOD. also that bad track i mentioned is pure ILMbait so you'll all probably love it lol

"in heaven" isn't even very good at that thing though

i listened to a few other tracks and the ones that kinda sound like muddy blown-out strokes songs are an improvement over anything i've heard before from them. but hardcore was just not my thing to begin with

well they've kept their faithful and added a few others hopefully. good job selling out!!!!!!