Liner Notes (September 10th, 2022)

Posted by Jason TateSep 10, 2022

This week’s newsletter has some thoughts on the chaos of trying to order the first pressing of New Found Glory’s Coming Home and the unfortunate industry practices that lead to these dustups. I also share some commentary on music released this week and some entertainment I’ve enjoyed. As always, there’s a playlist of ten songs I recommend, and this week’s supporter Q&A post can be found here.

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A Few Things

I’m writing this a little later than usual on Saturday evening because Hannah and I spent the day relaxing and enjoying the fast-fading summer. A couple of random things on my mind this week. First, we have expanded our weekly albums in stores post to include more albums, as well as a list of the relevant singles released over the past week. We’re trying it out to see how it works into the workflow, but I think this will be a nice upgrade to the weekly post and hopefully help people be even more in the know about what’s now available.
The big Apple Event was this week, and I was paying even more attention than usual since I haven’t upgraded my phone since the iPhone 11 days, and I’ve been itching for an update. I love everything I saw about the new 14 Pro. From the camera upgrades to the software and hardware integration of the “Dynamic Island,” — I was completely sold. I decided to go with the 14 Pro in Deep Purple. I usually always get black, but I decided I wanted something different this time. I went with the Midnight leather case and a Midnight solo loop watch band to match (my black band developed a crack in it, and they no longer have the plain black ones for sale). And, because I was already spending money, I grabbed a pair of AirPods Pro 2. The first version is my favorite headphones of all time, but they were getting a little long in the tooth. Battery drain and a crackle in the left ear made this a pretty obvious purchase. I’ll probably write about all of these once they arrive.
The other “big” news this week was the vinyl debut of New Found Glory’s Coming Home. I got the copy I have been desperately wanting, but it was a ridiculously stressful experience. It looks like everything sold out within one minute, and the website hosting the shop decided just to shut down their entire website once that happened to avoid extra purchases they couldn’t fulfill. Chaos. And, this led to people taking to social media to yell at the band and the labels involved in the pressing. A couple of thoughts on this: First, I know how disappointed people who didn’t get a record are. That absolutely sucks, and I’ve long believed that there should be a continually available black/standard pressing for basically every album so that anyone that wants one can get one, and us nuts that want to look for unique variants or colors can continue being weirdos. But the truth is that the record labels that own these masters don’t want to do that, don’t see the value in doing that, or don’t realize they’re sitting on a lot of money if they stopped being stupid. A little background on my understanding of how these things work. A label usually has to license the rights to press the record from the rights owner. They typically are only allowed to press a specific number, dictated by the owner, and are not guaranteed they will ever be able to press more at a future time even if there’s ridiculous demand for it (see: the recent Ocean Avenue pressing). Also, a lot of the time, money needs to be put upfront to secure the rights and get the record pressed. For something like 2-3,000 records, I think the last time I heard that was in the 40k range of needing to have the money on hand. So it’s not just a matter of a label not knowing what the demand will be for a record; in this case, I think everyone knew 2k would not be enough. But it’s also a matter of having cash on hand and the original label’s licensing deal (which can also take years to secure in the first place). It looks like the labels can do a second pressing as a pre-order (shipping next year) for another 2k of Coming Home, which is excellent, and I hope even more people can get this (awesome and underrated) record on wax. But this whole thing also highlights, in my opinion, some of the flaws in this industry—especially the greed of the flippers. Seeing the record up on eBay for $300+ before it’s even shipped is disgusting and exploitative. I’ve paid a good penny for a few records I wanted to complete my collection (I think Something Corporate’s North is the most I ever spent on a record). Still, I’d have a hard time doing that immediately after a record release knowing I’m just lining some flipper’s (and not the label or band’s pockets. And yet the demand continues to grow, and it’s interesting to see just how much demand there was for a record that at one time was considered a “flop” and yet now has 10k people trying to spend 40 bucks on it at a moment’s notice. And, because I guess I like stress and pain, I’m going to be right there on Tuesday trying my luck at getting a copy of Cartel’s Cycles like the madman I am.

Music Thoughts

There were some fun releases this week. First up, One Ok Rock released two copies of their new album, Luxury Disease. One in English and a Japanese version with Japanese portions in a few songs. I highly recommend that version of the two. I listened to both and think the mixed language version is the far superior one. I also believe this is their best album in quite a few years, with some solid alternative rock.
This week also saw the release of a few albums I’ve been writing about for a while now. I recommend everyone check out the new one from Armor for Sleep, which I feel picks up right where What To Do When You’re Dead left off. An emotional rock album with big guitars and Ben’s one-of-a-kind lyrical stylings. It’s grown on me with every listen, and I think it fits perfectly in their discography in an almost uncanny way after all this time.
I also highly recommend the new album The Midnight. If you like anything that plays in that 80’s inspired space, this will be right in your wheelhouse. Huge choruses, big synths. Every song is pulled from the best movie never released in your childhood.
The weather’s been all over the place lately. It was starting to feel a little chilly, which sent me on a Finch dive, and then warmed up and got me listening to some old Don’t Look Down and Over It records before cooling off and me reaching for again the old any-weather staple of Jimmy Eat World.
Next week sees the release of the new Death Cab for Cutie album, which I think is going to be extremely popular.

The Stats: Over the past week, I listened to 26 different artists, 39 different albums, and 362 different tracks (386 scrobbles). My most listened-to artist of the week was Jimmy Eat World, with my most played album being the new one from One Ok Rock, Luxury Disease. Here is my Top 9 from last week, and you can follow me on Apple Music and/or Last.fm.

Entertainment Thoughts

I have nothing much to add to my early thoughts on Ring of Power this week. The third episode was delightful. I really do love this show so far, and I hate that I have to wait another week for a new episode. Every time one finishes, all I want to do is watch more. All three episodes have been incredible in scope and story.
In fact, I loved them so much that I wanted to spend more time in that world. I haven’t read the original trilogy in over a decade, maybe closer to two, so I quickly sped through the book I was halfway done with (The Box in the Woods; it was ok, but felt very much like a sequel and never matched the highs of the original), and started Fellowship. I’ve had such a big smile on my face when I’ve had time to sit down and read this week. Getting back into this world has felt like finding an old favorite hoodie in the closet and putting it on to realize it still fits perfectly. Now I just need to find more time during my week to actually sit down and read.
Welcome to Wrexham has been filling, just a bit, the Ted Lasso hole in my life. It’s a different kind of show, a different story, obviously, but there’s something to the ethos of the show that warms my heart. There’s a care to the story, to the town, to the people that truly live and die for this team, and that care is reflected in the documentary.
Our weekly show is finally returning to and finishing the second season of Doom Patrol. I really enjoyed the first season, but this one had just fallen down the priority list. Still weird, but still good.

Random and Personal Stuff

Not much for this section this week. My new office continues to make me happy as I sit down for work each week, but I haven’t had a whole lot of extra time for personal projects lately. I have a growing list of things I’d like to tackle, but other commitments keep taking precedence.

Ten Songs

Here are ten songs that I listened to and loved this week. Some may be new, some may be old, but they all found their way into my life during the past seven days.

Armor for Sleep – New Rainbows
The Midnight – Heartbeat
One OK Rock – Save Yourself
Don’t Look Down – Defined by Your Desire
Jimmy Eat World – Believe in What You Want
Hot Mulligan – Makedamnsure
The Graduate – Pull Me In
Straylight Run – Mistakes We Knew We Were Making
Catbite – Everybody Talks
Tegan and Sara – Fucking Up What Matters

This playlist is available on Spotify and Apple Music.

Community Watch

The trending and popular threads in our community this week include:

The most liked post in our forums last week was this one by ChampsMusic in the “Anberlin” thread.

Adorable.

Previous editions of Liner Notes can be found here.

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