fran.182

After a dozen listens, I like it as much as the first time I heard it: a lot. I probably dig it more than "Bored To Death". To be fair, while that one was a strong bridge between their classic pop punk sound and their alternative rock sensibilities, some California songs never felt genuine. I mean most of the throwback songs (e.g. "Kings Of The Weekend", "Wildfire", "Parking Lot" or the joke tracks). And I'm not talking about 40-year-old men writing about being teenagers - that whole complaint seems pointless to me. Why should we even take the lyrics at face value? Even if we can discern autobiographical elements, their songs are not their lives, but mainly part of an artistic persona. It's not that different to a middle-aged person writing a YA novel and nobody has an issue with that... The thing is that the recurring "We are forgotten young suburbia" trope felt really plastic, passionless, lazy, etc. Now, lyrically, BIOMY is the nostalgia theme done right. I could do without the ritalin verse (I'd prefer a repetition of "I was raised on a re-run" there, maybe) and I don't think Matt's verse lives up to Mark's, but it feels specific and not generic, sincere and not stereotyped. Obviously that has everything to do with the fresh sound (for blink standards). It's an energy rush: sounds radiant and "angstful" at the same time. I back some of the "Feeling This" comparisons (despite BIOMY not being as great) in the sense that as lead single this still feels like blink-182 but with a twist. In 2003 they came back with an hip hop-ish/The Beach Boys-ish tune, in 2019 they return with a song bathed in 2010s synthwave/synthpop. After this, here's hoping the new album turns out to be as rich, fresh and varied as the untitled record - regardless of having nearly no chance of topping it (to me)...

When I was young, the world it was smaller The streets were vast, the raccoons were taller I felt really strong, my raccoon seemed stronger It's the worst big raccoon (It doesn't hurt that much) On my streeeeett

How do we know they started it on the day of that Instagram post though? It could be in the works before...

Thanks! ^ Then I guess we haven't heard about the title yet...

Maybe the single will be "No Heart To Speak Of", since the reddit user said: 1) its title has 5 words; 2) it's about remaining young at heart (just a guess based on the word "heart" here); 3) it's mid tempo; 4) sounds like Feldmann's production.

Dm me, please.

Can we have Justin Pierre instead? Damn, like in "Hangman", his and Mark's vocals would compliment each other so perfectly... (Perhaps Jim Adkins would be even better, but that would ruin my second favorite band...)

Now, this is more like it. Great song... I can finally hear The Cure's influence in this one. Maybe "Drug" was just a turd after all.

Anyone posted this yet? https://www.nme.com/news/music/listen-blink-182s-feeling-reimagined-1980s-style-2442053 "Feeling This" sounds superb. "The Rock Show" doesn't work though.

You can take a peek at Kerrang's cover story here, but you won't be able to read much (we need scans)...

I really dig "No Future" until the first chorus, then it has this sudden mood shift from melancholic/contemplative to bratty/goofy and it turns to shit. As if it's not enough we end up with those "happy" nananas out of nowhere... Wtf? Such a wasted opportunity - the verses and the bridge are good, even though they could be fleshed out lyrically. But yeah, I remember listening to it the very first time and feeling really pissed with how it builds after a strong intro...

Ugh, it sucks. How can someone go from +44 (and how thoughtful it all felt) to this?

1. After Midnight 2. Pretty Little G*rl 3. When I Was Young 4. Ghost On The Dancefloor 5. Natives 6. Disaster 7. Kaleidoscope 8. San Diego 9. Sober 10. Misery Didn't put a lot of thought into it. Bottom 3/4 are more volatile...

Obviously, Mark, Travis and Matt had their say in the new album. I don't even think they were not the main songwriters and my issue really isn't that a producer co-wrote them - I don't care about that, what matters is how good the songs are. That said, for anyone that has ever listened to any of those three guys' past music and to stuff produced by Feldmann, it's pretty clear that most of the bad elements came from him: the copy/paste feel, the ridiculous overuse of vocalizing, the mandatory "first thought best thought" approach to lyrics, the forced and generic "we are forgotten young suburbia" motto, etc. Plus we know the band was in a weird position and we've read countless times about Mark's writer's block/lack of confidence... Feldmann also brought positive things (I love most of California), like returning Mark's voice to life and giving Matt that old raspy tone again, but now that the deluxe is out I think they went as far and as expansive as they could with him. In the end, it's clear he doesn't get blink's romantic/lostful/earnest side, he sees them just as a shitty and goofy pop punk band, which is depressing.

"Parking Lot", which is a contender for worst proper song they've ever released. Unless it's a brilliant self-aware joke/satire...