After a long, hard day I got home to find a bunch of music I’d ordered had arrived. An exciting mix of metal, country, folk, and rap records await me.
While this can be a fun experience, always look to fulfill your musical desires at your local record store first! I get the vast majority of my music at the local record store. Not only do you support local business, it’s more fun as well!
Disc 1821 is…Something to Ruin
Artist: Ages and Ages
Year of Release: 2016
What’s up with the Cover? It looks like civilization’s gone and collapsed again. Oh, civilization, you playful minx you, coming along to give us indoor plumbing and fine art only to slip back into anarchy when we least expect it.
At least we were left with some elephants this time. Sometimes all that’s left are killer robots and zombies.
How I Came To Know It: I have been a fan of Ages and Ages since I first saw them on a Tiny Desk Concert on Youtube. “Something to Ruin” was me just buying their latest record when it came out after I was already hooked.
How It Stacks Up: I have four Ages and Ages albums. Of those, I rank “Something to Ruin” at…fourth. Someone has to be last and today that someone is you, “Something to Ruin.”
Ratings: 2 stars
Just because you like a band, doesn’t mean you have to own all that band’s records. Just get the ones you like. Yes, this from the guy who just bought three Grave Digger albums and has 12 more on his wish list, but the advice is sound. This is advice I didn’t follow with Ages and Ages, leaving me with the mostly forgettable “Something to Ruin”.
If you don’t know Ages and Ages, they are an indie folk band with a lot of members (at least seven and sometimes more). They put all this talent to clever use, with lots of complicated choral arrangements and catchy phrasing that makes you want to sing along to everything, but where you are better off just picking one vocal part and chiming in where appropriate (which is, literally, how the band makes the magic).
Their first two records (2011’s “Alright You Restless”, 2014’s “Divisonary”) are revelations of this unique style, and while I haven’t reviewed either of them, I heartily recommend both. As for “Something to Ruin,” the relationship is a bit more complex.
Things start out strong, with “They Want More” which has exactly that rolling, in-the-round-adjacent magic that makes their music so much fun. Ages and Ages are also at their best when they sing uplifting songs about converting your doubts and fears into something beautiful and life affirming. That’s this song.
Unfortunately, the album doesn’t have the same magic throughout, and while the ingredients of a good Ages and Ages record are there, the songwriting is a step down from the masterful songwriting on their previous two records. The song construction is similar to previous work, but they didn’t hold my attention the same, either lyrically or musically.
The production is also noticeably more lush than previous efforts, and while it is done well, I didn’t think all the extra sound added anything to their music. Ages and Ages’ brilliance is that perfectly timed phrasing, and the ability for them to step in, around and through each other sonically while leaving space for you to appreciate both the artistry and the message. Here we have that space filled with sounds that seem self-conscious, and lyrics that are less compelling, potentially by virtue of them getting buried in the mix. “All of My Enemies” is a good example of a song that could be better but is just a little too soupy with sound.
The last song on the record is “As It Is” and returns the band to form, with a jaunty sway and some downright uplifting unison singing. “As It Is” has touches of heavier production, but it comes in and out and gives the song dynamics that many of the prior songs lack.
As bookends, “They Want More” and “As It Is” are the strongest songs of the record, but there was too much filler to wade through between them – in more ways than one – for me to recommend this record.
There was a time when as a completionist, I’d never part with this record, but that time has passed. The truth is, the cover on this record is very cool, and in moments of weakness or forgetfulness I put this one on when I should be reaching for “Alright You Restless” or “Divisionary”. There’s only one cure for that, and it is to remove the temptation. So I bid a fond farewell to “Something to Ruin” and hope it finds a happier home down the road aways.
Best tracks: They Want More, As It Is
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