12/05 2025
Yep, you knew it, you saw it, and you still clicked, I knew it, and Cameron Winter knew it too1. You love getting killed, I love getting killed, we all love getting killed. What would fridays be without it? WWE and a six-pack? Get out of here.
I loved this record so much I bought a ticket to see them in another country. It felt like if I didn't, then I would never see them for real in the future, they're probably be catapulted into arena stardom. And that would only be half real. Which is by far my favorite song on the record, by the way, which is saying something because the rest of the tracks are fn amazing too.
Spotify, our digital music overlords, said it was my most played record of the year. They're probably right. Part of that reason is because it was released in April and not October. But mostly because it's a killer album. But then again I love Bon Iver, and SABLE was one of my favorite releases last year, so this is probably no surprise. But I do think this is among, if not the, best Bon Iver release there is to date.
The last dinner party is new to me and I totally missed their debut last year. I totally shouldn't have. This stuff is great. It reminds me a lot of Black Country, New Road in all the right ways, but it's also very novel and not derivative at all. A bit more pop-y than Black Country? Maybe. If we are doing comparisons. The way I can describe their sound is kind of like "big", if that makes sense? It sounds bombastic, instrumentation is massive, there's choirs, strings, heavy drums, heavy guitars, you name it. It's probably in there. A great time.
It was February and I was walking through the cold bitter winter streets covered in sleet. It was icy. I had to get somewhere, I don't remember, and I didn't want to take the bus. So it was an hour's walk. I decided to put this album on, and I thought it was pretty good. But then this song came on, and it was one of those experiences where you just had to stop. I relistened to it immediately, and then I cried a little. Maybe I was feeling particularly sentimental, or nostalgic. Regardless, the song is great.
I remember quite vividly when I listened to this record for the first time. I was sitting in the backseat while we were going up from Louisiana to Memphis, and I was looking out the window at the billboards advertising churches, and down right there beyond the vast swamps. Now, that has nothing to do with this song. But there was something about that combination of lovely storytelling, songwriting, melody, and billboards that hit just right. Try it even without billboards. I swear it works.
Talented bandmates too, of course, it just sounds quippier inline, you know? ↩