Album 12, Feeder "Pushing The Senses"
I picked this one for me.
Feeder
Pushing the Senses
2005
At some point in the early 2000s, I had grown bored of downloading music from UseNet (don't come for my illegal download of Vitamin Z, bro!) iTunes was in its infancy and I still didn't have much disposable cash to buy music anyway. The streaming services were also just starting, promising to help you discover new music. I decided to try them out to see if they did serve up stuff I was hitherto unfamiliar with. I don't recall what I used, maybe Rhapsody? But I liked the basic concept of "enter something you like and we'll serve up more stuff you like based on what others who liked what you first liked like." Sadly, I quickly learned that most people like a thing and then want more of that thing, apparently. (Alternatively, I might have learned that algorithms are bad and rarely serve up what someone really wants.) Me, I like a thing and then like a completely different thing but surely there must be some hidden connection, tie that binds and I am not alone in liking things that sound nothing like each other. I might be wrong about that last bit. It might not even be a coherent sentence.
Which is all just a nice way of saying that I didn't discover much on those early streaming services. But I did discover Feeder. I don't remember what song I entered that eventually lead me to the song "Feeling the Moment". It was likely something by Jason Faulkner who I was very into at that time (and still dig, if I am honest.) But Feeling the Moment is a lovely song, so of its time with an attractively simple video, and I fell for it. And then never checked in on the band again.
Until now.
I have this weird nostalgia for early 2000s music. The sounds of the early 2000s are so indelible in my brain and have such a connection to that time that they evoke all kinds of feelings and memories completely outsized to the amount of music I actually listened to then. Feeder, a three piece outfit, creates a beautiful wall of post-punk, post-grunge sound that truly embraces the era's aesthetic. This was bound to hit my sweet spot.
And it did. I love this album, start to finish. The ten songs are a good mix of rockers and ballads. I am hesitant to highlight any tracks as they are all good but I do recommend the lovely ending ballad Dove Grey Sands with its acoustic guitar, 60s hippie vibe channeled through the musical stylings of the 2000s, Bitter Glass gigantic choruses over quiet verses with dark themes, and the straight up hook leaden Pushing the Senses. There seemed to be a lot of this punk/pop/grunge hybrid music in the early 2000s but you would be hard pressed to find a song that better captures the essence of the sound of the times then this one.
But this whole album sort of flips on its head when you learn that it was written after the suicide of their founding drummer, Jon Lee. Suddenly all the songs take on more poignancy. Grant Nicholas was channeling his grief through his music and we are all better for it. From Feeling the Moment: "Buried the ashes of someone / broken by the strain". From Pushing the Senses: "Feelings you never knew / pulling you under now / your fighting the undertow / before it sucks you down" From Broken Glass: "What are you saying / you've got nothing to live for / you're tired and you're broken / you just can't free yourself". Well, you get the picture. It's a beautiful, mature album of loss and survival and I am better for spending my time with this one.
At some point in the early 2000s, I had grown bored of downloading music from UseNet (don't come for my illegal download of Vitamin Z, bro!) iTunes was in its infancy and I still didn't have much disposable cash to buy music anyway. The streaming services were also just starting, promising to help you discover new music. I decided to try them out to see if they did serve up stuff I was hitherto unfamiliar with. I don't recall what I used, maybe Rhapsody? But I liked the basic concept of "enter something you like and we'll serve up more stuff you like based on what others who liked what you first liked like." Sadly, I quickly learned that most people like a thing and then want more of that thing, apparently. (Alternatively, I might have learned that algorithms are bad and rarely serve up what someone really wants.) Me, I like a thing and then like a completely different thing but surely there must be some hidden connection, tie that binds and I am not alone in liking things that sound nothing like each other. I might be wrong about that last bit. It might not even be a coherent sentence.
Which is all just a nice way of saying that I didn't discover much on those early streaming services. But I did discover Feeder. I don't remember what song I entered that eventually lead me to the song "Feeling the Moment". It was likely something by Jason Faulkner who I was very into at that time (and still dig, if I am honest.) But Feeling the Moment is a lovely song, so of its time with an attractively simple video, and I fell for it. And then never checked in on the band again.
Until now.
I have this weird nostalgia for early 2000s music. The sounds of the early 2000s are so indelible in my brain and have such a connection to that time that they evoke all kinds of feelings and memories completely outsized to the amount of music I actually listened to then. Feeder, a three piece outfit, creates a beautiful wall of post-punk, post-grunge sound that truly embraces the era's aesthetic. This was bound to hit my sweet spot.
And it did. I love this album, start to finish. The ten songs are a good mix of rockers and ballads. I am hesitant to highlight any tracks as they are all good but I do recommend the lovely ending ballad Dove Grey Sands with its acoustic guitar, 60s hippie vibe channeled through the musical stylings of the 2000s, Bitter Glass gigantic choruses over quiet verses with dark themes, and the straight up hook leaden Pushing the Senses. There seemed to be a lot of this punk/pop/grunge hybrid music in the early 2000s but you would be hard pressed to find a song that better captures the essence of the sound of the times then this one.
But this whole album sort of flips on its head when you learn that it was written after the suicide of their founding drummer, Jon Lee. Suddenly all the songs take on more poignancy. Grant Nicholas was channeling his grief through his music and we are all better for it. From Feeling the Moment: "Buried the ashes of someone / broken by the strain". From Pushing the Senses: "Feelings you never knew / pulling you under now / your fighting the undertow / before it sucks you down" From Broken Glass: "What are you saying / you've got nothing to live for / you're tired and you're broken / you just can't free yourself". Well, you get the picture. It's a beautiful, mature album of loss and survival and I am better for spending my time with this one.
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