https://forum.quiettheory.com/ Fri, 26 Jun 2026 19:29:48 +0000 MyBB https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=29 Fri, 29 May 2026 16:17:56 +0000 bry]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=29 https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=28 Fri, 29 May 2026 16:15:17 +0000 bry]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=28 https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=27 Fri, 29 May 2026 15:46:06 +0000 quiettheory]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=27 Album: Daisy
Producer: Chris Minielly
Mixer: Chris Minielly
Recording Location(s): My apartment in Toronto
Label: Born Losers Records


How long did this album take to create from the first idea to the final master?
The first ideas for this record took form in June 2024 but by mid 2025 I scrapped a good chunk of the songs and almost started fresh. I feel like I just got this wave of clarity and inspiration and rolled with it. The earlier songs were sort of meshed into this period where I was learning to use Ableton for the first time. It took a moment for my production to really land in a spot that hit for me but when I got there it was all worth the trial and error. I also switched to playing in open D around that time and it led to so many song ideas! Probably 85% of the record came together following those decisions. 

What art/media were you consuming while writing it (not necessarily direct influences, but maybe subconscious ones)?
I can rapid fire a good chunk of the bands I listened to through the course of writing / recording. Local the Neighbour, Hamburger, Broncho, TOLEDO, Great Grandpa, Men I Trust, Hovvdy, Love Seats, Bay Ledges, GOON, The Brudi Brothers, Alex G, Big Thief, Small Forward, Night Moves, Edwin Raphael, Coma Cinema, Fat, Evil Children, Alex Ebert, Toro Y Moi, Panda Bear, Auriél, Hank Midnight, The War On Drugs. I imagine in some form every single song I consumed in those two-ish years played some roll in how this record came out! A visual artist that I’ve always felt inspired by as well is Pat Perry. He captures these American midwest scenes that feel so familiar to my small hometown in Southern Ontario and it always strikes this wave of nostalgia. 

What was your go-to piece of gear during recording?
My Mom’s old-ish Yamaha FG - 405 acoustic is pretty fundamental to the record. I really leaned into the acoustic layers in these songs. I mic’d it with a SE VR2 ribbon mic and would always layer in the D.I. tone too. I love how it sits so much. If I could throw in a little bonus pick I also have this tiny little 10w practice amp that was lying around my parents place forever. I mic’d it with the VR2 as well and the tones you get from it are unreal. The big lead tones at the end of “Everywhere” and the guitar solo-ish thing at the end of “It’s Kind” are from that thing. There’s a ton of rhythm layers I recorded across the record on it too. It breaks up so easily and sounds huge in a mix. (It’s a Grove Factory 10G, no clue when it was made). 

Is there anything on the record you would change now if you could?
I think for maybe the first time ever there isn’t. I’m really proud of how these songs came out and for once I feel really at peace with them. It was my first time mastering my own music though and I know I can continue to grow there but I wouldn’t want to go back and change that now. It’s just something I can take into the next project. 

What sounds on this record do you think people won't notice but you'll always hear?
It may be a noticeable sound, but pointing back to my go-to gear, I don’t think many people would guess that the lead guitar tones in “Everywhere” or the solo in “It’s Kind” are recorded on that cheap little practice amp. It makes me smile every time I hear those parts! 

Is there anyone (or anything) whose fingerprints are on this album but won't get credit?
Hamilton Belk is the only other person who played on the record. He played the pedal steel part on “Home”. His name is on the vinyl but that could easily be missed! He’s such an incredible player, he also did the pedal steel on my record “All We’ve Ever Known” too. Beyond that the wood carvings featured on the cover art (but more heavily the vinyl sleeve and tour posters) were done by my late Grandpa. He was an incredibly creative person and a huge inspiration to me. 

What movie would this album be the soundtrack to?
An alternate version of The Place Beyond The Pines where Ryan Gosling doesn’t die and we get to watch him rob banks on a motorbike for an hour and a half. 

Is there a tempo, a key, a tuning, a texture that runs through this record?
Almost every track on the record was recorded in open d tuning. I was messing around with drop d after I heard Whitehouse Road by Tyler Childers and it reminded me how much I liked open tunings back when I learned guitar. I went a step further and put the guitar in open d and a wave of song ideas came flooding in. I didn’t realize how much I needed a break from standard tuning until I was there! 

Anything else you want to say about the album?
I think just a final note that this record is a real love letter to DIY music. I wrote, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered it myself in my very untreated living room. There’s so much we can do with music these days with so little, it really feels like the most inspiring time to create. Get out there and get your ideas out, YouTube tutorials go a long way! 


----------

Stream Daisy 
Jaguar Sun Instagram 
Order Daisy on Vinyl]]> Album: Daisy
Producer: Chris Minielly
Mixer: Chris Minielly
Recording Location(s): My apartment in Toronto
Label: Born Losers Records


How long did this album take to create from the first idea to the final master?
The first ideas for this record took form in June 2024 but by mid 2025 I scrapped a good chunk of the songs and almost started fresh. I feel like I just got this wave of clarity and inspiration and rolled with it. The earlier songs were sort of meshed into this period where I was learning to use Ableton for the first time. It took a moment for my production to really land in a spot that hit for me but when I got there it was all worth the trial and error. I also switched to playing in open D around that time and it led to so many song ideas! Probably 85% of the record came together following those decisions. 

What art/media were you consuming while writing it (not necessarily direct influences, but maybe subconscious ones)?
I can rapid fire a good chunk of the bands I listened to through the course of writing / recording. Local the Neighbour, Hamburger, Broncho, TOLEDO, Great Grandpa, Men I Trust, Hovvdy, Love Seats, Bay Ledges, GOON, The Brudi Brothers, Alex G, Big Thief, Small Forward, Night Moves, Edwin Raphael, Coma Cinema, Fat, Evil Children, Alex Ebert, Toro Y Moi, Panda Bear, Auriél, Hank Midnight, The War On Drugs. I imagine in some form every single song I consumed in those two-ish years played some roll in how this record came out! A visual artist that I’ve always felt inspired by as well is Pat Perry. He captures these American midwest scenes that feel so familiar to my small hometown in Southern Ontario and it always strikes this wave of nostalgia. 

What was your go-to piece of gear during recording?
My Mom’s old-ish Yamaha FG - 405 acoustic is pretty fundamental to the record. I really leaned into the acoustic layers in these songs. I mic’d it with a SE VR2 ribbon mic and would always layer in the D.I. tone too. I love how it sits so much. If I could throw in a little bonus pick I also have this tiny little 10w practice amp that was lying around my parents place forever. I mic’d it with the VR2 as well and the tones you get from it are unreal. The big lead tones at the end of “Everywhere” and the guitar solo-ish thing at the end of “It’s Kind” are from that thing. There’s a ton of rhythm layers I recorded across the record on it too. It breaks up so easily and sounds huge in a mix. (It’s a Grove Factory 10G, no clue when it was made). 

Is there anything on the record you would change now if you could?
I think for maybe the first time ever there isn’t. I’m really proud of how these songs came out and for once I feel really at peace with them. It was my first time mastering my own music though and I know I can continue to grow there but I wouldn’t want to go back and change that now. It’s just something I can take into the next project. 

What sounds on this record do you think people won't notice but you'll always hear?
It may be a noticeable sound, but pointing back to my go-to gear, I don’t think many people would guess that the lead guitar tones in “Everywhere” or the solo in “It’s Kind” are recorded on that cheap little practice amp. It makes me smile every time I hear those parts! 

Is there anyone (or anything) whose fingerprints are on this album but won't get credit?
Hamilton Belk is the only other person who played on the record. He played the pedal steel part on “Home”. His name is on the vinyl but that could easily be missed! He’s such an incredible player, he also did the pedal steel on my record “All We’ve Ever Known” too. Beyond that the wood carvings featured on the cover art (but more heavily the vinyl sleeve and tour posters) were done by my late Grandpa. He was an incredibly creative person and a huge inspiration to me. 

What movie would this album be the soundtrack to?
An alternate version of The Place Beyond The Pines where Ryan Gosling doesn’t die and we get to watch him rob banks on a motorbike for an hour and a half. 

Is there a tempo, a key, a tuning, a texture that runs through this record?
Almost every track on the record was recorded in open d tuning. I was messing around with drop d after I heard Whitehouse Road by Tyler Childers and it reminded me how much I liked open tunings back when I learned guitar. I went a step further and put the guitar in open d and a wave of song ideas came flooding in. I didn’t realize how much I needed a break from standard tuning until I was there! 

Anything else you want to say about the album?
I think just a final note that this record is a real love letter to DIY music. I wrote, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered it myself in my very untreated living room. There’s so much we can do with music these days with so little, it really feels like the most inspiring time to create. Get out there and get your ideas out, YouTube tutorials go a long way! 


----------

Stream Daisy 
Jaguar Sun Instagram 
Order Daisy on Vinyl]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=26 Wed, 27 May 2026 19:48:02 +0000 quiettheory]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=26 Album: 
Slow It Down
Producer: Jon Joseph
Mixer: Jon Joseph
Recording Location(s):
 Jon's studio in San Pedro, CA
Label: Independent

How long did this album take to create from the first idea to the final master?
The first idea goes back to a writing day Jon and I had in spring 2024, which eventually became “Spinning,” but we didn’t return to it or start tracking in a serious way until early 2025. At that point, I thought I was making a five-song EP, not a full album, but I kept writing throughout the year and eventually decided to just go for it and finish a full record.

It ended up being a bit chaotic, like building the plane while already flying it, because we were rolling out singles before the album was even fully written or recorded. The final song we tracked was the title track, “Slow It Down,” sometime in summer 2025, and I rushed to have everything wrapped and delivered in time for its November 7 release, and somehow we pulled it off!

What art/media were you consuming while writing it (not necessarily direct influences, but maybe subconscious ones)?
At the time I was listening to a lot of Oklou, ML Buch, Chanel Beads, Alex G, and I think gravitating to more guitar-based indie and alternative. 

What was your go-to piece of gear during recording?
Jon’s studio is so dialed that it’s less about one specific piece of gear and more about how we tend to change up our process a little with each project.

One thing that was really fun on this record was how we approached drums. On a handful of songs, like “Close,” “On Repeat,” and “Spinning,” we used kick samples instead of tracking a live kick, so I was just playing with my hands, (which was definitely harder in some cases). But it gave us a lot more rhythmic freedom and helped us land on the hybrid programmed/live drum sound we were going for.

Is there anything on the record you would change now if you could?
I don’t think so. It still feels really close to me, and I tend to think of past work as a snapshot of what I was feeling and what we were into sonically at that moment.

Even if there are things we’d do differently now, I don’t usually have regrets about how something was captured at the time.

What sounds on this record do you think people won't notice but you'll always hear?
With Jon’s production, there are always so many little layers that can blend together or get lost in the sauce, and for me the background vocal layers feel especially important because they’ve become such a huge part of the Mini Trees sound.

A lot of them aren’t traditional harmonies; they’re more like pads or chordal textures. As a listener, you probably hear the stack as a whole, but it’s hard to make out each individual layer unless you’re able to isolate them.

Is there anyone (or anything) whose fingerprints are on this album but won't get credit?
Not really because it was a really small, scrappy team of mostly close friends to begin with. That applies not just to the music, but to the artwork, visuals, everything, and anyone who touched this record became a meaningful part of it.

What movie would this album be the soundtrack to?
I don’t have a specific film in mind, but I always imagine my music living in coming-of-age stories. There’s this balance I’m drawn to, where something can feel sonically hopeful but emotionally a little melancholic. That bittersweet space feels very true to life, especially when you’re figuring out who you are. I think this record would fit into stories that explore that kind of emotional in-between.

Is there a tempo, a key, a tuning, a texture that runs through this record?
Not really in a strict sense because we like to change things up a lot. But I did experiment more with alternate tunings on this record than I ever have before. A few songs were written in tunings similar to DADGAD, sometimes tuned down a half step or with an E instead of a D on the low string. That definitely opened up some chord shapes and progressions I probably wouldn’t have found otherwise.

Anything else you want to say about the album?
This is probably the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever written, and I’m really proud of how we pulled it off independently, without a label or a larger team behind it.
A lot of these songs came from processing things I didn’t fully understand yet; it felt like the writing was happening before I could clearly articulate what I was going through. In some ways, the album helped me catch up to my own emotions and realizations.

I hope people can find themselves somewhere in it too.

----------

Stream Slow It Down
Mini Trees Instagram 
Mini Trees Tour Dates ]]> Album: 
Slow It Down
Producer: Jon Joseph
Mixer: Jon Joseph
Recording Location(s):
 Jon's studio in San Pedro, CA
Label: Independent

How long did this album take to create from the first idea to the final master?
The first idea goes back to a writing day Jon and I had in spring 2024, which eventually became “Spinning,” but we didn’t return to it or start tracking in a serious way until early 2025. At that point, I thought I was making a five-song EP, not a full album, but I kept writing throughout the year and eventually decided to just go for it and finish a full record.

It ended up being a bit chaotic, like building the plane while already flying it, because we were rolling out singles before the album was even fully written or recorded. The final song we tracked was the title track, “Slow It Down,” sometime in summer 2025, and I rushed to have everything wrapped and delivered in time for its November 7 release, and somehow we pulled it off!

What art/media were you consuming while writing it (not necessarily direct influences, but maybe subconscious ones)?
At the time I was listening to a lot of Oklou, ML Buch, Chanel Beads, Alex G, and I think gravitating to more guitar-based indie and alternative. 

What was your go-to piece of gear during recording?
Jon’s studio is so dialed that it’s less about one specific piece of gear and more about how we tend to change up our process a little with each project.

One thing that was really fun on this record was how we approached drums. On a handful of songs, like “Close,” “On Repeat,” and “Spinning,” we used kick samples instead of tracking a live kick, so I was just playing with my hands, (which was definitely harder in some cases). But it gave us a lot more rhythmic freedom and helped us land on the hybrid programmed/live drum sound we were going for.

Is there anything on the record you would change now if you could?
I don’t think so. It still feels really close to me, and I tend to think of past work as a snapshot of what I was feeling and what we were into sonically at that moment.

Even if there are things we’d do differently now, I don’t usually have regrets about how something was captured at the time.

What sounds on this record do you think people won't notice but you'll always hear?
With Jon’s production, there are always so many little layers that can blend together or get lost in the sauce, and for me the background vocal layers feel especially important because they’ve become such a huge part of the Mini Trees sound.

A lot of them aren’t traditional harmonies; they’re more like pads or chordal textures. As a listener, you probably hear the stack as a whole, but it’s hard to make out each individual layer unless you’re able to isolate them.

Is there anyone (or anything) whose fingerprints are on this album but won't get credit?
Not really because it was a really small, scrappy team of mostly close friends to begin with. That applies not just to the music, but to the artwork, visuals, everything, and anyone who touched this record became a meaningful part of it.

What movie would this album be the soundtrack to?
I don’t have a specific film in mind, but I always imagine my music living in coming-of-age stories. There’s this balance I’m drawn to, where something can feel sonically hopeful but emotionally a little melancholic. That bittersweet space feels very true to life, especially when you’re figuring out who you are. I think this record would fit into stories that explore that kind of emotional in-between.

Is there a tempo, a key, a tuning, a texture that runs through this record?
Not really in a strict sense because we like to change things up a lot. But I did experiment more with alternate tunings on this record than I ever have before. A few songs were written in tunings similar to DADGAD, sometimes tuned down a half step or with an E instead of a D on the low string. That definitely opened up some chord shapes and progressions I probably wouldn’t have found otherwise.

Anything else you want to say about the album?
This is probably the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever written, and I’m really proud of how we pulled it off independently, without a label or a larger team behind it.
A lot of these songs came from processing things I didn’t fully understand yet; it felt like the writing was happening before I could clearly articulate what I was going through. In some ways, the album helped me catch up to my own emotions and realizations.

I hope people can find themselves somewhere in it too.

----------

Stream Slow It Down
Mini Trees Instagram 
Mini Trees Tour Dates ]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=25 Fri, 22 May 2026 20:12:29 +0000 bry]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=25
I plan to keep working on my album, even if the release takes longer now. I actually wrote more songs this month than I have in a very long time. I still have a vision for the label and, if anything, it may be better informed after my experience over the last month. 

In the short term I want to focus on this forum. I've built the bones but we have to build what it becomes together. I'm gonna send out a survey to everyone next week to get a pulse. I also want to end Albumay strong next week! I have a handful of album interviews that I will be posting. 

Thanks again, everyone. 🩵]]>
I plan to keep working on my album, even if the release takes longer now. I actually wrote more songs this month than I have in a very long time. I still have a vision for the label and, if anything, it may be better informed after my experience over the last month. 

In the short term I want to focus on this forum. I've built the bones but we have to build what it becomes together. I'm gonna send out a survey to everyone next week to get a pulse. I also want to end Albumay strong next week! I have a handful of album interviews that I will be posting. 

Thanks again, everyone. 🩵]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=24 Sun, 17 May 2026 20:58:28 +0000 gruidl]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=24
Bryan...I was trying to understand burst mode...what it is, and how I trigger it. I was thinking it would allow me to sort of one-shot/hit of delay & reverb as a momentary hit, which I'd love to do with my bass. Can you help me out with this?

I used it on this track, and love how it picked up on my dynamics: https://open.spotify.com/track/3TL4BAnIu...f71e084403]]>
Bryan...I was trying to understand burst mode...what it is, and how I trigger it. I was thinking it would allow me to sort of one-shot/hit of delay & reverb as a momentary hit, which I'd love to do with my bass. Can you help me out with this?

I used it on this track, and love how it picked up on my dynamics: https://open.spotify.com/track/3TL4BAnIu...f71e084403]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=23 Wed, 13 May 2026 14:54:13 +0000 quiettheory]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=23
Before streaming, no corporation or entity owned the medium that albums used. Vinyl, cassette, CD, and the MP3 were open standards. The base layer that the music industry was built on top of was fair ground, while today the industry is built on top of tech platforms who get to shape the rules, as well as our listening habits. 

IMO what we need now is not more digital music platforms, but new digital music infrastructure. Something artists can build on top of and create their own rules. Unfortunately, the MP3 feels clunky and outdated, partly because no one builds on top of it anymore. The ecosystem was mostly abandoned because of the rise of streaming. Despite Bandcamp being the most artist friendly way to support an artist’s music directly, most people aren’t listening to the music they buy using the downloaded MP3’s. It's just a folder of files with a PDF that sits on your hard drive with no easy way to listen. 

So how about a new open standard specifically for the album? A single file that contains the album experience: music, artwork, and liner notes. A single file that anyone can build a player (or any idea) on top of. Something that makes owning a digital album feel more “real” because of the experience it can provide.

What is .alb?

An .alb file is simply a ZIP archive with a specific structure inside. Audio files in one folder, artwork in another, liner notes and any other documents in a third. A JSON file at the root that defines everything: the track order, the credits, the metadata, links to wherever the label lives online.

.alb Player and Maker
Sample .alb file

This is just a rough proof of concept (though there are color themes and EQ built in!). The player and maker are HTML files to use in your browser. This means there’s currently no persistent library and you will have to load .alb files into the player every time you open it. But you’ll get the idea. 

I would love any thoughts, ideas, help on this project, especially from those more technical than myself. I see the first steps as finalizing the specs for what's included in the .alb format, and then creating a standalone app versions of the player and maker.

If anything, this has been a fun reason to dust off my old mp3 collection and listen digitally to albums I own again.]]>
Before streaming, no corporation or entity owned the medium that albums used. Vinyl, cassette, CD, and the MP3 were open standards. The base layer that the music industry was built on top of was fair ground, while today the industry is built on top of tech platforms who get to shape the rules, as well as our listening habits. 

IMO what we need now is not more digital music platforms, but new digital music infrastructure. Something artists can build on top of and create their own rules. Unfortunately, the MP3 feels clunky and outdated, partly because no one builds on top of it anymore. The ecosystem was mostly abandoned because of the rise of streaming. Despite Bandcamp being the most artist friendly way to support an artist’s music directly, most people aren’t listening to the music they buy using the downloaded MP3’s. It's just a folder of files with a PDF that sits on your hard drive with no easy way to listen. 

So how about a new open standard specifically for the album? A single file that contains the album experience: music, artwork, and liner notes. A single file that anyone can build a player (or any idea) on top of. Something that makes owning a digital album feel more “real” because of the experience it can provide.

What is .alb?

An .alb file is simply a ZIP archive with a specific structure inside. Audio files in one folder, artwork in another, liner notes and any other documents in a third. A JSON file at the root that defines everything: the track order, the credits, the metadata, links to wherever the label lives online.

.alb Player and Maker
Sample .alb file

This is just a rough proof of concept (though there are color themes and EQ built in!). The player and maker are HTML files to use in your browser. This means there’s currently no persistent library and you will have to load .alb files into the player every time you open it. But you’ll get the idea. 

I would love any thoughts, ideas, help on this project, especially from those more technical than myself. I see the first steps as finalizing the specs for what's included in the .alb format, and then creating a standalone app versions of the player and maker.

If anything, this has been a fun reason to dust off my old mp3 collection and listen digitally to albums I own again.]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=21 Fri, 08 May 2026 15:18:36 +0000 callmetim]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=21
I didn't want to like this. Too many things that fell under the pretentious category for me: anonymity, weird outfits, weird scales and time signatures... But then I watched that KEXP video of their live performance. And then listened to the whole album in one sitting. They play with precision. The time shifts are seamless. And the weird tonalities compliment the relentless energy of their music. I've always struggled to tighten up my sloppy guitar playing so their innate sense of keeping time and the complexity of their looping parts blows me away. I wake up with their songs stuck in my head.]]>
I didn't want to like this. Too many things that fell under the pretentious category for me: anonymity, weird outfits, weird scales and time signatures... But then I watched that KEXP video of their live performance. And then listened to the whole album in one sitting. They play with precision. The time shifts are seamless. And the weird tonalities compliment the relentless energy of their music. I've always struggled to tighten up my sloppy guitar playing so their innate sense of keeping time and the complexity of their looping parts blows me away. I wake up with their songs stuck in my head.]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=20 Wed, 06 May 2026 21:04:44 +0000 quiettheory]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=20 Post what you've listened to and edit your post later to add more. ]]> Post what you've listened to and edit your post later to add more. ]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=19 Tue, 05 May 2026 21:08:51 +0000 callmetim]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=19
When this album came out, the only thing I knew about Nada Surf was their song "Popular." Feeling awkward in my teenage years, I don't think I realized the intentional irony of the song, and so I associated the band with the kinds of cool kids that I felt intimidated by.

But The Proximity Effect immediately resonated with me. My musical literacy had improved a bit, and I could read the content more clearly. I am still transported back to the road near my parents home, driving in the dark of winter with my friend and jamming this CD whenever I hear "80 Windows." And it's pretty impressive that in 1998 there was a fairly popular artist speaking out about sexual assault ("Mother's Day" and "Robot"). The guitar tones are the baby-bear porridge of grit and clarity: everything just right, to my ears. As a young guitar player trying to find my sound, this album was really influential. Plus, TWO hidden tracks! Wow! And the last track, "Spooky", still has one of my favorite breakdowns ever, right before the second chorus.

This album put me on a 10-year streak of looking forward to the next Nada Surf record. I didn't click so much with their covers album in 2010 and let my enthusiasm wane in more recent years, but The Proximity Effect still holds up.]]>
When this album came out, the only thing I knew about Nada Surf was their song "Popular." Feeling awkward in my teenage years, I don't think I realized the intentional irony of the song, and so I associated the band with the kinds of cool kids that I felt intimidated by.

But The Proximity Effect immediately resonated with me. My musical literacy had improved a bit, and I could read the content more clearly. I am still transported back to the road near my parents home, driving in the dark of winter with my friend and jamming this CD whenever I hear "80 Windows." And it's pretty impressive that in 1998 there was a fairly popular artist speaking out about sexual assault ("Mother's Day" and "Robot"). The guitar tones are the baby-bear porridge of grit and clarity: everything just right, to my ears. As a young guitar player trying to find my sound, this album was really influential. Plus, TWO hidden tracks! Wow! And the last track, "Spooky", still has one of my favorite breakdowns ever, right before the second chorus.

This album put me on a 10-year streak of looking forward to the next Nada Surf record. I didn't click so much with their covers album in 2010 and let my enthusiasm wane in more recent years, but The Proximity Effect still holds up.]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=18 Tue, 05 May 2026 17:29:15 +0000 quiettheory]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=18 What's the first album you bought with your own money and when did you last listen to it?]]> What's the first album you bought with your own money and when did you last listen to it?]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=17 Tue, 05 May 2026 17:25:32 +0000 bry]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=17 https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=16 Fri, 01 May 2026 19:35:24 +0000 bry]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=16 the thing yet. 2013 was like a twilight no man's land.

I think this album would have been really big had it come out 10 years earlier, or 10 years later. Listened today for the first time in awhile and I think I loved it even more than I remembered. The melodies are so poppy, but it's also lofi and almost trashy at times. The recording feels alive to me.]]> the thing yet. 2013 was like a twilight no man's land.

I think this album would have been really big had it come out 10 years earlier, or 10 years later. Listened today for the first time in awhile and I think I loved it even more than I remembered. The melodies are so poppy, but it's also lofi and almost trashy at times. The recording feels alive to me.]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=15 Fri, 01 May 2026 17:10:48 +0000 quiettheory]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=15 What album has the best second half?]]> What album has the best second half?]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=14 Thu, 30 Apr 2026 21:14:44 +0000 Alexfieldmusic]]> https://forum.quiettheory.com/showthread.php?tid=14
(Thread didn’t let me upload the WAV file here) here’s a link to Spotify 

https://open.spotify.com/album/2SLbzq1KT...1OYCqzoxBg]]>
(Thread didn’t let me upload the WAV file here) here’s a link to Spotify 

https://open.spotify.com/album/2SLbzq1KT...1OYCqzoxBg]]>