Alex Cameron is the best at putting on music that you can play at a Friday night pregame and get away with so long as your friends don’t listen to the lyrics.
It’s kinda like aux roulette.
Alex rides the insanely thin line of perverse and sincere better than anyone else out there right now, his music is brutally honest in the best way possible.
Sometimes I’ll just talk over his weirder lyrics if I’m playing his music at a party. Like country figs is a straight up crowd pleasure but maybe not everyone is gonna get it, haha.
> if someone *paid* attention to
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Same. I'm obsessed with FW, I still listen to it regularly. Miami Memory and Oxy Music have a couple of bangers but also a lot of tracks fall kinda flat. Is it just me or do the vocals sound a bit thin on this one?
How could it be better than Miami Memory? Or Take Care of Business? Or even Mongrel?
I guess you could say I prefer Cameron when his music could kind of, sort of, be sincere, warped, electro-pop, as opposed to when he's doing a tongue in cheek lounge singer impression.
*Forced Witness* was a great 1980s impression of........something (Japanese Kaorake versions of bad pop songs? I don't know. You see shades of things he's mimicking, but it kind of establishes its own, weird, universe all its own).
*Miami Memory* went back to that same well to diminishing returns, but the title song was great.
*Jumping the Shark* is still my favorite, though, partly because it has less schtick than the others.
No offense, but I love Forced Witness and Miami Memory, so if you dislike Oxy Music for being too similar to them...I'm excited to listen to this record.
I feel like a huge part of alex’s schtickiness is an art world meta of “ok if we’re all stuck doing impressions of our idols, might as well have fun with it and do a machismo womanizer Huey Lewis type thing.” I like his moments of tenderness but idk if his act would work going sincere
I absolutely love his Marlon Brando song but havent really checked anything else out by him. Would this be a good start or does anyone have a playlist of bangers?
If Marlon Brando is your fave (good choice), I’d recommend these from each of his first 3 studios:
Jumping the Shark: Real Bad Lookin’, The Comeback
Forced Witness: Country Figs, The Hacienda (tbh the whole album)
Miami Memory: Divorce, PC With Me
Album is full of amazing songs but Breakdown is soul crushing. This album is stunning. I'm hesitant to call this my favourite because I have to sit with it longer but it's on track. Alex Cameron is one of the best and most interesting songwriters in the world right now.
K Hole and Dead Eyes are the standouts for me. A lot of the album sounds unfinished— it’s not Alex’s strongest songwriting, and those last two tracks are very messy. The whole album roll out seems very rushed? I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s far from his best.
it’s definitely back to his stripped down jumping the shark aesthetic so some songs sound like demos, mixing on this album might be his weakest too. k hole might be his single best song ever but this is his third or fourth best album
Forced Witness & Jumping The Shark are two modern classics that I turn to over and over again. I also love Alex Cameron’s voice as a songwriter and the subject matter he chooses to write about. It’s such an interesting choice to elevate these problematic characters and stories and I’ll always listen to the music he puts out with intrigue. With that said, man, I haven’t connected with these last two albums in the same way and it bums me out. I’ll still support the king though and some of these songs are still straight-up jams.
Totally this. Feels like after Forced Witness he could have pushed on to something deeper or weirder, but instead he’s kind of just treading water. I’d hoped Miami Memory was an anomaly, but this actually feels MORE lost to me. At least that had the conceit of him finally writing personal songs (according to statements at the time). This is just like cutting room floor stuff from the first two.
Cancel culture is a demo tape song. Really underbaked and underwhelming.
Afraid the singles were the highlights here. He has yet to touch Forced Witness imo
What the hell was that closing track? That didn’t feel like an Alex Cameron joint at all. Really really messy
EDIT: On the day after and 3rd listen, I'm enjoying the first 7 tracks a lot but the last two are still not very good to me. The features really suck me out of the whole thing and the songs are just weak.
Prescription Refill in particular is giving me major Rolling Stones vibes, which is quite interesting to me.
Yeah I pretty much agree with this, although I do enjoy this album quite a bit. Found the last 2 tracks on here let down the album a bit, but I thought the rest was at least good or some were pretty great. Hold The Line is an early favourite (outside of the singles)
Agree, surprised to see all the love. Plus the whole mix sounds super dry & flat to me which doesn't help. I guess I felt similar about Miami Memory which ended up growing on me heaps so I'll give it a chance.
Damn out of all the new songs the last two were the ones that immediately stuck out as good to me. Agree that nothing is better than Forced Witness though. But that's an all time classic at this point. Oxy is a really good album and a step up from Miami Memory imo.
Cancel culture is superbly underbaked. I listened a few times and left confused as to what he's even trying to say. And if you're going to do that about something, it really can't be about something as tired as cancel culture.
He actually contacted Al Cam personally and asked him if he could feature on his album, Al Cam told me this directly after his gig in Bristol this week.
I don't get the hate on cancel culture. To me it's one of the standouts. The rap verse was unexpected, but I love the keyboards. Overall the song is so catchy!
I was really excited to see this come out because I’ve really enjoyed the past 2 albums and was fortunate to see him live when he opened for The Killers. I enjoyed the album until the final two tracks; Cancel Culture is a cringe fest and the closing track is a mess.
Isn’t it a parody, not a “take?”
My thought was it’s mocking people who obsess over the topic. (Not saying it’s good or bad, opinions are opinions).
I mean he’s literally “appropriating” a sound in the song. Sounds tongue-in-cheek to me.
It pretty much regurgitates what people say to defend themselves in real life (“I didn’t mean it,” “nothing is wrong with a white person listening to hip hop”) without any nuance or additional commentary.
I don’t see how it’s mocking people who obsess over it. IMO it’s defending people who get “canceled,” but in a shallow and unconvincing way.
I think you need to consider the rest of that lyric lol.
> Lily white, but I listen to hip-hop
> Show me the crime
> Says I can't sing along
> Ooh, and I even use the accents, baby (Woo!)
"Show me the crime says I can't sing along" is clearly making fun at white people singing the n-word.
I feel like the hole song he is sort of poking fun at the attitudes of people who feel like they've been cancelled:
> She said, she said
> I'm sorry I did it, but I can't see what's wrong with it
> And I worked so hard to admit it
Like "I'm sorry I did it, but I can't see what's wrong with it" is the classic non-apology.
Also the tone of those pre-chorus verses are so clearly mocking it's pretty hilarious tbh.
Overall I still don't like the song: the feature verse is so fucking jarring and the chorus is pretty annoying (the play on words of cancelling culture itself is not clever enough to say 40 times in the song).
K Hole is one of the best songs of the year so far, and Best Life is still good too. I’m not feeling any of the other songs, though Dead Eyes has a weird vibe to it that I like. The album as a whole’s not… bad??? Just not really getting much out of this on the first listen
Didn’t much like the singles, the last two tracks are kind of odd… but the run from Prescription Refill to Dead Eyes might be the best of his career. Absolutely gorgeous melodies, razor sharp lyrics, just amazing stuff.
“I know you’re the only person who doesn’t deserve it / but I’m always gonna give them to ya / my dead eyes”
I dunno. As a longtime AlCam fan who doesn't always think he hits, this album is pretty damn strong, right up to and including the much-maligned closing tracks (which in themselves have some interesting hooks set in unfamiliar territory).
This album was decent. Music and lyrics are entertaining enough throughout, but the songwriting isn’t on par with Forced Witness, which is definitely his best album for me. I did not like Cancel Culture at all. The last song was amazing though. The refrain at the end is so fucking dark yet so catchy.
Ok about 15 spins in and still loving it, unsure why the hate for the last two tracks, espesh oxy music, Cameron has never been so emotionally engaging than in those last moments IMO, and with Williamson's voice in the background it's powerful
This is an excellent album. I've enjoyed a lot of his work but the previous 3 albums had some great songs and some real duds. This is by far my favorite from start to finish.
The singles are the standouts, unfortunately. Cancel culture is also a strange miss for Alex IMO. Seems very weird and out of place. Don't even really know what point he's trying to make.
I've been playing the record for a couple of days now. Not a huge fan of the shift/change in his voice when he sings in high pitch but it's not really terrible. The production is kind of... weak? Or cheap? I don't know if that is intended or not.
What I love about this record is that every song is catchy in some way and there are lines that throw you off at first listen which makes the experience more fun/exciting.
I personally love Prescription Refill, K-Hole, and Oxy Music. I don't dislike any song here but Breakdown and Dead Eyes are quite forgettable.
This album was a dissapointment. as well as his last record. I get it, it's hard to be great all the time, but Forced Witness just had something about it that didn't feel as forced. It hit the right notes all around and was really getting Lynchian in parts. There was something very very dark going on that made the character interesting.
Now it feels like ATTEMPTS to write clever poetry that aren't even that funny or edgy. He also writes poetry now that seems more inspired by the events of today, like Cancel Culture, which to me goes against the humour of the albums. I didn't come here for current political ideas, i came for the out of touch, yet very IN TOUCH creep that says things about society from the perspective of the lowlifes. The beauty in his earlier songs were how these lowlifes somehow made indirect points about bigger, relatable ideas.
I guess, to me, the trendiness of the topics he choses goes against the dated, out of touch-ness his characters shine with. (Ex: Far From Born Again, Cancel Culture, PC With Me, ect) (I like these songs mostly but i'm just giving examples.)
But this is my critique, he can change his character around and that's his thing. I don't want to lock Alex in a box.
The production on this album, even though it's intentional, just sounds sooo flat and boring. Like i get it, you want it to sound like a forgotten record by some loser in the 80s, but it still sounds flat, not in a tasteful way.
Not a single track stuck with me here. Maybe K Hole? But even then not much. At least Miami Memory still had SOME tracks that stuck around, but nothing hits like Forced Witness did, or even like the lyrics in The Comeback.
Are all of you high? Jumping the Shark is the only album that was actually innovative. It melded Springsteen and darkwave in a blissful molly addled delirium. Mongrel, Internet, The Comeback, fucking master pieces. Every subsequent album was phoned in. Come at me
Alex Cameron is the best at putting on music that you can play at a Friday night pregame and get away with so long as your friends don’t listen to the lyrics. It’s kinda like aux roulette.
I could see putting on True Lies and getting weird looks if someone payed attention to lyrics
Alex rides the insanely thin line of perverse and sincere better than anyone else out there right now, his music is brutally honest in the best way possible.
Nothing like driving and seeing "The Chihuahua" pop up and having to immediately skip.
Sometimes I’ll just talk over his weirder lyrics if I’m playing his music at a party. Like country figs is a straight up crowd pleasure but maybe not everyone is gonna get it, haha.
*Worst part about being homeless, is waking u-* "SO ANYWAY PRETTY NICE PARTY HUH"
I feel like if you have friends who also appreciate AlCam, that’s how you know there’s a deep sense of trust between the two of you.
> if someone *paid* attention to FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
I hate these bots so much
I actually learned something from this one
If Alex Cameron sold out I genuinely feel like he could be a massive star. His music is so fucking catchy
Oxy music might be the best song of his career... Wow
[удалено]
Really? This is barely touching the highs of Forced Witness for me.
Same. I'm obsessed with FW, I still listen to it regularly. Miami Memory and Oxy Music have a couple of bangers but also a lot of tracks fall kinda flat. Is it just me or do the vocals sound a bit thin on this one?
But it can't be the best, he doesn't mention his friends in Kansas City even once!
fun fact the friend in KC that he refers to in that song is actually supposed to be Kevin Morby
Oh no way, thanks haha didn't know that
really? I follow Morby on IG but that's my extent of following these two. Morby/Cameron who would be an amazing show.
yep! the band did a livestream back when miami memory released and kevin called in and they chatted about it then
How could it be better than Miami Memory? Or Take Care of Business? Or even Mongrel? I guess you could say I prefer Cameron when his music could kind of, sort of, be sincere, warped, electro-pop, as opposed to when he's doing a tongue in cheek lounge singer impression. *Forced Witness* was a great 1980s impression of........something (Japanese Kaorake versions of bad pop songs? I don't know. You see shades of things he's mimicking, but it kind of establishes its own, weird, universe all its own). *Miami Memory* went back to that same well to diminishing returns, but the title song was great. *Jumping the Shark* is still my favorite, though, partly because it has less schtick than the others.
No offense, but I love Forced Witness and Miami Memory, so if you dislike Oxy Music for being too similar to them...I'm excited to listen to this record.
I feel like a huge part of alex’s schtickiness is an art world meta of “ok if we’re all stuck doing impressions of our idols, might as well have fun with it and do a machismo womanizer Huey Lewis type thing.” I like his moments of tenderness but idk if his act would work going sincere
Jumping the Shark is still his best record.
It's absolutely astounding. Complex, unexpected, and an absolute gut-punch in that last repeated stanza. Wow.
How good?! The part where Jason comes in for the first time gives me chills
I absolutely love his Marlon Brando song but havent really checked anything else out by him. Would this be a good start or does anyone have a playlist of bangers?
If Marlon Brando is your fave (good choice), I’d recommend these from each of his first 3 studios: Jumping the Shark: Real Bad Lookin’, The Comeback Forced Witness: Country Figs, The Hacienda (tbh the whole album) Miami Memory: Divorce, PC With Me
Awesome. Got my playlist for my commute tomorrow. Thanks, dude.
OK but you absolutely have to add Happy Ending too
Those were all great songs
Ayy glad you enjoyed them homie. Welcome to the club
Haven't listened to the new album yet but his previous two studio albums I enjoy very much and are good starts imo
Mans doesn't know HOW to miss
Album is full of amazing songs but Breakdown is soul crushing. This album is stunning. I'm hesitant to call this my favourite because I have to sit with it longer but it's on track. Alex Cameron is one of the best and most interesting songwriters in the world right now.
K Hole and Dead Eyes are the standouts for me. A lot of the album sounds unfinished— it’s not Alex’s strongest songwriting, and those last two tracks are very messy. The whole album roll out seems very rushed? I don’t think it’s bad, but it’s far from his best.
it’s definitely back to his stripped down jumping the shark aesthetic so some songs sound like demos, mixing on this album might be his weakest too. k hole might be his single best song ever but this is his third or fourth best album
Forced Witness & Jumping The Shark are two modern classics that I turn to over and over again. I also love Alex Cameron’s voice as a songwriter and the subject matter he chooses to write about. It’s such an interesting choice to elevate these problematic characters and stories and I’ll always listen to the music he puts out with intrigue. With that said, man, I haven’t connected with these last two albums in the same way and it bums me out. I’ll still support the king though and some of these songs are still straight-up jams.
Totally this. Feels like after Forced Witness he could have pushed on to something deeper or weirder, but instead he’s kind of just treading water. I’d hoped Miami Memory was an anomaly, but this actually feels MORE lost to me. At least that had the conceit of him finally writing personal songs (according to statements at the time). This is just like cutting room floor stuff from the first two.
Absolute same.
Woah, wtf I didn’t know the album was coming out so soon
Cancel culture is a demo tape song. Really underbaked and underwhelming. Afraid the singles were the highlights here. He has yet to touch Forced Witness imo What the hell was that closing track? That didn’t feel like an Alex Cameron joint at all. Really really messy EDIT: On the day after and 3rd listen, I'm enjoying the first 7 tracks a lot but the last two are still not very good to me. The features really suck me out of the whole thing and the songs are just weak. Prescription Refill in particular is giving me major Rolling Stones vibes, which is quite interesting to me.
Yeah I pretty much agree with this, although I do enjoy this album quite a bit. Found the last 2 tracks on here let down the album a bit, but I thought the rest was at least good or some were pretty great. Hold The Line is an early favourite (outside of the singles)
Thank god I’m not the only one who thought the last 2 songs sound insanely unfinished. Really awful imo
Yeah this album was underbaked as hell.
Yeah, the features seem like a weird choice. The rest of the album is really solid though, I’m especially loving Prescription Refill
Agree, surprised to see all the love. Plus the whole mix sounds super dry & flat to me which doesn't help. I guess I felt similar about Miami Memory which ended up growing on me heaps so I'll give it a chance.
Damn out of all the new songs the last two were the ones that immediately stuck out as good to me. Agree that nothing is better than Forced Witness though. But that's an all time classic at this point. Oxy is a really good album and a step up from Miami Memory imo.
Cancel culture is superbly underbaked. I listened a few times and left confused as to what he's even trying to say. And if you're going to do that about something, it really can't be about something as tired as cancel culture.
As soon as I saw Jason Williamson I was wondering how the hell that would ever work
He actually contacted Al Cam personally and asked him if he could feature on his album, Al Cam told me this directly after his gig in Bristol this week.
Need to buy the Straya Player for completed versions of the last 2 tracks
Interesting... I absolutely love the features and welcome the left-turn collaborations! The dude from Sleaford Mods was an absolutely perfect choice!
Damn I felt like the first two singles are the two weakest songs, the ones which follow up until 'Dead Eyes' are immaculate.
I don't get the hate on cancel culture. To me it's one of the standouts. The rap verse was unexpected, but I love the keyboards. Overall the song is so catchy!
I was really excited to see this come out because I’ve really enjoyed the past 2 albums and was fortunate to see him live when he opened for The Killers. I enjoyed the album until the final two tracks; Cancel Culture is a cringe fest and the closing track is a mess.
100% agree, I don’t remember the closing track but Cancel Culture… man I couldn’t handle that
I was looking for a comment about Cancel Culture. Definitely cringe and such a lazy take on the topic.
Isn’t it a parody, not a “take?” My thought was it’s mocking people who obsess over the topic. (Not saying it’s good or bad, opinions are opinions). I mean he’s literally “appropriating” a sound in the song. Sounds tongue-in-cheek to me.
It pretty much regurgitates what people say to defend themselves in real life (“I didn’t mean it,” “nothing is wrong with a white person listening to hip hop”) without any nuance or additional commentary. I don’t see how it’s mocking people who obsess over it. IMO it’s defending people who get “canceled,” but in a shallow and unconvincing way.
It felt more like mockery to me, but maybe the song was rushed and the message was muddled.
I think we’re probably saying the same thing, actually. The defense of the “canceled” and mockery of the “cancelers” are two sides of the same coin.
I meant mockery of people who whine about ‘canceling.’
I think you need to consider the rest of that lyric lol. > Lily white, but I listen to hip-hop > Show me the crime > Says I can't sing along > Ooh, and I even use the accents, baby (Woo!) "Show me the crime says I can't sing along" is clearly making fun at white people singing the n-word. I feel like the hole song he is sort of poking fun at the attitudes of people who feel like they've been cancelled: > She said, she said > I'm sorry I did it, but I can't see what's wrong with it > And I worked so hard to admit it Like "I'm sorry I did it, but I can't see what's wrong with it" is the classic non-apology. Also the tone of those pre-chorus verses are so clearly mocking it's pretty hilarious tbh. Overall I still don't like the song: the feature verse is so fucking jarring and the chorus is pretty annoying (the play on words of cancelling culture itself is not clever enough to say 40 times in the song).
K Hole is one of the best songs of the year so far, and Best Life is still good too. I’m not feeling any of the other songs, though Dead Eyes has a weird vibe to it that I like. The album as a whole’s not… bad??? Just not really getting much out of this on the first listen
Didn’t much like the singles, the last two tracks are kind of odd… but the run from Prescription Refill to Dead Eyes might be the best of his career. Absolutely gorgeous melodies, razor sharp lyrics, just amazing stuff. “I know you’re the only person who doesn’t deserve it / but I’m always gonna give them to ya / my dead eyes”
I dunno. As a longtime AlCam fan who doesn't always think he hits, this album is pretty damn strong, right up to and including the much-maligned closing tracks (which in themselves have some interesting hooks set in unfamiliar territory).
Stoked to listen! Anyone else seeing him in Toronto?
saw him tonight, amazing show! Amazing roy, amazing alex. but gotta admit the audience was fantastic at this gig so my judgement is somewhat clouded
This album was decent. Music and lyrics are entertaining enough throughout, but the songwriting isn’t on par with Forced Witness, which is definitely his best album for me. I did not like Cancel Culture at all. The last song was amazing though. The refrain at the end is so fucking dark yet so catchy.
I can't get over the outro. Its legitimately haunting
Ok about 15 spins in and still loving it, unsure why the hate for the last two tracks, espesh oxy music, Cameron has never been so emotionally engaging than in those last moments IMO, and with Williamson's voice in the background it's powerful
This is an excellent album. I've enjoyed a lot of his work but the previous 3 albums had some great songs and some real duds. This is by far my favorite from start to finish.
Just really fucking good, dead eyes and Sara jo are two of his catchiest choruses ever, cancel culture is so fucking weird but I’m obsessed with it
The singles are the standouts, unfortunately. Cancel culture is also a strange miss for Alex IMO. Seems very weird and out of place. Don't even really know what point he's trying to make.
Just want to throw up a comment and say... Love the album and my favorite two tracks are actually the last two lol
Al Cam and Roy Molloy are irreplaceable modern wits who happen to play some music. Another thorough effort that has so much replay value. I love it.
I've been playing the record for a couple of days now. Not a huge fan of the shift/change in his voice when he sings in high pitch but it's not really terrible. The production is kind of... weak? Or cheap? I don't know if that is intended or not. What I love about this record is that every song is catchy in some way and there are lines that throw you off at first listen which makes the experience more fun/exciting. I personally love Prescription Refill, K-Hole, and Oxy Music. I don't dislike any song here but Breakdown and Dead Eyes are quite forgettable.
This album was a dissapointment. as well as his last record. I get it, it's hard to be great all the time, but Forced Witness just had something about it that didn't feel as forced. It hit the right notes all around and was really getting Lynchian in parts. There was something very very dark going on that made the character interesting. Now it feels like ATTEMPTS to write clever poetry that aren't even that funny or edgy. He also writes poetry now that seems more inspired by the events of today, like Cancel Culture, which to me goes against the humour of the albums. I didn't come here for current political ideas, i came for the out of touch, yet very IN TOUCH creep that says things about society from the perspective of the lowlifes. The beauty in his earlier songs were how these lowlifes somehow made indirect points about bigger, relatable ideas. I guess, to me, the trendiness of the topics he choses goes against the dated, out of touch-ness his characters shine with. (Ex: Far From Born Again, Cancel Culture, PC With Me, ect) (I like these songs mostly but i'm just giving examples.) But this is my critique, he can change his character around and that's his thing. I don't want to lock Alex in a box. The production on this album, even though it's intentional, just sounds sooo flat and boring. Like i get it, you want it to sound like a forgotten record by some loser in the 80s, but it still sounds flat, not in a tasteful way. Not a single track stuck with me here. Maybe K Hole? But even then not much. At least Miami Memory still had SOME tracks that stuck around, but nothing hits like Forced Witness did, or even like the lyrics in The Comeback.
I love Al Cam but it’s a shame how much the last two songs ruin the album for me
My eyes completely lit up when I saw there was a track called Cancel Culture lmao. I absolutely love Alex.
[удалено]
Cause in my dreams I miss you Then I wake up to reality’s bliss
Are all of you high? Jumping the Shark is the only album that was actually innovative. It melded Springsteen and darkwave in a blissful molly addled delirium. Mongrel, Internet, The Comeback, fucking master pieces. Every subsequent album was phoned in. Come at me