AJR - Neotheater (2019)
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+.cue, log) ~ 292.67 Mb | MP3 CBR 320kbps ~ 108.72 Mb | 44:26 | Cover
Indie Pop, Electronic | Country: USA | Label: AJR Productions - 538475682
EAC Rip | FLAC (tracks+.cue, log) ~ 292.67 Mb | MP3 CBR 320kbps ~ 108.72 Mb | 44:26 | Cover
Indie Pop, Electronic | Country: USA | Label: AJR Productions - 538475682
After more than a year of touring and a deluxe release of their widely successful 2017 album, The Click, AJR is back with Neotheater, a clear sign of artist maturation. It displays the hard work brothers Adam, Jack and Ryan Met put in to bring audiences a developed sound while maintaining the lively horns, heavy beats and chanted choruses that listeners have come to expect from the effervescent trio.
AJR wastes no time displaying Neotheater‘s new direction with bombastic opener “Next Up Forever.” It begins with sampled choir music accompanied by building electroacoustic instrumentals. One thing’s clear right off the bat: they had no intention of attempting to recreate what made albums like The Click. The album certainly clicks, albeit in unexpected ways.
The most noticeable element from this offering is the expansive choral-style vocals backing personal songs about the members’ respective experiences and development. The cut “100 Bad Days” introduces the audience to stories of woe while leaving room to see the importance of those failures as lessons. Coincidentally, the choir seems to act as the antithesis to the band’s pessimistic delivery as a reminder to look at the bright side.
The band also never lets go of its inner child, balancing youthfulness with an evolving perspective on life. Somber but beautifully composed, “Don’t Throw Out My Legos” is a direct ode to childhood innocence. The title of the song comes from the line “Don’t throw out my Legos/ What if I come back home?/ What if I can’t let go?”
The song is built on a pleasantly simplistic chord progressions reminiscent of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. “Turning Out Part Two” provides the only obvious link to the band’s prior material, centering on the healing process after a difficult breakup. Built on largely minor chords, violins and a slower tempo, the song mulls over hard lessons: You can only love someone as much as you love yourself, and saying “I love you” is not enough to save a relationship. Deeds are more important than words.
The three brothers don’t forget their roots and use their horn section to build a number of rousing singalongs. The tongue-in-cheek “Birthday Party,” a satirical callout of pop culture, exhibits some of the densest instrumentation on the album. The Mets fall back on their trusty trumpets and propelled beats to carry adventurous melodies during the bridge.
“Wow, I’m Not Crazy” is the catchiest, most danceable party track on the album, starting with uptempo acoustic strumming and a chorus of harmonious voices. It’s akin to a campfire song dedicated to the people who make life bearable. Its instrumentals give it the perfect vibe for a lively get-together.
With a new inspirations and stories paired with their familiar counterparts, AJR has made it clear that the band is maturing as artists. Not only is Neotheater something for fans to enjoy, but its resolve to keep trying new things make it an indispensable album.
~ review by Piper Westrom
Track List:
01. Next Up Forever (04:16)
02. Birthday Party (03:43)
03. 100 Bad Days (03:30)
04. Don't Throw Out My Legos (04:10)
05. Break My Face (03:46)
06. Turning Out Pt. ii (03:43)
07. The Entertainment's Here (03:07)
08. Karma (04:05)
09. Beats (03:18)
10. Wow, I'm Not Crazy (03:16)
11. Dear Winter (02:48)
12. Finale (Can't Wait To See What You Do Next) (04:37)
Sam France - vocals
Jonathan Rado - multi-instrumentalist, producer
Exact Audio Copy V1.3 from 2. September 2016
EAC extraction logfile from 1. May 2019, 17:34
AJR / Neotheater
Used drive : ATAPI eHAU424 A Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "artist=%artist%" -T "comment=%comment%" -T "title=%title%" -T "album=%albumtitle%" -T "albumartist=%albuminterpret%" -T "composer=%composer%" -T "date=%year%" -T "tracknumber=%tracknr%" -T "genre=%genre%" -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:16.41 | 0 | 19240
2 | 4:16.41 | 3:43.71 | 19241 | 36036
3 | 8:00.37 | 3:30.74 | 36037 | 51860
4 | 11:31.36 | 4:10.63 | 51861 | 70673
5 | 15:42.24 | 3:46.25 | 70674 | 87648
6 | 19:28.49 | 3:43.15 | 87649 | 104388
7 | 23:11.64 | 3:07.20 | 104389 | 118433
8 | 26:19.09 | 4:05.20 | 118434 | 136828
9 | 30:24.29 | 3:18.43 | 136829 | 151721
10 | 33:42.72 | 3:16.57 | 151722 | 166478
11 | 36:59.54 | 2:48.10 | 166479 | 179088
12 | 39:47.64 | 4:37.55 | 179089 | 199918
Track 1
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\01 Next Up Forever.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 3.5 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C527B48E
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\02 Birthday Party.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 3.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC B2F3E7D0
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\03 100 Bad Days.wav
Peak level 99.4 %
Extraction speed 4.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4011FBF4
Copy CRC 4011FBF4
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\04 Don't Throw Out My Legos.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 4.5 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC AD727A1E
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\05 Break My Face.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.7 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F264FA23
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\06 Turning Out Pt. ii.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 5.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 9C4B8234
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\07 The Entertainment's Here.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 4.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 79C02F36
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\08 Karma.wav
Peak level 99.2 %
Extraction speed 5.5 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 351BC1A9
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 9
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\09 Beats.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 5.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 913561D6
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 10
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\10 Wow, I'm Not Crazy.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 5.7 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC FC6A8E52
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 11
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\11 Dear Winter.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 5.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 81474882
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 12
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\12 Finale (Can't Wait To See What You Do Next).wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 6.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F35DE5CE
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6
[CTDB TOCID: F4cMYMsUc0sOjvpw50WEMN2vEVk-] disk not present in database
Submit result: F4cMYMsUc0sOjvpw50WEMN2vEVk- has been uploaded
==== Log checksum 98DDE2FAEE32FA5192AFCC8033E5032556BBCD671708507911EDD14E00A15119 ====
EAC extraction logfile from 1. May 2019, 17:34
AJR / Neotheater
Used drive : ATAPI eHAU424 A Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 6
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T "artist=%artist%" -T "comment=%comment%" -T "title=%title%" -T "album=%albumtitle%" -T "albumartist=%albuminterpret%" -T "composer=%composer%" -T "date=%year%" -T "tracknumber=%tracknr%" -T "genre=%genre%" -T "DISCNUMBER=%cdnumber%" -T "TOTALDISCS=%totalcds%" -T "TOTALTRACKS=%numtracks%" %source%
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:16.41 | 0 | 19240
2 | 4:16.41 | 3:43.71 | 19241 | 36036
3 | 8:00.37 | 3:30.74 | 36037 | 51860
4 | 11:31.36 | 4:10.63 | 51861 | 70673
5 | 15:42.24 | 3:46.25 | 70674 | 87648
6 | 19:28.49 | 3:43.15 | 87649 | 104388
7 | 23:11.64 | 3:07.20 | 104389 | 118433
8 | 26:19.09 | 4:05.20 | 118434 | 136828
9 | 30:24.29 | 3:18.43 | 136829 | 151721
10 | 33:42.72 | 3:16.57 | 151722 | 166478
11 | 36:59.54 | 2:48.10 | 166479 | 179088
12 | 39:47.64 | 4:37.55 | 179089 | 199918
Track 1
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\01 Next Up Forever.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 3.5 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C527B48E
Copy CRC C527B48E
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\02 Birthday Party.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 3.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC B2F3E7D0
Copy CRC B2F3E7D0
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\03 100 Bad Days.wav
Peak level 99.4 %
Extraction speed 4.1 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 4011FBF4
Copy CRC 4011FBF4
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\04 Don't Throw Out My Legos.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 4.5 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC AD727A1E
Copy CRC AD727A1E
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\05 Break My Face.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.7 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F264FA23
Copy CRC F264FA23
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\06 Turning Out Pt. ii.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 5.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 9C4B8234
Copy CRC 9C4B8234
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\07 The Entertainment's Here.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 4.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 79C02F36
Copy CRC 79C02F36
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\08 Karma.wav
Peak level 99.2 %
Extraction speed 5.5 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 351BC1A9
Copy CRC 351BC1A9
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 9
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\09 Beats.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 5.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 913561D6
Copy CRC 913561D6
Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 10
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\10 Wow, I'm Not Crazy.wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 5.7 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC FC6A8E52
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 11
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\11 Dear Winter.wav
Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 5.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 81474882
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
Track 12
Filename C:\Users\AiiR\Music\AJR\Neotheater\12 Finale (Can't Wait To See What You Do Next).wav
Peak level 99.8 %
Extraction speed 6.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F35DE5CE
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Track not present in AccurateRip database
Copy OK
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
No errors occurred
End of status report
–– CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6
[CTDB TOCID: F4cMYMsUc0sOjvpw50WEMN2vEVk-] disk not present in database
Submit result: F4cMYMsUc0sOjvpw50WEMN2vEVk- has been uploaded
==== Log checksum 98DDE2FAEE32FA5192AFCC8033E5032556BBCD671708507911EDD14E00A15119 ====
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