Vinyl Review: "There Is No Feeling Better" by Mike Adams At His Honest Weight

There Is No Feeling Better

There are things that happen to you in the world that you remember. Such happenings can be so profound that for years you tell your friends where you were when it happened.

For me, it was a Friday evening. Bruce Franks has hours away from winning his election to the Missouri Legislature.

The rain was pouring and I was dragging my wife to Foam on Cherokee St. in South St. Louis, MO.

We were going to be seeing Mike Adams At His Honest Weight.

No one begged me to be there. There was no outcry for me to spill my words upon the pages about this show.

In fact, this wasn't the first time I'd heard Mike Adams At His Honest Weight. So, like my personal mass on my driver's license...the above kind of fraudulent. There was nothing about the show that was my first, apart from the first time seeing them live.

Mike Adams

Though they put on a great show, it wasn't life altering as their music had already wowed me to the point of fandom.

That's why I do what I do. There's still great music out there to be found. Lots of it will knock you over at how great it is.

My personal introduction was during the Casino Drone cycle. There are even still more records!

There Is No Feeling Better is the fourth album by the group. They've had a wistful way about naming their records, until now.

And if I haven't mentioned it, this one isn't totally metal, so unless you're ready for something off the beaten path, it's probably best if you just check back later....

Casino Drone was an album that grabbed me. It, and this one too, is a kind of music that there might not be a modern word for. The closest might be dream pop, but that evokes a more dishonest style of music.

MAAHHW are a band. They play instruments. They can even recreate their songs in a live setting. I'll tell you they weren't using tracks, because I watched them set up their gear. It happened only four feet from where I was sitting.

And as half the band wasn't on the stage due to the stage's tininess, it can be said there was no room for it anyway.

There Is No Feeling Better's predecessor was a album full of hope, joy, and good vibes. It was also full of good vibrato.

But, three years later, something has happened.

This record succeeds Casino Drone nearly perfectly for me. There's no giant stylistic break. They have not reinvented the band. Everything that made the last album great to this blogger is all here.

But there's something else...

Little touches here and there are around the edges that didn't appear on Casino Drone. Strings on songs? I hear you. Female vocals?

I see you too.

What's changed is the irrepressible hopefulness of the previous record. Adams, who wrote all of the songs, has gone into another phase of life maybe?

There Is No Feeling Better is like the friend who just got divorced last month and they're still trying to grin, be fun, and make sense of this new world.

The only problem? This is that new world and maybe Adams already has it figured out and we're all just trying to smile till it makes sense too.

The cover of the record is about the craziest thing I have ever seen. It comes in two colors and the one pictured?

It's not one of them.

My VIP version of the record came with a cassette that's a demo version of the record. I guess I need to listen to that one as well. There's also a nice booklet with lyrics and chord charts.

The black and bone merge vinyl is about the best looking record in my collection and it sounds just as awesome.

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