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Post by know ID yuh on Jul 6, 2011 21:30:07 GMT -8
Finally listened to that Slint album, pretty good. You like everything though.
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Post by weenie on Jul 7, 2011 8:05:30 GMT -8
Oh my god! That's what that means.
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Post by wompwomp on Jul 7, 2011 8:19:09 GMT -8
Just got through the Slint album for the first time...and I think that's about enough for me.
Honestly, it was a struggle to get through. It didn't do anything for me at all. The vocals were terrible and the band didn't sound cohesive to me at all. I mostly agree with blacksmile, I found it meandering and too often I was waiting for something to happen, and when something actually did happen, the payoff wasn't nearly worth it.
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Post by Geoff on Jul 7, 2011 12:08:37 GMT -8
Finally listened to that Slint album, pretty good. You like everything though. Not true at all haha.
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Post by Horned Gramma on Jul 7, 2011 13:34:33 GMT -8
RE: Spiderland
I actually kind of really love this. Obviously a strong influence on Rob Crow's early stuff (Heavy Vegetable, Thingy). I've never been real big on the more chaotic-sounding math rock but this is just laid back enough for it to be totally satisfying.
Getting pretty stoked for this thread over the next couple months.
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Post by emptyfox on Jul 7, 2011 22:36:48 GMT -8
OK my final verdict on N.A.S.A is that there are a few very enjoyable tracks in there. I've already mentioned the Kanye/Santogold/Lykke Li track which stood out off the hop, but on second, third and fourth listen I really came to enjoy the ODB/Karen O track and "Whachadoin?" (feat. Spank Rock, M.I.A., Santogold & Nick Zinner) ended up being my favorite. I just really loved the production on that track. The ring tone melody is super fun.
Overall I had a good time listening to it though, and am generally excited to continue this process. Now for something completely different in Slint.
***edit*** No one else has posted yet, so I'll just edit this one.
I'm almost done with the first listen of Spiderland. I've actually really enjoyed the instrumentation side of it, but the vocals are just weird to me. It reminds me of that one Nada Surf song that every kid who is old enough to remember 1994 knows.
That said I really really love "Washer". The vocals actually work here and it doesn't feel like an angsty teenager reading prose from a diary.
More later when I've has a couple more listens.
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Post by Cbats on Jul 7, 2011 23:23:47 GMT -8
I've never noticed the comparison but yeah it's totally there.
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Post by Blacksmile on Jul 8, 2011 6:22:32 GMT -8
"Popular" is such an awesome tune...and yes the spoken word is somewhat similar.
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Post by know ID yuh on Jul 8, 2011 10:51:11 GMT -8
I've actually really enjoyed the instrumentation side of it, but the vocals are just weird to me. It reminds me of that one Nada Surf song that every kid who is old enough to remember 1994 knows. Yup, I was going to write a brief review of the album last night, and one of the lines was going to read, "I keep waiting for the part about the cheerleader chick."
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Post by Lump on Jul 8, 2011 11:56:27 GMT -8
That board is also notorious for having high school kids who think they know everything Jay and Silent Bob are terrible, one-note jokes that only stoners laugh at. They're fucking clown shoes. If they were real, I'd beat the shit out of them for being so stupid. I can't believe Miramax would have anything to do with this shit. I, for one, will be boycotting this movie. Who's with me?
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Rusty
North American Scumfoot
Posts: 710
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Post by Rusty on Jul 8, 2011 19:11:51 GMT -8
RE: SpiderlandI actually kind of really love this. Obviously a strong influence on Rob Crow's early stuff (Heavy Vegetable, Thingy). I've never been real big on the more chaotic-sounding math rock but this is just laid back enough for it to be totally satisfying. Getting pretty stoked for this thread over the next couple months. I'm almost positive someone has asked you this before, but have you ever been to rock-trivia/won the fuck out of rock trivia? Is there any music related fact you don't know?
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Post by Horned Gramma on Jul 8, 2011 19:24:11 GMT -8
Flatterer.
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Rusty
North American Scumfoot
Posts: 710
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Post by Rusty on Jul 8, 2011 19:31:10 GMT -8
No but seriously, it may just be with the more obscure/independent/underground type of music, but people on here mention an artist, and then you come in and seem to know their life story and discography off the top of your head.
Precisely the type of knowledge that would kick ass at rock trivia.
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Post by Drew on Jul 9, 2011 13:16:26 GMT -8
One more word on Spiderland - I've listened to it three or four times in the last week, and I can't get past the same underwhelming feeling I got the first time I heard it. For an album with such a massive reputation (and it is seriously massive), it's not the flawless record you'd expect. There are lazily executed ideas ("For Dinner..." which is a fun track to listen to but bands have done so much more with that song's sound than Slint did), and the vocals always sound a little angsty to me, a little emo in the middle of all that prog. The whispered "I miss you" in "Good Morning Captain" strikes a nerve with me.
But "Nosferatu Man" and "Good Morning Captain" are awesome tracks, and I think that the idea that this is a collection of songs rather than a shitty prog concept album is what was so revolutionary about Slint.
I've got my album all ready for tomorrow. It might not be a surprise to some (I bet Know could guess it) but hopefully it's an album that many, or several, of you haven't listened to.
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Post by know ID yuh on Jul 9, 2011 13:59:41 GMT -8
Yeah, if it's the album I'm thinking of, I doubt half the regulars have listened to it.
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Post by Cbats on Jul 9, 2011 13:59:51 GMT -8
Could your pick accurately be described as dad rock?
re: Spiderland, I'm glad to hear everyone's thoughts on the album and I guess I'll just say that it's the kind of album that either clicks or it doesn't. I've listened to it too many times to count and the vocals don't bother me at all anymore but I see exactly where everyone is coming from. Part of what is exciting about the album is that even though it's 20 years old there really isn't anything else that sounds like it. The guitars in this record sound so sharp and spidery (it's where the album gets it's name) and the songs build in a beautiful way.
Horned Gramma kind of touched on one thing that I love about the album which is that it is Math Rock but they have been able to give it a bit of personality. Stuff like Don Cab or Hella are interesting enough to me but they're very impersonal records, angular for the sake of being angular. Spiderland is the way it is to evoke a specific feeling (in my mind that feeling is walking alone in a dark woods or stranded on a desert island). I don't think I have any other albums that work better when I close my eyes and zone out to them.
I posted this when I originally picked the album but I'll repost it in case anyone hasn't read it since hearing the album. This review sums up my feelings on spiderland perfectly but it's also shocking in how much of the indie landscape Albini described 2 decades ago still applies.
edit: I forgot to add that anyone who liked the instrumentals but not the vocals should check out their debut album Tweez. It's not quite as good as spiderland but it does sound similar but doesn't have very many vocals
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Post by Lump on Jul 9, 2011 16:08:05 GMT -8
My goodness, thank you Cbats for finally making me listen to that album. It's one of those that's been on my list to listen to but just never got around to listen to.
Also, it's really good to listen to while playing Mad Monster Mansion on Banjo Kazooie (yeah, I took a break from the glorious Banjo Kazooie music).
Anywho, I guess it helped that I went into this with semi-low expectations thanks to the lukewarm reactions the other boarders posted, but man, I'm completely in love with this album.
It takes all my favorite moments of Godspeed, Sonic Youth's SYR series, and Pavement and put them in the blender. And, I realize nobody probably feels the same, but Spiderland is kinda what I always wished Explosions was while listening to Explosions (and don't get me wrong, I fucking love Explosions in the Sky).
I love the spoken vocals. Give it a perfect touch. I also agree a lot with Stevie's review.
Also definitely this: "Horned Gramma kind of touched on one thing that I love about the album which is that it is Math Rock but they have been able to give it a bit of personality."
Thanks for the Cbats.
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Post by Lump on Jul 10, 2011 7:34:49 GMT -8
I hope Drew posts his album today, so I can make sure I have it for my drive to Atlanta Tuesday!
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Post by Drew on Jul 10, 2011 13:37:54 GMT -8
Circulatory System - Circulatory Systemgrooveshark.com/#/artist/Circulatory+System/18073I started discovering Elephant 6 artists my first two years of high school, and it was a perfect fit. I had already fallen in love with my sister's twee shit, I was well-versed in the British invasion and classic rock, and I was just branching out into some weirder stuff. I started where, I'm sure, most people start: Neutral Milk Hotel. My friend Sam would play "Oh Comely" on his guitar at parties to weird people out (like, the opposite of the guy at the party playing Jack Johnson songs). I listened to a lot of old of Montreal, Elf Power, Beulah, and Apples in Stereo, among many others. But Olivia Tremor Control was my favorite - the idea of writing the score to an unmade movie ("Dusk at Cubist Castle"), songs about California floating off into the Pacific Ocean (ironic now that I live in California). It was all I needed. As I'm sure you know, Will Cullen Hart and Bill Doss were the main songwriters for Olivia Tremor Control. They had one insane shared vision that lasted for about two albums worth of incredible material, but the beauty of the collective is that they could go their own ways with relatively little stress. Doss went and did Chocolate USA and Sunshine Fix, to mixed results, but Hart wasn't really finished with the sound they had started with Olivia Tremor Control. So he basically got the rest of that band together, had some help from Jeff Mangum (you think Mangum is a recluse, Hart's easily in the same league) and made Circulatory System. Basically, this sounds like an unsmiling Olivia Tremor Control album - every lyric, every chord progression, has a sort of bleakness to it. Even when Hart sings (in his breathy, semi-choked voice), "It's a lovely universe," it sounds tongue-in-cheek. This is unabashedly cryptic material. But it's also totally beautiful. The Beach Boys touchstones are undeniable. The album is tethered with a melodic bass, and Hart's psychy guitars whirl through every track. The other thing that makes the album so beautiful is the layers on layers of sounds - some songs layer dozens of tracks. It seems like there are always crickets chirping or rain falling in the background, or some bird noises and static fuzz. That's not to mention the amount of instruments floating around. It's sonically extremely complicated, and supposedly very hard to duplicate live. But in spots it's very simple as well. My favorite tracks are "Diary of Wood," "Inside Blasts" (which has an anxious structure to it), and "Your Parades." I also love the final track, "Forever," - you'll see why. So obviously this is an album very close to my own heart, but please don't hold back in your comments. I have close friends who can't really stand it. Something about the lyrics, so huge in scope and yet delivered so personally, just compels me, however. So I hope you like it just as much, but, you know, tell me about it.
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Post by Cbats on Jul 10, 2011 14:13:16 GMT -8
Wonderful choice, it's been forever since I listened to this album
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