CrazyMax46 Posted July 4, 2015 Share Posted July 4, 2015 The message is about privacy and trust in the digital age. And how it can be taken advantage of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.K.o.S. Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Purposely didn't read others' comments before writing this... Big Data was a nice, enjoyable listen. We were on a little run of downer albums there, so this was a nice change of pace. If anyone's dropped out of the club, I'd encourage them to get back into it with this, because I found it very listenable. It's maybe a bit annoying that they picked some fairly meaty topics to write songs about and then the lyrics (in my opinion) deal with them in the most superficial way possible, but hey, it's pop music and that lets you know not to expect anything really deep. My comment about all the different vocalists on the Jamie xx album applies again here. It keeps things interesting, but it also makes it feel more like a mixtape than a cohesive album. I was pumped to see Dragonette and Bear Hands on the guest list, but their songs both ended up being letdowns. I don't know if anyone's seen Citizenfour, the Edward Snowden documentary, but there's a scene where he's holed up in a hotel watching news stories break about himself, and he has this mild look of disorientation/horror as he realizes that his life will never be the same again. Someone needs to take that scene and edit it so that Rivers Cuomo's on the tv and "Snowed In" is playing. Seriously, I liked the song a good bit, but it's kind of a bizarre footnote in Snowden's legacy. I wonder if he knows it exists and how he feels about it. Also liked Dangerous, Big Dater, and Automatic. Dangerous was an all-around good time with the slapping of the bass and the clapping of the hands that had me shuffling across my living room floor. I get huge Sledgehammer vibes from Big Dater. Liked the "sad" version of the chorus on the third time through, did not like the modem noise. Automatic was one where 3/4 of me loves it, and the other 1/4 wants the electronic elements to get out of the way and just let it be a Carole King song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamp, broken circa 1988 Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 Lord, I just now drew the Snowed In/Snowden connection. EDIT: Wow, okay. Going back through just the lyrics, absolutely NONE of this came through during my listen. I'm choosing to believe we (musician and listener) are both at fault for this. I'm absolutely on the hook for not bothering to look at the words until now. That's my mistake. At the same time, if he's trying to use the album to make statements about the nature of technology and society, then maybe using the most radio ready tonality, EDM trope of multiple singers, and predict-a-chord structure is a weird way to go about that. Like, I'm sure the thought was like "I'll subvert pop with my message," but for that to work it has to be pop that stands out by itself first, and that's a trickier proposition than it gets credit for being. Full credit for trying, though. Would way rather people be willing to swing away on big weird ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.K.o.S. Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 I did get that from allmusic.com. Probably wouldn't have picked it up on my own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted July 7, 2015 Share Posted July 7, 2015 So, I have been listening to all of the album club picks--I just haven't been able to work up any meaningful responses. The last four choices have all been outside my wheelhouse, so I've been listening to them on-and-off and trying to formulate something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 Not-so-deep thought: I like that Earl Sweatshirt uses a lot of alliteration, assonance, and consonance, rather than always relying on end-rhyme. I don't know if this is fairly specific to him or if more contemporary rappers do the same, but it detracts from the sometimes repetitive nature of rap rhymes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamp, broken circa 1988 Posted July 12, 2015 Author Share Posted July 12, 2015 like five days late, but Yeah, I think that's the DOOM influence. MF DOOM has a lot of kids out there these days. There's two collectives on the east and west coast (Pro Era and Odd Future, respectively) that are essentially big DOOM competitions. I think Earl's the only one that's actually gotten a nod from the man, though. But yeah, Earl's dexterity with types of rhyming structures is what makes him stand out, and combining that with a newfound emotional core (I must've turned Mantra up like five times during my first listen) is what I feel let IDLSIDGO make such an impression on me. Also I've been meaning to say something about this, but Wiki (first verse on AM//Radio) might be my favorite MC on the planet right now, and he's got his own flow going on. The thing I love about Wiki is that he's going to force rhymes out of pronunciation. It's kind of the same way I think about music theory. Know enough of the rules to engage with them when you want, but otherwise just trusting instincts. I don't get the sense Wiki reads up on poetry techniques. I do get the sense that Wiki spent a lot of time just rapping all day before he started getting paid for it. It was cool to see Earl pick him for a guest verse because the rest of them were close friends of his, so Wiki stands out even more that way.Also on the "guest verse from a monster" thing is Vince Staples, who just put out his debut album and THAT is a hell of a thing, but I don't think I'll be putting it up for the album club. Don't want people to think BL88's Turn = Downer Time. EDIT: By the way, next pick is coming out next sunday night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamp, broken circa 1988 Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 OH JESUS CHRIST I TOTALLY FORGOT, SORRYBLAME STREET FIGHTER #12 (7/21-7/27) "Dumb Flesh" by Blanck Mass i guess the transition day is monday now lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyMax46 Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 To be fair EVO was super hype. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 I liked this album. When it first started, I thought it was going to be too dark for my taste. But the mood changed partway through the second song. It settled into a more laid back feel. I liked how through most of the songs, there weren't drastic changes in the tone. The music build pretty gradually, as new elements were incorporated. Any by the end of the songs, there was a significant, but gradual, change in the tempo and tone. I think this is most most evident in "Atrophies" and "Cruel Sport". Did anybody else get a New Order vibe from "Double Cross"? I enjoyed most of the album. The songs that I couldn't really get into were the first and the last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamp, broken circa 1988 Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 blah blah electronic blah hip hop Honestly the start of the record got me super excited. Noise and odd composition are my shit. I thought for sure that's where this was going, especially since the label this was put out on, Sacred Bones, tends to put out a lot of noisy wild shit. They also put out really heavy vibe records, and that's where this lands. So yeah, the thing that stands out most is a hardcore commitment to thematic development, which is not something that came through with the other electronic albums that have come up so far (I guess it could have been true of Squarepusher, but that album is complicated on a level where I couldn't see the throughline). The way Blanck Mass develops a song is a nice middle ground between digestible and not insulting. Chords don't change as much as points of emphasis change. I appreciate that approach a lot more. It's like the Lou Reed school of thought, where more than two chords is Jazz, but Lou's not really wrong about that. The other point of praise I have for it is that it's hard to do mostly long songs and keep my attention. Not that I'm ADD, but I believe you really have to earn your song length. And that's true of everyone, whether you're making dance music or you're Swans. My point is, Blanck Mass earns the length on his tracks. Overall, liked it. Favorite tracks are the first two, but it's not like I felt the rest of the record fell off or anything. And yes, Double Cross is New Order as fuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.K.o.S. Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 My pick my pick! I've been going back to this on and off for a few months now. Very listenable. None of it is too complex with the chord changes or whatever, but the draw for me is more how powerful it sounds. My main point about it, which is almost exactly counter to what Randy said up there, is that things are not built up like most electronic dancey songs. A lot of times songs just start off by pushing you right into the deep end of the pool. Loam gives me an immediate "wtf am I listening to" reaction for the first half-second, and Dead Format and Double Cross both start off really strong. (But I also see what he's saying about how other songs do have that more typical build, and Dead Format backs off a little after the start.) Blanck Mass is a solo project by Benjamin John Power, who's one-half of the group Fuck Buttons. I've only heard one album by them, their most recent one, Slow Focus, but I thought Atrophies would fit right in on there, mostly because of the bass synth. It makes me wonder a bit about what the other guy in Fuck Buttons contributes if Power can do a song like that all by himself. There are some jabbering altered vocal samples on here, and I know as soon as vocals get pitch-shifted at all, some people have a very negative AutoTune type of reaction. Admittedly there are points in Cruel Sport where it sounds like it belongs on the Minions soundtrack, but I'm mostly okay with it, and it sounds like people here are too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamp, broken circa 1988 Posted July 28, 2015 Author Share Posted July 28, 2015 You wanna get weird? Let's get weird. #13 (7/28-8/3) "Lost Themes" by John Carpenter("two straight sacred bones records" is an outcome I never predicted for the album club)((I'll take it)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted July 30, 2015 Share Posted July 30, 2015 "Dumb Flesh" by Blanck Mass I keep trying to listen to this album on youtube, on my iPad. The app keeps inexplicably crashing--just while playing this album, mind you. Is it overwhelmed by awesomeness or trying to save me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyMax46 Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 YouTube's IOS app has been having issues with audio only videos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.K.o.S. Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 First of all, I've never seen a John Carpenter movie. Shame is upon me. I know him for Halloween and The Thing, though, so I was thinking this would be some scary-sounding music. I've been listening to the It Follows soundtrack and was expecting it to flow nicely into this, but turns out this is more like some 1980s keyboard stuff. Closest comparisons I've got are Tangerine Dream and Mike Oldfield. There are some slightly foreboding moments but it sounded more like a soundtrack to a sci-fi movie to me. There were moments that got my attention (points on Domain and Abyss where it seems to go Broadway showtunes all of a sudden) and it's impressive that one guy can direct movies and be a talented enough composer to put something like this together. But overall, I found this very lacking in comparison to, say, the Halloween theme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamp, broken circa 1988 Posted August 3, 2015 Author Share Posted August 3, 2015 This was a tougher listen than I was really anticipating. This is probably due to the nature of how themes are used in films, where they're faded out as scenes start, but it was hard to tell when songs turned over more often than not. I've given it three listens and it doesn't seem like there's anything for me here. It's cool that it exists, for sure, because I imagine scrapped soundtracks are this elephant graveyard of tunes and some kind of preservation of that material is certainly better than absolute disappearance. At the same time, I can't imagine a situation where I'd just... put this album on. Without a film to reference, the pieces feel like they're missing a reference point that would help them make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 This was a tougher listen than I was really anticipating. This is probably due to the nature of how themes are used in films, where they're faded out as scenes start, but it was hard to tell when songs turned over more often than not. I've given it three listens and it doesn't seem like there's anything for me here. It's cool that it exists, for sure, because I imagine scrapped soundtracks are this elephant graveyard of tunes and some kind of preservation of that material is certainly better than absolute disappearance. At the same time, I can't imagine a situation where I'd just... put this album on. Without a film to reference, the pieces feel like they're missing a reference point that would help them make sense. I need to finish listening to this, but I wonder if there are liner notes as to what film each composition was going to be made into, or are all of these music for projects that Carpenter never made or could find fit tonally with those films. I have not read anything on this from other sources, but I have a feeling that info is out there on a blog somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamp, broken circa 1988 Posted August 4, 2015 Author Share Posted August 4, 2015 Haven't gotten our next pick yet, so whoever is in line that hasn't gone yet and knows what they're nominating, send it to me and if I don't get theirs by midnight I'll put yours up. And if I don't get any I'm doing mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamp, broken circa 1988 Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 Behold, More HyperMassive Cover Art! #14 (8/4-8/10) "Probably Nothing, Possibly Everything" by Pat The Bunny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JRGoldman Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 This is my pick. I'm going to listen to the album again tonight to give a more detailed review, but folk punk is the genre that has been the most formative for me as a person, and I wanted to make my pick not only an album I enjoy but something that shows who I am a bit as well. Pat the Bunny has been a long standing part of the folk punk scene and has gone through a bunch of different bands/name changes. He still is part of a more traditional (re: has amps) punk band called Ramshackle Glory, but Pat the Bunny is now the name of basically all solo tours and albums he does. The folk punk scene tends to be young and rather insular and while not expressly straight edge or anything like that, there certainly isn't as much of a drug culture surrounding it as some other genres (even within the punk community). Pat was a notable exception to this, and I think this album is a really personal look at this weird juxtaposition that he represents: as an established older member of the scene, he was looked to for advice, but still was in some way shunned for living a lifestyle that was so different the usual vegan anarcho-pacifists that were his contemporaries. Now he is actually clean, and people still seek him out, and he struggles with the idea of whether he is worthy to be telling anyone how to live. I think the album is a really emotionally honest look at the aftermath of addiction. Hope people enjoy, or at least hear something new! Also, like my previous pick, I think this record comes in at a whopping 25 minutes or so. It's a pretty solid "commute home" or "cooking dinner" record. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamp, broken circa 1988 Posted August 6, 2015 Author Share Posted August 6, 2015 I'm not finished with it yet, but initial impression is that I'm changing my album club nomination to the thing I sent DFA after finishing the Munly record because at this rate I would sent it to everyone at least once. EDIT: It has been ALL HAVOC out here this week, so I didn't get a shot to get back to this. I will tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Control Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Lost Themes Maybe I overthought my selection: I thought choosing someone like Carpenter, on this board, would lead to more listens. Oh well. So, I love John Carpenter's films. Even the terrible ones. And one thing that makes Carpenter's bad films bearable is the soundtrack. Carpenter usually provides the soundtrack, or at least the score, and they're always pretty bizarre. They're always synth-heavy and sometimes straight-up terrible, and you're left wondering why he didn't just leave things to a professional. But with this album, he's really improved the soundscape, coming up with a much fuller sound, and songs that actually feel like complete songs instead of mere amplification for the atmospheric/emotional state of the film. Despite the title, I'm not sure that the album is actually made up of "lost themes"--as in, I don't think that these were originally meant for film or, if they were, that they weren't massively reworked. Some of the comments he's made about the album make me think that this is just a straight-up album. Anyway, hardly a game-changer, but I think it's a fun album. I do a lot of writing and research at home, and it's good background music. Pat the Bunny First off, I like this. Quite a bit actually. But what's killing me is that it reminds me so much of ... something. And I can't remember what. It's one of those things when my frontal lobe actually throbs in frustration, because there's something that it's very clearly reminding me of, and I can't put my finger on it. Will try to say more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lamp, broken circa 1988 Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 #15 (8/11-8/18) "Why Make Sense" by Hot Chip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chaos Posted August 15, 2015 Share Posted August 15, 2015 I plan on getting some pool time in this weekend, so I will check out a couple of selections and offer thoughts hopefully tomorrow night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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