bjorn

I would have liked to buy it, but not with those prices. In cases like this, my move is to buy the Bandcamp download and dub myself a tape and print out a J-card with the artwork. I get almost all the analog fun for a fraction of the cost.

I love Oceania. I even like it a bit more than Machina because it has such a well-constructed flow. The band was in a good creative groove for a moment there, too bad it fizzled out so quickly. I like most of Monuments (Tiberius is classic SP in my book), but being so short it really suffers from the weaker tracks (Run 2 Me? Oof…).
The whole artistic evolution thing is so tough, and as an artistic person myself, I can totally sympathize with musicians trying to navigate that. If I ever made anything half as successful as MCIS, I know it would seriously disrupt my ability to continue producing art that is genuine to myself and my interests, but also speak to whomever loved what I did before. As a listener, I welcome bands trying to move their sound forward, even if doesn’t always work, I find that to be more interesting than repeating what already works. With ATUM, Corgan seems to be digging into the more flamboyant side of his musical tastes, and he’s not pandering to his older fans (with the music itself at least, trying to tack this album on to his previous work by declaring it a sequel is questionable at best), which I can appreciate. What I struggle with is that he’s steering head-first into a musical aesthetic that I just don’t connect with at all. I’m not mad about that. I’m not about to rejoin Netphoria and make a hobby out of hating Billy, that’s pretty soulless. But I also think it’s good to thoughtfully critique things, and I agree that the way Jimmy is seemingly being constrained in these newer albums is hard to reconcile.

I love Oceania. I even like it a bit more than Machina because it has such a well-constructed flow. The band was in a good creative groove for a moment there, too bad it fizzled out so quickly. I like most of Monuments (Tiberius is classic SP in my book), but being so short it really suffers from the weaker tracks (Run 2 Me? Oof…).
The whole artistic evolution thing is so tough, and as an artistic person myself, I can totally sympathize with musicians trying to navigate that. If I ever made anything half as successful as MCIS, I know it would seriously disrupt my ability to continue producing art that is genuine to myself and my interests, but also speak to whomever loved what I did before. As a listener, I welcome bands trying to move their sound forward, even if doesn’t always work, I find that to be more interesting than repeating what already works. With ATUM, Corgan seems to be digging into the more flamboyant side of his musical tastes, and he’s not pandering to his older fans (with the music itself at least, trying to tack this album on to his previous work by declaring it a sequel is questionable at best), which I can appreciate. What I struggle with is that he’s steering head-first into a musical aesthetic that I just don’t connect with at all. I’m not mad about that. I’m not about to rejoin Netphoria and make a hobby out of hating Billy, that’s pretty soulless. But I also think it’s good to thoughtfully critique things, and I agree that the way Jimmy is seemingly being constrained in these newer albums is hard to reconcile.

I love Oceania. I even like it a bit more than Machina because it has such a well-constructed flow. The band was in a good creative groove for a moment there, too bad it fizzled out so quickly. I like most of Monuments (Tiberius is classic SP in my book), but being so short it really suffers from the weaker tracks (Run 2 Me? Oof…).
The whole artistic evolution thing is so tough, and as an artistic person myself, I can totally sympathize with musicians trying to navigate that. If I ever made anything half as successful as MCIS, I know it would seriously disrupt my ability to continue producing art that is genuine to myself and my interests, but also speak to whomever loved what I did before. As a listener, I welcome bands trying to move their sound forward, even if doesn’t always work, I find that to be more interesting than repeating what already works. With ATUM, Corgan seems to be digging into the more flamboyant side of his musical tastes, and he’s not pandering to his older fans (with the music itself at least, trying to tack this album on to his previous work by declaring it a sequel is questionable at best), which I can appreciate. What I struggle with is that he’s steering head-first into a musical aesthetic that I just don’t connect with at all. I’m not mad about that. I’m not about to rejoin Netphoria and make a hobby out of hating Billy, that’s pretty soulless. But I also think it’s good to thoughtfully critique things, and I agree that the way Jimmy is seemingly being constrained in these newer albums is hard to reconcile.

Have you given The Gold Mask time to sink in? I genuinely think it's the best track on the album, with Steps in Time a close 2nd.
 
Overall though, this was a polarising listen track by track on the podcast. I can honestly say, this is my favourite SP album since Machina though. It's everything I wanted Cyr to be, it has far more life to it. Yes, it still feels very much like Corgan is pulling literally every string here and Jimmy and James are there to pose for photos and collect their weekly pay cheque, but this is the most coherent collection of songs he's put out for a very long time imo.
 
I totally get that people don't dig what he's doing with the synth-y thing and that's totally understandable, but I think it's unrealistic to think he's going to release Siamese Dream or MCIS 2.0 at this point. All you can do is take or leave what he's putting out, but personally I've got incredibly high hopes for acts 2 and 3 based on what i've heard from act 1 and from the live performances of other tracks. Especially keen to see what the two 8min+ tracks sound like, he's got a good track record with those.

I haven't seen any praise for Zeitgeist.  Sadly it's better than this recent stuff. I would rank Oceania as their best of the sp era 2.0

I’d love to see a reissue of Zeitgeist, preferably with a new mix and master to make it sound less compressed. There are some really good songs on there, and nothing really bad, I just find the production awfully hard to listen to. I’m a big fan of the bonus tracks, Ma Belle and Stellar in particular. You can really hear the creative dynamic between Billy and Jimmy in those songs, which sadly still seems to be absent somehow.

Hooray! is revolting.
This might be the first SP album I don't buy. There are some moments that might be brilliant, I like Steps in Time quite a bit. The pervasive overuse of synths and electronic drums is frustrating enough, but the musical theater/Disney soundtrack aspect to this whole thing is just so off-putting, I can't do it.

Interesting discussion. I think one thing about the whole post-rock thing is that by removing vocals from the equation, the margin for error for everything else becomes smaller. For example, the first couple of Caspian albums did almost nothing for me, even though I can't pinpoint anything wrong with them. But Tertia is pretty high on my list of favorites regardless of genre, it just grabs me and keeps me in this beautiful, murky space. The compositions just work in a way they didn't before. It's the same thing with Red Sparowes, the first one didn't move the needle for me, but I love the second one. But most stuff in this genre seems to fall just short of compensating for the lack of vocals. It's not that I'm even all that interested in singing, but the way voices serve to punctuate and make music connect to the listener, especially with any form of rock music, is a really tricky thing to replace. The last such album that convinced me to buy a physical copy was Penumbra by Barrens, which is still pretty much under the radar, but well worth checking out.
I've been listening to Mogwai on and off for decades now and finally got to see them live this year, but for me, they have mostly been more about particular songs that grab me, rather than really being able to get deeply into their albums. Special Moves and Mr. Beast have been the go-to albums for me. I had that CODY box set for a while, but regrettably sold it off. It had some great moments, especially toward the end, but as a whole it really never clicked with me, and the cover design definitely didn't help. It's just very skeletal. For most of the album I just want an extra layer, or something, particularly a stronger bass presence. I have massive respect for Mogwai and the way they've continued growing and exploring, but I'm still looking for that moment where I get fully blown away.

Ha, you're right of course. Vocals often ruin things for me as well. And I should also say, the beauty of instrumental music is that it's much more abstract, and therefor more open to interpretation, so it makes sense that two people who generally like similar things might respond very differently to different bands within the genre.

Interesting dilemma.  Often times for me, adding vocals reduces the margin of error.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a new band set up a promising song before stepping up to the mic and laying down some cornball vocals or just singing with distracting pronunciation / strain.  Way too many “man this was good but now it’s kinda’ ruined” moments.
I do think something like CODY’s sparsity or “skeletal” atmosphere contributes to its identity though.  Could really just be a case of different strokes for different folks, because Barrens’ Penumbra does little for me.  (In full transparency, I think a lot of Pelagic’s roster is a snooze these days.)
Post-rock is a broad-enough genre that offers enough for everyone to co-exist as fans of it, but I know I’d be pretty miffed if I could only cherry-pick select cuts from various Mogwai albums.  Wishing you the best in someday figuring out the rest, if that’s in your cards.

Witchcraft - Legend 10th anniversary repress https://www.svartrecords.com/en/product/witchcraft-legend/10823

Yeah i figured you guys would know more about what variants/remasters/anything are the best-sounding/best-pressed.  I don't know anything about the lineage of that album, and haven't had time to dig into it since discovering i like this album haha. 

CODY is interesting....  its kind of like one long song for me.  And it hasn't totally grabbed me, but that is the way I was with Mono, EF, and Envy.  I didn't get them at first, but something made me keep coming back, and then eventually I was like "oh!"
 
Yeah, I mean i think this is pretty much it.  I'm saving something to chase.  Same with GIAA - I kind of purposefully hold of on listening to them, because I know they have a deep discography, so i want to save an adventure for down the line. 

I'm finding myself on the down-swing with post-rock recently, going back to the Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd more and more.  Which is how I am - I'm cyclical.  My dr's tell me its part of having ADD - we go ALLLLLL THE FUCK INNNNN and touch EVERYTHING and see ALL OF IT and then move on.  And like... it's a feeling, inside of me.  I'll never be able to explain it so that you guys can understand, but it just creates this "!!!!!" thing inside of me, this fire...  this drive to uncover ALL the mysteries.  Figure it ALL out.  And then when I do, it's time for something else. 

Thrill of the chase I guess?  I'm not really sure.  I just know this is how I am haha. 

As far as the decline of my post-rock listening, i think it's because there's not much new coming out that's been grabbing me hard.  I'm excited for the new EF though, and the new Glaston album.  Anything Envy and Mono release will of course be an insta-buy, but a lot of the bands I love have kind of petered out, like Spurv or ITTCT so the momentum just kind of falls away.  I think that coupled with my finishing of all the big chases (I have every variant of Solace, I have all the old Mono early CDs like Hey You and the Session 02 release, I have my Trust No One Oceanic's, etc etc) just turned the flame down.  I don't expect anyone else to understand, but it's just like treasure hunting I suppose.  And it's fun for me. 

I want to have some more treasure to find later with Mogwai, like what's happening here.  I think you guys think I love every post-rock thing that comes out haha and that's absolutely not true.  There's a lot of derivative stuff on Youtube that never gets pressed, and sure it's all okay and fine, but I don't even think like that.  What I read above is a lot of critical-minded assessments of music, and i don't even care about that.  If it doesn't grab me, I just move on - i don't sit around and make fun of it, which is what it feels like some of you guys may do here.  That just isn't fulfilling for me, I'm just looking ahead to the next chase that's going to make me feel the exclamation points inside. 


ha anyway TL;DR sorry!  Sitting home here sick with whatever bug is going around, so you guys get my thoughts

For those curious about the sound quality of this pressing, especially in light of the debate raging on Discogs, here's my take. I had the MOV pressing, which is good considering how much is crammed on one disc, but I think I would give this new one the edge. Yes, the colored vinyl has a touch more surface noise (yellow in my case), but it doesn't interfere with the music at all... I've listened to the whole thing now a couple of times with headphones, and you never hear any pops or other noise during the music itself, which is a major plus and an achievement of sorts these days. Some people don't seem to like how this is mastered, and it is pretty loud, though I wouldn't describe it as overly compressed. A little more bass would have been nice, but it's certainly present. The only part that bugs me a bit is the opening part of Them Bones... that weird "Ah!" part at the very beginning sounds just a bit off... not sure how to describe it, but in this case, my CD copy sounds a little more cohesive. Otherwise, this vinyl version is clearly more enjoyable than the CD. Instruments have just a bit more room and the treble is a tiny bit softer, and definitely holds up much better when you turn it up. Also, I've always found this album to be a bit of a slog towards the end, until you get to what I consider to be the absolute pinnacle of grunge, which is Would?. Splitting this hour-long album into fourths actually helped me stay in it more and appreciate some of the songs I didn't care for as much. The jacket is a let-down, they definitely could have done more with that.

For those curious about the sound quality of this pressing, especially in light of the debate raging on Discogs, here's my take. I had the MOV pressing, which is good considering how much is crammed on one disc, but I think I would give this new one the edge. Yes, the colored vinyl has a touch more surface noise (yellow in my case), but it doesn't interfere with the music at all... I've listened to the whole thing now a couple of times with headphones, and you never hear any pops or other noise during the music itself, which is a major plus and an achievement of sorts these days. Some people don't seem to like how this is mastered, and it is pretty loud, though I wouldn't describe it as overly compressed. A little more bass would have been nice, but it's certainly present. The only part that bugs me a bit is the opening part of Them Bones... that weird "Ah!" part at the very beginning sounds just a bit off... not sure how to describe it, but in this case, my CD copy sounds a little more cohesive. Otherwise, this vinyl version is clearly more enjoyable than the CD. Instruments have just a bit more room and the treble is a tiny bit softer, and definitely holds up much better when you turn it up. Also, I've always found this album to be a bit of a slog towards the end, until you get to what I consider to be the absolute pinnacle of grunge, which is Would?. Splitting this hour-long album into fourths actually helped me stay in it more and appreciate some of the songs I didn't care for as much. The jacket is a let-down, they definitely could have done more with that.

For those curious about the sound quality of this pressing, especially in light of the debate raging on Discogs, here's my take. I had the MOV pressing, which is good considering how much is crammed on one disc, but I think I would give this new one the edge. Yes, the colored vinyl has a touch more surface noise (yellow in my case), but it doesn't interfere with the music at all... I've listened to the whole thing now a couple of times with headphones, and you never hear any pops or other noise during the music itself, which is a major plus and an achievement of sorts these days. Some people don't seem to like how this is mastered, and it is pretty loud, though I wouldn't describe it as overly compressed. A little more bass would have been nice, but it's certainly present. The only part that bugs me a bit is the opening part of Them Bones... that weird "Ah!" part at the very beginning sounds just a bit off... not sure how to describe it, but in this case, my CD copy sounds a little more cohesive. Otherwise, this vinyl version is clearly more enjoyable than the CD. Instruments have just a bit more room and the treble is a tiny bit softer, and definitely holds up much better when you turn it up. Also, I've always found this album to be a bit of a slog towards the end, until you get to what I consider to be the absolute pinnacle of grunge, which is Would?. Splitting this hour-long album into fourths actually helped me stay in it more and appreciate some of the songs I didn't care for as much. The jacket is a let-down, they definitely could have done more with that.

For those curious about the sound quality of this pressing, especially in light of the debate raging on Discogs, here's my take. I had the MOV pressing, which is good considering how much is crammed on one disc, but I think I would give this new one the edge. Yes, the colored vinyl has a touch more surface noise (yellow in my case), but it doesn't interfere with the music at all... I've listened to the whole thing now a couple of times with headphones, and you never hear any pops or other noise during the music itself, which is a major plus and an achievement of sorts these days. Some people don't seem to like how this is mastered, and it is pretty loud, though I wouldn't describe it as overly compressed. A little more bass would have been nice, but it's certainly present. The only part that bugs me a bit is the opening part of Them Bones... that weird "Ah!" part at the very beginning sounds just a bit off... not sure how to describe it, but in this case, my CD copy sounds a little more cohesive. Otherwise, this vinyl version is clearly more enjoyable than the CD. Instruments have just a bit more room and the treble is a tiny bit softer, and definitely holds up much better when you turn it up. Also, I've always found this album to be a bit of a slog towards the end, until you get to what I consider to be the absolute pinnacle of grunge, which is Would?. Splitting this hour-long album into fourths actually helped me stay in it more and appreciate some of the songs I didn't care for as much. The jacket is a let-down, they definitely could have done more with that.

For those curious about the sound quality of this pressing, especially in light of the debate raging on Discogs, here's my take. I had the MOV pressing, which is good considering how much is crammed on one disc, but I think I would give this new one the edge. Yes, the colored vinyl has a touch more surface noise (yellow in my case), but it doesn't interfere with the music at all... I've listened to the whole thing now a couple of times with headphones, and you never hear any pops or other noise during the music itself, which is a major plus and an achievement of sorts these days. Some people don't seem to like how this is mastered, and it is pretty loud, though I wouldn't describe it as overly compressed. A little more bass would have been nice, but it's certainly present. The only part that bugs me a bit is the opening part of Them Bones... that weird "Ah!" part at the very beginning sounds just a bit off... not sure how to describe it, but in this case, my CD copy sounds a little more cohesive. Otherwise, this vinyl version is clearly more enjoyable than the CD. Instruments have just a bit more room and the treble is a tiny bit softer, and definitely holds up much better when you turn it up. Also, I've always found this album to be a bit of a slog towards the end, until you get to what I consider to be the absolute pinnacle of grunge, which is Would?. Splitting this hour-long album into fourths actually helped me stay in it more and appreciate some of the songs I didn't care for as much. The jacket is a let-down, they definitely could have done more with that.

Well said, I feel like I wrote this although I always had the original European import. I was doing  a very quick comparison of the two in general and the "Ah!" at the beginning sounded weird to me as well, specifically the last one. I can't believe you said the same thing. I chalked it up to probably never listening that close before but after you've heard a song a million times, it jumps out when something is off. I may have to go back and listen again. Total slogfest at the end, I still ended up skipping side 3. 
 

For those curious about the sound quality of this pressing, especially in light of the debate raging on Discogs, here's my take. I had the MOV pressing, which is good considering how much is crammed on one disc, but I think I would give this new one the edge. Yes, the colored vinyl has a touch more surface noise (yellow in my case), but it doesn't interfere with the music at all... I've listened to the whole thing now a couple of times with headphones, and you never hear any pops or other noise during the music itself, which is a major plus and an achievement of sorts these days. Some people don't seem to like how this is mastered, and it is pretty loud, though I wouldn't describe it as overly compressed. A little more bass would have been nice, but it's certainly present. The only part that bugs me a bit is the opening part of Them Bones... that weird "Ah!" part at the very beginning sounds just a bit off... not sure how to describe it, but in this case, my CD copy sounds a little more cohesive. Otherwise, this vinyl version is clearly more enjoyable than the CD. Instruments have just a bit more room and the treble is a tiny bit softer, and definitely holds up much better when you turn it up. Also, I've always found this album to be a bit of a slog towards the end, until you get to what I consider to be the absolute pinnacle of grunge, which is Would?. Splitting this hour-long album into fourths actually helped me stay in it more and appreciate some of the songs I didn't care for as much. The jacket is a let-down, they definitely could have done more with that.

For those curious about the sound quality of this pressing, especially in light of the debate raging on Discogs, here's my take. I had the MOV pressing, which is good considering how much is crammed on one disc, but I think I would give this new one the edge. Yes, the colored vinyl has a touch more surface noise (yellow in my case), but it doesn't interfere with the music at all... I've listened to the whole thing now a couple of times with headphones, and you never hear any pops or other noise during the music itself, which is a major plus and an achievement of sorts these days. Some people don't seem to like how this is mastered, and it is pretty loud, though I wouldn't describe it as overly compressed. A little more bass would have been nice, but it's certainly present. The only part that bugs me a bit is the opening part of Them Bones... that weird "Ah!" part at the very beginning sounds just a bit off... not sure how to describe it, but in this case, my CD copy sounds a little more cohesive. Otherwise, this vinyl version is clearly more enjoyable than the CD. Instruments have just a bit more room and the treble is a tiny bit softer, and definitely holds up much better when you turn it up. Also, I've always found this album to be a bit of a slog towards the end, until you get to what I consider to be the absolute pinnacle of grunge, which is Would?. Splitting this hour-long album into fourths actually helped me stay in it more and appreciate some of the songs I didn't care for as much. The jacket is a let-down, they definitely could have done more with that.

I just hope they press these properly. I really like the cover art.
The songs they're teased so far sound OK, but out of context it's hard to really say. What I'm mostly curious about is whether they will use a mix of production styles like on Mellon Collie. For example, the same range you hear between tracks like Stumbeline (sounds like a 4-track demo), Tonight Tonight (lush production with full orchestra), Tales of a Scorched Earth (full-blown noise/distortion with dozens of guitar tracks), Love (lots of electronic elements), etc. Thirty-three songs without this kind of experimentation and stylistic range are going to be a real slog, so I'm hoping that's how they approached the project. I think some more raw or extreme stuff would be cool to hear alongside their more recent style.

I just hope they press these properly. I really like the cover art.
The songs they're teased so far sound OK, but out of context it's hard to really say. What I'm mostly curious about is whether they will use a mix of production styles like on Mellon Collie. For example, the same range you hear between tracks like Stumbeline (sounds like a 4-track demo), Tonight Tonight (lush production with full orchestra), Tales of a Scorched Earth (full-blown noise/distortion with dozens of guitar tracks), Love (lots of electronic elements), etc. Thirty-three songs without this kind of experimentation and stylistic range are going to be a real slog, so I'm hoping that's how they approached the project. I think some more raw or extreme stuff would be cool to hear alongside their more recent style.

New Tan Cologne song is out.  Great spacey psychedelic dream pop/gaze.  This kinda music has been my jam lately.
 
 

One listen was enough to convince me to preorder it, love that gnarly guitar tone. I wish I still lived in OKC so I could witness this live on a regular basis.