Jump to content

PO NOW: Pg.lost - Versus | 2xLP | Pelagic


Recommended Posts

So I guess I'm gonna stray from the pack big time with this assessment, but here goes: This is not a good album. As someone who places It's Not Me, It's You! within my top 10 albums of all time, this was such a huge let down. There are only two listenable songs for me on the entire LP: "Monolith" and "Along the Edges". The last two minutes of "Deserter" is one of the worst sections in a post-anything song I think I've ever forced myself to listen to. "Off the Beaten Path" was also painful. Honestly if someone had put this album on without telling me what it was, there's not a question in my mind I would have immediately went to Collapse Under the Empire or something similar. This is so far removed from the pg.lost of "Jonathan" and "I Am A Destroyer" that I might try my best to purge this album from my memory so as not to taint the great image I have in my head of this band. I try my best not to loudly acclaim or rail against certain albums because, of course, it's all opinion, but I had to chime in with my thoughts on this one. Sorry guys. Off to listen through the new Lost in Kiev again...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Off The Beaten Path didn't quite do it for me as much as Ikaros did, but I'm sure it'll grow on me.  It was simply much better live than on record, just like their other stuff.  (If you think "Vultures" is good on record...  man, I can't even express how much better it is live).  

 

real curious about the rest of the album, but I'll wait to hear it when I get it!  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, The Butcha said:

Damnnnnnnnn. You're one of the folks here who's opinions I take very seriously. That's a bummer. 

Owen and I share very similar ears, and I'm glad this is a place (and the postrock thread) where people can feel free to share. After all musical tastes are SO subjective. (You're still dead to me Evan for whatever it was on IG that you didn't like, haha ;) )

That being said, to me pg.lost is at least 2 bands or maybe Era 1 and Era 2. The last of Era 1 was INO, and they just about lost me there. Then they changed their sound to less ethereal /traditional postrock to a slightly to moderately aggressive edge with Key and the Split.

It happened to hit me right in the bull's eye, so I remained a pg.lost fan.

The new album starts off with almost the promise of Dust and Disquiet escalation, and although it never makes it there, those who have liked their later sound will like 5 of the 7 tracks no problem. I certainly am not disappointed for plunking down the coin so early - I guess that's why I couldn't hold out on this one. Only 2 passes through so far, and I think some growing potential.

Owen's expression of strong disappointment just shows how much passion he has for the music, the band, the genre - and the agony of a letdown. And we've all had that. Sometimes we keep it in, when 90% of our friends are soaring with a new release, other times, we just have to put it out there.

Brief tangent (Like: Deafheaven's frontman George = poser to the nth degree, along the same lines as Myrkur in the American BM scene. Her Test Press at Relapse hammered for >$400!!! She can turn that Scandanavian accent on and off with a switch, she is so American. Makes me ill. DFHVN has done nothing 'new', but if others like it, fine. Now, I feel better :) )

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking forward to getting this beast on vinyl. Not long now...

 

As for the album itself; it's been a long while since I've been truly blown away by an album. This is the one for me. I've always liked pg.lost, and Key was a good album, but not great. I am struggling to find a flaw with 'Versus'. I've listened to it several times now in varying situations and it never fails to grab my attention and captivate me.

 

It's one of those albums where if you do end up reading a negative review (like the one further up this page), you wonder how on Earth someone else can view it so differently! (FWIW, if there is a weak link on 'Versus', I agree it's the track 'Deserter). That said, everyone is entitled to an opinion, and I suppose it happens when a band changes their sound, and pg.lost certainly have evolved sonically from 'It's Not Me, It's You' - all the better for some like me, and for worse for others, in the case of omik.

 

My AOTY for sure. This is such a good progression from the underwhelming 'Key' and a great link to their split with Wang Wen.

Edited by SJV88
grammar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 minutes ago, drds89 said:

You were over on the old ATPR boards right? It's been a while.

yes i was! and i remember you from there too. that was a cool place to be. its interesting when these old communities exploded that the users got scattered among various different other online communities and you still see people cropping up here and there sometimes. its cool. still a loyal postrock fanatic, although my allegance tends to be to bands that were around before 2011 or so, so i dont often "feel" the newer bands like i did the genre staples like pg.lost. i mean they certainly arent an "old" band for the genre, but i feel they established themselves in time before the genre really exploded with way too many bedroom musicians to count. thats not a derisive thing either... im a bedroom musician who makes derivative postrock music for fun. but theres something about those bands that really got under your skin in the days when things were still slightly more underground. so i think ill always have an affinity for pg.lost. but yeah i love the new album. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, SJV88 said:

I remember both of you ;)

I posted on atpr as 'lobster'. I just frequent /r/postrock these days.

I remember you too! Both as 'lobster' and on /r/postrock. It's quite a comforting thing to see familiar usernames cropping up on different sites. It's a small world of course but seeing familiar faces does make you feel a part of something, if that makes sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm happy everyone else seems to have the opposite reaction than the one I had. For the most part, even after giving it another listen this afternoon, I maintain the same feelings I posted above, but I'll keep at it for a while longer. If nothing else, the title track is also relatively solid. It's definitely one of those twilight zone moments where I have to check and see if I'm listening to the same album as everyone else, but that aside I can feel already this is gonna be one of those albums I'm just not going to 'get' - and if I do, it won't be for a while. A band like this deserves all the hype they can generate, so I'm more than happy to let this be my last word on the subject and make way for the positive feedback.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, omik11303 said:

So I guess I'm gonna stray from the pack big time with this assessment, but here goes: This is not a good album. As someone who places It's Not Me, It's You! within my top 10 albums of all time, this was such a huge let down. There are only two listenable songs for me on the entire LP: "Monolith" and "Along the Edges". The last two minutes of "Deserter" is one of the worst sections in a post-anything song I think I've ever forced myself to listen to. "Off the Beaten Path" was also painful. Honestly if someone had put this album on without telling me what it was, there's not a question in my mind I would have immediately went to Collapse Under the Empire or something similar. This is so far removed from the pg.lost of "Jonathan" and "I Am A Destroyer" that I might try my best to purge this album from my memory so as not to taint the great image I have in my head of this band. I try my best not to loudly acclaim or rail against certain albums because, of course, it's all opinion, but I had to chime in with my thoughts on this one. Sorry guys. Off to listen through the new Lost in Kiev again...

i agree entirely

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ahahaha, now I remember, it's pg.lost that Evan doesn't like. at. all. period. Not even the tracks Yes, I am; Vultures; or Despardicios pt. I & II (Split with Wang Wen)! You're dead to me;)  He didn't get sleepmakeswaves or Pet Slimmers for a while either. But we both collapsed after the last CUTE adventure. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×

AdBlock Detected

spacer.png

We noticed that you're using an adBlocker

Yes, I'll whitelist