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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 08-06-12 21:10
I musht be dreaming.
...
Tell me it ishn't a hoaxsh. I'm afraid to open my eyesh.
August 21st releash date?
Post Edited (08-06-12 21:13)
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Author: Michael Toland
Date: 08-07-12 10:09
I've heard the whole thing. It's basically like the last couple of records they made (the Capsul years), though with a bit more aggression and more melody. I like it.
Edit: 8/9/2012: upon further reflection, I'd say this record is more of a survey of everything they tried out throughout their career. Yes, the vocals are often up front in the mix and the guitars not so overwhelmingly distorted, but there are some songs where they're buried under gauzy guitars as they used to do it. I'm starting to think of it as saying, "We're back, and here's everything we're good at."
Post Edited (08-09-12 09:46)
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 08-07-12 10:46
Quote:
I like it.
Glad to hear it.
The worst part of this whole episode has been being reminded that it's been 13 YEARS since their last release.
Yikes! I can remember buying solar.3 like it was only 13 months ago.
Anyway, I'm going to order Strobosphere ASAP. Hope they tour. I'll crawl through broken glass to see 'em. Bet they don't get any closer to me than Chicago. That'll be one hell of a road trip.
...
Connery Addendum: I can see now that I totally blew it on the release date. It would have been far more accurate to say:
"Augusht 21sht releash date?"
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 08-23-12 20:55
Quote:
I'm starting to think of it as saying, "We're back, and here's everything we're good at."
Isn't that every band's new album?
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I'm totally digging it. It isn't especially poppy (see "Splat" off Whammo) although "Blue Star" is close. Not especially slammin' (See "Pass It Up" off Capsul). Not especially lively, although the 10th track is strangely energized.
The vocals aren't really mixed up in front all that much. The guitars still have that lovely acid-etched quality to them. Still no idea what the hell the songs are about. This makes me elated.
There's not a thing about this recording that betrays a desire for new fans or a larger audience. It's just more of everything you expect from the band.
Lots of grating, sullen, ear-scouring, mid-tempo sludge. At their best, these guys make music that sounds like a wrenched neck feels. Try it some time.
My major complaint? It was all over too fast. 36 minutes? Please.
...
And another thing. Enough already with the critics who still compare Bailter Space to Sonic Youth! NO, NO, NO, NO! They do not sound like Sonic Youth! What they both do is loud and distorted, but aside from that the two bands could not be more dissimilar. The vocal attack is different! The style of the distortion is different! The songwriting is utterly different! The attitude is completely different! These critics must only be listening with one ear and blandly seeking to confirm the myth that any band with distorted guitars must, by default, sound like Sonic Youth and I! HATE! THEM!
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Author: Michael Toland
Date: 08-23-12 21:24
Funny you say that - on this record I think they indulged in outright SY flattery/parody on "Polarize." Tell me Alister doesn't sound just like Thurston. I think it's a wink and a nod to the comparisons.
I can see the comparison in the band's early days, when they shared a love of clashing chords and dissonance with the Youth. But it seems to me that by Robot World they were closer to the shoegazer bands, though with more seething anger. Ultimately they sound most like themselves.
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Author: Jermoe
Date: 08-23-12 21:27
You bastards. How did you allow me to overlook this development? I gotta start scrolling further down or something! Dammit.
If I may analogize, this is similar to Superchunk's return last year in that what they're doing seems completely in line with what they'd been doing, but it's in no way constrained by expectations real or perceived. Kind of a remarkable feat.
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 08-23-12 22:34
Quote:
Funny you say that - on this record I think they indulged in outright SY flattery/parody on "Polarize." Tell me Alister doesn't sound just like Thurston. I think it's a wink and a nod to the comparisons.
Hell. I dunno. It's such a reach. And unfair to both bands.
...
You wanna know who really sounded like Thurston?
Arcesia sounded like Thurston. Tripping. Hard.
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Listen to "Polarize" again and tell me Alister couldn't also just be aping Frank Black. Badly.
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Bill Whitten. That's who I'm thinking of all of a sudden. Those St. Johnny records sound a helluva lot more like Sonic Youth than anything Bailter Space has ever done and Whitten sounded a helluva lot more like Thurston than Alister does.
Alister growls. Thurston howls. Listen to that Sassy cover of "Personality Crisis!"
Sonic Youth are much more into the noise for the sake of the noise. Bailter Space never indulge in the sort of epic, drawn-out instrumental noise meltdowns that Sonic Youth are so good at. At least not that I can recall.
While we're I'm naming names, Blonde Redhead sounds much more like Sonic Youth than Bailter Space does.
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Time to drag out the old BS!
"In Search of ... epic, drawn-out instrumental noise meltdowns."
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Author: Michael Toland
Date: 08-24-12 08:30
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I always agreed with you about Bailterspace not sounding like Sonic Youth, but then the first time I listened to Strobosphere I whipped my head around and wondered when the SY record came on when "Polarize" started coming out of the speakers.
If I thought Alister was imitating Frank Black, I'd toss the CD out the window and back over it a few times.
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Author: HollowbodyKay
Date: 08-24-12 13:03
Agreeing to disagree.
Speaking generally, I guess I'd need to hear a second guitar part before it'd occur to me to think "Sonic Youth." Perhaps that missing interplay between two guitarists is what's keeping me from making what apparently ought to be an obvious connection?
Again, both bands feature distorted guitars, but I'm not even sure that Bailter Space mess around with the radically altered tunings that Sonic Youth feature. Do they?
...
This reminds me of the old "Medicine sounds like My Bloody Valentine" argument.
They don't, really. Loud guitars and swoony vocals. That was about it. Basically.
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