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lumpenprol

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Everything posted by lumpenprol

  1. no it's a good post, I think you're on point re: their rather laughable "we hate exposure and the media but by the way we have whole album's worth of unreleased material, are never going to give you the boxed set we teased multiple times, or the film projects, or the acoustic MHTRTC, or anything else really. In fact we're as uptight as a mosquito's asshole...but we LOVE the attention! Peace from Hexsun". I've gotten over my anger about this but it does make them laughable in my eyes. Some of their last interviews (for TH) made this really blatantly obvious and ridiculous (can't bother finding the quotes). I also used to have dreams about BoC, they were always very vivid and hyper-real. It was actually quite odd, as I've never dreamed about any other act that I can recall. It sounds a bit fanboyish but there it is; it surprised me too. I have my own pet theory, which is that Mike used to be the prime mover in the band - as evidenced by the brilliant drums on their earlier work - but fried his noodle on drugs (you can see this progression through their band photos) partway through the process of Geogaddi, and from then on it's been more of a Marcus project - more emphasis on production, but less originality. Mike is seemingly back to earth but I think the genius has left. I don't have much of anything to substantiate this, and it'd take a long time to gather together all the bits and pieces that led me to this (admittedly conjectural) theory. But anyway that's my guess. Btw I think the same dynamic applies to Orbital and to a much lesser degree Ae. In both cases I think there was a special dynamic between the partners that kind of got lost a bit due to the drug use of one of the members. In Orbital's case it was obvious that although Paul Hartnoll was probably the more musically gifted, Phil added some special dynamic that disappeared when he monged his brain out on drugs somewhere around the time of Middle of Nowhere. With Ae I don't think it's been quite as evident, but I think Sean does quite a bit of drugs and there was a point around Quaristice where he started looking pretty monged out in a lot of photos, certainly different from his previous laser intensity. He's still managed to keep up his love of making music which is great, but their stuff has been more terrestrial, more loose and jammy, and more hit-and-miss since then, though I still love it and they are my favorite act. What can you say, drugs giveth and they taketh away. And you never know which dose is going to be "one too many" until it's already happened and you're picking up the pieces on the other side. In the end it's usually the more stable but less inspired of the two - Paul Hartnoll, Rob Brown, Marcus Sandison - who ends up having more influence over the group. This has been repeated time and again, see Pink Floyd etc.
  2. I think the Fleure - Irlite intro is one of the best of any of their albums. Fleure is underappreciated and Irlite is brilliant.
  3. the bridge/breakdown part of Minipops is so ripped off from Orbital's "You Lot"
  4. same, but for me the reason is the album, track titles, and interviews from the time all seem to broadcast "the world is doomed, we're tired, and fuck you." That cured me of my fandom like a splash of cold water in the face. I think it's actually their most boring album, message-wise - it beats you over the head with the doom scenario
  5. no way. Not even sure why you'd say that, you think "the wait" is the primary reason people are ripping TH? TCH was a bit of a surprise in that it seemed more polished and commercial than previous releases, also a bit more bombastic with Dayvan Cowboy (although arguably 1969 had been similarly bombastic). I also found it to be less chock-full of fresh ideas than previous releases, but over time I really grew to appreciate the mellowness of it, and level of detail. Satellite Anthem Icarus, OSTRE, etc. To me it's the perfect "car album" and though I sold my car several years ago I spun it for years before that without getting tired of it. Whatever you may think of TH, it's not a "generous" album. Tracks are cut off quickly without being allowed to evolve much, or become hypnotic (with a few exceptions). It feels, to me at least, drawn out and thin - it starts with a bunch of intros in a row, ends with several outro tracks, but there's very little "meat" between these thick pieces of bread. That's not necessarily a deal breaker as their short tracks have sometimes been their best - Sherbet Head ended up being my favorite track off of TCH - but there are no short tracks of similar caliber here. I think those who enjoy the album will argue that's an artistic choice befitting the sparse, wasteland feel of the album, but I think in this case less is just less. I also find one of the few intended "epic" tracks - Jacquard Causeway - to be pretty annoying. Also I find it interesting that it seems their "secret weapon" synth seems to have broken or something. They had a bunch of earlier tracks where the synth alone could send chills down my spine, eg. Oirectine, but now to me their synths sound pretty unremarkable. Not sure the reason for the switch but it was noticeable to me. Different strokes of course, but at least give those of us who don't like it the courtesy of assuming we're mature enough to not let "the wait" influence us that much. I don't think it factors into my thinking, there was also a good-sized wait for TCH.
  6. Absolutely agree with this. Some of the tracks on this album are so forced it's just sad. And a few of them sound like they are just plucked from older work that hasn't been released (which they admitted to doing). As far as every release this by far my least favorite. Their multitude of amazing stuff just suffocates TH, and therefore I am not upset that I do not enjoy it. Too much to look back upon and smile about. same. It's weird how you can seemingly feel the "forced" in a musical effort, and yet when someone who disagrees with you asks you to justify the impression, it can be difficult to do so. You either feel it or you don't...maybe it's projecting but I often feel I can gauge the "sincerity" or "passion" of an artist when they were creating their work...TH sounds like an intellectual exercise,has moments of seeming "fan service" (epic gestures), and is short on emotion and surprises. I'd go so far as to say it is morbid and dry enough that it went a long way to killing my interest in BoC, it just really feels like a headstone - "nothing more to see here, move along..." in any case, I haven't come back to TH since the first couple of weeks I listened to it. I think that was a fair shake. Campfire Headphase was also arguably overproduced, but it still had enough meat and amazing production and density that I kept coming back to it. I think whether by design or accident, BoC just squeezed all the life out of TH.
  7. leave Matt Damon out of this
  8. richard needs to learn the difference between your and you're
  9. certainly agree with the first part, hangable auto bulb was completely stunning, groundbreaking, and "wtf?!?!?!" when it was released. To my knowledge nobody had tried that approach before, he basically defined a whole new subgenre that squarepusher and others then went on to explore and flesh out. May sound a bit passe now, but that's only because of the rampant copying that happened later. Whether Syro is bad or good, it's certainly not as groundbreaking as the HABs.
  10. Hi Pritchard D Jams... lol But still, It may well be Him Defending his craft, just like at the start of analord @ the planet mu forums he really shouldn't get on the forums, people toss around pejoratives much worse than "quite good". Could cave his head in and make him delete SAW3 out of sheer disgust with humanity, lol
  11. doesn't make it acceptable...clipping bugs the hell out of me...the "loudness war" sucks luckily this one is not as badly brickwalled as some...
  12. Hi' yep, present and accounted for, lol funny because I love Oirectine but very little of TH, go figure. I know exactly what you mean about not wanting to discuss personal music, for me the best BoC is extremely personal to a degree I don't experience often with other artists, for example, I have only listened to 5-9-78 a few times because I don't want to spoil the effect it has on me. Which is something I've never done for any other piece of music. But TH is still a wannabe-epic mess. anyhow, back to aphex
  13. A bit late addressing this point, but I had a sneaking suspicion I'd read people saying this before they mentioned it in the interviews. Going back, I see Lumpenprol devoted this thread to that very topic http://forum.watmm.com/topic/79153-th-for-those-who-always-wondered-what-an-albums-worth-of-intros-sounds-like/ Which he posted June 3rd Interview where they first mentioned delibreately tapering songs off was June 6th dang, thanks for doing the digging on my behalf. Yeah, I've been one of the bigger haters of the album, I guess. Opinion hasn't changed, it's a limp noodle imo
  14. that's a painful, elaborate, but probably also very effective deterrent against mugging...
  15. double post re: the sexism/racism thing, some times it almost serves to enhance the archetypal nature of the story, at others it can be a distraction, but I usually can get over it in the same way I can often bypass the Christian allegories in Lewis. At other times it can be really off-putting, just depends on how intrusive it is. But then, I'm a privileged white male, so...
  16. Good call on Shelley, yeah Frankenstein is a great read, from what I recall. She's not in the company of psychedelic/visionary/mad scifi authors (like Lovecraft or Lindsay), but she is philosophical, which certainly gives them all common ground. I just found Voyage to Arcturus free online, only a few mouseclicks away! Going to spend the day re-reading it, yay. Will get baked too, hopefully that'll enhance the experience and not just make me sleepy. Can't imagine a better Sunday.
  17. thanks for the list again! I still haven't seen "a field in England" yet, hope to at some point. re: Arcturus, one thing that always struck me was the casual sexism - he's always screwing some alien then killing her - but somehow in the context of a psychedelic vision quest that involves stripping away the veil of lies of the world, it didn't bother me too much. Which makes me wonder, there have been some decent female sci fi writers, but can you think of any female whacked-out-on-opiates-visionaries? Back in the day you had things like the Oracle at Delphi, but I can't think of any more recent examples. That kind of role seems more the province of men, in the current era. this was mine:
  18. holy crap, you guys are actually talking about David Lindsay. Many many years ago on watmm I remember only Atop and I jerking over "Voyage to Arcturus". Haven't read it in years though, but it was one of my favorites as a young teen. I have an ancient printing of it as well, with some terrible cover art. Amazing book. Atop and I had a pm chat about favorite sci fi books years ago, he gave me a whole list of his favorites and there were a few on it I hadn't read. Wish I still had that list. Can't really add anything to the discussion.
  19. loool he's so pretentious it's kind of bewildering
  20. see a shrink if possible, consider trying a med or two...good luck...if you've tried exercise, eating right, talking to friends and family, and it hasn't worked, then sometimes the best option is getting on medication. Side effects can suck - I gained weight that I never got rid of subsequently - but it can be better than the alternative.
  21. someone's been watching too much fight club
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