lumpenprol

you're awesome, gaarg. I rewatched all the early star trek movies about 6 mos ago, and couldn't agree more. As a kid I remember being disappointed with the first one, but on rewatch I thought it was highly enjoyable. All of them were, actually, up through and including the save the whales one. Then they started to get spotty.

correct use of mod powers, I salute you

"hurry up with my damn croissant" lol

oh snap! all my childhood dreams, dashed... I'm really starting to wonder how much of BoC's music is original, and what percentage just really cleverly sampled... (well, they never released that officially, so...)

yep! I was referring to the first one, but I remember both of those. They used to be so good at making those melodies, it seemed almost effortless for them... now it takes 7 years just to get some arpeggios lol (sorry, not fair I know but...)

Meh, I have a lot of faith in listeners, especially fans of idm who tend to be rather mentally flexible. We're able to absorb and learn to appreciate all sorts of curveballs, and changes in style. But, if something is mediocre, we're going to feel it.

i never liked that loop much. Now the old OLD "flute down by the ocean" loop (not sure what it was called, that's just what it sounded like to me) they used to have on their old website was badass. I'm guessing it's on youtube somewhere. troo fan.

maybe, but I liked TCH a lot after the first couple of weeks, I haven't changed my tune on it. I may change my tune on TH, we'll see.

Agree. It's actually quite interesting how polarizing both TCH and TH are. I think TCH is by far the superior album, but it has less initial "wow" factor. Will be interesting to see how TH ages with the fans. So you are or are not a fan? I guess I can gather that you are kind of a fan. TCH is nowhere near as engaging as TH, this is fact. You admit that it has more wow, but yet you still hate on it? I would say you are trolling, but I know you and you have never pulled this before, that I know of. Definitely a good chance to troll with the amount of cult-like fan worship BoC have. Hmmmmmmm. You are a mystery Lumpster. Stay mysterious and see you next semester. Atopster lol, I always love how easily mellow hippie types can get enraged, once you scratch the surface. Atop, you nutter ok, so "engaging" and "wow factor" are different things. Engaging sounds unequivocally positive, but what I meant by "wow factor" is it gives a strong initial impression, punch. For example, you make a drumroll accompanied by some swelling syths - any listener will feel a heightened sense of anticipation. Arpeggios build tension, and this album is full of them. Listen to Gemini, it's basically the aural equivalent of someone waving their arms around and going "Bwaaaaaa, listen to this big epic sound, you won't believe what we have in store for you!" These big epic flourishes can be ok if the album delivers (think, arguably, Pink Floyd's The Wall, which certainly seems to contain delusions of grandeur, but may almost live up to them). I don't think this album quite does, it's like an hour-long cocktease. Good, but not great - again, only imo. Main complaints are: lacking melodies, a bit dull, some tracks are cut short and need more development. TCH, on the other hand, starts with a mellow little warpy synth intro, and then goes in to possibly the most off-putting track on the album Chromakey Dreamcoat (though I happen to love it). The guitars on that track are like new-listener poison, they're very sick sounding and they repeat over, and over, and over. Ok, Dayvan Cowboy trends suspiciously close to pop music, but I think the rest of the album feels quite personal and uniquely weird, in that Boards way. It's subtle, but deeply felt (at least, it seems that way to me). Apart from Dayvan, it doesn't seem to be trying to impress you, but rather to beguile you. And even Dayvan, despite being very poppy, represents a new experiment for the Boards, in the context of the rest of their discography - it seems like the first time they have tried to do an unabashedly epic pop track (I suppose you could include 1969, but I don't think that was nearly as radio friendly, with the weird speech and Waco references). So from the point of view of the band, it's still a fresh idea (I happen to still enjoy it). And TCH contains one of their longest and most stubbornly cold and autistic tracks, Slow This Bird Down. All in all, I feel the album is both very subtle (the gradual swelling in SAI, the gentle overlaps at the end of Peacock Tail, the mellow mosaic of sounds in OSTRE being just a few examples), and also quite experimental, from the point of view of the rest of their discography. It doesn't insist on itself, it just is. I personally love it when the Boards make music that doesn't seem to be trying to be anything. I think that's the big failing of Geogaddi, there is still something within the music that makes me think "I can tell they're trying to be hard and epic with this one" (I feel the same "failing" with Confield, incidentally, though I recognize both are seminal albums, I just don't listen to them as often as others). Back to the point - yes I consider myself a huge fan, and in the case of TH, I feel it's a bit "all sizzle but no steak." Impressive presentation, but lacking content. This impression is subject to change of course.

*should have put "skip to the start before the end of Farewell Fire"

Agreed on Farewell Fire, although Marcus has mentioned more than once, proudly, how he came up with the melody in a one hour evening jam or something, and fans have rabidly dissected it and turned up the volume on the last minutes of the track, I don't find it to be a very interesting one. I like Tears. If it had flowed from Tears into Macquarrie Ridge, with maybe Farwell Fire as an interlude, would have been much stronger I agree. But I always just skip to the start after Farewell Fire, and it works lushly and nothing is lost... yeah that was the most commercial move they've ever made, it devalued that ep a little bit for me. They had a proud tradition of making ep's that stood on their own as unique artistic testaments, no idea why they "sold out" in this case.

Agree. It's actually quite interesting how polarizing both TCH and TH are. I think TCH is by far the superior album, but it has less initial "wow" factor. Will be interesting to see how TH ages with the fans.

lol at liking the album but being disappointed with the cover art. MHTRTC's cover was heavily derived from that MBV cover art, so it's not like they've always been that original (though the title, Music Has the Right to Children is very badass). I think the cover is pretty cool, I especially like the way it contrasts with the pure yellow cd (nice choice). But even if the cover was crappy I'd still be evaluating the tunes on their own; we've all enjoyed the old tunes tracks with nothing but a crappy B&W photocopied insert...

*drinks coolaid*

it's okay, with a username like that,and no avatar, none of us remember who you are :-)

I'm sort of quietly amazed at the number of people who really dig the album. My friend just pinged me on facebook "new BoC is blowing my mind!" I mean...really? I feel like a real freak of nature on this one, but no choice but to stick to my guns, I guess...

I like Collapse a lot, no prob with that one.

isn't armond white a total twat though, who just made his reputation by being the only one giving bad scores to popular movies?

well said, that's how I feel in a nutshell

very nice words, fumi. It is a good album, but given their back catalog, that's "damning with faint praise." I completely agree with the lack of any stand-out tracks, nothing rises to the level of Julie and Candy, Kid for Today, Dawn Chorus, Beach at Redpoint, Tears from the Compound Eye, 84 Pontiac Dream, etc...

I had a similar experience with MHTRTC, didn't like it that much at first, except for the "instant" tracks like Aquarius (and Turquoise Hex Sun, which was instantly impressive due to the eerie factor). Took me a little while to appreciate tracks like Telephasic and Pete Standing Alone. That said, although BoC have often infuriated with the "teaser" nature of their short tracks (this is part of their infuriating appeal), their longer tracks have always felt long and satisfying enough. Not so in this case. One thing I do like about this release: they brought the vocals back! I loved TCH without the vocals, but I think they are so good at manipulating vocals that there's no reason to leave that weapon out of their repertoire. TH would be much closer to utter crap without the vocals (imagine Cold Earth and Palace Posy without the vox)

Lump, lots of good points. There's one thing though about the quote above which I'd really like to give a kick in its nutsack, I'm afraid. The idea that they've set such high standards for themselves (yes, they, not you... I'm wondering whether the last is closer to the truth though), that it's OK to be picky. You simply don't need any validation to be picky, imo. Also, you've said something along the lines of the importance of their intentions and motivations behind their music as an aspect of your appreciation of their music. Which is perfectly fine and understandable. But the immediate consequence (risk) of that is that interpretation becomes key to appreciation. The strange thing about interpretation is that it presents itself as rational and sometimes even objective. Of course, interpretation is relative and largely in the eye of the beholder. So next week, when another interview might be released which gives a totally different frame of mind about their new album, that might act as some catalyst for you to better appreciate TH. That's not impossible, right? sure of course, though I don't think an interview will change my mind - ultimately it's all about the music. I like acroyear's posts, because he started off by saying something that sounded very true - that all the hype may have soured his initial appreciation. It's possible in my case too, I took every opportunity to listen to leaks, including having the Dolores Waterpark rip on heavy rotation for days. That said, if the album were a stunner, I think I would have easily transitioned to the full-quality release (as I did with Exai, I had ten or so 20-second clips on heavy rotation for that one, talk about the potential for aural fatigue!). We got Cold Earth and Reach for the Dead beforehand right - and both tracks, even with the lovely video accompanying the latter - only raised my BoCrection to half-mast. They sounded good, possibly promising...but not gut-punchingly awesome. And by saying that, I don't mean I wanted something more epic, quite the contrary - all I want is something that feels somehow "authentic", "true", and of course musically interesting. I don't think I've been bringing too much baggage to the listening experience, but I may have been bringing in those fragmentary perceptions you get when you've heard things piecemeal in different formats. Am trying to just let the memory of the music video and teaser crap fade, and listen to it several times start to finish.

He's too lazy to commit fully to making an extremely good film. So you watch the film and then 24 hours later you're like 'meh' by which time he's already making another one. I liked the fight scenes in Haywire and the nude lady scenes at the start of Magic Mike but he does so much boring stuff .... its not a great viewing experience. I switched off The Good German after 20 minutes because it was too shit. Im watching Candelabra tonight, i think it will be pretty good. Interesting subject matter, flamboyant characters are entertaining spot on sounds like Soderbergh!

lol...I think that's wishful thinking, in the sense that it would mean they are so prolific, so "bursting with inspiration", that they could slap something together so fast. I do suspect they only spent a few years of solid work time on it, out of the 7 yr hiatus. That's one thing I don't blame them for at all, once you become a dad all bets are off. I was writing a novel before I became a dad, now it's but a distant memory. So I don't blame them for focusing more on family, in fact I wouldn't blame them if they never released new music. But I guess I do blame them for not releasing a boxed set, lol.