[dio]

Ok be honest, who skipped Defeat on first play thru.

[bullseye]

dio wrote:

and the quality of the sound and the mixing and playing all completely match the depth of the stupid deep and dank vibes and melodies. Excellent work y'all

it's their version of an early Genesis album or like Yes. that's reductive but idk. idk idk idk its perfect. ty ac

That's exactly what I was thinking, it's kind of their "The Yes Album", some extremely epic masterpieces, some shorter bangers, some cool, but non-essential experiments (acab and king's).
The album is absolutely flawless for me for the first 7 tracks, but the last 2 songs feel like bonus tracks. Not bad, but the rest of the album is in a whole other dimension.

[dio]

It does kind of seem like the more obvious last stretch is Defeat into Stride. and THEN Gem ---> Clubs ---> Kings. But idk I think they wanted variety of mood per minute or something.

Defeat into Stride is maybe like. Too much sad at once. Too Radiohead if u will

[dio]

Or like Defeat into Kings into Stride, and then end with 2 lighter songs Gem/Clubs like how it starts light with two. Like kinda ending symmetrically with the openers. But idk about Clubs as a closer. Kings is the only way to end an album with Defeat on it (if defeat isn't...)

I mean Defeat was in the middle of Music Box. Right? I mean ya. I think idk lemme check

edit lol never mind. I picture Tri-kid after defeat in the OG shows WHOOPS

[dio]

We truly have to thank the city of New Orleans for this album. Ty New Orleans.

Fuck Clubs is wild wild wild. Good shit Avey damn.

[hedgecore]

I almost skipped Defeat my first round. I'm glad I didn't because I was really sucked into the first part in a way I haven't before. Then third section lost my attention for the first time in the record


album side note: dats a crisp hi hat

[bullseye]

I think they didn't put king's somewhere in the middle because that would have been the point were most people would have turned the album off, so there's no other place for it than at the end. I also kinda wish that acab would start with an acapella of "everyones a 9 to 5" and then the instruments would crash in with the next vocal line. I didn't expect to get new song in the first place, so I'm not complaining. INN is still a 10/10 and a long one at that, even without the last 2 songs.

[dio]

"Everyone's alive to fight"? in Clubs? That one really does nail the um. medieval thing they spoke of. Along with Genies. It's like a fragment of a Hieronymus Bosch.

o 9 to 5? ok ok that's cool too

Kings is pure ergot. And Avery kinda channels that throat singing wildness like in the end of Soul


whelp, fuck, perfect album. they did it. we did it. it is now. ok goodnight, bless, <3 <3 <3

[pioneerpreserve]

help a mang to get crunchy plz sires

[Samuel Lamuel]

Are there lyrics anywhere that we can look at? Straight up, I don't understand half of what they're saying.

[dio]

They're in the booklet and like the already posted a pic of it on the domino site and you can make out most of them right? Will investigate in the morning

Ok almost done I swear: acab is for the heads. Something brand spankin new amidst all the other 17 year old songs.

And I like that there's fully different categories of songs here. Like I can't claim a favorite truly cuz like Broke is my fave shorter panda song and ACAB is my favorite shorter avey song. Favorite long song is Magicians. And then there's just Kings doin it's whole ass own thing.

[hedgecore]

They just couldn't help themselves and got funky for ACAB

[dansemanatee]

dio wrote:

edit lol never mind. I picture Tri-kid after defeat in the OG shows WHOOPS

this would go unbelievably hard. justice for tri kid i wish so many people didnt hate it sm

[orangegone]

it is nowwww
if anybody could help me with a link i would love them forever

[dansemanatee]

also broke still reminds me of the cure a bit, did not think that would translate to studio at all but im glad it did

[Stan]

I would actually prefer it as a standalone song not on the album with Magicians as the centrepiece. Much as I'm enjoying this, I don't think these songs go especially well together, and we know they weren't originally conceived as a piece. They've made the best of them under the circumstances, I'd say. The excellent production and similar instrumentation is what really holds them together at all.

[DILWeed]

It's weird, I feel like this coming out is letting me enjoy Time Skiffs more now that I can see how they differ instead of just having "what if COVID hadn't happened and this came out unscathed" in my head the entire time. Or maybe it's because now I can compile a best-of between them and get at least one insane album with decent sequencing. I've now spent the last hour or two trying that out in way too much detail, so I may as well post it here.

Isn't It Now? 2022, or "What if they let Time Skiffs be a pandemic EP?" (This one is really my excuse to make a Best Of album lol)

Spoiler: show

Instead of doing an entire album remotely the band settles on getting another EP out after Bridge to Quiet, mostly just to move on from some of the material before they have to do a proper album. Time Skiffs comes out in 2021 looking like this:

• 01. Dragon Slayer
  02. Car Keys
  03. Walker
  04. Cherokee
  05. We Go Back
  06. Royal and Desire

They record Isn't It Now? as soon as possible, and without the full Time Skiffs album in the way Domino releases it as a proggy double album in 2022 like this:

• A1. King's Walk (Abridged)
  A2. Magicians from Baltimore
  A3. Strung with Everything
  B1. Gem & I
  B2. Stride Rite
  B3. Genie's Open
  C1. Prester John
  C2. Passer-by
  C3. Broke Zodiac
  D1. Defeat

Soul Capturer and All the Clubs are Broken are reduced to pandemic dreams, either in full band form or as Avey solo demos put on Bandcamp (or maybe not released at all in AtCAB's case.) If we got lucky they could be a weird bonus single together after the album, like Gnip Gnop / Hounds of Bairro.

Alternatively: Time Skiffs 2020, or "What if COVID never happened?"

Spoiler: show

Time Skiffs is released in late 2020 or early 2021 after being recorded in person. Dragon Slayer and Car Keys are recorded in looser proggy glory, an earlier version of Defeat makes the album, and Cherokee and Passer-by may not even have time to get nerfed. It looks something like this:

• A1. Dragon Slayer
  A2. Car Keys
  A3. Gem & I
  B1. Prester John
  B2. Stride Rite
  C1. Cherokee
  C2. Passer-by
  C3. Broke Zodiac
  D1. Defeat

Six months to a year later the remaining songs get put on a companion EP, "Strung with Everything":

• 01. Strung with Everything
  02. Out There (aka Walker)
  03. King's Walk
  04. We Go Back
  05. Royal and Desire

The EP could also have Magicians and Genie's on it but they probably had no reason to go back to those in this timeline (though I think Avey said Strung only happened as a full band song due recording remotely, so maybe you could replace it with one of those?) Soul Capturer only exists as an Avey song or demo, and the full Music Box Village recording is released around the same time as the EP to finish off the era.

[GetFucked]

I love this album as a whole but one small thing is bothering me.

Panda's vocals at the start of Genie's sound really distorted and poorly mixed/recorded to me. They 'clip' and go into 'the red' like 'loudness war' era records do, leading to a high pitched distortion that literally hurts my ears. It's probably just my cheap headphones, admittedly, but it's the same on both of my pairs. Sounds ok on speakers.

Maybe I just need to shell out for some good cans...

[coral lord]

playing starfield and listening to this album on a crisp sunday morning. things are good folks

[Stan]

The chorus on Broke Zodiac is fabulous, backing vocals are very enveloping, gorgeous song.

[Sputnik Monroe]

I skipped Defeat first listen because I was waiting for the edible to hit before I gave it a true full in the dark eyes closed listen. This album is incredible. Acab is such a great little treat, so addictive and christmasy somehow. Will have more thoughts on it latter!

[floats]

On my first listen, really digging Broke Zodiac as well. Kinda wishing it was longer but I suppose every song on this cant be a 7-20 minute masterpiece...

edit: its unreal hearing Defeat within the context of an official album tracklist

[coral lord]

Really wild hearing these songs in studio. No other comments yet. Just insane that we finally made it. Was a long wait.

[DILWeed]

if Broke was the 2019 version and Genies and maybe Magicians were recorded faster I think every song on this could be considered perfectly executed. I'm not sure if they have another album with this success rate, maybe ST or SJ?

[floats]

LOL just heard ATCAB for the first time. Wild. Almost feels like a mutant child of a song that could have been on a second slasher flicks LP

[dansemanatee]

DILWeed wrote:

It's weird, I feel like this coming out is letting me enjoy Time Skiffs more now that I can see how they differ instead of just having "what if COVID hadn't happened and this came out unscathed" in my head the entire time. Or maybe it's because now I can compile a best-of between them and get at least one insane album with decent sequencing. I've now spent the last hour or two trying that out in way too much detail, so I may as well post it here.

Isn't It Now? 2022, or "What if they let Time Skiffs be a pandemic EP?" (This one is really my excuse to make a Best Of album lol)

Spoiler: show

Instead of doing an entire album remotely the band settles on getting another EP out after Bridge to Quiet, mostly just to move on from some of the material before they have to do a proper album. Time Skiffs comes out in 2021 looking like this:

• 01. Dragon Slayer
  02. Car Keys
  03. Walker
  04. Cherokee
  05. We Go Back
  06. Royal and Desire

They record Isn't It Now? as soon as possible, and without the full Time Skiffs album in the way Domino releases it as a proggy double album in 2022 like this:

• A1. King's Walk (Abridged)
  A2. Magicians from Baltimore
  A3. Strung with Everything
  B1. Gem & I
  B2. Stride Rite
  B3. Genie's Open
  C1. Prester John
  C2. Passer-by
  C3. Broke Zodiac
  D1. Defeat

Soul Capturer and All the Clubs are Broken are reduced to pandemic dreams, either in full band form or as Avey solo demos put on Bandcamp (or maybe not released at all in AtCAB's case.) If we got lucky they could be a weird bonus single together after the album, like Gnip Gnop / Hounds of Bairro.

Alternatively: Time Skiffs 2020, or "What if COVID never happened?"

Spoiler: show

Time Skiffs is released in late 2020 or early 2021 after being recorded in person. Dragon Slayer and Car Keys are recorded in looser proggy glory, an earlier version of Defeat makes the album, and Cherokee and Passer-by may not even have time to get nerfed. It looks something like this:

• A1. Dragon Slayer
  A2. Car Keys
  A3. Gem & I
  B1. Prester John
  B2. Stride Rite
  C1. Cherokee
  C2. Passer-by
  C3. Broke Zodiac
  D1. Defeat

Six months to a year later the remaining songs get put on a companion EP, "Strung with Everything":

• 01. Strung with Everything
  02. Out There (aka Walker)
  03. King's Walk
  04. We Go Back
  05. Royal and Desire

The EP could also have Magicians and Genie's on it but they probably had no reason to go back to those in this timeline (though I think Avey said Strung only happened as a full band song due recording remotely, so maybe you could replace it with one of those?) Soul Capturer only exists as an Avey song or demo, and the full Music Box Village recording is released around the same time as the EP to finish off the era.

Took a stab at it

Spoiler: show

Genie's Open
Dragon Slayer
Strung With Everything
Prester John
Cherokee
Broke Zodiac
Magicians From Baltimore
Passer-by
Gem & I
Royal and Desire

EP:
Soul Capturer
Walker
Stride Rite
We Go Back
King's Walk

Car Keys b/w All the Clubs Are Broken is a single and Defeat is released as a single with the challenge b-side but its the full live version of strung

[DILWeed]

dansemanatee wrote:

Took a stab at it

Spoiler: show

Genie's Open
Dragon Slayer
Strung With Everything
Prester John
Cherokee
Broke Zodiac
Magicians From Baltimore
Passer-by
Gem & I
Royal and Desire

EP:
Soul Capturer
Walker
Stride Rite
We Go Back
King's Walk

Car Keys b/w All the Clubs Are Broken is a single and Defeat is released as a single with the challenge b-side but its the full live version of strung

Defeat not being on the album and splitting Car Keys from Dragon Slayer is sacrilegious to me, but I like the stretch of Magicians to Gem a lot. Passer-by and Gem feel kind of kindred in production to me, both very fragile and detailed. I also can't hear Dragon Slayer as anything but an opener but swapping it and Genies seems like it'd work nicely.

[DownthereSwampthing]

Jesus, how long have I been out? Please CRUNCH pretty please

EDIT: Got it!

[utensilvirus]

Please crunch!

edit: Thanks much!

[mildew_on_rice]

Please crunch meeeee

[ddddd]

Please crunch tyvm!!

edit - got it thank you!!

[foxtrot]

This arriving on Father’s Day here in Australia has been pretty special for me. Also just a couple of days into spring. Had a really special (ceremonial!) first listen today and then another 3 listens. It’s just been a beautiful day. Blue sky, warm sun, fav band’s new album. Feeling very grateful. Keen to share lots more thoughts tomorrow. Stay rad CA.

So glad it’s Now.


Ok a few brief things:

Love how Genies sounds much more dry, woody and organic here. Very 60s. Love the acoustic guitar in there. It all fits the theme so well.

Broke is fucking perfect.

Magicians turned out brilliantly - love the fuzz bass in the chorus and the odd Avey delivery in the verses. The guitar squalls! Also the saloon bar Americana piano stuff totally elevates the back half. Amazing.

Gem goes down so nice. Everyone talking about the ‘bum bum’ vocals (which rule) but what about the bits added in the chorus?! That little Panda bit and the high note from Avey add so much!

Stride is gorgeous and heart felt and turned out just as I’d hoped.

Clubs is this bizarre medieval disco interlude and I’m weirdly here for it.

Kings is a great closer. Would be weird anywhere else. And on a long album it’s fine to close on a track that lingers. Just think of it as giving you a few last morsels. I dig it.

Also, the drums throughout are so fucking tight. High in the mix and they just snap on every track.

[destiny]

im ngl my first listen of all the clubs are broken is the first time in a very long time where i listened to an ac song and didnt know what the fuck i was hearing rofl

[Stan]

Genie's is actually really good. After a few listens, the lyrics just become a whatever vehicle for the undulating melody.

I agree with the idea of Defeat (as a suite). Helps to think of it that way to digest a very slow, pretty bloated song. I do think it weighs too heavily and the album sags like fuck because of that. As a standalone, it's amazing if I'm in the mood but straight after the relatively very epic and slow build of Magicians, I find the first section a drag.

Stride is pure bliss.

[Hellomark]

Oh wtf I totally didn't notice the acoustic guitar in Genie's on first listen, listening again and yep there it is. Cool addition.

So many questions about Clubs, I wonder if it was part of the initial 2019 batch, or written later like Soul Cap? Definitely the most ABBA sounding thing they've ever done. I think a couple have mentioned how similar it is to Someday I'll Grow as Tall... not musically of course but just in the purpose it serves on the album as a little penultimate interlude that fades in. Almost wish it would have just faded out again in a similar way, not the biggest fan of that sudden major chord ending.

[LeadHat]

magicians is better than i ever could have dreamed ... whole album is beyond wonderful. surreal to finally hear these songs in crisp HD. I think they nailed every one !

[lhtd]

ahh can i get a pm??

[Juan]

Would love a crunch with a side of 'new thread for CA isn't it now covers'

[wilandhugs]

I can see Broke and Gem getting swapped for PJ and Dragon Slayer by vibe. Funny because after soul cap and defeat i was thinking this was going to be pretty distinct from Skiffs, but I'm seriously pleasantly surprised that theres a lot in common with Skiffs

So far Genies and Broke are probably my faves. I really like the changes to magicians, specifically how absurdly the good the prod is, but it hasn't ripped me the way it should yet but I can tell it will. Broke is seriously so good, it's painful.

I'll post my megamix like Axe eventually, but I like the idea of splitting the era into Americana/Constellations and Medieval/Arcane. Magicians is the bridge between the two. Also I still think Magicians sounds a bit too much like an opener lol but whatever

[lhtd]

pm

…anyone? :~>

edit - thank you!!