Genuine question. What’s the point of listening to boots? I get hearing a song 1 time during a performance, but wouldn’t listening to all boots in order of the track list ruin the final album experience?
For some maybe. To each their own I guess.
I've listened to boots a bunch over the years, including in final track list order. I made Blast Skiffs ffs!
It hasn't ruined anything for me. I still try not to go too hard with boots listens. That said, I love listening and growing with the songs and then hearing and growing to love the high def studio versions too.
With TS (and I remember very similar experiences with SJ, MPP and CHz) it was just like suddenly hearing everything with so much clarity and sparkle. Great fun!
Wow, crazy news to wake up to!
Great cover and the tracklist is an absolute surprise. The only thing I got right with my prediction was defeat>gem. I think this is the first AC album, where I'm least excited for the opener and closer. But that whole stretch from genie's to stride is absolutely golden, all killer no filler. So psyched!
Genuine question. What’s the point of listening to boots? I get hearing a song 1 time during a performance, but wouldn’t listening to all boots in order of the track list ruin the final album experience?
Well, if the band really thought that the final album experience was this sacred thing they wouldn't be playing their material years before it hits store shelves. Hearing that evolution, getting really acquainted with the bones of the songs is what makes the final album so much more special, because it ends up as the culmination of what they've been gestating for so long.
Also for a lot of us going to the shows just isn't a possibility, so getting the boots is also something very very special. I know we all take it for granted, but it's so cool how graceful the band is with the taping culture, there's not that many bands on this level that openly encourage it.
Genuine question. What’s the point of listening to boots? I get hearing a song 1 time during a performance, but wouldn’t listening to all boots in order of the track list ruin the final album experience?
I think it does,but everyone is different. I'm trying to abstain but sometimes it's hard. Sometimes the "journey" is more fun than the "destination." So nothing against those that cave. I listened to Broke Zodiac the other day which is the only boot I've played in the past few months. just trying to not overplay the live versions because I feel like these songs have been simmering so long that my expectations are sky high and the studio versions may not deliver. But in the end it really doesn't matter much in overall enjoyment
Well said, AxeWorld. I might be repeating some of what you said, but to echo/add to what you said:
I've been both a boots-listener and boots-abstainer and honestly I've found more enjoyment in being a boots-listener, so I have quite shamelessly been playing boots (even more than usual) of these songs the past few weeks.
I think it all depends how you process and respond to music.
If you've found yourself to be someone who gets demoitis and has a hard time appreciating the studio version vs the live versions, or if you're prone to negatively comparing and disappointment, then holding off is the way to go.
But if you can remain open and curious and accepting of what the band chooses to do for different versions, then listening to boots has no harm. I do not subscribe at all to the idea that listening to boots ''ruins'' the first listen of the album, or that you can ''wear out a song'' in that you can lose excitement for it. In my case, I've found the opposite is true. A good song will hold up to multiple listens and multiple iterations and remain exciting on repeat listens. I've gone into albums knowing most songs inside and out and still found massive wonder, curiosity, excitement in hearing the studio versions. It's just as thrilling, because the album version is still a new recording.
Yes, it's a different experience because the songs aren't "fresh" and "new" to my ears, but 99 percent of the albums I listen to I'm going into completely blind. With AC, I love having that I can have that "fresh" and "new" feeling going into my first listen to AC boots. It's no less sacred to me to have that experience in listening to a new song for the first time from a fucking iPhone recording. I get why someone else would hate that.
Every ear and mind will have its own preference, and it's important to honor that preference. I switched to becoming a boots-listener when I realized I wasn't doing myself any favors in holding out. I found myself more excited and more engaged in the upcoming AC album having already obsessed over each of the songs.
In almost every case, their music is more exciting and expressive live so that's why I listen to boots. Eventually, even the best studio recording becomes stale and inert (as can any one single recording) whereas cycling between different performances keeps the song even more alive and invigorated.
But if you can remain open and curious and accepting of what the band chooses to do for different versions, then listening to boots has no harm. I do not subscribe at all to the idea that listening to boots ''ruins'' the first listen of the album, or that you can ''wear out a song'' in that you can lose excitement for it. In my case, I've found the opposite is true. A good song will hold up to multiple listens and multiple iterations and remain exciting on repeat listens. I've gone into albums knowing most songs inside and out and still found massive wonder, curiosity, excitement in hearing the studio versions. It's just as thrilling, because the album version is still a new recording.
…
Every ear and mind will have its own preference, and it's important to honor that preference. I switched to becoming a boots-listener when I realized I wasn't doing myself any favors in holding out. I found myself more excited and more engaged in the upcoming AC album having already obsessed over each of the songs.
I don’t think I could have put it any better than this
There’s something really vital and thrilling to me about hearing songs before they have a definite, canonical shape — it makes me focus on every detail and try to hear how the band members respond to and inform one another’s playing. it’s dynamic and alive
i do try to limit my listening though — in my mind, it’s like the big cake sitting out at a party. I’ll sneak myself a lick of the icing here and there, but i don’t want to get full before the main event.
i made the choice to avoid boots before TS (besides streaming p4k) and i enjoyed the surprise of hearing the album for the first time, but after sampling these new songs from time to time, my appreciation for IIN already feels deeper.
for example, i had listened to a few defeat boots and enjoyed it, but i didn’t quite “get” the song until i sat down and watched the subcarrier performance. the song completely opened up for me, especially the newer 1st section, and i am very thankful that i was able to carry that prior revelation into my first listen of the studio version
Last edited by NightlifeMingus on Tue Jul 25, 2023 6:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
Listen to painting with and then listen to painting with live and you will your answer lol. There’s a reason I adore Natural Selection and Summing the Wretch and it sure as hell isn’t the studio version
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I'm incredibly excited, but I'm feeling a little bummed about the placement of genie's open the more I think about it. there's going to be a lot of "epic" moments in this album, but the whole sea of light stretch of genie's open is the most climactic to me.. it feels celebratory, even. it just doesn't make sense being an early-album track, let alone track 2. it would've been perfect right before kings, accapella into accapella
Track 2 is always a defining track. Bands put songs at track 2 that really shine and highlight the best the album has to offer.
A few AC track 2s that fucking own and totally encapsulate what’s awesome about their respective albums:
April
Doggy
WCWAR
Grass
My Girls
Today’s Supernatural
Often single worthy tracks too. I really like the idea of Genies holding a spot like this. I think it means they want it to be a rep for the album’s overall vibe etc.
Genuine question. What’s the point of listening to boots? I get hearing a song 1 time during a performance, but wouldn’t listening to all boots in order of the track list ruin the final album experience?
There's no studio lablakely dress/fireworks/essplode
Holy hell who'd have guessed Kings Walk was the closer? Stoked for this album release. Are we certain Sept. 29th is the right date or was that just a placeholder? Guess we'll find out tomorrow.
I'm incredibly excited, but I'm feeling a little bummed about the placement of genie's open the more I think about it. there's going to be a lot of "epic" moments in this album, but the whole sea of light stretch of genie's open is the most climactic to me.. it feels celebratory, even. it just doesn't make sense being an early-album track, let alone track 2. it would've been perfect right before kings, accapella into accapella
i feel this. extremely hard to not hear it as an ultimate/penultimate track
i wonder if it helps to imagine this LP as two conjoined EPs, as given by the spatial distance on the track list (both on the back cover and the website:
EP 1
Soul Capturer
Genie’s Open
Broke Zodiac
Magicians from Baltimore
EP2
Defeat
Gem and I
Stride Rite
All the Clubs are Broken
King's Walk
Alternatively, we could imagine the first track and last tracks as prologue and epilogue, respectively. This would make Genie’s Open the real entrance and All the Clubs are Broken as the final statement, so to speak.
Just occurred to me that this era may have another through line back to the sung tongs tour besides Genie's - that big slow version of college could have been inspiration for avey writing King's. Also makes me think of '22 screens being huge and slow
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Buuuuuuudhaaaaa
I really like this tracklist overall. Foxtrot you're totally right with Magicians/Defeat taking the Fireworks/Reverend Green spot which we haven't had since CHZ so that is pretty exciting to me. For whatever reason this tracklist feels better to me than Skiffs which gets kinda clunky in the middle for me.
Genuine question. What’s the point of listening to boots? I get hearing a song 1 time during a performance, but wouldn’t listening to all boots in order of the track list ruin the final album experience?
if that's what it does to ya then don't listen to them.. it's subjective. I love listening to boots .. I love listening to different variations of songs live. I'm able to to enjoy and appreciate both. ..I'm sorry you don't.
Yeh, have listened to Defeat but considering the same since SC is the opener. Be nice to have that be a totally new experience on first listen to IIN.
Honestly already know I won’t be able to resist though. I’m checking here every 5 mins, how the fuck am I going to have the willpower to not listen?!
Same I’ve only listened to Defeat since they’ve sent it to me. And lately I’ve been getting flashbacks from their show in Asheville, but I’m trying really hard to go into this album fresh like a new born baby. I probably won’t listen to anymore boots or singles till release day.
That reminded me of this which I cannot explain why it is so funny to me
Completely off topic— what panda or AC song would you pick to feature on this soundtrack?
Track 11: Principe Real
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As gentle as a sleeping baby boy
hoping for a burnt orange or maroon vinyl variant tomorrow
excited to see track times
other than that, still undecided if i'm going to listen to the single or not -- just mostly been playing the crap out of the boots and not sure if i'm ready to dive into the studio versions yet
listening to boots is cool in general, but these songs have only existed in boot form for so long that i am pretty sick of hearing them in subpar quality. the more i hear them, the more i crave the studio versions.
this tracklist isn't that strange to me. it basically alternates between concise bops and the big totemic songs, barring the middle where the two biggest anthems are on either side of the vinyl gap. i couldn't have predicted this exact layout but it makes sense. and the above post about imagining each side as its own ep also makes sense bc each side has its own distinct flow. this is maybe the only sensible way to organize an album with such unwieldy variations in song length and mood. panda's pair of short boppers will probably sound out of place no matter what, but there's no reason that should be a bad thing.
I'm done listening to 22/23 boots, because yeah it's too much like I just want to hear these fuckers.... but I've been listening to a lot of Skiffs songs from them, Car Keys live in 22/23 is still one of the best things they've ever done. Also a lot of 2019 stuff, 2019 Defeat has really grown on me now that the studio version is out lol. Kinda cool to see that they were always seeing PJ/Car Keys/Slayer in a similar sequence during all of 19
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chuckler up here
