[roopn]

I'm not going to bother comparing the ATP rehearsal to pbvsgr as it's been talked to death. I'll just point to some moments:
I think what makes this so good is how all the samples and synths sort of whirl around each other. There is no grounding element to a lot of the songs. Synths are constantly panning around, it's built into their articulation. the vocals are constantly moving around with different reverbs and delays coming and going. All the samples are HOT, and barely stay in time with themselves, let alone each other.
Papadum is crazy - doesn't have any harmonic content really, just that one ringing sample droning along with the lonely vocals singing the melody on top. Papadum contains such a genius idea too - that fluctuating synth at the start speeds up to become a percussive element, then the drum sample comes in but they never quite line up perfectly, so it's incredibly disorienting and psychedelic.
Ms Pac-man is the highlight of the era for me, just perfect.
Selfish gene is a genius (sorry to use the word so liberally) melody, one of Noah's finest ever crafted, even with the clearly unfinished ending of the ATP practice version. Also works brilliantly in the middle of the tracklist because it recontextualises all the songs that come after (the nadir).

[foxtrot]

Some thoughts on Slasher Flicks:

It’s like CHz’s carefree, party animal cousin. Similar desert rock/Americana feel in a bunch of songs, similar complex structures (really love the ‘insect structures’ idea a few people have mentioned). The family resemblance really starts to come out from That We Won’t Grow onwards. The big difference for me is that CHz has this troubled, angry character whereas Slasher Flicks has a really animated, playful, life of the party feel to it. It is a bit of shame that, as many have said, the drums (an essential ‘life of the party’ element to any mix) didn’t get prioritised as much as they should have. The bass sounds glorious on this album though. Everything else works well for me but yeh, needed to make that Jeremy magic really hit.

The Sender reminds me of Did You See The Words in a lot of ways. It has that Feels energy. Awesome opener.

Duplex Trip is like a cheery version of Oddsac’s spookiness.

Blind Babe is like a CHz version of Winter Wonderland.

Little Fang is so much fun. A totally unique song in the Avey catalogue. It’s like his take on Ariel Pink doing late 70s Bowie.

Catchy (Was Contagious) has such a sweet melody and the ‘young boy!’ bit might be my favourite section on the whole album.

That It Won't Grow is like 5 songs in one. Strawberry Jam vibes in parts. CHz done right especially in the second half.

The Outlaw is a fucking beast and I love it. Avey fronting some 70s prog band. Hints of Modest Mouse when they were good.

Roses is another multipart wonder. Really sweet at times and actually really Time Skiffsy to me in retrospect.

Modern Days E is heaps of fun. It’s got this Afro Applesauce kind of feeling.

Strange Colores is just a thrilling, technicolour pop splosion.

Your Card also reminds me of Did You See The Words but thrown into some kind of 70s Coke haze.

Every song is solid. The whole thing such good fun. Moments are really affecting though overall the emotion this brings out in me is mostly just joy. I’ve never really delved into the lyrics in any depth. I think it just functions as a great sing a long album with lots of energy. Avey’s songwriting remains idiosyncratic and just odd enough to keep things interesting yet also has a certain pop song craft here that makes it one of his most immediate and catchy efforts.

This week has been really interesting. I have to admit to being a little saddened by the extent of people’s indifference towards Greaper, an album I love dearly, but that aside it’s been fascinating to read people’s thoughts and experience solo efforts from all three of the band’s songwriters. Each sounding very different to the others. It makes me wonder a little what an AC album with a bunch of these tracks might have been like. Imagine if Painting With came a little later on and first they followed up CHz with something like:

The Sender
Mr Noah
That We Won’t Grow
Just Am
Duplex Trip
Catchy
Principe Real
The Outlaw
Footy

Or any other combination really.

[Stan]

Sleep Cycle

For me, this was the kernel of hope after five years of relative disappointments. This is the release which showed that the fire was still there, even if it was a very delayed snapshot of songs from years earlier. I didn't love much of what came between this and Music Box, but Eucalyptus and MOTW suggested a return to a certain spirit of their first decade as a band. I don't even like half of the record especially but Golden Chords and Good House are pretty much there with the upper tier of what Dave and Noah wrote last decade. I think it was also an incredibly important release for Josh's confidence and songwriting prominence. No Sleep Cycle, no Time Skiffs. I hope he enjoyed the reception. His songs are pretty much my favourites of this era, aside from Defeat and Passer-by. Anyway, some great songs and an important record in the chronology of AC.

[dio]

wrong thread. glad the 2nd half of the decade gave u more hope Stan. we definitely got more variety of styles post reaper/slasher/PW from all the boys

[coral lord]

Stan wrote:

Sleep Cycle

For me, this was the kernel of hope after five years of relative disappointments. This is the release which showed that the fire was still there, even if it was a very delayed snapshot of songs from years earlier. I didn't love much of what came between this and Music Box, but Eucalyptus and MOTW suggested a return to a certain spirit of their first decade as a band. I don't even like half of the record especially but Golden Chords and Good House are pretty much there with the upper tier of what Dave and Noah wrote last decade. I think it was also an incredibly important release for Josh's confidence and songwriting prominence. No Sleep Cycle, no Time Skiffs. I hope he enjoyed the reception. His songs are pretty much my favourites of this era, aside from Defeat and Passer-by. Anyway, some great songs and an important record in the chronology of AC.

2016-18 gave us Sleep Cycle, A Day With The Homies, Eucalyptus, Music Box, and MotW. What a run.

Then throw in the great PW tours, Sung Tongs, Tangerine Reef. Ridiculous variety in the sounds they came out with in a 3 year run.

[madameghostly]

doing something a little different this week. i know no one was making me do this, but forcing myself to write a paragraph or two right after every album may or may not have been burning me out a little, so i decided i was just gonna absorb the albums at my own pace over the course of the week and then share my thoughts when i was good and ready, and i have to say, i'm glad i made that decision now because these are some incredible albums

Enter the Slasher House: this might be my favorite Avey solo album so far. okay, i know i'm stretching the definition of "Avey solo album" there, but whatever, this album is awesome. the songs are catchy as hell - Little Fang is a certified bop, and if my brain isn't playing the chorus of it on repeat, it's playing "the outlaw is the future the future the future" or "[mumbling] young girl [mumbling] opa [mumbling] young boy [mumbling] oma" - and i either haven't noticed or am not bothered by the mixing problems everyone is talking about, because i really like the sound too. i will say i was expecting much more of a horror aesthetic with a band name like Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks, but it's more haunted house ride than haunted house, which isn't necessarily a bad thing imo

so uh... yeah. like i said, awesome album. do people really hate this album?

Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper: i think this was the first AC-adjacent release i listened to when it first came out, so my opinion might be biased, but i still think this is a great album. Sequential Circuits is a great opener, Acid Wash is a pretty good closer, Mr Noah and Crosswords are really good singles, everything in between (except maybe the interludes that don't add anything) is solid, and even the b-sides that i didn't get to fully appreciate until this week are great (Jabberwocky holy shit). as much as i love the synthscapes of most of the rest of the album, my favorite track miiiight be Tropic of Cancer. i dunno, ask me again next week and i might give you a different answer

of course, i still haven't listened to any of the rehearsals or demos or whatever you wanna call them, so if anyone wants to yell at me to do that, now would be the perfect time

BONUS
Swallow at the Hollow: as far as carefully-constructed mixtapes of unreleased material go (you're looking at a big Third Side of Tape appreciator here), this one's pretty good

Sleep Cycle: alright, that's it. i've been fully deakpilled. this thing is a masterpiece. it makes me wonder exactly how much Josh has contributed to the unique and iconic sound of AC, because the more i think about it, the more i hear Feels and Strawberry Jam dna all over this album, and when you combine them with the parts that don't sound like any other AC song, it makes something gorgeous that i find myself coming back to again and again

i do wish it was longer, if nothing else. then again, i guess brevity is the soul of uhhh a really good album

BONUS
Harpy Sketches: two great versions of a great song. i honestly can't decide which one i like more

[Slippi's Applesauce]

Slasher House: loved it when it came out, but grew off me a little. There's something cartoony about it that keeps it from being a super serious listen to me, but it's still fun to go back and listen to. I don't really have any issue with the mixing or production, I feel like they fit the songs well. Especially love A Sender, Blind Babe, Little Fang, That It Won't Grow, The Outlaw, Catchy, Modern Days E, and Strange Colores. Only song I'm not super down with is Duplex Trip.

Mr. Noah: great little EP. No bad songs, but This Side of Paradise doesn't feel finished at all to me.

Greaper: when it freebirded in 2014, I was sure it'd be my AOTY 2015. I loved this thing so much at first. It dropped hard and I don't even know if I listened to it once in 2016 or 2017. Listening now, I enjoy Greaper for what it is. Sure, it could've been better. But his songwriting was definitely on point here, just wish the album didn't feel so synthetic and muted. Selfish Gene was definitely my biggest offender personally after going back and listening to the live versions/demos. But I really like almost every track, minus maybe Butcher Baker Candlestick Maker (which is okay) and Acid Wash (which is kinda abysmal). Tropic of Cancer definitely still gets me feeling.

Crosswords- love this EP so much, especially No Man's Land, the Preakness, and Cosplay.

Sleep Cycle- near perfection. Still remember how peaceful and calming this was at it arrived at a weird and hectic time in my life. So glad to still be able to listen to it today. Wasn't huge on Footy at first, but it's definitely grown on me.

[fernforested]

I just want to add that i was about 20 when Slasher Flicks freebirded and I was working at my first shitty restaurant job and I literally just quit and walked out so I could go listen to it — totally worth it. Wish they hadn’t slowed down Duplex Trip into a weird waltzy thing tho. What a great era in my life.

[scrambledgreggs]

Sleep Cycle was a revelation. until then it was difficult to pinpoint all of the greatness that Deakin brought to the main band, but each of the four "songs" on Sleep Cycle brought the evidence of just how crucial he was in constructing the sound of each mainline studio album he participated in. Golden Chords is like an evolution from the lengthy acoustic structures of Campfire Songs, Just Am is like a Feels song with MPP production, Footy is noisy, chaotic and primitive like Arc (with SJ production) and Good House combines all of those into a droning epic that carries just as much emotional weight as the best of AC's material. agree with the sentiment that the album was a breath of fresh air after the post-ODDSAC downward trend, especially with the extra space in the mix and production, my only complaint is that I wish it were longer and had more of the jams he was playing live in 2010 since all of those were just as good if not better than those that made the album. still wonder if he's planning to do anything with those or if they're purely relics of the past at this point

[Stan]

@madameghostly

Been enjoying your posts, especially the 'first time' stuff.

Also Jabbawocky on that EP is not as good as the ATP demo version so you got that to look forward to. You know when you go to karaoke and the backing track is some non-copyright shit stain midi cover version? Welcome to studio Jabba.

I edited out a lot of hateful comments

[destiny]

My biggest problem with Grimmy reaper is how much of it on record sounds like background music. Even then I think the songs are awesome live since he plays stuff like Crosswords closer to it's ATP rendition then the two renditions he put out there. I think Come To Your Senses is fucking awesome though, on record. I love how downtrodden and melancholic it sounds. The album at worse can sound background-y but at best can reach the hypnotic dub-y image that i think he was going for. I honestly think Cosplay's textures fit that even tho Marijuana make my day is just better. Cosplay sounds awesome. Funnily enough I think this idea on Greaper was done a lot better on Sonic boom's all things being equal record, but i prefer panda';s voice. The sounds on Sonic boom's album are just too fucking future. That album is good and it's sweet to contextualize it as branching out from the Grim Reaper works.

I saw Tropic of cancer live and it was amazing. At the end of the song he let a bass tone rings and it rattled the entire venue. It came in waves over the crowd. It felt like I was in a big, windy, open field at night. The wonder of audio spaces

[bullseye]

foxtrot wrote:

This week has been really interesting. I have to admit to being a little saddened by the extent of people’s indifference towards Greaper, an album I love dearly, but that aside it’s been fascinating to read people’s thoughts and experience solo efforts from all three of the band’s songwriters.

I feel the same, actually. I knew there was a lot of hate towards CHz, but I'm a bit surprised that so many people are disappointed about how the grim reaper and slasher house turned out. But what saddens me even more is the constant mentioning of a "downward trend" after ODDSAC, which I just do not see at all. But CHz is my favorite AC record, so wtf do I know

Slasher House:
Awesome record from start to finish! As mentioned multiple times already, the drums could have been mixed more punchy and less muffled. The way the drums turned out, or actually how the whole record turned out, is that it kind of sounds like old 60s psych or garage rock records, where the drums are almost always way in the background and sound like shit, but that doesn't prevent the songs from being bangers. I do really like the production on slasher house and it fits the songs well in most cases. Angels bass synth parts are also a highlight for me, the bass lines provide all the nice little embellishments melodically and the filter sweeps are all delicately placed. mwah, chefs kiss! Duplex Trip is probably my favorite of the bunch. I don't even recall what the old live version sounded like.

Grim Reaper:
A lot of complaints I read about the squashed sound production on CHz actually apply even more so to GR for me. The songs are somehow very "digital", in an on/off kind of sense, almost no dynamic range. They sound like chicken nuggets. I still really love it, as well as all the EP songs. There are so many great songs Noah churned out, that it is an almost impossible task to pick the right ones in the proper order for a perfect track list. Having said that, the flow of the album is very awkward. I wish panda had stuck to some transitions he often did live, e.g. sequential circuits into crosswords, as well as kept some of the beat drops, e.g. in CTYS. The really nailed lonely wanderer, though. The only one I wouldn't be mad about not having been released would be acid wash. Swallow at the hollow is also very enjoyable for a bunch of throwaway instrumentals. Highlight of the era: Cheap Treat!

Sleep Cycle:
It's a good record, but I rarely get the urge to listen to it, aside from golden chords, which is really incredible. Just am and good house are also great but the two transition tracks are pretty forgettable. Is there a reason why none of the harpy versions was included on the album? They are both awesome and the album is short enough to include at least one of them.

[Fovrodi]

That It Won't Grow scratches a similar itch to FRG for me, love it

[wilandhugs]

I've been slasher pilled after a few listens... definitely suffered a bit from my previous listens begin on headphones because this thing rips so much harder on speakers, especially pretty damn loud. Every instrument is just nervously weaving around the vocals, it's pretty incredible in an 'ungrounded' way, like a dangling roller coaster to MPP(or just most of their other albums) regular old box car experience. In some regard you really feel the wind blowing through how powerful every song is. The way you're being jerked around really emulates that old wooden ride feeling specifically, and I totally agree that it's a cartoony album, but I'd say that makes it more enjoyable to me. I think the bouncy night time carnival sound is really accentuated by the percussion, just like how centipede hz gets that tropical multilegged feeling through Noah's playing. Ultimately, it's growing on me harder than I ever could have expected. How rewarding it is to be a super fan

[foxtrot]

Stan wrote:

Sleep Cycle

For me, this was the kernel of hope after five years of relative disappointments. This is the release which showed that the fire was still there, even if it was a very delayed snapshot of songs from years earlier. I didn't love much of what came between this and Music Box, but Eucalyptus and MOTW suggested a return to a certain spirit of their first decade as a band. I don't even like half of the record especially but Golden Chords and Good House are pretty much there with the upper tier of what Dave and Noah wrote last decade. I think it was also an incredibly important release for Josh's confidence and songwriting prominence. No Sleep Cycle, no Time Skiffs. I hope he enjoyed the reception. His songs are pretty much my favourites of this era, aside from Defeat and Passer-by. Anyway, some great songs and an important record in the chronology of AC.

Totally agree that it was a really important release for Deaks and his role in the band. I think AC has evolved into something more communal as a result of Josh's song writing. There is a real sense of the strength of their friendship/bond in the recent stuff that I think is largely due to Josh becoming a more prominent song writing/vocals contributor.

Funny that our favourites are the opposite considering our discussion about Greaper!

coral lord wrote:

2016-18 gave us Sleep Cycle, A Day With The Homies, Eucalyptus, Music Box, and MotW. What a run.

Then throw in the great PW tours, Sung Tongs, Tangerine Reef. Ridiculous variety in the sounds they came out with in a 3 year run.

I really think they've just never stopped being great. Sure CHz wasn't the life changing masterpiece that previous albums had been but its still great! And looking at your list above. I mean, fuck. It's a list of some other band's greatest albums. I'm still looking at every upcoming week on this schedule and getting super pumped because the great records just don't stop coming.

Btw, I just added Music Box to Week 9. Sticking to my rule that live releases count if they are almost entirely comprised of material that has not had a studio release.

madameghostly wrote:

doing something a little different this week. i know no one was making me do this, but forcing myself to write a paragraph or two right after every album may or may not have been burning me out a little, so i decided i was just gonna absorb the albums at my own pace over the course of the week and then share my thoughts when i was good and ready, and i have to say, i'm glad i made that decision now because these are some incredible albums

Definitely the way to go madame! I've been amazed at your ability to give so many albums a first listen AND manage to write down a bunch of thoughts. I'm so glad you've enjoyed this week. Hopefully the rest too. It's been great to have you on board. You offer a unique perspective as someone who is experiencing a larger number of these albums for the first time.

madameghostly wrote:

Enter the Slasher House: this might be my favorite Avey solo album so far. okay, i know i'm stretching the definition of "Avey solo album" there, but whatever, this album is awesome. the songs are catchy as hell - Little Fang is a certified bop, and if my brain isn't playing the chorus of it on repeat, it's playing "the outlaw is the future the future the future" or "[mumbling] young girl [mumbling] opa [mumbling] young boy [mumbling] oma" - and i either haven't noticed or am not bothered by the mixing problems everyone is talking about, because i really like the sound too. i will say i was expecting much more of a horror aesthetic with a band name like Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks, but it's more haunted house ride than haunted house, which isn't necessarily a bad thing imo

so uh... yeah. like i said, awesome album. do people really hate this album?

Not sure anyone hates it! I love it. It's like CHz era Avey but it doesn't take itself too seriously. Just a bunch of great tunes. Love your 'haunted house ride' idea. That works so well. I think the mixing probs mostly come out on headphones. Not sure how you've been listening. Even in the car though, I do wish Jeremey had been given a little more depth and volume so I could really smash out those air drums at the stop light.

madameghostly wrote:

Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper: i think this was the first AC-adjacent release i listened to when it first came out, so my opinion might be biased, but i still think this is a great album. Sequential Circuits is a great opener, Acid Wash is a pretty good closer, Mr Noah and Crosswords are really good singles, everything in between (except maybe the interludes that don't add anything) is solid, and even the b-sides that i didn't get to fully appreciate until this week are great (Jabberwocky holy shit). as much as i love the synthscapes of most of the rest of the album, my favorite track miiiight be Tropic of Cancer. i dunno, ask me again next week and i might give you a different answer

of course, i still haven't listened to any of the rehearsals or demos or whatever you wanna call them, so if anyone wants to yell at me to do that, now would be the perfect time

DO IT!!! I am a huge PBVGR supporter but those demos are still great fun and well worth your attention. All of his songs from this era are gold. I sometimes wish PBVGR was released as a double album. It'd be one of the all time greatest for me. Instead, I'll make do with my 'Panda Bear Meets The Full Reaper' playlist.

madameghostly wrote:

Sleep Cycle: alright, that's it. i've been fully deakpilled. this thing is a masterpiece. it makes me wonder exactly how much Josh has contributed to the unique and iconic sound of AC, because the more i think about it, the more i hear Feels and Strawberry Jam dna all over this album, and when you combine them with the parts that don't sound like any other AC song, it makes something gorgeous that i find myself coming back to again and again

i do wish it was longer, if nothing else. then again, i guess brevity is the soul of uhhh a really good album

I also love it but agree that it needed a couple more songs. He had plenty. I just try to view this album as therapy for Josh. One step at a time and I think this was a huge step and I'm so grateful for it.

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

Slasher House: loved it when it came out, but grew off me a little. There's something cartoony about it that keeps it from being a super serious listen to me, but it's still fun to go back and listen to.

I think that's precisely why I love it. I mean, it definitely doesn't have that kick you in the guts while blowing your mind mystical emotional quality of their 'golden era' but it is an absolute blast to listen to.

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

Greaper: when it freebirded in 2014, I was sure it'd be my AOTY 2015. I loved this thing so much at first. It dropped hard and I don't even know if I listened to it once in 2016 or 2017. Listening now, I enjoy Greaper for what it is. Sure, it could've been better. But his songwriting was definitely on point here, just wish the album didn't feel so synthetic and muted. Selfish Gene was definitely my biggest offender personally after going back and listening to the live versions/demos. But I really like almost every track, minus maybe Butcher Baker Candlestick Maker (which is okay) and Acid Wash (which is kinda abysmal). Tropic of Cancer definitely still gets me feeling.

Crosswords- love this EP so much, especially No Man's Land, the Preakness, and Cosplay.

The whole era is gold dammit!!

Slippi's Applesauce wrote:

Sleep Cycle- near perfection. Still remember how peaceful and calming this was at it arrived at a weird and hectic time in my life. So glad to still be able to listen to it today. Wasn't huge on Footy at first, but it's definitely grown on me.

Maybe because Footy is a long way from 'peaceful and calming'?! Maybe it increased the stress for you at the time. Anyway, great song. Agree with someone who said it would have been amazing on CHz. Imagine CHz maintaining the more minimal, raw, desert rock feel and including Footy, Honeycomb, Gotham and Crimson instead of the non-live inclusions..

scrambledgreggs wrote:

Sleep Cycle was a revelation. until then it was difficult to pinpoint all of the greatness that Deakin brought to the main band, but each of the four "songs" on Sleep Cycle brought the evidence of just how crucial he was in constructing the sound of each mainline studio album he participated in. Golden Chords is like an evolution from the lengthy acoustic structures of Campfire Songs, Just Am is like a Feels song with MPP production, Footy is noisy, chaotic and primitive like Arc (with SJ production) and Good House combines all of those into a droning epic that carries just as much emotional weight as the best of AC's material. agree with the sentiment that the album was a breath of fresh air after the post-ODDSAC downward trend, especially with the extra space in the mix and production, my only complaint is that I wish it were longer and had more of the jams he was playing live in 2010 since all of those were just as good if not better than those that made the album. still wonder if he's planning to do anything with those or if they're purely relics of the past at this point

Not much to add here scrambled, except that I 100% agree with everything you've said here.

Stan wrote:

Also Jabbawocky on that EP is not as good as the ATP demo version so you got that to look forward to. You know when you go to karaoke and the backing track is some non-copyright shit stain midi cover version? Welcome to studio Jabba.

I edited out a lot of hateful comments

You're killing me here Stan!

FEEL ON1NE!!! wrote:

My biggest problem with Grimmy reaper is how much of it on record sounds like background music. Even then I think the songs are awesome live since he plays stuff like Crosswords closer to it's ATP rendition then the two renditions he put out there. I think Come To Your Senses is fucking awesome though, on record. I love how downtrodden and melancholic it sounds. The album at worse can sound background-y but at best can reach the hypnotic dub-y image that i think he was going for. I honestly think Cosplay's textures fit that even tho Marijuana make my day is just better. Cosplay sounds awesome. Funnily enough I think this idea on Greaper was done a lot better on Sonic boom's all things being equal record, but i prefer panda';s voice. The sounds on Sonic boom's album are just too fucking future. That album is good and it's sweet to contextualize it as branching out from the Grim Reaper works.

I saw Tropic of cancer live and it was amazing. At the end of the song he let a bass tone rings and it rattled the entire venue. It came in waves over the crowd. It felt like I was in a big, windy, open field at night. The wonder of audio spaces

More mixed feelings about this album. I just don't hear it at all. To me it's not background-y at all. I find it to be gloriously technicolour and vivid.

bullseye wrote:

foxtrot wrote:

This week has been really interesting. I have to admit to being a little saddened by the extent of people’s indifference towards Greaper, an album I love dearly, but that aside it’s been fascinating to read people’s thoughts and experience solo efforts from all three of the band’s songwriters.

I feel the same, actually. I knew there was a lot of hate towards CHz, but I'm a bit surprised that so many people are disappointed about how the grim reaper and slasher house turned out. But what saddens me even more is the constant mentioning of a "downward trend" after ODDSAC, which I just do not see at all. But CHz is my favorite AC record, so wtf do I know

Yeh, its a bummer dude. CHz is certainly not my favourite but I still love it. I think the 'downward trend' thing is exaggerated. For me, Ark through the MPP was an unmatched run of 5 star, life changing albums. I guess they haven't given me one of those since (feeling very optimistic about TS though). That said, I have still loved so much of their output over the last 10 years or so. Great album after great album. Techincally a downturn because they went from 5 star albums to like 4 and 4.5 star albums. But really, no other all time favourite band of mine has consitently released such a wealth of fantastic material.

bullseye wrote:

Slasher House:
Awesome record from start to finish! As mentioned multiple times already, the drums could have been mixed more punchy and less muffled. The way the drums turned out, or actually how the whole record turned out, is that it kind of sounds like old 60s psych or garage rock records, where the drums are almost always way in the background and sound like shit, but that doesn't prevent the songs from being bangers. I do really like the production on slasher house and it fits the songs well in most cases. Angels bass synth parts are also a highlight for me, the bass lines provide all the nice little embellishments melodically and the filter sweeps are all delicately placed. mwah, chefs kiss! Duplex Trip is probably my favorite of the bunch. I don't even recall what the old live version sounded like.

I like the idea of hearing it like a 60s psych record. I'll keep that in mind next listen.

bullseye wrote:

Grim Reaper:
A lot of complaints I read about the squashed sound production on CHz actually apply even more so to GR for me. The songs are somehow very "digital", in an on/off kind of sense, almost no dynamic range. They sound like chicken nuggets. I still really love it, as well as all the EP songs. There are so many great songs Noah churned out, that it is an almost impossible task to pick the right ones in the proper order for a perfect track list. Having said that, the flow of the album is very awkward. I wish panda had stuck to some transitions he often did live, e.g. sequential circuits into crosswords, as well as kept some of the beat drops, e.g. in CTYS. The really nailed lonely wanderer, though. The only one I wouldn't be mad about not having been released would be acid wash. Swallow at the hollow is also very enjoyable for a bunch of throwaway instrumentals. Highlight of the era: Cheap Treat!

Like I mentioned earlier, this era for PB deserved a double album. Might have helped with finding a more effective sequence too.

bullseye wrote:

Sleep Cycle:
It's a good record, but I rarely get the urge to listen to it, aside from golden chords, which is really incredible. Just am and good house are also great but the two transition tracks are pretty forgettable. Is there a reason why none of the harpy versions was included on the album? They are both awesome and the album is short enough to include at least one of them.

I'd love to pick Josh's brain about all this. He had so many songs and sounds from the Mali trip. I guess he just struggled to make something out of it all that he felt good about. I love what we got on Sleep Cycle but it always feels so slight.

Fovrodi wrote:

That It Won't Grow scratches a similar itch to FRG for me, love it

FRG? Fireworks/Rev Green?

wilandhugs wrote:

I've been slasher pilled after a few listens... definitely suffered a bit from my previous listens begin on headphones because this thing rips so much harder on speakers, especially pretty damn loud. Every instrument is just nervously weaving around the vocals, it's pretty incredible in an 'ungrounded' way, like a dangling roller coaster to MPP(or just most of their other albums) regular old box car experience. In some regard you really feel the wind blowing through how powerful every song is. The way you're being jerked around really emulates that old wooden ride feeling specifically, and I totally agree that it's a cartoony album, but I'd say that makes it more enjoyable to me. I think the bouncy night time carnival sound is really accentuated by the percussion, just like how centipede hz gets that tropical multilegged feeling through Noah's playing. Ultimately, it's growing on me harder than I ever could have expected. How rewarding it is to be a super fan

Fucking love your analogy here! The old wooden roller coaster feeling is perfect! This combined with madame's 'haunted house ride'.


Just a quick final note to say thank you. I am getting so much joy out of this thread and this listening schedule thing. It has absolutely made my summer. Thanks for engaging with it team.

[Fovrodi]

For Reverend Green not Fireworks

[foxtrot]

ah right duh *face palm*

[madameghostly]

foxtrot wrote:

Just a quick final note to say thank you. I am getting so much joy out of this thread and this listening schedule thing. It has absolutely made my summer. Thanks for engaging with it team.

<3

also i listened to ATP rehearsal v6. yeah, there were some versions that i felt were better than what made it onto the album (officially stating that my favorite PBVSGR-era track today is Nadir v6, and yeah, Stan, i guess this version of Jabberwocky is better), but there were also some versions i could take or leave (Principe Real sounds so empty), plus the sequencing is kinda... eh? though i guess the same could be said about the final product. overall, though, i'm glad i gave this a listen, and i can definitely see how someone would prefer this to what we got in the end

[Stan]

Congratulations, your account has now been approved and other members will be able to see your posts.

[dio]

lol.

I just want to say-- directed to Stan specifically-- I think studio Jabba (and NML and even that unreleased Lisbon Zoo) are just peachy. Lovely actually. Dare I say incredible?

Does this mean my ears/mind are broken? Hm, perhaps.... If so , then so be it.

Also CHZ is their best songwriting and PW is as good as Ark. So umm... just think about that

[bullseye]

dio wrote:

lol.

I just want to say-- directed to Stan specifically-- I think studio Jabba (and NML and even that unreleased Lisbon Zoo) are just peachy. Lovely actually. Dare I say incredible?

Does this mean my ears/mind are broken? Hm, perhaps.... If so , then so be it.

Also CHZ is their best songwriting and PW is as good as Ark. So umm... just think about that

I agree with you on everything except studio jabba. Although I like all the swirling synths, noises and arps that were added, but the drum beat sounds like all the energy was completely drained from it. Lisbon Zoo turned out incredible though.

[Stan]

I agree that they're incredible so it's good to find some common ground.

I'll put the rest in a spoiler for space reasons.

Spoiler: show

The CHz and PW comments I would assume are a joke but I didn't really understand what you were saying about their earlier records recently and not listening to them. In comparing PW with Ark, I really don't know what to say. I could bland it out and say cool I appreciate one era you don't especially and vice versa, but I don't believe it's a simple as preference. I don't believe that some music is necessarily objectively better but nor do I think that pure individual subjectivity is all that matters.

I may prefer mince and potatoes to fuckin confit rabbit, turnip three ways and a Chinese five-spice sorbet or whatever, but that's also representative of a lack of appreciation and imagination and daring on my part. For total clarity, I'm not saying you're the mince and potatoes guy, I'm just making the point that I don't think preference is the only metric to 'judge' their music - or anything.

When it comes down to it, in fact, my opinion is the well-worn groove, the 'critical consensus', the P4K-approved perspective - there's absolutely nothing contrarian or interesting about my preference. But at the same time, I think they used to be a far far more interesting, wild, exciting, emotional, challenging and inspiring band.

I think a good chunk of the last decade has involved uninspired missteps, forced departures, unsatisfying decisions and less successful experiments. In the first decade, pretty much everything landed despite being far less conventional and without precedent. Without being too brutal, a big part of why this forum is much less busy than it once was is because their music is not as exciting as it was.

The Music Box/Skiffs era is a return to some of the feelings of old but I find the chat about their maturity and evolution to be quite laughable, to be honest. It feels like some fans are desperate for everything they do to be better than ever or a 'next step!' but they're playing pretty conventional mildly psychedelic rock which is more derivative and familiar than anything they've ever done before.

The chat about the muscularity and fullness of Dave on bass is funny to me. It sounds simply like a guy who doesn't really play the bass playing simple bass accompaniment. There's nothing wrong with it, but there's absolutely nothing special about it, either. This is not their 'final form', it's not even progress, they're retreating to familiar comforts. I don't begrudge them that choice and it does feel like they're in a strong place in terms of the songwriting and unity of vision, it's just not mind blowing to me.

And as ever, as has frequently been the case since before MPP, their songs become more diluted and less impactful over time by the point that they record. I'm really looking forward to the album but I've also prepared myself to accept that my favourite songs will likely be improved or watered down in some way. I respect their chat that the songs evolve and the recording is only a snapshot but I feel like that's also a cop out. Again with the cooking, there's an optimum time to roast a side of lamb and let it rest. If you render the fat, cook it to a perfect mid-rare and then finish it in the fucking microwave, you've fucked it. That's not a snapshot of a moment in the cooking process.

That's pretty much how I feel about everything. I am looking forward to it.

I'll also say I'm lucky that people here know how to take me and I really love reading everyone's perspectives, even if mine may be different. I really am so fond of this place and in some ways I'm more myself here than anywhere else online (believe it or not, this isn't a persona) but that's maybe for better and worse I suppose. I am really passionate about the band and their music and music/art in general, like basically everyone here and that's what I love about this community.

[destiny]

I think defeat is better than literally any song they've ever done. But I was never apart of the they fell off crowd. I just think they got a little to into concepts about the music. Live band wise, they kill it everytime, which makes sense because at the end of the day this is a live band. sometimes, and pardon me if this sounds like bullshit, but their musical "ethos" can feel confined and constricted in the context of a studio recording. It was just less noticeable on their first decade records because those songs were that good. They fucked the shit out of Daffy duck and that songs still pretty dope. Ultimately it went from very patient hold and release tune live to... hold... hold... hold... and then it ends with no climax no favorite colors. And its still sick becuz you can listen in more on the textures of the guitars and shit.

The reality is these guys just fucking own at writing melodies. I say this ad infinitum but A band would make a deal with the devil to write a melody like Water curses. And it doesn't feel like theyre going through the motions quite yet. I can totally agree that they aren't breaking any new ground for them (except for defeat 1 & 3) but i dont think they ever intentionally try to, seems like they just go to the almost polar opposite of what they did previously in their work. You could def argue that's where the beauty was of their older stuff and it would be a good read. But from Chz loud crowded garage rock, to painting with reverbless brisk pop songs, to a more psychedelic-y rock type joint w Skiffs. What im tryna say is the pendulum swings back and forth. Love riding this wave w yall. Also Stanley the less forum activity part I feel has more pragmatic reasoning in the rise of social media and the waning of forum popularity and the registration being down for a bit whilst the spam bots fucked up the forum, which is another reason for the downfall of a lot of forums (spam bots going looney). Great post though with a lot to think about. I don't mean to speak directly in opposition I just love typing shit about this band.

Panda def smokes too much hash in the studio and goes a little cuckoo with it. But when he's 60 years old and he fucks up a song w the title of like "Tip of the Iceberg" by adding too many AI generated dolphin noises ill gladly complain about it on the internet.

[foxtrot]

Stan - appreciate your honesty and enjoy reading your perspective always. Often don't agree but it'd be pretty dull if this place was just an echo chamber the whole time.


Time for:

WEEK 8: Jan 14 – Jan 20
Painting With, The Painters, Gnip Gnop/Hounds, Eucalyptus, Meeting of the Waters

I kicked things off by listening to the KCRW performance. For anyone who isn't sold on PW, this is a fantastic way to get into the album.

Very clear split this week between the goofy hyper-pop of the PW era and the sprawling acoustic sounds of Avey's output.

[Cooper]

Agree that the heart of this band is great melody. When you’ve got a golden egg (good melody) it’s not guaranteed that a beautiful child will hatch

[scrambledgreggs]

when I mentioned a downward trend after ODDSAC, I should've said something more like "slight dip in quality" because PW is right back up there as a top-tier album for me (as is pretty much everything after, solo and otherwise, except maybe Cows and Crestone). also the "dip" definitely does not apply to live sets, which have been consistently great throughout their entire career and this past decade was no exception

[destiny]

Wtf is wrong with Deakin. Never releasing Elastik. Come onnnnnnn

[dio]

Oh yeah Stan the PW and Chz comments were not particularly funny attempts 2 get yr goat but appreciate the response.

I want to quickly re-clarify: because of this thread and also maybe other unknown phenomena I have recently returned to the first 5 albums for the first time in a long time and its been awesome and I have a newly updated and more wholistic take on the band, disentangled from my nostalgia or like almost fear of nostalgia or something.

Basically this amounts to me re-remembering that Spirit is perfect, Ark is huge and gorgeous, ST is as solid as ever, and early live Feels is stunning. So ya, I'm like. a real AC fan again and not just a post-MPP noob that I like became again AFTER taking in the whole discography in HS and then like sort of unconsciously deciding to NOT spin LP1-4 anymore for some reason.

But I also still fully like the '10s shit, across the board. So like. I'm the best fan. I like all of it, no discernment from me that isn't naively positive. Therefore I still can't be trusted.

[LeadHat]

fond memories of PW cause that's around the time i joined the forum and got REAALLYY into AC. still really like the album too. lotta people share the sentiment that this material shines live. pandas hocketing gimmick seems to be one of the more polarizing aspects of this era but I'm into! only song from this era that I don't ever really find myself listening to is hounds. dunno. love the Jimmy mack cover too, so fun! And god damn the live debut of alvin row!!! imo one of the hypest things they did, real nod to the fans

meeting of the waters is a very patient lil EP and ofc man of oil is almost instant classic status... I do like the other tracks too, avey and geo make a great lil duo. stripped back AC always a treat

as for eucalyptus... I remember liking it when it came out but it didn't click as quickly with me right away because I was obsessed with the mothlight material and was kinda sad it wasn't that.... revisited a lot in 2020 and fell in love. very soothing album to get lost in. one thing is appreciate about aveys heartbreak songs is that they're never bitter or resentful, when you left me is such a sweet song, particularly adore the 2017 live performances the most. Those boots from this era were so good. sleeper hit track from eucalyptus for me is boat race, I love those plucky guitars. shout out to the puzzle rollout too that was a cool as hell way to announce an album

but yeah over all I really like this era looking back at it !!! Solid material overall

[fernforested]

I lived in Mexico when PW era began — I was so alone and I was able to find so much love in life in these songs. Y’all remember the amazon samples? I still remember the feeling at being so amazed at the first 15 seconds or so of On Delay — man that Amazon Samples clip still plays so good. Anyway this album rocks — and the live shows for these where insane, even if I got too drunk to remember the one i went to in Houston. AC really is the best band of all time.

[dio]

I was in Philly when the album dropped so I got to see the very first night of PW tour, and then the next two in Jersey and NYC. So I was at ground zero of the 1st liveAlvin Row and the return of Daily Routine and techno Beez/Loch Raven.... was incredibly hype and lovely

But as for the album, I loved it and still love it. The docketing and knowing how to feel about it was a bit of a puzzle at first but I like how it creates this homogenous energy

There's a giddiness to this album that really hit me at the time and still can... like a kid gone mad in FAO Schwartz.

It's also beautiful that Sleep Cycle came out around the same time... it seemed to have everything PW departed from.

I spun Eucalyptus this past week and wow its great. So mature. Season High is kind of insane. I kind of want a full album of Season High? Sports in July seems to have a similar approach instrumentally and production wise I guess, but there's actually a lot of variety here. I don't know if I like Jackson 5 that much and Ms Secret I think could be a little shorter honestly, but I love to see Avey taking these shots and trying different things, especially instrumentally.

also MotW is wildly solid, Blue Noses rocks and Man of Oil is one of their best tracks of the decade.

This era owns. Ive listened to a lot of this stuff pretty frequently in recent weeks but I might put some of it on since I have a long weekend and report back... I know we're technically supposed to be listening to these things before blabbing away, but much of this is so fresh.

[foxtrot]

Will get to a proper PW write up soon. In the meantime I'm going to pop in some thoughts I shared in the PW thread recently:

Painting With:

I often hear the complaint that this album lacks emotional resonance. Especially compared to the spine tingling, tear jerking rollercoaster of something like 'Feels'.

'Feels' is like a Caravaggio or Van Gogh self-portrait that just slaps you with emotion.

I see 'Painting With' more like a cubist painting. It challenges you to find feeling in it.

It presents shapes and colours in vivid detail. Aesthetically driven with sharp lines, displacement and abstraction of form etc. Then it asks you to construct something from the abstraction.

I hear 'Painting With' like a Kandinsky, Gleizes or Léger painting.

I also think a lot of the emotional impact of the album is this kind of disorienting, giddy joyous feeling. Joy: an emotion often disregarded or dismissed in 'serious' or 'arty' music. Tortured artist stereotypes, fine art pretension or whatever else... Fuck that. This album is fun and joyful and that is totally legitimate and fantastic.


First proper write up for me this week:

Meeting Of The Waters

I can’t imagine any fan of the band not being into the idea of Geologist playing around with field recordings and weird samples while Avey sits under 300 year old trees doing his acoustic strummy thing in the Amazon jungle. It’s dream AC material. Fan fiction made real.

Blue Noses is gorgeous. It captures the mystical and magical element of Dave’s sound that his ‘golden era’ songs had. Brian knocks it out of the park. I find all his sounds so captivating in this track. When Dave does the intense ‘wheeeeeeeiiiiiiiirrrrrr’ bit three quarters through it is so raw and expressive. It’s like an older, wiser Sung Tong. And then Brian gets a solo at the end!

Man Of Oil is one of those songs that could have been given a really bouncy full band treatment. It’s so hooky. How awesome then that Dave decided to keep it as this almost whispered, understates little acoustic number. Love the main loop thing and the rattling percussion that Geo provides at the start. And that ethereal female vocal sample throughout is drop dead gorgeous. The wordless part of the chorus has the raddest little melody. The lyrics are kind of sad but the tune is so beautiful.

Love the opening of Amazonawana/Anaconda. Totally transported to the Amazon jungle. Sitting with a local tribe. The various loops are all great here. The frisky cut and paste field recording vibe definitely shows the close link to Eucalyptus. I always imagine this one as being like their little travelogue - all these little moments they experienced. Essentially an interlude track but one that always holds my interest.

Selection is amazing. This version just pips the Eucalyptus one for me. Mostly because of the incredible ambience of the field recordings in the first section. The slightly quicker pace in the second part of the Eucalyptus version really elevates the beauty of that melody for me though. Maybe I can’t choose! The first part is so wet and buzzing. All those thick insect and animal noises are just so juicy and frame the song so well. Dave’s vocal performance is so tender here too. The ‘not thinking about’ melody is an absolute pearler. Brian shreds even harder on his second solo to close out the record. Rock on Brian. Dave’s final hummed vocals feel so cosy and are the perfect little ending to one of their best EPs.

[Stan]

The joy and playfulness is present in all of the their albums. I mean, their critically regarded 'best' albums, Feels, ST and MPP, are probably the most joyful and playful of all. Their strength is that the sweetness is contrasted by the richness and range of emotion and sounds. The issue with PW is not that it's playful and frivolous, it's that it has so little else.

[bullseye]

Painting With:
The hype was surreal at the time for me. A completely fresh AC album with all new songs seemed so radical. The fact that none of the songs have been played live before shines through on several levels on the album. No lengthy intro or outros, straight to the meaty core of the songs. The songs sound very sequenced and grid-based, almost mechanical and a little sterile, which does seem to make sense with the equipment they were using at the time.
Still, I love the album, but the live versions from the tours blow the studio versions out of the water. Live at the Ritz is just incredible and peak live AC for me. The whole stretch from Recyling > Daily Routine > Summing the Wretch > Natural Selection > Alvin Row is such a relentless, sweaty, dance party, I wish I had been there. Bringing Jeremy along on the tour was a great idea, his playing really rips, especially on the last bit of Lying in the Grass (which is such a mind-boggling song anyway).
I can imagine that PW is a huge turn-off for some people. Out of their whole discography, it probably has the highest potential to sound annoying and some songs do really border on being too goofy (e.g. gnip gnop). But maybe also because of the wacky COW effect noah slapped on almost every op-1 synth patch he used for the album.
From what I gathered, panda uses the op-1 to play most of the bass parts for the songs from the PW era. It's kind of interesting to see them switch the role of the bassist throughout the 2010s, geo on CHz, panda on PW and avey for the TS era.
I remember some interview about the demos the band sent to each other and that panda was completely confused after his first listen to the burglars demo, lol. Hopefully, these demos will pop up some day.

foxtrot wrote:

I can’t imagine any fan of the band not being into the idea of Geologist playing around with field recordings and weird samples while Avey sits under 300 year old trees doing his acoustic strummy thing in the Amazon jungle. It’s dream AC material. Fan fiction made real.

This! The concept behind MotW is great, as are the little documentary videos that were released at the time. It's really hard for me to detach the images I have of geo and avey in the forest and on the boats and whatnot from the music, whenever I listen to the EP. When PW was released, it was right up my alley with the energy level and sensory overload, but MotW is basically the polar opposite to it. It is such a soothing little piece of music. As with Sleep Clycle, my only complaint with it, is that I wish it were longer.
Man of Oil is really addictive. When the melody hooks into your brain, it's almost impossible to get rid of it again. When it released and I showed it to my girlfriend she couldn't stop humming the chorus melody.
But I really got to give props to geo for what he does on MotW. He knocks it out of the park with his modular synth on every song and what he plays sounds so otherworldly, yet very natural. PW had lots of electronic and rhythmic loops from the modular synths. Again, MotW is the exact opposite in this regard. I just wanted to mention how fascinated I am by these two opposite approaches. However, he could be using completely different modules in his modular rack for either album, so it might not even be the same instrument, strictly speaking.

foxtrot wrote:

Just a quick final note to say thank you. I am getting so much joy out of this thread and this listening schedule thing. It has absolutely made my summer. Thanks for engaging with it team.

Back to you, thank you for the ride with this thread!

[foxtrot]

Painting With:

Alright, if I’m allowed to cheekily call Stan our resident killjoy then I’m happy to be labelled the resident Pollyanna. I mean, celebrating the band’s discography is the whole reason this thread exists. Yes, I will admit that the post MPP output doesn’t quite reach the same impossible heights but that doesn’t change the fact that it is all still consistently fantastic music. Painting With is so much fun to listen to. It hasn’t ‘changed my life’ or catalysed any profound moments for me but it has always brought a smile to my face and delivered a highly entertaining listening experience.

I love how the opening drums of FloriDada reference Grass but then the song immediately takes off in a totally different direction. Leading us into a new era. Maybe it’s goofy Dad pop but… I’m literally a goofy Dad. Not surprisingly, this album and its cartoonish hyper-pop energy is the one my kids enjoy the most.

Painting With is packed with so many fantastic details that add to the fun. Listen to all the little mechanical sounds that pop in and out of the second verse of FloriDada. Much like MPP, it’s so much fun to listen to this record and focus solely on all the background sounds. So much radness to discover.

Hocus Pocus is underrated. It’s the coolest little piece of Flintstones Pop I’ve heard. One of my favourite hocketing passages in the first verse then the second verse just washes it straight down the plug hole. I actually laughed out loud the first time I heard it. It just came out of left field and got me! Another one with so many cool awesome background sounds. I love the synths in the chorus so much.

Vertical - that beat is sick. So cool the way Dave’s normal voice peeks through in that manipulated intro bit. This song just grooves. Totally evocative of bare feet on hot concrete in summer. The autoharp type sounds that pop up right at the end are a treat.

Lying In The Grass does this clever shift from feeling a little more intense than the previous tracks to totally lightening up as soon as the piano keyboard (and then the horns) come in. By the time the ‘get mixed in this crippling fixture’ section hits it’s all sunbeams breaking through the clouds. Love this song’s energetic bounce. All the horns/wind instrument bits float around this central groove so sweetly.

The Burglars is just Avey showing off. “Struggling to right a decent hook? How about I just fast forward through 27 killer melodies in 2 and a half minutes! It’s easy!” Great track. Just a blast.

Natural Selection is like Panda’s response. Maintaining the high energy of this section of the album. The chorus here rips hard. Great use of the rapid fire hocketing. It totally propels this thing at maximum velocity. Psychedelic electro-pop in hyper speed.

Bagels brings things back down. Love the brief swirling ambience at the start. The high synth part is a sparkling gem. The middle ‘mmm, do do do do’ section is so fucking golden and delicious. Musical honey.

I’m pretty sure that even people who don’t love this album still appreciate On Delay. The opening vocal harmonies are perfect. The pace is lively, there is a great sense of space in the mix. Avey and Panda doing a Taste style two songs in one type thing. Singing totally different parts that just fit together so perfectly. Love all the crazy synth stuff that kicks around during the ‘and it was nice’ section. Then that sweet piano sample. Blissful. The rhythms in the background during the end part are wild. Also love the miniaturised second half of Daily Routine style outro.

Spilling Guts is short and fun. A nice deep cut that doubles down on the album’s major motifs. Not a highlight but good fun. I particularly enjoy the last 20 seconds.

Summing the Wretch is probably the most technically impressive hocketing tune. Wonderfully mind bending trying to latch onto it. I really enjoy the way all the other sounds jockey for position in the background. So many radical little snippets popping up everywhere.

Golden Gal is the ‘straight’ pop tune. That beat is solid and the melody is so well crafted. Again heaps of background details to revel in. Also love picturing Geo singing the ‘where you at’ part throughout. Don’t get many chances to focus on a Geo vocal! This song’s retro homage vibe reminds me of Little Fang. Similarly great little tune.

Recycling makes perfect sense as the closer. It recaps many of the album’s key strengths: hocketing/shared vocals, a big central beat, layers of frisky synths - voila!

Painting With delivers joy and playfulness in spades. It’s lively and brisk yet nuanced and detailed at the same time. There is so much sonic candy to indulge in.

It may not aim for the same complex tapestry of emotions that some of the band’s previous work had done but I think it totally delivers in its directness.

[coral lord]

foxtrot wrote:

Love the main loop thing and the rattling percussion that Geo provides at the start.

dumb nitpick but i think it's dave doing that percussion! iirc he had some kind of shaker on his knee

[Dudders]

I came to AnCo from my love of the Beach Boys and Painting With was the first album rollout I got to experience as a fan. So as you might imagine, FloriDada was exactly what I wanted out of the 'straight-to-the-point' pop that they were promising with this one. Maddeningly catchy melodies, Panda harmonies, just an intense sugar rush from a bunch of goofy motherfuckers. I still think it's kind of a masterpiece and also a very obvious pisstake of those constant Beach Boys comparisons (since it basically amounts to a psychedelic 'Surfin' USA' with the name-checking taken beyond the border), and it definitely stands apart in my mind from the rest of the album, which (I hate to say) disappointed me quite a bit when it eventually arrived.

Listening to it in full again for the first time in ages, it's a bit less constrained production-wise than I remember it being - that wordless melody in the middle of Bagels isn't just effortlessly lovely, they also managed to make it sound so massive and euphoric. But overall the meat and potatoes of the album, the belch of the OP-1 and those wispy vocals, are unattractive sounds to keep coming back to. The album only really loses me when we're fully in that zone (Natural Selection, which sounds pretty boxed-in and dull) and sounds better the further outward it veers.

Mixed-to-positive feelings about the singing on this album... Panda's note-perfect 'studio' voice is a blessing for Avey's songs, which he's pretty much uniformly perfect backing up, and a curse for his own songs where he takes the lead. It's just too detached to really sell the giddiness and I suppose all the hocketing was a self-conscious attempt to go beyond the limits of his own voice in this environment. By contrast Avey is absolutely stellar throughout and dizzyingly fast on stuff like FloriDada and Burglars. And the vocal arrangements on some of his songs - Vertical especially - are just flabbergastingly creative. Immense fun detecting all those pleasing little tucked-away melodies, or just attempting to sing along with Avey in the Panda songs (which I still can't do)

Favourite tracks are pretty unsurprising: FloriDada, Golden Gal, Recycling (no contest the best Panda song here)

Also, for some reason the other day I was getting unreasonably pissed that AC never wrote a song for Yo Gabba Gabba, then realised that for all intents and purposes that song is 'Gnip Gnop'

[wilandhugs]

I wish my schedule could line up to write more in depth reviews, but I must say that as a fellow pollyanna of this group I somewhat appreciate the negativity-- kind of interesting to see where super fans diverge, I guess.

Great writeup of PW as usual Foxtrot, I absolutely love PW and still can't believe people haven't found it to be just as strong as their other outputs-- your cubist analogy is strikingly accurate, and after a while I began to notice the magic that is so personal to these songs. They just bring me back to days of playing with legos and trying to figure out how the hell to beat super Mario sunshine as a 6 year old-- that sort of toy room nostalgia. Gnip Gnop personally hits this mode so hard, just total nostalgia games in the attic kind of feeling. Love this album so much. And not even to mention the live versions...

[scrambledgreggs]

PW may be polarizing in terms of whether or not you like the sound, but you have to admit they totally nailed what they were going for with it. bite-sized pop nuggets a la Ramones but filtered through the weirdo AC lens. they delivered that exactly. Pitchfork called it "AC the ride" but in my mind that's not a bad thing. they succeeded wildly in what they set out to do, which is something I'm not sure we can say about CHz. that's why I think PW was a return to form for them

it's also curious that this was the album they decided to record in studio before touring any of the songs. in general their songs sound massive while they're working them out live, then comparatively constrained in the studio versions. it was cool to see this happen in reverse, and it probably explains why the songs sounded even tighter than usual without that chance to grow when tested out on tour

one last thing, is that it was really telling they chose to bring GFOTY as an opener for part of the first PW tour. they were clearly inspired by the hyperpop sound and very intentionally did their own take on it. some people with differing tastes who didn't like the decision to go that route may hear the more compacted songs as inferior to the stuff they prefer, but like with any of their other masterpieces it was an attempt at a particular aesthetic that they achieved with flying colors

[jfw7]

i was listening through PW and decided to evaluate as an album by "the painters" which afaicr they considered calling the band for the album. i feel like doing that opens it up so that even when the album fails, it feels kinda new + interesting instead of just "squandered effort" or whatever griping one could do otherwise. i do feel like nearly half of the songs are "bad" (even worse including EPs i think) but they're all so short and stylistically coherent, and not trying to make them all AC songs helps lighten the load imo.

but the live shows were AC all the way!!