Newbie-Friendly Tuesday Weekly Rotation Thread -- What have you been spinning?

[BarryL]

Been listening to, finally, Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. Not a bad album. But how these Lips not hear the god-awful compression distortion that I hear when I listen to this album. It's particularly bad on tracks 2 and 5. The Soft Bullet was the same. They must do it on purpose. It sounds like crap, and ruins what could have been a much better listen.

I also have been listening to a metal prog 2 CD concept called The Once And Future King, by some guy named Gary Hughes from a metal band called Ten. I've never heard Ten, but this rock opera also features Lana Lane and DC Cooper, ex-Royal Hunt. If you like Royal Hunt, then you'll probably like this. Very sonic and melodic prog metal stuff. No new ground broken here. Disk one is better than disk two, IMO.

[Troy]

Been listening to, finally, Flaming Lips Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots. Not a bad album. But how these Lips not hear the god-awful compression distortion that I hear when I listen to this album. It's particularly bad on tracks 2 and 5. The Soft Bullet was the same. They must do it on purpose. It sounds like crap, and ruins what could have been a much better listen.

YESSSS! Thanks for pointing this out. I've always felt that this fact has been ignored when I read comments about this band and album. It IS done for stylistic purposes (Ohhhhh, how gritty and edgy!) and while maybe it sounds ok on your cheesy computer spks or a boom box, at volume on a good system, it sounds like crap, like a mistake.

[-Jar-]

YESSSS! Thanks for pointing this out. I've always felt that this fact has been ignored when I read comments about this band and album. It IS done for stylistic purposes (Ohhhhh, how gritty and edgy!) and while maybe it sounds ok on your cheesy computer spks or a boom box, at volume on a good system, it sounds like crap, like a mistake.

Dave Fridmann's productions do tend to lean towards the bombastic, to the point of really removing a lot of the dynamic content from the music. Though I probably haven't heard enough of his recent work to know for sure, I do know that the sound of Mogwai's ROCK ACTION is just really pegged.. Though, for some reason, the recent Mercury Rev albums that he's done do seem to fare better than the Flaming Lips albums. I'd like to see the Lips take to the studio with an orchestra and lay down some decent tunes without all the studio gadgetry.. it's been pretty cool up to now, but I think it's starting to wear thin.. and it's probably why I haven't warmed to YOSHIMI that much yet. For the Lips, the Studio has always been another instrument, and it's a valid technique, I'd just to hear them make something a little more human.. And speaking of Mercury Rev, I wonder what they're up to?

-jar

[Grblgrbl]

Some recent heavy rotation cd's:

Semisonic: All About Chemistry, Great Divide - awesome, hook-laden power pop

Soundtrack of our Lives: Behind the Music - great, sometimes trippy neo-psychedelic stuff

Inner Visions: Street Corner Musicians - glorious reggae from the beautiful island of St. John

Morgan Heritage: More Teaching - more great reggae

Luciano - Serve Jah - even more great reggae

Fastball: Harsh Light of Day

Jayhawks: Rainy Day Music - probably my favorite 2003 release

[Troy]

Dave Fridmann's productions do tend to lean towards the bombastic, to the point of really removing a lot of the dynamic content from the music. Though I probably haven't heard enough of his recent work to know for sure, I do know that the sound of Mogwai's ROCK ACTION is just really pegged.. Though, for some reason, the recent Mercury Rev albums that he's done do seem to fare better than the Flaming Lips albums. I'd like to see the Lips take to the studio with an orchestra and lay down some decent tunes without all the studio gadgetry.. it's been pretty cool up to now, but I think it's starting to wear thin.. and it's probably why I haven't warmed to YOSHIMI that much yet. For the Lips, the Studio has always been another instrument, and it's a valid technique, I'd just to hear them make something a little more human.. And speaking of Mercury Rev, I wonder what they're up to?

-jar

I don't know that Barry and I are talking about "bombastic" really. Remember, you're talking to a couple of dyed in-the-wool prog-heads. Bombastic is one of progs stocks-in-trade. There's nothing wrong with using the studio as another instrument- Spector, Brian Wilson, Alan Parsons and George Martin are a few that did that, but they all kept far away from distortion caused by computer compression like what is in style these days.

It's about the distortion, not the density. In the same way that cheesy synth drums in the early 80s dates the music from that time (in a bad way), this intentional distortion is going to date today's music.

I dislike rockbands paired with orchestras. I sincerely hope that the Lips DON'T do this. Just record the albums without all the clipping.

[Davey.]

Dave Fridmann's productions do tend to lean towards the bombastic, to the point of really removing a lot of the dynamic content from the music.

Yeah, Fridmann has definitely gone way too far in recent years with the compression. I think it can be traced back to the time of Soft Bulletin because I don't think Deserter's Songs was pumped up nearly so high, alhough I don't know who was in the drivers seat on that one. But by 1999 the pop world was totally into the "make it as loud as you can when you record it and then make it even louder when you master it and who gives a fuck if it sounds like shit" mentality. I have to assume he is at least partly to blame because the same traits are evident on the last two Wheat albums, the last two Flaming Lips albums and the last Mercury Rev album. It is too bad though because some of those releases have a lot of underlying fidelity that is somewhat ruined by the compression distortion. Doesn't seem like there is any end in sight to the madness since it has gone way beyond just the majors now and is fully entrenched in the practices of many indie artists and producers as well.

[BarryL]

Yeah, Fridmann has definitely gone way too far in recent years with the compression. Doesn't seem like there is any end in sight to the madness since it has gone way beyond just the majors now and is fully entrenched in the practices of many indie artists and producers as well.

Maybe when they release the 20th Anniversary edition they'll decide to remix it to fit with the times. I still find it interesting that Alan Parsons had the balls to do it to Tales of Mystery And Imagination when it was released on CD. He remixed to bring out the electric guitar parts. Good for him.

[Troy]

Maybe when they release the 20th Anniversary edition they'll decide to remix it to fit with the times. I still find it interesting that Alan Parsons had the balls to do it to Tales of Mystery And Imagination when it was released on CD. He remixed to bring out the electric guitar parts. Good for him.

Yeah, the "Tales"CD does sound really good.

[BarryL]

Yeah, the "Tales"CD does sound really good.

Have yourself a bombastic Christmas, my friend.

And remember, no drinking and driving this year.

And, I have to ask, so pardon me, are you sure you're not a Hare Krishna?