Lets Actually Listen to the Album: Riot Act

[VinylGuy]

Help Help is good, i like the chorus.

[harmless]

Everything on Riot Act is good

My favourite thing about Lightning Bolt is how it fuses aspects of Riot Act with a more upbeat pop sound. Sometimes that's jarring (Infallible) and takes a while to sink in, but I get it now. I love that LB renders Riot Act as necessary as Backspacer.

[VinylGuy]

Everything on Riot Act is good

My favourite thing about Lightning Bolt is how it fuses aspects of Riot Act with a more upbeat pop sound. Sometimes that's jarring (Infallible) and takes a while to sink in, but I get it now. I love that LB renders Riot Act as necessary as Backspacer.

Yeah, the new one has a RA feel, but is better in my book. Specially Eddie´s vocal delivery.

[harmless]

The disillusioned, lethargic delivery on Riot Act is absolutely right for the material, though.

[VinylGuy]

The disillusioned, lethargic delivery on Riot Act is absolutely right for the material, though.

Maybe for some of the songs, but not for all of them...he sounds bored, not disillusioned in most of them.

[harmless]

The disillusioned, lethargic delivery on Riot Act is absolutely right for the material, though.

Maybe for some of the songs, but not for all of them...he sounds bored, not disillusioned in most of them.

Disillusionment and boredom go hand in hand, brother.

[VinylGuy]

The disillusioned, lethargic delivery on Riot Act is absolutely right for the material, though.

Maybe for some of the songs, but not for all of them...he sounds bored, not disillusioned in most of them.

Disillusionment and boredom go hand in hand, brother.

You think? I feel he nails it in All or none for example, and he fails in Get Right, Love Boat Captain, Cropduster or You Are.

[harmless]

The disillusioned, lethargic delivery on Riot Act is absolutely right for the material, though.

Maybe for some of the songs, but not for all of them...he sounds bored, not disillusioned in most of them.

Disillusionment and boredom go hand in hand, brother.

You think? I feel he nails it in All or none for example, and he fails in Get Right, Love Boat Captain, Cropduster or You Are.

Well, I can see why you'd say that. But I think that All or None is very overtly emotional: hopeless, depressed, searching. It's a passionate performance. There are other performances, though, which are more than reserved, even passionless, but to me that feels as "depressed" as the most passionate performance. It's like a numbness of emotion, a closedness. I find that very realistic. So LBC, for example, is doing a constant tug of war between the music and lyrics -- which want to be triumphant and, well, "Infallible" -- and Ed's performance, which seems held back by a hopelessness, grief, even a cynicism about what's being sung. The same goes for "Get Right", I think, a beautifully sarcastic piece that isn't a million miles away from a Backspacer song in construction, except that on this album, it's unable to sound completely sincere or "fun".

[stip]

The disillusioned, lethargic delivery on Riot Act is absolutely right for the material, though.

for some of it. Not for others. Or, if it makes sense as an aesthetic choice the song still suffers for it.

[stip]

you are and LBC are probably the two biggest offenders.

I also don't like the distorted vocals on help help, although I get why they are there.

The spoken word on bushleaguer is awful

[VinylGuy]

I love the spoken part in Bushleaguer but i would like to hear that other song they had for it.

[harmless]

I think the spoken word on Bushleaguer is perfect, and my opinion on the different vocal approaches (and why LBC doesn't suffer) is up there just above your post, stip. We can agree to disagree.

[stip]

that's a plausible read of LBC, for sure, and I think probably right for a song like 1/2 full, where I think that choice detracts from how much I'd enjoy the song, but makes sense for the song.

But I do think LBC still needs to lift higher than it does (You are, as well). The breakthrough moments in LBC don't feel enough like a breakthrough

I really dislike that spoken word bit. It turns the whole thing into a petulant diatribe masquerading under an equally off putting faux worldly cynicism.

[harmless]

that's a plausible read of LBC, for sure, and I think probably right for a song like 1/2 full, where I think that choice detracts from how much I'd enjoy the song, but makes sense for the song.

But I do think LBC still needs to lift higher than it does (You are, as well). The breakthrough moments in LBC don't feel enough like a breakthrough

I really dislike that spoken word bit. It turns the whole thing into a petulant diatribe masquerading under an equally off putting faux worldly cynicism.

Yeah, I guess I'm into that kind of thing. Political satire should be full of all that, imo.

But interesting you mention You Are. It always frustrated me not that the song itself didn't go anywhere, but that the drums didn't. But I've just got used to that over the years, in the same way that I've got used to the fact that the chorus of Infallible doesn't exactly do what I want either.

[stip]

that's a plausible read of LBC, for sure, and I think probably right for a song like 1/2 full, where I think that choice detracts from how much I'd enjoy the song, but makes sense for the song.

But I do think LBC still needs to lift higher than it does (You are, as well). The breakthrough moments in LBC don't feel enough like a breakthrough

I really dislike that spoken word bit. It turns the whole thing into a petulant diatribe masquerading under an equally off putting faux worldly cynicism.

Yeah, I guess I'm into that kind of thing. Political satire should be full of all that, imo.

But interesting you mention You Are. It always frustrated me not that the song itself didn't go anywhere, but that the drums didn't. But I've just got used to that over the years, in the same way that I've got used to the fact that the chorus of Infallible doesn't exactly do what I want either.

You are creates a mood, and is brimming with anticipation, but that is a song that demands a payoff, and it doesn't get it.

[harmless]

that's a plausible read of LBC, for sure, and I think probably right for a song like 1/2 full, where I think that choice detracts from how much I'd enjoy the song, but makes sense for the song.

But I do think LBC still needs to lift higher than it does (You are, as well). The breakthrough moments in LBC don't feel enough like a breakthrough

I really dislike that spoken word bit. It turns the whole thing into a petulant diatribe masquerading under an equally off putting faux worldly cynicism.

Yeah, I guess I'm into that kind of thing. Political satire should be full of all that, imo.

But interesting you mention You Are. It always frustrated me not that the song itself didn't go anywhere, but that the drums didn't. But I've just got used to that over the years, in the same way that I've got used to the fact that the chorus of Infallible doesn't exactly do what I want either.

You are creates a mood, and is brimming with anticipation, but that is a song that demands a payoff, and it doesn't get it.

But that's the thing: I don't think it demands a payoff on this particular album. All of these songs are tentative, held back, strangled, due to the overall themes. If "You Are" lifted off into the stratosphere, then it would be antithetical to the rest of the album. "Infallible" is basically "You Are" with the silencer taken off, and in the context of LB, a far more emotionally open and heart-on-sleeve album.

[stip]

okay, fair point, but you end up with a song that (for me) even if it's intentionally crafted that way, becomes less enjoyable to listen to. That's LBC, Thumbing My Way, 1/2 Full. All or None, Help Help, You Are. Too many songs on that album where I understand why the choice was made but don't want to listen to it.

[stip]

I mean, to a point. I enjoyed my overall listen. This is a comparative complaint

[harmless]

Fair do's. I'm in a similar position regarding LTRP and FD. Conceptually I can make any argument under the sun as to why they belong on the album, and in the arrangement that we have them. But I'm still just struggling to enjoy them. FD would be a lovely song if it weren't for those bookends; even though I do think they "make sense", it doesn't mean I want to sit through them all the time. Maybe FD has something in common with Foxymop in that way.

[stip]

Fair do's. I'm in a similar position regarding LTRP and FD. Conceptually I can make any argument under the sun as to why they belong on the album, and in the arrangement that we have them. But I'm still just struggling to enjoy them. FD would be a lovely song if it weren't for those bookends; even though I do think they "make sense", it doesn't mean I want to sit through them all the time. Maybe FD has something in common with Foxymop in that way.

just program your itunes to cut out those 8 seconds of music!