Red Mosquito

Kevin Davis wrote:Now that this has been out for a while, what is your most improved Gigaton track, and conversely which one has fallen the farthest?

most improved: "Who Ever Said" - when I first heard it, I felt a little deflated that it wasn't a new "Last Exit" snarling out of the gate; the guitars weren't aggressive enough, the "gave up on satisfaction" part sounded too much like "life wasted!" and "world wide suicide!", shouty bits that always felt a little bit dad rock to me; I thought that synthesized guitar melody part was just a synth that was intrusive in a BoB "hey this is good but what if we put ME on it?" way (I only started to feel better about it after finding out it was a guitar effect, not a pointless keyboard tune); and I thought the extremely long bridge part was sheer awesomeness from the get-go, but I was tired of songs where I loved the bridge, but wasn't excited about anything around it; but, more listens, louder listens, to allow the parts that I thought were hokey to blend in with the parts I thought were great, I can say that the whole thing rocks now, and the hokey parts are only as hokey as... something like "Breakerfall", which also rocks, overall

farthest fallen: I don't think any of these songs have fallen, genuinely, but I guess one or two have lost their "newness" and shine... I'm going to say "Quick Escape"; truthfully, I really like it, the performances are all good, and Matt sounds funky for the first time since... never, but I think for a aong about a blast off to Mars, it's curiously... static? what if it took "Who Ever Said"s exploratory spirit and stuck a weird bridge in the middle? or something... I mean, I think it's all based on like two four-chord phrases

mikejasond wrote:Album Flaws:
Deestahnce
HEEEE-EEEEE
Hever
Hending

Damnit mjd. Deestahnce is one of my favorite things every time I hear it.

as an English girl, I hear "deestance" when a lot of Americans sing "distance", but maybe I'm wrong?

we were so lucky to get this album, dang

Ms Harmless wrote:we were so lucky to get this album, dang

Ms Harmless wrote:we were so lucky to get this album, dang

Ms Harmless wrote:we were so lucky to get this album, dang

Agreed. Listened to it straight through yesterday for the first time in maybe 2 weeks. Still really digging it.

Kevin Davis wrote:Now that this has been out for a while, what is your most improved Gigaton track, and conversely which one has fallen the farthest?

"Superblood Wolfmoon" has undoubtedly been the biggest grower. I actively disliked this when it first came out, thought it sounded like a mid-tier LB track, which is to say one of the bottom 10-15 songs in their catalog. I love it now though -- probably one of my top 4-5 on the album. Just one of those songs that takes a while to make clear what it's trying to do, but once you work it out, it's a blast. I like everything about it.

"Seven O'Clock" has fallen the farthest for me. I listened to the album while mowing the lawn the other night and while I still loved the less verbose parts, I found myself recoiling at some of the wordier passages. All that stuff about summer speaking to winter, killing your despondency, etc., is a little new-age-self-help-y for my tastes. I still like the song, and enjoy the contrast between those parts and the more melancholic passages in-between and at the end, but those sections jumped out at me unfavorably in a way they hadn't before.

Actually, for me I think it's the same exact as you. I was meh on SBWM when it came out with a single but it has grown on me A LOT.

I loved 7:00 as maybe my second favorite track initially but it's been passed by at least Quick Escape, Comes Then Goes & Who Ever Said.

The only song that's fallen at all for me is Take The Long Way. I still dig it but it's settled into a solid mid-tier track.

Buckle Up has risen the most. I think it's a great song, I just don't like it's placement on the album.

Love this album.

Who Ever Said is my biggest riser, followed maybe by Retrograde. I initially heard Retrograde as an adult contemporary leftover from Lightning Bolt, but it's revealed itself to be a lot more than that.

Fallen the most? I don't think any of them have "fallen" for me. Quick Escape maybe doesn't seem so far ahead of the pack at this point, but that's mostly because the less obvious tunes have all revealed their subtle charms over the past month.

I can't help being frustrated still at the guitars and bass on TTLW being a bit buried in the mix; I like it a fair bit, but I wish I could wack up that dial on the mixing desk and rock out harder

Ms Harmless wrote:I can't help being frustrated still at the guitars and bass on TTLW being a bit buried in the mix; I like it a fair bit, but I wish I could wack up that dial on the mixing desk and rock out harder

Yeah, the lack of bass in this is odd and takes the song down a notch for me.

Wasn't someone here supposed to attempt to add a bassline in as a fun experiment?

EJ wrote:

Ms Harmless wrote:I can't help being frustrated still at the guitars and bass on TTLW being a bit buried in the mix; I like it a fair bit, but I wish I could wack up that dial on the mixing desk and rock out harder

Yeah, the lack of bass in this is odd and takes the song down a notch for me.

Wasn't someone here supposed to attempt to add a bassline in as a fun experiment?

I vote we get DeeDee to do it!

listening to this one right now.

JESUS WHO EVER SAID IS MELTING MY FACE

One bad ear and one eye blind
It takes a village but don't take mine
Living forward in a backwards town
I feed 'em drinks just to watch 'em drown
Swallow my pencil and bleed out my pen
Surrender the wish we'll be together again
But I won't give up
No I won't give up on satisfaction, satisfaction


Impossible not to dance with this moment. IMPOSSIBLE.

VinylGuy wrote:One bad ear and one eye blind
It takes a village but don't take mine
Living forward in a backwards town
I feed 'em drinks just to watch 'em drown
Swallow my pencil and bleed out my pen
Surrender the wish we'll be together again
But I won't give up
No I won't give up on satisfaction, satisfaction


Impossible not to dance with this moment. IMPOSSIBLE.

yep, I loooove this section

I don't know anything
I question everything
This life I love is goin' way too fast
Both my eyes are swollen
My face is broken
And I'm hopin' that I hurt your
Hopin' that I hurt your
Hopin' that I hurt your fist


kinda reminds me of the character of Do The Evolution.

VinylGuy wrote:One bad ear and one eye blind
It takes a village but don't take mine
Living forward in a backwards town
I feed 'em drinks just to watch 'em drown
Swallow my pencil and bleed out my pen
Surrender the wish we'll be together again
But I won't give up
No I won't give up on satisfaction, satisfaction


Impossible not to dance with this moment. IMPOSSIBLE.

This spitfire tirade at the end of "Who Ever Said" has become one of my favorite parts of the album. Unlike "Seven O'Clock," where Ed's wordiness gets to feeling a little navel-gazey at points, here he feels possessed by the outpouring of words. I think there's something poetic about a song that challenges the concept of "it's all been said," itself seemingly never running out of things to say.

I don't find Seven O'Clock's spitfire lyrics any less authentic, completely different energy though