Gigaton: Official album thread

[verb_to_trust]

There will be no 11th studio album....

[hlniv]

I expect a long build up, with significant fan anticipation giving way to cynicism, after which a backlash of anti-cynicism causes everyone to blame eachother for starting it, only for the record to be severely disappointing but very few showing the stones to actually admit it.

Oh wait, it's '09 and '13 all over again...

The interesting thing is '06 had no cynicism, despite Riot Act not being to everyone's taste. I bet we'd all kill for another Riot Act now. A damn good record.

yup. nailed it.

[OmegaprimeVKM]

I expect a long build up, with significant fan anticipation giving way to cynicism, after which a backlash of anti-cynicism causes everyone to blame eachother for starting it, only for the record to be severely disappointing but very few showing the stones to actually admit it.

Oh wait, it's '09 and '13 all over again...

The interesting thing is '06 had no cynicism, despite Riot Act not being to everyone's taste. I bet we'd all kill for another Riot Act now. A damn good record.

yup. nailed it.

Perhaps we've learnt the lesson. There's going to be minimal expectation of the fanbase to anticipate true enjoyment of any future records now that we've heard Future Days, Johnny Guitar and Come Back and PJ seems to like the idea of playing live with Bono or covering Disney songs aimed for girls under 10.

On Saturday I went to shove a few tracks on my laptop VLC playlist for some background listening. I opened Lightning Bolt and tried to put some in, eventually settling on Mind Your Manners and Swallowed Whole. I simply had no appetite for anything else, bearing in mind when the album came out I disliked Mind Your Manners and would only listen to Yellow Moon, Swallowed Whole and Pendulum.

They need to move away from confort zones and write with angst and distraction. The current process is too easy and happy and the output is thus dross - hit and miss would be so much better.

[igotworms]

Yeah they definitely need to tear up the formula they've been using to write albums for the last few releases.

Rather than members coming in with fairly complete songs that Eddie then adds lyrics to, they should lock themselves in a studio for a month and bash out a gritty lo-fi record from the ground up. It might fuck up, it might produce some gems. But at least it'll shake things up and it might remove this over-produced gloss that has blighted the last two albums.

I think it could work musically, though I'm unsure if EV still has the chops to write lyrics on the fly like he used to.

[stip]

Yeah they definitely need to tear up the formula they've been using to write albums for the last few releases.

Rather than members coming in with fairly complete songs that Eddie then adds lyrics to, they should lock themselves in a studio for a month and bash out a gritty lo-fi record from the ground up. It might fuck up, it might produce some gems. But at least it'll shake things up and it might remove this over-produced gloss that has blighted the last two albums.

I think it could work musically, though I'm unsure if EV still has the chops to write lyrics on the fly like he used to.

how long has the mostly complete song approach been in use. Single writing credits really started springing up with Yield. does that mean the songs brought in were complete? sketches? is that different than now?

[igotworms]

From various interviews over the years I get the impression that songs used to be worked on either as a collective or, more commonly, in small groups (i.e. Eddie and Stone working on Daughter together). A lot of Vitalogy and No Code were written in the studio, I believe.

That approach seems to have changed over the years and certainly for the more recent releases they've spoken of their method being that each member brings in practically complete songs, which the group then bashes out into full band arrangement and if everyone is enthusiastic about that it's handed that over to Eddie to add lyrics.

Would be nice to bring a bit of spontaneity and collaboration back to the process.

[McParadigm]

Yeah they definitely need to tear up the formula they've been using to write albums for the last few releases.

Rather than members coming in with fairly complete songs that Eddie then adds lyrics to, they should lock themselves in a studio for a month and bash out a gritty lo-fi record from the ground up. It might fuck up, it might produce some gems. But at least it'll shake things up and it might remove this over-produced gloss that has blighted the last two albums.

I think it could work musically, though I'm unsure if EV still has the chops to write lyrics on the fly like he used to.

how long has the mostly complete song approach been in use. Single writing credits really started springing up with Yield. does that mean the songs brought in were complete? sketches? is that different than now?

They probably started using single writing credits because that was the first time people other than Ed were consistently writing lyrics in addition to music.

And while they were increasingly writing their own songs...it was still a new way of doing things. Still in development. It wasn't "THIS IS HOW OUR PROCESS WORKS," it was "Is this how our process works?" Less concrete, more wet cement. Nobody's boundaries fully determined just yet.

I also think that, for some members, the Yield/Binaural sessions were still marked by a real want to try and rebuild the band's status. So there might have been a little more willingness to stand up and make a suggestion than later on, when they pretty clearly reached the point of thinking of themselves as a touring band first and foremost, and when the live show played a bigger part in maintaining status than any new recording could ever hope to do.

Plus there was Jack, whose style (whether you like it more or not) is more inviting of off-the-proven-road parts in other instruments than a more direct Matt Cameron rock beat*.

* although Matt's own compositions do tend to be anything but direct.

[Mine]

Well according to them they brought no finished songs in for s/t. Backspacer and Lightning Bolt were also completed in studio even as far as Ed's songs go.
My point here is that, from what i can tell, it's not really relevant how complete what they bring in is, as it seems to change shape a lot in the process more often than not.

[digster]

Yeah they definitely need to tear up the formula they've been using to write albums for the last few releases.

Rather than members coming in with fairly complete songs that Eddie then adds lyrics to, they should lock themselves in a studio for a month and bash out a gritty lo-fi record from the ground up. It might fuck up, it might produce some gems. But at least it'll shake things up and it might remove this over-produced gloss that has blighted the last two albums.

I think it could work musically, though I'm unsure if EV still has the chops to write lyrics on the fly like he used to.

how long has the mostly complete song approach been in use. Single writing credits really started springing up with Yield. does that mean the songs brought in were complete? sketches? is that different than now?

Likely all of the above. The liner notes, while they can help figure out where a song germinated, are most likely very inconsistent. Alot of times the band's own words contradict each other; we've heard, sometimes from the same people, that Ed wrote most of Vitalogy on guitar and that Vitalogy sprang out of jam sessions on the road. It's probably a mixture of both.

Yield and Binaural were different; people there were bringing in completed songs, but now they're mostly writing music with the understanding that it's going to by necessity change seismically once his melodic approach to that particular piece of music gets added.

[igotworms]

Here's Stone interviewed about the writing/recording process:

"What we end up doing is somebody says, “Well, we booked some time in January to get some ideas down,” and everyone takes their demos that they’ve been working on for the last, whatever, two or three years, and shows up at the studio. We’ll start with somebody, and we’ll move through the list. “Jeff, what d’you got?” He’ll pull out his favorite baby, and we’ll do a new version of that, and we’ll listen to the old version, and set it aside. And we’ll do a Mike song, or my song, and Ed will come in with a couple, and we’ll just kind of go through the list of everyone in the band, and everyone can present something. We’ll do that three or four times and it doesn’t take long before you have a list of 20 or 30 things…you know, a version you’ve done yourself plus a new version the band has done, and then those go and sit in the closet for six months. Everybody listens to them and goes “Oh, that’s my favorite.” “I don’t like that one.” “That one could be better.” “I wish I could re-do this one.” We have another studio session, and we either go back in and do some new stuff, or we re-do a couple of things, and pretty soon Brendan [O'Brien, the band's frequent producer] is like, “OK, let’s do it,” and we start presenting songs we like, and he gives his two bits. It’s a normal process."

Source: http://www.stereogum.com/1519972/qa-pea ... interview/

[McParadigm]

it doesn’t take long before you have a list of 20 or 30 things…and then those go and sit in the closet for six months....pretty soon Brendan is like, “OK, let’s do it,” and he gives his two bits. It’s a normal process."

Christ

[bodysnatcher]

it doesn’t take long before you have a list of 20 or 30 things…and then those go and sit in the closet for six months....pretty soon Brendan is like, “OK, let’s do it,” and he gives his two bits. It’s a normal process."

Christ

no kidding, talk about a convoluted process. understandably, the creative process is different for everyone, but get that many people involved in addition to that much scrutiny... that's just a recipe for vanilla.

[stip]

so they SHOULD just write songs as individuals and then record them as is, or are you referring to the BoB part?

[McParadigm]

They SHOULD write songs that come from a place other than laziness and ambivalence. They SHOULD still be wondering what other crazy shit they can come up with. They SHOULD

[numbers]

If you go back and look at old interviews about how the process went during Vs., it seems like BoB has much more control over their sound than he did back then.

[stip]

They SHOULD write songs that come from a place other than laziness and ambivalence. They SHOULD still be wondering what other crazy shit they can come up with. They SHOULD

There are probably like 6 people on this whole planet who care less about Neil young than I do

[Kaius]

Rank 'em

[96583UP]

rules for the next album:

"low-fi", or just not over-produced, or just modestly-produced sound. the modesty has been lost and the guitars barely sound like guitars anymore. who cares if you're playing a telecaster if it sounds like a laser?

ed is not permitted to make noises with his mouth or throat for more than 20% of the album. i would say he should be limited to few words, but we know now he will just repeat the same word over and over as though it constitutes usable lyrics. just stop making as many sounds with your voice.

Matt Cameron is not allowed to play like he thinks pearl jam is supposed to sound. Matt Cameron must play how Matt Cameron wants a piece of music that he cares about to sound.

the album cannot be recorded within 50 miles of an urban area, and use of cellphones and internet access will be prohibited for the week prior to the recording session, during the session, and for three days after the recording session

the band must prepare their own food from the grocery store during the session or dine only at only two-star or less rated restaurants within the local boondock region of the secluded recording area

for the first 24 hours of the secluded session, the band will not be permitted to play instruments or speak to one another, rather the band will be subject to a panel of insulters chosen from various industries and professions in order to facilitate questioning of their views and lifestyles as they have presently become.

no manicures/pedicures permitted

only beer and liquor may be drank, no wine

[Jorge]

Rank those rules in order of ascending likelihood

[Sgt. Crackpot]

rules for the next album:

"low-fi", or just not over-produced, or just modestly-produced sound. the modesty has been lost and the guitars barely sound like guitars anymore. who cares if you're playing a telecaster if it sounds like a laser?

To achieve this, all they have to do is record everything themselves as demos without a producer.