[kj] MMXII first listen:

[Alexander Smith]

As I've been laboriously documenting in some recent blog posts  
(notably the two linked below, if you give a flying fuck), I'm  
becoming more and more Luddite-ish and resentful as I grow older,  
lamenting the old days when we'd anticipate a new album and then  
finally get our hands on it (as a tactile artifact), and then immerse  
ourselves in it, track by track and in the chronological order as was  
intended by the band. Nowadays, everything is about immediate  
gratification and uber-convenience. God forbid you should have to wait  
for anything or take your time to experience something in its  
uninterrupted wholeness.

As such, I've resisted downloading the leaked record. Sure, I've heard  
"Rapture" and the mighty "In Cythera," but I've managed to eschew  
hearing anything else. I really want that pristine experience wherein  
I am able to enjoy the album from back to front while holding the  
artwork in my hands. Call me old fashioned. I don't give a fuck.

But, as I go through my e-mail, I can't help but read some of the  
comments from those who have listened. I think it's indeed a testament  
to the versatility of Killing Joke that opinions are so divided. After  
all, consider the relatively vast shifts in style and sound within the  
band's own catalog -- from stentorian guitar crunch and barely human  
vocals to elegiac melodies, danceable rhythms and the graceful tolling  
of "the bell."  Unlike, say, AC/DC, Motorhead or the Ramones (great  
bands, all), Killing Joke have never simply been about one solitary  
thing.

I'm trying to shut out the opinions until I get my hands on it and  
hear for myself ... but hear it the right way.

http://vassifer.blogs.com/alexinnyc/2012/03/retromania-and-the-return-of-the-joke.html

http://vassifer.blogs.com/alexinnyc/2012/03/the-virtual-line.html

Alex in NYC




On Mar 27, 2012, at 8:54 AM, Neil Perry wrote:


> oooh, harsh words... ;)

>

> Have been blasting it for most of the day and I'm liking everything  

> to varying

> degrees aside from Pole Shift and Fema (finally coming round to  

> Glitch). A few tracks

> are stunning, a few are great and some are ok. But I'm enjoying the  

> variety - AD was

> many versions of the same song plus ESS and Ghosts - whereas this is  

> coming

> from many different directions. Half of these songs and half from AD  

> would have made for

> a stunning album -  for my tastes, anyway. For now, Trance,  

> Primobile, Hallows, Cythera and Colony are

> on heavy rotation, songs that I think piss all over most of the last  

> 2 albums.

>

>

>

> On 27 March 2012 14:24, Stephen Robinson <heiferboy at robinsonworld.freeserve.co.uk 

> > wrote:

> Weakest album since Democracy, there, I've said it.

>

> _______________________________________________

> Gathering mailing list

> Gathering at misera.net

> http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering

>

> _______________________________________________

> Gathering mailing list

> Gathering at misera.net

> http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://four.pairlist.net/pipermail/gathering/attachments/20120327/a6f3f050/attachment.html>