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Rupert Buttermilk posted:https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/smashing-pumpkins-empires-live-chicago-1234597015/amp/ It's... okay. Sounds like a banger live, but I am already bracing myself for the studio version where Billy's voice drowns everything else out.
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Sep 22, 2022 21:56
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Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. So far I'm finding it to be less obnoxious than Cyr was but I'm not vibing with this (6 songs in so far). Like... if this didn't have the SP name attached to it, I wouldn't feel so negatively about it. Is that weird? This isn't particularly bad on its own-- it feels like a modern take on Depeche Mode or something, which I don't hate. But in context of the band at large, and knowing what SP used to be, it's such a disappointment to me. We'll always have the first five albums (and the B-sides that came with those) at least. Good on Billy for doing what he wants to do, and gently caress the critics, but I can't help but see this as a "I'll listen to it once and move on" album. At least it's not a "I was so excited for this and ended up canceling my preorder for the album" situation like it was with Cyr, which I couldn't stand even when I was listening to it.
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Nov 15, 2022 20:45
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Final verdict: it's pretty bland but it's fine I guess. The only track I find myself going back to is Hooray! because it's so loving weird. I feel like I'm listening to Billy's take on J-pop and I'm... kinda here for it? Like no, I don't think I'd want a whole album of this, but it's certainly creative.
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Nov 15, 2022 21:10
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Yeah this is as relevant to Mellon Collie or Machina as a chicken nugget is to a luxurious steak dinner.
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Nov 16, 2022 01:03
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I was getting Jpop vibes from it myself. Like Billy heard a Kyary Pamyu Pamyu track and was all "hah I can do that". Either way, album isn't something I'll be coming back to much, if at all, but I went into it expecting *wet fart sounds* and came out of it more pleasantly surprised than that. It's not bad, it's just not what I want. And that's fine.
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Nov 16, 2022 02:17
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After listening to a few songs from ATUM one more time, I loaded up Machina again. I haven't listened to the album in a couple years, I kinda burnt myself out on SP and after Cyr I was fine just kinda moving on for a bit. Oh my god it's so good. Nothing Billy has wrote since then comes close to how much The Everlasting Gaze loving rips or how absolutely heartwrenching Stand Inside Your Love does, and I forgot just how great they were. Aside from the musical choices, the lack of life in the percussion, the lack of guitar in general, and Billy's voice being front and center where it absolutely does not belong, the biggest thing that separates pre-breakup SP from modern SP is the loving lyrics. Billy's always been a flowery lyricist, but at least the lyrics to most songs pre-breakup made some kinda sense that I could attach to some part of my feelings. Something I can attune myself with, lyrics that mean something to me. But everything I've heard from Oceania on is just a bunch of poetic nonsense that means absolutely loving nothing to me, and while Billy coyly insists that the songs have meanings but won't tell, I don't really believe it. There's poetry, and then there's trying to decipher this arcane meaninglessness into something that I can connect with, and that's the part that disappoints me the most. The music could still sound incredible, but I just don't feel anything from it like I did from the raw, gutwrenching lyrics and emotions that he poured into his earlier work. ATUM is fine, I swear my opinion of it is just north of neutral despite my fussing. The album is fine-- it's Billy I'm more annoyed with. Don't call this a successor or spiritual sequel to your best work, it's such a weird self-own, dude. Just do your weird flowery poo poo and ride that vibe all you like-- be the you you love best! I genuinely respect that-- but it's time to stop overpromising and under-delivering. Framboise fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Nov 16, 2022 |
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Nov 16, 2022 03:07
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Framboise posted:Final verdict: it's pretty bland but it's fine I guess. The only track I find myself going back to is Hooray! because it's so loving weird. I feel like I'm listening to Billy's take on J-pop and I'm... kinda here for it? Like no, I don't think I'd want a whole album of this, but it's certainly creative. I want to revise my opinion. I loving hate Hooray! now because I haven't listened to it in days but it's been stuck in my head since then.
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Nov 19, 2022 14:12
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banned from Starbucks posted:rick or billy yes I looked and saw how long the interview was, and neither person is someone I can tolerate listening to for more than 10 minutes*. *Obviously I can listen to Billy's music for much longer, but listening to him talk is something else. Beato is just a lethal dose of boomer energy at that length of time.
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Dec 14, 2022 17:34
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Kingo Ligma posted:Holy poo poo Billy posted that there's a reissue box set of the Zwan album coming. It's been over a decade since the machina reissue was supposed to happen hasn't it
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Jan 28, 2023 20:19
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Just as with Act 1, eh. It's pretty sad that Beguiled is already underwhelming to me, but it's still the best track on the album simply because it's allowing Iha and Chamberlin to do something. Billy's lyrics are either completely nonsensical poetic babbling (which can still sound cool if it had any hook at all) or repetitive and deep as a puddle, and his singing lacks any emotional texture whatsoever anymore, and a lot of the music follows along with it. Most tracks sound mostly the same and I was losing track of what track I was on because of it. I'd be more forgiving of the slow, lumbering synth droning if there were any dynamics to the songs, but the tunes feel so static and sometimes I can hardly tell where the chorus is in a song, if there is one. So rare is it for anything to have a hook that catches my ear and makes me want to hear it again. Jimmy feels like he may as well be a drum machine for many of the songs, pretty much carrying the same beat through their entirety. There are times when I wonder if the synthy stuff is being done by the guitars via pedals and filters and stuff, but I can't really tell. Still not really impressed either way. Pretty forgettable. I would say Billy really needs to step it up but I neither think he wants to, or even could if he did want to. This is the music he wants to be making and the direction the band has been going, and good on him for doing what he wants rather than what fans want, but "we have Depeche Mode at home" with dry old-timey poetry just ain't doing it for me, personally. I just look back to how Adore was such a left turn from what Gish/Siamese Dream/Mellon Collie was doing, but still managed to be fantastic, memorable, and beautiful. Meanwhile everything Billy's put out since the Teargarden era has been an even more left turn from everything prior to it-- to where I cannot tell if the music is emotionally bland or just so mired in a swamp of syntax and metaphors that the meaning behind the words are all but lost. The wall of sound crumbled, and the vampire of the world drained all the life from the music. Muzak with lyrics from the 18th century, with a couple diamonds in the rough. EDIT: I realize I said comes across as harsh and it kind of is, but it's kind of hard to contain my disappointment at this point. I was kind of hoping part 2 would have a bit more oomph to it after part 1 feeling underwhelming to me, but it really does seem to be what The Smashing Pumpkins have become as opposed to who they once were. Framboise fucked around with this message at 14:11 on Feb 1, 2023 |
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Feb 1, 2023 09:29
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gonna drop a hot take in this here thread mellon collie is really loving good. started listening to it again during my commute and it kicks so much rear end and is a great palate cleanser after listening to ATUM
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Feb 3, 2023 22:29
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polyester concept posted:Every single summary of this album I have come across, including those praising it, reads like a review on a recipe website where the person clearly didn't follow the recipe at all and instead substituted their own techniques or ingredients. I think a lot of people are just too scared to call something bad when it is, as if the creator of the content is going to read their comment specifically and call them out for it. ATUM just ain't it. If you like it, cool, but the Pumpkins of today are not the same band they were 25 years ago, no matter how bad Billy wants to think they are. I was really holding out hope for later parts of the album to be better, so I was cautiously optimistic, but being cautious was the correct decision imo.
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Feb 4, 2023 00:57
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Baron von Eevl posted:Prince literally did this and it was the funkiest thing he had put out in like a decade. Never mind. Feel my ire and lay down the funk, Billy.
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Feb 4, 2023 06:17
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:I agree with this, though part of me wonders how many people's opinions would be entirely swayed by someone else's words. I dunno, Anthony Fantano seems to be able to sway his fans' opinions pretty well with his reviews unless he has one they really see as a hot take. :p quote:ATUM, Cyr, Monuments to an Elegy.... Am I missing another album (aside from Teargarden)? I remember having an encyclopedic knowledge of all of the Pumpkins albums and songs, but after Oceania, it's gotten so hard to care. I try and give them all an earnest few listens, but I can likely already tell that this isn't going to stick with me. Or if it is, I'll have it have it playing constantly during some sort of formative period of my life (at 39, does one even have any more of those?) so it at least gets some nostalgic side-piece it can use to make itself endearing to me. You forgot Shiny and Oh So Whatever, Vol 1: No Class, No Feature, No Fun.  I don't think there's ever a point in one's life that isn't formative, tbh. The phrase is officially used for the childhood years where your brain is a sponge and every experience you have carves the path for the way you react to things for the rest of your life, but I don't think life ever stops being "formative". I'm going to be 33 in a few days and I'm not really anything like the person I was 10 years ago, because my life has changed pretty significantly since then and it's changed my perspective and maturity level on a lot of things. I am sure that in 10 years when I am 43, I will have had many experiences that will have changed who I am by that point, too.
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Feb 4, 2023 18:42
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I never cared much for that one, myself.
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Feb 4, 2023 21:35
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:Speaking of live vs album, while I think the album version is perfect, this recording of An Ode to No One (which I think is from their final music video compilation DVD) is This, this poo poo here. THIS is why ATUM is kind of an insult to what the band was in the past. Just loving look at Jimmy. He's going all fist of the north loving star on those drums and is doing so while making it look loving effortless. Then you hear a post-Teargarden song and it feels like he's just kept on a leash. Just bein' a slow, steady drum machine. Let the man thrash those drums, Billy.
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Feb 7, 2023 04:33
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That's what I had meant earlier when I said I was unsure if the synthy stuff was being done with the guitars with different effects and such.
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Feb 18, 2023 00:10
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A Big... Dog posted:WHY is he singing like THAT
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Mar 31, 2023 15:14
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Billy can't handle the idea that a Machina reissue will outsell anything he's made since the reunion lol RELEASE THE ALBUM(s), BILLY. IT'S THE ONLY ONE I DON'T OWN IN SOME FORM  (pre-2000s, at least)
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Apr 3, 2023 15:56
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There's a part of me that's kinda... relieved? that Billy's purported claims of making spiritual sequels to the pre-2000 albums have never actually come close to actually attempting to emulate or go back to those styles because I feel like, at this point, it'd just not sound good with the way he sings and puts his vocals front and center in the mix. I'd be able to forgive dumb esoteric flowery poetry lyrics if it all sounded good, but I don't think he'd be able to do it without it sounding like he's yelling through a megaphone through a wall of sound that no longer exists.
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Apr 15, 2023 16:44
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Oh hey, maybe we'll see it by 2033.
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Apr 19, 2023 19:21
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That article is definitely written by someone who would intentionally go to Madame ZuZu's. Reads like the meandering drivel Billy wrote for all the blurbs for each song in the rerelease sets, lol. Fascinating to read, but also have you going "oh my god how does anyone have a conversation with you for more than 2 minutes".
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Apr 21, 2023 12:14
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Baron von Eevl posted:Let Me Give The World To You, produced by Rick Robin at great expense and unreleased (that recording) until the box set came out. One of the absolute best songs from that era, too. I'm going to give disc 3 of ATUM a try. This time I have absolutely zero expectations of it being good after holding out hope for the first parts, so who knows. I could be surprised.
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May 8, 2023 13:48
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Framboise posted:I'm going to give disc 3 of ATUM a try. This time I have absolutely zero expectations of it being good after holding out hope for the first parts, so who knows. I could be surprised. Better than the first two. Still apathetic toward it at best. Some parts were ear-catching but the rest is the same space-rock-y stuff that all blends together to me. My spotify auto-played Let Me Give The World To You (Adore) after ATUM ended and it's like settling into a recliner after a long hike.
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May 8, 2023 14:44
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The Black Stones posted:Here’s my thoughts on Atum. The thing for me is that not only are there 3 albums worth of songs, it's that they also all sound so very very very similar that even if I wanted to go back and re-listen to a bit, I don't even remember what track it was. All the songs all kind of run together like a gray amalgamate of rinsed colors from watercolor paint. You can tell some cool colors were used here and there, but they're lost in the slurry.
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May 10, 2023 14:12
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shut UP, billy 
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May 29, 2023 08:18
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syntaxfunction posted:Zeitgeist should be completely remixed and remastered by someone not connected to the band who knows what the gently caress they're doing. It may very well be the thing that turns me off most about post-2000 pumpkins.
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Jul 14, 2023 14:57
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Pre-2000 Pumpkins and post-2000 Pumpkins are two different bands. The former set the standard that the latter has been riding its own coattails on so hard that it drags them through the mud. I tried hard to like reunion Pumpkins but I'm tired of pretending to like the modern take of a band that hasn't existed for 23 years. The reunion show in 2018 was great, if not only because it primarily focused on that time.
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Jul 24, 2023 12:23
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SUNKOS posted:My personal stance is definitely the same as others however, with the opinion that the band I like ceased to exist with that final Metro show and they're never coming back. It's why I only care about the Machina reissue so that once it's released I can stop keeping up with the band. I sometimes wonder if there's a large chunk of fans who are in the same spot. Probably, and I'm sure Billy is aware of it too. Why else has he been dangling the reissue like a carrot in front of everyone's faces for so long? If he wanted it reissued it'd be fairly trivial, you know, compared to writing, recording, and producing a bunch of subpar albums (one of which being a triple album). I just don't think he actually wants to do it because he knows a bunch of people will peace out afterward and he can't handle living in his own shadow.
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Jul 24, 2023 15:06
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Baron von Eevl posted:It is absolutely not trivial to navigate rights issues and to negotiate with a label that you're not even on anymore. Does he not have rights to his own music? It just seems strange that if he's got the resources and connections to do one, why hasn't he got it for the other? Genuine questions, I'm not being snarky.
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Jul 24, 2023 19:05
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hatelull posted:With zero context can I just say that "Bodies" is a great loving track. I want to live in these guitars. I don't think any of us have forgotten that. Hell, I'm wearing my Mellon Collie shirt today. The album kicks rear end and always will.
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Jul 26, 2023 05:01
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Has it seriously already been a year? Feels like it's just been a few months.
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Nov 16, 2023 21:33
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Hooray is Billy Corgan's legacy work now. Most memorable track on that trainwreck of an album.
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Feb 15, 2024 14:00
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syntaxfunction posted:Billy just really doesn't want to look stupid while he's sleeping. What's worse is I'm fairly sure Billy responded to the criticism of lack of guitars by saying they WERE being used-- I guess it's possible they're just heavily, heavily synth'd out? Still disappointing to my ears tho.
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Feb 22, 2024 16:44
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:No, don't do this to me.... I can't again. Seriously doubt it. If ATUM was supposed to be the spiritual successor to Mellon Collie or whatever the gently caress Billy claimed it would be, he was either playing the heel as he so loves to do or the band as we used to know them is cooked and lost to Billy's synthsoaked space whimsies, and future album listens, at least for me, will be done out of pessimistic masochism rather than fragile optimism. Like, this band gave us Gish and Siamese Dream. Surely there's some of that energy left somewhere in there, right? But I ain't holding my breath anymore.
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Apr 29, 2024 09:47
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look as someone who has recently gotten really into tea I'd be more than happy to help keep a good teahouse open since we don't loving have any in my area don't want no vegan meatball sub tho edit: looking on Madame ZuZu's site, I found this: https://madamezuzus.com/products/xxx This is genuinely kinda cool, but not something I'm about to throw $85 + tax and shipping at. An official vinyl release of super early Pumpkins tracks. quote:TRACKLIST Framboise fucked around with this message at 04:01 on May 14, 2024 |
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May 14, 2024 03:58
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