What's everyone listening to...?

[The Mind of Wolfie Smith]

snapped ankles. their new album - forest of your problems.
what a band, whoever they are ...
melodic, abrasive, mysterious, weird and loud.

[repoman]

The new album by Turnstile is so good.  Melodic, experimental hardcore punk.  Just brilliant throughout.

[HdE]

Having treated myself to a new CD player recently, I'm currently having a MASSIVE adventure with my CD collection, revisiting a lot of old discs and seeing how they benefit from being played on decent kit for the first time in a decade or more.

Over the weekend, I discovered what a difference headphones make. Like a fool, I'd been using my expensive studio monitors. Swapping over to an old pair of £30 Kitsounds (I kid you not!) has opened up a lot of those albums and made them sound much livelier.

Something I've checked out recently is the remixed version of Rush's Vapor Trails album. I remember the original 2002 master copped a LOT of very justified criticism for its production. (One drummer pal of mine told me 'I love the songs, but all I can hear is clipping.)

The weird thing is... I'm not sure I actually prefer this mix. To my ears, there's more detail and plenty of stuff that was previously hidden leaps out of the mix. But it sounds like Geddy Lee's suddenly been put in a box with a mic and pulled way forward from the rest of the mix. His bass is where it should be, but the vocals suddenly sound TOO clear.

It's weird, but I think I prefer the energy of the original mix.

[Barrington Boots]

Something I've checked out recently is the remixed version of Rush's Vapor Trails album. I remember the original 2002 master copped a LOT of very justified criticism for its production. (One drummer pal of mine told me 'I love the songs, but all I can hear is clipping.)

The weird thing is... I'm not sure I actually prefer this mix. To my ears, there's more detail and plenty of stuff that was previously hidden leaps out of the mix. But it sounds like Geddy Lee's suddenly been put in a box with a mic and pulled way forward from the rest of the mix. His bass is where it should be, but the vocals suddenly sound TOO clear.

It's weird, but I think I prefer the energy of the original mix.

I much prefer the remixed version - I know what you mean about the vocals, but the original version is one of those late 90s / early 2000s 'loudness war' production jobs and a lot of the nuance is lost in favour of volume. I've got a whole bunch of albums that could do with a remix on that basis.
Whichever mix you've got though, it's an underrated album imo and in places quite poignant. I think I'll give it a spin later today!

[Proudhuff]

listening to the sound of jackhammers, drills and macadam mayhem as the entire four lanes outside are dug up...again

[HdE]

I much prefer the remixed version - I know what you mean about the vocals, but the original version is one of those late 90s / early 2000s 'loudness war' production jobs and a lot of the nuance is lost in favour of volume. I've got a whole bunch of albums that could do with a remix on that basis.
Whichever mix you've got though, it's an underrated album imo and in places quite poignant. I think I'll give it a spin later today!

You're not wrong! I remember being quite disappointed that the original mix was such a full-on assault. Especially after wondering for so long if Test For Echo would be their last album.

I need to give the remix a deeper listen. There's a few instances where I really appreciate being able to hear additional detail. But I also detect a few elements that were straight up *not there* in the original mix, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.

I'm basically just a bit sore about how Secret Touch (my favourite track on the album) has been handled in the remix. Don't get me wrong - just as with everything else on the album, it's nice to hear a more sonically cleaned up version of it. But when it gets to the part where Alex Lifeson lets rip, it feels like all the guts have been shovelled out of it. 

[I, Cosh]

Can't get enough of the most recent Low album. Seems like such a simple trick they've pulled but I just never get tired of it: Days Like These.

[Funt Solo]

Billy Idol - Free At Noon Concert (Virtual)

[milstar]

A very seldom song that got me interested in the lyrics, which I have no idea what they mean.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8sGmSEehi4

[HdE]

Ages back, I posted in this thread about Sam Brown's '43 Minutes' album, and there was a bit of discussion about how sad it was that she'd lost her singing voice.

I figured I'd pop back in here to share some unexpectedly awesome news. A pal tipped me off this morning that Sam had been posting on Facebook back in August about heading back into the studio to record new music!

She's very quickly dispelled any notion that this means she's recovered her voice. Sadly, that hasn't happened. But she's teasing an album of electronica that will be 'very different.'

Honestly, I'm over the moon about this. I love to see people fighting back past circumstances like hers.

[The Bissler]

I received a few CDs in my Christmas haul:

Thom Yorke: Anima
Unkle: The Road Part 1 and Part 2
Therapy?: A Brief Crack of Light

I'm still in the process of breaking them in (I seem to need to listen to an album a good few times before I fully 'get it'), but I'm having fun with them all. I would say that Unkle's "War Stories" and "Where Did The Night Fall" are far more accessible but the slower, more reflective pace of The Road albums is something that I'm definitely enjoying immensely. I'm a big fan of Therapy? but I don't think this will be favourite of mine, it's a lot more oppressive and experimental than their 90's work which was their peak, certainly commercially speaking. Thom Yorke's Anima is fairly chilled electronica which is what I was expecting and enjoy. I know from some Facebook music groups I'm on that he is incredibly polarising as an artist - although a lot of the hate came from Coldplay fans!

[Mister Pops]

I was today years old when I discovered Rhiannon Giddens. If you have four minutes to spare, you should spend them being astonished and devastated by her song Julie.

You're welcome.

[M.I.K.]

I was today years old when I discovered Rhiannon Giddens. If you have four minutes to spare, you should spend them being astonished and devastated by her song Julie.

You're welcome.

...and then be somewhat astonished again when she starts singing folk songs in Scottish Gaelic.

Yep. I've known about her for a few years.

[sintec]

After a cracking gig last night today I'm mostly listening to Deaf Kids https://deafkidspunx.bandcamp.com/album/deafbrick Psychedelic noise rock from Brazil with some outstanding drumming.