____twoism

All Reason Departs is quickly turning into a favourite track of mine

North by North wrote:The preparation for a dive…

Only heard the London listening party, can’t wait for a proper listen!

Same! I feel like I blacked out after hearing the vocals in Father And Son.

CD isn’t going to arrive by tomorrow so I’m going to burn the WAV files onto a blank disc and listen while driving up to the country. Then on a hi-fi, headphones - I love how they’re all first listens.

still holding out for the vinyl, might have to trudge to the record shop show tomorrow to get another one but that's lame-o

Age of Capricorn is also just marvellous.

Just... wow...

Vocal sampling is really prominent and caked in many nice effects, feels like we haven't heard voices be so prominent in BOC's music since MHTRTC. What really draws me in is the bass, guitars, and sitar to complement the synthesized ambience. 13 years is a long time, but it has been well worth the wait.

So fucking good.

Just finished the album, with the listening party visuals projected on the wall.

It's *really* wonderful... The track before the end was such an untrammelled delight.

The whole album is really inventive, impeccably produced and a great balance between trademark sounds/flourishes and new territory. And it is an album, not a series of tracks. Flows so well.

Their best since geogaddi imho.

To me, it sounds like if geogaddi was made today. Surprisingly "modern" feeling, while still being unmistakably BOC. Love it.

Aesthetikx wrote:To me, it sounds like if geogaddi was made today. Surprisingly "modern" feeling, while still being unmistakably BOC. Love it.

My thoughts exactly!

After hearing Introit and Prophecy At 1420 MHz a few weeks ago, I was expecting that the sound would obviously be like BOC but also fresh in its own way. I could feel the influence of all the previous LPs, but in my opinion MHTRTC was the least echoed. Some people (myself included) were comparing the sound to Nine Inch Nails, and that also really shined through. There were a couple tracks that really reminded me of Boys Noize, who was the opening/featured artist at the NIN show I went to.

I mentioned this in the listening party thread, but I just sat and listened and didn't follow along with a track list or anything. I wrote down a few initial thoughts notes referring to the tracks by their placement on the vinyl (like "track near end of side 3" or what have you), but I'll have to listen later to find out exactly which tracks they are.

The latter quarter of the album or so sounded to me like if The Campfire Headphase and Tomorrow's Harvest had a baby. Very chill and downtempo but still kind of dark and mechanical. A lot of the shorter ambient interlude-esque pieces were very Geogaddi to me. I liked all the sitar/koto/harp-esque sounds too, and I can't think of another track of theirs off the top of my head that uses sounds like that. TCH obviously had lots of guitar, but it was definitely tonally different. The final track was a PERFECT finale, in my opinion. I loved the "heartbeat" effect. I'm sure many more listens will come and I'll have more nuanced things to say about the tracks

Memory Death makes me feel like I'm standing over a death bed. The minimal repeating EKG-esqe tone is brilliant and devastating when it fades away. So much more depth with repeated listens, many sonic treasures to be found.

Hydrogen Helium Lithium Leviathan is an absolute monster of a track. Starts off slow, lumbering and massive, feeling like its building up to something horribly inevitable and then the section at 3:00 kicks in with the tablas. Incredible.

I wasn't expecting to be so completely taken by the album. On first listen I felt kind of disoriented and put off at times, but now I can't get enough.

It's so layered and immersive and playful. Feeling giddy tonight.

Stunning.
2nd play and already my third favourite BOC album after MHTRTC and Geogaddi. And I think it may go higher...
These are some of the most complex, beautiful, and satisfying compositions / arrangements of their careers. Dark, but not the deep bleakness of TH. More like a colourful, filmic, and at times even ironic overview of our own madness.

I'll have to stop reading this thread now so i don't spoil it for myself

The first listen didn't hit. The second listen has blown me away completely. I've never had such whiplash. Every track is banging for me now. This album does feel like synthesis. It has the playfulness of MHTRTC and Geo, but the cohesiveness of the later albums, without the forlorn austerity of TH which I didn't love.
I expect I will have listened to this record more than I have TH by tomorrow.
By the way, Arena Americanada sounds EXACTLY like the band Shadowfax, who were (and still are) a favorite Windham Hill band from my childhood.

Strong 9/10

mthrndr wrote:The first listen didn't hit. The second listen has blown me away completely. I've never had such whiplash. Every track is banging for me now. This album does feel like synthesis. It has the playfulness of MHTRTC and Geo, but the cohesiveness of the later albums, without the forlorn austerity of TH which I didn't love.
I expect I will have listened to this record more than I have TH by tomorrow.
By the way, Arena Americanada sounds EXACTLY like the band Shadowfax, who were (and still are) a favorite Windham Hill band from my childhood.

Strong 9/10

interesting take, I felt similar initially, now it's maybe their best work in my mind, which was completely unexpected.

Any Shadowfax recommendations? I've never heard of them before.

shelf wrote: Any Shadowfax recommendations? I've never heard of them before.

I'd recommend their early albums, Self-titled, Dreams of Children, Shadowdance, Too Far To Whisper, The Odd Get Even are all great

Spotify has separate visuals for each song.

1. The intro graphic.
2. The music video.
3. A sun.
4. A cross on a dome.
5. A cross necklace.
6. The sun and a flower?
7. Honeycomb imagery.
8. Transmission tower.
9. Stained glass.
10. A gem. A12 sided die for us nerds.
11. Church on a plateau.
12. Church in front of a mountain.
13. The hexagon symbol.
14. The candle imagery.
15. Tires in a junkyard.
16. Church interior.
17. Sunlight?
18. Stained glass and a dove.

In my opinion this album is not the highest in terms of production or technical quality (the prize for them goes to TH) but it is much more welcoming and wholeheartely crafted. Most of the tracks might be good as part of movie soundtrack (Arena Americanada MUST go into Heat 2) or even good for the mainstream public (such as Father and Son and Naraka).