the campfire headphase

what do you think of it?

fucking beautiful

7.00

some good tracks but they can do better.probably were running a bit short on cash.

hey fast posts, I am glad to see subforums are visited

8.5/10

  nacmat said:

hey fast posts, I am glad to see subforums are visited

yeah i'm amazed to say that i've actually come to like the subforums.

as for TCH; i really really hate to say it, but i basically agree with pitchfork; 7.8/10. the best tracks (dayvan and slow this bird down) are really, really good, quite easily in their top 5 tracks of all time; but the album as a whole is maybe two songs too short, it isn't groundbreaking, and it isn't coherent enough (as an album). most importantly, when i sit down to listen to it, it isn't exciting, the way geogaddi is exciting; i don't feel like i'm going on a journey, or that there's a whole album of brilliance to look forward to. what i feel like is that i have to sit through tracks 1 and 2 to get to track 3; that i have to sit through track 7 to get to track 9; that i have to sit through tracks 10 and 11 to get to tracks 13; and that i have to just be patient and sit through tracks 14 and 15 despite feeling like you shouldn't put two ambient tracks next to each other (and two rather unimpressive ambient tracks, at that; 'farewell fire' is one of their worst tracks, i would argue). i suppose it's just that roughly half the album is not that great; it feels like a step down, no matter how slight. i mean, they've still got it (tracks 3, 4, 5, 9, 13), but the album isn't quite in that stratosphere that mhtrtc and geogaddi occupy.

  leafs said:

yeah i'd agree with a 7 out of 10... the sequencing of 'tears from the compund eye' and 'farewell fire' is pretty strange. i think i'd like it more if it just faded on 'tears'.

the way they put it, in an interview, is that they wanted it to end that way because it was like a fire dying down, the end of a journey, two long ambient tracks closing it out. but still, it just doesn't work musically, imo

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the main thing i don't really think works on the album is the electric guitar. i think that the acoustic on say, the 'last walk around mirror lake' remix and on 'satellite anthem icarus' - i think it really adds a nice touch. there's a timelessness with acoustic guitar and i dunno, it just really suits the summery feel of the those tracks. the really clean electic guitar on 'hey saturday sun' and 'peacock tail', it just sounds so out of place to me. there's something about the timbre of it which makes me think of nu-metal band in 1999 rather than the sort of faded '70s texture i think they're trying to work with.

honestly i loved the sharpness and sort of sweeping beauty of the guitars in dayvan/peacock tail; it's the only thing in TCH that's totally new, and i think they did it quite well. i mean, i dunno, who could have ever predicted that they would start using electric guitars? though i'll agree that it doesn't go at all with the washed out 70s theme of the album artwork, and of tracks like chromakey.

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there's so much more going on here as well... although you can't really compare, there's a 1000 more things going on in 'oscar see through red eye' than say 'aquarius'. of course, that doesn't mean it's better, but i really like the 'feel' of TCH... there's a simple basis to the song, but with so many little variations and sounds flying around under it. i also like how it's less electronic than previous albums. i've always kind of felt that stuff like the drums in 'music is math' or the turntable scratching in 'an eagle in your mind' seemed kind of out of place... like they were kind of pandering to the warp aesthetic.

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it's funny how so many people have 'geogaddi' as the definative boc record... i've never really been able to get into that one. 'julie and candy' and 'you could feel the sky' are the only ones i really like. things that everyone seems to like, like '1969' and 'dawn chorus' seem pretty flat to me. especially that vocoder in '1969' - so out of place! it's weird though, in some ways i feel like i should really like the album, but for some reason i just can't get into it.

it took me 300 listens and two years to really appreciate geogaddi

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it's also funny you should say TCH is too short. i've always felt that MHTRTC and geogaddi are a few songs too long.

i agree, actually, that mhtrtc and geogaddi (especially geogaddi) are a bit too long. basically i think that TCH needs just one more long track, then another short bridge track; like if macquarie ridge was track 14, on the US/UK release, that would be about ideal.

lol

i like TCH but it is in no way as good as geog or MHT....

TCH seems to be missing something very very important but cant put my finger on it.

sounds like them, but just not the same. and as they said in the re:up interview,

they will be going in a different way with the next album,

this one is just a spring board for there long road in music.....

When I first listened to Campfire Headphase, it was radically different for me and I disliked it. I bought Campfire Headphase some weeks ago and I must say I more and more appreciate it. I'd rate it 8/10. Many listens convinced me to like the album. Though that was a pretty good album, Music Has The Right To Children, Geogaddi and Twoism remain better. :grin:

BOC are so easy to pick on....

TCH feels like Aphex Twins DrukQs, everyone hated on it in the beginning and now its a classic.

i think it's a brilliant album, it's taking them into new territory though and they may be leaving some of their old fans behind but they'll also open their music up to a lot of new fans with this album. It's the sign of truly great artists when they can go into new grounds and still make an impact, it's the diversity which will keep them alive also. For some of the older BoC fans it may not be considred their greatest work but for many of the new fans they'll bring in with it, this could be the album that introduces them to their older material...i think it has the potential for a much wider scope than their previous stuff.

At first I'd have said that the sequencing and the samey tracks in the second half were the biggest problems of the album, but I don't really know any more what exactly is wrong with it... I've come to appreciate the tracks I didn't like in the beginning. I do think that accomplished what they set out to do pretty much perfectly, but it just isn't as engaging as the previous work. It's probably all been said before. 8/10 is about right.

i just listened to it stoned for the first time last night.

i have a new appreciation for Chromakey Dreamcoat. that track is so fucking brilliant, and underappreciated. there are some many subtleties that i had n't noticed before. great track great album

Yeah Chromaker Dreamcoat is awesome! :laughing:

i like it alot...at first the obvious peacock tail and dayvan cowboy were my favourotes, but the later tracks have grown on me..highlight would be the oscar track...it's awesome and shows just how good BoC are at layering sounds and changing them,...lovely album..

solid and brilliant.

you get fed up a bit after 30 or so listens.

but then, after a month or two aside, you can pick it up again and love it all over again.

sherbert head is my fav on the album

it's like they about to play a trick on you

Yes, I actually think Sherbert Head is the best track on the album. The background "chromatic" bass in that track - "doooo doooo doooo do, doooo doooo doooo do," and the way the bass cuts out before resuming - is, in my humble opinion, the only truly "inspired" musical moment on the album. The rest is beautiful, occassionally brilliant, but not exactly full of surprises.

sherbet head is my least favourite on the album.

Sherbert Head and Tears From The Compound Eye are the best on the album for me

Yeah, "Tears" is a great track, especially since they kept it short and sweet. It feels longer than it is, unlike some of the other tracks that drag a bit.

I agree with pbn that Farewell Fire is unimpressive. There's something about it I just don't like, too self-conscious somehow. I've never found it moving. I wish they had swapped it with McQuarie Ridge.

sherbert head and 'tears' are tight