plaid Scintilli - Reactions

Just finished my first listen on headphones and I thought it was fantastic! Really surprised to come here and find most people disappointed... but I probably shouldn't have been. That seems to happen every highly anticipated release. For me m, though, it was even better than I had hoped (from the 2 pre-released tracks... which were actually awesome in the context of the album).

Length didn't bother me either... I'd rather finish an album and look forward to the next playthrough than get bored of it before it's even over. Can't wait to give it a spin in my car tomorrow!

Also, the comment about ae was completely ridiculous! I never know what to expect from them next and they're constantly experimenting with something fresh...

First impressions:

Yay: It's very pretty. Plaid are still really good at constructing/deconstructing simple melodic patterns in sexy ways.

Nay: Despite a good range of sounds it feels a bit homogenous. Their tracks still don't have much 'weight'. It's all a bit predictable. Beats and rhythms aren't very inspiring.

  On 9/6/2011 at 4:34 AM, Lucy Faringold said:

First impressions:

 

Yay: It's very pretty. Plaid are still really good at constructing/deconstructing simple melodic patterns in sexy ways.

 

Nay: Despite a good range of sounds it feels a bit homogenous. Their tracks still don't have much 'weight'. It's all a bit predictable. Beats and rhythms aren't very inspiring.

Does it have the typical Plaid moments where you just CAN'T FUCKING FIGURE OUT WHERE THE BAR STARTS AARGH? That's one of the reasons I pretty much never listen to Spokes.

  On 9/6/2011 at 4:42 AM, modey said:

  On 9/6/2011 at 4:34 AM, Lucy Faringold said:

First impressions:

 

Yay: It's very pretty. Plaid are still really good at constructing/deconstructing simple melodic patterns in sexy ways.

 

Nay: Despite a good range of sounds it feels a bit homogenous. Their tracks still don't have much 'weight'. It's all a bit predictable. Beats and rhythms aren't very inspiring.

Does it have the typical Plaid moments where you just CAN'T FUCKING FIGURE OUT WHERE THE BAR STARTS AARGH? That's one of the reasons I pretty much never listen to Spokes.

yes! i like it though. 'thank' is crazy.

Upon a second listen, from speakers instead of headphones, I like most of the album a bit better. Still couldn't stand African Woods, though.

Holy shit, watching you guys over analyze this album is hilarious.

There's nothing that difficult to digest. What's with all the "maybe after more listens I'll get it" shit? It's not that complicated, it's a lot of really pretty, nice tracks. There's very little wrong with any of them and it sounds distinctly Plaid the whole way through so far (I'm on "sömnl").

It's a good album, quit being such a complainer, Sirch.

@xxx-Helge: It's the album with "Manhasset", right? Manhasset is one of my all time favourite tracks.

Unbank sounds to me like german techno crap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arLHb6JHi7Q

I'm at Sömnl now. Impressions until now: Nice, but predictable and not inspiring.

  On 9/6/2011 at 9:04 AM, xxx said:

 

It's funny because I got an immediate Doctor Who feeling off of "Unbank". It sounds like a full-on homage to the Radiophonic Workshop imo.

My thoughts as well!

I picked up the Flac edition from Bleep and have given it seven or eight complete listening sessions now.

Here are my impressions (for anyone interested).

And so it's been quite some time since the last studio album (Greedy Baby - 2006) but fans finally have a new one. Scintilli is Plaid's long-awaited answer and I don't really know what to make of it. 

Their last two releases have seem them provide soundtracks to respective Japanese movies with varying degrees of success and for me at least, their often imitated knack of producing hauntingly beautiful music that revolves around their trademark off-kilter chord structures have been replaced by the kind of generic studio fluff one might hear for a Pro-Logic demo. 

The new album features thirteen tracks (an extra on the Japanese release) and fans of those oddly paired chord structures are going to be disappointed. Scintilli features ever more of the kind of bland music that made Heaven's Door pretty much unmemorable. 

Hardcore fans may disagree but there is no way anyone can say this kind of music  is comparable to the work they were putting out up until around Spokes. Here we have more than half a dozen tracks that go absolutely nowhere and are additionally hampered by badly utilised guitar and vocals. Of course, Plaid have used these things before - the utterly devastating 'Ralome' from 'Rest Proof Clockwork' and the sublime vocals at the beginning of 'Even Spring' from 'Spokes'. Actually, just mentioning those two tracks makes me realise how wonderful their respective albums were. Every track almost completely perfect and memorable in a way that very little these days is. 

It's not all a total loss - the few tracks on here that are worth mentioning - '35 Summers', 'Somnl' and 'Upgrade' are excellent and remind me of how they can still produce some real magic but after waiting this long for an album, three tracks out of thirteen is more than a disappointment. 

Am I being unfair? Perhaps but that would only be because this duo has produced some of the most finest electronica in the last fifteen years or so. 

If you're a die-hard fan or you loved their soundtrack work, you'll want this but the kind of melody in their music that was almost heart-stopping in it's beauty is never really allowed to show on more than a handful of tracks. 

Regards

  On 9/6/2011 at 9:16 AM, fumi said:

It's not all a total loss - the few tracks on here that are worth mentioning - '35 Summers', 'Somnl' and 'Upgrade' are excellent and remind me of how they can still produce some real magic but after waiting this long for an album, three tracks out of thirteen is more than a disappointment.

 

Am I being unfair? Perhaps but that would only be because this duo has produced some of the most finest electronica in the last fifteen years or so.

If you're a die-hard fan or you loved their soundtrack work, you'll want this but the kind of melody in their music that was almost heart-stopping in it's beauty is never really allowed to show on more than a handful of tracks.

I agree about Sömnl and Upgrade and I think, the album isn't full of inspiration at all. But I need more listenings. Plaid went out of ideas? Maybe. But I disagree about the soundtracks. They have some great music. This City and Masato are of exceptional beauty.

Listening to boom-boom-boom-boom unbank again. Do they really want to insult us? The ending of it... oh mainstream pop music, Plaid is coming!

good album. welcome to the family, scintilli : )

  On 9/6/2011 at 9:16 AM, fumi said:

I picked up the Flac edition from Bleep and have given it seven or eight complete listening sessions now.

 

Here are my impressions (for anyone interested).

And so it's been quite some time since the last studio album (Greedy Baby - 2006) but fans finally have a new one. Scintilli is Plaid's long-awaited answer and I don't really know what to make of it.

Their last two releases have seem them provide soundtracks to respective Japanese movies with varying degrees of success and for me at least, their often imitated knack of producing hauntingly beautiful music that revolves around their trademark off-kilter chord structures have been replaced by the kind of generic studio fluff one might hear for a Pro-Logic demo.

The new album features thirteen tracks (an extra on the Japanese release) and fans of those oddly paired chord structures are going to be disappointed. Scintilli features ever more of the kind of bland music that made Heaven's Door pretty much unmemorable.

Hardcore fans may disagree but there is no way anyone can say this kind of music is comparable to the work they were putting out up until around Spokes. Here we have more than half a dozen tracks that go absolutely nowhere and are additionally hampered by badly utilised guitar and vocals. Of course, Plaid have used these things before - the utterly devastating 'Ralome' from 'Rest Proof Clockwork' and the sublime vocals at the beginning of 'Even Spring' from 'Spokes'. Actually, just mentioning those two tracks makes me realise how wonderful their respective albums were. Every track almost completely perfect and memorable in a way that very little these days is.

 

It's not all a total loss - the few tracks on here that are worth mentioning - '35 Summers', 'Somnl' and 'Upgrade' are excellent and remind me of how they can still produce some real magic but after waiting this long for an album, three tracks out of thirteen is more than a disappointment.

 

Am I being unfair? Perhaps but that would only be because this duo has produced some of the most finest electronica in the last fifteen years or so.

If you're a die-hard fan or you loved their soundtrack work, you'll want this but the kind of melody in their music that was almost heart-stopping in it's beauty is never really allowed to show on more than a handful of tracks.

 

Regards

jesus. first impressions of something you just heard in one day no matter how many times you hear it, shouldn't be extended into a quasi-review that reads as a formulated final opinion, and even then you just came off as a bitter musician (no one cares that you know what a logic pro studio demo sounds like and should never be used in comparison). all you are doing is over familiarizing yourself with the material to the point of instantly pointing out any single sort of negative that doesnt compare to your perceived peak of their output and it's nostalgia. you automatically didn't hear what you wanted to hear and instead of being neutral you make it seem like you are taking offense to it not living up to what you expected. oscilik pointed out that it will never live up to expectations and he's right, but going the exact opposite route is a bit mad and wrong. give it time before writing shit like that.

unbank sounds nothing like hyper hyper but it's startingly close to the sort of dance music you want to stray away from. it's not really that different compared to something like orange sky, plaid are no strangers to unhinged 'happiness' that makes them sound slightly over the top at times. its a bit much on unbank but i wouldn't call it bad, just extremely 'happy'. see: dang spot, a great track that is no less 'happy' than unbank although in a completely different way.

my impression: better, less 'emo', quirkier and funkier than spokes but a lot of the tracks they played live would have been a welcome edition. ie where the hell is the second half of eye robot, the part that made the introduction make more sense? wheres the faster idm/dnb-meets-terry-riley song? and a few other ones were easily great enough to be on there. songs are really short but it's better that their isolated ideas do their thing for a short time instead of doing those same exact songs only 3 minutes longer, but maybe they went off the deep end with that concept. some 5+ min stuff could have been nice. some interesting semi-acoustic experiments, especially founded. album doesn't standout initially in a profound way as a whole but time will tell whether this is not immediate and actually quite good or if its just way too immediate and over familiar (probably a bit of both). african woods is my favorite track, sounds like atom heart + plaid and is one of the best plaid tracks i've heard, easily on par with rest proof clockwork

so yeah what pigster said basically

Gave a quick listen on the first third of the album and what I heard was good enough for me. I am not the biggest fan of Plaid, but think they've done pleasant enough music and this is no exception. Maybe if you are a fanboy and been waiting for it all these years it might be a disappointment, but for me it's just one of those albums that I pick up because I know what I am going to get and that is nice sounding music, nothing more and nothing less. Keep in mind this is just from hearing it quickly.

A couple of points I'd like to make.

Firstly, I'm not a musician. Having said that, like a lot of old timers on here, I've been listening to Plaid since they began so my opinion shouldn't be worth any more than anyone elses.

I threw the Pro-Logic reference in to give people an idea of how souless a great deal of Scintilli is.

I believe in everything I wrote. Very rarely does my opinion on an album change after seven or eight listens, regardless of whether they were done in one day or not.

I don't think on this occasion, it's somehow going to morph into something else entirely after a week or six months.

It's still worth picking up for the three tracks I mentioned but I just wanted to lay it out as I see it. Your mileage may vary (as indeed it should).

I don't think the issues relating to Scintilli are confined only to Plaid. They've been in the music business a long time and I think that for most of these guys it's the same.

Time moves on and other non-music related issues begin to crowd their lives. Eventually the inspiration that drove them on their early and mid-career work starts to evaporate. It's only natural. No-one can be expected to keep producing the same magic they once did.

Maybe the Sandisons have the same thoughts running through their minds.

I really like it, it's very nice to have them back again. IMHO The whole production is quality but upgrade/at last is standout for me. I found all of it interesting on first few listens but I'm sure different tracks will ebb and flow as I get more familiar with it.

I know it might not be for everyone but i get the impression that there's a bit of a negative bias on these forums. Must be tricky when people have their own fixed ideas and expectations but there's some lovely subtle moments going on in this record.

"African woods" is the Plaid stuff I never liked. Don't know which one it was on their old albums, but there's similar stuff

Is it just me? "Founded" - I thought: "So where's the voice of David Gahan?"

It pretty much reminds me of some Depeche Mode output. I must say I like it.

I don't see a problem in peoples opinions (which may sometimes change very fast) - so what? We all love Plaid, don't we?

I see it as a return to form. 'Greedy Baby' seemed unfinished to me, and it lacked those quirky chord structures we all know and love. They're back in abundance on 'Scintilli', this is a very good thing. The brevity isn't a problem. They put more ideas into 4 minutes than most bands put in a complete album.

I like it quite a lot, but I understand the disappointment - especially after the wait. The overall sound/production is good to my ears, but many of the tracks are a little lightweight and they don't develop into anything special in relation to their beginnings. It seems to be like a fun album that was put together quite quickly and spontaneously, but who knows? Maybe it really has been worked on for all those years and has got a lot of depth that I'm not aware of.

I would have loved to have had two or three extra tracks... perhaps longer ones. I was hoping for something very new, unusual and beautiful from them this time round, but they've gone the way many of their peers have gone and it tends towards what's easy and fun.

  On 9/6/2011 at 12:45 PM, yossarian said:

I see it as a return to form. 'Greedy Baby' seemed unfinished to me, and it lacked those quirky chord structures we all know and love. They're back in abundance on 'Scintilli', this is a very good thing. The brevity isn't a problem. They put more ideas into 4 minutes than most bands put in a complete album.

'Greedy baby' was the last time it was all good, at least for me. The mediocrity began to seep in here and there on 'Tekkon Kinkreet' and to a much greater extent on 'Heaven's Door'.

Listening to those two albums prior to Scintilli made me hope that this was because they had been written to perform the specific tasks of aiding certain visuals.

Alas, it seems that wasn't the case and Scintilli is only a mild turn to form. I agree that the brevity is not a problem -- more that too much of what is available is simply not worthy of them.

haven't listened to it yet but to those saying it's short ... it's 48 minutes? look forward to giving it a spin later.

  On 9/6/2011 at 4:15 AM, texan whip said:

a career ending album maybe?! i dunno...it just seems like a very lazy offering from a duo that is capable of so much more.

i very much doubt that! ..but agree, that it's quite a surprising release, for them!... and not so much in a good way.

  On 9/6/2011 at 4:42 AM, modey said:

  On 9/6/2011 at 4:34 AM, Lucy Faringold said:

First impressions:

 

Yay: It's very pretty. Plaid are still really good at constructing/deconstructing simple melodic patterns in sexy ways.

 

Nay: Despite a good range of sounds it feels a bit homogenous. Their tracks still don't have much 'weight'. It's all a bit predictable. Beats and rhythms aren't very inspiring.

Does it have the typical Plaid moments where you just CAN'T FUCKING FIGURE OUT WHERE THE BAR STARTS AARGH? That's one of the reasons I pretty much never listen to Spokes.

lol. that's rich coming from a die-hard Autechre fan!

  On 9/6/2011 at 4:16 AM, crono3 said:

Just finished my first listen on headphones and I thought it was fantastic! Really surprised to come here and find most people disappointed... but I probably shouldn't have been. That seems to happen every highly anticipated release. For me m, though, it was even better than I had hoped (from the 2 pre-released tracks... which were actually awesome in the context of the album).

 

Length didn't bother me either... I'd rather finish an album and look forward to the next playthrough than get bored of it before it's even over. Can't wait to give it a spin in my car tomorrow!

right.

  Quote

Also, the comment about ae was completely ridiculous! I never know what to expect from them next and they're constantly experimenting with something fresh...

wrong.

  On 9/6/2011 at 7:49 AM, xxx said:

I was expecting some "teeth" or maybe a new direction but it's business as usual. I like it though because, when it comes to subforum folks, even their mediocre efforts still outshine a lot of what's out there. It's so homogenous with respect to the other albums that it's hard for me to know where it fits yet. I think that's what people mean when they say they need more listens. One track that bugs me is "Eye Robot" because Speedy J did it so much better...11 years ago

well, Greedy Baby was a new direction and most people disliked it.

i think and feel Scintili is quite different and a bit of a new direction. different arrangements, shorter tracks, some new/different sounds, more guitars. the whole thing just seems more shiny and punchy and loud, but mellow...

it's not "business as usual" really... but i know what you're saying, cos that's how i feel about almost everything by ae the last 10 years.

edit: the only thing i dislike about Eye Robot is that it's too short!!/ends to abruptly!

"career ending" sounds pretty harsh for this kind of album. imo it's not like an atrocity. i will say I don\t think it has all the good hooks and climaxes found on earlier albums, and sort of the mood is not as dense as on clockwork and not for threes. i dont understand tracks like eye robot which is just a bass and beat basically. it sounds good but its not really a tune in the melodic sense? more of the following tracks lack the melodies and intensity, but then tracks like 35 summers, upgrade, at last and soml gets more of the old school intenser plaid i love. it never reaches the heights of rest proof clockwork, double figure and not for threes for me, but the tracks above make for great listens. loving the production and warm subtle glitches etc tho.