May 27th - 17:00 PDT - Tomorrow's Harvest Listening Party

  On 5/28/2013 at 8:00 AM, PlatrixECV said:

Ok, just got back. Here are my thoughts. In general, awesome experience, the setting was perfect. As to the album I would not call BoC going back to a Geogaddi or MhtRtC style, or a combo of th two. It is definitely a logical progression from TCH although primarily from something like Oscar See Through Red Eye. They make dense, layered complex stuff now. The minimalism is gone. In some respects I like hearing their sounds with a chance to breathe. You get a little of that in the ambient interludes. That being said, Tomorrow's Harvest is an intense, detailed great ride. I mentioned earlier there were noticeable elements of extremely vintage synths (think 70s Tangerine Dream (Phaedra) of Jean Michael Jarre's Oxygen). Maybe some Bladerunner sounding Vangelis. John Carpenter has been mentioned. It's all swirling around in there.

 

I have a video of the first three tracks. I think the sound quality came out pretty good. Trying to figure out how to ujpload it right now.

 

I took notes on each track.

 

Gemini, Reach for the Dead, White Cyclosa - you heard them. Gemini was a perfect into track, got me in the proper mindframe for BoC.

 

Jacquard Causeway - Intense. When the album kicks into high gear. I really dug what I found to be almost jazzy sounding noodling on what may have been a wurlitzer. It gave a lose feel. One of highlights of album for sure.

 

Telepath - the darking counting voice one. I wrote "unmistakably BoC. Nice interlude track. Keeps mood intense."

 

Cold Earth - You've heard this one by now. A better track in its full sonic glory. I put this own down as giving me a Vangelis vibe on some of the synths.

 

Transmisiones Ferox - Psycaedelic, buried vocals really ddark heartbreak style bass pulse.

 

Sick Times - This one again had an almost jazzy feel with a vintage electric organ or piano sound. Don't know if the beat is the "dopest" but it is a hard kicking break beat. The melody parts give the feel of quick tempo that vaguely reminded me of Poppy Seed. Again with the vintage synths (something close to Oxygene sounding). Another one of the best cuts on the album.

 

Collapse - This is the one I think might have had a moog sequence. It reminded me of Phaedra. Deep track with a great bass line that also functions as a counter melody. Everything from Jacquard Causway to here flowed and was all excellent. As good a stretch as there is on any Boc album IMO.

 

Palace Posy - This one was a bit eccentric. Vaguely pizzicato string sounding melody.

 

Split Your Infities - This was my initial favorite track on the album. Swirling melody that morphs into what I wrote was "ominous and joyous at the same time. Holy fuck." All the great elements of a great Boc track and shows how skilled they are in their craft.

 

Uritual - Buzzy dissosant drone. One of better interludes I can recall and again keeps momentum from Split Your Infities.

 

Nothing in Real - Treated piano, retro sounding break beat. Nice track I could see this one being popular with the non-diehards but I don't mean that as a sleight.

 

Sundown - Very Boc synth pads, layered again with what I call the ancient analog Vangelic et all sound.

 

New Seeds - Creates a melody almost out of radio static. After that I thought I heard discernable guitar sound. (Sounds like what I know to be called col legno on a violin where you flip the blow and hit the strings with the wood part (used most prominently at the beginning of Holtz's Mars). Keeps buildings and immensely dense. This could be a polarizing track.

 

Come to Dust - "Eerie with a great laconic break beat." Also a highlight of the album for me.

 

Semena Mertvykh - This is more or the less the song from the trailer. The static is gone and there is instead a stunning dark and dissonant background noise. It sounds a little bit like the beginning of Metallica's "Damage Inc" but with a strong helicopter effect. I love the melody of this song. Glad it is on the album. A perfect closer really (as exit music).

 

I loved the album overall. Where it rates in the context of their catalog? No idea at this point. Really glad to have the experienence of the build up and then the surprise listening party. Def treat for US fans. There were probably 100 people there, some came from as far as Arizona.

Thanks! Tantalizing writeup!

Holy shit I'm exited. Thanks for the review!

Uhhh a little tired so I've got some gnarly typos in there that it doesn't want me to fix. Sorry everyone. Oh well it is a rambling stream of conscience narrative anyway.

so glad to hear semena mertvykh is an alternation of the transmission track. In my opinion the transmission was 10 times better than RFTD. I hate the lack of bass / pounding kick with the percussion its just really disappointing. jacquard causeway sounds great from the stream (I was listening to the live stream while in class today)

i'm really really glad about the whole vangelis and jean michel jarre influence as vangelis is my favorite musician from the late 70s. vangelis and jean michel jarre are the only musicians who i actually try collect their discography on vinyl.

psyched for the new album. cant wait for my vinyl and digital download to arrive (or for when the album leaks haha).

It's a shame that if you use old analog synths then you get compared to previous stuff that used the same synths.

It's almost like comparing John Mayer to Jimi Hendrix because they both played strats and got that classic strat sound.

What hasn't been said in this thread already. I said in the Tomorrow's Harvest new releases thread that almost every track faded out to silence and then the next started so nothing mixed, and we got posters and stickers and stuff! I've got a good feeling about this record. I think it will have some longevity.

Waking up felt bad...

Still, last night was kinda fun. I liked what I heard on the stream (apart from the wind), can't wait to hear the album in full.

  On 5/28/2013 at 2:23 AM, jules said:

first time I ever heard is verbalized

 

Does anyone here call it that?

I did this back in 2010, and placidburp sampled it in his Trashbear set

now back on topic...I've not bothered reading past this bit of the thread. To be honest, I think it's ridiculous.

All that hubbub just so 50 or so people could get to hear the album once, about a week before everyone else (yes a week, because you know that shit is hitting whatcd when the japan release happens)?

LOL!

I am now not going to listen to the album until the record is in my hands. I will not be listening to digital vinyls, that means no leaks and no official digital release.

Fuck me, the amount of hype around this release is astonishingly

There were probably about 100-120 of us there.

  On 5/28/2013 at 9:54 AM, SPD² said:

There were probably about 100-120 of us there.

my point still stands. wouldn't have mattered if there were thousands there. in fact, it just reinforces the facepalmyness of the whole thing, in my opinion.

I think it's really cool, and I'm a bit depressed at some of the "instant gratification" sentiment I've seen around.

"We've waited this long, just give it to us!"

Why not have a bit of a treasure hunt? I love it. The only way I would be disappointed would be if the music at the end didn't measure up.

I'm all for it, in fact, if I were BoC I'd like to think I'd do even more of this kind of stuff, including putting on more live shows, with only a trail of clues a la Redmoon (or at least, what we thought Redmoon would be). Why the hell not? I guess it wouldn't make much revenue, but it'd build a great myth and legend around the group.

just to reiterate - I don't want instant gratification. hence why I'm waiting until I have the physical record in my hands before listening to it.

Hats off to the whole goddamn operation!

I love it and I take back everything bad I've said about any track so far

I'm not going to listen to anything else because I want to save my TH virginity for HQ versions not the ustream

But wow from what I've heard of Jacquard Causeway track alone this is the best release of 2013 imo if the rest of the tracks keep this up. Can't really say much atm obviously given limited info but this is just amazing

Cool news to wake up to. I had a crazy dream where BOC were playing on a massive stage and they had percussionists. One of the bros had got fat, Keanu style.

  On 5/28/2013 at 9:47 AM, oscillik said:

 

  On 5/28/2013 at 2:23 AM, jules said:

first time I ever heard is verbalized

 

Does anyone here call it that?

I did this back in 2010, and placidburp sampled it in his Trashbear set

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3080771/watmm.mp3 now back on topic...I've not bothered reading past this bit of the thread. To be honest, I think it's ridiculous. All that hubbub just so 50 or so people could get to hear the album once, about a week before everyone else (yes a week, because you know that shit is hitting whatcd when the japan release happens)? LOL! I am now not going to listen to the album until the record is in my hands. I will not be listening to digital vinyls, that means no leaks and no official digital release. Fuck me, the amount of hype around this release is astonishingly

I'm with this totally. I haven't bothered with the new uploads.

Think about folks. If you've already heard these plus Reach For The Dead, then you've already played a quarter of the album.

That's depressing. And you all waited how many years?

I've heard nothing and have skipped all track by track reviews. It's not really that hard especially when I consider how much osttre stands out from tch now. I'm sure the digital files will be released when they are for Japan, if not a little sooner.

  On 5/28/2013 at 10:17 AM, oscillik said:

just to reiterate - I don't want instant gratification.

Good job we're talking about BoC then

*7 YEARS - NEVAR 4GET*

Lol. I forget. We've apparently had Cold Earth too.

5 out of 17 already playable on YouTube now.

Almost one third of the record......

to BoC - you know there's a perfectly good abandoned water park in edinburgh? ok it's not in the desert, it's next to tescos but come on...

I'm hearing everything I can find. Fuck it; it's music.

  On 5/28/2013 at 12:10 PM, MIXL2 said:

I'm hearing everything I can find. Fuck it; it's music.

yes

I'd like to take a more pure and principled "I'm gonna hold out" stand. But I'm a big tune slut.

I think the key is just not to listen to it tooooo many times, so that all the imperfections get engraved in your auditory memory.

For Exai, I listened to all the 10-20 second clips in a row like 300 times. Surprisingly, I still managed to enjoy the album unimpeded. My brain is just fairly adaptable I guess...

  On 5/28/2013 at 12:18 PM, lumpenprol said:

I think the key is just not to listen to it tooooo many times, so that all the imperfections get engraved in your auditory memory.

Nail > Head

I understand why folks want to keep that first listening experience pure within a self-constructed perfect scenario (vinyl playing on the turntable on a nice setup, or driving off to the coast at dusk, parked up with it drifting from the car stereo as you take in the view, etc.). I was thinking along those lines myself, but personally I can listen to the odd preview here or there without sullying the overall experience of the album in full upon release. It's a nice taster to see what they've been up to all these years, and gives some reassurance that new BoC is something I'm going to want to listen to.

I was fortunate with Exai - the 'chre did me a massive favour by releasing it early, the week before I went on a trip to Iceland. Although I've been to the country before, that album is set in (volcanic) stone as being linked to that particular trip, and the amazing experiences I had while there. And yet that wasn't even my first listen. So personally, it's less about how that virginal listen is framed, but being fortunate for a good setting to present itself that you can soundtrack some memories with.

  On 5/28/2013 at 4:11 AM, LimpyLoo said:

 

You are such a misanthropic bummer.

 

Keep the homophobic hate speech off watmm please.