NeedleDrop Review's Tomorrow's Harvest

  On 6/14/2013 at 11:41 AM, rstark said:

As much as I agree with his arguments that they aren't doing a whole lot that is new or exciting, I think this album isn't meant to be as much of a "shock" as their last works but more of an emotional draft where you listen with your eyes closed and let these moments soak over you. They aren't building sounds to impress you with their talent but rather to impress your soul with some sort of message that you can only decipher by the sounds and how they make you feel

^ ^ ^

Artists don't need critics to talk about their work. I think it is hilarious when people use the same few words to describe the same few components they think comprise an "electronic" track. "Swirling, bubbling synths..." idiocy.

Comparing boards of canada to komishche or whatever is so tired and boring. It is worthless talk. Fantano is a diligent fellow and good on him for building up himself as a reviewer, and if he helps people, that is good too, but he is a non-artist, not to mention a non-theorist. It is asinine that people are saying it is the same old same old. Listen to campfire headphase and then listen to tomorrows harvest.

These people simply do not know what they are talking about. On previous efforts, especially beautiful place and before, BoC almost exclusively wrote in an entirely different heptatonic set (secunda), namely the melodic major mode, which is major with a minor 6th and 7th.

But the chord progressions they are using in TH are beguiling, (many sit snuggly in heptatonia prima, and it is hard to write beguiling music in prima, which is the regular diatonic set of notes if you don't know), but these progressions still fit boc's cyclical structure that is rarely deviated from. One particularly surprising track is Sick Times, which uses a diminished fifth as perhaps the strongest cadence in the song, something you won't find no matter how much you score the electronic music being made right now.

They have successfully evolved their writing while staying true to their sound, maybe heavy handed at times like in Telepath, but who really is sad to hear something so classically BoC being released by BoC in 2013? Not me. And I'm only talking about this in terms of music theory, I could delve into the conceptuals deeply.

Here is one, the voices in many of the tracks I see as characters, perhaps The Harvesters? You can write your own narrative about that.

And Cold Earth is almost Roygbiv grade the way it pulls at the heart of the child inside, but BoC makes it feel even more distant than before, like it really is out of reach now.

And the comparison to RaveDeath is way, way off. That is a good album, but the main reason people gave it so much power is how everyone wouldn't stop talking about the DEATH OF MUSIC and that fraternity or whatever that pushed the piano off the roof. It was being appreciated for a concept--digital garbage--that tim hecker had been dealing with previously but was now very overt with, but the album didn't really develop that anymore than being heavily distorted, which wasn't new for hecker. But because Philip Sherburne or whoever spelled it out for all the netheads, RaveDeath enjoyed like 2 months on Pitchf*cks BNM!!!!!!

They almost sound like live drums!

ive criticized Mr Fantano. I think its kind of rude to rate music. A person puts years of work into something to have it dismissed by someone who doesnt get it. (RS drukqs review). What is the point? Something vibes with you or it doesn't. I dont need someone's permission. He replied that his reviews are really just a way to get the word out\ on new releases, which i suppose is a nice thing. I dont need reviews myself

  On 6/12/2013 at 9:42 PM, Ivan Ooze said:

i don't mind him at all and i don't understand the hate towards the needle drop, he's got some pretty good ears

a lot of his reviews are just too soon though, you can't "judge" an album like exaii in less then a month

Well, when it's your full time job to listen to music you'd have a lot of time to give something a fair amount of listens. I feel like most of his judgments are finalized

  On 6/15/2013 at 3:29 AM, sheatheman said:

One particularly surprising track is Sick Times, which uses a diminished fifth as perhaps the strongest cadence in the song, something you won't find no matter how much you score the electronic music being made right now.

exactly, couldn't have put it better myself, thats why its the best track on there. cheers man, we know the score! well said

I don't like his nasal sounds.

Aaaaaand, I think time will tell he doesn't draw the right conclusions.

Come back again in 2 years and we'll have a meaningful discussion about TH. Until that time: not so much. IMO, listening to BOC tends to rely heavily on emotions. (That's what makes it uniquely BOC) And emotions tend to need more time and space to develop. All current opions are just rationalisations behind attempts to make emotional connections. Some people aren't there yet. Some people never will. But if the connections do come, my prediction will be this BOC will be as meaningful as any other BOC from the past.

My 2 cts.

I don't know goDel, for the most excitable fans maybe that's true but for most people I don't think the album is so emotionally overwhelming

  On 6/15/2013 at 4:25 PM, goDel said:

I don't like his nasal sounds.

 

Aaaaaand, I think time will tell he doesn't draw the right conclusions.

 

Come back again in 2 years and we'll have a meaningful discussion about TH. Until that time: not so much. IMO, listening to BOC tends to rely heavily on emotions. (That's what makes it uniquely BOC) And emotions tend to need more time and space to develop. All current opions are just rationalisations behind attempts to make emotional connections. Some people aren't there yet. Some people never will. But if the connections do come, my prediction will be this BOC will be as meaningful as any other BOC from the past.

 

My 2 cts.

so, are glowing reviews also susceptible to this malleable notion, and thusly equally as meaningless?

  On 6/15/2013 at 3:35 PM, zupiclone said:

 

  On 6/15/2013 at 3:29 AM, sheatheman said:

One particularly surprising track is Sick Times, which uses a diminished fifth as perhaps the strongest cadence in the song, something you won't find no matter how much you score the electronic music being made right now.

 

exactly, couldn't have put it better myself, thats why its the best track on there. cheers man, we know the score! well said

 

 

if I wanted to wank over chords I'd listen to jazz.

  On 6/15/2013 at 4:25 PM, goDel said:

I don't like his nasal sounds.

 

Aaaaaand, I think time will tell he doesn't draw the right conclusions.

 

Come back again in 2 years and we'll have a meaningful discussion about TH. Until that time: not so much. IMO, listening to BOC tends to rely heavily on emotions. (That's what makes it uniquely BOC) And emotions tend to need more time and space to develop. All current opions are just rationalisations behind attempts to make emotional connections. Some people aren't there yet. Some people never will. But if the connections do come, my prediction will be this BOC will be as meaningful as any other BOC from the past.

 

My 2 cts.

true, emotion is unique to the music of Boards of Canada. other bands prefer not to raise 'emotions' in their listeners

perhaps people are overanalysing simple beat driven ambient music and its just a quite-decent album and a fair review

  On 6/15/2013 at 4:33 PM, ThatSpanishGuy said:

I don't know goDel, for the most excitable fans maybe that's true but for most people I don't think the album is so emotionally overwhelming

Never said it was emotionally overwhelming. Emotionally underwhelming would be closer to my point even.

  On 6/15/2013 at 4:33 PM, oscillik said:

 

  On 6/15/2013 at 4:25 PM, goDel said:

I don't like his nasal sounds.

 

Aaaaaand, I think time will tell he doesn't draw the right conclusions.

 

Come back again in 2 years and we'll have a meaningful discussion about TH. Until that time: not so much. IMO, listening to BOC tends to rely heavily on emotions. (That's what makes it uniquely BOC) And emotions tend to need more time and space to develop. All current opions are just rationalisations behind attempts to make emotional connections. Some people aren't there yet. Some people never will. But if the connections do come, my prediction will be this BOC will be as meaningful as any other BOC from the past.

 

My 2 cts.

so, are glowing reviews also susceptible to this malleable notion, and thusly equally as meaningless?

 

Yep.

I'm not saying this review, or a 6, has no value. Just not a whole lot. Yes, that works both ways.

My point is just that the reviewer didn't take this aspect (BOC needs time) into account (enough). I don't think he got the point, because he didn't see himself listening to this album in a year from now. IMO, people will come back to this album even though their initial reservations. And my prediction still is, those people will like it better later on.

One of the reasons, btw, is that even though TH comes off as minimal on the first few listens, this album is as dense, or perhaps their most dense as any other BOC. Like they themselves mentioned in some interview. That's an odd discrepancy. And to me that shows BOC just needs time to do their magic. They don't do instant card tricks. They do landscaping tricks with the speed of a glacier.

  On 6/15/2013 at 4:25 PM, goDel said:

I don't like his nasal sounds.

 

Aaaaaand, I think time will tell he doesn't draw the right conclusions.

 

Come back again in 2 years and we'll have a meaningful discussion about TH. Until that time: not so much. IMO, listening to BOC tends to rely heavily on emotions. (That's what makes it uniquely BOC) And emotions tend to need more time and space to develop. All current opions are just rationalisations behind attempts to make emotional connections. Some people aren't there yet. Some people never will. But if the connections do come, my prediction will be this BOC will be as meaningful as any other BOC from the past.

 

My 2 cts.

you are so right. you can't expect it to immediately transport you to the Geogaddi era, which was over 10 years ago. the point is that BoC knows how to deliver a slow burn of continuously delivering moments in their tracks which induce heightened senses and expansive thought. just keep listening when you are reading that book, taking that walk, riding that bike, sitting under that tree, and the epiphanies, telepathic vignettes and cosmic insights will keep coming.

  On 6/15/2013 at 4:36 PM, fsdapfad said:

if I wanted to wank over chords I'd listen to jazz.

 

no one is wanking, besides, Tim Roth pronounced jazz dead many many years ago. besides, the reason everybody loves BoC is because of the chords they use. If those chords weren't important then we might as well listen to Tycho. The interesting thing is BoC is using more traditional progressions but they are still in their own zone. I don't really know how they did it.

the fact that people are giving negative reviews to negative reviews is

I think music reviewers are complete shitfucks. It's just his opinion, he isn't me.

  On 6/12/2013 at 8:33 PM, YELLOW said:

Can't stand this douchebag

Looked at his face and drew this conclusion

I think that people can tend to overemphasize/overplay the amount of time and immersion it takes to acclimatize to Boc/Ae releases.

Sure, they're usually extremely layered and nuanced compositionally, but when you're as familiar with these band's universes as a lot of us on here are, it doesn't take long to be able to tell if an album has that magic which drew you to them in the first place. For me, "Tomorrow's Harvest" simply lacks the considerable variety of moods and unique atmospheres that were present on MHTRTC and Geogaddi. I don't feel that it's a particularly bad* album, but there's just no question as to whether it's up to the standard of their first two or not.

The main problem is that this is their first release in 8 years, the same amount of time over which they previously released three albums.

  On 6/15/2013 at 7:50 AM, Danny O Flannagin said:

 

  On 6/12/2013 at 9:42 PM, Ivan Ooze said:

i don't mind him at all and i don't understand the hate towards the needle drop, he's got some pretty good ears

a lot of his reviews are just too soon though, you can't "judge" an album like exaii in less then a month

Well, when it's your full time job to listen to music you'd have a lot of time to give something a fair amount of listens. I feel like most of his judgments are finalized

 

he reviews a lot of albums and uploads the video's shortly after the album is released, a lot of good music takes time to digest, it doesn't help if you play it 3 times a day

and people are so full of hate and shit, i hope he earns a good buck off his channel

but fucking lol at giving altar of plagues a 9 and boards of canada 6 wtf brah

  On 6/15/2013 at 8:16 PM, jules said:

the fact that people are giving negative reviews to negative reviews is

 

lol

I am amazed at the hate levelled at this guy, and a bit disgusted at how many of you dismiss him just from his looks without hearing out his opinion at all.

That aside, I think he has always been one of the most fair, neutral and unbiased reviewers out there. That being said I've only listened to his reviews on the small sect of musical overlap we share, but for Oversteps, Exai, and TH his opinions have been pretty spot on.

  On 6/18/2013 at 2:16 AM, thehauntingsoul said:

I am amazed at the hate levelled at this guy, and a bit disgusted at how many of you dismiss him just from his looks without hearing out his opinion at all.

 

That aside, I think he has always been one of the most fair, neutral and unbiased reviewers out there. That being said I've only listened to his reviews on the small sect of musical overlap we share, but for Oversteps, Exai, and TH his opinions have been pretty spot on.

Hi Anthony Fantano

  On 6/18/2013 at 2:16 AM, thehauntingsoul said:

I am amazed at the hate levelled at this guy, and a bit disgusted at how many of you dismiss him just from his looks without hearing out his opinion at all.

 

That aside, I think he has always been one of the most fair, neutral and unbiased reviewers out there. That being said I've only listened to his reviews on the small sect of musical overlap we share, but for Oversteps, Exai, and TH his opinions have been pretty spot on.

I just noticed he gave Oversteps a 5 and Exai an 8...wtfbbq? I don't mind the guy but I think he's way off base there. 8 for Exai sure, but if Exai is an 8, Oversteps should be a 7 or 8 too imo. Or both should be 7.5s, that sounds about right to me. Oversteps is a tasty album, and arguably more groundbreaking than Exai in every way but the production. imo.

  On 6/15/2013 at 6:44 PM, sheatheman said:

no one is wanking, besides, Tim Roth pronounced jazz dead many many years ago. besides, the reason everybody loves BoC is because of the chords they use. If those chords weren't important then we might as well listen to Tycho. The interesting thing is BoC is using more traditional progressions but they are still in their own zone. I don't really know how they did it.

Spot on. I hear the same chord progressions every day across all genres - so much so they become a cliche that's very difficult to avoid when making music. I bought the last Tycho album and loved it at first but it quickly became very tired, because it's so predictable. I think BoC have just got a knack for finding a unique progression, working it into a unique structure, and milking it for every last drop.

to be fair,after he gave exai an 8,in a later review of the previous months releases of which he liked ,he mentioned exai again and said that after a bit more time with the album it had blown him away,wouldn,t surprise me if TH got another mention in the future,anyways,i love it!

It's just that when I agree with this guy I agree with him so much. I'm not sure if Tomorrow's Harvest is the kind of album that really changes after you really listen to it 10 times and break it down. What you hear is what you get. Beyond that, you can try to figure out all of the hidden easter eggs and BoConspiracies, but that's kind of a separate pursuit than the actual music.

  On 6/18/2013 at 12:48 PM, Candiru said:

It's just that when I agree with this guy I agree with him so much. I'm not sure if Tomorrow's Harvest is the kind of album that really changes after you really listen to it 10 times and break it down. What you hear is what you get. Beyond that, you can try to figure out all of the hidden easter eggs and BoConspiracies, but that's kind of a separate pursuit than the actual music.

i can,t agree with that at all,this album takes quite a few listens to sink in properly imo

I don't think about it in terms of complexity or needing a certain amount of plays to process it, but more like the passage of time being necessary to show whether a release ultimately has staying power. In that sense every reviewer's job is to rush to an opinion which is at best an educated guess, and yes that does apply to both positive and negative reviews.

If there were some way to quantify the state of being a "classic", assuming that is not an entirely subjective notion, it would be fun to do meta-reviews and see which reviewers panned future classics and/or praised music that was forgotten within a year or a couple of years, and vice versa. But you see it already in reviewers changing their own opinions with time, or in extreme cases like those old Pitchfork reviews, deleting everything and pretending it never existed, lol.