ThePumpkins.net

DON wrote:
Haha. Maybe so. its good to see he hasnt forgotten them!

The Celestials is phenominal. Think its my top pick. Love it so much. It reminds me of Disarm a little. But better because of the fuzz

So I've listened to it 5 or 6 times so far and its slowly continuing to grow on me. I actually find the synth laden tracks to be highlights and more interesting than many of the other tracks. Here are few more thoughts from me.

Am I the ONLY one that thinks that the Pinwheels intro sounds like Baba O Riley? This has been bothering me ever since I recognized it.
Listen to Pinwheels and then listen to Baba.


See I'm not crazy am I? Both intros last approx. 40 seconds as well!

Pale Horse is still my favorite song of the bunch.

I don't see where the general negativity/ lukewarm reception of One Diamond... is coming from. I think it's a great song. Very catchy and it really aids the flow of the album imo.

My Love Is Winter should've been a bit longer/had more to it, if it was/did I think it would have put the song in Classic Pumpkins territory.

Quasar really is a kickass intro and probably contains the most energy of all the tracks.

Inkless has a very catchy simple guitar riff! It's great really!

I'm still waiting for Wildflower to grow on me though.

Hi Sika! hahaha

I stated many times on here before I was intentionally avoiding all incarnations of every one of these songs until I could hear the studio versions as a whole, with the hopes it would be fresh and new to me....desperately hoping for something to knock my socks off like SP used to do.

Let's just say I'm still waiting.

I listened to the itunes stream twice, right back to back yesterday. I had it playing on my computer while I worked, and since the entire album is uploaded as one file, I have no idea what the names of the songs were as I listened. For me, the album started out decent. I really liked the groove of the first song, although I did not care for the lyrics at all. And then it seemed to go downhill from there. There's nothing that stood out as awful....but nothing that stood out as great either. There didn't seem to be a lot of dynamic to it. I have always thought the one thing SP did greater than anything else was the extremely dynamic song. Porcelina. Soma. Songs that cover the extremely soft and the extremely hard within the same piece of music and find a way to seamlessly flow. I think that's what I was hoping for more than anything, and I didn't get it.

Again, I'm only 2 listens in, so these are first impressions. And I think at least some of the songs will grow on me over time. I don't intend to listen to it again until I have the physical copy in my hand next week. That's when I'm really going to dive into it and start finding things that I like....hopefully. haha

It can'tbe less dynamic than Shroozgeist

JonnyDaycase wrote:
I wanna hear The Rite of Spring.

Mike's chops are pretty nuts. His time shifts are really fluid. His style is really tom-heavy as opposed to Jimmy's. That tom triplet beat in Quasar is fun as hell to play (the rest of the song is a bitch though). So is the last segment of Oceania. His kit is tuned pretty deep, haha. HE's definitely not Jimmy, but his playing is solid on this album.

Ghostchild, I'm eager to hear your thoughts on Mikey's drumming. Anything in particular stand out to you?

This must be getting on everyone's nerves but I've some more Oceania questions on my mind:

How is the production/mixing?
Is it as overproduced and lousy mixed as Zeitgeist was with an enervingly loud but lazy sounding voice front center?
Or did they come back to something colourful like the MACHINA mix or soemething brilliant like the one on MCIS?

I'M LISTENING TO OCEANIA.

DON wrote:
It's much better mixed than Zeitgeist, but like most modern rock albums it sounds way too slick, totally lacking the raw edges of Machina or MCIS.

ryon wrote: Now your opinion is something I must know about
epitome wrote:
Damn!
But that's something I have expected.

kjrain12 wrote:
Haha it sounds like The Postal Service covering "Baba O Riley".

DON wrote:
I have to completely disagree. The production is excellent and sounds very, erm, well NOT slick. It honestly reminds me of a cleaner Machina II. The vocals are great in the mix, and the guitars actually sound much clearer than past Pumpkins works. I took a few listens to Jellybelly, Here Is No Why, Quiet, and SIYL, and on all of them, compared to Oceania, they sound smaller, more muffled. Try listening to Inkless or Panopticon then go to Jellybelly. The effect is somewhat shocking.

I would just describe the sound as very open, expansive. Like they set up their amps in some small theater and recorded it that way.

So if you were worried that it sounds like craptacular Zeitgeist production, it doesn't. Not even close.

Dorovo wrote:
No, not really. Again, I'm only 2 listens in and I'm not going to listen again till it comes out next week....but I can't say any of his drumming really stood out in my mind. I think he's better than he was when billy hired him on. But he's still eons away from Jimmy's level, and always will be. I play drums, so I have a really high appreciation of what Jimmy did for the SP sound. No matter what mikey boy does, I'm going to see it as not good enough. I admit that I have that bias. That said, he's nearly half my age and he's professionally making a career out of playing with one of the most iconic bands of the 90's. So he's doing something right, I guess.

Sikamikanico999 wrote:
That is the exact definition of the production being too slick.

Really? I would describe slick production the other way - compressed to oblivion and no reverb. I know people here call SD slick and I've always disagreed with that designation.

Still, when the definition for "Slick Music Production" isn't in the dictionary, it's hard to level with people.

Or wait, was it "polish"? Because I would say the record sounds polished. Like SD or Zwan.

Sikamikanico999 wrote:
I think the criticism being made was that the "smaller, muffled" sound of Jellybelly and the others you cited is part of what gave old SP edge, grit, and character. Now (due in part to the technology available today), everything comes out super clean and crisp. Every modern rock record sounds that way. aka "too slick."

At least that's the way I interpreted it. lol

Ah, I see. Then I guess it is slick, to use your interpretation of the definition. I would just like to say that the production, slick or not, doesn't detract from the soul of the band on Oceania, as it did on Zeit. It's still apparent on this record. And the vocals are PERFECT. Just where they need to be. Not front-and-center.

ghostchild wrote: I am not a drummer but a semi-pro musician myself so I'd like to point out that I still think Jimmy is the best drummer I know.
Sikamikanico999 wrote:
I happen to love the muffled sound - the definitive SP sound has MCIS for me.
SP always had sound a bit dirty to me, that's why I never could agree with SD but I guess Oceania is a swan and must sound that way

Yeah, so to clarify, ghostchild understood what I meant by the slick production - over-polished, you could call it. I'm not levelling it as a specific complaint at Oceania though, as most albums are like that now, although I have started to notice a slight move back to a rawer sound by a few bands, which is how good rock music should sound, in my opinion.

Despite it's slickness I did still enjoy Oceania though, still only had one listen so far.