i've spent some time listening to this today, and while i must point out that mammatus clearly fear satan, i also have to report that i'm just not getting into this like i did their previous work. this isn't the first attempt, and i think maybe it's time to give up.

it's not exactly because it's a little slower moving, it's more along the lines of that they didn't really pull the slower-moving thing off so well. it drags in a lot of ways that their previous work largely avoided. when it clicks, it clicks, but you don't really gain anything from the disc that you didn't have previously in their existing work.

this is a talented band that is doing something with almost no commercial potential and is essentially scraping by for the love of it, which is what i want to hear. i hope that they continue to compose and release in the future. but, this is not their most compelling work.

https://mammatus.bandcamp.com/album/sparkling-waters

in 2011 and 1941, the country got attacked.

in 2020, it shut itself down to stop the common cold from killing geriatrics and extremely unhealthy people - and largely failed to even do so.

the responses are incomparable because the situations are incomparable.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-05-22/little-sense-of-shared-grief-as-virus-deaths-near-100-000

america did this to itself.

and, it seems to want to just move the fuck on.

there's a new indricothere record up.

colin marston has a very defined style at this point, and this is really more of the same, without hitting the absurd dynamics of his first releases. it's enjoyable enough, but don't expect anything that's much different than what you've already heard from him.

https://indricothere.bandcamp.com/album/altrrn

i run into records like the newest pearl jam offering once in a while that i don't really want to criticize. i don't want to say anything bad about this. really.

but, it's interesting that the reviews are talking about it as though it's experimental, or more abstract, or branching out. relative to what, exactly? not even themselves; they were far more adventurous in the 90s.

it sounds like what it is - some aging rock stars that are trying to rekindle their interest and stay relevant, which...i'm trying not to be dismissive. it could be far worse, really. well, check out four of the five records that preceded this one - it was worse.

i'll give them credit for being methodical, at least; it's been a long time since the last one, and there at least isn't any empty filler, here, like there so often has been. these tracks may be a little safe and predictable for my own tastes, and the band may have moved on, as is their prerogative at their age, but at least they're properly worked out, fully developed. they took their time on this and did it right, they didn't just churn it out. fans that have kept with them should appreciate that.

but, beyond a few points, i'm just not feeling it.

i'll say this, though - if this is the last pearl jam record for a while, it's at least a decent ending point. but, if it's a transition into a string of late records, the next one might potentially be a legit return to form.

yeah, i'm most of the way through listen three, and the strong points are certainly very drastically overpowering the weak points. while i don't think it's as strong as organ music, this is a substantive release.

unfortunately, it seems like his label dropped him over it. welcome to late capitalism :\.

i wish i had checked this out earlier...but i suspect i'll check out again...

i will almost certainly give this a few more listens before i form a final opinion on it, but my first impression on the initial run through is that it's kind of a microcosm of spencer krug - there are high moments, but, overall, it's kind of bloated.

we'll see if that works itself out or if it cements itself.

actually, let's start with this for the night.

the piano record he did a few years ago tuned me out, although i expected to try again later sort of thing, and i didn't find my way to this when it was released. of his various projects, it is really only the moonface releases that i've founded interesting enough to bite into...

but, a concept record from the perspective of a minotaur? yeah, that's more along the lines of something i can get into. so, let me give this a good listen...

i find spencer krug to be exceedingly frustrating; i find 90% of what he does to be incredibly boring, and 3% of it to absolutely brilliant - like, top notch, cream of the crop brilliant. he's often touted as being "prolific", but i think the truth is that he releases too much crap.

once in a while, though...

i actually like this record quite a lot - it would be pretty high in my best of the 2010s list.

https://moonface.bandcamp.com/album/organ-music-not-vibraphone-like-id-hoped

i actually haven't listened to a new pearl jam record all the way through in quite a while. the self-titled avocado disc, which was 2006, was the last one i could get into.

this is certainly rather different, enough that i'm going to check it out tonight.

the youtube comments section is suggesting peter gabriel, or talking heads. what i actually hear is a gigantic nod to spencer krug.