[kj] Hosannas: what's not to like?

[TB]

"Mark Kolmar" wrote:


To Alex and others who aren't too fond of the new record -- Has it
grown on you at all?

Alex, after I read your comment to remind me that "Whiteout" and
"Exorcism" are among his favorite tracks on _Pandemonium_, I was all
the more surprised that you don't particularly care for _Hosannas_.
Large portions of the new record have a similarly insistent,
oppressive character as those two tracks.

I listened to it on my small system last night.  With regard to the
mix and mastering, it worked equally well on the bedroom system (teeny
amp and little Klipsch speakers) as the big stereo in the living room
(preamp into 4x125w bi-amped into big B&Ws).  It still sounds a little
dodgy, and parts seem to have significant tape saturation or similar
issue where low bass imposes itself on the whole rest of the mix.

I was impressed that the synth parts seem more "keyboardy" for lack of
a better term (VdGG or Hawkwind maybe), and less dance/techno
certainly than on _Pandemonium_.  The synths seem all the more alien
because they do not reference current and recent trends the way they
did on _Pandemonium_.  You'll notice if you listen closely that the
synth parts offer a lot of textural support for Geordie's guitar.  Do
you suppose the synths were Jaz's work?

++++++++++++++

My opinion fwiw, about the album:

There's some good stuff on it, I really like Gratitude, Judas Goat and to a 
lesser extent Lightbringer (aka Asteroid pt2) and Hosannas. Coming after the 
2003 selft titled album though, it's a huge letdown. The production, 
especially the vocals is almost amatuerish. I know they said they wanted a 
raw, "live" feel but saturating everything in reverb and plate echo to give 
it more atmosphere just muddies up the mix and I agree with what you say 
about the low end bleeding over the mix. The less said about "Invocation," 
the better.

It's been said before and it's something I really agree with, is that tghsi 
album seems like it should have been released *before* KJ2003 as much of it 
it almost seems like demos for that album.

Almost amusingly, my favorite track from the current album sessions is the 
b-side "Afterburnber" mostly because it's just *different" from the rest of 
the stuff on the album.

T.B.