[kj] MMXII Immersion

[Alexander Smith]

Been a bit sick this week, so perhaps in not the ideal frame of mind  
in which to immerse myself in the new KJ, but some observations since  
receiving it the other day....

"Pole Shift" --> Not an ideal album opener

"Fema Camp" ---> Oh dear. Also, I wish we could wrench Jaz out of the  
"Chorus = bellowed song title" cycle.

"Rapture" ---> This and "In Cythera" are the best bits on the album.  
No contest.

"Colony Collapse"-- > Reminds me of something very specific, and I  
can't put my finger on it. Not wild about the sing-songy element to  
the verses, but Geordie -- as always -- still makes it work.

"Corporate Elect" - Third best track on the album. Band firing on all  
cylinders. Strangely reminds me of "Medicine Wheel" off DEMOCRACY for  
some reason.

"In Cythera" - Highlight of the album. As I said before, it's the type  
of song they've seemingly been trying to nail for a while.  
Simultaneously elegiac and feral.

"Primobile"  -- Geordie really shines on this one .... Like much of  
the album, lots of layers to wade through here.

Not wild about "Glitch" and still getting my head around "Trance"

"On All Hallows' Eve" ---> Firstly, why release a song about All  
Hallow's Eve in April? Secondly, where have I heard that beat before?  
Iggy's "Nightclubbing"? Some glam stomp?

Coles artwork much more realized up close. Shame about the skull, but  
am growing fonder of the overall motif. Still light years better than  
HOSANNAS and KJ2003, let's remember.

Love that Jaz is SINGING again (less throaty bile-spewing)

Why does Heath Ledger get another shout-out in the liner notes?

Overall, I have to say -- it lacks a bit of the urgency of ABSOLUTE  
DISSENT, and doesn't feature as many moments of sheer, spine-tingling  
Killing Jokiness (you know what I mean -- the songs that stop you dead  
in your tracks that CANNOT have been made by any other band). The last  
track that did that for me was "Raven King" (although "In Cythera"  
comes very close). They certainly sound like they're revisiting some  
older ideas here.

I think my biggest complaint is something that also held true for  
HOSSANAS and that is that there is a claustrophobia that mires certain  
tracks. Either it's the keyboards, of layered fatness of some of the  
guitars, but there just isn't any space in some of these songs, and  
the drums get lost. I mean, listen to, say, "Feast of Blaze" and then  
spin something off this one and you'll see what I'm trying to get at.

Alex in NYC