A continuing feature, items regarding each day’s recording will be shared that same

[juliana]

Eloquent is a much-requested digital revival of an old Didone style [meaning in the style of Bodoni and Didot] photo-typepositing face. This new digital version evokes late 1960s magazine advertising, and includes the rarely seen swash variant, and features several newly created alternate swash caps (A, J, Q, Z, M, K,R) and one new alternate lowercase swash (s) and several lowercase ligatures. The font contains both lining figures and old style figures. This is a really handsome version of this classic font.

The classic font which it’s based on is Pistilli Roman.

[slunken]

I fucking love Bodoni

[Ram27]

I was able to turn the busy-body riff into a shoegazer wash which when laced with big, simpler guitars feels fatal.

Awh yeah.

If this album was a book it would sound good

[juliana]

THE HUNTED’ (?), which has the distinction of being so catchy from the first you almost don’t know what to do with it. So Howard name checked some band I won’t mention and said how they’d had a hit where the bass carries the song forward (the guitars as such being held back). This prompted a running of the bass line (WALDORF) into a FOX-FUZZ, which sounded great; the song untouched and dosed with guitars at the appropriate moment

He better keep this on the album.

[slunken]

He won't we all know this

[juliana]

I know. It sounds too good. He will some how destroy it!

[slunken]

The songs talked about to songs on the final album ratio is always something like 15:1

[juliana]

I like his dig at devi ever.

This prompted Jeff to say that perhaps we should get a company to clone the exact pedal. I agree! (Because none that have ever tried in my estimation have come close. An opinion).

[slunken]

Cool that the basslines are synth

[juliana]

Not really but it is something bass focused so.

[slunken]

THE HUNTED’ (?), which has the distinction of being so catchy from the first you almost don’t know what to do with it. So Howard name checked some band I won’t mention and said how they’d had a hit where the bass carries the song forward (the guitars as such being held back). This prompted a running of the bass line (WALDORF) into a FOX-FUZZ, which sounded great; the song untouched and dosed with guitars at the appropriate moment

Its almost sad reading stuff like this because we've read things like this before and it's easy to get kind of pumped reading the description but history has shown us that it's very easy for the song to get completely watered down, neutered, and eventually dropped sometime between now and the next 20 months.

Point being, whatever the songs sound like now is in no way a reflection of what the final album will sound like.

Also @juliana, my comment about the synths is the fact that he is using them to write basslines. That is the what, imo, he has always been best at with that equipment. Given his recent tech-gear-expositions, I would be pleased if the basslines were from a synth as opposed to a bass guitar.

[slunken]

It's 230 in the morning and I'm drinking wine but, looking at the Panopticon page with that picture of him wearing the cape, thinking about synth basslines and epic guitars makes me happy. Couple that with the "Monuments for an Elegy" title and I'm imagining him working on what Adore could have been: Billy's darkwave album.

edit: or even TFE meets Adore for a more casual comparison (living in the pass).

[juliana]

I just wish Billy would find oportunities in the bass guitar and write some outstanding riffs that no one is doing. I wish he would write some lead bass songs too. I think he would have to push himself to do that. He did that with piano on adore.

I agree that reading this shit means nothing, heard it all before.

[juliana]

Originally Posted by glitterlips

Unless you've heard it, he's not providing enough to say it sounds too good. It's too early to speculate. Wait until snippets of songs come around. It's still possible he could say fuck it, no bits of audio just to piss people off)
I want to hear this synthy bass line.

A song that is bass focused to me is what I am excited about.

[slunken]

Originally Posted by glitterlips

Billy can teach you synth on his toy, but best bet would be a professional

[juliana]

Actually very early SP relied a lot on bass. billy was more into it and d'arcy was more invested. After gish it became more and more just root stuff.

There was some good rhythm stuff prior.

[Ram27]

Originally Posted by juliana

Actually very early SP relied a lot on bass. billy was more into it and d'arcy was more invested. After gish it became more and more just root stuff.

There was some good rhythm stuff prior.

Jackboot had some pretty kickin bass riffs

[juliana]

It just sounds like a guitar player on bass.

[juliana]

One gross thing is widow wake my mind had a good bassline. This hipster plays it really well. http://youtu.be/rzJoxP0J2vs

Also, glisandra is a shit somg with some cool bass.

[Trotskilicious]

Originally Posted by juliana

Actually very early SP relied a lot on bass. billy was more into it and d'arcy was more invested. After gish it became more and more just root stuff.

this is true

she's really limited though

[juliana]

The sad thing about d'arcy is in the beginning you can see how unconfident she is. She isn't bad. Just junior and when she becomes confident she then is heavily addicted to drugs and it fucked with her playing. But I still think she sounded the best and fit the best.

Love her here http://youtu.be/xcoS9JnClLc

[panda show]

to be honest, I think a major part in d'arcy's playing was the fact that she never actually played guitar.. she was a classicaly trained violin player and she just switched to bass because it was easy to learn and it was easier for her to get in a band as a bassist (as opposed to being a guitarist or a singer). I think that's what limited her technique, although most pumpkins songs weren't so hard that she couldn't play them. from what I've read, billy's biggest problem with d'arcy was that she'd often forget her parts during practice, or she'd play out of sync.. but I guess that had to do with her being incofident in the first 3-4 years of playing..

a pretty good example of that is this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CURoJ26gHpI

[Araneae]

Originally Posted by Ram27

Awh yeah.

If this album was a book it would sound good

Exactly. It reads like it should be interesting but I think I would have felt the same if Billy was describing the making of the Oceania songs. I have the same problem with some music reviews when they describe songs.

Remember, when they ask for your occupation on a visa form, write: ARTIST. Not: NOT-ARTIST.

I wonder if Billy subscribes to the notion that everyone is an artist.

[Funbags]

Originally Posted by Araneae

I wonder if Billy subscribes to the notion that everyone is an artist.

I'm pretty sure he's literally said:

"Some people are born to dig ditches. Some people are born to be rock stars".

[Araneae]

I'm curious to hear what his definition of it would be. Robert Smith of The Cure lists his occupation as "Musician" on his and I can't distinguish what could possibly make Billy more of an artist than Robert Smith is. Opening up a tea shop and playing with synths set to poems doesn't elevate anyone to the realm of being an "artist."

It's obvious that Billy really wants people to remember him as a great artist above all else, and I suppose the first step in enforcing the idea is for him to keep talking about it.

[juliana]

Originally Posted by panda show

to be honest, I think a major part in d'arcy's playing was the fact that she never actually played guitar.. she was a classicaly trained violin player and she just switched to bass because it was easy to learn and it was easier for her to get in a band as a bassist (as opposed to being a guitarist or a singer). I think that's what limited her technique, although most pumpkins songs weren't so hard that she couldn't play them. from what I've read, billy's biggest problem with d'arcy was that she'd often forget her parts during practice, or she'd play out of sync.. but I guess that had to do with her being incofident in the first 3-4 years of playing..

a pretty good example of that is this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CURoJ26gHpI

D'arcy just never practiced. She never wanted to be a super bass player. However, she used more than one technique when playing. She played with heart but never cared enough. It was mostly her confidence that held her back.

Q: The last person who really inspired you?

A: The girl who’s playing bass for David Bowie right now is amazing. She’s so proficient, but she’s not this cold, studio technical person. She has so much soul and she can sing like a motherfucker. When she plays, she and her bass guitar are like, one thing. So many times I feel completely stagnated but the bass and mostly I just wanted to sing when I was younger. Regular guitar intimidated me. This woman is so amazing, but I still don’t know if I feel inspired enough to practice. I don’t think I’ll ever be like her. And I don’t think I’ll ever sing much with Smashing Pumpkins. I was really pissed off actually, cos I spent 24 hours getting the back-up vocals for the album to match Billy’s perfectly, and they were cut. I feel like I’m being used sometimes. Like an enhancement for his voice or something. And it really pisses me off.

Source: http://bystarlight.org/interviews/da...magazine-1996/


A bass is a guitar with four strings, most of the time. Knowing guitar helps you understand what your pals are playing but it doesn't make you a better bass player at all. In fact it could hinder you from actually producing good basslines. Corgan is so guilty of it. Also, Corgan made a lot of mistakes too, but he wrote the songs. He could recover. He also has a well trained ear. Have you seen the basement jams vid where he screws up again and again and he just laughs. Really shitty to hang your bandmate out to dry in front of an audience. Wouldn't be surprised if he never taught her the song.

Many people start on guitar then move to bass because guitar is just common. This is for many reasons.

[juliana]

Double post.

[GLOWer]

i'm enjoying these updates. don't care if they lead to nothing or the album is a bummer. it's fun to check out when i remember. in text, the album is sounding cool.

also excited that billy is seemingly entering another adore / futureembrace phase.

[themadcaplaughs]

So he's composing/playing bass on these songs (at least in this stage)? I guess that's a pretty big sign that Nicole is no longer part of the group. One of his big bragging point for those last two Teargarden songs and Oceania was that Nicole was actively working with the band and bringing in bass parts.

[GLOWer]

drum machines and billy bass. i'm down.