Drum + Fife

[Shallowed]

Originally Posted by slunken

lol - you being the guy that mostly complains how this place is overrun with o-boarders with less than 500 posts come on now take a look at the thread again

what

I complain about the people that complain about the complainers, because they think that the people complaining are representative of Netphoria, but now they can't complain because there's actually very few complaints

And besides, there has been a few regulars commenting positively, I was referring to them too.

[pavementtune]

finallly a WHOA in a song haha

I do like it a lot, though.
yes, it is repetitive, but in this case I don't mind it, it fits.
the flute in the beginning, the vocals (because to me they sound not so emotionally dead like on the other new tracks), drums, bass, all fine. very much looking forward to hear this one live with Mark Stoermer.

and all tracks so far are headphones only for me.

[Phoenix Down]

It's okay. Still waiting for some more interesting guitar work.

My mind still hasn't been blown four songs in. So far I prefer Oceania just for Panopticon alone.

[franzel]

Best song so far :-)

[butthurt]

five alive

[slunken]

i was listening to the intro to the song and while that's fine if you like martial themes when the high bass line comes in i'm like jesus christ and yanked the volume knob down it's recorded so sonically loud it's like a straight headphone mix.

Part of me is starting to wonder if all of Howard's head-scratching and strange looks (as in BC's nexus posts) wasn't for good reason. There are some really odd mixing decisions happening.

[slunken]

just to reiterate in terms of sonic headroom here is what i hear happening:

A - starts with a synth line long enough to establish the song volume
B - clean electric bass joins recorded closely and loud enough that the synth is now pushed to the background.
C - loudest moment so far - the loud drum roll intro into the drums
D - and song resumes now with drums at the same volume as in pt B, a clean electric guitar chiming the root chords during the turnaround (quietest element in the mix), and BC's vocals now mixed with the loud bass.
E - song enters "overdrive" with a really loud low bass line (louder than pt C was) and the previously clean guitar part switches to distortion yet it is still the softest element in the song, along with the synth line. song is mostly driven by bass, then vocals, then drums, then guitar and synths.

[pavementtune]

mixing David Bottrill
I'm curious to hear it all on vinyl, maybe then I can put the headphones down?

[JuneSnow]

Do any of you realize that the title of the song is "Drum + Fife"? It's not 'Five." That "flutey sound" at the beginning? That would be a fife.

[slunken]

are you ByeJune's brother?

Please make him stop wearing bandanas

[Slurpee]

This one is working for me.

[Shallowed]

Originally Posted by JuneSnow

Do any of you realize that the title of the song is "Drum + Fife"? It's not 'Five." That "flutey sound" at the beginning? That would be a fife.

Oh my god this whole time I thought it was Drum + Five, even when Billy had been talking about it on his blog all year! Payment tune's idiotic tpo only confused things for me even more!

[pavementtune]

sorry about that typo... can't wait for Anit-Hero

[Ram27]

Do any of you realize that the title of the user is "pavementtune"? It's not 'payment." That "v" in the middle? That would be for pavement.

[Shallowed]

I can't handle all of these epiphanies at once.

[RenewRevive]

Songs growing on me and four songs in so is the album. Still like the Billster's vocals mixed lower but that just ain't gonna happen - ever!

[The exploding boy]

I think the fife sounds completely out of place.

Otherwise once the song starts proper after it sounds like it could have been a machina reject, especially the chorus.

Which i guess at this point in Corgan's career is almost praise....

[Stinstrom3]

Sounds really good. I also notice that this one and Tiberius have a lot more going on in it than what the 30 second samples gave us. Love the fife in it.

[Dogfighter28]

no no no no no no no no no

[Shallowed]

Originally Posted by RenewRevive

Still like the Billster's vocals mixed lower but that just ain't gonna happen - ever!

The vocals in One and All are really buried, I really don't get how people can't see this and think they're high in the mix.

[Spira|_]

Best from the four.
Mixing is better here.
Vocals are not so annoying, pretty good indeed comparing with Oceania, Z and TBK.
The song has consistency. It wants to go sonewhere, this time.

As an album I do not notice much consistency and cumplicity between songs.
Maybe because the 4 songs have a so different mixing/production making them a bit distanced.

But it has everything to be the better album since reunion.

[Spira|_]

Originally Posted by The exploding boy

I think the fife sounds completely out of place.

Otherwise once the song starts proper after it sounds like it could have been a machina reject, especially the chorus.

Which i guess at this point in Corgan's career is almost praise....

Also felt if the song had not the flute and synths and had more heavy guitars could be something from Machina II.

[Dogfighter28]

FUCK YOU

[thedeadofnight]

Really liking this! Not sure if it'd get much success as a radio single but nonetheless its a nice short tune!

[fuzzyroes]

Ehhh. Kind of unimpressed with this one. The production sounds too "bright" and loud and theres too much going on. Just a poppy song that doesn't really resonate with me.

It definitely sounds more inspired than a lot of the other SP3 work though, so it's a step in the right direction.

[fuzzyroes]

It would definitely be a mistake to push this song as the lead single. I think Tiberius would be the much smarter choice.

[The machine of god]

Head and shoulders the best track so far. It's a song, it's not muddled confused or over wrought.

At least if this was a b-side I would be happy to have bought the CD single in '98 to hear it. The others, I would be quite happy to realise why they were b-sides and easily forgotten.

He's needs to do a record that sounds like this and re-brand as Billy Corgan.

This song feels sincere and believable. The rest, not so.

[pumpkinfan1988]

Lyrics are fine but lose the flute sound thing in the beginning. More distortion/heavy gain. Add screaming solo over it. Done.

[smashingschnauz]

I like every damn song so far. Eeeeek!

[chotchkiss]

Originally Posted by dreams of glass

D+F>One and All>Tiberius>BB

It astonishes me how varied people's tastes in Pumpkins music can be. It's good and probably one reason the band is as successful as it is, that they appeal to so many different tastes.

Rating the MtaE releases so far I would put them starting with the best, Tiberius and going to my least favorite BB:

Tiberius>One and All>D+F>BB

Drum + Fife is a very middle of the road track to me, but I'm glad so many people enjoy it since that just brings energy and sales to the band which I bet would bolster spirits.