'what are you currently listening to' Part 2 (154 Viewers)
- Thread starter Sheik Yerbouti
- Start date
@swag thoughts on the new Turnstile album?
For me it starts really strong like theyve finally found the precise balance they've been working on for years. Then the quality of the songs and the riffs starts to slide down. This starts when I Care ends without going into the breakdown I feel like it really needs. Dreaming and Light Design are really bland. Seeing Stars is good but then Birds feels like a sort of forced effort to call back to previous works. It's jarring on this album because they've moved away from that. Then the album feels like it already starts the fade out with a couple of good moments sprinkled across.
More than anything it makes me want to listen to their earlier stuff.
For me it starts really strong like theyve finally found the precise balance they've been working on for years. Then the quality of the songs and the riffs starts to slide down. This starts when I Care ends without going into the breakdown I feel like it really needs. Dreaming and Light Design are really bland. Seeing Stars is good but then Birds feels like a sort of forced effort to call back to previous works. It's jarring on this album because they've moved away from that. Then the album feels like it already starts the fade out with a couple of good moments sprinkled across.
More than anything it makes me want to listen to their earlier stuff.
What a great question. It's almost a little odd that they came out with Never Enough earlier this year and, well, I've largely forgotten about it.
Here are some key soft spots of mine that Turnstile definitely hits on:
* That experimental crossover of hardcore music with things more melodic, electronic, soulful, or anything else
* The Baltimore connection, which much like my Chicago South Side scene is fertile ground for music from a community that's often overlooked if not stepped on
* The band's lack of ego
Now all of those are still there as on Glow On. But in the four years of touring for Glow On, it strikes a slightly different tune for me.
Sure, they're pressing forward on mixing up grinding hardcore sounds with different influences and polish. But that polish now sounds like less of a clash with their historical riffs and more like diluting the party punch. Yes, there are good riffs and there is good creative effort to be found. But nothing really stuck with me after several listens the way their past few released did. After "Dull", things fade more to the background... with maybe the exception of "Seeing Stars" and "Slowdive".
In a way, to make a bad parallel, it's as if they're trying to be Radiohead making their Kid A transition. But rather than abandoning it all behind them, they're kind of stuck carrying the expectations of both in a muddy middle. Which makes this album a bit like a motor home: not as good a home as a real home, and not as good a vehicle as an actual car.
But I'd give them a break too. Sometimes it takes a few albums for a band to evolve their sound more intentionally. They didn't fully abandon their Glow On step the way, say, The Rolling Stones rightfully did trying to be a psychedelic band with a one-off Their Satanic Majesties Request (my god that album was derivative crap of 1967). The challenge is that four years is a long wait to evolve to the next step.
On that note, I still favor Glow On but also Time and Space (probably my favorite album of theirs), Nonstop Feeling, and even the rap-adjacent sounds of Step 2 Rhythm.
Which gives us fun articles like this:
https://thehardtimes.net/blog/opinion-i-liked-turnstile-better-before-they-were-born/
Here are some key soft spots of mine that Turnstile definitely hits on:
* That experimental crossover of hardcore music with things more melodic, electronic, soulful, or anything else
* The Baltimore connection, which much like my Chicago South Side scene is fertile ground for music from a community that's often overlooked if not stepped on
* The band's lack of ego
Now all of those are still there as on Glow On. But in the four years of touring for Glow On, it strikes a slightly different tune for me.
Sure, they're pressing forward on mixing up grinding hardcore sounds with different influences and polish. But that polish now sounds like less of a clash with their historical riffs and more like diluting the party punch. Yes, there are good riffs and there is good creative effort to be found. But nothing really stuck with me after several listens the way their past few released did. After "Dull", things fade more to the background... with maybe the exception of "Seeing Stars" and "Slowdive".
In a way, to make a bad parallel, it's as if they're trying to be Radiohead making their Kid A transition. But rather than abandoning it all behind them, they're kind of stuck carrying the expectations of both in a muddy middle. Which makes this album a bit like a motor home: not as good a home as a real home, and not as good a vehicle as an actual car.
But I'd give them a break too. Sometimes it takes a few albums for a band to evolve their sound more intentionally. They didn't fully abandon their Glow On step the way, say, The Rolling Stones rightfully did trying to be a psychedelic band with a one-off Their Satanic Majesties Request (my god that album was derivative crap of 1967). The challenge is that four years is a long wait to evolve to the next step.
On that note, I still favor Glow On but also Time and Space (probably my favorite album of theirs), Nonstop Feeling, and even the rap-adjacent sounds of Step 2 Rhythm.
Which gives us fun articles like this:
https://thehardtimes.net/blog/opinion-i-liked-turnstile-better-before-they-were-born/
