Deafheaven

is that the sixpence none the richer one

I think that's the Oasis one.

I don't understand how Deafheaven seems any more cynical or calculated than any other band, really. It's not like they made some stylistic shift toward a more lucrative sound. They've pretty much been doing what they do since the beginning, right? Just seems like two dudes making music together, and one of 'em is pretty good and writing really pretty guitar parts, and at the same time more people/influential websites are getting into heavy music, and now all of a sudden, Deafheaven is A Thing (tho they're probably still making little money).

I suspect if they weren't A Thing folks wouldn't think they seem cynical or calculated. Chicken, egg, etc.

I don't understand how people think any successful band isn't somewhat "calculated". They pick the right shows to play, they sell merch they think their fans will want, they tour and do press and release albums at strategically determined times, and hire people to help them do it. It's all calculated, and if they're lucky, it works.

I also get the feeling that people are calling the music itself "calculated". I mean, sure, it is to some extent. They wrote it, and wanted it sound a certain way -- but you can't magically create a hit song or album just by the chords you pick, or lyrics you write. If Deafheaven are writing music they think their fans want to hear, how is that different than any other act, successful or not? For the sake of argument, let's pretend they injected a bunch of black metal into their otherwise ordinary indie rock in order to become popular. Now, think about the logic of that...

/me defending this band

xpost

I am so fucking excited to hear that there is a Nameless Coyote full length. The EP was fantastic. I've searched the net every few months since it came out to see if there was anything new on the way yet I somehow had no idea this album was even in the works. I am going to listen to it tonight. Great news!

Oh yeah, and the new Deafheaven is beautiful. I love it.

I don't understand how people think any successful band isn't somewhat "calculated". They pick the right shows to play, they sell merch they think their fans will want, they tour and do press and release albums at strategically determined times, and hire people to help them do it. It's all calculated, and if they're lucky, it works.

I also get the feeling that people are calling the music itself "calculated". I mean, sure, it is to some extent. They wrote it, and wanted it sound a certain way -- but you can't magically create a hit song or album just by the chords you pick, or lyrics you write. If Deafheaven are writing music they think their fans want to hear, how is that different than any other act, successful or not? For the sake of argument, let's pretend they injected a bunch of black metal into their otherwise ordinary indie rock in order to become popular. Now, think about the logic of that...

/me defending this band

― Dominique, Friday, 2 October 2015 00:37 (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Credit me with some fucking intelligence, I know how this all works.

Let me put it this way: take Alcest and Lantlos, both of them are on the more well-known side as far as post-BM-gaze goes, and both on their latest albums have gone with a sound that is technically more commercially viable. In both cases it seems to me that they have changed, dropped the screaming and such because they felt that it wasn't relevant to what they are trying to express through their music at that point. Even beforehand, I always connected with them on an emotional level.

And look I know that music is MEANT to be manipulative and is calculated to some degree but DH come across as manipulative in a cold and creepy way. The chord progressions are formulaic and trite, the songs are awkwardly constructed, and it all seems like they're trying too hard to make you Feel Stuff. It's all a front to make up for their lack of real musical character. There are of course shitloads of bands who are guilty of this, but since, as alpine static pointed out, they are A Thing now means that they are a more obvious target for criticism. Everyone does it.

And again, as if it wasn't obvious, I'm not saying no-one else is allowed to enjoy them because I'm obviously missing something here and I may be utterly wrong on every conceivable level about this but that's how I feel about a mediocre blackgaze band that isn't worth the time typing this shit aaaargh I'll shut up now

I listened to the closing track, the 'Oasis tribute', and fuck me their melodic sensibilities are pathetic. I can't be dealing with this shit so I'm out as well

@ultros ultros ghali -- my point was really more along the lines of the only stuff you can calculate with any degree of certainty is the logistical stuff, like shows, album releases, etc. I don't share your opinion that this music is "meant" to be manipulative. Even if it were true, that would be hard/impossible to prove-- and besides, no matter what they "meant" to do, it has little or no bearing on how it's perceived. IMO it's not worth considering, unless you're *really* interested in this band, beyond just knowing who they are, what they sound like, etc. I'm not even close to that interested, and wouldn't say I enjoy their music.

(but I was also pissed after work, so probably came off angrier than I intended)

j. OTM, generally. Really good rock album, hits my Smashing Pumpkins buttons. I'm not even sure what ca 2015 mainstream rock music this might sound like tbh.

this is actually what brad paisley sounds like in 2015

lol

this is actually what smashing pumpkins sounds like in 2015.

htts://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuSLpa5bQvE

cut and paste at your own risk. i won't even litter a deafheaven thread with that crud.

lol the pumpkins song is 10000x better than this deafheaven shit. new bermuda = explosions in the sky + ride the lightning + that guy that sang in the coffin for sunn o)))

That combination sounds great.... what am I missing?

that guy that sang in the coffin for sunn o)))

malefic of xasthur

and yea that kinda is the combination, and its dope

Yeah, I totally hear old Metallica too.

lol the pumpkins song is 10000x better than this deafheaven shit. new bermuda = explosions in the sky + ride the lightning + that guy that sang in the coffin for sunn o)))

sign me up, i guess

has anyone mentioned that the first song does a lil borrowing from "stars" by hum?

me

so you did!

"That combination sounds great.... what am I missing?"

Having listened to this album now, I think the only thing really missing is more Metallica riffs. I like this though (liked last two as well).

otm but i think that might just make you yearn for them more

i listened to this today and then the imperial triumphant album from this year -

https://soundcloud.com/earsplit/sets/imperial-triumphant-abyssal

- and since they both have a pretty dry and somehow contemporary sound i was struck by how un-science-fictiony the deafheaven record is. i think that might have been touched on in one of the reviews linked upthread, that it's adapted somehow for present-day gleaming-surface air-conditioned-nightmare precarious tech-bro life, but that must have something to do with the deliberate musical choices, the aiming for radio-friendly tones and structures and transitions. it's like it puts the record in the genre of 'realism', whereas your typical present-day black metal or death metal record, whatever resonances it can be found to have with reality or parts of it, code in terms of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, romance, etc. per our hallowed traditions.

even something as apocalyptic and otherworldly at times as black sabbath, it seems the blues element and the lingering 60s rock-combo dna make it all the more sinister, just so far as they make the music seem like it matches somehow with the actual contemporary world. even when ozzy's singing 'take your body to a copse' the archaism doesn't sound like an affectation, it seems like something mysterious and fearful still present in the world now (then).

and again i don't just mean the trappings, which are mostly ineffable in lots of metal anyway—the artwork, the fact that the song titles talk about evisceration rather than dragons or whatever, the different varieties of inhuman vocalization—i mean the ways the music itself codes as belonging 'elsewhere' or 'elsewhen' versus here and now (or some refracted glimpse of here and now)

someone brought in a copy of that Early Man record on Matador the other day and i had completely forgotten about them and the time when they were A THING and i kinda got the same vibe from them back then. not the matador thing. not the brooklyn thing. just a vibe like they weren't from the world i like to live in. i think they had emo roots. i just looked and they actually still record and put out a private-press CDR last year.

i think i actually do have a problem with pink album covers. i'm just not a big fan of the color pink. i have no problem with chillwave record titles though.

"When New Bermuda, then untitled, was announced last year, most of music was only just getting over the greatness of the band’s previous record."

http://www.vh1.com/news/211194/deafheaven-new-bermuda-interview/

I will take Brandon Stosuy’s numerous tweets about crying while watching or listening to Deafheaven over four thousand words about why someone else didn’t.

can we loosen the character limit on display-names pls

that Echoes of the Moon album is pretty good

OK I finally took the plunge after all the hype. I liked Roads To Judah (in fact, I seem to be the only one here who had it on the 2011 Metal poll ballot!) and wasn't too impressed by Sunbather, but I consider these dudes pretty legit. Now with New Bermuda, I can totally see that people will appreciate the various cool parts, because those are undeniably there. In particular I like how they're much improved in the actual metal department - the blast beats are excellent, the vocals are a *huge* improvement, and they have actual riffs now, and pretty good ones at that. What I mostly don't understand is the amount of people that rate this an (almost perfect) 9 or 10/10 given the amount of absolutely ridiculous trainwrecks scattered throughout it. The post-rock sections are almost a parody of the genre, and yeah that last track is knee-slappingly awful. This year I've listened to a shit ton of blackgaze/post-black and "atmospheric black metal" (as the band seems to prefer it these days?) but no way this is near the top of the heap.

(don't care about Deafheaven but would really appreciate a top of the heap "atmospheric black metal" tip)

This year? Kroda.

Post-rock was pretty much a parody to begin with tbh.

(and on the more post-black side, the Pyramids record is great)

i do actually 'read' the postrock bits as deliberate parody (ultimately because why else would you make them be the way they are)

(don't care about Deafheaven but would really appreciate a top of the heap "atmospheric black metal" tip)

― willem, Tuesday, October 6, 2015 7:52 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the vattnet viskar album from this year, "settler," is also really good

Myrkur's M is my favorite album in this vein this year.

i agree with siegbran. better than the last album in a lot of ways, but no big deal overall when there are like a dozen albums a week coming out that do the same thing better. and that will never be written about by anyone outside of a metal blog.

but...again...i get it. some things just get singled out. sometimes people just want ONE metallic album to listen to in a year. and these guys hit a lot of indie buttons for a lot of people.

and no matter what that 'one' album is metal dudes will get pissed off about it even if they used to like them

or they'll just go on and on about stuff that's better. which i have been known to do. but it usually just bugs me when the hyped thing is terrible. i don't think deafheaven are terrible.

i bet there was fanzines slagging off reign in blood or master of puppets.

Even Heartwork by Carcass was slagged of silly by some. It always happens whether the band is good or bad i think

Different people like different things for different reasons shock.

i don't think anyone is shocked by anything. for me it's more of a *why this and why not that* sorta thing. but when you add up all the elements of deafheaven it makes total sense. the last album that i really wanted non-metal people to hear was ashes against the grain by agalloch. i was playing it in the store not long ago and this 60-something classic rock guy was all over it. what IS this??? i wrote down the name for him. but it never really broke past the metal crowd, i don't think?

"i bet there was fanzines slagging off reign in blood or master of puppets."

Metal fans were pretty unified in their love for these records. Black Album was definitely the Metallica backlash record from metalheads and then of course by Load pretty much everyone was off the bandwagon.

i bet there was still "they sold out after Show No Mercy" type 'fans'

maybe some. I don't think, back then, I knew anybody who didn't freak out about Reign in Blood.

i'm willing to concede the drummer's not like unearthly or whatever, he's firing on all cylinders but many people do—but i think his parts are probably uncommonly composed to suit the overall compositions/arrangements, like he was an equal songwriting partner or something