Thoughts on hum?

One more addendum to 2020, year of glorious comebacks for heavy guitar-based music: Armagedda's Svindeldjup ättestup, which may well be my favourite of all.

i listened to this thing like three times today lol

gonna try to break up the trend by listening to the underrated and underheard 2018 failure record

i kinda think the sleepiness and occasional heavy looping are a feature, it's in no hurry to get where it's going. a weird opinion coming from me, someone who dislikes a lot of doom and stoner metal bc it sounds like it's standing still (not in a cool funeral doom way)

the main riff of "step into you" is SO my shit it's ridiculous

That quiet section a third of the way into 'Desert Rambler' is so lovely and unhurried, especially when it drops down to the lower bit, I could happily listen to half an hour of that.

i kinda think the sleepiness and occasional heavy looping are a feature, it's in no hurry to get where it's going. a weird opinion coming from me, someone who dislikes a lot of doom and stoner metal bc it sounds like it's standing still (not in a cool funeral doom way)

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Wednesday, June 24, 2020 11:12 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah this is actually an appealing thing about this record, you're right

"cloud city" is like... the best song i've ever heard

a thought i have had about other recent outside-current-mainstream/pop rock records i've heard in the past several years was that perhaps there is a correlation between rock being out of commercial/audience favor, and bands digging in to the doomy/stoner sawtooth heavy riff template, kind of as a refuge. like for the fans, people who show up to shows and just wanna hear that heavy guitar sound without all the whatever.

in the 90s hum certainly had something of the sabbath-by-way-of-seattle heft to them but it wasn't defining, more of a touchstone of the era.

downward was super multi-layered and blissful though iirc, it felt like world-building to me. maybe the ambition of that record wasn't sustainable. i don't know it's been a long time since i've listened to it but i don't wanna stop listening to high on fire atm.

anyway i'll stop being a downer about the NEW HUM ALBUM

Who dare I hope will return next

will jejune and elliott drop new albums just for my benefit

Am I alone in liking Seam, I ask myself goddamnit

If Brad Laner still posted on here I could have lobbied for another Lusk album.

ah maaaan that'd be something

this is kinda like the album i've always wanted boris to make?

Well funnily enough since we've got a new Boris album next week you can compare and contrast.

Oh I know it's not a disparagement and I totally get where you are coming from. Musical comfort food, for me, is usually what I think of when a long running act comes back with an album that hits the right nostalgia buttons, but doesn't really move me beyond that level. Sort of like some of the latter day Guided by Voices records or something.

For my part, I think what I meant was that it hits all the right buttons for immediate enjoyment/absorption for me (including obv memory/nostalgia triggers), poses no barriers. It was probably not quite the right term since I agree that it's not just that: listening more, the songs really do pack emotional heft.

The Summoning -> Cloud City -> Folding is just *all time*.

Definitely.

Matt Talbot's vox match the songwriting tone - appropriately understated.

I'm actually enjoying the vocals. Nice Stipe/Mascis triggers.

xp Damn someone from Lusk used to post here

Yeah I like Talbot's vocals myself, I just don't see them as a lure to the unfamiliar, I guess?

First time I've been able to listen on headphones right now and it's even better than I thought yesterday, a real follow up to Downward is Heavenward that doesn't miss a step. That said some of the more heavy/less melodic parts remind me of tunes off of Electra 2000, just with DiH production.

Also I love St Pere's drumming and he has slowed it down a lot and simplified things. He always had these cascades of accent notes on toms before and that's not as present here. I suppose we all get old :)

heartwarming story in the Stereogum comments:

I grew up in Champaign and these guys are the real deal in every way. Matt Talbott is insanely cool and nice. I was in a nirvana cover band when I was 10 and Hum let us open a few times for them. We were these little kids playing huge shows, and Talbott was so cool and encouraging to us. it was truly incredible.

revisited downward is heavenward and you'd prefer an astronaut today and they're still good but inlet is really on another level

i love downward is heavenward soooo much so i'm not prepared to agree with that but then again i've listened to this album like ten times in the past two days

it's just really everything i could want from this sort of music

The fresh new adventure has been wonderful. I'm not at all prepared to size it up against the other Hum records. Just enjoying. But if I had to make that call right now for some reason, I know that Downward is somewhere in my top 50 of all time, and atm I can't see Inlet placing as well.

But as a follow up it delivers just as well as any of the best long-awaited 2010s LPs. Like mbv or Black Messiah I think it's the kind of record I'll continue revisiting for the next few years. Whereas that was not the case with those two Failure records or even the Faith No More album from a few years ago.

The opener “waves” with its Only Shallow riff and tremolo lead could almost be a mbv tune

Groovy moment on “folding” when the guitars cut out

despite (maybe mistakenly) thinking myself pretty knowledgeable on most 90s/early 2000s indie-ish/alternative-ish ROCK that had any sort of impact... i had somehow never even heard of these guys at all, let alone actually heard them until this week's lp. it's definitely some 90s comfort ear food... in a similar way to that new Swervedriver LP from last year - so check that out if you haven't heard it Hum fans.

the first Swervedriver comeback album is great and really worth checking out, last year's had some good songs too

I keep parsing it as Skrewdriver, I think I need another coffee.

Finally listening on good headphones and this is great. That last few minutes of Desert Rambler aren't *nearly* long enough.

My lack of knowledge of the earlier records probably means I'm getting my influences chronologically cock-eyed, but I'm getting quite a lot of Remote Part-era Idlewild from this - In the Den and Step into You, particularly.

wow I don't hear that at all! but the sheer breadth of bands referenced here indicates to me that basically they continue to sound like Hum above all else

I keep falling into the guitars and getting 'called back' by the cadences of the vocals - definite Roddy Woomble thing going on! Probably just me.

They have a certain shared nerdiness, that I can hear.

That last few minutes of Desert Rambler aren't *nearly* long enough.

agreed, started that section over and over yesterday

chopped and screwed edition when

Is anyone else hearing echoes of 'October Rust' era Type O Negative?

XXP - I made one for yez, Desert Rambler, 13'45" version.

https://we.tl/t-yz9lS1iGbH

I keep falling into the guitars and getting 'called back' by the cadences of the vocals - definite Roddy Woomble thing going on! Probably just me.

oh man thx Maresn3st I will find some uses for this

awww, awesome!! xxp

a friend said he was afraid he loved this too much because it was the only good thing that has happened this year… so emo

where's the lie tho

Glad I caught this band on the rebound. Shit, this new album is like concrete candy, love it

"In the Den" rules so much. This whole thing is so wonderful

A mere 7.8, apparently.

a "towering" 7.8 lol

it's a good review tbh