Queens of the Stone Age - Villains - 2017

http://www.nme.com/news/music/queens-of-the-stone-age-album-mixed-and-finished-2058083

Cool!

http://qotsa.com/

Teaser site up. Maybe too much traffic at the moment as it doesn't seem to be loading properly like it was 20 minutes ago. Here's a pic of what it looks like when fully functional:

https://t.co/vjldkWNgVy pic.twitter.com/IjZVfwnSw9

— boneface (@b0neface) June 12, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nscGRxzH2gg

mark ronson produced this?!?!?! holy shit

I am the tiniest bit sad that it was not also produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen, but you can only ask so much of a guy.

fingers crossed for the next qotsa record

though the news of ronson producing made me briefly envision an album full of "smooth sailing"s

clip sounds promising. homme's no grohl in the acting department.

Requisite Zane Lowe interview tomorrow a.m.

.@zanelowe x @qotsa's Josh Homme.
Thursday: 8AM LA/11AM NY/4PM UK
🌎🌍🌏 https://t.co/Mb2YQmCUdm pic.twitter.com/mG26ascUld

— Beats 1 (@Beats1) June 14, 2017

oooof

https://open.spotify.com/track/7dBMQbBKG6n9HkVXkUKnhQ

not into it
reminds me of the black keys, i mean still better than the black keys cuz its qotsa but not my bag

"my heart's a dingaling/a puppet on a string/c'est la vie"

i mean listen no one's coming to qotsa for lyrics but still

the last minute is kinda cool

guess it's not quite an album of "smooth sailing"s

I keep thinking of "mambo no. 5" for some reason

Sounds like Era Vulgaris texturally, but really flat...sure the album will rule though

It took a while, but I'm liking it a lot now.

yeah, I am coming around to this after some hesitation. sounds like the guitars spend a lot of time at a weird spot in the wah pedal. can definitely work on an album that rules.

cheesy heart beat thing is the kind of thing they pull off really well

Yeah, that sounds cool despite it being a cliche.

At first I thought that the song really would have benefitted from some horns, but the more I listened the guitars do a pretty good job of switching back and forth between a more ZZ Top-ish bluesy romp and emulating a super-tight gritty sax section. Feel like that's what they were going for with the parked wah sound.

Took a bunch of listens for me but I'm into it. Has that QOTSA swagger that's been absent for a while.

Still think "Elephant" by Tame Impala is PEAK this kind of thing.

I can't help but think there are a ton of producers who would've been a better fit for this sort of thing than Ronson.

Looks like I nailed the release date back in April ;-)

I just got around to Dave Catching's solo album that came out last month and it's really impressive. The conceit being that each of the songs is a different band, Desert Session-ish. Plenty of old Queens dudes like Lanegan, Gene Troutman, Joey Castillo.

That sounds great!

I love the desert sessions w PJ

No PJ this time i think, but Johnette Napolitano? Also women who I don't know: Serrina Simms (from one of Troy Van Leeuwen's aside projects - he's also in the mix here) and Liela Moss.

Here's the full list of personnel. Guess this has been in the can for a few years!

http://www.thefade.net/news/dave-catching-teases-new-album-full-of-desert-rock-superstars/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exa0CzlCb3Y

this is the stuff

I've listened to this a few times. At first it came off as too Zep-y for me, but I'm betting that it will open up for me the more I listen, or in the full context of the album.

That is more like it

right on

So cheap and small sounding, Ronson is such a bad fit

both tracks remind me of Era Vulgaris

this song shreds. Kinda can do without the last minute of it but those are some classic QOTSA riffs and jams all the way up to that point.

Listened to the full album a couple of times. Opening track "Feel Don't Fail Me" has another killer riff but the rest of the record is unremarkable. Was hoping for an album full of the first two releases going back and forth with good rawkin' flow but alas.

There's these macabre synth pads that show up from time-to-time on tracks that sound like they were listening to The Damned's 'Phantasmagoria' or something. In the context of QOTSA they just sound really out of place.

There were a few synths on the last record and I think Josh has been getting more into them. He played a few John Carpenter songs on the Alligator Hour, for example, and uswd Wendy Carlos' Clockwork Orange theme as their entrance music at one of their huge shows (Rock In Rio).

I haven't listened to the leak yet. I've heard there are watermarks and lower sound quality etc. I'm still keeping high hopes for the record though.

The first video was released this week as an Apple Music exclusive, but someone has it up on Streamable at the moment. It's a fun time.

https://streamable.com/7owib

I had to remind myself they're on Matador now, and ask the question once again that was posed on the Arcade Fire thread: what's the advantage to being on a major vs. an upper-tier indie?

I can't really imagine there is any advantage at this point

this is the distillation of their robot rock. saying it's "cheap" is part of the intent. this album kills

the synths are so lowly pronounced that it's not worth focusing on

I had to remind myself they're on Matador now, and ask the question once again that was posed on the Arcade Fire thread: what's the advantage to being on a major vs. an upper-tier indie?

Right, but here they are on an indie, with a glossy video and an album produced by Mark Ronson. What more could a major (which they were on before!) really give them at this point?

Well, Matador is a bit of an outlier in the indie world having been infused with operational knowledge and cash from Atlantic and Capitol during the 90's. Arguably they're an indie that operates like a major but with very good taste, which is about as good as you could hope for in the collision between business and art.

This said, my assumption is that Queens would be on the majors without any hesitation if they could be but the Queens brand isn't as strong as it once was.

I don't feel like doing the research to prove it lol but I'm willing to bet they sell more records and are a bigger concert draw than a decent number of current major label bands are.

Like Clockwork (their first for Matador) was also their first #1 album.

x-post

True, but that also likely coincided with a weak week for new releases. The number of records you need to sell these days to debut at #1, if you're not competing with a blockbuster release, is woefully low. I believe the QOTSA #1 was something like 40k at most.

With majors these days is really just a matter of opportunity cost. Yeah, you could invest cash and operational attention into Queens who clearly can be part of the key roster on either of the big stages at Coachella but are you going to do that when you've got Beyonce, Gaga, and Kanye capable of millions of sold instead of thousands? Hell no.

I dunno. Feels like your logic is a bit fallacious in the age of streaming, not to mention the age of Arcade Fire, Grizzly Bear, etc being on majors. I wouldn't be surprised if Homme et al straight-up didn't want to work with a major (and they don't need to, either).

Liking this more and more with each listen. Fortress and the title track are actual dad-rock par excellence.

Fortress is quickly becoming a favorite. The production in some ways was difficult for me to connect with, especially the drums. However, the almost underdeveloped synths and similar drum sound on each track makes the album feel more uniform. And it swings

first spin through, fortress jumped out. we'll see what grows

First and last tracks are amazing. I want to see the full musical based on this soundtrack.

This album clicked with me this morning!

Sometimes I need time to dig on the album that is not the album I wanted.

I still think Ronson makes drums sound click and sometimes the guitars they are being crunched thru some old sampler

but I see the sort of arty/poppier/glammier thing that Homme was going for and maybe Ronson got him in a different zone

They are a remarkable band in many ways.

I love the singles so much more within the context of everything else

yeah me too

the back half of fortress where it turns into sabbath's "snowblind" as played by crazy horse...

head like a haunted house has those t-rex backing vox too

The "Telegram Sam" (and "Keep Your Hands To Yourself' !?!) is strong in "Un-Reborn Again".

totally feel that way McCain

i love that this record's intro is literally a lyrical ode to the powers of rock

this album is incredible and i think the band has peaked over these last 2 records

hoo boy do i have some Oliveri stans you should meet

Lotsa nice tight and funky playing on this, and a refreshing light vibe. I'm not sure the songwriting is up to their best work, but I'm only one listen in.

this is their best album

http://baltimorepostexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Thelma_Louise_cliff-1.jpg

me + brad

wtf

https://pitchfork.com/news/josh-homme-kicks-female-photographer-in-the-head-during-show/

Coming here to post that. Fuck him.

fucking tool

i support his "Fuck Muse" stance

This sucks. I missed their show when they came through DC, but there's been rampant discussion over on the qotsa subreddit during this tour for the past few months about how his drug use/alcoholism is really getting on top of him this tour. There have been a few other incidents of asshole behavior. And he's always been a bit of a hothead, but it's been to the point where he's really disappointing the fans. The telltale signs of a middle-aged man frantically trying to keep a grip on his self-image as badass. This is the culmination of that I guess. Super lame.

Official Statement:

Last night, while in a state of being lost in performance, I kicked over various lighting and equipment on our stage. Today it was brought to my attention that this included a camera held by photographer Chelsea Lauren. I did not mean for that to happen and I am very sorry. I would never intentionally cause harm to anyone working at or attending one of our shows and I hope Chelsea will accept my sincere apology.—Joshua Homme

I take "Lost In Performance"="Fucked Up On Something".

well that's p weak

he was superb at the boston show but seemed extremely cokey. lots of nonsense between songs. hell, the record is kinda like that. the most recent video too.

That's a bunch of bullshit. The video clearly shows him kicking exactly one thing - the photographer and her camera.

Co-co-co-co-co-cocaine...

Matika7He wants to make it with chu -5 points 1 hour ago
I think its keeping up with the tradition of Iggy pop, freaking out squares. Nothing more, nothing less. Everything is so PC nowadays and everyone's got their own little opinion about everything. Rock should be dangerous, insulting, in your face, should make you feel uncomfortable from time to time.

So this poster's saying he/she should be kicked in the face?

I'd hoped eagles of death metal was his trash bin for throwing away these impulses while keeping QotSA actually good

he's been on a trajectory of being Dave Grohl for people who have heard of Jesus Lizard for a minute

well the album title is fitting now congrats Josh

nicotine / valium / vicodin / marijuana / ecstasy / alcohol can take a toll

He's posted an apology video to FB now as well.

I have a strong feeling that in addition to any charges filed (which should happen), we'll be hearing about a rehab trip in the coming days.

kevin gates went to jail for this

queens + ELP mashup

https://totom.bandcamp.com/album/el-q

This works really well - never would have considered it. Thanks for sharing.

ok, so not 70s ELP.
was wondering how that was going to work.

This is great. The version of way u do rips
Also good choice of deep cuts

brad might be right, I underrated this album. feels like a fully blossomed era vulgaris

It's a very good album

This is so amazing I can’t believe the whole world doesn’t love it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JvOfnYZvNU

Just a guess but maybe the whole world doesn't yet love it because "The uploader has not made this video available in your country".

Oh god damn.

A new song - Emotion Sickness - has leaked* and is a fun, glammy stomp. I haven't listened closely to the lyrics, which were the weakest part of Villians for me. The new album will be called In New Roman Times, which makes me want to gag.

*will be released Thursday.

Sorry, the album will be called In Times New Roman. You can see how I got mixed up though.

The interweaving guitar parts on the chorus remind me of Built To Spill. I'm kinda flipping out about it.