Thoughts on hum?

Oh yes, Refractions is really, really good. Didn't really mention it because it seems like even the usual stoner rock leaning ilm crew has seemed to have dried up. It's a really great comeback.

can't believe a song like "cloud city" exists

That Shine record is also great, some good listening these past two days, thank you for the recommendation!

"The Summoning" is heavy as fuck.

Wow wow wow "Cloud City", this is gorgeous. I'm in heaven. This record is so good. I love being able to have been absolutely blindsided by this one.

Turning into a livetweet thread here, but I just finished listen number one. Trying to avoid hyperbole, but this is really, really, really wonderful. The combination of Talbott's voice and that guitar tone just trigger something so primal in me, given how much I lived and breathed those first three albums in college and grad school. I'm glad I didn't have time to build any expectations and could just enjoy this for the pleasant surprise that it is.

This is pure comfort food.

OTM.

I mean, it is, kinda, but I think that undersells this a little bit. While it is certainly comforting, I think they are pushing in some subtle new directions and doing really cool stuff here. Comfort food, to me, would find them coasting a little more on tone and mood, but I don't think that's what is happening here.

"the summoning" kinda stomps like sabbath

^^^^ YES, it's where the Sleep comparisons feel earned too

I meant no disparagement when I said it felt like comfort food, but I'm probably less of a Hum fan than most of you and hence not as attuned to the stylistic tweaks jon mentioned.

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.

Provided we do another metal/heavy music poll next year (which we totally should), this feels like a lock for the #1 spot right now.

politely but firmly disagree

it can be #2 ;)

I never said I approved of my prophecy.

What's your #1 imago?

They're from the land of famed ILXor [redacted] who hates guitars.

probably my favourite album of the last few years

not taking anything away from this Hum comeback though - they've not only returned but they've returned modified and arguably better, which is why this is getting such a deservedly great reaction

Tbh as much as I'm enjoying this new Hum I can see it cracking my top 20 but not my top 10.

oh me too but they're a band I'm naturally well-disposed to and it sounds amazing so godspeed 'em tbh

xpost - dig that Oranssi Pazuzu too, really good stuff but I need to spend some more time with it. I think it was more... industrial... than I was prepared to hear. It works, really well, but wasn't as instantaneous as their other stuff has been for me.

I only quibbled as they won the metal poll by miles last time they released an album, and this one's even better! Maybe Hum can dream-doom their way to glory though, and hell, maybe they've earnt it

idk it's really nice to hear matt talbott's vocal cadence (especially on the first track where it sounds like he's developing it into something earthier i think?) and the guitar tones and the drums and there are some really good songs on here but it sounds a little sleepy overall to me, like there is some looping that just goes on and on a little too much to excite me. first side of second disc is kinda stunning though. just my 2 cents / first impression don't mean to kill the vibe. i'll come back to it for sure probably when autumn rolls around.

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