Ouh i guess i was expecting some Metallica drums or idk Motörhead. But hey, they are exceptionally technical and that I like! @ScatterMatter Deftones? You have my sword. (Has been an always to be discovered band)
Okay Around The Fur is one of my all time favorite albums, bias is going to be a thing on this one for me Great pick!
Well, if you look at the other albums we've done so far, both have been sophomore efforts where the artists really found their footing. Around the Fur is precisely that for Deftones, in addition to offering an interesting contrast to Leviathan.
Interesting common thread, I hadn’t noticed. Sorry I haven’t gotten around to outlining the timeframe. We’ll give “Around The Fur” a week starting yesterday, March 18th - 25th. I touched up the OP accordingly.
Damn, I haven't had the time to listen to it until today, I'll try to give it at least two listens, I hope.
No worries. We don't have to think of the final day in a week as a due date. It can be more like a starting line for discussion. I've listened to it (Around the Fur) a lot this last week. I was immediately at home with the instrumentals and Chino's animated screams. The emotions that lay bare here really spoke to me. They felt at times painfully confused, overwhelmed, and disenchanted and that hit home hard for me. I'm still chewing on the lyrics, however. Not exactly sure about some of them but I do really like most of this record and will probably be adding some of these tracks to my playlist. "My Own Summer", "Around the Fur", and "Rickets" for sure. I liked the lighter tracks "Mascara" and "Be Quiet and Drive", too. It's an 8/10 for me. It's also time to begin sorting pop week! I had trouble choosing my nomination for this one. Two albums really close to my heart came to mind but I decided to commit to.. Oliver Tree's "Ugly is Beautiful". I wonder if anyone here has heard any of his music, actually. While he's not on the radio, a few of his tracks have gone viral so he's not exactly unheard of. His candor and the eccentric character he performs and writes through, however, camouflage this one man army. Suggesting his album, I'm kinda worried that people won't be able to get around his delivery choices. They are, at times, in emotional ranges that are purposefully awkward and unusual whether he's projecting bravado or crippling anxiety. The character of this act, though, is someone who puts it all out on his sleeve despite his own efforts NOT to at times. I'd wager that this music is consciously by divergent for divergent. It's extremely unique and Oliver is incredibly talented for it as he puts his own poppy twists on a bag of genres. Ugly is Beautiful is one of the most infectious audio collages I've ever heard.
For me, there isn't really a way to talk about this album (or any Deftones album) without putting it in context with the overarching discography. I became a fan of Deftones in 2006. For a really long time, I thought of White Pony as the album where the band came into their own, but I've come to realise that nearly everything you find on later Deftones albums is already heard fully-formed on Around the Fur. White Pony does show them refining their approach somewhat, but, now, I think the "evolution" it supposedly displays coming after Around the Fur is massively exaggerated. All the signature things that you'd know Deftones for seem to have been established on this album. Now, to contrast this, if you listen to Deftones' debut album Andrenaline, you might find that Around the Fur represents a leap so great that it's astounding, but not necessarily surprising. They stepped it up on basically every possible creative and technical level for this follow-up. Stylistically, you hear them move from just being a nu-metal act into the greater alternative metal space where strong melodic ideas are brought to the fore. I think the thing that makes Deftones' music click is the tension between the soft, dreamy shoegaze side of their sonics ... and the bludgeoning metal riffs paired with Chino's violent screaming. There's also an interesting dynamic between Chino's writing - his abstract lyricism is crystallised on this album - and the menace or anguish that often comes through in his delivery. Deftones weave all of these contrasting things together very comfortably - they have different dimensions to them and they commit to each one. All of this is handily exemplified on the opening song, "My Own Summer (Shove It)", one that Linkin Park fans are no doubt very familiar with. Chino establishes the atmosphere with his slow and steady performance in the verses, contrasting with that sinister guitar riff going on underneath him. In the third verse, the instrumentation is pared down to just drums, bass guitar and atmospherics for extra tension, and there is an absolute smash-cut to the violent screaming of the pre-chorus section, with the whole band following tightly underneath. The chorus heard throughout the song is, to me, simultaneously euphoric and mournful. The whole song is really angry but also not, somehow. What is Chino writing about? Just roll with it. This interplay between the unbridled angry metal, nu-metal sensibilities and dream-pop melodies just keeps going throughout this album. I really like the way all the instruments are mixed to facilitate this, particularly the way Abe's drums leave room for everything else, and how Chi's basslines are often so prominent - there are a number of moments throughout the album where the guitar parts take a backseat and the rhythm section is highlighted, and the mixing really lets it all shine. The shoegaze-indebted wall-of-noise guitars are obviously also vital to the expansive, cinematic sound Around the Fur has, pulling the band further out from more restrictive nu-metal roots. This precision in the mixing with all of these elements is key for the quiet-loud dynamic to land properly on songs like "Around the Fur", and (as mentioned) "My Own Summer". There are also songs that have more particular focuses, like "Rickets", which is all riffage-and-screaming, or "Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)", which goes all-in on the sensual, dream-pop (but still really noisy) side of Deftones' sound. And, then, there are even outright nu-metal moments with songs like "Lotion" and "Headup". Deftones finds room for it all, while still maintaining a signature sound threading all through the tracklist. So, overall, I would say Around the Fur basically has it all as far as establishing what Deftones is and what they do, and this becomes more apparent as you listen to more of what they made afterwards. Some of my favourite cuts on it are, of course, the big singles: "My Own Summer" and "Be Quiet". They are really well-known Deftones songs so I got into them very early on, way before I actually sat down and listened to Around the Fur as a whole. When I finally did get around to checking it out, I really gravitated towards the title track, which is now one of my favourites from the band, especially among their more violent songs. If you're hearing this album for the first time, it probably doesn't take a highly-trained ear to pick up on the Deftones influence on Hybrid Theory, and that's only the tip of the iceberg as far as the impact their first few albums had. EDIT: This is totally understandable. There isn't much there in Chino's writing, it's almost entirely vibes, so you're forced to fill in those voids on your own as a listener
I love your comments guys!! Being a newcomer won’t do any justice to this album and this band at all hehehe. When I first listened to it in depth it reminded me of LP’s own Pictureboard, with that soft-hard combination (somehow). This brings me to a personal story: When I read that this album is from 1997, I try to locate myself in time in that year: I’m 15, and the previous year, first in high school, I met a schoolmate so cool and nice we got really good friends. Well, that ‘97 he started talking to me about Korn, Deftones, June of 44. Cool music but a bit hard for me. Some months in, without knowing why, he turned into a dick, so distant, and we weren’t friends anymore. Maybe it’s stupid, but 30 years have passed since that time, and I remember that guy a lot, never knowing of him again. (Maybe I felt abandoned?) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . I feel that this put me far away from discovering that music, and I revolved through high school around Spanish Alternative, and Britpop, because those hard bands reminded me of the guy. Dunno, silly things one does. God, enough talking. About the album itself! I’m enjoying it a lot! That blend of delicacy and suffering is really on point. I specially enjoyed Lhabia, Be Quiet and Drive, Rickets and My own Summer. And woooow how hard goes Lotion. And Headup? Shit. Definitely, what I like the most, as @minuteforce said, was the mixing. So so enjoyable. The drums and the bass always on their place. Really good! This is an album I’ll come back recurrently from now on, and it has enticed me to get into Deftones. I think I’ll get rid of the memory of the guy and dive into Korn and so. (Or maybe I’ll look for him and tell him he was stupid and be friends again, maybe it was only kid stuff). @ScatterMatter ‘s Oliver Tree nomination has me intrigued. Meanwhile, until everyone puts their nominations @minuteforce @Qwerty19 , I’ll put here Editors - An End Has A Start.
Really cool reading everyone's reaction. I think most of what I could say has been written already, so I'll keep mine short. I pretty much grew up with this album. "My Own Summer", "Lhabia", "Rickets", "Lotion", "Around the Fur", "Be Quiet and Drive" are songs that kept me company during my teenage bus journey to school, my bike trips, studying sessions, you name it. For me, they were a catalyst for expressing fierce emotions through time. "Be Quiet and Drive", especially, is a song that's really dear to me. Overall, this albums hits a sweet spot between fury, delicacy, atmosphere, nostalgia, and it's for sure one that will always hold a special place in my music collection. For pop : St. Vincent - St. Vincent
Pop is going to be tough!! Maybe NOW we need a random picker Oliver Tree - Ugly is Beautiful Editors - An End Has A Start St. Vincent - St. Vincent Lorde - Pure Heroine
So far I'd be voting for Oliver Tree - Ugly is Beautiful , as it's the one record out of that list I haven't heard before ^^
I love that there's been a blend in the group, of people who have heard these albums and haven't. Also didn't know about that "Shove it" cover!, so cool. I was thinking after this week, too, that if it hadn't been LP for me then it definitely could've been Deftones. Of the 3 groups we've done so far, this is the one I'll definitely be looking closer at on my own. As for pop week and Oliver, I'm excited for the curiosity. I hope I'm not overselling but I undeniably feel this strongly about his debut album. I don't think I have the same ears for mixing and production as some in our group but I hope that doesn't turn out to be my blindspot with this choice. Or something dumb like rip-offs. I'm totally down to read more sells on the other suggestions. But I'm also more than ready to brush up on Oliver and maybe deliver an insightful post in a week like those who've been familiar with the albums so far. Edit; Feels like this is usually the part where I signal the choice has been made. The lean seems definitive enough. Being the spearhead of the thread and the album makes me really want to be careful about pulling the trigger on my own ideas, is all. If no one has any objection, and it doesn't have to be immediate, we can call it. Oliver Tree's "Ugly is Beautiful", March 25th - April 1st. (I suggest the standard version that begins with "Me, Myself, and I". The other starts with b-sides. While some are pretty good, it changes the first impression negatively, I think. It was a weird choice to put them ahead of the original line-up.)
I'm not really fussed, I'm happy to listen to something I've never really checked out before since all of you are. I know Oliver from his guest vocals on "Mr. Regular" and "Miss You"
That's a good state to be coming from into this, I think. "Miss You" is a remix of the track "Jerk" on Ugly is Beautiful. I also had an idea. Why don't we do a wildcard round next week. No genre limitations. We can see how well deciding on that goes. It could include previous nominations that were passed up, and or new ones. I haven't counted the randomizer out, either, @juancpin. It's just that talking it out has worked well so far. I'm not exactly sure when it would be better to use one.
1 - I'm loving Oliver Tree this week, sounds really, really well. (I feel Vessel vibes from TOP, and I love that, I almost suggest that one for pop) 2 - Wildcard like, we throw whatever we want, and we decide @ScatterMatter? PS: I'm really loving the club. THX GUYS.
Hey, no problem man. Thank you for being so for it. I appreciate it a lot. And funny you make that TOP comparison. While I don't understand why, I had a craving once for an Oliver x TOP collab. I can't explain it but it felt like it would WORK. I was weighing between two wildcard ideas. One, we pick or randomize from all the old nominations. Or two, just put up whatever your feeling whether it's been nominated before or not, with no genre restrictions.