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natenate101
= Cult of Ray =
USA
892 Posts |
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pixie punk
> Teenager of the Year <
2923 Posts |
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Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
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Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
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pixie punk
> Teenager of the Year <
2923 Posts |
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pixie punk
> Teenager of the Year <
2923 Posts |
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pixie punk
> Teenager of the Year <
2923 Posts |
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sdon
= Cult of Ray =
France
786 Posts |
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sdon
= Cult of Ray =
France
786 Posts |
 Posted - 09/25/2016 : 03:22:25
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Honestly, 3/4 of those reviews are lazy, when not outright lame
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"Aristophanes! (gong sounds)" |
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johnnyribcage
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1301 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2016 : 03:48:05
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Yeah. Well most of them seem pretty positive though. That last one the guys said it's 40 minutes of rock or something to that effect. Not sure how 34 minutes became 40. maybe he got the extended version...
Take me to the vineyards of Lavaux
Want to see the mountains where the waters flow |
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PixieSteve
> Teenager of the Year <
Poland
4698 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2016 : 10:29:54
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quote:
Originally posted by johnnyribcage
Not sure how 34 minutes became 40.
tfw you can't believe epic outro All The Saints is actually that short so you play it 3 more times |
Edited by - PixieSteve on 09/25/2016 10:30:36 |
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johnnyribcage
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1301 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2016 : 11:02:21
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haha - can't wait to hear it, i'm still avoiding the npr stream though. I'll find out Friday!
Take me to the vineyards of Lavaux
Want to see the mountains where the waters flow |
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Sprite
* Dog in the Sand *
1334 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2016 : 11:13:48
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| Prepare to wet yourself :) |
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pixie punk
> Teenager of the Year <
2923 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2016 : 15:14:57
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Confession...I have not heard the record in full.Will buy the CD on Sept.30.Did hear Bel Esprit because it was posted on Youtube.Take my money PXS :) Thanks for the new record.Indie Cindy was in no way a let down or lackluster effort for me.Andro,Jaime and all in between is fine with me.
PUERTO RICO PIXIE |
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natenate101
= Cult of Ray =
USA
892 Posts |
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sdon
= Cult of Ray =
France
786 Posts |
Posted - 09/25/2016 : 21:43:05
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^^ a clever, sensible and informed review, at last (after Robb Donker's one)
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"Aristophanes! (gong sounds)" |
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Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2016 : 10:15:59
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Four out of five stars review by Mark Corcoran: I did not know that they covered Stevie Wonder on the new album
http://narcmagazine.com/album-review-pixies-head-carrier/
Pixies exist in a pretty weird place in 2016. They’ve been thoroughly canonised as one of the most beloved and influential bands in rock history, yet their ongoing existence is troubling to some. Emerging over a decade after their first reunion dates and with totemic bassist/vocalist/songwriter Kim Deal having quit the band prior to recording, Indie Cindy was a sluggish, watered-down return that threw out the energy and surrealism of their classic records for weary will-this-do quirkiness.
As such, the arrival of their second post-reunion album has been greeted not with bated breath but genuine trepidation. Thankfully though, Head Carrier proves to be a sharp rebuke to their last outing and a sprightly reboot for the band.
Certainly, the band seem to have paid attention to the flaws of Indie Cindy and gone out to correct them. Where that record took its time, Head Carrier is in and out in just over half an hour, recorded with a gritty live band feel by a complete quartet. Stepping into Kim Deal’s shoes was never going to be an easy task, but Paz Lenchatin has given the group an audible and necessary kick in the rear, and her successful integration into the group (capped off with a lead vocal on slow-burner All I Think About Now) might be Head Carrier’s greatest success.
That said, it’d be foolish not to note that this time around Frank Black has taken his Black Francis role seriously and brought the goods to the band. There’s a couple of welcome ragers like Brecht punk number Baal’s Back or the stomping Um Chagga Lagga, but for the most part he taps into his sweet surf rock side a la Bossanova. This turns out to be a good look for the group – the likes of Oona, the dizzy pop of Master Blaster and the theatrical Bel Espirit are the kind of fantastic, direct songs we all hoped a Pixies comeback might bring.
Head Carrier is not the new Surfer Rosa or Doolittle – how could it be? It is however, the very welcome return, for real this time, of Boston’s finest.
"I had finally reached bedrock, and was dangerously addicted to Grand Duchy. Luckily Dean checked me in to the Petits Fours Clinic" |
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Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2016 : 10:20:10
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Consequence of Sound - review by Matt Melis:
http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/09/album-review-pixies-head-carrier/
No reasonable listener expected the Pixies’ reunion album, 2014’s Indie Cindy, to sound like the same band from two decades earlier. Kim Deal had moved on, Black Francis had put out nearly 20 solo records in the interim, and eons in band years had passed. Even if time could be dialed back, why would a group of accomplished musicians pushing 50 want to chase down who they were as twentysomethings? The title track itself was a plea for their new songs to find favor among fans — an indirect admission from the band that they had indeed changed. Unfortunately, the end product proved a painfully forgettable slog, one depicting a band not yet comfortable in their middle-aged skin. As much as we wanted to fall in love again, Cindy registered as a head-scratcher more than a head-turner.
“There’s something humbling and inspiring about mistakes,” Paz Lenchantin, now the band’s full-time bassist, recently told ARTISTdirect. She was speaking in generalities, but it’s difficult not to lump Indie Cindy into that “mistake” category. While the band seemingly shrugged off a wave of both fair criticism and mutilation (gouge away much, Pitchfork?) in their post-release interviews, Head Carrier feels like a recalibration of sorts. There’s still more Cindy than Surfer Rosa here (again, that’s to be expected 20 years on), but it seems like they’re now inching towards being the best version of today’s Pixies rather than a diluted version of yesterday’s — a welcome step.
In retrospect, Indie Cindy suffered most when the band sounded as if they were attempting to recapture their past — almost like they were trying too hard to be weird or abrasive. When the album settled into more straightforward rock melodies (e.g., “Greens and Blues”, “Another Toe in the Ocean”), it felt far more sincere. Sure, it wasn’t your older brother’s Pixies, but it was a band who sounded confident in who they had grown up to be: mellowed weirdos who knew their way around a melody. Several tracks on Head Carrier further embrace that maturity. From David Lovering’s chiming drums to Joey Santiago’s glowing pre-chorus revving, there’s nothing you or your haberdasher won’t like about “Classic Masher” by the time Francis and Lenchantin blast into the chorus together. Likewise, the band sound at home on the slight but sweet “Might as Well Be Gone” and the more menacing launchpad that is “Tenement Song”, each track organically funneling into a joint chorus that still lingers after the song ends.
Pixies have always been a band built around certain dynamics: soft/loud, acoustic/electric, Spanish/English, and, yes, male/female. Lenchantin restores that touch so desperately missing since Deal’s departure. Throughout Head Carrier, her voice echoes, underpins, haunts, harmonizes, trades lines, and even takes the lead. Her presence fleshes out the songs, adds emotional intensity, and serves as both succor and counterbalance to Francis. Make no mistake, though: Lenchantin acts as far more than a Kim Deal stand-in or imitator. Being asked to enlist full-time is an opportunity that she doesn’t take for granted, and it’s partly why Head Carrier feels so promising. She even composed the music for “All I Think About Now” — a late-album highlight — and asked Francis to write lyrics thanking Deal. The opening guitar and haunting Deal-like atmospherics are reminiscent of “Where Is My Mind?” before the song opens up into the tribute sung by Lenchantin. “I try to think about tomorrow/ But I always think about the past,” she begins, a paralysis that eventually gives way to gratefulness and a more assured path forward by song’s end. It’s this difficult transition from past to present that Head Carrier largely concerns itself with negotiating.
Francis recently told Pitchfork that his primary goal for Head Carrier was “for a listener to be able to remove themselves from the narratives that they might have in their head about the band.” If this record was seven tracks long, I’d say mission accomplished. Those first songs, by and large, are leaner, more confident, and far more memorable than the bulk of Indie Cindy. However, the back third of Head Carrier will send listeners reaching for copies of Doolittle and their familiar narratives. “Bel Esprit” sounds like a poor Pixie’s “Might as Well Be Gone” (yes, repeating ideas from a few tracks prior); the frantic “Um Chagga Lagga” recalls Cindy’s brand of overwrought, manufactured weirdness; “Plaster of Paris” never once justifies its two-minute existence; and the delicate “All the Saints” cuts out just as it threatens to ascend to a truly beautiful conclusion, one of the few times the band’s scalpel fails them on this record. The only way listeners will set aside old narratives is for the band to offer a new one that they can embrace, but here we only have two-thirds of a compelling story, the final act threatening to undo the promising groundwork laid before it.
Pixies continue to find themselves in an odd predicament. They didn’t break up as rock gods. As the 2004 reunion tour documentary loudQuietloud illustrates, they returned to learn, much to their surprise, that they had been deified in absentia. As the band moved on with their lives, thousands of copies of Surfer Rosa and Doolittle sold each and every week for decades, quietly immortalizing the band among both those who had missed them the first time around and a younger generation of listeners. Now that they’re a studio outfit again, the irrational part of us who adore those old records may unfairly place godlike expectations on them. And while Head Carrier may fall far short of lightning bolts raining down from Olympus, there’s enough reason to believe Pixies have a bit of thunder in them yet.
Essential Tracks: “Classic Masher”, “Tenement Song”, and “All I Think About Now”
"I had finally reached bedrock, and was dangerously addicted to Grand Duchy. Luckily Dean checked me in to the Petits Fours Clinic" |
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johnnyribcage
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1301 Posts |
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Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2016 : 10:24:10
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A nine out of ten review by the deeply insightful Jim Pusey:
http://www.contactmusic.com/the-pixies/music/pixies-head-carrier-album-review
t's been 25 years since the last great Pixies album, the sole record since their hiatus ended - 2014's Indie Cindy - had brief flashes of inspiration but suffered by compiling previously released material. It seems the element of surprise of hearing new Pixies material may be a key factor in that equation, because I'm pleased to report that album number six - Head Carrier - is the full-blooded return to form that many people hoped it's predecessor would be. Personally that 25-year wait for another great Pixies album is now firmly at an end.
Head Carrier seems to have solved two of the biggest issues facing it before a single note was even recorded. Replacing legendary bassist Kim Deal was always going to be a challenge and that showed in the Indie Cindy material. Touring member Paz Lenchantin has now been promoted to a full member of the group, and she rightfully takes a prominent position on Head Carrier, fulfilling all of the duties such as vocals that Deal would have undertaken in the first incarnation of the band. Secondly every one of the 33 minutes of material on Head Carrier was recorded in the same studio, RAK in London, in a single album session. It's that consistency that eluded the material on Indie Cindy, which really does shine through here.
From the opening bars of the title track Head Carrier is gloriously loud, but never at the expense of melody and Black Francis's good old fashioned pop sensibility. Joey Santiago's guitar lines shift effortlessly between the loud/quiet sections that Pixies trademarked in the late eighties, and his playing is wonderfully catchy and off-kilter. In particular 'Classic Masher', 'Talent', and 'Bel Esprit', feature some of Santiago's most memorable performances in the whole Pixies back catalogue. The icing on the cake though is Lenchantin's contribution. Her backing vocals are the perfect foil for Francis' manic stream of consciousness lyrics. At times the songs sound like classic sixties pop compositions re-purposed through a meat grinder, with Lenchantin's echoing call and response backing acting as the only reminder of their origins. She really is far more than a substitute for Kim Deal; she's an accomplished replacement who seems to have reinvigorated the band.
All of which brings us to the centrepiece of the record and one of the main talking points ahead of Head Carrier's release. 'All I Think About Now' is a song devoted to a Lenchantin lead vocal, which Francis has specifically written for Kim Deal. It's an apology for their turbulent relationship and a heartfelt lyric set to a backing that evokes 'Where Is My Mind' with Lenchantin's opening "ooh"'s. The sentimentality isn't sugar sweet, but the line "Remember when we were happy? If I'm late, can I thank you now?" gets me every time. It's a self referential and nostalgic song, but one that's ultimately honest. That the whole album to varying degrees achieves the same thing is what makes it stand shoulder to shoulder with Francis' best work.
If there is a theme to be found anywhere here it's one of innocence. From the protagonist in 'Oona' asking "I wanna be in your band" to the record deal talked about in 'Talent', this doesn't sound like a band with thirty years of baggage. Head Carrier showcases a revitalised Pixies, and for that reason alone it's an album I've been waiting a long time for.
Read more at http://www.contactmusic.com/the-pixies/music/pixies-head-carrier-album-review#OJR2plwoVHAjAekS.99
"I had finally reached bedrock, and was dangerously addicted to Grand Duchy. Luckily Dean checked me in to the Petits Fours Clinic" |
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sdon
= Cult of Ray =
France
786 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2016 : 11:37:06
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quote:
Originally posted by Ten Percenter
Four out of five stars review by Mark Corcoran: I did not know that they covered Stevie Wonder on the new album
http://narcmagazine.com/album-review-pixies-head-carrier/
Pixies exist in a pretty weird place in 2016. They’ve been thoroughly canonised as one of the most beloved and influential bands in rock history, yet their ongoing existence is troubling to some. Emerging over a decade after their first reunion dates and with totemic bassist/vocalist/songwriter Kim Deal having quit the band prior to recording, Indie Cindy was a sluggish, watered-down return that threw out the energy and surrealism of their classic records for weary will-this-do quirkiness.
As such, the arrival of their second post-reunion album has been greeted not with bated breath but genuine trepidation. Thankfully though, Head Carrier proves to be a sharp rebuke to their last outing and a sprightly reboot for the band.
Certainly, the band seem to have paid attention to the flaws of Indie Cindy and gone out to correct them. Where that record took its time, Head Carrier is in and out in just over half an hour, recorded with a gritty live band feel by a complete quartet. Stepping into Kim Deal’s shoes was never going to be an easy task, but Paz Lenchatin has given the group an audible and necessary kick in the rear, and her successful integration into the group (capped off with a lead vocal on slow-burner All I Think About Now) might be Head Carrier’s greatest success.
That said, it’d be foolish not to note that this time around Frank Black has taken his Black Francis role seriously and brought the goods to the band. There’s a couple of welcome ragers like Brecht punk number Baal’s Back or the stomping Um Chagga Lagga, but for the most part he taps into his sweet surf rock side a la Bossanova. This turns out to be a good look for the group – the likes of Oona, the dizzy pop of Master Blaster and the theatrical Bel Espirit are the kind of fantastic, direct songs we all hoped a Pixies comeback might bring.
Head Carrier is not the new Surfer Rosa or Doolittle – how could it be? It is however, the very welcome return, for real this time, of Boston’s finest.
"I had finally reached bedrock, and was dangerously addicted to Grand Duchy. Luckily Dean checked me in to the Petits Fours Clinic"
Master Blaster... I just can't
Do these journos even bother to read the tracklist...
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"Aristophanes! (gong sounds)" |
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sdon
= Cult of Ray =
France
786 Posts |
Posted - 09/26/2016 : 11:47:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Ten Percenter
A nine out of ten review by the deeply insightful Jim Pusey:
http://www.contactmusic.com/the-pixies/music/pixies-head-carrier-album-review
Secondly every one of the 33 minutes of material on Head Carrier was recorded in the same studio, RAK in London, in a single album session. It's that consistency that eluded the material on Indie Cindy, which really does shine through here.
More bullshit and disinformation
Boring...
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"Aristophanes! (gong sounds)" |
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Ten Percenter
- FB Enquirer -
United Kingdom
1733 Posts |
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Sprite
* Dog in the Sand *
1334 Posts |
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pixie punk
> Teenager of the Year <
2923 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2016 : 13:55:37
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How much are these bad reviewers getting paid? If they do get paid I want my money back so I can buy more copies of Head Carrier to give away :)
PUERTO RICO PIXIE |
Edited by - pixie punk on 09/27/2016 13:57:25 |
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pixie punk
> Teenager of the Year <
2923 Posts |
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pixie punk
> Teenager of the Year <
2923 Posts |
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pixie punk
> Teenager of the Year <
2923 Posts |
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natenate101
= Cult of Ray =
USA
892 Posts |
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natenate101
= Cult of Ray =
USA
892 Posts |
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Sprite
* Dog in the Sand *
1334 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2016 : 10:56:04
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http://beardedmagazine.co.uk/index.php/albums/article/pixies-head-carrier-pias
While their original tenure only lasted seven years in which time they re-shaped what rock music could sound like, the Pixies have now been operating for almost double that length of time since their 2004 reunion. While Head Carrier, the Bostonian's second post-reformation set, has been greeted with the standard pre-release gripes about a group spoiling their back catalogue have to be measured against them actually making the effort to issue albums instead of repeatedly dusting off the greatest hits or proffering a slow dribble of new tracks (viz: The Stone Roses, who really shouldn’t have bothered).
Dialling down the gloss of its predecessor, Head Carrier is a stronger more coherent set than 2014s piecemeal Indie Cindy which was initially released as a trio of EPs. With new bassist/backing vocalist Paz Lenchantin onboard as a fulltime replacement for Kim Deal, another new recruit is Royal Blood producer Tom Dalgety behind the recording console, following in the formidable footsteps of Steve Albini and Gil Norton.
Unable/unwilling to aim for the larynx-shredding vocals of classics like Tame and Gouge Away, singer Black Francis is (not uncomfortably) begin to sound increasingly like Neil Young, especially in the sterling title track. The vocalist’s diversions into screaming blue murder have departed with the sole exception of Baal’s Back, where the man born Charles Thompson’s strangulated delivery unfortunately sounds closer to AC/DC rasper Angus Young than his unhinged yowl of old. Compared to the frantic drumwork that propelled Debaser and the hard slam of Dig For Fire and U-Mass meanwhile where sticksman Dave Lovering sounded like he was attempting to beat his drumkit into submission before it attacked him, tracks are now less abrasive. Possibly a more noticeable absence than any of the above however is the unresolved tension that lay at the heart of many of the Pixies’ songs.
Not helping their cause ahead of release issuing moderately tiresome dust up Um Chagga Lagga as the lead single was slightly bewildering, which aside from possessing enough dynamism to provoke moshpits, turns out to be one of the weakest things here. Immediate but lightweight second single Talent doesn't show the LP in its best light either. Setting all that aside Head Carrier sees the Pixies sounding reinvigorated and possesses more than enough positives to justify its existence. Classic Masher evoking US power pop legends The Replacements with a vocal melody that vaguely evokes alt rock classic Left of the Dial is a highlight while the synth strings and acoustic led Might As Well Be Gone successfully adapts the Pixies’ template into something more contemplative. The more than satisfactory Bel Esprit sees Francis and Lenchantin split the vocal duties between them and Oona, continuing the band’s practice of song titles with female names is also effective if not sharing the rarified air as classics Alison and Velouria.
Slightly diluted compared to a quarter of a century ago Joey Santiago’s insectoid guitar sound is present and correct on the likes of Tenement Song and the affecting All I Think About Now which has received acres of press for its lyrics that effectively act as a Thank You letter to Deal ‘Remember when we were happy?/If I'm late, can I thank you now?/I’m gonna try anyhow’, sung by Lenchantin the track is the sole co-write on the album. While not quite as skyscraping as Gigantic, Deal’s indelible contribution to the band’s oeuvre, the cut is one of the strongest here.
Elsewhere the wonderful Plaster of Paris is a rush of beguiling guitar pop recalling the sweetness of Havalina and Here Comes Your Man that easily stands up to recent luminaries Real Estate and Alvvays and All The Saints is a Caribou style waltz minus that track’s indefinable uneasiness. A re-statement of principles than anything groundbreaking (haven’t they done enough?!) Head Carrier is more than worthy enough to stand as a better than decent new LP instead of a mere catalogue addition. |
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peter radiator
= Cult of Ray =
USA
653 Posts |
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Sprite
* Dog in the Sand *
1334 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2016 : 12:56:35
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Well that reviewer sounds like they know what they're talking about :)
Interestingly I have been struck by how many reviewers have been highlighting songs like Bel Esprit/All I think about now as the highlights in contrast to this forum where songs like Oona have been immediately identified as quintessentially Pixies. And what I mean by that is you need to work it a little before the eargasm manifests. |
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picpic
* Dog in the Sand *
Belgium
1874 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2016 : 18:25:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Sprite
Interestingly I have been struck by how many reviewers have been highlighting songs like Bel Esprit/All I think about now as the highlights in contrast to this forum where songs like Oona have been immediately identified as quintessentially Pixies.
I don't like Oona because it sounds "quintessentially Pixies". I like Oona because it sounds great.
All I think about now is very good, but I think reviewers are talking about it especially because of Paz & the Deal story. Easier for them.
___
"Service Unavailable" |
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Sprite
* Dog in the Sand *
1334 Posts |
Posted - 09/28/2016 : 22:04:37
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| English not your first language then? |
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Topic |
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Head Carrier reviews
