Drift Ep. 5, Part 3 - Imagine a Box

[pandamagic]

Some really interesting chord changes going on here - a nice change from the "ranting over one chord for 8 minutes" formula they can often revert to. But yeah I agree with Holden that the vocals seem to be clashing harmonically with the rest of the song in places. There's definitely a great song in here that needs to be distilled down from this version.

[Dino3D]

It's like a demo for Dino3D.

[dubman]

I hear the key conflicts going on but I enjoy the tension of it because I'm not hearing much to grab onto overall. the track is... fine, but there's a lot implied in here that could take it far above "fine"
Karl's vocals, which are probably the most frustrating aspect of Drift so far, are really working for me here.
that sound they intro in the last 45 seconds could probably stand to come in and get built on halfway through the track?

[negative1]

the vocals don't mesh with the music.
it just sounds offkey.

might have worked with some changes in it.
and that weird chorus in it, no thanks.

later
-1

[khouri]

Originally Posted by dubman

I hear the key conflicts going on but I enjoy the tension of it because I'm not hearing much to grab onto overall. the track is... fine, but there's a lot implied in here that could take it far above "fine"
Karl's vocals, which are probably the most frustrating aspect of Drift so far, are really working for me here.
that sound they intro in the last 45 seconds could probably stand to come in and get built on halfway through the track?

I agree that Karl's vocal has been the weak link in Drift, and I felt similarly about some of the tracks on Barbara Barbara.

The following is obviously just my interpretation and opinion, but I think latter day Karl's work has the tendency to be lackadaisical, saccharine, and simplistic. Not really the quality of his voice, as such (because his singing performance seems as good as it ever was), but the words themselves. It used to be that lazy journalists would describe Karl's role as "stream of consciousness" or "cut up" which is just a polite way of saying nonsense, but a listen to tracks like anything from Dubnobass pretty much through Oblivion puts the lie to that. But when he sings things like "blah blah blah" he's basically proving those critics' points.

The vocals and lyrics in Dirty Epic could not belong to any other music. But I think the case for many Drift songs is the vocals and lyrics could probably be copied and pasted into a number of backing tracks; with some notable exceptions they don't always feel crucial.

[dubman]

I've noticed that too. I can't really listen to Low Burn anymore!

But this is a thing isn't it? I've seen more people earnestly argue in favor of enjoying a band's "boring late-period" albums, and that they don't really "run out of ideas" so much as distill them. Seems like when artists are around long enough, their insecurities start to invert, and they strive to say The One Right Thing instead of complicating it with extra dressing, but it ends up being indistinguishable from the banal to the audience.


here's a quote from the last David Berman (RIP) interview that jumped out at me:

“That’s what took so long. I consider all my lines problems, and I look for solutions. The older I get, the harder it is.” He sat up, still hunched over. Touched the strings of his little practice guitar. “But I don’t have time for language poetry anymore. I don’t want to throw people off anymore. I don’t want to bullshit. I want to mean.”

[Dino3D]

I think EP5 should be the final EP, cos there are still 2-3 weeks (2-3 songs) til the end of EP5, and then 1 month remains til the album release. And they have to manufacture the record/box in time. So I hope we will get a tracklist for Drift Songs soon!

[purlieu]

Yes, it would make sense that the last few weeks are just archival things, giving them time to manufacture it. Theoretically, the last track could be ready to go in around a week, meaning they are probably very close to having a final tracklist for the album already, which would definitely be enough time to get CDs pressed (normally a week or so). The boxset will take longer due to its very nature, which is why we're looking at a November release for that. Vinyl obviously takes a fair time to press these days, but if they've already booked the slot in advance, which I'm sure they have, then that shouldn't be an issue unless there are pressing problems.

[34958hq439-qjw9v5jq298v5j]

remember the end of "Doot Doot" where Karl starts making random whooping noises? never thought they'd bring THAT back

[TheBang]

I think the footage of R & K in this video against the purple backdrop is from this photoshoot nearly a year and a half ago:

A post shared by on Jan 01, 2017 at 12:00pm PDT

A post shared by on Jan 01, 2017 at 12:00pm PDT