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Messages - Snupes

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81
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Just Watched
« on: July 03, 2019, 12:30:23 AM »
Spider-Man: Far from Home was garbage. Which is amazing. You put in Mysterio, my favorite Spidey villain, and Jake Gyllenhaal, my favorite actor, and you somehow manage to botch it. Impressive. Really impressive.

82
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Listening to Spoon's Entire Discography
« on: June 28, 2019, 03:55:26 AM »


Title: Love Ways (EP)
Release: October 24, 2000

All songs written by Britt Daniel.

Tracklist

1. Change My Life (4:29)
2. I Didn't Come Here to Die (3:08)
3. Jealousy (2:09)
4. The Figures of Art (1:46)
5. Chips and Dip (4:02)

Sexy, sexy, sexy, and much more indicative of the fully-realized Spoon I know and love. The first two tracks are rather sprawling and feel like hints of what we'll hear later more in-depth on Gimme Fiction, but the last three feel much more like a continuation of what we just heard on the 30 Gallon Tank EP. Slightly more clear and mystical, but still a bit rough around the edges. I don't have a whole lot more to say than that. "Jealousy" is probably my favorite cut on this.

83
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Listening to Spoon's Entire Discography
« on: June 28, 2019, 03:34:55 AM »


Title: 30 Gallon Tank (EP)
Release: May 5, 1998

All songs written by Britt Daniel, except where noted.

Tracklist

1. 30 Gallon Tank (Britt Daniel, Jim Eno) (4:02)
2. Car Radio (Different) (1:30)
3. Revenge! (2:47)
4. I Could Be Underground (2:08)

Well, "30 Gallon Tank" was on the last record and "Car Radio (Different)" is, in contrast to its title, not really different to the album version. That means, essentially, two new Spoon tracks. "Revenge!" and "I Could Be Underground" are very different to each other in terms of mood and pace, but they both signify a very important shift from Spoon from the brash and direct to the more meandering and theatric. The music becomes a little bit more pulled back and given more room to breathe, but with plenty going on to keep you engaged. This is a perfect lead-in to the Girls Can Tell era.

84
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Listening to Spoon's Entire Discography
« on: June 28, 2019, 03:18:23 AM »


Title: A Series of Sneaks
Release: April 28, 1998

All songs written by Britt Daniel, except where noted.

Tracklist

1. Utilitarian (1:51)
2. The Minor Tough (2:43)
3. The Guestlist/The Execution (2:03)
4. Reservations (2:36)
5. 30 Gallon Tank (Britt Daniel, Jim Eno) (4:00)
6. Car Radio (1:30)
7. Metal Detektor (3:39)
8. June's Foreign Spell (3:00)
9. Chloroform (1:10)
10. Metal School (Britt Daniel, Josh Zarbo) (2:54)
11. Staring at the Board (0:54)
12. No You're Not (1:43)
13. Quincy Punk Episode (2:17)
14. Advance Cassette (2:54)

Right off with the first few notes of "Utilitarian", what many consider to be the first Spoon album kicks off to a much more brass and brazen start than their works prior, production sharp and layered. Britt Founds out that his voice sounds great when he's straining it and we get almost a modernized punk record, the kind of sound you'd describe coming from a group of ragtag misfits. It feels like the energy of their Soft Effects EP channeled a lot more directly. I feel like one of Spoon's greatest strengths is the ability to convey mood and emotion through their instruments and production. Take a track like "Quincy Punk Episode", which—right from the start of the drums and echoing guitar—there's a sense of urgency and immediacy. At this point their songs are starting to get very pared back, mixes clean and grooves and rhythms distinct. Their wondrous ability to make complex and challenging tracks simultaneously catchy is starting to be honed by now. It's their big turning point and the start of their career getting really exciting, for me.

85
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Listening to Spoon's Entire Discography
« on: June 28, 2019, 02:32:31 AM »


Title: Soft Effects (EP)
Release: January 21, 1997

All songs written by Britt Daniel.

Tracklist

1. Mountain to Sound (3:50)
2. Waiting for the Kid to Come Out (2:40)
3. I Could See the Dude (1:59)
4. Get Out the State (2:50)
5. Loss Leaders (3:30)

This EP starts out with the track "Mountain to Sound", which is immediately and startlingly more modern Spoon than the album that I know follows. It sounds like it could be a rough cut off of They Want My Soul, an album they drop in 2014. Droning and layered guitars, vocals dead center and contributing to the soothing chaos. The rest of the songs that follow are surprisingly prescient in how forward-sounding they are. I guess I found the exact point at which Spoon became amazing. Their ambitions are much higher and it's clear they spent a lot more time on the production and planning of this album. The mixes are (relatively) clear and passions are lit. I'd argue this is basically a shoegaze album, honestly. At moments I'd believe you if you told me I was listening to My Bloody Valentine. I wasn't expecting such a leap in quality, and I'm glad I listened to this.

86
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Listening to Spoon's Entire Discography
« on: June 24, 2019, 04:26:27 AM »


Title: Telephono
Release: April 23, 1996

All songs written by Britt Daniel, except where noted.

Tracklist

1. Don't Buy the Realistic (3:54)
2. Not Turning Off (3:08)
3. All the Negatives Have Been Destroyed (2:37)
4. Cvantez (2:45)
5. Nefarious (2:47)
6. Claws Tracking (Britt Daniel, Andy Maguire) (2:32)
7. Dismember (1:45)
8. Idiot Drivel (1:39)
9. Towner (aMiniature) (3:05)
10. Wanted to Be Your (1:52)
11. Theme to Wendel Stivers (1:58)
12. Primary (1:10)
13. The Government Darling (2:23)
14. Plastic Mylar (3:27)

Only the slightest of slight evolutions from Nefarious; Spoon more or less still sounds like a particularly creative group of friends playing in their garage (which, to be fair, is basically what they were!), and there's not a whole lot of thematic or musical consistency or coherency along the span of the album. One of the hardest parts of this journey for me is knowing how creative and interesting Britt's lyrics become later on and dealing with how simplistic and somewhat edgy they are in this period of their career. He writes like a lot of wannabe-punk bands did post Sex Pistols: vague epithets and cursing. Aside from a few songs that criticize capitalism or the government with a ten-foot pole, most of it is snarkily aimed at nameless entities, which has little to no impact since we have no idea who these beings are or their relations to Britt. Musically, it's more of the same from the Nefarious EP, maybe with a bit more of the catchy twang you'd expect from a band that's potentially aiming for radio play.

I don't have a ton to say here just because it's basically Nefarious times three. No real interesting evolution to glean here.

87
Arts & Entertainment / Listening to Spoon's Entire Discography
« on: June 24, 2019, 04:14:00 AM »
So this thread is kind of odd, because I've already heard every full release from Spoon, but I realized there were a bunch of EPs I never listened to, so I decided this would be as good a time as any to listen through the entirety of their works in order. I'm mainly interested because there are pretty drastic shifts in their style across the years, and I'm curious to see if any of these EPs sort of fit as missing puzzle pieces between them, bridges that, well, bridge the gap between sounds. Full disclosure: I fucking love this band to death but I'm gonna try my best to speak from some sort of vague, hand-wavy """objective""" standpoint. Y'all know by now I'm not exactly the best at reviews but, whatever, I enjoy doing them so I'm gonna do 'em. Starting off with my first bit of new Spoon, their first ever release:




Title: Nefarious (EP)
Release: 1994

All songs written by Britt Daniel.

Tracklist

1. Government Darling (2:33)
2. This Damn Nation (2:31)
3. Nefarious (2:45)
4. Not Turning Off (3:01)

It's fascinating seeing the dirty, grimy origins of a band that you know is, now, incredible. I did my best to dive into these really early records without the headspace of knowing a good chunk of the rest of their discography. In that mindset, this isn't exactly phenomenal, but it's a very promising little taste of a small group with big ambitions. They don't know where they want to go or what they want to be, yet, but they know they want to do something off the beaten path. It's not exactly groundbreaking for indie rock, but it's an hors d'oeuvre, a little sign that maybe you should keep an eye on this band. It's brazen and clearly punk-inspired with the way they twist and bend instruments and keep you guessing at what they're going to do, but with more of an ear for rhythm and melody that can dig its way into your brain. The lyrics are pretty meh at this point, with Britt not seeming to really have anything to say but having a lot of lines that sound neat on their own without really adding up to anything more.

In the grand scheme of their work it's not much, but as a garage band it's impressive.

88
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Cyberpunk 2077 E3
« on: June 20, 2019, 06:35:10 PM »
It could, unfortunately, be like Deus Ex's non-lethal run where it requires you to just sprint through several gunfire sections that would normally require killing.

89
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Cyberpunk 2077 E3
« on: June 16, 2019, 08:12:05 PM »
They did say the game can be completed non-lethally, so I'm guessing there's a little more than they've shown. Why they haven't shown more is beyond me.

90
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General
« on: June 04, 2019, 11:54:22 PM »
It's official now. It'll be a young Batman once again, and one who clearly isn't the same character as Batfleck of the DCEU, which means we'll most likely see yet another iteration of the Waynes being murdered. They don't need to keep showing us this stupid scene over and over again. Yes, Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered. We know already. It was a well-known tragedy in Gotham and an event of enormous importance to Bruce, so there are a number of ways this information could be conveyed to whatever small percentage of the audience that needs a reminder without showing us a dreary flashback. But they'll probably show it because they have it ingrained in their heads that it's the most effective, dramatic way to do it, and also to make it clear that this is a whole new Batman. Besides that, my hopes for the movie are that they put down those same two Frank Miller comics that Batman movies keep mining for influence again and again and again, drop the grimdark edgelord shit, show a more stylized, interesting Gotham, and ease up on the realism, especially when it comes to how Batman moves and fights. He's a superhero, for fuck's sake. Let him pull off ridiculous stunts, solve problems with silly gadgets from his belt, kick the shit out of his enemies in straightforward fights where we can see what's happening, and look cool while doing all of it.

I'm willing to bet right now that they won't show the murder again. They may reference it, but I don't think they'll show it.

91
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Now Playing (the Video Game Version)
« on: May 31, 2019, 02:22:20 AM »
I tried Strike Force and played for a month or two before I got sick of it. Glad you can find enjoyment in it, but there's such relentless and unforgivingly awful grinding and RNG that tries to push you to pay, pay, pay that I just couldn't take it. I like the combat system, but the rest of the game nullified any enjoyment I got from that.

Marvel Future Fight, though, I play daily. There's definitely a pay-to-win element but it's friendly to f2p players, and I find the gameplay a lot more challenging and the overall game mechanics much more friendly to active play rather than the grind.

92
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Just Watched
« on: May 25, 2019, 05:10:59 AM »
your dum

93
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Philosophy dichotomy test
« on: May 17, 2019, 02:42:56 PM »
I'm not sure a basic belief held by hundreds of millions of people who form the majority of multiple countries qualifies as "edgy". It's not angst, either. It sounds like you just entirely misunderstood the philosophical concept behind the statement.

Amazing and illuminating point

94
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Just Watched
« on: May 11, 2019, 01:46:42 AM »
Saw Endgame a second time. Still phenomenal.

95
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Philosophy dichotomy test
« on: May 03, 2019, 01:10:13 AM »
It's not edgy. "Life is suffering" is a core tenet of Buddhism and a common topic in philosophy. Considering there are 488 million Buddhists (according to the Google Overlord), it's not uncommon to be brought up believing that life is a state of suffering, and only by being freed from an existing circle of life, death, and rebirth can one be freed from the suffering of life.

So "Buddhists believe it so it can't be edgy"? FYI I'm using "edgy" in the "brooding angsty Sasuke" sense. Which apparently applies to Buddhism.

Also doesn't change that having it be a vague two-parter is dumb since I can agree with one half and disagree with the other, in either order.

96
Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Philosophy dichotomy test
« on: May 02, 2019, 12:46:15 PM »



I agree with Crudblud about how vague some of these are. A few I didn't really have a ton of confidence in my answers.

"Life is suffering and fundamentally meaningless."

Meaningless on a fundamental level sure, but suffering? Yikes. Edgy. No the former but yes to the latter. So I just picked neutral.

"There is more to the world than mere material."

This depends on if this means in a spiritual/mystical sense of heaven/deities/entities/realms or "there is more to life than material things". So, again, neutral.

97
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Just Watched
« on: May 01, 2019, 09:23:41 PM »
Dawg. Acts of Vengeance? Infinity Gauntlet? Secret Wars? The Onslaught Saga? Inferno? Siege of Darkness sorta? I won't deny they've done more since 2000 or so, but many of their largest and most sprawling were before them.

Anyway yeah Endgame was amazing and I cried three times during it.

98
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Now Playing
« on: April 25, 2019, 03:13:47 AM »


Actually can't stop listening to this song. Listened to one of their albums then dove through their entire discography (9 albums) in like the next two days. I'm in love.

99
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Episode IX
« on: April 16, 2019, 10:43:11 PM »
Without knowing what they are doing the character you are just talking out of your ass.  I am dubious, but to say there is no world where the return of Palpatine doesn't work is just close-minded and over-reaching.

Such is the point of speculation. It's okay to speculate without tacking on "in my opinion" or "though it's potentially possible to do right maybe".

The dark side told her she came from nothing.  We don't know if its the actual truth.

I think it's best that she be of inconsequential parentage. The whole "chosen one" schtick is played out too much in this series, and having a character make their own destiny would be far more interesting at this point. In my opinion. Though it's potentially possible to do right maybe.

100
Arts & Entertainment / Re: Superhero Movies & Comics General
« on: April 13, 2019, 11:07:21 PM »
I, too, have read The Killing Joke, and it looks almost nothing like that.

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