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Thread: 5/5 star review of Bubblemath's Edit Peptide on Sea of Tranquility

  1. #1

    5/5 star review of Bubblemath's Edit Peptide on Sea of Tranquility

    Hi all,

    I'm giddy with gratefulness and just had to share this fantastic honor with everyone (aka "shameless self-promotion"? ) and I hope this isn't overstepping any bounds.

    http://www.seaoftranquility.org/revi...ntent&id=20121

    Thanks unto the always-informative and ever-prolific Pete Pardo for the 5/5 rating!

    --Kai
    Bubblemath

  2. #2
    Geriatric Anomaly progeezer's Avatar
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    It would only be overstepping bounds if your band wasn't so talented!

    Madison isn't that far way.
    "My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"

    President Harry S. Truman

  3. #3
    Member thedunno's Avatar
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    It would be overstepping bounds if you wrote the review yourself!

    Have you seen that Edit Peptide is album of the month on http://www.babyblaue-seiten.de/ ?

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    Quote Originally Posted by progeezer View Post
    It would only be overstepping bounds if your band wasn't so talented!
    Quote Originally Posted by thedunno View Post
    It would be overstepping bounds if you wrote the review yourself!
    I agree with both of you, and that Edit Peptide is quite a fine album.

    But that isn't a simple issue: bands and artists have been pilloried on here for hyping themselves too much. Or, in some cases, for doing it at all - remember Blue Vino, or the whole situation with Ray Bennett's wife? I've never figured out where the line is. And I suppose it's different in every case and for every artist, as a function of their personality as seen online and how they strike every PE member who clicks on the thread. And how Sean and the moderators see it, of course.

  5. #5
    Member Steve F.'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Baribrotzer View Post
    I agree with both of you, and that Edit Peptide is quite a fine album.

    But that isn't a simple issue: bands and artists have been pilloried on here for hyping themselves too much. Or, in some cases, for doing it at all - remember Blue Vino, or the whole situation with Ray Bennett's wife? I've never figured out where the line is. And I suppose it's different in every case and for every artist, as a function of their personality as seen online and how they strike every PE member who clicks on the thread. And how Sean and the moderators see it, of course.
    John

    Don't you see a difference in posting about how great you are (Blue Vino) or making up 'net enthusiasm' (Ray Bennett's wife)

    vs

    posting a link to a great review by a known, neutral third party reviewer?

    I do.
    Steve F.

    www.waysidemusic.com
    www.cuneiformrecords.com

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    “Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin

    Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]

    "Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"

    please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.

  6. #6
    Geriatric Anomaly progeezer's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve F. View Post
    John

    Don't you see a difference in posting about how great you are (Blue Vino) or making up 'net enthusiasm' (Ray Bennett's wife)

    vs

    posting a link to a great review by a known, neutral third party reviewer?

    I do.
    So do I "fo shizzle", but you're both right.
    "My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"

    President Harry S. Truman

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve F. View Post
    John

    Don't you see a difference in posting about how great you are (Blue Vino) or making up 'net enthusiasm' (Ray Bennett's wife)

    vs

    posting a link to a great review by a known, neutral third party reviewer?

    I do.
    Yes, there's a qualitative difference, and I can see that. And I don't have any problem with Kai doing so - I suppose it could have looked like I was complaining, but I wasn't, I was only commenting on Kai's remark "I hope this isn't overstepping any bounds", and how that can be hard to know. But how people react to someone doing this or something like it still depends upon a whole lot of other factors, and those can be tricky to navigate.

  8. #8
    I don't get why people rave about this band. They suck so much, it makes me weep for the future of prog.

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    Quote Originally Posted by A. Scherze View Post
    I don't get why people rave about this band. They suck so much, it makes me weep for the future of prog.
    WHO'S TRIP-TRAPPING OVER MY BRIDGE?
    (addition included for the sake of accuracy)

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by A. Scherze View Post
    I don't get why people rave about this band. They suck so much, it makes me weep for the future of prog.
    Yeah, things were going so great before Bubblemath had to go ruining it all.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by A. Scherze View Post
    [...] WHO'S TRIP-TRAPPING OVER MY BRIDGE?
    Quote Originally Posted by Baribrotzer View Post
    (addition included for the sake of accuracy)
    Ain't it the truth.

  12. #12
    Kai,

    Sincere congratulations on all the acclaim that Edit Peptide has been getting. Well-deserved, IMO. This CD has been on constant rotation for the last week and a half; I was determined to come to grips with this music, no matter how daunting it might seem at first. So much fun.

  13. #13
    Member moecurlythanu's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Baribrotzer View Post
    (addition included for the sake of accuracy)
    And you wonder why I have the fool on ignore.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by A. Scherze View Post
    I don't get why people rave about this band. They suck so much, it makes me weep for the future of prog.
    Please elaborate in meticulous theoretical detail (and donning even mightier fonts) on how a) they suck so much, and b) how this assumed (and apparently soon-to-be-verified) fact eventually threatens the "future of prog".

    Please. I want to learn. Many truly great acts of today make me weep for the past of "prog", so I'm waiting for you to somehow set me really straight.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  15. #15
    Member Kcrimso's Avatar
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    Good album. Just listening it again. Reminds me little bit of Cardiacs.
    My progressive music site: https://pienemmatpurot.com/ Reviews in English: https://pienemmatpurot.com/in-english/

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Kai Esbensen View Post
    Hi all,

    I'm giddy with gratefulness and just had to share this fantastic honor with everyone (aka "shameless self-promotion"? ) and I hope this isn't overstepping any bounds.

    http://www.seaoftranquility.org/revi...ntent&id=20121

    Thanks unto the always-informative and ever-prolific Pete Pardo for the 5/5 rating!

    --Kai
    Bubblemath

    Congratulations and well-deserved. My copy arrived a week or so back, and I've been truly enjoying it. All the best to you with this release!

    -09

  17. #17
    Thanks for sharing the review!!

    I'm looking forward to getting this tonight..
    Enjoy the moment... It's the only way to fly!

  18. #18
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    You could make a lot of critical comments about this record, many of which would be justified, and all of which would come down to the same judgement: They're too damn clever. From the dense, busy, and heavily thought-out music incorporating almost every imaginable type of tricky passage (What is going on in "Perpetual Notion"? It sounds like they're in several meters and more than one key at once.), to the peculiar lyrical combination of earnestness under an overcoat of irony and wordplay to the very edge of coherence, they poured fifteen years worth of concentrated thought and hard practice into this. And they clearly did nothing the easy way if they could do it the hard way.

    And if you said that, you'd be missing the point. All of this is - to use a phrase from the tech industry - a feature, not a bug. It's too clever because it's supposed to be too clever, and not because they're trying for something more conventionally visceral, and overthinking it. It's almost a form of extreme music, except that unlike metal taking anger to an extreme, or ambient music taking relaxation to an extreme, Bubblemath take undergraduate cleverness just about as far as it can go. And while you could argue about how good an idea that was, you'd have to admit that Edit Peptide succeeds on its own terms.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Baribrotzer View Post
    You could make a lot of critical comments about this record, many of which would be justified, and all of which would come down to the same judgement: They're too damn clever. From the dense, busy, and heavily thought-out music incorporating almost every imaginable type of tricky passage (What is going on in "Perpetual Notion"? It sounds like they're in several meters and more than one key at once.), to the peculiar lyrical combination of earnestness under an overcoat of irony and wordplay to the very edge of coherence, they poured fifteen years worth of concentrated thought and hard practice into this. And they clearly did nothing the easy way if they could do it the hard way.

    And if you said that, you'd be missing the point. All of this is - to use a phrase from the tech industry - a feature, not a bug. It's too clever because it's supposed to be too clever, and not because they're trying for something more conventionally visceral, and overthinking it. It's almost a form of extreme music, except that unlike metal taking anger to an extreme, or ambient music taking relaxation to an extreme, Bubblemath take undergraduate cleverness just about as far as it can go. And while you could argue about how good an idea that was, you'd have to admit that Edit Peptide succeeds on its own terms.
    Great stuff. This is as much to the point as it gets.

  20. #20
    Member thedunno's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Baribrotzer View Post

    And if you said that, you'd be missing the point. All of this is - to use a phrase from the tech industry - a feature, not a bug. It's too clever because it's supposed to be too clever, and not because they're trying for something more conventionally visceral, and overthinking it. It's almost a form of extreme music, except that unlike metal taking anger to an extreme, or ambient music taking relaxation to an extreme, Bubblemath take undergraduate cleverness just about as far as it can go. And while you could argue about how good an idea that was, you'd have to admit that Edit Peptide succeeds on its own terms.
    Apart from all the cleverness I think Edit Peptide also displays a distinct POP flavour, especially in the vocal bits. This is what makes the album not too difficult to digest. Its not all complexity. It is complexity paired with pop accesibility.

  21. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by thedunno View Post
    Apart from all the cleverness I think Edit Peptide also displays a distinct POP flavour, especially in the vocal bits. This is what makes the album not too difficult to digest. Its not all complexity. It is complexity paired with pop accesibility.
    Me thinks that this pop accessibility is also part of the complexity -or the difficultness (sic) of the album. It puts the listener in the awkward position of not knowing how to tackle the given material.

  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Baribrotzer View Post
    You could make a lot of critical comments about this record, many of which would be justified, and all of which would come down to the same judgement: They're too damn clever. [...] And if you said that, you'd be missing the point. All of this is - to use a phrase from the tech industry - a feature, not a bug. It's too clever because it's supposed to be too clever, and not because they're trying for something more conventionally visceral, and overthinking it. It's almost a form of extreme music, except that unlike metal taking anger to an extreme, or ambient music taking relaxation to an extreme, Bubblemath take undergraduate cleverness just about as far as it can go.
    True, and very eloquently put. It would actually be highly interesting to read a thorough dissection of the album from the viewpoint of someone with an active dislike to it (as opposed to bonehead one-two-liners such as the one posted by Mr. Font above here), and preferably someone with a minimum level of casus insight. But alas this arguably won't happen, your outline works wonderfully. Edit Eptide aligns with the so-called meta-creative in art; there's more to it than what you might see or hear, and you'll have to contain at least a small degree of intellectual self-awareness to fully get the picture - and the sounds of it. Intriguing as such, seeing how this axiom indeed both attracts and distances some listeners; many are overwhelmed due to not being accustomed to such an extent of intricacy - others are put off for exactly that reason. "Avant-prog" heads, on the other hand, may love it for its cleverness - or shun it for being too "pop" and thus also too clever. Tricky stough, hitting in all directions.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

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