FEATURED ALBUM: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - In Glorious Times

[100423]

Terrible album by a terrible band. I hate cookie monster vocals and there are no melodies anywhere. They need to listen to Yes and Genesis to learn how to write proper music. They also released this on CD....only real bands release music on vinyl and 1/4" tape.

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I have all 3 studio albums on vinyl (Christmas present from the wife last year). Your arguement with yourself is invalid.

[Yodelgoat]

Pardon my Naivete, but this was my first listen ever to SGM - and though it would thoroughly piss off my wife if she ever heard me play it, I think I need to have at least one album by these guys. I was impressed! The music does seem vapid - in an entertaining sort of way. What I heard was interesting, in a "what are they going to do next?" kind of way. Just not sure what possessed them to make something like this.

If I pick up one of these albums, which one best represents SGM? - oh, and which one has the least cookie monster voices? That skillset is one I do not appreciate in any way, but I think the strength of the rest of it will make up for that.

I think I need to have some SGM just for the sheer joy of stupifying others with it.

[NogbadTheBad]

Pardon my Naivete, but this was my first listen ever to SGM - and though it would thoroughly piss off my wife if she ever heard me play it, I think I need to have at least one album by these guys. I was impressed! The music does seem vapid - in an entertaining sort of way. What I heard was interesting, in a "what are they going to do next?" kind of way. Just not sure what possessed them to make something like this.

If I pick up one of these albums, which one best represents SGM? - oh, and which one has the least cookie monster voices? That skillset is one I do not appreciate in any way, but I think the strength of the rest of it will make up for that.

I think I need to have some SGM just for the sheer joy of stupifying others with it.

Of Natural History is their masterpiece.

[Morpheus]

“Vapid” is a strange take

[Yodelgoat]

Hmm, that is a bit of a contradiction isnt it? Its the word I thought fit... Perhaps I should say 'unpalatable' (consulting a thesaurus) I was thinking in terms of what myself and my wife would consider it. By that standard, Vapid is a good description, but there is a certain intrigue in that seemingly disjointed construct. Perhaps that is the appeal - they pull it off.

Once again, I need to consult my attorney before posting. I thought it was a colorful choice for a word to describe what I was feeling at the time. I have gone back and listened again.... Yep.

[moecurlythanu]

Just not sure what possessed them to make something like this.

The Donkey Headed Adversary of humanity.

[Scrotum Scissor]

If I pick up one of these albums, which one best represents SGM? - oh, and which one has the least cookie monster voices? That skillset is one I do not appreciate in any way, but I think the strength of the rest of it will make up for that.

I think I need to have some SGM just for the sheer joy of stupifying others with it.

Reading this thread would answer "which album".

And SGM didn't apply "cookie monster voices" to much more extent than Tom Waits has done; it's a standard-fare theatrical 'core growl' donning preciously little in common with the technique usually utilized in for instance most extreme metal. I dunno, did you ever hear the Bee Gees-like voices in Dream Theater?

What "possessed them to make something like this"? I suppose anything but the assumption that "progressive rock" should allude to some untouchable standard upheld by given names active 45 years back which for impeccable reasons must serve as blueprint if we are to recognize the music. SGM were one of maybe just a few handful of contemporary progressive rock artists, and they folded. Both their conceptual creativity and instrumentalist prowess went -far- beyond what 90% of bigtime 70s heroes would ever have been able to accomplish, but oh dear alas those "alien" elements got in the way of comfortable enjoyment, their days were numbered from the very start.

[Zappathustra]

Just not sure what possessed them to make something like this.

a) profound despair concerning the pathetic situation of human life on earth
b) lack of basic music knowledge as regards the writing of MELODIES, the way only Yes and Genesis can write
c) the donkey headed adversary of humanity

[Yodelgoat]

a) profound despair concerning the pathetic situation of human life on earth
b) lack of basic music knowledge as regards the writing of MELODIES, the way only Yes and Genesis can write
c) the donkey headed adversary of humanity

touche

[Scrotum Scissor]

only Yes and Genesis

Everybody's middle name.

[Zappathustra]

Everybody's middle name.

I feel a bit worried lately, because the ratio of Yes/Genesis related threads has fallen to less than 50%.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I feel a bit worried lately, because the ratio of Yes/Genesis related threads has fallen to less than 50%.

Steven Wilson ruined the abundance of Yes/Genesis threads, 'cause Steven Wilson is the most happening thing.

[Baribrotzer]

Just not sure what possessed them to make something like this.

From conversations with Nils, who I regard as the primary architect of their sound: He grew up a metalhead in Oakland, CA., a fan of Judas Priest, Slayer, that sort of stuff. Then one day, while very high, he visited a sick friend who had Fred Frith's Gravity playing on the stereo - and he had never in his life heard music that sounded that profoundly, disconcertingly wrong. (Part of that extreme impact, of course, was due to him being very high at the time.) While the metal he loved sounded scary, aggressive, and evil, none of it was anything like the same kind of wrong. This prompted an eventual growing interest in avant-prog, and eventually other prog as well. I'm not sure whether it also directly led to him studying music formally, but he did - at UC Berkeley, including courses with the composer Andrew Imbrie.

And so when it came to writing his own music, he wanted to make something truly powerful. It had to be as scary, aggressive, and evil as metal, and as disconcerting as avant-prog. And that's SGM.

[Scrotum Scissor]

And so when it came to writing his own music, he wanted to make something truly powerful. It had to be as scary, aggressive, and evil as metal, and as disconcerting as avant-prog. And that's SGM.

Excellent explanation, John. As well as description. You can hear the -spirit- of Frith-tunes from both his solo "rock" career as well as that of the Art Bears, not only with SGM but a couple of Frykdahl's other projects too, such as his work with lifepartner Dawn McCarthy in the Faun Fables. If you take a track off Gravity like "Don't Cry For Me" (or "Real Estate"), that 'wrongness' is subjected to a kind of mental exploration which somehow leaves it coming out as natural or even logical for Frith's music to sound as it does. And, as opposed to (at least some of) for instance the mock-amateurism of The Residents, Frith is always very much in apparent control of his own eccentricities - something which also reflects quite clearly in many of Frykdahl's own compositions.

[Yodelgoat]

And so when it came to writing his own music, he wanted to make something truly powerful. It had to be as scary, aggressive, and evil as metal, and as disconcerting as avant-prog. And that's SGM.

Thats a cool approach! I'd say he hit his mark. Thats exactly how it sounds.

[chalkpie]

I have all 3 studio albums on vinyl (Christmas present from the wife last year).

That's fuckin sweet!!

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ Those vinyls are uncannily expensive here in Oslo. I found all three of them now right before Chr, and they were 50$ each.

Where the f is Santa when you need'im?!

[Zappathustra]

From conversations with Nils, who I regard as the primary architect of their sound: He grew up a metalhead in Oakland, CA., a fan of Judas Priest, Slayer, that sort of stuff.

This explains a lot to me. One of the things that impresses me with SGM's music is how excellent the metal component sounds. It's not just the heavy metal sound used in a wider context, it's actual brillant metal music of the highest calibre, from people that fully understand the genre - and that could be easily appreciated by original metalheads. There are parts that sound to me like coming directly from the late 80's/early 90's techno/thrash/death world and in particular from Central Europe, reminiscent of bands like Celtic Frost, Coroner, Mekong Delta etc. It would be good to know if Nils was familiar with these bands. I wouldn't be surprised.

[Zappathustra]

^ Those vinyls are uncannily expensive here in Oslo. I found all three of them now right before Chr, and they were 50$ each.

Where the f is Santa when you need'im?!

I just got mine for 38,5 € from discogs, postage included. It's one of these little puppies I need - and definitely deserve - to have.

[Yodelgoat]

Of Natural History... Just purchased, in spite of my temporary music injunction imposed by my wallet...

[Duncan Glenday]

I think you'll enjoy it, Jim, even if it takes several listens.

But I doubt your wife will like it much

[chalkpie]

Of Natural History... Just purchased, in spite of my temporary music injunction imposed by my wallet...

Dude - its a masterwork imo.......and I really, really, really mean that. From soup-to-nuts the thing is just flat out captivating, intriguing, uncompromising, original, and just flat out balls-to-the-wall. I even started a thread on one of the tunes alone its so flippin' great (FC - The Freedom Club). Unabomber song. You will not be disappointed.

[NogbadTheBad]

I think you'll enjoy it, Jim, even if it takes several listens.

But I doubt your wife will like it much

My wife doesn't like much I play, that one she HATES.

[chalkpie]

Funny story I may have told before: A week or so after NF 2003, SGM played in Brooklyn and it also happened to be my bachelor party. Of course by the time we got to the club (the name escapes me), I was in a different galaxy, barely coherent. Anyway, I was near the front of the stage and Nils knew it was my bachelor party (and I think he knew I was a musician), so he wanted me to come up on stage. What I was going to do up there is still a mystery? Apparently, a back-and-forth ensued with some members of my party of whether or not I should do it (there was concern I would have knocked over Moe!'s junkyard percussion rig, or worse). Common sense somehow won out and I stayed on the floor. Its a good thing I didn't go up. I didn't feel good the next day.

[Yodelgoat]

Wow, SGM plays bachelor parties too? So far, it has been very interesting... I may have to take a bath when I'm done... Its funny, I feel slightly "violated" Kind of like after my first listen of "Operation Mindcrime" - not comparing the music, just the feeling it left me with.