Gave this another full listen again last night after the kids went to bed. I love this album. So damn good. The only song I was not 100% sold on at first was "Party's Over" and honestly now I have no idea what I was thinking. I like it just as much as the rest of the album now. I was a tiny bit worried at first when I read about the recording to tape thing, only because to me that sounds unnecessarily gimmicky. To my mind that vageuly reminds me of someone telling you they only listen to cassette tapes nowadays or something. Seems limiting for no real reason. Well this album sounds incredible to me and they certainly seemed reinvigorated and like they were having a damn good time. If this recording method led to these results its completely worth it to me to maybe be missing a keyboard part here or there. The little differences in energy and such between the songs are making themselves more apparent to me now as well. The two interludes don't do anything for me at all and really just seem like wastes of track spots to me. I was kinda hoping for some cool instrumental music a la "Gavilan" or something, which is apparently what the Japanese bonus track is, but either way 11 kickass songs is pretty awesome.
a lot of bands record to tape, it isn’t a gimmick at all haha. it’s a completely different production sound.
Yeah that's completely just my ignorance - I don't know enough about it at all. This album sounds fantastic to me. I really don't understand all of the complaints about the production. All of the things I have been reading about this album in my opinion apply to something like the new Jim James album - particularly the song "Throwback" - but not to this album at all. Then again, it was a solid few years before I realized people talked negatively about the production of "El Pintor", so maybe this is just a sound I enjoy because I love that album as well and think it sounds great.
TOTBL = Antics = OLTA > EP = M >>>>> S/T Honestly though, I don't necessarily think El Pintor and Marauder are a dip in quality, it's just that they are both relatively new and I haven't spent 10+ years enjoying them yet so it's hard for me to say where they fall. This is a band for me that has five incredible albums and one stinker. I think Antics will always be my personal fave though.
I really liked El Pintor a lot, I played it religiously when it came out, but I honestly can't remember a single song on it. I need to go back and revisit it. I'm digging this one a good bit too, it's a fun record. Need more time with it before I can really compare it with the others though.
The way most Interpol fans describe TOTBL is how I've always felt about Antics. To me that is just a magical album that has something special about it. I absolutely love TOTBL as well though. I thought it was really interesting that Paul recently stated that the first two albums sort of came out of the same writing sessions and he almost views them as two parts or halves of the same work.
while i prefer TOBL, i see why some people would prefer to antics. similar to the strokes, they take the formula of the debut and polish it a bit.
Funny you say that, because I remember vastly preferring The Strokes' second album to their first. Much more markedly than Antics to TOTBL, which I would say are equally good I just have a personal preference towards one over the other. I am not a huge Strokes fan though. I enjoy some of their songs but always thought they were a bit over-hyped.
I don't know if I consider TOTBL/Antics two sides of the same coin like Banks does, they feel pretty different to me philosophically and sound-wise, but I definitely see Is This It and Room on Fire as counterparts.
I was kinda surprised when I read that he said that too. I never found the two to be extremely similar, any moreso than any band's albums released relatively close together, I just find them to be of the same high quality .
Oh wow - I wouldn't put anything The Strokes have done over anything Interpol related except maybe Self-Titled.
Wish this was doing more for me, it’s just kind of floating by. Enjoyed El Pintor more. I don’t really like garage rock Interpol.
OH my god I really forgot how good El Pintor is, "Same Town, New Story" and "Tidal Wave" are top tier Interpol songs. Also can't believe it already came out four years ago, doesn't feel like it was so long ago, but then again maybe it does since I somehow forgot so much of it.
Tidal Wave is the last song they recorded for El Pintor and I believe Paul said it's the best song from that album. He referenced it in an NME interview saying that Sam and his bass chemistry had left off with Tidal Wave so they knew that they had a good last reference point. It's also my favourite from EP. I love that he mentioned The Undoing as one of their best compositions. It's a top 5 Interpol song for me. So so good
This album only kicks more and more ass for me as I spend more time with it. I'm finding it to be highly addictive. I am really curious about what "Number 11" and particularly "The Weekend" sound like.
Yeah same here. It's easily going to be a top ten for me, but it makes me sad the reviews I've seen so far have been negative towards it.