State of the Union

Another jangly new-wavey track from The Ghost of Mankind. Same session as the last one.
posted by milquetoast (4 comments total)

I like it, although it sort of sounds stepped on. If those synths were cleaned up and the guitars stayed dirty, my ears would be giddy.

Hmm. Second listen, I'd tell the drummer to stop hitting the cymbals every five seconds. It sounds like they think it adds emphasis, but it just gets in the way. At the risk of sounding like a nut -- sometimes it's the silence around the notes that makes the notes stand out.

Third listen... I like the lyrics and vocals, although I can't really make them out. Which is fine.
posted by neek at 2:45 PM on July 24, 2006

I'm with neek for the most part, cymbals and stuff. I like the energy and flow. Nice.
posted by snsranch at 5:13 PM on July 24, 2006

Heh. In my defense, I'd only been playing the drums for six months at this point. Lacking such tedious qualities as "experience" or "rhythm," my philosophy was to beat on whatever damn thing was within reach until some sounds came out. GOM recorded two really great albums before I joined -- the old drummer came from Reagan Youth! -- and broke up shortly after this unreleased ep.

So, yeah, listening to it today I completely agree -- these songs would be a lot better with another drummer. And thanks for the other compliments.
posted by milquetoast at 12:49 AM on July 25, 2006

"Sounds great, but you need a new drummer."
"But—I'm the drummer!"
"Oh, I, uh, I said 'sounds great, what a bleed'n good drummer."

Good tune, does sound very squashed, does have too much cymbal—I think cymbals are a divisive issue for a lot of folks, though. I like them as very infrequent touches, but a lot of folks like a crash every beat in the chorus, etc.
posted by cortex at 2:44 PM on July 25, 2006