― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Monday, 27 January 2003 23:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 January 2003 23:53 (twenty-one years ago) link
― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 00:05 (twenty-one years ago) link
― chaki (chaki), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 00:08 (twenty-one years ago) link
Classic? If they aren't, they're very close.
― Girolamo Savanarola, Tuesday, 28 January 2003 00:13 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Juan (Juan), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 00:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
― jellybean (jellybean), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 00:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 00:33 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 00:38 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Nick Mirov (nick), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 01:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 01:19 (twenty-one years ago) link
Amen to that!
― Nick Mirov (nick), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 01:21 (twenty-one years ago) link
Of course, the 10.0 was just absurd though.
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 02:05 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Simon H., Tuesday, 28 January 2003 02:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
Yello!
― original bgm, Tuesday, 28 January 2003 02:28 (twenty-one years ago) link
how do these two fit together? i'm seeing more of a drone band in BRMC as compared to the post-hardcore structuring of TOD. love the music. dislike the lyrics. lots of blood references = worn territory.
― Brock K. (Brock K.), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 03:22 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Jesse Fox (Jesse Fox), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 04:16 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 04:18 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Charlie (Charlie), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 04:54 (twenty-one years ago) link
???
hardly. they were one of the most irritating live bands i've seen for (a) INCREDIBLY tedious instrument trashing and (b) almost as tedious instrument swapping and (c) sounding like a damp rag hitting a pole in comparison to their records
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 04:56 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 05:30 (twenty-one years ago) link
And what's with all the bitching about BRMC? Honestly, they do the JAMC better than the JAMC! They're hardly the most orginal band around, but I would much rather listen to their debut than to "PsychoCandy".
― Brenya, Tuesday, 28 January 2003 05:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
At least the Reids' vocal boredom was somehow compelling.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 06:23 (twenty-one years ago) link
― willem (willem), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 08:07 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Ess Kay (esskay), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 08:15 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Clarke B., Tuesday, 28 January 2003 08:20 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Brenya, Tuesday, 28 January 2003 08:42 (twenty-one years ago) link
And they're still outdone by their imitators.
― Brenya, Tuesday, 28 January 2003 08:50 (twenty-one years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 10:27 (twenty-one years ago) link
(This is exactly what a lot of people feel when they hear lots of the music I like, and since then I've become less hostile to that viewpoint I hope, even though I agree with it even less too.)~
― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 10:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
― weasel diesel (K1l14n), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 11:49 (twenty-one years ago) link
― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 12:05 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 12:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
i was thinking about replying along those lines exactly but decided not to because i do not really know all the music you like... but i guess it all has to do with the subjective way people perceive music (sounds like a banality, but i don't know how to put it differently right now)
― willem (willem), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 12:36 (twenty-one years ago) link
"The problem of boredom in alt.rock music is probably just the problem of me noticing boredom in alt.rock music more easily. (That's the generous interpretation, anyway). I don't hear musicians expressing anything much, and I don't feel much need to express anything much back, since all I do hear is musicians wrestling with structures. If the structures are new enough to you then you might get a jolt anyway - the rock you like best is the rock you hear first, in other words, which makes rating individual bands a bit pointless.
But isn't wrestling with structures interesting anyway? I don't know - when I was writing the first sentence of this I put "(b-dum b-dum)" after "boredom" as a nod to the Buzzcocks and then I took it out because it didn't do anything other than prove I'd heard the Buzzcocks. Most of what I hear in this music is a succession of similarly petty micro-choices. I can imagine someone settling for that, but I can't imagine anyone being satisfied with it."
― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 12:43 (twenty-one years ago) link
as for me, i like the wrestling bit... rather, it doesn't really sound like wrestling to me. i (think i) hear musicians 'evolving'. to me, source tags & codes is a clear step forward from madonna... (aaah, we could go on like this for ages i guess) (this may all sound like i take a band like ...and you will etc. very serious... i don't, actually. but that doesn't mean i am not interested in their music)
― willem (willem), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 13:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
(With pop of course there is an obvious motive - they want to make lots of money and be famous!)
(I do like perfect execution yes, the word 'perfect' sort of implies liking for me :) But that's not what I'm talking about - Trail of Dead sound very proficient at what they do, I just can't detect any reason for them to do it.)
― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 13:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
― willem (willem), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 13:51 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 15:32 (twenty-one years ago) link
just for the record i think guns'n'roses are a crime against music. ten years from now i will probably think the same of trail of dead.
― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 15:46 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 15:55 (twenty-one years ago) link
The idea of someone getting a thrill from this band suddenly seemed like the most depressing notion in the world - it was an eye-opener because as I say that's exactly the kind of "why do people tolerate such nothingness?" reaction some people have to R&B, say. The aesthetic choices and mental steps needed to really love a Trail of Dead record suddenly seemed to me to be hopelessly alien. And to be fair that reaction hasn't really recurred since to other things, which is why I'm stumbling about trying to put my finger on it.
Willem I dont make it to the Netherlands much no!
― Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 16:04 (twenty-one years ago) link
― nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 28 January 2003 16:06 (twenty-one years ago) link
I saw them twice live and found them hilarious in Chris Katan (sp?) kinda way, but Madonna bores the tits off me. Haven't paid attention in the last couple years, tho.
― Pete Scholtes, Tuesday, 28 January 2003 21:14 (twenty-one years ago) link
― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 00:32 (twenty years ago) link
I feel slightly ashamed for saying that Trail Of Dead's new album 'The Century Of Self' is really good. Where did it all go right?
― Doran, Wednesday, 25 February 2009 21:00 (fifteen years ago) link
Definitely a huuuuge stretch to say its "all" gone right, this is another extremely patchy album by the band. Some definite high points, but its also a really bloated and overlong disc. Par for the course, really.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Wednesday, 25 February 2009 21:04 (fifteen years ago) link
Hmm. I think we'll just have to agree to disagree on that; IMO it's really pop-proggy and has stadium ambitions (Jane's Addiction, Manics) but there isn't really a bad song on it. I bet this is what Billy Corgan imagines his music sounds like.
I'm not a fan of them by any stretch of the imagination either although they were always pretty good live.
― Doran, Wednesday, 25 February 2009 21:07 (fifteen years ago) link
And You Will Know Us by the Trail of DUD, amirite?
― ilxor, Wednesday, 25 February 2009 22:55 (fifteen years ago) link
The 3 albums that succeeded Source Tags have lots of bits that I wouldn't usually be able to stomach but I find them quite endearing for some reason. I didn't like Worlds Apart at the time and ignored them entirely for many years, but recently I've come to really admire the fact that they've always just did what they wanted creatively.
― Hamsters of Misfortune (ultros ultros-ghali), Tuesday, 18 August 2015 20:53 (eight years ago) link
Tao of the dead is their best record
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 18 August 2015 20:54 (eight years ago) link
just about every song on Source Tags is great. which is unusual for a record that takes so many risks/ mixes things up so much etc.
― charlie h, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 02:08 (eight years ago) link
worlds apart is great but has a lot of embarrassing moments, which makes me like it more tbh.
i think i dismissed it at the time for gaucheness but i don't really hear that now, or i've just come round to it somehow. certainly the intro to the title track is lulz and should alone have convinced me to stick with them, but the bombast, the pseudo-russian folk song trappings, the 'lookit those cunts on mtv', it's all working for me right now.
time to catch up on everything after. so divided is sounding a little thin...
― ledge, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 10:20 (eight years ago) link
All their post-Source-Tags output has been at least good, full of hidden gems too. Unobtrusive album track 'Luna Park' for instance must be one of the greatest non-regular-songwriter tracks I've ever heard (up there with, say, Desire Lines by Deerhunter) - so much so I wonder why they don't let that guy write more stuff
― Yul Brynner playing table tennis with a deviled kidney (imago), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 10:38 (eight years ago) link
what exactly is embarrassing on Worlds Apart? i don't think there's a weak song on there. the backlash was just ridiculous, like "Hey, ROCK BAND, STAY IN YOUR PLACE." there's just as much bombast as The Smashing Pumpkins, which were criminally uncool for years but are only starting to get begrudging p4k acceptance.
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 15:46 (eight years ago) link
eh i just mean its bombast is occasionally carelessly deployed, plus the lyrics are often terrible in a really cynical and self-serious way (title track)
don't get me wrong i looooved that record in high school and still have a lot of affection for it.
the new record is GREAT btw
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 18:04 (eight years ago) link
Unobtrusive album track 'Luna Park' for instance must be one of the greatest non-regular-songwriter tracks I've ever heard (up there with, say, Desire Lines by Deerhunter) - so much so I wonder why they don't let that guy write more stuff
jason reece? i mean he only has a few songs per record but i'd argue they're usually the best there. especially on the new one ("lie without a liar," "lost in the grand scheme")
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 18:06 (eight years ago) link
Worlds Apart has Caterwaul, which I think is a Jason Reece song, and also one of the beat TOD songs. During one performance in Vera (2005 I believe) it was Jason who sung/screamed it in the audience, ending in a mass singalong. It was awesome.
― Marty8501 (Marty Innerlogic), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 18:09 (eight years ago) link
beat = best
― Marty8501 (Marty Innerlogic), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 18:10 (eight years ago) link
"caterwaul" was an encore for the source tags & codes show i saw and everyone went crazyyyy
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 18:24 (eight years ago) link
it was surprisingly the emotional apex of the show
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 18:25 (eight years ago) link
one thing tht was cool about ST&C was that you had not only Keely and Reece but also Neil Busch ("Baudelaire," "Monsoon"), whose songs and voice were totally distinct. Wish they coulda kept him around.
and yeah "Lie Without a Liar" is one of their new best ever, immense song
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 18:41 (eight years ago) link
i love the song worlds apart. the HEY FUCK YOU MAN! at the beginning mixed really loud, "look at those cunts on mtv," references to the twin towers... im pretty sure hes taking the piss
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 18:54 (eight years ago) link
lol i'm listening to tao of the dead for the first time and the best two songs on here are jason reece too ("weight of the son," "ebb away")
― insufficiently familiar with xgau's work to comment intelligently (BradNelson), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 20:19 (eight years ago) link
meanwhile tao of the dead fucking rules
Always appreciated the relative bluntness of the alt-nihilism in stuff like "worlds apart" and "let it die" - though when the 'fork is already having raver's remorse that kind of directness can be used against you (see Travistan)
― da croupier, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 20:46 (eight years ago) link
it actually warms my heart to see ilm talking kindly about trail of dead right now, awwww you guys... 🐱
― help computer (sleepingbag), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 20:47 (eight years ago) link
I haven't heard any of the albums after Century Of Self, but now I feel like I should check those.
― Marty8501 (Marty Innerlogic), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 21:23 (eight years ago) link
This was one of my favorite songs for a very long time. Nothing after this EP really stuck with me, though I haven't listened to recent records closely. It seemed like after this EP they suddenly were trying too hard to be "epic" or "deep" or angsty. Overall they came off much much less mature sounding to me from then on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYMY4Ak24JM
― Evan, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 21:49 (eight years ago) link
The recent albums are vv different from the mid-period stuff, somehow both proggier and much more disciplined
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 21:57 (eight years ago) link
not to mention way less vocal/lyric-driven than before, a good move imo
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Wednesday, 19 August 2015 22:01 (eight years ago) link
Yeah I'm going to check out the most recent again for sure.
― Evan, Wednesday, 19 August 2015 22:02 (eight years ago) link
their cover art is totally hilarious
― global tetrahedron, Thursday, 20 August 2015 14:54 (eight years ago) link
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61jr9gk8r1L.jpg
― ciderpress, Thursday, 20 August 2015 15:14 (eight years ago) link
It looks like the cover art of a bad steam-punk themed RPG for Dreamcast.
― Evan, Thursday, 20 August 2015 16:44 (eight years ago) link
a new 12-book fantasy sci-fi series for middle-grades readers
― global tetrahedron, Thursday, 20 August 2015 17:21 (eight years ago) link
Yeah I can't defend that cover. The album's really good though.
― Hamsters of Misfortune (ultros ultros-ghali), Thursday, 20 August 2015 18:31 (eight years ago) link
What's to defend? As gt says, it's hilarious.
― ledge, Thursday, 20 August 2015 18:56 (eight years ago) link
Re: Crowning of a Heart - not to be that guy, but I like the demo better:
https://youtu.be/OWNh1LOUxx8
― Vernon Locke, Friday, 21 August 2015 06:38 (eight years ago) link
Oh that's great! I didn't know it existed. At first it sounded a bit too shy, but once it started picking up I realized why it can be preferable.
― Evan, Friday, 21 August 2015 14:37 (eight years ago) link
um
the new album is *fucking amazing*
― Yul Brynner playing table tennis with a deviled kidney (imago), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 16:59 (eight years ago) link
first half of it at least
― Yul Brynner playing table tennis with a deviled kidney (imago), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:07 (eight years ago) link
anticipating some sort of extra-ludicrous blowout format for album 10
― the naive cockney chorus (Simon H.), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 17:07 (eight years ago) link
I like hearing this band's name to the melody of the first line of the verse of Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears
― five six and (man alive), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 18:16 (eight years ago) link
do these guys still smash all their equipment at the end of every show?
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Wednesday, 26 August 2015 18:33 (eight years ago) link
yep, the new album still rules
i even like the second half now
― avant-garde, sissy bounce, zombie rave, aquacrunk, warlock, oceangrunge, (imago), Thursday, 12 November 2015 16:16 (eight years ago) link
Saw them perform for the first time yesterday, even though I've been listening to them since the early 00's. Fantastic show, they seemed to be having a really good time, too. Lots of personal favourites were played:
The Opening CrescendoAll Who WanderIt Was There That I Saw YouInto the Godless VoidIsis UnveiledDon't Look DownChildren of the SkyHow Near How FarBells of CreationLet It DiveWorlds ApartWeight of the Sun (Or the Post-Modern Prometheus)Ebb AwayHomageClair de LuneCaterwaulWill You Smile Again?Relative WaysMistakes & RegretsAnother Morning Stoner
They came back for an encore, think it was a song from the last album (possibly "Blade of Wind").
― willem, Friday, 28 February 2020 10:21 (four years ago) link
The sound was good? I saw them on the Madonna anniversary tour and the mix was atrocious, but I'd love to give them another crack live.
― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Friday, 28 February 2020 10:36 (four years ago) link
Yeah I heard about sound issues during last year's ST&C "jubilee" tour. Yesterday's sound/mix was great - I even thought the volume could've been cranked up a bit but that was easily solved by getting closer to the stage. I'd say give it a go if you get the chance!
― willem, Friday, 28 February 2020 16:21 (four years ago) link
They broke up?
Conrad Keely announced via an Instagram post in March 2023 that "the Trail is closed", and later clarified that the band had no plans to either tour nor make any more music in the traditional sense, citing a disastrous final tour, exhaustion, and the inhospitable state of the music industry towards smaller bands as the main drivers behind their decision.[2]
― behold the thump (ledge), Thursday, 5 October 2023 09:13 (five months ago) link
Their last tour does sound like a nightmare: https://www.patreon.com/posts/73901821
― behold the thump (ledge), Thursday, 5 October 2023 11:22 (five months ago) link
Not loading for me
― Evan, Thursday, 5 October 2023 12:03 (five months ago) link
Works for me in chrome on desktop and phone?
Are all the trail of dead fans on holiday? I'm going through their whole catalogue (albums anyway), two to go. Do they have a bad album? No. Do they have a nadir? Absolutely not, fuck you pitchfork. Do they have a bad song? I'm not sure that they do. Astonishing band, incredible body of work. Why didn't I try and see them live? (I did once, at an ATP, I don't think I saw a proper tour, lol my memory). RIP.
― behold the thump (ledge), Friday, 6 October 2023 12:55 (five months ago) link
OK yeah it was just my phone at the time.
― Evan, Friday, 6 October 2023 13:24 (five months ago) link
I've listened to XI half a dozen times over the last few days, it's absolutely one of their best. As grandiose and prog as anything they've done but not unleavened with humour (fuck the potatoes!), a dash of punk, a flirting with psych / krautrock. 22 songs, impeccably sequenced, no duds, nothing superfluous.
― behold the thump (ledge), Monday, 9 October 2023 09:06 (five months ago) link
That ATP show was pretty amazing all told, I only saw them a couple of times outside that including a really early show (I think the s/t had just come out, or was about to) where they were pretending to trash their kit at the end of the set and a guy got up on stage and actually did push all the amps over, which led to a giant fist fight between the band, their roadies, and some of the crowd.
― Hello I'm shitty gatsworth (aldo), Monday, 9 October 2023 11:23 (five months ago) link
lolll i saw them in new york once where they “trashed” their gear and i remember thinking that i would know them by the trail of unimpressed roadies
― Tracer Hand, Monday, 9 October 2023 11:36 (five months ago) link
I've been a fan the whole ride, really bummed if this is truly it for them but that tour does sound rough. The only time I caught the, live was at Lollapalooza one year when they played early in the day's blistering heat but they still put on a killer set.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 9 October 2023 15:18 (five months ago) link
i was technically brother-in-law to their touring guitar tech for a while and he had some wild war stories from the road. this was back in the late 2000s-early 2010s.
one for the "when you like the wrong album" thread: i will always have a soft spot for the worlds apart and so divided material. even though i don't know the whole catalogue that well, i have to agree with ledge in that i've always been impressed by their consistency. crazy the amount of hype they had at one point.
― the adventures of Yari and ixa. (Austin), Tuesday, 10 October 2023 00:12 (five months ago) link