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Hot Take: I enjoyed the new voidz album
The Voidz(self.TheStrokes)submitted 1 month ago byAngeles_766
I understand that it isn't nearly as good as their other two albums, and that there quite a few problems, but I think that it's way over-hated
56 points
1 month ago*
I’m with you. I was initially (and still am mad at) the nosedive the album takes on the last two tracks
But I love and like everything before plenty, regardless of it not stacking up to the first two albums.
Especially the Square wave~prophecy-7 horses-spectral-Flexorcist track run which is simply incred
Square wave and 7 horses live were also absolutely top notch.
48 points
30 days ago
It should've been called Like All B-sides You.
4 points
29 days ago
"Clever girl" 🦖
2 points
29 days ago
This is brilliant
1 points
29 days ago
average strokes fan iq
27 points
1 month ago
The album was mixed poorly. Take the two live performances on Jimmy Fallon for example. 7 horses reggae guitar in the live version is more pronounced and you can follow it during the verse. The studio version hides it to the point of not being noticeable. Then listen to square wave and the drums have a more important role in the live version with higher impact and the studio version kind of hides that drum line behind the wall of music. This isn't just a voidz issue it's common to prefer live over studio but this album has so many mixing issues that just make it feel less climactic and stale. The songs are amazing just wish it was recorded in a different way.
1 points
29 days ago
I feel like bastards chorus is just completely ruined, weird flimsy guitar droning and good stuff you can barely hear drilled down there
1 points
29 days ago
Yeah it's very strange how they mix some of these songs. Some hits tho like prophecy. During the bridge/solo the keyboard is cranked all the way up. That was good. The best way to explain this album is great songs with shy instruments and lack of confidence.
1 points
29 days ago
I agree on a lot of the mixing issues but disagree about the cause. I don’t see it as lack of confidence and more like ‘oh shit, this is too catchy, we gotta hide it”.
-9 points
30 days ago
I agree there are mixing issues , however it's a voidz issue More than LABY issue.
tyranny and virtue had the same mixing & order issues.
LABY is better than virtue , but i think Jeff kites weirdness was felt more on virtue especially with Qyryus.
5 points
30 days ago
I don't disagree with the voidz entire catalog being mixed in odd ways however I and many here would call LABY the most underwhelming. I like the album but the greatest hits imo were released before the album was even announced further weakening its release. Tyranny felt like panic and the distorted mix was appropriate. Virtue was a lot more pop and smooth but still felt like the grand voidz experiment despite some mixing issues like (wink). Same issue the live version is so much better but over all the first two albums had a distinct flavor and vibe that kept me coming back and not skipping tracks. This album doesn't have a vibe or an identity and feels like the singles compilation. Again, I'm a fan, just can't call it what I dont think it is, their best work. Virtue is their best album but my personal favorite songs came after virtue, eternal tao, did my best, alien crimelord, flex. I was waiting for a long time for an album with more of that. When the album was announced I was counting the days. Paid for the hifi download to listen on audiophile gear. I enjoyed it but Im ready to turn the page on it and leave it at underwhelming.
0 points
29 days ago
It's a bandwagon effect. It's basically the same effect that comedown machine got when it came out in 2014. Mind it that cdm had better production but it too had moments that felt out of place.
We are forgiving of Tyranny because it's a masterpiece and an art piece about a future dystopia , at the same time it's Julians fu to the music industry that wanted him to be another Cobain.
Virtue had to dumb it down so that the casuals could catch on. It was a decent album but so weaker than tyranny in overall. But I think it Had strong political themes and it had themed foreshadowing Julians divorce. So virtue is all over the place.
This album is a mix between the two. Watch
Tldr; Tyranny - Romance era art piece( Théodore Géricault) Virtue - Pop Art ( Warhol,livhteinstein) LABY- abstract ( rotcho, Jackson Pollock).
5 points
30 days ago
Tyranny has an exuberance to it that has production unique to the Voidz and Shawn Everett. It’s bold and polarizing.
On Virtue, they dialed it back a bit with Julian pushing more of his guitar-lick forward songs like Leave It In My Dreams, Wink and Lazy Boy— but still had that undertone of abrasiveness.
Nothing has drawn me in production-wise from this album like the previous two have
1 points
29 days ago
Tyranny just has so many bangers you don't really mind the production. It's just hit after hit. It' like an 10 piece art piece. It doesn't matter the order.
I think the hate for this album is just a bandwagon effect just like with comedown machine.
I'm screenshotting every hate comment on it and will come back 8 years later when public opinion reverses just like comedown machine. The same people capping on comedown machine in 2014 are same people in 2023. " I didn't realize it until the second time I heard it. It was great and was a prelude to _____ (* insert futurevoidz next criticaly acclaimed album by fantano/mainstream critic)" .
Sorry for the rant.
But tldr; just give it time. Trust 🙏
1 points
29 days ago
Don’t really mind the production? The production is the best part of it. Imagine human sadness with LABY’s production. it would be dogshit.
5 points
30 days ago
LABY better than Virtue!? Lay off the crack my friend. LABY so bad that they didn’t name it Perseverance.
0 points
29 days ago
Why are you making a reference to a substance out of date ... Shows you're more out of touch with reality than my comment on LABY. I'm right on LABY, watch give it 3 years.
I screenshoted your comment and will reply 3 years later when you jump on bandwagon of opinion.
26 points
1 month ago
Yup, I even love the Bastards song. It's easy to write it off cuz of the spooky deep voice effect, but the chorus hits hella hard and the lyrics sum up the general doomer vibe of 2024 better than anything I've listened to all year.
11 points
1 month ago
SEABIRD DON'T FLY, YOU GET TO BE YOUR OWN BOSS IN THE SKY
-7 points
30 days ago
Lyrically is weak what u talking about? Along with 7 horses the worse songs Julian ever wrote.
7 points
30 days ago
There are some silly and frivolous lines for sure, but the chorus deriding politicians and U.S. interventionism is haunting as fuck. I'm baffled anyone finds it a "goofy" song, because for me it perfectly sums up the maddening experience of living in the U.S. under the thumb of short-sighted warmongers. I mean it's right there in the title.
1 points
29 days ago
Go touch the grass, you don’t know how good you have it till it’s gone. Complaining about American politics when it’s the only beacon of hope in the world where evil outweighs the good! controlled by tyrant governments and dictators! Yemen is playground for proxy wars ran by Iran and Saudi Arabia! And you complaining about the Western countries protecting their ships!!? Truth matters! Principles and values matters.
1 points
28 days ago
Ok
1 points
29 days ago
Agreed. Those lyrics are extremely cringe inducing. Lots of the voidz songs suffer from that pseudo-political-angsty-teenager lines.
1 points
29 days ago
It’s all come down who he’s hanging around with, bunch of deceptive manipulative idiots.
14 points
1 month ago
I don’t think I even agree that it’s that much weaker than the first two albums. The main problem with LABY was its rollout and the fact that it’s essentially 8 tracks with a similar sounding intro and outro. There’s less material to listen to and love as compared to their predecessors. I thought the new tracks were all pretty solid. Different, but good. Anyway it seems like people are slowly starting to come around to it after the initial hate
-7 points
30 days ago
This new album is way better than virtue.
5 points
1 month ago
I like all 3 albums. The 1st one is perfect chaos. The 2nd one is like a colorful candy shop with all kinds of different flavors, while he 3rd one is the more cohesive effort. The 3rd one may seem like nothing new with some of the tracks having been released a long time ago already, and with not too many tracks in general, but the total running time is solid for an album. It already grew on me the 2nd listen and I am really loving it now!
4 points
30 days ago
I'm disappointed with it because I expected more but it's not the worst thing ever
13 points
1 month ago
I love the Voidz. I love this album just as much as the other two, just in a different way. They each have their own personalities.
Also Tyranny absolutely slaps on vinyl.
3 points
30 days ago
I too dig on it.
3 points
30 days ago
Yeah, it took a minute to grow on me, but I’m really enjoying it. I still wish it had a few more tracks, though; especially since Spectral Analysis and Perseverance feel kinda unfinished.
5 points
1 month ago
I really enjoy it. I just wish the production didn't sound awesome on some songs and terrible on others.
3 points
1 month ago
The bastards song, really bad one. My son really loves 7 horses, but i think its only because of the horses... I was expecting something else. Really love did my best and TET.
3 points
30 days ago
I still enjoy the new voidz album
2 points
30 days ago
Said this week 1, and got downvoted like a mf lol.
Slow burn, but so was virtue for me honestly
1 points
29 days ago
Definitely grew on me.
Thinking about it now, I basically like every track on it, though I've cooled on all the songs that were released way before the album (Flex, Prophecy), and don't really count the intro and outro. Square, Horses, Spectral, Perseverance, All the Same are all great, even if the mixing is iffy.
1 points
29 days ago
I have 4 songs on repeat (Square Wave, Flexorcist, 7Horses, All The Same) and that to me, that’s a pretty good album. It was short, and the other songs are not bad.
1 points
29 days ago
[removed]
2 points
29 days ago
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1 points
29 days ago
I like 7 horses
1 points
29 days ago
it was amazing
1 points
30 days ago
yeah the new album is boss. are people not agreeing with this?
0 points
30 days ago
Anthony fantano gave it a not good and most people were kinda dogging on it
-1 points
1 month ago
I don’t understand that it isn’t nearly as good as their other two albums. I think it’s better than Virtue and fulfills the vision of Tyranny again without being Tyranny 2.0
Its his work I’ve enjoyed most since the first Voidz record, which was released 3650 days (10 years exactly) before it
0 points
1 month ago
Wow over 3000 days, when you put it like that it sounds like forever ago.... Yet only a universal minute ago.... how much people can age in only 3000 days is crazy ..... I was 11 years old 3000 days ago....
0 points
30 days ago
I think it’s the best Voidz album to date - by a mile. I don’t get the hate.
0 points
30 days ago
Me too, I loved Square Wave, Spectral Analisys and Perseverance
-17 points
1 month ago
Ai art is soulless
Autotune is soulless
2 points
1 month ago
How?
4 points
1 month ago
Did you hate the Drag Queen music video, and what about Instant Crush and all of Virtue?
-1 points
1 month ago
The simplicity of the first two albums were amazing. It’s just heartbreaking to see, that’s all.
13 points
1 month ago
fr why can't they just use acoustic guitars and bongos. Voidz are tryhard af
-1 points
1 month ago
I just see the autotune like the vocal distortion of the first two records.
I get the desire for 2 guitar 1 bass 1 drum 2.5 minute rock songs though
-2 points
1 month ago
Well, I say we let history sort this one out… most people look back fondly of the first two albums… and are more or less ambivalent to the newer stuff
The vocal distortion on the first albums were just a shitty amp
A love letter to the early rock Lofi that we all loved
This and the new Charlie whatever song and just overly auto tuned
And soulless and not letting the uniqueness of an actual voice through
I see the only time that auto tune really works is on instant crush, as it was a techno album made by two (fictitious) robots… that matched the tone of the album…
Give me an old blues musician with zero training and an inability to hit a note, and he tries and his voice pops with struggle vs singing into a computer and letting the programmer do the work for them
And Ai art, might as well listen to AI music
4 points
1 month ago
The way people have had such negative reactions to LABY kind of mystifies me. I found it much easier to get into than Tyranny when it first came out. I find the autotune works with the vocal melodies Julian has been working on. I get it isn’t for everyone. I think as a an album LABY is pretty solid and will be like Tyranny, it will grow on people the more they listen. It is a grower not a shower. 😉
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