The official Album number 3 thread

jedi_grrlie

Ummmmmmmmmmm so I've certainly listened to this album before today, but I listened to a high-quality version on my earbuds today for the first time.





oh my good Lord. It just sounds brilliant.

coastdoll4

I've been reading through the previous posts here and they all seem to be quite favourable, generally going "first I didn't like it that much" then "I started warming up to it".

That case doesn't apply to me.

I quite dislike the somewhat high-pitched, gloomy voice used for practically every track in the album.

I liked the older styles (both albums) because they were more energetic and happy.

But here, it sounds like... I don't know how to put it, but that gloomy voice just isn't something I'm too much a fan of.

Some songs I do admit to liking a bit, but that's a comparison between those songs and the rest of the album.

Ah well.

Tempe Arizona

QUOTE (a2h @ Jan 19 2010, 04:20 PM)

I've been reading through the previous posts here and they all seem to be quite favourable, generally going "first I didn't like it that much" then "I started warming up to it".

That case doesn't apply to me.

I quite dislike the somewhat high-pitched, gloomy voice used for practically every track in the album.

I liked the older styles (both albums) because they were more energetic and happy.

But here, it sounds like... I don't know how to put it, but that gloomy voice just isn't something I'm too much a fan of.

Some songs I do admit to liking a bit, but that's a comparison between those songs and the rest of the album.

Ah well.

I'm actually with you, a2h. My sister would agree with you even more. I still love the band and all their creative efforts, but this album isn't my cup of tea. I'd still love to hear the songs live though because that would bring a whole energy to what I'm missing here.

jedi_grrlie

QUOTE (a2h @ Jan 19 2010, 07:20 PM)

I've been reading through the previous posts here and they all seem to be quite favourable, generally going "first I didn't like it that much" then "I started warming up to it".

That case doesn't apply to me.

I quite dislike the somewhat high-pitched, gloomy voice used for practically every track in the album.

I liked the older styles (both albums) because they were more energetic and happy.

But here, it sounds like... I don't know how to put it, but that gloomy voice just isn't something I'm too much a fan of.

Some songs I do admit to liking a bit, but that's a comparison between those songs and the rest of the album.

Ah well.

I'm a put this out there: If you're looking for the OK Go that put out OK Go or the OK Go that put out Oh No, you're not going to find it here.

Do keep in mind that when Oh No came out, a whole bunch of people were like, "WHAT THE FUCK THIS IS SO DIFFERENT?!?!!?" They do seem to change styles with each album, but this is probably the most significant of the three shifts, and I think there are a lot of people who are going to be looking for album one or album two or both in album three and not finding it. So, I think you're actually pretty validated in your opinion - this album is really different. If what you like is what you found on albums one and two, then this may or may not be your cup of tea.

In terms of the voice, I think it's important to remember that 1) this is a HIGHLY Prince-inspired record, so falsetto is kind of the norm, 2) Damian has consistently dabbled with falsetto and screaming since the beginning, and 3) the whole record IS rather gloomy. It's sort of about failing relationships and making mistakes and not understanding, innit? I mean, it starts out with "what the fuck is going on?" and "you can't keep letting it get you down," and moves onto stuff like "end love" and "I'll wait for you, even if it takes forever." It's heavier and much more introspective.

But, you know, again, if it's not your cup of tea, it's not your cup of tea, and I totally understand that.

I didn't care for it at first, honestly, and I've heard half of the songs before (but I knew the live versions, so I had a case of Demoitis, or maybe LiveVersionitis), but when I popped the earbuds in, it all magically changed.

QUOTE (Tempe Arizona @ Jan 19 2010, 09:19 PM)

I'm actually with you, a2h. My sister would agree with you even more. I still love the band and all their creative efforts, but this album isn't my cup of tea. I'd still love to hear the songs live though because that would bring a whole energy to what I'm missing here.

DO listen to the live versions. (Or, you know, see them live.) They definitely do add a jolt of energy and a much more rock sound than the album versions do. Hearing the bridge of "White Knuckles" on the album is nowhere near as thrilling as hearing Andy play it live.

hensocks

QUOTE (jedi_grrlie @ Jan 20 2010, 01:34 PM)

DO listen to the live versions. (Or, you know, see them live.) They definitely do add a jolt of energy and a much more rock sound than the album versions do. Hearing bridge on "White Knuckles" is nowhere near as thrilling as hearing Andy play it live.

I agree, Andy and his 8 necked guitar is the awesome

jedi_grrlie

QUOTE (hensocks @ Jan 20 2010, 06:39 PM)

I agree, Andy and his 8 necked guitar is the awesome

Eight-necked....?

Tempe Arizona

Do you think it'd be possible for me to single-handedly bring the lads to Mississippi as they have never been here before and it's the birthplace of rock n' roll and soul music?

(Nobody burst my bubble by actually answering that.)

beckysioux

QUOTE (hensocks @ Jan 20 2010, 04:39 PM)

I agree, Andy and his 8 necked guitar is the awesome

QUOTE (jedi_grrlie @ Jan 20 2010, 07:21 PM)

Eight-necked....?

I'm thinking she said that in jest.

Though it would be interesting to see an eight necked guitar. Didn't Spinal Tap have a five necked guitar? Or am I mis-remembering again?

Sunnyside

QUOTE (beckysioux @ Jan 21 2010, 02:32 AM)

Didn't Spinal Tap have a five necked guitar? Or am I mis-remembering again?

I'm thinking it was a double neck guitar for Spinal Tap but I could be mis-remembering.

hensocks

QUOTE (jedi_grrlie @ Jan 20 2010, 05:21 PM)

Eight-necked....?

Haha, yeah it's 'technically' only two but Damian seemed to think differently on stage a few concerts ago as he joked about Andy's guitar.

jedi_grrlie

Oh, okay. Clearly I took that too literally.

poppy18female

QUOTE (Gregly @ Jan 15 2010, 10:50 AM)

Artistically, I love the album. Technically, though, I've noticed one annoying problem, at least on the iTunes version: the album seems to be mastered way too hot. I get clipping distortion on many loud parts, particularly the big bass drums. I've experimented with volume controls, with the equalizer, with playing it on two different computers and my iPhone, but to no success; the problem appears to be with the source files.

I know OK Go has used clipping and distortion purposefully in past albums, but this seems different; it doesn't seem intentional. And unfortunately, I feel like it's hurting some of the excellent songs on this album. Has anybody else experienced this? Can anybody confirm whether all album copies sound like this, or just the iTunes one?

This, *definitely*. The album definitely feels overproduced. Listen to 'White Knuckles,' for instance. Great fucking song - one of my favorite albums, but I could do a better job of production in my home studio, you can literally hear terrible distortion that gets in the way of the song, not intentional, good overdistortion, like Japandroids, or The Velvet Underground...bad distortion, like 'our-producer-didn't-look-at-this-song' distortion.

Obviously the album itself is great and the songs are phenomenal, but I wish I had the Ableton files for 'White Knuckles' and 'In the Glass' so I could actually produce them properly. It drives me nuts, and as an audiophile, makes certain songs unlistenable for me.

NOTE: I have purchased both the iTunes version and the CD version and notice the same issue in both - this is a production problem, not a technical problem, and definitely not a problem with the boys, who have done a great job at producing their best, most technically impressive album yet - if only their engineers and producer could've worked as hard as they did.

DJRose

OTBCOTS Debuted at #40 on the Billboard 200! Also, it is the #10 Digital album, the #7 Rock Album, and the #5 Alternative Album. Nice to see that others are starting to figure out what we've known for years.

neck32pig

I agree with the sentiments regarding the production on this album. Its actually physically painful for me to listen to this album at times. I guess my 30 year old ears are finally wearing out, but there just doesn't seem to be enough dynamic range on this record -- and the lowrider bass throughout many of the tracks makes me crazy. And why does Damian sound like he's singing in a sewer for nearly all the tracks??? And auto-tune on "Before the Earth was Round"???! Really? Come on, you guys are better than that.

I think the songs themselves are great -- lyrically, structurally.... and I actually like "Skyscrapers" and "WTF?" as the album standouts, but jesus... this not a producer who understands finesse. Loved the way the earlier albums were mastered by comparison. Seems like this another victim of "The Loudness Wars."

Tempe Arizona

QUOTE (Nathaniel @ Jan 21 2010, 03:16 PM)

I agree with the sentiments regarding the production on this album. Its actually physically painful for me to listen to this album at times. I guess my 30 year old ears are finally wearing out, but there just doesn't seem to be enough dynamic range on this record -- and the lowrider bass throughout many of the tracks makes me crazy. And why does Damian sound like he's singing in a sewer for nearly all the tracks??? And auto-tune on "Before the Earth was Round"???! Really? Come on, you guys are better than that.

I think the songs themselves are great -- lyrically, structurally.... and I actually like "Skyscrapers" and "WTF?" as the album standouts, but jesus... this not a producer who understands finesse. Loved the way the earlier albums were mastered by comparison. Seems like this another victim of "The Loudness Wars."

All valid points. I've heard about The Loudness Wars. It's so interesting to read about.

DJRose

QUOTE (Nathaniel @ Jan 21 2010, 05:16 PM)

And auto-tune on "Before the Earth was Round"???! Really? Come on, you guys are better than that.

It's not Autotune, it's a Vocoder. Older technology.

poppy18female

QUOTE (Nathaniel @ Jan 21 2010, 05:16 PM)

I agree with the sentiments regarding the production on this album. Its actually physically painful for me to listen to this album at times. I guess my 30 year old ears are finally wearing out, but there just doesn't seem to be enough dynamic range on this record -- and the lowrider bass throughout many of the tracks makes me crazy. And why does Damian sound like he's singing in a sewer for nearly all the tracks??? And auto-tune on "Before the Earth was Round"???! Really? Come on, you guys are better than that.

I think the songs themselves are great -- lyrically, structurally.... and I actually like "Skyscrapers" and "WTF?" as the album standouts, but jesus... this not a producer who understands finesse. Loved the way the earlier albums were mastered by comparison. Seems like this another victim of "The Loudness Wars."

I'm glad I'm not the only one who realized this. I'm going to have to echo the sentiments about the vocoder though, I think it was tasteful and well-done, however, I think everyone should be able to listen to 'White Knuckles' and agree that pretty much anybody with any knowledge of mastering wouldn't want to leave that song like that. I wonder if I could remaster it just from the AIFF to remove that goddamn distortion that comes out of it clipping too high....

Again, though, extraordinary album, it's just a damn shame the producer was so terrible - Dave Fridmann has produced excellent albums before - MGMT, Elf Power...I'm not sure what the hell happened here, but somebody should've noticed something. 'Loudness wars,' indeed. Hopefully a possible future vinyl release may fix these issues, and provide a nice AIFF/FLAC/MP3 version for us audiophiles who simply can't stand their music being this poorly-produced.

Unknown

i may not know much about the making of music, loudness wars, but i love how the album sounds
and i enjoy it even more each time i listen to it =]

agentnumone

QUOTE (Nathaniel @ Jan 21 2010, 05:16 PM)

And auto-tune on "Before the Earth was Round"???! Really? Come on, you guys are better than that.

I really enjoy the vocoder in it. but yeah alot of my other music includes vocoder. .. that said i dislike most Tpain songs so yeah... its not like i love all voice effects everytime. I think they did a great job.

I WOULD LOVE DAMIAN TO USE A TALK BOX LIVE FOR THAT SONG

talk boxes are my favourite musical instrument

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX5v-S_jGD4

but yeah... its not always appreciated... i mean thats farking stevie wonder being awesome on a talk box and someones laughing...

actorroad09

Good heavens god. The album is awesome.

'In The Glass' is my favourite track atm, loving the extreme ending!