music discussion! - reviews, opinions, etc. [new rule!]

[laura palmer.]

@superunknown
i linked it !! and im excited to hear your review ! ill have to listen to them :

@raya36
alright !! let me know when you'd like me to link it!

[talkshow boy]

hmm,, alright, i like this idea
here's my youtube playlist. it's not even close to being finished, i'm always adding more music. but there it is.

[snakeman]

eyyyy here we go again!



"Declaration Of Conformity suggests that these Soundgarden expats have left the Seattle sound behind for trippy psychedelia that recalls such 1960s freak icons as Syd Barrett and 13th Floor Elevators."
- Matt Diehl of Rolling Stone

Album: Declaration Of Conformity
Artist: Wellwater Conspiracy
Tracklist:

1: Sleeveless
2: Shel Talmy
3: The Ending
4: Sandy
5: Far Side Of Your Moon
6: Lucy Leave
7: Green Undertow
8: Enebrio
9: You Do You
10: Space Travel In The Blink Of An Eye
11: Nati Bati Yi
12: Declaration Of Conformity
13: Trowerchord
14: Palomar Observatory

Released on 17th June 1997

The songs on this album are all really short. The shortest one (Nati Bati Yi) is 2m 30s long and the longest (Trowerchord) is 3m 23s long haha

Wellwater Conspiracy was basically formed in 1993 by Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron of Soundgarden, John McBain of Monster Magnet. At the time the band was called Hater and it had Brian Wood in it too (Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood's brother), but by the time Declaration Of Conformity was released in '97 the band was called Wellwater Conspiracy and Brian had no part in it. The band is described as playing '60s-style psychedelic garage rock, and they have quite a few covers of those kinds of bands on their four albums. The source for the album credits is terrible but I'm using it anyway because there's just not much info on this project at all:

Matt Cameron – drums, vocals, mini-moog, simulated rain, acoustic guitar, guitar solo on "Lucy Leave"
John McBain – guitars, bass guitar, drums on "Far Side of Your Moon" and "Palomar Observatory"
Ben Shepherd – vocals

leeeeet's geet rooooiiiiight into the sooooooonnnngggsss

SLEEVELESS
I can't understand a word, but I don't care xD It's pretty cool. One of those slightly slower but still kinda loud ones that I find really catchy. Starts off with some sounds at the start like they're setting the stuff up, there's what sounds like a guitar being plugged in and a cymbal being hit along with some other noises. I like that kind of a start to a song, and it fits well here, doesn't sound so polished which is probably good for garage rock haha
The guitars in the whole album are all fuzzy, there's an acoustic sounding one in this too along with the fuzz- it's probably most prominent right at the end. The bass is cool too. Vocals sound kinda distorted and I think they must have recorded them twice. I can never pick out all the words anyway but it's near impossible for me on this one q: There's another bit at the end with some noises

SHEL TALMY
Oooooo I like the drums in this one. Sounds a bit like Yield. If Matt could have used this kind of sound live with Pearl Jam... Do the drums at the start remind anyone else of the bit in Do The Evolution after the first verse but before the "admire me" part?
I really like this. I'm gonna have to learn to play this one. It's an instrumental, and it almost seems like it changes its mood a few times despite being pretty short. There's a little bit in the middle where the guitars almost remind me of something on a Red Hot Chili Peppers album. The bass in this one is something I really like, I like it when the bass does its own thing as opposed to the same thing as the guitars

THE ENDING
The riff in this kinda reminds me of the riff in the chorus of Into The Void by Nine Inch Nails, the kinda sliding down thing... I'm not complaining, I actually quite like that song haha
Now that I've spent ages trying to track down Into The Void, let's get back to Declaration. The tone on one of the guitars sounds a bit like something from Soundgarden's Screaming Life EP, if it was intentional maybe it was Matt's idea? They had Hiro Yamamoto on bass at that point, they only got Ben when they were making Badmotorfinger if I remember correctly. It almost sounds like one of those really old songs for some reason, I think that's pretty cool. I like this one, the chorus-y bit's my favourite.

SANDY
Hands down my favourite song on the record. xD
Lots of fuzz on the guitars. Sandy's a bit faster than the songs before it. Most of it's in Japanese as well, I'm pretty sure...? It's a cover of a band called The Carnabeats, I can't find the lyrics for either version so I doubt they were very popular. Anyone know any Japanese speakers who might be able to decipher it for me?
I think the best part is coincidentally the part that they showed in this video I linked in my Yield review (link goes to just before he plays it if the timestamp works, if not it's about 1m 20s in), when "DJ Ed's spinning some of his favourite vinyl" xD I think this one's good fun to play. It's much more upbeat than what I usually listen to, I really like it though. It's a cute song. Linked it in my signature :) It'll probably be changed in about a week, but that's significantly more than a moment

FAR SIDE OF YOUR MOON
There's some really cool effects throughout this, it sounds like a brass instrument but I'm pretty sure it's a guitar. Well-named, I think, it does sound kinda "space-y" to me. Another instrumental. Another one at about the same tempo as the first three, it's slower than Sandy again. No idea why but Eb on a guitar just sounds so good to me, maybe this is why I like Alice In Chains so much xD

LUCY LEAVE
Oh hey, vocals are back. xD
Not as big a fan of this one maybe? I'm just not feeling it like I am with Sandy. It's still great, though. Some nice stuff on the ride cymbal there, Matt's an amazing drummer o: The guitars are a bit higher in this one, and there's a little solo in the middle that's kinda cool.

GREEN UNDERTOW
Some more bass in this one compared to Lucy Leave, right off the bat. There's a lead bit there with a cool effect on the guitar, it sounds like it's underwater. I think there's tremolo and some other stuff, I like it. And, of course, undertow is a sea thing so the "underwater" sound makes sense! I never realised how much I like it when the song's name kind of sums up the vibe of the actual song in that kinda way haha

ENEBRIO
The guitar tone almost sounds like it could be from a country song in this one..? I think there's a slide there as well. More people should use slides, it's difficult but it sounds really good if you can pull it off, to me anyway. Yet another instrumental. Kinda stops near the end for a bit and then the drums start doing some more cool things

YOU DO YOU
Vocals and fuzz return once again
I think fuzz on a guitar sounds really good if you have a big loud bass to back it up, it's not really the style of this album but whatever. It sounds kinda thin, maybe, but I do like this song! A cleaner guitar's in there as well to back up when the fuzzy one's soloing

SPACE TRAVEL IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE
Mm, this does sound kinda space-y. Reverb, lots of reverb. I think there's a clock in there that comes in with the drums, that's kinda weird but at the same time I like that. Never would have thought of using a clock as a metronome, myself. Unless it is a metronome, in which case just shoot me now for my stupidity

NATI BATI YI
Woah, foreign language attack. Does Ben actually speak Japanese or something?
Shortest song on the album. Tempo picks up a bit here, the drums are catchy and I really like the riffs on the guitars here! There's... bird song at the end? Is that bird song?!

DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY
Setting up again... and ohhh man do I like this song
Dunno what it is but just that opening part when the guitars come in is so nice and relaxing to me.
Funny-sounding chords in the "chorus" if you can call it that, it's another instrumental. There's a thing that sounds kind of like one of those noises from a kids alien/space film as well...? Not entirely sure how to describe it. Alien radio sounds? I like.
False ending and then they do that nice riff again, aaahhhh

TROWERCHORD
Harmonics, nice.
Sounds a bit more upbeat, pretty sure the first words are "I'm so happy" or something haha
Vocals have a bit of gain/distortion, that's another thing I quite like sometimes. I like this song quite a lot as well, I just don't get to listen to it very often q:
aaaaaaaaaaaa, aaaaaaaaaaaaa, aaaaaaaaaaaaa...
Yeah, I really like this one.

PALOMAR OBSERVATORY
There's so many weird sound effects through the whole album and I really enjoy it hehehe
This one's pretty quiet. Not so much going on for a bit apart from the sound effects, a guitar playing chords and a guitar playing leads with a wah pedal. Then the drums come in, it gets a bit more "full" and then it's over pretty fast...? Relaxing and kinda cute c:

I give this album overall 8.5/10, it's not my favourite album but it's really interesting to listen to, I think. Interesting enough that I am definitely willing to spend the £30-50 on Amazon to buy it, once I get my hands on that much! The album's probably been out of print for years, it wouldn't surprise me, WWC was never big and they didn't intend for it to be. Yeah, I do really want to get my paws on a CD of this at some point, partly because I can't find any links to download it anywhere and partly because I just want to see what it comes with packaging-wise; is it a jewel case or one of those card ones, what are the liner notes like, what does the actual disc look like, etc... I love physical copies of music, and I guess I always have; I used to steal the liner notes out of my mum's CDs and read them when I got bored in the car xD

[laura palmer.]

@superunknown
you are insanely great at reviews. you go into such depth, and detail. i love it.
im really excited for you to finish this review!!
@afterglow
i linked it!!

[wittebane]

@superunknown i'm really into your review so far!! i'm excited to see when you add the rest of it. will definitely be checking out the album myself!

@realjoshdun here is my youtube playlist! i just threw it together today since i don't tend to use youtube playlists, but i thought it would be nice to add to the list!

[laura palmer.]

this week ive been listening to;
fantastic by flume ft. dave glass animals
we all need something by noah kittinger/bedroom
so sad so sad by varisty
run by future islands
lithium by nirvana
planetary [go!] by mcr
this old dog by mac demarco
alaska by maggie rogers
disorder by joy division

what have you guys been listening to?

[PrincessOogieBoogie]

Skillet.
Anyone else?

[Raya36]

YES! Skillet!

[skeleton,]

ive been listening to a lot of green day and the brobecks

revolution radio // green day [the song]
bang bang // green day
say goodbye // green day
goodnight socialite // the brobecks
i'd be a punk if my mom would let me // the brobecks
she's the prettiest girl at the party and she.. // frnkiero andthe cellabration
tragician // frinkiero andthe cellabration
tomorrow's money // my chemical romance
the jetset life is gonna kill you // my chemical romance
irresistible // fall out boy
nightmare // set it off
war of change // thousand foot krutch
killer // the ready set

[talkshow boy]

i've mostly just been listening to daft punk.
so much daft punk.

selfish age // as lions
girls/girls/boys // panic! at the disco
spoonman // soundgarden
even flow // pearl jam
jeremy // pearl jam
instant crush // daft punk
digital love // daft punk
give life back to music // daft punk
everything about you // ugly kid joe