Interpol ?????

karkus30

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Bought the debut album, I just cant get into it. Tried and tried to listen to the whole album, it just reminds me of a poor quality Smiths album.

A sort of miserable, miserablists album.:confused:

Im beginning to understand how some of my M8s feel about Radiohead.

Anyone else got an opinion??
 
An opinion? Yup.

I love it - it mines a Joy Division/Bunnymen seam, which is fine by me.

Not sure I hear the Smiths in there, but there's definitely an early 80s/post-punk thing going on.
 
Yep, that explains it. I cant quite get away with Joy Division either, I have two albums because of recommends ( unknown pleasures and closer), never play them. The Smiths I find ok as long as I dont subject myself to prolonged listening.

I really want to like it, after all , I now like Beefheart and thats definitely an aquired taste, but I find Im forcing myself to listen in an attempt to appreciate it. I have had at least six attempts at Interpol, but its just not happening.

Of the 80s stuff, I prefer bands like Killing Joke. The heavier more rythmic side.
 
Had to re activate this thread, decided to have another few listens and...............blimey .......its growing on me, infact I will go as far as to say I like it. MaybeIm going through mood swings or something. Still hate Audioslug though:D
 
Bumping this thread as I've been listening to this album solid for the last week or so and it just gets better and better. I can't get enough of it.

Recommended if you're a fan of groups such as The Chameleons, Echo & The Bunnymen, Joy Division (from the 80s) or Muse/JJ72 from the present day.
 
Originally posted by keanyboy
Well you lads have given me a excuse to go to town;)

Go and buy the new album by Sikth while your at it. Mad as a bucket of mad things. What do they sound like.........I dont know, the bastard son of Dillinger escape plan and Captain Beefheart crossed with Incubus, Metallica, tool and Cult of Luna(maybe) who knows, but definitely different and very entertaining. Heavy in parts, poetic in others.
 
Originally posted by Whiting
Bumping this thread as I've been listening to this album solid for the last week or so and it just gets better and better. I can't get enough of it.

Recommended if you're a fan of groups such as The Chameleons, Echo & The Bunnymen, Joy Division (from the 80s) or Muse/JJ72 from the present day.


same here can't sop listening to this (bought after reading this thread).

anymore gems like this around?:cool:
 
Been listening to Turn On The Bright Lights at least twice a week for the past year now.. absolutely brilliant album.

For other slightly similar reccomendations try:

TV On The Radio - Young Liars EP (2003) .. the title track is an excellent Beta Band/Interpol sounding affair... other tracks aren't really in a similar vein, but top quality and something different that definitely grabs you.

Franz Ferdinand - Darts Of Pleasure (2003) .. albums only out a matter of days, sound like Cure meet the Velvet Underground, seen them supporting Interpol, very polished band.

Afghan Wigs - Gentlemen (1993) .. very similar riffs in places to Interpol, and quite dramatic and passionate too.. more rocking tho :)

How anyone can mention JJ72 alongside Interpol is beyond me though.. they're absolutely dire.

Ken
 
Kali:
Franz Ferdinand - Darts Of Pleasure (2003) ...
Afghan Wigs - Gentlemen (1993) ...

Franz Ferdinand were mentioned in that Guardian list of the most important bands in Britain...I'll keep an eye/ear out for them.

"Gentlemen" :smashin: A forgotten classic.

The British Sea Power album is also worth checking out..it follows the same sensibilities.


How anyone can mention JJ72 alongside Interpol is beyond me though.. they're absolutely dire.

If you listen to something like "Brother Sleep" of the "I To Sky" album, you'll see why I made the comparison. It could be Interpol...if they were ever to employ a singing chipmunk.
;) I like them a lot though.
 
Originally posted by Whiting
Franz Ferdinand were mentioned in that Guardian list of the most important bands in Britain...I'll keep an eye/ear out for them.

The British Sea Power album is also worth checking out..it follows the same sensibilities.

I'll be picking up the Franz Ferdinand album tomorrow.. I'll post opinions on it then (I've only heard a few tracks and seen them live the once, but they have definitely impressed).

I'll probably pick up that BSP album as well, cheers for the reccomendation.. better be good now ;)
 
Originally posted by Kali

Franz Ferdinand - Darts Of Pleasure (2003) .. albums only out a matter of days, sound like Cure meet the Velvet Underground, seen them supporting Interpol, very polished band.

Afghan Wigs - Gentlemen (1993) .. very similar riffs in places to Interpol, and quite dramatic and passionate too.. more rocking tho :)
Ken

I've ordered the Afghan wigs you've mentioned but cannot find the Franz Ferdinand CD anywhere apart from a cd single.
Any links to where I might purchase this?:)
 
I just got this yesterday, and I can tell I'm going to love it too. Obviously the tracks that jump out at you are Obstacle 1 and PDA, and are going round and round my head ("you're so cute when you're frustrated, you're so cute when you're sedated"), but the whole album is excellent.

There's one song that sounds a bit like the Smiths' "this charming man", so I can see where people get that idea from, but the drummer also reminds me of Stephen Morris, so I can fully back up the Joy Division claims. I could go on and on about who they remind me of, because they're clearly influenced by the same New Wave bands that I love, but I think they definitely have something original - dark without being angsty, and angular and rhythmically interesting without forgetting about melody.

-aside-
I also got the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds at the same time, because I was curious about all the fuss made over this album. I know it's a bit unfair to criticise the sound quality of something made 38 years ago, but come on! This sounds like fairground music played through a fuzz pedal. Highly disappointing and totally overrated (adopts the brace position) in my opinion, but I will admit that I was expecting a different sound - what happened to the guitars!?
 
Originally posted by Cheese Police

-aside-
I also got the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds at the same time, because I was curious about all the fuss made over this album. I know it's a bit unfair to criticise the sound quality of something made 38 years ago, but come on! This sounds like fairground music played through a fuzz pedal. Highly disappointing and totally overrated (adopts the brace position) in my opinion, but I will admit that I was expecting a different sound - what happened to the guitars!?

I have never listened to the original vinyl edition in mono, it probably sounds better than the cd, although the cd sounds OK to me.

Overated? difficult one, because people either like it or hate it. I rest in the first camp, it was a groundbreaking album, but it wasnt pop. Think of it more like a symphony than a rock album and consider that none of the parts were played by synthersisers or modern electronics. The harmonies are top notch and probably never bettered. God only knows and wouldnt it be nice are two songs that would make the album worthwhile on there own, but all the songs and melodies are great.

Give it time, its not a modern record, so isnt instantaneous, more like a piece of art which you come back to time and time again and see something new each time. Its at that point that it stays in your collection and gets dug out when the right mood hits you.

If this doesnt make any kind of sense to you, then you will probably never like it. However, is it this best album ever? jurys out on that one, but its up there.
 
Maybe it was a cruel back-to-back, playing the Beach Boys after Interpol (sound-quality wise), and maybe my own ignorance has given me unfair expectations. I mean I'd heard the Pixies' version of Hang on to your ego, so I had that in my head already, and the Jesus and Mary Chain's cover of Surfin' USA... (not that these are Pet Sounds songs, but you get the idea). Maybe it's a bit like listening to Robert Johnson after Jimi Hendrix - definitely both geniuses, but the first guy has to suffer the indignity of poor equipment and the fact that he is a pioneer (no man is a prophet in his own land etc).

Anyway, will give it a proper listen, but I don't think my views are going to be radically different. I'm not a big Beatles fan for instance, and I don't go all weak at the knees knowing that they recorded Sgt Pepper on hyper-primitive equipment. Every now and again someone points me towards a great old album/band and I'm very grateful (CSN, Nick Drake and Big Star within the last couple of years), so I'm prepared to take the rough with the smooth.
 
Maybe it was a cruel back-to-back, playing the Beach Boys after Interpol (sound-quality wise)

Turn On The Bright Lights is far far from an audiophile recording, there are several channels in the mix that you go ughh "is that really meant to be like that?" .. mostly the guitar in NYC and Obstacle 1... also the hi-hats/cymbals sound awfully splashy at times, and no its definitely not just my system :)

Also you have to remember that Pet Sounds is from 1966, nearly fourty years ago, and at the time set nearly unprecedented levels of production and mixing, with Brian Wilson and Tony Asher using anything and everything that came to hand to perfect that "right" sound... just listen to the vocals themselves, I haven't heard any other "pop" group perfect harmonies as well as those on that album.
 
You're right about the hi-hats (best bits, like the Strokes, are when the drummer uses the ride cymbal and the rhythm chugs along) and the lead guitars. I didn't explain my point very well - I meant the impact, the clarity, and the punch of the kick drums, and the fact that the music is relatively simple and unfussy (I read the sleeve notes for Pet Sound, and on one of the tracks I seem to recall they had three different bass sounds!) so what sounds like genius orchestration to one person will sound like clutter to someone who's not used to it (and tbh I come from the drums/bass/lead guitar/rhythm guitar school; keyboards if you must).

Anyway, I can't wait to get home to listen to Interpol - Beach Boys will have to bide their time.
 
You have also got to remember that Pet Sounds was originally recorded on analogue (probably valve) equipment and equalised for the average hi fi at the time ie A mono dansette with a saphire stylus, then it has been re mastered in digital format which isnt the kindest thing to do, then converting a mono recording to stereo would account for further degredation.

At the end of the day, its about the music, not the playback quality, but poor sound quality can be a distraction.

Dont like The Beatles either eh ? :laugh:

Right heres a quiz, write down as many Beatles songs as you can, then do the same with Interpol. No cheating, all from memory.

Give me an honest answer ! how many?

Also, how many Beatles albums have you listened to, not just heard the odd track ? and Yes, they did write some crap as well, strangely, I can also remember those tracks.

The Beatles influenced and is influencing generations of rock bands, very few escape.
 
Cheese Police:
There's one song that sounds a bit like the Smiths' "this charming man", so I can see where people get that idea from

The guitar on track 5 ("Say Hello To The Angels") is a spit for This Charming Man.

Obviously the tracks that jump out at you are Obstacle 1 and PDA, and are going round and round my head

It's these tracks that draw you into the album. You'll begin to appreciate the other stuff as you spin it more. I'd wager it's only a matter of time before "NYC" and "Leif Erikson" are your favourites.....they are mine :D

Oh, and stick with "Pet Sounds" -- it took me a while to appreciate the majesty...
 
Hey I'm not suggesting for one minute that Interpol will outgrow the Beatles, but that doesn't stop me from preferring their stuff. The only album I own is Revolver but I never listen to it, and of course they wrote superb songs and influenced just about everybody, but so what? Still doesn't make me want to chill out to Hey Jude or Let it be. I only mentioned that I don't feel any archaeological interest in how a record was produced way back when, so the (then) technical brilliance of Pet Sounds and Sgt Pepper's is lost on me. Of course it's about the songs, but comparing the output of the Beatles to Interpol and their solitary album is just as unfair as my comparing the sound quality of Interpol to that of the Beach Boys; it's just what struck me at the time so I thought I'd mention it.

Whiting - have discovered Leif Erikson (if you'll excuse the feeble historical joke) and love it. Sheila was a diver shows they have a sense of humour and aren't only about Andrew Eldritch shades and Reservoir Dogs suits.
 
Originally posted by Cheese Police
Hey I'm not suggesting for one minute that Interpol will outgrow the Beatles, but that doesn't stop me from preferring their stuff.

See, I knew you prefered The Beatles :D

On a more serious note, no problem with that.
 
Well, as the Clash sneeringly informed us, phoney beatlemania has bitten the dust. There's just something I find a bit maudlin about the Beatles, all tied up with John Lennon's murder, the ridiculous music-hall numbers, Yesterday, Yoko Ono, Eleanor Rigby, Obla****ingdioblada...depression mixed with false cheer.

On the plus side: the harmonies, A day in the life, Tomorrow never knows (of course), Paperback Writer, Back in the USSR, Rain, the early rock n' roll covers and anything riff-based.
 

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