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LP9: WOTP Discussion/Speculation Thread


Jobby

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53 minutes ago, That Little Animal said:

Warner also released those same album details in English. Someone posted it on Reddit: 

“With Muse being Muse, there is NO bowing to any singular genre.  The album’s title track “Will Of The People” brings playful provocation to a dystopian glam-rocker while there is an innocence and a purity to the nostalgic electronic textures of “Verona.” From the visceral thrill of “Won’t Stand Down,” to the industrial-tinged, granite heavy riffs of “Kill Or Be Killed,” or the lightning-bolt rush of “Euphoria,” the album concludes with the frenetic finale of the brutally honest “We Are Fucking Fucked.” “

Ah yes, but I couldn‘t find it 😅 and gave up….

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2 hours ago, Hat said:

They did spend more time in the studio this time around though?

Anyway it doesn't really matter if they don't end up doing all the things they say they wanna do. They wanted to do just singles for Simulation Theory, but then went back on it and started doing an album. That doesn't mean they lied when they said they wanted to do just singles. The reason we take their statements with a grain of salt is because, as you say, they end up going the normal route every single time. And I very much doubt they're actually gonna stop touring and start recording album after album. That wasn't my point. My point is simply that they're clearly enjoying their time in the studio. And I see no reason why Matt wouldn't just say "Honestly we just wanna get out there and tour" if that's how he felt.

Fair enough. But my original point was about 'Muse not enjoying making music' rather than spending time in the studio. I get the impression that  a lot of the time Muse spend in the studio is more on tinkering around with songs rather than core song writing. I  get the impression Matt really struggles with basic songwriting, not necessarily being bad at it, but struggles to bring a song together that he is happy with hence, why we end up with so few tracks compared to similar artists. I think this leads to Muse spending loads of time in the studio focusing on the production adding layers and layers rather than writing music. Look at Won't Stand Down, in the the first 5 seconds there are two synth tracks, a plucking cello track on top of heavily distorted bass, drum and vocal tracks. It's a huge overhead in terms of studio time. Whereas if you look at Citizen Erased, you get similar grandness but with just four tracks. It sort of feels the band end up spending more time Producing their own music rather than writing it. Drones was an example where they forced the strip down because they had a domineering producer who strong armed Muse into nailing the performance of the songs rather than focusing on how the instrumentation can be decomposed and recreated with synths and other instruments. In the lead up to ST, Matt explicitly that he moved away from this and towards focusing on the layering multiple tracks, and I think it really shows. It's obviously not an either/or situation because it's Muse, their songs should sound huge and epic, but the core songs themselves should be strong, not like lets say Thought Contagion where if you strip away the production, there's nothing underneath. 

The above is a load of utter verbal toss I know but it's best I can do to explain why I haven't connected with much of Muse's output since Exo-Genesis. 

Edited by Silentgod86
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12 minutes ago, Silentgod86 said:

The above is a load of utter verbal toss I know but it's best I can do to explain why I haven't connected with much of Muse's output since Exo-Genesis. 

I was hoping Jeff Buckley’s guitar would put Matt into a songwriting place he hasn’t been in in a while. But of course that’s the wrong way to go about it. His solo ‘album’ already showed an utter lack of inspiration. Many artists suffer from this at some point or another, and it’s impressive that Muse have been skilled and crafty enough to keep on cranking out albums that resonate with enough people to keep selling out stadiums, even during a songwriting slump. 

It’s not right to try and psychoanalyse the reasons for the creative slump, but my layman’s intuition blames the Hollywood lifestyle, removed from reality, focused heavily on the superficial. 

As craftsmen and musician Muse are extremely skilled, still curious and developing, and I’ve been hoping they (or Matt alone) get to do work in service of someone else’s creative project, like a movie soundtrack. In fact, I would probably listen to a soundtrack composed by Matt more than any recent Muse album. Such work might in turn get their creative songwriting juices flowing a bit more than side project cover bands would. 

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5 hours ago, That Little Animal said:

Warner also released those same album details in English. Someone posted it on Reddit: 

“With Muse being Muse, there is NO bowing to any singular genre.  The album’s title track “Will Of The People” brings playful provocation to a dystopian glam-rocker while there is an innocence and a purity to the nostalgic electronic textures of “Verona.” From the visceral thrill of “Won’t Stand Down,” to the industrial-tinged, granite heavy riffs of “Kill Or Be Killed,” or the lightning-bolt rush of “Euphoria,” the album concludes with the frenetic finale of the brutally honest “We Are Fucking Fucked.” “

So it sounds like us suspecting the album actually is finished - is true. I can't remember if the band ever explicitly said that but I think I remember them doing so.

I keep seeing normies parrot that it's delayed til August because of Vinyl production issues...thats an L if true. Seriously should just release it on normal formats and have the collectors edition come out in August. I guess they're worried it won't sell after the initial hype has died if the album were to release next month.

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I need some help! Has anybody else got problems in the shop? I want to order, but when it comes to the creditcard-part it says … not authenticated… the thing with the post code might be the problem, do I need to write the postal code of my hometown, right? Or it is a problem on the site itself ?

Edited by Claudia O
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50 minutes ago, Claudia O said:

I need some help! Has anybody else got problems in the shop? I want to order, but when it comes to the creditcard-part it says … not authenticated… the thing with the post code might be the problem, do I need to write the postal code of my hometown, right? Or it is a problem on the site itself ?

Unsure. I used PayPal and it went through ok. Still don't know where my downloads are, mind.

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2 hours ago, Citizen_Eraser said:

So it sounds like us suspecting the album actually is finished - is true. I can't remember if the band ever explicitly said that but I think I remember them doing so.

I keep seeing normies parrot that it's delayed til August because of Vinyl production issues...thats an L if true. Seriously should just release it on normal formats and have the collectors edition come out in August. I guess they're worried it won't sell after the initial hype has died if the album were to release next month.

Rammsteins album was delayed because of a paper shortage. The struggle is real. 

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18 hours ago, That Little Animal said:

I mean… that’s what we were discussing a few pages back. If they didn’t want to be associated with the right-wing culture war crowd, they shouldn’t be adopting their buzzwords. So either they’re deliberately associating with right-wing populist shit stirrers or they’re incredibly ignorant about the words and images they use. Neither scenario is a good one. 

As I said in a previous post, I’ll accept that they’re confused in these confusing times. But I don’t think Vulture is missing the point in their analysis. They see what I see.  

It’s just so confusing that Matt copies these buzzwords, catchphrases and symbolisms and then also posts levelheaded CoVid content, BLM support (albeit clunky), pics with Hillary Clinton, etc. 

Maybe he thinks things are more complex than just sitting in one camp or the other and loathing everyone who doesn't think like you. (which is what a lot of mainstream political discourse seems to have descended into)

Edited by Hopix
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2 hours ago, Anticitizen1 said:

Unsure. I used PayPal and it went through ok. Still don't know where my downloads are, mind.

i couldn't even find a way to pay via PayPal on any browser or device -- only by card. and i never saw any language about instant downloads of the first two singles...

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19 minutes ago, frutiger75 said:

i couldn't even find a way to pay via PayPal on any browser or device -- only by card. and i never saw any language about instant downloads of the first two singles...

Deffo can pay by PayPal as I just ordered the vynil after ordering cd earlier... As for the downloads there was an email sent today saying that pre-orders get Won't Stand Down & Compliance as instant downloads. Maybe the orders/site are F***ING F***ED.

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From yesterday's email;

ALBUM PREORDER 

Will Of The People is now available to pr e-order HERE, with “Compliance” and “Won’t Stand Down” provided as instant downloads. It will be released on digital, black vinyl and CD, as well as a selection of collectible formats on August 26th. These include a marbled double-vinyl which is available exclusively from the band’s Official Store. A limited quantity of signed bundles are also available.

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3 hours ago, Anticitizen1 said:

From yesterday's email;

ALBUM PREORDER 

Will Of The People is now available to pr e-order HERE, with “Compliance” and “Won’t Stand Down” provided as instant downloads. It will be released on digital, black vinyl and CD, as well as a selection of collectible formats on August 26th. These include a marbled double-vinyl which is available exclusively from the band’s Official Store. A limited quantity of signed bundles are also available.

A marbled double-vinyl....

Unless I'm missing something the only "double-vinyl" I can see is the bundle with the marbled and black versions of the same disc. Pretty misleading to refer to it as a marbled double-vinyl if that's the case. 

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There’s the possibility that Matt’s in a “songwriting slump,” but when I pair that with the reality of how much I love Compliance, Something Human, Break It To Me, and most everything on Drones, I just don’t agree! He just doesn’t write much like he did when he was 19-20 something, and why should he? He’s like pushing 50 now? He’s got a child who’s well out of diapers, he’s rich and lives in Hollywood. The days of Rocket Baby Dolls are passed. Matt has a much different lifestyle now and it would seem to be the one he prefers. I’m just here for the music man. Muse rarely let me down, and even when they do they come back and surprise me with something as great as The Void.

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52 minutes ago, Bohemian-Cygnus-Running-Out said:

There’s the possibility that Matt’s in a “songwriting slump,” but when I pair that with the reality of how much I love Compliance, Something Human, Break It To Me, and most everything on Drones, I just don’t agree! He just doesn’t write much like he did when he was 19-20 something, and why should he? He’s like pushing 50 now? He’s got a child who’s well out of diapers, he’s rich and lives in Hollywood. The days of Rocket Baby Dolls are passed. Matt has a much different lifestyle now and it would seem to be the one he prefers. I’m just here for the music man. Muse rarely let me down, and even when they do they come back and surprise me with something as great as The Void.

Exactly! Now, personally, I rank "Black Holes and Revelations" first, "Origin of Symmetry" second, "Absolution" third, and "Showbiz" fourth in their discography, so yes, I like the first half of their catalog more than the back half thus far. Having said that, though, I've enjoyed all their albums. I think one reason for that is I've learned not to go into a new Muse album with any expectations. That's half the fun of it, in my opinion. I'm personally not at all a fan of "Break It To Me," but I respect the experimentation, and would be lying if I said, "Yeah, I was expecting a song like that on 'Simulation Theory.'" That's the thing about Muse - they tackle so many genres, they've kind of become a genre of their own, and while due to this wide range of sounds it opens up the possibility of any random person enjoying at least one track or another of theirs, it also increases the odds of said individual disliking a song or album of theirs. Whenever I read YouTube comments on a new Muse song, like "Compliance" for example, I can all but guarantee there will be at least a handful of people who write something along the lines, "You're telling me this is the same band that did 'Knights of Cydonia'/'Uprising'/'The Handler'?" Exactly. That's one thing I love about the band. Love or loathe any of the mentioned songs, what other band do you know who possesses a collection of diverse songs like these in their catalog?: "Stockholm Syndrome," "Break It to Me," "Unsustainable"/"Isolated System," "Exogenesis," "Supermassive Black Hole," "Citizen Erased," "Resistance," "Map of the Problematique," "City of Delusion," "Dead Inside," "Madness," "Undisclosed Desires," "Knights of Cydonia," "Space Dementia," "Dig Down" (gospel rendition), "Con-Science," "Micro Cuts," "Propaganda," "The Globalist," "Follow Me," "Hoodoo," "Butterflies & Hurricanes," "Hyper Music," "Screenager," "Compliance," "Uno," "Won't Stand Down," "Take a Bow," "Unintended," "Dead Star," "Blackout," etc. To each their own, but I now go into every Muse album the same way - zero expectations, and no matter what my initial impression of it may be, I wind up loving it. If I want to find a contemporary band/album with a similar rawness and angst as Muse's early efforts, I'll happily look elsewhere, but I don't think it'd be fair nor realistic for me to expect Matt, Chris, and Dom to crank out similar albums in sound or tone as they did 20 years ago, since their lives have completely changed since then (and understandably so). Every Muse album is a completely new experience/journey for me, and like with the 8 before it, I very much look forward to the ride for their 9th release, "Will of the People."

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Hopping back on for my 2c.

Won't Stand Down is terrible. The vocal melody on the verses is so SO BAD WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE SHAKE MATT WHEN HE WROTE IT. Dumb fuzz-filter on the pre-chorus. Completly forgettable lyrics. Banal riffs. The chorus will probably sound decent live which is clearly all the song was written for.

Compliance is better. The chorus is great and instrumentally I do like it overall. The lyrics are just more boring, eye-rollingly cheesy, vaguely conspiratorial Museness. I mean, I get it, that's Muse, in for a penny and in for a pound at this point, but believe it or not their lyrics used to be a lot better or at least more cryptic than this. And that Knight Rider bit...come on, it's just lazy. Literally just there for people to say, "look it's Knight Rider", just like that terrible Drill Sergeant bit in Psycho. Also this song and especially the music video has a whiff of the ol' anti-vax about them which from Matt is completely unsurprising but still disappointing.

So yeah, not that optimistic about this one.

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