when i heard they were reforming, i was surprised. when i heard a song on the radio and found out this was their single prior to the new album, i wasn’t sure to like it or hate it (about ten minutes in the car spent flip flopping), but it sure got me animated. and it made me excited that i was actually excited about a band and a record in a way that i haven’t been for a while.
maybe it’s the olds in me (as exhibited by the grunting of other old people), but i rarely listen to radio nowadays. i used to read pitchfork daily, but now its mostly if i just want to look up if they ridiculed certain bands or if they liked something as much as i did. i live mostly in the vacuum of cantonese pop, my band’s music, my music, and stuff i would like my own music to sound like. welcome to the land of crappy ballads, european instrumental, drone and boredom, weird tunings and chinese boys younger than me.
i am in concurrence with record store clerks for once – hot damn, in prism is an ear pleasing record. the numerous overdubs and actual production give them a sound that makes the tinny and bottomless guitars in previous albums almost unlistenable. almost.
since buying the record, i’ve decided that from now on i’m going to buy only vinyl or digital download. the number of cds i have around the place is just depressing, and at least vinyl is an aesthetic format that is relatively flat. there shouldn’t be too many albums these days that can’t be found in either format, and if they don’t have black wax or electronic format, they should get with the 00s.