The Breeders -- Mountain Battles

THERE IS!!! i didn't even read the whole thing. wow, adrenaline.

My excitement over this is only slightly tempered by the description of Pixies live shows as "exhilarating." Yeah, and Bernhard Günter's live shit is real fuckin' exhilarating too.

Anyway. Cool.

haha. COOL is right. i'm sure the album will rule.

It's an album which captures all the bittersweet electricity of classic Breeders records like Pod and Last Splash, and which breaks new ground at the same time; classic-sounding, yet as relevant and exciting as ever.

Yeah, thanks for that. I was wondering how it sounded and now I still don't know. Stupid promo crap writer.

"bittersweet electricity"

what's awesome about that is it covers all the bases

It's an album which captures all the bittersweet electricity of classic Ghostface records like Ironman and Supreme Clientele, and which breaks new ground at the same time; classic-sounding, yet as relevant and exciting as ever.

top

i like the titles

The new track on their myspace does indeed capture all the bittersweet electricity of classic Breeders records like Pod and Last Splash, and it breaks new ground at the same time; classic-sounding, yet as relevant and exciting as ever.

this new song is kinda boring,sorry.
(

Boner

its not fucking boring it's just a slow song

sorry i just woke up

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/47618-kim-deal-talks-new-breeders-album-pixies-german

thx for the info Ry!!!

The Breeders - 2008 Tour Dates
Mar 7 - Club Infinity Buffalo, New York
Mar 8 - Canadian Music Week Toronto, Ontario
Mar 15 - Waterloo Park / Mess With Texas party, Austin, Texas
Apr 7 - Vicar Street Dublin
Apr 8 - ABC Glasgow, Scotland
Apr 9 - Metropolitan University Leeds
Apr 10 - Trent University Nottingham
Apr 12 - Leadmill Sheffield
Apr 13 - Academy 2 Birmingham
Apr 14 - Academy 2 Manchester
Apr 16 - Koko London
Apr 17 - Koko London
Apr 25 - Coachella Indio, California
Apr 28 - Canes San Diego, California
Apr 29 - El Rey Theatre Los Angeles, California
Apr 30 - Slims San Francisco, California
May 2 - House of Blues Las Vegas, Nevada
May 3 - Clubhouse Tempe, Arizona
May 5 - Emos Austin, Texas
May 6 - House of Blues Dallas, Texas
May 7 - Meridian Houston, Texas
May 9 - Bottleneck Laurence, Kansas
May 10 - Pops St. Louis, Missouri
May 23 - Richards Vancouver, British Columbia
May 24 - The Gorge George, Washington
May 25 - Berbattis Pan Portland, Oregon
May 27 - The Depot Salt Lake City, Utah
May 28 - Ogden Denver, Colorado
May 30 - First Avenue Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 31 - Metropolitan University Chicago, Illinois
Jun 1 - Magic Stick Detroit, Michigan
Jun 3 - House of Blues Cleveland, Ohio
Jun 4 - Pearl Street Northampton, Massachusetts
Jun 5 - Paradise Boston, Massachusetts
Jun 7 - Toads Place New Haven, Connecticut
Jun 8 - Theatre of Living Arts Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jun 10 - Webster Hall New York, New York
Jun 11 - 9.30 Club Washington DC, Washington DC
Jun 13 - The Loft Atlanta, Georgia

this show will be toooo exciting for me. unreal.

i love seeing them. this is going to be hella fun. Sasquatch, huh (george WA)

May 25 - Berbattis Pan Portland, Oregon

this place is tiny. and spelled wrong. the one to go to, for sure

yea see i wanna go to like a tiny place

Toads Place New Haven, Connecticut seems like it'd be tiny

leaked yet?

How fucking sweet is this cover art?

http://i29.tinypic.com/28jf7nn.jpg

YES!!!!

i know jergins, i kinda wanna go to that CT show

dammit, breeders, come to wisconsin

OMG LEAKED OMG SO GOOD

EX CITED

Getting medicore reviews. But shit, I thought Title TK was pretty darn great, so I won't be discouraged

SHUTUP. omg.

did i mention i got my tickets? i got my tickets!!!

can't wait to hear. wait wait, reVIEWs?? already??

whatever. title TK is still amazing.

i really just think it's impossible that i won't love this album, reviews or no reviews.

So far (only half way through), the Breeders album it reminds me the most of is Pod. And Pod is my favorite!

me too!! good news.

(although i have to say, we put on Last Splash the other night -- Invisible Man -- and i misssed that drunk off guitars sound there)

will listen when i get home later. so excited. thx

Ooh ooh leaked? I've been looking forward to this!

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/cbo/lowres/cbon2l.jpg
though the first track is nice

whatever i was completely impressed w title tk and some ppl had issues w that. Its probably rly simple and barebones, which might bore u but i lov that about them. That was her intention with title tk, to use only the elements that were absolutely necessary to the pieces. Kind of like on pod, how some songs just go on with drums and bass for like minutes (when i was a painter). I dont find that boring at all, just sharp. Still havent listened to this cuz im out of town. Slow comp. Johnny, overall reaction?

My reaction? It's really good. After I peel away all the layers over the course of the year, I could see it becoming great. I don't see even a remote possiblity of it becoming worse.

for fans only maybe

^^^
don't believe the non-believers. it's fucking great! still on first listen (sounds terrific on headphones! can't wait to buy the real thing) - i'm with johnny and thinking it's a wonderful mix of tk and pod. so there

on first listen i can't find much to be enthusiastic about..

can't really see the comparison to Pod... I was soooo looking forward to them getting back to that sound after the disappointment of Title TK..

ok well i won't trust that response cuz title tk was anything but a disappointment. almost every song is awesome.

also no other breeders song has made me feel like "off you" did. fucking out of this world.

listening finally!

this is standard Breeders fare done right. loving it. German Studies is kickin it right now. very, very pleased so far. paired down, spooky and simple. like TK, muddier and swampier than Pod, in a great way.

i think the disappointment comes if you're looking for a Cannonball. i'm not really looking for that right now. they did that so perfectly on that whole album that it was enough for me.

wow Regalame Esta Noche. so fucking sweet.

ok done. i think this album is timed perfectly. the in-the-basement-and-buzzed sound definitely borrows from TK, but it refuses even more to apologize for its sound. the title track in particular exhibits this stubborn embrace of simplicity. what is it, a bassline, guitar fuzz and kim cooing at the end of a long night?

the subdued blur of the whole thing is sweet, melancholy and playful, with the right level of sparseness.

looking forward to inundating my apt. with this.

This is good.

Not to be nerdy, but a re-sequencing would go a long way here.

I like the rockers. The first song and "No One" were my immediate faves. But "We're Gonna Rise" is the best song.

A grower, like the last one. But worth the time.

Amazon is selling a 2xCD 'deluxe' version of this - anyone know what the hell's gonna be on it?

no! interesting...

I'm seeing Deluxe Edition, but not 2xCD:

http://www.4ad.com/releases/mountain-battles-0/

Mountain Battles - CD (CAD2803CD)
Mountain Battles - LP (CAD2803)
Mountain Battles (Deluxe Version) - CD (CADD2803CD)

No Way is awesome

"we're gonna rise" sounds like a song kim could write in her sleep, but still so good.
i like some of the weirder songs: istanbul, bang on, mountain battles. also, night of joy is beautiful.

night of joy is

and yea the weirder songs are totally welcome

mountain battles in partic

hmmmm

it's like weed fest gone hazy gone gorgeous/unintelligible at all. is good.

this is waaaay better than title tk; i listened to that last night and found very little of interest outside of off you.
the amps is still the best kim deal album.

amps album is sooooo goooood! but so is TK! come on, it's FULL of fuzzy hooks

I've only listened to this once so far, but based on that I think I prefer Title TK. It may grow on me, as that album did.

well TK has a couple of tracks that this album just hasn't touched yet. but i'm sure it will grow on you.

the best tracks from TK and this together would have been the best Breeders album

Pacer was friggin awesome! Title TK was slightly less awesome, but it had "Off You" and "Too Alive" and "T & T" (best garage instrumental since the Clean) so it was worth buying.

Haven't heard the new one yet.

more people need to talk about THE SHE b/c it's FUCKING AMAZING

surm otm that is the TRACK

this new one is kind of...lo-fi?

right?? turn that UP.

not to mention Little Fury (we'll all need bigger uniforms -- it's been a few days!!), London Song (victory's a blue and bruisin voice -- I'm leaking pure white noise)

also yes Too Alive is really so great (swinger! oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh ohhhhhhhh!)

this is totally lo-fi but i think the quality will sound better on release. not like TK wasn't lo-fi, u know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki3JKMF-vko

no one else can make a song like that. NO ONE

i like 'we're gonna rise' but it seems like a very odd choice for a first single.. having said that i remember the last album being preceded by 'off you' which i would have said was not really single material

perhaps i've just been listening to too much shiny british pop but by god this thing sounds muffled

I am intrigued by this a lot but also hearing contrasting things about the sound. Muffled may well be good for me; do you mean it's not overbright? Or it it squashed?

well, it's perhaps on a par with the last one for sound, i guess 'not overbright' probably covers it in a sense

The sound is quite bizarre. It's neither overbright nor squashed - it's... lo-fi, I guess. Way more so than the last one.

And by the way... I LOVE IT.

And also, for the past few weeks I've been wondering if the weird sound was just a product of the rip that was floating around, but today I bought it on vinyl and NOPE, it's built-in!

Looking forward to Sheffield show on Saturday, can't wait! Anyone else going?

Hmmm, the download from the Stylus guys was still working. Listening now. Interesting.

Title TK only grow to a point with me. At night of joy right now, like it a lot.

kinda drivin on nine-y

wow do I ever like this record

from what i hear, it sounds a little like this new album somewhat repositions Kim Deal to her rightful place, as American alternarock's Lee 'Scratch' Perry--awesome DIY auteur who hybridizes brilliant bubblegum and difficult experimentation.

can't wait to buy the actual record

wants. will probs buy tonight.

just bought the lp. it comes with a big book of the artwork.
then on the way home i read Matos' review of it. He gave a C+.

boohoo for him

Will the real Deal sisters please wake up.

so no one on this thread has heard The Kelley Deal 6000? cuz if not you need to go get some

Will the real Deal sisters please wake up.

-- Terrible ColdPost, Saturday, April 12, 2008 5:50 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

I saw the Kelly Deal 6000 live way back when. It was a fun show. I sat in a circle outside on the street after the show with other kids while Kelly told stories and charmed us.

i hate you

(lovingly)

Kelly Deal 6000
Never saw them live but used to listen to the album tons when it came out. One those albums that I never picked up but one of my friends as way into.

^^^
was way into.

who the fuck are these guys, surmounter?

kelley's band, she put out 2 albums with them. they're very good, if kookier and less serious than kim's projects. but there's nothing like listening to your musician's sister give the brand her own take on it. some of their stuff is just awesome. you should dig up.

*your favorite musician's sister, that is

kelley who?

kim what?

http://www.zshare.net/download/10478432e2c63a78/

and sugar http://www.zshare.net/download/10478500f0da9e27/

i mean, i get it, there's a lot of stuff no one's heard that deserves to be heard. but some people, it's like they only seek out the most random stuff b/c they think anything on the radio must be awful or something.

Wow, so far I'm undershelmed by MB to a sort of scary extent...I was in the apparent minority that found Title TK brilliant, and this seems to lose must of what I loved about that album. Will give it time, but thus far it seems to channel the aspects of Pod and Last Splash that I liked the least.

And then, just to double check, I played Title TK and was knocked on my ass yet again. I do understand differences of opinion, but the lack of love for that one really does baffle me.

anytime I worry about my own levels of life-sapping cynicism and mistrust posts like enriques ground me. Yeah I'm a bit bitter, a bit suspicious. But I'm not so bad compared to some jeez.

er.. okay whatever. didn't realise that was a meta-comment snark. god ILX is fucking worthless lately unless you have zero life and LIVE IN IT or something. fucks sake.

i vehemently agree about TK dlp... i just think this is even more paired-down, no? requires a little more patience maybe? i don't know, i haven't given it my all yet cuz i'm waiting to get the cd, but to me it seems like the sensible step after TK.

This album makes it difficult to recall the reasons why I used to enjoy their stuff.

:/

Excellent live show in Nottingham last Thursday. The new stuff works well on stage, particularly the storming "I can feel it!" first track, which sounded a bit slight in its recorded version.

They were great in Sheffield on Saturday. No Aloha and Safari were highlights but the new stuff had much more bite than on record.

That said, am quite enjoying the underwater murkiness of the album, reminds me a lot of Throwing Muses' University.

oooh interesting comparison... so glad the shows have been good

this record is really excellent imo

i just listened to this on luisterpaal. sometimes it sounds lo-fi and cool, and sometimes it sounds lo-fi and bad w/really clunky drumming.

the drumming on the mp3s does sound clunky, and whether or not that will sound different on the actual record, i really don't mind it.

i keep listening and i still don't see how this could sound bad. i mean of course i do on that "omg this is so weird level" but i like the bizarreness. i guess some of the aimless songs can sound lazy, but that's so THEM, so i'm fine w/ it. and the hook-y songs are true-to-form.

what's funny is the references though, to other bands -- which i don't usually hear with the breeders. the Mercury song (forgetting the title) sounds like a nod to Throwing Muses' Mercury off the 2003 self-titled. And in It's The Love, when she repeats "love", what is she alluding to there??? that's some old song or something, the way she repeats "love." FUCK it's on the tip of my tongue. that tongue-in-cheek, punky-yet-girly repetition...

also the opening chords on Mountain Battles the track, sound like Crimson and Clover. i know it sounds crazy but it sounds like she's about to launch into a cover of it.

I just love No Way.

Pitchfork gave this album a 7.5 and if memory serves, i think they have Title TK a 7.4. I don't know about that.

But I do love the room for messiness on this one, it's comforting.

i would just like to on record: i've been really, really bad about listening to this since the new mariah came out. and that's changing TOMORROW.

some actual production could have done incredible things for this record. as it stands, when i'm not in the mood for the mellow tracks they bore the living piss out of me

Finally got round to listening to this properly on CD for the first time yesterday afternoon (and Title TK for the first time at all, too) and really enjoyed it. I read a lot of complaints about "sludgy sound" on it, but other than heavily reverbed and distorted vocals on a handful of tracks I didn't think it was "sludgy" at all, really. Plenty of dirt around the edges, but, y'know, who wants The Breeders to sound like Coldplay?

I hope that Battles comes out with a record called "Mountain Breeders".

I am not angry that this record exists, but it may as well not. :/

wrong!

No, I'm pretty sure of this. 80-85%.

;)

some actual production could have done incredible things for this record.
yep. i like the mellow parts, but not nearly as much as I do the heavily produced mellow stuff from earlier.

still, better than overproduced BS.

very simple this

very very. i know i've said that before but i need to keep commenting.

is anyone else doing stuff like this? this bare? i'm really out of the band-scene so i don't know.

german studies!!!!!!! hope it will be really good live.

I have so many threads where I'm the only one posting, so I'm sympathetic, but I just can't get this album to click. A lot of reasons, but I hate to say that reason #1 is that I just overwhelmingly miss Title TK's drum sound. Strange. Keep having the same experience over and over: put Mountain Battles on, it's ok, gee Title TK really was a lot better wasn't it, let's check [listens to Title TK all the way through]...um what was I listening to before that...can't remember...

hahaha :)

ok, 1st off, i really appreciate your sympathy cuz sometimes it gets lonely...

2nd, i know what you mean. i do. really. Title TK's percussion was a lot cleaner/crisper? is that right? but it was still a really muddy effort

(the album overall. and i certainly don't mean muddy in a bad way)

i do feel that Title TK is kind of more AMAZING.

German Studies is really good live.

I dunno Mountain Battles is taking a while to gel with me. There are amazing individual moments but a lot of it is too..sleepy somehow. Title TK was relaxed but it sounded as though they were having more fun making that one, which is ironic as, judging from the publicity, it seems Mountain Battles was more fun for them to record.

I suppose they're entitled to do whatever the fuck they want given the excellence of the last three.

otm

man I am totally on a different page from you guys, I liked Title TK pretty well but thought it was just too ponderous at times - this one's light & fun & breezy, really love it

glad to hear it!! i mean, i really love it too (obv)

y'know i've kinda decided albini is one of the most overrated figures in the history of music

i'm sure i've told this story before or whatever, but it still excites me, even tho it's probably a big fat lie: when i was an aol chatroom monger way back when, this person and i would chat and he told me he was STEVE ALBINI. i was like, who's that? and he was like, i do all that music you like. and i was like, wow! and then i lost his screename.

yeah

is anyone else doing stuff like this? this bare? i'm really out of the band-scene so i don't know.

It's not quite this bare, but the reason I investigated this, and Title TK, was because my friend Matt, who knows my taste well, compared it to "Electrelane playing sub-3-minute pop songs". So you might like to check out Electrelane.

I've had six years now for Title TK to try and grab me and it still hasn't...dunno what the aversion is, really. I do still like Mountain Battles now as much as when I first heard it, though (which = a lot).

ok, electrelane, cool

i'm trying to decide what i think about It's The Love. i mean it's very cute and everything but maybe there's something missing. maybe some harmony? dunno

this title track kills me everytime.

the track lengths are interesting to me, b/c it's totally an extension of kim's whole "nothing but the absolutely necessary" philosophy. it's incredibly refreshing to forego the filler and just lay down the bits you have.

i'm going tomorrow

aww we're gonna rise is really pretty

dyou not think it sounds a lot like something from Pod, like if you took the last bit of Happiness Is A Warm Gun and put it on repeat?

yah i get it

I dunno if that's a good thing though. I liked how the first 3 albums were all completely distinct from each other.

i don't know tk reminded me of pod a bit

I dunno I find it hard not to think of the first three albums as though they were made by 3 different bands. I suppose that could equally be because of lineup changes and the intervals between them, though

The song Mountain Battles, C/D? It reminds me a lot of Mad Lucas.

love the title trak.

I think I'd have liked to have heard them do an album full of MB-type tracks.

absolutely

doors open at 7 tonight. i'm gonna take a cab.

man I am totally on a different page from you guys

yeah i think that's the whole thing with me and this record -- there's nothing in the world wrong with it, but... I guess I don't... care? Oh, that's an awful thing to say. :(

The one time I saw the Breeders I showed up at like 8:00 at the club because I didn't have anything better to do (emo kid), and Kim Deal bummed a Camel off of me. That was almost better than the show.

okay you are the 2nd fucking person to tell me a cigarette story about kim deal

and if i have to hear one more person who's come into contact with kim deal i think i'm gonna lose it. i mean you don't even care about the aLBUM why do you get to have given her a camel?

i need a sedative.

i just figured out what It's the love sounds like to me: Frente.

it was their birthday. i was a foot away from the stage. the really loud girl next to me was nice -- it was her first show too, and she passed joints. i have never screamed more, or pumped my fist in the air more, like the biggest dork you've ever seen.

kim looked at me and grinned. kelley heard me and laughed.

when they played Iris, the best song i've ever heard performed live by anyone, i almost passed out. the way we all screamed on "hour by hour" was nothing short of a mass frenzy.

2 encores, and someone brought out a birthday cake with candles for the 2nd one. we all sang happy birthday to the Deal sisters. the most perfect night.

Deal sisters were very charming yesterday at McCarren Pool. And when they played all the Last Spalash hits, it felt just like Lollapalooza 199-whatever. Which was a good thing actually.

"It's The Love"!

^^^ Listened to that on repeat on the bus home from work yesterday. I think it might be my favourite off the album.

their rendition of Here no more was really sweet.

I wasn't sure if going to like this, but it is surprisingly good. I like its sleepy nature. It's worth going back and listening to if you missed it the first time.

Still haven't picked this one up. But ought to.

i feel like i'm listening to my sisters rehearse in the basement

bestest sisters ever

ya, they're like letting me sneak a beer while mom and dad are out

new stuff comin

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/33240402.html

I've thrown in the towel with Mountain Battles...just not clicking. Title TK still sounds great. Despite poor reviews, actually like the title track of Fate To Fatal ok, though inevitabely I want to hear it with their old (better) production. The aimless guitar solos/plodding drums make much more sense w/sparse 'n' crisp sound. I guess different people like different things about this band...

This finally clicked. Love it.

"Night of Joy"/"We're Gonna Rise"/"German Studies" is an AWESOME sequence

word