Dredg

[Jacob]

I don't get how The Pariah can be shitheaps below El Cielo when it's the closest thing they've done to that album but whatever.

that doesn't automatically make it nearly as good as El Cielo.

[bewareofrats]

Well it doesn't make much sense to me that it would be shitheaps below is what I'm saying.

[lostpilot]

wow,
El Cielo
10 years already

[black coffee]

If the t-shirt wasn't so boring, I would buy the vinyl + t-shirt package

[ominousnimbus]

Lots of good discussion. Count me in on "most disappointing band ever," when considering their entire career trajectory. It is hard to fathom that the same group who sharted out Chuckles, and even some of the bad tracks on Pariah, ever had it in them to do El Cielo... and less than ten years earlier, at that!

I laughed when I read your thoughts, black coffee, because they mirror mine on CWOA to a tee. I also downloaded all the demos and live performances of songs like Bug Eyes, Jamais Vu, Sang Real and Tanbark during the summer of 2004. To me, the songwriting for that record was just as strong as for El Cielo, just a poppier direction. But when they entered the studio, it all came off the rails. I don't understand how they (really the producer) butchered a killer collection of material so badly. It makes it worse how we had so long, a year really, to get attached to those amazing demos. I've never been more disappointed in a record whose songs I already knew, aside from the final production. That entire fall and winter, I was expecting CWOA to easily make my top 10 records of all time. To this day, I can't even listen to it because I spend the whole time thinking, "I should just put those demo MP3s on instead, I actually like those versions."

Anyway, it's clear El Cielo and Leitmotif are their best products (in that order, to me). The rankings for CWOA and Pariah are more difficult, because I think the former had better songs but horrible production and execution, while the latter had weaker songs (on average) but great production.

[Jacob]

I laughed when I read your thoughts, black coffee, because they mirror mine on CWOA to a tee. I also downloaded all the demos and live performances of songs like Bug Eyes, Jamais Vu, Sang Real and Tanbark during the summer of 2004. To me, the songwriting for that record was just as strong as for El Cielo, just a poppier direction. But when they entered the studio, it all came off the rails. I don't understand how they (really the producer) butchered a killer collection of material so badly. It makes it worse how we had so long, a year really, to get attached to those amazing demos. I've never been more disappointed in a record whose songs I already knew, aside from the final production. That entire fall and winter, I was expecting CWOA to easily make my top 10 records of all time. To this day, I can't even listen to it because I spend the whole time thinking, "I should just put those demo MP3s on instead, I actually like those versions."

yup, pretty much the same for me. I had live versions and demos of Spitshine, Jamais Vu, Planting Seed amongst others on repeat and was stoked for the albums. when the album dropped, I felt all those songs had lost something important. they weren't nearly as atmospheric and soulful. couple that with all the poppy songs and it was pretty much a major letdown. with time I got used to the album and I eventually ended up loving it. it's no El Cielo though.

[Hesperian Death-Horse!]

Well it doesn't make much sense to me that it would be shitheaps below is what I'm saying.

My rating is purely subjective. Just because you can say TPTPTD is the closest thing to El Cielo they've done since it came out doesn't mean its even in its ballpark and its not. But that's just my subjective opinion.

El Cielo is so beautiful and mysterious and Pariah holds next to no beauty and mystery to me. Its all about the feel of the record and the images it conjures and in that sense El Cielo is rich where songs like "Ireland" and "Information" completely deter Pariah from ever having the capability to shine in the glorious way that EC does.

Bottom line: its all a matter of taste and personal association. I see and hear something totally unique to my experience when I listen to any record and any record will reflect what I hold up to it when I listen to it. No one else's opinion can truly color what I get from experiencing any music.

[ominousnimbus]

Well it doesn't make much sense to me that it would be shitheaps below is what I'm saying.

My rating is purely subjective. Just because you can say TPTPTD is the closest thing to El Cielo they've done since it came out doesn't mean its even in its ballpark and its not. But that's just my subjective opinion.

El Cielo is so beautiful and mysterious and Pariah holds next to no beauty and mystery to me. Its all about the feel of the record and the images it conjures and in that sense El Cielo is rich where songs like "Ireland" and "Information" completely deter Pariah from ever having the capability to shine in the glorious way that EC does.

I'm totally with you on this. I can see the similarities between the two in a theoretical sense, but Pariah fails  miserably to create that surreal atmosphere where El Cielo succeeds as well as any record I know of since 2000.

I hate to admit it to myself, but Pariah is one of those records I anticipated so much for so long that I simply *had* to like it at release -- and so it was. But in hindsight, if I'm brutally honest, it feels something like a parody of themselves circa El Cielo. Even the more interesting cuts like Gathering Pebbles and I Don't Know aren't stuff I feel compelled to go back and listen to much three years later.

This all wraps into why I described them as the most disappointing band I've ever followed (a moniker I think they've widely earned among their older fanbase). I only discovered them in 2003, about a year after El Cielo dropped. From that point on until around Pariah, I adored them and tried to force both CWOA and TPTPTD on myself. Only now, after Chuckles forced me to rip the blinders off for good, do I realize they haven't put out a truly good album since the day I found them as a teenager... and that I largely wasted my time following them all those years. Pretty depressing stuff, and I can't really think of any other band to whom this applies for me.

[Fireal1222]

i have to agree with a lot of you guys who are talking about dredg's downfall. they had such an aura about them in the early years. their albums and live shows were deep, dark, and mysterious. and then over time, they just became boring. i dont know how else to put it.

[deftoner664]

^ Lost their expressive  and unique creativity in their music we all really enjoyed on the earlier works.. That's pretty much it. I think they may have  chance for a come back.

[Jacob]

a friend has recently gotten really into El Cielo, and last night I played some of the last album for him. after the first song he said its sounds like a Romanian pop group who came a few years late to the Eurovision Song Contest. I think that sums it up pretty fantastic.

[from_musings]

a friend has recently gotten really into El Cielo, and last night I played some of the last album for him. after the first song he said its sounds like a Romanian pop group who came a few years late to the Eurovision Song Contest. I think that sums it up pretty fantastic.

haha he nalied it

[E-Money]

i have to agree with a lot of you guys who are talking about dredg's downfall. they had such an aura about them in the early years. their albums and live shows were deep, dark, and mysterious. and then over time, they just became boring. i dont know how else to put it.

Yea exactly.  I used to love this band.  Completely fell off.  I haven't even listened to their latest record. 

[cesar421]

Next Week, i'll be seeing them playing Catch Without arms and El Cielo!
Can't wait!

It's going to be an awesome way to close the year or probably end the world haha.

[ben]

El Cielo and Turn on the Bright Lights came out ten years ago.  And both bands through three more albums became shitty and shittier.  Still love those oldies though.

[black coffee]

just saw this on fb

"A 40 minute black & white film documenting the making of the record Catch Without Arms."

http://dredg.com/store/product/making-of-catch-without-arms

If someone is going to pay for this, please upload it and share it with your SL buddies!!

[Fireal1222]

El Cielo and Turn on the Bright Lights came out ten years ago.  And both bands through three more albums became shitty and shittier.  Still love those oldies though.

hey old buddy. thank you for getting me into tychos music!! and afta-1

[An bád dubh]

El Cielo and Turn on the Bright Lights came out ten years ago.  And both bands through three more albums became shitty and shittier.  Still love those oldies though.

hey old buddy. thank you for getting me into tychos music!! and afta-1

I have never checked anything from Interpol. 10 years of waiting for a cool album/band I hope, shall grab the album with me to the gym righttttt now.

[An bád dubh]

Checked the Interpol album from 2002 and it was very lovely. Sounds like a band which sounds like a band which many people can say to sound like a certain band that they listen to. To rephrase that, this band sounds like many other bands, either separately or combined. As well as, many other bands sound like this band. Though it doesnt really matter here, its a cool album which I will surely listen to in the future. Maybe I'll even check some other stuff by them.

Was Interpol popular back in 2002 by the way? Many songs on the album sound like they could've been "hits" in one time or another.

[theis]

http://dredg.com/store/product/making-of-catch-without-arms

Only $5.

I'm a sucker for "making of" album docs, so I'm downloading this asap.