sucker goes on sale on Tuesday per Bandcamp I believe. Being that I backed their successful Kickstarter, I already got my download. Quite good record, including Mark Engles contributions at points.
The above link is for the 1st single "Rapanui's Lightning" which actually was released on April 4th (my bad for not knowing earlier).
As far as the album title, the band I imagine will be announcing it and the tracklist/artwork rather soon as they said this a few weeks ago:
New single available! Full length album out June 4th, 2013.
This album was successfully kickstarted from their campaign last year that was launched around this time (June I think). LINK.
Also one note to include as I think I mentioned it last year, this band are friends with some of the dredg members. And if I recall, Mark Engles either produced and/or played on this album.
I just checked out some of their music, and it's not bad. Kind of acoustic piano-driven Female singer/songwriter with orchestral flourishes. Somewhat in the vein of Brooke Waggoner or Sucre I suppose. The compositions sound nice enough, so I pledged.
However, what is a bit confusing is their Kickstarter campaign. It's great they are using it, however the dollar amount of $17,000 and maybe even more so, given the time frame of 33 days left. I can't find the actual launch date, but I'm just guessing it was launched within the last day or 2.
Raising as much as $17,000, and in just over a month? maybe it'll happen (I gave $25, which is pretty blind given I only just heard them for the 1st time), but if it does not, this project supports another puzzling way of thinking with artists and the AMOUNT OF TIME THEY EXPECT TO RAISE SAID FUNDS FROM KICKSTARTER.
NOT EVERY ARTIST IS AMANDA PALMER.
And I'm not sure how Kickstarter campaigns are set up, but I would think if the album is expected in May of 2013, they could give themselves AT LEAST 3 MONTHS to raise that level of money.
What I have felt bands should do, is instead of launching the Kickstarter campaign and then going out and advertising, while the CLOCK HAS ALREADY STARTED COUNTING DOWN.
Go Out and MENTION a Kickstarter Campaign will be LAUNCHED SOON. Maybe even just see on Facebook and Twitter how many "Likes" and "Retweets" you get, even by posting about it a handful of times over say 33 days or so.
That all being said, I hope this Kickstarter campaign is a success. In the mean time, I probably will pick up a copy of their 1st record High Collar Dark Sky, just based on some of the impressive samples on the bandcamp page below.
I love how so many people are shocked by hearing the samples and "Upon Returning."
Dat's cool and all, and I think the samples sound fine. I mean different? yeah, but everything they've (the band) said is this album will be a lot different. But I don't get the sense it's music without value.
It sounds like a mix of ballads and synth-driven songs. And just read this entry and many other sources online. I'm certainly open for that.
I did read something over on Traversing suggesting what may have been good to do with this record, is cut it down a bit and release it as an EP or Mini-album. Kind of like Oceansize'sHome and Minor EP.
I just am still of the feeling this won't be dredg's Road Salt or Buzzard (Pain of Salvation and Margot & the Nuclear So & So's).
It's a different approach, yeah. But the songs are still there it sounds like. And I also have confidence that their next work will be more of a full "Rock" and layered record as their others are. Or at least more ambitious and in-depth. It kind of makes sense to change or alternate a bit. Each record is a reaction to the last.
An album of the year candidate? it's probably by default more of a record that likely will fall in the top 20-30, but its odds are low to become an everyday masterwork kind of record, so unlikely.
2.0 probably isn't too far away as this is starting to look like a Wikipedia entry.
Switching topics to the new album Chuckles and Mr. Squeezy, the cover is creepy. How did you make that happen?
It started with Drew, on tour with Circa Survive, and I think “masks” was the general idea. Drew started making masks and we started picking the ones we liked. Drew’s brother came on board and he’s a photographer from Hurley so we got the idea of having the dichotomy of having a beautiful girl with a mask on. We did the shoot and we really liked how clean it is. Even though it’s creepy, it’s clean; it’s not busy or cluttered. The color scheme we thought really fit the style of the new record. With Dan the Automator’s production, it’s a very clean record, a very streamlined record. We thought it fit really well.
After listening to the new album, it sounds like Dan is a member of the band, not just an outside producing force. Is that what you were going for?
Yea, this is definitely collaboration. This is the new Dredg record but it reminds me of when other bands work with a DJ or producer and it’s a collaboration record. We knew that going into it. The timing of it was perfect where we didn’t want to spend a whole year writing a big Dredg rock record, not that we don’t want to again, but, just for this one we had these songs we’ve been trading over e-mail with Gavin in Seattle and the rest of us in the Bay Area. We thought it was the perfect time to go with a collaboration, so you are correct by calling him a 5th member.On our last record, Matt Radosevich was a 5th member musically, but he’s not a musician in the sense where he has his style. That’s where Dan lies and it’s definitely more like a collaboration record. It could say “Dredg and Dan the Automator” on the cover, but, it doesn’t.
Laughs
But it could definitely be that way. Any fans that are turned off because it’s not a guitar rock record, I understand, but it’s also a departure record.
Do you have a favorite song on the new album you like to play?
Play or listen to?
I’d say play, as this one isn’t the big guitar rock record, like you said, so I was wondering which one of them appeals to you the most to perform.
We’re actually starting rehearsal today, so I haven’t played any of them live, per se, except for “Upon Returning” which we played on our last tour with Circa Survive. I love playing that live. But that’s the only one from the new record that we’ve had in the set list. So today, actually after I talk to you I’ll drive to meet the guys and start working out how to put this thing together live.
Can you tell me what the song “Kalathat” is about?
Kalathat is about this horrible, horrible tragedy that took place in the Silicon Valley. You hear about this in other places like Seattle and Southern California, when the .com bubble burst and the economy burst, where the hi-tech engineers and people who were doing okay and then lost everything, they also lost their pride. So, instead of sucking it up, they would kill their entire family and then kill themselves. So Kalathat is the last name of this gentleman who decided that money and pride was more important than living life and his family and he wiped out his entire family. It’s incredibly, horribly depressing. But it’s interesting that in 2008 or 2009 that someone can put the priority of financial success over the love of family. It’s just horrible.
It’s a really intense song and I think that if you’re worried about Dredg fans picking this up as well, I think this one speaks to the honesty of your music.
also here's the official track list (I know, it's old, but not old or it's only delayed for this blog)
1. Another Tribe 3:46
2. Upon Returning 3:55
3. The Tent 4:47
4. Somebody is Laughing 3:46
5. Down Without a Fight 3:53
6. The Ornament 3:04
7. The Thought of Losing You 3:33
8. Kalathat 3:25
9. Sun Goes Down 3:48
10. Where I'll End Up 3:44
11. Before it Began 2:58
@dredg Our 5th studio album "Chuckles & Mr. Squeezy" to be released May 3rd in the US. April 29 in all other territories. http://yfrog.com/hs244toj
so, there it is. Uh, unusual cover, although I'll confess, being someone who finds body art at times an enjoyable visual, I'm not reacting so outlandishly as some have/may about it.
The title itself, kind of the same thing. It's different, it's odd, it sounds potentially funny. Might it be "look at how funny or clever we are"? maybe, but when dredg do that kind of thing, it's not annoying. When Animal Collective do, it is beyond annoying.
So, yeah, the usual details should come shortly. There are a few more bits taken from this article written in German. Using google translator, I am inferring it's to be 11 songs, 40 minutes long. The 1st single is called "The Thought of Losing You" and is expected to be released on April 15th in Germany I'd presume.
But I suppose I can add/rehash some other bits that I recall about it. In speaking with Mark Engles, dredg's guitarist, last November, he said this album is not very guitar-driven. It's going to be different. That article kind of emphasizes that. They almost feel like a whole new band (with a new sound).
Many of the leftover tracks from the Pariah period won't be on this record. From what I recall reading, 1 or 2 perhaps, but one is/has been re-arranged.
I guess as much as I am attached to them, my feeling about this album is very wait-and-see. 2009's Pariah is great. One of the better records in the 2000's. But there's enough differences with this record, I'm not expecting another epic record like Pariah. Unlike some bands (Oceansize, PRR..even Mew), I am not waiting for dredg to make a statement album. They've done that.
The only thing I can cite as a concern is, an example like Coheed and Cambria or maybe more likely, Pain of Salvation. I don't want them to change so drastically, I'll wonder where the band I loved went.
Now comparisons like that are obviously pretty irrelevant, at least to the band and to a lot of their fans. But just from my personal taste and feeling, I naturally tend to draw comparisons, as a necessary evil I suppose. And the approach of not expecting huge qualities seems a little safer. At least as a follow-up. The danger lies in the one after the follow-up, and whatever happens after that.
dredg to me, have a pretty clean and nearly flawless catalog. But that may not exist forever. Citing PoS or even Dream Theater and Rush (and even Marillion, although I can at least claim my favorite band has never made a record I never wanted to listen to again).
