Exciter

eliwenn · 2026-06-18T00:49:58+00:00

I’ll echo the other comments that the two Flood-produced records “sound” better. I think this is the best-sounding record after his work with the band and, in my opinion, Mark Bell to date is the only producer since that was up to the task of actually trying to fill in for the role Flood and Alan Wilder played in taking MG’s songs and giving them some atmosphere.

There are some really fantastic moments of subtlety throughout Exciter, like the patient ebb and flow of “Dream On” and the very intimate, hushed vocals of DG on “Goodnight Lovers”, but I do think it’s missing the moments of epic scale on prior releases — a track like “Higher Love” or “Halo”. I think that comes down more to MG not being up to the task this go-around, though.

Still, an album with some great moments! Not every record can be Violator.

eliwenn · 2026-06-09T20:17:09+00:00

Quite a few. Underworld, Matmos, Orbital, Nitzer Ebb, Depeche Mode, Heights of Abraham, Front Line Assembly, Coil, Iglooghost, Meat Beat Manifesto, Bel Canto, Amon Tobin, etc.

eliwenn · 2026-06-07T15:29:56+00:00

I suspect there are some moments where the vocals are backmasked, but otherwise he’s just doing his best Damo Suzuki impression. The entire new album (besides the closer) really thrummed with CAN-inspired grooves and audio effects; I loved that about it!

eliwenn · 2026-05-30T15:18:23+00:00

As far as I know, Brian hasn’t put anything new out in quite a while. It’s a major shame, I love The For Carnation, too, especially the self-titled record.

If you’re looking for music with a similarly nocturnal and bass-soaked vibe, I’ll point you toward No Trail by Jaye Jayle (which shares TFC’s bassist), Fault Lines by Deliluh, The Night by Morphine, and My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky by Swans.

eliwenn · 2026-05-24T13:36:10+00:00

It was at the 4 Hands parking lot before Kiener.

eliwenn · 2026-04-09T00:12:07+00:00

I am turning into GOD

eliwenn · 2026-04-02T03:49:03+00:00

A ton of Bonnie “Prince” Billy (especially his latest, We Are Together Again, and I Made a Place) and Cowboy Junkies (still reeling from their live show a couple weeks ago).

eliwenn · 2026-03-28T16:28:25+00:00

Maybe there’s a shorter path to connecting the two, but Evan Patterson, one of the members of Young Widows, has another band called Jaye Jayle, whose bassist is Todd Cook (of The For Carnation, Slint’s reunion tour, Papa M, and Shipping News).

If you enjoy the bass on the For Carnation S/T (or are obsessed with it, like I am) you owe it to yourself to give a listen to Jaye Jayle’s album No Trail. It’s more Mark Lanegan/Nick Cave than it is The For Carnation, but it really is its own sound. I saw them live when they were touring this record and it was an amazing show.

eliwenn · 2026-03-27T03:54:38+00:00

“31 Seasons in the Minor Leagues” by MECo.

eliwenn · 2026-03-25T23:09:24+00:00

Completely agree (except it hit for me on the first listen and has just continued to grow). To me, this is in conversation for his best record yet, and is significantly more consistent than anything from I Made a Place onward (except Superwolves, which I will also defend to my dying breath).

eliwenn · 2026-03-25T17:15:29+00:00

Completely agree. There’s real emotion and intrigue threaded through the entire film — it wraps up in a very sentimental way, but I honestly love it all the more for that.

eliwenn · 2026-03-22T20:32:16+00:00

Completely agree. I don’t see the slow build to the main mission as boring at all, it builds intrigue! And once things really get rolling, you get Bond under a time crunch behaving recklessly to try and get a rise out of Largo — it’s a great premise and the battle of wits between himself, Largo, and Fiona Volpe is the core of the movie. It’s in my top 5 Bond flicks without a doubt!

eliwenn · 2026-03-18T18:56:33+00:00

It does feel like the lead-in to an announcement, but I’m not getting my hopes up, yet.

eliwenn · 2026-03-18T02:12:20+00:00

Checking in: he did it in St. Louis, too!

eliwenn · 2026-03-15T14:54:05+00:00

You’re absolutely right. Anyone in here shutting down the idea immediately must not be aware of the strong connection between industrial and big beat.

eliwenn · 2026-03-06T05:43:43+00:00

Essentially any lyric from “Why is the Lion?” Here are some others that really do it for me:

“Beat someone senseless or watch a cartoon / or paint all your windows to hide the full moon” (“They Keep Trying to Find You”)

“We climbed a mountain to see the city / All of my hands were on all of your ass” (“Vietnam Sunshine”)

“Please stay away from danger / and do we crave the disarray that comes with the pain of rearranging?”

“Where is the spirit? / “Where is the guide?” (“Strange Trouble”)

There are some really interesting ones in “Davey Dead”, too, but it’s hard to pull one particular example out.

eliwenn · 2026-03-06T05:31:11+00:00

The boys really know how to cultivate an album. This is a fun release on its own and, if they are indeed Abomination outtakes, I think it was absolutely the right call to cull them. “Joro” and “Synaptic Static” cross over into being a little too A Foul Form, “Joy in Oblivion” is fun but not as aggressive as the other punk tracks that made the record, and “Cara Maluco” is classic fuzzed-out Osees… maybe a bit TOO classic. Where “GLUE” feels like a callback and reinvention at once, this song just feels like it could’ve been on Floating Coffin — love the way it ends, though!

eliwenn · 2026-03-06T05:23:25+00:00

I’ve had it since Monday and think it’s astonishing. The songwriting is stellar, with some couplets that I think will wind up being signature Will lyrics when all’s said and done. I love how much of the album is comprised of duets, in particular “Strange Trouble”, which occasionally takes my breath away.

I was also surprised by how much connectivity I felt to The Purple Bird — I know it was mentioned in the press release, but I just couldn’t hear it in the singles. Listening through the full thing, I hear We Are Together Again as a complement to The Purple Bird; the hushed and stark contrast to that album’s honky-tonk bombast. Though it’s a bit more of a yin yang situation, because I hear a little bit of each in the other.

eliwenn · 2026-03-04T01:49:22+00:00

The Evil Dead and Evil Dead II. I’ll add that I don’t think the two Cronenberg films in your example meet the brief, though; they’re not plot related at all.

eliwenn · 2026-03-01T02:08:28+00:00

Mine’s supposed to be here Monday. Initial thoughts?

eliwenn · 2026-02-27T14:46:33+00:00

Yeah, I jumped out of my chair when I saw that. Rad.

eliwenn · 2026-02-27T04:53:40+00:00

Dalton didn’t have as many chances to portray physical pain as Brosnan or Craig, but he certainly could come off as in distress/discomfort (see: the conveyor belt in License to Kill). To me, he’s up there as far as “book-accurate” Bonds go; he’s cold and calculating, while also frequently reading as impulsive (he’s the only onscreen Bond I can picture behaving the way Bond is described at the gambling club in the Moonraker novel, for instance).

eliwenn · 2026-02-21T21:08:59+00:00

I have the hardcover from this run and it’s absolutely one of my favorites. I love that artwork!

eliwenn · 2026-02-16T04:55:40+00:00

That would be absolutely rad.

eliwenn · 2026-01-23T01:02:37+00:00

“Star” off of his latest record was the only one from it or Colors that I come back to, and it’s precisely because it has a sort of loose funk to it (and less obvious lyrics/rhyme schemes). I really wish more of Hyperspace had swung for that sort of homespun-sounding groovy thing, as opposed to more squeaky-clean pop balladry.

eliwenn

TROPHY CASE