Skip to main content

ALBUM REVIEW: "The Weather" by Pond

   Pond have the unfortunate fortune of being constantly compared to Tame Impala, and not just because of the fact they share members; for many people they are the only two bands they're aware of that deal in the kind of 70s-inspired psych-rock that makes you think, "I wonder what this would sound like if you were stoned?" While this comparison is very understandable and can work in ways beneficial for Pond, I have always felt that Pond feel like more of a "band" than Tame Impala. Where Tame Impala is Kevin Parker's project with other musicians making up the live performance, Pond feels a lot more cohesive in that sense. Pond and Tame Impala have both changed and evolved, but while Kevin Parker went full disco on Currents, Pond have maintained a strong grounding in psychedelic rock while dipping into trippy synths and some of the other elements Parker brought into Tame Impala's sound on Currents. For this reason I maintain that Pond are the superior band, and they prove it here on The Weather. Lyrically Pond have also always been more interesting, and The Weather descends into darker, more emotionally layered territory than has ever been scaled on a Tame Impala record. My biggest problem here is the production; like most records in this genre the vocals are soaked in reverb and blended right into the mix, and this has never been something I am fond of. The drums are also characteristically flat, and the bass is missing the presence it needs on the low end. Despite my gripes with the way these types of records are produced, The Weather is still successful in providing dizzying spirals into confusing, kaleidoscopic head trips, though, and I imagine that the live setting is where these ambitious songs would really come into their own. The Weather is a solid album from a very solid band, but the pitfalls of a sometimes oversaturated genre do tend to come into play a fair bit. Pond have still to reach the heights of what they have hinted at more and more over their career.

   Favourite Songs: 30000 Megatons, Edge of the World Pt. 2, and Zen Automation

    Least Favourite Song: Colder Than Ice

   Rating: C+

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Response To 'Christian' Views On Secular Music

Is there such thing as music that Christians shouldn’t listen to? Should we be dismissive of music with either explicit language or sexual, violent or substance oriented themes? Should anyone even be telling anyone else what they can and can’t listen to? These are questions that are thrown around a lot in Christian circles, and given what I do here on this blog and how that overlaps with my job working for the church, I thought I would share my thoughts on this topic. I’ll say this at the outset so that we’re on the same page – I think any attempt to dictate what people should and shouldn’t listen to is stupid and disrespectful on a fundamental level. I’ll go into detail about why I think that later on, but for now here are some thoughts I have on some of the “Christian” opinions I come across pretty regularly. The first and most ludicrous thing that seems to follow me around is the idea that because I listen to underground genres, particularly on the heavy metal ...
2 comments
Read more

1 YEAR LATER: "22, A Million" by Bon Iver

   Bon Iver's third studio album turns 1 in about a week (where did that year go?), so I thought it would be interesting to talk a bit about how my impressions of the album have changed - or how they haven't - over the last 12 months. When this album was released I was more excited than I think I ever have been to hear a new album. For Emma, Forever Ago is one of my all time favourites, and I love his self-titled second album too, so I had huge expectations for this album, but was also wary that expectations might ruin my experience of the music. This was particularly the case for 22, A Million , because it is unlike anything else Justin Vernon has released. There have been hints at this more processed, electronic direction previously, like the song "Woods" on the Blood Bank EP and occasional flourishes on Bon Iver , but 22, A Million is a drastic departure from the Bon Iver sound we had grown accustomed to at this point in time. Or at least, that's what I thought...
Post a Comment
Read more

Should Brand New be in my top 20? (CONTENT WARNING: sexual abuse)

    For those who read both top 20 albums lists that I did - one here on thatmusicnerd and one over at Kill Your Stereo - you will have noticed, I'm sure, that one had The Ongoing Concept's album Places at number 1, and the other had Brand New's Science Fiction at the top. Full disclosure, I initially had Brand New at the top of just the one list, but the readership of Kill Your Stereo reacted very strongly against the allegations of sexual misconduct against Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey and so I removed it entirely. In fact, none of the  KYS contributors' top 20 lists featured Science Fiction at all. Of course I was happy to follow the general consensus in regards to whether or not an artist accused of such things should be promoted by a music publication, but I still stand by my opinion that Science Fiction was the best album of 2017 and as such it was number 1 on my thatmusicnerd top 20 list.    2017 has been a pretty crazy year in terms of the ...
Post a Comment
Read more