The Devin Townsend Supermegathread!

[wankerness]

I just got the Ocean Machine Live dvd...I think I can hear the orchestra for about 10 minutes out of three hours (I think it’s most present on Higher). Keeping the synth player was a big mistake IMO since it seems like they’re often playing the same thing at a higher volume. Looks cool I guess, maybe that was the point.

 

[drmosh]

I just got the Ocean Machine Live dvd...I think I can hear the orchestra for about 10 minutes out of three hours (I think it’s most present on Higher). Keeping the synth player was a big mistake IMO since it seems like they’re often playing the same thing at a higher volume. Looks cool I guess, maybe that was the point.

that must have been a total cunt to mix though, open arena, stone all around

 

[coreysMonster]

The Ocean Machine part of the concert was really good, but boy I agree, the orchestra thing was pointless. I'll never understand why they didn't play a single song from Deconstruction, the one album written specifically around an orchestra. Everything had way too many samples and keyboard sounds drowning the orchestra out, and they keyboard was stupidly high in the end mix for some reason.

 

[Veldar]

I kinda don't buy into the whole 'it's disjointed on purpose' as an excuse for bad song writing. LOTS of bands have written that way and can still make a track feel complete (ISIS, Weather report and Mr Bungle to name a couple).

I totally respect this is what he wants to write, and Devin has fostered an audience that will follow him, but I haven't enjoyed what I've heard so far. Even though the pre album talk got me super interested.

 

[Demiurge]

^Unfortunately I have to agree. His ability to find a place for all of this ideas without wandering too far off the plot within any composition has been a big part of his genius, IMO.

 

[MarcoNL]

For the last couple of months i'm really into Devin again. And really want to play his songs but they're all in open C tuning. So here it is. My Devin Townsend 'ish signature. In open C tuning. Happy with it.

 

[DLG]

I just got the Ocean Machine Live dvd...I think I can hear the orchestra for about 10 minutes out of three hours (I think it’s most present on Higher). Keeping the synth player was a big mistake IMO since it seems like they’re often playing the same thing at a higher volume. Looks cool I guess, maybe that was the point.

I was there and that's pretty much the same impression I had. Pretty unnecessary overall. The band should have gone sample/keyboard-less if the point was to hear the orchestra and band interacting.

Still a great show, obviously. Naturally, I enjoyed the Biomech part of the show much more as it's one of my favorite albums of all time.

 

[GXPO]

I kinda don't buy into the whole 'it's disjointed on purpose' as an excuse for bad song writing. LOTS of bands have written that way and can still make a track feel complete (ISIS, Weather report and Mr Bungle to name a couple).

I totally respect this is what he wants to write, and Devin has fostered an audience that will follow him, but I haven't enjoyed what I've heard so far. Even though the pre album talk got me super interested.

What is bad songwriting though? You mean it doesn't conform to what your perception of a well written or structured song should be? I personally loved Genesis and didn't feel that it was particularly disjointed.

If you don't like it, you don't like it.

 

[wankerness]

I was there and that's pretty much the same impression I had. Pretty unnecessary overall. The band should have gone sample/keyboard-less if the point was to hear the orchestra and band interacting.

Still a great show, obviously. Naturally, I enjoyed the Biomech part of the show much more as it's one of my favorite albums of all time.

That’s awesome that you were there! Interesting about the orchestra being inaudible there, too. I wonder if they would have mixed it higher on the DVD but it had already been ruined by the live mix. I definitely think the keyboard volume was the primary culprit.

I think the whole show is fantastic, but I have one seemingly minor quibble that is a huge deal to me - I HATE how he sings “Night”!! That’s probably my favorite song of his entire catalog and he just kind of drags his way through it apathetically for dramatic effect or something.

 

[TedEH]

You mean it doesn't conform to what your perception of a well written or structured song should be?

I mean, yeah. Music is subjective, we get it. If someone on the internet says "this song is badly written", the "in my opinion" part is implied.

IN MY OPINION, I agree that the new songs coming out aren't particularly well written.

 

[GXPO]

I mean, yeah. Music is subjective, we get it. If someone on the internet says "this song is badly written", the "in my opinion" part is implied.
IN MY OPINION, I agree that the new songs coming out aren't particularly well written.

Yeah, I know what you mean and I'm not trying to be pedantic, I'm just asking how you quantify not well written. Would could have been done with the arrangement to constitute better writing? Maybe you just don't like the song and it's incredibly well written.

 

[TedEH]

arrangement

I know you weren't originally replying to me, but for the sake of it - I already made my point a while back in terms of how I'd criticize the arrangement. To sum it up again though, my initial impression of both tracks was that they feel disjointed and random. More like a collage of small ideas that don't quite come together. A riff salad that doesn't go anywhere.

I haven't really given them much of a chance since though - which is maybe telling in itself. I'll go back and listen again, but I'm not confident my opinion will change.

 

[wankerness]

that must have been a total cunt to mix though, open arena, stone all around

I dunno if that's an excuse, the Anathema live blu-ray recorded in the same venue (Universal) sounds incredible and has string sections over distortion at times. They kept the volumes more reasonable though.

 

[ChugThisBoy]

 

[Veldar]

a riff salad that doesn't go anywhere.

nailed it

Yeah, I know what you mean and I'm not trying to be pedantic, I'm just asking how you quantify not well written. Would could have been done with the arrangement to constitute better writing? Maybe you just don't like the song and it's incredibly well written.

So the bands I listed before write long complex songs that go through different sections and don't repeat them, but they have a logical vibe and flow to them, take for example 2112 by Rush, lots of parts but it has an overall arc and ebows and flows in a logical sense.

The DT track sounds like he recorded 30 parts on a laptop and then randomly arranged them, no themes to join them together. If the point has to have lots of different sections that sound different I think there are a lot of ways to make it more impactful. If he wanted a general theme there are a lot more ways to get it unified.

In my opinion.

 

[ppinkham]

nailed it



So the bands I listed before write long complex songs that go through different sections and don't repeat them, but they have a logical vibe and flow to them, take for example 2112 by Rush, lots of parts but it has an overall arc and ebows and flows in a logical sense.

The DT track sounds like he recorded 30 parts on a laptop and then randomly arranged them, no themes to join them together. If the point has to have lots of different sections that sound different I think there are a lot of ways to make it more impactful. If he wanted a general theme there are a lot more ways to get it unified.

In my opinion.

Isn't a trip how different people hear different things? To me, the song had a steady feel throughout, and isn't disjointed at all. It flows. I can step back and see how it can be perceived as just random things pieced together, but it never felt that way to me.

It will never cease to amaze me how differently people perceive things. I totally get where you are coming from, but it just isn't my experience with this song.

 

[ppinkham]

 

[ChugThisBoy]

Damn I wanted to post it here first Well, there you have it. Straight forward song from Devy. I'm getting chills from all this and can't wait to listen to the whole album when I will be at home today. I'm feeling some Z2 vibes from it.

 

[Jarmake]

Spirits will collide sounds exactly like everything he has put out in like... ten years? What a disappointment. Fucken' big choirs, orchestras, lyrics seem to be the same as always these days, guitar playing is dull...

 

[ChugThisBoy]

Spirits will collide sounds exactly like everything he has put out in like... ten years? What a disappointment. Fucken' big choirs, orchestras, lyrics seem to be the same as always these days, guitar playing is dull...

I guess it's just his style?