Steven Wilson v. To. The. Bone.

[Mladen]

How are his fans so ridiculous? And I thought Opeth and Dream Theater fan bases get awkward.

[ErHaO]

Man, imagine being upset that your favourite artist gets married  Larger venues I can somewhat get being dissapointed by, because the experience is so different. But man, some fans are insane.

I think I will go to the show here, looking forward to his new show/material.

[Zantera]

people being upset that he got married

Incels?

I don't think so, it's more along the lines of "now that he's happily married and has someone who loves him he wont write the moody dark music i've loved from him" which is kinda weird because you're basically wishing the worst on someone you like, only so you can keep getting that kind of music.

[Buddyhunter1]

Even if that logic made any sense, to me, Steven Wilson never seemed like the kind of guy who was genuinely depressed or disturbed and created depressing music from that. I get that sense from say, Have A Nice Life or early Nine Inch Nails, but even Steven's most depressing music sounds like it was written just because Steven Wilson thinks sad music is beautiful. He's always come across as more bitter than depressed.

[Nekov]

Well, I remember that during one of his concerts he mentioned that he wrote sad music as a sort of outlet and he then joked that he felt better by making the audience sad. I don't think that meant he is depressed and makes sad music because of that, but as a regular person he has his ups and downs and music is a great way to express things and let them out.
I for one I'm happy that he has found such happiness and success recently and I'm really excited to listen to the new album.

[FlyingBIZKIT]

Totally agree, Nekov!

[Kwyjibo]

I listen to a lot of sad and depressing music, and I'm not sad or depressed all of the time.

I listen to a lot of aggressive music, and I'm not aggresive at all.

I rarely listen to happy music, but I'm happy most of the time.

Just because Steven Wilson likes a lot of his music to be sad doesn't mean he has to be sad to make it.

Do you have to be blue to play the blues?

[Fritzinger]

I listen to a lot of sad and depressing music, and I'm not sad or depressed all of the time.

I listen to a lot of aggressive music, and I'm not aggresive at all.

I rarely listen to happy music, but I'm happy most of the time.

Just because Steven Wilson likes a lot of his music to be sad doesn't mean he has to be sad to make it.

Totally agree on this! But...

Do you have to be blue to play the blues?

...yeah, you kinda have to.

[Kwyjibo]

Do you have to be blue to play the blues?

...yeah, you kinda have to.

I saw B.B. King live and he was smiling and generally happy all of the time, joking and having fun and flirting with almost every girl in the front rows and he still played the blues. 

[utopiarun]

My girlfriend is upset that Steven got married. I don't know what that says about me. 

[goo-goo]

He has said that sad music for him is more interesting since he can convey more emotion to the songs and that connects more to the listener

[ErHaO]

Bought tickets to Ziggodome! 

I also bought the exclusive vinyl to these shows (which you can buy along with the tickets, at least that is how it works here). I have no clue what is on this vinyl, but it is Steven Wilson and I collect vinyls, so that was a no brainer for me.

Edit: it is a "very" limited edition of his upcoming studio album, which is fine by me! (Especially since the price is the same as his regular editions here).

[The Letter M]

The new No-Man single is out! Found it on YouTube, here are the links:
"Love You To Bits (Bit 1)" - https://youtu.be/cIhy_U0ttIg
"Love You To Shreds (Shreds 1-3)" - https://youtu.be/9epzkVDQUQc

Just 2 more weeks til the album drops!

-Marc.

[Fritzinger]

So the new no-man album is out for 2 days now and no man is talking about it?

The blue vinyl is still in the mail ( ) but I couldn't resist listening on Apple Music. It's gorgeous. Sinister, melancholic, wilson-ish and bow-nish (?). I love the thought of a "disco-symphony" and I think this approach works very well.

Highlights:
The finale of the first part. I won't spoil anything, but it just sounds so majestic and - sorry for this - Bavarian/German, without being bombastic or over the top. Maybe a Big Big Train influence?
The variation of themes and the many reprises of the main theme.
Adam Holzman's solo. Love that guy.

[PixelDream]

So the new no-man album is out for 2 days now and no man is talking about it?

The blue vinyl is still in the mail ( ) but I couldn't resist listening on Apple Music. It's gorgeous. Sinister, melancholic, wilson-ish and bow-nish (?). I love the thought of a "disco-symphony" and I think this approach works very well.

Highlights:
The finale of the first part. I won't spoil anything, but it just sounds so majestic and - sorry for this - Bavarian/German, without being bombastic or over the top. Maybe a Big Big Train influence?
The variation of themes and the many reprises of the main theme.
Adam Holzman's solo. Love that guy.

I could never get into No-Man, but I'm digging this!

[The Letter M]

Had my first listen last night, and WOW, what an album. It's so short, but it packs a lot in it's runtime. I love the repeating themes and motifs and the way the album transforms them throughout it's various bit and pieces. Definitely going to be spinning this one for awhile. It's quite different for No-Man, and for Steve and Tim as well, but it's still go that No-Man vibe to it that I enjoy.

-Marc.

[Nekov]

The new no man is great. I like how well the new Steven Wilson music combines with what Tim brings into the mix. This is not what I expected at all and I am very happy about that 

[ReaperKK]

What's a good jumping off point for No-Man. I want to check out an album and don't know really where to start.

[Sacul]

All their albums are very different, their first two are very much into electronic and synthpop. Returning Jesus is all acoustic, with a similar vibe to late Talk Talk, a very subtle and warm art pop album. Together We're Stranger and Schoolyard Songs are much more ambient and laid back. Seems the latest one kinda goes back to the former style but with a symphonic twist?

[ReaperKK]

Thanks, by that description I think ill start with Return to Jesus
 I'm not a big fan of SW's pop stuff.

[Zantera]

New No-Man is pretty good! Out of their older albums I think my favorites are Schoolyard Ghosts and Together We're Stranger but there's some of the older albums I haven't listened to in years.

[The Letter M]

https://burningshed.com/store/kscope/porcupine-tree_in-absentia-deluxe_boxset

Is it worth $73+shipping? Hmmm...

-Marc.

[faizoff]

Yeah that price is steeep.

..And ordered

[SoundscapeMN]

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6dYd1nAJQF/

So goodbye 2019 and cheerio to another decade. This was an amazing year for me thanks to the biggest and happiest event of my life, getting married to the love of my life and gaining 2 lovely step-daughters! And I want to once again thank everyone for the wonderful well wishes you sent our way.

If it seems like it was a quiet year for me professionally, rest assured I haven’t stopped working. A new album is pretty much finished, so there will be a lot of news and information coming soon. As I’m sure most of you know I have already announced 8 arena shows in the UK, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Italy and Poland for next September. I’m doing something on a whole different scale this time, possibly something I’ll never be able to do again! So if you like what I do, dare I say that these “event” shows are not to be missed.
These days most new artists apparently focus on finding a single song that will impact big on Spotify and YouTube, to the point that an album is often an afterthought or simply not released at all. And maybe these artists have the right idea - in this world ruled by the internet and social media, most people don’t have the time or inclination to engage with a whole album, and playlist culture renders the flow of an album redundant anyway. But even if it’s stylistically something different, as usual my new record is most definitely an album intended to be listened to as a sequence of songs, and I feel confident most of you are going to like it a lot.

One of the wonderful things about music and listening tastes is that they continue to evolve. A lot of rock fans claim music isn’t as good or innovative as it used to be, and while I have to concede they’re probably right, I think that’s because the golden era for rock has passed and the real innovation is now happening in genres that don’t focus on guitars, bass and drums. This year one of the commercially successful songs I really liked was Bury a Friend by @billieeilish - because it’s brilliant, but also because the production was so sonically fresh.

Read the full end of year update on my website, find the link on my profile!

#stevenwilson #thefuturebitestour #newalbum #2020 #newmusic

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I think Steven is becoming less curmudgeonly as he ages.

Also, damn, he works fast.

[nobloodyname]

Crikey, that Billie Eilish song is powerful (especially in conjunction with the video).

[ReaperKK]

I think Steven is becoming less curmudgeonly as he ages.

Also, damn, he works fast.

I guess so. I think some of it was an act too. I was surprised when he went back on the whole spotify thing.

[RoeDent]

Part of it has to be that, after years of trying to fight the tide, you get tired. Even with the best intentions, there's no use trying to defy the musical tide, because you will only lose.

[ReaperKK]

I'm sure that's it too, and while spotify pay outs are crap it's still a great way to expose your music to a broader audience. Cant get someone to buy that $100 double lp set if they never hear your music in the first place.

On a personal level I never agreed with his "listen to the whole album in one setting" opinion

[Zantera]

I think the "listen to the album as it was intended" is easy to relate to and I definitely agree, though people like to skip tracks after 20 seconds and jump around just like people want to watch movies on 2x or 4x speed to get through it faster. There's definitely a shift in the old mentality of "lets take time and really absorb this" with the newer "consume, consume, consume" mentality, but in terms of keeping your music as available as possible I think it's a no brainer. I don't use Spotify myself as I consider it essentially pirating in terms of how much the artist get out of it, so I just prefer to buy the stuff. However, considering how popular Spotify is, it's definitely smarter to bite the bullet than to stay out in the cold. I'm sure for every 4 people who look SW up on Spotify and think his music sucks, there's at least 1 guy who really likes it and sinks money into merchandising or physical copies, and ultimately that's probably worth it for him.

[jammindude]

I do feel listening to an album from start to finish is very important in the "getting to know you" phase of consuming a new album.  And I still subscribe heavily to the "5 spin rule" of listening to an album *at a bare minimum* of 5 full times through (not in succession, but sometimes over the course of a week) before I will even pass judgement on whether I like the album or not. 

Having said that, once I become familiar with an album, I have gotten to the point where I prefer a variety of styles when I'm listening to music all day at work.   So I take about 100+ albums from all sorts of different varieties (from Frank Sinatra to Frank Zappa, from Tool to Toad the Wet Sprocket, from The Mars Volta to The Cure...etc...etc) and hit shuffle.   The results can be almost schizophrenic at times, but never dull.   

So I kindof get (and dabble in) both sides of the argument. 

[MinistroRaven]

Release last friday:

http://www.resident-music.com/productdetails&product_id=66670

[SoundscapeMN]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asex3WtLPOA

[The Letter M]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Asex3WtLPOA

 

I *NEED* IT!!!


...wait, what is it?

-Marc.

[SystematicThought]

It’s Deluxe Toilet Stationery