Smashing Pumpkins- ATUM (November 15, 2022; January 31, 2023; April 21, 2023) • Page 8

4 tracks in and I like this.

 

Listening again and it's growing on me. I like how some songs have almost a....breezy...feel sort of like Oceania. I do wonder what is James Iha's role these days? Just a vibes guy? Does he have the authority to tell Billy when a song isn't working? Strange relationships these guys must have.

 

I'm 6 tracks in right now and I'm really liking this. Unless it takes a massive nosedive, this feels like their best album since Oceania.

Who Goes There reminds me of Oceania. The rest give Zeitgeist vibes.

 

did he ever have that authority? has anyone?

 

yeah I mean from the beginning it's been all Billy for the most part

 

The Zeitgeist comparisons have me unreasonably excited.

 

damn this is surprised me on my first listen. Best they've sounded in years.

 

Only listened to the first 2 so far, but definitely thought they were pretty good.

 

Nah, he probably joined for the paycheck. His own contributions are kinda spotty. I mean, he wrote the intro riff to "Mayonaise" which is amazing and both "Believe" and "The Boy" are solid b-sides but...then again....he DID write "Take Me Down" which is the worst song on MCIS and Billie probably threw that on as a way to be diplomatic.

 

Take Me Down is nice. there's way worse on Mellon Collie than that lol

 

James killed it in Tinted Windows though.

 

Adam Schlesinger wrote all that record except for one co-write with James and one with Taylor Hanson.

 

On my second listen…Who Goes There might be the best SP song since Machina. The synths, the guitars…everything sounds pristine.

 

PREORDER-Aghori Mhori Mei: SPECIAL EDITION VINYL

 

Don’t mind if I do

 

The variant looks awesome, the price isn't too steep, and the extra 7" of bonus tracks is really cool. But I think I'm still going to wait till next week and see if indie store variants start popping up.

I really thought I could hold off on vinyl for the rest of the year, but this and the new Jack White are too tempting.

 

Standard black vinyl just popped up on Amazon, but doesnt ship till November.

Also, Billy did an interview with KROQ today:

 

surprisingly kinda dug this

 

Yea was not expecting to like this.

 

After listening to this album multiple times through the weekend into my morning commute today, I can confirm this album is awesome....finding a new track to dig into with each listen too

 

Will listen soon. Will take anything similar to even Zeitgest or Oceania as a positive....I despised Atum and Cyr

 

Add me to the "this is good" camp. This is a pleasant surprise

 

I think tonally, it would fit between Machina and Zeitgeist. It’s really good.

 

AMM is pretty good, probably the best we're ever gonna hear them again. definitely a nice surprise

Billy sounds... even worse than usual to me though lol. haven't listened since Cyr but his voice seems noticeably weaker on the new album

 

i think his melody choice is weird and not doing his voice any favors but his voice sounds the same as it has since zeitgeist