Album Rating: 2.5

"why he uses reverb in his songs" Lol probably why anyone uses it, because it sounds cool af ;)



But sounds sweet if the new works are going to resemble maudlin songs. Consider me pumped.

He may think the cassette revival is stupid but I happen to own a cassette of a soundtrack he did for a short film. It was only released on tape, and I bought it from him directly.

Now what I'm saying here is this:
I am stupid.

Album Rating: 3.5

the metasthaformososis one?

Album Rating: 3.5

ichneumonidae

Album Rating: 4.0

“He may think the cassette revival is stupid but I happen to own a cassette of a soundtrack he did for a short film. It was only released on tape, and I bought it from him directly.



Now what I'm saying here is this:

I am stupid.”

Ok, I’m going to clarify some things as I didn’t give the whole picture. He did say it was stupid but I didn’t mention he says that on the basis of it being sounding so inferior in quality compared to CD/vinyl/digital. But he says that because of how it sounds, it creates a sensation of listener being distant away from musician which IIRC, he thinks is a good thing cause of the current climate of knowing too much about an artist in a post-social media world and the mystery of who artists were is lost.

If it doesn’t make sense, once the podcast episode is out it should make sense as I’m just paraphrasing from what I remembered during the discussion part. And on that note, he says he will release cassettes for his new project Piggy Black Cross which makes sense considering it’s electronic/industrial/IDM music and a lot of the underground stuff in those genres tend to be cassette releases.

You say he released a project on cassette before? Well, I have a bunch of newer underground industrial/noise releases on cassettes and I’m stupid too.

"he thinks is a good thing cause of the current climate of knowing too much about an artist in a post-social media world and the mystery of who artists were is lost."

This is actually sadly ironic, because the more I learnt about Toby Driver and maudlin/KD, the more the mystery and mystique of those bands were lost. I remember the days when I'd only have that one weird picture of motW when they're all in a crampt room, black and white, Greg Massi looking like some giant compared to the rest, and Toby looking so small. Then hearing that part in 'Riseth He, the Numberless' with the women screaming in a lo-fi recording and wondering what the hell it was.

Then I added Toby on Facebook and followed Greg Massi's podcast and they're just like normal dudes and then I found out that the women screaming were actually just Toby and Jason running around in a field yelling.

Still love both bands but feels bad man

But keep in mind my initial comment was facetious, I just wanted to make a joke where I say I'm stupid with the expectation that I was trying to be pompous about it.

As for the tape, it's a soundtrack for The Pod. It's only okay, I mainly bought it because it was the only thing I needed to complete my Driver collection. That said I primarily collect cassettes these days because they're the cheapest and I'm a poor man.

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah, I figured you said it in jest. Can’t help but joke about it myself too cause I’ve recently began a tape boom recently as I now have one of those Panasonic portable tape decks and it’s proven to be reliable with not eating up tape or malfunctioning as I’ve used it pretty regularly/almost every day. A lot of the cassettes I own are industrial noise stuff but I have a few rock/metal albums on the format. It’s quickly becoming my non CD/digital format of choice cause of how cheap it is (likewise I’m poor and spend all non-necessities savings on just music and concert tickets) and convenience of use compared to vinyl.

The thing is, I’m just a fan of Toby’s work and only follow Kayo Dot’s FB page/his solo work’s FB page for any news on new recordings and upcoming shows in the area (hence how I found out about the mini-performance/podcast interview, etc.). I don’t know him other than that he’s a really talented and prolific musician and I think that’s enough for me personally. I once read an interview where he was asked about his stance on artist/fan relationships and it pretty much reiterated my opinion that there should be a reasonable distance between artist and fan cause I agreed with what he said. I’d happily give my thanks and appreciation for his work the next time I see KD/solo TD live though if the circumstances and timing is is right.

Album Rating: 2.5

I met him in RL ...he was a bit of an ass, i was like "you guys really make some inspirational stuff" and he was like "cool cool, there ya go" and gave me a shirt, you could tell he wasn't down to really talk much to anyone, but maybe it was just a bad night. If that is his view though on fan/artist communications it makes more sense, but it seemed at the time like going out of the way to awkwardly avoid conversation with fans.

I'd probably be exactly the same if I were in that position

Album Rating: 4.0

"I met him in RL ...he was a bit of an ass, i was like "you guys really make some inspirational stuff" and he was like "cool cool, there ya go" and gave me a shirt, you could tell he wasn't down to really talk much to anyone, but maybe it was just a bad night."

The interview I referred to in regards to his view on fan/artist communication is this one: https://beardedgentlemenmusic.com/2014/10/29/interview-toby-driver-kayo-dot/

From what I got out of what he said, there's pros (i.e. being a beacon to fans) and cons (i.e. fans not respecting boundaries) to it which I totally understand and agree with on some points he made. I've seen Kayo Dot twice and the Madonnawhore release show, and while I've never met him, I didn't get the impression of him being unfriendly either.

"I'd probably be exactly the same if I were in that position"

I probably would too. IDK if it's ironic, but I go to many shows but rarely am I down to socialize during them unless I'm with a friend. I'm really just there to see the bands and haul the merchtable before and/or afterwards, haha.

I thought I recently heard a Vaura whisper...

Album Rating: 4.0

I think there’s a new Vaura album is in the works actually. As for the new solo album, the Kayo Dot Bandcamp has a playlist of Toby’s ballads over the years featuring one of the songs from the Live at Roulette EP and in the info section puts the release date as September 21st.

Album Rating: 2.5

http://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2018/08/09/exclusive-premiere-listen-to-toby-driver-draw-a-glyph-with-new-track/



New track released from his new album called Glyph

https://imgur.com/a/aYRlmWO

"...I found out that the women screaming were actually just Toby and Jason running around in a field yelling".
Lmao, nice.

New Vaura being mixed as we speak ...stoked.

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Yea the new Vaura should be sick.



About the discussion on the previous page, I recently found and listened to those podcasts where Greg Massi has Toby and Byron on, as well as his Q&A, and they were really informative about the origins of maudlin and their lives together in that band and KD, and Toby's experience with different labels and stuff. I can also see how it does take away some of the mystique, especially with how Jason Byron's lyrical and poetic influences seem to be lots of nerdy fantasy and horror games/movies from childhood. And him and Toby running around yelling in a field for Riseth He lol

Album Rating: 4.0

The press release write up for They Are The Shield name dropped Ulver, and honestly, I wasn't surprised to see them being mentioned at all. You can take what I say with a grain of salt, but I was at the Live at Roulette EP show and vaguely recalled one of the tracks that weren't on the EP (either The Knot or 470 Nanometers) had me getting the same emotions I felt whenever I listen to said Ulver album. Almost a month now before the album's released, and I can't wait to hear the studio version of that track cause my memory of it is fading slowly.

Album Rating: 2.5

new piggy black cross is badass. basically a new kd release with bigger idm influence and female vox