Pixies - EP1

[TheWarmth]

Pitchfork gave this a 1 out of 10 this morning. I'm not a big Pixies fan, but I enjoy some of their songs. I listened to the EP and thought it was quite good. The first track, "Andro Queen," is totally beautiful and the heavier tracks don't seem a million miles away from their older material. Everyone seems to be complaining about the fact that Kim Deal isn't in the band anymore and I've read grips about the new stuff sounding too much like Frank Black's solo material. Thoughts on any of this?

[shalloboi]

whoa, they compare them to lit in there- pretty harsh.

i'm probably not going to bother with this release, not because of reading an unfavorable review, but more because i never bothered with 'trompe le monde' because every time i tried to listen to it i always found it incredibly mediocre (with a few exceptions)- they'd just really lost the spark. to me this is evident if you listen to the album version of 'subbacultcha' alongside the bbc sessions version. the same goes for a lot of frank black's solo material.

i'll always love the first three pixies records, though- i don't think there's anything they could possibly do to ruin that legacy.

[Kurious Oranj]

damn, trompe le monde is my favorite pixies album.. although like warmth i'm not a huge fan

i have no desire to listen to this ep tho after all the bad impressions

[KingHarry]

I heard it earlier this week - the first song was quite interesting (think it is actually a reworked Black Francis solo track (they may all be?).
The third track is really pretty good.
The rest is terrible.

So-so.

[BzaInSpace]

Thoughts on any of this?

Yeah - Pitchfork remain colossal assholes. Did they not even mark it 1.7 or something?

I actually heard the new Pixies song on 6Music at work the other day after I appropriated a DAB radio - it took a few seconds before I realized who it was - and it was pretty good in fact. Weirdly, the choruses were quiet but the verses were louder. Good lyrics - "You put the cock in cocktail" and a repeated refrain of "I'm in love with your daughter..."

(It also stuck out a mile compared to the super-bland indiepocalypse that Steve Lamacq still has a career out of playing...Pixies and Lamacq? What is this? THE NINETIES??)

That band meant an awful lot to me when I was younger - fucking indie disco stalwarts! - and I'll always have a soft spot for them. Bizarrely enough, Kim Deal finally leaves and they immediately start putting out new stuff.
And they get another bassist in called... Kim. Awesome!

For what it's worth, I think Surfer Rosa is untouchable. Bossanova and Trompe le Monde are excellent too. Doolittle is the one I don't actually care for at all - over familiarity with some of the songs maybe? Some of them just annoy me. 'Monkey Gone to Heaven'? Ugh. I think it loses it massively on side 2 as well. FB's Teenager of the Year is a much better album IMO.

Anyway, I'm gonna check this EP out soon. A bit disappointed though reading that they've gotten Gil Norton back in - I actually loathe that clean and polished production sound, all the Pixies albums post Surfer Rosa sound pretty bad to me, they have not dated well - horrible tight reverb on the drums, bass all mid-tones and too bright, just a kind of polished hack mix. Perfectly suited to the likes of the Foo Fighters then...

They should have gone back to Steve Albini. Surfer Rosa is one of the best sounding records ever. Those fucking drums!

Another post mentioning Albini imminent btw...