if it weren't for fugazi, jawbox, and drive like jehu i would probably have continued my love for metal (even though i still have that love, indie rock over came me.....)
so here it is.
end hits, yes i love the record as well, and have it in my "hard to listen to" category for these reasons. as the songs are awesome, the band is in a great place they have never been in creatively and emotionally....the "end mix" makes it difficult to fully hear the ideas as the entire band plays them live. it sounds like a record mixed by a guitar player and alas....the liner notes reflect that.
the drums are difficult to hear on some songs to the point of "why did they even try to mix them in". to me, the brilliance of fugazi on record has been it's clarity and "DIY" type approach. well they got one of those two better then the other on end hits.
so yes, i love it as well, but no i don't think it's a great sounding record that i can sit around a passively listen to. i have to actively try to pick pieces out.
so by using some compression and a some less biased blending, you can level out the dense rock mix to have some clarity like their other records.
copy and paste all the above for my same exact opinion on Automatic Midnight with the following.
yes the guitars sound awesome when they aren't clipping. the drums are hardly there at all. and what the hell is that mush of a bass tone. it's just awful.
i'm not sure i'd call john's practice space studio "awesome". they didn't cut that record at big fish.....
ben moore is actually a friend of mine and i've heard all about the making of the hot snakes records and the rocket stuff that ben has worked on.
what is interesting is you agree about the get up kids record, and that was cut by bob weston and was meant to be "natural" sounding....but does little else but sound like a rock band not rocking. and the get up kids (not a band i like) haven't been known for a rocking problem.
another record:
Shiner - Splay