Nobody saw this coming

[PopeBeanieModerator]

Unseen wrote:

Not all reactions to The Warning are abject genuflections. Not that he pans The Warning, but he doesn’t feel they are quite as important as the members of The Warning Army think they are.

This was his first review, where he seemed to me to be way overgeneralizing based only on one performance. He could have humbly cut his explanations and serious hand-on-chin pontifications in half, deferring strong judgements until at least one more review. I didn’t read previous comments he cited that led him to do this review, but he seemed anxious up front to downplay commenter’s hype, which I might have downplayed myself because I’m definitely suspicious of hype before I can judge for myself.

Regard another criticism he has about TW fan comments to him, I wouldn’t consider fans mentioning “classical training during childhood” as a kind of hype. To me, it’s historical background which helps explain how the band was able to progress. (My older daughter was classically trained, and has played in and managed a money earning band in L.A. for years. She wouldn’t have hit that level without early, dedicated training.) I’m just saying, that’s not hype, it’s history.

I had already seen a different review from this guy, who felt obligated to review a second song after reading disappointed commenters to his review of Animosity. He seemed surprised that people considered his review as disparaging. Even though he seemed disparaging to me, which I’ve only very rarely seen from other first time reviewers, my habit now is to give such reviewers a second chance! I’ve seen no musically experienced, and knowledgeable reviewers so far that aren’t very impressed by at least their second review. I also love reviewers’ face changes (like wide eyes and jaw drops) during the same moments as other reviewers, and the same moments that I personally experience.

IMO, his second review shows progress in understanding the band’s strengths. While one of his last comments (paraphrased) “I just wish the band’s fans would quit overselling them” is telling. I think he over-emphasizes his personal taste in musical styles while considering less other people’s tastes. I.e. I like technical and intellectual criticisms, but not when pushed to an extent that’s intentionally naïve about other opinions and experience. I might watch his third review whenever it happens, but not if it looks as long in minutes as his first two, because of how he spent so much time emphasizing his personal tastes. (I don’t remember some things he just got wrong in his analyses, but he lost a few points points with me on them.)

Did this guy even smile at all in his first review? At least he smiled a lot more in his second review. 🙂 One of The Warning’s selling points, IMO, is how much fun they have performing. Of course, several other reviews have pointing this out, too.

[UnseenParticipant]

@Pope Beanie

Some of the best and most appreciative reviews have come from actual classical and/or professional performers. Classical performers no longer look down their nose at rock and roll performers. Of course, part of that is that rock and roll performers have upped their game quite a bit from the days of Chuck Berry and Bill Haley and the Comets.

This is a working opera singer and voice coach reacting to their performance of  Evolve (official video):

Another one. A professional singer and vocal coach reacting the Choke official video:

One last one. Another opera singer loving Pau’s hastily put together performance of Radiohead’s Creep:

[UnseenParticipant]

@popebeanie

It’s always a treat when Pau sings any kind of song, but especially when any sort of sweetness is involved. I just discovered the song “23,” and it’s the fact that she is singing it that makes it special. Dany would be very unconvincing singing it. It needs Paulina’s voice.

[UnseenParticipant]

@popebeanie

On relistening to “23” I’m realizing that not only is Pau singing and playing drums simultaneously, but she’s not playing a straight thump-thump-thump on the bass drum, but is often playing a syncopated pattern on the bass. I’m pretty sure that’s fairly difficult to master.

[PopeBeanieModerator]

Unseen wrote:

I’m pretty sure that’s fairly difficult to master.

It is like she has two brains, and she’s been pulling it off for years. It amazes other drummers. She’s also responsible for running software on a laptop (near to her but is often not easy to see) that triggers the click track that other players hear, some backing tracks, and that she’s even programmed to change Dany’s pedal in case Dany has difficulty normally stomping on her guitar pedal(s) with her foot. Pau also starts the videos in the background. She says it took her a year to make it all work the way she wanted.

You linked to the Teatro live Revenant video months ago, but I’m only recently listening to it, many times. It’s my favorite of Pau’s singing, now, as I’m hearing incredibly beautiful harmonies that are not that easy to hear on a casual listen. TW’s mixes consistently underplay some of their most awesome skills, which for me, gives those songs extra life when I re-listen. It took two or three competent reviewers to school me on how great Revenant live is. I still can’t place who sings which part in some of the harmonies, but it’s really nice to recognize when Ale sings.

The extra guitarist sitting in on that piece is playing a Mexican Bajo Quinto, which gives the melodies special character. It’s a ten string guitar, strung as five pairs, kind of like a standard twelve string guitar, which adds a kind of shimmer and resonance.  The lowest note pair on the Quinto (meaning “five” in Spanish) are an octave apart, like playing two keys, twelve keys apart. Ditto for the next two higher-note pairs of strings, while the highest-note pairs of string are exact duplicates, like high-note stings on a mandolin.

Those subtle differences that an audience might not even hear add a ton of great tone in the perfect recording, even with some audience audible in the background. (Although the wolf whistle from one fan irritates the hell out of me every time. I notice that it makes only the lamest reviewers smile, and I’ve watched maybe eight or ten reviews of Revenant now.) Some reviewers tear up on this song, even men.

[PopeBeanieModerator]

Seems like a two-guy blog here but it feels like documenting significant rock history. Amongst perhaps a hundred TW reviewers I found another producer/multi-instrument musician to learn from. Here he touches on TW’s Enter Sandman cover from their teen-hood to the pro video to Teatro in just under 14 minutes.

[UnseenParticipant]

@popebeanie

As someone who was in college during the heyday of The Beatles and Stones, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and the Who (all of whom I saw live) as well as Led Zeppelin, I feel somewhat qualified to say that if I could somehow get to choose between any of those bands and these three chicas, I’d rather attend a concert by The Warning.

These young college age men (not pro musicians) are impressed with how, for just three musicians, The Warning produces such a BIG sound. Yeah, bigger even than Cream:

Often overlooked is this aspect of their songwriting. By now, they have at least several dozen original songs and no two sound similar. For a guitar, bass, and drums combo, that’s an almost unbelievable accomplishment. And, while some of their songs may be better than others, not one is just “filler” material.

Indeed, as you said, we are watching rock history being made. I just hope that, despite now having a label land a professional A&R man, they remain true to themselves and their original vision.

Probably long after I’m gone, I predict they’ll be inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[UnseenParticipant]

@popebeanie

Like you, I’m waiting for Rick Beato to cover The Warning. In his last video on the deadly sameness of contemporary pop music, I commented something like “What? Is The Warning invisible to Rick Beato?” hoping to kick him in the pants to  talk about them. WTF?!!!

He has a bazillion followers. For him to devote a segment to them would greatly boost their careers.

Here is an pro musician analyzing the girls doing Evolve in their opening for The Foo Fighters. He’s hearing them for the first time. He’s done several follow-up videos since this one:

 

[UnseenParticipant]

The Warning appeared on the MTV awards show tonight. I didn’t watch it because I’d be subjected to a lot of music I don’t care much for and I knew someone would capture the performances and this guy wasted no time.

BTW, who IS this guy? He’s more obsessed with The Warning than PopeBeanie and me. He does reactions, portraits, and with his own little trio he does covers of their songs.

Gee…I thought I was weird.

[UnseenParticipant]

Here are the full-length videos from the awards show:

More:

Evolve:

I’m not a big fan of Dany’s half blonde/half red hair or their sexed up outfits, but I guess that’s how you present yourself at an awards show. I hope they go back to wearing street clothes in their live shows. It’s been one of the refreshing things about them.

Bonus interview video:

[PopeBeanieModerator]

Unseen wrote:

[Beato] has a bazillion followers. For him to devote a segment to them would greatly boost their careers.

Beato and TW have “met”, at least once online, and I’ll bet they’re not ignoring each other. IMO, it would work just as well for both of them if (say) they had a two or three hour interview some day after TW’s skyrocket slows down a little, when a Beato Bump could add its boost. Maybe even include his kids on this kind of musical relationship. In any case, he must realize how historic this rise is, right?

And if, like you say, they’re already planning for and maybe even working on their next album…

Hands up, everybody… this one’s only a minute long. It’s a stage-eye view, and you should check out the size of the crowd. From one UK venue on their first ever European tour, near-end of June (I think). Maybe those cameras front of stage are recording a pro version of the concerts there.

 

Unseen wrote:

Here is an pro musician analyzing the girls doing Evolve in their opening for The Foo Fighters. He’s hearing them for the first time.

I saw that one and appreciated it some weeks ago, before I started tagging the reviews I like best. Now, for every new reviewer I find, and they’re still growing quickly in number, I search for their first TW review, and decide from that if I want to watch their next review, then the next one. Only about a third of them make it to the third review that I feel might be worth watching. I plan to start a youtube channel on other topics, and if it’s not too much work for me, I’m wondering if me, reviewing the reviewers, might be interesting to anyone who just wants short overviews of how the “most informed” (IMO) reviewers can constructively analyze great music.

The easiest way to summarize what a channel has on a specific topic is to 1) click on the channel’s name that’s below a video’s title; 2) on the row near the top where it says HOME, VIDEO, and so on, click on the right-most button (a greater than symbol) until you can click on the magnifying glass. Put a word or term in there like “ale sings” or whatever, without the quotes, and hit Enter.

That youtube search can still suck, like when it doesn’t have any more matches it will just keep giving you irrelevant links. It also seems imperfect at times in other ways. Like Google search when it’s sloppy, just to make people click more links.

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 1 day ago by  PopeBeanie.
• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 1 day ago by  PopeBeanie. Reason: first version of my search instructions failed. mostly better now, but not perfect

[PopeBeanieModerator]

Unseen wrote:

BTW, who IS this guy? He’s more obsessed with The Warning than PopeBeanie and me. He does reactions, portraits, and with his own little trio he does covers of their songs. Gee…I thought I was weird.

LOL thanks for watching him, so I don’t have to! There are a lot of other strange youtube presenters. I think some of them are just finding themselves, even when they’re oldsters. Did you notice if TW’s his only obsession?

The popness of MTV and especially their showing off their self-selected mass audience for audio-visual effect makes me cringe. So many lemmings out there. I really hope Lava Records or the publisher didn’t push them into that show, just to burn brighter.

Unseen wrote:

I’m not a big fan of Dany’s half blonde/half red hair or their sexed up outfits, but I guess that’s how you present yourself at an awards show. I hope they go back to wearing street clothes in their live shows. It’s been one of the refreshing things about them.

I kinda agree with you on some of that, but since I sometimes mocked the way some celebs doll themselves up when my daughters were young, I made it a point to my older daughter who’s a performer that there’s nothing wrong at all with dolling up that for a performance, and it can be fun. What’s most important is that she’s still herself even when playing a part or a role, and can comfortably come back to earth, or “street” like you say.

In fact, my first thought about Pau’s outfit in the interview was “Hey, OK, it’s a W!”.

I only mock people now when they’re obviously pushing their act/performance/appearance at the expense of others, e.g. Trump, et al, even at the inevitable expense of the lemmings that look up to those self-serving dicks.

[UnseenParticipant]

@ PopeBeanie

You will want to watch this video because you’ll learn things like Ale’s favorite band is l’Imperatrice and Dany likes Willow and Sonic Silk. And, surprisingly, Ale talks a lot.

I’m having to accept that I have no control over where these girls take their music. Maybe they’ll add some musicians and sound like l’Imperatrice or Willow, or add a drummer and bring Pau out front permanently.

Anyway, this realization tied with the acceptance that I’ve been viewing them like a father watching his children grow up into competent adults, that they are beyond my control. I am reminded of Khalil Gibran’s wise poem On Children, which is more about parenting than children:

• This reply was modified 2 weeks, 1 day ago by  Unseen.

[PopeBeanieModerator]

So I skimmed through that guy’s videos about his sculptures and other projects honoring TW or its individual players, and you’re right, “weird” is the word for him. I hope he doesn’t take his “love” for them any farther than inside his house. Something unusual’s in his head.

I don’t have fatherly thoughts for TW members, and I feel I can learn more from them more than I could ever teach them. I don’t even have an urge to sound wise for them, as they seem to have their shit together ten times more than I did at their age. I appreciate their positive attitudes off stage, and their aggressive but emotive attitude on stage. Me, looking up to their skill levels is a no brainer, and it’s their humble-at-street-level presence that strikes me as “preternatural”, compared to a lot of other celebs. I don’t even feel wise compared to my own daughters.

Celebrity status can do strange things to some people, and that’s probably what I worry about most when I see rising stars. I’m not worried this way about TW, as they seem so well grounded and have so much close support. But there’s another rising star, Ellen with the EllenPlaysBass channel, seems to have the same potential as TW, even at only 11yo. Thanks to her father, a professional guitarist who’s taken her love for the bass and tutored her to a level high enough to get attention, tips, and play-along gigs with Victor Wooten, Steve Vai, and others.

Her family’s Armenian, and she’s fully fluent in that language. I love when they leave Armenian dialogs in during their recorded training sessions.

[UnseenParticipant]

@ PopeBeanie

Ellen also reminds me of the young Ale, who was playing parts like the complicated bass part from Muse’s Hysteria well before 11. And she plays almost never looking at the neck as she plays!:

Are you familiar with Tina S? She was a prodigy on guitar as a teen, then simply disappeared for a few years prompting speculation ranging from she went to college to she was dead to she had simply moved on from guitar.

Well, it turns out she went to college and put making guitar videos on hold. But now she’s back and has released a cut from what is an upcoming album.

Here she was as a teen:

Here she is on her new single from the upcoming album:

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