How good are The Spectral Presence?
 

SpectralJulianIsNotDead has a band called "The Spectral Presence". You can hear their music at:

http://www.myspace.com/jsdunnmusic

According to the bio, "people say" they sound like: My Bloody Valentine P.I.L. Pixies Joy Division WIRE Jesus and Mary Chain.

The Spectral Presence say: "we sound something like Big Black, Jesus and Mary Chain, Pixies, Happy Go Licky, Wire, and Joy Division.

What do you think?

They suck. They sound like Big Black in a trash compacter on the death start having their guts squeezed out.

Their demo recordings are terrible. It sounds like they used a sony microphone, dollar store tapes, and this piece of shit.

Then they probably used some shitty-ass program like Audacity to import it and then use that same program to make it into a low bitrate mp3. They can't even spend any money on a decent recording!

Also, their guitars are really fuzzy, dissonant, and reverby, I hate that shit. What is with the completely in sync drumming too? Who drums in sync at a steady BPM?

And the vocals. I mean, listen to how deep that loser sings! Who the fuck does he think he is? Peter Murphy or something?

Yeah, they do sound like Big Black, JaMC, Pixies, Happy Go Licky, Wire, and Joy Division. Take Big Black's headache causing drum parts, JAMC's squeeling annoying guitars, The Pixies creepy child molester feeling, Happy Go Licky's holier than though Vegan DC hardcore attitude, WIRE's godawful guitar playing, and Joy Division's lame bassy vocals and minimalist song titles. Then you have that band. The worst of every pseudo-alternative post-punk post-hardcore bands all in one band!

They sound as close to Big Black or Jesus and Mary Chain as Beyonce.

Sounds really creepy, dissonant and raw. Vocals are interesting. So is the guitar work, but IMHO I think the drums should be more Gang Of Four. :) That's it.

I voted just as pretentious as the name.

OK, serious Julian time:
I'm 20, I graduated from high school 2 years ago.

The "sounds like" part is referring what my band sounds like live- which is pretty different than those outdated recordings.

I'm pretty sure a hot-topic goth wouldn't go within 100 yards near a ring modulator.

EDITOR'S NOTE* Make that "dated" 9th grade Hot Topic Goth.


I know you want to attract certain crowds, but...

:)

Hugo Burnham is a much better drummer than I am a drum machine programmer. So I keep most of the drum patterns pretty minimalistic and moody.

Not really, I don't really have anything to sell. I enjoy playing infront of my friends, who all have pretty strong punk roots. Although when some outsider comes to a show and asks me if I've ever heard of MBV and JAMC it tickles me a bit. I don't know why my friend told me I sounded like P.I.L. I really don't hear it.

If I wanted to get the Hot Topic crowd, I'd say I was hardcore, and then proceed to play really loud emo with no dynamics.

I was a "gothic" girl's date as a favor to her friends once. I didn't find her all that interesting. It seems to me that everyone who calls themselves "goth" like manson, cure, doors, depeche mode, ministry, NIN, and KMFDM put on some eyeliner and slutty clothes and cut themselves across the highway.

I like and I am influenced by music that is referred to as gothic- Bauhaus, Joy Division, Tones on Tail, Birthday Party, but I'm not going to prance around in stupid outfits and try to kill myself constantly.

This reminds me I have to change the genre title from alternative/goth/shoegaze to ambient/post-punk/noise-rock or something like that. I chose the genres before any of the songs were fully arranged, and they seemed to be taking a different direction until they were complete.

I guess the rawness is 4-track recorder-induced? I mean, it wouldn't be as raw if you had the resources right? Obviously.

Well, the 4-track adds a certain tape rawness to it, but I think it is rawer live. I used the line out on my guitar amp to record, so some of the ambience of my guitar tone was lost, although I love the way the overdrive sounds on the post-verse change in Gunslinger. The vocals are much less relaxed live. The 4-track I used only allows you to do one track at a time, which means I had to sing a long to the songs over the headphones. I personally like the live sound better where I vocally actually have to compete with the guitar for dominance.

The main thing I don't like about the 4-track is how separated everything sounds, like every track is being performed in a different room. It doesn't sound like that live.

I'm not exactly sure when KHChris decided to hate me, when I told him to stop fucking spamming the same thread on the old board, or when I included him in the who do you hate poll.

I will count this thread as 1 vote for the SJIND hater's club in my poll.

Well, it just seems all preconceived, the listing of band that don't sound alike just to gain attraction from that audience, effects here and there, etc.

The great thing about the 4-track is not the aesthetic sound quality. The great thing about a 4-track recorder is the simplistic and on-the-spot recording you can do and how to maximize 4 simple tracks.

If you got a 4-track recorder just for the "sound", I feel sorry for you dude.

It's because you probably don't know how to use a 4-track very well.

If you want to maximize your sound, why not get a 10-12 channel mixing board, plug everything into that, and line out to your 4-track???

I guess you'll learn this with time. Just a suggestion.

Great sounds anyway... I know it's probably cliched by now, but you know what would add a great element to your music? Sampling The Conet Project. :) Just a suggestion.

I got the 4-track because it was my friends and I wanted to do a demo without spending any money.

The "sounds like" isn't just for those 4 tracks you realize. And "sounds like" doesn't mean that they sound exactly alike. Maybe I put Big Black because a lot of the songs are very agressive, dark, and abrasive. And maybe I put JAMC because the guitars parts are very noisey and wall of sound like and the drum parts are simple.

Gunslinger and German Dogs are two very atypical songs for me. (out of the ones I have wrote)

I like the chord changes in Gunslinger. Very misfits-y :)

Ha, yeah, this DJ I know named Steve was talking about that awhile back. Eventually I want to try ring modulating my guitar to a radio signal, but I don't have the equipment right now :(.

I currently don't incorporate samples live, but I do the Clint Eastwood quotes when I perform Gunslinger. I added the samples in to see if I liked them, and I do, but I don't know if I want to include them in live stuff. Another footswitch for me to press :P. I was thinking about burning them all onto a CD and kicking someone to press play.

Haha... :) I like gunslinger, definitely a grower. Good stuff.

I think the stuff is quite neat live and there is an energy within the music, it just hasn't been properly channeled yet. I don't like the samples, takes me out of the songs.

Wow, look at all the votes!!! No need to be a dick khchris. Come on man.

Funny story. I wrote Gunslinger last summer (all the other songs are much newer.) At the same time, I started jamming with a punk cover band, and then we watched a bunch of B-movies and MST3K episodes, wrote some songs about Ed Wood and Torr Johnson and stopped playing punk covers. I changed the lyrics to fit along with the movie The Beast of Yucca Flats.

Sidenote: my little brother was the original guitarist in that band, but he ended up leaving because I wouldn't play at a lower volume then him and we wrote some songs while he was at home.

Man, I just love punk music. Long live rock and roll.