Posts Tagged ‘smashing’

Smashing Pumpkins Frontman Billy Corgan Appears on ‘CBS This Morning’

Theo Wargo, Getty Images Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan has continued his non-stop press tour with interviews with ‘CBS This Morning,’ the Chicago Tribune and Sound Magazine recently. Out of the three sit-downs, plenty of riveting news and quotes was offered by Corgan, such as the possibility of writing a triple album, the current state of rock music and much more. During Corgan’s appearance on CBS ‘ This Morning ,’ the frontman responded to praise from fans regarding Corgan’s newest album, ‘Oceania,’ and the belief that the frontman seems creatively rejuvenated. “I think America is obsessed with what I call ‘the peak moment,’ says Corgan, but as an artist I’m invested in the journey, and when I study other artists, I’m just as interested in the fallow times as I am interested in the great times.” Corgan went on to reference the works of artist Pablo Picasso to represent the timeline of the Smashing Pumpkins. “There are some horrible paintings in there, but you can learn a lot from the horrible paintings because, ‘What was he trying to express that he wasn’t able to?’” During Corgan’s Sound Magazine interview, the musician flirted with the idea of creating a triple album. “Actually we’ve talked about making a triple album, not with this current album, but the next one. We started talking about what that would mean. I would like to do another big work but that just takes so much energy and commitment. It just takes over your life” Finally, Corgan voiced his opinion of today’s rock world during his chat with the Chicago Tribune . “I do believe rock and roll needed to change away from a hero-worship culture back to what it always was, which is sort of a mystical culture,” explains Corgan. “But that has been subverted basically by commerce. It speaks to a bigger sociological point, which is: Everything is for sale now. One painter can paint a house and make it feel haunted and another painter can paint it and bore you to tears. So, what is it about the painter of the haunted house capturing the symbolic forms? That’s how I look at it.” The Smashing Pumpkins are finishing up their 2012 U.S. tour dates tonight (Dec. 10) at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. Billy Corgan on CBS ‘This Morning’

Deftones, ‘Koi No Yokan’ – Album Review

Reprise The guiding principle of Deftones albums is the push and pull between singer Chino Moreno and guitarist Stephen Carpenter. That’s an age-old rock ‘n’ roll construct — the tension between singer and guitar player — and Moreno and Carpenter being at consistent sonic odds is what makes Deftones music so dynamic. They employ this technique on their new album ‘Koi No Yokan.’ It’s recommended that you listen to all Deftones albums, especially this one, in the dark, with the volume turned up, to fully absorb the layers of sound without distraction or interruption. There is so much more going on under the surface of those quiet-loud bursts and the exchange of energy between Moreno’s croon and Carpenter’s heavy artillery demands a deeper listen. ‘Koi No Yokan’ is erected on the aforementioned foundation, with Carpenter pounding out gritty, bottom-heavy, resonant riffery, while Moreno adds a bit of an androgynous touch, thanks to his clean vocals, which have always been indicative of his PJ Harvey worship. Moreno screams like a banshee, at times, but it’s his clean, pretty vocals which are way more interesting to Deftones fans. They are almost like an instrument unto themselves. ‘Koi No Yokan’ is a bloodied record that bares its claws. ‘Swerve City’ opens the disc, and is the get-it-out-of-the-way song in that it makes the point that the Sacramento, Calif., band is here to rock and retain its heaviness. The lush ‘Romantic Dreams’ has a whimsical bend, with Moreno cooing “I wish this night would never end” over a Meshuggah-influenced gust of Carpenter riffage. That’s the case for much of his techy guitar tone, which anchors the album and makes it feel constructed of iron ore. The dynamics aren’t just at play because Moreno and Carpenter face off musically. DJ Frank Delgado is also working overtime to spin those extra sonic flourishes into the mix, like the sound bites buried under that gnarly riff in ‘Romantic Dreams.’ ‘Leathers’ has a ghostly, cinematic quality to the first few seconds, before it erupts into a torrent of screams and wails. ‘Poltergeist’ kicks off with handclaps and a engine-revving riff that could cause a 50-car pile up. ‘Entombed’ is the prettiest song on the record, with sweeping vocals and a shimmery tone. But that doesn’t mean it’s soft. It’s just swells with beats that sound like a thumping heart and there’s an electrical, Delgado-designed current that buzzes through the fade out. ‘Graphic Nature’ is melancholic, with chunky riffery, while the undulating single ‘Tempest’ has a melody line similar to that of ‘Change (In the House of Flies),’ which is the band’s biggest radio hit. It doesn’t sound like ‘Change,’ but it is from the same melodic family. ‘Gauze’ could cause an involuntary ejection from your seat, since it comes on with a full blast of noise. ‘Rosemary’ is a sweeping exercise in quiet-loud, Deftonesian dynamics and contrasts. It starts the final moments of the album correctly. It sends volts of electrical charges rushing through your veins. ‘Koi No Yokan’ is 11 tracks, so it doesn’t wear out its welcome or leave you wanting more, either. It’s a satisfying length and since the songs have such a thunderous guitar bottom end, it would tire you out if it went on for too long, so the band and producer cut things off at the right time. Much of the underlying flourish, provided by Delgado, has a film score quality to it and could be cut up, dissected, re-arranged and used in noirish thrillers. No, we don’t mean slasher or horror flicks, either. While ‘Koi No Yokan’ might not match ‘White Pony,’ which is the transitional and pinnacle album for the band that came out over 12 years ago, it has a similar spirit to that album and the self-titled release that followed it. In fact, if ‘Koi No Yokan’ had come out after 2003′s ‘Deftones,’ it would not interrupt the catalog’s flow. Overall, if the Smashing Pumpkins were heavier, ballsier and angrier, they’d make albums that sound like this, since Deftones do have an alt-metal vibe. Moreno’s lyrics are often from-the-journal-page and stream of thought, making them entirely open-ended and capable of attracting the disaffected. The album’s title is a Japanese term for the moment you know you will fall in love with someone, and the disc itself delivers more of what the band’s fans have come to love. Deftones already made that creative left turn a decade ago, and it served them well, so they serve it up again.

Smashing Pumpkins Unleash ‘Panopticon’ As New Single Off ‘Oceania’

The Smashing Pumpkins latest disc ‘Oceania’ made its debut this summer (June 19) and now the second single from the disc titled ‘Panopticon’ is primed and ready for radio airwaves. The song, quickly heralded as an ‘Oceania’ favorite by many critics, took a long time to develop, according to Billy Corgan. It started with a riff, but that’s where things got tricky. “It’s similar to ‘Quasar’ in that we had

Billy Corgan Claims Chris Cornell Started War of Words

Hold onto your hats, ladies and gentlemen, because we’ve got some shocking news to scramble all your preconceptions of life as we know it. Ready? Billy Corgan, frontman of the Smashing Pumpkins, spoke negatively about another band during an interview! Don’t believe us? We’ve got the quotes to prove it. A few weeks ago, Corgan took a shot at Soundgarden, returning fire at the grunge legends and their reunion. “There

Smashing Pumpkins Unveil Dates and Venues for 2012 Fall Arena Tour

About a week ago, the Smashing Pumpkins announced their plans for a fall arena tour set to kick off in early October. While the cities for the trek were announced, the dates and locations were still a mystery until now. Traveling from coast to coast, the 14 date tour kicks off in Everett, Wash., on Oct. 10 at the Comcast Arena and wraps up nearly a month later clear across

Win a Smashing Pumpkins ‘Pisces Iscariot’ Deluxe Reissue Prize Pack

Attention, Smashing Pumpkins fans: Loudwire is teaming up with Diffuser.fm to give one lucky reader a copy of the deluxe reissue of the Smashing Pumpkins compilation album ‘Pisces Iscariot.’ Originally put out in 1994, the album contained 14 B-sides and outtakes. We are giving away a prize pack consisting of a deluxe CD reissue of ‘Pisces Iscariot’ along with the recent deluxe reissues of the Pumpkins albums ‘Gish’ and ‘Siamese Dream.’

Billy Corgan: Maybe The Smashing Pumpkins ‘Will Continue On Without Me’

While the Smashing Pumpkins of today have gone through many transformations since the Smashing Pumpkins of yesteryear, one thing remains a constant – Billy Corgan. In a new interview with The Daily Beast, Corgan ruminates about the future of the Smashing Pumpkins and the possibility of the band forging ahead even without him in the physical lineup. Sounds blasphemous right? No really, Corgan explains his thought process, saying, “The name