Did Matthew Good Stop Caring About Melodies?

[Guest jjazz]

Hehehehehe.

 

Honestly though, how much more of a "risk" do you want him to take? Have you thought about the (do I dare say "tens of") thousands of fans he's lost over the years, due to his creative control and taking his own personal risks?

 

I do agree that we're reading a bit too much into this, though. At some point you gotta give the guy a break and just respect what he has done, and what he's willing to try at this point in his career.

[Gomo]

Friday is awesome.

[Guest jjazz]

Yes, the day of Friday is very exciting for the majority of the employed population.

[Gomo]

Let me rephrase that.

 

The song "Friday" is awesome.

 

;)

[Guest Bimbly]

The only thing I have to say to Bimbly is: Sometimes a song is just a song.

 

Sometimes reading into things too much ruins them for you.

 

;)

 

It's like he gave up on the music side of things, and he's just wholly into writing lyrics now. Was Dave Genn responsible for making him more musical? That can't be it, he was still interesting through til White Light. Vancouver was a step in the right direction. The Boy Who Could Explode was great, but this Cold Harbour stuff sounds... like his pre-MGB era material, except without anything interesting (the Smiths-esque bass on Last Of The Ghetto Astronauts for instance).

 

ANYONE?! Zero Orchestra (in demo form) might be the most brutal thing he's ever set about to release.

 

Granted this evaluation was premature. Having heard Lesser Men, Non Populus and How It Goes, I'm much more interested.

[Emu]

Just listened to Lesser Men and Non-Populous for the first time, I had never previously heard any new tracks since Vancouver.

 

I'm a musician as well so I find that I'm a lot more critical of the chord progressions used and the style of his guitar playing. When Matt has no one else pushing is music in different directions he always seems to fall back on simply playing notes & chords because they're convenient-- Meaning he simply jumps from one chord to the next because it's easiest for the hand and fingers to jump to that chord (ie, going from G/F#/E, or F to Am) or solos using certain scales simply because the notes are close to one another.

 

Non-Populous is horribly guilty of these habits. As soon as the guitar solo comes in at 2:10 he immediately goes straight into what he always does: E hammer-on F#, followed by the next highest string A hammer-on B, release and hit A. Transpose that into whatever key you want and you now have 99% of Matt Good guitar solos covered.

 

Frankly, it's kind of insulting to his long-time fans who are expecting something a little more sophisticated and clever. He's clearly capable of writing insanely unique albums like White Light and Hospital Music so I'm not sure what the deal is.

[Crusader]

So far, we've only heard 2 of the songs off of this album. Let's not jump to any conclusions. MG also went pretty in depth about the album in the megathread. You can read some of the quotes from it on the frontpage of this site too.

[Manchalivin]

Matt's never been one to flaunt guitar solos but when he does use them I find they often add a lot to the song. In the case of this album I think they're pretty great. His solos usually add more to the songs I thought than most musicians I've heard who seem to like to put them in to show off or just for the sake of it. No one says he plays similar chords because they're convenient. Maybe that's the way he wants it and not just because it's closer or whatever. I dunno, I'm not a musician but I think you might be speaking too soon. I think there will be some stuff that will catch your fancy on this record.

[bishopx]

I like what I've heard so far. I think it's a going to be another great record.

[Guest Bimbly]

Matt's never been one to flaunt guitar solos but when he does use them I find they often add a lot to the song. In the case of this album I think they're pretty great. His solos usually add more to the songs I thought than most musicians I've heard who seem to like to put them in to show off or just for the sake of it. No one says he plays similar chords because they're convenient. Maybe that's the way he wants it and not just because it's closer or whatever. I dunno, I'm not a musician but I think you might be speaking too soon. I think there will be some stuff that will catch your fancy on this record.

 

In the end, it is artistic choice. I don't doubt MG's capabilities or musicality.

[Vance]

I gotta be honest and say that with everyone (Matt included) saying this album is so different from anything he's ever done, it doesn't sound that unlike the rest of his music to me. Based on the 2 songs we have access to listen to right now (cause that's all I've heard) it sounds typical of his music - especially considering the way his sound has progressed over his last couple albums. Listening to Hospital Music then Vancouver, this seems to be following that some path to me.

I still have yet to hear the rest of the album, and I have to throw in that it is not a dissapointment that it isn't overly different thus far as I'm a huge fan of almost everything that he's done in the past.

[Manchalivin]

As I said somewhere, there is no doubt some of his latest releases in it. I think that is inevitable and only natural. You have also only heard 2 songs which aren't overly different but I still think they contain some different ideas for Matt. I never said the entire record was massively different, but a few of the songs stand out to me and it's more that as a whole the album has a very different vibe from his others. At least to me anyway. I'm pretty sure you wll know what I mean when you hear the whole thing.