Who wants honey?

September 17, 2009 7:07 AM

Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, the next album by Smashing Pumpkins, will be released for free as it is recorded. The album is based on the Tarot and, according to Billy Corgan, "hearkens back to the original psychedelic roots" of the Pumpkins.
posted by swift (32 comments total)

While I share your enthusiasm this is a pretty weak post.
posted by zennoshinjou at 7:12 AM on September 17, 2009

Teargarden by Kaleidyscope

The band's name should be "smashing spellcheckers."
posted by rokusan at 7:16 AM on September 17, 2009

My enthusiasm?
posted by swift at 7:18 AM on September 17, 2009

One would assume you derive some positive feeling from this news else you wouldn't have posted it, no?
posted by zennoshinjou at 7:19 AM on September 17, 2009

the next album by Smashing Pumpkins, will be released for free

Fair pricing.
posted by Joe Beese at 7:23 AM on September 17, 2009 [5 favorites]

Hearkens back to the original psychedelic roots of the Pumpkins without all those pesky original band members.
posted by Dr-Baa at 7:30 AM on September 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

This sounds like a very Jonathan Coulton-y project, except it'll be 44 songs instead of 54, and it'll be more sporadic than one song every week. Which is probably not a good idea; if you want to keep people coming to your website, you'd better tell them exactly when each new song is going to come out. I'm also kind of baffled by Corgan's decision to eventually sell the songs in the form of 11 4-song EPs as opposed to, well, 4 11-song LPs. But who the hell can figure out how Billy Corgan's brain works?

I used to be a hardcore Smashing Pumpkins fan, back when I was an angsty teenager. I have since come to terms with the fact that Billy Corgan is a crazy, pretentious jackass, and pretty much everything he's done since the Pumpkins (the REAL Pumpkins) broke up has mainly just made me feel embarrassed for my old teen-self. But the music is still good, and this project sounds interesting (albeit pretentious, self-important, and weird, but that's par for the course). I'll be listening.
posted by Anyamatopoeia at 7:32 AM on September 17, 2009

One would assume you derive some positive feeling from this news else you wouldn't have posted it, no?

That's fair. But you're wrong.
posted by swift at 7:32 AM on September 17, 2009

He is a male Courtney Love at this point. All goodwill has been eroded by years of suck and crazy.
posted by anazgnos at 7:35 AM on September 17, 2009 [4 favorites]

I thought they broke up?
posted by elder18 at 7:36 AM on September 17, 2009

Which "original psychedelic roots" are those? I used to be a big fan, and I can't recall any songs that sounded all-out psychedelic, or even heavy on the psych side of things. Wikipedia's coverage of their early years cite a New Order/ Cure sound, and Corgan himself said they played "sad rock." They did change, but they were never a 13th Floor Elevators cover band. Ah, revisionist history, everyone's doing it these days.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:36 AM on September 17, 2009

Well, they used to have some pretty psychedelic shirts back in the day.
posted by anazgnos at 7:39 AM on September 17, 2009

pretty much everything he's done since the Pumpkins (the REAL Pumpkins) broke up has mainly just made me feel embarrassed for my old teen-self

I am right there with you. Watching this made me want to travel back in time and slap some sense into my sixteen year-old me.
posted by Dr-Baa at 7:39 AM on September 17, 2009

I have yet to get over his open letter of a few years back, which finished with:

I am still the same alt-rock messiah I was. You are still my teenage flock.

Trust me.

Your zero,
Billy Corgan

His flock is no longer teenage (it has been a good decade since the inflection point down which was woefully titled Adore). And when was he a messiah? I'm not bringing this up to have a random poke but to show that it is hard for me to tell if he is flirting with a "new" (unless you haven't heard of Radiohead) business model, if he's desperate for attention, or if he is simply off his nut.
posted by adipocere at 7:42 AM on September 17, 2009

Angsty teen music is fitting for those angsty teen years, much like Raffi rocks when you're really, really young. Looking back, it seems silly, but would you really want to be a rock snob in high school? "You call that alternative? Just wait until you hear the Flaming Lips* in 2009! Little man, your mind will be blown."

* or whatever your favorite band is today.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:47 AM on September 17, 2009

Gish and Siamese Dream were psychedelic in that dreamy haze way, influenced as much by My Bloody Valentine as New Order or Cure. He said the sound he's shooting for is "atmospheric, melodic, heavy, and pretty" which sounds like he's finally getting the right idea. Of course, my expectations are incredibly low at this point; everything he's been associated with in the past decade has been a pile of infinite shit.

Your old teen selves were right, by the way. Siamese Dream still holds up incredibly well and might be the best album of the 90's.
posted by naju at 7:50 AM on September 17, 2009

Uhhhhh, no. Raffi rocks.

Also, paging hermitosis to the black eyeliner courtesy telephone.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 7:50 AM on September 17, 2009

Also, Edward Ka-Spel and cEvin Key would like to remind Billy that they already made a dark, psychedelic tear garden back in the early 1990s.

Uhhhhh, no. Raffi rocks.

Perhaps, but it was different when you were 5 years old, much like Smashing Pumpkins meant something else when you were 16 (example: "despite all your rage, you are still just a rat in a cage" was a big statement for me back then. Now? Eh, not so much.)
posted by filthy light thief at 7:56 AM on September 17, 2009

That's fair. But you're wrong.

Unfucking believable. You make a post to the blue about something you don't give a shit about at all? About Billy Corgan of all things? You know, there is a world outside your front door right? Let me break it down for you: Dude, you're wasting your life.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 7:59 AM on September 17, 2009 [2 favorites]

Damn I just about to make a post about his new batshitinsane religious website.

But I can still encourage everyone to contribute.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:59 AM on September 17, 2009 [2 favorites]

You make a post to the blue about something you don't give a shit about at all?

A lack of positive feelings doesn't necessarily mean you don't give a shit. MeFi has a lot of Sarah Palin posts, after all.
posted by Dr-Baa at 8:03 AM on September 17, 2009 [1 favorite]

So around track 26, will the album devolve into a over-long, rambling Pink Floyd cover? And will track 27 feature Corgan yelling at the listener? Because that was our experience last time we saw the Pumpkins play.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:08 AM on September 17, 2009 [2 favorites]

Wow. That's an awful lot of anger and derision generated for some dude trying to do a cool thing! Anyways, thanks for the post, although now I'm starting to feel like I should apologize to MeFi for still listening to the Pumpkins.
posted by Poppa Bear at 8:12 AM on September 17, 2009

it is hard for me to tell if he is flirting with a "new" (unless you haven't heard of Radiohead) business model

The original Smashing Pumpkins actually released their Machina II album for free on the Internet all the way back in 2000. It was supposed to be the second half of a double album, but due to dwindling record sales Virgin didn't want to release it. In my opinion it had some of the best songs of their later material, but since there wasn't much promotion behind it and they broke up right afterwards, most people didn't hear it.
posted by burnmp3s at 8:18 AM on September 17, 2009

robocop is bleeding: So around track 26, will the album devolve into a over-long, rambling Pink Floyd cover?

Ummagisha
posted by shakespeherian at 8:19 AM on September 17, 2009

Great. Now psychedelic has become a catch-all phrase for dithering trippiness. Then again, that's always what it's meant in music. But still -- I expect sitars, and lots of them.
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:26 AM on September 17, 2009

Homer: Thanks to your gloomy, depressing music, my children no longer hope for the future I can not afford to give them

Billy: Yeah, we try to make a difference.
posted by porn in the woods at 8:37 AM on September 17, 2009

See, I had the impression that Machina II was sort of an "accidentally-on-purpose oh-did-I-leak-that?" release, rather than an experiment. I hadn't touched it, though. Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was one of those double albums that could have been a fantastic single album, had the noodling around been trimmed out, and I was wary of the same effect happening again.

I might listen. If I could get more stuff like "Eye" off of The Lost Highway soundtrack, I'd be up for that.
posted by adipocere at 8:41 AM on September 17, 2009

Machina II was pressed on a very limited run of vinyl with express instructions that it be shared in any fashion the recipients saw fit. The p2p infrastructure was very different then but I distinctly recall grabbing it off of a website from someone who was lucky enough to get one of the lps.
posted by zennoshinjou at 8:43 AM on September 17, 2009

You make a post to the blue about something you don't give a shit about at all?

I didn't say that!

I care about this news enough to post it because I used to love the Smashing Pumpkins and I'm curious to see how others feel about it. But I don't "derive some positive feeling" from the news, except possibly that someone else is picking up on the trend of giving away their music. Not that people need a musician's permission to download their music for free anyway.

What I feel is some kind of queasy, vaguely interested dread, and from other comments it looks like I'm not alone.
posted by swift at 8:46 AM on September 17, 2009

AUUUUGGGHHHHHHHHH
posted by kittens for breakfast at 9:02 AM on September 17, 2009

If God himself came down from the great shimmering beyond and created a band - MeFi would immediately, completely, and without a hint of hesitation, hate the group.

Beware, bold posters to the blue… of ever... even remotely... implying that you periodically enjoy the musical stylings of any person or persons who dare call themselves musician/s.

Be it known now and forever more: Your favorite band sucks.
posted by LakesideOrion at 9:05 AM on September 17, 2009