New Album: Simulation Theory

[MartianSpaghettiRider]

Originally Posted by Jobby

I meant more just reiterating/quoting what he sees people say about them as an example of ¡®thought contagion¡¯ than owt that in depth tbh. You¡¯re probs right though, I just like the idea of that alt. narrative. Now that I¡¯ve thunk it, I¡¯d actually be really interested in a song on that topic. Hell, maybe even more than one since there¡¯s multiple angles you could tackle it from.

Whoa, this so much. Lyrically wise, Matt may even conceive songs as intensely angsty as the ones on Showbiz or Origin.
But I think he currently feels "too" fine to tackle this issues. Provoking further conflict between the band and its own fanbase is probably the last thing he wants now. It's quite of a pity, though, because I like the idea of an artist that challenges their audience's ideas about their image and identity in a significantly creative fashion, no matter how famous they may be.

[Jobby]

Originally Posted by MartianSpaghettiRider

Whoa, this so much. Lyrically wise, Matt may even conceive songs as intensely angsty as the ones on Showbiz or Origin.
But I think he currently feels "too" fine to tackle this issues. Provoking further conflict between the band and its own fanbase is probably the last thing he wants now. It's quite of a pity, though, because I like the idea of an artist that challenges their audience's ideas about their image and identity in a significantly creative fashion, no matter how famous they may be.

You can write about that without creating friction w/ fans tbf, he doesn’t have to go full Forgot About Dre (as much as that would be fucking hilarious). There’s defo potential for some angst/frustration/exasperation there, or maybe a more self-conscious vibe if he feels that, or even take another perspective as he likes to do and write from a fan’s POV. I’d be fine with going down the more arrogant route but it has to be a damn good track to pull it off.

I guess it’d just be fresh more than anything, which’d be nice. It’s not a topic we’ve remotely heard them touch on, it’d feel genuine and it’s something tangible that people could connect to - as opposed to more vague half-baked conspiracy waffle. Be a good post-Drones topic as well, after finally going back for fan-service and now moving towards pop again.

Unless he just genuinely doesn’t care, but I’m pretty sure that’s not true. Doubt we’ll see it happen anywayyyy, shame.

[SerpentSatellite]

Originally Posted by funkadelic

It's not so much about completely shutting the conservative viewpoint out as the fact that the goal post keeps moving on what a conservative is. It's also worth noting that the left doesn't even get the same exposure. Like I said before, MSNBC is considered left-leaning, but it's full of neoliberals who wanted Clinton over Sanders.

tbf, it seems like you just have, and most people probably do, a preconceived notion on what constitutes "left" and "right" to you, and that's what you're looking to see represented.

Democrats have pushed the centrist agenda for quite a long time because they've been struggling to win seats and consider it a compromise.
Sanders and a lot of progressives are a bit radical.
Having such a wide division in the party is one of the reasons it struggles, too; not having a solid system of beliefs/wedge issues creates voter apathy.
The same propaganda machines that aided Trump also targeted Sanders fans, too, remember. And it worked. That's part of this whole Russia meddling thing that's getting swept under the rug, and it's going to kill the party in the next elections, too, if people aren't willing to do some soul searching.

On the other hand, to prevent exactly that division, the Republicans have embraced a shift to the far-right because it plays well with the base, and keeps them in power.
It's a hell of a lot easier when you can do whatever you want as long as you're pro-gun, anti-abortion, backed by evangelical Christian leaders, etc.
You don't see a lot of moderate conservative viewpoints because there hardly are any loud voices in that camp; it would be bad for their career.

On a completely different note, there's some interesting studies about how people are orders of magnitude more likely to spread false stories on Twitter than true ones, and that's a rather interesting and concerning topic with no easy solution.... and telling everyone to shut off Twitter isn't a fair answer.

[Kueller917]

Democrat compromise had made them a party of nothing to the point where Sanders was considered a radical. There's also a difference between having a debate about actual debate worthy things and having debates on points that are clearly off.

[SerpentSatellite]

The problem is when people have vastly different opinions on what's debate-worthy, and what to do when people aren't willing to compromise on things that comprise civil liberty violations.
I don't think it's easy, but it can be done. Unfortunately, there's "radicals" on both parties that aren't willing entertain dialogs on even the stuff that should be open to compromise.
"Fake news" and memes make easy prey of those people on both sides.

[funkadelic]

Originally Posted by SerpentSatellite

tbf, it seems like you just have, and most people probably do, a preconceived notion on what constitutes "left" and "right" to you, and that's what you're looking to see represented.

Democrats have pushed the centrist agenda for quite a long time because they've been struggling to win seats and consider it a compromise.
Sanders and a lot of progressives are a bit radical.
Having such a wide division in the party is one of the reasons it struggles, too; not having a solid system of beliefs/wedge issues creates voter apathy.
The same propaganda machines that aided Trump also targeted Sanders fans, too, remember. And it worked. That's part of this whole Russia meddling thing that's getting swept under the rug, and it's going to kill the party in the next elections, too, if people aren't willing to do some soul searching.

On the other hand, to prevent exactly that division, the Republicans have embraced a shift to the far-right because it plays well with the base, and keeps them in power.
It's a hell of a lot easier when you can do whatever you want as long as you're pro-gun, anti-abortion, backed by evangelical Christian leaders, etc.
You don't see a lot of moderate conservative viewpoints because there hardly are any loud voices in that camp; it would be bad for their career.

On a completely different note, there's some interesting studies about how people are orders of magnitude more likely to spread false stories on Twitter than true ones, and that's a rather interesting and concerning topic with no easy solution.... and telling everyone to shut off Twitter isn't a fair answer.

The fact that the Democrats are desperately trying to cling to centrism is what's going to hurt them because they aren't willing to take a strong stand on anything. They have nothing new to offer. Sanders being seen as radical says a lot.

People are always going to be vulnerable to fake information. That's why mainstream news needs to be better. The problems Americans are facing are too serious to waste time on someone like Tomi Lahren who obviously is only looking for attention, or some Trump goon who still won't acknowledge climate change is real. I don't see any point trying to placate to the right because they're not going to stop accusing the left of hating America. The Democrats have always given in to Republican demands, and it's gotten them nowhere. There are Republicans out there who are trying to bring some sense back into the party, but I stand by my opinion that the crazier ones are given a platform for the ratings they bring in.

I think fundamentally we disagree here because I'm a pretty far left person. I don't see it as an issue of both sides.

[SerpentSatellite]

My beliefs are mainly far-left, but I also feel that the Dems have been trying to do the right thing and understand that lasting change needs to be made through compromise, instead of a pendulum swing from one extreme to the other.
We were making progress as a country, but the rise of populism and moreso nationalism destroyed that.
I love Sanders, for instance, but also have to face the fact that his sort of populism, similar to Trump's, opened the door for manipulation and divisiveness.
All those Sanders supporters who were persuaded not to compromise and vote for Hillary aided in fucking over our country, whether you like to admit it or not.

[funkadelic]

See I disagree with that. I think this has been a growing problem ever since the Tea Party, and it finally reached the boiling point with Trump. Democrats have taken their base for granted because the only other option is Republicans, so their base wasn't energised enough to turn out when they needed to. I see it as similar to how people lost faith in Labour and didn't end up turning out for Ed Miliband in the 2015 election. The energy around Sanders and Trump implied people were looking for a change, yet they insisted on pushing Clinton. I'm not defending those Sanders people, but there were plenty who did vote for Clinton, and her side wasn't exactly innocent either.

That said I am hoping the Dems pull through and win in 2018. But I also hope they don't mess it up to the point that next time around people flip back to the Republicans.

Anyway, I'm sorry to go down a politics rabbit hole. It's just really nice to have a proper discussion about it. It's not really possible on social media and reddit is...reddit.

[PlugInYorkie]

Originally Posted by frozenbanana

It's gonna be as bad as that Arctic Monkeys cover of Hold On, We're Going Home.

I’m just commenting to say I wholeheartedly disagree! That cover was amazing and absolutely destroys the shithouse original.
The Arctic Monkeys have fused hip hop elements with their own music and it’s worked well.
Turner and Co are leagues above Muse at present and I think their new album will be gamechanging whereas I’m not so optimistic for Muse

[PlugInYorkie]

I didn’t actually mind Thought Contagion, nowhere near as bad as the people on here said.
Not a huge fan of the 30STM style chanting but hearing it live the song definitely works. Matt’s vocals are solid and I like the darker vibe to this. Guitar and bass sounding alright. Where is Dom? I feel he’s going to get replaced by a machine on the new album at this rate.

New album is sounding like it’ll be a mish mash of random politically motivated songs and experimenting like 2nd Law. Surely they can’t make a worse album than that?

[lurkinglurker]

Originally Posted by PlugInYorkie

The Arctic Monkeys have fused hip hop elements with their own music and it’s worked well.
Turner and Co are leagues above Muse at present and I think their new album will be gamechanging whereas I’m not so optimistic for Muse

Agree new AM album has a good chance to be better than a new Muse album, disagree with AM being gamechanging. I don't think they are at all, or really have much of a potential to be even though I like their music.

[PlugInYorkie]

Originally Posted by lurkinglurker

Agree new AM album has a good chance to be better than a new Muse album, disagree with AM being gamechanging. I don't think they are at all, or really have much of a potential to be even though I like their music.

I just have this feeling their new album will be a big one and will somehow top the previous one.

[fabripav]

Game changer for humanity

[Jobby]

AM was a bit wanky but still >>>>> than T2L. Drones debatable. Muse still miles better live but don’t think either have ever been ‘gamechanging’ tbh. Hard to say who’s really on top of the other unless you’re going by strictly mainstream relevance + sales. One’s a younger indie rock/pop band while the other’s been an amalgamation of prop/pop/classical/rock/metal over the years though so a comparison is a bit redundant imo.

I think Thought Contagion’s verses are about as close as you’ll get to Muse doing hip hop anyway - other than getting a feature in like Who Knows Who. Bless him, but Matt’s lyrical construction is nowhere near the level it’d need to be to pull off something similar to what Alex Turner’s done in the past. His writing style for melodies naturally tends to revolve around extending short phrases into long notes as well. Not that that’s a bad thing - different strokes and shit - just means that route wouldn’t suit Matt.

[fabripav]

Originally Posted by Jobby

prop

interesting freudian slip