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Pre-Leak Record Reviews #1: R.E.M. "Accelerate"

• MJK: just heard Accelerate.
• MCP: oh yeah??? tell me more
• MJK: really fucking like it. a lot. I predict people will take issue with the production, tho i really like it
• MCP: how so?
• MJK: it's very compressed, very rock 2008, everything is in the red, there is no space between the instruments at all
• MCP: that's surprising for them, but not shocking for Jackknife Lee
• MJK: it just barrels & punches, which, again, i loved but can see people not liking
• MCP: what record would you say it sounds like, in terms of production?
• MJK: all of the examples i'm thinking of are not quite right, it does not sound like an "REM Rock Record." American Idiot comes to mind, but that's really not quite right... but its got that kind of force
• MCP: oh, okay, that's kinda what I thought
• MJK: its fucking big
• MCP: just like mall rock stuff
• MJK: kiiiiinda, but not quite. put it this way: its more mall rock than Monster
• MCP: how about the last U2 album? like "Vertigo"
• MJK: its a bit like that, yeah, except it's fucking way louder. it's just really loud, in a good way. like "Horse to Water," they just keep piling on the guitars
• MCP: "loudness war" people are gonna be pissed!
• MJK: they are, all the "music scholars" who bore me will not like it. having said that, also some verrry REM moments. the completed "until the day is done" is awesome.
• MCP: how did "Mr. Richards" turn out?
• MJK: i was just about to say, "Mr Richards" is amazing. "Supernatural Superserious" completed is terrific, and totallly makes sense for the single. it's got a new chorus. like, it's got all these big bruising punk aspects but at the same time it's a classic rock record in the best sense. the Mike Mills harmonies are back in full force, and sound like the fucking Beatles at times
• MCP: yeah, I'm sooooooooo glad that he's singing again
• MJK: he's on almost every song
• MCP: how are the drums
• MJK: drummer for the first time in forever sounds like a part of the band, the drums are barrelling. i listened to it with AZ, who is a drummer and he kept saying "my god, the drums on this record" in a good way.
• MCP: the drums on Around The Sun sound like they were recorded in paper bags
• MJK: yeah, this is so far removed from that. it weird, listening to Accelerate, its like the band who made ATS wasnt even REM, its like this weird straight line from Hi-Fi to this record
• MCP: well, I feel like in a lot of ways they were not
• MJK: Stipe's vocals on this one are ridic. he sounds very old, but old and PISSED, like a beery old punk, in a good way
• MCP: man, it's nice to see REM really trying, really hungry. it's like "you ain't been hungry since Monster!" I feel like they were really complacent for a while, really "who cares, we're doing what we want, we're comfy" and I think the incremental lack of respect really got to them. they were so used to people praising them that they could burn up their capital
• MJK: the weird thing is, there's a lot of self-reference on this record. on "Sing for the Submarine" he sings something about "Electron Blue," and then "Feeling Gravity's Pull," and then "...the world as we know it" within like a few verses. that song i think is a reflection on the last few years
• MCP: "dot dot dot and I feel fine"
• MJK: haha, exactly
• MCP: what is that song like?
• MJK: "sing for the submarine" doens't sound like any other REM song at all, a lot of these are totally new sonic territory
• MCP: nice
• MJK: the record is really dark, i dont know what it is about it
• MCP: that's funny since a lot of them seemed so IRS back last summer
• MJK: but it feels really fucking desperate, in a good way. like, the last word before the bombs go off