I find it interesting to see how some seem to think that Mr.Townsend has to live up to their standard of what is good or creative. I have been listening to Ki for a few weeks now and can tell you like Amber feel that I have been listening to it for a long time in the way that it seems so familiar to me.

If all of Devs works were the same standard I think that would be boring. As a musician I wish I had half the creative ability to write music such as on Ki. I don't have a favorite Devin song or album. It really all depends on what I feel like listening to at the time. One day I might feel like listening to Vampira and think wow this is his best song and the next day it could be earth day or Ki. I'm so grateful at this day in age to have an artist around who is so divers and writing and producing the music that I want to hear. In my books good albums are few and far between and bands like Sabbath or the Dio band or Ozzy who are some of my personal favs are not pumping out the songs like they once did and I feared that music for me would die out with them but now I have Devin Townsend to fill the void.

Viva La Devin!

Gotcha!

What is a perfect record to you, and why?

I know this question wasn't directed at me.....but....

A perfect album TO ME......is an HONEST album. And Ki is honest as all hell.....or, heaven.

Yeah El, youre sort of on the same lines. its like... its totally a good album. Is it comparable to his old stuff? Yeah, I'd say it is. But, I mean that as in like... I think you can hear how hes learned from his past music. Clean slate, but lessons learned, if that makes sense? It seems like a logical artist step. Or should I say, a good intro? :p

i cant edit my post for some reason, but what i was meant to add, is i think thats why i dont view at as something radically different.

The more I think about it, the more I am in agreement that there is no such thing as a perfect album. There are however several near perfect albums. These are albums that have no filler and have stood the test of time (i.e. still sounds relevant today as the day you first heard it). Two that personally come to mind are Master of Puppets and Appetite for Destruction.

I officially love this album. Excellent work.

I'm only on my second listen of Ki. I resisted every single urge in my soul to download this ahead of time. Heck I only listened to the teaser sampler one time through to confirm that Mr. Townsend was alive & well and still had the creative juices flowing freely.

The closest analogy I can come to is that Ki is an exorcism. It is a cleansing of the musical pallet and a reinventing of music to its' simplest and raw form. The chemical toxins have been purged from the body and music, as was once known, is being viewed in a new and astonishingly bright light. The music is heavy....but not in a distorted guitar/blastbeat drums sense. It flows as one sentient soundtrack from start to finish. Oh My God I'm running out of cliche's........

Heaven Send is by far my favorite track on the album. The female vocals work so well along side Devin's guttural screams. Trainfire is really kicking my ass with the whole Develvis/Stray Cats vibe.

I know I'm going to be listening to this non-stop for a while. At first blush I am totally thrilled with it. Write it for whoever or whatever, Devin........but for the love of God please keep writing!!!!!

Gotcha!

What is a perfect record to you, and why?

Fuck man, I've tried to answer this in about 4 different ways, deleted them all and started over. But you should get an answer.

Basically, in what I said, by 'perfect' I meant 'paced perfectly with tracks I don't want to skip'. The pacing of Ki was a bit off for me, with "Ain't Never Gonna Win" followed by "Winter", then Trainfire picked it up a bit, but then it went back to the sloooow with Lady Helen and the beginning of Ki. That was a lot of slow paced music for me for a fair chunk of the album. I also found Gato and Heaven Send slightly boring.

If the pacing were improved, with a couple of the songs avoiding some repetition, we'd have an album here reaching what would be, in my opinion, perfect. I realize this might, and probably will differ from what you and many people seem to think though, so maybe I'll 'discover' it one day

I guess it depends on what you're looking for in the album. For me the fact that the album is mostly very laid back and doesn't try to grab your attention too much, is a good thing.

Albums that try to grab your attention and stay in the forefront have their place too, but to me, Ki is very much a driving through the Scottish countryside on a sunny day kind of album. Something that contributes to being in a good relaxed mood on a nice sunny day. Terria is good for that too, but there's a tension in that album that's sometimes a bit too much when it's hot.

As for the perfect album, I don't think such a thing can exist, as it really depends on what you're looking for and what mood you're in at the time. The perfect metal album*, if such a thing could exist, would be completely different to the perfect ambient album or the perfect noise album. It's impossible for a single album to push all your buttons, unless you don't have many buttons to push.

*Even the idea of the perfect metal album is pretty ridiculous, what type of metal would it be, death metal? power metal? industrial metal? pre-harcore pre-industrial pre-post punk post fencepost metal?

P.S. None of what I said counts if I ever make a Blasphemous Necrorapist album, because it will be fucking perfect and if you don't like it it's because there is something wrong with you and you're probably fat and all your friends talk about you behind your back

I still think Ocean Machine, having owned it for 11 years, still sounds ahead of its time. And i still play it at least once a week, i cant think of ANY other album i have liked more over such a long period.

[djskrimp]

Gotcha!

What is a perfect record to you, and why?

Fuck man, I've tried to answer this in about 4 different ways, deleted them all and started over. But you should get an answer.

Basically, in what I said, by 'perfect' I meant 'paced perfectly with tracks I don't want to skip'. The pacing of Ki was a bit off for me, with "Ain't Never Gonna Win" followed by "Winter", then Trainfire picked it up a bit, but then it went back to the sloooow with Lady Helen and the beginning of Ki. That was a lot of slow paced music for me for a fair chunk of the album. I also found Gato and Heaven Send slightly boring.

If the pacing were improved, with a couple of the songs avoiding some repetition, we'd have an album here reaching what would be, in my opinion, perfect. I realize this might, and probably will differ from what you and many people seem to think though, so maybe I'll 'discover' it one day

1. "Speak to Me" Nick Mason 1:30
2. "Breathe" David Gilmour, Waters, Richard Wright 2:43
3. "On the Run" Gilmour, Waters 3:30
4. "Time" Gilmour, Waters, Wright, Mason 6:53
5. "The Great Gig in the Sky" Wright, Clare Torry[39][40] 4:15
1. "Money" Waters 6:30
2. "Us and Them" Waters, Wright 7:34
3. "Any Colour You Like" Gilmour, Wright, Mason 3:24
4. "Brain Damage" Waters 3:50
5. "Eclipse" Waters 1:45

The pacing is varied, and there's a lot of repetition on this album, yet it is one of the most finely crafted and well-written/played albums ever. Sometimes, the pacing just needs to be organic instead of logical.

This, of course, is merely a passionate personal opinion rebuttal to your opinion. I like that sort of argument. It makes me look at things differently to see if what I think/feel stands up under real scrutiny.

P.S. None of what I said counts if I ever make a Blasphemous Necrorapist album, because it will be fucking perfect and if you don't like it it's because there is something wrong with you and you're probably fat and all your friends talk about you behind your back

This is exactly how I feel about my music.....

Can't wait till the day the B.N. album comes out! I will be the first in line...

I still think Ocean Machine, having owned it for 11 years, still sounds ahead of its time. And i still play it at least once a week, i cant think of ANY other album i have liked more over such a long period.

You are absolutely right Matt. Devin touched on something extremely special at that point. He had nothing to lose....there was a certain passion there.....in the singing, and that desperate, washed over and watery ambient guitar layer (one I am still trying to master). Maybe it was just a time in my life, or maybe it is just timeless. No matter how many times I hear it I still get goosebumps. The funny thing is, Infinity is my favorite album of all time.....but it ISN'T the one that touches me the most emotionally. Songs like Things beyond Things and Bastard....I can place many points in time where my heart actually hurt when I listened to those songs. Infinity I guess is just how my soul feels all the time.....driven! hahaha. Glad you mentioned it.

Dan

I just got my album! Thanks for signing it Devin. You're by and far my favorite musician, so the little things like this mean a lot. Can't wait for Addicted now

I was looking at my copy of Ki yesterday and I noticed there was a "C' looking thing on the sidestrip, and I thought maybe if you put the cases together in order, it will make the DTP logo.

Just a thought