You are right Mr DancesWithChickens, but please relax.

We are allowed to think that something is crap, and we are allowed to say so if we like. I do agree with you though that it is a bit insulting to say that just because we are fans we will listen to anything and proclaim it as great.

Truth is that this album is the most challenging thing Dev has released. He knew it would be and even said so, and so if you dont agree with what he himself has said that you really are missing the point, because Dev has made it quite clear.

I think it is great, but at the same time I can easily see why somebody else would be really, really dissapointed by it. It is totally unlike anything else he has released. I am interested in this kind of music but I know that it is not for everyone.

Please everyone, just chill out...if you dont like it, that is absolutely fine!!! It is just one album in a very awesome discography, there is plenty other music to choose from that you do like.

-David

Sorry David, but I'm sick to death of the god damned "fart analogy". I've just heard it so many times now, that it's becoming cliche. Like I said, I have no problem with someone saying "I think this album stinks". But don't tell me that I'll blindly praise anything Devin releases. There are a lot of poeple out there who love shitty music, but you'll never hear me say to a country fan "Garth Brooks could whack his guitar with his penis and you'd still buy the album."

[Blazingmonga]

I'm quite sure that if Dev did release an album of farting or penis-guitar-whacking that I WOULD buy it...but only because I am a completist, heh.

Anyway, dont worry about it. If anyone starts threatening you with fart-analogys just tell me and I will smack them up. Or something.

That would hurt. Strings can be relatively sharp, and on soft flesh... Ow.

Loved the "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas" mention a few posts back - can totally see where that came from !!

Got my copy a week or more ago and it's listening to it tonight that reminded me this place existed. So blame it for me posting again after like a year or more break. Enough about me though - 99% of you don't know me and the 1% that remember that far back probably don't care

It wasn't what I expected but thats Devin all over I guess - it's the fact that he'll shoot things at right angles that keeps every album something to look forward to. I love that "whats it going to be..." moment when hitting play for the first time on a new shiny platter from him and this was certainly no exception.

It definitely has phases of up, down, loud and scary scattered throughout it - even if there is very little else "conventional" to cling to I can imagine those giving it one cursory listen and discarding it onto the "waste of money" pile may be missing a trick on this one. It does kinda make a little more sense with each listen and also according to what mood you're in or what you're doing.

I'm not defending it because I'm a fan of Dev's work either - it's more that I can be pretty left-field at times so it maybe wasn't as big a shock sonically as it may have been for some of you. Yeah, ok, that just means I've a pretty wacky taste in music but it sounds better when I put it that way, ok ? It was always going to split some people's views but he did warn us, didn't he......

I don't think it's going to be on every day at Carpathian Towers but it's going to slot in nicely when I need something to vague out to, to scare the neighbours with or just when I'm writing and need some kick of inspiration.

Goes well with a few glasses of Absinthe, by the way - try it if you get the chance as it's quite an experience

I love it. It took a brief getting aquainted period though.

Dammit! I still haven't got my copy, and it's over a month since I ordered it...

Hmm.. maybe it's time to get in touch with ccnow...

So... is it any good then?

Heh heh

I've ordered this along with Ass Sordid Demo's I and II just before Christmas, so I'm in for a massive Devin Deluge at some point in the next week (or five)

I first listened to Devlab on Xmas day whilst suffering with a hangover, and it didn't make much sense to me at all. But I've listened to it several times since then and I think it really is good. I can hear the 'Love Load' and 'EKO' comparisons in there, but the start of the album does sound quite random in places. The whole CD is a journey in itself. I'm guessing Devin used Ableton's Live for the rhythm based stuff towards the end, I wonder if this was what he used to create EKO? I wouldn't try and fall asleep to this record though, it won't happen

Just *chomp* ordered it about *chomp* 30 minutes ago...

*chomp*

mmm...baby spinach salad...

If this is as tripped-out as so many people reckon, I might just have to bring my OWN version of "The Daykiller" out of semi-retirement.

Am I the only one who thinks theres a narrative to Devlab ? I kind of noticed it while passing out a couple of weeks ago.. Now i give it some more spins and heres what i can gather...

Devin has a nightmare that he become a retail store clerk.. ("How may i help you guys" and various adds on the thing) then he goes mental in this job and snaps ("I'm gonna melt you guys").. then hes accused of being crazy (towards the end somewhere.. i think arround track 9) and then he wakes up.

Am I the only one who thinks theres a narrative to Devlab ? I kind of noticed it while passing out a couple of weeks ago.. Now i give it some more spins and heres what i can gather...

Devin has a nightmare that he become a retail store clerk.. ("How may i help you guys" and various adds on the thing) then he goes mental in this job and snaps ("I'm gonna melt you guys").. then hes accused of being crazy (towards the end somewhere.. i think arround track 9) and then he wakes up.

...Woah!

Im hearing you dude... that sort of adds up.
Devlab is cool. Im hearing Eko, Loveload, that little piec of music at the end of planet rain... and devlab;
the sound behind sound

Hey has anyone played FALLOUT:- BrotherHood Of Steel. On XBOX.

Dev does the ambience track on that.... kinda cool too... I heard Devlab influences a little. But it's been a while since I played it. It Is a cool game.

Got my ears on it now.

THIS IS NOT A MUSIC ALBUM.

This is Devs version of Fantomas' Delirium Cordia.

I first thought it was gonna be ambient music in the vein of EKO and Love Load, so now I know it is actually less music and more of Devin creating ambience atmospheres.

So thats where you prolly go and ask yourself if you need a record with "65 minutes of Dev making noise that is not music most of the time". Being hardcore fan and electronic audio creator myself I do so, but now I see the sense of having a 500 copies limit for this disc and all these things.

This is "Devin Townsend as Audio Book" isnt it?

[Blazingmonga]

This is "Devin Townsend as Audio Book" isnt it?

Good description!

I don't think it is important whether you think of it as musical or not, as for the most part it is rhythm-less and beat-less. This does however make the more 'musical' parts that much more striking, almost 'unnatural'. It really depends on what you think of music as. If its melody and lyrics then you wont find it here. If it is noise that moves you, then there is plenty of that.

I see the disc as the soundtrack to something that doesnt yet exist. Like somebody else mentioned, this is like the narrative to some kind of nightmare.

Its groovy freaky stuff.

-David

PS: My machine says 'IMMmmmm ggoonnnnaaaa mmeeelllttt yooouuuu guuyyysss' when I turn it on. Heheheh.

PS: My machine says 'IMMmmmm ggoonnnnaaaa mmeeelllttt yooouuuu guuyyysss' when I turn it on. Heheheh.

Nice! Could you put out the sound file? My PC says "Greetings, my master. How may I serve you?"