i am so sorry if this has been already discussed... i looked and i didn't see anything, but sometimes i miss shit...

at any rate, i like the record. but does the kick sound like it's distorted to anyone else? is that what that sounds like? if it's mastered or recorded too hot? it's driving me nuts... there's that distortiony click every time the kick is hit.

maybe i've just got shit speakers... everywhere around me. i dunno...

but i like the record, actually. i wasn't all on board for "get behind me satan" but this one is pretty cool.

I think the album title describes Meg White's drum sound fairly accurately.

i like the record enough. i think that "prickly thorn" is a serious gaffe and "rag and bone" is pretty killer. it feels a bit uneven overall, but i like listening to it

The White Stripes should be classified as a mental illness. WSD.

bellulah wrote:does the kick sound like it's distorted to anyone else? is that what that sounds like? if it's mastered or recorded too hot? it's driving me nuts... there's that distortiony click every time the kick is hit.

yep, that sound is on the record, your speakers are not to blame. it bugs the shit out of me - actually to the degree that i don't put on the record that much. it is re-e-e-e-eeally annoying.
how the fuck could they let that slide through? they simply couldn't just have missed it since it's so obvious, which leads me to believe they actually like that sound.. which is even worse.

bellulah wrote:at any rate, i like the record. but does the kick sound like it's distorted to anyone else? is that what that sounds like? if it's mastered or recorded too hot? it's driving me nuts... there's that distortiony click every time the kick is hit.

So are you saying, "they majorly fucked up on the recording."
...or...
"I disagree with their stylistic distortion of the kick drum."
(?)

I'm not disagreeing with you here. I still need to hear this album.
But I generally like a little overmodulation on a recorded drum sound because direct mic and superclean mixing says nothing for how a really good/loud-sounding acoustic drum set rattles, harms and generally fucks with your eardrums when played in a natural indoor setting.

To be honest, it sounds much more like a fuck-up than intentional distortion. It's a yuky sorta crackle on each hit which sounds like your speaker driver is busted. IMHO, it doesn't sound the least bit cool, but rather just irritating.

Don't get me wrong, I loooove distortion and distort pretty much everything, but this sounds like poo.

I really, really like the sound of the record. I even find it more enjoyable to listen to as to the new Shellac record.
It's not just the kick drum that's distorted, every fucking thing on that record is "in the red". The compression on those mono drums is so over the top, it's brilliant. I have heard enough band-live-in-room-records during last the couple of years.
I even might have liked the new Stooges record if it had sounded anything like the White Stripes album.

vaka wrote:To be honest, it sounds much more like a fuck-up than intentional distortion. It's a yuky sorta crackle on each hit which sounds like your speaker driver is busted. IMHO, it doesn't sound the least bit cool, but rather just irritating.

Don't get me wrong, I loooove distortion and distort pretty much everything, but this sounds like poo.

SO I've now heard it, and i 100% agree with the kick drum thing. I can see where they're going with it, and the dums do sound really good and ballsy, but there's a little too much crackle/clip coming over on the kick drum that is waaaaaay too distracting.
I'm hoping it might sound better on vinyl.

"Icky Thump" indeed