It had never occurred to me that it was so unusual (at least around these parts) to get completely shit-faced and make a ridiculous noise with your chums. It was standard practice at parties when I were a lad.

Complete is that sound, although it's a little bizarre to see adults at it.

What next? Davy 'Mental' McMichael being declared a genius of the avant-garde dance world for his 9pm freak-outs on the round-about near B&Q after 12 cans of Special and half a bottle of Buckfast?

"all the munitials are in the name"

Rick Reuben wrote:

tmidgett wrote:I don't like hearing people think. If I can hear the thinking, small chance I'll really like it. I like hearing people go for it.

I think most people would rapidly get sick of a diet of music that was made by people not thinking. And I don't believe that Complete are not thinking about the music they are making.

You are using false logic.

I said I don't like hearing people think.

You are assuming this means I don't like people to think about the music they make.

You are incorrect.

I did not say I like music made by people who are not thinking.

In fact, I prefer music made by people who have put thought into what they do.

But I don't like hearing them figure it out. I like hearing it after they've figured it out and have managed to quit thinking about it.

My contention is that 1) these guys have figured their thing out, 2) they don't sound at all self-conscious about what they are doing, and 3) it's great.

I just listened to all those songs again. Sans video. I don't watch the videos any more. That's not a bad test, for anyone who is wondering if they really like it or just entertained by it for other reasons.

Cranius wrote:

cjh wrote:

enframed wrote:

here.

Uh. Yuck. That is even worse than the "Complete: Behind The Music".

Smug internet bullshit comes close to spoiling this. Or at least making me forget how awesome it is.

I've listened to and thought about Complete all morning. Which is more than I can say for 1,000s of other bands. As I was falling asleep last night, parts of their songs were in my head.

The singer is the best thing about the band - the spirit, for lack of a better word, that holds it all, tenuously, together. He seems to know exactly what he wants to do. I've seen some confrontational art noise -type stuff that sounds somewhat similar, but lacks this odd coherence.

Any number of the complimentary things people have said about Complete - "belief in what they're doing," unself-consciousness, etc. - could be describing stuff a lot worse to listen to than this. There's something about this band that makes me want to listen to them.

Most music is bullshit. Most bands sound like boring movie soundtracks to me - predictable, or mere background noise. Or a band "sounds good" as defined within certain parameters of what is acceptible, but there's nothing there. Complete are not predictable, and they don't sound good. But I can listen to them. I actually think I like them.

Finally, it may just be a mystery or accident that some of us find them appealing. I wrote earlier that I would like it better if the bass were in tune/key. But when I try to imagine hearing this aspect being "fixed," I can't. Every fucked-up bad note is part of their sound. I don't think they did this on purpose and, in some way that I'm not comfortable trying to explain without sound like I'm overthinking, this makes it better. This "approach" or lack thereof does not inherently make a band interesting. But in Complete's case, it somehow worked. If only for that one night on a cable-access show that some douche taped and posted as a joke, they created a unique and genuine form of expression that some people are now hearing and responding to.

And yet, after saying all that, I also think they're kind of hilarious. But I'm not making fun of them. I would love to see them preform. I think it's possible to find them funny but be seriously interested in them at the same time.

complete > lungfish.

discuss. feel free to throw expletives my way.

Rick Reuben wrote:

tmidgett wrote:
In fact, I prefer music made by people who have put thought into what they do.

But I don't like hearing them figure it out. I like hearing it after they've figured it out and have managed to quit thinking about it.

I'm not clear on when your ears gain access to the production line of a band's songs. You say that you recognize and appreciate when a band has put thought into their music. Where does this recognition come from? It must come from the end product, the record or the stage performance. So, you hear evidence that thought went into a song ( from the finished product ), but you can also pinpoint the stage in the creative process when the band 'figured it out', and quit thinking? So you have some sort of X-Ray vision that allows you to see the steel frame ( the thoughts ) beneath the exterior of the completed song?

Mind reading, X-Ray vision, etc., etc. Ohhhhkay.

I can't 'pinpoint' anything, and I have not claimed or implied this ability.

I'm a lifelong musician. I have listened to countless hours of music. I have seen countless live performances.

I know what I hear, I know what I see.

If someone executes and executes in a similar fashion over a number of instances, it's reasonable to assume that what he is doing is done willfully. No shit.

If he's doing it in fucking public, then it's reasonable to assume that he wants to be doing what he's fucking doing.

And most of a good musical performance is either losing yourself or putting on a convincing act to that effect. I have opinions on when someone has achieved this and when he has not.

You mention Don Caballero. Don Cab sounds like a lot of thinking to me, actually.

We're obviously on much different wavelengths--not a problem.

rick reuben, what would you do to make complete more radio friendly?

enframed wrote:complete > lungfish.

discuss. feel free to throw expletives my way.

I don't know if you're trying to be funny, but that's an apt comparison. Repetitive music, whimsical lyrics. Hmmm...

BadComrade wrote:Seems to me that the singer for this band's vocal delivery and inspirations are as genuine as say... David Yow's.

I don't feel the same way about the singer from US Maple.

This surprises me; I've always thought, since I first heard Johnson's voice in Shorty and having seen US Maple live (only the once, mind), that his delivery contained zero affect.

My girlfriend forced me to stop Hoogie Boogie Land after 10 seconds of the song proper. She's very unforgiving.

I can't work out whether the crowd in that video is really into them or not. I really hope they are.