Post by anon on Nov 7, 2023 16:11:45 GMT
i saved this to a text file even though i didn't really believe it. the guy that posted was getting kind of defensive in a weirdly specific way so idk. idk why he won't just post something if this is true but here it is
Don't use reddit or any of the message boards or any of the Facebook groups, but in light of a few total weirdo fan girls taking things way too seriously, I figured it was time to slowly reveal some stuff... which in light of 2011-2014 feels like history repeating itself...
To make a very long story short, there's a group of about 15-20 fans (including myself at one point!) that were invited by someone (Crush management? Weezer-associates? Industry people?) to participate in what is essentially a focus grouping of the songs intended for the next Weezer LP... sound familiar? This takes place within a locked down Discord server that Cuomo, Karl, and a few Crush people I don't recognize are in, though they barely ever post. The only activity is Thursday nights, almost weekly, when within a voice chat, a new group of demos is played and those present are instructed to...
A: Provide their assessment of the track from an emotional standpoint, how do the lyrics make them feel? How does the sound of the music make them feel?
B: Approach the track as a non-Weezer fan. Would you leave it on if it came on the radio, what off-the-wall aspects of this demo may scare off more casual listeners and why?
C: Provide your thoughts on how this version differs from any previous version of this demo you've heard, in a good or a bad way
From the last time I was in the group (last session I provided insight on took place this July), the batches of songs were mostly similar to the tracklists/folders Cuomo has posted about in his public Discord... of course there were versions with many changes and revisions, some stuff barebones some stuff more fleshed out. Just like the EWBAITE stuff we've all heard now, changes the songs go through, etc. I was invited in seemingly in the middle of it (?) and for no apparent reason, and I couldn't see the message history in the group prior to June 2022 when I joined, so I really have no clue if this has spanned for the past few albums/ep's though I wouldn't be surprised. Some stuff that hasn't been mentioned yet, that stuck with me and/or I and others have copies of. Hearing all this played to me was almost as surreal as when the demos came out a few years ago, especially the songs I recognized that he went back to, but there was a lot of new stuff as well.
"Caveman" re-done in almost a yacht rock style. Totally awful curio. Lyrics exactly the same as what we've heard
Flight Plans is almost unrecognizable compared to the covers and/or low quality snippets I've heard. Again, there's so many parallels to the EWBAITE process here that it almost feels like a subconscious intentional aping! What I mean by that is that much like Rules, Flight Plans was sent to us in what sounded like its 2014 full band ready-to-release state, then played to us next batch in an almost orchestral arrangement (this post dated OKH stuff and it sounded a little edgier than anything on that record), then a version with the chorus melody completely replaced with the melody from that "alt superfriend" demo in the Blue/Pink bundles... it took me a while to put my finger on where i'd heard that before haha. as far as I know, the latest versions I heard went back to rock mode but it just wasn't the same
A piano ballad titled either "Weave Me The Strongest Truths" or just "The Strongest Truths" depending on what file I'm looking at. Hasn't really changed much except for some lyrical and tempo tweaks, it's interesting to me that I don't think I've seen this publicly referenced anywhere by Cuomo as it seems to have stayed in contention for quite a while, the chorus remains unchanged from the initial version: "Handmaiden break your chains/we all make our own paths..."
Ivory Telephone has been completely ruined. This was a recent revelation as, going back to 2022, the versions played were the same as the EWBAITE era demos that you all have already heard. The last version I heard took nearly all the backing vox out of the picture and as a result completely sucked the life out of the track. the verses are no longer desperate, and instead is a whiny plea as he shouts "Are you really over me" multiple times with completely lame SZNZ spring sounding acoustic guitars going in the back. Such a complete letdown as the original EWBAITE versions I think are some of the greatest straight up pop rock he's done in a while.
Multiple tracks that have seemed to stay in contention throughout the past year, I'm seeing now a list on this subreddit... a few of the ones that come to mind that I have are "Cookies and Cream" and "Girl With The DND Tattoo..." which are both just terrible, in my opinion at least. Whatever you're thinking these songs are about, you're probably right. I'm kind of clumping these together as (at least the versions I have/have heard) they both fit into what I would describe as a sort of techno-lite sound, and not in a good way. Mish mash lyricism at its worst again. I cannot believe these have gotten past several rounds of cutting for this album. "Because we go together, cause we go together/Just like cookies and cream/just like cookies and cream" - not kidding you, it's that awful.
The other focus groupers were excited about the SFTBH alleged "re-do" material that he posted about however many months ago. I can't really say I felt the same as I was never that interested in SFTBH as a concept, but what I've heard from that batch was mostly alright if you take it out of the SFTBH context. This was especially weird as we were played most of those songs (at least, i'm looking at the publicly available list he posted - I don't think they were played to us in this order), but we weren't sent copies to keep. All the 90s stuff seemed to be entirely unchanged, which sat kind of weird next to the new songs. it felt about as disjointed and half baked as fan-playlists of the original do. I don't have access to any of these songs right now (it's possible some people got actual mp3's of this stuff, I didn't), but I remember "Cosmic Unity" being particularly so-bad-its-good, a space theme funk groove that almost made me laugh thinking about this being the same album with Blast Off! on it and the same album so many fans have hyped over the years. This seemed to be an afterthought of the whole process because none of these songs made a reappearance in the sessions I was at, even Blast Off! which I see Cuomo has as an actual Album 20 contender... strange!
One of a very few songs from these batches that I have on repeat all the time is an anthemic rocker called "Outta The Shadows" (looking now, I see this in the SFTBH file list posted publicly but it was NOT in the SFTBH batch I heard) - I think it cops a melody from an A5 demo that I can't remember the name of, but other than that it's this brand new swirling and loud and emotional thing with a lot of cool dynamics going on, I'd say it almost verges on prog rock, but it's not as bad as you might be thinking. It's actually really well done and one of those classic Cuomo experiments that only he could pull off, and he nailed it here. "I'm lost without you, shipwrecked right at dawn..." almost nursery rhyme style verses giving way to a huge chorus, harpsichord thing a la "In My Life" that keeps making a reappearance throughout the track. nearly 7 minute runtime, it's pretty incredible. More adventurous and intentionally cohesive than something like Greatest Man, I think.
I can write more later, I'll listen to some of these and see what other interesting things I may not be remembering. It's been a really fun year+ of these listening parties, especially since I was decidedly not part of the EWBAITE ones, but like a lot of things - some of the weird older women that seem to worship him sort of made it not fun for me and a few other focus groupers. I'm not going to be posting any of these songs publicly, but can take questions and get back when I have some time. If anyone else was part of this and we haven't spoken, feel free to reach out via PM - there's still stuff that I know was sent to other people as mp3's that I never got a copy of and it kind of bugs me cause some of it was really great.
Hope you enjoyed reading this, and I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes too much with posting this.
Don't use reddit or any of the message boards or any of the Facebook groups, but in light of a few total weirdo fan girls taking things way too seriously, I figured it was time to slowly reveal some stuff... which in light of 2011-2014 feels like history repeating itself...
To make a very long story short, there's a group of about 15-20 fans (including myself at one point!) that were invited by someone (Crush management? Weezer-associates? Industry people?) to participate in what is essentially a focus grouping of the songs intended for the next Weezer LP... sound familiar? This takes place within a locked down Discord server that Cuomo, Karl, and a few Crush people I don't recognize are in, though they barely ever post. The only activity is Thursday nights, almost weekly, when within a voice chat, a new group of demos is played and those present are instructed to...
A: Provide their assessment of the track from an emotional standpoint, how do the lyrics make them feel? How does the sound of the music make them feel?
B: Approach the track as a non-Weezer fan. Would you leave it on if it came on the radio, what off-the-wall aspects of this demo may scare off more casual listeners and why?
C: Provide your thoughts on how this version differs from any previous version of this demo you've heard, in a good or a bad way
From the last time I was in the group (last session I provided insight on took place this July), the batches of songs were mostly similar to the tracklists/folders Cuomo has posted about in his public Discord... of course there were versions with many changes and revisions, some stuff barebones some stuff more fleshed out. Just like the EWBAITE stuff we've all heard now, changes the songs go through, etc. I was invited in seemingly in the middle of it (?) and for no apparent reason, and I couldn't see the message history in the group prior to June 2022 when I joined, so I really have no clue if this has spanned for the past few albums/ep's though I wouldn't be surprised. Some stuff that hasn't been mentioned yet, that stuck with me and/or I and others have copies of. Hearing all this played to me was almost as surreal as when the demos came out a few years ago, especially the songs I recognized that he went back to, but there was a lot of new stuff as well.
"Caveman" re-done in almost a yacht rock style. Totally awful curio. Lyrics exactly the same as what we've heard
Flight Plans is almost unrecognizable compared to the covers and/or low quality snippets I've heard. Again, there's so many parallels to the EWBAITE process here that it almost feels like a subconscious intentional aping! What I mean by that is that much like Rules, Flight Plans was sent to us in what sounded like its 2014 full band ready-to-release state, then played to us next batch in an almost orchestral arrangement (this post dated OKH stuff and it sounded a little edgier than anything on that record), then a version with the chorus melody completely replaced with the melody from that "alt superfriend" demo in the Blue/Pink bundles... it took me a while to put my finger on where i'd heard that before haha. as far as I know, the latest versions I heard went back to rock mode but it just wasn't the same
A piano ballad titled either "Weave Me The Strongest Truths" or just "The Strongest Truths" depending on what file I'm looking at. Hasn't really changed much except for some lyrical and tempo tweaks, it's interesting to me that I don't think I've seen this publicly referenced anywhere by Cuomo as it seems to have stayed in contention for quite a while, the chorus remains unchanged from the initial version: "Handmaiden break your chains/we all make our own paths..."
Ivory Telephone has been completely ruined. This was a recent revelation as, going back to 2022, the versions played were the same as the EWBAITE era demos that you all have already heard. The last version I heard took nearly all the backing vox out of the picture and as a result completely sucked the life out of the track. the verses are no longer desperate, and instead is a whiny plea as he shouts "Are you really over me" multiple times with completely lame SZNZ spring sounding acoustic guitars going in the back. Such a complete letdown as the original EWBAITE versions I think are some of the greatest straight up pop rock he's done in a while.
Multiple tracks that have seemed to stay in contention throughout the past year, I'm seeing now a list on this subreddit... a few of the ones that come to mind that I have are "Cookies and Cream" and "Girl With The DND Tattoo..." which are both just terrible, in my opinion at least. Whatever you're thinking these songs are about, you're probably right. I'm kind of clumping these together as (at least the versions I have/have heard) they both fit into what I would describe as a sort of techno-lite sound, and not in a good way. Mish mash lyricism at its worst again. I cannot believe these have gotten past several rounds of cutting for this album. "Because we go together, cause we go together/Just like cookies and cream/just like cookies and cream" - not kidding you, it's that awful.
The other focus groupers were excited about the SFTBH alleged "re-do" material that he posted about however many months ago. I can't really say I felt the same as I was never that interested in SFTBH as a concept, but what I've heard from that batch was mostly alright if you take it out of the SFTBH context. This was especially weird as we were played most of those songs (at least, i'm looking at the publicly available list he posted - I don't think they were played to us in this order), but we weren't sent copies to keep. All the 90s stuff seemed to be entirely unchanged, which sat kind of weird next to the new songs. it felt about as disjointed and half baked as fan-playlists of the original do. I don't have access to any of these songs right now (it's possible some people got actual mp3's of this stuff, I didn't), but I remember "Cosmic Unity" being particularly so-bad-its-good, a space theme funk groove that almost made me laugh thinking about this being the same album with Blast Off! on it and the same album so many fans have hyped over the years. This seemed to be an afterthought of the whole process because none of these songs made a reappearance in the sessions I was at, even Blast Off! which I see Cuomo has as an actual Album 20 contender... strange!
One of a very few songs from these batches that I have on repeat all the time is an anthemic rocker called "Outta The Shadows" (looking now, I see this in the SFTBH file list posted publicly but it was NOT in the SFTBH batch I heard) - I think it cops a melody from an A5 demo that I can't remember the name of, but other than that it's this brand new swirling and loud and emotional thing with a lot of cool dynamics going on, I'd say it almost verges on prog rock, but it's not as bad as you might be thinking. It's actually really well done and one of those classic Cuomo experiments that only he could pull off, and he nailed it here. "I'm lost without you, shipwrecked right at dawn..." almost nursery rhyme style verses giving way to a huge chorus, harpsichord thing a la "In My Life" that keeps making a reappearance throughout the track. nearly 7 minute runtime, it's pretty incredible. More adventurous and intentionally cohesive than something like Greatest Man, I think.
I can write more later, I'll listen to some of these and see what other interesting things I may not be remembering. It's been a really fun year+ of these listening parties, especially since I was decidedly not part of the EWBAITE ones, but like a lot of things - some of the weird older women that seem to worship him sort of made it not fun for me and a few other focus groupers. I'm not going to be posting any of these songs publicly, but can take questions and get back when I have some time. If anyone else was part of this and we haven't spoken, feel free to reach out via PM - there's still stuff that I know was sent to other people as mp3's that I never got a copy of and it kind of bugs me cause some of it was really great.
Hope you enjoyed reading this, and I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes too much with posting this.
