Ezra Furman's new album production

Is there something odd going on or are all my speakers a bit messed or something?

Loads of it sounds a bit fuzzy in a way I’d assume was down to a poor recording or (if I was playing it on vinyl) dust on the record. But I’m playing it off Spotify.

It’s frustrating because I really like the songs and style but it’s detracting from my enjoyment as it feels less of a production choice and more like a fault.

I had to skip The Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club song, which seems a particular shame as it sounds like Ezra feels that one is particularly special to her.

Am I just an old man yelling at clouds here or do other people hear this and get annoyed by it?

The Furmanator!

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" In producer John Congleton (who also mixed Twelve Nudes ), Furman’s found a collaborator equally interested in pushing conventional rock tropes to their limits. Congleton’s proclivity for raw, distorted recordings can sometimes overwhelm, but Furman meets it with equal intensity."

I like it - but its obviously not for you.

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Ah right. Yeah, this is annoying to me.

I know a bunch of people (at the time) found The Woods a really tough S-K album to get into on account of that producer but I reckon the over-amped side really worked there and just made it a hugely loud good listen.

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Do you have the vinyl? Just wondering if it is less affected like that as I thought they couldn’t always do the same level of production stuff for analogue masters.

I have 12 nudes but not the new one on vinyl

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this is interesting - particularly the last few lines

“Ally Sheedy in The Breakfast Club”:

It is a queer trope to fixate on a pop culture figure or fictional character and pin one’s whole world on their aesthetic and aura. This is what I’ve done with Ally Sheedy’s Alison in The Breakfast Club, a movie I’ve seen dozens of times. I am so attached to her wounded defiance and her combination of joy and fury. I know it’s kind of funny but this might be the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever written.

That’s how a lot of our feelings work in the age of media hyper-exposure: Some of our most emotional moments are filtered through a character, a movie set, a screen. Which may also be the reason for the fuzzy crackling production, here. I like how it sounds like the score for a bad TV movie playing on a bad TV.

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One of the worst big name contemporary producers.

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Keep getting him confused with the fella who did the original of Step On.