Say Goodnight to the World

ive been playing it @ work all morning so far

A short review: The Thrill is gone....

No offense

Had it on heavy rotation the last few days.
And my brain just gave me following message:
See You All In Hell Or New Orleans is the best thing Dax ever recorded since ITIHIL.

i bought the preorder, thing is: i'm not home to get it. i have work in upstate NY all week (which is far enough away from home so that my company puts me up in a hotel). when is the mp3 album available for download from fat possum? i can show you my receipt from the preorder, but i don't want to wait til i get home to get it. fffuuuuuuu-

Doomchild wrote:

See You All In Hell Or New Orleans is the best thing Dax ever recorded since ITIHIL.

Man, I like the live version better...

lol doom. i knew from the boots i wouldnt like it, but i bought it anyway to support dax and his label. i was embarrassed listening to this its so bad.

I really don't know much off the boots, so I was not biased, I guess. And that track to me is as haunting as in the olden days!

skully wrote:

i knew from the boots i wouldnt like it, but i bought it anyway to support dax and his label.

That is so awesome that you bought it to support him and the label. I wish more fans were like you.

Mine comes via Amazon sometime tomorrow

Well, being a pathetically poor SOB i didn't pre-order, but as soon as the fiance gets home from her meeting, it'll be a mad dash out to grab a copy. Can't believe I haven't acquired this yet in some form or another. And even though some songs aren't anything even remotely close to what they once were, still looking forward to it very much.

I just finished listening to the whole thing, and I have to say I do enjoy it very much so. I like the different direction it's taking, I'm not sure about my favorite song off of it yet, I really like Born to be my Gallows, and No One Will be a Stranger, overall, great fucking work Dax!

ive been stuck on 'like moonlight'...so good for sleeping (& baking )

I love every track now, including Gallows. No weak tracks, but my favorite moments are Heartbreak Hotel's chorus, the very first line of the album "All these stars....", The beginning of Like Moonlight and 2nd half of Gravedirt on my Bluesued shoes. Great stuff, and I definitely want to hear him play this stuff live.

I think i've decided that I really love "Say Goodnight to the Moon" a lot more than I originally did. Good stuff. I really wish that "See You in Hell or N.O." was more like the live version. It's a lot more mellow on the cd, which is cool, but the live version is so much better.

Mortality wrote:

I just don't feel the beautiful emotions that I felt when I heard these songs live. I just can't feel the emotion through this album. It feels so dry.

...I'm not feelin' it.

But, live, I loved these very same songs.

I haven't heard the album yet, but I know what you mean. Experiencing Dax live is completely necessary to understand the extent of his talent. In addition, not all shows are the same of course, so thank goodness for the kind folk who record his shows. He changes things up all the time, so each night has the potential of being a one of a kind treasure. Especially before the album comes out and he's working stuff out.
Sigh.
Can't wait to see him live again.
Can't wait to hear the album.

Much like many of us here I have been following Dax since his Acid Bath days, and I must say I am smitten with the new record. I've listened to it about ten times now and here's my initial thoughts on the record now that I've had a chance to absorb it.

Say Goodnight To The World - this is actually one of my least favorite songs on the record, not because of the song itself, but because of the recording. The bluesy riff that drives is the song is simple but effective, but it suffers from Dax's underwhelming guitar playing. It could be a nice meaty riff but it misses Matt Sweeney's ear for guitar tones and playing that WSOOBOL had.

I Hear Satan - one of my favorites. The production adds a nice atmosphere to the songs, the trashy lead guitar playing is very fitting and cool, and his vocals float over the dark swampy groove real well.

You Were Born To Be My Gallows - another one of my favorites. The acoustic feel has a nice Nick Drake/ Shearwater vibe to it and the tamberine hits are a perfect touch in their simple elegance. Dax's falsetto is strong and he moves through the notes he chooses to use in the little vocal runs he does incredibly well. I first listened to this album at two in the morning with some nag champa burning and some candles lit (yes, I'm cheesy) and this song fit the mood so well it was scary. And, really, creating or enhancing a specific mood is one of the main points of music, if not THE main point.

Gravedirt On My Blue Suede Shoes - I like this song, there's some interesting things going on in the chords changes and guitar leads. Not one of my favorites on the album, but a good solid track and a nice four on the floor pulse to the drums that really push the song along nicely.

Like Moonlight - orgasmic. The first time I heard it I was a bit disappointed that he teased at letting his vocals take off about two thirds into the song, but I have grown to feel that he sang for the overall effect of the song, not to showcase himself, and it really displays his maturity as a songwriter and arranging, not just a singer. The production is great, having almost a Sigur Ros feel to the delicate sheets of sound that gingerly ebb and flow across the entire track. If this and Gallows are an indication of where he's heading, I, for one, and thrilled. Very enchanting.

No One Will Be A Stranger - first listen or two I wasn't overly impressed, but it has grown on me a lot. It never looses it's momentum and I really feel he sinks his teeth into the vocal in the right way. Also, the interplay between the rhythm guitars, leads, and the counter movement of the bass line at the end of the song is very cool and shows that some thought was but into a fairly simple barn-burner of a track.

Heartbreak Hotel - what can you say? This is some classic Dax crooning. His methadone slur on the verses is a nice offset to the vocal explosion on the choruses. Vocally one of the highlights of the album and I really like how the music takes a groovy backseat to let his voice really shine on this track. Again, mature and excellent aesthetic choices.

Sleeping With The Witch - I really dig this version. The older versions of this song I felt were a bit too cartoonish in their gothic drama and the pleasant wall of keys over the punchy tribal drumming moves nicely through the track. Vocally very pretty, applying similiar choices like the ones he made on "Like Moonlight". The band very tastefully crescendos at the end of the song and allows the song to go somewhere slightly different than where it started.

Let Me Be Your Cigarette - very WSOOBOL in my opinion. It's ok, not one of my favorites but servicable. Of the three rockers on the album (this song, Gravedirt, No One) its my least favorite and I feel it was a good choice to put it towards the end of the record. He gets his howl on during this song, so the vocals are spirited, which is nice. It also sets up the last song nicely.

See You All In Hell Or New Orleans - very cool Dangermouse/Sparklehorse "Dark night of the soul" depressed trip hop vibe to it. A beautiful closer. I know the live versions feature his laying into the vocals a bit more, but as a closer this is executed perfectly. His vocals are haunting as hell, the layering of simple sounds that sleepily push the song to the end are understated and beautiful. Again, much like "Like Moonlight", he shows that he is concerned more about the song and the atmosphere than he is about showing off. The old school Dax fan in all of us wants to hear him croon like he did on early versions of "Scarlett of heaven nor hell" and "Evil Hides" and while that is all good, it's nice to see him use a new approach to how he structures and attacks his music.



I know a lot of complaints have also been made about how short the record is, and while it could have benefited from perhaps another song to stretch it out past the 40 minute mark, I don't feel cheated by the listening experience as a whole. By the time the record ends I feel he has made his artistic point and didn't short-change the journey. Just my opinion, of course.


Overall, due to a production flaw here and there, and a couple songs that I like but don't love, I give "Say Goodnight To The World" an 8.5/10.


For those of you whom are disappointed with the record, I respect your opinion and I wish you could be having the listening experience that I am having with this album. Hopefully the record clicks with you down the line. Hell, I didn't quite "get" Ok Computer for the first few years I had it for some strange reason, and now I can't imagine it not being the standard by which I judge music going forward. To each his own.


Oh, and what exactly did happen to the skeletal circus?

excellent first post i love the username

well the owner of that site had a falling out with dax and took the site down.

That's too bad about Primo and Dax. Kudos to everyone for getting this place up and running in such short time, though.

The falling out had nothing to do with Primo.

Amazing review. I really enjoyed reading that.

Great review by the way.

My bad. I thought Primo ran the site.

Nope. He was just there on occasion. He is good shit that Primo.

i don't care what anyone says, this is amazing. yeah, it's not that long.. but the songs that are there are incredible. i'm getting a LOT of emotion from it. dax definitely IS using his gift, but i also am appreciating the "toned down" aspect to his voice, too. a gripe of my ex's was that dax was too "all over the place" with his voice, showing it off when it didn't need to be, etc. while i disagreed with him on it, i can see where he's coming from. here, it feels like dax has a more "hold" on his voice, he knows when to belt out those heavenly notes, and he knows when to keep it on the down low. i'm not seeing a super weak song on here. i was expecting to hate "gallows" because everyone else said so, but i'm digging it.

rob has these super nice speakers, and we put it on there and listened to it together for the first time, just laying on his bed, absorbing. no, we weren't high either. i wanted to experience this at full attention. he was bobbing his head to a bunch of them, and in robspeak that gives his seal of approval.

"like moonlight" is kind of jesus and marychainy in the vocals, with maybe a little joy division thrown in, had ian curtis had the time to mature his voice.

winmedia player is being a douchecock and it's only showing maybe half of the songs in my playlist for some reason. i'm super frustrated, when i should be sleeping as i have work at 8am, but no i'm being frustrated with the fucking winmedia player.

as i asked on fb, does anyone know of any good windows media player alternatives? winamp is too complicated for my shit anymore, it's so cluttered and ugly and i don't use the browser part at all, so i don't want to use winamp. itunes is too slow for a non-mac PC, so what else is there? do i have any good alternatives that are just simple fucking media players without all the bells and whistles? halp plz.