Terrible Thrills Vol. 3 #2
I Miss The Last Days of Disco
Don’t Take The Money (Demo)
All My Heroes/Hate That You Slow Me Down (with Muna)
Terrible Thrills Vol. 3 #3
Everybody Lost Somebody (with Julien Baker)
Good Morning After a Breakup/Vietnam Documentary
Better late than never.
After receiving a copy of Terrible Thrills Vol. 2 #2 that looked like it was used as a sharpening tool by Freddy Kruger, I got my replacement copy in the mail yesterday, alongside a copy of the third volume in the series. Thanks to Jack for personally responding and helping me get a replacement!
Neither copy look like they were sanding with a brillo pad this time around, so here you go.
Quick note regarding the audio quality though; even with pristine copies of these singles, they were pretty difficult for me to rip. These have a lot of quiet spots, odd intentional distortion effects, and sudden (also intentional) popping and clicking sounds. All of those things make removing things like (unintentional) pops, crackles and other surface noise very difficult.
I have a program called ClickRepair that I’ve been using for probably over a decade. It’s usually very good at scrubbing out any unwanted rice krispie-esque distractions from a record, but these proved difficult even for that powerhouse. Each time I tried to run it through that program, no matter what settings I chose, it would pick up the intentional distortion effects as clicks. The end result sounded like digitally scrambled garbage.
Thankfully, I have another program that also does this task called MAGIX. I mostly use that for EQ adjustments and surface rumble removal (it’s absolutely impeccable at that and makes it worth the price alone). I usually don’t use the click removal features on that because it alternates between too strong and not strong enough, but I was able to tweak it to knock out most of the more obnoxious crackles on each record. Some tiny imperfections remain, but vinyl is an imperfect format (as this entire ordeal clearly demonstrates) so they’re the kind of thing you just have to live with.
Most of the tracks sounds fine, but there are a few minor pops in the beginning of “Everybody Lost Somebody” that I just wasn’t able to scrub out. Sorry about that. However, other distortions in the recording, including some odd vocal clipping that come near the end of the song, are part of the recording so they’re not on me.
I do realize that 90% of the people who listen to these tracks won’t even notice these things, but I also realize the 10% who do will be the ones to leave comments, so I felt the need to elaborate.
Audio and shipping issues aside, these tracks are great. Julien Baker’s cover of “Everybody Lost Somebody” is fantastic. Like Mitski’s take on “Let’s Get Married” it strips the song down letting the lyrics speak for themselves more. I never noticed the lyrics “I think pain is sitting alone in the corner” before, great line. Muna’s “All My Heroes” feels like an amalgamation of modern-day autotuned pop and vintage 80s pop, also fantastic.
Of the “new” Bleachers tracks, which remix/rework album cuts, my favorite is “I Miss The Last Days of Disco,” which is a rejiggering on “I Miss Those Days” with added “disco” beats and vocal effects. It reminds me Antonoff’s other group Fun and “Some Nights.” Very anthemic.
Again, Jack has said that these tracks can be freely shared and copies, so please do with these as you wish and come back after part four comes out, as I’ll be sure to share them too. Just remember that it takes a bit longer for me to post them as I live in Japan and international shipping can be a real asshole. And if you’re looking for part one in the series, I got them here.
I also put all of these up on my YouTube channel so be sure to check that out too!
I am still bummed he won’t release these (Especially Vol 2) on CD or digital download. Seems like a slight to all of the stellar artists he is working with. But then again, perhaps I am just lamenting the dying of my generation and our old-fashioned technology and just need to embrace streaming.
Are they even on streaming though? I do wish he would release them digitally in some form too. Seems like a waste.
Thanks for posting, I really appreciate it!
Yeah — they are on Spotify. But I would love to have these on CD (for the fidelity) or at least MP3 for the mobility. I don’t live in the best area for streaming on the go.
Thank you for all the work you have put into this! It all sounds gorgeous
Thanks so much for uploading these! And I am almost 100% certain that these are not on Spotify or any streaming service unless they’ve been ripped and uploaded by someone else.