Not as much as you'd think. It's not like people are paying attention to the chord progression when they hear the song, especially not enough to tell if it's a full chord vs. power chord when there's distortion.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]It's really too bad everything after God Cable has been boring powerchord city.[/quote]

Someone hasn't heard Fuzz Hill.

i like the noodles for their great sense of melody and harmony... do you want to hear some really messed up song structures like journey or something?

the noodles are very same-y, i have to say that there was a period of my life where it all sounded the same to me. i listened to 6 colors and ivy over and over for like 2 years before i ended up appreciating the rest of their work.

I think the noodles have good vocal melodies, but the interplay between the vocal melodies and the guitar has gone down since Junko left, and seems to be sort of coming back, I guess, since this sounds similar to the early stuff that I really liked.

unrelated, but still interesting (to me): Yoko holds plays her guitar absurdly upright. More than any other guitarist I've seen. Seriously, that neck is at a 15˚ angle. I guess that might be more ergonomic? But still. Kinda whack.

I gotta say I like the girls' new look. And the song's pretty good. Not "God Cable" good, but close.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]unrelated, but still interesting (to me): Yoko holds plays her guitar absurdly upright. More than any other guitarist I've seen. Seriously, that neck is at a 15˚ angle. I guess that might be more ergonomic? But still. Kinda whack. [/quote]


probably has something to do with her only being a foot taller than the guitar.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]unrelated, but still interesting (to me): Yoko holds plays her guitar absurdly upright. More than any other guitarist I've seen. Seriously, that neck is at a 15˚ angle. I guess that might be more ergonomic? But still. Kinda whack. [/quote]

Sambomaster?

[quote="GoldenRhino"]Seriously, [b]Grease[/b] = Glasgow Girl = Super Star = [b]I'm just playing the guitar [/b]= LOVE MY LIFE = straw = 45 = remind = [b]velvet underground [/b]= [b]Jupiter Hotel [/b]= kitty south = slits = Deep Beyond the Dream <Shakespeare Edit> = April = Fool Song = Blush Timpani = [b]Traditional Case[/b][/quote]

I love the bolded songs, especially Velvet Underground and Jupiter Hotel.
I have consistently liked and disliked a fair ratio of noodles songs all through their records, so for me there isn't really a feeling that what they are doing now is either up or down from what they've done before.

But I must say I really loved the two songs on Electric Rays, and now Skin is also great. So I guess I can say I like their "new" stuff!

MERGER.

Anyway, Yoko has, especially since Junko's departure, struggled with this problem of writing the same song over and over again album after album. The good news is that it's a good song, and when she does manage to innovate a little bit (see: Grease) the result is a pretty cool tune.

[quote="GoldenRhino"][quote="Marekenshin"]they're just a [b]shortened form of full chords[/b] and actually tend to sound better with distortion.[/quote]

Right, right. But you can see how this could lend itself into being somewhat...prohibitive. Yes?[/quote]

99% of rock and roll chords are major and minor chords, or variations of such. The other 1% are 7th chords, and any other chords used are statistically insignificant. That said, using power chords is almost indistinguishable from using major/minor chords under distortion. For instance, the Ramones seldom used anything other than full major and minor chords.

The reason power chords and double stops are so prominent in rock and roll is because playing too many notes simultaneously under distortion results in a nearly indistinguishable "sound." For instance, take the "brown sound" of Eddie Van Halen. It is very rare that you will hear him play more than three notes at a time. How [b]prohibitive[/b] was that to him?

Additionally, all fourth and fifth intervals are essentially power chords, and if you throw in some third intervals, your musical direction is essentially boundless.

I guess I was making an unfair connection. But yeah, as Jomei said, the problem is writing the same song over again. I think the lack of lead is...holding them back. Yeah. Sambomaster does it well, but it's a hard comparison because their style is quite different.

Even the minimal lead that was done on RED BUNNY, Cover Me Shakespeare, Ivy, Lemon Grass Foo Foo, and the fur was enough to make them really good songs. The lead, though sparse, really saves them. If the band isn't going to mess around with other instrumentation, interesting rhythms or anything besides what they're doing...then yeah. They start to write the same song over and over again.

It's just sort of a sign when you start thinking "Hm...isn't the gang getting a little bored by now?"

The same argument can be launched against the pillows in a lot of respects (though to a lesser extent) but I think when bands have been around as long as these two have, it's to be expected that they have trouble getting outside of their comfort zone.

I was referring to how the guy from sambomaster holds his guitar but sure, that too.

[quote="GoldenRhino"]
a boring bass line[/quote]

[quote="Marekenshin"]Blame it on the lack of interesting bass[/quote]

What are you guys talking about..?
The bass is one of noodles' strongest points, Ikuno is probably my favorite bassist ATM