Bear McCreary's THE SINGULARITY (2024 concept album)

[Jay 37,544]

The first single is out Friday February 23rd:

 

 

1 Type III (feat. Rufus Wainright) 5:12

 

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/type-iii-feat-rufus-wainwright-single/1729393396

 

 

Full album drops in May:

 

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/bear-mccrearys-graphic-novel-the-singularity-for-may-2024/

 

 

Bear's Tweets about the project:

 

 

 

 

[JNHFan2000 2,988]

 

 

 

 

 

[Jay 37,544]

Few random thoughts:

 

-lovely pic of Bear with Elmer

 

-music sort of sounds like Dream Theater

 

-in the big group shot of them all rocking out, they kinda look like a nerdy middle-aged bar cover band

[crocodile 8,074]

It could be a cool thing actually.

 

Karol

[Jay 37,544]

Yea, it sound awesome!  (I love Dream Theater!)

[Thor 7,669]

I loved the metal riffs, less enthused with the film music/trailer-like element. Byt hey -- it IS a trailer, so I guess it fits. Also cool to see Steve friggin' Bartek involved (blink and you'll miss him).

[Miz 139]

I'm glad Bear is at the point in his career where he can rock out with his mates and let loose on his own free-form concept album and story-in-graphic-novel. Whether I will enjoy the output remains to be seen!

[Thor 7,669]

Yeah, and I particularly dig the connection to Oingo Boingo that he's now established. First with the excellent score THIS GAME'S CALLED MURDER, clearly molded on the Oingo Boingo sound and with Richard Elfman collaborator Ego Plum, as well as Boingo luminaries John Avila and Steve Bartek. And now the Bartek connection continues into this, it seems.

[pete 910]

Wow, I'm a huge Joe Satriani fan. Outside of film scores, he is one of the musicians I listen to the most. So cool to see two of my favorite musicians/composers working together. I'd be lying if I said I have never hoped for this! Joe's part is probably small though as he's been busy lately and there are plenty of other guitarists involved.

 

Another is Guthrie Goven is just a freak on guitar, and he's been a staple of Hans Zimmer's concerts for a while now. I love Hans' reaction to his Man of Steal solo:

 

 

[Jay 37,544]

 

https://bearmccreary.com/TheSingularity/

[Edmilson 7,646]

Woah

[Jay 37,544]

Has anybody listened to the lead single yet?
 

 

[Jay 37,544]

So this had been announced as a May 10th released, but it just dropped today on May 3rd instead

 

 

1 Overture
2 Incinerator (ft. Serj Tankian)
3 Event at the Horizon (ft Esjay Jones)
4 Redshift (ft Brendan McCreary)
5 Type III (ft Rufus Wainwright)
6 Blue Eye (ft Lee Pace)
7 Antikythera Mechanism (ft Raya Yarbrough)

8 The Automaton's Heart (ft Brendan McCreary)
9 Industrial Revolution (ft Asdru Sierra)
10 Tatarigami (ft Brendan McCreary)
11 Exiles (ft Griogair)
12 Midnight Sun (ft Brendan McCreary)
13 Red Eyes (ft Ryan Hurst)
14 Last Stop (ft Brendan McCreary)
15 Roko's Basilisk (ft Jens Kidman)
16 First Day Out (ft Mega Ran)
17 Rage Child (ft Brendan McCreary)
18 Syzygy (ft Brendan McCreary)
19 Escape from the Machines (ft Slash, Joe Satriani)
20 Rallying Cry (ft Eivør Pálsdóttir)
21 The Last of the Old Gods (ft Sigurjón Kjartansson)
22 Leviathan (ft Corey Taylor)
23 Yellow Eyes (ft Danai Gurira)
24 The End of Tomorrow (ft Slash, Brendan McCreary)
25 Tears for the Dead Life (ft Morgan Sorne)

 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-singularity/1733913530

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ku_JC-UhWd1U5gUuboIODQSrp6073wFrw

https://tidal.com/browse/album/348505533

https://open.spotify.com/album/3F3bn1GGgjTSn8AQadLo4w?si=mm0DoBvYQBGOn0W20PwBGw

https://us.7digital.com/artist/bear-mccreary/release/the-singularity-explicit-38333363

[Jay 37,544]

Physical 2-CD or 3-LP edition

 

https://www.madebymutant.com/release/445917-bear-mccreary-the-singularity

[KittBash 283]

Some of this is a bit Heavy for me personally BUT there are some really good melody lines and great musicianship throughout! 

As usual Bear has a knack for positioning different music styles with the orchestra [when used] and there are a few earworm lines in there that I'll have to give it a second chance... like the singles that came out earlier maybe it will grow on me.

[Jay 37,544]

I forgot to mention that I listened to this last week and I'm sad to say it isn't for me.

 

I actually like a bunch of prog rock and other heavier stuff, but this one didn't really do it for me.  And I don't think there's much to recommend here for fans of Bear's film and television music work, it had very little in common with that.  The only time I was really reminded of that was the beginning of "The End of Tomorrow" but then that eventually became another heavy song too.

 

Fun experiment though, and I hope Bear has great success with it and its tour

[Edmilson 7,646]

He is scoring about 34 television shows and a few movies and still finds time to go on a tour? 

[Thor 7,669]

I sampled it awhile back, and I'm afraid it didn't do much for me either. Death metal, crazy guitars and grindy Red Hot Chili Peppers-style stylings just aren't for me. Same issue I have with Elfman's BIG MESS (which I preferred more nonetheless). Didn't hear much prog rock in it; I love prog rock, so more down that road would have pleased me. Some of the more downkey/cinematic tracks were alright, but again nothing that I will return to.

 

In terms of Bear doing rock stylings, I far prefer his score for THIS GAME'S CALLED MURDER with his thoughtful and fun references to Oingo Boingo and the like.

[JNHFan2000 2,988]

I'm with Jay & Thor. Not for me. There's stuff like This Game Called Murder that I like much more than this.

I didn't connect to it at all

[Richard Penna 3,781]

Quick flick through it.... woah, that is so not my thing. Not even close.

 

Next.

[Edmilson 7,646]

So JWFan is not into metal? 

 

I don't mind it, but there's some songs from bands like Metallica or Rage Against the Machine (are they metal? Maybe rap-metal?) that I enjoy, especially when I'm in the mood for more aggressive music.

[Thor 7,669]

2 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

So JWFan is not into metal?

 

I am, but not really the kind on display in the McCreary album.

 

I'm not only a fan, but a completist of Rammstein.

[GerateWohl 4,490]

4 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

I am, but not really the kind on display in the McCreary album.

 

I'm not only a fan, but a completist of Rammstein.

Seems also in rock music we have opposite taste.

[Thor 7,669]

1 minute ago, GerateWohl said:

Seems also in rock music we have opposite taste.

 

Oh, if we dig deep enough, I'm sure we'll find some overlap.

[GerateWohl 4,490]

1 minute ago, Thor said:

Oh, if we dig deep enough, I'm sure we'll find some overlap.

Maybe. 

Probably the main difference is, for me Rock music was seldomly just for listening but my favourite dance music in the first place. Progrock is seldomly groovy how I like it.

[Thor 7,669]

2 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Maybe. 

Probably the main difference is, for me Rock music was seldomly just for listening but my favourite dance music in the first place. Progrock is seldomly groovy how I like it.

 

Oh, I like groovy too. Disco, 80s pop, old-school rock'n'roll, funk, you name it.

[Edmilson 7,646]

My best friend was a huge fan of epic power metal, especially those bands that sing about fantasy stuff like wizards, druids, dragons, etc.

 

He loved this album in particular:

 

 

Probably because he was a huge RPG and D&D fan

[GerateWohl 4,490]

4 minutes ago, Thor said:

Oh, I like groovy too. Disco, 80s pop, old-school rock'n'roll, funk, you name it.

I talked about rock music. 

Disco and Pop was for me rather music for listening. 

But my rock music were first bands like The Cure, The Mission, Killing Joke, Sisters of Mercy and the like.

Later the real eye opener were The Pixies. A little later the Red Hot Chilli Pepers. Then Pearl Jam. Then Throwing Muses. Smashing Pumkins, Breeders, Belly, All the stuff, I guess, you hate.

[Jurassic Shark 12,241]

You guys should do a podcast together. 

[Thor 7,669]

10 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

I talked about rock music. 

Disco and Pop was for me rather music for listening. 

But my rock music were first bands like The Cure, The Mission, Killing Joke, Sisters of Mercy and the like.

Later the real eye opener were The Pixies. A little later the Red Hot Chilli Pepers. Then Pearl Jam. Then Throwing Muses. Smashing Pumkins, Breeders, Belly, All the stuff, I guess, you hate.

 

True.

[Richard Penna 3,781]

I like some rock but it's never the shouty kind (or whatever the hell it is we just heard). Most tracks on this album made me press next in just a few seconds.

 

I suspect most people have overlap in their tastes somewhere - you just have to find it. My limitation being that I'm unfamiliar with almost any 'classic' band from the 60s/70s/80s.