“Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!” Photo : Tim Mosenfelder ( Getty Images )

The world is a vampire, sent to drain / the Smashing Pumpkins, of songs that don’t sound the same

So what do we get, for our pain? / Fulfilled desires, for new tracks that kinda bang [contort your pronunciation so that it works, the way 2 Chainz would]


Look, each time the reunited Pumpkins release a new track, we’re here, ready and willing to make some more Alex Jones jokes and reference that great time Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil called bullshit on young Mr. Corgan to his face. But the thing is, “Solara” was pretty decent, some mixing issues aside, and now, to accompany the details of the group’s new album, they’ve released an even better song, “Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts),” that is just straight-up catchy. Not quite “1979"-level catchy, but close—probably because it’s a simple twist on that basic musical formula, a clear case of “stick with what works.” Still, this new material is coming along better than anyone not named Billy Corgan (sorry, William “Cool Capes” Patrick Corgan) expected, and we are on board for it.

Rolling Stone reports the band has decided against that whole “two four-song EPs” plan previously announced, instead choosing to go the “one eight-song album” route, perhaps having learned that two wrongs make one record. Shiny And Oh So Bright Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun., which sounds a bit like a game of Smashing Pumpkins album-title Mad Libs, is due out November 16 on Corgan’s label, Martha’s Music. Produced by Rick Rubin, the record will be accompanied by a few overseas arena shows, followed by a November 30 homecoming at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom.


Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. track listing:

1. Knights of Malta

2. Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)

3. Travels

4. Solara

5. Alienation

6. Marchin’ On

7. With Sympathy

8. Seek and You Shall Destroy