New Smashing Pumpkins EP "released"

Yesterday marked the release of American Gothic, a four-song, 17-minute EP from the Smashing Pumpkins. Also known as Billy, Jimmy, and some other people. Also known as Zwan.

The EP was released exclusively on iTunes and you can get it on its own or as a bonus when you buy the iTunes version of Zeitgeist, the July 2007 release from the Pumpkins after being apart for seven years. iTunes version, you ask? Billy and co. (let’s be serious, Billy makes all the decisions) decided that Zeitgeist needed not one, not two, not even three, but four different versions: one standard version, one to be released by Target, one by Best Buy, and the last for iTunes, with each of the last three featuring a different bonus track. Good business strategy, Billy. Suck the funds out of every diehard fan you’ve made wait so long for another album.

If I sound bitter, it’s because I am. I used to be one of those die-hard fans, and I hesitate to say I still am. It is just really hard to keep defending the Pumpkins when they so blatantly do it for the money. I’d rather hide behind my own ignorance, and Billy won’t let me.

American Gothic’s four acoustic tracks are worth a listen, but the songs won’t be stuck in your head hours after you finish listening to it. The lyrics are typical new-age Billy, with no pain or anguish in sight. It’s not that I don’t want my favourite musicians to be happy, but if a tormented soul means better music, sacrifices must be made.

Despite the lyrics, Billy’s musical abilities still shine through, with the voice we know and love and a progression of notes and chords that follow with the route the Pumpkins have taken as opposed to the Pumpkins we remember.

I might buy American Gothic when it's released in Canadian stores later this month, but only to complete my Smashing Pumpkins discography. Alongside those four Zeitgeist albums.

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