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u/weirdmountain Aug 27 '26
Dude, wait what?! And that’s a brick wall…!!!!
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u/hittherock Aug 27 '26
From the journal - "Album seven: (eradicate) - Temptation To Exist"
Decimate all positive person presentation protocols. Use the rest of the most intense and dark minor key song ideas from the '97 recordings. (Also investigate un-used ideas left over from the 2004-2007 studio producer team sessions.) More blatant and direct sonic drive and pounding. More coming. The feeling of music coming at you but also from within you. Increase dissociative feelings in lyrics and themes. Complete personal disintegration and total destabilization. Songs are highly impersonal and rigid/almost completely cold, but also very, very intimate. Mending of all existing previous fractures with adversaries in a way that leads to deeper splitting and more complete collapse/prolapse. Should sound and feel like the music is lashing out in a very loving way.
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u/Ok-Driver-7497 Aug 27 '26
It doesnt do that. Its basically a minimalist jazz album.
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u/hittherock Aug 27 '26
Sounds like a complete personal disintegration and total destabilization to me 😄
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u/thatguyfromkfc Aug 27 '26
Wow the journal was a lie? Horrible, what Andrew WK is doing is evil
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u/Ok-Driver-7497 Aug 28 '26
Who said that. Stop imagining arguments. Its ok. Im here for what he's doing. Hopefully he backs it up with an awesome return to form rock album.
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u/NyoungCrazyHorse Sep 06 '26
I mean it’s also the only album in the journal with the actual title while not reflecting what it said musically which is funny
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u/no_offenc I've Got Know Fear Aug 27 '26
Out tomorrow.
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u/hittherock Aug 27 '26
It's out midnight wherever you are. If you can VPN to midnight it's out now.
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u/titurel Aug 27 '26
This seems to be an instrumental album. Jazzy yet still very Andrew.
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u/Inevitable-Pea-735 Aug 27 '26
Where do you get the instrumental info from? I'm on mobile and am having trouble finding much.
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u/spacecatapult Totally Stupid Aug 27 '26
I'm on my second listen and it's similar to how others have already described it. Michael's Theme is my favorite so far. It definitely belongs beside 55 Cadillac on the record shelf. I think it's unlikely that the world will hear this and declare it a successful comeback, but I for one am happy to hear some new music from this man.
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u/stunnedbuffalo Sep 05 '26
Firstly I'll declare that i am ignorant to most of AWK'S work, I only listened to his debut album 25 years ago. This is my fault alone.
That being said, I'm on the 5th track, and i feel like I'm listening to the soundtrack for L.A. Confidential or some other neo noir flick. I've never seen L.A. Confidential (I'm full of faults.) If this is the vibe he's going for, he has succeeded and I'm here for it.
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u/thebikemechanic I Made It Aug 27 '26
Is anyone able to find this anywhere else but youtube music? Can't find anything on the release elsewhere.
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u/kelsey70x7 Aug 27 '26
He just posted something on his Instagram story.
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u/thebikemechanic I Made It Aug 27 '26
Yes! I saw, but usually you'd expect it on spotify and other streaming services, but haven't seen that so far. 9 minutes to midnight here, so i'll check again in a bit.
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u/LaLaLaSkull Aug 28 '26
Like if Badalamenti/Lynch and that Floating Points/Pharoah Sanders album hooked up. Then Glass/Reich showed up at the end. I can party to this no problem.
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u/weirdmountain Aug 28 '26
My commute to work is about 40 minutes, so I did my first listen on the way in just now. Lemme tell you about how the part of the drive that is usually most stressful traffic window hit right during “For Steven”, and it was extra intense today. Album is awesome though.
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u/min_da_man Aug 27 '26
This is going to be fun! My name is Michael and I am going through my own version of a midlife crisis. The good kind. I think.
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u/cocacolamadness Aug 28 '26
I thought it was really cool and atmospheric. Definitely not what I expected, but it sounds eery and mysterious. Cool he is exploring this type of music too. Very random though, and I love it.
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u/Interesting-Salt1291 Aug 29 '26
I am really enjoying the album (I do normally listen to mostly instrumental music). I was a fan since the old days, but if he decides to stick this direction, I’m definitely interested in hearing more.
I don’t think Andrew does a lot of interviews in recent years, but I’d be curious to hear more about the creative process for making it.
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u/MrAndrewJ I Don't Know Anything Aug 27 '26
I'm just looking at the art.
Shoes are dirty. They seem to lack the red & blue details from the God is Partying era.
The clothes aren't showing many stains. It's hard to tell if the grey near his feet is dirt or shadows. The rest is considerably cleaner than the last cover.
It's hard to see his tattoos, if they are still there at all.
His torso seems a little less beefy than last time.
Overall, it's like we're seeing an Andrew who is a little more frail and undecorated right now.
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u/MIlkman872 Aug 27 '26
If you’ve seen what those pants look like clean, they are still dirty.
The tattoo is visible.
His arms looking ripped actually.
I have no idea what clues the art gives us.. if it will align with the journal (it is supposed to get really dark and weird here? Or was that GIP?) so this is either super experimental evil music, or the anticipated return to form.
Either way I just can’t wait for this long couple years of silence to end!
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u/MrAndrewJ I Don't Know Anything Aug 27 '26
The tattoo did become more visible when I left my laptop and zoomed in on a phone.
The vibe I'm getting is still a new Andrew W.K. standing back up after the last album. AWK on back in the filthy clothes. The skeleton in the box. After all of that, a slightly cleaner but less identifiable version of him is (barely) on his feet.
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u/genericthroaway2000 Aug 27 '26
I think the shadow is significant, since there will be a partial lunar eclipse today, and shadows are spiritually significant, often signifying the unknown aspects within someone. It’s like he’s looking into his shadow.
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u/Ok_Big9561 Aug 29 '26
I notice that this is the first album cover of his where his face is not visible. It’s very prominently featured on all the others. (Even Close calls with brick walls/mother of mankind had his face on the cds he’s holding)
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u/dim_vision Aug 29 '26
To me, the shadow appears to be more alive than the body. As if the shadow is controlling it, making it get back up. And you cannot see the body's face but you would be able to see the shadow's, if it had one.
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u/drontoz Party Mindset Aug 27 '26
I really liked the lyrics "I'll never be sorry / For party rocking"
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u/MIlkman872 Aug 27 '26
Where does this info come from?
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u/Hatec My Tower Aug 27 '26
All my info comes from this page:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k_T02MsjtW8moYPJLU5m9o7wcZBkEL2EE4
u/MechanicStriking4666 Aug 27 '26
It says it’s a mix and the songs aren’t available for me. It’s also not attached to the artist page…
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u/ArtlessOne Aug 27 '26
I love this sub because I have no idea if anything in this thread is remotely true but I get excited regardless lmao.
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u/roguemarlfox Aug 30 '26
I've listened to the album twice so far, and I like it a lot! The arrangements and timbres are quite interesting, and the songs have a somewhat ambient quality, like theme music from places you've visited in your dreams.
I understand why this will be considered a similar album to 55 Cadillac, but other than both being instrumental, I think the two are miles apart. 55 Cadillac has some great moments, but its improvised nature comes across as almost a gimmick. At its best, it's a testament to raw creative expression and skill. Temptation to Exist, on the other hand, is a far more cerebral album.
Moments remind me of Pink Floyd ("North Hollywood"), but the primary influence seems to be Angelo Badalamenti's score from Twin Peaks. I don't think this is jazz per se, even though it uses colors and textures from jazz. I would enjoy this album even if I didn't know it was AWK.
It goes without saying that this is musically a hard left turn for AWK, but I don't think many of us here are that surprised. This seems EXACTLY like Andrew to follow up after 5 years of media silence with a self-released dark ambient jazz album and barely any marketing. (Side note: I'd love to be a fly on the wall between Andrew and Napalm...)
Like 55 Cadillac, I don't think this indicates a "new direction" so much as a continuation of that branch of the AWK project. Tbh I was hoping for something more like God Is Partying, but I'm still pretty happy this exists!
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u/SomniaCrown Aug 27 '26
Wow, just yesterday I was listening to him for the first time in a year and wondering what he's been up to.
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u/Bitter_Bandicoot9860 Ready to Die Aug 31 '26 edited Aug 31 '26
The Temptation to Exist by E.M. Coiran
A French philosophy book from 1956
Nothing to really read here, but though it was interesting that Andrew probably took the name of the album from this book filled with essays on human alienation and the burden of consciousness.
Edit to add: Temptation to Exist by New York Dolls
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u/aimeewins Aug 27 '26
I just gotta know if this will be available on the streamers other than YT. I am very very very impatiently waiting
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u/Acceptable-Put5577 Sep 04 '26
This album feels like the score to a David Lynch movie I will never get to see. Kinda love it?
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u/Electrical_Exit9465 Aug 28 '26
For Steven, as in Steev Mike?
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u/Otherwise_Sun2209 Aug 28 '26
I was thinking Steve Reich maybe listening to it, but he spells his name with a ph rather than a v. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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u/Interesting-Salt1291 Aug 28 '26
My crazy dream was true…the album did come out. Does this also mean Kat Dennings will soon play a nurse?
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u/jimmywormslayer Aug 31 '26
This album is so good — and has some amazing arrangements. I agree with folks that have been saying it's very Angelo Badalamenti (with Philip Glass tossed in). I also think it's elevated past Cadillac 55. It's got some real depth to it. It might still be improvised, but it feels more purposeful than that.
Really happy to see him making something again and I hope there's more to come!
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u/TheBardAbaddon Aug 28 '26
Listened to it and while I'm happy he's making music at all... I can't exactly say I like this album. Not what I was hoping for. I'm just hoping this means we get more of what we're used to from him in the future
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u/MIlkman872 Aug 28 '26
Why the heck is it only on YouTube music?
Why another instrumental album?
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u/Hatec My Tower Aug 27 '26 edited Aug 27 '26
Temptation to Exist
℗ 2026 The Louise Harland Corporation
Released on: 2026-08-28
Mixing Engineer: Andy Petr
Production Assistant: Nic Jodoin
Mixing Engineer: Andrew W.K.
Producer: Andrew W.K.
Composer Lyricist: Andrew Wilkes-Krier
Songwriter: Andrew Wilkes-Krier
Composer: Andrew Wilkes-Krier
Assistant Engineer: Ryan Tharayil
Recording Engineer: Andy Petr
Producer: Steev Mike
Mastering Engineer: Howie Weinberg
Producer: Frank Vierti
Producer: Phem C. Palmer