Smashing Pumpkins Soldier On With Free 44-Song Album

Posted on Sep 17th 2009 10:00AM by Mike Ayers
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When the departure of original Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin was announced back in March, many assumed that Billy Corgan's alt-'90s project was officially coming to a close. But it's not so! After a quick open casting call, Corgan recruited 19-year-old, Portland, Ore. drummer Mike Byrne to weather the future of the band with him, with the fruits of their labor coming soon in the form of a 44-song free album. Yes, you read right -- 44 songs will make up the eighth Smashing Pumpkins album, entitled 'Teargarden by Kaleidyscope.'

"Each song will be made available absolutely for free, to anyone anywhere," Corgan said in a statement. "There will be no strings attached. Free will mean free, which means you won't have to sign up for anything, give an email address or jump through a hoop. You will be able to go and take the song or songs as you wish, as many times as you wish." Should you still enjoy the physical aspects music has possessed at times, Corgan is making 'Teargarden' available as 11 highly limited EP's with 4 songs on each.

Corgan goes on to describe the new tunes as "atmospheric, melodic, heavy and pretty," drawing on the Pumpkins' early days. We certainly think that's not a bad thing by any means -- 1991's 'Gish' ranks up there as one of the finest debuts of the major acts of the decade, Corgan also stated that 'Teargarden' draws from the Tarot, stating it's "based on 'The Fool's Journey.' The intention is to approach the work by breaking down the journey of life into four phases as made by different characters depicted in major arcana cards: the Child, the Fool, the Skeptic and the Mystic."

With that in mind, look for the first song to appear appropriately around Halloween, with each song rolling out in the subsequent 43 weeks. That's a whole lot of pumpkins.