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Neogaf Rock/Indie/Alt Music Thread (RockGAF?)

B

big ander

Member
Fjordson said:
Kinda random, but I've been revisiting the last two Smith Westerns albums for some reason over the past few days. I really like both of them. A shame they disbanded.
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My ranking: Dye it Blonde > Smith Westerns > Soft Will (which is still great)

Fun band and I was sad to see them go, but I'm expecting good stuff from members in the future. Liked this interview with Cullen after the breakup, explains where he thinks he's headed:
http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2014/12/19/smith-westerns-break-up-an-exclusive-interview-with-front-man-cullen-omori
Have you been approached by record labels about launching your solo career?

As Smith Westerns ends, I don't really know what label I'll have or whatever. I just think that because we don't live in a city like New York or LA, you can just do your own thing and I'm not being reminded of the rat race of being an indie musician. Before any of the Smith Westerns stuff was decided, I was just working on music to work on music. It was one of those things where at the time, coming off of touring and having all these expectations of being this band, it was kind of cool to not have anything. I was working with my friend at hospitals cleaning stretchers, cleaning blood and shit off stretchers. Wearing like a hazmat suit. We'd go into hospitals at different times of the day. Sometimes we'd go in in the morning and clean the ER. I just wanted to do it. It's not like it was the difference between living at my parents' and living in my apartment. I just wanted to do a job because I hadn't worked in a while. We'd talk and listen to music and listen to sports radio while we repaired these stretchers or wheelchairs in different hospitals. And from there we'd go to my friend's basement and I'd have these two guys, Sam and Adam, who would record and play drums on my recordings. And it was a really cool way to work. It was just on everyone's own time. Instead of having to check on whether or not I could do something, I was able to just do it. Which was great, and I was able to teach myself how to write a fully realized song. I've been doing it since February. And once I started doing it, it was almost like this light went off where I was able to write so much more music than I normally had been able to in Smith Westerns. I've written 12 songs. And not some bullshit 12 songs where eight of them suck.

So you have a complete record?

Yeah, I have a record. It's written. I just need to go to a studio and record. I've been recording super lo-fi like we used to do in Smith Westerns, in basements. I haven't really tried to get a bunch of people on board and try to monetize it. I think it's really important after what happened with Smith Westerns, where we were really at the will of the label or we were being told to go with this person or that person, that I really assess who I work with in a personal way.

Describe the music you're making.

The last song I wrote the majority of for Smith Westerns was "Varsity." I think it was the closest thing to what the new stuff sounds like. I made a very conscious decision to strip back the chord progressions of the songwriting because I felt like with Soft Will there was a little too much of this prog element. I wanted to move back to the simplicity of earlier Smith Westerns songs. For me, the idea of making a pop structure—really listening to Top 40 radio, and I listened to a ton of it—is like verse, chorus, second chorus, et cetera. Shit like that. It's about really trying to integrate that structure and the way you use melody and how dynamics change and bring that into how I grew up writing music, which was very 70s influenced or late 80s. I'm trying to find something where it sounds good and poppy, but it's not lame and overdone. I didn't want it to be super sugary. Finding that balance is really cool, and it's something you have to experiment a lot with. I don't want to make anything that is super niche.
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K

K.Sabot

Member
Viet Cong's debut is awesome, so many good songs. Pointless Experience, Bunker Buster, Continental Shelf, Silhouettes and Death could all be singles. The builder tracks don't slack either, I'm not entirely sure if I can rank the opening track with the others though. It's no Women record, it lacks Pat Flegel's eccentric touch, but it successfully plays the rock aspect of Women very straight. Ez top 10 album.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
S

Servbot24

Banned
Well here's my most anticipated record of the year:

d3a6b8f6.jpg


http://pitchfork.com/news/58121-mew-return-with-new-album-share-satellites/

https://soundcloud.com/mew-official/satellites/

I don't know what it is but this band absolutely slays me. Depending on their longevity they could in time overcome Radiohead as my favorite ever (I doubt they will do this since it takes them forever to make a record and their lineup tends to be a bit shaky).
 
L

Linius

Member
Aye Servbot, we're on the same page. What a time to be alive. Looking forward to the album.

Mew is coming to Amsterdam, but they play here on the same day as the may edition of Le Guess Who? festival is held so I'm gonna have to hold out on getting tickets yet.
 
A

AniHawk

Member
polaris is currently on tour for the first time ever. they'll be in los angeles on april 22, so i'm gonna head down there with a couple other people.

polaris was the band that did the music for the adventures of pete and pete, and was basically the 1980s/1990s jangle pop band miracle legion without mr. ray neal.

they also put out a new single last year, which was posted earlier in this thread.

17-elg.jpg


kinda surprised for a bunch of guys in their fifties they're doing kind of a lot of shows in a row. here's the schedule:

thursday april 16, 2015: brighton music hall in allston, ma
wednesday april 22, 2015: the crocodile seattle in seattle, wa
thursday april 23, 2015: aladdin theater in portland, or
friday april 24, 2015: the chapel in san francisco, ca
saturday april 25, 2015: echoplex in los angeles, ca
friday may 15, 2015: highline ballroom in new york, ny
saturday may 16, 2015: the underground arts in philadelphia, pa
 
A

AniHawk

Member
amnesiac said:
I actually picked up a Miracle Legion album the other day at the record store... 'Glad.'

Good stuff.
Click to expand...

glad is one of the few i don't have. i did download (legally) the albums i couldn't find physically.

the backyard (1984)
irECT1X6oQICM.jpg
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it's a pretty good look at the early band. there are only six songs on the album, and they're all kind of rough in a good way. the title song, 'the backyard' feels strangely out of place and more produced though. may favorite from the album is just say hello

surprise surprise surprise (1987)
a1847812864_10.jpg
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glad came out between 'the backyard' and 'surprise surprise surprise', so it was mostly covers and live performances. 'surprise surprise surprise' was the first lp for the band and was more cleaned up compared to 'the backyard'. there's a lot of great stuff here. with the exception of 'little man', there's nothing i dislike, but storyteller is my favorite from the album.

me and mr. ray (1989)
51rv79CJQcL._SY300_.jpg
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after 'surprise', two of the band members left, leaving only singer mark mulcahy and guitarist mr. ray. 'me and mr. ray' is sort of an album that feels like an interim between their previous stuff in the 80s and where it would go in the 90s. it's fairly minimalistic, and not exactly my favorite album, but it has some of my favorite songs from the band in you're the one lee and sailors and animals. this is the last album that was made on vinyl to my knowledge.

drenched (1992)
iRQLataadU83C.jpg
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'drenched' is probably my favorite album from miracle legion, owing to the fact that dave mcaffrey and scott boutier's involvement pushed it towards the 'polaris sound' i was familiar with growing up. this album is a lot more upbeat even when it's being dark, which is a lot of fun. snacks and candy just great, and i have a hard time really singling out anything from this album, like 'surprise surprise surprise'.

music from the adventures of pete and pete (1993-1995)
220px-Music_from_The_Adventures_of_Pete_%26_Pete.JPG
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although the album wasn't released until 1999, chris viscardi and will mcrobb, who created the adventures of pete and pete, had approached miracle legion to do music for the show. mr. ray declined, but mark and dave were up to the task, and scott boutier joined in after season one. chris and will would ask mark to come up with specific kinds of songs and they would get them done, usually around four a season, until the show was canceled in 1995. 'hey sandy' and 'waiting for october' are probably the two most famous songs from their stint as 'polaris' (in addition to being down one band member, the name of 'miracle legion' was in legal dispute because of record label shittiness). i really liked the monster's loose most, though.

portrait of a damaged family (1996)
ixpiQjE8uhiK7.jpg
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while i originally considered this a bad album, i've come around on it a bit. it's very disjointed, and easily the band's weakest effort, but there's enough here for a couple good listens. over time, i've come to think of please as one of their best, probably because it came from the 'surprise surprise surprise' era, as did 'homer', which makes me think 'portrait' was sort of a collection of unreleased works somewhat cleaned up so that mulcahy's label mezzotint could have ownership of the miracle legion name or something.

after pete and pete, everyone kinda went their separate ways. mark mulcahy did the solo album thing with 1997's 'fathering', 2001's 'smilesunset', and 2005's 'in pursuit of your happiness'. afterward, his wife died and he stopped producing music until 2013's 'dear mark j mulcahy, i love you'. i've found it a lot harder to get into his solo stuff, but i really enjoyed 'dear mark j mulcahy, i love you', at least. i am not sure what happened to ray neal, but scott boutier and dave mcaffrey joined frank black and the catholics for a while. it was only at a 2012 pete and pete reunion that 'polaris' ever performed live, and it was probably mark getting into the studio again and that 2012 performance that led to 'polaris' getting back together and even producing new music for the first time in 19 years.

anyway, i'm excited. not really because of pete and pete, where i was first exposed to the sound, but just of mulcahy and miracle legion in general.
 
H

Hop

That girl in the bunny hat
AniHawk said:
thursday april 23, 2015: aladdin theater in portland, or
Click to expand...

Got my ticket back in December. Honestly thought it was a joke/mistake when I first saw it listed, it seemed so unlikely. I came into the world of Mulcahy through Polaris, so I'm kinda glad that's the one I actually get to see live.
 
B

big ander

Member
Moon duo record is good, up my alley. First I've listened to from em. Will need a couple listens to see if it escapes from under its very apparent influences to connect kraut/space/postpunk in a unique way. Off one listen it can be a little samey within the album and to other records (eg half the synth lines made me want to go listen to "Suicide". "Ice" is a monster track
 
F

faridmon

Member
big ander said:
Moon duo record is good, up my alley. First I've listened to from em. Will need a couple listens to see if it escapes from under its very apparent influences to connect kraut/space/postpunk in a unique way. Off one listen it can be a little samey within the album and to other records (eg half the synth lines made me want to go listen to "Suicide". "Ice" is a monster track
Click to expand...

From the little I have listened, I actually find it quite underwhelming. The songwriting might be good, but I was expecting lengthy Space Rock/ Kraut Rock kind of composition ala Hookworms with drenching sounds and abrassive guitars. What I got was slightly psychedelic pop noise which wasn't my expectation especially since they were connected to Föllakzoid. Now that is some Krautrock shit!

Also Fuck yeah for a new Echo Lake album. Stoked!
 
V

Valhelm

contribute something
I picked up the new Decemberists album today. It's certainly not their best, but super solid. "A Singer Addresses His Audience", "Philomena", "Better Not Wake the Baby", and "A Beginning Song" are great.

This is their first release in a long while without any concept. Its constant stylistic jumps can be fun, and remind me a bit of the patchwork quality of Swans and Brian Eno record. The quilted designs of the album art seem to hint at this, too.
 
B

big ander

Member
Copped the pinkshinyultrablast yesterday, gonna try to get to it before the week is out.

New Mountain Goats comin in April. I'm no completist or diehard for his work but I think the songs about wrestling concept sounds fun
 
L

Linius

Member
Yeah most likely. Roskilde is too metal/poppy heavy besides the interesting names for me to compete with Primavera. And OFF usually got the small names but have a too small budget to also have the interesting headliners such as The Strokes. Primavera is the complete package. Only downside might be that they don't have anything really exclusive except for a few names.

Really hope The Replacements and Spiritualized will do more shows.
 
P

Pacbois

Member
Linius said:
Yeah most likely. Roskilde is too metal/poppy heavy besides the interesting names for me to compete with Primavera. And OFF usually got the small names but have a too small budget to also have the interesting headliners such as The Strokes. Primavera is the complete package. Only downside might be that they don't have anything really exclusive except for a few names.

Really hope The Replacements and Spiritualized will do more shows.
Click to expand...

I hope Villette Sonique gets Spiritualized.

Yeah not a lot of exclusives. (only The Strokes I guess) I'm already seeing Ride and Sleater-Kinney in Paris. I saw Belle & Sebastian, Caribou, James Blake at Pitchfork last november. Interpol, Black Keys or Underworld are already doing big tours around europe this year.

It's just the best concentration of bands on three days, but nothing mind blowing.
 
L

Linius

Member
Yep, that sums it up quite well. I fear the first opportunity I have to go there will be after my study. Which means Primavera 2019
LhwRz7R.png
 
chris121580

chris121580

Member
The new Marilyn Manson album is surprisingly awesome. Absolutely love the direction he's decided to go in. Really great stuff worth checking out
 
F

faridmon

Member
thabiz said:
really digging pinkshinyultrablast's debut. vintage.
Click to expand...

Hell yeah, someone else listens to them.

Yeah, they are absolutely great. started following them when they started forming and its great to see them maturing like this.

As for me, really digging Cheatahs after hating them initially.
 
A

Aegus

Member
2nd year in a row I won't be going to Primavera. I'm not as much a fan of the lineup this year compared to the last 3 years.

I'm loving that Mew are touring again and have no material out. When I started getting back into music they were one of he first bands I came across.

I just need that new Beach House album this year for 2015 to be utterly incredible. Seriously I would be tempted to follow them around the UK if they tour this year.
 
B

big ander

Member
Really like the pinkshinyultrablast record. I don't know if it was me needing to wake up or warm up to it but I didn't really enjoy it until the second half. Land's End and Ravestar somethingwhatever especially. Slots in well in between Bilinda Butchers' dreamy shoegaze pop and Future Death's candied math/noise rock, and some of the vocals were echoey and cut up in a way that made me think of Arbutus stuff
 
L

Linius

Member
Soooo, Viet Cong got their BNM on p4k. Now the hype can really start building. Even though I've been listening to it since last november I'm pretty sure it will stick with me long enough to easy make my AOTY list. It's just so damn good. Together with Sleater-Kinney I'm almost inclined to see two spots are on lock.
 
F

Fjordson

Member
big ander said:
Really like the pinkshinyultrablast record. I don't know if it was me needing to wake up or warm up to it but I didn't really enjoy it until the second half. Land's End and Ravestar somethingwhatever especially. Slots in well in between Bilinda Butchers' dreamy shoegaze pop and Future Death's candied math/noise rock, and some of the vocals were echoey and cut up in a way that made me think of Arbutus stuff
Click to expand...
This sounds so good just going by the iTunes previews. Definitely going to check it out next week.

Also really like that band name :lol
 
O

overcast

Member
Sleater's first album was great. Debating whether or not to just jump in the new one.

Also, I'm listening to Veronica Falls first album. Great stuff. Catchy, dark and twee at the same time.
 
E

equippedwithtowel

Member
Linius said:
Soooo, Viet Cong got their BNM on p4k. Now the hype can really start building. Even though I've been listening to it since last november I'm pretty sure it will stick with me long enough to easy make my AOTY list. It's just so damn good. Together with Sleater-Kinney I'm almost inclined to see two spots are on lock.
Click to expand...
I've had the same feeling for a while. Silhouettes into Death gets me every time. A review site said it was post-punk for the Canadian winter and I'm inclined to agree.
 
chris121580

chris121580

Member
I'm on board with the new Viet Cong album as well. Been listening to it and Sleater-Kinney non-stop this week. The final 3 songs on Viet Cong is one of the best 3 song runs ever to end an album
 
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