Salem - What kind of music genre is this ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StFCfNOFaYA

The next video is kind of NSFW :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA13-Ykrob4&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StFCfNOFaYA

This isn't dubstep, ist it ? Well whatever, I'm totally in love with this kind of screwed-up minimalistic electronic musicit's the the perfect soundtrack for sleepless nights in a big city during a heatwave...

And what else should I check that sounds like this ?

Hmmm, made a mistake, this one is the NSFW one :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WjvaeyYJTo

Yeah i really liked their first ep. Do they have an album out? Still a bit rough around the edges but looking fwd to their next release

I think there's only a couple of EPs from last year and a recent single (with Sweat on it).
http://www.myspace.com/jjhhmm

sounds great. has anyone sped up their tracks to 45 to see what they really sound like?

Ha, that's a fun idea. I'm going to try that.

Saw these guys play in Rome and they just stood on stage and shared a cigarette while car crash footage played behind them. I have a feeling David Lynch c. "Fire Walk With Me" would've loved them.

They recently did a 27 min mix that is downloadable there : http://www.20jazzfunkgreats.co.uk/wordpress/2009/06/11/pink-fog/

i've been digging them since I heard one of their tracks on 20jfg last year but that story above just made me officially love them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWmOeU5Spmg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eah5aN1JZpI

I really love the ep (it's on eMusic, incidentally). If the Italians do it Better stuff sounds like the soundtracks to Umberto Lenzi cannibal movies, Salem sounds like the soundtrack to some sick under-the-video-nasty radar snuff loops. Utterly terrifying.

The ep has the bass deliberately so far in the red that on good headphones it's almost nauseating (in, uh, the best possible way).

i dunno if you're on noise board, but someone just posted a canibal soundtrack comp in leo

Saw these guys play in Rome and they just stood on stage and shared a cigarette while car crash footage played behind them.
Love that story too. Salem is like The Tough Alliance evil twin.

Trapdoor is pretty awesome.

"goth crunk"

i dunno if you're on noise board, but someone just posted a canibal soundtrack comp in leo

Nice! Thanks for the tip!!!

Another C&P style track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76RneFRYJSY

"EVP Pop"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94IKAEAEBvE&feature=channel

This is my favourite track by these guys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weDQIkGhEkY

Re: Salem In Rome - Metro Video OTM in a strange way. They came onstage after a serious set by Peter Christopherson (sp?) of TG/Coil fame where one of the pieces was accompanied by snuff footage from a 2nd-hand cellphone of a man being executed (didn't watch. I walked out after his warning to senstive audience members and just listened from the lobby). I filmed a bit of Salem's set and may Youtube it if I ever get an account together.

This is NSFW I guess, and a little bit scary too :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi7HgmGgTpw

Also if you want to get in touch with Salem, here's where to write (according to the website) :
Nick Vonrudolphsky inmate # m02899
Vandalia correction
p.o. box 500
Vandalia, IL.62471

So it's not the Israeli death metal band called Salem then?

No this one is three guys from Chicago.

http://www.myspace.com/whytering

another goth crunk band. i guess this is like the opposite of chillwave

Thx jaxon, this is really cool. Sounds so close to Salem I'd be surprised if there isn't some kind of connection.

love how the thread's initial question has now been answered by "goth crunk"

Yes "Goth Crunk" is indeed a very good way to decribe that genre. Well done Baaderonixx !

The new sound for the 10ies!

http://www.buttmagazine.com/?p=2102

Here's a nice interview with John Holland, one of the members of the band.

the interview makes the band sound awful awful awful somehow, but I listened to one of the clips and it ain't half bad

How did I miss their cover of 'Streets of Philadelphia'?

that butt article is sooooo o_O

http://www.sendspace.com/file/6q5ayn

http://www.thefader.com/2009/10/01/salem-remix-gucci-mane/

so I'm kinda smitten with this band. Heavy rotation the past two days.

salem are great.

so these guys are about to get big, right?

so these guys are about to get big, right?

yep, they should be on the front cover of the NME

Big like The Knife, maybe, big like My Morning Jacket, not a chance. Because life is unfair and people are stupid.

Totally my favorite band of the year so far

It seems that Salem released a full 12 track album (on CDR) in 2008 on Disaro Records in Texas. It was called "Fuckt." I'm assuming that it was released in an insanely small run (the label just lists it as "out of print"). It shows up on SLSK and as Rapidshare .rars, but in really shitty sounding rips (one seems to be a 96 kbps rip, and the other is, strangely, a 384 kbps rip (whatever that is) - both sound really bad). I guess none of the people who ever bought the thing were rip-savvy or whatever... how can I track down a decent sounding copy of this?

The obscurity of Salem's music in physical/digital form is obviously part of their mystique (last couple 7"s, "Ohk" and "Yes I Smoke Crack" were one time runs of 500 - both are selling for about 50 pounds on eBay). They do have the one ep on eMusic and iTunes, which is great.... I just want to hear more songs!

http://www.thefader.com/2009/11/24/we-make-it-good-mix-series-v-11-salem

i guess i meant to link this one (more direct)
http://wemakeitgood.com/mix-series/volume-11-salem

http://www.thefader.com/2009/12/09/fadersouthern-comfort-7-inch-series-11-salem-and-tanlines/

split thing with Tanlines, who I wasn't familiar with before. both are good songs.

tanlines is eric emm of the brothers and one of the dudes from professor murder. fun stuff.

Have the potential to make either a half-way there disappointment or one of the coolest records of all-time

I've seen it called Juke-Goth, goth juke and other variants. I have no idea wtf it means though.

PS: if you like it, you should also check out OoOoO. Search for it on The Hype Machine. There are also some good SALEM remixes. Great stuff.

i only really like the blends with rap vocals. can't seem to get with their own vocals much

in the nyt now

so these guys are about to get big, right?

― spiny doughboy (baaderonixx), mercredi 7 octobre 2009 19:27 (3 months ago) Bookmark

According to the NME Radar special for 2010, the debut Salem album is due in May

that butt interview is hilarious! somehow very "my own private idaho" meets electro scenester. they should call themselves Crystal Meth Castles.

i really like these guys

they just played in new york, wanted to go but I missed it. JW said they were pretty great when they did a show w/ excepter somewhere in the midwest last fall

I like their tracks under their name but have no desire to hear them remix gucci mane or any other rap shit tho

I've been saying for years that ether was due for a comeback.

courtesy of http://www.homo-neurotic.com/2009/06/23/salem-butt-bang-2009/#more-8661

http://www.homo-neurotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/salem-cover1.jpg

http://www.homo-neurotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/salem-cover2.jpg

http://www.homo-neurotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/salem-cover3.jpg

http://www.homo-neurotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/salem-cover5.jpg

http://www.homo-neurotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/salem-cover6.jpg

http://www.homo-neurotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/salem-cover8.jpg

http://www.homo-neurotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/salem-cover9.jpg

The more pictures I see of these people, the more I'm afraid this is going to be an RIP thread.

I see what you're saying.

not inevitably
http://www.booksincanada.com/authors/ChetBaker.jpg

pretty great. not them, but part of this whole genre

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0zYmPKAP18

yeah tbh I find oOoOO more interesting than Salem for the moment

Here are several other oOoOO tracks on SoundCloud. Some of these are really good.

http://illogicalcontraption.blogspot.com/2010/03/breaking-news-band-hyped-on-internet.html

Was there ever a point when people thought Salem was going to all be about the live show? (That said, that video is godawful and I wish I could unsee it, because the awesome creep factor of those songs just got halved).

this mix sounds like they're playing rave songs (pretty lil rave girl) at 33
http://dismagazine.com/disco/3360/salem-mixraver-stay-wif-me/

and this is fucking great
http://www.thefader.com/2010/04/22/ooooo-hearts-mp3/

this album is pretty cool. the new salem album. it's weird. the c&s vocals work really well. like the horror movie vibe. so sick of getting edbanger-esque crapola in the mail and i feared this was more of the same. you would think that any group that mixes goth eurorave with dirty south beats would be making a bloody mess, but these dudes make it work somehow. there is still SOME justice-ness in here, but not enough to bug me. (in the red treble sickness being my least favorite modern dance music development)

this album is pr
http://www.homo-neurotic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/salem-cover1.jpg

I'm excited to hear this, even though that other "Witch House" thread made me revisit those horrific FADER YouTube videos.

I love the cover art:

http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2010/06/KINGNIGHT_COVER_LO-608x608.jpg

I'll probably listen to the LP, but there's no way that at least half of this band's steez isn't the sort of self-mockery you as part of the audience is supposed to be in on. I mean, really, this quote comes from one of the Fader Fort videos:

You the one who's down with it
Y'all down with shit
But now my dick hard so go down on it
Haaaaaaaah!
So smoke it out

the song "sick" sounds like Cabaret Voltaire having a baby with DJ Screw's ghost. you can quote me on that.

whiney would you please upload yrself saying "Like it or not, Iowa, for better or worse witch house is here to stay, mark my words"

i would totally be okay with this being the future of goth. it should be, actually. cuz its modern/dark/cool in a way that a lot of more, um, vnv nation kinda things aren't. (though to be honest i haven't listened to any recent darkwave/ebm stuff in a long time, so excuse me if it all good in that arena. i LIKE that Metropolis sorta thing.)

HOW TO: One Surprising Way to Record and Release a Salem Jam of Your Own

(1) Listen to a lot of The Knife circa Silent Shout as well as that Fever Ray LP
(2) Ramble into a microphone about whatever, preferably something less-than-coherent
(3) Pitch shift the vocal down a couple of octaves
(4) Set your keyboard to something spooky
(5) Play random notes in the minor scale of your choice at a relatively slow tempo
(6) Insert arbitrary beats you cook up in Ableton in 5 seconds
(7) Send your .mp3 to some blogs
(8) Be invited to and subsequently appear at a super hyped show and revel in the fact that you're basically taking the piss

i wouldn't really care abt this band if the guy wasn't tragically pretty

pretty guy + random beats and vocals equals success. i got no problem with that.

this is much better than the major lazer ep i got in the mail too. but i was scared of that before i even played it when i saw the words "thom yorke remix" on the cd.

Didn't Salem do an official remix for Thom Yorke?

It's pretty great, actually (I guess it's a Radiohead song):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygEJ67ve41I

wish people would stop calling this goth. this kind of music has none of the earnest melodrama or campness of goth, it's all just too-cool-for-school barely can be bothered post-ironic posturing. not that this is a bad thing, just completely removed from what being goth is about imo

okay, fine, i'm gonna call it Dirty Southern Gothic House. feel better?

http://ferdyonfilms.com/Acre%203.jpg

Who's selling the LP?

pretty guy + random beats and vocals equals success. i got no problem with that.

― scott seward, Thursday, June 24, 2010 3:18 PM (3 hours ago

i will never have a problem w/ that.

its fucking Tonetta in American Apparel

oh stop

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Oooops. Meant to just post this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flmbBcfFOa8

you lying wit da flesh
lyin' wit da bone

Totally just bought that 12" on the basis of that link.

That Skullcrush video was really scary. So scary YouTube removed it

I'm a bit late to this party, this is some incredible stuff right here. New album out soon, anyone heard it?

WITCH HOUSE WHICH HOUSE (SAND)WICH HOUSE

okay i really want people to tell me how they feel when they hear the new salem mix. why? i don't know. i'd just be interested. and i want someone to tell me if its the salem guy rappin' at the beginning of it. i think it is. it stands out cuz the rest of it is just stoner fare. er, non-rap stoner division. except for the chopped & screwed vocals i guess. that's appropriated from stoner rap. the ambient moments are pretty good. i would listen to more stuff like that. i guess what i'm trying to say is that there are some things that they do that i like. i don't like a lot of indie low-rent beat stuff. someone has to have a really nice bedroom for me to want to sit in it for very long. i dunno, i'm also kinda stoned, so my opinion shouldn't mean that much. i can imagine that it would all sound kinda hokey if all you listened to was avant garde post-apocalyptic dubstep all day long or something. there are probably all kinds of innovations in u.k. cyber-boogie since last week.

Where do we hear the new Salem mix?

i got an email with it attached, but i figured people here heard things quickly cuz they have their fingers on the pulse of the witch house. it's called *I Buried My Heart Inna Wounded Knee*. no, really, it is.

After being blown away the first time I put on the album, and then underwhelmed the next time, I figure I'm not that fussed about hearing it again. The idea of listening to Salem is more exciting than the actual act of listening to Salem.

link please

Also, one song in, the new Gate album reminds me favorably of Salem, The Knife, et al, right down to the pitchshifted vocals. Morley's always been ahead of the curve and these days I prefer Gate to The Dead C.

Nevermind the link request, got it:

http://www.thefader.com/2010/08/05/salem-i-buried-my-heart-inna-wounded-knee-mix/

that fader description is actually pretty good! ok, report back here, people. um, if you feel like it.

http://i46.tinypic.com/14udeeh.jpg

I love the Bury mix. It's probably my favorite of their mixes, followed by the "we make it good" one. I love how quiet and slow it is compared to the other ones they've done. And finally there's a Black Metal jam in the mix.

The first song is a drag mix of Crime Mob's KNUCK IF YOU BUCK.

I've already pre-ordered their KING NIGHT album, and can't get enough of the first two singles.

The album's very different. I hated it on first listen but I can't stop playing it now.

Where can you pre-order it? Really excited for this one. Link please?

thread was better when people hated these idiots

Idiocy and great music aren't mutually exclusive.

when people hated these idiots

First post:
I'm totally in love with this kind of screwed-up minimalistic electronic musicits the the perfect soundtrack for sleepless nights in a big city during a heatwave...

Although that Wounded Knee mix is pretty piss poor compared to some of their earlier ones. I liked the bit with Nico on it.

You can pre-order it at Insound... And how has this been heard already?

http://www.insound.com/Salem_King_Night__PRE-ORDER_CD/productmain/p/INS78289/

So, this leaked.

...and?

And I'm really digging it. I need to give it more listens, but the initial one went down well. For some reason, and obviously there are a ton of differences, the album was giving me some Geogaddi vibes. They don't sound alike, but I could see both records being good companion pieces. I mean, if nothing else, they both share that haunted, creeped-out groove thing. I dunnnno.

I need to listen again. At first I was blown away, second I was unerwhelmed and assumed it was a matter of diminishing returns. Geogaddi vs 30 Second Wipeout it is.

60 second wipeout, i mean

yeah tbh - my enthusiasm for this whole genre has waned pretty quickly. once you get used to the sound, the whole things seems pretty repetitive and devoid of song/hook/imagination.

responding to the question "worst rapp you’ve ever heard?", Noz links to Salem, "Tent" Live at the Levi's/FADER Fort

http://tumblinerb.com/post/1116858284/21-questions

Worse than baadero's comment is hearing the actual tools' footprint put out there completely nude, e.g. that new Korallreven mix, a load of paul's extreme sound stretch chaff. Nitzer Ebb tribute band forms to the left.

The NY Times highlighted them in their fall arts preview this past Sunday--

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/arts/music/12ratliff.html

never heard of this band before, but the title track from their new disc is massive.

i read, in some article, that this and similar stuff is called "witch house" or "drag"? not really sure it makes sense as a genre, but whatevs.

yeah, those are two of the genre tags thrown about for Salem

"Asia"

Asia

― Salem, Wednesday, September 22, 2010 1:55 PM (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

gonna head down to Salem, MA for Halloween dressed as the rapping dude from Salem and just walk up to people quoting from the Fader Fort performance

http://www.xlr8r.com/features/2010/09/midnight-mass-bewitching-midwest

Salem embodies a generation that doesn't care about race, sexual orientation, authenticity, and a lot of other stuff that used to be a big deal.

or, "being white is awesome?"

I realize I'm supposed to hate these douchebags more with every interview I read with them, but, inexplicably, the opposite has occurred. In this irreverent, revisionist sorta way, they remind me of Crystal Castles, but less, umm, calculated, somehow. Authenticty? I think they're authentically stupid and tragic.

Love this band.

But, you know, I bought the last ARE Weapons album and, if there's another one, I'll buy that too, so, you know, grain of salt.

comparing these guys to juggalos is an insult to juggalos

also i think it's okay to love children for being authentically stupid

idk about adults that make "dream-crunk"

have a feeling this record's gonna be really good

not trolling, either -- plan on getting it

hey fyi fuck all of you i love this

Fader Fort performance is all time lols for me, but this is awesome

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weDQIkGhEkY

This album is fucking phenomenal. You don't have to hang out with them or dress like them remember.

I haven't read or seen anything about this band except this thread. Great album!

Authenticty? I think they're authentically stupid and tragic.

Love this band.

― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Wednesday, September 22, 2010 6:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I know them personally, and they are absolutely 100% authentic. It's actually a great word for them. They have personalities that, on first impression, one assumes must be acts. Trust me, they're not.

That's just it. They remind me of Girls, in that, I feel like the 'realness' is palpable, just as palpable as when you see a band with an overt LACK of authenticity (like a hundred thousand college age dudes aping Animal Collective ad nauseum, etc), it's striking if you know anything about underground music at all.

This would all be meaningless if the music was terrible. Yeah, they're fucked up junkie screwballs, throw a dart, amirite? But as many have also said upthread, this band is doing something special. They may not be meaning to, but I don't care. I love that there are already scores of imitators, and there's even that Witch Haus blog, and all these compilations of bands trying to jump on the Now That's What I Call Witch House bandwagon, and, true to form, Salem are nowhere to be found on any of these dumb comps. Totally cool.

Dash Snow Lives, VICE Magazine The Band, you're a sucker if you get into intentions. If they can afford (through acceptance of poverty or benefit of wealth) to ignore expectations, critics = no moves left.

i'm relieved to learn guys aren't acting like insufferable, entitled, talentless dipshits; but actually ARE authentic insufferable, entitled, talentless dipshits

can't wait to see how this simplistic murky insular twaddle translates to a 4pm performance at Pitchfork Festival

it's almost as if you're asking for the fader fort video to be posted again

i mean, this voice thing nails it but then still ultimately champions them?

Their sound isn't rooted in a codeine-laced desperation to escape the trap life, but they still betray a deep admiration for the culture; what they produce as a result binds eerie, menacing lyrics to soaring, triumphant vocals, almost parodying the more violent aspects of the sounds that influenced it. Nowhere is this more obvious than on "Trapdoor," which begins, "Nah, I ain't tryin-a look bad/My expectation has my mouth run dry/I see a bitch run/But I doubt she know why." It's a celebration of image over substance, a celebration of swag, the embodiment of distancing ourselves from the darker elements of the music we enjoy. It's the appeal of hip-hop, without the accountability; though obtuse, Salem appear to be sincere, at least, but still, without that accountability, there's the constant danger of lapsing into caricature.

you know who else did that? AL FUCKING JOLSON

Al Jolson, hip-hop scholar.

lol at

'tryin-a"

ha

OMFG listen to this shit LOOOOOOOOOOOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA13-Ykrob4

i love that hipsters laugh at Reh Dogg but find this transcendent, uplifting and emotionally stimulating

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kr9qzslFpS1qzu5n3o1_500.jpg

Worst song on record tbh
I can't believe I feel inclined to defend this band in the face of this thread

Like, so many great records out there have been made by talentless, insufferable dipshits who have bad press releases

it's almost as if you're asking for the fader fort video to be posted again

― J0rdan S., Thursday, September 23, 2010 1:07 PM

http://i46.tinypic.com/14udeeh.jpg

i hate when you post that photo cuz it looks like an ostensibly normal performance

w/ the video you get the part where he's doing 'rapper from texas' blackface

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0ZetW6bQ7Q

haha god that never gets old

adore the intentional half-cough/half-laugh at the end

y'all down with shit

i love that hipsters laugh at Reh Dogg but find this transcendent, uplifting and emotionally stimulating

Do you love it, really? You love it? Well, I'm certainly no hipster, nor do I find this 'transcendent, uplifting and / or emotionally stimulating.' Who said they did? I don't find The Knife to be any of those things, either, but this record pushes the same buttons Silent Shout or even Burzum does. Do you dislike Silent Shout, Whiney? How bout Burzum?

i can't tell if these guys are worse than telepathe -- they come close i think

I'm embracing the overt ridiculousness of this band, I guess.

i don't even like the knife but i think it's an insult to karen dreijer to compare her to some dude mumbling lazy raps & then screwing his voice

oh there's the al jolson

hadn't seen that vid

http://i53.tinypic.com/209507p.jpg

But as many have also said upthread, this band is doing something special. They may not be meaning to, but I don't care. I love that there are already scores of imitators, and there's even that Witch Haus blog, and all these compilations of bands trying to jump on the Now That's What I Call Witch House bandwagon, and, true to form, Salem are nowhere to be found on any of these dumb comps. Totally cool.

this doesn't even make an argument for why the music is good

yeah ok dude deliberately lowering his voice to sound "black" while mumbling lazy fake southern accent swag rap

.......more than suspect.

whiney wins.

khaaaaaaaaaaaah!

xpost to Jordan - It doesn't attempt to. I just think it's cool that they're avoiding such trappings.

i don't even like the knife but i think it's an insult to karen dreijer to compare her to some dude mumbling lazy raps & then screwing his voice

Why? Because she's detached and creepy on purpose and these dudes are detached and creepy because that's how they are IRL?

in a sonic sense i still dig it, but conceptually it's indefensible afaic

XP to WW: Hang on, I thought we were all hipsters now?

They look like horrible fucking scrotes to me Salem, but so were, y'know, Joy Division, PiL, The Fall etc. They look like horrible bratty hipsters messing about with stuff they didn't fully understand to me but so were, y'know, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Velvet Underground etc.

Anyway, so one of my writers got back from spending a few days with them outside of Chicago and said, no, actually, I was dead wrong, they're pretty decent people. Dude with long hair started crying during the interview about the Butt magazine interview, said he really regrets it but was quite 'ill' at the time. He said they seem like very sensitive, very insular people who've got a very fixed vision of what they want to sound like. (Which for me is the main point, given that they do have a pretty unique sound - apart from people like oOoOOO who have just ripped them off mercilessly.)

I mean obviously, when you met them Whiney, your experience was quite different. How were they? Maybe you caught them on a bad day. I don't really get the Al Jolson thing either... don't you think hip hop as a 30 year old monolithic institution can withstand some arty, drug addled, middle class white kids messing about with some of it's minor offshoots on the periphery?

(This is all by the by... they live in some white picket fence neighbourhood with stars and bars over every door... if they'd been camped out on the river Styx nailing babies to crosses or reading off a script written for them by some guy at American Apparel... I dunno, I'm never going to meet them... why does it matter?)

http://i56.tinypic.com/f36iox.jpg

uh i don't think it's about whether or not hip hop can 'withstand' salem, it's whether the music is reprehensible or not

Why? Because she's detached and creepy on purpose and these dudes are detached and creepy because that's how they are IRL?

― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Thursday, September 23, 2010 12:53 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

this is about as reductive as you could possibly be an attempt to somehow level salem with the knife, congratulations

Define reprehensible in this context.

Dude with long hair started crying during the interview about the Butt magazine interview, said he really regrets it but was quite 'ill' at the time.

Good lord, everything IS emo.

All music is reprehensible to someone given that it means open to criticism.

everybody loves Tapes n Tapes

Define reprehensible in this context.

― Duran (Doran), Thursday, September 23, 2010 6:58 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

how about "an act that is clearly racially exploitative"

How is it clearly racially exploitative? I don't get what you're talking about.

well i think it's really boring music -- beats are aight but they're pretty dime a dozen, the raps are... i mean, i don't see what the salem dude brings with his screw rap that actual screwed music doesn't -- even w/o comparing salem to the shit that it's copping from, there's nothing really interesting aside from maybe 'mood' -- they lyrics aren't 'good' & neither are the hooks

reprehensible in the fact that the performance posted above makes it seem like they're pretty much doing blackface, altho it's not really all that offensive more just rolling my damn eyes

Markers: I'd say that Creedence are my exception to this rule.

lol

mood

ding ding

Jordan: Right, I get what you're saying and I appreciate it. I just don't get all this wailing and hysterical gnashing of the teeth that's going on elsewhere like we're dealing with Burzum fronting Skrewdriver.

How about a little perspective!?

like, i didn't realize dude was doing his own shitty rapping and had just assumed it was some hollertronix style theft which, while suspect in its own right, is nowhere near the level of dude appropriating southern rap slang and a fake accent and digitally creating ~A BLACK VOICE~ for his vague non-rapping

buncha xps

but like, if you dig the 'mood' of salem, actual screw music is soooo much more emotionally resonant & evocative of loneliness & sadness & all that then this stuf

big hoos big otm

actual screw music

artist name I could check out?

dude the difference is that sxsw and the fader and levi's and whoever are NOT PUSHING BURZUM FRONTING SKREWDRIVER

marketing opportunity

this is my fave screwed song ever, markers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvF8uqEum6s

i mean i'm sure they're nice guys & it seems like they have really good taste in music (side note: the BUTT interviewer doing an interview for a GAY MAGAZINE and then being all "WAIT YOU REALLY LIKE MARIAH CAREY????" was really retarded), but i don't think that their music is actually all that good

& it's NOT an authenticity thing -- their gucci mane remixes >>>>>>>> all original salem joints, becuase gucci mane >>>>>>> anyone in salem as an artist

ksh:

Which DJ Screw cd is worth buying?

like the other day a friend of mine asked for new music recs and like 5 people said "salem." if their first suggestion had been varg fronting skrewdriver i'd be pretty hand wringy too

i think they have a decent basic concept (mainstream-ish rap beats w/hazy synths), but i don't think they execute it particularly well

xps

cadillac on 22's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Burzum fronting Skrewdriver

Not to start a big thing, but this would probably rule mightily

XXXXP: I don't see the whole sound as racist or even exploitative though. On the album he does sound pretty fucking black on one of the three songs that he 'raps' on, on the album. So that's one track on the album where I did raise an eyebrow (go o_O, whatever) but this is just one strand in a music that's made up of industrial, juke, post punk, synth pop, ambient... for it to be exploitative, it would ahve to be a straight rip, no?

It might be a bit gauche or a bit upsetting to PC sensibilities but that's something else entirely.

That Levis thing is fucking appalling. I'm talking about the album. There are loads of great artists (including hip hop dudes who are great on record but fucking suck live).

And I do listen to other chop and screw things including a load of chopped Three Six Mafia remixes I've got. Just not loads of it to be honest, I'd be quite happy to hear some more.

Y'know this was originally a Jamaican dub effect anyway right?

I have to applaud the gentleman above me's trolling by the way ;-) outstanding... I may take a screengrab and note this down in my diary.

thx Whiney & J0rdan, will check out

I'm so amazed at having not having pointlessly lost my temper and had a meltdown, I'm going to stop posting now and ring my therapist to tell her. I think I know what everyone's saying but it doesn't feel exploitative to me, but that's never going to go beyond a gut feeling I guess.

It's not like the dude's got Sting's Jamaican accent.

xpost Who's trolling? I'm here all the time!

Anyway, as I've pointed out, objectively, yeah, The Knife + Young Black Teenagers + ARE Weapons = disaster, but I can't really explain why I dig this as much as I do. Then again, I'm no rock critic.

Well, you IM me, maybe we can make this Burzum and Skrewdriver thing happen. Fuck it, we should invite Eric Clapton and Professor Griff as well.

Young Black Teenagers at least acknowledged they were cultural appropriators instead of just passing of lazy junkie disaffectedness as an excuse to pretend they're Slim Thug

Yeah I loved their first EP, We Fully Acknowledge the Past.

i've just finished listening to this album!

when i first heard these guys i didn't really hear much of a hip-hop connection beyond the vague "oh they've listened to some chopped & screwed rap". the tracks where he "raps" on this album are the first i've heard it, and they're all dreadful (esp "tair", where he doesn't even have the decency to bury in in the synthwash). however the rest of it is mostly ok, in a so-far non-committal way, and the two tracks which really leap out as being somewhat special are a) the two i'd already heard, title track and "redlights", b) the ones that are furthest from any ersatz hip-hop crap.

i can see why people love them, it's a nice wash of sound to lose yourself in. dunno how much more i'll come back to it though.

as far as, um, witch house goes, i really really love these two tracks by white ring, and can take or leave everything else i've heard. it doesn't really annoy me as much as many of the other things that have received undeserving hype this year.

I just watched that fader fort performance for the first time

a few years ago I went to some restaurant somewhere in long beach that was run by some sect of Buddhist monks or some shit who believed that providing dining experiences for ppl was the way to get closer to god or something, bottom line it was this weird place that would open once in a few weeks and have free food and shit. I went with a friend who was into getting into religions or something I was stoned at the time. Anyway the whole time there was a dude on a synth enhancing the dining experience, getting closer to god. His movements were really slow and kind of sad. The way he played the synth made me really sad. It was exactly like the dude playing the salem synth. I couldn't get through that salem vid. It all made me so sad.

boy that trap door song really blows goats, it's a brave new world.

i kinda like reading about these goofballs and descriptions make me want to listen to them but yeah then you gotta actually hear the music.

i like reading about these goofballs when it's someone skeptical behind the keyboard. the earnest guff about this band is like the critical equivalent of the fader fort performance.

not really -- the critical equivalent of that fader fort performance would be if you met ethan and he tried to make himself sound like t.i.

no, because that would be entertaining.

their gucci mane remixes >>>>>>>> all original salem joints, becuase gucci mane >>>>>>> anyone in salem as an artist

― J0rdan S., Thursday, September 23, 2010 2:08 PM (2 hours ago)

this

i almost want to start a separate thread to post the earnest, positive things that people say about this band, so we can seal it in the time capsule and point and laugh at it in 10 years. Or, you know, six months

they surely won't be as hilarious as pointing and laughing at the earnest, positive things people have said about animal collective

^^^^^^^^^^^

ugh did they actually start a trend or are they just the first on a particular bandwagon? it gets worse; check out this copy from the social registry, re: a band called 'PRAYER TOWN' ...

"Best served loud with a styrofoam cup full of purple drink. Dirty south scuzz wuzz trill pop with the fog machine on and all the lights off. Strobe lights will be in effect"

i almost want to start a separate thread to post the earnest, positive things that people say about this band, so we can seal it in the time capsule and point and laugh at it in 10 years. Or, you know, six months

How is your insanely OTT vitriol toward this band any different to the gushing praise? I may not like Salem in 10-years time. Who cares? I like them now.

new here?

Since their hallowed name hath been invoked, I'll say that if you gave me the choice of listening to that "Trap Door" song a hundred times or three minutes of any random, cloying, nonsensical Animal Collective song, I'd be going to bed to Salem tonight, no contest.

Joking aside I've read and posted on ILX for about seven or eight years but never last long because of stuff like this. I'm just not down with the mad over exaggeration is all.

I remember years ago reviewing a Parts + Labor album for a small website and giving it a really good review. I had a bunch of clowns on my back on a message board for days afterwards. "This music is shit... totally derivative... sounds exactly like Husker Du..."

At first I started arguing with them. Y'know... it sounds absolutely nothing like Husker Du except in regards to some of the melodic structure and some of the vocal ticks, plus if you listen to the drumming, it's pretty amazing right? There's a guy who's obviously heard drum and bass as well as hardcore etc etc. And don't get me started on the electronics. But after a while I just realised it was pointless arguing with people who won't play with a straight bat. If someone's screaming at you: this is a straight up fucking Husker Du rip and these Parts and Labor cunts should be shot for daring to rip them off... you can't have a straight argument with them. They know you've heard the same music as them but they're willing to indulge in a shouting match instead.

Salem don't sound like Slim Thug and aren't ripping any particular rappers off in any real sense that's worth talking about. As much of the album sounds like The Chameleons or Ulrich Schnauss or Aphex Twin as it does DJ Screw. If other people choose to rip them off, they're not responsible for that... a real 101 thing we can all agree on, surely?

Come on Whiney - you're better than this. Stop telling me they're racist copycats who've made the worst album of all time. Persuade me how shit they are, don't just lie to my face, it's boring.

How about some examples of which songs are ripped off what. I don't know that much about hip hop compared to most on here. Stick up some youtubes, I'm prepared to eat humble pie.

Vocal tics, natch.

man, if you're gonna say flattering things about me, it's not nearly as fun to be a dick!

I really would love to get into some deep talk about Salem, but I have to leave soon. Doran, I promise the next time I'm in this thread I'll get down to some microscience re: my points and be less dismissive

Ooh - put me in the thread that says "Redlights" is really awesome

XP: Ha ha! Ok, sounds good.

NME Album Review: Salem - King Night (Iamsound)

More rewarding with each listen, 'King Night' is as characterised by its wisps of Southern hip-hop and celestial overtones

‘King Night’ is sick. Not just in the sense that it’s outstandingly good but in the fact that it seems extremely unwell. The skin of this album appears jaundiced, its flesh infused with thrush and lungs filling with liquid. John Holland, Heather Marlatt and Jack Donoghue, who have a murky past in hard drug abuse and prostitution, write about what they can see and how they feel refracted through the cracked prism of narcotics and sleep deprivation.

Those who’ve been following Salem for the last year or two will no doubt be initially wrong-footed by their debut, which is a lot more dense and monolithic than the ‘Yes I Smoke Crack’ and ‘Water’ EPs and their killer mixtapes. However it rewards constant and obsessive replaying. The old favourite ‘Redlights’ flickers into existence once again, but this time given extra creeping urgency. Jack Donoghue’s sickeningly chopped and screwed raps (‘Sick’, ‘Trapdoor’) are oppressive and threatening, and owe a debt to the cough syrup stumble of Southern hip-hop as well as the frantic beats of juke. Indeed it takes the angelic (but morally blank) vocals of Heather Marlatt (‘Frost’, ‘Traxx’) to help balance this out alongside a celestial sound recalling the screengaze of Ulrich Schnauss and the shoegaze of Cocteau Twins.

You can call this drag or witch house if you like but regardless of its genre tag this is monumental. As Professor Stephen Hawking said recently, God’s fingerprints cannot be found in creation. Philosophy is dead. We live as we die, with no control and little understanding suspended in a void near the dying ember of some cataclysmic accident we have no hope of comprehending. But look on the bright side: what a majestic vantage point we’ve been given. If, like Salem, you can see glitter and beauty in the chaos then you really should join them.

John Doran

9 out of 10

About 100 words was cut out of this which kind of makes the joke about existentialism at the end redundant, but other than that I stand by it...

Believe it or not I really like this record.

In fact, I think it makes a perfect sister album to the SWANS' My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky.

Which also has this total vibe of 'There's lots of awful shit happening round me which doesn't make any sense but the universe keeps on glittering away regardlessly'.

Some people here will cry sacrilege at that, John, but I agree with you. They're side by side on my top ten of 2010.

It's interesting because in the same way that I don't really like feckless hipster crackheads, I don't really like apocalyptically self-absorbed rape obsessed (former) junkies but I love both of these records.

No, please don't get me wrong, I love it too (and I like your review)

Ah right. Sorry. And thanks!

I wasn't just saying that shit about Prof. Hawking just because it happened to be on the front page of the paper that morning but I'd said that a lot of people use the word 'goth' or 'gothic' to describe this album but that personally I saw them as being exemplars of existentialism like Joy Division and not gothic like Sisters Of Mercy or The Cure or what have you.

Being gothic, imo, means being dramatic or melodramatic and either drinking or drugging to put you in another state you can report back from (The Cure 'Pornography') or just using literary or poetic license to dream all kinds of stuff up (Sisters Of Mercy 'Alice'). Joy Division on the other hand were, a lot of the time, just reporting on stuff. It's very undramatic in a lot of ways.

Now, I know Salem don't stand to be compared to JD on some levels but they do on others. (And in fact the final song on the album Killer sounds a little like JD or The Chameleons.)

It's still pompous as fuck right? But I hope it seems slightly less daft in that context...

Brief digression: I've never heard the Swans. Where should I start? With this new one?

I'm not saying this to pass the buck but there are people saying stone cold truth on the My Father thread.

Swans 'My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky

SWANS have been away for about 13 years and the new album is, in a lot of respects, more like his Angels Of Light project but there are a lot of through lines as well.

In really rough terms they started out as a No Wave/industrial/noise group, then entered what a lot of people see as an imperial period and then split. The new album and previous stuff is all remarkably different from each other.

However, the new album... if you like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at their most apocalyptic I think you might like this.

Personally I'm not interested in authenticity too much but I'd apply the same gothic/realist or existentialist split between The Bad Seeds/SWANS. And there's something to be said for Michael Gira (main dude, visionary chap) and his sincerity. A lot of the SWANS stuff rings very true, and doesn't feel like melodrama.

I like that the last track on the album is a rip off When You Were Young by the Killers

Which? Salem or Swans? Because I can assure you with absolute certainty that M Gira has never heard The Killers

He prefers Brandon Flowers solo material.

Sorry, meant Salem.

Well, the clue's in the track title.

The first song is actually, 'O Holy Night' the hymn. Or an interpolation...

I remember years ago reviewing a Parts + Labor album for a small website and giving it a really good review.

― Duran (Doran), Thursday, September 23, 2010 4:14 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Stay Afraid and Mapmaker are so goddamn good, and no one fucking paid them the time of day.

As far as Salem's live mishaps, they're not forgivable, but they're certainly understandable. So many bands try to get their name out by performing live around town for a few years and then catching a break opening for a bigger band on a national tour. Salem was 'discovered' before they'd ever done a live show. From what they've told me, they've maybe played like two-dozen live shows ever.

The fact of the matter is, they still blow live because they're all pretty young and they do the majority of their recording on shit equipment in shit places. They have no experience. I don't know if this is common knowledge but the guy rapping in those videos also makes the beats, and until like a couple months ago, he was doing them all in GarageBand (!).

They may never figure out their live act, but if the album is good. What they are going to have big problems with is their next record. How do you reinvent yourself after you've created a genre?

American band, Salem, are all set to head over to the UK this November, for their first ever live UK shows. The trio will be here touring their debut album, the brilliant King Night, which is released on 27th September.

Tour Dates:

November
24 – London, Shoreditch Church
26 – Manchester, Islington Mill
27 – Leeds, Nation of Shopkeepers
29 – Nottingham, Bodega
30 – Bristol, Thekla

salem suxx, lol @ doran

http://i55.tinypic.com/6t2t7l.jpg

liked your review, doran. i want this disc (i'm sure their live show is as vile as those above say, and for that reason, i'm bypassing the youtube clips). your comment about swans is kind of pushing me in the direction of downloading that disc, too.

I've listened to a couple of the new Swans tracks and I don't hear the similarities at all. Unless it's another Swans I'm listening to.

No. I mean, they don't *sound* anything like each other but they have a very similar attitude in a weird kind of way. The similarities are very lateral to be honest. I think they both have a way of looking at very horrific, personal things and then finding something almost majestic or splendid in them. I don't think either band are gothic (play acting).

It's not a useful comparison, just an interesting one from my point of view.

hooray! a thread where whiney, deej, & j0rdan can all shit on goths!

(sorry Doran I didn't mean to call them/you goth. I'm not goth either.)

what does this have to do with goths?

if anything we're saying that some goths (three 6 mafia) make better music than other goths (salem)

3-6 is pretty awesome, but they the whole 4AD thing that Salem is also tapping into...I think they're still working out the ideas, but I really like Salem a lot.

'but they lack the whole 4AD thing'

http://i54.tinypic.com/qx54r9.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/mccgox.jpg

love this:

God’s fingerprints cannot be found in creation. Philosophy is dead. We live as we die, with no control and little understanding suspended in a void near the dying ember of some cataclysmic accident we have no hope of comprehending. But look on the bright side: what a majestic vantage point we’ve been given.

loved parts & labor, too. they may have gone unloved in the grand scheme, but they had their fans hereabouts.

lol @ this thread being

whiney shits on salem -> doran defends salem -> more people shit on salem -> doran defends salem and posts his nme review -> doran big ups parts + labor

this revive at least

i can't really imagine it going any other way

I didn't post my NME review. I've never posted one of my own reviews here. Actually I have in the metal end of year lists a few times but nowhere else.

And look up thread, there are about a million posters describing them as goth. And... *takes deep breath*... I don't think they're goth in the same way I don't think Joy Division or Swans are goth.

And if you don't get why I brought up Parts + Labor, I really can't help you. I mean it's such an easy, easy concept to grasp.

I also don't care if people call me a goth. I was a full-on mega goth when I was 15 in the mid 80s. I loved it for about 18 months. Until Fields Of The Nephelim turned up and I had a Damascene reconversion to being a common or garden long-hair.

I meant goth compared to, like, DJ Skrew, though I love the idea of 3-6 being goth...

Three Six Mafia are NWOBHM.

And if you don't get why I brought up Parts + Labor, I really can't help you. I mean it's such an easy, easy concept to grasp.

it's like the opposite of what miccio does to j0hn on every thread

lol @ this thrad

thread

it's like the opposite of what miccio does to j0hn on every thread

should probably just keep my trap shut, but for the record, I'm pretty sure I've only brought up a certain band twice on ILX. once when its singer was giving me shit for not liking an article by sfj he couldn't bother to read himself, once when the guy couldn't understand why everyone didn't share his "you must respect all megasuccessful songwriters" sentiment. and however impolitic or unnecessary it was to suggest how occupation could influence an argumentative stance (1st time was an annoyed, defensive gesture, the 2nd just a crack on everybody in the thread, don't plan on there being a 3rd), I really didn't say anything about the combo itself.

the chick in salem's cornrows look just like kenny fucking powers in the preview commercials for the new season of eastbound & down

http://i51.tinypic.com/2hfm2bm.gif

'cauldron-step'

Witch's Brew

A+

The release of the album has apparently been delayed to 4th October?

It's on iTunes now.

Salem's FB page says it was released today.

on emusic today, too.

so it is out today? back to the record store tonight, I guess

Listening to it for the first time now. Pretty incredible I have to say...but maybe a bit too much for me. I feel slightly nauseous TBH. I don't think I can listen to the whole thing from start to finish.

Physical copies delayed one week, I guess (according to Rough Trade in the UK; maybe it came out in the States physically this week?)

good question -- anyone have any more info?

pre-ordered from insound, they emailed about a week ago to tell me the release date of 9/28 was pushed back 'till october'

ah thanks!

GOT IT TODAY!

was completely floored to hear "King Night" at the Givenchy S/S 2011 show. A perfect fit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnkFi-9xwRo

I'm assuming Pitchfork is in deep deliberation about this one?

"Should we give it a high middle to high eight or a low nine?"

It's about as divisive album as I can think of in recent memory. There are going to be some who hail it as revolutionary and others who call it a crude joke. I'm going to guess they'll give it a 7.9 or something like that just because it's too risky to get behind.

I have 5:2 odds they mention Andrew WK in the review, or that Ryan is stumping for this comparison.

i used that as a comparison to waka flocka -- it better not get stolen for this

i still like this album a bunch. i listened to it today three times in a row at work after not hearing it for a long time and it sounded just as good to me as it did months ago. i like it for reasons of nowness AND nostalgia. it makes me think about how much i love southern hip hop AND it makes me remember how much i loved clan of xymox when i was 17. and it doesn't sound ANYTHING like ed banger/justice shit that i hate which is a big plus. (though that stuff is probably completely passe by now anyway. just using that as an example of internet sensation) and it doesn't sound like dubstep. which bores the hell out of me. especially supposed "dark" dubstep. (diplo-curated dubstep comp i got in the mail has to be one of the worst things i've heard all year. except for the lil jon song on it. which just sounds exactly like a lil jon song.)

S A L E M is what RATATAT should have evolved into.

bought the record and haven't listened to it all the way through, but I'm gonna guess P4k goes w/ an 8.4 BNM

I'm going to call a 6.4 from P4k.

S A L E M is what RATATAT should have evolved into.

― cee-oh-tee-tee, Tuesday, October 5, 2010 8:01 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Sleigh Bells is what Ratatat should have evolved into.

RATATAT should have evolved

Tbh, I think we could just leave it at that.

Okay, so I'm finally actually listening to this and I'm now wishing I hadn't had my first experience with the band be that laughable Fader Fort thing. Because this is actually pretty interesting stuff. I won't call it brilliant or anything, but there is a distinct vibe that I haven't really heard explored in this way before. I'm certainly enjoying the listen, but I could live without the dude. I like the tracks with the female vocals as the focus much more.

Like, "Frost" = great, "Trapdoor" = meh.

o shit u droppin mehbombs

pretty good review: http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/6007

pretty shit review: http://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/salem-king-knight

could have been better were I not given such a tight word limit.

i like that review, no need for it to be longer

Dusted review was pretty good except for the part where he suggests that a certain synth sound on the title track was an explicit reference to a Hipster Runoff post

looooooooooooooool

Dusted review is good when it gets going. First three pars are just pointless. No one needs a running commentary on the commentary on the commentary in a review. Just tell us something interesting about the record. (Which he does. Shame he didn't spend more of the text getting to the business in hand.)

dusted reviews reviews.

Just tell us something interesting about the record.

literally 90% of online reviews fail to do this

90% of online reviews aren't read by people who don't work for said publication

unless we're talking about Pitchfork

Dusted seems like a good idea. I'd never heard of it before.

Dusted has been doing good stuff for a long time. Love some of the old Listed features:
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/category/5

yeah, dusted's good.

Seem to remember the Comets on Fire one being esp. great xp

yeah dusted has been quietly interesting for years (daily content and no one ever talks about it)

dusted reviews a much wider scope of titles than p4k, which i appreciate (don't get me wrong; i like p4k a lot, but dusted exposes me to a lot of title i wouldn't notice otherwise).

actually, and i guess this is for another thread, but p4k published a piece recently on the best online music stores; the websites for those stores also introduced me to titles that i wouldn't see otherwise.

haven't been reading The Out Door as much as I should, tbh. thx for the link Daniel

More like S E L L E M right guys.

i think dusted has upped the quality of their reviews lately, too.

Perhaps stating the blindingly obvious for some of you, but take the guy's vocals off of this thing and it automatically becomes 100% more enjoyable to hear.

i vastly prefer his inept singing to his inept rapping. i guess that's only on hound and killer. the latter has this totally 90s feel to it for me. like, it could be a stabbing westward track or something, ha.

i want to download "yes, i smoke crack" but from a site that isn't shady!!! help ple

All three of them are vocalists. John Holland sings, Heather Marlatt sings, Jack Donoghue raps.

I wonder if they will collect the singles and EPs, which I think are much more diverse sounding (and feature no rapping). There's:

Yes I Smoke Crack EP
Water EP
Ohk/Sweat 7"
Frost/Legend 7"
Babydaddy 7" (split with Tanlines)

Plus a few more old demos (and lots of remixes) that never were for sale commercially

Dusted seems like a good idea. I'd never heard of it before.

― Duran (Doran), Wednesday, October 6, 2010 1:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Dusted has some fantastic writing, and their staff seems to have eclectic though not arbitrary or downright weird taste. One of the site's writers, Jennifer Kelly, is usually excellent. For example:
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5680

Note that that review came out two weeks before Pitchfork's, which bring to mind another thing about that site: they review the most hyped albums a couple days before they come out, not two weeks later.

i like dusted and i hate almost everything on the internet. i think i actually emailed them once about possibly writing reviews, but they never got back to me. which, actually, just proves that they have high standards and are to be applauded.

or wait i think it was actually just ONE specific record that i wanted to review and i couldn't think of anyone else who would let me review it. still, its the only time i ever emailed an online site so that must mean that i like them.

Dusted is pretty great, I am surprised that it doesn't generate more comments on this site. I highly recommend sifting through their "Listed" features, there are some really cool and interesting musicians (and non-musicians here and there) roped in for it. I worry that burnout will happen for Dusted, somewhat akin to Stylus, as I just don't see how all those folks can keep up the level of quality without any compensation (surely noone at Dusted is getting paid? no adds etc.)

Of course, wrong thread for this. Surprised so many people are actually reviewing this Salem record TBH.

Dusted's been around for at least eight years so I don't know why it wouldn't keep going for a while

Yeah, I hope so. It is a beacon of low-key integrity for me at least.

The "weekly" Listed feature hasn't been updated since August.

as far as p4k alternatives go, Tinymixtapes > Dusted

"Listed" is still worth sifting through, though. Gems like Chris Corsano and Tom Smith abound. As far as tinymixtapes goes, to each his own. I read it as well, but would give it up before Dusted. Don't look at Dusted really as competing with tinymixtapes or P4K, somewhat different beast to me (i.e., not jokey).

These days I check Dusted more often than I do Pitchfork (or any other reviews site), there's always some great-sounding release that I had never heard of before.

Dusted is pretty great, I am surprised that it doesn't generate more comments on this site.

you're right; it should. Dusted Magazine -- C/D

Yeah, sorry about derailing this thread. I promptly remove myself ...

no no. nothing wrong with tangents on threads at all. this one is a lively discussion, actually.

Hmmm, perhaps just me feeling guilty. There are people who care about Salem, so I don't want to put 40 comments in the way of their conversation. I moved myself to that Dusted thread personally.

Last thought: agree with seandalai, Dusted has a good track record with me. They don't rep for much that leaves me completely cold, and I have found some great stuff through them.

I liked that first Bumblebeez album, would I like this?

listening to title track. what the hell is that Dusted reviewer on about? Classical music chestnut over rap beats, pretty sure Dan The Automator did this a hundred times in the late 90s.

as far as p4k alternatives go, Tinymixtapes > Dusted

Jesus no. Most of Tinymixtapes content is unreadable

Yeah, I can't stand Tinymixtapes, particularly since the last redesign.

just checked out dusted...they have a new review of the mike watt/nels cline deal...anyway this is a weird way to talk about mike watt

Floored By Four is a one-off collaboration between a quartet of musicians, each with at least one foot in conventional rock, the other in more experimental jazz and improv. Mike Watt, who started the project, splits his time between playing bass for The Stooges and Porno for Pyros on the mainstream side, while also working with people like Elliott Sharp and Nels Cline.

like oh yeah mike watt the dude from porno for pyros

as far as p4k alternatives go

there are . . . alternatives? O_O

Wait... "rape gaze"?

Pitchfork reviewer of 'KIng Night' = arrogant douche: "it's easy to be amazed that these dickheads made a record so interesting and sonically detailed." Great analysis Larry.

Someone should tell Scott he accidentally published Fitzmaurice's pitch email instead of the actual review.

"rape gaze"?

as far as p4k alternatives go, Tinymixtapes > Dusted

Jesus no. Most of Tinymixtapes content is unreadable

― Number None, Thursday, 7 October 2010 21:15 (Yesterday) Permalink

Yeah, I can't stand Tinymixtapes, particularly since the last redesign.

― he's always been a bit of an anti-climb Max (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 7 October 2010 21:21 (Yesterday)

thirded! tinymixtapes is the very last scrape of the barrel before you hit (the worst of) the blogosphere.

this is the one thing i don't get at all

"interesting and sonically detailed"

like i keep trying to appreciate this as pure SOUND, but it just seems nowhere near as immersive and intricate as like Zaytoven, Polow Da Don, DJ Toomp, Three 6 Mafia, etc...

and Dusted has always been solid and englightening.

I actually feel like there are genuine opinions on there, that they haven't been been processed and edited for maximum appeal and impact to some perceived target audience (that I don't belong to), which is how I feel reading the other sites.

The "dickheads" jab was unnecessary and unwarranted. They may be unprofessional amateurs, but I don't see how that makes them assholes.

The review was pretty spot on, though, and entirely predictable for Pitchfork. And that's fine, because Pitchfork has a very clear goal, purpose, and audience. This isn't the kind of music most Pitchfork readers will like, and therefore, to give it a positive score would be to risk jeopardizing their "taste" level. So give it a mostly glowing review, say it's a divisive album (it is), slap on a 7.something, and forget the thing ever came out.

actually I like cokemachineglow the most out of all the pitchfauxrks....

EQ'd-to-shit click tracks

what does this mean

it means the click tracks have been poorly EQ'd so that they stand out from the music in an irritating/intrusive way.

jesus christ you guys, come on. this isn't written in hieroglyphics.

that came out snottier than i intended. BUT STILL.

ok like i know it's been said twice already but....RAPE GAZE?

i like how that's dropped in there like it's just totally a normal thing ppl say all the time like oh sure rape gaze, one of my favorite genres outside of ragtime jazz and western swing

i thought it might have been "rap-gaze" and accidentally wound up with an extra "e" but i am worried "rape-gaze" is a real thing.

the sad thing is that "rape-gaze" is just as evocative when discussing these doobers as "rap-gaze" would be.

but a "click track" is usually something musicians only hear in their headphones, not actually part of the music. i think he means...hi-hats?

but i am worried "rape-gaze" is a real thing.

um

http://www.myspace.com/wearecreep

i like how that's dropped in there like it's just totally a normal thing ppl say all the time like oh sure rape gaze, one of my favorite genres outside of ragtime jazz and western swing

― a prairie based companion (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, October 8, 2010 3:55 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

can't believe you're being such a herb about this

but a "click track" is usually something musicians only hear in their headphones, not actually part of the music. i think he means...hi-hats?

haha this is possibly true. who knows truly what lurks inside the head of larry fitzmaurice. i am sorry i snapped at u jordan. u_u

why can't you believe it history mayne?

because we're supposed to be beyond taking offense/expressing disbelief at the use of "rape" in a neologism.

rape gaze bro, come on

im amazed it took this long to come back round

yeah word, the more i think about this i'm just bored with the whole thing, wake me when paedowave hits

(also history mayne i am a herb u know this)

People have been using "rape gaze" for a while...

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22rape+gaze%22

uh it's basically one triangle band that uses it as self description. the p4k guy just couldn't resist giving it currency

Rape gaze music - Listen free at Last.fm
Listen to Rape Gaze radio. ... “rape gaze” music on Last.fm. Built by 1 person (Used 1 times). We don't have a description for this tag yet, care to help? ...
www.last.fm/tag/rape%20gaze - Cached

Built by 1 person (Used 1 times)

fuck this shit

Reverse trending is one of the biggest sins in pop culture discourse. I mean the heritage in the UK trades is hilarious, but in the net-age it's just embarrassing as shit.

I was coming here to post that I thought Pitchfork's review was actually pretty good. At least, for once, the reviewer writes about what the damn record sounds like.

what is "reverse trending"?

I was coming here to post that I thought Pitchfork's review was actually pretty good. At least, for once, the reviewer writes about what the damn record sounds like.

― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Friday, October 8, 2010 10:43 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the complaint about writers not doing this enough is bullshit largely.

as if only they would say "apocolyptic soundscapes" more often music writing would be better?? dubstep state of mind

ethan made me spit dr pepper all over my keyboard once when he called afu ra "jeru's jeru." salem is like dubstep's dubstep's dubstep

i've listened to this a couple times and i think it's interesting. that sounds like weak praise, but i mean it's holding my interest. i don't know what they think they're doing. the racial queasiness reminds me a lot of pussy galore, of all things. i am put off by the thought that maybe we're supposed to take the rapping seriously. on the record it's just a kind of sound; like they wanted some screw vocals on a song and instead of sampling something they just had one guy do it. all lot of the beats are off-kilter and unfunky and it's hard to tell if this is intentionally jarring or if they just kind of suck at programming. that's part of the "interest", how much of what they're doing is what the mean to be doing.

like it wouldn't even occur to me to criticize them because there's druggy actual-rap out there that's better -- the answer is "of course" and "so what"

aside from the fact that this a positive review of salem, this is one of the first fitzmo reviews to please meh, aside from the "despite all these genre influences they still sound like themselves!" which is always a boring & trite conclusion to draw

also thought it was weird that he singled out the rapping as aesthetically ugly while still generally praising music that is "EQ'd-to-shit" and produces "sheer noise"

the racial queasiness reminds me a lot of pussy galore, of all things.

Everything I've read about these guys sounds kinda like a post-hiphop Royal Trux.

that's giving them a bit too much credit, really.

haha I guess, though aside from a few songs I've never gotten the Royal Trux hype either

xpost Cmon. I love this record but that does a disservice to the greatest rock and roll band America has produced in the last 25 years.

this, otoh:

on the record it's just a kind of sound; like they wanted some screw vocals on a song and instead of sampling something they just had one guy do it

is otm.

I'm not sure how many people are familiar with the phenomonen of Christopher Weingarten, but he's the former drummer of Parts & Labor turned into some sort of faintly terrifying meta-hipster who writes for Village Voice and advocates twitrter based music journalism. At present his last tweet says 'So which alt-weekly music section or sub-Mog meme-hunter is gonna do the definitive Google-bait blog post on "What Is Rape Gaze?"', which sort of lets you know what you're getting yourself in for.

LOL. From here: http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/music/4269138?community-latest

And it turns out the Google-bait has been gobbled up by, you guessed it....

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2010/10/the_horrifyingl.php

if i understand correctly, reverse trending is an if->then logical fallacy, where someone makes a claim, which logically leads to a second claim. you show the second claim, and then assume the first. the problem is that if->then logic doesn't work that way (if =! if and only if, or if =! iff for logicians out there)

that should have read something like, "you show that the second claim is true and then conclude that the first claim must also be true"

i'm not really clear how this applies to wack new styles of indie rock but i'm curious to hear

i thought you like these guys!

-d

he liked dj nate too iirc

So am I the only one who hears Excepter when I listen to Salem? Or do people just not care about Excepter anymore?

I never got Royal Trux either. To call them a great rock band demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the term "rock."

Loved Pussy Galore, though; still listen to them all the time. You could ram a cattle prod up each member of Salem's asses and they wouldn't muster 1/1000 the energy of PG.

it's not the energy level that made me think of them

I love Excepter but haven't been impressed by any of the Salem tracks I've heard...

xp

You could ram a cattle prod up each member of Salem's asses and they wouldn't muster 1/1000 the energy of PG.

Depends -- is the cattle prod a top or a bottom?

ILX field trip to Salem, MA this Halloween!

Moonship otm in syllogistic terms; you frame a context in which a trend is suggested or defined, and if that framework is affirmed by acceptance, odds are the components - which can be fake events, genres, people, whatever you like - will be affirmed transitively. It's more difficult to do with facts and people, but lazily easy to dick around with in music and art criticism. It's an abuse of position, self-amusement, hype; which is all Larry's guilty of. People would be less apoplectic if he'd been clumsier or the term was less plausibly true. Rape-gaze is slick execution - a lot of the reactions are about people fearing they're out of the loop, hereslookin@u - but it's a trick I loathe in any case.

'innovation' covered by music writing often becomes a part of how music develops tho (by music writing i mean ... discourse around music)

years of ppl talking about timbaland = indie artists start imitating timbaland etc

what i mean is that talk is just as much a part of music as music is slippery slope etc

in this case i more or less agree but thought that was worth pointing out

No, of course, I mean...I'm not indicting the guy's review, it's better than most, and it measures up to the amount of (inter-crit/media) attention the record's drummed up. It's just that "rape-gaze" to me smacks of "wish I thought of chillwave".

should have gone w/ 'stillbornwave'

'death panels'

OH MAN

http://twitter.com/1000timesyes

Someone is going to play Chilean miners a Salem record and they'll ask to be put back in the hole.
Thursday, October 07, 2010 11:01:50 AM via web

looooooooooool

rmde

that was 'heh' funny not 'loooooooool' funny

"and i know because no one i know thinks that's funny"

dawg that was a leno punchline

PLZ KEEP WHINEY/DEEJ BEEF OUT OF THIS IMPORTANT THREAD

ilxor feels like a twitter aggregator more and more which is kind of sad 2 me all these yrs l8r.

deej,

i mean, i def agree with you that it's a not-very-good joke. i'm just saying let ilxor say something nice to me ffs

http://pics4.city-data.com/cpicc/cfiles26006.jpg
has someone already posted a pic of this? i think this is where witch house was invented all those years ago in Salem MA.

ilxor feels like a twitter aggregator more and more which is kind of sad 2 me all these yrs l8r.

??

i *do* like salem, at about 7.5 level, but the idea of an entire genre of salem-alikes is disturbing

cf i like emeralds and ducktails but i think triangle music / chillwave as a whole is pretty gross

anyway i don't really like or dislike music - i either don't care or have a love-hate relationship, tbh

ha!

i've never had the energy or the wallet/filehunting patience to follow a whole movement, even a small one.

it all sounds like some ~~background shit~~ to me, seeing it be a crit phenomenon as a whole is baffling
but then i like reading simon reynolds so

im not sure if that last phrase implies im a hypocrit, or the opposite, or both

i either don't care or have a love-hate relationship, tbh

o_O

it's called high negative capability

thnx moonship re: reverse trending.
cott, are you talking about "writers making up genre names/scenes"?

the idea of an entire genre of salem-alikes is disturbing

http://www.discount-cheap-cigarettes.net/images/cigarettes/salem_lights.jpg

sounds more like anhedonia?

I still want to start a band called Giles Corey. Our first album is going to be called Weight, and our second album will be called More Weight.

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/articleimages/wong/lastwords/giles.jpg

1,000,000x better than any "witch house" group i've heard

http://www.cokemachineglow.com/images/9217.jpg

truth bomb

Back in the olden days in my GCSE English class we were asked to write about a character from the Crucible, and I chose Giles Corey.

:-D

she say im down wih huh, i say bitch you alone
you lyin wit the flesh, lyin with the bone
she say i'm lyin wih huh, my mind in the SKREET
i say i'm not with me, i'm with she, i'm with she
now plane lights blinkin, off in da evenin
got me thinkin, wish i was leavin
it's not that i'm tryna be somewhere else
i'm not tryna be here... by myself
if you were here too i'd still be with myself
i talk real loud, i don't wanna hear myself
i'm faraway lost and i don't want help
if you could bring me back, i kill myself... haaa
not myself, that's just myself
i don't know if you could tell, but i'm in hell
i don't know if you noticed, but i haven't spoken
my arm might be broken, i'm so sick of jokin

I really like that Demdike Stare album a lot but I'm not sure how comparable it is to King Night.

1,000,000x better than any witch house group I've heard = drinking two bottles of night nurse while watching threads, putting DJ Spanish Fly on iPod really loud and jumping down entire flight of stairs in one go. Then lying in pool of own blood recalling childhood sweetheart until ambulance arrives.

I made a video about Giles Corey for my junior high school english class

it was way better than any Salem album and I can guarantee that 100%

read that post as "Back in the olden days in my GYBE English class..."

pretty sure it's "I'm a sheet, I'm a sheet."

http://i52.tinypic.com/2rw9vzp.gif

Boo-haus

at a party, some chicago dudes laid out to me exactly how these guys became famous, and its waaaaay to gossipy for me to actually post on a public forum.

explain it to us in a Mad Libs way. (band member) slept with/sold drugs to (magazine editor) etc.

aww whiney give us a hint at least

Whiney you little tease.

some chicago dudes

"I tell ya, being the roadies for Tortoise, it's the gateway to stardom."

Nothing to do with Peter Cetera then, phew.

crits on their dick when they crunkie goth swag

rmde

― thank you based mod (deej), Friday, October 8, 2010 6:41 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that was 'heh' funny not 'loooooooool' funny

― thank you based mod (deej), Friday, October 8, 2010 6:42 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"and i know because no one i know thinks that's funny"

― underrated SCAREosmith albums I have loved (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, October 8, 2010 6:48 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dawg that was a leno punchline

― trollin trollin trollin we aint slept in weeks (deej), Friday, October 8, 2010 6:49 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

a distillation of deej-whiney beef styles so pure that in the future they won't need to beef at all, they'll just permalink this exchange

at a party, some chicago dudes laid out to me exactly how these guys became famous

"famous"? fo' real? already? Has something happened in the past week I've missed?

"famous"

We're all famous.

how these guys became famous
how these guys became famous
how these guys became famous
how these guys became famous
how these guys became famous
how these guys became famous
how these guys became famous
how these guys became famous
how these guys became famous
how these guys became famous

markers did salem like personally shit in your malt-o-meal or something - your interest in their whole deal is pretty intense imo

nah, just thought the Fader Fort thing was the most hilarious performance I've seen this year. I did buy their record though, 'cause I'm actually interested in their music. I do think Whiney saying that they're "famous" is funny though

afaict, my malt-o-meal remains pure

i think whiney probably just wanted to set off a 300-post debate about the relative fame of salem and you guys are all playing into his hands.

ts: arguing about who is or isn't famous vs. arguing about what is or isn't funny

http://i56.tinypic.com/2eutqn7.gif

markers did salem like personally shit in your malt-o-meal or something - your interest in their whole deal is pretty intense imo

― drawl the whine (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, October 10, 2010 12:20 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

markers is TTG, shorty

"trying too goddamn (hard)"? concur

also if I'm yr shorty that makes you somebody's great-grandfather so congratulations on having escaped the strangling clutches of youth forever & ever, old man

http://i56.tinypic.com/24yxu80.jpg

rmde

― thank you based mod (deej), Friday, October 8, 2010 6:41 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

that was 'heh' funny not 'loooooooool' funny

― thank you based mod (deej), Friday, October 8, 2010 6:42 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"and i know because no one i know thinks that's funny"

― underrated SCAREosmith albums I have loved (Whiney G. Weingarten), Friday, October 8, 2010 6:48 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

dawg that was a leno punchline

― trollin trollin trollin we aint slept in weeks (deej), Friday, October 8, 2010 6:49 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

a distillation of deej-whiney beef styles so pure that in the future they won't need to beef at all, they'll just permalink this exchange

― drawl the whine (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, October 10, 2010 11:48 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this post goes into the ILX Smithsonian exhibit

so, i am interviewing oOoOo guy tonight. from what i've heard, i like his stuff a LOT better than anything Salem have done, but then again, he's on more of a dubstep kick than a crunk kick.

i dig oOoOo. he is chillwave tho, right? SoOoOo different from witch house. i think if i actually said "witch house" out loud it would make me throw up in my mouth a little bit. witch house. maybe it should be called spookywave instead.

afaict, my malt-o-meal remains pure

and a nation is greatly relieved.

:-)

"Mumbai" is ttl chillwi☨ch ☓over

how is salem on a 'crunk' kick. what musical aspects of 'crunk' are they adopting. do tell

everybody cool it the crunk police are here

http://i56.tinypic.com/2dbtfr8.gif

tbf there's nothing crunk about salem

so when i listen to this do i feel the rape gaze on me, or am i giving off the rape gaze, or what

naw I think he means screwed 'n' chopped in feel, which I mean slowed down vox do give that feel to my ear anyway

oh hey these guys covered springsteen

all this music is so noisy

did you ever notice salem spelled backwards is males

makes you think

makes you think that it isn't actually true, I mean

makes me think you need reverse spellcheck.

and everyone in salem probably needs a bath.

I love that their site is http://s4lem.com/

are these guys the goths of the 2010s

they feel more like the ministry of the 2010s. were ministry "goth"?

i think of the knife as neo-goths. unless they were the 2000s goths, now replaced by salem's 2010 goths.

i think markers is like one of those characters in SVU where stabler & benson break into his apartment and he has salem press clippings and high res, long range photos plastered all over one room in his place

irl lol

they feel more like the minstrelsy of the 2010s

do they actually rap a lot? i havent heard them rap at all yet

IAMSOUND is a bad label btw imo

everybody cool it the crunk police are here

― drawl the whine (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Sunday, October 10, 2010 7:49 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

if i say the sky is blue will u argue with me?

ministry >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

im not even gonna finish

crunk police

http://funnypicblast.com/wp-content/imgdir/2008_09/sexy-policewoman-pic3.jpg

that is not deej.

well, i mean, maybe, but i doubt it.

stop posting photoes of my wife

if i say the sky is blue will u argue with me?

yup

http://i53.tinypic.com/15hblw2.gif

markers you've had better shticks

actually I am usually pretty down on markers but his doggedness on this subject is developing its own sort of charm seeing as the actual truth about salem can be summed up by a certain jpg that bought whiney a temp-ban

markers, you can't clown on salem too much. the disc got a 7.5 from p4kmedia. that means salem is 75% good, so you can only clown on it 25% of the time.

<3 y'all

bought this today

i am truly sorry for your lots

idg why this band is popular

who cares, it's clearly an opportune time for me to make my grand entrance into the pop world making half-assed mumbly music with casio beats

the rap beat curtis sent me last sunday >> anything i've heard by salem