as for the lansing-dreiden-artband-spectacular, i listened to the "glass corridor" mp3 on their site, and it's rather nice.
― jermaine (jnoble), Thursday, 28 July 2005 09:13 (eighteen years ago) link
Article Response: Lansing-Dreiden - 'The Incomplete Triangle'
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 28 July 2005 09:52 (eighteen years ago) link
Hyperbolic and possibly untrue press-notes to follow:
"Lansing-Dreiden enters 2006 with The Dividing Island, an album that realizes the company's potential in new, transcendent ways. The Dividing Island is Lansing-Dreiden's second full-length album and it will be out May 9th. Its first full-length, The Incomplete Triangle, was self-released in 2003 and was hailed in the pages of Spin Magazine as "dreamy space rock... with a psychedelic metal twist." The Incomplete Triangle was followed by an EP, A Sectioned Beam, praised by Time Out New York as "an airtight example of textbook pop perfection." Both titles were reissued by Kemado Records in 2004.
With The Dividing Island, Lansing-Dreiden explores the theme of division. The titular island divides; the album's lyrics and music point at this process from various angles, illustrating the emergence of two sides, and a line in between. This scenario appears simple enough, but is deceptively so-in the world depicted by Lansing-Dreiden, division and duality are not necessarily states of distinct sides. Progression and regression intermingle, ascension and descension flip-flop. Against this complex landscape, Lansing-Dreiden builds a brilliant and perplexing album, one possessing a wealth of possible interpretations.
What is the dividing island? The album's lyrics paint a picture not of a specific place, but of a general, nebulous state of opposition; yet out of this abstract milieu, concrete meanings may also be derived. "Cement to Stone" and "A Line You Can Cross" -two songs whose lyrics tell of edges, angles, and horizon lines-both feature dueling vocals, lows and highs, suggesting accounts of the lines between men and women. "One For All" and "Dethroning The Optimyth" conjure images of war by way of lines like "Twin black wings descend on me/ Finish me," against others such as "Much before the sword's satisfied/ You can make the whole thing right."
Musically, the theme of division is set forth in the opening track, "Dividing Island," which consists of two completely contrasting sections, sharing only lyrical and melodic phrases. This song begins with lush, languid waves of psychedelia, breaking abruptly into an exuberant, exhilarating call-to-arms. If these two parts represent the two halves of a dividing whole -a dividing island-Lansing-Dreiden reunites the island, revealing the oneness of the parts by using them to build a cohesive, infectious song.
This pattern pervades The Dividing Island. Many of the album's songs weave disparate musical elements into intensely familiar yet uncategorizable wholes. The modern mixes with the archaic, the known with the unknown. On "One For All," a traditional pop/R&B song is layered with darker sounds, alien to that genre -ominous chords, ghostly harmonies, and a recurring drum sample evoking the sound of gunfire. "Dethroning The Optimyth" tempers a power-metal assault with angelic vocals. Elsewhere, jangly guitar hooks are soured by dissonant keyboard swells; electronic cadences rattle along beside acoustic drum breaks; vocals soar, warm and emotive yet mysteriously veiled. Culling irresistible sounds from rock, pop, R&B, soul, metal, and beyond, Lansing-Dreiden reconfigures the divided into unpredictable, utterly unique sums.
― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 3 March 2006 20:58 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 3 March 2006 20:59 (eighteen years ago) link
This is obviously a hidden message to Kemado Records: Don't spend too much money on The Sword! Our album is really cool too!
― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 3 March 2006 21:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 3 March 2006 21:01 (eighteen years ago) link
Culling irresistible sounds from rock, pop, R&B, soul, metal, and beyond
...might as well have been a PR release point from them circa 1995.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 3 March 2006 21:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 3 March 2006 21:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 3 March 2006 21:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 3 March 2006 21:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 3 March 2006 21:17 (eighteen years ago) link
MY EYES ARE BURNING
"The Incomplete Triangle" was really good though, so I still want to hear the new one. More Boo Radleys, less "Movement"-era New Order sounds accurate.
― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Friday, 3 March 2006 21:20 (eighteen years ago) link
― bell labs (bell_labs), Friday, 3 March 2006 21:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 3 March 2006 22:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 01:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 02:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 2 May 2006 04:48 (eighteen years ago) link
anyway, it's good! the first song is killer. as is the last song. i need to dig into it more. the production is great. lots of cool sounds dropping in and out of the mix. i think you'll like it, tim. i need to listen more though.
― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 9 May 2006 03:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 05:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― city of gyros (chaki), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 05:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 13:05 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 13:41 (eighteen years ago) link
― kevin barking (arghargh), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 16:36 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 25 May 2006 01:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 25 May 2006 02:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 25 May 2006 17:04 (eighteen years ago) link
But after two listens, none of the melodies or arrangements stick with me. I can't really remember anything about the album. This could very well be one of those slow growers, but I have a feeling that the overall hazy aura that surrounds these tracks might be detracting from the songs.
But still, tons of ambition. Which really counts for something these days. And not that Sufjan Stevens/Clap Your Hands Say Yeah parade rock ambition. This is the ambition you heard in Prefab Sprout and China Crisis records.
― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 25 May 2006 17:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 25 May 2006 18:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 25 May 2006 18:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 25 May 2006 18:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 25 May 2006 18:24 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 25 May 2006 19:26 (eighteen years ago) link
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 25 May 2006 19:28 (eighteen years ago) link
― chaki (chaki), Thursday, 25 May 2006 19:30 (eighteen years ago) link
"The Dividing Island is Lansing-Dreiden's second full-length album, just recently released May 9th on Kemado Records. Live, L-D Section II are astonishing and refreshing, especially with their new line up bringing hints of shoegazed synth pop struts with new lead singers Sect and Ion. L-D Section I, a 9-pc band that performed Lansing-Dreiden's music in a live setting had sold-out shows in New York, Seattle, and Austin. This will also mark the debut of L-D Section II playing in selected cities."
― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 25 May 2006 22:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Thursday, 25 May 2006 22:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 25 May 2006 22:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― yours fondly, harshaw. (mrgn), Thursday, 25 May 2006 22:48 (eighteen years ago) link
well, duh, i finally actually read the voice live review that tim linked to. looks cool. and i like that review.
― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 26 May 2006 14:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Friday, 26 May 2006 15:37 (eighteen years ago) link
All they had to say for themselves was "Please don't be mean to us, we're just trying to have fun!" They're limp liberal-arts kids looking for fame, as childish and childlike as Len. But they've been to school and been around enough to know the easiest road to a reputation: courting overzealous tossbags with ambiguity and obfuscation. Lansing-Dreiden continue to build the biggest, whitest slate for pseuds to write spiraling academic architecture - the fait accompli that buttresses the band's naive thievery of thoughts and forms they don't even completely understand. They might as well have called their album P-KKt3.
― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Friday, 26 May 2006 15:57 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 26 May 2006 16:00 (eighteen years ago) link
that would be a good title too!
― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 26 May 2006 16:07 (eighteen years ago) link
the pitchfork reviews are the only ones that read like that though.
"They're limp liberal-arts kids looking for fame"
aren't they already successful designers? and every one of their actions as musicmakers leads me to believe that fame is the last thing on their minds.
― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 26 May 2006 16:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Friday, 26 May 2006 16:28 (eighteen years ago) link
I don't know if this is a good record or not. It's not really my stylistic bag, but the clips on AMG sounded nice. Maybe it falls apart on closer inspection, but at the very least the songs are pretty lovely compositions (if emphemerally so).
I understand that this kind of music is Ott's turf and I can understand wanting to defend it, but I think there's something to be said for competent, interesting music, no matter how derivative, no matter how boring / pretentious the creators.
― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 26 May 2006 16:37 (eighteen years ago) link
Oh I've worked out why I don't like Words Never Fail To Fail! It's a dead-on Blue Nile impression! I just listened to it while walking through London in the rain and my heart stirred not a whit. You'll all love it though. As a bonus, the next track is a fairly decent impression of Love Song by The Cure. Album's amazing apart from that
― imago, Friday, 9 March 2018 17:39 (six years ago) link
I guess WNFTF has some nice XTC harmonies in amongst the sheer Paul Buchanan-ness of it all, at least
― imago, Friday, 9 March 2018 17:40 (six years ago) link
i sent him a FB friend request. i want to ask him about the possibility of a CD release. with a bonus disc. i'm not a big online listener. i wonder how many records he pressed? probably not a lot.
― scott seward, Friday, 9 March 2018 17:44 (six years ago) link
i wonder if i would dig the Violens stuff more now. i'll bet i would. i just listened to this one and it reminded me of cass mccombs!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U90FeqsxnR0
― scott seward, Friday, 9 March 2018 17:46 (six years ago) link
I quite like WNFTF now ffs
― imago, Friday, 9 March 2018 19:46 (six years ago) link
finally listening now.
I've been feeling like there's something in vocal melodies and harmonies that I think Django Django do similarly, sort of Zombies-esque
― dan selzer, Friday, 9 March 2018 19:50 (six years ago) link
He’s great with collaborators, less so when he tackles everything himself
― calstars, Friday, 9 March 2018 20:03 (six years ago) link
Yes! I thought Zombies at one point too!
― imago, Friday, 9 March 2018 20:06 (six years ago) link
I think during Flesh To Ash
― imago, Friday, 9 March 2018 20:09 (six years ago) link
I can't get over the segue between the first two tracks on this
― imago, Sunday, 11 March 2018 15:09 (six years ago) link
the Zombies one is Undiscerning Masses btw
― imago, Sunday, 11 March 2018 16:25 (six years ago) link
my favorite l-d bit is still how the first track on the dividing island turns into a who song halfway through for no reason
― call all destroyer, Sunday, 11 March 2018 22:58 (six years ago) link
Guitar heroics on “eternal lie” ftw
― zalstarz (calstars), Sunday, 11 March 2018 23:27 (six years ago) link
Sent Elbrecht a note telling him how much I like the new album and asking about a repress. He replied that there’s no plan right now beyond the initial 100 copies. :/
― by the light of the burning Citroën, Tuesday, 13 March 2018 13:59 (six years ago) link
thanks to imago for leading me down the lansing-dreiden rabbithole
elbrecht lp repressed fyi https://jorgeelbrecht.bandcamp.com/album/here-lies
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Monday, 22 April 2019 02:14 (five years ago) link
haha sweet! hoped that namedrop would lead to someone checking them out. i just listened again to The Incomplete Triangle - what an album it is, just keeps getting better and better (both in terms of its tracklist and its enduring qualities)
― imago, Monday, 22 April 2019 07:47 (five years ago) link
Is this group more niche than I thought? I just got a copy of The Dividing Island vinyl reissue from six years ago #384/500. I can't fathom a pressing that limited not selling out before 2019.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 17:58 (four years ago) link
yeah they are quite obscure. criminally unknown
― boobie, Tuesday, 20 August 2019 19:29 (four years ago) link
i saw jorge elbrecht as support for kurt vile in june in berlin. and it was terrible. new wavish bombast, the voice totally distorted and hardly understandable, just crap. actually it took me about an hour to find out that it was him. and i love the "incomplete triangle" but live it does not seemm to work at all.
― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Wednesday, 21 August 2019 08:55 (four years ago) link
https://open.spotify.com/track/2Uj68LXGj9lu4RCAX741ChDown in flames sounds like a sectioned bean b side
― calstars, Sunday, 12 January 2020 19:43 (four years ago) link
I just picked up The Dividing Island on CD. I'm a fan of the Incomplete Triangle so I'm pleased to get this.
I'd never searched this band on ILM before. I must check the Jorge Elbrecht stuff mentioned above.
― Duke, Saturday, 25 January 2020 20:14 (four years ago) link
https://open.spotify.com/track/1siKvQOduE0LjKWuhEca7O?si=JzHubTJDSFywRYHZJmdo5Q
― calstars, Saturday, 25 January 2020 20:41 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlHAVzR41BkBest use of “pizazz” In a pop song?
― calstars, Sunday, 30 May 2021 02:01 (three years ago) link
i had forgotten how good this is. been listening on repeat. some of the solo stuff is pretty great too; the way it veers from byrds to severed heads and has this rotating cast of ilm vetted assists - drab majesty, tamaryn, sky ferreira - sorta becoming obsessed tbh. would buy some LD physical ephemera but that seems impossible now
― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 17:39 (three years ago) link
elbrecht is incredibly talented. love the new presentable corpse record
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 22:10 (three years ago) link
Yeah. The “run and hide” / “fading memory” one two punch is gutting me rn.
And “words never fail to fail” from the debut is the best julee cruise/blue Nile crossover I didn’t know I absolutely needed
― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Tuesday, 1 June 2021 23:18 (three years ago) link