insides - euphoria

actually i guess "skykicking" is probably the best song

― r1o natsume, Thursday, 16 August 2007 23:37 (5 years ago) Permalink

I'm not going to vote yet until I've thought about it more, but (despite what would seem like the obvious choice for me) i'm tempted to choose "Darling Effect" - the guitar, the lyrics, the phrasing, all amazing.

Didn't the guy write the lyrics though?

Hence in "Darling Effect" - "I almost come the moment I'm inside you"

Although it would be even better if it was the singer writing these lyrics.

― Tim F, Friday, 17 August 2007 01:38 (5 years ago) Permalink

"skykicking" for that little 3 note piano riff thats going round & round in my head RIGHT NOW
argh!

― zappi, Friday, 17 August 2007 02:51 (5 years ago) Permalink

All good. (I am biased.) It is, indeed, a perfect record.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 17 August 2007 02:55 (5 years ago) Permalink

rl0 natsume, i love you, for starting this thread. but, i can't vote. really, i don't have a favorite on this one. it's just one of those albums that i like to light and let burn.

what a great and forgotten dreamy, ambient pop record.

having said all that, earwig's 'under my skin i am laughing' is even better! these people were angels. whatever happened to 'em?

― andi, Friday, 17 August 2007 03:28 (5 years ago) Permalink

they discovered the bossa nova, if the wonderful Sweet Tip is any indication.

― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 17 August 2007 12:48 (5 years ago) Permalink

Sweet Tip was a nice record, but those horrible sleeve pics!

still think 'Clear Skin' was their watermark...

vote "Distractions"!

(though the "Off The Wall" bass line in "Walking In Straight Lines" almost puts that one in the catbird seat)

― henry s, Friday, 17 August 2007 13:32 (5 years ago) Permalink

love this album. im voting 'distractions'.

― Michael B, Friday, 17 August 2007 13:56 (5 years ago) Permalink

it's funny, i think "carly simon" and "yes" are probably my least favourite songs on the album, yet they are still better than like 97% of my record collection

― r1o natsume, Friday, 17 August 2007 16:25 (5 years ago) Permalink

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― ILX System, Wednesday, 22 August 2007 23:01 (5 years ago) Permalink

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

― ILX System, Thursday, 23 August 2007 23:01 (5 years ago) Permalink

I forgot to vote!

― Tim F, Friday, 24 August 2007 03:53 (5 years ago) Permalink

WELL JEEZ

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 24 August 2007 04:02 (5 years ago) Permalink

haha. so sad. i didn't vote, either. and really, i absolutely love the music these people make. all of it. i just couldn't really see any point in choosing a favorite here, though. the whole damn thing is pretty great.

― andi, Friday, 24 August 2007 05:12 (5 years ago) Permalink

3 of us voted?!...well, fuck me running!...how is it that this fine LP could be so washed away by the sands of time?

― henry s, Friday, 24 August 2007 12:58 (5 years ago) Permalink

haha i also totally forgot to vote. shame.

― r1o natsume, Friday, 24 August 2007 13:01 (5 years ago) Permalink

i would've definitely gone for "relentless" in the end. at risk of sounding incredibly corny, this record is totally balearic right? slow house beats, shimmering vini reilly guitar, hushed vocals, i suppose the lyrics don't really fit with balearica but. maybe it's balearic if the cafe del mar was in antartica

― r1o natsume, Friday, 24 August 2007 13:06 (5 years ago) Permalink

Was this one of the three LPs that launched Guernica or was it the 2nd wave? This, Spoonfed Hybrid and That Dog all within a week or two of each other in late '93 - I bought the lot on vinyl at (the late, lamented) Rham Records in Wallasey before leaving home for the last time to start my new job. I had to tape them on the Crown music-centre the night I packed as I didn't have a record player in my new flat until the following summer...

I think Koogy went to the label launch - he got me a free CD promo which is probably worth...oh, a fiver? on eBay now...

Julian Tardo of Insides was running his own studio in Brighton until quite recently, I think - friends of mine have recorded with him. One late, lamented friend in particular...

― Michael Jones, Friday, 24 August 2007 13:18 (5 years ago) Permalink

was there ever a second Guernica wave?...I thought that the three you mention (plus the Unrest record) were the only ones on that (great, lost) imprint...

I've said it before and I'll say it again...'Euphoria' needs to be remastered...

― henry s, Friday, 24 August 2007 13:45 (5 years ago) Permalink

Bettie Serveert's Palomine was part of the first wave (GU003). Guernica also reissued the Underground Lovers' Leaves Me Blind and ended on the high-note of Insides' Clear Skin mini-LP.

― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 24 August 2007 14:04 (5 years ago) Permalink

I got that Underground Lovers' rerelease completely out of nowhere at UCI's newspaper back in 1992 or 1993 or whenever it was. Very glad for that still.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 24 August 2007 14:09 (5 years ago) Permalink

forgot about Underground Lovers...

wasn't Clear Skin a 4AD release?

― henry s, Friday, 24 August 2007 14:10 (5 years ago) Permalink

TU7 cat no. = "Temporary" Guernica release. the last, to date.

― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 24 August 2007 15:40 (5 years ago) Permalink

guess LMB wasn't a re-release. first issue was in the UK, on Guernica. released in Australia on Polydor later that year ('94). i must have been thinking about the US version of Dream it Down, which IIRC swapped out four new tracks for LMB tracks.

― Mr. Hal Jam, Friday, 24 August 2007 15:46 (5 years ago) Permalink

I managed to finally hear this record. I remember when it came out because I had a friend who was really into 4AD and basically bought everything they released during this period, but he never managed to acquire this one. A lot of stuff on the label at the time managed to sound gothy even when it wasn't trying to (cf., the first couple of HNIA records).

It's a good record and the production on it sounds exactly like an AR Kane record. I especially like how they recorded the drum machines and the sampled loop of wobbly cymbals on the final track is esp. nice. My only complaint is that the vocals do kind of get in the way a little bit. I prefer them on the tracks where they are more buried in the mix even though the bjork-ish phrasing is a little irritating also. I think I will mostly get beyond these criticisms on a few repeat listenings though. This one is a grower, as they say.

Guernica put out a special edition of Unrest's Imperial FFRR in the UK and Europe if I recall.

― Bill in Chicago, Friday, 24 August 2007 16:48 (5 years ago) Permalink

Ah, now I remember - the first Guernica wave was late '92 - Unrest (who subsequently released stuff on 4AD proper), Underground Lovers, Bettie Serveert (two of those were reissues or licensing things from other labels - maybe all of 'em); then Spoonfed/Insides/That Dog in '93, then the Insides one-off in mid-'94. I bought 'em on vinyl because you got a free 7" with the LPs (obv "Clear Skin" was CD only).

― Michael Jones, Friday, 24 August 2007 16:53 (5 years ago) Permalink

This record is excruciatingly beautiful. Like huddling under heavy blankets, sweating, turned on, listening to someone tell you their darkest thoughts. It makes me sad that so few answered this poll or responded to this thread, but it makes sense. It's just such a private record, almost embarassingly so, and in fact I just realized I don't think I've ever shared my love of this record with anyone else. Even listening to it makes me feel almost uncomfortably vulnerable. I love it.

― Clarke, Monday, 11 August 2008 01:39 (4 years ago) Permalink

Clarke B?

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 11 August 2008 01:40 (4 years ago) Permalink

It's me! Hey Ned... "Long time" would be an understatement.

― Clarke, Monday, 11 August 2008 01:47 (4 years ago) Permalink

Yes indeed, you drunken sommelier. :-D How's that all going?

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 11 August 2008 01:49 (4 years ago) Permalink

Well, I'm still up in Brooklyn, working for the French portfolio of a small-ish wine importer, and really enjoying my work. For a while I was so immersed in wine, and trying to catch myself up in terms of knowledge and experience, that I feel like my other interests dropped off a bit... But I suppose balance beckons to be restored, and so I find myself on my couch on a humid Sunday night, reading ILM and thinking about this beautiful, beautiful album. :-)

― Clarke, Monday, 11 August 2008 02:01 (4 years ago) Permalink

And a fine choice of album indeed. I haven't listened to it in a bit and will do so now.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 11 August 2008 02:04 (4 years ago) Permalink

What did you think, Ned? ("Darling Effect" would have to be my favorite.)

― Clarke, Thursday, 14 August 2008 20:56 (4 years ago) Permalink

"Distractions" sounds like "Love To Stay" by Altered Images

― Nubly, Tuesday, 26 August 2008 14:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

Digging around I found the few non-album songs by Earwig, Insides' immediate predecessor, that I didn't have on their own one album, Under My Skin I Am Laughing. (Most of the B-sides/singles got collected on a compilation, Past, but I've still never been able to find a copy of that.) Mixed batch but I like them, you can hear them being a louder 'rock' band as such early on.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 December 2009 01:07 (3 years ago) Permalink

I had a copy of Past, the only copy I've ever seen, and I accidentally sold it back to Amoeba last year in a box along with a ton of other things. I went back to find it later that week and it was nowhere to be found. That said, despite the scarcity of it, I didn't find it that great; Under my Skin was much much better.

― akm, Monday, 7 December 2009 05:17 (3 years ago) Permalink

Agreed, the singles are more woodshedding than anything else. But you can hear them start to settle on a sound as they go.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 December 2009 05:20 (3 years ago) Permalink

looking at this:

http://eil.com/Shop/ExtSearch.asp?DiscArtist=Earwig

all three of those ep covers look very familiar but i could've sworn i was missing one. or maybe i'm missing a 4th ep. ah, yes, the Every Day Shines 12".

there was also an insides promo 12" with clear skin remixes on it that i found cheap in notting hill but my copy of which i think jumps. (Eyesore DB says GUP4)

as mike said i went to the label launch (Borderline (Break For The Border?), London, same place i saw UVS and that first B&S gig) where insides played two sets, the first of which became Clear Skin. mesmerising to the point where you had to remember to breathe. years later i heard steve reich and the spell was somewhat broken but hey...

― koogs, Monday, 7 December 2009 11:08 (3 years ago) Permalink

there was also an insides promo 12" with clear skin remixes on it

! Now that I'd love to hear.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 December 2009 16:05 (3 years ago) Permalink

Actually somehow I had missed that the original release of Euphoria had a separate 7" single as well.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 December 2009 16:10 (3 years ago) Permalink

> Now that I'd love to hear.

if only someone had, say, posted it on an mp3 blog (and on my birthday too)

http://theblackenedair.blogspot.com/2009/10/insides-clear-skin-promo.html

― koogs, Monday, 7 December 2009 20:47 (3 years ago) Permalink

Astounding.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 December 2009 20:48 (3 years ago) Permalink

And thanks!

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 December 2009 20:48 (3 years ago) Permalink

Wow thanks Koogs!

I still have never heard the Earwig album or Clear Skin itself, appallingly.

― Tim F, Monday, 7 December 2009 22:14 (3 years ago) Permalink

Good lord, man.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 December 2009 22:26 (3 years ago) Permalink

Ha I know - it actually feels vaguely shameful considering how important Euphoria has been to me for so long.

― Tim F, Monday, 7 December 2009 22:29 (3 years ago) Permalink

Me on Under My Skin from ten years back:

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/old-ft/essays/1999/02/earwig/

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 December 2009 22:30 (3 years ago) Permalink

Ned I've been imagining the record ever since I read your review ten years ago! That was the first I'd heard of it - I think i actually picked up Euphoria that year due to all the cross-references with Disco Inferno, Bark Psychosis etc.

― Tim F, Monday, 7 December 2009 22:42 (3 years ago) Permalink

cross-references on a.m.a. I mean.

― Tim F, Monday, 7 December 2009 22:42 (3 years ago) Permalink

Something really needs to be done about this! And that sounds like something that would be cross-referenced on a.m.a. that way...

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 7 December 2009 22:46 (3 years ago) Permalink

tim i have clear skin, if i can track down the cd in my many boxes i will set it aside for you

― an error has occurred (electricsound), Monday, 7 December 2009 22:47 (3 years ago) Permalink

Thanks Jim! No pressure though, I know what scouring through boxes of CDs is like...

― Tim F, Monday, 7 December 2009 22:49 (3 years ago) Permalink

so sick

― rionat, Friday, 1 January 2010 11:10 (3 years ago) Permalink

i hate lovers
i hate the way they go to the bathroom
in shifts
after
they fuck

― rionat, Friday, 1 January 2010 11:14 (3 years ago) Permalink

Possibly my favorite song by them, definitely my favorite lyric.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 1 January 2010 15:38 (3 years ago) Permalink

huh.

http://www.animalsonwheels.co.uk/index.php/2010/08/16/a-new-old-tune/#content

― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Wednesday, 11 May 2011 01:14 (2 years ago) Permalink

Good find!

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 11 May 2011 01:20 (2 years ago) Permalink

thanks!

pretty good track. very 90s idm. which, um, makes sense.

― (⊙_⊙?) (Alan N), Wednesday, 11 May 2011 01:35 (2 years ago) Permalink

only 3 votes in the original poll makes me sad, but I guess this album is kind of the definition of a hidden gem--as much as I love it, I wouldn't play it for just anyone.

― rob, Wednesday, 11 May 2011 01:47 (2 years ago) Permalink

i played "Relentless" once extremely late at a house party a while ago, like Sunday afternoon late, about 6 or 7 people in the room just dancing and chatting and drinking, it went down well I think though admittedly I just wanted to hear it myself

this album means so much to me but I still haven't heard Clear Skin

― Snámh dá Én (missingNO), Wednesday, 11 May 2011 01:55 (2 years ago) Permalink

I just got into this in the last two years. Prefer Clear Skin to Euphoria. Got the canadian? cd ep off Amazon or Discogs recently for a buck or two. Reminds me of Reich in places.

― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 11 May 2011 03:21 (2 years ago) Permalink

It seems I have the mp3s for the Clear Skin promo too. They also had a track on one of the Volume comps.

― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 11 May 2011 03:30 (2 years ago) Permalink

Never understood the hoopla for this album - always seemed like a more boring Laika

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, 11 May 2011 08:22 (2 years ago) Permalink

Hurrah Neil Kulkarni once more:

http://thequietus.com/articles/07267-the-euphoria-of-insides

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 November 2011 17:27 (1 year ago) Permalink

Some full-throated poptimism there at the start too!

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 November 2011 17:35 (1 year ago) Permalink

Not much of a Mogwai fan I take it?

― Lars and the Lulu Girl (NickB), Wednesday, 2 November 2011 17:41 (1 year ago) Permalink

Those American bands I did care about that got called ‘post-rock’ always had too much of an obsession with melody and rhythm going on to ever be called anything other than pop (Bowery Electric, Jessamine, Labradford, Windy & Carl)

Uh...

― doug watson, Wednesday, 2 November 2011 17:44 (1 year ago) Permalink

I should tell Windy and Carl about that, actually...

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 2 November 2011 17:47 (1 year ago) Permalink

Coincidentally, I was humming a Labradford song only yesterday.

― doug watson, Wednesday, 2 November 2011 18:00 (1 year ago) Permalink

I think it was the one that started on middle C. And stayed there for the next five minutes.

― doug watson, Wednesday, 2 November 2011 18:01 (1 year ago) Permalink

Missed the Kulkarni feature at the time but just caught up, I hadn't realised They had another band before Insides. The music seems to be legally available here:

http://earwiguk.bandcamp.com/

I Need Feel is an amazing track.

― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 14:11 (1 year ago) Permalink

Hey, that's great! Must get the missing numbers...

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 14:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

I would like to make a donation, as everything I've ever bought by these guys has been second-hand, but I guess legally these things can be difficult.

― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 14:47 (1 year ago) Permalink

That "Past" album was the first thing I got by these guys. (Yeah, it was second-hand too.) It was great to follow their progress from that to "Under My Skin..." to "Euphoria" to "Clear Skin." There were a few other artists back then, like Robert Hampson, whose music just seemed to gradually dissolve into the ether with each release. I always wondered where they would wind up.

― henry s, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 18:17 (1 year ago) Permalink

I would like to make a donation, as everything I've ever bought by these guys has been second-hand, but I guess legally these things can be difficult.

The rights must've reverted to them if they're allowing free downloads on bandcamp. In which case, it's unfortunate that they didn't use the "name your price" feature to allow for donations. In any case, the flac files are much appreciated. Those are rare discs these days.

― doug watson, Tuesday, 24 January 2012 23:33 (1 year ago) Permalink

tim i have clear skin, if i can track down the cd in my many boxes i will set it aside for you

― an error has occurred (electricsound), Tuesday, December 8, 2009 9:47 AM (2 years ago)

i found this if you would still like it tim!!

― ‘Banksy bacon burgers’ and ‘Shepard Fairey Bread’ (electricsound), Tuesday, 24 January 2012 23:36 (1 year ago) Permalink

This record is excruciatingly beautiful. Like huddling under heavy blankets, sweating, turned on, listening to someone tell you their darkest thoughts. It makes me sad that so few answered this poll or responded to this thread, but it makes sense. It's just such a private record, almost embarassingly so

This, from way up thread, is so accurate for this music. I've just had someone turn me onto this band and I'm like... how, with all my love of ARKane, DI, Butterfly Child etc etc did I miss these guys?

This is excellent, and painful, and honest.

― Pureed Moods (Trayce), Sunday, 5 August 2012 10:29 (10 months ago) Permalink

Glad you've discovered them Trayce.

― Tim F, Sunday, 5 August 2012 10:38 (10 months ago) Permalink

Yeah someone I know from lastfm chats recommended them to me recently. The clash of sweet music v the painfully honest, ugly lyrics is just awesome, much like DI I suppose!

― Pureed Moods (Trayce), Sunday, 5 August 2012 10:44 (10 months ago) Permalink

Why did I never contribute to this thread? I bought "Euphoria" in late 93 on the basis of the glowing MM review, and I loved it then, as I love it now. (There was a classic letters page around this time when someone had complained about MM having pictures of "girls with their insides hanging out" so they printed a pic of Kirsty Yates with the caption "The girl from Insides, hanging out"). The album I think is unique and I haven't heard anything like it. I worked backwards to Earwig and loved that too, in a slightly underdeveloped way. The lyrics are like a slightly psychotic diary of desire. And "Clearskin" just... is like "In C". The "Tikky" track on Volume was good too, but I never saw the third album ever... But "Euphoria"'s fans are like a tiny cult, small but perfectly formed, a secret code of bonding over such a perfect record. Pointless ramble over.

― Rob M Revisited, Sunday, 5 August 2012 21:07 (10 months ago) Permalink

i lost my virginity to this album last night.

it was... anything but euphoric.

― boy_slayer, Friday, 16 November 2012 21:45 (7 months ago) Permalink

I hate to ask about your bathroom visits in shifts.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 16 November 2012 21:52 (7 months ago) Permalink

lol xp

― flopson, Friday, 16 November 2012 21:52 (7 months ago) Permalink

at least it was stylish. it was like we were in a movie or something. all that made it so dissatisfying was that neither of us knew what the hell we were doing - we even left the lights on.

anyway, i have loved insides for about seven years now. i probably have nothing original to say about them. i guess i kind of hated 'sweet tip' when i first heard it, but came to realize later that it is indeed okay when bands change. i came to love 'sweet tip' with time.

what a fantastic band though (and earwig too). it pleases me that the insides cult has, in recent years, grown by the... tens?

these are my first posts to ilx. forgive me for my self-centered-ness. i just wanted to introduce myself and talk about insides.
it is unseasonably warm in ann arbor, but i could not feel colder inside.

― boy_slayer, Friday, 16 November 2012 22:09 (7 months ago) Permalink

ned, you don't need to hide behind pseudonyms like this.

― THAT IS ONE BIG PIZZA (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Friday, 16 November 2012 22:16 (7 months ago) Permalink

;-)

― j., Friday, 16 November 2012 22:17 (7 months ago) Permalink

I hate to ask about your bathroom visits in shifts.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, November 16, 2012 4:52 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Under my skin I am LOL.

― Andy K, Friday, 16 November 2012 22:54 (7 months ago) Permalink

Oh geez, I had to apologize like Hell!

(That's an Earwig reference, though).

― boy_slayer, Friday, 16 November 2012 22:58 (7 months ago) Permalink

ned, you don't need to hide behind pseudonyms like this.

I'm sorry, it's the tender flower in me.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 16 November 2012 23:05 (7 months ago) Permalink

one note, two chords = the piano/keyboard to "relentless." which, had remained my favorite song by the group until only recently...
"relentless" is a fantastic ambient pop song. i wish that it went on for ten full years. that probably sounds like something Bimble would say...

i'm distracted by "distractions" recently.

― boy_slayer, Saturday, 17 November 2012 00:11 (7 months ago) Permalink

I can't stop listening to Clear Skin these days. So great.

― Frederik B, Thursday, 22 November 2012 14:29 (6 months ago) Permalink

Clear Skin is great. So is the promo for it, which is quite different. I think it's readily available to download, if you know where to look. It's three shorter separate pieces, and more beat-oriented. Almost as good as Clear Skin proper.

― boy_slayer, Thursday, 22 November 2012 16:27 (6 months ago) Permalink

promo 12" is linked to above:

insides - euphoria

hopefully that mediafire link still works

― koogs, Thursday, 22 November 2012 16:32 (6 months ago) Permalink

Julian Tardo: There’s no old stuff I think needs digging out - all the good stuff is on the LPs I think. I've made a ton of half baked ideas that Kirsty has wrinkled her nose at. There is one band I’ve heard that reminds me of Insides: Oen Sujet from Canada.

They're close, though Oen Sujet meanders and switches up tempos progwise (vs straight up minimalism from Insides). Not well represented online, but the EP can be heard on Juno download, there's rehearsal here, and another track here.

― Chinchilla! Chinchilla! Chinchilla! (Sanpaku), Thursday, 22 November 2012 17:08 (6 months ago) Permalink