Ok, these two sit pretty much above all else for me. I'm sure I'm not alone. The production, the beautiful sparsity of the songs, the delicate uses of instrumentation, and on and on and on . . .
One of my most favourite musical pursuits is seeking out records that seem either influences, relations in feeling or are directly influenced by later period Talk Talk. So yeah, obviously I'm all over 'Hex' and Bark Pychosis. I'm ga-ga over everything anyone in the band did since from Mark Hollis' solo LP to Heligoland and O'Rang. I hear the genesis of the sound in things like 'Leb Whol' by Neu and Miles Davis' 'In a Silent Way'. As I mentioned in the recent Talk Talk poll, I'll generally seek out anything that gets compared to either of those two final records. I'd be particularly interested to learn where others feel those vibes.
― AnotherDeadHero, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:09 (3 years ago) Permalink
david sylvian - gone to earth & secrets of the beehive
― hotel califor.nia (r1o natsume), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:13 (3 years ago) Permalink
For example. I recently picked up 'A Walk Across the Rooftops' by The Blue Nile purely because it'd come up in some quote somewhere on ILM as a precursor to 'Hex'.
― AnotherDeadHero, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:13 (3 years ago) Permalink
Funnily enough one of the reasons I wanted to start this thread is because 10 minutes ago I was hovering the mouse cursor over the buy button on Amazon for David Sylvian's 'Secrets of the Beehive' having never heard him before (except from the song on the Fennesz 'Venice' LP) but ever so tempted to order just because someone must've mentioned Talk Talk at some point when discussing him.
― AnotherDeadHero, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:17 (3 years ago) Permalink
As far as Sylvian goes, the Rain Tree Crow album is far closer to TT than anything else he has been involved with. Get that first.
Maybe some Jon Hassell in non-dancey mode? I am not a Hassell expert.
That BLue Nile record is one of my top 10 80s albums but I do not hear it in the SoE/LS continuum.
― I Smell Xasthur Williams (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:21 (3 years ago) Permalink
In fact the first time I ever heard LS, specifically 'Taphead', on college radio in Madison Wisconsin 1991, the host intro'd it by drawing comparisons to the Rain Tree Crow.
― I Smell Xasthur Williams (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:22 (3 years ago) Permalink
Great thanks, I was fishing for a Sylvian tip.
Not sure I hear any clear connection with The Blue Nile either, sometimes when the music gently swells it kinda reminds me of 'Spirit of Eden'.
― AnotherDeadHero, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:23 (3 years ago) Permalink
Hood's late 90's output to thread
― pretty girl, filking a clown (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:23 (3 years ago) Permalink
Shearwater totally WANT to be in this thread so I'll begrudge them one acknowledgment
I still haven't heard that goddamn Hood stuff! The only Hood they have on eMusic is later on.
― I Smell Xasthur Williams (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:24 (3 years ago) Permalink
lol, no
― hotel califor.nia (r1o natsume), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:24 (3 years ago) Permalink
Also you kind of have to mention the Beth Gibbons & Rustin' Man record since it has at least three Talk Talk members in it (I am counting Mark Feltham).
― I Smell Xasthur Williams (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:25 (3 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, I picked up the Beth Gibbons & Rustin' Man record but it never really did anything for me. Been meaning to give it a fresh listen for a while now though.
― AnotherDeadHero, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:27 (3 years ago) Permalink
there's some good stuff along these lines in this thread
sounds like late period Roxy Music
― hotel califor.nia (r1o natsume), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:31 (3 years ago) Permalink
solo sylvian to me is like the archetypal new wave dude explores organic instrumentation and experimental song structures, as much as i love the rain tree crow album i'm not sure why you'd recommend rain tree crow first
i like to think that mark hollis was in someway influenced by those first three sylvian albums, has he ever mentioned this in interviews?
― hotel califor.nia (r1o natsume), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:40 (3 years ago) Permalink
What is the most Talk Talk sounding Sylvian album?
― AnotherDeadHero, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:46 (3 years ago) Permalink
S. Reynolds says in Blissed Out that along with Miles' In a Silent Way and Sketches of Spain, other precursors to the late Talk Talk sound are John Martyn's Solid Air and Roy Harper's Stormcock and albums from the jazz label ECM...*
*I have never heard any of the above-mentioned albums ever, not even late period Talk Talk (I know, I know...!)
― gonna have to change jobs & change gods (Drugs A. Money), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:47 (3 years ago) Permalink
I picked up 'Solid Air' many years ago. Of course, it's great. Pretty sure I picked it up because of a Talk Talk connection. Think Mark Hollis himself might have mentioned his name as an influence.
― AnotherDeadHero, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 17:49 (3 years ago) Permalink
Stormcock is a great, great record but I don't hear much late TT in it. It's more like if Zep had a better singer and made an entire record of their best pastoral/arcadian stuff.
― I Smell Xasthur Williams (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 18:06 (3 years ago) Permalink
I tried Solid Air and kinda couldn't roll with it. The ECM catalog surely contains more apposite examples but I don't know what they are.
I'd definitely second the Hood recommendation. I have them in my mind as closer to Bark Psychosis (and even Disco Inferno) than TT (been years since I've really listened), but you should certainly give them a listen. "Cold House" is a great album.
― Duke, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 18:33 (3 years ago) Permalink
Autistic Daughters (on Kranky) especially the second album.
― You Weaked It! (MaresNest), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 18:34 (3 years ago) Permalink
SF band Laughingstock.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 18:34 (3 years ago) Permalink
Also what is the name of that French band, Bed? Bedhed?
― You Weaked It! (MaresNest), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 18:35 (3 years ago) Permalink
yeah, Bed.
― Mr. Hal Jam, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 18:46 (3 years ago) Permalink
Movietone - The Blossom-Filled Streets, this one sounds more like LS though.
― Davek (davek_00), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 19:13 (3 years ago) Permalink
Someone mentioned that in a recent Talk Talk thread and right away, even without even hearing it, I was already getting annoyed at how scarce it seems to be.
― AnotherDeadHero, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 19:49 (3 years ago) Permalink
hahahaha it was me. I can upload it if you like. I'm sure it's readily available for high quality legal download too.
― Davek (davek_00), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 19:59 (3 years ago) Permalink
i always imagined that Climate of Hunter by Scott Walker sounded in this vein but I've never actually heard it.
― m@tt (M@tt He1ges0n), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:00 (3 years ago) Permalink
Cheers Davek, as if if I'm not losing enough sleep with all this stuff already!!! =)
Afraid I'm a lossless guy. If I can't buy something I get mighty upset.
― AnotherDeadHero, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:02 (3 years ago) Permalink
Ditto! I think that me and MaresNest say this every damn time this question comes up. They don't have the same diversity of instrumentation that Talk Talk had -just double bass, drums, guitar and voice really- but as far as honing in on that whole sustained mood, these guys are totally OTM. Guess you'd call them improvised ambient rock. The Dean Roberts solo stuff is great too, particularly the one on Kranky (Be Mine Tonight) and And The Black Moths Play The Grand Cinema which originally came out on Mille Plateaux but got reissued later by Staubgold.
― Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Farting in Space (NickB), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:23 (3 years ago) Permalink
The most recent Zelienople album (Give It Up) is kind of in the same vein too, but a bit more rainswept and autumnal. Actually, they're probably a closer match for Bark Psychosis, in that they're more identifiably indie than Talk Talk ever were.
― Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Farting in Space (NickB), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:27 (3 years ago) Permalink
― Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Farting in Space (NickB), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:29 (3 years ago) Permalink
Thanks for the Autistic Daughters heads up. I'll buy almost anthing on Kranky with confidence so that one's right to the top of the pile.
― AnotherDeadHero, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:31 (3 years ago) Permalink
It's a shame they have such a terrible name really, cos the music is nothing like you might imagine it would be.
― Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Farting in Space (NickB), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:37 (3 years ago) Permalink
Mind you, Talk Talk is a really shitty name too tbh.
Ah, I was looking for a thread like this just the other day:
― dlp9001, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:42 (3 years ago) Permalink
M@tt Climate Of Hunter is kind of like late Roxy Music/Japan but gone quiveringly paranoid and fearful. It's an incredible record and would probably appeal to most late-TT fans though I don't hear much real sonic kinship. There is this multitracked soprano sax break in Climate Of Hunter that is as much of a sonic epiphany as anything on Laughingstock.
― I Smell Xasthur Williams (Jon Lewis), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 20:45 (3 years ago) Permalink
I would mention Shearwater from a listener's perspective even if I didn't know they know these albums. Their new one, The Golden Archipelago, is one of my favorites of 2010 so far.
The Blue Nile are the closest thing in my mind to actual Talk Talk peers, even if their balance of elements is different. Thomas Dolby's album The Flat Earth is worth hearing, if you've never heard it, for another interesting example of New Wave synthpop starting to turn into something else.
And the band that actually comes closest to affecting me the way these two albums did is Low, maybe because they're doing something different enough that I don't find myself wanting to listen to Spirit of Eden instead. Haunting minimalism, more intense and less airy, more Winter than Spring.
Oh, and two other wildcards that you're probably 94% likely to find irrelevant but for the other 6%'s sake: Officium, by Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble (jazz improv sax over early-music choir, new-age-y but for me it works), and Amazing Things, by the Celtic-rock band Runrig (neither spare nor delicate, but up there with Spirit of Eden in my pantheon of the greatest life-affirming records).
― glenn mcdonald, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 21:05 (3 years ago) Permalink
X-Post: Ha yep, A.D. always come up at these times. I never did thank you Nick for the heads up on Dean's solo records, all fantasic! So, thank you.
The Low/Dirty Three 'In the Fishtank' record has a version of Down By The River that substitues the long guitar solos with a front-loaded scratching about section that sounds a lot like Spirit Of Eden.
― You Weaked It! (MaresNest), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 21:18 (3 years ago) Permalink
It doesn't necessarily use the same instruments, but with regards to dynamics and structure, I think Mary Lou Williams' Black Christ of the Andes is a pretty close correlative. The ECM recommendations are also pretty on the nose.
― talrose, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 21:27 (3 years ago) Permalink
The middle of the album is boilerplate Van bebop sputtering, but the bookend tracks on Van Morrison's Common One sound exactly like Talk Talk and are two of his best tracks ever. Very much in the same tone and spirit as Veedon Fleece but much more expansive and ethereal. I would describe it as In a Silent Way with soft, distant Van singing in the distance.
― talrose, Tuesday, 13 April 2010 21:31 (3 years ago) Permalink
Oh yeah, 'Haunts of Ancient Peace' OTM!
― Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Farting in Space (NickB), Tuesday, 13 April 2010 21:33 (3 years ago) Permalink
sometimes LS reminds me of Giant Sand/Calexico/Calla type of desert music
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Friday, 14 September 2012 15:18 (9 months ago) Permalink
"Spanish Dancer" by Steve Winwood
― bham, Friday, 26 October 2012 10:04 (7 months ago) Permalink
I intro to this '80s cheese nugget is totally "Colour of Spring" y.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 26 October 2012 13:13 (7 months ago) Permalink
As mentioned, similar music to Spirit of Eden is Miles Davis' In A Silent Way and Hex (Bark Psychosis) which is one of my favorite albums and is, for me, perfect late-night listening and the quintessential winter album.
Spirit of Eden is one of my Desert Island albums, alongsideA Storm in Heaven (The Verve)No Other (Gene Clark)Lazer Guided Melodies (Spiritualized)
― Graveyard Poet, Monday, 25 February 2013 09:42 (3 months ago) Permalink
Aside from the obvious... Bits of Grizzly Bear's output. Bits of the last Notwist album. Rook by Shearwater. That french band called Bed (but they only sound like the quiet bits). Bits of Hidden by These New Puritans. Bits of early Elbow. Reckoner by Radiohead. That Unkle song that samples laughing Stock and has Thom Yorke on vocals. Bits of Wild Beasts.
― they all are afflicted with a sickness of existence (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 25 February 2013 10:00 (3 months ago) Permalink
I hear you on that Notwist album. Great thing about it is it seem's to draw influence from the more abrasive side of late Talk Talk rather than just the ethereal pretty side which seems to be the norm. See for example the wicked one note noise solo in 'Alphabet'.
― Internet Alan, Monday, 25 February 2013 10:12 (3 months ago) Permalink