Lansing-Dreiden-The Incomplete Triangle:Album Of The Year?

it's a scam!!

The A Sectioned Beam EP is also quite good, if you're looking for a taste before trying the album.

as for the lansing-dreiden-artband-spectacular, i listened to the "glass corridor" mp3 on their site, and it's rather nice.

Article Response: Lansing-Dreiden - 'The Incomplete Triangle'

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.

This is obviously a hidden message to Kemado Records: Don't spend too much money on The Sword! Our album is really cool too!

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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."

well, duh, i finally actually read the voice live review that tim linked to. looks cool. and i like that review.

First two tracks, Guillotine and Rainbow Skies are my favourite so far

L-D always struck me as a really good way to plunder the 80s - by making it uncanny and intense. There's so much dull 80s plundering at the moment so it's nice Jorge has come back

none of the other 80s-apers had that kind of production that L-D had. it made their sound more mythical somehow. it was kinda fucked up sounding. half digital and half echo chamber.

yeah exactly. so uncanny. this album adds to it by subtly changing the songs as they progress. really interesting

'mythical' is a really good way to put it

omg That Will Slowly Unwind is amazing, why isn't it on the album proper

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

I guess WNFTF has some nice XTC harmonies in amongst the sheer Paul Buchanan-ness of it all, at least

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.

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

I quite like WNFTF now ffs

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

He’s great with collaborators, less so when he tackles everything himself

Yes! I thought Zombies at one point too!

I think during Flesh To Ash

I can't get over the segue between the first two tracks on this

the Zombies one is Undiscerning Masses btw

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

Guitar heroics on “eternal lie” ftw

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. :/

thanks to imago for leading me down the lansing-dreiden rabbithole

elbrecht lp repressed fyi https://jorgeelbrecht.bandcamp.com/album/here-lies

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)

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.

yeah they are quite obscure. criminally unknown

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.

https://open.spotify.com/track/2Uj68LXGj9lu4RCAX741Ch
Down in flames sounds like a sectioned bean b side

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.

https://open.spotify.com/track/1siKvQOduE0LjKWuhEca7O?si=JzHubTJDSFywRYHZJmdo5Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlHAVzR41Bk

Best use of “pizazz” In a pop song?

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

elbrecht is incredibly talented. love the new presentable corpse record

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