I suspect that How To Dress Well will end up overshadowing Gayngs in the plaudit stakes on account of ticking more 2010 indie boxes, but I can't help preferring Gayngs' attention to songcraft - "Cry" definitely, but these guys could abandon the R&B/soul references and just make tunes like "Faded High" and I'd still like them.
― Tim F, Thursday, 14 October 2010 22:18 (thirteen years ago) link
How To Dress Well is an exercise in nothingness. I don't get the adoration at all.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 14 October 2010 22:28 (thirteen years ago) link
how to dress well is such a dumb band name.
i don't hear much songcraft from gayngs - "cry" and "gaudy side of town" just meander pointlessly for far too long, and they're so ersatz and affectless.
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Thursday, 14 October 2010 22:34 (thirteen years ago) link
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, October 14, 2010 5:28 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark
cf dubstep
― truly blunted rhyme fiend (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 14 October 2010 22:35 (thirteen years ago) link
"meander pointlessly" and "ersatz" yes ("affectless" no) - but listen with "balearic" ears and these qualities make a lot more sense. Which is one reason that they make me think of (early) A Mountain of One, who operated according to a similar dynamic (and repelled a lot of people in the process I think).
This is something I said about neo-balearic stuff a couple of years back and I think it applies here:
"Perhaps the other key difference between Balearic and disco-punk is the way in which the two styles pursue their strategies of intensification. Disco-punk approaches its desired fusion very seriously, combining urgent disco rhythms with the most honest-to-goodness rock signifiers it can think of (jagged guitars, shrieked vocals, songs about girls and politics), as if to say: “I can be both of these things absolutely without compromise.” Balearic’s strategy is more oblique, preferring to fail on both rock and dance music’s terms, as if by doing so it could establish a new yardstick. As dance music it’s too torpid, decadent and tentative; as rock it’s simultaneously blanched-out and excessively manicured. A lot of my favourite records this year felt a bit like inspired failures: on Kathy Diamond’s gorgeous ballad “I Need You”, the arrangement drifts from deep sublimated bass riffs into an unnecessarily loud and showy percussion work-out, the yawning gap between Kathy’s delicacy and the robustness of the drums coming on like some lurid combination of alcohol and pink lemonade I can’t stay away from."
― Tim F, Thursday, 14 October 2010 23:28 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm still undecided as to whether how to dress well is the worst music ever or if i'm actually kind of into it. constantly catch myself oscillating between feelings of disgust and groovin
― samosa gibreel, Friday, 15 October 2010 00:31 (thirteen years ago) link
me 2
― truly blunted rhyme fiend (J0rdan S.), Friday, 15 October 2010 00:33 (thirteen years ago) link
How To Dress Well is surprisingly brilliant live. Or at least he was when I saw him in London over summer.
Faded high is such a great song off Relayted.
― Duran (Doran), Friday, 15 October 2010 01:13 (thirteen years ago) link
me 3
― Tim F, Friday, 15 October 2010 01:28 (thirteen years ago) link
"meander pointlessly" and "ersatz" yes ("affectless" no) - but listen with "balearic" ears
if i do this, it's just a less-satisfying version of actual balearic music, without any of the detail or lush sound design that i prize there. (bear in mind i never particularly liked a mountain of one ,or anything that veered too much to the beardo end of the spectrum)
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 15 October 2010 08:20 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm still undecided as to whether how to dress well is the worst music ever
give me a how to dress well song to listen to so i can decide for you
dude you would hate this shit i don't even need to
― samosa gibreel, Friday, 15 October 2010 08:21 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnoIjY4aPTM
― truly blunted rhyme fiend (J0rdan S.), Friday, 15 October 2010 08:21 (thirteen years ago) link
like, the first three seconds will repulse you
i really like that song tho
― truly blunted rhyme fiend (J0rdan S.), Friday, 15 October 2010 08:22 (thirteen years ago) link
hahaha otm about the first three seconds
― samosa gibreel, Friday, 15 October 2010 08:23 (thirteen years ago) link
is it meant to sound like that?
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 15 October 2010 08:26 (thirteen years ago) link
like, recorded in a toilet?
yeah i guess, that's one thing i've never understood
― truly blunted rhyme fiend (J0rdan S.), Friday, 15 October 2010 08:26 (thirteen years ago) link
(genuine qn, it could well be shitty youtube quality)
(not that it sounded like it'd be good anyway)
oh so it is meant to sound like that
an insult to well-dressed people everywhere imo
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 15 October 2010 08:27 (thirteen years ago) link
haw
anyways yr totally right, its awful music -- blatant incompetence mustered up as art. just sometimes, idk, you catch yourself nodding your head to the hand clap beats & getting into that big lo-fi reverby wall of sound. against all better judgment
― samosa gibreel, Friday, 15 October 2010 08:34 (thirteen years ago) link
a lo-fi wall of sound seems to fundamentally misunderstand what's good about a wall of sound
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 15 October 2010 08:44 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.audioheritage.org/images/jbl/photos/pro-speakers/grateful.jpg
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 15 October 2010 08:58 (thirteen years ago) link
disagree completely, but that's to be expected. massive walls of sound are one of the few things that fuzzed out, bargain-basement lofi recording can really get across.
― contenderizer, Friday, 15 October 2010 09:15 (thirteen years ago) link
soz really didn't mean to post such a big image...but look at those fuckin stacks!!
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 15 October 2010 09:20 (thirteen years ago) link
Whose sound rig is that?
― Harrison Buttwhistle (NickB), Friday, 15 October 2010 09:22 (thirteen years ago) link
grateful dead's (circa '74 - you can actually see em rehearsing at the bottom of the pic) - they called this set up 'the wall of sound', hence...
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 15 October 2010 10:04 (thirteen years ago) link
you wont need me where im going is pretty affecting imo but it has nothing to do with r&b
― teflon dawn (uptown churl), Friday, 15 October 2010 11:47 (thirteen years ago) link
guess you don't like beats
― the parking garage has more facebook followers than my band (Jordan), Friday, 15 October 2010 13:50 (thirteen years ago) link
Thing is: strip away the appalling production on HTDW's records and when you see Tom Krell live, suddenly he's ace. He does a particularly good song over a loop from Jacko's Baby Be Mine which is great. I don't get what all the 'fashionably distressed' piss poor recording technique is about on his studio output... (which there's also too much of).
― Duran (Doran), Saturday, 16 October 2010 01:44 (thirteen years ago) link
his cover of "i wish" is really good
agree w/ doran's last sentence
― truly blunted rhyme fiend (J0rdan S.), Saturday, 16 October 2010 01:48 (thirteen years ago) link
'gaudy side of town' is A++++++++++ top ten
― whats goin on witchu iron mane (deej), Thursday, 18 November 2010 05:17 (thirteen years ago) link
btw idg why 'chub licker' is in this thread title
― big smang theory (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 18 November 2010 05:18 (thirteen years ago) link
trip hop >>>> dubstep
― smangs of new york (deej), Thursday, 18 November 2010 05:29 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't understand why How To Dress Well is getting all the critical plaudits and everyone has forgot about Gayngs. I enjoy this much more.
― Tim F, Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:45 (thirteen years ago) link
totally
― big smang theory (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:48 (thirteen years ago) link
man i need to start paying attention to music again. this is great! and its been out for months!
― max, Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:49 (thirteen years ago) link
cynical answer: how to dress well fits into a storyline
― big smang theory (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:50 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah shit, this is totally max music
gayngs is from minneapolis (right?) and htdw is from brooklyn/germany?
― max, Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:50 (thirteen years ago) link
yes altho i think HTDW is/was based in chicago when he started poppin off
― big smang theory (J0rdan S.), Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:51 (thirteen years ago) link
also gayngs doesnt use enough triangles in their aesthetic
― max, Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:51 (thirteen years ago) link
I love this album! It's like if A Mountain of One had decided to make an entire album out of "Freefall" rather than "Innocent Line".
― Tim F, Monday, July 19, 2010 6:50 AM (3 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
this got me really excited but if anything i wish the album sounded MORE like freefall
― max, Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:52 (thirteen years ago) link
I was sat in the garden listening to it at the weekend and still love it. I really worry about stuff that's got a bit of a pot head sensibility to it but this is amazing *in spite* of all that stuff - especially the sleeve 'concept'.
― Duran (Doran), Monday, July 19, 2010 12:42 PM (3 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
*shakes head sadly*
― max, Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:53 (thirteen years ago) link
Well this is a general principle w/r/t all rock pretty much, I would think.
Poor Gayngs, so close to being triangulastic:
http://potholesinmyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Relayted-Gayngs_480.jpg
― Tim F, Thursday, 18 November 2010 07:54 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah, if only there were more freefalls. but ill settle for more im not in loves, i guess. is that old kevin godley in the "cry" video?
― max, Thursday, 18 November 2010 08:01 (thirteen years ago) link
ah i see thats been covered. good sport.
OK, I give up. This rules. Wish I didn't wait so long to hear this, as I have a few friends involved. I don't love Bon Iver, I think that's why I avoided it initially. Hope the rest is as good as "The Gaudy Side of Town."
― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:33 (thirteen years ago) link
haha this whole thing sounds like it's been made up for a WFMU Best Show call-in
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:36 (thirteen years ago) link
"Mick Nick Pick Mick Nick"
― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 18 November 2010 12:37 (thirteen years ago) link
it was a good year when this thread title was off of sna.
― getting good with gulags (beachville), Friday, 17 February 2012 17:21 (twelve years ago) link
listening to "The Gaudy Side of Town" as I type.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 17 February 2012 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
This is loads better than Kaputt
― The Invisible Superstars (dog latin), Friday, 17 February 2012 17:55 (twelve years ago) link
pretty nice. didn't expect so much live drums.
they should get stokley williams and michael bland up in there.
― 40oz of tears (Jordan), Friday, 17 February 2012 17:59 (twelve years ago) link
drummers are two of the best in town, esp ben ivascu
― dave coolier (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 17 February 2012 18:48 (twelve years ago) link
btw played a show about 1 1/2 ago with this singer called Mayda who is being groomed/produced by michael bland, so he plays in her live band
he appears not well at all :(
still played like a metronome tho
― dave coolier (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 17 February 2012 18:49 (twelve years ago) link