Chairlift - Bruises (This year's "Heartbeats"/"Young Folks")

Was listening to SOMETHING today and was reminded of how a friend of mine got really into Chairlift b/c they reminded him of Tears for Fears

btw my favorite track from the Caroline solo album is probably

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHawd3Dlpyo

Caroline's solo album under name of 'Ramona Lisa' is available to stream on Soundcloud

― kinder, Saturday, April 26, 2014 11:08 AM (4 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

man did nobody care about this at all?

i kind of forgot about them.

"Backwards and Upwards" is the track to recommend to Ned/DJP-types.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYXTmJI8drU

I never heard the ramona lisa album b/c I heard that it was a more experimental work and presumed it was just Caroline trying out ideas rather than essential listening. I'm hoping a new Chairlift album materialises soon.

"No Angel" still one of the best songs of the past 12 months imo

I never heard the ramona lisa album b/c I heard that it was a more experimental work and presumed it was just Caroline trying out ideas rather than essential listening.

yeah that is probably true tbh

i mean still worth a listen if you like her/chairlift but decidedly non-essential

Couple of great tracks iirc, the rest not so much. Must re-visit...

She just announced on Twitter that it's available for free download for the next 2 weeks:
https://bundles.bittorrent.com/bundles/ramonalisa

i'm a bit surprised by the mild response to the ramona lisa album, i've been very into it this week. i think she creates a very interesting vibe with the midi instrumentation, somehow both thin and warm.

also there's this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wd1o8Jlhjqo

nor sure that adds much to the original (which is extraordinary)

https://twitter.com/Chairlifted/status/652516680212594688

About fucking time!

I was just listening to Something this morning, too - it's still as good as ever.

Re: the sound clip on that Twitter post - I'm hoping there's at least going to be a decent song at the end of that. The melody seems a bit 'Inspector Gadget' to me for some reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4RIeKLsHFk

live version of the single - i expect the studio version will sound better but it's pretty far from I Belong In Your Arms or Amanaemonesia

sounds alright. worth bearing in mind also that that video is more than 2 years old - song could've changed plenty in that time

Yeah, I mean I'd be lying if I said I was impressed by what I'm hearing here, but I'm going to wait until I hear the proper fleshed-out studio version, and indeed the album when it comes out before I start forming definite opinions. Part of me is hoping that this is going to be a "red herring" type of first single.

So, the studio version of the new single seems to be out there now...

i love it http://pitchfork.com/news/61631-chairlift-return-with-new-song-ch-ching/

sounds like something she wrote for bey

Not feelin dis.

Yeah, neither am I. Again, I'm hoping that this is a bit of a "red herring" first single and that the rest of the album is much better. My expectations for this have pretty much been lowered.

some of it is nice but I don't really know what they were going for with the sax, it just feels weak. album is 'Moth' out in January

Well, the full video is out there now, and I guess the video is alright but... Jesus tittyfucking Christ am I completely, totally and utterly underwhelmed by this new single. I'm not against acts doing or trying something different, but what I don't like is when they completely remove everything that I liked about them in the first place. I'm really, really hoping that this track isn't representative of Moth as a whole, because if it is then I'm at least one fan of their previous work that will jump ship. Thank God for acts like Chvrches that do it properly and release a follow-up album that's a logical progression to their previous one rather than going down the "but we want all our albums to be radically different" route. I used to enjoy it when bands used to perversely make radically different, totally batshit and illogical follow-ups to their previous albums, but now I just find it a fucking pain in the arse.

Anyway, 'Ch-Ching' basically, to me, sounds like a novelty song, in a way that 'Bruises' kinda felt like a novelty song (but much more so) and in a way that pretty much every track from Something didn't. I don't want to be partying like it's 1994 here and crying "FUCKING SELLOUTS!" or anything, because that would be silly - there's always been a pop element to everything that Chairlift have ever done, however there's something about this song which makes me feel like they were kinda aiming for a hit here. Whether it'll actually be one, who knows? But if it does somehow manage to become a hit, it'll become a hit due to its total banality.

'Sidewalk Safari' and 'Amanaemonesia' were great not just because they had the pop hooks and some great synth sounds, but they had a quirk to them which, to me, was interesting. 'Ch-Ching' sounds like empty, dull, pandering wank by comparison.

It pains me to have to write all this, because to say that I was looking forward to a new Chairlift record was an understatement. Something still remains one of my most loved, and most played albums to be released so far this decade and now I'm suddenly finding myself in the position where I'm already beginning to feel like it's the end of the line for me and this band. I hope when the album comes out that I'm proven wrong, but expectations have definitely been considerably lowered.

Maybe their second album was an anomaly, because I felt similarly ¯\(ツ)/¯ about their first album as well.

Yeah, Something could well have been an anomaly, but we won't know for absolutely sure until Moth comes out. The first Chairlift album is definitely patchy without a doubt, but I still think it has its highlights amongst the so-so stuff on there. What's frustrating for me is that when I play the first Chairlift album and Something back-to-back, the leap in quality is immediately apparent. In fact, I'd definitely say that Something saved their arses, because I got the impression that they were dangerously close to being written off, and if Something hadn't delivered they undoubtedly would have been. It would have "see ya later Chairlift, we'll eternally remember you for 'Bruises', there's the door" and then many years later "God, does anyone remember Chairlift? 'Bruises' anyone? LOL!"

Now, you'd think that a band who had just managed to save their bacon by putting out a great second album would take heed of this fact and try and at least acknowledge that they'd found a particular musical area that they were good at, one that managed to not only bring in a lot of fans but also achieved the feat of changing opinions of them at a critical juncture. People who would have written them off were now suddenly paying attention, saying "hang on, this record is actually quite good, I think I'll stick around and see where they go from here"

Instead, what they seem to have done - and again, this is based solely on 'Ch-Ching' and I'm hoping the rest of the forthcoming record will change my mind - is completely ignore that their previous record snatched them from the jaws of extinction and moved into an area that not only are they (in my opinion) not particularly good at, but also (again, in my opinion) features none of the qualities that I found appealing about this band and what initially drew me in.

If the new record is more in the vein of 'Ch-Ching', I think it'll probably bring in some new fans, but I suspect that many will also fall off, and to do that at the moment when people are seriously starting to pay attention is, in my opinion, a fucking stupid move.

It's not that bad
I can't see it being a new direction for the whole album idk

and I LOVE 'something' (except the name which I always forget)

the song is a bit of a mess but jesus put the knives back in the drawer, its not THAT bad.

It's not that good either, particularly considering that this is the first single from the record, and their first single for about three years or something?

Poor Turrican. I think it's a bop

Also this is not "radically different" for Polachek at all, "No Angel" is nearly 2 years old

i like this song a lot in concept but there is something that hurts my ears on the mix and i can't quite pinpoint it but i think its something about a weird and tinny autotune factor on her voice in the chorus? anyone? you can hear it a lot on the end of the "Getting what you want can be dangerous" line...

Yeah, Something could well have been an anomaly, but we won't know for absolutely sure until Moth comes out. The first Chairlift album is definitely patchy without a doubt, but I still think it has its highlights amongst the so-so stuff on there. What's frustrating for me is that when I play the first Chairlift album and Something back-to-back, the leap in quality is immediately apparent. In fact, I'd definitely say that Something saved their arses, because I got the impression that they were dangerously close to being written off, and if Something hadn't delivered they undoubtedly would have been. It would have "see ya later Chairlift, we'll eternally remember you for 'Bruises', there's the door" and then many years later "God, does anyone remember Chairlift? 'Bruises' anyone? LOL!"

Now, you'd think that a band who had just managed to save their bacon by putting out a great second album would take heed of this fact and try and at least acknowledge that they'd found a particular musical area that they were good at, one that managed to not only bring in a lot of fans but also achieved the feat of changing opinions of them at a critical juncture. People who would have written them off were now suddenly paying attention, saying "hang on, this record is actually quite good, I think I'll stick around and see where they go from here"

Instead, what they seem to have done - and again, this is based solely on 'Ch-Ching' and I'm hoping the rest of the forthcoming record will change my mind - is completely ignore that their previous record snatched them from the jaws of extinction and moved into an area that not only are they (in my opinion) not particularly good at, but also (again, in my opinion) features none of the qualities that I found appealing about this band and what initially drew me in.

If the new record is more in the vein of 'Ch-Ching', I think it'll probably bring in some new fans, but I suspect that many will also fall off, and to do that at the moment when people are seriously starting to pay attention is, in my opinion, a fucking stupid move.

― Turrican, Friday, October 16, 2015 3:05 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

jeez louise, a pretty good band released a mediocre song. it's happened before.

So there's a new track, possibly even more of a pop move than Ch-Ching. I like both though.

These two tracks seem to mainly be dialing back some of the more 80s retro elements that were all over Something. They sound more "current" to me.

The individual sounds on "Romeo" are as 80s retro as anything they've released. There's just more evident digital audio workstation touches to give it that hyperisolated 21st century gloss.

http://www.vogue.com/13363580/chairlift-caroline-polachek-wedding-snug-harbor/

But, what is this year's Heartbeats/Young Folks?

The definitive list of songs used by Apple Inc. in commercials, keynote addresses, presentations, and other marketing materials

http://www.vogue.com/13363580/chairlift-caroline-polachek-wedding-snug-harbor/

― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 2 December 2015 02:08 (15 hours ago)

Huh, turns out I've read her dad's book on the Opium Wars! Still trumped by today's "Haruomi Hosono's grandad survived the Titanic" revelation, mind.

I dislike the new track as much as I do 'Ch-Ching', to be quite honest with you. I'll still listen to the album when it's released, but I'm definitely not excited about it. My expectations have been lowered by a considerable amount of notches, and I'm actually preparing for the album to be... well, shite.

nice wedding, though.

Yes. Wedding articles. In Vogue.

https://putyourboogerinmypocket.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/fonzi.jpg

It actually looks like a boring wedding. Serious question: Are weddings in the US usually this low key? I mean small gatherings of 50+ people, fancy dinner a little dance and everybody goes home? I just saw Rachel Getting Married a couple of days ago and that's a very small wedding too. In Latinamerica weddings of under 150 guests are considered small.

I see the average wedding budget in the US is $20,000 according to this: http://www.soundvision.com/article/wedding-statistics-in-the-united-states

I've seen friends of mine who have spent half of that in the dress alone :S

I love this new song, it's up there with "I Belong In Your Arms", I think I want them to go full pop.

i like low key weddings, and there isn't anything obviously objectionable about caroline polachek's. maybe it's just resentment that she is beautiful and smart and talented and rich*, but the whole immaculate tastefulness of it (and the fact that it was even covered in vogue) grates on me.

* that said, the person her husband most resembles is macaulay culkin

i can't say that i really /like/ ch-ching very much, but it is an earworm, and it's growing on me a little.

in retrospect chairlift's first album really seems like a false start, even if it did generate some buzz and revenue. i wonder if she's embarrassed by it now.