C/D: the clientele

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"(I Want You) More Than Ever" gives me chills. Obviously classic.

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 5 November 2004 02:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

Clientele are absolutely classic. No doubt about it.
The singing through a guitar amp is just classic, classic.

Dream gig: Eric Matthews vox + orchestral arrangement + Clientele guitars, drums, bass, production, lyrics

― caspar (caspar), Friday, 5 November 2004 03:01 (8 years ago) Permalink

the album was a bit of a letdown, but then the relict album came out and everything was ok because i didn't expect much from it and yet it was much better than the violet hour. clientele should get a female singer or two too or he should maybe sing more in his falsetto to break up the monotony that plagued the album or maybe they should only do eps.

eric matthews dresses nicely.

― keith m (keithmcl), Friday, 5 November 2004 03:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

This band is shit. They are too boring to be a dud.

― danh (danh), Friday, 5 November 2004 03:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

They were much better live than I would have expected. You don't notice on the albums how good a guitar player he is, and likewise the vocal production slightly obscures how good his voice his.

― dlp9001, Friday, 5 November 2004 03:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

Awesome

― aaron_spellings, Friday, 5 November 2004 10:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

I love Suburban Light, esp. Saturday & Rain.

― Jez (Jez), Friday, 5 November 2004 11:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

Classic

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 5 November 2004 12:08 (8 years ago) Permalink

is it reasonable to like the clientele and NEVER want to hear low?

― peter smith (plsmith), Friday, 5 November 2004 14:46 (8 years ago) Permalink

I feel the exact opposite.

― danh (danh), Friday, 5 November 2004 15:27 (8 years ago) Permalink

I love the clientele and can't stand listening to Low for more than a few seconds.

They're not very similar at all really.

― Magic City (ano ano), Saturday, 6 November 2004 00:09 (8 years ago) Permalink

Not to knock Low but the Clientele is more tuneful, more chamberpoppy or whatever.

― stever hise, Saturday, 6 November 2004 00:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

no album in history is more perfect than the violet hour.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Saturday, 6 November 2004 01:04 (8 years ago) Permalink

he sings through a guitar amp! shit, i was wondering how the vocals got to sound that way and was thinking maybe that was it. perfect, sounds amazing.

both their full length albums are so fucking beyond classic. im not sure which is better, i'd say a tie. everything is perfect on them. the overall capturing of mood, the lyrics, melody, chord progressions, harmony, bass lines, drums. it is all perfectly composed.

They were much better live than I would have expected. You don't notice on the albums how good a guitar player he is, and likewise the vocal production slightly obscures how good his voice his.
-- dlp9001

i DO notice. he's amazing. I wish they'd come to boston so i could see them.

that said, i was a bit let down by the relict album...

― AaronK (AaronK), Saturday, 6 November 2004 02:28 (8 years ago) Permalink

christ. I cant let this go. this band is just too great.

― AaronK (AaronK), Saturday, 6 November 2004 02:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, these guys are definitely my favourite band in the world at the moment. They can do now wrong. I'd really like to see them live. Apparently Alasdair MacLean used to post here.

― grapeshine (grapeshine), Saturday, 6 November 2004 11:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

Rather, they can do no wrong.

― grapeshine (grapeshine), Saturday, 6 November 2004 11:21 (8 years ago) Permalink

A unique position for me in relation to this band: I've played tennis with Alasdair lots of times, and think of him as a pal, but I've never heard the band. I suspect they aren't my kind of thing, really.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 6 November 2004 17:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

They are well worth listening to Martin. Very subtle stuff; I like it a lot.

― Keith Watson (kmw), Saturday, 6 November 2004 18:09 (8 years ago) Permalink

i wonder if alasdair will be adopting the laidback luke sound, surely its only a matter of time. must get on to that mp3 cd actually

― *@*.* (gareth), Saturday, 6 November 2004 18:24 (8 years ago) Permalink

So classic it hurts.

― Mooro (Mooro), Saturday, 6 November 2004 19:34 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'm torn about hearing them - I was in the same position with another friend, and I recently heard that band on a compilation CD and disliked them. I'd rather not hear them and accept it's not my thing than hear and dislike them. I don't suppose Alisdair will be bothered either way.

I note that even a thread about Tim H's favourite band hasn't succeeded in making him post here again, sadly.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Saturday, 6 November 2004 20:26 (8 years ago) Permalink

come on, tim!

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Saturday, 6 November 2004 21:41 (8 years ago) Permalink

i wish alasdair were around now so i could ask him like, a bazillion questions.

― AaronK (AaronK), Saturday, 6 November 2004 22:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

id love to know their song writing process, instruments, recording techniques, and stuff about his lyrics.

― AaronK (AaronK), Saturday, 6 November 2004 23:13 (8 years ago) Permalink

i like their first record very much, but i haven't listened to violet hour more than once or twice, for some reason. i have a few of their early 7"s which are very good. i really like their "split" single with the relict.

they sort of skirt the edge of self-parody with all the "mrs jones"/"rain" references. jess and i had a joke going about this once upon a time. jess likes them too.

― amateur!!st, Sunday, 7 November 2004 00:01 (8 years ago) Permalink

i put "split" in scare quotes because the relict are just the clientele with their bassist writing the songs. in any event that single has female vox on both sides. "(i can't seem to) make you mine" and "held in glass" are the titles of the songs IIRC. very nice. i wish i had them on cd, since my turntable is in storage right now.

― amateur!!st, Sunday, 7 November 2004 00:07 (8 years ago) Permalink

i put "split" in scare quotes because the relict are just the clientele with their bassist writing the songs.

Not quite - Innes (Relict main man) used to be in The Clientele some years back but not since I've known them ('99). It's true that the rest of The Clientele appear on Relict recordings.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Sunday, 7 November 2004 02:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

ok, thanks for the clarification!

― amateur!!st, Sunday, 7 November 2004 02:29 (8 years ago) Permalink

I listened to the Lost Weekend and Ariadne eps last night. I had switched over to my flannel sheets and down comforter and it was toasty and wonderful, the sinking weight of the down. The connection between those eps, if any, I think is in the fragment 'boring postcard' and 'The Sea Inside a Shell': running on the beach on summer holidays train just in fast forward film and then falling. Alasdair explained the front cover of Ariadne on their radio appearance at NYU. But not just falling through sky but space -- beauty that's too intense too much for the senses -- and then at the end falling into the atmosphere, against substance, that shuffling and settling running fingers over flying past.

― youn, Monday, 8 November 2004 19:08 (8 years ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

Search: 'From A Window'.

― the pinefox, Monday, 19 September 2005 13:13 (7 years ago) Permalink

nyquil rock if i ever heard it. they opened for spoon and it was one of the worst ways to prepare for the main event i can think of.

― regular roundups (Dave M), Monday, 19 September 2005 18:47 (7 years ago) Permalink

9 months pass...

yeah, who put that together anyway?

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 01:20 (6 years ago) Permalink

merge records maybe?

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 01:41 (6 years ago) Permalink

couldnt be.

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 02:05 (6 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Is it me, or does anyone else think that if someone took out all the upbeat pop songs off their all albums, took the remaining slower, sadder, melodic stuff off (e.g. As Night Is Falling, The Violet Hour, policeman getting lost etc.) and put it all one one album, it would be the best thing ever made? As opposed to just really good, of course.

― mehlt, Friday, 25 January 2008 03:38 (5 years ago) Permalink

i don't, but that's because i like the upbeat stuff better

― electricsound, Friday, 25 January 2008 03:50 (5 years ago) Permalink

I love virtually everything I've heard from them. CLASSIC.

― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 25 January 2008 03:58 (5 years ago) Permalink

what is the thing that is coming out on acuarela?

― keythkeyth, Friday, 25 January 2008 05:47 (5 years ago) Permalink

Suburban Light is one of my favorite albums of this decade.

― Cunga, Friday, 25 January 2008 05:48 (5 years ago) Permalink

Alright, my above comment was unfair. They have as much good upbeat stuff as slow stuff, and I really really hate to say it but they could have done with taking some of their songs off their albums. That is to say, they could have released some impeccable EP's, rather than really good albums.

Still love them nonetheless. I also thought they were a hip-hop group the first time I heard of them.

― mehlt, Friday, 25 January 2008 05:52 (5 years ago) Permalink

The Violet Hour is utterly flawless from start to finish. The only song I could possibly see being taken from it might be House on Fire but even if it seems like it could be removed I suspect the truth is something terrible might happen to that perfect, perfect record if you did.

― f. hazel, Friday, 25 January 2008 09:35 (5 years ago) Permalink

4 weeks pass...

always meant to check these guys out. this has piqued my interest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE2YCGxh31Q&feature=related

― Michael B, Sunday, 24 February 2008 17:20 (5 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

Nice article in the LA Times today:

http://www.latimes.com/theguide/music/la-et-clientele5-2010mar05,0,2867627.story

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 5 March 2010 15:40 (3 years ago) Permalink

thanks for this article. it points out that i've been mis-pronouncing the band's name for years. i've said "cl I entele," but in fact it's "cl EE entele."

― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 5 March 2010 21:25 (3 years ago) Permalink

Well, if you're American, you would in fact correctly pronounce it "cl I entele," because that's how that word is pronounced in an American English dialect.

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 5 March 2010 21:37 (3 years ago) Permalink

excited about Alasdair MacLean's side-project. his fluttery style of guitar playing seems a perfect match for this type of music. thus far, there's no samples of the group's output, unfortunately.

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 6 March 2010 16:57 (3 years ago) Permalink

huh, does the English press really think they sound American? They're like the most British band in the world!

― tylerw, Saturday, 6 March 2010 17:04 (3 years ago) Permalink

yeah, ^^^^^^ this.

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 6 March 2010 18:48 (3 years ago) Permalink

Amor de Dias have samples up here: http://www.amordedias.com/

― Stevie T, Saturday, 6 March 2010 19:16 (3 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 19 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I find sunset to the best time for it.

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 27 April 2012 13:35 (1 year ago) Permalink

Strange Geometry is very strong, but maybe the most identical sounding? Their aesthetic is so gorgeous that the sameness isn't of as much concern to me. I've played them so often during beautiful, happy days that they are attached to those memories as well.

― Evan, Friday, 27 April 2012 18:29 (1 year ago) Permalink

Their aesthetic is so gorgeous that the sameness isn't of as much concern to me.

totally! Strange Geometry and Suburban Light are my favourites. The Violet Hour never did much for me though, the songs (with the exception of 'house on fire') aren't particularly memorable.

― Michael B Higgins (Michael B), Friday, 27 April 2012 19:08 (1 year ago) Permalink

They've got a couple of great ones off of Bonfires on the Heath. The title track and this one below:

― that's not my post, Saturday, 28 April 2012 06:08 (1 year ago) Permalink

I love the band but concur that a little Clientele goes a long way. Exception
may be "Suburban Light" which is so reverb soaked and nocturnal
sounding that it stands out from the rest.

― kwhitehead, Saturday, 28 April 2012 11:44 (1 year ago) Permalink

Classic.

― Shadrach, Saturday, 28 April 2012 12:38 (1 year ago) Permalink

well that didn't work out - not quite sure how to embed. Sorry.

― Shadrach, Saturday, 28 April 2012 12:40 (1 year ago) Permalink

just paste the url iirc

― koogs, Saturday, 28 April 2012 12:57 (1 year ago) Permalink

Kwhitehead otm. suburban light also has the best tunes by far, imo. I couldn't get into the stuff after that at all; pop without hooks, for the most part.

― windjammer voyage (blank), Saturday, 28 April 2012 18:02 (1 year ago) Permalink

I always think of them as one of those bands that, if you fall under their spell, then almost everything they do is killer. At that point all the stuff people complain about - samey tone, instrumentation, and lyrical themes - becomes a feature not a bug.

― that's not my post, Sunday, 29 April 2012 06:00 (1 year ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

I just did an interview with Alasdair MacLean about The Clientele and Amor de Días: http://lightoflostwords.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/an-interview-with-alasdair-maclean-of-the-clientele-and-amor-de-dias/

He revealed that they've finished recording the new Amor de Días lp (which he described as "probably the most atmospheric record I’ve ever been involved in") and that Merge Records will release it in January.

― lightoflostwords, Friday, 20 July 2012 20:58 (9 months ago) Permalink

nice interview! love that amor de dias record, glad it wasn't a one-off.

― tylerw, Friday, 20 July 2012 21:02 (9 months ago) Permalink

quite confused about the two statements "it's quite different from the clientele and the first amor de dias album" and "it's the most atmospheric thing I've ever been involved in"

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 20 July 2012 21:49 (9 months ago) Permalink

what about a new Clientele album?

― nostormo, Friday, 20 July 2012 23:37 (9 months ago) Permalink

Regarding new music by The Clientele, here's MacLean's statement about their going on indefinite hiatus: http://theclientele.co.uk/news/2011/07/see-you-soon-ish

― lightoflostwords, Saturday, 21 July 2012 02:53 (9 months ago) Permalink

wouldn't mind if they went in a kind of ariadne direction... that EP is gorgeous.

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 21 July 2012 03:19 (9 months ago) Permalink

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing regarding Ariadne and the new atmospheric direction for Amor de Días. I think Lost Weekend is my favorite of The Clientele's eps, but all of them are wonderful.

― lightoflostwords, Saturday, 21 July 2012 17:22 (9 months ago) Permalink

i think theres a very distinct wintery ,spooked-out, hushed strand of the love of days which is i'm hoping the new one will follow. i wasn't wild about some of the tropicalia moments, but i think they have the germ of something that could be as great as, and very different to, the clientele.

― cw, Saturday, 21 July 2012 19:10 (9 months ago) Permalink

"Share the Night" from 'That Night, A Forest Grew' is so great.

― calstars, Monday, 23 July 2012 22:38 (9 months ago) Permalink

All the EPs are on Spotify...a goldmine

― calstars, Monday, 23 July 2012 22:44 (9 months ago) Permalink

Share the Night is fantastic. The tempo is really up for the Clientele and it works really well. Retiro Park from the same EP is also superb.

― that's not my post, Tuesday, 24 July 2012 02:37 (9 months ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

new amor de dias record out in january. listening to a promo now, sounds lovely (but that's to be expected, right?).

― tylerw, Wednesday, 7 November 2012 18:16 (6 months ago) Permalink

describe it please.

― cw, Wednesday, 7 November 2012 18:45 (6 months ago) Permalink

it sounds exactly like the clientele

― tylerw, Wednesday, 7 November 2012 18:47 (6 months ago) Permalink

well, not exactly, still trading off lead vocals, still a bit more acoustic than the clientele, more of the bossa nova-played-on-a-cold-english-night vibe, but really, it could be released as a clientele album and no one would blink.

― tylerw, Wednesday, 7 November 2012 18:48 (6 months ago) Permalink

oh man, i can't wait...

― cw, Wednesday, 7 November 2012 19:46 (6 months ago) Permalink

still wishing someone would put together one of those lavish box sets for the Clientele

in the meanwhile, excited to hear about the new amor de dias.

― that's not my post, Thursday, 8 November 2012 06:50 (6 months ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

if you can't wait:

http://blog.kexp.org/2013/01/22/album-preview-amor-de-dias-the-house-at-sea/

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 25 January 2013 19:47 (3 months ago) Permalink

kind of love this album tbh

― tylerw, Friday, 25 January 2013 20:06 (3 months ago) Permalink

really digging this on first listen

― that's not my post, Saturday, 26 January 2013 06:18 (3 months ago) Permalink

Saw it in the store today, should have grabbed it. I figure there is no rush.

― Evan, Saturday, 26 January 2013 06:22 (3 months ago) Permalink

So much good news! Not only is the AdD LP really good, it seems the Clientele are going to be playing a show this year!
http://www.poprevo.dk/

I understand that it's a one-off (for now), but hopefully they will enjoy it and fancy playing some more, eh?

― Tim, Saturday, 26 January 2013 08:31 (3 months ago) Permalink

it does sound sublime on first listen. is there any way of getting hold of a copy without lashing out 10 pounds on postage from merge?

― cw, Saturday, 26 January 2013 20:29 (3 months ago) Permalink

rough trade shops'll be getting some in stock, no doubt.

― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 26 January 2013 20:35 (3 months ago) Permalink

Yeah there'll be opportunities to buy it in the UK by and by (I'm hanging on for the time being rather than mail ordering) . Some talk of a full band AdD show, I hear. Not for a few months though.

― Tim, Saturday, 26 January 2013 22:20 (3 months ago) Permalink

When's it out over here? it's wintery perfection.

― cw, Saturday, 9 February 2013 17:04 (3 months ago) Permalink

Not the full band show mentioned above (though news of that soon I hope) but Amor de Dias are planning a brief appearance in London on Sunday afternoon with their friends in the wonderful Hacia Dos Veranos (on whose last LP Alasdair could be heard singing "Draft Morning"). It's part of a weekend of stuff we're putting on, featuring a range of awesome talent! Details here: http://hangoverlounge.blogspot.co.uk/

If you're interested in Hacia Dos Veranos, and if you like the Clientele you might well be, we're delighted to be putting out their new LP any minute, details here: http://haciadosveranos-limay.blogspot.co.uk/ including Alasdair's review of the forthcoming record: http://haciadosveranos-limay.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/alasdair-maclean-reviews-limay.html

― Tim, Thursday, 14 February 2013 09:38 (3 months ago) Permalink

I'll be seeing them at Maxwell's in Hoboken!

― Evan, Friday, 15 February 2013 05:43 (3 months ago) Permalink

this Hacia Dos Veranos is quite nice, thanks for the tip.

― tylerw, Friday, 15 February 2013 16:36 (3 months ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

I went to Denmark last weekend and I saw the Clientele play for the first time in..how long? Not sure.

They were really brilliant. Back to a three-piece, and they played a real fanboy-bait show full of stuff they hadn't been playing as a four-piece. Some genuinely unexpected choices, going as far as "Dear Jennifer"! Personal highlights were "Driving South" and "The House Always Wins". Amazing. They seemed to enjoy themselves so maybe they'll play some more.

Meantime, my lot are putting on this Amor De Dias show in London a week on Sunday. The news is that it will be the full band show I've been on about for a while, and the band - as I understand it - will be Alasdair and Lupe, supplemented by James out of the Clientele and Howard, formerly of the Clientele.

(Also featuring Hacia Dos Veranos as mentioned up there, and a rare show by the amazing Birdie. Come and say hello. Deets: http://hangoverlounge.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/5th-birthday-party-starring-birdie-amor.html)

― Tim, Friday, 17 May 2013 20:49 (2 days ago) Permalink

nice! i really like hacia dos veranos btw, i think i learned of them via this thread (or some clientele-y thread anyway).

― tylerw, Friday, 17 May 2013 21:34 (2 days ago) Permalink

oh haha, just scrolled up yes it was this thread.

― tylerw, Friday, 17 May 2013 21:34 (2 days ago) Permalink

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