Emeralds-Classic or Dud?

You know, the droney Midwestern wizards. What do you guys think? Heard the new shit? Good stuff all around. I say...Classic! Yep, already classic.

Too early to tell, methinks. I like their shit so far, though. Can't wait to see them in No Fun Fest.

Solar Bridge is beautiful. On Hanson. These boys keep improving, not that the early shit isn't top-notch. What I'm sayin' is-I'm feeling their current trajectory.

Worlds better than some of their so-called counterparts.

SO CLASSICK

tuff guys

anything like the Detroit Emeralds?

http://krakow.zenfolio.com/img/v5/p485529486-3.jpg

I enjoyed them very much on the Pain Jerk/Emeralds tour that passed this way a couple of weeks ago. A few more shots here: Pain Jerk/Emeralds/Muscletusk

Not heard the newy yet but I completely love Solar Bridge, even if I couldn't point to anything specific about what they do that raises them above similar acts for me. Downloaded some live sets and found them rather hit and miss, but the good ones were lovely.

Very sad to have missed the recent UK tour, not least because support on some of the dates was from Birds of Delay, who I saw a year and a bit ago and thoroughly enjoyed (much more harmonically rich and blissed-out live than the records of theirs I've bought since, some of which are pretty harsh).

(birds of delay is a terrible name)

this new emeralds is really something, juzt hearing it for the first time now.

"What Happened" rules.

plus it's fun to imagine Fred Willard saying it

solar bridge and what happened are both good

What Happened is the first I've heard by them. I'd say "it's a gem" but that would a) be cheesy; b) not even come close to how awesome I think it is. Mesmerised by it right now, to be honest.

Solar Bridge > What Happened, but Wh is still nice

I'm going to see them open up for Throbbing Gristle in Chicago. Oh, and they're playing in a church.

Jealous?

Yes, since you ask ;)

what happened and solar bridge are both very nice. what I like about these guys is that there are little melodic touches all over the place. pretty close to "new age" territory sometimes, but that don't bother me none.

I'm going to see them open up for Throbbing Gristle in Chicago. Oh, and they're playing in a church.

Jealous?

Shit, I didn't know they were gonna open! That night's gonna be great, can't wait!

Hey, y'all! I have two extra tickets for Saturday's show in Chicago...want to come with?

BUMP

anyone heard that new 2lp?

no but I am looking forward to their merch table in Chicago

wish What Happened was on vinyl.

Does no one want tickets to the show on Saturday? I'm not scalping them, guys. I'm gifting them.

the new 2lp is great! how was the show?

I finally bought What Happened last weekend. Jeez. This shit is straight up AMAZING. "Living Room" especially is gorgeous. I love the guitar loops that just get eventually eaten up by the synths. Solar Bridge and the 2LP are great too, but I think WH is their best.

A coworker of mine passed "What Happened" to me... it's really excellent. I keep reading about people seeing these guys play in basements & backyards. I'm hoping I can hear that for myself.

finally heard "alive in the sea of information". see people hear "drone" and think "boring" when they should be thinking "heavenly buzzsaw that opens the thousand gates of perception."

I know there has been a bit of discussion in the rolling drone thread, but I thought I'd hit this thread because their new album, Does It Look Like I'm Here? is playing tonight through the hd 280s. Solid album. The longer track, "Genetic" is so good. I ate the best turkey sandwich from Whole Foods tonight too.

Kinda confused that they broke out of the tons of bands that sound exactly like them to become the most popular.

yeah i mean that never happens. ever.

please tell me about more contemporary bands that use analog synths like these dudes

xp

completely forgot that i have a copy of the pain jerk/emeralds tour cd. i should play it. don't think i ever did. anyway, like i said on the other thread, the new one has really grown on me. the mego thing. also on my mego hit parade and simliar in some ways to the emeralds stuff is the new album by ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER. one guy. never heard him before. starts out as straight up noise and then goes into ambient/mellow territory. i like it a lot. Daniel Lopatin. that's the guy with the unwieldy name.

please tell me about more contemporary bands that use analog synths like these dudes

Zombi

who totally rule btw

Kinda confused that they broke out of the tons of bands that sound exactly like them to become the most popular.

I get where you're coming from but... their music really is v. approachable. esp that new mego disc. a handful of well-recorded, melodic, short, new age-y pop ambient songs. not that surprising that people are digging them more than most acts working a harder "drone" or "noise" angle. (admittedly zombie are neither of those things.)

It's not just approachable -- I think Emeralds' music really has its very own sound. They may share techniques and inspirations with artists like Oneohtrix Point Never, Jonas Reinhardt, et al, but their music has a very specific quality that I don't get from anyone else. I wish I could put my finger on it; it has to do with the loops upon loops upon loops, the sense of many different parts, all spinning at different velocities.

Oh yes please this is total KateBait.

And hey, I love me some Zombi but this is a different kind of headspace, less proggy more ambient drifty.

I ordered the new one. Dont suppose anyone has the s/t vinyl they could sell to me?

There's a wibbly wubbly warped tapeloopness to this that reminds me of Cluster. The sounds are slippy slidey as well as shimmery.

I've always felt they remind me of Force Majuere era TD

Which is my fave TD

A bit, yes. I can see that. But I'm not sure that they have that kind of streamlined smoothness that TD have.

OK, I've just reached Genetic which is straight up TD territory with those big Minimalist Composer arpeggiators in the background and I'm in heaven.

Genetic is awesome but just wait til the title track hits you in 2 tracks time

I'm going to be a slathering mess by that point if this album keeps up delivering the goodness like this...

This album just came out on emusic this week, fyi, for anyone who uses that site. I'm anxiously waiting for my June dls to come in.

you all should check out Skyramps as well, if you haven't already. iirc it's McGuire and the Oneohtrix Point Never guy.

yeah that Skyramps record is awesome. I picked that up because I liked Oneohtrix "Rifts" and now I feel like I need to dig into the Emeralds stuff too ...

FWIW, I totally recommend buying the vinyl version of the Mego release. I listened to 320s of the album for a week or more, and felt like I really had a handle on the record. But when my mail-ordered wax finally came, it sounded almost like a different record. Ok, I'm exaggerating. But the space of it blew wide open.

yeah this is a band that is best heard in full fidelity.

I had the exact same experience with Solar Bridge, loved my mp3's but once I got the CD reissue it was like DAMN

Agreed about Skyramps being really awesome.

Btw, there is an emeralds thread that this discussion should be in and not this horseshit thread.

― Bilderbooger (van smack), Wednesday, June 9, 2010 10:12 AM (32 seconds ago)

Thumbs up

this is some of the most gorgeous music that i have heard in a long time. really loving the new album

yeah, it's top notch.

I love how they condensed their sound into mini epics. first track is like a statement of purpose.

I'm still down for the side-length stuff as well, obv.

this new one is Harald Grosskopf's album Synthesist minus the drums.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ggdnTzSVD3E/RxO-gBnNOHI/AAAAAAAAACY/JBrYw8NSVDE/s320/synthesist.jpg

too much harmonic consonance in this record. needs more dissonance

Great band

Great post

Thanks, ilxor

I thought these guys would break out last year on the strength of What Happened? and the opening slots for TG, but I guess the big ol' Mego 2xLP has them really hitting the big time. More power to them. FWIW, every side project/solo project involving these guys I've heard has been of merit (to varying degrees). John Elliot seems to be the most prolific (check out Mist, Outer Space, and the epic Infinity Window material) but Mark Mcguire's stuff is mind-boggling good (2xLP re-ish of the pieces "Tidings" and "Amethyst Waves" on Weird Forest is epic and the "Off In The Distance" cassette was just re-released on a tasty LP). The full Emeralds complement is heading out on a fairly extensive North American tour opening for Caribou in late Sept/early Oct.

yeah I saw that. Would be interested to see them live but am not a fan of Caribou =/

i cant stop listening to Now You See Me from the new one

such a great album

It is a great album, isn't it?

am not a fan of Caribou =/

This is unfortunate, you are missing out on awesomeness.

check out Mist, Outer Space, and the epic Infinity Window material)

Total nu-synth brain fart here. Infinity Window is Daniel Lopatin's (now defunct?) synth duo group (their sole extant LP on Arbor is great BTW...), the epic John Elliot solo project is called Imaginary Softwoods.

yeah I saw that. Would be interested to see them live but am not a fan of Caribou =/

id say its worth getting a ticket just to see them and ducking out for caribou. saw them in june and it was a rad show - short set but p transcendent

Maybe!

I have a real soft spot for bands from Ohio. It truly is one of the USA's greatest music states.

amen! (i am from ohio)

Every time I see an album by these guys I can't help but think of these other guys: http://www.theemeralds.net/

http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/14796-clouds-rolling-in/

last album was dope, but really doesn't hold any re-listening value for me

This new Outer Space LP from John Elliott of Emeralds is a good one, especially "Scanlon": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmEFlQYlSs8

Ossining's I Will Be Missed record is tops too.

I'm in the process of ripping three Outer Space cassettes.

Also, I've heard the new McGuire lp, and it's not a big departure blah blah blah... but still a good listen nonetheless.

New Mark McGuire LP is great, sounds much less synth-y than the Emeralds LP. Gonna be listening to this a lot I think.

Most of the records I buy these days are related to Emeralds it seems...this year alone two McGuire reissues (Tidings/Amethyst Waves and Off In The Distance), the Outer Space LP, the Outer Space/Raglani split, the two Emeralds 7"s, and the new full-length. Will be picking up the new McGuire as well...damn.

liking that mcguire clip a bunch. hadn't heard about this one yet but I'm definitely looking forward to it now. thanks!

and I believe that I mentioned it on the rolling psych thread as well but if you haven't heard mcguire's the invisible world tape, check it out. hands down my favorite release from the guy.

take that with a grain of salt cuz I'd venture I've only heard about 10% of his solo output. but still, this is a great little wash of ashra/a.r. & machines guitar-looping psych.

this thread is like a suckerpunch to my bank account; so far I've gotten the new LP and ordered the Outer Space LP & split, and I'm not going to be able to pass up the Editions Mego 2xLP reissue of What Happened next month either.

the Editions Mego 2xLP reissue of What Happened next month either.

I hadn't heard of that until now. THANKS A LOT!
(mentally deducts $30 from next paycheck)

as an aside, thanks to this thread I can't read that album's title without hearing Fred Willard's voice in my head

interviewing them sometimes this week. any pressing questions?

i'm trying to find a way to frame it, especially since i saw them during their beginnings in 06-07, then ignored them for a few years, and then started up again after 'What Happened' came out..

how do they decide what goes on the solo albums and what goes on the Emeralds albums? is there a specific "sound" that they look for under the main name? what processes distinguish the group efforts?

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s45/Al_English/EMERALDSFLYER.png

I'm really bummed I missed that show; I wish they were playing another London date. I really like that Dean McPhee "Brown Bear" EP as well (it's arguably closer to the recent MacGuire solo stuff; just pretty clean guitar work - it's £2 for MP3s on Amazon, too (as opposed to 12 credits on eMusic and £10 on iTunes). I have heard that Camp Basement venue is a drag - has anyone else been there?

mcguire's living with yourself is beyond gorgeous, instant record of the year shortlist here

I need to hear that! I recently picked up the Tidings/Amethyst Waves reissue and have really been loving it. So lovely.

just out on mego, should be pretty easy to track down. and yeah, the weird forest reissue of tidings/amethyst is beautiful. at this point, i think i like mcguire better than emeralds (but don't tell anyone).

just noticed (thanks google) that it got 8.2 @ pfork just two days ago. lol bandwagon jumping [/prr].

I headed down the the show at Camp...doors didn't open till 9 so I bailed. Was it good?

fell asleep to 'what happened' for countless nights this year, if theres anything to be remembered from this past decade it's those tracks

going to see them in december too HLLYH

Is the new McGuire better than the last Emeralds?

seems almost inconceivable to me, but maybe someone who has heard both can weigh in?

i usually listen to anything on Mego, but what little i heard of McGuire sounded like chillwave and i turned it offskis

^Completely unjustifiable and just sad, really^

Is the new McGuire better than the last Emeralds?

i wouldn't say it's better, but i like it more. it's prettier and more emotionally direct. "accessible," let's say.

I only listened to the mcguire on mego once but it didn't do too much for me. I go to the guy for extended krautrockin' in an a.r. & machines style and the scattershot vibe kinda put me off. the off in the distance tape that chondritic sound just re-issued on lp was much more to my liking.

should prob give it another go sometime

"living with yourself" is really doin it for me right now. as someone who has spent countless hours by myself w a guitar plugged into a delay pedal, i can feel exactly where mcguire's expression is coming from. plus i am a sucker for nostalgic samples (ie. efdemin - bergwein). i dont think its quite as good as the emeralds album but theyre both in the top 5 of 2010 for me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-GUSF-Y6As
anyone who complains that its too noodly or wanky needs to realize that emeralds might not be the band for them

anyone who complains that its too noodly or wanky needs to realize that emeralds might not be the band for them

...not sure anyone is making that complaint? (at least in this thread.)

... really not digging the second half of the last track on "Living With Yourself" where it breaks down into some mid-90s smashing pumpkins alt rock thing. Good album, though, and "Brain Storm (for Erin)" is amazing.

... really not digging the second half of the last track on "Living With Yourself" where it breaks down into some mid-90s smashing pumpkins alt rock thing.

this is the sort of complaint i'd more likely expect. works for me though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTU1hFT2Uj8

some of these songs -- "brain storm" and "clear the cobwebs" especially -- remind me of the second harmonia album

...not sure anyone is making that complaint? (at least in this thread.)

yea after i wrote that i realized that mr strawman was a paranoid delusion heh

lol whiney mcguire solo album wld sound soooo much better if it sounded more like chillwave

i mean it has it moments but it sounds like k records jams or something to me

as a heads-up to my fellow Emeralds bros with more money than sense, Imaginary Softwoods either (a) was recently reissued or (b) is about to be rereleased; it was a tiny pressing so I honestly can't tell which one.

meanwhile my copy of the Wha Happened? on Editions Mego showed up today and hell the fuck yeah @ this album. I bought it blind on the strength of my abiding enthusiasm for Does It Look Like I'm Here and I like it almost as much after one play.

it sounds like k records jams or something to me

uh, you mean pell mell? cuz hell yeah. otherwise, wtf?

(listens to it) plus fuck you, cuz shit sound way more like classic dino jr. than fuggin k recs anything, like "freak scene" forever. and the tune is called fucking "brothers" besides, so why ain't it oughtta be bro jams unto thee three suns forever? one of my favorite songs of the year, no competition. those with hearts will understand.

the point being "FOREVER" (apparently)

the mist album is so good. "taking the mist" splits the difference between early tangerine dream and the cosmic jokers. 10.0 bongloads

just got remastered by Plotkin & issued on vinyl too!

lol @ shit upthread: contedo i just think theres something in the space-y meandering nature of 'living with yourself' that recalled k records stuff but a 'jams' version. maybe its the evocation of nature's grandeur and scope but its there in the jags and swirls of 'the vast structure...' for e.g.

also the guitar tone + stupid kids at a party shit that opens it is vintage k

i will look out for 'taking the mist' tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5Bnu_1vpxo&feature=related

i mean cmon

was super drunk for what it's worth, lamp. kinda cringe reading back. but i still don't hear the k-rex vibes you're pointing at. i mean, "space-y and meandering" music evoking "nature's grandeur and scope" isn't how i'd describe the label's core sound. like to me, k = beat happening, pastels, stuff that grew out of that. intimate, childlike, distinctly in the here and now. never followed the likes of mount eerie, and maybe that's what you're linking living with yourself to?

funny that you call it "stupid kids at a party shit", though, cause to me it's like family snapshots: an expression of affection for one's own family & history, an acceptance of the domestic. again, i don't really associate this with k, who always seemed kinda aloof & hipster snide, despite the twee kidstuff affectations.

guitar tone business may be OTM, but i'm so far removed from those beat happening records, i dunno. there's some interesting effects on the guitar on LWY, but you don't notice them much unless it's loud or on headphones.

like, i'm listening to the LP (youtubes sound like ass), and the guitar tone seems much richer and druggier than anything i associate with classic K. their sounds were always so sharp and cheap, like little insects banging against my ears.

the closest k records vibe to this stuff is yume bitsu and that's way more maximal i think

yeah i was thinking of stuff like mount eerie or mirah more than beat happening or lois or w/e, although there is a beat happening song 'our secrets' that reminds me of 'for erin' where the guitar is fairly 'rich' and 'druggy' although its faster and theres less space in the composition

im not wedded to this comparison really but it forced me to relisten to the record

i mean its a bad analogy from the start because its like 'x reminds me of y but really an imaginary only in my head version of y' so

yeah, and by the same token, it's lame of me to be all, "i don't hear it the way you do, so you must be wrong." ears are funny things, like little cabbage leafs on your head, and they tell you things. but they are not always to be trusted, again like cabbages. petit chou.

i like ilxor because i can read it during college and it's so text heavy that it looks like i am doing research.

I read all of you saying there is other stuff that sounds similar but better or whatever, but I think "Does It Look Like I'm Here?" is my favorite record of this year anyway. I really like this band!

Holy fucking shit @ Brothers (For Matt)

(kinda sounds like the Bevis Frond though)

just put on Does It Look Like I'm Here? in the living room -- before i knew it my wife was passed out asleep on the couch an hour earlier than usual bedtime within 20 min (track 6 or so). coincidence?

awesome record btw

Incredible album, that ^. I never would've thought for a 1000yrs that acoustic strumming and entirely irrelevant 1950's computer terminal beep-boops could work so utterly well together, especially considering separated they could be 2 entirely different melodies/songs.

thankyou to all emeralds voters in the ilm poll. am just concluding my first listen to this album and it's beautiful. the pastoral guitar-led closers were a surprise, in a good way!

hurrah!!

assume this'll be old news to you guys, but check out delia gonzalez & gavin russom if you haven't already - "track five" from this year (which emeralds just reminded me about), their days of mars album esp "relevee" and esp the carl craig remix of that.

(are there any similar house/techno remixes of emeralds?)

Love that D & G record, and other stuff Gavin Russom has done. Emeralds are lovely!

(are there any similar house/techno remixes of emeralds?)

lol really?

haha

Track Five was kinda disappointing IMO, swear it rehashes something off Days of Mars. (Which is a great great record, even tho I do kinda wish Carl Craig had remixed the whole thing. or someone at least had done a bootleg with a thumping 4/4 kick underneath every tack)

Emeralds "Candy Shoppe (I'll Let You Lick The Lollipop Tiesto Rave Remix)"

lols aside, i think it would be cool to hear some emeralds remixes

I guess the people lolling never heard Âme or the like

the humour for me comes from the fact that the musicians seem VERy american and VERY far removed from anything in the dance music world:

hay guyze ne1 up for some k00l beats? http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Lp9U8SGzb-g/TPNQikuBZ3I/AAAAAAAAAIw/O-LZmxOuiKM/s1600/fall%2Btour%2B2k10%2Bpt%2B2%2B150.jpg

just curious, does anyone know if there's been any music in the extended emeralds universe that even uses a drum machine?

gavin russom + delia gonzalez are also v american + yet they still manage to have carl craig (another american) remix them

gavin russoms remix of trans forest alignment by luke abbott is kinda emeraldsy

no idea why that photo is supposed to indicate an obvious disinterest in dance music - afaik there aren't any Emeralds remixes, dance-y or otherwise, but the material is totally there in their jams

when I saw them a couple of months ago I was right next to a speaker and it was fucking intense and pulsing

Some of the Outer Space stuff could really work well with beats & bass imo.

John Elliott's Colored Mushroom And The Medicine Rocks project uses drum machines.

Etienne Jaumet's album was produced by carl craig and has its fair mix of dancey/komische moments

I can't find any examples streaming or on Youtube, but there's a CMATMR LP on Wagon and three out of print tapes that are readily available on blogs.

http://www.theliminal.co.uk/2011/02/the-liminal-mix-02-schizo-snow-mix-by-john-elliott/

the CMATMR lp is excellent

gavin russom + delia gonzalez are also v american + yet they still manage to have carl craig (another american) remix them

ok let me be more specific: they seem VERy ohioan. more specifically, they self-identify with cleveland. and if youve ever been to cleveland then youll know that theres a pretty perceptible difference between that and nyc/detroit

no idea why that photo is supposed to indicate an obvious disinterest in dance music

it's not, it's just a joek. SORRY YALL FOR HAVIN A LAFF

yeah but think like e2e4 man c'mon dance remixes are not a stretch by any means

need to hear this colored mushroom and the medicine rocks business. i saw that lp lying around my old house when i visited over xmas and was intrigued by the cover alone

ok let me be more specific: they seem VERy ohioan. more specifically, they self-identify with cleveland. and if youve ever been to cleveland then youll know that theres a pretty perceptible difference between that and nyc/detroit

Cleveland has one of the best record stores for techno in the country, Bent Crayon.

I'm not entirely sure why but these guys aren't clicking with me at all. I appreciate what they're doing but I'm not particularly enjoying it aside from the song "Genetic".

Okay, this is neat:

Editions Mego compiles A Young Person’s Guide to… Emeralds’ Mark McGuire

i will buy that

I preordered both of the Spectrum Spools releases, really looking forward to them

Still trying to figure out what Ddave meant by the band being "VERY american"... you can't play it at the discoteque?

he means tag their MP3s with the genre FREEDOM SYNTH

http://www.motherboard.tv/2011/3/7/electric-independence-emeralds--2

Okay, this is neat:

Editions Mego compiles A Young Person’s Guide to… Emeralds’ Mark McGuire

― ka£ka (NickB), Monday, March 7, 2011 4:27 AM (2 weeks ago)

about halfway thru disc 1 and OMG if the whole thing is this good, it gets my vote for compilation of the year, easy

awesome! I'm pretty excited about that one. nearly impossible to hear everything he's put out but I had a feeling that a distilled set of cuts from his huge mass of material would be really excellent.

i've been looking forward to hearing that
glad it's good
feeling ohio pride

btw, I'm gonna stump for my fave mcguire release again - the invisible world tho. really excellent krauty guitar loop action w/a thick and immerersive sound.

whoops, scratch that stray "tho" up there.

and of course, the invisible world was only put out on tape w/a stupidly low print run. so, it's only available on the blogspots of the world now.

but I wouldn't be surprised if one of the cuts made that comp.

yup, "the invisible world" is on the comp - not "backdrafts" tho

here's the full tracklist courtest of RA

http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=13808

CD 1
01. Dream Team
02. The Marfa Lights
03. Clague Woods
04. Slipstreams
05. Stranger Than Paradise
06. Flight
07. Ghosts Around a Tree
08. The Path Lined With Colorful Stones
09. The Wind On The Winding Road, Pt Ii

CD 2
01. Radio Flyer
02. Icy Windows
03. The Lonesome Foghorn Blows
04. Time Is Flying
05. Sun Shining Through the Open Barn Door
06. Explosion Alarm
07. Sick Chemistry
08. Skies
09. Over the Water
10. The Invisible World
11. Inside Where It's Warm

courtesy* ugh

one of few bands whom song titles accurately describe what the song'll prolly soudn liek

New Mist (John Elliott and Sam Goldberg) LP forthcoming on Elliott's own Editions Mego imprint Spectrum Spools...

http://www.editionsmego.com/spectrum-spools-release/SP+004

Recorded January and February 2011 in Cleveland, Ohio.

John Elliott: Moog Voyager OS, Roland RS-101, Sequential Circuits Prophet 600, Roland SH-101, Phasers, Vocals

Sam Goldberg: Korg Polysix, Univox Minikorg, Multivox MX 202, Dave Smith Instruments Mopho

Mixed by Mist and Andrew Veres
Mastered by James Plotkin
Cut at D + M Berlin by CGB, March 14th 2011.

"House" is the 2nd official full-length offering by Cleveland, Ohio duo MIST featuring Sam Goldberg (of Radio People) and John Elliott (Emeralds, Outer Space, Imaginary Softwoods etc) after 2009's self-titled debut effort on Amethyst Sunset.
A suite consisting of 7 complex, layered compositions shows new progression in composition and melody from the duo. From the lightning fast, bittersweet crescendo of "Twin Lanes" to the dramatic chord progressions of "I Can Still Hear Your Voice", "House" is a certain expansion in execution and construction. Tracks like "P.M." put a new take on the long-form Mist style with cryptic alien vocoder and humid pad sounds, while "Mist House" and "Dead Occasion" reveal new, complex territories that will most certainly please fans of the previous Mist recordings.

First copies available on pink vinyl. Subsequent copies available on black vinyl.

ooh I totally loved Glowing Net, I'm'a jump on that

Nice! another Mist album. Both lps are really good.

caught these guys with alan howarth and harald grosskopf over the weekend. LOVED their set. started with arpeggio swirls looping to create a rhythmic backbone for a few minutes and then straight-up beats dropped in! intensity kept peaking and it really felt like some detroit techno was going to bust out any second. serious e2-e4 vibes. really great.

they also did some collabo stuff with howarth. that didn't work as well for me. a couple tracks from big trouble in little china, the thing, and halloween. the halloween one is the only one that clicked (the others sounded strangely thin) but that segued in some nice, dark drone material. supposedly based on special frequencies howarth studied by renting out one of the pyramids for two hours (!!!) - that was pretty cool. sounds like a collabo lp will be released in the near future too.

does anyone else get crazy early final fantasy vibes w/ "candy shoppe"?

I can't get enough of this stuff - are any of the Mist/Outer Space/other side project things available digitally?

Emeralds in NY on Friday night was just insane.

Saw Mark McGuire last night. Spectacular.

These guys are pretty much ruling at a 90% or better hit rate on all their projects.

otm

agreed

Brand new Imaginary Softwoods LP in a month!

You can stream one of the tracks here: http://soundcloud.com/wirrzbow/imaginary-softwoods-eye-color

thoughts on A Young Person's Guide... here

(don't mean to plug my writing so much as the McGuire comp., which is excellent)

Is there a fair bit of tape flutter etc on the CD release of A Young Person's Guide.

Can't wait to buy this by the way. This guy and Emeralds are too good.

ilxor, why are you posting all of your brainwashed journals on ilx? I've seen you do that on more than one occasion.

well, i'd normally wax poetic abt McGuire for a couple paragraphs, but i tend to hold off discussing something on ilx if i'm working on a more "formal" review of it. which usually means the things i'm playing the most (like this) i hold my tongue on, then want to share what i think so throw out a link. i can stop linking to 'em if it's poor form though, which seems to be yr implication. no worries.

btw the tape noise is pretty minimal (xxp), i think most of these tracks were pulled from CDs anyway, only a few that were cassette exclusive. i listened on nice phones & didn't notice a thing.

http://editionsmego.com/release/eMEGO+117

^ details here. a few cassette-only things on disc two. but i'd imagine mcguire recorded those tracks on something more hi-fi, then pressed them onto cassette; so probably used the master versions for this reissue. i could be wrong.

i really admire how mark and the rest of emeralds can be so prolific and not churn out any shit.

Nice little status update interview with McGuire on his upcoming projects and what's next for Emeralds.

http://exclaim.ca/News/mark_mcguire_talks_his_young_persons_guide_new_solo_lp_emeralds_future/?&utm_source=TwitterEN&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ENTwitter

i really admire how mark and the rest of emeralds can be so prolific and not churn out any shit.

― jumpskins, Monday, May 9, 2011 10:34 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this type of thinking killed odd future fwiw

the deed is done

This album is really good so far!

Even though I've been listening for 25 minutes and I'm only like halfway through the second track

It feels really Lovelessy which is something people throw around a lot but almost always inaccurately; this time it actually sorta fits.

the first track is one of the most, er, shoegazy on the whole thing. if mcguire can be called shoegazy. i know what you mean though!

ilxor, please don't stop posting your links - I for one enjoyed your piece.

^^ Co-sign. Haters gonna hate etc.

I'm digging this album btw. Been on a major Emeralds kick lately (new speakers woohoo), this is a great addition.

bullshit boring drone band

zoning out to 'ledges'

new Imaginary Softwoods up for preorder at Amethyst Sunset:

http://www.amethystsunset.net/

I missed out on the white/clear vinyl but o well

also Experimedia still has copies of the 2 new Spectrum Spools releases from Forma & Mist available. next two are out in July, one from Temporal Marauder (w/ awesome artwork) and a 2xLP from Bee Mask which I will slit throats to get.

@Alan N, good call on "The Invisible World". Sounds like one of his best to me. Unfortunately the CD only has the first section of it. It seems to be in two parts on the original tape. Side A is 14 minutes, and has two 7 minute sections.

xp new Bee Mask has me excited

the new Imaginary Softwoods album is really good!

It really is. I've been playing that and the new Pulse Emitter LP to death lately.

What's the production on the new Imaginary Softwoods like compared to the old 2xLP? I recently got that older one based on how much I love Emeralds and Mist, but the low-fi-ness of it has left me a little cold (although the pieces are intriguing and sounds good in their own way). I mean, Does It Look Like I'm Here? just sounds so freaking epic and delicious and huge and detailed, and the incredible production really adds to its immersive character (Imaginary Softwoods feels like something I'm beholding; Does It Look Like I'm Here? feels like something I'm inside, or touching). I really think it's one of the best sounding LPs I own.

well it's not mastered by Plotkin so it obviously won't sound AS rich as DILLIH but it sounds pretty damn good nonetheless. it's totally worth buying just on compositional merits, though; sadly I suck at knowing stuff about original kosmiche records so I'm not going to be much help coming up with comparisons ("it reminds me of Tangerine Dream!" yeah thanks buddy) but I can absolutely affirm that this record does a great job of soundtracking mundane tasks - for example, it helped make folding laundry EPIC last night.

I'll definitely check it out, thanks... The Mist album House from last month is really, really good as well, and it sounds delightful.

I actually couldn't get into that one (or the last Mist album either TBQH). really really REALLY excited for the upcoming Bee Mask 2xLP on Spectrum Spools though!

I really like the only thing from Bee Mask I have, which is the Hyperborean Trenchtown LP. I like it's musique concrete elements and its somewhat noisy and unsettled nature; some of this stuff can tend toward the TOO-smooth. I'm hoping for another Oneohtrix record this year, badly.

Has ayone else heard the Jurgen Muller LP (it came into and out of print instantly)? It fits right in with this stuff based on the tracks I've heard on Altered Zones and shit. Hopefully someone will make it available again.

lovin this Mist LP! (Bye Bye)

It has near zero associations with Emeralds but there's something about the aesthetic... what is it??... that's transitioning so well for me.

so can some kind & dedicated person make me an easy reference list of Emeralds side projects and which member(s) are involved in them? I would really appreciate it, can't keep any of this stuff straight.

John Elliott - Mist/Imaginary Softwoods/Colored Mushroom And The Medicine Rocks. and the guy behind the Spectrum Spools label.

Steve Hauschildt -

Mark McGuire - Skyramps (w/ OPN)/Sun Watcher/Trouble Books & Mark McGuire

Yeah some sort of discography would be invaluable

that's a good start, thank you! xp

Elliott also did a solo LP and a split single with Raglani as Outer Space. both own considerably.

Oh yeah I forgot Outer Space. Those tapes are great

the lp that mark mcguire did with trouble books is really, really good imo

So glad he isn't flooding the year with music, but you're right, that collaboration is one of the better things he's done in a while.

Don't forget that "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morrisette is about Mark McGuire's dad!

!!!!!!

that must be like the worst potential pickup line ever... "hey, guess what famous song was written about my dad?"

"here's a little known factoid you oughtta know..."

McGuire also collabs in Amazing Births, two tapes so far and an LP (which dropped this week, about par for the course so far this year)

Steve Hauschildt had a solo tape or two as well. He's like the Chrissy of Three's Company.

Oops, I meant he's the Janet of Three's Company. Mark is Chrissy.

Mark McGuire's dad is Dave Coulier?

Who do you think bought them that drool-worthy collection of vintage analog gear??

Wait, so is John Elliott still Jack Tripper or is he the Olsen twins now?

Discogs is fairly good for info on aliases / other projects:
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Emeralds+%282%29

(Click on Members names, then see under "Aliases" and "In Groups")

the lp that mark mcguire did with trouble books is really, really good imo

― Lamp, Thursday, 23 June 2011 23:54 (1 week ago)

Yeah it's a good'un. Its well worth checking out the rest of Trouble Books albums/EPs too they're ace.

I hate loving this band. On good days they fulfill the promise of all these Klaus Schulze records I bought and only listened to once. On bad days they remind me of jealously watching synth demo videos and NAMM reports. Usually I can get ten minutes in before I'm gazing longingly at something on eBay.

yeah that new dave smith/roger linn tempest looks dope

speaking of hauschildt, he just launched this site:http://www.gneissthings.com

is this where all the Spectrum Spools discussion goes too? the new Bee Mask 2xLP is OK through the first three sides but the fourth side is gobsmackingly incredible

http://www.gneissthings.com =

This Websense category is filtered: Potentially Damaging Content. Sites in this category may pose a security threat to network resources or private information, and are blocked by your organization.

Huh.

that's strange.. ghostery reports only fb connect and google analytics fwiw

Trouble Books & Mark McGuire LP has been growing on me a lot.

There's a track from Mark McGuire's new album here too: http://editionsmego.com/release/eMEGO+123V

and Amazing Births - Eclipsed By The Younger Moon from the new LP is one of my favourite McGuire tracks so far.

anyone get that LP of Outer Space demos yet?

is this where all the Spectrum Spools discussion goes too?

i feel like ive been a little bit burned on the bee mask lps - i should probably give them another listen but they just sort of blur outside of my consciousness like its more than just being 'boring' they p much just dont exist even when im playing them. or s.thing

imo the ss that ive liked the best is the forma record although i liked the fabric one too

the first Bee Mask LP is one of my very favorite releases of the year and probably my favorite Spectrum Spools release so far. I wasn't too keen on the second one initially, but after a few more listens I've warmed to it considerably (and of course the entire fourth side is still magnificent).

really excited for the Driphouse release in October, sounds like it's my type of stuff.

yeah im interested in it too altough i hope it doesnt just cannibalize his excellent nna tapes release

i feel like the double lp release had some good moments but needed to be cut down a lot i mean 'be shorter' is the worst sorta critique to level @ a double lp but yknow im kinda interested to know what you hear in it tbh

I must admit that I'm struggling to keep up with Spectrum Spools. I feel like as soon as I buy the current releases there are always two more on the horizon.

The Driphouse LP is a vinyl edition of this Root Strata tape.

That Outer Space Last Vacuum Demos Vol 1 LP on Wagon is still available here: http://bit.ly/nwfFS6. Ltd to 200 copies.

There's a new Mark McGuire LP on Editions Mego too: http://bit.ly/nM6lG7

Still need to pick up that Amazing Births LP.

Obviously no one is forcing me to buy this stuff...

That Outer Space Last Vacuum Demos Vol 1 LP on Wagon is still available here: http://bit.ly/nwfFS6. Ltd to 200 copies.

This is now available on Bent Crayon. I didn't even know this existed and I keep up with this shit like it's my job.

*Phew* (wipes brow)

Thanks for the heads up.

xxxpost

it's so hard to pin down why I like this stuff since I don't have a proper background in composition or anything; I'm sure most of it just boils down to listening to it in the right frame of mind/state of intoxication. that being said I can definitely say that I like how textural Bee Mask's music tends to be without devolving into a full-on noise record - I generally prefer stuff like Days of Mars and Outer Space's s/t LP and all the stuff derived from Tangerine Dream to stuff like Returnal or The Drift or etc., so maybe this stuff's just novel to me.

I don't know how to ask this, but maybe this will work -- will someone point me to some of these records that are more composed? I like long form compositions, but they have to grow and change noticeably and go somewhere, have a destination. I want to listen to records by people who compose better songs than I do. (This is a pretty wide range because I am not good, so I'm hardly limiting my options here)

This is one thing I think Emeralds proper does well, fwiw. I also do not like male or female indie vocals with my atmospheric longform compositions.

Ideas?

Similar question but where to start if you like all of the Emeralds records v v v much but feel overwhelmed by all these other things? This music sometimes takes a deep listening that, with my hectic, busy, high-roller life, I am not always able to achieve.

xpost

you might like Rene Hell if you aren't already familiar with his stuff - he's a little noisier than Emeralds, but all his best stuff is very tightly composed.

when I went psycho for Emeralds last year I eventually drifted into an intense appreciation for Leyland James Kirby's stuff; he's got an ear for really subtle yet moving composition which rivals Eno's early ambient works IMO, but his stuff's completely organic rather than Emeralds' Analog Synth Orgy 5000 style. check out Sadly The Future Is No Longer What It Was (released as Leyland Kirby) and Deleted Scenes, Forgotten Dreams and An Empty Bliss Beyond This World (released as The Caretaker - the latter is my favorite album of 2011 so far, although it's basically the opposite of an Emeralds album). I would literally kill thousands of children for a copy of Persistent Repetition of Phrases on vinyl.

I still ride for ES' Sateenkaarisuudelma; it's glacially slow but if you can get into it it's absolutely composition-porn.

is kraut-y disco-y stuff off the table? if not then Lindstrom's Where You Go I Go Too and Alex Moulton's Exodus to thread.

tbh I'm in the same boat you are, so I'll be eagerly checking out any other responses yielded by the thread too. I feel like somewhere out there, someone's making music which occupies the precise midpoint between Does It Look Like I'm Here and Philip Glass' operas; I just need to find it.

adam - all 3 of the members of Emeralds have approximately 4385413184315 side projects going, so I got my start picking through their individual output on Discogs. sadly I don't have any interest in cassettes so a lot of their stuff will forever be lost to me, but there's still a mountain of stuff to dig through. and then of course just start getting everything on Spectrum Spools; it's basically the synth dude from Emeralds having D+M cut glorious vinyl masters of all his favorite tape artists.

Sateenkaarisuudelma

OTM. incredible, incredible record

the mark mcguire solo stuff on editions mego is p emeralds-y and accessible i might start there and then if you arent sated try the stuff on their wagon imprint and then the spectrum spools releases. also again the mark mcguire + trouble books lp is fantastic imo

I like lots of krauty discoy stuff, I'm looking mostly for this
I still ride for ES' Sateenkaarisuudelma; it's glacially slow but if you can get into it it's absolutely composition-porn.

Thankyou! Will look into the rest. Have never heard Rene Hell!

also Motion Sickness of Time Travel should be right down yr alley; everything they've put out in 2011 has been exceedingly great

rene hell is a great pick. at the time I was struck but how unique porcelain opera sounded in the context of the scene that birthed it. I like kosmische space explorations as much as the next guy (probs a lot more than the next guy) but this is something else. riskier but more subtle. really enjoy the constantly morphing quality on that lp.

and if this isn't too obvious, keith fullerton whitman is easily one of my fave electronic musicians going these days. multiples is basically a tour through classic electronic compositional styles and is very, very strong.

his generator on root strata cassette is also amazing imo and sounds something like a more frantic and, uh, robotic terry riley circa persian surgery dervishes. composition is minimal on this one for conceptual reasons (as far as I understand, he's setting up machines here and letting em rip) but it is really something.

try the regaining composure / negating freedom and taking away tapes as well.

Any good podcasts for modern composition/electroacoustic stuff?

diminishing returns IMO

part of what was exciting about emeralds was that they seemed to chart a path out of the noize-nerd cul-de-sac.

this thread seems to be going in the opposite direction?

hmmm, is that a truth bomb or just another vahidism? I can't decide ;)

the fun part about getting into acts which are basically c-c-c-combo breakers for entire genres is going the opposite way and seeing all the weird shit you find! it's just a matter of recognizing your personal threshholds and adjusting your exploration accordingly.

i don't get what you're saying, jamescobo. how is rehashing 60s terry riley in 2011 a combo breaker?

chart a path out of the noize-nerd cul-de-sac
i didn't realize i was in this
what do you mean?

how is rehashing 60s terry riley in 2011 a combo breaker?

FAST ACTION DASH CANCEL

and for real, emeralds, grow up. you just had a big year, coming off "does it look like i'm here". why not try to compete with, say, ratatat instead of wasting your time trying to do "goodbye 20th century"

You seem to compare new things to old things in the form of criticism, a lot

Also you ruined the Moritz Von Oswald Trio record for me by comparing it to "lounge exotica" or something

many xposts

I meant Emeralds were the combo breaker (i.e. the ones who take all the signifiers of the tiresomely hermit-ish noize scene and turn them into something normal folks might actually want to listen to), not KFW. working backwards from DILLIH? has been really fun IMO even if most of the stuff I've been digging up can't compare.

oh yeah ok that makes sense

glad to hear i did that for you, adam, you're better off not listening to that trash

haha

"something normal folks might actually want to listen to"

that's what i'm saying, some workout music

bee mask? sounds like that "justin bieber slowed down 800%" bullshit

'does it look like im queer?'

that's a meme i don't know, friend

well theres always something knew to learn!

i lol'd @ 'lounge exotica' tho even if i dig the new record...

the new record is great, so was the old one though

there are no google results for 'does it look like im queer?'

^ seconding the Rene Hell / Leyland Kirby recommendations upthread

I don't see how emeralds are more appealing to normals than any of this other stuff? Lots of less abrasive stuff our there in this vein

this is based on empirical observation of the normals in my vicinity

what makes someone a normal?
i want to know if i am one or if i am trapped in the noize-nerd-cul-de-sac

i listened to a little rene hell, decided that youtube was not a good way to listen to that but then he was not on spotify. i saved saaateutusjdakngeniewhn on emusic for the next time my account refreshes.

do you ... feel normal?

not really

well there you go, noize nerd

i don't have 12 cds and i'm not looking for workout music
hope this helps

i want to know if i am one or if i am trapped in the noize-nerd-cul-de-sac

what are your favorite tape labels?
whats yr most coveted piece of vintage gear?
when was the last time you showered?
what opinions do you have about burritos?
do you have health insurance?
how often do you watch old cartoons on youtube?
what is the cheapest bottle of domestic beer w/in a 5 mile radius of your home?

what are your favorite tape labels?
I don't think I have any, but I am aware of their existence

whats yr most coveted piece of vintage gear?
I don't covet anything because that is not how i am

when was the last time you showered?
this morning

what opinions do you have about burritos?
burritos should not be stuffed with rice
they should contain flavorful meats, vegetables, beans, and cheese in a variety of combinations
they should be folded efficiently

do you have health insurance?
yes, for now

how often do you watch old cartoons on youtube?
occasionally, will probably do that more and i have always been looking for that "wringer" episode where sylvester gets squashed and that song plays dootdoot dootdoot dootdoo dootdoot...

what is the cheapest bottle of domestic beer w/in a 5 mile radius of your home?
$2.50 across the street

did you know "what happened" is a lounge/exotica record?

listen to the first part of "damaged kids"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckzuO0FIOvE

compare to KRELL MUSIC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qADmHaVZ74M&feature=related

New Mark McGuire tune up on Altered Zones today...sounds sweet.

I'm enjoying the Troubles Books collab LP too, kind of slight, but in a positive way.

I continue to be aggravated that this stuff is so hard to track down (Outer Space/Imaginary Softwoods/etc.). The limited LPs and Cassettes thing (which all sell out almost immediately) is such a bummer!

try subscribing to Experimedia's mailing list:

http://www.experimedia.net

they're as good as any other distro in terms of getting stuff early; also they're well aware that there's a lot of interest in the whole Emeralds And Their Musical Super-Friends scene, so they're usually pretty good about alerting folks to product availability. plus Jeremy's an awesome dude in general; his stuff is shipped securely, arrives quickly, and he's always quick with email responses. A++++++ highly recommended would buy again.

of course, the downside of getting into attaining physical copies of all this stuff is that you'll have to take out a second mortgage just to keep up. I'm kind of thankful that I'm more of a stan for John Elliot's stuff than Mark McGuire's since McGuire seems to put out a new record every fkn month.

Thanks for the tip - have just signed up. I keep finding out about stuff (like the Outer Space - Lost Vaccuum Demos LP thing) way after it's all sold out - and that's within a 2 or 3 day period!

Do you suspect these guys oppose digital releases from an artistic standpoint? I'm all for physical and vinyl whenever possible (and have all the Emeralds/McGuire stuff this way, plus the Spectrum Spools stuff), but I'm also happy to buy MP3s - and they never seem to go that route for any of the side project stuff. They'd make a nice chunk of change from suckers like me who snap it all up.

(Side note - that Experimedia site has some fascinating (and amusing) stuff. I like the remote control containing a 24-hour .MP3 album on a USB circuit board: http://www.experimedia.net/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&cPath=1&products_id=3941&zenid=iqnkogq5tej8c4h3k1tjdg1ku4)

Reminiscent of some of the www.twitter.com/fauxzones gags

idk if they have some artistic opposition to digital releases, but this stuff sounds SO much better on vinyl that it's not even funny (in large part thanks to D+M kicking a gigantic volume of ass).

Has ayone else heard the Jurgen Muller LP (it came into and out of print instantly)? It fits right in with this stuff based on the tracks I've heard on Altered Zones and shit. Hopefully someone will make it available again.

btw, I've been keeping tabs on this record since its mention upthread and noticed today that it's getting another pressing:

http://www.experimedia.net/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&cPath=1&products_id=3493

I continue to be aggravated that this stuff is so hard to track down (Outer Space/Imaginary Softwoods/etc.). The limited LPs and Cassettes thing (which all sell out almost immediately) is such a bummer!

― She Got the Shakes, Monday, August 22, 2011

I find Twitter really useful for keeping up with this stuff...

John Elliot: http://twitter.com/coloredmushroom
Steve Hauschildt: http://twitter.com/gneissthings

These guys alerted me to the Outer Space LP: http://twitter.com/dscrmnt

I also subscribe to Boomkat's new vinyl arrivals, http://www.omgvinyl.com, http://mcguiremusic.blogspot.com and http://clevelandwagon.blogspot.com amongst others in Google Reader and tend to catch a lot of stuff that way.

Oh, and these forums too...

http://bit.ly/pZpOSK

http://bit.ly/onZE2D

idk if they have some artistic opposition to digital releases, but this stuff sounds SO much better on vinyl that it's not even funny (in large part thanks to D+M kicking a gigantic volume of ass).

OTM... No comparison!

Co-sign on Experimedia. Fabulous distro, very well run, and one of the best sources for this stuff.

yea i was bummed when i saw the outer space demos lp sold out at the label site but thanks to this thread, i picked it up on experimedia!

yeah, I'll rep for experimedia as well. very nice dude that runs a great store.

EP of unreleased Mark McGuire tracks released on Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/mark-mcguire/sets/another-dead-end-ep

Really lookin forward to Get Lost LP.

thanks to this thread, i picked it up on experimedia!

seeing these guys in a couple of weeks. how do they cut it live?

A+++++

Never seen them myself, but I've dug on this live video (with obligatory YouTube Comment of No one paid to heard this, did they? OMG):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfVq_BP-37E

Some clips from Get Lost on Boomkat now:
http://boomkat.com/vinyl/437670-mark-mcguire-get-lost

Bummed to be missing these guys w/ Fennesz @ the Union Chapel

Get Lost is nice, a bit understated but sinks in nicely on repeated listens. last track "Firefly Constellations" 20 min of unadulterated shimmery gorgeous bliss

not sure how i feel about the low-bitrate mp3 texture on firefly constellations

man i want this record bad

anyone looking for more stuff in this vein would be well served to check out either Sam Goldberg's (as Radio People) "Hazel" album on Mexican Summer or Ricardo Donoso's new album "Progress Chance" on Digitalis.

so 'get lost' is p fanatastic although im sorta hesitant to decide too quickly since the lost lp was such a sleeper

Somewhat curmudgeonly review of it in the Wire. Bland and overdocumented Göttsching rip-off who doesn't warrant Mego's attention or words to that effect.

yeah its a lost less ambitious or structured than 'living with yourself' which i took some time to come around to but ended up really loving. im not really sure what 'overdocumented' even means (undercomposed?) but it is p derivative and slight and yet it works really well as mood music and the textures and movement are p gorgeous

i also ordered a vinyl copy of 'progress chance' cobo

'Overdocumented' refers to McGuire himself rather than the record.

idk if I'd go as far as the Wire went but I'm definitely on Team John Elliott w/r/t where all the talent in Emeralds lives

Steve Hauschildt finally has some solo vinyl out, on Kranky no less: http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=14826

Does anyone happen to have an extra ticket for sale to see these guys tomorrow night in London at Union Chapel? It sold out super fast!
(maybe because of Fennesz, who I don't know very well)...

loving this 1st (?) Outer Space LP, the repress. never been grabbed this way by McGuire, although I've only heard two of his recs I think.

it's sort of rad to watch the anti-emeralds backlash gather speed

(a) What's the backlash about, and (b) why is that rad? Has it turned out they're dicks, or did you always think they were fakers or no good or something? That seems weird.

Is there really a backlash?

idk i havent really heard any

the backlash is about "OMG these guys are just hippies" and "mark mcguire is a soulless copy of gottsching" ... it is only "rad" in the sense that it is amusing to watch the hipster hivemind slosh back and forth on the issue. i've always enjoyed their music myself and i don't have any particular desire for them to be torn down, but it seems to be happening nonetheless.

Related news: I think the new double LP from Mist (Elliott + Goldberg) on Spectrum Spools is phenomenal. These guys work well together. Goldberg brings the hazy, indie warmth, while Elliott sends it into outer space with his sublime force.

xp - can you make good kosmische and not be considered a soulless copy of gottsching? i don't think those criticisms are nec new btw, from what i can tell most ppl in the community they started out in jumped ship with 'does it look like i'm here'

this happens anytime a noisy/droney/experimental artist reigns it in and makes something more accessible, right?

my perception has been that the tide of acclaim rose steadily through "what happened?", peaked with "does it look like i'm here?" and started to die down with the mark mcguire box set. in the last couple months it seems like people have been getting progressively nastier about emeralds.

Is that really anti-Emeralds nastiness, or simply "oh god not another Mark McGuire release" fatigue?

yeah

i mean, it's both

It's gotta at least partly be fatigue... Who can keep up with it all? Monetarily or attention-span-wise? I know of few artists who give off the impression that they feel everything they lay to tape is worth us paying money for more than these guys (and they're like 17 years old). I don't think this is what the phrase "this band could be your life" was originally intended to mean...

AMT syndrome

well, this is kind of what most 'noise' bands all do. they're hardly unique in that respect and they've actually slowed official emeralds material down significantly.

I suppose you're right... It feels different somehow given that all the new stuff seems to be on immaculately-packaged and mastered expensive and weighty vinyl.

Mark Mcguire is the noise Bob Pollard. Think about it.

xpost yeah, I hear you. but again, I can't say I wouldn't do the same if mego asked me to curate a label and put out my friends records.

it's all pretty harmless and fodder for ADD collector types imo.

Is there really a backlash?

sure, for this thread

that album -- the one that got all the attention last year -- was good.

this band inspired a bunch of scintillating new attempted genre names, e.g., sophistorock or elegant-o-pop or something like that.

i don't think anyone in this thread is hating? just talking about a perceived backlash, which is (again) a given anytime a diy drone band with a community of supporters breaks through

well compared to this thread last year things have soured a bit i mean its not all the same posters nec but yknow this used 2 b a lovefest

they probably do release too much stuff, what can u do tho, gotta d/l em all

I know of few artists who give off the impression that they feel everything they lay to tape is worth us paying money for more than these guys (and they're like 17 years old)

yea i think the quality to quantity ratio for emeralds is higher than most bands that do this type of thing

which emeralds cru 2011 releases should i download

xp tho it does change things when we're talking vinyl and not cd-rs or tapes or w/e. from a manufacturing standpoint and also because vinyl is such a revered format. it seems like all releases have to be *worthy* of the pressing or something

i liked the trouble books and mark mcguire release, really dug the forma record on spectrum spools, theres an outer space split cassette thats p rad. have not heard the other outer space white label. also the mist record on spectrum spools is 'worth a download' imo

if you're willing to count the extended Emeralds fam, I'm enjoying "Hazel" by Radio People (aka Sam Goldberg) a whole bunch

cobo

it's not a given, i never saw any expo 70 backlash, just a tapering off

i guess i would argue that expo 70 didn't really break through to the general listening populace / end of year list bonanza as much as emeralds, but it's not as though emeralds are animal collective either so idk depends on your perspective i guess

Never seen them myself, but I've dug on this live video (with obligatory YouTube Comment of No one paid to heard this, did they? OMG):

― She Got the Shakes, Wednesday, August 24, 2011 10:50 AM

i don't understand the headbanging for that kind of music, i'd prob cringe if i saw that live

At the Union Chapel gig Sunday night that headbanging guy was uh, headbanging away and complaining that it wasn't loud enough and at the end he threw his SH101 on the ground. Uh, rock'n'roll. Very cringey, tbh.

the outerspace dude?

what headbanging vid?

Related news: I think the new double LP from Mist (Elliott + Goldberg) on Spectrum Spools is phenomenal. These guys work well together. Goldberg brings the hazy, indie warmth, while Elliott sends it into outer space with his sublime force.

This is OTM. I'm sympathetic to the diminishing returns critique but pretty much everything that comes out on Spectrum Spools is great.

Opening track might be the best from the Mist album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qiMl9o4Zv4

what headbanging vid?

Pretty much any live video of theirs will feature JE rocking the fuck out, but the vid posted above they're referring to is THIS ONE

xxxpost

I wasn't too fond of either the Container or the Temporal Marauder releases (though I do like the artwork for Temporal Marauder). other than that Spectrum Spools has been unfuckwithable though.

Emm...the other thing about the Spectrum Spools releases is I can't remember which abstract name is which. Temporal Marauder is in my big Spotify list so I've definitely heard it, but I can't say more than that. My favourites have been the Fabric and Mist albums and the Bee Mask retrospective compilation.

My favorite so far is Bee Mask's Canzoni del Laboratorio blah blah... I also like the Mist album a lot. Fabric is nice but hasn't stuck with me. So this Container LP, what is it like?

I headbanged at least as much as yr man up there the one time I saw them

it was probably cringey to watch too but no-one was gonna harsh my buzz

not headbanging just feelin the vibe

I headbanged at least as much as yr man up there the one time I saw them

this

So this Container LP, what is it like?

Beat-based technoid repetition, prickly and odd, murky and visceral at times, too.

poor man's Black Meteoric Star imo

the McGuire box is one of my favorite things this year, played that thing a TON. not terribly sold on the new solo LP, it's good, a bit more low-key than i like my mcguire. Does It Look Like I'm Here was and is still one of the best things i've heard in recent years.

and sure it's easy to burn out if you go overboard on anything, emeralds or otherwise. but shame on you if you're collecting dozens of cassette-only releases like a 16 yr old fanboy, then blaming YOUR burnout on the artist. kinda like going to a buffet, then complaining you ate too much afterward. why not pick & choose yr favorite items, and leave satisfied but wanting just slightly more?

Root Strata's Spectrum Spools release is up for order on Experimedia if anyone's been looking to get it. also Boomkat claims to have the new Mark McGuire on white vinyl available now. think I'm going to take a pass on that one though.

Enjoying Container, that whole synthy rave/noise/drone thing reminds me a bit of Neil Campbell's Astral Social Club stuff, but without the slightly Dada edge.

hey london ppl, mark mcguires playing @ the shacklewell arms next friday

Thanks for that.

Now just need to decide whether to go and see him or Bill Orcutt at Oto.

I'd see Bill Orcutt

set will probably be much shorter than McGuire's, so maybe you can catch the end of that as well

bought Marks Lost album yesterday, bought the Shacklewell tickets today... good timing.

ugh, I meant Driphouse's Spectrum Spools release, not Root Strata

them's fightin' words, m83:

When I go out to see a show now, I want to be blown away, even if I don't like the music. If you watch a band like Depeche Mode, their connection with the audience is just magical. You're not going to see that if you go see Emeralds; I wish Emeralds could be as big as them, but it's a different league. And I don't like people spitting on bigger bands just because they have success or because it's not trendy to listen to the Killers. They have 15,000 people at their shows every night, and they're living the dream.

I clicked through for context but he doesn't really explain why he's comparing Emeralds and Depeche Mode.

well, they're both bands

working on an 11 minute piece for the ILM Louticalla comp has put me in the correct frame of mind to finally appreciate Does It Look Like I'm Here?

Whatever it takes Dan :)

It's been more than a week now, but that McGuire show at the Shacklewell Arms was pretty great! He only did three pieces, but he was on for an hour. The second one had this great trick where it built a huge wall of fuzz that got louder and louder until it finally cut out suddenly and this little spidery fingerpicked stuff was the only thing left. I'm not sure if it's on one of his albums, but it was really awesome.

http://static.boomkat.com/images/501817/333.jpg

Steve Hauschildt album on Kranky is out. It's pretty!

Spotify link

That Hauschildt record is great, one of my faves of the year (and possibly of the Emeralds camp).

ok, I'm sold

Was just listening to this at work and I fell asleep at my desk! Not sure whether to implicate the album or not, and if so whether it's a good or bad thing...

yeah the Hauschildt record is super fabulous

yep. really like this one. blue marlin i find especially stunning. also lol: http://i.imgur.com/ZiZLJ.png

oops http://i.imgur.com/ZiZLJ.png

had eased up on emeralds-related stuff lately but this is reeeeal nice and I'm playing it a lot already.

"music for a moire pattern" into "blue marlin" <3

https://twitter.com/#!/infinitelimits1/status/159574035108339712

NEW RELEASE: Inner Tube (Charles Berlitz aka Spencer Clark & Mark McGuire) s/t vinyl LP on Pacific City Sound Visions. Arriving v soon!

http://www.pacificcitysoundvisions.com/

(are there any similar house/techno remixes of emeralds?)

― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Thursday, 3 February 2011 22:00 (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hey Lex, Daphni mixes right here:

http://soundcloud.com/caribouband/sets/emeralds-jiaolong002-does-it

I'm not really a Caribou fan btw (I did like the Daphni record last year though), but those are both pretty great.

(I did like the Daphni record last year though

(talking about 'Ye Ye' there, wasn't aware of his other stuff under that alias)(I'll shut up now)

Those mixes are soooo good. I'm a Caribou skeptic, Emeralds devotee but those two are just joyous.

My impression is that these guys basically made a genre out of Pink Floyd's "On The Run".

Ma, that Inner Tube record slayed didn't it? Even the bits that sounded like the Eye on Springfield theme tune

woah, i'm listening to that for the first time right now

New LP 'Just To Feel Anything' appears in November...

http://editionsmego.com/release/eMEGO+150

Although I haven't quite caught up with the two new Outer Space LPs yet.

Those Daphni remixes are astonishingly good, I caned the hell out of them earlier this year. Real 'Relevee' vibe to them.

My impression is that these guys basically made a genre out of Pink Floyd's "On The Run".

― OK CLARABELLE PART 3: The Return of the MOO! (how's life), Tuesday, September 11, 2012 4:25 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I can't tell if you're trolling or not but Pink Floyd were not the first people to use synthesizers and sequencers and stuff

Not to mention noise and stuff

i don't even listen to emeralds but that's some ignorant shit

how's life's post, I mean.

I thought it was pretty otm + I love "On the run" and it deserves its own genre

It's my favorite part of DSOTM! "Why couldn't they just have made the whole thing like that" I often thought. And then lo! there was Emeralds.

It was supposed to be sort of a joke though, along the lines of "someone tell Justin Timberlake that Michael Jackson was an artist, not a genre". Obviously not all Emeralds songs sound like PF, but there are a couple that really do, and those are the ones I like the best.

Sorry if that was ignorant shit.

Uh, I don't think it's ignorant shit. Yeah duh PF were not the first to turn on an arpeggiator and solo over it but "On the run" is by far the most visible instance of that trope and "Double Helix" is kind of a dead ringer

arpeggiator 8-step sequencer

emeralds are boooooooooooooooring

so are sleep and bread and long bike rides and my mom but all those things are classic

emeralds rule. this one makes me bawl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHHryw-11D4

I heard some of the new album cuz j0hn ell1ott Dj-ed some tracks at the VOV noise festival in west virginia and this new album is going to surprise people bigtime, sounds like a big, extroverted, ambitious record

Ma, that Inner Tube record slayed didn't it? Even the bits that sounded like the Eye on Springfield theme tune

ha, i'm listening to it now and i was thinking 'late 80s saturday morning cartoon' (prime chillwave material, obv), but it is slaying indeed. not so sure about the song that turned into sweet child o mine, though.

This might be a really stupid question, but if I dig the Mark McGuire solo stuff, am I going to vibe on the Durutti Column? Alternatively, tell me who else I should be listening to.

Manuel Gottsching/Ashra as well (if haven't heard already), as far as the delay-pedal cosmic grid side of his sound goes...

Dustin Wong is really good if you like all those really bright looped and layered guitar sounds.

http://open.spotify.com/album/5T6m8Dlu0X2WgpXuuG2T8I

Huh, have now listened to a few "What Happened?" tracks and have come around on this band a little. I really like when McGuire plays clean and minimizes the echo/delay ping-ponging, really don't like when he "shreds" or goes too far down the wormhole with the grid of harmonics and percussive sounds. Also, something about his distortion really bothers me and distracts me from the rest of the music (sorry to nitpick, but this has really been a barrier, can't listen to solo McGuire at all). But yeah, listening to "Living Room" right now and it is cool. Is this more the norm than not with Emeralds, i.e., have I just been listening to the wrong songs?

grandavis otm. You might want to check out Sam Goldberg's stuff. He's a guitar player who's collaborated with the Emeralds dudes, he does a big warm drone thing without crappy distortion.

Ahhh, cool, thanks blank. Thought he was a synth guy for some reason (Sam Goldberg that is), will check that out. I am looking for cool solo guitar folks these days too.

I have tried Emeralds more than a few times cause friends of mine with great taste love them, but yeah I can't get past McGuire at times, though I think he is a talented guy. Why not a better distorted tone though?

This might be a really stupid question, but if I dig the Mark McGuire solo stuff, am I going to vibe on the Durutti Column? Alternatively, tell me who else I should be listening to.

i don't know if you digging mark mcguire is a necessary precursor but for the love of god listen to as much durutti column as possible

drum machines!

on the new one? just saw that it leaked, haven't had a chance to listen yet

yeah, it's good but different: the sequencer/delay balancing act of the previous records is definitely tethered by the drum pulse

Anymore consensus on the new album?

I really like it - I guess Steve Hauschildt's contribution is higher in the mix. It's closer to Tragedy and Geometry, albeit with Mark McGuire all over it. Not sure what the other guy really does TBH.

Ooh well if that's the case, maybe I'll track this down. I loved Tragedy & Geometry.

Not sure what the other guy really does TBH.

as far as i can tell, he's the sequencer dude. which on this album i would imagine means he did the drums

John Elliot, the one record I have by his Outer Space project is excellent synth-driven stuff, no drum machines that I remember.

Enjoying the new Emeralds so far, the overlook onto Balearic cheese territory is kind of refreshing. There's a new Hauschildt solo album out on Kranky, haven't heard it yet though.

Had read a few tepid reviews of the new one but I'm actually totally smitten with it on my first few plays, feels a lot more direct and to the point than before. Title track is an absolute belter.

Yeah, I'm not sure I understand all the lukewarm to cold receptions. It isn't as cohesive and solid as the last one, but I'm really intrigued in a few new directions they're pulling here.

Picked up the new Hauschildt today, can't wait to dig in to that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP-Yd0diVBk

^ so beautiful. love the burbling synths on that song, then the guitar just kicks it over the edge at the halfway point

sort of a top gun vibe going on in some of these tunes, I've got F14s in the upper stratosphere swooping around in my head half the time this is playing

also, the acoustic guitar on the last song is very AR Kane to my ears, that would be a cool direction to take things next

I know there's alot that I still haven't heard, but I can't think of another band whose principals release consistently quality material that is the equal of the stuff they recorded as a group. To date I haven't heard anything I didn't like from any of them.

I never really bothered to get into the first one but I love this.

For me their retreat from austerity has made them a lot more interesting, though going by reviews this opinion isn't universal.

i wish it sounded fat and glistening like the last one

All right, they're never going to make another "Alive In The Sea of Information" and that's ok.

this sounds like 80s soundtrack music* -- i like it! also it pleases me that it was recorded in my hometown.

i haven't actively disliked any emeralds or emeralds-related product so far, i guess i would naturally like this too. the clear vinyl is pretty.

* i just got the tangerine dream soundtrack to three o'clock high and let me assure you -- this new emeralds record is A LOT better than that

So there's a new Mark McGuire EP, Surrogate Channels. It's (unsurprisingly?) more of the same but there's a bit of drum machine, and anyway who doesn't happily lap up more of the same from MMG?

"Controlled by Numbers" is a meditation on the numbers, dates, and symbols that have cycled around my life, and had a strange presence in the back of my mind. Music for unraveling, and re-alignment, beginning at dawn, and ending in the dead of night.
5, 13, 21, 29, 37, 45, 53, 7, 15, 3, 4, 5, 1, 8, 7, 7, 26

this band is so cold to me. but i like this new record

Yeah really loving this. The title track and Adrenochrome are sublime. One of the albums of the year.

LOL at the "Top Gun vibe". Very true.

Mark McGuire's left the band:

https://twitter.com/stevehauschildt/status/286878496100343808

dang

definitely did not see that coming

It's for the best. Their last record was awful. Great time for them to split.

Disagree wrt the last Emeralds album, but I do have the feeling that maybe they had explored all the terrain they were going to.

The last record was definitely not awful, just much less exploratory of new grounds. I'm kinda bummed by this because I usually liked what McGuire brought to the table best, though I do like Hauschildt's solo stuff.

I have only given a cursory listen to Just to feel Anything... It's good in the way that they have a pretty solid baseline of delivering quality material, but nothing grabbed me in the way that Does It Look Like I'm Here did-- which was an exceptionally high watermark as far as I'm concerned, so no surprise that anything going forward doesn't quite measure up.

Apparently there will be no going forward. Just saw on Twitter (retweeted by a friend of mine and big fan of the band) that Steve Hauschildt has left the band, effectively ending it.

From Twitter:
"After much thought, I too have decided to leave Emeralds for personal reasons. The band is now over and all tour dates are cancelled."

they other guy must be really annoying huh

Weird, tinymixtapes just posted this story with a headline very similar to my post, i.e. "effectively ending [the band]". It is of course the first thing that would come to mind, but rarely am I in the middle of breaking news, so to speak.

Well you could just play any 3 solo joints zaireeka style & it would sound alot like an emeralds record, so no one should run out of new stuff from them.

If Hauschildt keeps coming out with stuff like Tragedy & Geometry, you'll hear no complaints from me.

oh no

dang

considering the quality of the mcguire/hauschildt/elliott solo stuff i'm not totally broken up but i wish i'd seen them at least once.

yeah i was hoping to be able to see them too. i went to a show on the caribou/emeralds tour JUST to see them but despite showing up at door time, the venue had decided to start early so i was only able to catch the last 5 minutes of the set /:

I passed on the Caribou show, which I was contemplating solely for the Emeralds set. Didn't realize that would be their only west coast appearance ever. Crap.

this is a bummer for sure. I wonder what the story is?

https://soundcloud.com/mark-mcguire/the-instinct-extended-12

stoked to see him on friday

seeing him tomorrow!

the instinct is the soloing into the sunset jam par excellence

I like Steve Hauschildt's second solo album so much more than his first that it hardly even seems fair to compare the two.

my favorite is "Mixed Messages"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2cJBe3hf_c

I'm guessing this second great album isn't the one I just bought, Tragedy & Geometry? Gah.

I've not even listened to it yet.

Tragedy & Geometry is excellent, fear not.

You know what is really great on Tragedy & Geometry? Music For A Moiré Pattern. That is just the best thing. I listened to that on the bus a couple of months back and was completely overcome and almost missed my stop. It was like the sound of the rain talking to itself, so beautiful and entrancing.

Favourite song on the last one though was Constant Reminders, a totally different sort of experience, but really sweet all the same.

Emeralds are supposedly playing the Field Day festival in London in the summer this year. Who the fuck is Emeralds these days?

I was sure they broke up, but yeah, they're still listed on the poster. Weird.

maybe it's The Emeralds UK

They're not on the website Line Up section.

http://echoesblog.wordpress.com/2014/03/03/21st-century-progressive-rock-opus-from-mark-mcguire/

I don't know about "prog opus", but it is one fucking outstanding album. It's gorgeous.

yeah calling it a "prog opus" is pretty ridiculous; it just sounds like by-the-numbers Mark McGuire

also does anyone else imagine all these songs are recorded by Mark McGwire

Lol

Along the Way is still slaying me, my favorite thing he's done yet (including all the excellent Emeralds stuff).

yep

I'm glad to hear someone finally agree, I was beginning to wonder if this thing just completely flew by everyone. It's terrific.

Along the Way is wonderful

i don't know the Emeralds stuff, but I loooooove Along the Way

where should i start with Emeralds?

Does it look like I'm here? should be easy to find and is very, very good

allegory of allergies

yeah that one is amazing, hoping for a reissue

I thought I would tire of listening to Mark McGuire, but plowing my way through MM's stuff right now and it gets pretty addictive. Guy is awesome, IMO

that one is amazing, hoping for a reissue

― KrafTwerk (sleeve), Monday, May 19, 2014 8:06 PM

duh I walked into the record store today and there it was, 2LP on Weird Forest, been out for years but it is severely truncated from the original cassette, so I guess I need to be greedy and ask for a 3LP version

Listening to Mark's new ep Noctilucence on Pitchfork Advance right now ... very, very good. Like it better than the album.

Into this: https://soundcloud.com/deadoceans/mark-mcguire-earth-2015

happy to see him switch up his sound for once

God, the new Steve Hauschildt LP, "Where All is Fled," is beautiful (no sound has been switched up at all FTR, but it's gorgeous).

this was a fb tip from our own ms. crawford but the mark mcguire album that came out in november is really really great, like i haven't seen it on any year-end lists but i just listened to the whole damn thing in one sitting while every other album i've checked out over the past week or so is a try-three-songs-get-bored type of affair.

the Steve Hauschildt album is better.

I'm just glad they're both still making music. Two great albums this year. I actually prefer their recent solo LPs to the Emeralds stuff.

I normally agree with you about everything but that's insane, apart they make beautiful but inconsequential diversions, together (plus that other guy) they made "alive in the sea of information"

i think i like the minimalism of Along The Way and Sequitur more than the more dense Does It Look Like I'm Here. The other Emeralds stuff i don't own on vinyl so I don't hear it as often.

the Steve Hauschildt album is better.

― miss me belial (crüt), Friday, December 18, 2015 5:32 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Does It Look Like I'm Here... This album. Man.

I blasted it on the drive down Mount Haleakala after watching the sunrise at the peak with my wife this past summer. It was fitting.

Shit. That sounds amazing. This record can soundtrack so many drives btw.

It certainly was!

Studio - West Coast worked just as well for the Road to Hana the next day!

i think i like all the steve hauschildt albums more than emeralds'. btw he is releasing a new album in august - https://stevehauschildt.bandcamp.com/album/dissolvi