Savages

anyone else hear them? anyone lucky enough to see them?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxl6u8ROWKM

this reminds me of, slightly, when the first Interpol EP came out and everyone thought they were going to be so important. Hopefully Savages won't deflate as soon as they actually release something, but something tells me they are better.

disgusting band

got an email a few weeks back along the lines of "!!! SAVAGES CONFIRMED FOR FIELD DAY !!!"

mmmhmmm

actually this rules, feel you on the early interpol thing

I'm always a little wary of bands who seem so perfect, They read Celine! They sound like the Birthday Party crossed with Gang of Four times the Pop Group! The bits I've heard online are fine but nothing that particularly grabbed me. They certainly sound like an English Post-Punk band.

...which in my book is a good thing. I think their influences are still on their sleeves but I'm hoping for further growth.

been looking forward to hearing what they've been up to, they used to practice at ours and it always sounded cool

kinda expecting them all to fall out and split up by the end of the year tho, ha, there will be a lineup change or too i'm sure

eugh, *two hangover

There are seven or eight like bands per block but none with as cute a lead singer, that's it, right?

i really liked this lot on later..

Yeah, I watched that and enjoyed it/them a lot. Hilarious to read the "call that music"-type tweets from misogynist rockist grandads afterwards.

I see they've got an album out next week on vinyl only.

Confused now - Amazon says it's double vinyl, HMV that it's a 12" single with a bonus CD!

I think it's just single vinyl http://popnoire.bigcartel.com/product/savages-12-live-ep-i-am-here

"Husbands" guitar sound is quite the Dead Kennedys homage. But, again, I like the stew they're drawing from, just got the live EP now.

i like the urgent vocals on husbands.

they have this sort of "aura" around them and maybe it's a contrived aesthetic but they seem like one of the more interesting new bands in a while to me

There's an album now? I've been loving "Husbands" for months.

John and Jehn is pretty cool too if you like that kind of thing "and we run" should have been a bigger hit imo

bump

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3xWUifu3l24/UUjGVz0aoZI/AAAAAAAACCc/YE4auS-bSeY/s400/Savages-Silence-Yourself.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kebq-cENNn0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuIB8HEmnoY

http://silenceyourself.savagesband.com/

Their forthcoming LP, "Silence Yourself", is now streaming on their website.

Saw them live a couple weeks ago. Furious amount of sound they generate - breathtakingly so. The Dead Kennedy's reference upthread is particularly spot on as my first thought was "Siouxsie & the opening to 'Holiday In Cambodia.'" It's a great sound, but after a hour all the songs just felt similar. Suspect they could make a truly great album if they worked on the material more.

I saw them too in SF, one of the best live bands I've seen in a long time.

Sunday April 28 New York Times Jon Pareles writeup and podcast mention

Very serious facsimile this lot.

Curious to see them live, but eh, just think they lean a bit too hard on post-punk during a time when that period feels like it's been wrung dry as a source of inspiration.

Reading the fancy Pitchfork thing now and their rise seems so inevitable and choreographed. Perhaps they are completely natural and authentic but it feels like we are being manipulated by another kind of hype machine. The rote nature of the music is the main reason I am unconvinced by this band but this kind of cool and slick marketing is another.

I don't know about slick marketing, or even what the "hype machine" means these days. When I first came across them it was through genuine buzz around their live shows. Of course if you don't like the music then you'll read excitement as hype.

Yeah, if you have gripes with "cool and slick marketing" take it to the daft punk thread

I take DL's point - if I liked the music then the hype probably would not bother me. I am not enraged by the ineptitude of the music by the way just kind of underwhelmed by something which is clearly so special and exciting to so many. Maybe I am just jaded and old.

just think they lean a bit too hard on post-punk during a time when that period feels like it's been wrung dry as a source of inspiration.

idk unless there's a big tranche of stuff I'm missing I think this is a pretty good time for a band like them to stand out. the only currently-happening stuff that came to mind as soundalikes for me is all these American anarcho/goth/postpunk bands that are springing up now, but I doubt most ppl who grab the Savages album are gonna hear any of them. bits of it also reminded me of Throwing Muses somewhat. liked it way more than I was expecting overall

Was that Pitchfork piece actually linked yet? Looks like not, so:

http://pitchfork.com/features/cover-story/reader/savages/

Keep in mind I had to switch computers to actually get the darn thing to load fully. Good use of the technology.

I am into their unsmiling meannesss. I like this record.

that Later.. performance was really something IMO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neRGpHLj1EQ

When I first came across them it was through genuine buzz around their live shows.

Same here. I first heard about them over a year ago when one of the UK music blogs I check in with mentioned their live show and to keep watch.

When did Pitchfork start formatting features like that? That's pretty cool.

holy fuck @ everything about this group

this is really shaping up to be a phenomenal year for music

I love this year

xp Matt, I think the first P4k feature like that was Bat for Lashes, but it didn't play with video like this does. I got so unsettled by the band staring at me that I couldn't concentrate on the text and had to read the lo-tech version instead.

Is everyone else able to read that feature OK? I couldn't read half of it in Chrome, tried it on Linux & Windows.

I read it fine in Chrome on a 2 month old computer

wow @ the p-fork article ...
thats impressive ...

whoever mentioned east bay ray in relation to the guitar O T M. i half agree about this being almost comically boxed in by the period perfect postpunk costuming, but that later performance is astonishing. fuck yeah. reminds me a bit of his electro blue voice (italian band), but less heavy, noisy + psychedelic.

Great ambient music, in the sense of "It's definitely Siouxsie/East Bay Ray with further noises and therefore easy to have playing without worrying too much." (I assure you, a compliment.)

streaming the album now; 1:40 into "Shut Up" and I have another new favorite band

most things are worrisome

And happily this is not!

I guess no surprise that SFJ is writing about them in the New Yorker (piece behind paywall)

I streamed about half the album yesterday and liked it enough that I don't want to risk having my enjoyment ruined by reading whatever SFJ has to say. I will just buy it next week and listen to it for pleasure, like a normal person.

streaming the album now, damn good

here are a couple hebv tracks, in case anyone's curious. both from a few years back:

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

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

I think I first heard them back in 1980.

with music this good i really don't care how it's packaged. great to finally be excited about a relatively new band.

i like the album and live tracks quite a bit, but i'm still half on the fence. i mean, i've seen a lot of similar stuff come and go over the last 6 or 7 years without attracting this sort of attention tsunami. (look at me, i'm the lex.) then again, most didn't have the pop & human interest appeal, so no surprise i guess.

Yes, love that the feted indie rock album of the year sounds like early 80s Siouxsie crossed with Throwing Muses.

Hmm, hadn't thought about the Muses in comparison.

Don't get the Muses comparison - they had way more more personality and always the capacity to tip into bubblegum. They had interesting songs not just po-faced versions of cool style. This crew sounds more like a fashion statement.

yeah i'm also on the fence... feel like the british are distinctly good at ruining their young bands

the marketing push on this band is ridiculous

the album art appears SEVEN TIMES on the Quietus review page

http://thequietus.com/articles/12140-savages-silence-yourself-review

“From the first rehearsal, it was very productive— we weren't just there to tell each other we're great,” remembers Milton, who arrives for her one-on-one grilling carrying a copy of The Fountainhead.

: /

it's allowed if someone is 21 or younger.

well, preferably 18 or younger, but let's be kind.

they are like teeny tiny fashion models and that can only help their cause. i like the singer's lil' ian curtis dancing. what DO the people who were in elastica do now, by the way? do they have bbc chat shows or something? after britpop you never heard about the singer anymore.

but anyway i like these guys way better than something like interpol cuz these guys are adorable. like xmal-lite. i dig the guitar sound too. if you are gonna have the 485346634th 80's revival you could do worse. i mean who needs vampire weekend now?

squares

I really don't get the Interpol comparisons. Everything I ever heard by Interpol was enervating and terrible, pretty much the polar opposite of what I get from something like "Husbands"; which Interpol songs are the ones containing barely restrained fury and violence because I'd love to hear them

I can't take Husbands seriously because the chorus sounds so much like Horses by Patti Smith. Along with the Ian Curtis aping - it was an unfortunate way to put yourself out there I thought.

I was obviously wrong though since they do seem to have got people genuinely thrilled.

the interpol comparisons are lazy shorthand for "postpunk revival" imo

and the attendant hype cycle

80's pastiche is 80's pastiche. both Interpol and this band are taking from the same sources.

Read the guardian profile at the weekend, couldn't decide between "they seem cool" & "they seem like tossers". Think the author of the piece was trying to suggest the latter tho.

Read the guardian profile at the weekend, couldn't decide between "they seem cool" & "they seem like tossers". Think the author of the piece was trying to suggest the latter tho.

I was all set to listen to this and actually quite excited, so I listened to the first few songs, but it was beautiful and sunny outside and it just sounded so wrong in that context and also just fucking rote and y'know eight years too late so I just couldn't be bothered. I might come back to it in September but it just feels like the wrong time for them in every way.

Savages are a serious band. They named their first single, Husbands, after a grim 1970 Cassavetes film, whereas their other inspirations include Philip K Dick, pornography and German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten.

artsy types pronouncing that they're influenced by pron is just the funniest thing

dudes like pitbull and ranking and tom zanetti should totally start dressing like quakers and communicate solely in edicts like DEGRADATION IS THE ONLY TRUTH while not changing their music one bit

Multiple xposts: okay sure, but Interpol was always super boring and terrible and Savages are not so far

I've been chuffed about this band since I heard the single last year, and love the album. There's a handful of bands dipping into post-punk influences lately, like Grass Widow, Talk Normal, Pins, New War, Big Joan, Deep Time, Merchandise, etc., but I don't know that you could call it another revival. Most of the 80s influences are blended with all sorts of other stuff. Beth's vocals may occasionally sound like Siouxsie Sioux, but not anymore than she does Karen O. Music and arrangements don't make me think of the Banshees all that much. I hear fleeting moments of Stranglers' bass sound, Birthday Party in the guitar. But the muscular sound/production has more in common with Fugazi, Converge or Coliseum.

People seem to be okay with the fact that you can find literally thousands of bands influenced by Chuck Berry, Little Richard, the Stones, Cream, Zeppelin, Free, Sabbath, Lynnyrd, all the way up through White Stripes, but as soon as there's a whiff of anything from the post-punk era, the originality police come out in droves. Look at the comments on the Quietus review. They can grumble all they want and stay at home fondling original editions of Metal Box, but they'll be missing out on some great stuff.

Pins just finished recording their full length. The Savages album will be hard to top but I hope they get close.

I am all for the blending. the old and the new. which is why this band sounds better to me than other lesser 80's-aping stuff. like, I can see these women getting as much inspiration from people like sleater-kinney and pj harvey as they do from all the usual suspects.

the singer's group before Savages:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpAqUfu91GI

very very PJ here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bWojuvmwuU

she's an amazing frontperson to build a band around, for sure. hott Ian Curtis is a winning formula in my book!

comically boxed in by the period perfect postpunk costuming

Yeah, this band is so OTM it's almost not OTM, but I'll take it. At least until everyone else likes them for being so OTM, at which point I will declare them not OTM and move on to something more OTM. Which inevitably is the stuff this band resembles. AKA, "the money."

It's too soon after the last post punk revival. Other genres are available for inspiration.

Pre-punk?

Someone forgot to send them the memo. Sorry ladies, the genre overlords allowed post-punk inspired bands in the 90s and early 00s, but this decade is off-limits. Why don't you try your hand at some nice folk rock?

Maybe these guys are actually referencing '90s and '00s post-punk revival! Post-post-post-punk?

Reminds me of controller.controller from a few years back. Maybe better with mood, but less so with the hooks. NOt moved, seems a tad too restrained. I just want to seem them rock out.

would you guys say there is a flight from presentism involved in the hype surrounding this band?

matador records baby, it's their raison d

I can't take Husbands seriously because the chorus sounds so much like Horses by Patti Smith. Along with the Ian Curtis aping - it was an unfortunate way to put yourself out there I thought.

― Hinklepicker, Saturday, May 4, 2013 10:47 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ok now I can't unhear this.

I've found them a bit lacking in actual tunes. But, you know, there's something attractively astringent about their music.

But the behind-the-scenes stuff surrounding them is very off. John aka Johnny Hostile seems almost Kim Fowleyesque in his manipulativeness and desire for control. Rebecca made mention of that in her Guardian piece, but it was all very WTF last year (I know their ex publicist and ex manager).

the genre overlords allowed post-punk inspired bands in the 90s and early 00s, but this decade is off-limits. Why don't you try your hand at some nice folk rock?

― Fastnbulbous, Sunday, May 5, 2013

There were cynics in the '90s and '00s too.

I listened to the whole album, it's ok but not clicking in a major way yet & I feel like if you're gonna be into this band you prob need to really be into them & I'm just not feeling inclined to make that leap of faith & devotion. Yet. Matt otm; maybe in the autumn it'll make more sense.

Also when you're not in the mood the seriousface stuff is just funny, I mean

coz you have no face
you have no face
you, have, no, face

http://www.bubblegun.com/toons/images/hace1.gif

why the blank expression?

kind of sound like a gothy version of wire, very taut and spare. i like the furrowed-brow intensity of it all but i don't think the songs are really there just yet

even with those catchy riffs and hhoks, this band is too flashy, too formulistic, and too hollow at the end. (to my taste).

like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Suede, i predict Savages will also have the same future as those bands, for better and for worse

They could do way worse with post-punk influences. Plus, the songs' feminisit narratives are great. I'm rooting for them.

The same future awaits us all nostormo. But yes, this band is crap.

Plus, the songs' feminisit narratives are great.

nu board descrip

puts on dunce cap*

Feminisit brostep

like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Suede, i predict Savages will also have the same future as those bands, for better and for worse

― nostormo, Monday, May 6, 2013 7:34 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What a tragedy for Savages.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17977-savages-silence-yourself/

i don't get any of the comparisons that are being made here except for scott's xmal-lite which is about as bang on as it gets. the album rules.

Many of the comparisons are right on, I'd say. It's just ok, neither great nor horrible.

It's hard not to play spot-the-influence. The East Bay Ray, Siouxsie, and Joy Division nods jumped out at me. Does it sound good on it's own? Yes, it does to me. Is it an uber-classic? Doubtful. If, like me, you've been rolling around in the post-punk muck for decades, it's going to be hard to be impressed. But I still find bands that draw inspiration from my favorites are fun and occasionally great. I loved the first albums from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol and some of the other bands in that scene 10 years ago but quickly lost interest. Savages seems like they could go off in some really different directions. Maybe they'll discover The Au Pairs, Essential Logic and Lilliput and really mix things up.

I find it weird that we are already speculating on their career when the first album has been released for less than 24 hours. It is as if people want them to fail, somehow. Is it a reaction to the marketing/hype?

It is as if people want them to fail, somehow.

Ha ha, welcome to ILM/indie rock.

define "fail".

at least in my case, my Suede/Yeah Yeah Yeah's prediction (i'm a prophet btw) means they'll make lots of money and be famous. artisticaly speaking though...

it's like the careful work of an historian who make conclusion based on past events lol

It is as if people want them to fail, somehow. Is it a reaction to the marketing/hype?

― Van Horn Street, Monday, May 6, 2013 8:11 AM (45 minutes ago)

i don't think it's that simple.

hype draws the curious. some may come with a chip on their shoulder, but most don't. a lot of people do, however, tend to evaluate hotly tipped albums in light of their acclaim. "is my beloved dark twisted fantasy really that good? why is everybody losing their shit over it?" these are natural questions. they shouldn't be the primary driver our evaluation, but they inevitably figure in.

that's what's going on here. personally, i like silence yourself. i didn't drop-to-my-knees love it on initial listens, but i like the sound palette, variety of ideas, point of view and intensity. i can see why they've attracted so much attention, and i'm gonna give silence yourself some time to sink in.

they sound fresh, they are well-scrubbed and fashionable, and they have a little pep. makes perfect sense that they would stand out from the dreary crowd. if anything their x factor might even be x-ier than the xx.

the biggest revelation for me is that I have, apparently, subconsciously, always wanted to wanted to make out with a sexy Ian Curtis. it's like discovering late in life that there is furry fandom inside of you. I hope this takes off next Halloween.

I find it weird that we are already speculating on their career when the first album has been released for less than 24 hours.

Pretty sure the next ten years of the band have already been charted out.

And then we'll release a second album that sounds like the first. And then a third that sounds like neither of the other ones, which some will call a misstep and others will hail as a brave new direction. Then our guitarist will leave, but we'll put out a return to form fourth album. And then we'll break up and the singer will go solo. But then the original guitarist will come back and we will reunite, but fail to capture the initial spark and inspiration. And then we'll break up for real and go back to school.

as far as tunes-havingness goes, i think this sort of music often works just fine in the absence of strong melodies or even obvious/conventional hooks. atmosphere, structure and energy can be more than enough. like the way "i am here" finally explodes at the end, with the high whooping vocals over the top. that's awesome. doesn't need much of a tune.

also suspect that politics, gender and gender politics are helping to drive interest - that's a good thing, imo

early favorite = "waiting for a sign". while we're making ridiculous wild guesses, i imagine that's the sound they'll follow.

opening of "she will" always makes my mind jump to "she sells sanctuary"

What's the mixing / mastering like on this?

lol

mixing / mastering is great. vinyl is cut loud.

I kinda wish she her singing voice was closer to her speaking voice on the spiel at the start of "Shut Up". I want it be more shouty.

From that P-fork piece:

They’re certain the venue’s monitor tech didn’t like being told what to do by women. When Savages started performing in early 2012, too many similar experiences persuaded them to employ their own sound team.
“One guy gave us really awful sound, then came and apologized afterwards, saying, ‘Sorry, I didn’t realize you were going to be good,’” says Milton.

Not that it's going to make them feel any better but this is sort of the default setting of every sound guy in world. I'm in a band and this sort of high-hat treatment on the road is not uncommon. I can't tell you how many times a sound guy has gone out his way to be a dick to us while we load in and set up only for them to suddenly want to be our best friends the second we start playing a song during soundcheck (if there is one).

Not saying it isn't fucking annoying or sexiest but being a dude doesn't make it any better.

I do applaud their stance on cell-phones & tweeting & all that, though sadly that's a losing battle I think.

SFJ in the new Yorker proclaims savages greatest rock band of the century.

People seem to be okay with the fact that you can find literally thousands of bands influenced by Chuck Berry, Little Richard, the Stones, Cream, Zeppelin, Free, Sabbath, Lynnyrd, all the way up through White Stripes, but as soon as there's a whiff of anything from the post-punk era, the originality police come out in droves. Look at the comments on the Quietus review. They can grumble all they want and stay at home fondling original editions of Metal Box, but they'll be missing out on some great stuff.

I have experienced this first-hand after creating my own new wave-inspired music. People like to say you are "stuck in the 80s" and not doing anything original or think you are bandwagon-jumping and point out influences which are often incorrect. I started calling my music new wave when I started in 98/99 because it seemed to fill "genuine" punk rock fans with absolute disgust. I always found it baffling.

For my money, the post-punk and new wave era remains one of the most thrilling in all of rock music history, and a nifty propulsive song like "Husbands" still makes me feel really really excited. Have I heard 300 songs that sound similar? Probably. But it's still a really fucking good sound.

word!

I think a lot of big 80's new wave fans are just sensitive like metal and rap fans are when people make fun of those genres. *haha remember the flock of seagulls?* was kind of a normal attitude for a lot of people for a long time and I know that personally I took a LOT of that music very seriously. so, I think that's where that comes from. people never really heard a chuck berry riff or a stones riff coming from a modern band and rolled their eyes and said *lol oh god remember poodle skirts and Eddie Cochran records?* to a lot of people the 80's were a joke! so over the years when you saw people trying on 80's clothes you looked at it with your arms folded a bit. or at least I did. and I think I was justified in a lot of cases in the 90's and beyond cuz a lot of 80's-derived indie stuff was kinda haphazard and not made very well. or at least what I heard of it. and I appreciated the dance music people and goths who I felt carried the torch in a more responsible manner. most of the electroclash and indie retro bands couldn't write a good blancmange song if their lives depended on it let alone a cure song. so, that's where my attitude comes from. savages sound fine to me though. i'm a sucker for the deadpan euro accent and the guitars sound cool to me and the drums and bass are loud. I don't think the songs are great though. they seem almost improvised on the spot. but hey the stones improvised on the spot too so I got no problem with that.

(though post punk music is obviously taken more seriously by SERIOUS people than new wave is. its rockier, so rock fans can can safely like it. but my point still stands about the 80's stuff.)

it's loud, scik

ahh glad they're getting some hype! nico and camille were using what is now my synth room as their studio when i first moved to london, cool people, very hard working, very focussed, more so than any other musicians i've met here. kinda cool to see that kind of dedication actually work out.

used to enjoy hearing savages practice here too. they had very serious / productive practices.

each time my gf and i discuss savages i've always been like "they'll never get anywhere, sound is too derivative, critics like the ilm lot will rip it apart" where my gf has always been "nah cammy and nico know what they're doing just you watch, they'll be huge"

I am hoping that CREEP decides to do a single with Jehnny Beth

lol dan that's like some inevitable prophecy

ha I hope so! I could just as easily see them swinging towards Kirsty Hawkshaw (yay!) and Kelli Ali (yay?)

so what's up?! do we like the album?

I fucking love the album (shocker)

The only record store near my job is Best Buy and they don't have it.

Predictable comment from Turrican coming up...

...I love this band, and this album :)

I love this record.

not great, better than good

re: comparisons to garage rock, etc.

garage rock is boring and useless when it's overly reverent or studied. it's boring when the music and sensibility don't bring anything new to the table. you can get by on sheer energy, but that's gonna limit your appeal to die-hard fans of the style you're copping.

retro garage rock bands catch the same shit that savages do. retread, played out, no tunes, etc.

I love the way that 'I Am Here' speeds up towards the end... a la 'Sin In My Heart' by The Banshees.

By the way, I love that whenever a new band of this ilk comes out, people are always quick to shout "Joy Division!!!"... yeah, because Joy Division were the only post-punk band. Yeah.

Anyway, I was obviously going to like this band/album. Everything about 'em seems to be a musical wet dream to me.

not got it yet, but flicking through a random pile of skinny promos in the archive today i found that i have had the first 'john and jehn' in the pile left unloved.

ok 4 tracks in - now i know why john stopped singing ...

anyone hear jennie beth's earlier band?

oh ha

One listen in and the whole thing doesn't knock me out like "Husbands" did as a standalone single last year. The album does feel curiously backloaded, too: "She Will," "No Face," "Husbands" and "Marshal Dear" are the definite standout tracks, for me. But yeah, still too early to know what I'm gonna end up thinking about it.

I'm on my third listen now... still loving it :D

By the way, I love that whenever a new band of this ilk comes out, people are always quick to shout "Joy Division!!!"... yeah, because Joy Division were the only post-punk band. Yeah.

I share your love of this phenomenon, but it's not a new thing. The Wake, Section 25 and other "new miserablists" got labelled JD copycats back in the day as well.

I bought the LP on my lunch break and am midway through Side 1's maiden voyage - I managed to hold off streaming it beforehand. So far so good, but I will defer judgement for a few plays. The pressing sounds really good though - I wonder who Matador uses? Modern pressings often leave me un...erm, impressed with loads of surface noise etc., but this is pretty quiet (besides the music).

It would not have occurred to me to liken this to Joy Division.

Shut UP is a phenomenal song, I love it when the reverbed guitar comes in. Very John Mcgeoch

Music sounds great. I thought all the little gifs of them in the pitchfork article on them were super cheesy though.

Yeah, they aren't the most original ever. Still they're definitely good, probably the first new rock album that I've been fairly excited about in a while.

this is really shaping up to be a phenomenal year for music

― Call me at **BITCOIN (DJP), Wednesday, May 1, 2013 1:42 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^ Completely agree with this... and the best thing is, we're not even halfway through the year yet so there may still some really really great stuff to come!

When you rip off the bass line from "Colony", people will compare you to Joy Division!

just the singer's look and dance moves and all those black and white live clips on youtube with the band all in dark uniforms made me think of JD.

they are obviously just stealing their sound wholesale from modern eon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbEX2NwPdsE

just kidding. (modern eon one of my fave 1981 JD rips though)

there is a part of one savages song that reminds me of The Sound. the band. can't remember which one though.

they don't sound nearly as morose or gothy as joy division though. they are more on the punk end of the post punk spectrum, i think: a lot of headstrong energy, the manifesto "turn off your cellphones" element that pitchfork made such a big deal out of... i think i like it.

they are more on the german end of post punk.

what are the german bands they sound like? that sounds cool.

"no face" sounds like something jay reatard would have written (closing the garage rock loop)

not saying they're copping his style. i imagined a blood visions version of it last time through. was p cool.

i listened the record a couple days ago. they remind me of erase errata!

going to dive in, will report back. the one song i have heard is wonderful in a Yeah Yeah Yeahs way.

do you guys like soft kill?

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

Another view:

http://www.collapseboard.com/reviews/albums-reviews/savages-silence-yourself-pop-noirematador/

i am slightly baffled that this reasonably middling album is getting the hype that it is. it's alright but other than 'husbands' it's not especially moving for me. and joy division isn't exactly the first (or tenth) thing i'm hearing..

Listened all the way through yesterday - they strike me as one of those bands who will make an amazing second or third album but at the moment there's just something missing. They get a long way on sheer energy and at least they sound like they give a a shit but I'm not hearing much of THEM in it really.

Scott Creney might be the worst music writer in the entire world circa 2013

Tamsin calls it MAMOR — Middle-Aged-Man-Oriented-Rock. She’s a sharp one, that Tamsin.

exquisite combination of gender puppetry and "this ain't for you, gurls" rhetoric trying to pass itself off as a 'pro-woman' statement. hard not to tip the hat tbh

is it weird to prefer "Marshall Dear" to almost anything else?

I dunno but it's my favourite too

why do they look so moody in press photos

Jim DeRo ogling them

i did not enjoy this album much at all. the second-hand poses didn't bother me, the total lack of personality was what dulled it to me. erase errata is a v on-point comparison

i don't know if this is about me getting old or something but moody press photos are so silly to me now

i'm not asking that all bands make funny faces and clown for the camera

and being in front of a camera is awkward and out of that awkwardness come things that people wouldn't ordinarily do

so i should give them a pass

but part of me feels like, 'you guys make music, it's not all that grave'

fwiw this isn't the whole sexist 'give me a smile, honey' thing. i feel this way whenever i see a photo of the cure. lighten up, bros.

but i guess young people are often very self-serious (sometimes old people too)

the music is ok.

lolling at the idea that '80s revivalists are somehow these poor maligned underdogs. pretty much everything that pitchfork has liked for the past couple of years sounds completely '80s.

No one is an underdog on Jools Holland.

I don't know if I like this or not yet, but has anyone felt that the vocals sounded somewhat Geddy Lee at times? Kept thinking that, and thinking that it probably wasn't what they were trying for.

it just occurred to me i have no idea what geddy lee sounds like

this is probably still my fave 80's-evocative thing I've heard lately. rudi rockist posted it on ilm a couple of months ago. so cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSWRgx8dATg

but has anyone felt that the vocals sounded somewhat Geddy Lee at times?

definitely

I've just heard two songs but they are both doozies. I get the feeling some people complaining about them would have said the same thing about Wire in 1978, or The Clash in 77.

they would have said that wire and the clash are just a tepid rehash of joy division?

After googling "Savages Geddy Lee" it appears that amazingly I'm not the first person to notice this. Damn.

I've just heard two songs but they are both doozies. I get the feeling some people complaining about them would have said the same thing about Wire in 1978, or The Clash in 77.

― kornrulez6969, Wednesday, May 8, 2013 8:27 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you know, it's possible to look at reviews from 77/78. i don't recall many digs at wire and the clash that resembled the (very few) digs at savages

anyway most people (who care) seem to like this band to differing degrees, so it's not like they are some kind of lightning rod of controversy

although i'm sure ilx will work hard to make them one

most i just don't want them staring at me

i have realised recently that life is better when you have no idea what a band looks like

unless they are kiss

Someone said something about personality - that's it for me. They lack it. The songs lack it. The whole package is just not interesting. Every song has an inevitable predictabilty. Wire had a weird personality and much better songs -same with The Clash - so its a nope from me on the above comment. I don't think there is any need to denigrate someone who doesn't like this though - there is no accounting for taste after all - I simply don't get the massive amount of hype and consistently wow reviews for what appears to me to be a 6-7/ 10 type of record. Expertly played and pouted though it might be.

let's try to score to the decimal

Ok then - good idea. I'm going with 6.3 - thats without seeing the cover, otherwise I would take it down to 6.15. If I was listening to this in 1982 it would move to 6.85 with the caveat that I am aged 22 (or at least up to 23 and one half)

Cracking up that the jaded miserables are too jaded and miserable to like this album

What if it were self-released and had murkier production. Then it would be untouchably cool...

I am really, really, really curious about what counts as "personality" for the people who are feeling like the songs on this album aren't expressing any.

I'd say character rather than personality, I mean obviously it has character as well but it's not particularly distinctive. I don't get a sense that we're hearing an unmistakable new voice for the first time.

The last new artist/band I heard that made me think "this is an unmistakable new voice" was Ke$ha so I am not seeing why that is an automatic negative.

If I were twenty years old and pissed off I'd think this group and this record were the business. Unfortunately I am neither so I just find it rather dull and predictable. They're not like this live so presumably it's the old story of smartarse producer who thinks they know everything turning them into just another Lamacq-friendly "alternative" band (that is, if they used an outside producer - I don't care enough to want to find out). However, I am aware that this sort of thing is really not aimed at old dodderers like me.

I'm forty years old and pretty much the happiest I've been in my life and I love this album.

This is really making me wonder what it is I look for/get out of music as compared to others because the negative reactions on this thread ("they have no personality" "the songs aren't there" etc) are flat-out incomprehensible to me.

I like "Die Young" and "Diane Young" but am pretty indifferent to this. Don't know what that signifies what I look for in music, but excitement might be part of it.

grammar correction: in sentence 2 add "signifies in terms of what I look for..."

Maybe it's because I spend most of my time in genres (metal, jazz) where there are rules and lineages and being influenced by your predecessors is not only not a bad thing but is half the point, but the foot-stomping "I can pinpoint all this band's influences therefore they are worthless" schtick going on in this thread is pretty fucking bizarre and incomprehensible to me. This is a good record. The songs are well written and compellingly performed. I don't know what else you people want from a record.

As an old man, I can only answer by saying: "something other than what I heard twenty-five years ago." Natural process of ageing innit.

I'd say natural process of chasing rainbows but that seems like an odd metaphor to use in relation to this album

I've reached the point in my life where I'm feeling nostalgic about the music of 2009.

As an old man, I can only answer by saying: "something other than what I heard twenty-five years ago." Natural process of ageing innit.

I'm younger than you, I think, but not by much (41). I have no problem hearing bands work in old styles. And I suspect you don't either, depending on the style. So why are this band so exceptionally offensive?

It doesn't really help that they're working in a style that already had a revival, and was done to death, only a few years ago. They're better than most of that stuff but my general feeling is "ANOTHER post-punk revival?"

x-post

As an old man, I can only answer by saying: "something other than what I heard twenty-five years ago."

Yeah, part of what excited me about this general sound initially (early 80s if not a little bit earlier) was that it sounded new to me at the time. I do think unperson (and others) have a point though. The truth is I just don't particularly like post-punk at this point (even most of the old stuff), so when I say I heard this already in the 80s, the real issue behind that may simply be that the sound has lost its appeal for me.

Wasn't going to listen to the album, but I am playing it now, and it does seem pretty good. I can certainly understand the appeal. I'd still take that Selma Oxor song over this.

I had to laugh that when I loaded ILM I thought to myself: I wonder how that Savages thread is doing. And there it was, at the top of the page. As amateurist said:

so it's not like they are some kind of lightning rod of controversy

although i'm sure ilx will work hard to make them one

I'm not exceptionally offended by the album - just bored, that's all. Sense of tradition in jazz/blues doesn't really cross over to rock because so much of rock's fabric has been about destruction and whenever anyone cries "in the tradition" then it's time for another "punk."

a lot of people's manner of showing how immune they are to music media and the hype it creates seems to be to go on and on and fucking on about it

This album reminds me that I've spent too long underrating Siouxsie.

(fwiw I don't really see any posts in this thread as examples of such)

except that punk was just reheated rockabilly...

Savages must be getting a completely different treatment in the UK than they are here because I heard about them via this thread; I don't really consider ILM to be an endless hype machine.

I thought it was streamlined pub rock? xpost

same thing.

DJP otm throughout, wtf ILX.

Sense of tradition in jazz/blues doesn't really cross over to rock because so much of rock's fabric has been about destruction and whenever anyone cries "in the tradition" then it's time for another "punk."

This is utter bullshit, and the most pernicious/unkillable myth in music. Rock's "fabric" has never been about destruction, GG Allin possibly excepted, and even he had someone making sure the promoter paid up at the end of the night. Rock is entertainment, and as such is dependent on reflexive and easily remembered gestures. "Punk" is a set of simple gestures, just like "metal" or "folk-rock" or whatever else. Sure, there are a few adventurers about at any given time, but they're only recognizable because of the endless sameness of everything that surrounds them, and their records don't sell very well, because most people want comfort food, even when it's disguised as something "shocking" or "path-breaking."

This is utter bullshit, and the most pernicious/unkillable myth in music.

this cannot really be restated enough times

when i think of the vast futuristic universes created by disco, funk, jazz, and prog/psych in the 70's and punk - the most conservative and retro movement outside of dixieland - gets labeled "revolutionary" i just laugh in that way i have of laughing. i mean i like punk cuz i like rock but it was about as revolutionary as my granny's chamber pot. fashionwise, it was a kick, i'll give you that. POST punk, on the other hand, is another thing all together. cuz then all the secret prog fans made records and we were off to the cosmos again.

All music is entertainment. Might as well not listen to any of it in that case. The thing about rock is its implicit motor of overthrowing (if not destroying) whatever boring bilge came before it. Otherwise "we" "should" "just" "put" "everything" "in" "inverted" "commas" "to" "spell" "out" "the" "analogy" "or" "selling" "point." Or accept that people just want gaudy colours and funny noises for a few seconds at a time and that whatever else happened in the last sixty years was a moderately engaging aberration, or red herring.

Phrases like "vast futuristic universes" make me think that perhaps humanity should just start all over again.

All music is entertainment. Might as well not listen to any of it in that case.

See, the first sentence doesn't lead to the second, for me.

i'm a sci-fi fan. and a futurist! and an honorary member of the Paris-based Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle.

Sure, there are a few adventurers about at any given time, but they're only recognizable because of the endless sameness of everything that surrounds them, and their records don't sell very well, because most people want comfort food, even when it's disguised as something "shocking" or "path-breaking."

Fly-fishing, then.

i'm a sci-fi fan. and a futurist! and an honorary member of the Paris-based Ouvroir de Litterature Potentielle.

― scott seward, Thursday, 9 May 2013 15:53 (19 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No medals here, sir. Local maps only.

The thing about rock was originally stealing the black music kids were listening to anyway and repackaging it with white performers so that someone with the right skin color could make all the money.

when i think of the vast futuristic universes created by disco, funk, jazz, and prog/psych in the 70's and punk - the most conservative and retro movement outside of dixieland - gets labeled "revolutionary" i just laugh in that way i have of laughing. i mean i like punk cuz i like rock but it was about as revolutionary as my granny's chamber pot. fashionwise, it was a kick, i'll give you that. POST punk, on the other hand, is another thing all together. cuz then all the secret prog fans made records and we were off to the cosmos again.

most otm thing ever

Yeah but Dave Marsh (xp).

i'm also all for humanity starting all over again. unlike those layabout punks with their one ham-fisted chuck berry riff.

When I think of the vast saddo blokes who buy disco, funk, jazz and prog/psych from the 70s I remember why punk happened in the first place.

Those layabouts who lay about.

a lot of punk rock bands could use some more ham-fisted chuck berry riffs tbh

POST punk, on the other hand, is another thing all together. cuz then all the secret prog fans made records and we were off to the cosmos again.

I guess this highlights what I find boring about a band like Savages because what's getting labeled as post punk here just sounds to me like the dull, straightforward end of english rock music that came after punk without any of the funk, dub, krautrock or disco that made post-punk interesting.

"When I think of the vast saddo blokes who buy disco, funk, jazz and prog/psych from the 70s I remember why punk happened in the first place." - Margaret Thatcher

can't listen at work. i think i did see this vid back last year though and it was pretty good in maybe an old-fashioned way? like, "i used to like a bunch of music like this but i haven't heard stuff like it in a while so it's quite nice"? so i'll check it out.

Be right back gonna play Patrick Cowley.

"When I think of the vast saddo blokes who buy disco, funk, jazz and prog/psych from the 70s I remember why punk happened in the first place." - Margaret Thatcher, 'Punky Reggae Party'

Stand up Margaret!

G#5 A5 A5 A5 G#5 A5 A5 A5 G#5 A5 A5 A5...let ring...A5 A5 A5 (x4)

I don't know if I like this or not yet, but has anyone felt that the vocals sounded somewhat Geddy Lee at times? Kept thinking that, and thinking that it probably wasn't what they were trying for.

― dlp9001, Wednesday, May 8, 2013 7:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Probably explains why I like this, although she sounds way more like Siouxsie than the Gedster.

there's definitely a Geddy timbre going on mixed in with all the Siouxsie-via-Karen O-isms

is anyone ripping off the pop group these days? or flux's uncarved block album? someone should rip that off. i was just listening to a very punk harrison birtwhistle album from 1974, but NOW i'm playing that ear trumpet album from the 80's. sounds awesome. wish someone would rip that kinda thing off. speaking of the banshees. you guys know that record, right?

even ear trumpet sound like they are ripping off wire at times though...people couldn't resist even back then.

people have been "ripping off" each other's musical ideas since music was invented

The only Geddy I could detect in her voice was that wobbly thing she does on long notes, like Geddy does in 'A Farewell To Kings' ("beating dOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOwn the multitudes!" etc.)

But yeah, DJP is pretty much otm... I hear it as that little Geddyism mixed in with Siouxie (the obvious vocal influence), with bits and pieces of Karen O.

I played "Area 52" and "She Will" back to back -- it worked!

FFS you don't need to be revolutionary, you just need to be distinctive. Savages aren't.

wait, what was the name of that klingon goth band that everyone liked on here for a minute? i'll never remember and i need to hear that song now. playing chuck berry at the moment though...

You obviously don't need to be distinctive; if you did, half the dance music I see celebrated on this site would get ignored.

Indeed, being distinctive doesn't really matter as much as "being good at what you do"... and this band are good at what they do.

haha that's some pretty vague critical criteria there

but yeah, I can't disagree. people who are good at stuff are good at that stuff.

Is scott talking about

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTtK2cL6AodBXn3233mqlByjOLnv2cQ9zqWcKzG6BK1Dw5kOTSI

the only band i ever heard described as a klingon band is magma but i'm kind of expecting ilx to have it's own klingon band

yes the one in the picture! what's the name again?

Planningtorock

I just watched what may be the most punk rock thing I've ever witnessed. wow. someone rip this off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt13rfXA6ts

DJP otm throughout

i do think it's fair, though, to suggest that savages are quite deliberately constructing their music and presentation from elements of a specific retro style. making pop music is rarely an act of creation ex nihilo, but one of the things that makes pop interesting is the potential for novel synthesis, old things put together in unfamiliar ways. there's not much opportunity for that here. it's a faithful reproduction of what has been.

personally, i don't see anything wrong with that. i love lots of formally constrained garage punk that doesn't push at the parameters so much as make a glorious racket within them. i have a deep-down fondness for the style. i'm less devoted to angsty post punk, but i do like it, so i appreciate savages with a bit less enthusiasm.

the question for me is, "what separates a good throwback act from a bad one?" imo, it's usually some combination of tunes, energy, and an interesting take on the familiar. seems to me that savages have the energy covered (and then some), and the songs are decent. there isn't anything about their approach that really surprises or intrigues me, but that can wait. i'm generally supportive, but not yet a fan.

You obviously don't need to be distinctive; if you did, half the dance music I see celebrated on this site would get ignored.

― far too much asshole flesh (DJP), Thursday, May 9, 2013 10:15 AM (45 minutes ago)

this is a good point. we accept that dance music doesn't have to be "distinctive" in order to succeed because we accept that the success of dance music is defined in large part by its functional qualitis. if it makes people want to dance, it's good.

we can evaluate rock music by similar criteria. if it makes people want to get drunk and loudly misbehave in small clubs (or parties or w/e), then it's doing the job. i imagine savages are quite successful by that measure.

so are they basically the Sha Na Na of post-punk?

if it makes people want to get drunk and loudly misbehave in small clubs (or parties or w/e), then it's doing the job

What if it makes you sip wine and talk thoughtfully on a divan?

I might come back to it in September but it just feels like the wrong time for them in every way.

look outside, your wish has been granted.

I've tried listening to this album a couple times on my headphones when I get into bed at night. I usually make it about one song in before I'm completely unconscious, so I guess you say that the music makes me sleep soundly. That's not a criticism, btw.

making pop music is rarely an act of creation ex nihilo, but one of the things that makes pop interesting is the potential for novel synthesis, old things put together in unfamiliar ways. there's not much opportunity for that here. it's a faithful reproduction of what has been.

I disagree with that last statement. I don't find them faithfully reproducing any one postpunk band's style (the Joy Division comparisons, again, are especially weird to me - there's exactly one song that, to my ear, has Hook-esque bass and an imitation of that instantly recognizable Martin Hannett drum sound). Hell, half the guitar work sounds (as has been stated upthread) like the work of East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys, and a lot more sounds like Ron Asheton of the Stooges. Neither of those were postpunk bands. So they're imitators, but they're also magpies, pulling stuff from here and there and reassembling it. And again, the songs are good ones.

Joy Division? Really? Huh. I don't hear them at all

when i think of the vast futuristic universes created by disco, funk, jazz, and prog/psych in the 70's and punk - the most conservative and retro movement outside of dixieland - gets labeled "revolutionary" i just laugh in that way i have of laughing. i mean i like punk cuz i like rock but it was about as revolutionary as my granny's chamber pot. fashionwise, it was a kick, i'll give you that. POST punk, on the other hand, is another thing all together. cuz then all the secret prog fans made records and we were off to the cosmos again.

this is otm. love you, scott seward.

Hell, half the guitar work sounds (as has been stated upthread) like the work of East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys, and a lot more sounds like Ron Asheton of the Stooges. Neither of those were postpunk bands.

Yes, the beginning of "Husbands" keeps reminding me of "Holiday in Cambodia." There is a thread of hardcore in their sound, for sure.

("We draw on everything from proto-punk to post-punk to hardcore punk.")

x-ray spex and the slits sound pretty 'revolutionary' to me.

I disagree with that last statement. I don't find them faithfully reproducing any one postpunk band's style (the Joy Division comparisons, again, are especially weird to me - there's exactly one song that, to my ear, has Hook-esque bass and an imitation of that instantly recognizable Martin Hannett drum sound). Hell, half the guitar work sounds (as has been stated upthread) like the work of East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys, and a lot more sounds like Ron Asheton of the Stooges. Neither of those were postpunk bands. So they're imitators, but they're also magpies, pulling stuff from here and there and reassembling it. And again, the songs are good ones.

― 誤訳侮辱, Thursday, May 9, 2013 11:11 AM (50 minutes ago)

sure, i wasn't trying to draw a clear line between copyists (obviously beholden to a specific and formally codified style) and synthesists. most musicians fit somewhere in between those poles. the DKs guitar is a bit of a surprise, but it's period-appropriate, and there are few left field jabs of that sort in their sound, imo. the references seem pretty narrowly curated, limited, by and large, to late 70s/early 80s postpunk. that they're able to evoke that moment without being obviously derivative of any specific predecessor is to their credit.

then again, there are TONS of garage rock bands that sound like a polyglot mixture of post-sonics/seeds/stooges/VU influences, but few try to argue that they're anything other than conservative and perhaps derivative, even if enjoyably so. you can be derivative of a general style, after all.

when i think of the vast futuristic universes created by disco, funk, jazz, and prog/psych in the 70's and punk - the most conservative and retro movement outside of dixieland - gets labeled "revolutionary" i just laugh in that way i have of laughing. i mean i like punk cuz i like rock but it was about as revolutionary as my granny's chamber pot. fashionwise, it was a kick, i'll give you that. POST punk, on the other hand, is another thing all together. cuz then all the secret prog fans made records and we were off to the cosmos again.

i know you've read it but this is the thesis of "rip it up and start again"

think a lot of the discussion itt is pretty silly, feel like ppl are getting hung up on things that are, like, common underlying assumptions we take for granted when talking about music. maybe we could unpack why ppl have so much trouble coming to terms with liking a post punk band in 2013? people still listen to rap music & it's barely any younger. maybe it's because post-punk went away and then came back, in this case largely intact? maybe because the people who were originally into it are now older but still influential in uk music press & have made a series of misguided attempts to bring it back? maybe it has to do with how post punk became new wave & has been part of pop music dna ever since?

think a lot of the discussion itt is pretty silly, feel like ppl are getting hung up on things that are, like, common underlying assumptions we take for granted when talking about music. maybe we could unpack why ppl have so much trouble coming to terms with liking a post punk band in 2013? people still listen to rap music & it's barely any younger. maybe it's because post-punk went away and then came back, in this case largely intact?

yeah, but post-punk isn't really equivalent to rap. rap is a big umbrella, like rock. post-punk matches up better with like, 80s era "old school" rap. if someone came along spitting in a fastidiously retro kool moe dee style over vintage beats (or w/e), there'd be exactly the same kind of push back. maybe a bit less, as "retro rap" is somewhat fresher as a concept than "retro rock".

More bands should ape Newcleus.

well if we're going there, more bands should ape Euromasters

when i think of the vast futuristic universes created by disco, funk, jazz, and prog/psych in the 70's and punk - the most conservative and retro movement outside of dixieland - gets labeled "revolutionary" i just laugh in that way i have of laughing. i mean i like punk cuz i like rock but it was about as revolutionary as my granny's chamber pot.

i see where this is coming from, but punk isn't just the conservative/conformist loudfastrules thing. it's also an ethos and sensibility that extends out into a hugely diverse body of art: crass, the cbgb's crew, no wave, flipper & the germs, gary panter, wire circa document & eyewitness, survival research laboratories, transgressive underground cinema, english postpunk, american indie and hardcore, noise as music, extremists like swans, "industrial culture", "pigfuck", etc.

tangential to this thread, but i get bugged by the "punk = ramones & pistols, lol punk is conservative" argument.

Gabber Gabber Hey.

xpost

xp yeah obv scott/simon reynolds are overestimating the vast futurism of disco funk jazz prog/psych and underestimating the radicalism of punk, i mean obviously scott owns some pretty cosmic disco records but that doesn't map onto your average 1977 listener's experience so nicely. the idea that punk was revolutionary was a product of cliches existing at the time, but that doesn't mean we can an equally misrepresentative cliche in the other direction made today is any better

contenderizer otm

I've never actually read any of simon's books. don't tell him. I like him though.

simon introduced me to joy press and the first thing she said was that she was a big fan of mine! omg I almost died! I love her. made me wish that I wrote more. #braggin

Anyone been watching the stream?

Crowd looks upset they can't check their texts

i love this sense i get (perhaps entirely manufactured) that they're working with sounds and symbols and emotions that are way more powerful than they know exactly what to do with. like the whole "wrote you a story" bit with hit me was ridiculous and out there, but then they pulled it into a strong performance.

on the other hand they seemed totally pro at the end of the set -- not exhausted and etc. at all but just like they could deliver a performance that seemed like it took all their energy, but it was just that, a performance.

which isn't a bad thing either.

Yeah I'm a bit turned off by the melodrama/over-seriousness about them but am very much liking the songs and they perform well it seems.

okay, I THINK I've found the ultimate influence on Savages.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmqe47KNZ6M

this album is.....ok? they seem like they would be good live, but i'm not overly enamored w/the songs or the sound of the record.

Great ambient music, in the sense of "It's definitely Siouxsie/East Bay Ray with further noises and therefore easy to have playing without worrying too much." (I assure you, a compliment.)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, May 1, 2013 10:30 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM, but I perceive a subtle cut in the ambiguity of "ambient" (or at least a slightly less sanguine compliment). Savages' product is calculated and tight, attractively ernest but v. controlled, and the energy/intensity/excitement they exude is at the core cold and mercenary. their blunt rapaciousness in the context of indie rock seems fresh after two decades of ironic/furtive/incidental/fortuitous/idealized ambition, and they remind me most of early U2, not so much in sound as in presentation and affect. if they can thread the needle and define themselves outside of the postpunk revivalist ghetto (while still sporting its mystique), they might be huge. (their music atm is bloodless and tasteful pastiche, but they're probably already negotiating w/ heavyweight producers w/bags of big tunes, so w/e).

well that's why if you watch the videos of the singer's previous group - there are a lot of them including a rather precious acoustic indie rock thin lizzy cover - you see that this is someone working lots of angles/styles in the search of...a hit? a career? something that will stick? and then on to savages which is art directed up the wazoo. which is fine by me. ambition doesn't turn me off. I will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Madonna's debut this summer with cake and balloons.

and they are definitely a band that sound-wise could go anywhere.

I have no idea how successful he previous group was. maybe they were huge in france. maybe she has already had some chart success? haven't read anything about that.

It is very art directed. Makes me wonder how they create records like this if any one member isn't exactly on the same page... even when it comes down to things like when the drums come back on here, and what instrument is playing by itself there, etc.

Seems like it would real work

would be

careful arrangement should be real work

the strokes: UK edition

if only these guys wrote songs like the strokes

Wow, with this much hype, soon they could be as big as Fischerspooner!

You obviously don't need to be distinctive; if you did, half the dance music I see celebrated on this site would get ignored.

A lot of the best dance music is pretty distinctive, but in general it's meant to be faceless, meant to slot seamlessly into a wider whole. Rock music by contrast is all about personality, if a rock star doesn't hold your attention, isn't the most riveting thing you can see or hear at any point, then they're doing something wrong. I know a lot of US and UK indie-pop undercuts this to an extent but with a band as in-your-face as Savages I still feel there's something missing.

Like I said they do feel like there's something there as well that could develop into something fantastic by their second or third album but they seem kind of half formed at the moment.

If your producer is called "Johnny Hostile" then don't be surprised if people take you less than seriously. People in rock who call themselves Johnny anything should be conscripted.

didn't realise she'd done a thing with bo ningen. cool!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAXYdAR2f3Q

The PR / Marketing for these folks is raging full on..I see an ad for them on every other site.

I've listened to the album a few times now and.......it's good. Not amazing. I'm not too fond of "Strife," "No Face" or "Hit Me," but the rest is fine (ignoring "Dead Nature" here). I wish it was mixed better - it's a bit too dense for my liking - it needs some more space. There isn't much Joy Division-sounding on the album, but I thought of Crispy Ambulance a couple of times. Jehnny Beth doesn't sound much like Siouxsie besides the "uh uh" things on "Husbands" (I prefer the single version of that, to be honest). The lyrics aren't as good as Jehnny probably thinks they are, but I can ignore that. The bassist is REALLY good though.

I had no idea this band was hyped at all until Matador announced the LP... Some friends were talking about them last year so I gave them a listen and dug it enough to buy the 7" and the live EP. I liked that stuff enough to pre-order the album at my local record store and bought it on the day of release. This is the first time in years that I've bought an album without listening to it thoroughly beforehand, so I am disappointed that I don't like it as much as I hoped.

I don't spend much time worrying about people's motives or looking for clues about who they're ripping off, but I don't think emulating obscure (by general public standards) bands from decades ago is a guaranteed path to superstardom. Maybe I'm naive to think it isn't totally calculated, but they could be copying top 40 pop stuff with guest rap stars and probably reach a much wider audience than they will with this type of music.

Enjoyed Shut Up today - thought about Echo and the Bunnymen for some reason while listening - not that this detracted from the tune.

Good spot on Crispy Ambulance. There's a bit of Warsaw, Kitchens Of Distinction, Southern Death Cult, Diamanda Galas... I think the Banshees thing is pretty uncontroversial though. They're more like a Limey Interpol rather than Strokes surely?

It's pretty depressing the amount of misogynist comments I've had to delete off our site about them. Of a really lame... "I'm not sexist but... [insert sexist comment here]" type.

Yeah, that is pretty depressing actually. It's 2013, for fucks sake...

Southern Death Cult is a good spot I think.

Been listening to this a bit more now that the weather has turned to shit here and I'm definitely coming round to it, think I was pretty much wrong when I said they didn't have the songs. Still hard to shake the echoes of other bands but it actually feels fairly fresh in a way cos there are interesting combinations of influences once you get beyond the 'oh it's just post punk' blanket statement and they play it with enough skill and dead-on conviction that it does stand up on its own merits. Kind of like the Iceage records maybe?

Gets gothier in the later half of the record, but some of the tracks on the first side (especially 'I Am Here') are a bit like early YYY's meet Scratch Acid (a testament to the excellent bass player that). Singer sounds very Karen O-ish in places, but the more intense and yelpy she gets, the more undeniable the Siouxsieness is. Also there's things like on Hit Me where she sings 'tell me, tell me, tell me' and it feels like a direct reference to the Banshees via 'Helter Skelter'. 'She Will' is the one that sounds like early Cult, that's such a Billy Duffy guitar line on there. Husbands is like a cross between the Banshees and 'Horses' and '12XU' (impossible for me not to sing 'saw you in a mag, kissing a man' to the first line).

Actually, Husbands feels even gothier still when you pretend she's singing 'Huysmans, Huysmans, Huysmans'

Definitely get a YYYs vibe from Hit Me.

boring

KEXP session pretty good, but probably won't sway the nay sayers

http://www.npr.org/event/music/184349634/savages-elegant-brutality-rendered-anything-but-silent

this is my favorite album of the year so far

it's been done

so's yr mom

even that was better the first time

You know if I was taping this for a friend, I might be tempted to put Griller by Ut on side two

I keep reading the thread title as "Sausages."

That would undermine the feminist themes on the album.

when I first read this thread I googled the band and now I get fucking savages banners on every site I visit.

so's yr mom

hasn't everyone's mom?

srsly the ad buys for this band are insane

before I'd even heard of them I was searching youtube for some obscure brooklyn band and half of the related videos was savages stuff

2013 stringent UK postpunk band SEO guess papers oink invites

xp

free savages gift cards

download "husbands" for yr hubby on father's day, he deserves it

They just burned 30 Rock down to the ground on Jimmy Fallon.

"pretend she's singing 'Huysmans, Huysmans, Huysmans'"

Excellent.

what a way to go

xp

I wasn't that crazy about the album on a first listen, but seeing their energetic performance on Fallon, has me thinking maybe I should reconsider.

I saw their Jools performance first and that definitely influenced how I processed the album

This album has only got better for me with subsequent listens!

web-only song:

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2013/06/savages-citys-full/

man I have to see them live

D.C. show in small club sold out too quick for me

severe & passionate haircut

I think this band is still a little too beholden to its influences, but they're tight and very charismatic and I could see them putting out great records in the future if they break out of that mold a bit. Would definitely see them live.

they're tight eh

This Johnny Hostile guy is a bit of a twit isn't he?

For now on i keep it live only ,as long as i can… As soon as you put music on a record those days , everything turns into some kind of promotional moronic shit.

http://johnnyhostile.tumblr.com/

http://www.comedycv.co.uk/alanparker/2003-may-alanparker.jpg

is that the twin peaks guy? whatever happened to him?

web-only song:

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/blogs/2013/06/savages-citys-full/

― scott seward, Wednesday, June 5, 2013 11:05 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

already liked the album ok but 100% sold after watching that, damn.

"Waiting For A Sign" continues to rule my summer; also for those who don't get the Geddy Lee comparisons, this is the song where they are strongest

I dunno, man, I have more than a fondness for Rush and I still can't really hear much Geddy even on that song. 'Waiting For A Sign' was the last song on this to slot into place for me, I think. 'She Will' is my favourite song on here at the moment!

finally listening to this. came here to say that it sounds like Rush but i see that has been covered.

I still don't fully understand the Rush thing.

I still don't fully understand the Savages thing tbh.

i don't get this. i'm sure savages are lovely folk & shit, they got something together. but dang, if this ain't EMPTY

I guess they're blowing up because they played NYC last Thursday and sold out a 1000-plus capacity room (Webster Hall) and have already announced that their next show here in the fall will be in a 3000-plus capacity room (Terminal 5). Kinda surprising. Also a bummer because I'd like to see em play and Terminal 5 sucks.

They played a 300 or so quickly sold out room in DC over the weekend and are coming back in the fall to a 1200 person room.

My friend and I had the exact same reaction last night: This band has it going on, the singer is great, the musicians committed. Etc. And yet, we both left thinking, you know, we've flipped through this record bin before, and don't really see the band bringing much more to the table besides being good. Which is probably good enough, we conceded, but my friend in particular said he's perfectly happy sticking with his Bauhaus.

god, remember this band? really brings me back...

Dunno if it is a matter of too much too soon, but I was surprised the band did not sell out last night.

^ chicago homies of mine were talking about just "showing up" and walking in to that show and laughing @ all the bands who shot their wad at the summer festivals in the chicagoland area depressing their own gate

This is pretty easily one of my top 5 albums of the year

you and Jim DeRo enjoying those marshmallows at that camp you built?

are they the goth hepburn?

ultimately they are just a little too much of a 81 UK post punk dress-up band

it's well done but doesn't really have much to offer for me

they are basically the black crowes of post punk

No I'm with Dan on this - came back to it recently and was surprised at just how good it sounded and how great they are as a band. Especially the bass player, but the drums and guitar kill it too.

the Dusty Springfield of post punk.

idgi

like i said they are a good band. they play well. they have the style down. black crowes were/are a good band too. jealous again, all that shit. it's just something about it seems kinda off though. i dunno. such limited time to listen to stuff, why would i listen to this instead of something from that period. it's not like it feels modern except maybe mastered louder.

it's super up my alley. they are not bad at all.

I've basically come around to thinking of this as an impressive and admirable record that I just don't ever really care to play.

yeah that's it for me too

It's about as well done as anything like this could be short of the bands that did it first and better 30 years ago, basically.

such limited time to listen to stuff, why would i listen to this instead of something from that period. it's not like it feels modern except maybe mastered louder.

...and I do appreciate that. I mean you must be pretty busy checking out all the new stuff on the Revolt of Fahey Brigade thread right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-rm2MPi2sM

Annnnnnnd...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkz6qKCYjDM

they owe that director a BIG gift basket. i mean, talk about making a band look good. sheesh. still wanna marry the singer, by the way...

I dig the new 12", the Suicide cover, "Burn Baby Burn" is great as well.

they owe that director a BIG gift basket. i mean, talk about making a band look good. sheesh.

that's pretty much what they look like anyway, the video is just footage of their regular live show

Their "Dream Baby Dream" is weak; Bruce did it better.

that thing with bright white side lighting from lowdown always makes bands look great, but they're a very stylish band anyway with such a great live vibe xp

it's the way its shot. iconic and all that. very well-made. most modern rock bands do not get that kind of deluxe treatment. i like it.

i thought it felt like watching them while trapped in a mailbox at the side of the stage

the first time i saw them and they announced they were going to do "dream baby dream" i was prepared for it to be a car crash but i think they pulled it off by doing something different with it. both the angel corpus christi and bruce versions are so good that to attempt that song, i think it needs to be taken somewhere else entirely which is what they do.

has anyone checked to see if DeRogatis lives?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/arts/music/savages-a-london-band-plays-three-new-york-clubs.html?ref=music

They are/were hanging out in NYC for a month or so playing new songs and still getting compared to Brit postpunk of yore

They have a new collaboration album out, anyone heard it?

saw them last night at saint vitus. i love that they're going for it, you know? they have a plan. they engage the crowd. they even took a group bow at the end of the set. lovely. the drummer is a powerhouse, guitarist wears a poker face and plays reverbed-out sound washes reminding me variously of bryan gregory (with similar hair hanging in face) and the edge. the singer had theatric/awkward stage moves like sorta ziggy. whether they have the songs to take it to the next level, and whether she has the voice, are the questions.

http://www.spin.com/2015/05/savages-talk-new-album/?utm_source=spinfacebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=spinfacebook

new album in the works, coming late 2015/early 2016, jehnny sez it's extremely heavy

http://thequietus.com/articles/19063-savages-the-answer

New album announced, lead single here with a Siouxsie fronting Killing Joke vibe. Nice.

I wasn't so keen on their first album, but that song is brilliant.

This will come as a shock to many of you but I FUCKING LOVE THIS

1969 ok?

Man, that's great. I feel like I've been waiting for a new album for them forever, totally looking forward to it.

cool song but it's a very polished sound though? would like to hear a live version

also wish they'd go for a visual aesthetic that looked less like a soft drink commercial but hard to come up with stuff ofc

i wish the video had focused more on sexy ian curtis because i am in love with her but overall i don't mind the canned smells like savage spirit vibe of the video. fits the song. i hope every song on the new album is as cool as that one. i really want to like cool new rock that rocks by rocking women.

haha, I like your enthusiasm

I liked the first record quite a bit, hope to see them live some time, they're said to kick ass

just don't ask me what this french circus bowie thing is, okay?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGZjBr3I9vs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9rmjVvPAUA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prSCRrk1JFs

you have to see the french ziggys in the ziggy clip though...lol...

Irl lol at first french ziggy

is her boyfriend JOHNNY HOSTILE still around?

i still can't get over a dude in the 2010s rolling around w/that quincy punk name

New single, new video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7ZpPsaMNMM

I really, really dig this band from top to bottom

oof, ol' cheekbones kills me every time. they are kinda the Interpol of my dreams. they should re-do old Interpol songs and make them better.

how long till David Fincher casts her in something I wonder

anyway great song

they are kinda the Interpol of my dreams. they should re-do old Interpol songs and make them better.

I endorse this idea

The Kiss of feminist post punk revivalism: a great band let down only by their lack of many good songs.

holy shit this is incredible.

Excellent!

Yeah, this is really quite astonishing. The amount of build on it, plus the false ending -> big triumphant (but dark) finish is so, so perfect.

When is the next album out? Their first was so perfect that I didn't think that they were going to be able to keep that mood going, but singles indicate that oh yes they can and they will.

The new album is out Jan 22.

This new song reminds me of The Glee Club, a one-and-done 4AD band from the 90s.

Everything I've heard from this album suggests it's going to be way better than the debut.

Here, you’ll get a different side of firting ("I’m not gonna hurt you/ 'Cause I'm flirting with you/ I'm not gonna hurt myself"), the messiness of love ("This is what you get when you mess with love"), lust ("Sleep with me/ And we'd still be friends/ Or I know/ I’ll go insane"), sexual fluidity ("When I take a man/ Or a woman/ They're both the same/ They're both human"), sexual discovery ("When I'm with you/ I want to do/ All the things that/ I’ve never done”), sexual power ("When I take a man/ At my command/ My love will stand/ The test of time"), jealousy/threats ("If you don't love me/ You don't love anybody")

some truly, truly terrible lyrics here

I've listened to the new album a couple of times and it's... just ok. Fairly monochromatic, the title track is an early favorite but there's a number of tracks that make no impact at all.

Yeah, the first three tracks released (all on Spotify) have pretty thoroughly un-sold me on them.

I love Adore, but on this new album doesn't really grab me by the jugular like the first one

On spotify now btw

Just listened, and had the exact same reaction. "Adore" is the clear standout, but it is all a bit...drab?

That's a shame to hear. A forgettable second album can be a career killer.

FWIW, the reviews have been strong so far, though the gist of the ones that I skimmed from Pitchfork and AV Club were both "good, but no Silence Yourself."

Solid reviews are one thing but if there isn't any buzz around it I wonder how long it'll take before everyone's moved on.

Huh -- I haven't listened closely yet but over the course of a few distracted commuting plays I've been finding it more interesting than the first. I'll have to give it a better listen this weekend but at least with the first one I had to hear it a dozen times or so before I decided it was worth buying, whereas I already know I'll be picking this one up. So much of the buzz last time around seemed to revolve around their live performance -- if they can maintain that intensity and keep touring I think they'll be fine even if the consensus comes out against this album (though I just took a peek at Metacritic and both the critic and reader scores are currently higher for this than Silence Yourself).

OK so the second half does drag a bit. Overall I dig it though.

i really don't understand why i don't like this band a lot more than i do

here's a post punk throwback band I love, Oaks

https://modernradio.bandcamp.com/album/animal-life

> the first one I had to hear it a dozen times or so before I decided it was worth buying

I'm impressed, there's no way I'd give a dozen listens to anything I was on the fence about. Unless it was more of a case of something in the back of your head kept pulling you back, but even then... kudos for your perseverance. I'm sure I've missed out on things that simply required more time.

I think the first album is much more immediate than the second, largely because the drums feel muffled to me on the second album.

> I'm impressed, there's no way I'd give a dozen listens to anything I was on the fence about.

Generally I wouldn't either but I loooved the 1st single and all signs pointed to it being something I should like. Plus most of my listening time these days is during my relatively long commute or in the office where I'm trying to get reading or work done at the same time, so I can easily play a new album a dozen times over the course of three or four days and still not have a great sense of it. Probably took me close to that many plays to realize I loved the last New Order album which I thought was terrible during the first listen.

You may be right that you've missed out on things that required more time, but I've probably missed out on just as much by giving things more time than they deserve when I could've been trying something else.

i really don't understand why i don't like this band a lot more than i do

Same. As my friend quipped when I took him to see the band a few years back, "I've shopped in that used record bin already."

Never heard the band before but I checked out the new album on Spotify and it's great!

I was ambivalent at first, but it finally clicked with me. "Adore" is still the standout, but song for song, I probably like this just as much as I liked the debut.

I still like the debut more but this is a fun album.

Saw them last night. Furious energy, charismatic and the guitarist makes beautiful Belew noises.

holy shit the performance tonight at Glastonbury was something else, just *shockingly* good.

it'll be up here at some point http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ewcj5v/videos/p03ybmmv

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KMLyQjI5mI

disgusting band

― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, June 1, 2012 2:44 PM (four years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

she has too many h's in her name

really liking the kite base album (ayse hassan's other band). kind of a cross between young marble gientsy sparseness and an update of the sort of thing too pure were putting out 20 years ago (e.g. laika, early peej)

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

more from ayse hassan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkWNyDFqrro&feature=youtu.be

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

Suddenly struggling to hear "Adore" without imagining Morrissey singing it.

Man, this band dropped off my radar really quickly. Dug the first album, ditched the second, and I never had that itch in the back of my head making me play their stuff.

I'm hoping a third album produces something different.

Goat Girl have the missing ineffable thing that kept this band from sticking for me.

I'm not very familiar with band outside of the music on its first album - which I love - so I had no idea Jehnny Beth had been acting in films. I only discovered this at a screening of Anatomy of a Fall (the Palme d'Or winner at this year's Cannes Film Festival) and I thought "that caretaker looks very familiar, where I have seen her before?"