A Thread For School of Seven Bells Love!

A report from the field:

School of Seven Bells show a couple hours ago was holyshitamazing. I've caught their show 2 or 3 times before and it was great, yes, but went into tonight's thing expecting more of the same. So they were 30 min late to the stage... "My Cabal" came and went as song #1, it was enjoyable and sounded great (glad that long soundcheck was put to good use). So that was that; I was expecting them to breeze through "Fast Asleep," "Disguise," "Connjur" and the rest on autopilot, pretty but predictable.

Nope. Song 2 was brand new, same with 3, 4, 5... All a BIG progression from Alpinisms, waaaayyy wayy better (and I say this with Alpinisms being one of my most played, and favorite, albums of the past few years).

The new songs are more confident, less fleeting and the vocal interplay has been really pushed forward. They still do the dual vocals thing but I dare say it's improved, been spotlighted at the front of each song, more complex harmonies, just absolutely gorgeous. Meanwhile Ben Curtis has gone more in a Kevin Shields direction, guitar parts less Cocteau ambient-wash, more muscular, straight out of Medicine's "5ive" or "Aruca" era stuff, blasts of feedback stabbing between Spector-y vocal harmonies. Song tempos are all faster, easier to dance to; they've kept the drum machine but added a live fourth member who compliments it well. First new song had me floored, almost at tears, just incredibly beautiful and absolutely the right direction for their sound to go next.

Watch out... This new album is really gonna be something to fuck with.

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Friday, March 19, 2010 9:54 PM

OK that made my evening.

man that just sounds fantastic. I've never seen these guys live, but after reading this & Ned's blog post (linked to above), I will certainly go out of my way to, given the opportunity.

alpinisms continues to be vastly rewarding.

The new live drummer was great, btw; he let the drum machine hold its own, didn't overdo it with the drum fills or go Bonham all on that shit. Not sure if it's been noted here on ILM, or elsewhere (or everywhere) but the thing that kills the Secret Machines live show is their hulking gorilla of a drummer who just pounds the fucking shit outta his skins without any hint of subtlety, skill or texture; it's depressing. I was really worried when the SVIIB live drummer sat down that this was gonna be the same thing, given the Curtis connection to Secret Machines, but I'm pleased to say the drummer made the songs sound "bigger" while letting the drum machine do its thing appropriately. Same style, but a bit more stadium-sized now. And that's fine with me; these guys deserve to be huge, and the new drummer gives the songs some rhythmic muscle that will be needed as they move on to bigger venues.

Huh, I thought the Secret Machines drummer guy was the other reason everyone listened to the band in the first place (the first reason being Ben of course).

Ned OTM x10.

OMG this excites me in ways I can't even begin to express!

psyched

Via Pfork:

New Release: School of Seven Bells: Disconnect From Desire

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/bells.jpg

Artist: School of Seven Bells
Album: Disconnect From Desire
Release Date: July 13
Label: Vagrant/Ghostly International

Tracklist:

01 Windstorm
02 Heart Is Strange
03 Dust Devil
04 I L U
05 Babelonia
06 Joviann
07 Cammarilla
08 Dial
09 Bye Bye Bye
10 The Wait

Notes: New LP from this New York dream-pop trio, made up of former members of On!Air!Library! and the Secret Machines. Produced by band member Benjamin Curtis.

Please oh please let track 9 be an *NSYNC cover.

lmfao

Hahaha

Anyway, v. cool. This will rule.

Very good news. Love the debut.

Oh wow, awesomeness. I have a demo of Cammarilla somewhere, great to hear it finally reach the light of day.

This is likely to be my album of the year, I'm guessing!

hyped

"ilu"!!! <3

trying to imagine SVIIB reading ONTD now

Here we GO:

http://pitchfork.com/news/38814-new-school-of-seven-bells-windstorm

Interesting addition to the Vagrant line-up, thats for sure.

The Echo, eh? Might be able to make that...

Oh yes oh yes oh yes!

The Scala? Damn. They moving up in the world.

Sounds less etherial, more pop. But god yes it's yummy.

::does twirls of happiness::

Found this one on YouTube, also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDz9XuVLYLI

Ha ha, with "this is a promotional item" voice over and everything.

OMG this album is gonna be so amazingly good if these snippets are anything to go by.

"windstorm" is really really cool

Saw these kids supporting Bat For Lashes last year. Amazing.

two months seems like a long time right now

cant make that windstorm stream work for shit tho

Love'em.

Ace! Really love Alpinisms, thought it got a bit overlooked when it came out (in the UK at least)

Oh! I forgot to revive this thread last night!

Windstorm single is out on iTunes now. Plus a really lovely floating-on-beds-of-clouds MBV-esque ethereal B-side.

GOGEDDIT

Roxor. Am hoping to be able to catch them tonight but we'll see...

I only took one photo last night, but for those who demand such things

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/4666071664_553a6bef34.jpg

I want to see them so bad, but I have to wait until July.

::sadface::

So first of all, if you haven't yet seen SVIIB live yet do so immediately as the next time they tour I expect them to be at much bigger venues (and a different crowd too - more on that later). Their basic sound is the same as from when I saw them the first time, but man is it revved way up and yet refined. Ben and the drummer (didn't get his name) work very well together, each branching off appropriately from the drum machine's basic framework but never clobbering the harmonies or each other. The only criticism I ever really had of them before was that there was very little power to all the sound that was coming at you (all voltage with little current) and, well, that simply isn't the case anymore. Almost all the songs were new, but I didn't care. They've tapped into a big vein of Something New, and for the first time ever a band has finally superseded all that nuGaze nonsense and used Loveless as a jumping off point into the unknown rather than as some sort of cosmic ideal to strive for.

Bottom line: fuck yeah! New album now please.

Very unusual crowd for The Echo though... Lots of KCRW signs everywhere and relatively few of the Usual Gang Of Drone Rockers that I always see at these types of shows. Huge crowd though. Couldn't quite pin it down, but I did think of the AOR/Dido namechecks upthread. Not sure if it means anything and if anyone deserves to play big shows it's them. Guess the secret is out now.

Also: All nuGazers need to take heed and stop dragging around entire music stores with them on stage. SVIIB has *less* equipment now and yet have a bigger sound.

Drummer? Again?

Oh yeah, more people need to play Hagstroms. That is all.

Drummer? Again?

Yes, they're now a four-piece live but as noted upthread he naturally fits into the band as if he was there the whole time but never calling attention to himself (think Jon Mattock on Lazer Guided Melodies).

Sounds like the set I witnessed back in March! Everything is bigger now. And better.

Sounds great! I was a little too wiped and exhausted for my part to make it, oh well -- next time!

The only criticism I ever really had of them before was that there was very little power to all the sound that was coming at you

Venue might sometimes explain it? At the more claustrophobic Detroit Bar that power was definitely there last year, less so at the Troubadour, so perhaps having the drummer helps bridge that gap as they play bigger spots. No bad thing, of course!

Pssst! London fans!!!!

Free tickets to a secret instore at Pure Groove if you pre-order the album through them...

https://www.puregroove.co.uk/itemview.aspx?item=1424

did I miss a west coast tour? tell me they didn't play SF and I slept on it.

Looks like this was their only West Coast date for this tour so you're good. Will be interested, per Chris's description, where they play next time.

Occurs to me that a double bill of them and the xx would be a heck of a show (and would also possibly explain where some of the new fans are from, indirectly).

so great.

vagrant has the new stars record too. good signings.

Venue might sometimes explain it? At the more claustrophobic Detroit Bar that power was definitely there last year, less so at the Troubadour, so perhaps having the drummer helps bridge that gap as they play bigger spots. No bad thing, of course!

Perhaps... I wasn't at either of those two shows, but it certainly seems that they've zeroed in on "their sound" (however you want to describe it) and are making it (as ilxor says) "bigger and better"

Next step world conquest.

Unrelated directly to SVIIB, but had to mention this observation: show etiquette

OK, so I'm listening to a live recording of The Echo show and the version of "Sempiternal / Amaranth" with the live drummer is even better than how I remember it being. With apologies to Kate, it's essentially Shimura Curves + "Hallogallo"