A Thread For School of Seven Bells Love!

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"

Hey, I'm not saying nothin' but just remindin' you that I gave Benjamin a CD of Noyfriend at a Sonic Cathedral back in ... oh, I don't even remember what year. But he was still in Secret Machines, and I was making pretty krautrock-styled shoegazetronica with a pair of sisters.

I give him the CD, and six months later, HE'S off making pretty krautrock-styled shoegazetronica with a pair of sisters.

COINCIDENCE!??!?!?

OK, probably. But still.

Hand over this live recording, dammit!

Upcoming instore in Brighton:

http://www.resident-music.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/resident-instore-appearance-school-of-seven-bells.pdf

Nice shop, that.

xxp - not to burst yr bubble MB, but I'd guess that the collab came about as a result of Secret Machines & On!Air!Library! touring together while opening for Interpol in 2004. Just a guess ;) - tho yr story is much better!

That was a terrific triple-bill btw

Ha ha yeah, I know your point. And there's actually more to the story than that. A lot more. (As admitted in my making THE SAME JOKE 2 years ago, on the start of this thread.)

(I do actually have that On!Air!Library! record - doesn't really sound particularly like SVIIB much, though you can obviously hear the germination of their sound.)

I <3<3 SVIIB, but "Bread" is still my favorite track of theirs (& one of my top songs of the 00s tbh).

The rest of the OAL lp was not quite as grand iirc, at least when weighed against the comparative strengths of Alpinisms

Kudos to Sam V. IV & Ghostly for releasing these records. After ten years of Factory-style cash drops on uberpremium sleeve design for niche IDM shit, he deserves to have a runaway hit & this next SVIIB record probably is probably better poised to perform as such than anything Ghostly has put out since... Alpinisms?

That was a terrific triple-bill btw

Yes, I was there. Remember when Interpol was actually kinda good?

I'll rep for interpol as a live act, but then: tight rhythm section + cavernous reverb guitar wash = I am a total stooge for it. Sam Fogarino is the undersung hero of that band. Now that I'm thinking about it, I believe he actually had something to do with the OAL record & that was the connection for that tour. Too bad Magnetic Morning (Fog + Adam Franklin of Swervedriver) turned out to be so dud.

To be fair, the Magnetic Morning album was still better than Our Love to Admire.

Interpol was good on record from 2002 to 2004. After that, fuck it.

I say brief things, my love's temporal, the hype's ephemeral.

How disappointed am I when I see that this thread has new answers on it... and they're about bloody Interpol. Do not wake me from mine slumber unless you have things to say about SVIIB k thx bye

Kate, you make Paul Banks sad.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/33521279/Julian+Plenti+275779.jpg

HE IS WINKING @ U W/ A CULINARY EYE

Ew.

Get that thing off my nice clean thread and replace it with something pointy nosed and ginger if you please.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/96/215120003_fe34e0090f_o.jpg

Kudos to Sam V. IV & Ghostly for releasing these records. After ten years of Factory-style cash drops on uberpremium sleeve design for niche IDM shit, he deserves to have a runaway hit & this next SVIIB record probably is probably better poised to perform as such than anything Ghostly has put out since... Alpinisms?

the album is out on vagrant.

Both labels:

http://ghostly.com/releases/disconnect-from-desire

http://www.vagrant.com/artists/media/36-school_of_seven_bells?release_id=253-disconnect

...

hmm. maybe ghostly truly is INTERNATIONAL.

pillbox your DN is XD

;)

(I do actually have that On!Air!Library! record - doesn't really sound particularly like SVIIB much, though you can obviously hear the germination of their sound.)

Pulled this off the shelf last night, listening today. It's better than I recalled! And yes, you can hear the SVIIB sound starting to take root, esp. in the vocal stylings. The groove on track 1 is just massive, btw. And the Interpol drummer guests on that track. Yet another connection between the SVIIB/O!A!L!/Secret Machines/Interpol love fest... ;-)

"Bambalance" is tremendous. The dissonant guitar! Somehow the whole thing reminds me of, like, Cabaret Voltaire (don't ask). Too bad the following track, "Sad Sad Zoo," is really just... boring. Sounds like a bad Smog track.

OK, I'm gonna get that On!Air!Library! record off the shelf again then. You have inspired me.

(Still hate Interpol though)

love this record to bits, really psyched for the new one

New album is fantastic - Windstorm undersells how much they've progressed from shoegaze fandom. Heart Is Strange is mega-rave-goth in the spirit, though not the precise sound, of Ladytron's Destroy Everything You Touch. Totally addictive.

Stop rubbing it in that you have it and I don't yet. :-(

Just trying to hype you up. Heart Is Strange is my latest crush song.

Hello:

Indie-pop trio SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS is offering fans the opportunity to hear their new album Disconnect from Desire in its entirety prior to release day on July 13th. Beginning today at 12 pm EDT, the album will be available via stream on RollingStone.com and the band's website, SVIIB.com. To access the stream via the band's website, fans will be asked to join the mailing list. To coincide with the online premiere of the stream, SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS will release an exclusive new interview on their YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/schoolofsevenbells.)

Also, fall tour dates were announced, can't wait to see them at the Detroit Bar again...

AWESOME

Oh! I meant to revive this thread.

Any London people - I seem to have a spare (free) ticket to the secret gig on the 8th July. If anyone wants it, please email me.

So much for streaming:

Not Found

The requested URL /sviib.com/stream.html was not found on this server.

Streaming from RollingStone.com, then.

Second track is incredible.

One track from the end and I'm thinking this whole album is really consistently solid. It doesn't (yet) have the completely blissful highs as Alpinisms does on a couple tracks, but it'll likely grow on me. A lot. I really like it.

Also can't wait to hear the full-blown production job, instead of a RS.com stream through shitty earbuds.

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

I wrote this back in March 2010 after seeing the live show. The bolded part was referring to "Bye Bye Bye," which I think is one of the better tracks here. Live it definitely had a bigger wall of guitars than it has on record. Which I hope they keep doing live, because it was utterly moving and transportive and I can't fucking wait to experience it again in person.

I really think they are just that kind of act that will be best heard live -- Radiohead are kinda the same way for me, much as I love their work (still kills me I haven't been able to see them since 2003...)

London? Anyone?

They really become more muscular live. More noise, feedback. Guitars turned waaayy up in the mix. Full-on shoegaze worship.

xp