Broken Social Scene...C/D?

I actually really like this band, all sarcasm aside. Its a pretty diverse set of indie-friendly songs. good times.

like i said, i liked the live show. took a good amount of pics there, too, which i'll get around to putting online one of these days.

The MC for the event wasn't experienced at working a crowd. He was friendly and had a nice smile, but it seemed more like his buddies said he should do it because he was "outgoing" or something. Anyway it definitely wasn’t because he had any idea how to get people excited. For instance, they wanted to get a picture of the crowd going wild. In order to induce this state, the MC told us—just moments after the applause had died down for the opener—that they wanted a picture of the crowd going wild. "Okay, on three, ready? One, two, THREE!" Wooooo. "Now that wasn't very good." A narcotized awareness of being criticized en masse. Resentment. "One, two, THREE!!" Eh. He gave up. We absently sipped our dn-L and waited for Broken Social Scene. They arrived with three guitar players and said their first song was "for the Hudson River". I tried really hard to hear the lyrics but I couldn't make them out. It didn't seem to be about the Hudson River, but since they said it was it felt like a lie. All three guitars washed together in a sheet of flangey reverb, kind of like My Bloody Valentine and kind of like the Afghan Whigs. We had fun playing this game, my friends and I. "Who do they sound like?" I wasn't very good because I didn't really follow bands like that in the 90s, but they came up with a ton of them, so it was surprising how few abutments and protrusions there were in the music. They'd spackled all their fractures and just rolled along, just barely present on the radar. Like the Hudson River a bit, actually. I honestly have no idea why people care about bands like this. Maybe it's pleasant and ignorable, like baseball? Anyway, we threw the rest of out dn-L in the trash and went to get something to eat.

ALTERNATE REVIEW:

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE

No wonder.

Hey bucky did you see Jeanine Garofolo? (Her name is forever pronounced now as "JEEN-ANN GARAH FOLO" by our crew, after a wonderful mispronunciation by the aunt of my colocateur.) She had a blonde dye job and looked skinny, almost gaunt, she was leaning against the railing and if she wasn't smoking she looked like she was (in any hair color, heh).

or the Black Eyed Snakes??

i know very little about either, save for the few BSS tracks i've downloaded (and like quite a bit). Opinions, suggestions, threats welcome...

BSS was fan-fucking-tabulous. they didn't play the piss-drinking song, tho..

'Anthem for a seventeen-year-old girl' is lovely; the rest of 'you forgot it in people' hasn't really grabbed me.

He is playing them on his programme - alas, it sounds a mess! I don't know why Bob would be interested in this.

that is an interesting phrase, though I am unsure of what you mean by it. Do you mean it is a slump in their career?

If you own a copy, try starting their latest at Track 7 (AKA "Windsurfing Nation") and then wrapping back 'round. I've found it makes BSS’s latest more accessible/penetrable/enjoyable—and a worthy successor to You Forgot It In People.

It's a gorgeous mess (or, if you will, orchestration) of indie rock elements (see also: Do Make Say Think, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, etc.) that takes risks their more polished peers wouldn’t know how to harness in an equally lyric’d setting.

It was cool.

sounded messy/cluttered over the speakers earlier, whereas on headphones the production/feel is wonderfully huggable.

It's pretty horrible.

The last two have been great, though.

xpost: same here, jaymc.

What do we think of this new EP?

I like it.

I’m probably wrong but this single “can’t find my heart” sounds like maybe the most urgent and real thing they’ve done in years
https://open.spotify.com/track/6iRYhL6cwnuT2EnWsiDW15?si=P-zPnBW6Q4m3ACmWMuWj6Q

Twenty Broken Social Scene threads? Really?

Got a cheap used copy of their first album the other day. I love it...great driving music, reminds me of Yo La Tengo at their meandering-instrumental best.

I should prob give it a go, along with the last two, but #3 never hit me like #2.

yeah I don’t really like too much of their other stuff but the first album is beautiful. Clemenza, you might like their previous album as KC Accidental, it’s sort of in the same vein

Will definitely look for that, thanks. This, the first song from the debut, is a good test. If you love it as much as I do, you'll like the whole album; if it bores you, ditto.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZuikjeK6Do

Was just thinking about them the other day. Love the s/t.

I had one of those experiences where seeing them live made me like the records less. (Granted, I saw them live, for the first time, only a couple years ago. Maybe they were mind-blowing 20 years ago but the show I saw very much had the vibe of dads in search of their lost glory.)

Steve west air drum fill

I saw one of them open for Television in 2014, and in a low-key, non-disastrous way, it was one of the least effective professional shows I've ever seen.

“One of them?”
Had to be Kevin or Brendan right

I looked into KC Accidental and ended up ordering a used compilation from Amazon. The two original CDs are too expensive--one a little, the other ridiculous--and I couldn't find them on Soulseek.

I never really caught onto them and am listening to YFIIP for the first time right now, it's quite good imho.

Saw the trailer for an upcoming documentary last night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pCV1zjv1zU

Will see it for sure. As I probably posted somewhere above, I became a fan belatedly thanks to a friend who got me out to see them a couple of times, including the show that was used for the earlier film (This Movie Is Broken).

BSS were always kinda hit-and-miss for me, but I interviewed Andrew Whiteman for a local alt.monthy some time in the 2000s, when he was touring with his side (or main?) project Apostle of Hustle, and he was likely the kindest and friendliest musician I've ever interacted with. I was young, and possibly looked/came off as even younger, but he was enthusiastic and thoroughly considerate throughout our conversation, even asking "do you have enough stuff" when I wrapped up the interview (as written, I can see how that might look condescending, especially considering my age, but it absolutely was not). Perhaps fittingly, my favourite BSS song is one of his.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqyVj4_At8w

Nice. I don't know much about the various offshoots beyond Feist, plus there's a Jason Collett song I like:

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

if you love Andrew (who is absolutely wonderful), he recently founded a new label devoted to SONIC POETRY and has just released a collaborative album with thee mightee Anne Waldman:
https://soundcloud.com/siren-recordings

Oh cool! I've actually met Waldman as well--at a University function where it took everything in me to ask her for stories about Dylan, etc.

I… loathe Waldman, but that’s because of the way she wields her power to the detriment of some people I know.

Oh how thee mightee have fallen (over the course of three consecutive posts)

I mean, she has only been kind to me, but a friend of mine was basically run out of her job by Waldman

It's a bit facile, but the sugary shoe gaze drive of K.C Accidental's "Nancy and the girdle boy" has been getting a lot of rotation on late night highway airport pick-up runs. Perfect soundtrack for that particular occasion

Do we have a "songs that need to be played max volume, windows down, top speed, empty road" thread?

I don’t think so but you should totally start that thread

Album title is pretty self-parodically BSS/Kevin-coded, opening track sounds fine to these ears, but am hoping Newfeld will bring the weirdness on at least a couple of other songs on here once it's all out on 8 May 2026: https://brokensocialscene.bandcamp.com/album/remember-the-humans

Touring with Metric and Stars this year.

this is rad, I only saw them once and they were great. Any news whether Feist will be with them?

I've posted a few video clips my friend Scott Woods (former ILX'or) has done, things on radio and Christgau and movies that were basically personal projects. He put this together for the new Broken Social Scene album--he has a connection to the band--and they're using it as a trailer on their website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tNQcjUB2Us

i put on YFIIP a few days back and my first thought was "looks just like the sun" is bootleg sublime.

this gruppe never let down. new ones full of belters hi NRG let’s go !!