― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 19 December 2005 17:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Baaderonixx weaves a daisy chain for... SATAN!! (baaderonixx), Monday, 19 December 2005 18:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― Kevin Allen, Tuesday, 16 May 2006 03:33 (eighteen years ago) link
― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Tuesday, 16 May 2006 05:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 01:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 02:01 (eighteen years ago) link
Slowdive have always been among my all time favourites, very influential for me, and I still absolutely love their music.
― Thomas Mehlt (Tokyo Ghost Stories), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 05:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 02:16 (seventeen years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 02:18 (seventeen years ago) link
― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 02:37 (seventeen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 03:23 (seventeen years ago) link
Souvlaki is a favorite for a lot of people, because it's them starting to be a *little* less full-on shoegaze, but not entirely. Pygmalion is kinda the art favorite, their Durutti Column tribute to a large extent.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 03:38 (seventeen years ago) link
― gear (gear), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 03:43 (seventeen years ago) link
Who do Slowdive most sound like? Well, jeez, in a way they ARE the ultimate shoegaze band! (MBV are in their own universe but obviously none of the other gaze bands could exist without them as an example.) As friend Stripey once put it to me years ago, "They'll be the band that most people will claim as an influence because they're both so atmospheric and so accessible." And she was right.
So basically -- mixed male/female vocals, often singing together, sometimes separately, LOTS of digital delay and zoned-out ambience, total goth fetish as well (early eighties Cure basslines in particular). Again, though, this is the earliest stuff in particular.
One thing that a lot of people forget about the band -- they could be LOUD. Saw them three times and while, again, they didn't achieve MBV levels of volume, they were definitely trying to really crank it up.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 03:47 (seventeen years ago) link
― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 09:11 (seventeen years ago) link
Whereas Lush and Ride, who are the first generation (i.e. not MBV) bands who I think of as utterly definitive of the genre seem to have fallen by the wayside.
Maybe that's because of the derivative tails on the end of their shoegazing careers (Britpop, Oasis, etc.) Or maybe because Slowdive hit the cliches the heaviest, so those looking for those cliches will be made happiest by them.
― Three In A Bed Socks Romp (kate), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 09:21 (seventeen years ago) link
― Baaderonixx in the year of the locusts (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 09:29 (seventeen years ago) link
― eh (fandango), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 10:10 (seventeen years ago) link
― Three In A Bed Socks Romp (kate), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 10:36 (seventeen years ago) link
― eh (fandango), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 10:54 (seventeen years ago) link
― Three In A Bed Socks Romp (kate), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:46 (seventeen years ago) link
http://cover6.cduniverse.com/MuzeAudioArt/Large/19/1032019.jpg
this is coming out July 29, 2008 on Brushfire Records.
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 00:35 (sixteen years ago) link
d/l now however.
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 00:36 (sixteen years ago) link
I just got a ticket to see him in August; didn't know that there was a new record, thought I should have guessed.
What's Brushfire Records? why did he leave 4AD?
― derrrick, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 00:58 (sixteen years ago) link
Oh cool, I'll definitely check this out.
― stephen, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 01:09 (sixteen years ago) link
but the last solo record was a drag. and the last mojave 3 wasn't so great either.
― keythkeyth, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 01:55 (sixteen years ago) link
about 2/3 of his first solo record was really outstanding, esp. 'Driving With Bert' which had a trumpet solo.
― derrrick, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 06:18 (sixteen years ago) link
I loved that first solo album
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 16 July 2008 07:32 (sixteen years ago) link
I finally have SOUVLAKI. After listening to it in its entirety and then listening to LOVELESS... I've realzed that these two records are so different that they shouldn't really be compared. While the vocals are similar, the sounds from the instruments on SOUVLAKI are so much lighter (a la the Cocteau Twins). This really sounds like something you could sleep to, or you could have it gently wake you up in the morning. My favorite song is easily "Sing," which is probably better than anything on LOVELESS (fyi, Loveless is the best LP I've ever heard). It's definitely Sexier than anything on it. I immediately see a string of darkly-lit, slow-mo erotic images whenever I listen to it. Alas, the song after it is a let down.
― dreamsonvhs, Wednesday, 30 July 2008 04:24 (sixteen years ago) link
am i crazy for thinking pygmalion is really, really boring?
― electricsound, Wednesday, 13 August 2008 00:38 (sixteen years ago) link
Out.
(Just think of it as a Durutti tribute. Hell, they *call* the first song "Rutti.")
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 13 August 2008 00:40 (sixteen years ago) link
No, I don't think you're crazy, electricsound. There's a reason why I haven't played that since it came out.
― Bimble, Wednesday, 13 August 2008 01:21 (sixteen years ago) link
pygmalion is super dull, as is the band that wasted rachels beautiful voice (mojave 3)!!
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 13 August 2008 02:20 (sixteen years ago) link
I guess this means I should start listening to the Durutti Column.
― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 13 August 2008 02:42 (sixteen years ago) link
you don't need a reason to listen to DC
― electricsound, Wednesday, 13 August 2008 02:46 (sixteen years ago) link
I haven't been listening to SOUVLAKI very much since then. LOVELESS still sounds so crazy next to it.
― dreamsonvhs, Wednesday, 13 August 2008 04:44 (sixteen years ago) link
Pygmalion is the only Slowdive album I listen to these days. Go figure.
Spoon And Rafter I like much more now, but that first M3 album is still my #1 choice. I wish that Rachel's solo album had some of that mystery X factor in it.
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 13 August 2008 06:14 (sixteen years ago) link
i have never been able to get into Pygmalion despite the love that it seems to get.
My choice for Mojave 3 is Out Of Tune but that also seems to be a unpopular choice.
loved Neil's first solo album (second ?) but hated Rachel's solo album.
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 13 August 2008 06:28 (sixteen years ago) link
I hated Pygmalion when it came out, then fell in love with it before ultimately not really caring much. "Rutti" is pure classic though
― baaderonixx, Wednesday, 13 August 2008 08:46 (sixteen years ago) link
Thinking about it, the time would be exactly right for a Slowdive one-off reunion.
― baaderonixx, Thursday, 14 August 2008 10:57 (sixteen years ago) link
One thing I've found about Slowdive is that the time of day that you listen to their albums can strongly affect your perception of them. Here are the times you should listen to them:
"Just for a Day" - Listen to around dawn "Souvlaki" - listen to at 1:00am "Pygmalion" listen to during a hot, windless afternoon in a desert
If you listen at different times, they simply do not work, and can even sound horrible.
― res, Thursday, 14 August 2008 14:14 (sixteen years ago) link
I can't see myself listening to "Just for a Day" over breakfast
― baaderonixx, Thursday, 14 August 2008 14:18 (sixteen years ago) link
not for breakfast, that's too late. it's the darkness just before dawn.
― res, Thursday, 14 August 2008 14:23 (sixteen years ago) link
brushfire records is actually jack johnson's label. he has surprisingly signed really good people so far (well, halstead and rogue wave, don't know who else).
― akm, Thursday, 14 August 2008 15:03 (sixteen years ago) link
I think they were very good initially because they were unselfconscious. i.e. they were middle-class MBV fans making music for middle-class MBV fans. As soon as they became aware that they had to adopt some kind of stance, and deny what they fundamentally were, then they lost it.
― PhilK, Friday, 15 August 2008 21:42 (sixteen years ago) link
2008 so needed a Pygmalion backlash.
― Just got offed, Friday, 15 August 2008 21:45 (sixteen years ago) link
Never set your sights too high when it comes to shoegazer bands.
― PhilK, Friday, 15 August 2008 21:49 (sixteen years ago) link
-- res, Thursday, August 14, 2008 9:14 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Link
As much as I want to disagree with this, especially the not work and even sound horrible part, I would be lying if the best time I heard Just for a Day wasn't on a brisk spring morning at 6:30 AM, and Souvlaki at 1:30 AM in a dark basement, and, well I was in an actual desert on a hot, windless afternoon about 2 months ago, but I didn't think to bring Pygmalion.
Slowdive's albums are like ripening bananas. JFaD is the album equivalent of a banana with a slight greenish hue: firm, flavour's a bit bland and off, but otherwise solid and eatable. Good, but should have waited a day or two. Souvlaki is just perfection: perfect colour, texture, feel, taste - definitively ripe. Pygmalion tastes just fine despite what anyone says about the admittedly present brown spots (but they're not really that noticeable anyways), the heightened texture and softness of it aren't necessarily worse, but not as good as it was in it's prime. It's also excellent for baking.
― mehlt, Tuesday, 26 August 2008 15:18 (sixteen years ago) link