Third Eye Foundation/Matt Elliott

Okay, I'm liking this whole dub-rovnik thing.

really good album indeed

Quite wonderful to hear this, and as an immediate followup to the These New Puritans album at that. Sonically dissimilar but crucially allied in terms of uneasy mood...

hey this is still album of the year you guys

alright guys, can we do a quick Third Eye Foundation C/D, S/D for a new listener & potential fan? for some reason i just found out abt this guy's origins w/ flying saucer attack (obv. awesome & untouchable) so must explore TEF now

- what do i seek out first?

- what's essential?

- is there anything i should avoid/save for later?

- etc.

"Ghost" and "The Dark" would make for a good bookendish overview, I think. Much of the other stuff is either too wishy washy shoegaze for me or goes too far in the other direction with the masturbatory breakbeat stuff. Hes's at his best when he finds the middle.

Ghost is great and all but good lord you have to start with Semtex.

Still one hell of a way to start a career, this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90rIyiuQ5B0

I think the Semtex 12", which is different from the Semtex album, is better.

Oh and I agree that to get a quick and dirty introduction, Ghost and The Dark would be the best way to go. You can tell from there how much deeper you want to get -- it's all good.

ned: yesss that is awesome

incidentally, i ended up getting Little Lost Souls, which i found for $2 in one of the local used bins on my way home. played 3 or 4 tracks, digging it so far -- vaguely shoegazy textures, dubby basslines,, breakbeats that sound a bit like autechre stoned/on downers, and disembodied female vocal wails looped over the top at various points. not mindblowing, but pleasantly right up my alley.

Little Lost Souls is my favourite of the TEF albums I've heard I think. For all the praise The Dark has been getting, I find it quite a slog to listen to.

Same for the track Ned just posted. Interesting, but not actually enjoyable for me. Obviously I'm a lightweight when it comes to such things.

good lord you have to start with Semtex.

YES. Then Ghost. And the Semtex Remix 12" in between, like Marmite.

I've briefly investigated this dude's other stuff but as things stand it's stone-cold clear to me that The Dark is his masterpiece. As an album experience it's...nigh-on perfect, the use of sound and narrative here is exquisite. Haven't heard Semtex yet, however - am fully prepared to believe that one's on a similar level, and of course the others may grow on me...

fsa were far better

why don't you go and namecheck them in a song about an ILM poll

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/042/e/a/se__epic_stance_by_thoughtless4ever-d39c5vq.jpg

the dark is alright, nice sound design etc but v much in a l8 90s premillenial angst art-junglist vein that seems kinda played

Although one cannot oppose to Ghost and Semtex, I do really like the territory Elliott veered into with Little Lost Soul and I Poo Poo On Your Juju, both fantasticly subtle dark albums.

But then I love all of 3EF's albums equally as much, except for The Dark maybe, which is great but not as sublime as the previous albums. Maybe it's different if you've heard that one first, like LJ has. I wouldn't call it his masterpiece though ~ the man's whole discography is one big masterpiece.

fyi nakh and anyone else, yr presence and neoclassical avant-awesomeness is v much desired here: Rolling dilettante convocation 2011

clearly I need to give the other albums a closer listen! even the one with the worst album-name ever. like, worse-than-chocolate-starfish bad.

The new album is incredible.

does he sing?

A new new album, like not-The Dark?

it's a matt elliott record, no?

Matt Elliott - The Broken Man

Track here: http://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/album/the-broken-man/

Yes, singing.

I don't, or I shouldn't at least, have anything in principle against electronic intrumentalists suddenly getting all singer-songwritery, but "one mans analysis of his own descent reflecting the frustrations and sadness that touch us all at some point" doesn't really sound like an enticing prospect and when it ends up just being "this is how it feels to be alone" intoned repeatedly in a funereal bass, then - and speaking as a miserablist who would happily listen to "Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me" on repeat - this one man's analysis really adds nothing new to the picture, and the touches of TEF ethereal electronics and the trusty bowed saw beneath aren't enough to tempt me to listen further, I'm afraid.

I must admit I've barely played this since January 3 but it is sounding magnificent right now.

Still love The Dark - listen to it all the time, especially if I need to get into a writing zone. (And yet I am left totally cold by the stuff he does under his own name.)

just occurred to me that Closure taps into the same part of my brain as Cap.IV - and while the latter is better, the former is still wonderful

not much info yet but new Matt Elliott album is due next month

https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/12439209_10154003732751055_5888604936290127722_n.jpg?oh=6961c0532159b75b64ea96894319ddd0&oe=5748852A

Hadn't clocked that.

There's an expanded version of Semtex due soon (most of the extra tracks seemingly as downloads).

woo. underlooked classic imo. and seemingly out of print for a while (tried to find one after my copy got trapped in a closing cd player tray and scratched)

http://www.piccadillyrecords.com/prod/ThirdEyeFoundation-Semtex20thAnniversaryEdition-IciDAilleurs-107039.html

20th anniversary edition of Semtex--adds 23 (!) bonus tracks to the original 6.

https://open.spotify.com/album/3BXH5WgvImeQTxnD2uPxhn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7GvAThPm5g

Via his Facebook:

Damn! Once again I forgot to spam for the release of my new album! So, yeah, I've got a new album out available from my wonderful independent label ici d'ailleurs http://www.icidailleurs.com/index.php… If you like what we do please help us to continue making music (Third Eye Foundation is the next project in the pipeline)

Christ, this gets intense

Pleasantly surprised to find a new TEF album released today, Wake the Dead: https://open.spotify.com/album/6yIG5cMp3wolz2W6REn5uR?si=Y_EqoCY8SdOvm7NtOJ81Ag

whaaaaatt!!!

That is... unexpected, after so many Elliott records. Going to save this one for tonight.

woah!

holy shit the way this has begun

he seems to have synthesised his various interests into one terrifying whole

I find myself wondering how to buy an *un-signed* version in the UK unless anyone can vouch that Matt has lovely handwriting.

Wouldn't count on it.

This is one hell of an album though. That bass!

Weird, the album disappeared from Spotify,ad so did The Dark

Was just coming to say that: very odd

I can't find anywhere to hear it, but ordered the LP from Norman Records. They have the CD too, and presumably Matt isn't writing on all of them?

can be peeped here - https://thethirdeyefoundation.bandcamp.com/

Ha, yes. Also bought from Norman in a "not scribbled on" version.

Even played quietly, the bass on the opening track prompts grumbles from the next room.