The Joy Formidable

^^this

I know it's kind of crude, but I'm a sucker for a band with a cuet singer. And the early-'90s alterna-rock thing only emphasises that. Could see them being included on one of the old Volume compilations.

She's cute, but she also has guts and seems somewhat mature -- she's not cartoonishly cutesy or twee/winky. that's why i like her.

Exactly, plus she plays a mean guitar.

I saw them play live a couple of months ago in Cleveland and just stood near the stage and marveled and her and the bass player's pedal rigs. Some of them are labeled for specific songs, some have an effect feeding into another of the same effect with different settings, it's crazy. They're coming back here for a free show at the Rock and LOL Hall of Fame in August, I'll definitely see them again.

Definitely a PJ Harvey/Kristin Hersh thing about her.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5256/5561101431_3ef0d170a2.jpg

That's what I mean -- she is skilled! And adorable! I think the super noisy intro/outro are what sold me, tbh.

*sticks up poster in work locker*

Whoa. Two Line 6 loopers?

Not loopers - the gold box is the distortion modeler, the purple box is the filter (modulation) modeler.

I do not know what these things are, but I want them!

Think the two green pedals in the foreground are a Tubescreamer and a Bad Monkey (excellent cheap Tubescreamer clone)

Ah, thx. They kind of looked like old loopers but I wasn't totally sure.

A graphic eq and a tuner pedal there too. Top tip: if you don't like your distortion, try putting an eq before it, can totally change its character.

It's been quite while since I heard such a great full-on, blasting, melodic rock record.

Very good album, this. Interviewing Ritzy tomorrow if anyone has a burning question or two...

Since buying this, I've had it on my ipod but other than Abacus I couldn't tell you anything about it. Every track is kind of startling but then just wooshes over me. A shame - I like the idea of this band.

I like "Whirring" a whole bunch.

oh yeah, Whirring is the other one. The others are kind of cool, but not memorable.

It's been quite while since I heard such a great full-on, blasting, melodic rock record.

― Asamoah Nyan (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, July 17, 2011 12:45 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

cradle remains one of my favorite songs of the past couple of years

the opening track of this album (everchanging spectrum of a lie) is one of the best opening tracks of any albums in several years. it kind of overshadows the entire album by being so great though. I was on the fence about this band for a long time even after hearing the album a ton, it seemed too derivative and her vocals too siouxsie, but it eventually won me over.

Hmm I've avoided them because of the band name but y'all are making them sound cool.

Seriously, the joy formidable is so bad, like a jam band from a small expensive private school in a small town in the midwest

The terrific fanvid for Austere is, sadly, no longer featured on their website.

This is still such a great album.

Seeing these guys tonight. So psyched!

cradle remains one of my favorite songs of the past couple of years

― kaygee, Friday, September 2, 2011 1:17 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark

Hmm I've avoided them because of the band name but y'all are making them sound cool.

Seriously, the joy formidable is so bad, like a jam band from a small expensive private school in a small town in the midwest

― velvet underground - reloaded (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, September 2, 2011 9:24 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark

yeah the name is beyond embarrassing but imo you would probable dig it

the other night Conan reran the episode they were on, that performance was basically the thing that made me go "holy shit, i need to hear this album"

the band name is terrible and the album name is even worse
still, the music is great

they're like the ugli fruit of bands
http://www.fruitipedia.com/Fruit%20NGTP.jpg

im prolly repeating myself from rolling indie but Ostrich is still my favorite, such a raw beast (exactly why it wasn't one of the holdovers from the EP). Austere and Greatest Light still get me going but Whirring is totally lost on me. They're friendly too and I really wanna see them make good.

And my interview's up:

http://www.ocweekly.com/2011-09-08/music/the-joy-formindable-ritzy-bryan/

formindable!

Thankfully the actual headline's correct.

Great show last night. The band is totally tight. A lot of the songs have been lengthened out for noisy/neo-shoegazey parts. They played 'Ostrich' which I thought they wouldn't. And I never really warmed up to Cradle as many have around here but the version I heard last night was massive.

A lot of the songs have been lengthened out for noisy/neo-shoegazey parts.

OH DARN.

Meantime, a very...random story:

http://www.business2community.com/social-media/what-small-business-can-learn-from-the-joy-formidable-about-social-media-marketing-056217

(The impact seems to be 'hey let me tell you about this stuff everyone already knows about!')

that link has a youtube embed of the awesome Conan performance i was talking up thread, though!

There is that!

OH DARN.

So you haven't seen them, Ned?

Not yet. That will be corrected in two days.

i don't like the album quite as much as the ep, but like some others here i'm a sucker for that sound.

(lol this is like the only thread i've ever started on ilm that gets revived. thanks to maura for championing them!)

Yeah it was Maura's posts on idolator that got me into them.

Okay that show was insanely great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BMh8eirSDY

^^ yes!

i love hearing "Whirring" on the radio regularly now but it's such a disappointment when stations play the single edit w/o any of the outro

ooh, didn't know these guys were getting american radio play - i heard "austere" out at a restaurant last week and it was :D

yeah it's not a huge hit but it's definitely breaking through to mainstream radio a bit -- touring w/ the foo fighters probably helps

I'd gladly proffer payola if my Top 40 station played "Whirring."

Just got the "latest" issue of The Big Takeover and am rather surprised this hit their Top 40 albums of the past 4 months. I like it, but holy exclamation marks are these guys enthused over it

No, that's typical of BT. When Jack Rabid likes a band, his enthusiasm is rather boundless even if the band is medicore at best. Not saying that about Joy Formidable though.

So, what I'm trying to say, is here's Steve Albini's number. He's really not the asshole you may think, and his studio has the BEST coffee.

this album killed any interest left in them eh

Me too, they jettisoned everything interesting.

yup same here

This band seems determined to turn into Linkin Park or some shit.

Did they release something new and uninteresting?

Any any band needed to strip back to its roots and visit Steve Albini's studio...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haktGTrtdx0

Mike Shinoda could "rap" all over this.

last two albums lost me but it's return to form time baby!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fRYvc6jZy0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAR3Wdu9rZo

first single is also excellent

Ooh, digging this!

Yeah already got this on preorder. In retrospect I should have gone to see them in late December 2019 but you can't have it all.

glad to see they're still going, I have a couple albums to catch up on

nice. would love another album as succinct as Balloon Called Moaning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHs7Y2bhJbM

took me forever to get around to it but this album is dope

that last tune you posted is fucking great tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH1ewx6d8j4

can't get enough of this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ftEk8ZYec

oh what the hell, also obsessed with this song. i need tim f to hear this record

Yeah i like 'interval' too, guess i need to check the album. Is there a piano lurking in the mix there? It's giving me tori amos vibes for some reason

Looking forward to the late November show...

This is great! I hate to lean on the overused cliche, but it really is a return to form. This scratches the right itch for me.