A Thread For School of Seven Bells Love!

Inaccurate, if positive, reviews always seem to poison a record for me.

I loved this until people started sticking their perceptions on it.

Mark G, visual presentation is a totally important part of a band's appeal. Some bands, you can tell that you will like them just by looking at them. (Not always accurate, but sometimes you can just tell.)

u s steel, I cannot process your statement in any way that makes sense to me. Do you not have a mind or opinions of your own? You listen to a record, you either like it or you don't. What on earth do other people's opinions - whether or not you agree with them - have to do with your enjoyment of something?

I simply can't process what you're saying.

Why do you play these games on this board? They're hurtful. Stop provoking me. :(

OK, my take on u s steel's comment:

"They take what My Bloody Valentine started, and made it more tuneful" would be enough to send me away from a band.

Which may well be unfair. Often, it's only when I get to hear said band and go "who they? OH THEM!!!" alright!

I simply don't get to hear enough to make untrammelled evaluations of everyone. Still, there's no substitute for actually hearing the band. But, as you say kate, seeing the bands image can at least show where they are coming from.

I remember buying the Lemon Trees single based purely on the pic, and being sorely disappointed with the lameness of the music/song.

I'm not playing games, I'm asking a question, because I don't understand what you are staying in the slightest.

I don't think that I could ever read something in someone else's opinion of a piece of music that could make me dislike that piece of music. I mean, I can think of situations where someone has explained something in a piece of music as to why they liked it, which made me understand the music better. But I can't see how someone's *opinion* would make me like a piece of music less.

If I hadn't heard a band, reading something negative about them could make me less likely to seek them out and listen to them. Or even ILX hype can turn me off something - but this is about the decision to listen to something. (Because there is so much out there, how do you decide what's worthy of time/attention/money?) But don't you make up your mind about the music itself by listening to the music, not by reading about it?

As to a band's image... I think it's fine to like or respond to a band's image, so long as that is not the *only* thing you like about them. It's like an added extra special bonus plus.

I don't think that I could ever read something in someone else's opinion of a piece of music that could make me dislike that piece of music. I mean, I can think of situations where someone has explained something in a piece of music as to why they liked it, which made me understand the music better. But I can't see how someone's *opinion* would make me like a piece of music less.

It's easy to say that while LJ is banned.

Like, saying they sound like Throwing Muses is completely inaccurate, and makes me go "ick" that someone with a tin ear likes this. It's like I can't get that sentimental "ick" out of my mind when listening to them, because I know that sentimental "ick" people with no ears (they simply do not sound like these bands!) are listening to it.

I'm just sensitive that way, I don't know why you feel it is so important for me to explain myself to you. You act as if it is a personal failure of mine if I don't make sense to you.

tbh starting to dislike a record just b/c you've seen some muddle-headed comparisons to it in print does seem like a personal failure. how do you like any music at all?

To me, the harmonic structure of the vocal arrangements sounds very similar to Throwing Muses. That doesn't mean I have a tin ear, it just means that perhaps I'm clueing in to different things than you are. If you don't like TM, that's your loss. You're welcome to disagree with the comparison. But how on earth could that comparison affect whether you like the music or not?

Even if you think I'm an idiot, or have no taste - and you can think what you like about me, it doesn't affect who I am or how I feel in the slightest - then why on earth would my opinion of this band be relevant to whether you like them or not? Surely my supposed "tin ear" would make my opinion less relevant?

Disliking a band because of who you think listens to them is as stupid and pointless as *liking* a band just because other people like them. Just sounds to me like you have some really strange issues. I don't understand this way of thinking in the slightest. Whether you feel that's a personal failure or not is your business - I was just trying to understand or get clarification on a statement that I wasn't clear to me. Thank you for clarifying.

Though ha ha, Caek, I guess I see your point. Louis actually succeeded in making me feel embarrassed about liking stuff like LOTP and Youthmovies. I guess, like... I didn't want to be associated with him in any way. But what's objectionable about him isn't his taste, it's his actions. Brings up the whole can of worms about whether you should judge a band by their fanbase, but that's not for this thread.

(I think - hope - that defining yourself or others entirely by your musical taste, and its converse of judging a band by its fanbase is something that one grows out of, as one gets more secure in one's own personhood. But I know that's debatable.)

re: SVIIB, 'iamundernodisguise' is probably my favourite - i love it when the vocals slip so smoothly into a different key.

Sounds like Dido to me

I really love Half Asleep, but I must admit the Dido thing stalks them a little bit too closely not to feel slightly uneasy about my liking.

tbh the comparison just makes both them and dido sound better

like, you suddenly start hearing gorgeous harmonies in dido songs, and realising that SVIIB have that latent MOR tinge is an interesting & effective aspect to their shoegazey droney aesthetic

when you suddenly start hearing gorgeous harmonies in dido songs it means you're getting old and boring.

I don't really hear the Dido thing, TBH - but I haven't listened to much (OK, read: any) Dido, and suspect it's not so much an observation as an insult.

There was *always* a kind of adult-oriented-rock tinge to a lot of shoegaze - think later period Cocteaus and a lot of Slowdive - that *is* just a danger of that sort of music. That it can wibble off into dullness. But the trick is to have an element of danger, of offness, of... *noise* behind the music that saves good shoegaze from being yuppie cocktail wallpaper music. Yes, it's adult. But just because something is "adult" doesn't mean it has to be boring.

Beauty can get boring. And SVIIB are - possibly problematically to some people - unrelentingly pretty. I don't have a problem with prettiness, so long as there is something *more* to it - and yes, I think there is *more* to SVIIB, there's enough interesting things going on texturally and melodically.

They could just as easily have gone too far in the opposite direction and been so "ooh, look at us, we so QUIRKY!!!" aesthetic which is irritating in a different way. I like how understated they are, how they're not particularly attention-seeking or wacky, they just get on with making really beautiful music.

It's music like how Matisse described his paintings - beautiful things to sink into at the end of a long and tiring day. If that offends you, then, you know, go and listen to some doom metal or something.

Okay, so I picked up the Face to Face In High Places ep a while back, and have some moderate like for it. It's pretty, but not too pretty, and slots into my mental filing system somewhere between shoegaze retro and contemporary art weirdos like Health. Haven't heard the Ghostly LP though. How does it compare to this EP I've been sort of digging? From all the pretty-pretty talk in this thread, I'm getting the feeling I might not be able to handle it.

It's probably that I like it and think it's great in some ways - I liked enough to pay for it - but it appeals to emo types and maybe the bad review brought that out or made me more aware of it. Should I even bother?

Throwing Muses are kind of folk or roots influenced and I'm just not hearing that here.

Last.fm says "Broadcast" is the comparison.

I haven't listened Broadcast in a long time, but sounds about right. It just seems like reviewers (as opposed to critics) are less interested in encouraging people to learn about different artists ("who the hell knows Broadcast"?) as they are hitching a viable artist to something that was a proven commercial success (i.e. 4 AD and shoegaze).

Throwing Muses are kind of folk or roots influenced

????

i can't imagine you've really heard any

Ya TMs have some plenty harmonious tuneful bits! I dunno abt comparisons to these guys but thats because ive only heard the Guthrie vers of "My Cabal" and ive a feeling that isnt representative of them?

I spent the morning of New Year's Day listening to this while making omelettes and waffles. It was a good morning.

No, the Guthrie version really isn't representative.

I made the TM comparison mostly on the basis of early demos - songs like Tartomundeo and the first version of White Elephant Coat had a much stronger TM vibe in terms of instrumentation, but the album got much more electronic.

But the vocals arrangements *do* remind me of TM, a lot of those kind of sparkling harmonies that they hit. And the way that one will take lead and the other will kind of wind a harmonic phrase around the other - and then they switch.

As a long term Throwing Muses fan I gotta say - I really like this record.

Really loving this, like finding a record that's been slap bang in the middle of my collection for years that I'd somehow never got round to hearing. A big melting pot of all my favourite bits of lots of other things. Surprised there aren't more comparisons (at least here) with the Cocteau Twins as I hear them sprinkled all over this album.

ha ha ha ha ha! I saw them last night, and I was wondering to myself whether boy-unit School of Seven Bells would count as a Dirty Drone Rock Boy. Now we know.

On balance, I am underwhelmed by this band. Live, they sound a bit too much like a Curve tribute act, while on record they seem a bit like weedy electronica. But I will persevere.

Benjamin Curtis = so total DDB katebait that if you looked up DDB in the dictionary, there's probably a picture of him there. Oh yes.

I am seeing them tomorrow! Exciterated! (Well, hopefully - my friend knows I love them so so much that she says that she will sell me her ticket even if they forget to guest list me as the show is, amazingly and happily enough, totally sold out.)

Live, they sound a bit too much like a Curve tribute act

SHIT, I wish I'd been able to see them in Glasgow last night ;)

Onimo sums up the album beautifully: it's so Grimly-tastic that I find it hard to believe I haven't been listening to it since I was 16.

the show is, amazingly and happily enough, totally sold out

oh no! i didn't realise they were playing as have been in deadline-induced hermitude...do you know who's doing the PR kate? could you email me if you do? i'd love to see them live...

A proper video:

Though, to be honest, I'd never associated SVIIB with being stuck in traffic.

SO. GOOD. LIVE.

CAN'T SPEAK. TOO HAPPY. SO GREAT.

Nah, I like that video ^^^^^^^^^^

I think it really works, and not just because of the pretty, smeary lights - but more the sense of disconnection between the sped up traffic outside the car, and the slowed down video of the Deheza sisters inside the car. Because that's what the song's about (to me, at least) - the disconnect/differing speeds of external and internal life. And the car is a good metaphor for the self here.

Can't wait to see these guys three or four times at SXSW in a few weeks!

Great, brief interview on The Quietus this week:

http://thequietus.com/articles/01208-let-it-ring-school-of-seven-bells-interviewed

this is how much I love them...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3382/3317867718_4b6972003b_o.jpg

You should commission that as an official gig poster!

That's awesome Kate!

Well I did suggest it to them, but they never answer their email.

::cries::

;___;

yeah.. the Throwing Muses thing is a bit of a red herring for me too.

I kind of know where Kate's coming from, and I know Kate knows her Muses very well... I just wouldn't highlight that particular trick from the rest of the music if I was describing it as pretty much nothing else but the vocals seems TM-ey to me, at least on the full-length. First listen to this anyway, and I like quite a lot. I feel like the vocals (but yes, that autotune track is fabfabfab) could do with a bit more strength or identity.. they seem a lil' anonymous so far.

the sound of this is really, really together though. amazingly so, I kind of feel like close to this has probably been done before but they're doing it so seamlessly that you kind of forget on first encounter.

Having seen them on Saturday, the trick lies in catching them live. Because that smokes their studio work completely.

http://nedraggett.wordpress.com/2009/05/31/school-of-seven-bells-worth-the-hype/

In this weather, all music is sounding amazing to me. Put this on last night and it sounded incredible. Vitamin D.

Well, I do think that they are EVEN BETTER live than on record, but then again, I bloody love the record.

they're like a 21st century red red groovy!

Ned's pretty OTM in this thread. I saw them open for M83 and thought their show was a lot tighter and more exciting than M83's, much better suited to be live. But my friend picked up Alpinisms and neither of us liked it that much outside of "Half Asleep" and "Connjur" (which are both strong). They have a great sound which translates well live, but on the record, their songwriting is more prominent and that didn't really catch me.

Family issues so I may not be able to catch tonight's show. Bummer.

Glad I caught them three times at SXSW, though.

New American tour:

09.25.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's *
09.26.09 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar *
09.27.09 - Washington DC - Rock & Roll Hotel *
09.28.09 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 *
09.29.09 - Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn *
10.04.09 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah *
10.05.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour *
10.06.09 - San Francisco, CA - Slim's *
10.08.09 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge *
10.09.09 - Vancouver, BC - The Biltmore *
10.10.09 - Seattle, WA - Neumos *
10.13.09 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry *
10.14.09 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle *
10.15.09 - Toronto, ON - Lee's Palace *
10.16.09 - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street *
10.17.09 - Boston, MA - The Paradise *

Also CMJ I'm guessing.

Touring with WARPAINT who are fantastic and I'm so jealous.

Friday, September 25th - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brendas w/Popo
Saturday, September 26th - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar w/ Phantogram
Sunday, September 27th - Washington DC - Rock and Roll Hotel w/ Phantogram
Monday, September 28th - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506 w/ Phantogram, Graveyard Fields
Tuesday, September 29th - Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn w/ Phantogram, The Tealights
Thursday, October 1st - Austin, TX - Emos Alternative Lounge w/ Phantogram
Friday, October 2nd - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits / Ziker Park
Sunday, October 4th - San Diego, CA - Casbah w/ Phantogram
Monday, October 5th - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour w/ Warpaint, Phantogram
Tuesday, October 6th - San Francisco, CA - Slims w/ Warpaint, Phantogram
Thursday, October 8th - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge w/ Warpaint
Friday, October 9th - Vancouver BC - Biltmore Cabaret w/ Depreciation Guild, Warpaint
Saturday, October 10th - Seattle, WA - Neumos w/ Warpaint
Tuesday, October 13th - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry w/ Depreciation Guild, Warpaint
Wednesday, October 14th - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle w/ Depreciation Guild, Warpaint
Thursday, October 15th - Toronto, ON - Lees Palace w/ Depreciation Guild, Warpaint
Friday - October 16th - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street w/ Depreciation Guild, Warpaint
Saturday, October 17th - Boston, MA - Paradise w/ Depreciation Guild, Warpaint
Friday, October 23rd - New York, NY - Webster Hall w/ The XX, First Aid Kit

Though I'm hoping that the gig they've just scheduled at the ICA for 4th December means that they're playing the MBV ATP?

Superfans, help me out with the Deheza sisters: Alejandra "Alley" is the guitarist with bangs who sings a lot of the lead parts, started the band with Ben before drafting her sister, and is the more frequent lucid dreamer. She also came up with the band name.

Claudia is the keyboardist, the one without bangs, from Daylight's for the Birds and who collaborated with Scott "Prefuse 73" Herren in A Cloud Mireya, and she sings most of the harmony parts. And just to confuse things visually, she used to have bangs and grew them out.

Do I have any of this right? Most articles about them seem to lump the sisters together.

Yes, that sounds about right.