Game Theory / The Loud Family

Very, very sad.

Dang, what sad news.

Well, I just feel like I've had the wind knocked out of me.

Scott Miller was one of my Gods during my late teens/early 20s. The Loud-fans mailing list was my first online music-related hangout. He was extraordinarily kind to me when I introduced myself to him at a Loud Family show despite my tongue-tied kid-meeting-his-hero incoherence. Hell, my handle here is taken from one of his songs.

If I recall correctly, he had a couple of youngish children. This is sad, shocking news.

Incredible. What horrible news.

Man, very sad. I still think Lolita Nation deserves way more nods than it gets. It was the Forever Changes of the late '80s. R.I.P.

God DAMN it.

In a few minutes I'll re-upload the Lolita Nation and Big Shot Chronicles demos to share. What's the best free/fast service nowadays? Haven't done this in a while.

Never mind -- I'm putting 'em all on Sendspace. Takes about half an hour to upload 'em all.

Big Shot Chronicles demos:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/7muauw

Lolita Nation demos, part 1:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/8a3c5g

Lolita Nation demos, part 2:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/bkmlp8

Thank you, Scott. Rest in peace.

Thanks so much for posting those. Lolita Nation was huge for me when I was 15, and I don't think I've listened to it in over 20 years. This'll be a sad revisiting.

You're very welcome. I learned of Game Theory in 1983, shortly before The Big Shot Chronicles IIRC, and was lucky enough to see them a few times and the Loud Family once. Wonderful stuff. My life, especially my 20's, would've been much poorer without them.

been listening to 'tinker to evers to chance' in tribute all night. "shark pretty" is such a jam. RIP

I didn't learn of Scott til 1997 or so. While it is kind of a shock to learn that that much awesomeness had existed in the world for so long without my knowing about it, the existence of there already being THAT MUCH Scott Miller music for me to delve into more than made up for it.

Shit.

Was looking forward to whatever the GT reunion was going to turn out.

Didn't know about the reunion until tonight, though I had never really given up on the possibility of new Scott Miller music even post-"retirement" (he had already released one album--What If It Works? (2006), a collaboration with Anton Barbeau--after officially calling it quits in 2000, after all).

Very sad news. Met him at an in-store in the late '90s on one of the last LF tours -- a very friendly, humble, approachable guy. _Music: What Happened?_ (detailed above) is a must-read for music hounds; it made me think about and revisit a lot of stuff that had fallen through the cracks.

this is awful news!

RIP, Scott. What a shitty week.

otm^^

I found out about Game Theory and Loud Family mostly from glenn mcdonald's blog, and I emailed him a few times, for both the Ask Scott feature and the Music: What Happened project. Big Shot Chronicles is such a rad album, and Lolita Nation and Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things were v good too. Such a bummer...

thanks Ctrl-Z for the downloads, Scott had such a fascinating approach to music. I am looking forward to listening to them

My fave Loud Family song, because I need to hear it right now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpXA6Hu6HJw

been giving Interbabe Concern a loooooooooooong overdue listen on Spotify. it's. fucking. amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XnP7C44DXA

He never ran out when the spirits were low
A nice guy as minor celebrities go

RIP Scott. This is horrible news.

I found out about Game Theory and Loud Family mostly from glenn mcdonald's blog

Likewise; one of the first CDs I ordered from the internet was Plants And Birds And Rocks And Things. Always wondered if Scott Miller would have been better served by some sort of Flying Nun-esque profile (always thought him & Bill Direen/Graeme Downes would have gotten along). Rest in peace.

RIP.
underrated genius. i'm a huge fan.

what's the cause of death?

Very sad.

"what's the cause of death?"

there was some speculation but if you want to go digging, the cause is stated on the gametheory/loud family group page on fb. I won't repost it here.

Love this photo from the Lolita Nation sessions: Mitch Easter, Michael Quercio, Scott Miller

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Mitch_michael_scott.jpg

“I’m utterly serious about music. I just respect the buying public’s judgment that it’s not what I should do for a living.”

ouch.

― hellzapoppa (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 2 February 2010 13:48 (3 years ago) Permalink

think about this quote a lot

sad news

listening to lolita nation right now, wow what an album!

i had a game theory EP i bought from a dollar bin on vinyl years ago, had this great song "plan five from rigel nine" (i think) but i never dug deep into the band or loud family

wishing now i would have paid more attention.

Some of the stuff on Lolita Nation, I dunno how they did it, unless they used samplers. Because the drop-ins on "The Waist And The Knees" would've been insanely time-consuming otherwise.

this is sad.

The site notes it was the new Bowie record that inspired Miller to get back to work. I love the idea of this guy still so engaged with music that a new record could move him to come out of semi-retirement. It's tragic nothing came of the momentum. :(

Some of the stuff on Lolita Nation, I dunno how they did it, unless they used samplers. Because the drop-ins on "The Waist And The Knees" would've been insanely time-consuming otherwise.

― Pope Frank is the messenger of your doom (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, April 18, 2013 11:19 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i dunno man good tape slicers can really do a lot on some old records...

:(

Would only add that Days for Days is such a wonderful, wonderful album. Seems really under-appreciated.

oops i screwed up the song title, this is it. i love this song so much

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm4jvfwv8uQ

There's a light on the nineteenth floor tonight
They don't know there won't even be a fight
But they'll find out I've tired of all the things I've
Called my own
When they go to the final mats alone
Don't even waste the man-hours on us
We are finding no solution
Call all the boys in from the fighting fronts
We have lost the revolution
None of the soaring flight we dreamed
Is any closer to perfection
And all I want is one to fold my arms around
We are throwing the election
There's a light on in Joanie's room tonight
And she won't sleep till summer's going right
She thought she saw something that would lead her to believe
I'm the kind who'll accept the strokes and leave
Make me an offer, I don't waste them now
We have no more fixed intentions
Give all the faithful long-deserved rests
We've abandoned our dissentions
You could be one of someone's hundreds
Who'll be chosen for affection
And all I want is one to fold my arms around
We are throwing the election
I've got a feeling it's all rigged
I've got a feeling it ended a long time ago
Nobody tells me
I've got a feeling it's over now
I've got a feeling it's over now
I've got a feeling the votes are in and I got none
And all I want is one

anyone have a link to days for days? my copy is in my garage unripped and I can't locate it on spotify or anywhere else for that matter

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2013/apr/18/scott-miller-game-theory-loud-family-dies

major bummer. lolita nation is all i own but it's a HUGE record in every sense (songwriting/performance/production). the only good that can come out of this is that the shitbird who has been holding game theory's catalog hostage for 25 years will see the error of his ways and allow them to come out for the financial sake of scott's family.

man something has been pinging with me the whole time i've been listening to Lolita Nation and it finally hit me....man I bet those New Pornographers dudes were huge fans of this, something about how they structure melodies is really the same

This is really sad. I, too, only know Lolita Nation, but I love it to bits. Big loss.

That Guardian piece is sharp, and some of the comments equally so -- Mitch Easter and Phil McMullen among others have posted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwXHSo7qAg8

Sort of tempted to post every YouTube I can find but I will restrain meself.

I got on board in the mid 90s and snapped up all the Loud Family albums while they were still easy to find. And new ones kept coming. Then new ones stopped coming, and I would scour used CD bins for the Game Theory discs, which was mostly an exercise in futility.

Whenever this thread got bumped, I'd see it and hope for news of GT reissues, or of something concrete about Miller's new project.

Ugh, this is not the bump this thread needed. RIP Scott Miller, you loaded your music with so many twists and winks, and it still took flight and just soared.

Now playing: "Sodium Laureth Sulfate"

I remember getting into Game Theory when I was on a Mitch Easter/jangle pop/power pop kick. I definitely vibed with the style Scott Miller had going on. This is pretty shitty.

"man I bet those New Pornographers dudes were huge fans of this":

from A.C. Newman's twitter:
"man I bet those New Pornographers dudes were huge fans of this"

lol i meant this:

RIP Scott Miller. Game Theory had a massive influence on me from my teens onward. Incredible voice, lyrics, melody, production. Damn.

best song Spoon never recorded:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38xKdox2ztU

Still sad/angry about this. Wish I'd gone to more Loud Family gigs.

Thanks for nice words about the piece, Ned.