RFI: Border Community - Nathan Fake, James Holden, The MFA, Petter etc.

he looks like shit in the new edition of mojo.
bloke seriously needs to get some proper food and sleep.

I like this record, I like the general pagan vibe to it. Quite a lumpy approach to rhythm, reminds me a bit of the some of the flirtations with dance by some of the bands at the noisier end of the indie spectrum (Fuck Buffoons, Astral Social Club... one song in particular sounds quite a bit like Atlas by Battles).

Oh, it's the Caterpillar's Intervention that's reminding me of Atlas.

It's the same schaffely glitter-stomp with the guitar strings being picked at just so.

Is it out yet? I didn't really get on with the last one but he's one of those producers I'm prepared to give the benefit of the doubt to on every release.

Out yesterday.

I've kind of avoided him until now as I've not been super impressed by Border Community in general, but he's a name that gets dropped so often by so many musicians I love, and the pre-release talk about this seemed like it'd be up my alley, so I picked it up.

He was born in (presumably) the same hospital as me, three weeks after me. Which is odd. If not remarkable.

I've not been super impressed by Border Community in general

Out of everything else I've heard of theirs, Holkham Drones by Luke Abbott is top quality stuff imo.

I find myself periodically surprised that Border Community is still a going concern, they just feel so of their time (ie 2005).

Aye, Holkham Drones was my favourite.

I fuck with this new Holden album. Damn.

This is absolutely perfect when you were out until 2am and need to drift off into the atmosphere for 75 minutes the next lunchtime.

i don't know, i wanted to like this but gave it a couple of spins yesterday and wasn't feeling it. i was in a bit of a mood anyway but it just made me tetchier. oddly claustraphobic. i'll give it another go when i'm on better terms with myself. i did really like 'blackpool late eighties' tho.

A glowing review from Sherburne in Spin:
http://www.spin.com/articles/James-holden-dance-tracks-of-the-week-james-holden-border-community-john-cage-dj-kicks/

First listen didn't strike me either but it's really, really growing. Can't wait to listen to it on Dartmoor.

People need to talk about this record more.

I didn't even know who James Holden was a week ago. Shows you how much I keep up with things. But a friend on facebook, generally a detroit techno/electro/minimal/coldwave type of guy, posted about it the other day effusively, so I checked it out. Heard a few minutes and was immediately taken. Bought both LPs off iTunes and have been listening nonstop for a few days now.

Sherbourne's article is really otm. For the last few years I've been trying to pay more attention to a lot of stuff that's going and and while I'm generally excited by much of it, not that much really sticks with me. This new record seems to draw from/share so many current influences/sounds, but work with them without any need to shoehorn himself into a particular genre. Electro-acoustic ambient stuff with krautrock rhythms giving away to triumphant horn parts, cosmic arpeggiating synths, minimal influences, maximal influences, Aphexy atmospheres, one song that sounds just like Popol Vuh, a bit of hauntology etc. Without ever being afraid of a catchy melody, sometimes as the dominant part of a track, sometimes more subtly.

I think I especially appreciate that. In a year or two where a lot of the most interesting sounding stuff has come from these neo-industrial/post-punk influenced acts which sound great but can get a bit overwrought and silly in their "darkness", Holden marries those sounds with epic melodicism.

I'm really into this album right now and I think it's really special, and think Sherbourne nailed it.

probably record of the year for me. i was so overwhelmed by it that i was compelled to write mr. holden a gushing fan boy email.

xpost - I got into him around the time when Kreucht and Fleucht, "Cosmic Sandwich" and all that was big. You should check out his remix of Andre Kraml's "Safari" off of Fleucht.

https://soundcloud.com/thaliadavies/safari-andre-kraml-james

He's been off my radar for a while, I'm excited to hear this new thing. The track linked in that review sounds really nice.

http://sickmouthy.com/2013/07/03/holden-the-inheritors/

very intrigued to hear this! I love his Balance mix and various singles. His journey from progressive house to this more abstract style is pretty cool; his records just kept getting dirtier and more blown out. I remember one interview from years ago where he said his passion was really postrock/krautrock etc but iirc he just got sucked into dance music production and djjing with the success of his early singles (at least one of which he produced using only tracker software). It kind of bummed me out at the time, cuz i wanted him to keep doing like britney spears remixes and not "evolve" into some middlebrow idm-ish artist. But in hindsight who wouldn't want to hear him stretch out and get all abstract? dude does amazing sound design, i would listen to his multi dimensional sound sculptures in any style.

Holden and Thompson - "Horizon" (Dub Mix)

http://youtu.be/0UEgLJznJDc

Here's a spaced out scuzzed up "dub mix" he did of one of his early anthem-y singles.

this is a really great record ... psyche machine buzz music ... been cycling round in a muggy loop of overgrown suburban old railway lines listening to it all week ... delirious with it

"I did write 'Blackpool Late Eighties' in a hotel.I was flying back from the States and it snowed here so we got re-routed to Amsterdam and I was gutted because I don’t really like being away and I was really homesick. I went into Amsterdam and bought a big bag of weed, downloaded some free soft synths and made that track in the hotel room, off my tits. I tried to remake it using real instruments and it just never really worked, so the synth parts in that are from some free string synth I found"

That's the track that sounds like Pye Corner style hauntology.

oh this is gorgeous. it really is demanding i go on an isolated walk with it.

I cant work out why this isn't hitting as hard for me as it should..

either I've become so used to modular collapse techno (you can have that one for free) by spending evenings watching eurorack synth tutorials on youtube.

Or I just need that perfect gestalt moment of situation and soundtrack to unlock it for me. The Victoria line at 08:30 is pretty far from pastoral cycling as you can get.

even The Caterpillar's Intervention was a bit meh after the Zombie Zombie cover of rocket No.9, which is also synth + wild rhythm + Ettienne jazz sax.

will try an early morning walk in epping forest this weekend and see if that shifts anything.

^ I've got a slight feeling of this though admittedly that's from playing less than ideal youtube clips, while doing other things.

Yes, "situation" would make a difference.

Every time I listen to this on speakers it washes over me in a pleasant kind of way and then I listen on headphones and it sounds fucking amazing.

The whole thing is so expertly timed, he's got the ratio of work to payoff absolutely down.

It's pretty great. Enjoying this a lot. It's also gonna make me go back and revisit The Idiots Are Winning even though I know it's not really the same style.

In a year or two where a lot of the most interesting sounding stuff has come from these neo-industrial/post-punk influenced acts which sound great but can get a bit overwrought and silly in their "darkness"

what are some specific things you're talking about here, out of curiosity? like Blackest Ever Black / Wierd Records type bands? Factory Floor?

The more I listen to the Holden album the more I love it. 'Renata', 'The Inheritors' and 'Blackpool Late Eighties' in particular are amazing, but even in the more ambient bits there's still loads going on, the individual sounds never stay still, it's a really liquid album, constantly sloshing around and throwing up new shapes.

no comment dmr. Just generalizing. I generally genuinely like and in some cases love a lot of that stuff...but sometimes find it a bit overwhelming.

that's cool, not looking to make you diss something, I was curious what you considered "some of the most interesting sounding stuff." no biggie.

really just generalizing...I could say MOST of that stuff sounds cool to my ears in a way that is more interesting than straight boring minimal techno. The influence of all these post-punk textures or whatnot.

it was dumb of me to avoid "the inheritors". this is mostly pretty great.

Were you consciously avoiding it?

I was gonna bump this, having finally realised it was on Spotify under Holden (not James). I'd imagined it to be some kind of fantasy sweet spot between *cough* folktronica and border community white noise techno - and maybe it is. Perhaps less pastoral than I was expecting. Still digesting it, some of it is incredible - The Caterpillar's Intervention is like an utterly demented Penguin Cafe Orchestra. Some of the calmer stuff hasn't clicked for me yet though - Inter-City 125 sounds curiously like a cold, bloodless echo of its titular french counterpart's theme song (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x374ku_electrique-feat-solex-train-grande_music ).

i was consciously avoiding it, yes.

Why?

You do realise who you're asking here, right?

Anyway, because Holden's last album isn't very good? Because his previous work represents a furrow that's been done to death? I mean I didn't really anticipate a change of direction like this either and my first listen was more out of vague interest than actually expecting to enjoy it.

I have no idea who I'm asking, actually! A Wilco fan?

I hadn't heard The Idiots Are Winning before but I've listened to it now and The Inheritors doesn't sound like that much of a change of direction and departure; it's different, for sure, but it feels like a development rather than a reinvention. I like a lot of TIAW too, actually.

mattdc otm

couldn't bring myself to listen to "the idiots are winning" cos of the moronic and quintessentially british title.

Anyway, because Holden's last album isn't very good? Because his previous work represents a furrow that's been done to death?

kind of feel like this is only true if you're not really into this direction to begin with? all of the reviews or blurbs about this album emphasize how it's more cohesive as an album and not really sketches like the last "album" was

I thought "the idiots are winning" was a pretty lol Nathan Barley reference

I loved Sky Was Pink et al but couldn't really get into Idiots at the time, although I haven't gone back since.

Holden's basic melodic sense hasn't changed very much but in terms of instrumentation and approach it's completely different. I mean a lot of this was basically performed live.

I don't think you can really dispute the done-to-death thing though given that people like Bodzin were putting out entire albums of Sky Was Pink rips six years ago and Jon Hopkins is getting praise for doing much the same even now.

fair enough, I think I avoided most of that glut

They all sound pretty when they're on but an element of "do I need any more music like this?" is entirely understandable so credit to Holden for moving on, I mean it must be a bit embarrassing to him by now.

embarrassed about having propagated a wildly influential sound that people seemed to like

If you read current interviews with him, yes, very much.

I had not idea what Sky Was Pink was and hadn't heard anything the guy made until this record but have gone back and tried to make sense of his history. In recent interviews he's pretty disparaging about his own past.