HAIM

Yeah, the production is wonderful. So many details that keep me coming back, although it's weird how different the live sound is - The Wire is one of the only songs that bridges the gap.

I think the Fleetwood Mac-isms are pretty overstated by just about everyone. Not every tightly produced 80s pop/rock single was by Mac, and Haim definitely stand apart from the nostalgia hordes in 2013. I just think people don't know how to deal with new sounds anymore, especially inside familiar genres, because it doesn't happen often.

Eh, I think my respect for the Mac-isms goes deeper than facsimile. That is, this sounds like Fleetwood Mac without sounding just like Fleetwood Mac. It captures a similar vibe and attention to detail as '80s Mac. But I agree that there's a freshness and excitement to this that transcends trends. Like, I sometimes get a certain Tegan and Sara vibe from this, too, but it's just so much more easygoing than that stuff, which (lately) sticks to a particularly contemporary radio vibe. HAIM is sort of like had someone described a lot of bands to this talented group or musicians without actually playing them the music, leaving them to imagine how it sounds.

Who did produce this, the band?

Hmm, Ariel Rechtshaid. His credits are slick but diverse enough that he proved a pretty sympathetic producer! But, wow, it really could have gone any direction. I credit the band for being too awesome to ruin.

'My Song 5' is useless toss though. Not sure what possessed them to include that. Ten songs is enough.

At 2.35 on Forever there's a weird thing where the bass is pitched down for a sec, but the tempo reduces too, like a sample being played back slower. It's distracting to my ears.

xp I think band that was overly concerned about Fleetwood Mac comparisons would not have covered two Fleetwood Mac songs (Oh Well and Hold Me)

THIS ALBUM IS THE FUCKING BIZNESS

Getting a bit of a Paul Simon vibe off Honey & I.

On first listen I thought there was a big gulf in quality between the singles and (most of) the rest of the album but now I'm not so sure. They're really fucking good at doing the last minute of a pop song, all those crescendos and interweaving harmonies.

I'm on my fourth consecutive listen. Can't remember the last time I played an album this many times in a row.

i note that ILX faves Better Off and Send Me Down are both on the 'deluxe edition' along with a bunch of remixes, although bizarrely not the Lindstrom remix of Forever.

http://store.universal-music.co.uk/restofworld/artists/haim/icat/haim

The Lindstrom mix wasn't even on the 10" vinyl - it gets no love from Haim for some weird reason.

the psychmagik remix is so freakin good

tomorrow:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039x7n4

"HAIM pick the music, taking control of Radio 1 with their Super Sweet Bat Mitzvah playlist!"

did anyone mention on this thread how they rip off prince when you were mine in parts of "forever"? so maybe they are analagous to story of stevie nicks pulling over to side of road after hearing little red corv and then writing stand back but replace her with christine mcvie soundalike and when your were/forever

has unperson weighed in yet

don't save me and forever are still their only great songs for me. maybe the album will kick in shortly

Can't wait to hear this.

perfectly sweet album (sweetly perfect more like perhaps) but i can't say i'm really finding anywhere to connect with it. just kinda seem like savages for not-savages at the end of the day

Not hearing the "Forever"/"When You Were Mine" connect. They're both pop songs with chugging new wave guitars but beyond that...?

days are gone days are gone oh!

that song is so good

not sure what i think of the latin freestyle/lisa lisa and cult jam-like touches. more than touches, really. all over the title track. not opposed to this in principle, but it really breaks up the album in a distracting way.

solution: just put that song on repeat for long periods of time :)

kind of wish I had two brothers I could start a Haim tribute band with :(

just kinda seem like savages for not-savages at the end of the day

― r|t|c, Tuesday, September 17, 2013 8:46 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what does this even mean

really

Based on two listens on the bus today, this album is really good but the song with the dubstep bass stops it from being great. I don't get much of an r&b vibe - 80s or contemporary - from this at all, it reminds me more of those El Perro Del Mar/Taken By Trees albums produced by the guys from Studio.

xp i guess you are trying to say you don't connect with either haim or savages? i just don't see how they are comparable groups

other than they have wymmyn with guitars in

Enjoying the new tracks on the album immensely but really every time "the wire" comes on I have to put it on repeat.

i heard "the wire" on an actual american commercial radio station this morning.

what kind of station? alt rock? top 40?

I don't get much of an r&b vibe - 80s or contemporary - from this at all

I get more r&b from some of the new songs, "If I Could Change Your Mind"/"Days Are Gone"/"My Song 5" specifically, than any of the old songs.

alt rock station

this so great. not sure why i waited on listening to it. i think i got some fatigue from the trickle of songs and 'the wire' didn't make me as excited as 'don't save me' or 'falling' but this is really really good stuff.

except the wire is hitting hard now. is the album version different from whatever i originally hard?

the version at the top of the thread sounds v much like a demo compared to the album version

I get more r&b from some of the new songs, "If I Could Change Your Mind"/"Days Are Gone"/"My Song 5" specifically, than any of the old songs.

My Song 5 is terrible because you get the sense that they actually believed all that nonsense about them being Fleetwood Mac-meets-R&B or whatever and tried to write an obviously R&B-influenced song. Only problem is that both they and their producer are really bad at it, the whole thing is clumsy and just doesn't work.

"Honey I" is a nice take on "Sweet Jane"-isms.

love my song 5 and all the production on this across the board, dunno what y'all on about

"Honey I" is a nice take on "Sweet Jane"-isms.

And, of course, Fleetwood Mac, not least, um, a bit of "Honey Hi."

Also, there's tons of R&B to this. It's like an awesome fusion of Fleetwood Mac and Teena Marie.

Based on two listens on the bus today, this album is really good but the song with the dubstep bass stops it from being great. I don't get much of an r&b vibe - 80s or contemporary - from this at all, it reminds me more of those El Perro Del Mar/Taken By Trees albums produced by the guys from Studio.

― boxedjoy, Wednesday, September 18, 2013 1:19 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

maybe, but the vocals on the title track are pretty obviously influenced by 80s R&B. teena marie might be a good reference point, but I hear a lot of latin freestyle type stuff. like real commercial freestyle. lisa lisa. maybe even martika or something.

yeah and "my song 5" seems like a failure to me

"My Song 5" keeps reminding me of Dirty Projectors' "Stillness in the Move".

Speaking of hamfisted attempts at R&B homage...

I hear a lot of latin freestyle type stuff.

Oh totally. These guys would do an awesome Nu Shooz or Pretty Poison. I mean, holy shit, this is basically Haim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omx7u0ZWUAY

An "I Can't Wait" cover would be a good look for them.

omg

Stevie Nicks' "I Can't Wait," he means.

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