HAIM

I'm pretty sure VW fans know the Mac hits but not enough to buy an album or download them -- as with most people with bands that are omnipresent on radio, satellite or otherwise. Like the Eagles!

yeah uh duh, hence "has ever played a single Mac song of their own volition"

i had the exact same experience as rev ("oh that song is Fleetwood Mac?") when i started listening to mac lp's, had never put on mac but as soon as i heard the albums was stunned at how many lifelong jams were on them

remember midlake getting a lot of mac comparisons like 7 years ago, then the last(?) rilo kiley record too. superficial comparisons tbh but seems like they have been an "influence" on indie bands for a while

here's good inspiration for haim

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1YUw0gmvRE

and vampire weekend could do a good cover of this

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

remember midlake getting a lot of mac comparisons like 7 years ago, then the last(?) rilo kiley record too. superficial comparisons tbh but seems like they have been an "influence" on indie bands for a while

― buzza, Monday, October 7, 2013 1:38 AM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah Midlake were what I was thinking about upthread when I was saying that FM revival can mean a lot of different things.

"Roscoe" sounds like it draws from their seventies work on both sides of the divide - Future Games through to Tusk basically, with nothing afterwards.

Whereas to the extent that Haim resemble FM the resemblance starts with Tusk and then encompasses Mirage and Tango.

When viewed within the context of the broader revivalist sound that the two acts are going for they may as well be referencing different bands.

err, can we just talk about 'vdubs' please

Just saw them; the short set list was the same as their UK appearances - the singles, none of the R&B leaning album tracks, and the drum-circle set piece finale.

Este has a second calling in standup and is a really tight bassist, "bass face" may be a self-conscious tic by now; Danielle is reticent, has a command of a stuttering S. Nicks register voice, and clearly enjoys the rockout sections more than the verses; and Alana is at the moment bit shadowed in the multi-instrumentalist role. Ie, if you've seen a couple of interviews, their onstage dynamic will seem familiar.

The FM comparisons are really down to the palm muted guitar and breakup lyrics, right? I came to FM long after their heyday, but I buy into FM's dramas, with its cornerwise glances from spurned spouses, kooky witch romanticism, and all. I don't buy into Haim sharing similar dramas - maybe its the line-less faces and sibling haircuts, but it still feels like mockups rather than lived mistakes.

The hooks and energy are all there, they could play up their Bangles/B-52s leanings to good effect.

Not a slight to Haim, but when you realise how much certain songs echo other famous pop songs from 1986/7 it's hard not to 'unhear'. The Wire takes a lot of cues from When The Going Gets Tough. Falling has more than a passing similarity to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. There's another track which is prime Graceland-era Paul Simon. I don't mind though as for me it's no different from Daft Punk's wholesale sampling of 70s funk and soul tracks for Discovery.

Too lazy to search right now, has anyone invoked Chrissy Hynde in relation to the lead vocals?

yeah i think that came up once or twice

Chrissy Hynde

did it again for good measure.

80's

Falling has more than a passing similarity to Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

I find the mood and the effect of the songs too different to be concerned. Maybe I'm forgetting what Girls Just Wanna Have Fun sounds like but I'm not in the mood to listen to it.

If anything I keep hearing Falling as Bryan Ferry + Aerial-era Kate Bush. But maybe it's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun as done by BF & KB?

honestly I don't hear any kate bush (or destiny's child!) in this at all, it's actually baffling to me

That's the trick, Rudipherous. The shouted-out "FALLING!" backing motif sounds just like "They just WANNA, they JUST WANNA-aaa" from GJWHF but it's been completely repackaged and contextualised. It's a neat trick that makes the song instantly and naggingly familiar without sounding like a complete rip-off. Tom Waits does something similar with Christmas carols. It's not a new trick, but it's a clever one.

The only straight Kate rip I hear is in some of the backing vocals on "Go Slow", which are very "This Woman's Work"-y.

That's the trick, Rudipherous. The shouted-out "FALLING!" backing motif sounds just like "They just WANNA, they JUST WANNA-aaa" from GJWHF but it's been completely repackaged and contextualised. It's a neat trick that makes the song instantly and naggingly familiar without sounding like a complete rip-off. Tom Waits does something similar with Christmas carols. It's not a new trick, but it's a clever one.

this is an incredible stretch

tipsy motha's Thompson Twins-sound analogy is a good one; it reminds me that we – I include myself – spent an awful lot of time comparing female bands to each other.

(continuing from my previous post) You can use the same logic to say that "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" has more than a passing similarity to "Salt Peanuts".

I am being misleading about how much KB I hear in Falling. The part of Falling that specifically reminds me of (Aerial era) Kate Bush is really just the "Never look back, never give up" part toward the end.

The drums on Falling are pretty Hounds of Love.

The other thing about Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is that for me it's totally dominated by Cyndi Lauper's vocals (which have no analog at all in Falling). But people do cover Cyndi Lauper's songs (though this one isn't one of the more popular ones for covers is it?) so there must be a song beneath the actual performance. So I am listening to it now after all and I sometimes forget how much I like Cyndi Lauper. The comparison between this and Falling seems like even more of a stretch now.

I hear so many different "influences" in Haim that I might as well hear nothing. Take Wilson Phillips' "Hold On:" what does that song sound like? Who does it remind me of? I would never describe it as original, but I can't root it to any obvious influences.The Bangles? Kate Bush? Phil Collins? It's just a good pop song. Haim, the references are a lot more specific, or at least identifiable, but I'm not hearing anything terribly obvious, just general, like much pop music.

Actually I have to modify what I said. I think the vocal delivery and the melody at 1:44 (which comes back around again) of Falling sounds very (Aerial era) Kate Bush.

it reminds me that we – I include myself – spent an awful lot of time comparing female bands to each other.

I wonder how much of this actually comes down to the importance most of us give to vocals.

Speaking of the female artist comparison kitchen sink, if anything the shout at the very beginning of Falling has more of a clipped Siouxsie Sioux sound to it, but I'm not sure I say it.

shhh you'll piss off J-Ro!

I think I've noted this before, but there are a bunch of acts, male and female, that cite Kate Bush as influences, but only female acts get compared to Kate Bush. Same with Siouxsie Sioux, come to think of it.

I was just trying to think of who the singer reminded me of; I don't know The Pretenders well enough to say Haim actually sounds like them as a band.

But people do cover Cyndi Lauper's songs (though this one isn't one of the more popular ones for covers is it?)

There's a sensitive acoustic reading that's becoming a staple I think (disease vector is maybe Gregg Laswell -> Glee judging from Wikipedia?) - the auditions for current series of UK X Factor had more than one sensitive acoustic Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (& sensitive acoustic I Wanna Dance With Somebody.)

Really enjoying the album, stuff I wasn't sold on before sounds tremendous (Falling especially).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sop-ztb4S-E

"I hear so many different "influences" in Haim that I might as well hear nothing."

yeah, i think they are better at evoking things than actually sounding like anything in particular.

I fele like people do voer "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" it's just that it doesn't covered as much as Time After Time and True Colors do.

to me they just sound like a current band that likes a lot of the same stuff that other current bands like. and they probably listen to vampire weekend and remind me more of them than anyone else. and i like their tribal drum battle at the end of that live show i watched and it reminded me of how much i really didn't like tUnEYaRdZ.

I feel like this record could have used some orchestra hits

I feel like this record could have used some orchestra hits

There are some I forget what songs tho. ("My Song 5"?)

I definitely hear Fleetwood Mac's "Family Man" in the intro to "Forever."

Jesca Hoop! that's who i was trying to think of. she did the kate bush thing pretty good on some tracks.

DJP, I'm a little surprised you think so highly of the singer. This band scans to me as pretty decent Urban Outfitters-ish music that don't quite have the vocal chops or lead-singer charisma to pull off the polished style they're attempting to inhabit. (The music/production ain't quite Buckingham-level either.) There's something about them that feels like karaoke to me (is she a touch *flat* in her intonation, like just a hair?), but I need to tease that out further. If they were an '80s metal band they'd be one of the lesser lights on one of those "THRASH METAL ARMAGEDDON"-style comps. Of course, if you're way into thrash then all those bands are interesting even if they're not Slayer or Megadeth or Testament or whatever.

cosign the mention of hynde; I keep thinking of back on the chain gang when I listen to these guys

"that don't quite have the vocal chops or lead-singer charisma to pull off the polished style they're attempting to inhabit."

welcome to american indie rock. where you been?

think they are okay vocally though. better than some. amateurish at times but they have some personality. quirkiness. tricks. tics.

vocals not lacking in chops at all imo. show me a slicker 2013 album

also i definitely don't think there's any relying on amateurishness as an artistic quirk going on here

didn't say that. said the vocals sounded amateurish at times (in an indie way, so, really just kinda par for the course) but that they had personality which manifested itself in quirks/tics/tricks. they do stuff with the lyrics. vocally. its not some flat recitation. which i dig.

"welcome to american indie rock. where you been?"

Funny you should bring up Dinosaur Jr... Seriously, though: subpar vocalist put to good use in dynamic and "sloppy" music vs. subpar vocalist in band attempting to play shiny '80s-indebted pop/rock. One works for me and the other doesn't... As much as I try to deny it, I'm a bit of a Carduccian at heart. But I do have plenty of time for this sound when I think it's beautifully and convincingly done.

x-post - flopson, I don't think there's an attempt to use the amateurishness as quirk either, and thank Christ for that. It just doesn't quite cut it for me. It's just... flat.

Haha, "flat"... Not a flat recitation, but the overall performance falls a bit flat.

steely dan

I can't wait to listen to this record