A Thread For School of Seven Bells Love!

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.

Seeing them again Monday! And I specifically told my bunch we have to show up early for Warpaint based on yr recommendation, Kate.

So jealous you get to see Warpaint! Wondering what they sound like live, if they keep that spooky Slumber Party vibe going.

ARGH, you get Phantogram as well who are my new favourites, as well. Do let me know what it's like.

Ha this is sounding better and better. Thanks!

Did you miss the thread about Phantogram? You might like them. They're shoe-tronica in the same sort of vibe as Telepathe. That is gonna be one amazing line-up.

ooh i shall bear that ica gig in mind...

Thinking about hitting up the Austin show tonight...

Since I was quoted at the head comparing SOVIIB to A Sunny Day in Glasgow, I should mention briefly that the new ASDIG, Ashes Grammar, drops much of their prior lo-fi noise to arrive a destination not too dissimilar from Alpinisms (they're definitely excavating similar veins of the dream-pop mine). It also seems like ASDIG has been listening to a good deal of Juliana Berwick, though virtual choruses are not unexpected with cut-n-paste vocals. I've only heard it through once, but thought others might be intrigued enough to sample it at lala.com.

Is that new ASDIG record out yet?

short answer: yes, and it's on iTunes. RESULT.

not into the new ASDIG

but it did make me break out the SOSB record again!

Surely you mean 'not digging ASDIG'

our own dearly departed Fluffy Bear just turned me onto School of Seven Bells this week; pretty cool stuff I intend to investigate further

theyre playing the paradise in like 3 weeks fyi

I'm enjoying the new ASDIG so far, but then again I have almost infinite capacity for that sort of looped ethereal girl singer thing. It's a bit less melodic and a bit more droning than the last one, but hey, I'm a dirty dronerock girl and not Geir, you know.

however, if you live anywhere near any of those tourdates above ^^^^ GO AND SEE SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS. They're even better live than they are on record.

What Kate said, it's v much another level live, so if you like the studio stuff, Dan, definitely go to the Boston show.

FB said the same

Dan, seriously - if you don't like the show, I will personally refund yr cash via paypal. They're one of the best bands I've seen in years.

Also, if you don't wear earplugs, you are insane. LOUD band.

i just want to stare at claudia

daylight's for the birds used to share a rehearsal space with my old band so i used to see her a lot. no more :(

Claudia's lovely. I have a girl-crush on her myself. Hell, I have a crush on ALL of them.

Been completely KILLING it tonight.

have they learned how to pronounce "cabal" yet

The evening summarized:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2422/3986766606_38c36ef6af.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3468/3986022421_31462deb7b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2557/3986784906_e09ae6e6de.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3431/3986029737_11d1eff215.jpg

Have I mentioned how FREAKING JEALOUS I am of you?

What a killer bill.

It was pretty great! I am now sort of awake.

Photos

Blog post

Yay.

Glad to see Warpaint getting some love around here. We were one of the openers for them last year and are just terrific live.

Speaking of Warpaint, I see on iTunes that their mini-album came out this week! Hurrah! d/l-ing now.

A report from the field:

School of Seven Bells show a couple hours ago was holyshitamazing. I've caught their show 2 or 3 times before and it was great, yes, but went into tonight's thing expecting more of the same. So they were 30 min late to the stage... "My Cabal" came and went as song #1, it was enjoyable and sounded great (glad that long soundcheck was put to good use). So that was that; I was expecting them to breeze through "Fast Asleep," "Disguise," "Connjur" and the rest on autopilot, pretty but predictable.

Nope. Song 2 was brand new, same with 3, 4, 5... All a BIG progression from Alpinisms, waaaayyy wayy better (and I say this with Alpinisms being one of my most played, and favorite, albums of the past few years).

The new songs are more confident, less fleeting and the vocal interplay has been really pushed forward. They still do the dual vocals thing but I dare say it's improved, been spotlighted at the front of each song, more complex harmonies, just absolutely gorgeous. Meanwhile Ben Curtis has gone more in a Kevin Shields direction, guitar parts less Cocteau ambient-wash, more muscular, straight out of Medicine's "5ive" or "Aruca" era stuff, blasts of feedback stabbing between Spector-y vocal harmonies. Song tempos are all faster, easier to dance to; they've kept the drum machine but added a live fourth member who compliments it well. First new song had me floored, almost at tears, just incredibly beautiful and absolutely the right direction for their sound to go next.

Watch out... This new album is really gonna be something to fuck with.

― I just wish he hadn't adopted the "ilxor" moniker (ilxor), Friday, March 19, 2010 9:54 PM

OK that made my evening.

man that just sounds fantastic. I've never seen these guys live, but after reading this & Ned's blog post (linked to above), I will certainly go out of my way to, given the opportunity.

alpinisms continues to be vastly rewarding.

The new live drummer was great, btw; he let the drum machine hold its own, didn't overdo it with the drum fills or go Bonham all on that shit. Not sure if it's been noted here on ILM, or elsewhere (or everywhere) but the thing that kills the Secret Machines live show is their hulking gorilla of a drummer who just pounds the fucking shit outta his skins without any hint of subtlety, skill or texture; it's depressing. I was really worried when the SVIIB live drummer sat down that this was gonna be the same thing, given the Curtis connection to Secret Machines, but I'm pleased to say the drummer made the songs sound "bigger" while letting the drum machine do its thing appropriately. Same style, but a bit more stadium-sized now. And that's fine with me; these guys deserve to be huge, and the new drummer gives the songs some rhythmic muscle that will be needed as they move on to bigger venues.

Huh, I thought the Secret Machines drummer guy was the other reason everyone listened to the band in the first place (the first reason being Ben of course).

Ned OTM x10.

OMG this excites me in ways I can't even begin to express!