Wild Beasts - Limbo Panto

After a few listens, the only weak track is "Pregnant Pause".

Daughters and Nature Boy are the only two that aren't clicking with me so far (after about five listens) Think I prefer the second half overall.

They did the latest FACT mix, which includes a Leonard Cohen cover: http://www.factmag.com/2014/02/24/fact-mix-427-wild-beasts/

Was going to give them a miss on this tour but it looks like they're being supported by These New Puritans on their Brighton date, so fuck yes I'm there.

Off 1.5 listens this is gorgeous & subtle & beautifully constructed kraut-romantic-electro-indie-pop, BUT it continues on almost exactly were Smother left off, to my ears; I'm hearing no great leaps in quality or paradigm shifts in approach. Which is absolutely fine, but that's the narrative that some are spinning. Which makes me think about the archetype-listening thing we were discussing the other day in regard to Aphex Twin. What do the press (and fans) want Wild Beasts to be? What do Wild Beasts want to be?

Smother (and Two Dancers) were massive slow-burn growers for me, so I'm happy to give this months to seep into my cerebellum.

My copy arrived last week so I’ve had the luxury of listening to it once a day since Thursday. I think it’s fantastic and it’ll surely be one of my most listened to albums throughout 2014.

I can understand someone feeling that it just picks up where ‘Smother’ finished but I don’t agree personally. Sure, they’ve developed a production aesthetic that seems to have been relatively consistent since Two Dancers and the drum sounds that were so important on the last album are almost identical on ‘Present Tense’. It might be those drums, which so often in isolation begin Wild Beasts songs, that contribute most to people feeling their stuff is a little samey. There’s a lot less guitars on the new one. In fact, I think it’s maybe not until the 3rd song that any guitars appear. The new one is definitely their most overtly electronic and, in time, I think that’s what will distinguish it from their past work. I recall reading something in an interview recently (which I can’t locate) where they suggested having a real reluctance to falling into a “sounds like Talk Talk/Blue Nile/Kate Bush” trap and becoming the critical darlings of aging Mojo readers. It’ll be interesting to see if ‘Present Tense’ has that type of impact and does propel them to new levels of acclaim as for me, initially anyway, it seems to contain some of their most and least accessible music.

Personally I’m happy with Wild Beasts sounding the way they do. Heck, I’d welcome ‘Smother Part 2’ but I’m not sure that’s what we’ve got here. Perhaps the (slight) change in direction was more perceptible between ‘Two Dancers’ and ‘Smother’ than the evolution shown on the new one.

They seem like a pretty reflective and articulate band and I’d be surprised if they don’t talk about this kind of stuff in interviews.

i think in one interview they said this sounded most like their debut..!

Bands seldom know what they actually sound like, ime.

I wish this sounded like their debut. As brilliant as Smother and Two Dancers Limbo is an a different league. It's such a unique album and just so much fun. I feel like they're taking themselves too seriously these days. I've played Past Tense ten times in the last week and some of the songs are just not sticking at all. As I mentioned on here already I was disappointed with Dancers and Smother when they came out but grew to love them very quickly. Hope it happens with the new one but at the moment it's easily their weakest for me. The synths sound a bit forced in places and it feels like adding more synths is the only thing they've really changed to their sound. Reading those interviews before the album came out I was expecting much more of a change in direction.

Yeah, I was too. I was expecting energised, not enervated. (Enervated is fine; I like a lot of soporific music.)

Surprised to see this has been their best reviewed album so far.

http://www.metacritic.com/person/wild-beasts

I wonder if they're 'suffering' from reputation lag, and being praised overly quickly for this album after Smother was such a grower? Assumption being that this will be a grower too.

Although 83-85-86 average over the last three albums is pretty damn consistent on a 100 point scale.

Guess they're just a band that can do no wrong now. They actually have a similar pattern to St. Vincent, although her new album has an even better score at the moment.

I'm with Kitchen Person - Limbo Panto is still better than what they've done since and I'm always sad they didn't do more in that vein. I'm baffled when critics treat it as an immature prologue to what they did next. Its precise formula of Kate Bush+Happy Mondays+Orange Juice is irresistible to me.

I listened to Limbo just the other day and it was just as much of a thrill as it was in 2008. I feel like it's more the band themselves that see it that way than the actual critics. They now only seem to play Devil's Crayon live from that album anymore. They seem to take themselves too seriously these days to remember that a lot of their fans love that album. Kind of reminds me of Elbow who seemed to give up playing anything from their first three albums (when they were actually kind of an interesting band) when they made it big with that fourth album. Thinking about it for a band that made a first album like Limbo Panto that had those influences you mentioned (add in some Sparks and Associates too) it's kind of sad they actually sound more like Elbow these days and are continuing down that Talk Talk route more and more with each album. Don't get me wrong Talk Talk are one of my favourite bands ever but it's just not that much of an original influence anymore or one I can get excited about. These New Puritans did it and even bloody Brett Anderson did it on one of his solo albums. Bring back the pomp I say.

What no one seems to remember / use from TT's later day period is the noise and catharsis of some of it; it's all very well doing beautiful, but there's some fucking thundering drums and gnarly guitar on SoE and LS that people are forgetting.

It actually took me ages to get round to listening to Talk Talk just because so much of the stuff that gets compared to them is really boring. I was shocked by the unboringness of TT when I did listen.

Bark Psychosis are about the only act who used the dynamics and noise of TT.

Yeah, it's amazing how many times Talk Talk are cited as an influence on something and I'm like "really? this?" Bon Iver being a recent-ish example.

What no one seems to remember / use from TT's later day period is the noise and catharsis of some of it; it's all very well doing beautiful, but there's some fucking thundering drums and gnarly guitar on SoE and LS that people are forgetting.

― the drummer is a monster (Scik Mouthy)

Yeah this is a good point about Talk Talk. I'd love some of that noise on Present Tense.

I'm trying to remember who were the best band to be compared to late Talk Talk. I've no idea what the reviews of Hex said at the time and if the band mentioned them as an influence. I think one of the earliest ones I remember is that first Doves album, which is still a better album than anything Elbow have put out.

I think These New Puritans have enough ugliness and noise in their music to justify it, especially Hidden.

I meant to say first band not best band by the way.

Ulver are the band who hit the most Talk Talk pleasure points for me now

Heads up UKers - this is 99p for the whole album on Google Play this weekend:

https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Wild_Beasts_Present_Tense?id=Bak64ujt7lkuebwyz2m7vrfd6iy

Can we remove the limbo panto bit from the thread title?

This B-side from the Wanderlust EP is probably as good, if not better, than anything on the actual album. Shame they left it out, though it's a bit more electronic in feel than anything they've ever done so I understand why they relegated it to B-side status. I'd love to get a whole album of this kind of material though. It kinda reminds me a bit of that Jon Hopkins album from last year and I know Hayden has collaborated with him so I wonder if their meeting rubbed off on him to result in this song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sA6hBn4UBw

They've got a good crop of b-sides, actually. Thankless Thing is wonderful.

Agreed. "Stray" is good too.

'Through the Iron Gate' and 'Catherine Wheel' are big favorites of mines as well. I was going to make up a Wild Beasts B-Sides CD-R recently in fact but wanted to hold off until I could get 'Byzantine' to add.

Anyone else heard the Factory Floor and Field remixes of Wanderlust?

Junior Boys remix/cover of 'Fun Powder Plot' is brilliant as well. Better than the original? Probably scandalous to suggest that but it's not far of.

just saw them live and they were great, and wanderlust and sweet spot were two highlights of the night

This new LP is dope maybe even if you're not an indie fuxx0r.

they've really scaled up the Kate Bush influence though - "Mecca" in partic is straight up Dreaming era material

I like the way the first half kind of plays like an ambient record and then... Things get more kinetic? It's backloaded nicely. Never heard these guys, before. I'm gonna have to check out their earlier stuff huh.

I am not usually a fan of remixes but this is really terrific:

https://soundcloud.com/dominorecordco/wild-beasts-a-simple

http://devonrecordclub.com/2014/04/05/wild-beasts-present-tense-round-64-nicks-choice/

I even like "Pregnant Pause" now.

no clue who this remixer is, but i'm feeling this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EeInXpAcfY

always like that shuffley shit

So the Beasts released "Mecca" as a single with a couple of remixes by Sohn and Juan Atkins. They're ok but not as impressive as the "Simple Beautiful Truth" remixes.

They came to Seoul last night, finally giving me an opportunity to catch their live show. Fantastic performance, front-loaded with new stuff.

While pondering when their next album will appear, I found they've released some more remixes including these:

https://soundcloud.com/dominorecordco/wild-beasts-palace-foals-remix
https://soundcloud.com/stevemoore2600/wild-beasts-palace-steve-moore-remix
https://soundcloud.com/dominorecordco/wild-beasts-woebegone-wanderers-ii

Is there an argument to be made that they are NOT the best band of the last ten years? They are better than basically any band you can compare them to, past or present.

I love them to bits but some idiot bit of my brain says that can't possibly be the case. Then again, I can't think of anyone comparable who's any better.

https://youtu.be/8nkdZhFzglA

Album 'Boy King' out 5th August 2016!

Wasn't at all sure about this new song at first, but it's growing on me ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nkdZhFzglA

not sure i can face another disappointing Wild Beasts album. first album was incredible but they got steadily less interesting and the whole thing seemed to fall off a cliff after Smother. came across the very first 2 EPs/demos recently and loved those.

^ Agree with this. Totally mystifying the direction they took after the first record.

Yeah, I agree with that too. Limbo Panto is still my favourite of their albums. I loved the direction they took on Two Dancers but they've not developed since. I liked Smother a lot when it came out but the last time I listened to it, it didn't do that much for me. I was baffled by the great reaction Present Tense got. There was nothing interesting about it at all. I couldn't believe it was the first of their albums to make the ILM end of year albums list.

Get My Bang doesn't seem to go anywhere. This is the first time I have no real interest in one of their albums. I still wish they'd bring back the pomp and charm of Limbo Panto.

am in the same camp as the last 3 posts. currently trending on uk twitter, didn't realise that many people gave a shit tbh. happy for them but eh whatevs