Richard Dawson (raucous experimental UK folk racket w/ intense picaresque realness vox)

Cambridge gig tonight was so good. I've been ill for a few days and thought about not going but reading this thread convinced me - thanks guys! Highlights included stories about his cat, Poor Old Horse, when his guitar string broke halfway through The Vile Stuff and he ended up singing "In Dreams" instead with audience participation.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8654/16555073335_29d5b781a3_z.jpg

seandalai i had no idea he was playing cambridge. damn!

Joseph an 84/100 in carpentry? ridiculous.

Saw him last night at Bethnal Green WMC. cannot remember being transfixed like that in an age. ghost of a tree…

woah just announced playing in bristol next month with eek and islam chipsy

fuck fuck fuck are tickets on sale?

yep, just £10
http://musicglue.com/qu-junktions/events/12-dec-15-islam-chipsy--eek--richard-dawson--kit-wilmans-fegradoe--dave-howell-dj-arnolfini/

damn bit all to hell I can't go.... aaaaargh!!!

http://thequietus.com/articles/22164-new-richard-dawson

so this is going to be the best album of the decade, then

i don't like the new song as much as the stuff on the previous album, but i do like it.

and he's playing bristol with a full band soon! whoop!

I just listened to it for the first time while walking through an abandoned rural village in blazing sunshine and now I am Woden himself

New sound is maybe a bit like if you took the old sound and added North Sea Radio Orchestra. It is deep imago.

his guitar style seems to have mellowed a tad though..

Maybe for this song, but those background sonics, especially during the climax, my god...if that's mellowing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfaW-yD7DoA&

simpler times

It's too much. I'm extremely emotional

love this.

now for a rewatch of Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending.

http://thequietus.com/articles/22157-richard-dawson-peasant-interview-michael-hann

....aaaand the record was inspired by Hard To Be A God. Of COURSE :D

Wonderful interview - by one of ILX's own

been in my head all weekend

yep

this new song came up on Spotify, sounds a bit like peter hammill

Spent a big part of the weekend listening to Peasant. A real mind-boggler, album of the year contender for me.

I am excited & very ready for this

this is better than i had dared hope

at some point during 'prostitute' the distinct sensation of music being broken and remade settled over me

Haha Richard Dawson's retweet of you has just hit my timeline.

It was a like, not a retweet! Twitter has begun timelining likes haha

Waiting on mine from Norman but I have a couple of ordered in items before they ship.

Definitely going to buy this as well but I couldn't wait to hear it

everyone kindly stop talking about the sodding arcade fire and start talking about this pls

Regarding Dawson's guitar playing. Most of the time it's *reasonably* conventional. Relying often on the classic alternating bass thumb etc. I've barely heard Bailey or Orcutt but I'd imagine they are less structured

now for a rewatch of Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending.

Was about to say the guitar playing reminds me a bit of some Incredible String Band tracks, something like "White Bird" perhaps.

He also plays a travel guitar with a short scale and strings downtuned, which gives him loads of string buzz

So even when he's playing deft little melodies, it can sound slightly "wrong"

this is quite a record. slicker & tighter with the band backing, frequently too camp and overripe for my taste, but it concentrates the power and he is undeniably at the top of his game. the way he rips through shapeshifter is amazing

digging 'ogre'

while Ogre is astounding I hope you have since moved onto digging all of it, even the overripe bits (i.e. Masseuse, which was the only one I was unsure about but which has since settled nicely into my head for ever more)

let's pick up some floating Talk Talk enthusiasts (the ambient background sussurations and blurts here are as good as any on TT's last two records)

saw him in leeds on friday, slower & more dramatic than on the record & got so much heavier and fierce which sold me on tracks I hadn't been as keen on - scientist - and the likes of ogre & the vile stuff were overwhelming & awesome. just as charming & funny as I'd expected (& ofc everyone slightly giddy post election), he sang a mike waterson track a cappella & opened with the parents address to his firstborn song (the first RD track I loved), so he couldn't really have won me over any more (well I could have really gone for poor old horse but I need something to look fwd to next time). I've been discovering the magic bridge over the past few weeks too, which is a gorgeous album & right up my street

a good friend of mine turned me onto Richard Dawson's music a couple weeks ago. he played me "Ogre" and then some 20 minute solo guitar & voice piece. didn't listen to him again for a week and then the end "Ogre" got stuck in my head one night ("when the sun is dying") so i got Peasant and it's amazing. makes XTC look like the MC5.

seeing him in 2 days, couldn't be more excited

if this isn't album of the year then...someone else will have made a seriously great album

There's no such thing as 'album of the year'.

being alone is

this is definitely one of the best things i've heard this year, Beggar especially is fantastic

*my* album of the year ffs

Saw him on Saturday and I'm not convinced the full band works if I'm honest. Still tremendous though.

Can't remember the order but Scientist/Prostitute/Soldier/Weaver plus a version of The Cruel Ship's Carpenter in there somewhere, then closing with Ogre and The Vile Stuff.

Chat involved a fake electrocution, how John broke his guitar (but Richard wasn't going to make a big deal out it even though John broke his guitar), texts from Richard's dad and something about cats I don't remember.

has he toured the USA? would love to see him live this year

Yeah Im loving this. Some wyrd "A Field in England" vibes on some tracks. "Soldier" is one the best songs I've heard this year

soldier has such a comfortably-worn plodding weariness to it. played it v differently live, snarled and shouted his way through it. in general I thought he pulled the more progge elements off better live when the intensity of his performance could bear them better