Cate Le Bon - classic or dud

Support for the tour. Cate also said it was meant to be a solo tour, but then she got scared, hence Sweet Baboo accompanying her...

Just got back from seeing her, she played Waterfalls again. What an amazing voice she's got.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7VMVZ1GZZs

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/cate-le-bon-announces-new-lp-tour-listen-to-daylight-matters/

Cate Le Bon will release new album Reward on May 24 via Mexican Summer. “People hear the word ‘reward’ and they think that it’s a positive word” says Le Bon, “and to me it’s quite a sinister word in that it depends on the relationship between the giver and the receiver. I feel like it’s really indicative of the times we’re living in where words are used as slogans, and everything is slowly losing its meaning.” She worked with frequent collaborators Stella Mozgawa (Warpaint), H.Hawkline and co-producer Samur Khouja, and Reward was originally conceived as a spare piano record but grew beyond that. You can still hear those beginnings in lovely first single “Daylight Matters” — listen below.

new song is great

New album is fantastic.

Lots of clarinet and sax.

Anyone else loving the new one? Out today...

My preorder shipped today and I'm holding off listening until it arrives (which makes no sense as I listened to the three songs that had been released several times through yesterday). it's been too long with the Drinks diversion. Excited to be seeing her live twice this summer.

pleasant surprise to see this getting a bnm, i didn't know people were following this record that didn't post in the cate le bon thread on ilxor dot com

another pleasant surprise: this is another contender for my album of the year

she's been on a steady trajectory to greatness for a while

loved loved loved all the pre-release tracks, had a somewhat-attentive listen at work and appreciated it, but i'm gonna try it again on my commute home.

"you don't love me" is pretty perfect

https://www.discogs.com/Cate-Le-Bon-Reward/release/13650339

Pretty impressive cast of characters in the credits.

Always love her b-sides, btw. Cyrk II is great. Looking forward to Reward b-sides. I'm hoping she dropped the more angular guitar/avant POP on the cutting room floor so I have something else to look forward to.

I mean, yeah, I get it - another Gruff Rhys endorsed artist. Thought she was great on the first Neon Neon album, and the fact that the phenomenal Stella Mozgawa - one of my favourite drummers in indie right now - is on the new one is promising, but I've heard every single Cate le Bon album up until but not including this one, and none of them have made much of an impression on me sadly.

Seems like she's much more popular and critically acclaimed than Gruff's been post-SFA. Not sure it's fair to hold that against her.

Nor am I aware of any other artists who've had successful careers thanks to lovely Gruff.

new album is great, been a fan

zero idea she had anything to do w/SFA dude and I don't think that makes any difference in 2019

I didn't say another successful Gruff Rhys endorsed artist, and you're right - in 2019 it doesn't make any difference. It might have done in 2008, though.

Reward is neck and neck with the new Matmos for my favorite record of the year. Stunning album - a couple friends were singing her praises when Crab Day came out but I couldn't get into it, this on the other hand - my god...

she is something special

There isn't a weak song on here! Every song is great! fuck!

Playing a free show in LA tomorrow at the Getty

Posting here because she seems very Cate-adjacent to me, really loving the tracks released thus far from Dana Gavanski's album Yesterday is Gone coming March, 27th:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF_YXk6CO1E

(just posting the audio, the official video doesn't work for me (offbeat violent))

This song also has some Weyes Blood in the vocal.

She has a new EP out with Group Listening, some different versions of songs from Reward. it's good

mainly into the redo of "Magnificent Gestures", which was already one of my favorite tracks off of one of the best albums of last year. And an especially wicked track when she performed it live, hammering the riff for an extra couple minutes at the end

CLB's EPs are fascinating prisms of the albums proceeding. That she leaves material as strong as "The Eiggy Sea" and "Aside from Growing Old" off the main records in favor of more awkward and discordant stuff is fascinating. She's also had the Myths 004 EP with Bradford Cox in the last year, which does the tangled mucking of Drinks with better results. "What Is She Wearing" is a fine piece of Mark E Smith caustic laughs.

cate le bon has hit me right upside the head, out of nowhere.

her music is REALLY good! this has been a stroke of good fortune in 2020, and i am thankful

i just so happened to listen to "daylight matters" directly after listening to john cale's vintage violence, and there's a connection between the two.

Yes, for all the Nico comparisons in her early work, she's always reminded me far more of Cale, particularly her melodic ideas.

she rules, saw the Reward tour, great show

yes she is a great songwriter - same thing happened to me with the sudden headlong rush of realisation that she is incredible except it was the previous album thats sent me into into the spiral of obsession and backward through her catalog - the latest one only came across to me as 'good' - I guess I like her when she is more eccentric and lets her wilder and more spiky tendencies hang out alongside her beautiful melodies - reward seemed too restrained for me but I still love her all the same

She's great live. Rocks the hell outta the guitar. Blew my ear drums on the Mug Museum tour.

he latest one only came across to me as 'good' - I guess I like her when she is more eccentric and lets her wilder and more spiky tendencies hang out alongside her beautiful melodies - reward seemed too restrained for me but I still love her all the same

i wouldn't be surprised if i agree, in a few weeks! i've cycled back to the very beginning, working my way forward now

xp thought the same about hearing early cale in her music too recently

Over time I have gone off her a bit. I finally saw her live a couple of times and she is great there but I find her a bit patchy on record.

Same. Interest hit a high with Mug Museum and I loved that tour, but Crab Day and the newer one feel like she hit a wall.

I guess it's where you come in (also in the sense that you often jump on when the band takes a direction that catches your fancy)

I started with Reward and am much more into that than Mug Museum

this reminds me of le Bon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR7YaLr-J9E

I think Cyrk, Mug Museum, and Crab Day are all excellent - Mug Museum being the peak. Reward has its moments but does feel like a step down. It doesn't feel as off-center as the others. Also her work as part of Drinks is hit and miss too, so Crab Day is starting to feel a little further back in the rearview mirror. Still look forward to whatever she does next.

I love Me Oh My, thought Cyrk had its moments but also got a bit too guitar wanky, liked Crab Day a lot, and didn't really get anywhere with Reward. I think it might be relevant that I bought Crab Day after seeing her live - maybe if I had seen her touring Reward or Cyrk I would have loved those too.

Cyrk/Cyrk II have settled in as my favorites of hers, and maybe my favorite record of the 2010s. Each of the first three albums hit me right away. The Pere Ubuisms of Crab Day and the keyboard constructions of Reward put me off at first, but they grew. I think "Meet the Man" might be her greatest song yet, even.

I would assume this artist Accü is seriously influenced by her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONk8ZztrEyk

Dana Gavanski too, I’d guess

https://youtu.be/MPEgjKLh8bM

My taste in Cate is roughly the opposite of DV’s, I like her best at her most melodic and (maybe) stately. Reward’s probably my favourite; saw the London and Berlin Reward shows and the latter was amazingly good.

A live concert film (to nobody) of Cate Le Bon performing the album Reward, that I directed, with a lot of help for @FOVCardiff is now streaming on YouTube - heavily recommended songs - free to watch https://t.co/xaX5Mre8qL 📷@H_HAWKLINE pic.twitter.com/mDzEzPJCzd

— Gruff Rhys (@gruffingtonpost) March 24, 2021

oh hell yeah

cate le bon has hit me right upside the head, out of nowhere.

her music is REALLY good! this has been a stroke of good fortune in 2020, and i am thankful

― Karl Malone, Thursday, September 3, 2020 1:57 AM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

this just happened to me.

I'm old and never know what to listen to, it's so frustrating. But what a day.

which one are you listening to? i have been sitting in silence for about a week straight. i should probably listen to some tunes

lol, i ALWAYS FORGET she's the "are you with me now?" band.

I'm listening to Spotify random mix! Still listening! Still good!

it started with "Are You With Me Now" which is a stunner and which I have heard before but didn't know the artist

While Cyrk and Cyrk II remain my favorites, "Meet the Man" may be her greatest song yet. Hymn, existential lament, love ballad, warm and cold and odd and a comfort all at once.