black midi - anyone been tracking these?

also a new indie rock band with a great drummer godz be praised

fucking awful

^^ wrong

that video ufo posted above may be more your speed imago. if you dig stuff like James Ferraro that is.

actual black midi is cool yes

this band is watered-down trendy jank with zero songwriting instinct and the worst vocals ever

not at all sure what trendy jank means but this sounds pretty good to me 1 and a half of a go in. Bought it on a whim at the weekend and it's intriguing. The vocals don't irritate me - I can't quite place what he reminds me of - a subdued Ozzy? Dunno.

Is it the posh school they ended up at that annoys, imago, or the wall to wall press (inc. the Telegraph, I've seen). There were vv many copies in the Rough Trade shop. It's not true there aren't songs. Anyway, I'm gonna keep listening.

ok the vocals are now totally different

From an email chain with a friend who discovered them today

"The vocalist sounds at times like a mix of Johnny Rotten + Scott Thompson doing his Queen Elizabeth character in the Kids in the Hall. "

sometimes get a Deerhoof vibe, they are so young through who knows if they even know Deerhoof

lol I already posted that

i was getting a kinda m.e.s. / ian curtis vibe from the singer, like arch and derisive about the whole enterprise of singing but nevertheless doing it, filling in the spaces with words, because he doesn't know what else to do there yet. which is fine i guess for a young band—would prefer some development there but they jam pretty hard so whatevs.

fucking awful

Then it's no 'moloch with strings', an epithet that may only be applied to a decadent, mildly Orientalist tone poem.

this band would be at home on skin graft & I am into that vibe

^^^^^^^

But also there's more going on and that's what impresses me most about the LP.

this is not particularly my thing, nor do I love the vocals, but at least they're bad vocals with obvious effort applied, instead of the standard indie arrangement of bad vocals with obviously zero effort applied

also, I don't get "derisive about the whole enterprise of singing" at all -- I could be wrong on this but the vocalist, to my ears, is clearly trained, and if anything might be too into the enterprise of singing, very showboaty about it

I think I'm talking myself into really liking this

xxxpost Skin Graft is a good call

xp haha katherine that's fair, i guess i'm put in mind of something like, and i don't mean to taint them with an association here, but like zappa where if they could have their way they'd just as well not have singing. but since they gotta have it, sure, maybe they could still try to do it.

ol GEORDIE GRUMPS or whatever his name is

the vocals give the whole thing a weird Gabriel-era Genesis vibe to me, very much *performance*, and lend it this unsettling, uneasy edge. And also like an evil David Byrne. But again, what I also like is it has a lot of gears to it - the switch from that first track, which is musically like some dirge-metal with tricksy Skin Graft rhythms and Mogwai weight, slips into that minimalist, Krautrock, tense second track is really inspired. And each track has Something Going On, it's not just another excursion in the same vein. I'm really impressed. And bummed that I manage to miss every single show they play, even when they're literally only several roads away.

hey this doesn't suck

Anyone have the ILM scoop on how they went from zero to super-hyped so quickly? Was it just Youtube virality, and that they're babies? They're a good band (helped hugely by an amazing drummer) but I can't help but think that if they were from Milwaukee nobody would be talking about them.

It's not really my thing, but I will probably go see their free campus show here next month, since I'm sure that if/when they come around after that it will be in a bigger and more expensive venue.

being from England never hurt

does BRIT school do PR lessons?

coming out of there practically IS pr now, i think?

BRIT school

Ohhhh, say no more

I wondered the same thing Jordan. They have 1700 ratings on RYM and are up to #4 on the 2019 chart, I have no idea how or why but it's kinda cool

it's just the novelty factor....a good rock band from England 😎

Been listening to some of this on Youtube and why haven't This Heat been mentioned on this thread yet?

but I can't help but think that if they were from Milwaukee nobody would be talking about them

*cough* Dead Rider *cough* DEAD RIDER *cough*

I haven't heard this band btw, just some headz I know drew some comparisons to Dead Rider...a band seemingly no one cares about, even though they are on DRAG CITY!

And are the best currently extant "rock music" band, ok sorry please continue with this thread where English people all think they invented the wheel or whatevs

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it all Americans praising this band itt? The one definitely English person who's posted said, and I quote, "fucking awful"?

I retract my previous statement and resubmit as:

"this thread for Americans acting like English people invented the wheel or whatevs"

chris, are you a better judge of music than you are conversations?

tho i am totally going to check out dead rider now

chris, are you a better judge of music than you are conversations?

― Like A Turrican (stevie), Wednesday, June 26, 2019 3:51 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes

I just listened to two Dead Rider songs and they're great, ty!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiOiqz6vItE

SEE!

Take that! Englander pigdogs!

It's U.S. Maple not U.K. Maple

#thesecolorsdontrun

Brits Out of America #deepcut

SEE!

i lay in bed corrected!

It's U.S. Maple not U.K. Maple

*applauds*

Their ideas are good but the songs aren't worth waiting for them.

^ding

still not heard Black Midi but the Dead Rider album from last year with the mad English guy on vocals is sick and perhaps the best of both worlds

Then it's no 'moloch with strings', an epithet that may only be applied to a decadent, mildly Orientalist tone poem.

― pomenitul, Wednesday, 26 June 2019 09:33 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i gave it the big 4/10 for the reasons 57mg/20floz succinctly describes. the musicians aren't boring but the music is

might check out dead rider ty

This year’s Wu Lyf.

that comparison leapt instantly into my head too, although this lot are a bit further along the 'avant-math prankster' spectrum

Todd Rittman was in US Maple then Dead Rider that is really something

Well! this is just about the best album ever

yeah this is cool. that "Welcome to Hell" track posted above is pretty fantastic

It's good but I prefer Cavalcade still - this is a bit relentlessly vaudevillian, prefer 'em when the songs meander and build

It may click fully at some point though, especially if I follow along with a lyric sheet

I'm liking these new songs better than the stuff I've heard from them in the past. I have a feeling I'm going to like this album.

At various moments it put me in mind of Beefheart, The Garden, Jono El Grande, Benjamin Clementine, Sun Ra, Horse Lords, Naked City, Ought, Incredible String Band, Jason Forrest - that's an impressive range of weird music to be evoked by just a few songs. Actually I think keeping the dial stuck on eleven is a good mode for them.

Fell in love with Cavalcade on the first listen. This one is going to take a few more than that. Overall, I did like it on the first pass. There’s a lot to digest.

Vocals on "Welcome To Hell" remind me of "One Night In Bangkok"

i don't love this but it's another big step in the right direction for them, by far the most i've enjoyed them

also actually kind of approaches the feeling of their namesake in places

first black midi breakup now everyday i wake up, somebody got a problem with hov
https://www.nme.com/news/music/black-midi-are-indefinitely-over-confirms-bassist-and-frontman-3782676

if black midi were a true prog rock band they wouldn't break up, they'd just replace Geordie Greep with a succession of different guys they found on craigslist for the next 20 years and then meanwhile Geordie is also touring solo as "the REAL ORIGINAL black midi show"

— merton ♨️ (@mertonesque) August 12, 2024

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4EU_0vFzuU

problems with this are that the lyrics are not compelling, and he doesn't have the vocal presence to really pull it off, something like this really demands some real drama in the vocals and he can't deliver that. quite good otherwise though

as a non-fan of black midi this is way better than i thought it'd be. like if xiu xiu and glass beach teamed up to do a cover of "let's groove tonight"

Haha, just some punky prog into salsa disco fronted by a sleazy Tom Jones-type character, he's really going for it, respect.

Haha, just some punky prog into salsa disco

mars volta?

Ooh that's a good call, although I can't imagine TMV delving into this sort campy cabaret thing.

this kind of sounds like prog the nightfly and not as good as that makes it sound

it really just sounds like later period shiina ringo

I wonder if they broke up because this is the direction he wanted them to go in. Excited to see what the other members do next.

the greep unlocked his full powers w this track imo this fuckin rips

i have played this song multiple times a day every day since last week

problems with this are that the lyrics are not compelling, and he doesn't have the vocal presence to really pull it off, something like this really demands some real drama in the vocals and he can't deliver that. quite good otherwise though

― ufo, Tuesday, August 20, 2024 9:27 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think this is wrong, and that he plays this insecure sap character well, like there is v real flopsweat desperation in his voice in the second half

Cool to see him in jazz mode, great band -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO8CYlsyoaQ

sad news:

Tributes have been paid after the death of Black Midi’s Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin was announced, at the age of 26.

News of his passing was announced this afternoon (Monday January 12) via the band’s label Rough Trade. In the post, they shared a statement from the guitarist’s family, in which they revealed that he died following a battle with mental health.

goddamn that sucks. so young

this is a huge loss

terrible news

listening to Schlagenheim right now, this is so great. Like Red-era King Crimson and Discipline-era King Crimson existing at the same time.

been getting into them recently and yeah, that really is what they sound like (except, the singer sounds like the guy from Men at Work?). the fact that they got as big as they did was a "the kids are alright" moment for me. I didn't really dig them at first but really appreciated that they were legitimately a big name. crazy to think they were so young too. so sad to hear this, especially since I kinda thought they'd make more records together some day.

awful news

new single from cam's band "my new band believe" - pretty damn good. album forthcoming in mid april as well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21zVFKf7vSk

seems to be the rare case where they're better apart, this rules

oh this isn't on the album proper though, just on a bonus disc?

also funny how well this fits with greep's solo work

oh this isn't on the album proper though, just on a bonus disc?

― ufo

yeah this is a non album single; given how this didn't make the cut i am very excited for what is

the bonus disc is apparently 7 versions of "numerology", with this being one of them

is there a thread for bands that produced multiple solo projects superior to the original band

The Beatles obv

that did come to mind but i only really rate paul's solo career

wu tang clan

you don't rate all things must pass?

not particularly

MNBB playing tonight with Ryley Walker in the band (and opening)