black midi - anyone been tracking these?

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

You know what was a good English band?

Giddy Motors

File black midi alongside Julia Holter in the category of acts imago should like but (in)explicably doesn't.

Tbf my sole exposure to this band is watching them jam for 10 mins on YT.

You know what was a good English band?

Giddy Motors

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, June 27, 2019 7:59 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Haven't heard anyone mention them since 2004

Sorry to cause the confusion. Was not familiar with black midi, the genre :(

Black MIDI the genre is an audio meme, much like Extratone. Bite-sized, amusing for a moment, but then it's dropped for the next shiny sliver of mylar balloon that floats off the power lines.

RYM user The_Pamps is upset:

It honestly disgusts me that people are calling this shit "rock" music. This is a fucking disgrace, and really highlights how far rock as a genre has fallen. REAL Rock Music is AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, Guns and Roses, Led Zepplin, Aerosmith and INXS. This isn't rock, This is shit.

that review gets even worse later

Oh got, his YT channel.

*god

The last great Skin Graft-y band I'd heard was Stabscotch, which was decidedly not dismissed by imago as 'fucking awful' so I'm going in a bit skeptically here

Dead Rider are brilliant, and seeing them live was the closest I'll get to seeing US Maple. To me, black midi don't sound like Dead Rider (for one, there's no discernible soul influence to my ears) but I could absolutely see them on the same bill, or sharing a label.

xp I'm watching the KEXP performance--aw this ain't that bad; kind of a more post-rock-ish Girl Band? I do kinda get a vibe that both vocalists here have difficulties telling good ideas from bad ones

(Ok nm that "both vocalists" bit; totally unfair to the bass player here...)

Stabscotch are a brilliant example of this sort of thing done well

Noted.

Good band, bad songwriting

A lot of the animism in the press for the band seems based in the prospect that they will eventually make better music, which is a funny way for justifying mediocre reviews with better scores. I don't remember Iceage - another explicitly youthful band, premiering - benefiting from this, but they also benefited from an average 2 minute track length and more cohesive idea of themselves.

pretty good album; most of the reasons it’s bad stem from them being 15 year olds

I have an antipathy as I get older to bands that inspire critics to turn reviews into works cited pages.

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)