New Scott Walker album: 'The Drift'

The daffy/donald duck part is just plain ridiculous - really the lowest point of the whole affair and the point at which my suspicions were confirmed that the emperor wears no clothes on this one.

I don't find it over-pretentious though, that's what stunned me on a first listen, how utterly coherent the whole sound frontier & the vocals/words became. Wierd for weirds sake (or at least the perception of it, however wrong that impression or first taste is) usually turns me right off I have to say. I can't stand most Xui Xui I've heard and am still fence-sitting on Animal Collective til I hear more that convinces me. I know where you're coming from with the confounding = cred points thing, but hmmm, it's worked for me so far more like a rock record than anything SO obtuse (I guess I'd concur with what Raw Patrick said upthread, it has accessibility IMO). I'd like to say I have very broad, adventurous tastes is music... but I think I'm actually a pretty conservative listener all told.

The Donald Duck part is terrifying (in context) though! Actually, when I did go back I stopped before track 9 because I just couldn't face it again so soon :-O

I'd agree there are spots where the achievements are thinner or become less satisfactory, and it takes some commitment to hear through as an album whole. But "Clara"! That track alone seems the most fully-formed single song embodiment of the aims of "The Drift"

tilt is a walk in the park compared to drift. seriously, just put the first track on after listening to drift, it's like you're walking on clouds. tilt has 3-4 straight up beautiful songs; drift has none. i love 'em both, mind

the interesting thing about climate of hunter to me is that it now seems so obviously of a piece with tilt and the drift

MATH IS HARD.

sorry, i just really fucking hate when people use this argument. see more "arty European films" dude.

I don't feel that was about this myself, but it's a valid position to take (though yes the "arty European film" dig is cliched to hell).

I haven't figured out if this is really too hard a listen to be ultimately worth it yet... in 6 months, a year maybe. It pretty much defines "not an everyday record".

Still don't know what I think of The Drift. I like it a lot and I'm still playing it, but I guess it hasn't got right under my skin the way Tilt did. For the moment, I'm thinking Tilt is the better record.

lee dude, where do you live? one of our stores is probably near ya.

I was cleaning out and old closet - and there it was - Tilt!!! It's been in my head for years, so owning the actual cd was unimportant to me. However, I think I'll give it some spins while I await The Drift.....

Mixing "singing" vocals with brutal dissonance such as that found on "Cue" or "Jolson and Jones" is my favorite sound in the world. If anyone has anything to recommend, feel free.

This album is brilliant. I already like it better than Tilt after two listens, and I'm not just saying that in an it's-new-so-I-should-spew-great-things-about-it-and-then-put-it-away-after-two-months way.

I noticed this, too - I may be giving him way too much credit, but for some reason I assumed he chose to phrase it this way for a reason (to heighten the mortification?)

2. The thread of apocalyptic alliteration which runs right the way through the record ("pow pow," "psst psst").

fascinating, complex, terrifying, a worthwhile listen, but ultimately something i'd at best play once or twice more. i make myself watch horror movies. i slogged through hegel during my junior year continental philosophy class. even though it's got some beautiful language and i love joyce it took me over a year to finish "ulysses". and i decided to listen to "the drift" cause i figgered i'd learn something, or at least have an unpleasant experience that i could look back on for inspiration/whatever. i did, and now i'm done. i respect him a great deal for making it, and it's got lots of things in it to think about, but i really can't deal with it. bravo, scott. you've made a fucked up masterpiece that's borderline unlistenable.

but who knows, maybe i'll wander back to it someday and i'll feel differently.

I'm lovin' it.

And yes, I'd pay any amount of money to see this performed live, pretty much as is... sequentially.

...but I really can't think of any album, modern or older, that is a more succinct aural obliteration of a hard-on than this record...

...which isn't a bad thing at all! This is one of the best albums I've heard, period. But never put this CD anywhere in visibility on a date, much less play it to "get in the mood", which really goes without saying. But if you never heard the album before, get swooned in by the 4AD art, buy it, then decide to play it while snuggling against that crush of yours on the couch -- expecting something morose but still celestial and emotional and warming -- your night, or even perhaps your life, will be instantly ruined.

Well, unless you're both into snuff. O fuck I should shut up now, bed time *sniffle* bye bye.

First time I spun it late at night - very intriguing - some superb snippets of "song" in every track - actually some wonderful melodies - love the lyrics - track 1 sounds "80s" - track 10 is absolutely fucking brilliant - the end of track 9 was indeed quite scary when I first heard it - I went to bed, fell asleep, racoons killing each other in my back yard awoke me, and strangely, they sounded similar to the end of track 9 - I was freaked - did not sleep!

Now, after many spins, the end of track 9 makes me chuckle! :)

This is a wonderful CD. It really does have 10 distinct parts to it. His voice is fucking something to behold. I like it much more than Tilt. It will take me weeks to get my head around it - but the sign of a great CD is that I want to play it over and over.....

I say Tilt is best, but by a hairs breadth...

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

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there have been two private test-screenings in london and the feedback has been brilliant - new obsessives have been converted, and some of the old guard have given it a stamp of approval, including our archival researcher who went to see Scott solo with her dad when she was 13 years old. all good signs.

thanks!

http://www.scottwalkerfilm.com/blog/?page_id=88

cheers.

The other day I bought Clear or Cloudy, the complete Ligeti recordings on Deutsche Grammaphon (on 4 CDs for 30 euros, a bargain). The beginning of 'Mysteries of the Macabre' has someone going 'psst, psst', which immediately made me think of A Lover Loves. Given that the piece is taken from a Ligeti opera which (according to Wikipedia) is about mortality, and features a dead lover, a chief of police and other Walker-ish things, I think there might be a connection...

Six months on, are people still listening to The Drift? And what do you think of it now? I must admit I was initially disappointed with it, although I think that was inevitable considering I'd been obsessing over Tilt for so many years. I found his voice just a bit too mannered and less vulnerable than on Tilt. I missed the Walker trope of weird dissonance giving way to orchestral beauty. I found there wasn't enough variation... Now I guess I'm more reconciled with all those 'faults'. I do think it's a bit too long, though. I'm still listening to it, it's still slowly sinking in, it's genuinely gripping stuff, but sometimes I find myself listening to the first three tracks then skipping to the last two or three. I think it could be a couple of tracks shorter. I'm not too fond of Hand Me Ups or Psoriatic. Then again, Tilt too sags a little in the middle I feel (lemon bloody cola goes on forever).

In summary, I think both Tilt & The Drift are flawed masterpieces but I guess Tilt still has the edge for me.