Wolf Alice

Top 3 album in the UK. i don't think anyone saw that coming. they sound like Madder Rose to my ears. nice though. is this the bigest indie band of the last few years not to have their own thread?

anyway this one's my fave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E-RQgDJcrY

There was talk about starting a dedicated thread in the Rolling 2015 Favorites thread, but it never happened I guess.

I've already made the point a dozen times that I thought the 7" version of "Bros" was one of my favorite indie rock guitar heavy songs of the last few years, and now I'm mad at the band not for re-recording it (it's their song, they can do whatever they want with it even though the new version sucks), but for removing all traces of the superior earlier version from steaming platforms and digital retailers. Eff you, Wolf Alice!

I still haven't listened to the album. Outside of the original "Bros" and "Moaning Lisa Smile," I think they're a band that's pretty long on sounding good but pretty short on writing good songs.

Listening now to the album: hmm, okay, some of these songs are really nice. "Freazy" in particular.

drummer is fantastic though

Lately whenever I encounter someone particularly annoying I hear "you're a dodgy fucker as well!" kick around my brain

this record is great

this record is fantastic, highlight of the year for me

Yep.

Better than I expected, better than I hoped.

Bits of this sounded really lumpen and uninspired in the way you expect from basically 100% of hyped Brit rock bands these days but then a song would just suddenly explode into a joyous pop moment. Jury's out but if they could put together an entire album as good as those best bits they'd be incredible.

if they could put together an entire album as good as those best bits they'd be incredible.

Exactly how I feel, although we might have different ideas about the best bits.

I'm not surprised this charted so high (in the UK). I had been looking forward to this, but I am mostly disappointed. Too much of the material drags excessively (including "Your Loves Whore"). My favorites remain "Giant Peach" and "Moaning Lisa Smile." Maybe "Fluffy." "Turn to Dust" is nice, but I'm on the fence about it. "You're a Germ" is fine, though it seems a bit demo-ish. "Bros" is pretty good, but the earlier version was better, even if I can't remember exactly what it sounded like. I need to listen to this some more, but that's the thing: I'm finding it a bit of a slog.

There are some good, possibly superior, live/studio live versions of some of these songs on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_MTHwAp-_Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IorLPeOuEuI

"Freazy" was the one that stood out for me.

lol if anything "giant peach" and "moaning lisa smile" drag the most imo

Hate Giant Peach, love Moaning Lisa Smile. ¯\(ツ)/¯

You're all wrong.

"your loves whore" is actually probably my favorite song on here, other than the last minute of "swallowtail"

Listening to it now, and the thing that strikes me is how it feels like it's barely there, until it shifts gears. around 3:30. A lot of this is down to Roswell's vocal delivery.

I guess the vocals are meant to sound intimately conversational?

that giant peach song rules

Peachy is riffs galore, and I like how it gets all Sonic Youth at around 3:05 (singles version, not the one I linked to above). I also can't help hearing echoes of the Psychedelic Furs' "India" at around 1:15, but that's probably just a personal problem. I hear as much of the 80s in it as the 90s.

I would have preferred if they hadn't made Roswell's vocals on that song sound like the Go-Go's or whatever they are going for there, not that I hate that sound, but her natural vocal sound suits the song better.

I'm listening to the album and it's pretty funny how this is almost structured to divide ILX, but honestly I think it's better for having the pop side and the more trad US underground rock style

I don't think of myself as very rock oriented at all, but I like Wolf Alice better in rocking mode. (Almost everything else I've liked this year has been dance pop, indie pop, hipster pop shit, etc.)

You could have a point in general though. If more of ILX pays any attention to this band, that might become clearer.

So wait there are THREE versions of "Bros?"

Oh I guess one of these is a remix of some sort. Not sure where this came from but I have it in my iTunes for some reason. Anyone know where this is from? It's pretty nice...

The album cover reminds me of one of those old occult/mediumistic photos.

hadn't twigged the similarity btw this and Moaning Lisa's Smile.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93jsY-YdZ1s

this was better than I expected it to be; it's a weird record to be so big. No real poppy hooks; also it's not really a standout for the sort of music it is either, but it's pleasant

I listened to this a few days ago after seeing how popular they had become and skimming this thread and I didn't expect it to sound the way it did. It reminds me a lot of Belly at their most introspective.

This is really growing on me.

Fuck I wish I'd listened to this before I submitted my eoy ballot.

#BRITBREAKWOLFALICE

http://www.brits.co.uk/british-breakthrough-vote-guide

i dig this song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6vEE3Plk48

i seriously might go buy this album. i love riff rockin' with cool women singers. it must be the veruca salt fan in me.

best video:

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

love this too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KhC2qNLGd4

this is a great record scott! I hope you like it

Some of the live versions of "Giant Peach" are better than the album version, over all. This one for instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6-wbuON8Qk

(Although the climax is maybe best in the studio version.)

*overall*

(I am really tired.)

i ordered the CD online. i got the U.S. version which is slightly different than the U.K. version? Just like in the old days.

This is my favorite rock album in awhile.

i had no idea. until the other day.

Really pissed off that I missed out on them last year. They're touring America now, but the only tour stop local to me is at a festival that I can't afford tickets to.

They're opening for the 1975 who are apparently playing arenas. How the hell is that happening? Same thing with Alt J, who sold out Madison Square Garden.

they have a sizeable and enthusiastic fanbase

i mean i too was surprised but they were selling out everything beneath arenas

i even love their cover of wicked game.

sounds so cool. they make it the guitar anthem it was meant to be.

The best Lykke li record that she never made

oh man

this album feels 15 minutes long (this is a compliment)

― intern at pelican brief consulting (Simon H.), Friday, June 4, 2021 9:20 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm, it's inexhaustible

it's like they figured out each previous album felt just the slightest bit padded out and surgically removed the excess this time

there are gonna be at least a few contenders for "best-sounding rock record" this year but this one has the edge so far

love the intensely bratty vocal on "play the greatest hits"

https://www.metacritic.com/browse/albums/score/metascore/all/filtered?sort=desc

Struggling to recall the last time I saw such a positive reaction across the board for a British album.

it seems like it's mostly just uk outlets that have reviewed it so far and i'm sure they're rightfully delighted that a big uk rock band has made something this good. like are there any other uk bands out there making Big Rock Albums that good these days, just the 1975 i think? who are great but way more polarising of course

p4k is already not going to be onboard though, expecting a 7.5 or something in the coming days

i predict they tank the score for fun

j/k

It'd be nice to see this get BNM but I reckon it'll bubble just below

it wasn't on their 'albums to listen to week roundup' so pretty much no chance of BNM

not even the (really great) japanese breakfast album, which seemed like about as BNM-bait as an album could be could manage BNM this week though lol

just realized "safe from heartbreak" could pass for a roches number

Maybe they don’t review it at all.

safe from heartbreak is gorgeous

wonderful record

really want to see it live in a wild crowd

h8 2 austin but who gives a flying fuck abt pfork's response to this album. will check it out later

ellie really levelled up on this one imo...at various points on this record I get little hits of sundfor, fiona apple ("I'm no longer cashing tills, yeah") and liz fraser, but she's also get a presence all her own. the occasional male backing vox are a lovely touch as well

okay, this album rules

rt

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX_QelwuC8I

this is the best song

great video too

Brad, do you hear "Love to Love You Baby" in the hi-hat and vocals?

Damn, astute observation Alfred! It's one of my favorite songs from the album.

I'm still really loving this record and Wolf Alice is one of my favorite bands from the last decade. One thing I'll say is that the lyrics seem like they've taken a different turn? Ellie seems to be in a more straightforward writing phase, whereas when I listen back to stuff from My Love Is Cool, her lyrics seemed to have a more poetic bent. I don't think this is to the detriment of the songs in any way. The exception being Feeling Myself, which I love musically, but feels way too on-the-nose for me. I think she had mentioned in one of their recent interviews how after the Visions of a Life tour, she had trouble starting to write again.

idk, I love Blue Weekend a lot and am still listening to it regularly, but just wanted to see if anyone else felt that way about it.

definitely more direct and diaristic than I recall from the other albums

Ok cool. Good to hear that from someone else. Again, I don't mean it as a slight. Visions of a Life had a song that it took me a long time to come around to (Beautifully Unconventional). I think Feeling Myself might be that for this album.

ok, so, "safe from heartbreak"...holy shit

You want a cover of Steely Dan’s ‘Dirty Work’??
(59 minutes in)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000x0gm

No?

nice cover imo

Bit of a catty review in Pitchfork. They always seem to have a problem with bands that are bigged up in the UK press.

Really good this, last month's Worthy Farm mini-gig

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p09l0c6y/glastonbury-wolf-alice-2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhWAx67iGyc

it isn't LOUD ENOUGH

A whole dvd of these videos will surely go on to a ‘Deluxe’ edition of Blue Weekend just in time for Christmas.

listened to this on a whim after finding everything else they've done very boring and I kind of like this one. She really sounds like Elizabeth Fraser on a few tracks.

I've never heard anything to convince me this band isn't deathly dull.

I spoke to your mom about it though

First gig back tonight, in the coastal town of Bournemouth, their first proper gig since the end of 2018. Seems they did most of the new album, and at some point a cover of I'm Waiting For The Man

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/wolf-alice/2021/o2-academy-bournemouth-bournemouth-england-138fcd59.html

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E67pynHX0Aca_ql?format=jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g7FnQGF-pE

that is very well done

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e2aPTQIGgY

demo of a track that didn't make the album, quite nice

That's a pretty one! I hadn't thought about it since it came out, but worth coming back to.

In other news, this version of Delicious Things with an orchestra at Abbey Road came out yesterday and it sounds amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj2uPKoPsYI

It looks like they're coming back to America in March. Check your local listings.

Today we release a new lullaby version of The Last Man On Earth featuring @LCVchoir.
It’s the first song from a collection called Blue Lullaby which will be released as an EP on June 24th.
Listen now: https://t.co/8YY8xe0TAL
Pre-save the EP: https://t.co/UPJCS4JxjI pic.twitter.com/a3yrq542Qu

— Wolf Alice (@wolfalicemusic) May 5, 2022

???

Yeah, just listened to the new version of Last Man on Earth. For the record, I am not tiring of all the new versions of Last Man on Earth. The changes in the arrangement are always subtle, but I still get into it.

It sounds like the rest of the EP will also be stripped-back versions of album cuts.

No word yet on a physical release, so I'm guessing this will just be a digital thing.

Blue Lullaby EP out today (whilst band frantically tries to find a plane to Glastonbury)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwuXP1yQ2iY

Killed it on the Pyramid stage; that was about as good as it could possibly have been. Felt like an audition to headline. I hope they don’t disappear too long to write/record album 4.

The Lullaby "Lipstick on the Glass" is GORGEOUS. Wow.

Feels like it's jumped up a notch this summer; all the will-they-won't-they stuff pre-Glastonbury on Friday, supporting Harry Styles on *seventeen* arena dates, etc etc.

New stage set up looks fabulous

i love wolf alice pic.twitter.com/zGTuOdhQc1

— ares SAW HARRY (@2kittz) June 29, 2022

Ellie's doing vocals on a new song by Thy Slaughter, which is an A.G. Cook thing. My first impression is that it's not that distinct, as far as A.G. Cook things go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jed1xlM5qI