CS + Kreme - Snoopy

I don't think there's been a huge amount on ILM about CS + Kreme, although there is some related stuff here: HTRK/Hate Rock Trio

Anyway I thought this was fantastic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zujudzx2MA

Then wasn't as into their subsequent 12"s, but the album is great, and doesn't seem to be getting reviewed anywhere apart from this typically OTT Boomkat blurb:

https://boomkat.com/products/snoopy-8d0aca4b-2024-4704-af34-a6b1b199339d

Anyway, trip hop, Coil, it's all very hazy, is anyone else listening to it?

I love it. In my head I have been thinking of it as a more ambient Sylvian/Eno take on the last These New Puritans album.

enjoying it

still regularly replay the standish/carlyon album too

Their single on TTT from 2018 was lovely

Always check for TTT, excited to hear this

p sure roast ghost made it to the eoy 77 poll? love it

https://soundcloud.com/nts_live/cs-kreme-live-session-4th-february-2020

Wow, this is maybe even better than the album

Wow, this is maybe even better than the album

This is absolutely perfect self-isolation music

it is. i have been telling anyone who will listen the exact same thing.

this is excellent! spent the first couple tracks reaching for some portmanteau-style comparisons (The For Carnation produced by Pole, etc.) and then gave up as it's really quite hard to pigeonhole

Anyway, trip hop, Coil, it's all very hazy

What Coil albums sound like this? I've been meaning to check them out for a while but have never got round to it

I was about to post that I just don't see the Coil comparison but actually, thinking about it I guess it is true. 'Saint' is pretty Coil-esque. A touch of the 'The Last Amesthyst Deceiver' about it perhaps?

I'm not sure there is an album by Coil that really sounds like this paolo, but maybe 'Musick To Play In The Dark vol 1' or 'The Ape Of Naples' would come sort of close in places, and either way both are incredible albums worthy of exploration.

Yeah I’m not sure there’s anything so close to either Coil or CS and Kreme but there is something about the mood of stuff like Musick to play in the dark that reminds me of tracks like Mount Warning.

(I mean that I don’t think there are any other acts that sound particularly close to either of them, and they don’t sound particularly close to each other, and yet I don’t think there is nothing to my initial association of the two.)

Wow--just gave a listen to "The Ape Of Naples" having never checked it out before, and yeah, Track 2 on the album which you point out, Stirmonster, is def in the proto-Snoopy zone in terms of how the vocal declamations float over top, as well as the simmering synth and bassline underneath (the marimba's a very cool unexpected touch, too!).

(and you're also right in that the whole album is indeed sounding incredible)

'Musick To Play In The Dark vol 1' or 'The Ape Of Naples' would come sort of close in places

I gave these a listen and they're really good, so thanks! I was concerned that they'd be too heavy/intense for me because I really can't listen to much heavy music right now but they're not too scary. And I can see the similarities with CS + Kreme - they're both quite dubby in places and both have surreal/daft lyrics that they can make sound all ominous

Still probably my favourite album of the year.

New companion EP: https://csandkreme.bandcamp.com/album/howwouldyoufeelwithoutthatthought

Snoopy will def be among my very fave albums of the year, and this EP is a very well-executed appendix

I am four minutes into "April Fools' Day" and oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiit this is good.

It just occurred to me that Snoopy will possibly forever be classified in my head as my 'post brain surgery pre pandemic' album.

Fuck this EP is so great.

It occurs to me that CS + Kreme are to 2020 what A Mountain of One were to 2007.

It's like, get on this music now because its resonance may dim in a few years time.

For me this is totally a pandemic album, and it's merged with many cold dark evenings in lockdown in April (and now again). I've barely listened to it in daylight.

Checked out Snoopy on the basis of this revive and shiiiiit its amazing

i've listened to 'snoopy' a few times over the past months, only thing i really remember are vague crespuscular labradford vibes crossed with a sort of deadpan dead c.-esque vocal delivery, but that might all be a distortion of memory. also, the question 'where did blueberries go?' keeps running through my head at random moments. guess i'm due a revisit?

The Labradford vibe is real, I listened to this for the first time last night and was like "this reminds me of Labradford, and also weirdly of Legendary Pink Dots."

Pan American more specifically imo

It's my pandemic album of choice for sure and perfect all over again for dark winter lockdowns. The new EP is great too.

The Legendary Pink Dots reference is really interesting. I'm not really getting that but perhaps it had just never crossed my mind. Will definitely consider that next time I listen and as LPD has been another pandemic big listen, it may make perfect sense.

Might have something to do with vocal affect, for some reason I kept thinking of Shadow Weaver.

Can't really see how an album could be any better for lockdown listening.

Slightly off topic but I've been getting into Coil after reading this thread and I can totally see the similarity, especially on Ape Of Naples. Will need to check out Labradford and LPD too. Other recommendations for similar artists would be appreciated!

I had somehow never listened to Shadow Weaver before. It's so good and I can totally hear how it realates to "Snoopy".

Shadow Weaver was my first LPD, found a tape copy in a free box. Eventually my car tape deck tried to eat it and it became unspooled, but unbeknownst to me, my then-new boyfriend took it, found a new cassette housing, and re-spooled the tape by hand while decorating the outside of the housing with creepy graphics. He gave it back to me for my birthday, and is now my husband.

Wow, Shadow Weaver sounds great! Gonna have to buy the expanded reissue with the 20-min bonus track.
Had read about LPD for years as a big part of the whole England's Hidden Reverse axis, but 20-odd years ago it was of course much harder to investigate, so cheers...

I have quite a few LPD albums and always like everything I hear but their catalogue is so vast so I have no doubt missed lots of great ones. the table is the table, that is a great story about your husband!

I have quite a few LPD records, but totally get the vastness issue. The thread on ILM was actually quite helpful for getting into them!

Pan American more specifically imo

― rob, Tuesday, November 10, 2020 6:19 PM (yesterday)

I put on Labradford's "Mi Media Naranja" after posting this, and I have to retract this opinion. But the first self-titled Pan American album is kind of slept on and you should check it out anyway (PA is a solo project for Mark Nelson)

i love this album and i love that it's called snoopy

So fellow CS + Kreme fans, is there a track that we can all get behind for the end of year poll? I love Snoopy and will be voting for it is my A of the Y but I don't think there's any standout tracks, ie they're all at a similar level of excellence. Wouldn't want to go for Pussywhistle Tea though because fuck me that's a terrible song title.

Could go for either of the tracks from the new single too

Very tough to pick a standout track as it is a much more an overall immersive listen. "Snoopy" will be in my top 2 of 2020 but for a track I think (if i were voting) I'd maybe go with "Bugged" off the new single.

i'll def be voting for it in the albums poll

Bugged is immense. Love the beat but unable to explain exactly how it is “wrong”

Mount Warning would be the track for me; but it'll be Snoopy I vote for.

this album is something else, it does not go down easy for me. it’s so haunted... supremely chill surface but it’s as if it’s hiding something really nasty and awful underneath... idk.. “thoughts”

“Where did blueberries go” is definitely the best album-opening line of 2020

some of it kind reminds me of some of Piano Magic’s eerie early stuff

vibes wise

Saw that they have a new mix here:
https://crackmagazine.net/article/mixprofile/cs-kreme/

those wacky noises at the start meant I couldn't listen to more than two minutes of this, just too distracting :(

that track ends about five minutes in, if you just want to skip it

oh man i used to have that rocket girl box set - some real clunkers on there, but that track and about half of the rest is decent

just had a look and the box set has the track with the offside lyrics that go: "the gallagher brothers masquerading around town as genuises/like beatlemania with tiny penises"

"Where did tiny penises go"

wow the vinyl copy i got (repress i think) sounds like absolute dogshit. a muddy mess. A/B'ing with a 320kbps mp3 is like night and day. trilogy tapes is kind of a stupid label but i've never gotten something that sounds this bad from them before. major drag.

especially with like 12 minutes of music per side

my copy sounds great.

trilogy tapes is kind of a stupid label

what is stupid about them?

put some text on your dang lps so i know what side is what! especially on a double lp. i feel very strongly about this. the rezzett 2lp has 4 blank silver labels!

there is enough uncertainty in life i don't need expensive imported techno mysteries. tho i understand this might be appealing to others

ha ha. i can't argue with that.

a friend bought the repress too so i'll ask them how their copy sounds.

Fans of CS + Kreme might be interested in the debut album from fellow Australian YL Hooi.

https://boomkat.com/products/untitled-b1e42e25-2e48-44e8-a9d6-19856e3f068a

There's something up with those Aussies and I for one am loving it. You've also got the likes of Carla dal Forno, HTRK, F Ingers and Tarquin Manek working in this kinda zone as well. Won't be too long before they're giving this sound it's own name and everything.

Yeah the YL Hooi album is good, as was this set: https://www.nts.live/shows/guests/episodes/yl-hooi-19th-february-2021

when will there be new CS + Kreme

They've been playing shows, it seems. Hopefully soon.

huh they're playing in chicago at the international museum of surgical science in june

CS + KREME

06/14/2022 Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, IA
06/14/2022 Trumpet Blossom Cafe, Iowa City, IA
06/15/2022 Rozz Tox, Rock Island, IL
06/16/2022 International Museum of Surgical Science, Chicago, IL
06/17/2022 Monarch Tavern, Toronto, ON
06/19/2022 La Sala Rossa, Montréal, QC
06/20/2022 Red Hook Labs, Brooklyn, NY
06/23/2022 The Dolphin, Philadelphia, PA w/ Ulla
06/25/2022 Venue TBA, Los Angeles, CA
06/27/2022 The Miniplex, Arcata, CA
06/27/2022 Miniplex, Arcata, CA
06/28/2022 Mississippi Studios, Portland, OR
06/29/2022 Vera Project, Seattle, WA
06/30/2022 Paradise, Vancouver, BC

via https://heavy-trip.com/artist/cskreme

anyone seen them live? i have no concept if they're like playing instruments or fiddling with laptops or what, and there are no live videos on youtube

my entirely ungrounded guess/hope is that it'd be live bass w/ processing and electronics

If I'm going out I want to see *someone* whispering ominously about blueberries into a mic

CS is of course already a long time standing, most consummate stage performer, so it will be interesting to see if he brings any of that to this. i'm guessing more subdued may be the way here though.

Definitely going to the Philly date.

new track -

https://csandkreme.bandcamp.com/track/crushed-cream?from=fanpub_fb_trk

not new but hard to find.

nice, this is sick. fiending for new stuff by them so anything v welcome

I've been listening to this album Chances by new band Acopia, and thinking "wow this is basically a female-fronted (and marginally more energetic) CS + Kreme" - and lol of course they are from Melbourne.

https://acopia.bandcamp.com/album/chances

Though actually the first point of comparison that occurred to me was Earwig / Insides

yeh very nice album that, looking foward to some springtime listens

two songs in, really enjoying this Acopia album, makes me think of what if Carla Dal Forno embraced her pop side

Enjoying it! Some of it is very HTRK e.g. 'Toxic Traits'

other thing that Acopia reminded me of was Bowery Electric circa 'Freedom Fighter'

anyhow, CS+K dates:

Tour announcement!
🌪🌪🌪 pic.twitter.com/0LPe6cW8j9

— CS + Kreme (@csandkreme) April 11, 2022

ace, though not sure i am free the night they play here :(

ugh I'm away for their London date. failed to go to seem them in Feb 2020 and regretted it ever since.

i'll be at the brooklyn show for sure

Amazing, thanks for sharing!

they’re playing tonight at café oto in london but i can’t make it :(

i'm going to see them tomorrow. going to see jah shaka too, though sadly it's not a double bill.

I'm going tomorrow too! Am very excited.

couple of lucky ducks itt

how was it?

It was excellent. A few 'hits' and lots of new music. I really like The Old Hairdressers generally but think they might have benefitted from playing somewhere with a slightly better sound system. They might be back at the end of the year.

saw them last night in chicago, they sounded great. it was a pretty small show (i overheard a staffer say there were 65 tickets sold), but it was also at an unusual venue (the international museum of surgical science) so there may have been capacity limitations. they mentioned that they had played to 6 people in iowa city the other night

What was the instrumentation?

one dude doing electronics (laptop/keyboard/something with twisty knobs) the whole time, the other dude alternating between playing bass/singing and using some kind of sequencer, depending on the song

lol sorry that's so vague. i didn't go up and look at their gear table.

if you still follow me on instagram there's a short dark video of them playing on there

I'll check it out!

I think they actually played two shows at a cafe in Iowa City? I was almost audience member #7 but didn't come up with something else to do on a mini-vacation and wasn't going to drive two hours each way for just the show

I saw the London show which was very good, but they certainly left the fans wanting more - it was only a 45 minute set.

nyc show was good if marred by poor sound imo

new material evoking demdike stare and hype Williams

snoopy material sounded huge. Overall more aggressive than I anticipated but better for it I think

seeing them saturday in LA