Curve: C or D?

This picture still makes me sad.
Anyway, I recently did a 180 wrt 'Gift', it really is a great album. Maybe even their best full-length release.

Toni has no business having blonde L.A. hair. She is the quintessential goth ice queen, after all.

Gift, sure, but it is no Doppelganger, not to mention early singles & eps.

Having written that, I also have to rep for Cuckoo, which is a phenomonal album which got lost b/w genres/trends/styles when it was released.

as most people on this thread it seems, I felt really disappointed when Doppelganger came out. I still find it too monotonous and a bit bland overall

bdx, i see what you are saying (and sympathize), but I find it monotonous in the same delicious way that Psychocandy or, say, the blues are monotonous.

Remember you and me
We laughed 'til we cried

spc eco > curve (excepting the early EPs and a third of the debut)

Somehow I'd missed that latest turn from Garcia.

it may yet wear on me but right now it's amongst my favourite music of the year

I'm really happy every time this thread is revived

I still can't believe I was lucky enough to see them twice in their first incarnation.

Gotta love YouTube -- just earlier this month someone uploaded this performance of "Die Like a Dog" in San Diego from 1992:

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

Seriously the strobe light effects there are seizure-inducing.

I still can't believe I was lucky enough to see them twice in their first incarnation.

Same here. My t-shirt from the "Cuckoo" tour is still going strong! (and is officially the oldest concert t-shirt I own)

Hmm, I still have mine as well. I believe we were both at that show making fun of Engines of Aggression.

Meanwhile I am now reminded of a pretty stellar moment of lyric/music combination courtesy of "Missing Link":

Accidentally we talked about the past
Accidentally we talked about the past
Accidentally we talked about the past
Accidentally we talked -- too -- MUCH!
*BAM*

Very well observed, really.

I also like the Trent Reznor mix of said song since like the original song it was released in 1993, aka the year when all the NIN freaks worldwide were *desperate* beyond measure to get some sense of whatever the hell 'the next album' would be. The part nearly three minutes in when he adds/emphasizes this huge background piano (?) doominess in the mix is pretty spectacular.

still can't believe I was lucky enough to see them twice in their first incarnation.

Same here. And didn't we establish we were at those same two shows, ie. Rollercoaster tour at the Palladium and then at the Palace?

Same here. And didn't we establish we were at those same two shows, ie. Rollercoaster tour at the Palladium and then at the Palace?

I think quite a few of us were. Until the MBV onslaught over the past months, Curve at the Palace was easily the loudest show I've been to.

I loved that Cuckoo tour t-short. I was coerced in stupidly giving it away...

I never got to see Curve live - I did see Toni's short lived post-breakup band Scylla live in '95 tho. They were pretty good actually, heavier than Curve.

Good god, I'm trying to imagine that and having a hard time doing so.

1000000000% CLASSIC FUCK GARBAGE.

A whole slew of Curve shows has turned up on D1m3 and despite the dodgy audio of audience taping in 92-93, they're furiously great (title track from "Doppleganger" scores 5/5 on the MBV-O-Meter). Man there has to be some live videos or something from the time.

!!!! Wish I still had a Dime acct. Would someone very kind be willing to, I don't know, maybe 192kbps LAME some of the best and trade them for some, say, Ride, Kraftwerk, or Mogwai?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZRY4ILQeSg

am jonesing

Need to get back into the D1m3 swing myself...

!!!! Wish I still had a Dime acct. Would someone very kind be willing to, I don't know, maybe 192kbps LAME some of the best and trade them for some, say, Ride, Kraftwerk, or Mogwai?

Encoding everything to 256kpbs AAC. Drop me a board email and I can straighten everything out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFG1rIUhc7U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_XPAQNF7yg

(title track from "Doppleganger" scores 5/5 on the MBV-O-Meter)

I've just listened to the initial build & payoff to this track five times in a row. Just damn.. Moulder could do no wrong in those days.

Same here. And didn't we establish we were at those same two shows, ie. Rollercoaster tour at the Palladium and then at the Palace?

This was the first of many downtown Detroit gigs I snuck out on schoolnights to attend while I was in high school. I had taken some psychedelics. It was ..erm, an impressionable experience (in a very good way).

(the Rollercoaster tour, that is - not the NY gigs obv.)

I just realized I had "Cuckoo" on my Zune and I was listening to it on my walk home but it paled in comparison to "Doppelganger" and "Public Fruit"

I've just listened to the initial build & payoff to this track five times in a row. Just damn.. Moulder could do no wrong in those days.

I love that second breakdown from 2:42 - 3:10 when it sounds like a huge electrical fire in the studio.

the rollercoaster show show in detroit was on devil's night, i was convinced i would come out and my car would be in flames. the show before that one with majesty crush opening was better though.

^^ yeah, I remember that. Wasn't that a year or so after the worst-ever devil's night arson/general crime spree? As I mentioned upthread, I was a bit effected that night, & I recall ducking for cover every time my friend's car went under a highway overpass b/c of an urban legend (perhaps something that really happened?) about dudes dropping cinder blocks & such from them on DN.

lol, I think Majesty Crush or Asha Vida opened for every UK indie band that passed through town back then.

just in case...

http://helensface.webs.com/

embarrassingly my curve collection consists of their first 2 eps, and doppelganger.
i think i need a lot more to quench this thirst for drum machine + guitar noise + goth queen vocals.
never listened to this stuff on headphones until this week, fuck the tinnitus, that wall of sound is majestic.

the EP collection and the radio sessions comp is all you really need, don't be embarrassed

All those nights watching the 'Fait Accompli' and 'Superblaster' videos gave much joy, but Curve hasn't aged very well for me. Which is great because I can only think about 1992, 1993 when I listen to them again

I wish Scylla had released something other than that weak track on the Showgirls OST. They were pretty good live.

the EP collection and the radio sessions comp is all you really need, don't be embarrassed

Don't forget to snag this: Curve's "Perish" & Kevin Shields

yeah Doppleganger was a letdown and might deserve another look, but everything after just didn't work for me. although i would HIGHLY recommend the 2CD remastered best-of The Way of Curve that came out a couple years ago, all the originals came out during a low point for CD mastering and the material benefits greatly from the rework.

And Toni's Chatelaine album is out finally. Stream the whole works here: http://chatelainemusic.com/

Beyond the title, it sounds like Toni has been wondering how the Cocteaus would sound covering Fleetwood Mac.

― baaderonixx, Wednesday, March 12, 2008 2:14 AM (2 years ago)

^^^^^ prescient comment here (after one listen through this)

"Coast Is Clear" is still one of the best songs ever.

That squealing guitar line over the second chorus encapsulates about 80% of what I love about music.

I can sign up with that sentiment.

Meantime, perhaps the only time you'll see Curve and Matt Groening discussed at the same time.

hah I was at that show at the Palace. What I remember most is how horrible the opening act was and how excited I was to briefly hang out with the band (+ Medicine) outside after the show

how horrible the opening act was

Good ol' Engines of Aggression. *dies*

Yay, Doppelganger is finally on Spodify. (I suppose I should probably check if it's on iTunes yet because I have already owned it on far too many formats.)

I had forgotten what a *nasty* sounding record it is. It's filled with a kind of gnawing self loathing and bits of strangled noise and so bloody ugly and yet still somehow beautiful.

Not sure if it's the production or the mastering but I always found doppelgänger a bit thin and lifeless. A remaster could be interesting

Dunno, the production sounds more *murky* than thin or lifeless. Like, it's so bloody dense and thick that it's hard to pick out any elements, but that's kind of the point of shoegaze wall of sound.