dame can dance
― Author ~ Coach ~ Goddess (s1ocki), Thursday, 9 August 2012 19:26 (eleven years ago) link
Ain't that a smack in the calfskin.
― Andy K, Thursday, 9 August 2012 19:28 (eleven years ago) link
i wonder why she never played live since; i wonder if she read this thread.
― piscesx, Sunday, 31 May 2015 02:54 (eight years ago) link
Haha, welcome back, Hitler reacts meme! This is a good one:
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2015/09/return_of_the_d.html
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 12 September 2015 16:00 (eight years ago) link
1987 looks like a big blank space in the history of the band, surprising how heavy their output was in the preceding years. What were they doing in that year? (Besides a great deal of coke in the case of poor Robin Guthrie.) Did they tour actively in 1987 even if they weren't putting anything out for nearly a two-year period?
― Melomane, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 18:06 (four years ago) link
They bought a unit in a warehouse in North Acton and built their own studio, roping in Dif Juz to do the plastering :) I think they just spent a chunk of '87 doing that.
Crushed was on Lonely As An Eyesore in '87, but I think that dates from the Love's Easy Tears sessions.
― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 15 April 2020 18:34 (four years ago) link
they were just really into Inspector Morse that year
― avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 18:47 (four years ago) link
Guthrie was doing some producing that year:The Gun Club. AR Kane.
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 19:29 (four years ago) link
They didn't tour for 3-4 years in the late 80s.
While I'm here... here's 50 odd Cocteau Twins gigs!
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVLv8TgfCZGTMigjTfEiBxROjN8CT_Rx1
― Non, je ned raggette rien (onimo), Wednesday, 15 April 2020 21:12 (four years ago) link
Holy shit, thanks
― J. Sam, Thursday, 16 April 2020 00:19 (four years ago) link
This is accurate.
Created a new TikTok challenge: Cocteau Twins sing-a-long pic.twitter.com/mWSgm0MvLC— rebekah entralgo fernández (@rebekahentralgo) July 30, 2020
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 31 July 2020 02:47 (three years ago) link
That’s great.
― Chewshabadoo, Friday, 31 July 2020 14:18 (three years ago) link
I have been enjoying that tweet all morning
― shout-out to his family (DJP), Friday, 31 July 2020 14:42 (three years ago) link
aw I thought there'd be more examples
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Friday, 31 July 2020 16:26 (three years ago) link
sugar hiccup is an amazing song, even though she sings "sugar hitler" throughout the song. singing "hiccup" over and over with heavy reverb is like pinching the tip of your tongue with your fingers and saying "am i a huge apple?"
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 13 October 2020 17:00 (three years ago) link
despite that, i have been on an amazing cocteau twins ride this year. 2020 - covid19 and cocteau twins, is how i will remember it
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 13 October 2020 17:02 (three years ago) link
yeah she really lays into that vocal, it's joyous
― assert (MatthewK), Tuesday, 13 October 2020 19:47 (three years ago) link
describe this ride, Karl? Have you been thru the whole discography (incl 4CC?!)? Focused on a particular album? Live cuts, b-sides, videos, interviews, what? I'm curious. I'm overdue for an immersion myself.
― rip van wanko, Tuesday, 13 October 2020 19:52 (three years ago) link
This is the first I've seen that TikTok, and lo, a new d/n.
― I want to luhbahguh babum gum (Leee), Tuesday, 13 October 2020 22:50 (three years ago) link
I gotta shout out the balmy stretch on side two of Blue Bell Knoll when they go bossanova for two songs (Suckling the Mender -> Spooning Good Singing Gum). Utter bliss
― J. Sam, Tuesday, 13 October 2020 23:17 (three years ago) link
one of my fav Liz vocal moments is in the third line of “pearly dewdrops drops” where she does this high pitched almost-scream for a single note.. reliably spine-tingling
― brimstead, Tuesday, 13 October 2020 23:18 (three years ago) link
xp rip van winko
very much unstructured, and not a very deep dive at all. i'm a total rookie, which is my favorite thing to be with music - a rookie is still at the beginning of it all.
general journey so far: 2000s-2016ish - always heard cocteau twins were really cool, i knew generally who they were, but every time i listened to them it was probably a mp3 played on a laptop, rarely a real speaker system, generally only a song or two at a time. i mentally categorized them as "had to be there"
2017-19 - slow awakening, particularly with Heaven or Las Vegas (the album). a few songs struck me, and i started to listen to it every couple months, instead of every few years. we also ad a comp (stars and topsoil) that my partner would play on occasion.
unidentified time, 2019/20 - 420 unlock, "Frou-frou Foxes in Midsummer Fires". in a certain mood i would write way tf too much about the experience of loving that song for the first time. now it's not even my favorite on the album. holy shit
2020 - a couple months of continued Heaven or Las Vegas worship - i am a slow listener. but then i finally decided to venture out to the other stuff. for a brief moment, i was of the opinion that Garlands was the greatest album of all time. but it turned out that i just really liked "wax and wane" way too much. still, it was a gamechanger song for me because i started hearing them in a new way. there are all these tenuous connections in that era (to me at least) between punk and post punk and goth and 4AD and the like, sometimes it's hard to connect the dots. the Cocteau Twins of "wax and wane" still sound gloriously like the way they sound in their late 80s version; it was almost like holding up the same object in a different light and getting a sense of its weight.
victorialand is where i started getting obsessed, though. i mean...there's pretty much no bass. but it doesn't sound tinny, it sounds light. it's hallucinatory in stretches. i've listened to it a million times and it's hard for me to even mention specific songs because they all just flow together. i'm not sure i've ever heard it without listening to the whole thing.
i was also in a harold budd-mode earlier this year so of course i gave a good amount of time to The Moon and the Melodies.
treasure is my current obsession. i am astounded by how much they own their sound. i can immediately recognize them now, it's unmissable, despite there being a million bands that try to do the same thing.
i haven't even really listened to blue bell knoll that much, yet. or the post heaven or las vegas stuff. plenty of time. <3
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 01:58 (three years ago) link
i keep attempting a complete catalog listen, chronologically, and then i get stuck in treasure and just play it over and over
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:02 (three years ago) link
on the other hand,
Blue Bell Knoll [Capitol, 1988]Harold Budd records in their studio. The Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir records on their label. I understand that they're more foolish than either (not naive, not after six years), and that they've been known to milk momentary momentum out of electric guitars, but the affinities are there--these faeries are in the aura business. So what are they doing on the alternative rock charts? Ever hear the one about being so open-minded that when you lay down to sleep your brains fall out? C+
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:15 (three years ago) link
completely fuck that guy foreverhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_9IsLaK4yo
― brimstead, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:23 (three years ago) link
BBK is probably still my favorite and I don't understand Xgau's criticism at all (I often don't)
― Vinnie, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:25 (three years ago) link
Victorialand is mid-wreckingly great, "How to Bring a Blush to the Snow" is every comfort I ever needed. I'd advise you to spend more time with Garlands, title track is fantastic, "Shallow Then Halo" astonishing, "Grail Overfloweth" the bleak heaven all us Goths wanted back in the day. Blue Bell Knoll is more intricate but similarly lush as HOLV. And call me when you pop the lid on Love's Easy Tears, the zenith of everything great about them.A big realisation for me a few years back was that I love Beach House because they sound so much like CT, no coincidence that they're on Bella Union I guess.
― assert (MatthewK), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:26 (three years ago) link
haha, was just thinking about beach house and CT! for some reason, reading that christgau thing made me think "would he hate something like beach house today?"
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:34 (three years ago) link
i'm not a total noob with blue bell knoll (i was actually listening to 'the itchy glowbo bow' just as brimstead posted it!), i just have only listened to it maybe 5 times at this point. looking forward to #500
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:35 (three years ago) link
just to pin a soon to be dated covid-19 take on the cocteau twins, tbh i have spent a lot of 2020 wandering around my house with noise canceling headphones, in a daze, working during work hours or in the evening, losing myself in an album in the middle of the night on the couch or in the middle of a workday, working from home. cocteau twins have been a perfect soundtrack to whatever this year has been for me.
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:37 (three years ago) link
Karl ya gotta give time to the astonishing singles as well, handily compiled on Lullabies To Violaine
― sleeve, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:38 (three years ago) link
i mean, "suckling the mender"? how is this even real? i love that a real band laid this to tape
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:38 (three years ago) link
xp oh nice, i see it's got sugar hitler! ;)
are their singles generally separate from the albums?
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:39 (three years ago) link
most of those, yes
― sleeve, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:39 (three years ago) link
"Ice-Blink Luck" A-side is on HOLV but everything before that is EP-only
― sleeve, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:40 (three years ago) link
nice! i will probably be listening to this tonight at some point, thanks! :)
i only have Heaven or Las Vegas and Stars and Topsoil on LP. i have a feeling the next few months are going to be expensive, but i gotta get all this shit
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:46 (three years ago) link
karl, the ep’s are so, so good. love’s easy tears is sometimes my favorite release of theirs. an exquisite 15 minutes of music.the two releases i first heard way back when i listened to music obsessively on tapes: the tiny dynamine ep and the pink opaque comp. i still get wistful goosebumps when i revisit them.
― sknybrg, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:53 (three years ago) link
completely agree that the lullabies to violaine comp is essential.
― sknybrg, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:55 (three years ago) link
ok, i'm listening now. i'm such a sucker for motorik ("feathers oars-blades"). are these chronological? i assume this is 1981. the influence of motorik is everywhere but i'm trying to think of another 1981 track that carries the torch so well
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 02:55 (three years ago) link
yeah the EPS are necessary.. but the sound on lullabies to violaine is kinda ass-y
― brimstead, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 03:11 (three years ago) link
I hiked to the actual Blue Bell Knoll a few months ago :DWhile she was in Europe I'd go through my sister's tape collection for driving music cause my car only had a tape deck yet I had hardly any tapes. Chose 4 Calendar Cafe and drove around to it on the 1st nice day of Spring. Perfect soundtrack, I fell in love. Sis also had Heaven or Las Vegas which I also borrowed and loved, and Treasure which for some reason I only liked one song on. In college, Milk and Kisses was ubiquitous in record shops but I heard it wasn't very good so never bought it. Figured they were one of those bands who had a couplefew albums that really clicked with me and that's all. Fast forward to a couple years ago when I signed up for streaming services and their earlier albums would come up in suggestions or playlists, causing a mindblown.gif reaction in me. Not only was there a bunch more stuff of theirs that I liked (ie literally everything else I hadn't heard) but I liked much of it more than the stuff I'd already known (or at least liked it as much).
― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 03:19 (three years ago) link
I hiked to the actual Blue Bell Knoll a few months ago :D
i didn't know it was a real place, so any details would be gobbled up, by me
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 03:20 (three years ago) link
"from the flagstones"!
love this one.
i think gated drums were a big issue for me, for a while. not sure when that stopped, but it's been a long time, and now the effect feels as otherworldly as i imagine it must have seemed at the time
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 03:24 (three years ago) link
yeah Lullabies to Violaine has terrible mastering, go with the Pink Opaque it's their best comp
― avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 03:26 (three years ago) link
did their original releases sound good, at least? i should probably make sure i don't accidentally purchase an OG copy of a poorly mastered record
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 03:28 (three years ago) link
yes, they sound great - this is the way to go IMO:
https://www.discogs.com/Cocteau-Twins-Cocteau-Twins-Singles-Collection/master/5467
― sleeve, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 03:31 (three years ago) link
the original vinyl and CD releases sound great, the CD remasters are a little hot but not terrible and frankly they fucked up Lullabies to Violaine... no clue about any reissued vinyl
― avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 03:31 (three years ago) link
^^ yeah, and on the plus side I bet original CD versions of those singles are cheap
― sleeve, Wednesday, 14 October 2020 03:32 (three years ago) link
honestly, the reissue of Heaven and Las Vegas that i have seems to be panned by everyone for having absolutely disastrous sound. i guess i blew my ears out playing drums in a concrete basement, growing up, but it still sounds fucking amazing to me. so i'm not too nitpicky
― president of my cat (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 14 October 2020 03:34 (three years ago) link