OOP Plaid Dog Productions

Also tim OTM - Spanners is great and hugely underrated.

warm memories

as for plaid ... i have to say i prefer the tura and balil material to plaid proper. i suppose "nort route" or "reishi".

I've been somehow reluctant to investigate them too. I have suspicions their albums get filler-ish, wiffly and mediocre. They don't seem to have a lot of edge. I've heard tracks I love like 'Eyen', 'Squance' and tracks which have just bored me and not seemed like much to speak of. I don't even care for 'Lilith' from 'Not For Threes' and it has Björk on it ffs! And the Björk remixes they did were ok but not as insanely great as the Black Dog work (maybe more 'playful' or something).

But I guess a few recent purchases of 'nice' electronica have made me think... maybe I should give these guys another chance?

I don't want to try and 'compare' them. I do love The Black Dog though (have all the albums excepting the stuff on 'Trainer' which I do know I need to get sometime.

"Not For Threes" is lovely stuff indeed. I finally like the Björk song now(!) in context... I can see why I didn't think much of it last time I investigated, but I was wrong. It is also much more interesting than much of "Trainer" (almost tempted to sell that now!). Lovely completely unique harmonics, and quasi-classical & exotic sounds & strange oscillating, oval beats & rhythm constructions. I guess they are safe, friendly & downtempo, but in a good way. I'm always oddly reminded of Fila Brazillia when listening to them actually.

i've really been getting into spokes recently. it's like some kind of kaleidscopic, ever revealing intricate ket-fueled wonder.

I'm remembered of B12 and Stasis when I listen to them. Both better IMHO

xpost - seconding Restproof as best LP overall

I also love the way they really think about the interplay between the off-kilter melodies and the off-kilter rhythms; reminds me a bit of current dancehall actually

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, June 11, 2004 1:28 AM (7 years ago) Bookmark

I would just like to point out that I was OTM here.

Listening to Trainer not too long ago, I was struck at how much a lot of current Bass music is n a similar vein to what they were doing in the early 90s, no?

Oh yeah I'd go so far as to say Black Dog/early Plaid is the biggest single across the board (albeit probably mostly inadvertent) reference point.

Been getting really into Black Dog stuff recently, I think I like it more than Plaid on balance.

chap : which era of black dog ?
i happen to think the new material is absolutely fantastic.
very much in the ambient-techno vein, and there are none of the mad breaks tracks like there used to be on the early albums.
basically, the new version of the collective, is a very different beast to the Warp era.

I only got to really know Black Dog from Radio Scarecrow onward (I worked my way back from there though), indeed their more techno/ambient (or the other way around, depending on which album you pick) period. Not much talked about/loved (?) here, maybe too generic/not ambitious/weird enough for first gen. fans? I agree with mark e that it's absolutely fantastic.

I've just been listening to classic era; Spanners and the Book of Dogma comp. I love the rave/acid house influences. I'll check out the new stuff.

ordered a ton of the new stuff yesterday - liber chaos (the remixes), neither/neither, tranklements, very extended.

bloody hell it sounds good.

they really know how to craft deep sonics without overdoing the bottom end.

dont get me wrong, i love the spanners/bytes era, but these days, its the new material that i always turn to.

What's the best of the recent records?

if you like the more dancefloor friendly stuff, then the Liber dogma album, liber ep collection should do the trick ..

not had a lot of time to absorb the last 2 albums yet.

via their dust store, you can listen to excerpts.

two more albums coming this month

gotta say I've been digging Radio Scarecrow quite a bit lately. that album totally breezed by my eardrums on the first 3-4 listens but I'm loving it now

OTAKU

oops missed this revive.
i added details of the new albums to the recent Plaid thread revive.
have ordered both albums (and t-shirt - hope i get the old school smash hits badges as well),
cannot bloody wait, as i still have days/weeks when nothing hits the spot as good as tBD.
in other news.
a few days ago, they released a brilliant sunday morning hangover soundtrack :
https://soundcloud.com/the-black-dog/the-black-dog-live-at-photon-010418

quick update : both albums are bloody great if you like the whole tBD sound.
deep, rich sonically gorgeous ambient techno.
one album more techno, the other more ambient.
both sound deep and very ear pleasing.
and yes, I got the badges.
in fact I ended up with a spare set if anyone is interested.

thanks for the reminder. still picking up the ones I missed. glad these dudes are still at it.

Speaking of OPO I dug out the Parasight EP recently and spent a couple of days caning it. That and the first two Bedouin Ascent records are among the very best electronic (or any) music of the early 90s IMO.

Actually for me personally Bedouin Ascent edges it but this is the BDP thread.

Otaku is good too. A shame the Rising High catalogue doesn't seem to be getting much of a decent afterlife.

How does TBD compare to Plaid

I love plaid and all their remix work-collabs (particularly mara carlyle - the lovely, whom her husband of plaid produced)

I only have one plaid album that I have heard a mere handful of times, so I cannot really comment.

I think MHO is pretty close to conventional wisdom:

Plaid = whimsical, pretty melodies and harmonies (I don't mean this to sound dismissive AT ALL)

post-breakup tBD = bass and atmosphere, dat kick

as Voltron circa Bytes (and I really need to relisten to Temple of Transparent Balls) = perfect fusion. Plaid but harder-hitting. tBD but with more fun and play in it.

Plaid = whimsical, pretty melodies and harmonies (I don't mean this to sound dismissive AT ALL)
post-breakup tBD = bass and atmosphere, dat kick

perfectly describes why I clearly prefer the tBD side of the fence.

don't dismiss Plaid. their trilogy (Not For Threes, Restproof Clockwork, Double Figure) is solid, classic turn of the century Warp par excellence. So much to enjoy on those

I will buy Plaid as and when I get the opportunity via my cheapskate options.
whereas I will continue to drop ££ on tBD cos I know they will always hit my ambient/techno requirements.

P brane Ep by plaid is essential

If you like Plaid and really(?) haven't listened to Bytes (and indeed Spanners which is often more Plaid-like) and the other Balil stuff like the aforementioned Parasight EP (play Island immediately,) Nort Route and his As One remix, as well as Otaku which I think is an Andy Turner tune, then you are probably in for a bit of a treat.

Whether it was Ken feeding them strange ideas and/or potions or just something in the air there's some rare inspiration to this stuff.

I think I like Bytes more than anything by Plaid. I revisit it more often than SAW1, even.

good timing as there is a new tBD album, 'fragments', due in a couple of weeks.
that said, its nothing like the Bytes era.
much deeper/moodier/atmospheric.
hence why it hits the spot for me.

Oh cool, I actually had no idea.

Tracks like Psilcosine (track 5 off of Spanners) build up and build up and just as it's about to get good it stops.

this seems to be a common technique for plaid, lots of tracks that do that, Do Matter, Little People, Coat, Drowned Sea. sometimes it works, sometimes it’s more just irritating, and i wonder where does it come from (the technique not the irritation). it’s like fear to be too pretty or too emo or thinking it’s a proper build up for when they have an especially haunting melody.

as for the answer, OTAKU, forever

new tBD thing "Fragments" is reallllly working for me. I love them when they hew towards the idm side.