Plaid - C/D S/D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyEMOSY27QY

<3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHY1zaebMYE&feature=related

This one was produced by Plaid too, it's almost as good as "No Goverment".

Hmm, "Lilith" sounds pretty good, I'm not sure if I've ever heard it before. Are there any other Plaid tunes like that?

Because the stuff I remember hearing back in the 90s was way more IDMesque, but that one actually is quite good.

Yeah I heard a Nicolette vocal on another track (forget who produced it now) and I find that her singing tends to have a habit of only just about fitting over the music. I love "Sly" though - favourite Massive Attack tune I think.

Lillith is from the first Plaid album "Not For Threes" aka "333" that came out in 1997. It's not my favourite, but a lot of people like it. Otherwise there's "Face Me" (a secret track at the end of Restproof Clockwork, which is a brilliant album in its own right), the lead track from Spokes, and also "Manyme" from Double Figure. One of my very favourites (and I've banged on about it before) is their remix of Coba's "After Dinner" which uses waltz-time Amelie-style accordion to great effect.

I wouldn't call Plaid very very IDM-esque in the traditional sense - they tend to work with a lot more warmer, catchier sounds than Autechre/Aphex et al.

Maybe so, but there are a lot of warm sounds on Spanners too, and yet the way they handle it somehow makes it all sound kinda lifeless (except on "Chase the Manhattan"). I gotta check out the things you recommend though, looks like at least the vocal stuff is something I might enjoy.

I *loved* Not For Threes at the time - Rakimou is absolutely gorgeous and there's a real playfulness to it.

yeah Rakimou is great - Myopia is a nice one too. It's a really good album but I felt they followed it up even better.

I like Manyme. Mara Carlyle sings on that one :D

This is one of my favourite downtempo tracks ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxV-fviqRfA

got a big soft spot for

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2k1j7UAe0k

For me, any plaid I've heard outside of the Trainer stuff (the first disc is great, but the second is really fantastic) hasn't been worth bothering with. Same with post- Bytes Black Dog Productions, except their more contemporary stuff is looking fairly good, I should look into more of that.

I love love love Radio Scarecrow and Further Vexations. Anyone heard Music For Real Airports (lol title) yet?

wait... what are these things willem?

2008, 2009 and 2010 albums by The Black Dog, respectively.

a more accurate update to Eno's work
lol blurb

I have only ever heard "Eyen" and I love it. Is it representative?

new Black Dog FACT mix:
http://www.factmag.com/2010/04/26/fact-mix-144-the-black-dog/

yes Eyen is your typical mid-period Plaid. If you like it you'll love Double Figure and Restproof Clockwork.

It took me a while, but sometimes Spokes is a really great album. A lot of the tracks sound very physical, mechanical even, like a giant clock framework with hundreds of moving parts.

Dunno, Eyen is a lot more widescreen than some of their other stuff, less playful. That said their first three albums are pretty diverse and I reckon you'd like them a lot Spencer.

of the first four tracks on Double Figure it's my least favourite for the reasons you mentioned Matt (i like my Plaid a bit slapstick and cartoonish - there are some abstract moments, particularly on Double Figure and most of Greedy Baby, which just don't gel well with me).

Anyone seen Plaid with the gamelan orchestra?

Anyone getting excited about Scintilli in September? The new track is kind of everything I hoped for: http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/16233-missing/

Hmmm... Been listening to the new album a bit. It's pleasant enough, but not exactly ground breaking considering it's been years since Spokes came out.

new album is really incredible. maybe their best one.

i think "pleasant enough, but not exactly ground breaking" sorta epitomizes their whole career

OH MY FUCK THEY'RE TOURING THE STATES AND PLAYING A 250-PERSON VENUE IN PHILLY FOR $13 AAIAIIIEIEEEEE!!!!!

Don't know if I ever linked to this review I wrote about Scintilli. Actually it's a bit of a ramble about IDM in general but w/e.

Do we have a good Black Dog thread around here? Because I've been hooked on Bytes a lot lately; it reminds me quite a bit of something like SAW 85-92 but to my ears it's actually a bit more enjoyable since they have a real melodic gift that shows on pretty much every track. What else is good?

frogbs your post mirrors the posts at the top of this thread.

for some reason i thought this thread was 10 years old! I have Balls but not Spanners yet - the 79.999 minute length puts me off a bit, but I'm starting to "trust" the Dog to deliver the goods, since I did grab Book of Dogma and I'm surprised by how often I've listened to it.

Spanners i the only one I've heard, but I always found it unsatisfying. Has Bytes aged well?

yes and no? I mean you don't really hear those kind of analog synths anymore and it was recorded on pretty cheap equipment (you can hear some defects in the recording, similar to SAW 85-92, but maybe a bit better), but the melodies still sound good. The early singles are the ones that have aged not so well; like Plaid's first album back in 91 it just sort of points the way toward something more interesting. Bytes would be like their Orbital 2 moment - very much an early 90's thing but it does a great job of showing off what was so great about those times.

I still like Spanners! Especially the first handful of tracks, which are quite lovely, "Psil-Cosyin" of course but also "Chase the Manhattan." Haven't listened to Bytes in a VERY long time, though.

I'm getting into Spanners now and even though I kinda wish they trimmed 10 or so minutes off it here and there it really is a neat album.

Can't remember starting this thread. Big love for Ladyburst and Eyen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrN0DP97M8E

Double Figure and Jackson and the Computer band in heavy rotation this week. I'm going through some warp(ed) nostalgia trip.

Byte's is great one of my favs better than spanners overall infact i had to buy it on CD cos i wore the vinyl out

"Squance" is one of my favorite songs evar

Curious what the connection between this Craig Leon album from 1981 (which James Holden has been praising lately) and early Black Dog/Plaid is – the sound's weirdly similar, as are some of the titles. Leon produced the first Ramones album among many others.

I'm definitely not keen with everything on Spanners but it's one of those albums I just can't help myself with, I have to hear the whole thing every time. Bytes is also incredible. Was kinda shocked to load up iTunes and see just how much I've played both those albums.

Gorgeous lead track from the new album, if it's all like this I would be very pleased.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ6I6J0yrHQ

Hawk Moth is indeed superb. Anyone listened to Reachy Prints yet? I'm not sure I love it yet. Like the last album, there are some gorgeous moments but also a lot of songs which sound like Plaid just being Plaid.

any opinions on the new one?

Apart from Hawkmoth it may as well be offcuts from Scintilli. I had a bit of trouble with Scintilli itself because it sounded like Plaid settling into a well-trodden path, but at least there were a few imaginative moments. This new one goes right over my head every time I put it on.

I haven't cared about them since about 2002 but I love this new one, less meandering pissing about then there used to be, the whole album is much tighter and the melodies are gorgeous.

Did you listen to Scintilli, Matt DC? If you like this one I think yo'd really like that one.

the first Plaid album i've been able to engage with.. the odd-numbered tracks are all great. as somebody said upthread, it feels very concise and punchy. sounds great in the (rental) car

With all the Ae excitement going on, let's not forget there's a new Plaid album on the horizon. 'The Bee' has been released as a preview. I was very disappointed by Reachy Prints, save for 'Hawkmoth', but this sounds quite interesting. An almost classic rock tinge to it at the end.

a couple of new tracks today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBpVycuV7xM

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

a bit harsher and more abrasive than the stuff they've been doing lately. second half of "Maru" is wonderful. "Recall" almost sounds like they're going for a Gantz Graf-type sound.

dud

heres another one. album is due out in a couple days. anyone who's into the band has heard this sort of track many times before, but it's still pretty good. and the visual component is nice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSzH4DMo618

I know the guy who did the video, really excited that he got to do that.

I like the track a lot more than I expected to, but also idk, it seems like it would work best as video game music.

Maru is so fucking good, best thing I've heard from them in years.

New one is simply one of their best albums. It isn’t just good or great. They really delivered.

Ach... I dunno. It's about as good as the last one. I really don't know what's been going on with this band in recent times. Their music is ambiently enjoyable to me; unobjectionable, but I listen to each new release a total of about 2-3 times and there's rarely more than 3 moments that really stand out beyond the usual Plaid-by-numbers sound. This one's supposed to be a concept album about our relationship to plastic, but it doesn't sound any different to the last one.

I do like it. I am enjoying Crown Shy and The Pale Moth because they seem to include instruments that are a bit different, but the diversity and sheer fun isn't there any more. Get some guest singers in please!

Nah, they need to retire and just repress their classics. Having guest vocalists is the strongest “jumping the shark” indicator for electronic producers.

Yes but it used to work lovely when they got Mara Carlyle or Bjork to do the odd bit. Gave the albums a nice bit of anchoring. Plus they were good at it. I dunno, they just need to do something new or at least a bit different.

Like the last song, Praze, I'm sure I've heard this tune at least three times before on previous albums

you're definitely right about that, there are a few moments on each new one where I wonder "haven't they used this exact chord progression before?", which does their music a big disservice, since their stuff is still intriguing & hits a pretty unique zone. I think of their new music as being the aural equivalent of the 'spinning dancer' optical illusion, the beats & melodies kinda shift & invert themselves based on how you listen to them. only Autechre comes to mind as a group that does something similar. at the same time these new albums add pretty much nothing to their legacy. but I haven't heard the new one yet.

Plaid are like certain IDM acts such as µ-Ziq and Squarepusher (and even Boards of Canada to an extent) where there's some pretty obvious melodic motifs that have now become stylistic identifiers. I've always felt they've lacked the textural or timbrel uniqueness that goes along with it for those other artists, which is why they often get the "video game soundtrack music" label and sound a bit more generic.

This album seems to offer up some new sounds and more acoustic instrumentation but also couples this with their tightest, most focused arrangements in years. Very little noodling here, and more than a few unique song and sound ideas. Really stoked with this new one and feel it's their best since Spokes, and I've dutifully been following them the entire time. Definitely something special here.

When Scintilli came out, I wrote a fairly long and boring review in the Quietus comparing them to Autechre and how each band's trajectory has followed parallel but entirely different timelines.

BTW, feeling that they do have an album of remarkable work in them, I started making a playlist of Plaid's best stuff from the last ten years. I can't say I've listened to the later albums enough to really be able to discern what the true highlights are though. Any glaring omissions, or tracks I should simply leave off? I'd rather make it under 70 minutes (i.e. album length) if possible https://open.spotify.com/user/1153731601/playlist/2PSCZXrZuV22bRyTahthcX?si=8kGcDLf9TYy_DDW2vOPQgA

So I dug this out again this morning and it sounds really good in the car. I might have been quick to judge too harshly. It's not a million miles away from what's gone before but it's certainly a software upgrade.

Opening track has a bit of an MBV vibe to it

Maru reminds me of LP5-era Autechre in a nice way

Loving this discussion and it's been a while since I've been on a Plaid kick so I went back and listened to a couple anthologies, Parts in the Post and Trainer. The former, the remix collection, is a goddamn classic. So many bangers and memorable bits and a ton of variety. For those stumbling into this band fresh, it's a fantastic starting point. Trainer was great too, and has a nice rawness to it that's missing from anything newer. Forgot how good these guys were for the better part of a damn decade. Nit picking the last 10 years feels like playing with house money. These dudes have been around

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0007582

60 minute mix for freak zone

I need to spend more time with it but Polymer may well be my favourite Plaid album, period.

…when I'm listening to it, at least.

Resident Advisor on Dancers and Nurula: "the melodies are unconvincing, the arrangements toothless"

Nurula is only good, but Dancers?????

well, i came round to this album in the end and that's the opinion i had at first. it's far from toothless - I prefer Nurula to Dancers I think. The best song is Crown Shy

I think it's a great album, but I've realized my taste is far from fashionable. I don't keep up with electronic trends. Thought it'd resonate a bit more than it did.

resonate with the wider public/critical sphere you mean? I guess they're a band who've large been seen to have been spinning their wheels for te best part of 15 years, spinning out variations on a sound that was perfected c2001 and not doing much outside of it. Polymers is far from daring, but they've really nailed it on this album. It's not going to win many new fans but it definitely helped me appreciate them again. By far their best since Double Figure

The Orbital remix of Maru is so damn good, I've been playing it every day

The Skee Mask remix of Maru is sick as well

has anybody been to recent shows? seeing them in seattle and wonder what to expect.

a new release, a collection of 28 recent remixes by Plaid: https://touched.bandcamp.com/album/stem-sell
limited vinyl/2CD with proceeds going to cancer charity

seems more uniform Plaid sound compared to Parts In the Post,
sounds almost like Plaid album proper (and better than Polymer at that)

(the seattle show was amazing, to answer my own question, and a great last show to see before the pandemic)

this comp is awesome and anyone who likes post-BD Plaid should jump on it

listening to "After The Movie" and feeling high as anything

double figure turns 20 today

Gross

what exactly?

God I loved that album so much.

I was 14 when that one came out and I loved it. No real interest to revisit it, I tried a couple years ago and the nostalgia factor was what kept me listening... it didn’t age too well.

Looking at the tracklist I think this could’ve been more of a classic if you trim it to 10 tracks. It’s also frontoaded, the opening two tracks might be the best ones.

I have an old mp3 which is certainly Plaid, entitled "Knives Drawer", maybe got it off gabba/amp. The internet seems to know nothing about it, anyone have an idea?

new album is pretty nice. they have a weird thing going for me, most of their best tracks are on their 1995-2001 albums, but the ones from Scintilli on are the ones I always reach for. they just feel like better listens back to front. They Might be Giants are another band like this. no real surprises on this one, though "Wondergan" and "Nightcrawler" were both neat curveballs. last two tracks probably the best.

Yeah I agree. I preferred Polymer to this one on the whole. No surprises on this one other than maybe Wondergan, but it's not an unpleasant listen. They must have made 'Return to Return' at least three times by now.

I also find it amusing how every Plaid album that comes out these days has some sort of concept draped around it, even though they all just sound like Plaid albums

wasn’t much into the track but the video for “wondergan” is pretty cool