TLHW was '07
― pies madness (electricsound), Wednesday, 6 October 2010 02:58 (thirteen years ago) link
yeah perhaps a happy life is making him ill
― pies madness (electricsound), Wednesday, 6 October 2010 02:59 (thirteen years ago) link
not that he ever looked particularly robust
― pies madness (electricsound), Wednesday, 6 October 2010 03:00 (thirteen years ago) link
so is this just the last TBS album or is bobby quitting music?
still not sure about this. ending with 'no more sad songs' is pretty telling..
― eddy current facebook friends status updates (electricsound), Wednesday, 27 October 2010 04:56 (thirteen years ago) link
they're going chill wave.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Wednesday, 27 October 2010 17:30 (thirteen years ago) link
it's "chillwave", one word. show some respect.
heard they are gonna do a '77 punk revival thing. bobby rotten.
― dude (del), Wednesday, 27 October 2010 17:40 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm pretty sure the canonical spelling of chill wave is illegible, since it originally appeared on a polaroid taken in 1977 and left on the beach for 30 years.
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Wednesday, 27 October 2010 18:01 (thirteen years ago) link
hmm another EP is coming out after the album so clearly not a complete retirement i guess
― Sniiiiip! (electricsound), Monday, 1 November 2010 04:18 (thirteen years ago) link
i've decided "fast trains" is their best album since the debut
― whole lotta cocorosie (electricsound), Friday, 21 January 2011 05:12 (thirteen years ago) link
correspondence ep is rather 'experimental'
― swagenda (electricsound), Monday, 30 May 2011 03:19 (twelve years ago) link
i hope it doesn't mean more occasional keepers stuff, that stuff wasn't good at all
― swagenda (electricsound), Monday, 30 May 2011 03:20 (twelve years ago) link
this is always a band i think i like but dont
― ILX WORST POSTER → (Lamp), Monday, 30 May 2011 03:25 (twelve years ago) link
ok
― swagenda (electricsound), Monday, 30 May 2011 03:35 (twelve years ago) link
well i mean
― ILX WORST POSTER → (Lamp), Monday, 30 May 2011 03:48 (twelve years ago) link
i still haven't listened all of the way through the last record. maybe i will now since i don't need to get up for work tomorrow, but then it is kind of long. when's the keris howard solo stuff come out anyways? i didn't like occasional keepers at all either. too ponderous when the wake people took over. first two songs are great:)
― keythhtyek, Monday, 30 May 2011 04:47 (twelve years ago) link
hen's the keris howard solo stuff come out anyways?
was unaware this was happening, those last couple of interviews made it seem like he was quitting music too
― swagenda (electricsound), Monday, 30 May 2011 04:53 (twelve years ago) link
What's wrong with occasional keepers? 'Factory Records' is a marvel, very beautiful. I can't fault Trembling Blue Stars, since first finding the Field Mice in high school, I have always followed them. The new TBS is ace, though I like him best when he's channeling Robert Smith.
― JacobSanders, Monday, 30 May 2011 05:33 (twelve years ago) link
i thought i remember reading in a matinee records update sometime after the last harper lee release that keris howard was going new order like on hal and was doing solo stuff. of course this was a long time ago. maybe he has changed his mind.
― keythhtyek, Monday, 30 May 2011 05:44 (twelve years ago) link
What's wrong with occasional keepers?
ok well i've only heard the first album but imo it's the most boring thing either of them have been involved in, just never warmed to it at all. perhaps i should check out the second one
― swagenda (electricsound), Monday, 30 May 2011 05:51 (twelve years ago) link
The second occasional keepers is better than the first. I remember the first hardly existing, kind of pretty, but I can't remember anything but faint ambient sounds. The second one I've played a lot.
― JacobSanders, Monday, 30 May 2011 06:01 (twelve years ago) link
i can't work out if the backing vocal on the kidney bingos cover is david feck or caesar
― buttwalk (electricsound), Monday, 6 June 2011 03:18 (twelve years ago) link
Only just recently discovered them. 'Her Handwriting' is fantastic. Could listen to 'What Can I Say To Change Your Heart' on repeat for way longer than would be good for me.
Which album do I need to check out next?
― I for one am (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 28 July 2011 17:16 (twelve years ago) link
i would rate em
her handwriting > fast trains & telegraph wires > seven autumn flowers > last holy writer > lips that taste of tears = broken by whispers = alive to every smile
not that there's much to separate any of them, but i do find the shinkansen period (save for HH) hard going at times.
― Who? Well, I've never heard of Mogwai. (electricsound), Thursday, 28 July 2011 22:48 (twelve years ago) link
Thanks man, will follow you rating of the albums!
― I for one am (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 28 July 2011 22:53 (twelve years ago) link
I only ever had HH, Lips, Broken, and Alive. I've obviously missed out on a lot of their better stuff.
― Gukbe, Thursday, 28 July 2011 22:54 (twelve years ago) link
i should probably mention that i was pretty worn out on bobby's voice by the time of "lips" after being a field mice fan for years and years so that has probably affected my opinion. beth arzy definitely added something to TBS that it really needed
― Who? Well, I've never heard of Mogwai. (electricsound), Thursday, 28 July 2011 23:26 (twelve years ago) link
alive to every smile is marvelous. the only one that has a bit of diversity because of his talented friends chipping in probably. i love them all. hh is best though.
― keythhtyek, Friday, 29 July 2011 03:29 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VytfzgNF28
― fauxmarc, Sunday, 14 August 2011 16:37 (twelve years ago) link
i like the new order bass.
does anyone remember her handwriting? that one should be a classic by now, i think.
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 26 September 2012 21:19 (eleven years ago) link
Great track. Anything that sounds like LowLife / Here Comes Everybody + Field Mice is a sure thing to my ears.
― brotherlovesdub, Wednesday, 26 September 2012 21:28 (eleven years ago) link
i like these a lot, a lot more than i like NO
― syntax evasion (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 26 September 2012 21:31 (eleven years ago) link
not in love with cath carroll's guest spot, would rather beth sing it tbqh
i was wrong here
― adam bandit (electricsound), Wednesday, 26 September 2012 22:32 (eleven years ago) link
One of my favorites of all time.
Seriously, ask me anything.
― Austin, Thursday, 27 September 2012 01:55 (eleven years ago) link
i think he was on to something. is he a pot smoker? i'm a fan of this guy. i forget every once in a while and then i hear stuff and i'm always impressed. he can be really spacey which i really enjoy. he's good at it. also: his old 90's beats still sound cool. his homemade beats. twee beats.
― scott seward, Thursday, 22 August 2013 02:00 (ten years ago) link
Track linked above is certainly gorgeous. I've always liked everything I heard for years but never went about acquiring any of it.
― Evan, Thursday, 22 August 2013 20:15 (ten years ago) link
So, apparently Correspondence was the final TBS release.
Shame, if so.
― Austin, Thursday, 22 August 2013 23:40 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7coSs3xOdw
― Austin, Thursday, 22 August 2013 23:41 (ten years ago) link
I've got no idea what Wratten is up to, or how he pays the bill, but I imagine there would nothing sadder than coming across the guy working at a checkout line somewhere.
What a great songwriter, though.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 23 August 2013 01:48 (ten years ago) link
weird to think that her handwriting is 17 years old
if this were 1980 the album would have been made in 1963
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Friday, 23 August 2013 02:52 (ten years ago) link
i looked for something i wrote about TBS and it was 13 years ago! i couldn't believe it. what i wrote was bad. i feel bad about it. it was written poorly. i was still learning.
― scott seward, Friday, 23 August 2013 02:57 (ten years ago) link
Well, unless he reboots with another new name, I guess we can look forward to another Occasional Keepers album.
― Austin, Friday, 23 August 2013 03:34 (ten years ago) link
unless he reboots with another new name
said reboot is under the name of lightning in a twilight hour, apparently
― föllakzoidberg (electricsound), Saturday, 1 February 2014 23:30 (ten years ago) link
Thank you for that. I knew it was only a matter of time.
― Austin, Saturday, 1 February 2014 23:47 (ten years ago) link
https://www.facebook.com/lightninginatwilighthour
― Austin, Saturday, 8 February 2014 01:55 (ten years ago) link
I hope lightning in a twilight hour will be more cure homage!
― JacobSanders, Saturday, 8 February 2014 03:30 (ten years ago) link
I've often said that Bob W picked up where Bob S left off.
― Austin, Saturday, 8 February 2014 04:19 (ten years ago) link
In all seriousness Trembling Blue Star/Field Mice/Northern Picture Library hold a special place with me, they've been my long walk music, then cross country driving soundtrack and at certain times my companion in heartbreak. I was listening today to The Orchids and Even As We Speak and was thinking about the Sarah version of electronica and how much I used to hate it when it first came out. I think it was Screamadelica that changed my feelings, and I started liking the Field Mice's electronic songs. I wonder how other people feel the electronic pop of Sarah records has aged?
― JacobSanders, Saturday, 8 February 2014 04:39 (ten years ago) link
i think ian catt's less 'fashionable' production (probably a feature of his budgets more than anything else) has helped a lot of that stuff avoid some of the more dated sounds of the period
― föllakzoidberg (electricsound), Saturday, 8 February 2014 04:47 (ten years ago) link
idyllwild from the last holy writer is a great song
― display name changed. (amateurist), Monday, 2 June 2014 14:38 (nine years ago) link
Yes it is!!
― JacobSanders, Tuesday, 3 June 2014 06:15 (nine years ago) link
I don't understand why the Field Mice wouldn't want their LPs/singles reissued. They could sell dozens!
― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, 24 September 2020 15:17 (three years ago) link
I was on the LTM website recently and thought I’d got lucky finding one of their expanded reissues of one of the Field Mice albums (‘Skywriting’, I think) still in stick but, alas, it was a mistake.
I did though get the LTM reissue of NPL’s ‘Alaska’ and have really enjoyed it - it’s like a midpoint between St Etienne and Disco Inferno or Bark Psychosis. Now keeping an eye out for the companion singles comp that LTM released and is now OOP.
― michaellambert, Thursday, 24 September 2020 15:31 (three years ago) link
I got all the LTM CD reissues when they came out, so I guess I should have been specific and said VINYL LP reissues.
― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, 24 September 2020 15:36 (three years ago) link
Ah, fair enough! I should have got the LTM CDs when I’ve seen them over the years but didn’t so that’s on me.
I wouldn’t say no to vinyl reissues.
― michaellambert, Thursday, 24 September 2020 15:47 (three years ago) link
NPL's Blue Dissolve EP is really fantastic, worth tracking down.
― avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Thursday, 24 September 2020 15:58 (three years ago) link
Yes, the Jetstream Pony stuff is much more low stakes, but still very good. Beth does a good job of keeping her Instagram feed up to date with all of her various endeavours.
If you didn't like this song from the previous Luxembourg album, Andy would recommend listening a second (or perhaps third) time =)
We bought all of the LTM CD reissues of the Field Mice / Northern Picture Library / Trembling Blue Stars stuff when they were new. We were working at Tower at the time, so we were able to get that sweet, sweet employee discount.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Thursday, 24 September 2020 18:59 (three years ago) link
I have all the Field Mice and NPL on vinyl except Emmas House, the Caff 7", and the Blue Dissolve EP (hurts me). I just want it available for everyone else too. I do need the earlier TBS albums on vinyl. Those are crazy expensive on discogs. Anyone selling?
― brotherlovesdub, Thursday, 24 September 2020 20:38 (three years ago) link
Was Lips That Taste of Tears ever pressed on vinyl?
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Thursday, 24 September 2020 22:51 (three years ago) link
The Long Now
We listened pretty much exclusively to the new album all weekend and I have to say that it has exceeded Andy's expectations. It very much feels like a classic-minded dreampop record, with slight modifications in production techniques. It's not really an album that I think would have been able to be made twenty or thirty years, yet it's absolutely reminiscent of those kinds of sounds. The songs are easily the most consistently pretty the band has yet done, but with that presence of slight melancholy that the best British guitar music has always possessed. And nearly every song seems to inevitably hit a moment of sheer beauty at one moment or another. At ten songs, it's concise and direct, wasting no time. Very much feels like their best work to date. Very pleased.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Monday, 26 October 2020 15:35 (three years ago) link
i see someone mentioned that we got the tape a long while back upthread, but for the closure that no one asked for on that front, here's that archived tape rip of quiet actions:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TsqoYxdQBQ
andy has had it on my youtube channel for a year or so, but set it to unlisted. in case anyone wanted to hear it, here's your chance. it's just two long ambient-ish tracks full of deep harmonies and lots of meditative repetitions. we've been playing it every night before bed the past week or so and it's so perfect. engaging, but not overbearing. first track almost has a disintegration loops (but in reverse?) quality to it. highly recommended.
also: bobby's on instagram (!!!). beth arzy mentioned some months back that she was visiting a studio to work on vocals for the next liath record. really looking forward to that.
― the beginning of the end of discourse. (Austin), Thursday, 11 November 2021 18:38 (two years ago) link
Maybe my favorite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt6BU4WlNAM
― JacobSanders, Sunday, 23 January 2022 17:29 (two years ago) link
Lovely. Very (consciously?) "Disintegration."
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 23 January 2022 17:31 (two years ago) link
otm. "all eternal things" was possibly an intentional nod to the cure.
the later tbs stuff had a lot of disintegration qualities to it. always seemed like it was on purpose to me.
dunno if i've posted it in here before, but "this is bliss" is maybe my favorite tbs thing. pornography goes twee. pretty epic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3FTTsqvvyA
(and an amazing mixtape closer, btw)
― get shrunk by this funk. (Austin), Sunday, 23 January 2022 18:47 (two years ago) link
and here's something new. can't hear it just yet, but i'm excited.
― get shrunk by this funk. (Austin), Tuesday, 15 February 2022 19:44 (two years ago) link
New songs are predictably good. A side is an ethereal folk rock tune and has a very pleasant riffy thing that's reminding me of something I can't place at the moment. B side is an ambient drone; quite pleasant because that's what it's supposed to be. I imagine it's quite representative of what's to come and that pleases me greatly.
― get shrunk by this funk. (Austin), Friday, 18 February 2022 21:45 (two years ago) link
Pre-orders for the new album is on Bandcamp. "The Circling of the Seasons" has been in constant rotation and it's grown on me a lot. This is an early album of the year hopeful for me.
― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Friday, 25 March 2022 03:31 (two years ago) link
LIGHTNING IN A TWILIGHT HOUR <nore✧✧✧@lightninginatwilighth✧✧✧.bandc✧✧✧.c✧✧>2:56 PM (4 minutes ago)to meGreetings Austin Anderson,Thank you for your pre-order of Overwintering by LIGHTNING IN A TWILIGHT HOUR. The full digital album has just been released!
Greetings Austin Anderson,Thank you for your pre-order of Overwintering by LIGHTNING IN A TWILIGHT HOUR. The full digital album has just been released!
cue Jack Nicholson in Batman: "Gentlemen! Let's broaden our minds!" (presses play on boombox)
― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Thursday, 31 March 2022 22:13 (two years ago) link
Okay, one listen and the man can do no wrong and it's good BUT—
This is a lot for an hour long album. I expected more ambient stuff (there is none). It's a very mellow album; I think there was maybe one song on the second half that had drums in it? Some of the lyrics are weird, even for him. Most of it is very reminiscent of the stuff he did on the two Occasional Keepers albums, but even more acoustic strummy and dream poppy. That being said, it's probably among the prettiest music he's ever done and there's two songs that hit me as instant band classics ("Delphinium" and "Slow Motion Spirits"). Very preliminary thought is that it's better than the first album, but doesn't quite have the sustained wow factor of the All the Ships at Sea EP. I would certainly consider "Delphinium" one of the best songs he's ever done. Four mics, for now.
― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Thursday, 31 March 2022 23:29 (two years ago) link
Whoa, All Music going to bat for Bob! That's the highest overall rating they've given any of his bands since Northern Picture Library.
― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Tuesday, 5 April 2022 13:53 (two years ago) link
No, I'm mistaken: that's the highest overall rating since the Field Mice!
― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Tuesday, 5 April 2022 13:56 (two years ago) link
So I've been living with this album for about a month and it's stayed in pretty regular rotation. I love it and it is my so far album of the year. Agree with my initial assessment of about 4 mics/4 stars/8.0 and that "Delphinium" is the easy highlight. On further listens, some of it is very reminiscent of the more atmospheric Northern Picture Library material: "The Cinematographer as Painter" is one of the weirdest calm songs I've ever heard and "Natural Light" has a purposely discordant progression that never resolves — just kind of unsettled and tenuous; something he's never really done before (or at least, not to this degree). I knew what to expect and it's not the best thing he's done under this band name, but I still feel like Overwintering exceeded my expectations pretty easily.
I'm hoping he decides to follow tradition and put out a quick EP in the next year or so before disappearing again.
― Let's disco dance, Hammurabi! (Austin), Monday, 2 May 2022 23:45 (two years ago) link
in lieu of anything else ambient-y from bob and friends so far, i made a playlist of all of the ambient/wordless/found sound songs from throughout his catalogue: rjw kankyo ongaku+ambient.
― "Why is the voice of reason treated as the unreliable narrator?", asked (Austin), Tuesday, 26 July 2022 04:51 (one year ago) link
so future conditional was an offshoot thing from piano magic and bob guested on a couple tracks and i was under the impression that it was a one-off. decent album, fun side project.
apparently they've made another album and bob is guesting with beth now and there's maybe a new order cover involved? okay, sure.
― ミ💙🅟 🅛 🅤 🅡 🅜 🅑💙彡 (Austin), Saturday, 17 September 2022 17:19 (one year ago) link
i missed this. fuck.
― .austinuos, plug forth. (Austin), Tuesday, 7 March 2023 21:05 (one year ago) link
still haven't heard that. it was another of bob's tapeworm collabs — presumably another ambient thing. wonder what it sounds like.
anyway, do love when bob breaks out the 12 string—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUUI9ddDeOM"abba on the jukebox" (1996)
― "another slice of death, please." (Austin), Saturday, 4 November 2023 17:42 (six months ago) link