Warpaint

After the album, Spotify just decided to play me a Warpaint cover of Ashes To Ashes that I never even knew existed. Wow, this is really quite something. I didn't think it would work, but wow, it really does, brings out an even dreamier side of the song. This is sending shivers down my spine that has nothing to do with the air conditioning.

keep meaning to listen to the rest of the album but am stuck on listening 'undertow' on repeat tbh

The weird burbling synth noises on Majesty, oh yes!

Huh - Wikipedia says that Shannyn Sossamon used to be in this band (her sister is the bassist), as did Josh Klinghoffer, and John Frusciante produced their first album.

that song up top kind of reminds me of angel'in heavy syrup if they were lifting more post-punk and less psych

― call all destroyer, Tuesday, October 26, 2010 11:00 AM (2 days ago)

would never have listened to the youtube if it weren't for this. thanks, CAD.

They were on 6Music just a few minutes ago, playing a live session. Sounded alright, imho.
True story.

Wish they'd pushed their sound more into the spooky, off-kilter, spectral realm really, they're a little too polite.

like almost everything about this, based on "elephants". song, structure, textures & tones, and the GUITAR. holy shit, so many brilliant little moments in that one song. especially love the riff from abt 1:45 - 2:00. reminiscent of "baby song" by the raincoats (an all time favorite of mine), and not just cuz they all have girl parts. love everything except the singer and the name. singer isn't awful, but a bit too mannered for my tastes, and the band name is just horrid. but whatever, i can live with that.

and i can totally hear angel'in heavy syrup, especially in the spacier/quieter moments. nice.

I like the politeness, it brings this edge of surreality to it, much like Parlour Psych, that the contrast between the wild and strange and the comfortably familiar hides something bigger than you initially perceive. In a kind of "monster you don't see is scarier than the monster you do see" - it makes it a more subtle listen, what they are holding back is as interesting as what they show. It's what keeps them from straying too far into that eyerolling "kooky" territory so dangerous for ye ethereal womyns. It is the restraint that shows their true power.

^ interesting post. not sure i agree. 2nd vid posted here ("undertow") is less appealing to me because the parts are more orderly, less wildly discontinuous. thus lacks the sense of adventure i get from "elephants". i miss the squalling noise punctuation, the blissed-out interludes. extremity suits them, not least because the singing gives me the impression that they'll very quickly be moving towards a more pop friendly sound. nothing wrong with that, but i like the post punk psyche thing they've got going on atm.

majesty is fucking ace.

Wishing their U.S. tour in December was swinging through Chicago, hopefully in 2011.

and i can totally hear angel'in heavy syrup, especially in the spacier/quieter moments. nice.

― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Thursday, October 28, 2010 7:32 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

glad!!

Bought this yesterday, played it this morning. Interested to note that Andy Weatherall mixed a couple of tracks; there's certainly a danciness to it. Reminds me a bit of The XX in the heavy-breathing minimalism, and Electrelane in the girls-jammingness. The danciness is very welcome, almost... Primal Scream-ey, but not at all Primal Scream-ey? If that makes sense. Groovey indie rock with dance elements as psychedelic tool? That Dusted review is even more fucking incongruous now I've heard it.

NME front cover, I see...

They certainly had several copies in Exeter HMV, and I was quite surprised by that, so there's obviously a certain amount of push behind them. And fair play. Vaguely grossed-out by Guardian live review suggesting that it's the kind of music that David & Samantha Cameron like to fuck to.

If there's a dance element it's textural rather than rhythmic.

The other thing I keep getting reminded of is early 90s female fronted grunge-era alt-rock. Maybe a bit PJ Harvey in the vocals, when she flattens her voice and uses it as a pivot around which the rest of the music revolves. Undertow especially.

Also, "please don't call anybody else baby..."

Um, it's mainly textural, and they're not playing straight or obvious 'dance' 'beats', but there's something in the fluidity of the rhythm section that's several steps beyond regular indie bollocks. It's not Friendly Fires or Delphic, obviously, but... I think if I played it at a time other than breakfast, and turned it up, it'd make me want to move.

The rhythm section is a bit Stone Roses-ish, maybe?

A bit of the more psychedelic end of Baggy? Maybe. Dunno. It still reminds me most strongly of the first Verve album.

It's a load more fluid than bleeding Delphic.

Live, they do hit the 128bpm house pulse quite frequently ...

Yeah, Stone Roses circa Somethings Burning, first Verve album, that kind of groovey, post-dance psychedelia.

You're making it sound way too British.

Well that was a kind of British that desperately wanted to be playing in a groovey smokey club on the Sunset Strip with the Doors playing softly on the jukebox or something, so it's not completely off the mark.

Aye, definitely. Remove the frontmen from those bands and you've got some kind of Doors / CAN interface.

Verve yes, Roses no. But it still sounds more like post-rock + 90s alt-rock + Telepathe-style Brooklyn indie to me.

Actually I made the ill formed decision to listen to some Stone Roses on this thread. I can no longer stomach the self titled album. I think Nick means the kind of Fools Gold / One Love 12"s with all their B-sides, it totally has that kind of groove.

(Still kind of shocked I can no longer listen to that album any more. I feel like a part of my youth has truly died. The 12"s between the albums are still ace, mind you.)

Yeah, I'm talking about Fools Gold / Somethings Burning / One Love, the tantaslising glimpse at a Krautrock/psychedelia/acidhouse interface that they gave us before sodding off to take cocaine and fall off mountain bikes.

Yeah, back recently I managed to get the Deluxe (as opposed to the Collectors) 2CD+DVD of the Stone Roses' debut for a fiver in HMV, and tbh i'm tl;dl/meh about the DVD, played the 'interesting demos' once, and the main album I sort of didn't need to.

Still, it's now taken the place of the previous format on the shelf.

What about those "sacriligeuos" remix 12" versions of Waterfall and Res?

Or is the wrong thread?

So, erm, Warpaint, eh?

Dunno, will have to check them out.

Question is, actually, did you hear that "dance" influence before or after you read that Andrew Weatherall produced a couple of the tracks? ;-)

The vocal harmonies and stylings actually quite remind me of early Throwing Muses more than anything else, could that be what you're hearing in that "early 90s alt-rock" thing, Matt?

Maybe, although I haven't actually heard much Throwing Muses.

I don't have the new record, but the vocals on the earlier ep reminded me at times of PJ Harvey, Bjork, Damo Suzuki, the Bangles.

I think mostly it's Baby that has that whole spooky haunted house quality of the first Kristin Hersch album, for mé.

If we're talking 90s indie, I was kind of reminded in places of the Cat Power of 'Cross Bones Style' or 'Nude As The News'. But yeah, Telepathe and Throwing Muses are good reference points too imo.

Glad to see Sick Mouthy bring up the Electrelane influence! I was thinking that myself just the other day and I actually almost posted about them very nearly working to fill the Electrelane hole in my life.

I was kind of reticent to bring Electrelane up because I didn't want to just go "oh, 4 girls with guitars, Electrelane", and I'm not sure I'd say Warpaint share the same postpunk-ishness that some Electrelane had, but there's a definite groove / Kraut connection, and something occasionally in the ethereality of the vocals (although Electrelane's ethereality came pretty much only with the choirs).

A couple of great live-in-a-studio videos

Finally made the connection that the chorus on "Undertow" reminds me of the "just don't ask me... what it was" bit of the chorus to Suzanne Vega's "Luka."

Another reference that has been popping into my head for the last couple of days in terms of texture is Pinback.

Yeah that Luka connection drove me mad for about 2 weeks.

Yeah, it's funny - the "What's the matter / you hurt yourself" part echoes the "Let me clip / your dirty wings" part of Nirvana's "Polly" exactly in the notes and phrasing, then it goes into the uncanny "Luka" thing. It's like a bunch of old familiar tunes stitched together. I really like it, anyway.

A ton of the rhythm stuff on the album conjures the slower tracks of the last couple of Fugazi albums in a big way - I wouldn't be surprised if the bassist was a big Joe Lally fan (the opening track lifts the bassline from "By You" completely).

ugh I actually bought the NME for the first time in ... years.

I can't actually remember the last time. Oh wait, I can, it was when they published those naked photos of 120 Days.

Was it some kind of fluke that the interview actually, like, printed *quotes* about *music* instead of just talking about a band's clothes and haircuts? Astonishing.

was on-the-fence about downloading this, but the rabid supporters on this thread have convinced me.

warpaint is soon to receive a cool $1.16 in royalties from my emusic purchase.

Yeah, on it's second play already, liking it.

Yeah, it's funny - the "What's the matter / you hurt yourself" part echoes the "Let me clip / your dirty wings" part of Nirvana's "Polly" exactly in the notes and phrasing

Thank you for clearing this up, it had been bugging me for ages. I was almost thinking that with a different arrangement, Undertow could have been a Courtney Love dirge but the real connection was even more obvious.

Also Polly has its own "hurt yourself" bit.

i forgot I started this thread. anyway the album is very good. there are some curious production decisions; it's obviously a protools job, it kind of sounds like not very good mics were used, and compensated for in the mix (baby is the exception which sounds really clear to me), I can't tell if I dislike this or actually like it; I do prefer the sound of the John Frusciante produced EP on the whole, I guess. but the songs themselves are all awesome. I listened to the record maybe 20 times this weekend? I hardly ever listen to any new music now because I don't have the time but I was in the car a lot for two days.