Trembling Blue Stars: C/D, S/D?

See, that's the point where I turned off them actually.

1st quick pass listen to the new album, no departure, a good solid effort, lovely production

not in love with cath carroll's guest spot, would rather beth sing it tbqh

so is this just the last TBS album or is bobby quitting music?

was the last one really five years ago? he's looking not great these days. maybe he needs a burger.

TLHW was '07

yeah perhaps a happy life is making him ill

not that he ever looked particularly robust

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..

they're going chill wave.

it's "chillwave", one word. show some respect.

heard they are gonna do a '77 punk revival thing. bobby rotten.

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.

hmm another EP is coming out after the album so clearly not a complete retirement i guess

i've decided "fast trains" is their best album since the debut

correspondence ep is rather 'experimental'

i hope it doesn't mean more occasional keepers stuff, that stuff wasn't good at all

this is always a band i think i like but dont

ok

well i mean

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:)

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

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.

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.

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

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.

i can't work out if the backing vocal on the kidney bingos cover is david feck or caesar

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 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.

Thanks man, will follow you rating of the albums!

I only ever had HH, Lips, Broken, and Alive. I've obviously missed out on a lot of their better stuff.

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

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VytfzgNF28

i like the new order bass.

does anyone remember her handwriting? that one should be a classic by now, i think.

Great track. Anything that sounds like LowLife / Here Comes Everybody + Field Mice is a sure thing to my ears.

i like these a lot, a lot more than i like NO

not in love with cath carroll's guest spot, would rather beth sing it tbqh

i was wrong here

One of my favorites of all time.

Seriously, ask me anything.

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.

Track linked above is certainly gorgeous. I've always liked everything I heard for years but never went about acquiring any of it.

So, apparently Correspondence was the final TBS release.

Shame, if so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7coSs3xOdw

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.

weird to think that her handwriting is 17 years old

if this were 1980 the album would have been made in 1963

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.

Well, unless he reboots with another new name, I guess we can look forward to another Occasional Keepers album.

unless he reboots with another new name

said reboot is under the name of lightning in a twilight hour, apparently

Thank you for that. I knew it was only a matter of time.

https://www.facebook.com/lightninginatwilighthour

I hope lightning in a twilight hour will be more cure homage!

I've often said that Bob W picked up where Bob S left off.

^^^I love that clip Josh. That is historic footage in Andy's book.

Reviving to say that the Luxembourg Signal is about to release their third album in a few weeks time. The pre-release single is on Bandcamp and I'm finding it to be very promising for the rest of the record: https://theluxembourgsignal.bandcamp.com/album/the-long-now

I thought their first album was just okay, but Blue Field was a huge improvement and damn fine record. I knew they had something coming, but I didn't know when. The main thing this means in my book is that new music from Bob Wratten is probably also shortly forthcoming. And that's kind of exactly what Andy needs at this point; and I daresay the entire world as well. It's been too long that such a pure and fascinating musician like him has been ignored. I'd personally consider him someone like the Mark Hollis of jangle. His music has been very important to me for so many years and his more sporadic release schedule over the past few only seems to carry with it more weight with each release. He's moving in on his longest ever gap between releases, so needless to say, the anticipation is very high.

Have already pre-ordered the Luxenbourg Signal record with the hopes that it will be as good as the pre-release tune is; but also with the hopes that Mr. Wratten is going to make a cameo like he did on their last album. Exciting times.

Also, it now has come to Andy's attention that the band has set up an official instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/theluxembourgsignal/

Nice, I liked those first two from LS. Check out Beth Arzy's band Jetstream Pony's recent s/t album if you haven't already; probably the album I listened to most this summer. Been meaning to post about it but feels a little too slick for the rolling indie pop thread and too pop for the new shoegaze thread.

The Luxembourg Signal stuff leaves me cold, and not in a good way like Alaska by Northern Picture Library did... but this Jetstream Pony album is pretty great!

I don't understand why the Field Mice wouldn't want their LPs/singles reissued. They could sell dozens!

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.

I got all the LTM CD reissues when they came out, so I guess I should have been specific and said VINYL LP reissues.

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.

NPL's Blue Dissolve EP is really fantastic, worth tracking down.

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.

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?

Was Lips That Taste of Tears ever pressed on vinyl?

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.

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.

Maybe my favorite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rt6BU4WlNAM

Lovely. Very (consciously?) "Disintegration."

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)

and here's something new. can't hear it just yet, but i'm excited.

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.

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.

LIGHTNING IN A TWILIGHT HOUR <nore✧✧✧@lightninginatwilighth✧✧✧.bandc✧✧✧.c✧✧>
2:56 PM (4 minutes ago)
to me

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)

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.

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.

No, I'm mistaken: that's the highest overall rating since the Field Mice!

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.

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.

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.

i missed this. fuck.

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)