Life Without Buildings

Effi Briest is pretty good, but not at all similar to LWB. Likewise, Ten in the Swear Jar was good too (Jamie Stewart's pre-Xiu Xiu band), but nothing at all like LWB.

xp oof

Ha - I guess "quirkily female fronted indie" is all they've got in common...
I really liked Ten in the Swear Jar (and IBOPA, which had one awesome 7")

I need to go and find other ways to acquire this, huh? I'm never going to just "come across" a real copy out there.

LWB?

I bought my copy at Tower for $1.99 back in 2001(ish) because someone there had mistakenly put it in the discount import singles section. STEAL OF ALL TIME!

Sorry, yeah, the LWB album I meant. Its been on my "to buy" list for years, but I've yet to come across a copy of it or the live disc.

Well, I'll rep for Simon Bookish as being awesome but nothing like Life Without Buildings
If I'm craving more Life Without Buildings I'll listen to "The Power Out" and/or Altered Images and that usually does it

Would any of these be of any use to me as a surrogate LWB?

dunno! Art Brut might appeal to you though.

"There Goes Concorde Again" by ...And The Native Hipsters also comes to mind. but it resembles LWOB on such a shallow level that it seems almost insulting to bring it up.

The earlier stuff by Thomas Tantrum is a bit LWB-ish (the newer stuff isn't, as they likely got harassed for it and decided to cut it out)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RioZmv1lmVU

My problem with The Power Out is even though I do like it, whenever I put it on I just immediately skip to the glorious & transcendent 3rd track and listen to it on repeat. Life has programmed me to do that.

oh man i used to listen to any other city a lot

that Thomas Tantrum clip is pretty good & I can definitely hear the resemblance. thx.

How did you guys find out about this band?
Me, it was a Little Darla compilation, loaned by a friend. "Envoys" was on it.

I bought everything tugboat records put out so I discovered them that way. I fell in love with the leanover immediately..

this thread

My friend Martin mentioned something about them, so I went to their website (pre-Myspace/Facebook/etc when everyone still had an individual site and most of them were shit-tay) and streamed some RealAudio.

Anybody I ever show this to in real life is either indifferent or horribly annoyed by her vocal stlye/delivery.

Fuck the real life.

Oh Sal, my e-friend, Life Without Buildings would be nothing without real life!

Seriously love it though. Mostly has to do with the melodic sensibilities of the guitar parts.

Ok, so I'm slow on the uptake sometimes - I happened to hear that Thomas Tantrum song on my local cool college radio station and was quite smitten. Anyone know if any of their albums are of similar quality?

which TT song?

i liked their first bunch of singles a lot, but the debut was patchy at best. the new album is a considerable step forward.

Oops, the one upthread, "Shake It".

the new one is really good, and a lot more dreampop than the LWB-lite of earlier efforts

Embarrassed at myself for my use of the term "real life" in here.

Was re-listening and enjoying this again very much. These guitar parts are something to strive for when I play.

thanks for bumping this thread and getting my hopes up...

Ha, I knew someone would say that! Sorry.

Whenever this thread gets bumped, I just concede before clicking that someone has pulled the album out again and was overcome with joy. Because...how could it not have that effect?

i was also punk'd

Anyone ever found any video footage of these folks?

No, they haven't gotten back together.

But there's this. Oy Gevalt.

I'm glad she's happy, but that is so not my scene.

One of the more inexplicable band breakups of recent years. Everybody loved them, they had instant success, and now she's hopping around talking about black holes.

It's the pee-dance

the history of half past ten

interesting interview:
http://musosguide.com/life-without-buildings-the-catch-up-interview/8990

We also got a lot from the post-rock and post-hardcore sounds of the Glasgow scene at the time, and from Sue’s fantastic refusal to be interested in anything other than the most mainstream music and the most esoteric literature.

Frustratingly, this has no sound:

Sue Tompkins - Be My Wife, Live At The Modern Institute

I can hear it!

damn! any good?

Yeah, pretty sweet actually!

she does look like she's having fun

there is also a new-ish video on youtube called "sue tompkins - captain beefheart tribute", which looks like another poetry reading but i couldn't get the sound to work on that either

If you're in Newcastle tonight why not drop by and catch this...
http://www.thenortherncharter.org/errorshitorient

Sue Tompkins is playing in NYC on Saturday. Does anybody know what this is going to be like, or anything about it?

http://www.themoderninstitute.com/media/images/large/11938.jpg

It'll most likely be Sue performing her poems straight, ie with no music.
She's been doing this a while (I feel like maybe before LWB) and i've been lucky enough to see her a few times and it's always been brilliant. Very similar to how she was onstage with LWB — skipping about and tentative but totally in the moment.

Totally go!

link to event listing?

if its what its titled, it looks to be this:

https://vimeo.com/74618301

That flyer is the only thing I've seen about it. It's at White Columns at 8 on Saturday.

I'm going for sure! Very excited.

Any Other City getting a vinyl reissue for Record Store Day.

http://pitchfork.com/news/54418-life-without-buildings-any-other-city-being-reissued-for-record-store-day/

Really hope I can hold of a copy.

Yeah me too!