New Necks

anyone seen them live before? seems like it'd be good to have some chemical aid beforehand

I've seen them a few times, sober or on a couple of drinks, and you absolutely don't need anything to be swept away in delight or wonderment, or stop thinking at all and enjoy detached brain dancing at drones or rhythms. but if the surrounds are comfortable, seems like it'd be good is probably an entirely accurate estimation.

Saw them last year at Big Ears 2 -- the trio, and also the three of them plus Ned Rothenberg. There was another concert involving an ad hoc group of players doing a Necks-like set, Tony Buck on drums. Highly recommended. I'd skip the chemicals, but that's just me.

xpost: and the "two sets with an intermission" duration of their shows would suit that, if you did try.

check the venue though. last time I saw them, this year, was in a jazz club where 80% of the couple of hundred capacity stand behind a railing by the bar, while a few dozen sit at dinner tables in 80% of the floorspace = prob not conducive. a few years back at ATP, they played in the afternoon sun, a meter from the harbour, where the entire audience bar 8 people* lay down on the trimmed lawn and let the piano roll through the ground = potential zomg.

*halfway through, one of these 8 hugging the stage turned around and saw the rest of us, tugged his mate's sleeve, and promptly sat cross-legged.

yeah i mostly wouldn't bother with chems either these days, once a year maybe, but seems like you could have a bit of a transcendental experience with this band!

Played Drive By at our record club last night; went down very well. Just bought Mosquito / See Through too; every time I play a Necks album for the first time in a while, I end up buying another one.

http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2011/06/15/the-necks-–-drive-by-–-round-10-nick’s-choice/

anyone going to the gig next month at THE BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE, whatever that is

I opted for the date in Oxford at "The oldest custom-built concert hall in Europe" http://bit.ly/qH8mcm

Anybody fancy Leeds on November 25th?

yeah I'm going to both the London dates.

Harold Budd and Werner Dafeldecker should be great at those non-London shows, wish i could catch this tour.

Probably will go to the Bishopsgate Institute one, just making sure I am in town for the date.

How is Mindset? Been on a serious kick but I think I prefer the more 'live' sounding, less overdubbed stuff, like Sex and Piano Bass Drum, though I've yet to hear an album by this group I dislike. Still, wondering if the new one is worth a plunge, given that I find Drive By a little too maximalist and Aether a little too sleepy. Their records are expensive in the States.

these dudes are nothing if not consistent -- the new one is totally gorgeous.

yes! they might be my favorite band going.

has anyone heard any of these side projects? http://www.thenecks.com/shop/other

Don't know any of those but I can highly recommend Buck's project with Martin Siewert and Steve Heather, Heaven And (not listed there).

Can't wait to hear the new one.

Yeah thanks for the heads-up

What is the name of the new album?

Open

The Wire seemed to really like it. I'm just glad it's on a US label so I don't have to pay like $28 for this one.

Open is out today and let me repeat myself: it is totally gorgeous.

Yeah I listened to that a bunch of times when it was streaming. It is a cool journey for sure, gotta track down more by this band. My kinda thing.

yeah it's really good. I think it's important to listen loud. playing softly in the background you might thing it just passed on by and nothing happened.

Loud, this thing is amazing. On headphones, another experience entirely.

Have only listened on headphones, and dug it a lot. Not sure when I will get to listen to it in any other context ....

I did turn it up loud though.

I found Open instantly gratifying. The last one - Mindset was a tougher nut to crack, still great though.

this cd only thing is ludicrous. might as well have a darts player amputating his right hand.

good thing the necks are left-handed!!

i mean 'necks are left-handed.' they're left-handed necks.

I mean, it is CD only because of the length I would think, and the listening experience. I don't think it is meant to be flipped on a turntable.

not ideal really - i'd sooner buy it digitally than on cd.

Oh, there isn't even a digital option? Whoa, that just seems like a bad idea by the label/band. Sorry, I had missed that.

nah you can buy it digitally

Ah cool I didn't see that on the site.

http://northernspy.11spot.com/the-necks-open.html

Yeah, that would make no sense at all if they didn't sell it digitally.

Feel like a cheapskate wretch for saying this, but I get Necks albums through my emusic subscription where they just get charged as single tracks i.e. £0.42 per album. They should probably sort that out but in the meantime, I'm sorry Necks - you will not get rich off me unless you play here live a little more often.

tbf guys if you promise to come and play up our end once a week i promise i will come and see you every time

their albums are so beautifully recorded, too. snare drum sound of dreams.

and i guess that is what i'm losing when i buy my shitty mp3s

neato:

The Necks 18th album Vertigo is an eventful, kaleidoscopic tone poem set against a darkly shimmering background. Slowly but inexorably moving forward, it crosses many frontiers yet remains true to the mission and mood established in the opening stanzas of this cinematic 44 minute journey. A work able to be viewed either as a whole, or two symmetrical halves, Vertigo sees The Necks once again offer an excursion in sound that reflects both the light and darkness of some preternatural world.

Vertigo will be released on 30th October in North America by Northern Spy Records. It follows their acclaimed 2013 album Open, described by SPIN as ‘the most beautiful album of the year’.

In contrast to the sustained improvisations that are their live performances, The Necks' studio albums take shape by way of intricate crafting brought to bear throughout the entire recording and mixing process. “The discussion this time really began in earnest in the session itself, where we started to pursue the idea of having a drone running from start to finish, off which we could hang ideas,” said bassist Lloyd Swanton “But like all Necks albums we ended up in a very different place from whatever our initial notion of it had been.”

Maintaining a teetering tension between suspension and collapse, Vertigo draws on a diverse palette of sounds created in the studio by Tony Buck (drums/percussion/guitar), Lloyd Swanton (bass) and Chris Abrahams (piano/keyboards), featuring everything from homemade instruments, extended instrumental techniques and marathon explorations of sonic textures.

One piece, at the same time two. Monochrome, yet multicoloured. Dark, yet incandescent. Expansive and still. Melancholic and exhilarating. The Necks. Vertigo.

It is pretty safe to say this is going to be very very good.

'vertigo' is pretty great. more rhythmically concerned and organ vibey than usual

Is it out now?

not officially for a little while i don't think

October I think. Is it two tracks? I've seen it announced and made a note to order it but not looked at details of listened. Rhythm and organs is good in my mind.

Ooh no, Australian CD release is tomorrow.

http://www.thenecks.com/news

also looool i just looked to see where i was in the song and it was just about 7 min left -- the 13-something minute point must be really good!!

haha

New Necks! Travel, out February 24th.

https://thenecksau.bandcamp.com/album/travel

Really wish they'd re-release Unfold, even if just on CD.

'imprinting' sounds like a caravan through purgatory i'm feeling it

Listening to the album now. Each track is surprising and yet utterly The Necks.

loving this new one

Not done yet, but so far I like the first two soooooo much better than "Imprinting" (but maybe it will be better in context).

Oh this is where people talked about Three! Thought that one was their strongest since Open.

So I'm basically listening to Travel every day now, especially in the morning. I like this so much better than the last two, but I've been meaning to revisit Three, which I don't think I gave a fair chance after being so utterly disappointed by Body. I'm nuts about this new one, though.

Weird to read people don't like "Imprinting." That might be my favorite!

Love this album. It feels like it touches on a lot of different great aspects of their previous work. First two tracks very Drive By, then “Imprinting” kind of reminds me of Silverwater, and then “Bloodstream” is like Aether if they had decided to cut straight to the noisy ending. It’s all very pretty.

feel like "Signal" is a hard act to follow

magical track

like their previous release

whoops

like their previous release that came out on vinyl, it's one track per side with no given order. So feel free to play the CD's first track last.

It's a good one for sure, bless The Necks <3

i've been going back to aether and open lately. so beautiful. hmm maybe today is the day i get the new one.

i need to remember about this band the next time i reach for something new too

i got the new one! it's great. travel if you're traveling through purgatory? very evocative.

Turns out this new album is incredible (who would have thought otherwise?)
Tossing up making the 3hr return trip to see them tonight but honestly what a small price to pay.

is Travel the new one or is there a newer one? I can't actually remember if I have it / have heard it - but I absolutely loved Three

was thinking it was time to see them again but didn't get around to their Sydney shows

(you should go!)

Travel! I'm just late to the party.

I'm on my way there now. Brissy's putting on a good show these three weeks. Necks, boris, Tim hecker back to back!

I think Necks heads would dig Activator by Gerycz Powers Rolin, which appeared last month.

I saw them in Melbourne a few weeks back - brilliant as ever.

It truly is something how many layers they produce from three people playing live

never sure seeing this thread title if this thread is about The Necks or if there's some band I haven't heard of called New Necks

They will always be nummy num krautjazz goodness