Peaking Lights

I like the Sun Araw/Congos thing, but it barely has any tunes on it. 936 is pretty poppy in parts!

I dont like the sun araw congos thing and I haven't really heard any sun araw recorded material, never felt the need to, but I've seen them play a zillion times and I love their music 2 death

their current lineup with stallones, that noise dude, and that gorgeous bootleg geneva jacuzzi on bass is p incredible

can't really understand the comparison to peaking lights who are boring as fuck live, and not too talented or whatever, I don't think they have much to offer the world idk

Cameron's also a real friendly guy every time I've chatted with him, so I regard his success and Ged's with happy delight.

i don't find the sun araw comparisons particularly relevant, not any more so than any number of drone / drift stuff on related labels

ancient romans is much better than the condos thing by the way

is there a frkwys thread?

I guess the comparison is simply that they're both part of the same scene (both were on NNF at some point right?) and both are making some sort of warped lo-fi dub-influenced music. Peaking Lights are a lot airier and cleaner though, Sun Araw sounds like someone trying to swim through a vat of glue.

This is a frkwys-friendly thread btw (n.b. v heavy on the youtubes and might kill yr browser):

rolling off to the forest 2012

Didn't Cameron also play a big part in the 2010 Pocahaunted album, Make it Real? I love that one lots, too.

man i was really disappointed that pocahaunted broke up after they became a full band that was also a psychedelic esg

peaking lights >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> studio

Peaking Lights v Studio isn't a comparison that makes much sense to me, whereas I think Peaking Lights and Araw/Congos are more similar to each other than they are to most other things.

Wait Pocahaunted broke up?

peaking lights >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> studio

I love Peaking Lights, but this is insane.

I like the Sun Araw/Congos thing, but it barely has any tunes on it

yeah agree with this, I like it ok but it is mainly "chants" and not "songs"

I like the eerie Ege Bamyasi-in-surround-sound vibe of the Congos release.

Wait Pocahaunted broke up?

yeah, or at least last time i checked

http://pitchfork.com/news/39792-pocahaunted-call-it-a-day/

Aw ;_;

Make It Real has sort of an Ege Bamyasi thing going on; I wonder if Sun Araw/Congos sounds much like that...

Tbh I'm beginning to suspect that I need to buy ten copies of each (Make It Real. 936, Frkwys) & just play with them in my bathtub or something

peaking lights >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> studio

loooooool. peaking lights are cool and all but come the eff on

i take this as a sign that studio is doing extremely well in the edm poll and late great is not pleased

moonship trolling to baja

nah

i just don't think it sounds like "dub" unless you mean it in the sense of something like compass point

and then you've got that washed out pop thing over it, it just reminds of studio, but without the european male privilege

maybe my ears are broken

No that makes sense to me, or it does when listening to 'West Side' at least. But I think with Studio that dub influence is filtered through post-punk. I don't get the same sense they were listening to loads of dub and decided to incorporate that sensibility straight into their sound, which I do with Peaking Lights.

And there are things like shoegaze and drone and so forth that are in there in Peaking Lights music that you don't really get with Studio. And Studio were better.

studio's music was better, peaking lights' singer is better

Yeah, but Studio used their singer better. And less often.

Out of curiosity, Lex: I remember you not taking to the whole echo-ey productioin on 936 back when first encountering it in the EOY threads. Has your opinion changed about that?

― robert mcnamara in reverse (loves laboured breathing), Saturday, June 16, 2012 2:06 AM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't remember this! maybe i wasn't in the right frame of mind then. i only like it in a low-key background music kind of way, though in practice this means i do listen to it quite a bit.

i only like it in a low-key background music kind of way, though in practice this means i do listen to it quite a bit.

haha I get this. 936 and the new Actress album were my go-to albums both for recent hospitalisation and subsequent beach-based recovery, and I love them in the same about-to-fall-asleep kinda way.

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

I think I understand the Studio comparisons now that I've gotten around to listening to this (massive) Adrian Sherwood remix.

Did I say (massive) cos I actually meant MASSIVE

Holy god, I could use a whole album of that.

bits of this remind me of this

http://www.discogs.com/Holger-Czukay-Jah-Wobble-Jaki-Liebezeit-Full-Circle/release/471559

if you're into peaking lights you'll prob like the full circle record a lot

And there are things like shoegaze and drone and so forth that are in there in Peaking Lights music that you don't really get with Studio

The other thing in there which I'm kind of neutral about is a really 80s anorak indie sound - the echoey surf guitar, the somewhat dead-sounding drums and the sing-song Girls In The Garage vocals make me think of bands like the Beat Happening etc. Feels like Calvin Johnson has recorded it in a damp cold cave somewhere.

^^^ Think that's the element that I find offputting. I'd like them to open out and become more expansive, more melodic, but it's definitely grounded in a kind of 80s indie sensibility that deadens it all for me.

imo 936 is melodic and expansive, maybe not in the way you mean though? feel like it's packed with hooks and contains so much space & dynamic

while digging back into this band recently i happened upon a stream of the rest of that 936 remixes record (from which the Adrian Sherwood posted above is taken):

http://soundcloud.com/weirdworldrecordco/sets/peaking-lights-936-remixes/

i should add, i had never listened to this before yesterday but it's pretty great. a nice companion piece to the album

seems like i'm perceiving a US/UK divide here

The other thing in there which I'm kind of neutral about is a really 80s anorak indie sound - the echoey surf guitar, the somewhat dead-sounding drums and the sing-song Girls In The Garage vocals make me think of bands like the Beat Happening etc. Feels like Calvin Johnson has recorded it in a damp cold cave somewhere.

i used to eat this shit up but for some reason i'm not feeling it in this context. it's not like calvin johnson didn't experiment heavily with dub or w/e either, it's not a novel or new or unwelcome combo (certainly far better than dub narcotic) but i'm def siding with the UK'ers on the issue

wish lames would stick to listening to 'uk funky' or w/e garbage

smh

936 was one of my favorite albums last year too but i think i would've liked it more without that surf guitar component. and i feel like i'm usually pretty sympathetic to anorak indie moves actually

wish lames would stick to listening to 'uk funky' or w/e garbage

― Lamp, Monday, 18 June 2012 11:37 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hey I love 936.

New one's up on Spotify now and I'm actually enjoying it quite a bit. Definitely a lot less C86 than 936 was. Reminding me a bit of an iced bun at the moment. You that white sugary translucence that the glaze has? Also the soft doughy chassis it's sat on... sweet and airy and somewhat bland comfort food basically.

Up to track four so far and noticing how each track takes on a distinct style while maintaining the same sort of palette throughout. Hard not to play spot the influence with it, so here goes - there's a Steve Reich one, then a Terry Riley/VU/Spacemen-3-in-gospel-mode one, track three very Cluster-ish but makes me think of Carly Simon's Why too, track four is a pretty nice dub one. Just reading their tweets and it looks like they've been hanging out with John Talabot - could be some more nice remixes in the pipeline...

Track five is kind of a glazed donut Tom Tom Club.

If you think I'm working towards a chouxgaze punchline here, you're probably not wrong.

God I'm fucking hungry now.

I liked the backing on the first couple of songs on Lucifer but the album became kind of a chore after that. Her vocals are kind of flat and affectless and the vocal melodies really basic and dull (you shouldn't sound bored while singing "beautiful son").

Also all the songs are kinda long considering they neither build up nor go anywhere much. Think I'm about to give up on trying to like Peaking Lights.

i'm aghast that anyone would mention c86 or calvin johnson in reference to this band.

Yeah, I don't hear C86 or Calvin Johnson. I hear more like mid to late 90s Kranky bands. Which is fine but, it's just mystifying to me to see people who would never in a million years put on a Jessamine or a Windy & Carl record - in fact would probably turn their noses up at such a thing - going on about how this is so great. IDGI.

But I'm doing that thing I shout at other people for doing where I'm going all over a thread just be a hater, expressing mystification that anyone could like a record.

The production is just so terrible, so ragged sounding. The guitars are really tinny and the drums just go "splat" and it sounds kinda hollow - and not even hollow in a good, booming sort of way, just hollow in a "this wasn't mastered properly" kinda way.

But I'm doing that thing I shout at other people for doing where I'm going all over a thread just be a hater, expressing mystification that anyone could like a record.

it's ok, i did the same thing with the new beach boys single. but that really was embarrassing stuff