Peaking Lights

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

this, on the other hand, is pretty great, but it doesn't surprise me that people wouldn't really get it. i'm not sure it really rewards "deep listening" or anything, but i'm not sure they're trying to, either.

band is just way 2 chill for yall

WCC provides strawmanning masterclass

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

Well it's only one element I'm hearing among many - specifically on 936 (I don't really know their earlier stuff) - and it's mainly cos of the flat soggy cardboard production on it. Just compare that album with how alive that Adrian Sherwood mix sounds.

i'm aghast, i tell you! aghast!

Lo Hi is very redolent of Maria Minerva eh?

only uk wankers rep adrian sherwood!!

Even Adrian Sherwood couldn't save it for me.

the remixes are great, check the Ital one

Due to popular demand, Peaking Lights have made all 5 installments in their amazing + revelatory Lucifer mixtape series available for free download as part of today’s takeover. This should cover any and all of your pool-party soundtrack needs for the rest of the summer. Grab them all after the jump…

http://www.gorillavsbear.net/2012/06/19/mp3-download-peaking-lights-lucifer-mixtape-series/

what if i'm having more than 5 pool-parteez, then what

who am i kidding, i'm not having any pool parties :-/

Beautiful Son is easily one of the best tracks I have heard this year. I liked 936 but am actually loving this so far.

I dispute that the son can actually be that beautiful, she doesn't sound that enthused.

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.

Like this band just fine but this is completely otm

man like i dont even know wtf a jessamine or a windy & carl record is--how can i turn my nose at it!

I like mid-to-late-90s Kranky just fine including Jessamine, but that's not what I get out of Peaking Lights like at all

I think people not being fans of 90s US post-rock but being fans of Peaking Lights is generational more than anything - some of that stuff is nearly 20 years old.

ok so the calvin johnson thing is a stretch, but (again) he has fucked w/dub sounds before and it turned out terribly but i think that's where the namedrop makes sense (dub narcotic soundsystem is terrible imo lol). comparing this 90s kranky on the other hand is just wacky

and why would you assume fans of peaking lights would never in a million years listen to 90s kranky? ime the nnf/kranky audiences share a lot of overlap even if they are mining vastly different territory.

this is why i don't post to indie threads, too many people making assumptions about the music having the wrong kind of fans, too much insider-ish knowledge about this sub genre or that subject

guess i'll just go back to the dance threads...

I'm so totally a Jessamine/Windy & Carl fan. I mentioned Belong upthread: wtf else do you want? Ppl in this thread ned to check out "faintin in the presence of the Lord" from this year's Windy and Carl album, on Spotify. Total bliss drone epic.

Early days yet but so far Lucifer feels less special than 936 (which was my #2 album of last year). Maybe it's just a lessened feeling of novelty after 12 months of dubby accessible-but-avant albums or maybe there's less conviction in the power of atmospherics and groove this time round and PL have tried to flesh out the instrumentation and composition with the end result that it all sounds less singular, more conventional. Still it's a good album imo, I'll spend more time with it and I'll probably change my mind soon enough.

do you know what this sounds like? insides. a less dreamy insides w/ some artificial reggae-ish vibes ala ze records. in fact, a few songs (live love, dream beat) bite their sound so hard that could almost be mistaken for euphoria tracks with more decent production. anyway i'm not crazy about this record, but i guess it's okay as background music.

I would probably sooner compare to a late 90s Pram with artificial reggae-ish vibes replacing artificial jazz-ish vibes.

But at any rate i don't really see this as being about US vs UK aesthetics.

i'm just assuming people who are calling fake dub and comparing it to nonsense are not actually familiar with dub

I would not be surprised if someone who liked Windy & Carl or Stars of the Lid liked this record, but, like, the last time I tried to sneak Jessamine into a DJ set when Lex was in the room, he basically ran away holding his ears. ;-)

The problem w this record isn't that it is or isn't post-dub or post-rock it's just that I can find nothing otherwise engaging about it.

I would not be surprised if someone who liked Windy & Carl or Stars of the Lid liked this record, but, like, the last time I tried to sneak Jessamine into a DJ set when Lex was in the room, he basically ran away holding his ears. ;-)

If you're using Lex's reactions as a proxy for the reactions of any group of people larger than 1 (Lex himself) you're on a hiding to nothing IMO.

It's just weird to me when a record is portrayed as such a smorgasbord of signifiers I really love(d) - 90s Kranky! Drone/spacerock! Fake dub! The electronic end of Kosmische / Krautrock!

And it has a bunch of ppl whose tastes I often appreciate (Lex, Tim F, NickB) repping it.

And I listen to the record, which I should be all over, and it's just so... nothingy

The conclusion I can draw is either that my tastes have changed so much I can't relate to it anymore. Or it's not a good record, it's empty signifiers without content. I was of the former opinion entirely until DC (another person whose tastes I usually trust) pops in and articulates what I dislike about it.

If you want you go from that to "drawing conclusions about its listeners" rather than "trying to draw conclusions about mine own taste and the tastes of a group of ppl I know well" then TBH that's strawmanning.

I wish I could make the little open circle go from this thread so I stop clicking it. But unfortunately it raises questions (what is fake dub as opposed to "real" dub?) that I've been listening around for a couple of weeks. And sorry Nick but your thread asked that in the format of a list and I hate list threads.

The conclusion I can draw is either that my tastes have changed so much I can't relate to it anymore. Or it's not a good record, it's empty signifiers without content. I was of the former opinion entirely until DC (another person whose tastes I usually trust) pops in and articulates what I dislike about it.

I tend to think this kind of thing is a bit of both - i.e. as our tastes change our attitude towards signfifiers as being empty or full also change (strictly speaking I think the idea of a signifier/content divide is something that exists in our minds only, though it's no less "real" for that). And they can go in the reverse direction too (i.e. stuff we dismissed as empty can begin to seem full).

It's sort of like a nose looking great front-on but awful on profile. Is the nose therefore good-looking or bad-looking? It depends...

In that sense your and Matt's criticisms definitely make sense to me even though I'm coming to this record from a front-on angle.