Emeralds-Classic or Dud?

This might be a really stupid question, but if I dig the Mark McGuire solo stuff, am I going to vibe on the Durutti Column? Alternatively, tell me who else I should be listening to.

Manuel Gottsching/Ashra as well (if haven't heard already), as far as the delay-pedal cosmic grid side of his sound goes...

Dustin Wong is really good if you like all those really bright looped and layered guitar sounds.

http://open.spotify.com/album/5T6m8Dlu0X2WgpXuuG2T8I

Huh, have now listened to a few "What Happened?" tracks and have come around on this band a little. I really like when McGuire plays clean and minimizes the echo/delay ping-ponging, really don't like when he "shreds" or goes too far down the wormhole with the grid of harmonics and percussive sounds. Also, something about his distortion really bothers me and distracts me from the rest of the music (sorry to nitpick, but this has really been a barrier, can't listen to solo McGuire at all). But yeah, listening to "Living Room" right now and it is cool. Is this more the norm than not with Emeralds, i.e., have I just been listening to the wrong songs?

grandavis otm. You might want to check out Sam Goldberg's stuff. He's a guitar player who's collaborated with the Emeralds dudes, he does a big warm drone thing without crappy distortion.

Ahhh, cool, thanks blank. Thought he was a synth guy for some reason (Sam Goldberg that is), will check that out. I am looking for cool solo guitar folks these days too.

I have tried Emeralds more than a few times cause friends of mine with great taste love them, but yeah I can't get past McGuire at times, though I think he is a talented guy. Why not a better distorted tone though?

This might be a really stupid question, but if I dig the Mark McGuire solo stuff, am I going to vibe on the Durutti Column? Alternatively, tell me who else I should be listening to.

i don't know if you digging mark mcguire is a necessary precursor but for the love of god listen to as much durutti column as possible

drum machines!

on the new one? just saw that it leaked, haven't had a chance to listen yet

yeah, it's good but different: the sequencer/delay balancing act of the previous records is definitely tethered by the drum pulse

Anymore consensus on the new album?

I really like it - I guess Steve Hauschildt's contribution is higher in the mix. It's closer to Tragedy and Geometry, albeit with Mark McGuire all over it. Not sure what the other guy really does TBH.

Ooh well if that's the case, maybe I'll track this down. I loved Tragedy & Geometry.

Not sure what the other guy really does TBH.

as far as i can tell, he's the sequencer dude. which on this album i would imagine means he did the drums

John Elliot, the one record I have by his Outer Space project is excellent synth-driven stuff, no drum machines that I remember.

Enjoying the new Emeralds so far, the overlook onto Balearic cheese territory is kind of refreshing. There's a new Hauschildt solo album out on Kranky, haven't heard it yet though.

Had read a few tepid reviews of the new one but I'm actually totally smitten with it on my first few plays, feels a lot more direct and to the point than before. Title track is an absolute belter.

Yeah, I'm not sure I understand all the lukewarm to cold receptions. It isn't as cohesive and solid as the last one, but I'm really intrigued in a few new directions they're pulling here.

Picked up the new Hauschildt today, can't wait to dig in to that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP-Yd0diVBk

^ so beautiful. love the burbling synths on that song, then the guitar just kicks it over the edge at the halfway point

sort of a top gun vibe going on in some of these tunes, I've got F14s in the upper stratosphere swooping around in my head half the time this is playing

also, the acoustic guitar on the last song is very AR Kane to my ears, that would be a cool direction to take things next

I know there's alot that I still haven't heard, but I can't think of another band whose principals release consistently quality material that is the equal of the stuff they recorded as a group. To date I haven't heard anything I didn't like from any of them.

I never really bothered to get into the first one but I love this.

For me their retreat from austerity has made them a lot more interesting, though going by reviews this opinion isn't universal.

i wish it sounded fat and glistening like the last one

All right, they're never going to make another "Alive In The Sea of Information" and that's ok.

this sounds like 80s soundtrack music* -- i like it! also it pleases me that it was recorded in my hometown.

i haven't actively disliked any emeralds or emeralds-related product so far, i guess i would naturally like this too. the clear vinyl is pretty.

* i just got the tangerine dream soundtrack to three o'clock high and let me assure you -- this new emeralds record is A LOT better than that

So there's a new Mark McGuire EP, Surrogate Channels. It's (unsurprisingly?) more of the same but there's a bit of drum machine, and anyway who doesn't happily lap up more of the same from MMG?

"Controlled by Numbers" is a meditation on the numbers, dates, and symbols that have cycled around my life, and had a strange presence in the back of my mind. Music for unraveling, and re-alignment, beginning at dawn, and ending in the dead of night.
5, 13, 21, 29, 37, 45, 53, 7, 15, 3, 4, 5, 1, 8, 7, 7, 26

this band is so cold to me. but i like this new record

Yeah really loving this. The title track and Adrenochrome are sublime. One of the albums of the year.

LOL at the "Top Gun vibe". Very true.

Mark McGuire's left the band:

https://twitter.com/stevehauschildt/status/286878496100343808

dang

definitely did not see that coming

It's for the best. Their last record was awful. Great time for them to split.

Disagree wrt the last Emeralds album, but I do have the feeling that maybe they had explored all the terrain they were going to.

The last record was definitely not awful, just much less exploratory of new grounds. I'm kinda bummed by this because I usually liked what McGuire brought to the table best, though I do like Hauschildt's solo stuff.

I have only given a cursory listen to Just to feel Anything... It's good in the way that they have a pretty solid baseline of delivering quality material, but nothing grabbed me in the way that Does It Look Like I'm Here did-- which was an exceptionally high watermark as far as I'm concerned, so no surprise that anything going forward doesn't quite measure up.

Apparently there will be no going forward. Just saw on Twitter (retweeted by a friend of mine and big fan of the band) that Steve Hauschildt has left the band, effectively ending it.

From Twitter:
"After much thought, I too have decided to leave Emeralds for personal reasons. The band is now over and all tour dates are cancelled."

they other guy must be really annoying huh

Weird, tinymixtapes just posted this story with a headline very similar to my post, i.e. "effectively ending [the band]". It is of course the first thing that would come to mind, but rarely am I in the middle of breaking news, so to speak.

Well you could just play any 3 solo joints zaireeka style & it would sound alot like an emeralds record, so no one should run out of new stuff from them.

If Hauschildt keeps coming out with stuff like Tragedy & Geometry, you'll hear no complaints from me.

oh no

dang

considering the quality of the mcguire/hauschildt/elliott solo stuff i'm not totally broken up but i wish i'd seen them at least once.

yeah i was hoping to be able to see them too. i went to a show on the caribou/emeralds tour JUST to see them but despite showing up at door time, the venue had decided to start early so i was only able to catch the last 5 minutes of the set /:

I passed on the Caribou show, which I was contemplating solely for the Emeralds set. Didn't realize that would be their only west coast appearance ever. Crap.

this is a bummer for sure. I wonder what the story is?

https://soundcloud.com/mark-mcguire/the-instinct-extended-12

stoked to see him on friday

seeing him tomorrow!