C/D: the clientele

Is it me, or does anyone else think that if someone took out all the upbeat pop songs off their all albums, took the remaining slower, sadder, melodic stuff off (e.g. As Night Is Falling, The Violet Hour, policeman getting lost etc.) and put it all one one album, it would be the best thing ever made? As opposed to just really good, of course.

i don't, but that's because i like the upbeat stuff better

I love virtually everything I've heard from them. CLASSIC.

what is the thing that is coming out on acuarela?

Suburban Light is one of my favorite albums of this decade.

Alright, my above comment was unfair. They have as much good upbeat stuff as slow stuff, and I really really hate to say it but they could have done with taking some of their songs off their albums. That is to say, they could have released some impeccable EP's, rather than really good albums.

Still love them nonetheless. I also thought they were a hip-hop group the first time I heard of them.

The Violet Hour is utterly flawless from start to finish. The only song I could possibly see being taken from it might be House on Fire but even if it seems like it could be removed I suspect the truth is something terrible might happen to that perfect, perfect record if you did.

always meant to check these guys out. this has piqued my interest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE2YCGxh31Q&feature=related

Nice article in the LA Times today:

http://www.latimes.com/theguide/music/la-et-clientele5-2010mar05,0,2867627.story

thanks for this article. it points out that i've been mis-pronouncing the band's name for years. i've said "cl I entele," but in fact it's "cl EE entele."

Well, if you're American, you would in fact correctly pronounce it "cl I entele," because that's how that word is pronounced in an American English dialect.

excited about Alasdair MacLean's side-project. his fluttery style of guitar playing seems a perfect match for this type of music. thus far, there's no samples of the group's output, unfortunately.

huh, does the English press really think they sound American? They're like the most British band in the world!

yeah, ^^^^^^ this.

Amor de Dias have samples up here: http://www.amordedias.com/

I got the impression that the British press didn't give a shit about them. I can't wait to hear that Amor de Dias album!

yeah i think they sound ultra brit. when i think of the american version of that folk informed chamber shit i think pernice bros.

totally dig those samples. thank you. any word on what label will release the album?

how is the new ep ?

It's not strictly the Clientele, and it's not quite six years since anyone asked me to post on this thread, but I'm proud to say I've been involved in releasing the first available Amor De Dias song, one of six songs on an EP. It's wonderful.

Details here: http://hangoverlounge.blogspot.com/2010/08/hangover-lounge-10-ep-now-available.html

(If you don't want to take my word for it - and frankly why should you? - we'll be streaming some bits and pieces from the EP on that blog over the next week or so.)

i'm incredibly excited to hear this. i'm also encouraged to read that the clientele are releasing a new EP in october, which suggests to me that, contrary to earlier reports, the last album may not be their last work together.

if i may ask, what's your connection to the clientele?

I'm just a long-term fan (and I hope friend) of the band!

My connection to the release is as one of the people who runs The Hangover Lounge every Sunday, but I won't bore you with that.

I note that mp3 copies of the new EP are to be given away free with tickets to the show in early September - coo!

Ordered it yesterday, looking forward to it arriving.

first(?) Amor De Dias release available to listen to here (for a while):

http://www.mergerecords.com/store/store_detail.php?catalog_id=792

liked the mp3 that surfaced a little while ago. kind of like charlotte gainsbourg fronting the clientele.

amor de dias are playing tonight in london for free, 18:30 at the national portrait gallery(!)

http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/late-shift-1/music-series-amor-de-dias1.php

for the quietest band on earth, i found this too loud (had only ever heard them unamplified before). the string sound was a bit harsh.

that said, they played in front of this and this

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw00166/The-Somerset-House-Conference-1604
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw02079/Queen-Elizabeth-I-The-Ditchley-portrait

400 years old...

they play again tonight at the bull and gate - http://www.clubfandango.co.uk/gig.php?id=2062

bit of a comedown... 8)

that show tonight was supposed to be on a thames riverboat with laetia sadier on the bill, which wouldn't have been such a comedown. i like the amor de dias record a lot but i wonder what it's failure to set the world alight augurs for the clientele.

why should it mean anything? it's a side-project, that got little fanfare.

clientele were thinking of breaking-up anyway, IIRC. that would be sad. every record has been beautiful and moving.

Just got through 4 Clientele albums in a row on Spotify. They have a pleasant sound, but it seemed to me like every song was virtually identical in tone and tempo. Confused a bit by the strong love for this band.

they take a while to sink in. give the violet hour a few more spins.

Strange Geometry was the peak, imo

I'll give it another try today

can this be listened to during daytime hours?

I find sunset to the best time for it.

Strange Geometry is very strong, but maybe the most identical sounding? Their aesthetic is so gorgeous that the sameness isn't of as much concern to me. I've played them so often during beautiful, happy days that they are attached to those memories as well.

Their aesthetic is so gorgeous that the sameness isn't of as much concern to me.

totally! Strange Geometry and Suburban Light are my favourites. The Violet Hour never did much for me though, the songs (with the exception of 'house on fire') aren't particularly memorable.

They've got a couple of great ones off of Bonfires on the Heath. The title track and this one below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbnXFdR0f-o

I love the band but concur that a little Clientele goes a long way. Exception
may be "Suburban Light" which is so reverb soaked and nocturnal
sounding that it stands out from the rest.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/u9bHbwywrRc"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Classic.

well that didn't work out - not quite sure how to embed. Sorry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9bHbwywrRc

just paste the url iirc

Kwhitehead otm. suburban light also has the best tunes by far, imo. I couldn't get into the stuff after that at all; pop without hooks, for the most part.

I always think of them as one of those bands that, if you fall under their spell, then almost everything they do is killer. At that point all the stuff people complain about - samey tone, instrumentation, and lyrical themes - becomes a feature not a bug.

I just did an interview with Alasdair MacLean about The Clientele and Amor de Días: http://lightoflostwords.wordpress.com/2012/07/20/an-interview-with-alasdair-maclean-of-the-clientele-and-amor-de-dias/

He revealed that they've finished recording the new Amor de Días lp (which he described as "probably the most atmospheric record I’ve ever been involved in") and that Merge Records will release it in January.

nice interview! love that amor de dias record, glad it wasn't a one-off.

quite confused about the two statements "it's quite different from the clientele and the first amor de dias album" and "it's the most atmospheric thing I've ever been involved in"

reminder: alasdair's playing as part of daylight music at the union chapel tomorrow. starts at 12.

http://store.unionchapel.org.uk/about/events/5-nov-16-daylight-music-237-union-chapel/

New album and new song out, which sounds autumnally awesome to me!

http://pitchfork.com/news/the-clientele-announce-first-new-album-in-7-years-share-new-song-listen/?mbid=homepage-more-latest-and-video

aaaaawesome!

That is very exciting news. Love the title and the artwork.

fantastic... hope there is a North American tour with the new album

edit, guess I should have clicked through to the Merge website. Very excited to see that they're coming to the west coast in the fall.

niiiiiice, TO show on Halloween!

album's very good, i <3 "everyone you meet"

Has there been any discussion of the new album since it came out? I like it overall, though even after many listens I'm still having distinguishing songs from each other.

Discussion here:

The Clientele - Best Band Since The Smiths