Savages

the interpol comparisons are lazy shorthand for "postpunk revival" imo

and the attendant hype cycle

80's pastiche is 80's pastiche. both Interpol and this band are taking from the same sources.

Read the guardian profile at the weekend, couldn't decide between "they seem cool" & "they seem like tossers". Think the author of the piece was trying to suggest the latter tho.

Read the guardian profile at the weekend, couldn't decide between "they seem cool" & "they seem like tossers". Think the author of the piece was trying to suggest the latter tho.

I was all set to listen to this and actually quite excited, so I listened to the first few songs, but it was beautiful and sunny outside and it just sounded so wrong in that context and also just fucking rote and y'know eight years too late so I just couldn't be bothered. I might come back to it in September but it just feels like the wrong time for them in every way.

Savages are a serious band. They named their first single, Husbands, after a grim 1970 Cassavetes film, whereas their other inspirations include Philip K Dick, pornography and German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten.

artsy types pronouncing that they're influenced by pron is just the funniest thing

dudes like pitbull and ranking and tom zanetti should totally start dressing like quakers and communicate solely in edicts like DEGRADATION IS THE ONLY TRUTH while not changing their music one bit

Multiple xposts: okay sure, but Interpol was always super boring and terrible and Savages are not so far

I've been chuffed about this band since I heard the single last year, and love the album. There's a handful of bands dipping into post-punk influences lately, like Grass Widow, Talk Normal, Pins, New War, Big Joan, Deep Time, Merchandise, etc., but I don't know that you could call it another revival. Most of the 80s influences are blended with all sorts of other stuff. Beth's vocals may occasionally sound like Siouxsie Sioux, but not anymore than she does Karen O. Music and arrangements don't make me think of the Banshees all that much. I hear fleeting moments of Stranglers' bass sound, Birthday Party in the guitar. But the muscular sound/production has more in common with Fugazi, Converge or Coliseum.

People seem to be okay with the fact that you can find literally thousands of bands influenced by Chuck Berry, Little Richard, the Stones, Cream, Zeppelin, Free, Sabbath, Lynnyrd, all the way up through White Stripes, but as soon as there's a whiff of anything from the post-punk era, the originality police come out in droves. Look at the comments on the Quietus review. They can grumble all they want and stay at home fondling original editions of Metal Box, but they'll be missing out on some great stuff.

Pins just finished recording their full length. The Savages album will be hard to top but I hope they get close.

I am all for the blending. the old and the new. which is why this band sounds better to me than other lesser 80's-aping stuff. like, I can see these women getting as much inspiration from people like sleater-kinney and pj harvey as they do from all the usual suspects.

the singer's group before Savages:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpAqUfu91GI

very very PJ here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bWojuvmwuU

she's an amazing frontperson to build a band around, for sure. hott Ian Curtis is a winning formula in my book!

comically boxed in by the period perfect postpunk costuming

Yeah, this band is so OTM it's almost not OTM, but I'll take it. At least until everyone else likes them for being so OTM, at which point I will declare them not OTM and move on to something more OTM. Which inevitably is the stuff this band resembles. AKA, "the money."

It's too soon after the last post punk revival. Other genres are available for inspiration.

Pre-punk?

Someone forgot to send them the memo. Sorry ladies, the genre overlords allowed post-punk inspired bands in the 90s and early 00s, but this decade is off-limits. Why don't you try your hand at some nice folk rock?

Maybe these guys are actually referencing '90s and '00s post-punk revival! Post-post-post-punk?

Reminds me of controller.controller from a few years back. Maybe better with mood, but less so with the hooks. NOt moved, seems a tad too restrained. I just want to seem them rock out.

would you guys say there is a flight from presentism involved in the hype surrounding this band?

matador records baby, it's their raison d

I can't take Husbands seriously because the chorus sounds so much like Horses by Patti Smith. Along with the Ian Curtis aping - it was an unfortunate way to put yourself out there I thought.

― Hinklepicker, Saturday, May 4, 2013 10:47 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ok now I can't unhear this.

I've found them a bit lacking in actual tunes. But, you know, there's something attractively astringent about their music.

But the behind-the-scenes stuff surrounding them is very off. John aka Johnny Hostile seems almost Kim Fowleyesque in his manipulativeness and desire for control. Rebecca made mention of that in her Guardian piece, but it was all very WTF last year (I know their ex publicist and ex manager).

the genre overlords allowed post-punk inspired bands in the 90s and early 00s, but this decade is off-limits. Why don't you try your hand at some nice folk rock?

― Fastnbulbous, Sunday, May 5, 2013

There were cynics in the '90s and '00s too.

I listened to the whole album, it's ok but not clicking in a major way yet & I feel like if you're gonna be into this band you prob need to really be into them & I'm just not feeling inclined to make that leap of faith & devotion. Yet. Matt otm; maybe in the autumn it'll make more sense.

Also when you're not in the mood the seriousface stuff is just funny, I mean

coz you have no face
you have no face
you, have, no, face

http://www.bubblegun.com/toons/images/hace1.gif

why the blank expression?

kind of sound like a gothy version of wire, very taut and spare. i like the furrowed-brow intensity of it all but i don't think the songs are really there just yet

even with those catchy riffs and hhoks, this band is too flashy, too formulistic, and too hollow at the end. (to my taste).

like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Suede, i predict Savages will also have the same future as those bands, for better and for worse

They could do way worse with post-punk influences. Plus, the songs' feminisit narratives are great. I'm rooting for them.

The same future awaits us all nostormo. But yes, this band is crap.

Plus, the songs' feminisit narratives are great.

nu board descrip

puts on dunce cap*

Feminisit brostep

like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Suede, i predict Savages will also have the same future as those bands, for better and for worse

― nostormo, Monday, May 6, 2013 7:34 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What a tragedy for Savages.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/17977-savages-silence-yourself/

i don't get any of the comparisons that are being made here except for scott's xmal-lite which is about as bang on as it gets. the album rules.

Many of the comparisons are right on, I'd say. It's just ok, neither great nor horrible.

It's hard not to play spot-the-influence. The East Bay Ray, Siouxsie, and Joy Division nods jumped out at me. Does it sound good on it's own? Yes, it does to me. Is it an uber-classic? Doubtful. If, like me, you've been rolling around in the post-punk muck for decades, it's going to be hard to be impressed. But I still find bands that draw inspiration from my favorites are fun and occasionally great. I loved the first albums from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol and some of the other bands in that scene 10 years ago but quickly lost interest. Savages seems like they could go off in some really different directions. Maybe they'll discover The Au Pairs, Essential Logic and Lilliput and really mix things up.

I find it weird that we are already speculating on their career when the first album has been released for less than 24 hours. It is as if people want them to fail, somehow. Is it a reaction to the marketing/hype?

It is as if people want them to fail, somehow.

Ha ha, welcome to ILM/indie rock.

define "fail".

at least in my case, my Suede/Yeah Yeah Yeah's prediction (i'm a prophet btw) means they'll make lots of money and be famous. artisticaly speaking though...

it's like the careful work of an historian who make conclusion based on past events lol

It is as if people want them to fail, somehow. Is it a reaction to the marketing/hype?

― Van Horn Street, Monday, May 6, 2013 8:11 AM (45 minutes ago)

i don't think it's that simple.

hype draws the curious. some may come with a chip on their shoulder, but most don't. a lot of people do, however, tend to evaluate hotly tipped albums in light of their acclaim. "is my beloved dark twisted fantasy really that good? why is everybody losing their shit over it?" these are natural questions. they shouldn't be the primary driver our evaluation, but they inevitably figure in.

that's what's going on here. personally, i like silence yourself. i didn't drop-to-my-knees love it on initial listens, but i like the sound palette, variety of ideas, point of view and intensity. i can see why they've attracted so much attention, and i'm gonna give silence yourself some time to sink in.

they sound fresh, they are well-scrubbed and fashionable, and they have a little pep. makes perfect sense that they would stand out from the dreary crowd. if anything their x factor might even be x-ier than the xx.

the biggest revelation for me is that I have, apparently, subconsciously, always wanted to wanted to make out with a sexy Ian Curtis. it's like discovering late in life that there is furry fandom inside of you. I hope this takes off next Halloween.

I find it weird that we are already speculating on their career when the first album has been released for less than 24 hours.

Pretty sure the next ten years of the band have already been charted out.

And then we'll release a second album that sounds like the first. And then a third that sounds like neither of the other ones, which some will call a misstep and others will hail as a brave new direction. Then our guitarist will leave, but we'll put out a return to form fourth album. And then we'll break up and the singer will go solo. But then the original guitarist will come back and we will reunite, but fail to capture the initial spark and inspiration. And then we'll break up for real and go back to school.

as far as tunes-havingness goes, i think this sort of music often works just fine in the absence of strong melodies or even obvious/conventional hooks. atmosphere, structure and energy can be more than enough. like the way "i am here" finally explodes at the end, with the high whooping vocals over the top. that's awesome. doesn't need much of a tune.

also suspect that politics, gender and gender politics are helping to drive interest - that's a good thing, imo

early favorite = "waiting for a sign". while we're making ridiculous wild guesses, i imagine that's the sound they'll follow.

opening of "she will" always makes my mind jump to "she sells sanctuary"