The Wooden Shjips Thread

"a rock audience" (rather than?) i dunno. i saw they have won over dero http://www.wbez.org/blogs/jim-derogatis/2013-09/rim-shots-willis-earl-beal-bongos-and-wooden-shjips-108713

Consider this an early head’s up: The album won’t be released by Chicago’s beloved Thrill Jockey until November 12, but I haven’t been able to stop listening since I downloaded the advance a few weeks ago, and you need to know about these timeless, hypnotic, swirling, psychedelic melodies now. The San Francisco quartet has been recording since the mid-2000s—giant slabs of dark mystery built on the familiar elements of droning organ, fuzzed-out guitar, whispered vocals, and insistent, metronomic drums—in the grand tradition of the Velvet Underground to the Dream Syndicate and Spacemen 3 to the Black Angels. But after going back and devouring the back catalog, I can say they’ve never been as consistent, entrancing, necessary, and just plain perfect as they are on these eight new jams.

i bought a ticket to the record release show as soon as i saw crazy horse. i liked them enough in their previous state, but i'll pay $14 to see a cut rate crazy horse.

I just can't picture these guys as a mainstream rock act. granted I haven't heard the new one but...

i didn't even know there was a rock mainstream anymore tbh
it seems ridic to think that the shjips are gonna blow up the charts but who knows
i just want to hear some lumbering jams

xp "mainstream" is stretching it -- what's a mainstream rock act these days, anyway? kings of leon or something?

anyhoo, w/ the neil young stuff, the last song on the new shjips sounds like an homage to this deep cut
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc65mHWrS1k

well, yeah - Kings of Leon. uh the Black Keys I guess?

these guys just seem off in their own little world, completely insulated from larger market trends. which is fine, that's how I like it for the most part.

Arcade Fire, are they a rock band?

ha! crossover.

i'm excited for this. Shjips + CAVE for that release show has me looking at bus tickets & times and trying to make that trip.

huh didn't know Interstate was a Ragged Glory outtake

that version i posted is actually the int'l harvesters version from 85ish, but yeah, he recorded it for ragged glory (and then for whatever reason, put it out on the vinyl broken arrow). definitely one of his best "unknown" songs.

Streaming in full here: http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2013/nov/04/wooden-shjips-back-to-land-album-stream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEsuD_K4sUU

ripley seems like a super nice dude from that video, wkiw, but the show friday did not electrify me
i think they suffered from overly good opening bands tbh

Wanted to come up for that show really bad, but had to work. Assuming that they followed CAVE, which would be tough. Really liking the new record though.

Bobby Matador from Oneida with some measured half-praise: http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/bobby-matador-wooden-shjips

They not only followed CAVE, but they followed Rabble Rabble, whose drummer is so fun to watch and so good. I feel like they almost didn't stand a chance even though they weren't at all bad or anything like that. They were quite buoyant, really. I just wasn't feeling it too strongly. I'll admit that I left after 4 songs. Maybe it got super incredible after that, dunno.

cave would probably be the worst band to have to follow

this was the first band
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyXQIgjhh_8

haha wow yeah she is good

fingertapping on the end there a little regrettable but otherwise sweet!

someone tweeted an in-the-flesh picture of the new album today - not a massive fan but this thing looks great:

https://twitter.com/dannykellywords/status/399906456939405314

Was annoyed to see it in Rough Trade East last night (the version with the bonus 7"). Got mine sent from Thrill Jockey to my Sister-In-Law's in the US, thinking only TJ would have the bonus 7" & their shipping to the UK being more hideous than it should be. Oh well, I did get a bonus iTunes download of one of the 7" tracks...which is only valid in the US store.

Feel like this band is everything I hate about psych rock, just like long boring songs with no energy and standard psych guitar solos.

so what do you like about psych rock

very possible i just like long boring songs with no energy and standard psych guitar solos.
i dunno, i get what you mean, but for whatever reason i always enjoy wooden shjips

is this west coast tour any good?

thinking about seeing them saturday night but was not impressed with "west" and have not heard "back to land"

bump

i meant to respond to this before but i forgot
the show i saw was merely ok. as i mentioned, the opening bands were hard to follow, and the shjips formula sounded overly evident by the time they went on, but that might not be their fault. i did start to get the suspicion that their new album was overhyped by people who don't listen to a lot of music like this (so it sounded more interesting to them than it did to me).

not a bad time, but not mind blowing by any stretch.

i did start to get the suspicion that their new album was overhyped by people who don't listen to a lot of music like this (so it sounded more interesting to them than it did to me).

It's enjoyable, but I think this suspicion is spot on. 'Back to Land' seems to be the one that has broken through to some critics who believe they've stumbled upon something great and obscure, and thus are pumping it up as better than their earlier stuff, i.e. "Wooden Shjips have finally put it all together," so they don't appear late to the game.

they've jumped the shark after vol. 2 huh

Nah west and dos are great. But at this point I think I prefer moon duo.

^ otm

I thought vol 2 came out after dos

tbh not crazy about west

Everything I've heard by these guys was perfectly enjoyable but sounded pretty much the same. I saw them open on the Pavement reunion tour and everyone in the crowd hated them, so I made a point of cheering as loud as I could - probably the moment I felt most positively disposed to WS.

they've jumped the shark after vol. 2 huh

― the late great, Saturday, 25 January 2014

this is my assessment, with the caveat that I think a lot of the creative energy has gone into Moon Duo

Back to Land sounded really formulaic to me; there was only one,song that stood out to me and I don't remember the name of it rn

West was not that much better but at least the two best songs were first and thereby easy to find

I prolley need to hear early WS tho fer sure. Loved their Snapper cover

Moon Duo is cool but uneven too; Circles was p great but I thought Mazes was drastically overrated. Probably my favorite thing Ripley has done was MD's Escape EP

this new one is stellar- dreamy and floaty, a mode i haven't picked up on in them prior. will sound good on a hot afternoon in the backyard

this is still my favorite work of theirs- i don't have a ton of use for their middle period, it seems

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1YoLJajtAE

I find them a bit hit & miss, but the new one sounds good. Hopefully they'll come out on tour

new great ‘rural psych’ record, S/T ‘Rose City Band’. not much info about them otherwise. is this the shjips pretending to be a different band?

hmmmm

Produced and recorded by Ripley Johnson

this actually calls it a side project fwiw

https://www.reddit.com/r/psychedelicrock/comments/bsnmat/rose_city_band_wandering_feeling_new_side_project/

definitely ripley singing / playing guitar, not sure who else is in the band ...

Nice! Reminds me of Natural Child and their "Okey Dokey" LP

is the pronunciation shyps or ships?

I love this Rose City Band album. It really is a perfect summer record, so warm. I haven't paid much attention to the Wooden Shjips universe, but this made me go back to some of their stuff and also to Moon Duo. I like his whole vibe.

Another Rose City Band album coming in May, Earth Trip. You can pre-order it from Trill Jockey and get some rolling papers with it, on brand.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1390957203_10.jpg

another one! he's really churning these out ... which is good! i always put on this guy's records and think "eh, this is kinda boring" and then about two minutes in I think "hey this is great!"

haha yes

this new one is great, maybe the spaciest/ mellowest yet