Owen Pallett -- In Conflict

"The Riverside" is a blast in every sense

Had not been paying attention, if I was in London tomorrow I would totally go, but I don't think I can be there :(

owen, this album is great

I liked what I'd prevously heard of Owen's stuff, but J was playing this in the car and I found myself... "transfixed" is the best word I can come with. Holy moley, this is some serious shit.

(Parenthetically - Does anyone else feel like he tends to tuck his vocals into the mix quite a bit, compared to a lot of singers? I noticed, on both this and Heartland, that the voice is mixed more as one part of the arrangement, rather than being waaaaay out front as is usually the case for a lead vocal. Not complaining - just observatating.)

huh, never put the gt thing together. more you know.

haven't heard the album, but the tracks linked are uniformly gorgeous, especially, well, it's hard to say cuz each sounds like the best while i'm listening to it. and then i listen to another.

ugh, this is so good, one after another

AOTY

yeah this is scaling heights where such pronouncements become plausible

am trying to wangle myself a ticket for tonight, wd be good to see it all performed

yeah, this is wonderful. v. sad i was out of town for the boston show last weekend.

really digging soldiers rock and chorale in addition to those already mentioned.

that quasi-happy hardcore/drum'n'bass song towards the end is out of this world.

I am no longer afraid, the truth doesn't terify u-us...

Like, I didn't even know I liked that song, but then I couldn't stop humming that part, didn't even remember what it was. This is gonna creep up on me. This is very good.

logrolling a pallett

My friend is at the London show right now. So jealous. He just bought the new album there too.

When does it release?

It's out on Monday.

song for five & six is an olallieberry level jam

Holy shit that was incredible. The entire songwriting and layering process, revealed with such elegance! An orchestra of Pallett, all rousing, thrumming cavalcades of emotion. Was also lovely to meet the man himself. Overcome, really. Some of those songs won't leave my head.

Unnecessary post: this album is, of course, fabulous.

It really was a wonderful concert. Also a great pleasure to meet Owen in person. Hopefully we'll see you back in London soon.

We sadly failed to meet each other! Ah well. There will be other concerts.

Were you wearing a dark grey shirt, by any chance?

Very dark green, short sleeves, black flower pattern, could have been mistaken for grey. Far too much hair. I was looking out for you too!

Next time!

wait you wore a hair shirt

to compensate for being treated to such awesome music, probably should have

also, I think this album might just bring all of ILX together - I can't think of a single taste that would exclude it

Only disappointing thing about tonight was buying the vinyl and not being able to download the MP3s until Monday :(

Otherwise it was great!

also, I think this album might just bring all of ILX together - I can't think of a single taste that would exclude it

― verhzleyavbtreleambreb (imago)

Lex?

don't be foolish, lex will eat this shit up whole

I was going to say.

so mad i couldn't make it. i'll have to finish off everything i ever have to do before the next time he comes around.

Goon when when when are you coming back to Aus, gah! :)

almost thru my NPR-sanctioned first listen... I wasn't paying attention, did he just rhyme "Percocet" with "turtleneck"?

"The Riverbed" is way good, none of the other songs stuck with me except the one with the "compassion" refrain, but I'm sure that will change... in the meantime, I'm loving the complexity of the synth textures. should be plenty of fun headphone-fodder to keep me from getting bored once I know all the melodies by heart :)

Lex could go either way on this, depending on whether he finds it too precious/indie/art-school.

From memory he dislikes Patrick Wolf, who obv isn't a perfect fit but you could imagine similar objections being made to both.

when we reviewed owen over at TSJ back c. Heartland, Lex was... Lex-ian. "all ornamentation and no substance" etc.

but whatever who cares because you all get to hear this album now and i can stop holding back from raving about how beautiful it is.

hell I'm still not crazy about Heartland.

I relistened for the sake of a long review I filed a couple days ago, and it confirmed what I suspected after I heard "On a Path" for the first time: he's recording his best music now.

my standouts are probably 'Soldier's Rock', 'The Sky Behind the Flag', 'Song for Five & Six' and 'I Am Not Afraid'

but all "standouts" really means in this context is "things that have emerged as distinct musical things in my mind rather than part of the larger album" not a statement of quality? like, in a 'this would work as a single' way. and every track has perfect details and turns of phrase and melody and synth patches that get caught in my brain at unexpected moments.

i still love Heartland a whole lot but this has the potential to overtake it in my affections.

the live band arrangements are a wholly different beast at times and filled with violence and life and destruction. (soldier's rock, especially.)

OMG I forgot Eno sings on this as well. This is really really good on a first listen (well exept the already released tracks ive already hammered)

London show last night was lotsa fun. Hyped to get the new LP early too :-)

yeah, fantastic gig last night. Could have done with Owen's vocals a tad higher in the mix imo.

So many ILXors last night :D thanks guys for coming!

S/O to the pilled up Spanish brothers in front of me who fist pumped for the entire duration of the gig.

also to the middle aged ladies doing interpretative fan dances near the back, was loving their work :-)

listened with headphones a few times (highly recommended), and currently going through my first blasting through loudspeakers listening.

the title cut is such a jam. the verses are catchier than almost all choruses, and the minimal bass lines are killer throughout

Finally got round to listening to the vinyl version of this (treated myself to the 2xLP last week). It sounds so great. I don't normally pay too much attention to that sort of thing, but I want to play this loud (but don't think my neighbours would appreciate that at this time of night...)

So I had some quick thoughts and all:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/in-conflict-20140527