The High Llamas: C or D?

"Long Life Love" is a really good one featuring Mary.

I won't say that he hasn't come up with lyrical passages I enjoy, but Sean has written some real bizarre duds. "Bobby's Court" is inexplicable

I strongly recommend this if you haven't heard it

http://www.musicalpainting.com/en/home.php

I think it's one of the most cohesive projects he has worked on

Found this on the High Llamas forum. No one else has written about it:

I was at the last show on Saturday. I can see the comparison with 'Say Hi...' but thought this was far superior. Coe's dialogues can be pretty cringe inducing. Sean decided to go with all monologues and the writing was fantastic throughout. Must have been a pleasure for the actors to recite. Also, I was surprised by the range of subjects/voices covered. I didn't expect a tale about getting lost while jogging in Canberra! The songs punctuate the stories within each monologue. A couple of potentials for the HL canon, inc. the title song (which was repeated as the final encore), The rest were OK. But it's not the music I took away really, more a new respect for Sean the author. :)

Never thought of Sean as a writer. I'd love to hear this.

http://www.stereogum.com/1841897/the-high-llamas-here-comes-the-rattling-trees/mp3s/

London pastoral poppers the High Llamas haven’t released an album since 2011’s Talahomi Way, but last year their long-time label Drag City teased that the band was working on a new “musical narrative” project called Here Comes The Rattling Trees, and they’ve played a few shows around the UK throughout 2014. billed under that title. Today we’ve been given the first recorded music from the project in the form of a title track. The release is being billed as “Music From The Original Stage Production,” which means that it’s probably tracks culled from those live performances, and more performances could be coming in the future. Check out the first track and tracklist for the new record below.

cool!
randomly heard a sondre lerche track this week and thought, hey this sounds like high llamas -- and of course o'hagan did the strings.

Re: "it’s probably tracks culled from those live performances"

In fact, it's the whole show reproduced in album form. Tracks titled as "(x) Recalls" are the monologues.

The song on soundcloud is good, but it's a very wispy version! The arrangement when they performed it in the show was much punchier. (Not that High Llamas recordings can often be described as 'punchy', I'll grant you)

Oh wait, track times on the Drag City website - http://www.dragcity.com/products/here-come-the-rattling-trees - suggests those "Recalls" tracks are very short.

So, not the whole monologue :(

I'm disappointed it'll be five years since the excellent Talahomi Way and all we're getting is what looks like a pretty short soundtrack. I really like the song, though. It's nice to hear Sean reign it in sometimes. I guess the actual narrative is actually pretty good, then? I've found little about it online.

looks like this is coming out this week

I bought it. It's really, really nice, but only 28 minutes long. :'(

So there's no dialogue from the play at all? That's disappointing, I was hoping to get at least a flavour of what it was like.

It's a bit like the problem I had with Scott Walker's "And Who Shall Go To The Ball...", in that it's difficult to appreciate as a whole piece of work due to a crucial part being missing.

"go to montecito" is secretly the best track on snowbug.

harpers romo, cookie bay, the american scene, janet jangle. o'hagan's melodies have never since been quite as accomplished imo.

Can Cladders and Talahomi Way are two of their strongest albums. Ive been playing them to death in between Stereolab sessions. The addition of the soulful backing vocals really gives the Cladders songs some needed life and the arrangements on Talahomi are to die for...

His inability to write a hook or a memorable song is overstated on this forum. Yeah, Gideon Gaye was probably his strongest set of traditional songs, but I think he's had a lot of decent melodies up his sleeve all along.

Sean performed a Basil Kirchin tribute the other night with a group that included Tim Gane.

They recorded at least one song, which pops up at 55:30. It's an original.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08dns54

Just noticed HL remixed a track from the Rundgren/Lindstrøm Runddans collaboration. First listen makes me think it's kind of inspired – Rundgren has always loved the Beach Boys but it's rarely materialized in his music. This takes one of the poppiest pieces from a very proggy record andsome of the background vox Rundgren recorded that got buried in the final mix and does a little Gold Star treatment with them. Pretty neat.

https://soundcloud.com/vonmehren/aerosuiteremixseanohagan

I love Sean's remixes.

Completely rebuilt that song.

I hear an element of a fairly famous tropicalia song I can't put my finger on.

recent live show here -- glad they are still at it. http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=3318
just gave can cladders a listen last weekend randomly — still a really strong album! the backup singers are a nice touch.

By the way, that Alexander Von Mehren album is very good if you're a Stereolab/Llamas fan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYJOmiVkN6c

Thanks for the link, tyler.

CLASSIC just for influence on Cobra and Phases

There was a lot of disdain for his influence on the group in one of the many Stereolab threads. :(

More than just an influence, O'Hagan performed or provided arrangements on most of Stereolab's albums

i think o'hagan + stereolab is usually successful ... and i love the hansen/sadier vocals on snowbug.

just LOLd at this classic early pitchfork review: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/3855-snowbug/

Yep, and still actively collaborates with tim. even played piano on a cavern of antimatter track or two. He's clearly been favored by Tim for a long time, or is it the other way around...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lAWOMUNabk

SeanO did the strings on this song. lol

Well, he does on the original. That's not the original.

Dud.

Stereolab reminds me of 1997
In a good way

Turrican, ever the buzzkill

http://www.juno.co.uk/products/nubian-mindz-somebody-else-remixes/638308-01/

Couple of new remixes by Sean & Tim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEFHwApSJ2U

Interesting interview w/ Sean, mostly questions about his work with other bands and artists. It's fairly long.

Interesting that he feels like he doesn't take enough chances with the Llamas material

I love how when he hums & sings during the interview, he sounds nothing like he does in his own music. It's a much more gravelly, normal voice, rather than that airy, kind of flat voice we're all used to.

Just found out about this album. Came out a couple months ago. It's very, very good:

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-good-is-a-big-god-mw0003159611

The rough guitar sketches he sent to O'Hagan earned beautifully detailed string arrangements, eventually forming the basis of this beautifully crafted collection. As a creative foil to Lancellotti's soothing yet ambitious approach, O'Hagan is a perfect fit, enhancing instrumental tracks like the lilting title cut and the gorgeous "Árvores" with exquisitely rendered string parts that seem both featherlight and absolutely essential. As on previous releases, both Kassin and Veloso also return to help out, the former adding sitar, guitars, and synth to the mysterious "Aracne" and the latter singing and co-writing the breezy highlight "Tudo ao Redor." For his part, Lancellotti remains the captain here, singing, arranging, playing a multitude of instruments, and turning out challenging avant-garde pop on "Asas" and sunny samba rhythms on "Insatiable," and crooning over eerie synths on the magical "Dama da Noite." The Good Is a Big God may be a lofty album rich in layers, details, and rhythms, yet it never flaunts its ambition. Lancellotti is a master of subtlety, gracefully melding his own attributes with the strengths of others to great effect on this excellent sophomore outing.

Thanks for the tip, checking this out right now

Did you notice Seano started a new website recently?
https://www.seanohaganmusic.com

There are some audio clips on the 'Music in Art' page that I need to check out.

That Basil Kirchin track is part of an album that I believe is either being worked on or completely finished. I heard one track and thought it was phenomenal.

This Lancellotti album is nice. "Asas" has a monster groove.

There's even a song where Sean takes lead vocals. Sounds totally Llamas. The instrumentals sound heavily influenced by Sean as well.

http://hernehillfestival.org/programme/155-Sean+O%26%2339%3BHagan%2C+Kieran+Mahon%2C+and+friends

Sean O'Hagan - The Peacock Hunter
Sean O’Hagan has spent 30 years in music as a performer and writer, first as the co-founder of Microdisney in the 1980s, then as the founder of the still current High Llamas as well as being a part time member of Stereolab. Sean has made a living as an arranger, in film, art and event writing. In 2014 Sean wrote a staged musical narrative called Here Come The Rattling Trees set in Peckham, his home for 30 years. Here Come The Rattling Trees is now the High Llamas's 10th studio LP. In 2017 Sean was commissioned by Hull City of Culture 2017 to write We Start Counting, a tribute to Basil Kirchin.

The Peacock Hunter, the show which will be performed this evening, takes you on an impressionistic trip from a Coventry production line to the last days of a collapsing Middle Eastern dynasty, using original music and text and archive images. Music written and performed by Sean O'Hagan, Marcus Holdaway, and Dominic Murcott, with text written and delivered by Liam McNeive. Liam McNeive has originated or collaborated in various musical and filmic creations, including a BBC-produced virtual reality world.

Looks fun!

Tickets have gone on sale now too

Peacock show is on Saturday.

https://www.wegottickets.com/event/446156

I thought I’d bought a ticket but seems like I hadn’t! Glad there are some left.

I can't wait to hear how it goes.

I wonder if this is connected to the Basil Kirchin project they were working on.

Ta for the reminder, I was planning to go to this and nearly forgot. Herne Hill's a mainline service as well so coming from Luton I've no excuse, the train comes practically right to the door of the venue.