Sheer Mag

It's just hard for me to not find the production choices to be a bit TOO affected. I'd like to see what it sounds like live. I remember when I first saw Purling Hiss live and it was like "holy shit, these songs are HUGE" - I'd only ever heard them as those lo-fier-than-lo-fi four-track fuzz sketch things.

Once again doesn't ship to the UK (luckily a label here reissued the 1st 7"). Grrr.

Yeah this was on the bandcamp thread
Love it

This is way more Thin Lizzy meets Times New Viking than Ariel Pink

probably true tbh, don't have them pegged as AP fans but I listened to the stream a few times and couldn't shake the comparison in my head

xp Static Shock who did the reissue are getting some copies of the new one I believe

Don't really get this band, which is no big deal. I can see why folks dig them generally but the tempos and sound of it really don't work for me. Also, completely agree that the production choices seem really arbitrary/affected, they just don't suit the music they are playing at all. Maybe that is the point, but it really distracts and annoys me.

They sound like Royal Trux to me

― polyphonic, Monday, May 4, 2015 7:07 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha I posted a link to the EP on the Black Bananas thread. I love Sheer Mag obviously.

daresay the production is a 'choice' to some extent but possibly not as much as some ppl might think, in that they seem to be from the DIY punk side of the tracks and record in crappy studios for pennies

if they end up on a bigger label and get handed an actual budget the results of that might be more telling

All production choices are affected.

Not to belabor this point too much, but 12 years olds with outdated/secondhand gear/free stuff can make a higher fidelity recording than these Sheer Mag tunes. It is a choice.

Right, and so is paying thousands of dollars to get a clean studio sound.

Honestly I don't have much of a point but I have been thinking lately about how clean production is perceived as the "default" production style, and how this is tied to ideas about authenticity in rock music ... how it's saying "this is what this band really sounds like playing in a room, with no frills," but ultimately it's just as artificial/affected as slathering everything in fake tape fuzz, just more subtle about its artificiality. Nothing really to do with Sheer Mag but the critiques of their affected production brought it up.

Sure, and I am not against production values of any stripe, there are great no-fi/crummy recordings (made so deliberately) and great clean/expensive recordings (made so deliberately). I certainly was not trying to question their authenticity, I don't think that there is an "authentic" sound worth pursuing, whatever works works.

man i usually have very very little tolerance for lo fi production but i think the production on this ep is great. i think it makes the songs really, like, gooey? i really like it

omfg this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr2um9KXkgQ

I used to frequent this karaoke night that the singer was always at and she basically sang every song like this, it was p rad

this is the rare case of knowing what the band looks like making the music even better!

and that's a great story.

i think the production on this ep is great. i think it makes the songs really, like, gooey? i really like it

― J0rdan S., Tuesday, May 5, 2015 12:25 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

totally gooey

second ep is better than the first imo

please put out an album this year https://soundcloud.com/sheer-mag/cant-stop-fighting

feel like people who couldn't vibe with their earlier stuff because of production might be more into this one

another banger

The production on the 2nd single particularly is a bit grating, imo. Not that they need glossy sound, I mean I hope they don't go that way tbh.

Looking forward to the new one. Was great to see them live before Xmas. And I got to see the singer sing along to Digital Octopus's eurodance version of What You Want as a bonus encore.

think this should be shared with the class tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFyNrW5MKPA

new ep kinda-sorta out today via their bandcamp. or i mean i just got the bandcamp notice today, i dunno. street team!

digital only at this point. wilsuns rex lists the vinyl as "sold out", but that probly just means it ain't in yet. they're touring from march thru may, but it looks like the closest they'll get to maine is friggin' philly >:p

yes

New video, too. v much in line w/ their aesthetic. I cannot wait to pick up the 7"!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOt774ekroI

It's def not sold out yet

what a cool band

they are good

they are very good.

they are very very good

i get to see them again this week! I'm stoked

Guys this band is so good and if they come to your city you have to have to have to see them. Their live show has just gotten better and better over the last two years

they're on seth meyers tonite

i am so so so so excited to see this

holy wow

Seth Meyers? pretty punk rock!

http://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/video/sheer-mag-performance-nobodys-baby/3042609

Saw these guys supporting Royal Headache last year, they were awesome

Saw these guys supporting Royal Headache last year, they were awesome

― badg, Friday, May 27, 2016 10:15 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

goddaaammmn i wish i coulda seen that bill

saw em at the baltimore show; seemed like they made some new fans that night. songs got kinda samey for me, but they still sounded good (and, anyway, they're so young).

(royal headache seemed like they might break up at various points mid-performance, which i of course was into.)

haha that's kinda royal headache's deal right?

they delivered!

Oh man, that Baltimore show was the least tense Royal Headache set I've ever seen. The singer actually seemed like he was in a good mood!

but he had all those unintelligible rants! he also said some anguished stuff to my friend in the men's room. seemed to be having fun by the end, though.

really loved the show.

Yeah Royal Headache always seem to be on the verge of breaking up, here in NYC they had a different bass player for the second show and I assumed the worst but apparently the regular guy just had to go home early

Seth Meyers? pretty punk rock!

― alpine static, Friday, May 27, 2016 4:55 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Is this an authentic cry of "sellout"?! Made me feel warm with nostalgia

/Seth Meyers? pretty punk rock!

― alpine static, Friday, May 27, 2016 4:55 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink/

Is this an authentic cry of "sellout"?! Made me feel warm with nostalgia

It's like I'm 14 again hanging out at Hot Topic with a Dropkick Murphys back patch safety pinned to my hoodie

wow this rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sE8XwPkdN8U

new LP coming in july: https://sheermag.bandcamp.com/album/need-to-feel-your-love

i was worried for this band to try to make the leap they're making right now, but hot damn the album's great

designer types, help me out: how would you describe their distinctive logo? i have no idea what to call it ... if it even has a style or whatever

It's just a pastiche of the bass drum head logo of every mid level Midwestern hard rock club band circa 83

Is the album out? Love the 3 EPs

album's streaming on NPR iirc and it should be out this week

i got an email that they shipped the vinyl over the weekend. so stoked for this!

i know part of the appeal of this is the lo-fi production meeting up with hard rock gestures but i'd also love if one day they put out a record that actually sounded like secret treaties

anyway, this is great

need to buy a transistor radio to shunt this thru somehow

ok yeah this is so good

Hm, I dunno. I was giving it a listen earlier this evening, had to stop after a few songs. I can see what they're going for but the parts were greater than the sum.

good redcord. i wish the sound was a little dirtier, like the E.P's were.

saw these folks this weekend. holy fuckin' shit. killer live band.

they have 6 people out right now, 3 guitars. riff after riff after riff, like a brick to the face. and Tina's terrific.

new lp out august :)

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

new album cover is kinda their first misstep, i think? and i normally love Robert Beatty's stuff.

admittedly, this is not a big deal

i like the album art

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/5d09a3bbc612b835dc663562/master/pass/ADISTANTCALL_OFFICIAL.jpg

well shit, it looks better there than it did on my phone this morning!

i don't love it as much as the first Sheer Mag, but i retract my previous comment. :)

first Sheer Mag *album*

That rules. Loved the first album, can't wait

album cover is great, very rainbow/thin lizzy

from the bandcamp credits: "Narrative concept by Christina Halladay and Matt Palmer"
that plus the cover does not bode well

will happily take an album of escapist sci fi prog silliness from them

the song sounds like all their other stuff \o/

Am listening to an advance now. Pleasant, I guess. (I don't hate them or anything, it's just...nice.)

this came out last week!!

https://sheermag.bandcamp.com/album/a-distant-call

where are your heads at?! i depend on you to know important things!

it's good, you'll like it!

my in-depth analysis is that it sounds like Sheer Mag

i am putting in a word for this band

the word is "good"

do you fuck with them

*bruce willis voice* welcome to the party, pal

I am a petty son of a bitch so I have a hard time getting over the fact that when I ordered 7"s directly from the band they sent me multiple copies of the same one and ignored my emails about it. They are pretty good though. :)

this band is good

saw their singer on tinder the last time they came to town

right swipe not reciprocated :(

Not sure what I think about the new one yet. It's fine and has all the elements I'd want from a great Sheer Mag record, but somehow it doesn't all come together for me.

hmmm