4AD - classic all round?

does not compute

Not enough Johnny Fever. Thou must experience early Xymox to understand, I think. "Medusa" was just amazing when it first came out. I don't know what I would think of it now...first album was pretty cool too.

I agree with most of that. Even the new Kristin Hersh is only OK by her standards (so far; may well reveal itself over time)

it's still great!

Cuba (or Air Cuba, as they cam to be known stateside)
Tarnation
Liquorice
That Dog (well, Guernica, but basically the same label)

way underrated 4AD releases:

Cass McCombs - A
Insides - Euphoria, Clearskin
Air Miami - Me Me Me
Underground Lovers - Leaves Me Blind
The Late Cord - Lights From The Wheelhouse

in fact, the Guernica offshoot more than deserves it's own thread...don't you think?

insides = classic.

Tarnation"

I disagree. I rather like Tarnation, and am pleased that there is a 2007 release planned for these guys.

But yeah, anyone putting Tarnation on a list of 4AD duds is RETARDED!

I nominate Thievery Corporation be accorded "dud" status, effective immediately...

the hell were they doing on 4AD?

just noticed that 4ad have signed camera obscura.. will be interesting to see how that pairing goes

other new signings broken records i like a lot, the singles so far haven't been amazing but i can see real potential there

there's a new single on itunes, er, My Maudlin Career, but i didn't notice the label when i listened to it.

4A-twee

maybe i wasn't paying attention but it completely passed me by that 4AD signed up ariel pink, tindersticks and serena-maneesh.

...as a supergroup.

oooh

This Mortal. Just that, This Mortal.

Weren't Tindersticks sort of in the same neighborhood as 4AD, anyway, under the Beggars Group umbrella? Or is that just in the US?

they were signed to Constellation in North America as far as I know.

Anyway, I'm just pleased they're still kicking.

i feel like the label is kind of a hodgepodge these days and filled with stuff that doesn't necessarily reflect the 'brand', in fact, it seems much more like beggar's banquet now. but whatever.

and yet they seem to be killin' it in the eoy polls, hmm

yeah all the stuff is good and some of it is exceptional (the mountain goats album is my second favorite album of the year), it just seems more hodgepodge than it has in many many years.

oh i agree, but i don't think it's to their detriment..

They ARE Beggar's Banquet these days. All their other labels were folded into 4AD last year or the year before. 4AD as a curated collection is over.

well there you go, I didn't even notice that. makes sense then.

Says something about the value and impact of relative brands that it was 4AD that survived as the label instead of Beggars.

bloke I work with has just signed (pretty great three record deal tbh) with 4AD and his band is indeed more beggars-friendly.

4ad turn 30 next year and they offer a free download of another 30 song sampler for christmas.

"but I had a moment of blissful personal revelation a couple of years back when I realised that the whole 4AD aesthetic was a gothick romantic gauzy great DUD"

I think I realized this in 1990.

I enjoy most of those adjectives. Well, except the last one.

"but I had a moment of blissful personal revelation a couple of years back when I realised that the whole 4AD aesthetic was a gothick romantic gauzy great DUD"

"I think I realized this in 1990."

I recall feeling this way some time ago - maybe around the time I discovered American indie guitar rock in the early 90's. But recently I've started out my 4ad records and tapes out and I'm having far too much fun listening to them to dismiss it all. And some of them have aged really well to my ears. The Nooten/Brook record mentioned up thread is really amazing. I listened to Clan of Xymox Medusa last night and that one sounds really great as well. And I still love This Mortal Coil.

Nooten/Brook album is one of teh five best 4ad albums ever.

Personally I'd take the 4AD back catalogue over the entire dreary legions of "American indie guitar rock" in an instant. The idea that a group like Pavement could be responsible for any kind of paradigm shift in anyone's thinking is just baffling to me.

If they're bankrolling Scott Walker they can have my money forever.