Clearlake: C/D?

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (111 of them)
I have now acquired Lido (actually did this... probably a few months after starting this thread, heh) and rather like it quite a lot. Have continually failed to pick up Cedars, but I heard the new single - not overwhelmed, but the remix of it by Caribou was A Bit Good.

William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Wednesday, 21 December 2005 12:23 (eighteen years ago) link

http://s37.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=13WCU36OEQQIG1O4AM5G6QUCAQ

Another remix (not the Caribou one)of Good Clean Fun

jellybean (jellybean), Wednesday, 21 December 2005 12:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Ooh, that reminds me! I need to get this!

I have a list on my desk of albums I need to get. bah. I never get any.

The Hills Are Alive With Celibate Cries (kate), Wednesday, 21 December 2005 12:42 (eighteen years ago) link

i always have a list of albums i want to get. then i get drunk and order them online.

then my credit card bill turns up :(

jellybean (jellybean), Wednesday, 21 December 2005 13:47 (eighteen years ago) link

one month passes...
where did they steal that riff on 'Here to Learn' from?? It's a classic rock song but i forgot the title and the original artist. lyrics go: whatever you want, whatever you need, etc

yeah i know, i'm clueless..

rizzx (Rizz), Wednesday, 1 February 2006 20:41 (eighteen years ago) link

It's Getting Light Outside is a really great song from the album.

zeus (zeus), Thursday, 2 February 2006 12:55 (eighteen years ago) link

"I want to live in a dream". Absolute classic tune. Not heard new album yet, looking forward to it though. You might want to check out Clearlakes' heroes. A band called Cardiacs. Your ears will never be the same!

Dr Greyhound (Dr Greyhound), Thursday, 2 February 2006 13:07 (eighteen years ago) link

Clearlake played inside a local record store here in Spring 2004. I had no idea who they were, but they sounded pretty great. I immediately got "Cedars" and thought it was a fantastic album. I was hooked on it, but very surprised that they never got big. I grabbed "Lido" and "Amber" recently, but haven't given them much of a listen yet.

Harpal (harpal), Thursday, 2 February 2006 13:12 (eighteen years ago) link

seriously, how's that song called that goes "whatever you want, whatever you need". they nicked that riff.

not at all impressed by this stooges channeled thru aerosmith sound

rizzx (rizzx), Thursday, 2 February 2006 13:29 (eighteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...
Just bought Amber. What can I say? The difficult third album? Outstanding! From start to finish it oozes emotion. New drummer fits right in. They still retain those Barrett-era-Floyd harmonies that made the first two albums so appealing, whilst embracing a rock-ier edge on quite a few tracks. Stand out tracks for me are "No Kind of Life", "Neon" and "Finally Free". Lovely!

Dr Greyhound (Dr Greyhound), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 13:44 (eighteen years ago) link

three years pass...

Would it be remarkably unfashionable of me to bring these guys up at this point? I like them.

sorry for british (country matters), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 23:28 (fourteen years ago) link

I used to like them, too. Got bored of them quickly I guess. I guess it was the first album I had. I didn't know they were still recording.

Tupperware Honey and Asshole Weeks (Bimble), Wednesday, 6 May 2009 23:51 (fourteen years ago) link

Bought and loved first album, saw them on tour at the time, didn't listen to anything after, haven't heard them for years. Lyrics on first album waaaaaaaaaaay too close to home for anything other than wallowing listening.

e.e. cummingstonite (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 7 May 2009 08:27 (fourteen years ago) link

NV's first sentence = ditto me except for thinking their second album was pretty great at the time and certainly slept on

display mane (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 7 May 2009 08:47 (fourteen years ago) link

This thread makes me kind of want to listen to the second, I might track it down.

e.e. cummingstonite (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 7 May 2009 08:50 (fourteen years ago) link

second is ok.. diminishing returns as you progress through their catalogue though

lolsdale street (electricsound), Thursday, 7 May 2009 09:42 (fourteen years ago) link

I'd hang with that tbh (maybe bumping the second album up a bit) but there's plenty of good stuff even on the third album ("No Kind Of Life", "You Can't Have Me", "Widescreen" and maybe a couple more). The penultimate tracks on the last two albums are pretty much the strongest songs on those respective albums; if anything, this band needed to blow up a little more. "Treat Yourself With Kindness" is *awesome*. Second-best track on that album is the one where they go almost as far with the sonics ("Come Into The Darkness").

First album is thoroughly excellent imo. Terrifyingly consistent with the classic tunes, its willingness to experiment doesn't once detract from the strength of the songs.

sorry for british (country matters), Thursday, 7 May 2009 11:16 (fourteen years ago) link

Actually wtf am I talking about, "Almost The Same" is a fantastic little opener

sorry for british (country matters), Thursday, 7 May 2009 13:39 (fourteen years ago) link

Never heard the first album, but I love "Cedars," an album so thoroughly and convincingly pessimistic that its cheery opening track sounds like an ironic pisstake, and the redemptive closing one-two punch at the end actually feels earned.

Not too into the third record barring the great opener. These guys ever coming back?

Simon H., Thursday, 7 May 2009 13:45 (fourteen years ago) link

Listen to the first album! It's much sunnier, cheerier and more whimsical than Cedars, and has some cracking tunes.

sorry for british (country matters), Thursday, 7 May 2009 13:47 (fourteen years ago) link

to answer my own question, they are releasing some singles to fund a new album:

http://www.myspace.com/clearlakenoise

Simon H., Thursday, 7 May 2009 13:53 (fourteen years ago) link

and then I realized "September" meant "September 2008." :(

Simon H., Thursday, 7 May 2009 13:59 (fourteen years ago) link

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Brand new single "The Credit Or The Blame" out now!
Current mood: busy
Category: Music
Clearlake's new single "The Credit Or The Blame" was released on Friday February 20 - it can be previewed on the Myspace page now and bought exclusively from the website - http://www.clearlake.uk.com

As with the previous two singles, the proceeds are being used exclusively to fund the recording of new album "Dark Blue" - the album is now nearly complete and will be released later in 2009...

Hope you enjoy the new song!

Doesn't sound like too much cause for concern tbh

sorry for british (country matters), Thursday, 7 May 2009 14:02 (fourteen years ago) link

Currently listening:
Sing to God parts 1 & 2
By Cardiacs
Release date: 1996-06-10

Actually, sounds quite promising imo

sorry for british (country matters), Thursday, 7 May 2009 14:03 (fourteen years ago) link

two months pass...

"Amber" has officially had the longest purchase-to-love gestation period of any album I own. The ultimate slow-burner. All three Clearlake records are very, very good. Bring on number 4 (in a month or two)!

country matters, Saturday, 25 July 2009 00:46 (fourteen years ago) link

I suppose the new stuff is okay but I'd much rather make my own up, any day.

General Pubic (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 25 July 2009 02:41 (fourteen years ago) link

six months pass...

Jason Pegg has a digital-only solo album out. Very nice stuff, like a less rocking Clearlake but still solid lyrics and memorable tunes.

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 31 January 2010 04:15 (fourteen years ago) link

four years pass...

Pegg's new solo album is really good, and 'Might As Well' besides being the archetypical Pegg songtitle is kinda Cardiacsy :)

imago, Sunday, 14 September 2014 20:07 (nine years ago) link

Thanks for the heads up, grabbing this now!

Any idea what became of Clearlake? Did they just disintegrate?

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Sunday, 14 September 2014 20:27 (nine years ago) link

musical differences, I presume

Pegg's the one worth following, obv

imago, Sunday, 14 September 2014 20:47 (nine years ago) link

one year passes...

decided that Lido is kind of the ultimate British indie record

imago, Wednesday, 29 June 2016 22:36 (seven years ago) link

Heh, just thinking about these lads lately. As much as I dig "Lido", it's the power and energy of "Cedars" that does it for me.

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 30 June 2016 00:02 (seven years ago) link

one year passes...

it's Lido season (for the next five months)

imago, Thursday, 9 November 2017 13:10 (six years ago) link

Cedars is a longtime personal fave, brilliantly sequenced

Simon H., Thursday, 9 November 2017 15:33 (six years ago) link

also fantastic

upthread predictions that they'd be referenced as a classic band in retrospect seem unfortunately wide of the mark. we'll remember you, clearlake

imago, Thursday, 9 November 2017 15:39 (six years ago) link

Thanks for bumping this thread, spun "Lido" and "Cedars" for the first time in yonks. Still hold up, love the lyrics. I want to live in a dream!

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 9 November 2017 23:57 (six years ago) link

their grasp of album sequencing on those first two records is wondrous

imago, Friday, 10 November 2017 00:06 (six years ago) link

Lido meant a lot to me when it came out, I had just come out of a phase of doing a lot of drugs and had dropped out of uni and didn't know what was next, I had this mix of being kind of burnt out and a failure but also waking up to the world. It really captured that feeling so well that it felt like it had been written specifically for me.

mfktz (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 10 November 2017 00:22 (six years ago) link

Another Cedars fan here ... “wonder if the snow” and “trees in the city” are favorites

I think pitchfork is how I found them

calstars, Friday, 10 November 2017 01:25 (six years ago) link

This band are still painfully underrated.

Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 10 November 2017 07:09 (six years ago) link

I need to re-listen to all of their albums ASAP... I still find it incredible that this band were swept under the carpet the way they were.

Gholdfish Killah (Turrican), Friday, 10 November 2017 07:15 (six years ago) link

part of my dumb animus toward the arcade fire is people losing their shit over 'funeral' when 'cedars', released not that long before it, had been relatively unheralded. i know it's not a competition but pitchfork nation can sure be easily blinkered

reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 10 November 2017 13:48 (six years ago) link

but...in a rare stroke of inspiration, pitchfork gave cedars 9.4 iirc

imago, Friday, 10 November 2017 14:11 (six years ago) link

oh, 9.1

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/1495-cedars/

that's still a LOT for a british indie band

imago, Friday, 10 November 2017 14:16 (six years ago) link

Pianos Become the Teeth sound like an emo band again and I'm not sure how to feel about that yet

https://open.spotify.com/track/5kEHz2d1bafXdAem3PfIya

Simon H., Friday, 10 November 2017 14:26 (six years ago) link

woops wrong thread lol

Simon H., Friday, 10 November 2017 14:44 (six years ago) link

that's a great review for a killer album but they never became one of pitchfork's hype bands, despite ruling way harder than some i could name

reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 10 November 2017 15:14 (six years ago) link

i really loved this band at the time but for the life of me, i can't remember one thing about them other than they were mellow. i own two or three CDs.

Bee OK, Saturday, 11 November 2017 01:15 (six years ago) link

eight months pass...

just found and added 'amber' to the archive.
I feel I have missed out on something rather special.

mark e, Friday, 3 August 2018 18:43 (five years ago) link

and it's only their third best album!

imago, Friday, 3 August 2018 18:49 (five years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.