Beach House

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ask them about the obvious difficulties that come from their name being mixed up with "beech house"

i haven't watched the charlie rose interview so it's possible he may have already asked them about it

That is one boring interview. Rose throws out what you would expect and the responses are just typical collegiate artistic drivel. Better to just put their music on.

agreed that the responses were boring, but I thought Rose did try to push them - asking pointed questions about the creative process and getting fluffy answers.

but the thing is, I think their responses are the honest truth. i don't think their sound could come out of an intentional, deliberate method of songwriting.

Yeah. They're just a lot less thoughtful than their music lets on.

Which is cool! Their music is great!

You can ask if their aesthetic is so set that if they came up with something different and cool they discard it as being off-form. You could ask them if they think of louder faster songs as a sell-out move, or just something to keep in their back pocket if they ever hit a wall. You could ask about the attentiveness of audiences as they've gained more and more fans, or newer fans. You could ask them if beauty in and of itself is enough, and you could ask them if that is super cynical to even ask. You could ask them how Low has managed to release album after album of mostly slow, mostly great stuff that has showed significant evolution without losing its innate Low-ness, though that question might be better suited to Low.

touché

geez

Haha, the last one was a joke, but I was serious about the other ones! I like Beach House fine, and some of their stuff is really pretty.

why would anyone want more variety and surprise in the age of mass uncertainty and diversion?

neue jesse is right that you need to ask them about their name. also, i would be interested in hearing about their lyric writing process, specifically for the song "elegy to the void."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgR-PUXv98k

yussssss

Equal Mind is really something. These guys are damn prolific. One of those "samey" sounding bands I can't quite get bored with.

They do one thing very well and that's about as much as you can ask of anything

this is gorgeous stuff

I've only heard bits of this so far but I've been listening to a lot of Beach House lately. I've always found it tough to rank their albums, but right now it would go something like this.

Bloom (the one that got me into them)
Depression Cherry (didn't rate this at first, huge grower)
Teen Dream
Beach House
Devotion (this one doesn't seem that essential to their back catalogue, more of a bridge between the first and third albums)
Thank Your Lucky Stars (Majorette and The Traveller are the only ones I really love on here)

my personal ranking:

depression cherry
teen dream
beach house
devotion
thank your lucky stars
bloom

note that this is all on a rating scale of like, 9.3-8.8

They do one thing very well and that's about as much as you can ask of anything

yea i love this band

really happy to see all the DC love

beyond love is a beautiful track

and this album nails that anodyne vibe

I think Bloom will always be my favourite but Depression Cherry is comfortably in second place now. It's one the biggest U-turns I've done on an album in recent years.

Finally got round to giving the compilation a listen. It is indeed great and probably a better listen than maybe three of their albums.

my feeling is that depression cherry will age the best out of all their work so far

Looking forward to hearing DC,never listened. First I want more time with this tho, it's nice.

been listening to these guys a ton lately, here's my ranking:

bloom
depression cherry
teen dream = thank your lucky stars
devotion

haven't listened to the self titled yet

i'm glad everyone mentioned depression cherry. i liked it when it came out but haven't revisited it in a really long time. when i put it on again each song sounded so warmly familiar, even though i had probably only listened to each track a couple times.

"Sparks" is such an amazing song and I wish they'd do more in that vein.

I am surprised I thought Teen Dream would be the popular favourite if LPs being ranked.

i've never heard DC until this week, and i didn't even know TYLS existed- and i listened to bloom and teen dream a lot in their times, devotion only some. TYLS started playing on youtube without me being aware it was not DC. it's wonderfully direct imo. loving the hell out of one thing right now.

not at all surprising to me that bloom would be the favorite. like they said in the interviews before the album dropped, it feels like their definitive statement that they've been working up to until that point. i resisted for a while but i had to admit that it stands apart from the rest of their excellent discography

never change, beach house

Depression Cherry is has been a wonderful, much-repeated listening experience since i read this thread.

i have since fallen head over heels for teen dream, so it is now tied for second with depression cherry in my power ranking

depression cherry is so good

how are they live? they are coming to lovely Southern California this month and thinking about catching the show, especially since it will be on a Friday night.

i saw them after depression cherry came out and they were extremely good live, total mastery of dynamics, really filled the room.

I saw them around Bloom and it was great for the same reasons.

They're great live. Saw them on the DC/Thank Your Lucky Stars tour. Hearing songs from "Bloom" were explosive and the recent material, especially "Beyond Love" was aces

I agree they are amazing live. Go!

excellent live. would definitely go.

it's kind of weird to mention, but what stood out to me was the BASS. for some reason hearing the bass/organ lines on a really loud, crystal clear sound system added another dimension to their music.

That's not weird Karl. I didn't notice that at all nth that's the beauty of music?

I've seen them every time I've been able to, probably 7 times, always great. Alex plays the bass with his feet!

they sold out before i was able to get tickets. i'm so bummed but seeing Swervedriver two nights later anyways. i will get a live fix this weekend after all.

they're coming to play the santa fe opera house soon, which, after my first visit there last night, is a really magical venue

I've found everything post 'Bloom' to be aimless and plodding. I guess I'm a pop kid.

I've enjoyed a bunch of what they've done since, but yeah, I miss the sharper songcraft.

I recommend the setlist generator on the beach house website if one is attending a show. You can request 3 songs. Not sure how much they adhere to it but it's fun

Would be cool to see the ilx consensus on favourite album. Bloom is a perfect pop record and really life affirming but feel like depression cherry is on par, it's just the missing half.

teen dream imo. they are all good though

Bloom

Bloom is easily my favourite. Probably Depression Cherry in second place.