Luke Haines: 21st Century Man/Achtung Mutha

Not heard the new album yet, but the fear is that his output will be churned out like Julian Cope's these days, recorded entirely solo at home on the cheap with no real drums or engineering skills. Works fine for a known home recording wiz like Martin Newell, but not sure about Haines.

He doesn't really write songs anymore. It also feels like some of these songs come dangerously close to other Haines solo songs, though they're not coming to me on my first listen. It's all a bit of a blur. I miss the Luke that wrote New Wave and Now I'm a Cowboy. :(

Also, there's this pretty annoying synth thing going on in every song. Like, it sounds the same on every song. Not sure what synth he's using, but you'll know it when you hear it.

On the plus side, this thread title inspired me to listen to 21st Century Man for the first time in ages, and it's way better than I remembered!

Doing the same thing.

You're right.

"Petter Hammil" rocks.

The preset programmed drums on the new album are just lazy and terrible sounding. Anyone could have have done a better job making all of them sound better in an hour or so

https://twitter.com/lukehaines_news/status/785563009888518145

Maybe I should Tweet him about his shitty preset programmed drums. Setting him off looks fun.

I'm torn because I do believe the above but found that exchange hilarious and Drowned In Sound is just a bunch of ex-ITV Teletext spazmos who love Comfort In Sound by Feeder

The album could do with some better drum programming though

great Haines bootleg from the 21 C Man tour http://www.mediafire.com/file/x3bq2d0x9waxbm0/Luke_Haines_-_2009-10-05_-_The_Captain%27s_Rest%2C_Glasgow.zip

I still have a lot of time for The Oliver Twist Manifesto: add some of the best bits from the contemporaneous Christi Malry soundtrack and it would be a killer.

I have to admit the line "They're having sex to the 'Kids in America" is a classic.

Baader Meinhof really is an incredible album, isn't it? Think its his crowning achievement, personally, more so than the Auteurs album. Experimental, yet extremely accessible; killer riffs, interesting percussion and string arrangements, and a unifying theme that doesn't over-extend itself. I love it every time I listen to it, and it sounds as fresh today as it did when it came out.

yes. yes yes yes.

^^^^^^^

Yes so good.

Has anyone heard this one yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usxwY6jfi9Y

Can't seem to find it anywhere.

Wasn't that a freebie on the cover of 'Electronic Sound' magazine? Don't think it's getting a proper release.

Yes. Haven't managed to find the freebie available for purchase *used* or download anywhere. I mean based on that song I probably don't need to hear it, but I'm always curious.

New album is a 'concept album' about horny miniatures that sniff glue or something.

It kind of sounds like the animals album.

Not a patch on an Auteurs, BBR or the Baader Meinhof album, unfortunately.

I'm afraid the man's lost it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEqRi5AFimI

I have this sense of him just laying down his famous whisper vocals for 12 or 13 tracks without any backing and then just writing a bunch of generic music when he wants to throw out a new album. The new songs never have any personality.

This is probably the worst album he’s put his name to. Listening to it is an excruciating experience for me. Seems most music journalists still seem to give him the benefit of the doubt and rate his new ones well, but I promise you this is one truly hideous album.

Gave it a quick listen. Same old really. Doesn't strike me as any worse than the usual fare. I definitely preferred it when he was less prolific but there were albums of the standard of Off My Rocker and 21st Century Man to look forward to.

It sounds like a watered down version of Rock and Roll animals, but sickeningly cynical and vulgar, with little thought for actual songwriting. I miss the Luke that wrote an album of songs rather than a single concept buoyed by featureless music.

He said in an interview when Smash The System came out something about his approach to songwriting these days where he said he kind of dials it in, with it being his job. Tried to find it there for the exact words, but couldn't get it on google.

This is probably the worst album he’s put his name to.

Hoped this was hyperbole ... sadly not :(

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I tend to blow with the wind with musicians I like, which isn't to my credit, but I really couldn't force myself to care enough to finish this album after two tries. It's only 29 minutes long, too! I think it's the most tedious thing he's done if you don't count British Nuclear Bunkers, which isn't really comparable.

Anyone heard the electronic album he did that was given away with that magazine? Worth hearing at all?

I still stand by my opinion Baader Meinhof is one of the greatest albums of the '90s (as are the first two Auteurs LPs).

This is the only track from 'Freqs' I've heard/found anywhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usxwY6jfi9Y

An album of that would not be my cup of tea.

Did anyone see what led Luke to delete his twitter? Apparently he got into a flame war with some writer named Mark Beaumont. Everything Luke said is deleted and I’m trying to piece it together.

Seems Beaumont had a major axe to grind and wrote a terrible review of a BBR box set that was just an attack on Luke. Haines tries to one-up him and posts even nastier shit.

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=67140.0

It’s all here.

That review isn't really a personal attack on Haines though, it mostly criticizes the music.

“Being Luke Haines sucks” is quite an opener.

I don’t feel any sympathy for Luke, mind you. His Twitter feed is one of the saddest around these days.

It’s a poor review and a lot of it is spent attacking Luke’s success. If you want to give a fair three star review, start with Luke’s latest solo dud. BBR didn’t deserve a hatchet job.

http://i64.tinypic.com/b8of0z.jpg
http://i65.tinypic.com/16c2jkm.png

Beaumont wouldn’t have written such a vitriolic review if he wasn’t so moneumentally butthurt over Haines’ anti-NME remarks in the pub wake of its closure

He's a pretty easy target, though. Dude has reacted similarly to other negative reviews. I don't think he should be as opinionated as he is if he can't handle a little heat in his direction. That Beaumont review is complete shit (BBR were a great act, and the review is full of ad hominem bs including remarks about album sales), but I could Luke writing something equally as petty and vindictive. His Twitter had also devolved into a suffocatingly negative and sad little outpost on the internet. If something's acclaimed or popular, Luke hates it and he's here to tell you why!

I agree with every single word of that Mark Beaumont review.

excuse me, i’m just savouring the idea of ‘attacking luke’s success’

Would 'limited success' have sufficed?

Yeah, what success? As far as I'm concerned, he was more famous for going ballistic at artists that had (and deserved) more success than him, music journalists and sometimes members of his own band. It certainly had dick-all to do with his music, which sold to next to nobody even when his career was at its peak. Beaumont is right - those that have enabled Haines to have a career in music have given him far more time and opportunities that deserves, the guy is known for having a bit of an attitude problem, and it's 2018 and no fucker is going to buy this box set.

*that=than he.

I don't see what any of that has to do with the music Black Box Recorder made.

I was responding to your idea that the review was an "attack" on "Luke's success" - of course Beaumont also wrote about the music, and he was also OTM about that - in fact "bloodless Bontempi Tindersticks" couldn't be more accurate.

Haines was about the only thing I like about Twitter. I always felt there was something a bit pantomime about his ultra-elitist schtick, and yet it gets taken ultra-seriously.

I take it at face value, as someone Luke blocked for making a rather innocuous comment. He seems terribly thin skinned.

https://bigtakeover.com/news/SongPremiereJackParsonsbyLukeHainesPeterBuck

Musical luminaries Luke Haines and Peter Buck have joined up on a new album titled Beat Poetry For Suvivalists that will arrive on March 6th of next year via Ominivore Recordings.

That’s right – You read it here first – Quite an unlikely, but very welcome, pairing between Haines (who is also a visual artist), the acerbic mastermind and guitarist behind the UK’s pre-Brit-pop indie pop-rock band The Auteurs, and Buck, the guitarist extraordinaire of US indie (and, then, well, not-so-indie) band R.E.M..

In an interesting turn of events that led to the formation of this collaboration, one day Buck bought one of Haines’ paintings of Lou Reed. They had never met before, but decided that the fates had brought them together and they should write some songs together and make an album.

Beat Poetry For Survivalists is that album. It features songs about legendary rocket scientist and occultist Jack Parsons (The Enfield Hauntings, 1978), a post-apocalyptic radio station that only plays Donovan records, Bigfoot, and Pol Pot.

The Big Takeover is delighted to host the exclusive premiere of said “Jack Parsons,” a quirky and shambling track that runs on trippy psych-guitar squelch and chime and a plethora of sounds that flit in and out of the song.

“Jack Parsons” (the song, not the man) is filled with clacking to frittering percussion, twisty space noises, harmonica reverb, and found sound clips – and of course dashingly delivered stream-of-consciousness lyrics that are just as diverse and divertingly dented as the sound. One wonders what to think of the celebrated Parsons now after listening to this striking odd-pop track…

Not that bad, surprisingly.

Cautiously optimistic about this new thing.

Here's an interview with Luke & Peter Buck:

http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article/9531/Luke-Haines-and-Peter-Buck-Interview

REM were unbelievably dull, so I am not optimistic

He hasn't made a great album in a while, but the reviews for the new one sound encouraging. On the other hand, they all seem to follow a similar template through the years: "THE DEVIOUS MADMAN OF BRITPOP BOMBTHROWER IS HERE TO DETONATE ANOTHER BOMB ON THE INDUSTRY!" or some such, with some references to a twisted lyric or two.

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/348568-luke-haines-setting-the-dogs-on-the-post-punk-postman.php

In any case, I like the album cover and the name quite a bit. It's funny.

https://cdn2.albumoftheyear.org/500x/album/348568-setting-the-dogs-on-the-post-punk-postman.jpg

*giggle*

Ooh, thanks for the heads up! Despite being an American who missed some of his more obscure (to me, anyway) references, I used to be a huge Haines fan—dug the solo albums, shelled out for all the Auteurs LPs on vinyl. I lost interest with the wrestling LP, though; his m.o. seemed like diminishing returns, and while this usually don’t affect my opinion of an artist’s work, I came across his Twitter and he seemed dickish in a very petty way, rather than “amusing misanthrope” à la his book. I’ll probably give this a spin for nostalgia’s sake, though, as I pulled out Baader-Meinhoff recently and still loved.