Horse Lords

https://horselords.bandcamp.com/album/mixtape-iv

btw that WFMU set Sund4r links above is really good

anyone have a chance to see them with Roedelius & Wume last weekend? i keep wondering how that show was but i don't know anyone who went.

Wume are sick

I didn't get to go to the show but it turned out not to be Horse Lords because one of them couldn't make it (they refuse to try and play their stuff a man down). The rest of them did a weird electronic set.

xxp

i was at that show. horse lords were doing a kind of different set than i've seen from them before. no drummer, +1 bagpiper. extra drone. bagpiper walked through the audience at one point making for a cool phasing effect.

Wume was solid as per usual.

Roedelius was great. i'd never heard his solo stuff, but it was basically a quiet, subtle, spacey, psych thing that you would expect from a dude from Kluster. he finished with some more straightforward, melodic keyboard pieces that were beautiful. good night out.

ah, ok, that would explain the different set.

xp

bagpiper!! i saw yoshi wada recently and he had a bagpipe and there was a full-regalia trad bagpiper too. i was sitting on the floor and when they walked into the room it was MAGICAL. amazing.

i love roedelius -- was wondering if he played more piano stuff or what. his compositions are so...idk how to put it...clear?

i don't blame them for not playing their horse lords material without a drummer -- it wouldn't sound like them anyway, so why try?

Quietus interview is very good thx Ned

Happy to share it!

the show was sweet, horse lords initially dropped out but I'm glad they threw something together with only 2 days' notice. owen's guitar playing in particular was great. Roedelius' set was mostly laptop/electronics, with a bit of electric piano at the end. he was hilarious, stood up at the end of his set and said "So no one's going to bring me a Schnapps?" Then he took his iPhone out and made everyone give him a standing ovation as he filmed it lol

really digging Mixtape IV right now, looking forward to whatever they do next.

the 1st album and Mixtape #1 are on Bandcamp now

Playing on a bill with Mdou Moctar in DC next week.

oh man, what a bill. wish those two would tour the whole country together.

otm! that sounds amazing.

prolly gonnna go to that

I went. A good show. Alright, some Horse Lords tunes got a little too out there for me, but others I liked. Was seeing Mdou again and he did not disappoint

i have a huge crush on Max Eilbacher

I didn't go, had to work. missed Mdou here again, too. ohwell nexttime

Sorry. Next time. Horse Lords introduced 1 song by saying “you’ve never heard this one before.”

best US band of the decade?

bump

serious question

idk probably? certainly one of the only US rock bands i have had much interest in this decade

i gotta listen a bit more to these guys, something isn't quite clicking with me. but i trust you guys.

― tylerw, Friday, April 29, 2016 3:41 PM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha, this is still kinda how i feel.

who are even still the other bands

I really like them, especially live. Got to see a double bill of Horse Lords and Mdou Moctar and I must say that was a helluva show.

i like their double drummer setup and rhythmic complexity
and this sounds dismissive but i don't mean it that way at all since i am uneducated formally -- they seem very well educated in playing music. when i saw them a while ago, someone remarked that they sounded like they had "gone to school" and that was my exact impression upon seeing them the first time too. no one gets to play drums that precisely and also learn the circular breathing technique for the saxophone just sitting in their basement alone.

https://baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/on-first-solo-outing-saxophonist-andrew-bernstein-breaks-music-down-to-the-fundamentals/

xp so jealous

ll otm, they def have "chops"

Oh yeah they are working with tools and ideas, not "jamming" or rocking out. I think your enjoyment of them probably depends on how wired you are for the set of tools, which I am particularly wired for!

This is not to suggest that they do not rock

seems like they have chosen to express more complicated musical ideas in the idiom of "rock music" because that means more people have the opportunity to understand it/enjoy it bc they are familiar with the sonic vocabulary (tools) of rock music. it could open people's ears and minds to hearing more non-rock music. that's nice.

gotta say though -- seeing them perform >>> listening to their recordings
for me
i like to see + hear what they are doing. i've seen them...3x? i think?

Oh yeah, live is best! Really cool to see the two drummers in action, as well as the other stuff going on of course. Seems that that first statement is right on too based on something or other I have read. Always interested in people using common frameworks (i.e. "rock band") to sneak other things in. Fun way to work.

I dunno I mean I haven't seen them live but I just love all the Mixtapes, and those are definitely not something built for a live translation - I think they excel in both arenas (live & studio)

btw Mixtape IV totally rules if y'all have not heard it yet

must be a mother to remember how to play all their tunes

they don't play them exactly the same every time, they discussed that in some interview. and having a weirdly tuned just intonation guitar probably doesn't hurt

yeah, i would expect as much—but still

saw them live, it was excellent

showed them to a friend via bandcamp

said friend is a drummer nerd who studied percussion in ghana and plays in an almost-famous neo-afrobeat outfit.

he listened to them for like two months straight, exclusively.

i am not “educated”

they are not a rock band to me but i love them

https://horselords.bandcamp.com/album/the-common-task

yesssssss

HELL YES!

just preordered the everloving shit outta this

excellent excellent news

they're one of the many reasons I'm stoked for Long Play in NYC

The promo was in my inbox this afternoon. It’s good.

Hope I get to see them live again soon. It has been too long.

!!

BAGPIPES

seriously! still wrapping my head around this, feels like part of their continuum from the start and very cohesive but also some startlingly cool additions