it takes everything i like about EARS and magnifies it, and then stretches it out.
dang, so good
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 28 September 2017 16:23 (six years ago) link
i'm gonna hold off of any additional listens until the LPs arrive in the mail
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 28 September 2017 16:49 (six years ago) link
this is probably the worst possible way to frame this praise, but the ending stretch of "until i remember" is like the forgotten promise of early 2000s ~folktronica~ gradually emerging from behind the sun, like if planet X was actually real.― Karl Malone, Thursday, September 28, 2017 12:15 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Karl Malone, Thursday, September 28, 2017 12:15 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
i know what you mean, shit like Caribou and Four Tet? struggling to think of other examples but yeah "folktronica" was absolutely a thing & yes it was forgotten
― flappy bird, Thursday, 28 September 2017 17:52 (six years ago) link
oh hey, pretty clever what she's done with the tracklist
― imago, Thursday, 28 September 2017 21:25 (six years ago) link
Tuung is always the band I think of when this label comes up, but I can't remember now how a single one of their songs goes.
― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 28 September 2017 22:27 (six years ago) link
haha oh yeah! i remember them. but yeah can't even remember a song title now
― flappy bird, Friday, 29 September 2017 01:41 (six years ago) link
Can't decide if I should listen to this before the show in a couple weeks or not.
― Uhura Mazda (lukas), Friday, 29 September 2017 03:17 (six years ago) link
> forgotten promise of early 2000s ~folktronica
XP/OT: Really wish Pooka had further pursued some of their sounds from Shift (2001)
― prelude to abjection (Sanpaku), Friday, 29 September 2017 08:37 (six years ago) link
Which was a remix album by Brian Duffy? See also "Ovum", which is probably a better precursor to KAS, only with FM rather than analog synths.
― prelude to abjection (Sanpaku), Friday, 29 September 2017 08:44 (six years ago) link
My favorite syntho weirdos KAS and John Maus dropping albums in the same month? Love it.
― octobeard, Saturday, 30 September 2017 01:12 (six years ago) link
Looking forward to hearing this but damn she went from having an incredible album cover with EARS to having an absolute eyesore of a cover here
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Saturday, 30 September 2017 02:20 (six years ago) link
cover is dope imo, EARS cover was pretty sweet too
― flappy bird, Saturday, 30 September 2017 03:04 (six years ago) link
Mixed feelings listening to this. Which means I'll probably still be listening to it a year from now.
― beard papa, Monday, 2 October 2017 22:58 (six years ago) link
whoa! this record ROCKS
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, 5 October 2017 16:23 (six years ago) link
It's astonishing
― Evan R, Thursday, 5 October 2017 17:04 (six years ago) link
This is even more florid and pastoral than EARS, like bits of it are like being in the main village in Zelda or something, but then she'll suddenly overturn it with an abrupt tonal shift or a rush of clanking noises. There's enough grit in there to prevent it becoming cloying - the difference between this and the new Four Tet in that regard.
― Matt DC, Friday, 6 October 2017 09:25 (six years ago) link
Her Baker's Dozen is pretty mellow:http://thequietus.com/articles/23330-kaitlyn-aurelia-smith-bakers-dozen-favourite-albums-the-kid
― ArchCarrier, Friday, 6 October 2017 10:39 (six years ago) link
She did synths on the new Four Tet.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 6 October 2017 16:40 (six years ago) link
Wow this new record is great. Her vocals kinda remind me of Grimes, especially on "A Kid."
― flappy bird, Friday, 6 October 2017 18:23 (six years ago) link
Is it all Buchla derived still?
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Friday, 6 October 2017 19:05 (six years ago) link
claire hamill in that baker's dozen! hell yeah!
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Friday, 6 October 2017 19:10 (six years ago) link
Claire hamill absolutely rules. Big influence on grimes tko
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Friday, 6 October 2017 19:10 (six years ago) link
I'm pretty sure Buchla is the main synth on all of her stuff, but she throws in other synths as well.
― Moodles, Friday, 6 October 2017 19:32 (six years ago) link
I like that Claire hamill record a lot but I sure as fuck had to unfollow her twitter during the brexit vote
― plp will eat itself (NickB), Friday, 6 October 2017 19:37 (six years ago) link
also i think she ran as a tory councillor in the last council elections so y'know
― plp will eat itself (NickB), Friday, 6 October 2017 20:00 (six years ago) link
some of this KAS album feels like the brightness is turned up way too high but i love some of the less manic stuff - 'an intention' is definitely a favourite atm
― plp will eat itself (NickB), Friday, 6 October 2017 21:35 (six years ago) link
also lol at a track being called 'A Kid'
― plp will eat itself (NickB), Friday, 6 October 2017 21:37 (six years ago) link
why?
― alpine static, Saturday, 7 October 2017 07:27 (six years ago) link
oh i was just amused at the thought of her devising her track titling scheme just so she could make a weak radiohead pun
― plp will eat itself (NickB), Saturday, 7 October 2017 07:35 (six years ago) link
Short profile from Reynolds - https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/10/13/kaitlyn-aurelia-smith-and-the-secret-life-of-synths/
This FACT video is also great, I didn't check if it's been posted yet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95UvPlhjbE4
The ascetic aspects of her practice, including everything before working with modular synths and releasing music, is pretty interesting. I guess it's easy to write it off as some hippie stuff, but actually think that's quite a superficial reaction. Seems to me that there's something deeper going on, there's something to her work that endorses a need to withdraw from the social to practice in order to exercise different capacities, to achieve a certain kind of mastery.
I dunno, I'm increasingly interested in these acts of withdrawal and imposing limits after years of internet and social media binging, and now culminating in the perpetual outrage of the alt-right and Trumpocalypse era...
― MikoMcha, Tuesday, 24 October 2017 08:46 (six years ago) link
Great video. What a view to work from!
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 24 October 2017 16:34 (six years ago) link
i thought that was a fantastic video. she presents her process in a way that is remarkably straightforward, compared to most musicians, even though what she's doing is insanely abstract on certain levels. i really admire that. she is so cool! i really liked the part about halfway through where she was talking about learning to operate and listen to the oscillators for the first time. i was also pleased that she seems to gel with my high school stoner observation that music biz legends beethoven/mozart/et al would likely be electronic musicians today. unless you're in the very unusual position of having the money and prestige to write compositions for orchestras, it is much more practical to DIY that shit with a synthesizer and get access to over 512 other sounds along the way
― Currently (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 24 October 2017 16:59 (six years ago) link
it's cheaper to rent an orchestra and orchestra hall than it is to build a buchla synthesizer set-up!
― dan selzer, Tuesday, 24 October 2017 20:09 (six years ago) link
haha, true with the buchla i guess (she acknowledges that it's super expensive somewhere in the video i think)! but in general it's pretty easy to create a permanent setup that lets you create pretty much any kind of noise for very little $
― Currently (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 24 October 2017 20:24 (six years ago) link
But again, I think it's the process of isolating herself for self-practice that's also interesting - the long process of training and experimentation. Obviously she's some kind of master now, but that came through an effort of cutting herself off from stuff, or striving towards another world rather than what's given...
― MikoMcha, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 22:37 (six years ago) link
You could say that about any number of artists obv. Not sure why I'm reflecting on it so much with her work. Very inspiring anyway.
― MikoMcha, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 22:39 (six years ago) link
Part of it may be that she seems more open about detailing her process than many electronic musicians.
― Moodles, Wednesday, 25 October 2017 22:56 (six years ago) link
more detailed than many artists, period. there's a lot to be said about maintaining a sense of mystery but i love it when someone finds it natural to talk about in a straightforward way (even if what the creative process they're trying to describe is not straightforward at all)
― Currently (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 25 October 2017 23:01 (six years ago) link
New one doesn't have the hooks the last one did, but the last four tracks ... damn. Combining that deep meditative ish with that lightness.
― Uhura Mazda (lukas), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 18:41 (six years ago) link
eh imo the hooks are way stronger this time around
i love this album
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Tuesday, 7 November 2017 18:46 (six years ago) link
I really like this, but EARS was a bit stronger. My main complaint is that I could stand slightly less singing and more synth noodling. There are several tracks where her vocals work really well, but using the same harmonizer effect over and over gets a little tiresome.
― Moodles, Tuesday, 7 November 2017 18:57 (six years ago) link
Looking forward to seeing her perform in London tonight, stoked.
― MikoMcha, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 16:54 (six years ago) link
Her sound is wearing off on me. It felt so incredible and new on Euclid; then there were moments on EARS that I really relished. Now it's starting to feel like a cartoon. I am ready for her to take a hard left turn into something different.
― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Tuesday, 21 November 2017 20:58 (six years ago) link
i am co-producing her next album, it is a modular synthesis tribute to tom jones
― Men's Scarehouse - "You're gonna like the way you're shook." (m bison), Tuesday, 21 November 2017 21:02 (six years ago) link
.... jesus christ y'all
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Tuesday, 21 November 2017 21:02 (six years ago) link
that is on her christmas album
― Men's Scarehouse - "You're gonna like the way you're shook." (m bison), Tuesday, 21 November 2017 21:03 (six years ago) link
Agree with Pgwp: the textures and rhythms on this album sound amazing, but her singing gets tiring after a while, especially since is using the same filter that was on her previous two albums too, but even more. I still like Waves more than the next three albums because that vocal sound is too much, but I wish she'd make an instrumental synth album again, with the same craft and imagination she's managed to put into this one.
― Tuomas, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 21:19 (six years ago) link
Agree with Pgwp and Moodles, I mean.
I like the vocals
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, 21 November 2017 22:08 (six years ago) link
tuomas hates vocals shocker
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Tuesday, 21 November 2017 22:29 (six years ago) link