dont have much of plaid, just spokes.i need to get more.ordered the 2 new black dog albums this week.one is ambient, the other is beats.really looking forward to hearing them.
― mark e, Friday, 13 April 2018 10:17 (five years ago) link
Spokes is where their sound started to consolidate a bit. It's a fun album but I'd say their peak was on Restproof Clockwork and parts of Double Figure.
― loud horn beeping jazzsplaining arse (dog latin), Friday, 13 April 2018 10:32 (five years ago) link
yea Spokes strikes me as the "if you can only get one Plaid album, don't get this one" album
have to say I dig the new Plaid albums quite a bit. I get what DL is saying but I don't really mind a 'retread' of a style which no one else is really able to replicate. plus the new albums are short. which I think is a good thing. even their classic 90s stuff has chunks of filler on it.
― frogbs, Friday, 13 April 2018 12:44 (five years ago) link
definitely filler. the earlier Black Dog and Plaid albums all had short interludes (but they were good interludes). Restproof Clockwork is the all-killer front-to-back best album, but the first four songs on Double Figure beat pretty much everything on it before the album dwindles into some slightly thin, noodly nonsense
― brand new universal harvester (dog latin), Friday, 13 April 2018 13:30 (five years ago) link
Dog Latin otm - spokes is the least essential plaid release and a fitting name - sounds like they’re treading in the mud.
The last two are underrated tho (particularly the latest). Very few electronic artists have as divine melodies as plaid or as much commitment to making abstract ideas tangible.
P brane EP remains essential as well
― after party for the apocalypse (Ross), Friday, 13 April 2018 14:50 (five years ago) link
Reachy Prints has Wallet and Matin Lunaire
I saw them play Wallet in a forest in California once. it was good.
― Uhura Mazda (lukas), Thursday, 17 May 2018 23:30 (five years ago) link
Wallet is so good
― Incline/decline (Ross), Friday, 18 May 2018 18:38 (five years ago) link
omg I just had a big epiphany regarding the title Not For Threes... It's a reference to their split from Black Dog, when they were "three". The subsequent release then was "For Twos"
― octobeard, Monday, 21 May 2018 20:40 (five years ago) link
Would be great to do a Plaid poll, although it would throw into question whether to include Black Dog stuff too.
You should do this! It'd be the excuse I'd need to listen to their post-Spokes output.
― Regreta Garbo (Leee), Monday, 21 May 2018 20:55 (five years ago) link
Yes please do. Plaid are underrated these days
― Music is confidence (Ross), Monday, 21 May 2018 23:15 (five years ago) link
I wish Plaid would do more vocal collabs. One of the rare mostly-instrumental electronic acts who are actually good at playing to their collaborators' strengths. Might invigorate their sound a bit more too.
― Scritti Vanilli - The Word Girl You Know It's True (dog latin), Friday, 16 November 2018 11:35 (five years ago) link
yeah I still have no idea what to make of their 3 recent albums. they are very pleasant and actually a bit more consistent than their 'classic' stuff but they also feel like they were written by AI
― frogbs, Friday, 16 November 2018 15:07 (five years ago) link
totally. that's the best summarisation I've heard of their recent stuff. it's not bad, it just doesn't fill me with the same sense of joy or fun as before.
― Scritti Vanilli - The Word Girl You Know It's True (dog latin), Friday, 16 November 2018 15:12 (five years ago) link
i still think scintilli is great, the more recent 2 are just okay
― ciderpress, Friday, 16 November 2018 15:49 (five years ago) link
Scintilli sounds like a greatest hits rather than a new album - it's a great listen but a bit disappointing as their first proper studio album for several years after Spokes. Reachy Prints is too slight but has Hawkmoth. Digging Remedy has a bit more meat on it but there's nothing truly memorable on it - I just like it chiming away in the background
― Scritti Vanilli - The Word Girl You Know It's True (dog latin), Friday, 16 November 2018 15:51 (five years ago) link
Ya'll are mad if Wallet and Matin Lunaire do nothing for you
― Uhura Mazda (lukas), Friday, 16 November 2018 16:20 (five years ago) link
wallet is excellent yes
― ciderpress, Friday, 16 November 2018 16:28 (five years ago) link
Matin Lunaire and Hawkmoth I'm a big fan of. Need to relisten to Wallet
― Scritti Vanilli - The Word Girl You Know It's True (dog latin), Friday, 16 November 2018 16:38 (five years ago) link
idk the best part of the new Plaid stuff is listening to how the background elements interact with the foreground. they really do a great job of with whole "sync up every 4 measures" thing
― frogbs, Tuesday, 20 November 2018 20:06 (five years ago) link
a couple of new tracks today
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBpVycuV7xM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYXiESVnERY
a bit harsher and more abrasive than the stuff they've been doing lately. second half of "Maru" is wonderful. "Recall" almost sounds like they're going for a Gantz Graf-type sound.
― frogbs, Thursday, 18 April 2019 15:15 (four years ago) link
dud
― the late great, Thursday, 18 April 2019 17:25 (four years ago) link
heres another one. album is due out in a couple days. anyone who's into the band has heard this sort of track many times before, but it's still pretty good. and the visual component is nice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSzH4DMo618
― frogbs, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 14:58 (four years ago) link
I know the guy who did the video, really excited that he got to do that.
I like the track a lot more than I expected to, but also idk, it seems like it would work best as video game music.
― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 16:11 (four years ago) link
Maru is so fucking good, best thing I've heard from them in years.
― Matt DC, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 16:14 (four years ago) link
New one is simply one of their best albums. It isn’t just good or great. They really delivered.
― afriendlypioneer, Saturday, 8 June 2019 16:28 (four years ago) link
Ach... I dunno. It's about as good as the last one. I really don't know what's been going on with this band in recent times. Their music is ambiently enjoyable to me; unobjectionable, but I listen to each new release a total of about 2-3 times and there's rarely more than 3 moments that really stand out beyond the usual Plaid-by-numbers sound. This one's supposed to be a concept album about our relationship to plastic, but it doesn't sound any different to the last one.
I do like it. I am enjoying Crown Shy and The Pale Moth because they seem to include instruments that are a bit different, but the diversity and sheer fun isn't there any more. Get some guest singers in please!
― frame casual (dog latin), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 14:00 (four years ago) link
Nah, they need to retire and just repress their classics. Having guest vocalists is the strongest “jumping the shark” indicator for electronic producers.
― brotherlovesdub, Tuesday, 11 June 2019 14:10 (four years ago) link
Yes but it used to work lovely when they got Mara Carlyle or Bjork to do the odd bit. Gave the albums a nice bit of anchoring. Plus they were good at it. I dunno, they just need to do something new or at least a bit different.
― frame casual (dog latin), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 14:15 (four years ago) link
Like the last song, Praze, I'm sure I've heard this tune at least three times before on previous albums
― frame casual (dog latin), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 14:18 (four years ago) link
you're definitely right about that, there are a few moments on each new one where I wonder "haven't they used this exact chord progression before?", which does their music a big disservice, since their stuff is still intriguing & hits a pretty unique zone. I think of their new music as being the aural equivalent of the 'spinning dancer' optical illusion, the beats & melodies kinda shift & invert themselves based on how you listen to them. only Autechre comes to mind as a group that does something similar. at the same time these new albums add pretty much nothing to their legacy. but I haven't heard the new one yet.
― frogbs, Tuesday, 11 June 2019 14:24 (four years ago) link
Plaid are like certain IDM acts such as µ-Ziq and Squarepusher (and even Boards of Canada to an extent) where there's some pretty obvious melodic motifs that have now become stylistic identifiers. I've always felt they've lacked the textural or timbrel uniqueness that goes along with it for those other artists, which is why they often get the "video game soundtrack music" label and sound a bit more generic.
This album seems to offer up some new sounds and more acoustic instrumentation but also couples this with their tightest, most focused arrangements in years. Very little noodling here, and more than a few unique song and sound ideas. Really stoked with this new one and feel it's their best since Spokes, and I've dutifully been following them the entire time. Definitely something special here.
― octobeard, Tuesday, 11 June 2019 14:52 (four years ago) link
When Scintilli came out, I wrote a fairly long and boring review in the Quietus comparing them to Autechre and how each band's trajectory has followed parallel but entirely different timelines.
BTW, feeling that they do have an album of remarkable work in them, I started making a playlist of Plaid's best stuff from the last ten years. I can't say I've listened to the later albums enough to really be able to discern what the true highlights are though. Any glaring omissions, or tracks I should simply leave off? I'd rather make it under 70 minutes (i.e. album length) if possible https://open.spotify.com/user/1153731601/playlist/2PSCZXrZuV22bRyTahthcX?si=8kGcDLf9TYy_DDW2vOPQgA
― frame casual (dog latin), Tuesday, 11 June 2019 14:56 (four years ago) link
So I dug this out again this morning and it sounds really good in the car. I might have been quick to judge too harshly. It's not a million miles away from what's gone before but it's certainly a software upgrade.
― frame casual (dog latin), Wednesday, 12 June 2019 14:26 (four years ago) link
Opening track has a bit of an MBV vibe to it
― frame casual (dog latin), Wednesday, 12 June 2019 14:28 (four years ago) link
Maru reminds me of LP5-era Autechre in a nice way
― frame casual (dog latin), Wednesday, 12 June 2019 14:52 (four years ago) link
Loving this discussion and it's been a while since I've been on a Plaid kick so I went back and listened to a couple anthologies, Parts in the Post and Trainer. The former, the remix collection, is a goddamn classic. So many bangers and memorable bits and a ton of variety. For those stumbling into this band fresh, it's a fantastic starting point. Trainer was great too, and has a nice rawness to it that's missing from anything newer. Forgot how good these guys were for the better part of a damn decade. Nit picking the last 10 years feels like playing with house money. These dudes have been around
― octobeard, Wednesday, 12 June 2019 17:17 (four years ago) link
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0007582
60 minute mix for freak zone
― koogs, Tuesday, 30 July 2019 10:09 (four years ago) link
I need to spend more time with it but Polymer may well be my favourite Plaid album, period.
― pomenitul, Sunday, 4 August 2019 10:25 (four years ago) link
…when I'm listening to it, at least.
― pomenitul, Sunday, 4 August 2019 10:42 (four years ago) link
Resident Advisor on Dancers and Nurula: "the melodies are unconvincing, the arrangements toothless"
Nurula is only good, but Dancers?????
― but everybody calls me, (lukas), Wednesday, 21 August 2019 20:40 (four years ago) link
well, i came round to this album in the end and that's the opinion i had at first. it's far from toothless - I prefer Nurula to Dancers I think. The best song is Crown Shy
― frame casual (dog latin), Wednesday, 21 August 2019 21:09 (four years ago) link
I think it's a great album, but I've realized my taste is far from fashionable. I don't keep up with electronic trends. Thought it'd resonate a bit more than it did.
― afriendlypioneer, Wednesday, 21 August 2019 21:13 (four years ago) link
resonate with the wider public/critical sphere you mean? I guess they're a band who've large been seen to have been spinning their wheels for te best part of 15 years, spinning out variations on a sound that was perfected c2001 and not doing much outside of it. Polymers is far from daring, but they've really nailed it on this album. It's not going to win many new fans but it definitely helped me appreciate them again. By far their best since Double Figure
― frame casual (dog latin), Wednesday, 21 August 2019 21:23 (four years ago) link
The Orbital remix of Maru is so damn good, I've been playing it every day
― frogbs, Tuesday, 3 September 2019 13:59 (four years ago) link
The Skee Mask remix of Maru is sick as well
― octobeard, Wednesday, 4 September 2019 00:26 (four years ago) link
has anybody been to recent shows? seeing them in seattle and wonder what to expect.
― scanner darkly, Saturday, 30 November 2019 19:46 (four years ago) link
a new release, a collection of 28 recent remixes by Plaid: https://touched.bandcamp.com/album/stem-selllimited vinyl/2CD with proceeds going to cancer charity
seems more uniform Plaid sound compared to Parts In the Post,sounds almost like Plaid album proper (and better than Polymer at that)
(the seattle show was amazing, to answer my own question, and a great last show to see before the pandemic)
― scanner darkly, Wednesday, 3 February 2021 22:42 (three years ago) link
this comp is awesome and anyone who likes post-BD Plaid should jump on it
― lukas, Monday, 15 February 2021 21:45 (three years ago) link
listening to "After The Movie" and feeling high as anything
― lukas, Monday, 15 February 2021 22:14 (three years ago) link
double figure turns 20 today
― scanner darkly, Friday, 28 May 2021 17:42 (two years ago) link