Plaid - C/D S/D

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.

dud

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

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.

Maru is so fucking good, best thing I've heard from them in years.

New one is simply one of their best albums. It isn’t just good or great. They really delivered.

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!

Nah, they need to retire and just repress their classics. Having guest vocalists is the strongest “jumping the shark” indicator for electronic producers.

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.

Like the last song, Praze, I'm sure I've heard this tune at least three times before on previous albums

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.

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.

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

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.

Opening track has a bit of an MBV vibe to it

Maru reminds me of LP5-era Autechre in a nice way

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

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0007582

60 minute mix for freak zone

I need to spend more time with it but Polymer may well be my favourite Plaid album, period.

…when I'm listening to it, at least.

Resident Advisor on Dancers and Nurula: "the melodies are unconvincing, the arrangements toothless"

Nurula is only good, but Dancers?????

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

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.

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

The Orbital remix of Maru is so damn good, I've been playing it every day

The Skee Mask remix of Maru is sick as well

has anybody been to recent shows? seeing them in seattle and wonder what to expect.

a new release, a collection of 28 recent remixes by Plaid: https://touched.bandcamp.com/album/stem-sell
limited 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)

this comp is awesome and anyone who likes post-BD Plaid should jump on it

listening to "After The Movie" and feeling high as anything

double figure turns 20 today

Gross

what exactly?

God I loved that album so much.

I was 14 when that one came out and I loved it. No real interest to revisit it, I tried a couple years ago and the nostalgia factor was what kept me listening... it didn’t age too well.

Looking at the tracklist I think this could’ve been more of a classic if you trim it to 10 tracks. It’s also frontoaded, the opening two tracks might be the best ones.

I have an old mp3 which is certainly Plaid, entitled "Knives Drawer", maybe got it off gabba/amp. The internet seems to know nothing about it, anyone have an idea?

new album is pretty nice. they have a weird thing going for me, most of their best tracks are on their 1995-2001 albums, but the ones from Scintilli on are the ones I always reach for. they just feel like better listens back to front. They Might be Giants are another band like this. no real surprises on this one, though "Wondergan" and "Nightcrawler" were both neat curveballs. last two tracks probably the best.

Yeah I agree. I preferred Polymer to this one on the whole. No surprises on this one other than maybe Wondergan, but it's not an unpleasant listen. They must have made 'Return to Return' at least three times by now.

I also find it amusing how every Plaid album that comes out these days has some sort of concept draped around it, even though they all just sound like Plaid albums

wasn’t much into the track but the video for “wondergan” is pretty cool