Cate Le Bon - classic or dud

Playing a free show in LA tomorrow at the Getty

Posting here because she seems very Cate-adjacent to me, really loving the tracks released thus far from Dana Gavanski's album Yesterday is Gone coming March, 27th:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF_YXk6CO1E

(just posting the audio, the official video doesn't work for me (offbeat violent))

This song also has some Weyes Blood in the vocal.

She has a new EP out with Group Listening, some different versions of songs from Reward. it's good

mainly into the redo of "Magnificent Gestures", which was already one of my favorite tracks off of one of the best albums of last year. And an especially wicked track when she performed it live, hammering the riff for an extra couple minutes at the end

CLB's EPs are fascinating prisms of the albums proceeding. That she leaves material as strong as "The Eiggy Sea" and "Aside from Growing Old" off the main records in favor of more awkward and discordant stuff is fascinating. She's also had the Myths 004 EP with Bradford Cox in the last year, which does the tangled mucking of Drinks with better results. "What Is She Wearing" is a fine piece of Mark E Smith caustic laughs.

cate le bon has hit me right upside the head, out of nowhere.

her music is REALLY good! this has been a stroke of good fortune in 2020, and i am thankful

i just so happened to listen to "daylight matters" directly after listening to john cale's vintage violence, and there's a connection between the two.

Yes, for all the Nico comparisons in her early work, she's always reminded me far more of Cale, particularly her melodic ideas.

she rules, saw the Reward tour, great show

yes she is a great songwriter - same thing happened to me with the sudden headlong rush of realisation that she is incredible except it was the previous album thats sent me into into the spiral of obsession and backward through her catalog - the latest one only came across to me as 'good' - I guess I like her when she is more eccentric and lets her wilder and more spiky tendencies hang out alongside her beautiful melodies - reward seemed too restrained for me but I still love her all the same

She's great live. Rocks the hell outta the guitar. Blew my ear drums on the Mug Museum tour.

he latest one only came across to me as 'good' - I guess I like her when she is more eccentric and lets her wilder and more spiky tendencies hang out alongside her beautiful melodies - reward seemed too restrained for me but I still love her all the same

i wouldn't be surprised if i agree, in a few weeks! i've cycled back to the very beginning, working my way forward now

xp thought the same about hearing early cale in her music too recently

Over time I have gone off her a bit. I finally saw her live a couple of times and she is great there but I find her a bit patchy on record.

Same. Interest hit a high with Mug Museum and I loved that tour, but Crab Day and the newer one feel like she hit a wall.

I guess it's where you come in (also in the sense that you often jump on when the band takes a direction that catches your fancy)

I started with Reward and am much more into that than Mug Museum

this reminds me of le Bon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR7YaLr-J9E

I think Cyrk, Mug Museum, and Crab Day are all excellent - Mug Museum being the peak. Reward has its moments but does feel like a step down. It doesn't feel as off-center as the others. Also her work as part of Drinks is hit and miss too, so Crab Day is starting to feel a little further back in the rearview mirror. Still look forward to whatever she does next.

I love Me Oh My, thought Cyrk had its moments but also got a bit too guitar wanky, liked Crab Day a lot, and didn't really get anywhere with Reward. I think it might be relevant that I bought Crab Day after seeing her live - maybe if I had seen her touring Reward or Cyrk I would have loved those too.

Cyrk/Cyrk II have settled in as my favorites of hers, and maybe my favorite record of the 2010s. Each of the first three albums hit me right away. The Pere Ubuisms of Crab Day and the keyboard constructions of Reward put me off at first, but they grew. I think "Meet the Man" might be her greatest song yet, even.

I would assume this artist Accü is seriously influenced by her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONk8ZztrEyk

Dana Gavanski too, I’d guess

https://youtu.be/MPEgjKLh8bM

My taste in Cate is roughly the opposite of DV’s, I like her best at her most melodic and (maybe) stately. Reward’s probably my favourite; saw the London and Berlin Reward shows and the latter was amazingly good.

A live concert film (to nobody) of Cate Le Bon performing the album Reward, that I directed, with a lot of help for @FOVCardiff is now streaming on YouTube - heavily recommended songs - free to watch https://t.co/xaX5Mre8qL 📷@H_HAWKLINE pic.twitter.com/mDzEzPJCzd

— Gruff Rhys (@gruffingtonpost) March 24, 2021

oh hell yeah

cate le bon has hit me right upside the head, out of nowhere.

her music is REALLY good! this has been a stroke of good fortune in 2020, and i am thankful

― Karl Malone, Thursday, September 3, 2020 1:57 AM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

this just happened to me.

I'm old and never know what to listen to, it's so frustrating. But what a day.

which one are you listening to? i have been sitting in silence for about a week straight. i should probably listen to some tunes

lol, i ALWAYS FORGET she's the "are you with me now?" band.

I'm listening to Spotify random mix! Still listening! Still good!

it started with "Are You With Me Now" which is a stunner and which I have heard before but didn't know the artist

While Cyrk and Cyrk II remain my favorites, "Meet the Man" may be her greatest song yet. Hymn, existential lament, love ballad, warm and cold and odd and a comfort all at once.

was hoping this revive was for a desperately needed new record. she is amazing.

I never really connected with her last solo album, but Cyrk, Mug Museum, and Crab Day are all awesome. Mug Museum probably my favorite of the bunch.

And apparently I already said this a few posts up in this thread, almost exactly a year ago.

i keep going back to Crab Day and can't get into it! i don't know why. i think it's because, following Mug Museum it seems more like a transition to the sound of Reward.

Reward is really, really good imo.

Daylight Matters --> Home to You is an incredible sequence. i am influenced by my experience of it. i pulled a Bon Iver in the woods after my dad died and got a cabin for a few weeks. i held onto some shrooms until about halfway through, and then i BLASTED Reward in the woods on repeat. there was a very special 20 minutes or so where it was all at the perfect levels, and "Daylight Matters" came on again. "Love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, but you're not here. Love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, but you've gone", and it hit me so hard. i started dancing in slow motion on the little wooden chip path in front of the cabin in my bare feet. it was still wet from the rain the night before. i started to add my own words, changed from her version during the bridge, but just saying "and if we're going to meet again, i hope you'll be my friend. this time." and it was about my dad but also about my friends and everyone i've hurt and that has hurt me. it was incredibly powerful. Reward is worth some more listens, it's not superficial, the whole album is very good

Crab Day is the weakest but still knows how to lay on the charm. Too many chattering marimbas is the shortcoming for me.

is that true? that's good to know! i need to go back to the earliest stuff too, that's a total blind spot for me right now.

i have to say, i didn't like the collab with Bradford Cox, and that was surprising because i really like his music

the only one i liked was the closer, "what is she wearing", which doesn't even start to get good until 3 minutes in iirc

this is so otm, re: the second Drinks album:

Just sounds like bored people making boring music.

hard to think of a more lifeless record by two rad geniuses

Crab Day is the weakest but still knows how to lay on the charm. Too many chattering marimbas is the shortcoming for me.

I also hoped this revive was for a new record, but I did see the website is back under construction ("in ruins") so hopefully soon?

agree hard out with missing her guitar playing - that vid above is stellar evidence of how good she is when she chooses to get messy / also agree Crab Day is her best record the oblique sharp edges make it much better for me than Reward which was decent but seemed a little too pored over & overstuffed with ideas to the extent it seemed to suck a little of the life & spontenaiety out of her sound - of course the one I like the least was her almost 'crossover' & v popular - anyways bring back that guitar wonk pls Cate!

which is most crossover and popular?

I thought Reward kinda got close - didn't it nominated for a big award in the UK - I noticed a lot more press for it than previously so I assumed it did the best out of all of her records

Crab Day is where she started running out of songs

Reward is where she lost her personality.

I used to really dig her music. Dunno. I'm surprised those two seemed to get more attention than the rest.

I see I made that same post a year ago. Sorry. Bad memory.

was hoping this revive was for a desperately needed new record. she is amazing.

― bulb after bulb, Thursday, October 7, 2021 6:19 PM (four days ago)

Welp, https://catelebon.ffm.to/mmxxii

we did it!

Cyrk and Mug Museum are great. Don’t get Crab Day… Reward is better mainly for the arrangements and some interesting sound palette. It does seem like the songwriting shifts dramatically after Mug Museum.

I like being into the wrong one! I’m like the U2 fan who is only into their 2000s material

very happy news!

It is indeed. CLB always scores a good autumn. The 8 second tease thing sounds pleasingly scary monsters-ish and the chain mail is a strong look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYibZJk7qes