Richard Dawson (raucous experimental UK folk racket w/ intense picaresque realness vox)

lol I doubt either of his first two albums will place.

if dicky dawson doesn't double-up come the 10's poll then i'm banning everyone

Hah. It's been a long weekend...

(Agree The Vile Stuff is damn well perfect.)

Worth a read:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/oct/26/richard-dawson-king-of-uneasy-listening-2020-album-interview

Reveals he has begun work on the next album

ty for that! don't remotely agree with the guardian framing this as his breakout masterpiece though

Yeah, for me that was Peasant, which must have significantly widened his audience. But 2020 seems to be getting even more mainstream attention.

while NI is probably my favourite album of the decade, i can fully buy Peasant as his breakout moment yeah. mainstream is always slow to pick up on these things but RYM and the wider nerd community got on board at Peasant

imo peasant sounds way more accessible than the nu one

Crazy talk. The new one is may more accessible on several levels (not leats that's it's way easier to identify with totally relatable stories about people who live now versus people who lived 1400 years ago, never mind tunes and arrangements), and is totally the breakout record. Peasant is the one that hinted a breakout was possible, but it didn't go over the parapet.

Yeah, lots of people (my boss included) seem to be very familiar with Jogging. It's been getting a lot of Radio 6 airplay whereas I think Peasant was really a cult thing

i meant purely the arrangements and how it sounds, the ugliness of how jogging sounds compared to a song like weaver. not denying the the hooks and lyrics are more accessible.

working from a base of what wld my mum prefer so good chance i am talking nonsense

Shades of how my other Favourite Current Artist, Weyes Blood, had to release three incredible albums in a row before the powers that be really caught on. (And as with Dawson, the one that pushed her over the edge might not be her best, although in her case it's much more arguable)

Finally got a copy of Nothing Important yesterday, bought direct from Domino after reconciling myself to the fact that it will A: never be cheap online and B: never be in stock in my local HMV again.

So apart from The Vile Stuff it all sounds basically like unlistenable improvised torture to me right now, but HOLY SHIT I've listened to The Vile Stuff about 6 times in a row and WTF

What's it doing?! It's a 16-minute raga about a school trip that somehow finds a level of emotional intensity that is completely unwarranted. It makes Venus In Furs sound like Scouting For Girls. It makes a lyric about Newcastle United wallpaper sound like something occult.

Wow.

It's a brilliant song. The bit about him spacing out and having visions as he stares at his Newcastle United poster is something else

He has a visual disability that brings such visions about

Wait until the title-track clicks...

I must admit that, as much as I enjoy Dawson's music and Nothing Important in particular, there's a dare I say cultural barrier that will never dissolve completely.

Kitchen sink mysticism ftw.

xp Is that barrier not what makes it all the more compelling and appealing? For me it is tbf.

Up to a point. Then again, I'm not much of an anglophile – anglo-agnostic is probably a better descriptor.

omg

https://thequietus.com/articles/17205-richard-dawson-interview-2

"Dawson hides his intent in plain sight, threading his lyrics with plenty of clues. The assailant outside the chip shop (Thadeus); the lad who cracks his head open (Peter); the pupil who “fills a Reebok Pump with the pulp from his belly” (Simon) and the object of his affections (Bartholomew); the lad who gobs at the narrator (Matthew); his neighbour who “lost two fingers to a Staffie-cross” (Andrew) who works at a no win no fee solicitors (James and James) and even the brand of screwdriver he injures himself with (Philip) are all the names of Christ’s apostles. (He hides his intent elsewhere as well. The two instrumental tracks on the album are called ‘Doubting Thomas’ and ‘Judas Iscariot’.)"

xp Aren't we all in a way? :) (I hear you though)

xp [eric wareheim exploding head gif]

Most of it just reminds me of Half Man Half Biscuit.

the other great uk folk-rock act of our time, but there's a distinct spirit

The potato line in Shapeshifter is bugging me. They weren't introduced to the UK until 1586 or whenever, so how is one in this song. I have tried googling "Richard Dawson potato" to no avail of an explanation from the author.

he did explain it somewhere - elements from all time periods are included by design. 'prostitute' has a prominent synth part!

Poet(ato)ic licence.

Shapeshifters have also yet to be introduced to the UK

That's what you think.

They've been on the throne since the turn of the 18th century surely?

One's prime minister right now.

giving his 2005 debut album a listen for the first time. found it in a charity shop for 50p a couple of years back and hadn't ever got round to playing it before. it's not especially good tbh, mildly eccentric in places but nowhere near as daring as what was to come. probably one for the sale pile i think.

Part of me would love to hear it. But I know he's disowned it, so the other half of me wants to respect that.

happy to share wavs or whatever if anyone is desperate

God I thought I was on the politics thread for a bit and we were talking about Boris Johnson. I need sleep

saw him at the moth club earlier in the week. all the live versions very much more potent than anything on record. (i like the records but this was something else).

the song the almsgiver, which i hadn’t heard before, was where the gig really built into something wonderful for me.

god you get some pricks at gigs tho. chuckling away at his righteous anger or expressions of sentiment and pathos.

anyway it was excellent and made me want to go and see him again as soon as possible

I'd love to see him again live. Such an amazing performer and an all-round great, compassionate, funny guy.

This is his next London show I think: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2020/event/richard-dawson-delight-is-right

Yeah he's touring the UK. Fingers crossed he comes to Berlin

2020 is really connecting for me in a way the previous ones never quite did

I bought it and listened to it a few times. I feel a little bit like I'm rewatching a stand up routine sometimes though, as in the novelty of the storytelling wears off after a few listens.

I still think Jogging is absolutely transcendent though

yeah that might end up topping my tracks ballot

I bought it and listened to it a few times. I feel a little bit like I'm rewatching a stand up routine sometimes though, as in the novelty of the storytelling wears off after a few listens.

― YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Monday, 9 December 2019 20:31 

Crazy talk. It's not as good as Peasant but still amazing. One of my top five of the year.

I read the lyric sheet as I listened to it the first time, so in a way that kind of revealed everything in one go. in a way I wish I'd listened to it a few times before doing that. the music is great of course, but sometimes I feel like I'm listening to tone poems, the music arranged around the words, which in itself isn't a problem but at times it feels like I could be reading a book of short stories. and once you know the twist in the tale, the impact is lessened. it's also a fairly depressing album. don't get me wrong, it's very much an amazing album. I just don't find myself willing to replay it very often

He certainly has an odd way of scanning his lyrics, which sometimes leads to crammed sentences.

this is finally clicking hard for me, or at least six of its ten tracks are. if it was just

Civil Servant
The Queen's Head
Two Halves
Jogging
Black Triangle
Fulfillment Centre

then it'd be up there with the others, but there's a slightly scrawny tail on this beast

Black Triangle especially is such a wonderful song and I've only just realised it - although Jogging remains the crown jewel

For me the keepers so far are Jogging, Heart Emoji and maybe Two Halves, Fresher's Ball and Fulfilment Centre.