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

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.

"Dead Dog..." is one of my favorites!

Civil Servant is the only sub par song on this, IMO

nitsuh's thing in the nyt was great - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/11/magazine/best-songs.html#richarddawson

Nabisco otm

I was supposed to be seeing him live in a few weeks. I'll just have to be patient...

omg

he and his partner are attempting to make a mini-album every day

https://bulbils.bandcamp.com/music

oh awesome

I was meant to be seeing him tonight. Mini-albums, you say? That'll cushion the blow, nice.

now everyone in the UK is out running every evening, Jogging is even more prescient

Thanks for this !

so far it's all fairly ambient, but Mole (track 2 off the 3rd release) is a lovely standout with a bit more going on

Today's long-form track, The Easter Bunny, is the first one since Mole that's properly grabbed me. A huge organ-and-guitar ambient wordless ballad

https://bulbils.bandcamp.com/album/15-the-easter-bunny

oh yeah this is real lovely, thanks for shouting it out

I must have listened to it at least 15 times since lj tipped me off y'day in teh slack. It's sermon for our elegiac times, an intimate, pastoral masterpiece.

Sonically the piece evolves into what sounds like the coda of A Silver Mount Zion's '13 Angels Standing Guard 'round the Side of Your Bed', a soft murmury wailing from the after life, mantra wise. To me it sounds crazy hopeful.

particularly after Dawson put the finishing touches on an album he’s been working on with brilliant Finnish metal outfit Circle

lol just came here to post that

https://thequietus.com/articles/28221-richard-dawson-sally-pilkington-bulbils-interview

also of note imo

http://s3.amazonaws.com/quietus_production/images/articles/28221/20200405_181053_001_1588782312_crop_550x412.jpg

otm

Bless 'em. Their corpulent output has been too vast to digest in full, but a number of the Bulbis releases really hit the spot. Most notably, ty LJ, 'The Easter Bunny', a hymn for our times and then some.

Mole (off album 3), The Easter Bunny (15) and The Princess And The Frog (25) are the three standouts so far imo

The element with Circle doesn’t feel so sad because I think we’ll get to it and it’ll be even better for it, so that’ll be good, but yeah, we didn’t get to play with Hannah Diamond.

need that dawson/diamond link up at some point