Life Without Buildings

Aw bless! Is that your piece GM?

Yes! Sorry for the self-promotion!

Not at all - good job getting in touch with them and thanks for sharing! <3

From the Guardian:

Life Without Buildings: in praise of the cult Glasgow band revived on TikTok
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/19/life-without-buildings-cult-glasgow-band-revived-on-tiktok-sue-tompkins

i have no idea why that piece mentions math rock and post hardcore. i don't see them in that lineage at all?

I always thought there was something mathy about LWB, FWIW (NB: not W very much), if I think about the airy chug of, say, "Daylighting" it's a comparison that makes sense to me. I don't think I know what "post-hardcore" is so I can't really comment on that but I do know that Jennifer Hodgson knows what's what.

Rhythmically I always heard some post-rock and math-y stuff in there.

Indeed. when they formed, Glasgow was overflowing with post / math rock bands. It was hard to walk down the street without seeing someone carrying a Slint album under their arm. LWB were a hugely refreshing breath of fresh air at that time.

I'm not sure what post hardcore is either.

As she mentions the 80s specifically, I'm guessing it's a reference to groups like Rites Of Spring and Shudder To Think? Again, I can hear parallels.

Glasgow was big on midwest style indie back then, some of which , eg music of the kinsellas,slint could be considered post hardcore

Rodan would be another post hardcore example

Ah, i see. Yes, of course; i had completely forgotten about all those bands. All were hugely popular in Glasgow around that time and it is of course very possible that their influence rubbed off on them.

I also know Robert Johnston was a big Joy Division and post-punk fan back then.

Glasgow was big on midwest style indie back then, some of which , eg music of the kinsellas,slint could be considered post hardcore

― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, January 19, 2021 9:01 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I can hear some shared musical DNA between Any Other City and, for instance, the American Football debut that came out a year earlier. Just thinking of like the guitar tones and interplay.

Both Life Without Buildings and the first American Football album were a big influence on a friend and I and the music we were making in the mid-2000s. Both separate but satisfying in a similar way - the cleanliness and deftness of the music. I love that Sue’s voice is an instrument; the words aren’t just there as words.

New and quite in depth interview with sue here:

https://toneglow.substack.com/p/050-sue-tompkins-life-without-buildings

no fucking way is life without buildings being used on 19k tiktok’s like this hahahaha pic.twitter.com/BqeWFY5zuu

— LaurenN🦷 (@1aurenmoose) January 11, 2021

I can't get over her magnificent hair.

Looks like Any Other City is being reissued again:

https://www.resident-music.com/productdetails&product_id=76644

(^ that's just a link to my local record shop btw, you might want to order it from elsewhere if you live in any other city. in any other city in the world)

This is cool. Live footage has emerged!

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1805059259694167&id=703119639888140

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

Just saw someone post this on Facebook. I felt emotional watching it.

been a fan of this band for nearly 20 years and that's the first i've ever seen of them, astonishing

Yeah, I'd seen the same 4 or 5 photos over the years, but never actual moving footage of them performing. Did Sue always sing from notes?

I'm finally seeing visual footage of my life's soundtrack

Stuart Murdoch in the audience at the end stops clapping way too early IMO.

xxp She uses notes in a lot of her spoken word performances.

This was so great to see

of COURSE she's jumping around everywhere :D

When I saw them there were notes for only 2 songs I think, maybe The Leanover & New Town? Even then it seemed more of an affectation or a comfort, rather than actually relying on them for a memory aide. The band were really tight but visually static, and then this whirling dervish monopolising the full stage space

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3atVbiV_Ow

totally missed that last lot of thread updates. amazing!!

so i searched and these were also on youtube...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxIbwsauQMk
New Town

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uOHEueVGdg
Juno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWJW5-26IXg
Let's Get Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MySIwLnSQU
Young Offenders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5uICT2o5ME
Live in Paris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7n9ELcXnJ8
Life Without Buildings Live at Transmission Gallery, Glasgow

am i tripping or something? are all these videos actually really real? i'm flipping out here

Was only (only!) coming here to post this, a recent interview here with Robert Dallas Gray (formerly Robert Johnston):
https://arcane-delights.com/2021/11/21/robert-dallas-gray-life-without-buildings-interview/

also an AG Cook remix of The Leanover which tbh i'm not totally sure about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSv6MzFVzc0

and i don't think i ever heard this before...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qkkbGMGYgU
Daylighting (b-side of Young Offenders)

Fuck I missed the earlier revive too!

Was already in bits by three quarters of the way through the Leanover

last thing: never knew sue was from leighton buzzard, she would've been in the year above my sister at school there. wonder if she remembers her at all? will find out at christmas

anyhow, leighton buzzard: the baron knights, kajagoogoo, silver bullet, and now sue tompkins. talk about punching above your weight :)

xp: aww! amazing isn't it?

final post i swear: sue did a track with el hombre trajeado in 2016!! how the heck did i not know this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bY8RiDuqTI

my god that live Juno is beautiful

also hayley tompkins

https://www.themoderninstitute.com/artists/hayley-tompkins

okay this killed me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKkpuLYlcF4

so i searched and these were also on youtube...

I was at this

|||||||| !!!!!!!!

I was at the Transmission Gallery one.

thanks so much for the new links

bagsie first dibs on stirmonster's memories if the component parts of his brain ever come up for auction.

btw optimo is given the love in that Robert Dallas Gray interview i linked to above :)

i just read that! robert and his friends were the very first regulars the club had and came almost religiously for the first year or so when not so many people attended. i'm not sure why LWB never performed there. memory is an interesting thing as i am 99.9% sure that television song he recalls hearing wasn't ever played.

Nick's Youtube link got me curious and it looks like Sue has done a number of solo/guest vocals:
- "Country Grammer", a 2004 solo track
- "Raid" / "Turnover", a 2015 solo 7"
- "Do It Puritan!" with El Hombre Trajeado in 2016
- "Special Long Version (Demo)" with Russell Haswell in 2018
- 5 tracks with TSX on recur³ followed by 4 tracks with TSX on recur² in 2019/2020

Given her slow build-up of work the last 5 years, I wonder if she's planning a proper solo or new band LP.

time for a comeback to show these Wet Dry Leg Cleaning posers how real random talk songs should be performed