The Clientele - Best Band Since The Smiths

"Some of the arrangements are a little over upholstered and i could live without the yodelling man"

Yes exactly, those two elements indicated to me that they were overthinking things! Personally I look to to them for their effortlessness and those attributes seemed to be at odds with that quality. Also a bit unexpected given they'd reformed as the original trio and were playing shows celebrating the early material in years leading up to it, and the album is the opposite of that hazy-memory sounding minimal ingredients approach of their first couple of albums.

Appreciate everyone's thoughts. At the time I was fantasizing about hearing a "naked" version of the album. Clearly I'd still be very interested in that sort of thing.

Great conversation with Alasdair

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alasdair-macleans-personal-beatles/id1523996711?i=1000538335472

(think it's available on other podcast providers as well)

There is a new book of Alasdair’s lyrics out - ordering info on the Clientele insta if that happens to be anyone’s bag

had a look at it, tempted

So, are they?

Best band since the Smiths? Surely

does the book have the lyrics to Honkin' on Victoria Street?

there's a london gig in september :O
https://www.facebook.com/theclienteleofficial/posts/509081890733954

The book arrived. It's handsome and contains quite a lot more than lyrics I already know.

awesome... very excited to see it!

I ordered one as well. Still waiting on the lavish career retrospective box set.

I'd prefer just a new album, which seems to be in the works

well, a new album would be very welcome surprise

Alasdair posted a picture of him with his black telecaster and something abt learning to play again

They played! They were good. And Alasdair said there’s a new LP on the way.

I had never heard of these guys before this thread. On first listen, the singer sounds like David J.

wait, they said there's a new LP on the way?? insert happy face gif

They did - said (from the stage) that they’d signed a contract with Merge for a new one.

jimbeaux listen to Strange Geometry

fantastic news!

whoop! whoop!

They really were on sparkling form friday, although a couple of the songs from the last lp had a slightly busked quality. The mix was crystalline. So glad they are a going concern and wished i'd bought one of the lyric books. Glad i didn't but one of the tiny suburban daylight t shirts.

v. excited about a new album!

new tune out!

OMG new double album in July!

Just the 19 songs on the new album then!

it's clearly going to be their Tusk

It's nice, though I have a very minor pet peeve regarding excessive vocal melodies applied to simple words like "blue" ("blue over bluuu-u-u-uuu-u-u-uuue")

we can have good things at least some of the time

If that's a way of saying "can't you just let us enjoy this" please let me reiterate how minor and inconsequential my criticism of that detail is meant to be. I'm very excited the album is finally announced!

wait until you hear the cover of Doin' the Do that closes the album

xpost i'm just excited for the album. my comment was more global. it's a good news monday on a lot of fronts.

How do you capture lyrics? A pen? A smart phone app?
It always used to be a pen and a piece of paper. I’ve now changed to notes on iphone. Tragically, I also use a Trello board to swap things around and see if they look different in a different order. Quite often ideas come from quotes or images from books I read, so I take photos of the page too.

They’re coming back to The Chapel in SF this summer. More good things.

yeah looking forward to that. I'm really happy this band has soldiered on and continues to find some way to tour outside the UK without ever becoming huge.

I'm gonna try and hit up the Philly and DC shows!

Supreme Clientele would be a cool mashup record

weirdly, there is kind of a hip hop breakdown on this new record ... and it's good!

not totally feeling new song tbh - a little bit the drums, a little bit the recurring guitar “sample” at the top - cool that they are playing with the sound, just didn’t quite gel for me in this instance

xxp

*Alasdair MacLean voice* “heavy rain fucked my kicks up…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP8ut6vBQuw
live from 2000 "And the Grass Won't Pay No Mind" (Neil Diamond)

they certainly make this sound like a clientele tune

new one!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrG7DghQby8

has a genuinely weird Beatles "White Album" kinda thing going on

seems like it'll be an interesting trip!

yeah, doesn't sound like more of the same... which is cool!

Music for the Age of Miracles was both a surprise and a classic, so I'm quite happy for them to follow it up with a sprawling experimental double album... just bought tickets for the Philly and DC shows!

another new track!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_r9NgWnPYo

Thats really lovely, feeling much better about the lp now.

not totally feeling new song tbh - a little bit the drums, a little bit the recurring guitar “sample” at the top - cool that they are playing with the sound, just didn’t quite gel for me in this instance

― meat and two vdgg (emsworth), Tuesday, 25 April 2023 23:03 (two months ago) link

Revisiting that first new track again and yeah I think it just comes across as a bit too stiff overall. Both the instrumentation and forcing "blue over blue" into that vocal melody contribute to that feeling for me. HOWEVER I don't necessarily dislike it, I guess I'm just trying to analyze why it was feeling a little off.

The Clientele is best when they sound effortless and it did not feel that way. This is also why I was a little turned off by the overstuffed production on the last album.

I'm definitely warming to Dying in may, though still getting a distinct Noel's-posh-cousin-does-a-trip vibration from it that i'm not sure what do with.

Blue over blue is nice enough but has a couple of tics that bother me (the farting fuzz, the baroque breakdown), its unusual for the first taste of a new clientele lp to be anything but flat out perfection, but i'm sure it will be fine in context. Now very excited to hear the record and on board for any eeriness / polite tinkering / scorched earth sonic terrorism in might entail.

out friday! :D

there's... a podcast?
https://shows.acast.com/the-clientele-podcast