Had to miss their show last night to go to band practice (no regrets!). New stuff sounds great!
― DJI, Wednesday, 9 February 2022 17:16 (two years ago) link
all heaters
― STOCK FIST-PUMPER BRAD (BradNelson), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 17:17 (two years ago) link
squeeeee
― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 17:18 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5ZxW1r1Zc8
new reason to live/new beths album out 9/16
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 13 June 2022 14:03 (one year ago) link
WHAAAAAAAAT
― music for A★TEENS’ musicians (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 13 June 2022 14:08 (one year ago) link
https://thebethsnz.bandcamp.com/album/expert-in-a-dying-field
only took one listen of "silence is golden" for me to proclaim them the greatest band of all time, guitar go brrr
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Monday, 13 June 2022 14:22 (one year ago) link
omgo.gomglmgomgkmjngnn
― maf you one two (maffew12), Monday, 13 June 2022 14:28 (one year ago) link
woo
i liked the shot of the drummer "driving the car" (keeping the engines running, keeping the beat) during the solo of the guitar player (who has lost his glasses)
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Monday, 13 June 2022 14:29 (one year ago) link
2022 is saved!
― kitchen person, Monday, 13 June 2022 14:36 (one year ago) link
New album art is a marginal improvement over the last one: Expert In A Dying Fieldhttps://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1119979697_16.jpg
Now I just need to decide if the Spring Green vinyl is worth a dollar more than the Canary Yellow vinyl.
― enochroot, Monday, 13 June 2022 14:40 (one year ago) link
Looks like A Real Thing isn't on the album. Bit disappointed about that.
― kitchen person, Monday, 13 June 2022 14:44 (one year ago) link
sign me up for this one, let's fucking go!
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 June 2022 19:32 (one year ago) link
Long Hair cut his hair!
― alpine static, Monday, 13 June 2022 19:35 (one year ago) link
also: AOTY, obvs
i totally read the album title as 'expert at dying in a field' and was really feeling that sentiment tbh
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 June 2022 19:40 (one year ago) link
wow that has to be one of their best songs
― ufo, Monday, 13 June 2022 21:52 (one year ago) link
Top shelf stuffhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KACt6YhOyY
― enochroot, Friday, 15 July 2022 01:15 (one year ago) link
Gorgeous
― kitchen person, Friday, 15 July 2022 02:44 (one year ago) link
JFC this is so fucking good!!!!
― music for A★TEENS’ musicians (Stevie D(eux)), Monday, 18 July 2022 22:06 (one year ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XriDeVHO8w
― enochroot, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 19:49 (one year ago) link
that was one of the most exciting narratives about bungee-jumping that i've ever seen
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 August 2022 20:01 (one year ago) link
Liz's expression when she finally jumps is definitely something like primal panic.
― enochroot, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 20:24 (one year ago) link
*invests heavily in short-term bungee jumping stocks*
― Bruce Stingbean (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 16 August 2022 20:26 (one year ago) link
Earth's best rock band.
― alpine static, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 21:38 (one year ago) link
I was just going to write exactly that!
― yugi ex, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 21:41 (one year ago) link
it's incredible what they're doing. and their relative profile ... and how big they could get if they get the right breaks. i am already worried about them getting huge and people not knowing i have loved them for years. :)
― alpine static, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 22:24 (one year ago) link
just realised they're playing here the day after the album's out, hooray
― ufo, Tuesday, 16 August 2022 23:24 (one year ago) link
they're in North America right now and just announced they are going to tour it again in March.... and it looks like bigger venues?siicki don't know that I've given the last couple songs a real fair hearing yet because I'm obsessed with Silence is Golden
― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 17 August 2022 20:02 (one year ago) link
The title track has become a contender for my favorite song of the year. It kinda reminds me of a lyric Robert Pollard might have written at his peak.
― Chris L, Wednesday, 17 August 2022 20:22 (one year ago) link
So tickets went on sale this morning for a Beths gig in March 2023 at the 1,200 seat 930 Club in W DC @ 10 am this morning et. I signed ono to laptop early and was ready. Got a hold on sit tight message from Ticketmaster. Then tried to sign on from phone. First got same hold message but then got in on my phone, and got 2 tickets. Meanwhile at 10:04 Ticketmaster on my laptop said the show is sold out
― curmudgeon, Friday, 19 August 2022 14:50 (one year ago) link
You may want to check again, I’m seeing tickets available
― Chris L, Friday, 19 August 2022 16:51 (one year ago) link
I got them on my phone from Ticketmaster but for some weird reason, Ticketmaster on my laptop told me they were gone. Strange.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 19 August 2022 19:35 (one year ago) link
Album of the year
― kitchen person, Sunday, 11 September 2022 15:46 (one year ago) link
the real magic happens when they're in that middle gear: "Your Side", the title track, the last few minutes of "2am".
― enochroot, Wednesday, 14 September 2022 01:21 (one year ago) link
Agreed. Those are my favourites. 2am is astonishing.
― kitchen person, Wednesday, 14 September 2022 01:31 (one year ago) link
doesn't quite all live up to "silence is golden" but it's still very good
"2am" is really wonderful
― ufo, Thursday, 15 September 2022 02:58 (one year ago) link
The pitchfork review is the variety that focuses mainly on the lyrics (though not exclusively). Which reminded me how much I wish they'd vary things a bit more, and not make every song a relationship metaphor.
― enochroot, Friday, 16 September 2022 12:00 (one year ago) link
"silence is golden"?
― ufo, Friday, 16 September 2022 12:28 (one year ago) link
Whoa, Silence Is Golden is totally wonderful, can see why everyone was hyped if this was the first single
― imago, Friday, 16 September 2022 13:10 (one year ago) link
Ended up being easily my favourite thing on the album, mind
― imago, Friday, 16 September 2022 13:53 (one year ago) link
Well, that and the Head In The Clouds/Best Left centrepiece
― imago, Friday, 16 September 2022 14:03 (one year ago) link
i think i am too depressed to listen to the beths. i just gave the new one a good car listens and i feel like i'm 10000 planets away from where it takes place. i don't think it's them, i think i just don't want to hear this kind of music and can't relate to anything. it sounds like it should be the hit music playing in the background of a show about popular young adults
― Karl Malone, Friday, 16 September 2022 16:42 (one year ago) link
i think, in particular, the "some things are best left to rot" harmonies early on in the chorus of "best left" hit me in a really incompatible place this morning. it was very unwelcome, and felt very much like a late 90s christian band for that moment, which caused me to involuntarily shut the music off and roll down the windows. it smelled like hot tarpits outside, so i rolled the windows back up and drove home in silence after that.
― Karl Malone, Friday, 16 September 2022 16:47 (one year ago) link
i don't actually think the beths resemble a contemporary christian band, and i don't really know much about that kind of music other than what i heard from passing cars while i was doing laps in the hot tarpits back in the late 90s. this is a sweeping ignorant statement, but maybe the problem with christian music is that they can't let themselves be wrong
― Karl Malone, Friday, 16 September 2022 16:49 (one year ago) link
Agree that the "some things are best left to rot" shout-along feels like a forced crossover attempt to some other genre that I don't listen to.
But I'm finding a majority of the new songs getting stuck in my head just as much as the debut... when you know, you know.
― enochroot, Friday, 16 September 2022 18:14 (one year ago) link
the best stuff cuts its own swathe but there's slightly still too much of a reliance on cliched chord progressions at times imo
― imago, Friday, 16 September 2022 18:16 (one year ago) link
xps On Pitchfork lyrics/breakup focus. Hasn't Elizabeth and the tall fella been together a long while?
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 16 September 2022 18:25 (one year ago) link
I'm pleased to see some less than glowing reactions. I just can't with this band... The grating harmonies, obvious chord progressions (bingo, imago) and dull lyrics rub me the wrong way. I feel like a bad Kiwi every time I hate on The Beths but seriously, I don't see the appeal.
And as for those suggesting AOTY for a catchy but soulless power pop group... in 2022? You've got to be kidding me. To be fair I've only listened to the singles, but not enough has changed to make me like them any better. They still sound like a high school rock band (albeit quite a good one) who just never moved on.
The Weezer comparisons up thread aren't entirely inapt, given Weezer just ripped off The Cars, who were huge in Aotearoa New Zealand, and surely must have influenced The Beths' songwriting. The Cars would have been everywhere on the radio when they were growing up, if their parents listened to one of the rock stations like Radio Hauraki. For some reason our tiny little colonised nation just really loves power pop, and I find it infuriating. (That said, The Cars' first record slays.)
Ok rant over. As you were...
― The Ghost Club, Friday, 16 September 2022 20:24 (one year ago) link
they write good songs and play them very well
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Friday, 16 September 2022 20:26 (one year ago) link