Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You

yes, not wanting a musical act I listen to to condone violent apartheid is definitely just me being intolerant to different politics

sure, that’s exactly what they’re doing

They may be naive hippies but no one would have gotten a pass for a dopey statement in 1986 explaining that the bass player was from South Africa so they just had to play there, and they shouldn't be immune from criticism now.

the ethical implications of playing a concert in israel

xxp drop the fucking sarcasm then and tell us exactly what you think they're doing then if not condoning it

playing music in a city where the bass player’s family lives?

though i guess they could’ve accomplished that in his parents’ living room

it's a shame their family aren't allowed to travel to other countries to see them play

I went to their Paris gig yesterday.
It was pretty good. Much more alt rock 90s or even heavy metal/grungy than folk country !
Adrianne had crazy noisy guitar solos/jams.
I loved the metal version of "dragon new warm...". It would be great to have a studio version of it as a single or something (à la Beatles "revolution"!).
A bit disappointed that they didn't play "time escaping", "spud infinity", "red moon", "no reason"... I thought they would keep these for the encore but nope.

no "spud infinity"? :O

Turns out spud is finite

Update

We will be canceling our 2 shows in Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/ocSFtgnYz4

— Big Thief (@bigthiefmusic) June 9, 2022

The venue posted too:
https://www.facebook.com/BarbyOfficial/posts/5539771972712536

(Auto translate)

"The world is far from being perfect and in that israel the injustices have existed for centuries and the naive or innocent man who would think that everything will be solved due to threats fears or boycotts actually your cancellation you just made me sad for you bunch of miserable spineless musicians who are afraid of their own shadow. Apparently you won't enter the pages of history as influencing artists with agendas as artists of the past were. Be another band that comes and passes from the world like everyone else. I wish you all the evil in the world just as you did to your fans in Israel and hope that when you went up like this you will come down and become another passing episode. I learned that I have nothing but my country family and my people and no motherfucker will break it we will end in blessing with israel live strong and no ripple will break it."

Does this need to be posted about in two threads? There is literally another active thread about this specific incident.

well, this is about Big Thief finally cancelling their Tel Aviv shows and this thread is about Big Thief so why not

While initially lukewarm on "Change," it's become one of the standout tracks for me. Obsessed with how much she's able to do with the most basic three chord progression repeated a dozen times (G-C-D-C-G, albeit with the high e string tuned down to D for that lovely extra bit of reverb). Could I feel happy for you/ When I hear you talk with her like we used to? Could I set everything free/ When I watch you holding her the way you once held me? An unusually patient and quiet opener that centers and steadies me whenever I put this on, which is still every few days.

They opened with it when I saw them last night. Beautiful, thanks for priming me.

What a killer show, Adrienne is really a beast on the guitar.

Brought out Tucker Zimmerman for a very moving warmup act.

Great rendition of Spud Infinity - and I bought a hella cool longsleeve Spud Infinity shirt in the merch stand afterwards (sold by Noah Lenker who played the jaw harp solo).

I'm not even a huge fan tbh (too dark, melancholy) but it's wonderful to see any artist reach that point, performing small miracles effortlessly

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCsFgJsJ5Uc

that's a great little concert

they seem to improvise a lot, very enjoyable, exciting to watch

reminds me a bit of seeing Bob Dylan on a good night, room for the unexpected, everyone on their toes

was this posted itt?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAGbYtPSnbQ

Her tippy toe singing is adorable!

Every time I read this thread title Neil Young sings in my head: “Dragon new warm mountain I believe in you
Oh—oh
Oh—whoa, I believe in you-oo-ooh”

I don't feel like starting a new thread for this, but anyone who digs this album might also like the new one by Florist. Some similarities in vibe, even if Florist is overall quieter.

Posted this in the indie thread but fans of the Big Thief should also check out the new Florist s/t. More intimate and so maybe reminds me more of The Glow, Pt II but will appeal to the same crowd, I think.

― Indexed, Wednesday, August 10, 2022 5:56 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

From the AOTY 2022 thread

Ha, missed that! But yes.

Is this the album that starts with a track called "June 9th Nighttime"? (There seem to be a bunch of different Florists grouped together, and even more than one 2022 S/T by different acts...)

Ok, this is clearly it...

Yep, that's the one. It alternates between short instrumental/environmental tracks and proper songs.

(Lot of Elliott Smith in its DNA too.)

as long as we're talking Florist, their previous two albums - If Blue Could Be Happiness and Emily Alone - are among my favorites of the past several years. same vibes as the new one, but largely without the instrumental interludes.

i don't know what it is about Emily Sprague's writing style that connects with me so deeply, but boy does it. i pay more attention to their lyrics than most.

Thanks alpine static - need to go back through her whole catalog. Surprised they/she don't have a thread.

thread of Florist

here you go

Change is really a perfect song, great recording too

just saw them and what an incredible band and show, only problem was they didn't play an hour longer

adrianne was in a somewhat weird mood and ended "red moon" with an extended jam that turned into an improvised song about thanking the opening act, watching your favourite film in a theatre with popcorn, chocolate, tea and flapjacks, and then ended with a lot of bird noise imitations

"not" was jammed out for 9 minutes, full band "not a lot just forever" was gorgeous, they played two new songs - "free treasure" and "vampire empire". "vampire empire" they started over halfway through so adrianne could play it solo at the very front of the stage without the p.a.

"flower of blood" was just massive live and "spud infinity" was played quite fast

oh i wish i'd recorded "free treasure" because it doesn't seem like it's on youtube.

it was a finger-picked one, vaguely similar vein to "from", "terminal paradise" etc., i don't think buck played on it at all and just did backing vocals. first line was "do you wanna go to the river" and chorus included "love without measure, free treasure"

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

another new one live

overrated group with top pr agents i guess

xp Sounds great! I love how the crowd suddenly starts going nuts in the final stretch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwhb6eVuRD4

here's a recording of "free treasure" at last

Very nice song. Buck somehow looks younger than ever (as for Max – not sure the color or cut of that garment is particularly flattering on him, but that's his call).

i hope that second album of material from the dnwmibiy sessions does eventuate this year

I was just thinking that – I hope they haven't "moved on"...

Really like that song. Man they're such a good bunch of weirdos.

I've decided this is my least favourite of their albums :( it feels like it's an album of moods rather than songs - ok every track is a song but fully half of them have no chorus, or just a thin sliver of one. Also there's less of a focus on narrative lyrics. And y'know moods are fine, some of my best friends are moods, i just prefer their more traditionally structured stuff, songs with a bit more variety.

Much as I like Adrienne's autobiographical songs, even the deepest wells run shallow after a while. I also find that too much of this sort of thing stops me being able to relate to it after a while. I always liked, on previous albums, when she would go into wider, more fanciful topics like on the title track of UFOF; and that's what's great about songs like Spud Infinity or Sparrow - they might not be "based on a true story" but they are about "things" - philosophy, folk-fantasy - and not just a rhyming word salad, so in many ways this is arguably a more diverse and stronger set of songs on the whole.

I'll agree that about 30% of the material is very much incoherent "moods" though

how do we know they're autobiographical?