Randomizer Vol. 10 - Ladies Night

WEBVTT
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Welcome to Cheff Repeat. My name is Zach and this
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is a musical exploration podcast. This episode is another randomizer,
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continuing our theme of the month, or at least the
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past two episodes. We are continuing our trend of all
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either female musicians or in a few exceptions on this episode,
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bands that prominently feature a female musician. On that note,
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I guess let's get right into it. And I feel
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like I haven't started in a while, so I'll go
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ahead and do that for once, and I think I
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will start with one of my last minute replacements. My
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album list this time around was extremely fluid, to say
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the least, and this is a completely random album that
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came up for me when I was looking for a
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art pop replacement for Lorie Anderson because I just could
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not resist the urge to go obscure with it, and
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I thought I can talk about big science some other time.
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And this came up very, very highly rated in the charts,
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and I was like, Okay, this looks interesting and I've
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never heard of this girl. And I just realized I
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haven't said her name yet, which is u A or YOUA.
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I'm not sure how it's pronounced. And the album is
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eleven Ua was a nice surprise for me. The genre
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tags were interesting. It was like art pop, trip hop, electronica,
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all sorts of good stuff. I like the cover. She
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had a nice kind of weird girl aesthetic about her
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that was nice. So I threw it on and sure enough,
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it's a really great I have no idea where she
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came from, but I'm interested to see what else she
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has done. It's all in Japanese, and that was another
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reason why I wanted to pick it, because although we
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haven't really talked about it on the show, I have
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several Japanese episodes in the pipeline, including some related to
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city pop and jazz fusion and teen idle stuff and
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even the Japanese version of beat music from the sixties.
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But I realized as I was doing that, with the
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exception of the one band that was on our Scott episode,
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I haven't really looked into any more modern Japanese music,
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and so this album han't come out in nineteen ninety six.
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I actually thought it was way more recent than that
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until just this moment, but it's still a little outside
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the period that I have explored, and honestly, I wish
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it would looked that up before, because I'd probably have
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some more thoughts because I thought eleven sounded incredibly fresh,
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fully expected to find this one came out last month,
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let alone finding out it came out like thirty years ago.
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I just think she was light years ahead of the
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competition as far as an aesthetic and jahnding. One of
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the songs sampled, I guess accordion, which you really just
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do not expect in this kind of music. She has
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a great voice, a hazy lounge sort of singing. I
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believe she did actually start as a lounge singer, so
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kind of makes sense. It has a nice bounce to it,
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but it's a very relaxing album, good driving music for sure.
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I'm really excited to dip into her catalog more because
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she has twenty years of history after this that I
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did not know about. What do you think of it?
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Well, I didn't know what to expect from the album cover.
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It's not what I ended up getting, I can say
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that much for certain, But it was a really surprisingly
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good album. Likewise, I have never heard of u or
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Ua or I see it capitalized a lot of places,
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but otherwise other places I'll see it just as capital
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Yulu or case, so I'm guessing you, but that's what
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I'll roll with. I'd never heard her name anywhere. Obviously,
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there's the ocean between here and there, and a lot
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of their cultural exports don't tend to be in music
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quite as much. But this sets a really good impression
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of what Japan's pop scene could be like if I
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ever decided to delve in. I was very impressed with it.
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As soon as the hip hop beats started, I figured
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I need to change my perspective little here and shed
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any expectations I.
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Might have had.
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As you said, it's just got like a whole gamut
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of good stuff going on the trip hop.
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I'm all over that.
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A lot of the beats with her singing reminded me
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of like Massive Attack or some of the biggest names
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in the genre, like that Good Electronics. When it goes poppy,
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it's catchy as hell, and hey, there's dubb in that mix.
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And as we've said many a time, that is always
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a shoe in to make both of us interested. Yeah,
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I definitely appreciate the range of sounds, and on top
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of it, she has a really great voice, and yeah,
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I couldn't understand what was being said because you know languages.
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But sometimes I feel like that might work out better
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when somebody's a good singer, because then I'm not really
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worrying about deciphering what they're saying. I'm just able to
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soak in their performance, the moods they carry all that,
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and I think it did this album a real favor.
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Looked at Eleven's cover and thought, I have no idea
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what's about to happen, just focusing in on her tone and delivery.
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It's like, Wow, whatever she's saying is pretty dang pretty
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so well, that's making me think of that scene saving
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Private Ryan where they're listening to that French musician and
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they're all like, I don't know what she's saying, but
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she sounds beautiful. So kind of got that vibe. But yeah,
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not sonically. I was very impressed with this one. It
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was a real surprise. I had no idea what to
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be listening for going in, and I'm damned impressed. And
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I probably wouldn't mind checking out more of her stuff myself.
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Good to hear, Yeah, i think I'm gonna have to
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fish around the Japanese scene of the nineties a little
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bit more. Oh, I completely forgot Japan is also very
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heavily featured in the Brutal Prague episode, which is prepped
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and ready to go, but will have to be in
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the right mood for that because that is probably the
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closest music can come to being a form of exercise.
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It's pretty intense, just closing thoughts. Like I said, even
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the cover is late years ahead of its time. The
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background kind of looks like a photoshop of a Windows
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XP background had a very vapor wavy, retro wave aesthetic
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to it, so I kind of thought maybe she had
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come up from that scene. And cool to see trip
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hop used as a flavoring all the way back then,
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considering how it's made somewhat of a recurrence in the
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more modern era, particularly in metal. Excuse me if I
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sound a little weird on this episode, everybody, it's because
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half sick. But anyway, that was cool. So yeah, check
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out eleven by Hugh Way. And on that note, what
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do you want to do next or first?
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All right, I guess I'll start out with probably the
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album I've listened to the most of my picks just
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in the long term, and that will be Tammering with
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her twenty nineteen OUM Dreaming the Dark. This album, as
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I said twenty nineteen, I think it's the fourth.
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Album that Tamaran put out.
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She is a New Zealand musician who kind of dabbles
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in a really pleasant blend of shoegaze and synthpop. If
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I had to break it down to something really simple,
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this album is I guess the first one post her
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kind of popularity high watermark, which would be the album
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Cream Kiss. But I've given this one more time, so
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why not. If I'm going to describe this album in
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a word, it is going to be earworms. Most of
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these songs have some hook that is just going to
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be totally addictive.
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The leadoff track.
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Angel's Sweat, actually handed up but I think number ten
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on my Most Played Songs of twenty twenty one list
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on Spotify. This album is, as I said, pretty even
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blend to shoegaze synthpop. It'll lean more one way or
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the other song to song, but both elements are always
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kind of there and central to all of it is
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Tamarin herself, who has a pretty outstanding powerful voice and
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writes a damn good song. Having listened to a bit
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of her earlier stuff, excellent as it is is a
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lot more drifty and loose. This one, everything is very tight.
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I don't think any songs break five minutes might be wrong,
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but I don't think they do.
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Looks like one but just barely one song, just barely. Yeah,
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path to Love is five minutes and sixteen seconds. Jeez.
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So that's the epic of the album obviously. But yeah,
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they're all just tight, wonderfully written, hooky as all hell,
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and there's just tons of emotion packed into it. All
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this said, I'm not exactly sure what's going on with
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her lately. Is her social media and her birch store
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has been shut down, So hopefully there's no revelations about
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her that pop up after this recording. I don't think so,
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but weird anyway, that's me rambling how'd you like it?
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I liked it quite a bit. This is my first
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experience of Tammerin. I've never heard of her before, and
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I have to say it was a very you album.
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I don't know how much I'm gonna have to add
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to this. I will give a particular highlight her a
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shout out to her voice. I think you and I
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have both expressed on past episodes when we've delved into
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female fronted bands that we like a huskier voice sometimes,
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and I like that in comparison to a lot of
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the other singers that we're gonna be hearing on this episode,
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Tamarin's voice has a little bit more of that husk
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to it. It's a little deeper androgenith sounding. I thought
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that really helped the album stand apart. I don't know
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if that's part of the reason why my first go
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to reference to try to describe this would be Drab
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Majesty based on my experience with them, which is pretty
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limited to listening to that one album when you picked it,
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and I think their first one one time. But yeah,
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Tamarin definitely similar vibes to that and also really hits
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that mark that we've talked about several times in the
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show at referenced to Drab Majesty and Neon Indian and
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a couple other acts where it's both retro and sounds
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out of time. I do think her music fits a
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little bit more comfortably in the time it came out.
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I could see this album having dropped in the eighties
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a little easier than I could some of these other
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retro wave artists, and I think it breathes enough new
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life into things that it justifies its existence. It's not
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derivative it anyway. But I like the tone on this overall,
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actually not unlike UA. It's just a nice, gentle head
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Bobby sort of mood, maybe a little bit more lustful
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on some of the songs, and sexual with some of
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the subject matter. It seems like to me anyway, Maybe
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I'm just thinking of Angels a Sweat, which also sounds
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like it could be like an R. Kelly song. Well,
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that's probably not the right reference to use. Oh I
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don't know, No, no redact that. Yeah, forget. That's just
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great pop music. And actually, on that note, I don't
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really see it tagged. But I think, particularly with some
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of the drums and stuff, there is sort of a
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nineties contemporary R and B flavor to it, just barely
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on some of these songs. I think it is mainly
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just the drums, because the drums, whether they're processed or not,
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do seem pretty heavy in a mix to me, and
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I like that it really helps drive it along a
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little bit better. But I feel like I'm rambling here
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and I don't think I'm going to recover from that.
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R Kelly reference. So why don't we move on to
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my next one? All right?
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And just to keep with Scott's suggestion, So yeah, that
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was Tamar and Dreaming the Dark. Just great pop. And
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also I'm glad I've got the one that you describe
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as very me out of.
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The way right away. Yeah, alright, let's do Ricky Lee
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Jones and her self titled album Ricky Lee Jones. So,
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Ricky Lee Jones is a musician who I became aware
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of through the Beyond yacht Rock podcast. But I had
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I believe I've I heard Chucky's in Love before that
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it was a relatively big hit in its day. But
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this is the first time I actually sat down and
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listened to a album of hers and it's totality or actually,
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I think anything beyond that one song. And I gotta
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say for being the hit, it ended up being one
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of the least memorable highlights for me. I really really
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liked this one. I was damn impressed, and I could
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kick myself for not checking her out a little bit quicker.
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She has a very jazzy vibe on this, leaning very
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very heavily into that lounge flavor. Also for its time,
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I think I don't know if it predates it, but
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I don't want phrase this. I don't know if i'd
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call this heartland rock, but a lot of the subject
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matter is very Springsteen esque, like the Last Chance Texico,
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Danny's All Star Joint, even the big hit Chucky's in Love,
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and pretty much actually all the songs just have this
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bar by the railroad tracks in a small western Pennsylvania
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town vibe to them. And I don't know if I'd
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necessarily associate that kind of aesthetic with a real loungey,
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jazzy type of girl, but it makes for a pretty
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unique listen. It's something I would really expect more from
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like an country or a folk musician, and I think
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it's a really interesting mix. She has a great voice,
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keeps it low, keeps it sassy, a little little smoky.
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Like I said, it's very loungey. I don't know why
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I said sassy. I'm gonna cut that. And some really
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good guest musicians on this too. You'll hear Michael McDonald
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in the background. He's pretty unmistakable, and hell of a
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lot of big names on keyboard. Neil Larson, Doctor John
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and Randy Newman all show up, and oh of course,
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Jeff Piccaro's on drums, so we have the Toto connection.
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And of course, if you look at the personnel on this,
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which I'm not going to get into any more of it,
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but it is a yacht rock free for all. A
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lot of huge session musician names on this. You know
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it means something when almost every single credited performer has
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their own Wikipedia page, but none of them are really
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that famous other the ones I mentioned, or I shouldn't say,
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not that famous or household names other than like the
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three I mentioned. Ian, What do you think?
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Well, first thing I thought was I have to ask,
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was this a holdover from your Singer Songwriter episode?
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No?
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Interesting because it would have fit in just about perfectly
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with some of the newer ones on that episode. Yeah,
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it's really good stuff. I didn't really look into the credits.
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I'm not surprised that's full of yacht rock luminaries, although
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as you said, Michael McDonald's pretty easy to spot in
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a crowd, but definitely has this very musically delicate feeling
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to it, which I like, soft orchestrations balancing off with
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some folk gear and jazzier instrumentation. Although I know there's
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one song in there that just has this very classic
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style shuffley rock thing going, which was a really good
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mid album per Cup.
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Not saying it needed to.
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Be perked up, but it's yeah, it's nice to have
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that change pace about halfway through, just to say, hey,
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you're still listening, right, But I don't think she really
277
00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:52.039
needed any help with keeping people listening. She's got you
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00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:55.399
know you wanted to strike the word you used from
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the episode, but yeah, she's got this cool I didn't
280
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know what to call, but just an attitude to her singing.
281
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It's not attitude in the punk sense like you'd typically
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think of. She's just got this personality that feels really
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really her own. And I'm not sure how to quantify it,
284
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but all you out.
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There listening you'll know what I mean. Sometimes you hear
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a singer and they.
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Just have that vibe where it's like, ah, yeah, that's
288
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in this case, that's Ricky Lee Jones. It has to
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be you'll run into singers like that. She's definitely one
290
00:15:27.159 --> 00:15:30.039
of them. Overall, Despite the fact this was relegated to
291
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listening at work, I still found it pretty dang good.
292
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Definitely agree the various sort of Americana in Decline I
293
00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:40.720
guess you could call it themes here and there or
294
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just songs about the hometown. Gave it a nice feeling
295
00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:46.720
that would have probably been the most jarring change from
296
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anything in your Singer song Raater episode, but it was
297
00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:53.279
really cool. Ricky Lee Jones had a great little album here.
298
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She definitely has a vibe all her own. This is
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00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:59.159
gonna be a weird point in comparison, but the closest
300
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thing I could think of as I was listening to
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00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:04.240
the album, what kept popping into my head was she
302
00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:08.879
has an almost Ralph Bakshi character vibe to her. There's
303
00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:11.840
something about her that just really reminded me of like
304
00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:15.840
the main character the terrible movie Cool World, And I
305
00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:18.639
guess to make a slightly more well known reference, like
306
00:16:18.840 --> 00:16:24.720
almost Jessica Rabbit esque vibe. Uh okay, the bad girl vibe,
307
00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:28.120
I guess, but I don't want to oversimplify it either.
308
00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:31.279
It is completely unique to her, but it does remind
309
00:16:31.320 --> 00:16:35.159
me of that neo noir of the nineties, I guess
310
00:16:35.159 --> 00:16:37.000
would be the most generic way I could put it.
311
00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:39.120
So again, a little bit ahead of her time, because
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00:16:39.159 --> 00:16:41.720
this is like nineteen seventy eight, we weren't really you know,
313
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nobody was making the Dick Tracy movie yet, And it
314
00:16:44.200 --> 00:16:46.000
is interesting that on that note that she kind of
315
00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:48.039
had a bit of a career renaissance right at the
316
00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:50.679
very very beginning of the two thousands, which was right
317
00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:53.879
after that Peaked Good Stuff. Excited to listen to some
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00:16:53.960 --> 00:16:55.480
of her other albums down the line.
319
00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:57.759
And on that note, let's go to your next one,
320
00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:01.200
all right, Well, I don't want to hit my absolute
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00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:04.079
favorites and I also don't want to do my other
322
00:17:04.160 --> 00:17:06.839
shoe geezy one right away, So I'm gonna.
323
00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:10.720
Go with a holdover from my singer songwriter episode, and
324
00:17:10.759 --> 00:17:14.079
that would be Zola Jesus with the album Stridulum.
325
00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:16.359
I think, I think that's how you say it.
326
00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:18.480
The one where she's covered with ink on the cover.
327
00:17:18.759 --> 00:17:23.640
But anyway, Zola definitely does have that dark singer songwriter
328
00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:25.880
kind of feeling to her work. Well, I think what
329
00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:28.799
really sets her apart from anything I talked about on
330
00:17:28.839 --> 00:17:33.400
that past episode is the makeup of her album sound
331
00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:38.519
is so much more electronic in synthy. I hesitate through
332
00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:41.920
the word industrial at it because that kind of points
333
00:17:41.920 --> 00:17:44.440
out a genre, but it's got that kind of mechanical
334
00:17:44.519 --> 00:17:46.720
feeling that not a lot of the other albums we
335
00:17:46.720 --> 00:17:51.480
were talking about on that episode had and it's really cool.
336
00:17:51.799 --> 00:17:54.880
I guess probably the best point comparison I could come
337
00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.359
up with, and also with like how powerful Sola's voice is.
338
00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:00.440
It does kind of remind me of Bit It a Floor,
339
00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:03.200
It's the Machine. It has that same sort of cinematic
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grandeur when it really.
341
00:18:04.400 --> 00:18:05.160
Wants to have it.
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00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:09.839
She is a very powerful, strong singer. Lyrically, it's a
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dark album, though it's not unwelcomingly so as compared to
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some musicians out there, I think she strikes a really
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00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:23.519
nice balance between being really accessible. It's still very dark
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and bleak. I think that's what Stridulum really has going
347
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:30.599
for it. It's dark music that you don't have to
348
00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:34.880
be a depressed shut in more or less to really
349
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get into.
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And it's a great balance.
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00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:39.200
You don't hear a lot of it's usually one way
352
00:18:39.319 --> 00:18:41.440
or the other, and I think Sola really nailed it
353
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with this album. But at this point, I guess I
354
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will turn it over to you.
355
00:18:45.440 --> 00:18:48.319
How'd you like this? This was my first time listening
356
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to Zola Jesus and I will start by just agreeing
357
00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:56.359
with you. I think industrial is definitely a strong comparison
358
00:18:56.400 --> 00:18:58.480
to make people just have to get away from the
359
00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:02.200
baggage that can imply. Unfortunately. I think you and I
360
00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:05.720
particularly are probably guilty of that, because where children of
361
00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:09.839
the nineties and industrial can often mean quite of the
362
00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:13.839
damn soundtrack, sometimes the two were hard to separate. But
363
00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:16.720
of course there is this long and varied history of
364
00:19:16.759 --> 00:19:20.480
industrial music, dating back long long before Fear Factory sold out.
365
00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:23.000
I'm also glad that you made the Florence and the
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00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:26.960
Machine reference because the two words that were stuck in
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my head the entire time I was listening to Stridulum.
368
00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:34.400
As I say it, stridalum, youre yes as good as mine? Man? Okay,
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00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:38.559
it was elevated pop. It really reminded me of just
370
00:19:38.680 --> 00:19:43.599
a more artistic form of pop music. Hopefully no one's
371
00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:46.359
a huge fan of hers, and I don't mean this offensive,
372
00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:49.799
but she seems like she fulfills on the promise of
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00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:53.119
what Sia is trying to do based on her work
374
00:19:53.160 --> 00:19:55.400
that I've heard. Maybe I just have that preference for
375
00:19:55.480 --> 00:19:58.359
it because it has that gothic element that makes it
376
00:19:58.359 --> 00:20:01.119
a little bit more accessible to a sad boy. I
377
00:20:01.200 --> 00:20:04.079
do see that she's been compared to Elizabeth from the
378
00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:06.880
I think it's pronounced cock two twins. I never know,
379
00:20:06.920 --> 00:20:08.920
because they're one of those bands I've like, I love,
380
00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:11.519
but I've never actually talked to anybody about them in person,
381
00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:13.240
so I have no idea how it's supposed to be said.
382
00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:17.599
But yeah, just this very ghostly, haunting presence, but also
383
00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:21.000
very accessible and of course dark wave I would throw
384
00:20:21.079 --> 00:20:23.119
in there as an influence as well. Some of the
385
00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:25.759
stuff on this would not have been completely uncomfortable on
386
00:20:26.079 --> 00:20:28.759
or out of place on that dark wave album we
387
00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:31.200
talked about on the Golf Medal episode, obviously without the
388
00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:36.400
metal influence, although you know, industrial metal some similar sonic palettes.
389
00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:40.480
There sometimes really great stuff, and I think, just to
390
00:20:40.519 --> 00:20:43.039
further comfort you, I did see that she throws Throbbing
391
00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:46.440
Grissel out as a influence as well, another one. I'm
392
00:20:46.519 --> 00:20:49.559
very excited to listen to the rest of her stuff, big, echoey,
393
00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:53.200
spooky stuff, I guess, just for people to have a
394
00:20:53.200 --> 00:20:55.119
point of reference. I saw that she toured with the
395
00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:58.200
XX at some point, and I would definitely say that's
396
00:20:58.240 --> 00:21:00.960
a good point in comparison as well, well, although maybe
397
00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:04.559
a little less fancy than the XX. So yeah, Zola.
398
00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:06.480
Jesus check her out.
399
00:21:06.519 --> 00:21:08.920
The XX just knows how to pick opening acts. That's
400
00:21:08.960 --> 00:21:10.319
all I found out about Sanfa.
401
00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:12.599
Yeah, who opened for them when we saw them was
402
00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:15.440
a Grizzly Bear. I was not at that show. Oh
403
00:21:15.480 --> 00:21:17.960
that's right. It was Max and he was weird everybody
404
00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:19.519
out because he was playing with bugs in the pit,
405
00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:22.759
the orchestra pit, not like the mosh pit. That'd be
406
00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:23.359
very weird.
407
00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:25.640
Hey, I eat The XX didn't have a pit.
408
00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:28.720
When I saw them. All right. Speaking of holdovers, let's
409
00:21:28.759 --> 00:21:31.880
talk about one of mine that was a holdover from
410
00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:35.799
not one, but two episodes. Ooh, and that is Carol
411
00:21:35.880 --> 00:21:40.200
Grimes and Delivery in the album Fools Meeting. So this
412
00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:43.319
is an album that has showed up twice and gotten cut.
413
00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:46.599
It first came onto my radar during the Progressive Blues
414
00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:51.039
episode and then showed up again on the Canterbury List.
415
00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:53.960
You may know that from the episode notes of the
416
00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:57.000
Canterbury episode if you read those, but if not, if
417
00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.720
you remember on that episode, although I'm sure you guys
418
00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:02.960
PROP don't because you don't spend three hours editing these.
419
00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:04.720
At one point, I was trying to think of the
420
00:22:04.839 --> 00:22:09.079
name of a early early influence on Character Burry and
421
00:22:09.200 --> 00:22:11.920
couldn't think of it, and this was it. Carol Grimes
422
00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:14.359
and Delivery. This album's from nineteen sixty eight. It is
423
00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:17.359
associated with the Canterbury Movement, and I did not know
424
00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:20.839
why until I think about song three, when the jazz
425
00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:24.559
really starts picking up, and all of all, I liked
426
00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:27.920
it a lot, but I can understand why I cut it. Personally.
427
00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:32.720
Carol has this chip monkey quality to her voice that
428
00:22:33.359 --> 00:22:36.079
I know some people who are big fans of sixties
429
00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:39.000
music are gonna vibe with. But I'm not a huge
430
00:22:39.039 --> 00:22:43.559
fan of that shrill Grace Jones or not Grace Jerke's
431
00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:48.079
definitely not Grace Jones Grace slick style vocal. Thankfully, for
432
00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:52.240
my benefit. After the first song, this turns into a
433
00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:56.400
very instrumental forward album and the pral rock and jazz
434
00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.519
influences really overwhelm it. And I did warm up to
435
00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:03.119
her voice a little bit as time went on and
436
00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:07.000
it settled into it. But I can definitely understand why
437
00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:10.759
I wasn't too keen to immediately throw this on, but
438
00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:13.519
it was a grower and I'm glad we came back
439
00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:17.440
to Delivery. This album. I've seen conflicting stuff about its release.
440
00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:19.680
I've seen some sources say that it came out in
441
00:23:19.759 --> 00:23:22.400
sixty eight, others just say the band is from sixty
442
00:23:22.440 --> 00:23:25.880
eight and the album was from seventy. I think seventy
443
00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:29.160
might be the most accurate. But yeah, a lot of
444
00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:31.279
the guys on here actually did show up in some
445
00:23:31.319 --> 00:23:34.680
of the projects we talked about on the Canterbury episode.
446
00:23:34.720 --> 00:23:37.160
As we mentioned on that episode, it was a very
447
00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:40.920
incestuous scene and when you look over like the brief
448
00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:44.359
synopsis of Deliveries Existence, you'll see members ended up in
449
00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:49.279
Matching Mole and Caravan and Gong and Hatfield in the North,
450
00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:53.200
and Soft Machine and Nucleus and even the Keith Tippet group,
451
00:23:53.319 --> 00:23:57.359
So almost everyone the whole episode. Yeah, and this has
452
00:23:57.559 --> 00:23:59.880
linked to almost every other album we talked about on
453
00:23:59.880 --> 00:24:02.279
the Free episode. So Ian, what do you think of it?
454
00:24:02.440 --> 00:24:05.200
I think my take was a little more positive than
455
00:24:05.279 --> 00:24:07.359
yours was, even though you're not saying you hate it.
456
00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:09.039
It was a bit of a surprise once I got
457
00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:12.319
into it. The album cover it screams classic psych rock,
458
00:24:12.519 --> 00:24:15.200
and that's what I expected, and for a moment I
459
00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:19.680
thought I was right. But yeah, when the jazz starts
460
00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:23.759
taking off, it goes somewhere else entirely, and I was
461
00:24:23.799 --> 00:24:26.680
pretty there with it. It hits really different than a lot
462
00:24:26.720 --> 00:24:29.720
of classic psych rock that I've heard, because most of
463
00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:31.720
it doesn't sound like it's made by a whole bunch
464
00:24:31.720 --> 00:24:36.200
of jazz musicians, and I was pretty happy with that.
465
00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:39.480
It just boils down having so much variety to it.
466
00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:42.359
It does have that psych rock going. There's horns, the
467
00:24:42.359 --> 00:24:45.279
one song is like hockey talk piano in it, which
468
00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:48.759
I always appreciate. There's clean folk rock here and there.
469
00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:51.359
I feel like the album's really just a cross section
470
00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:54.240
of almost anything that was happening in rock in the
471
00:24:54.279 --> 00:24:58.200
late sixties, and talk about time and place album, it
472
00:24:58.359 --> 00:25:00.599
just feels like it's sponged up every everything else that
473
00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:02.440
was going on and trying to make a whole album
474
00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:06.039
out of it. Carol Grimes herself funny grace slick, was
475
00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:08.880
also the point of comparison I thought of, but maybe
476
00:25:08.880 --> 00:25:11.279
that's just the time this came out. She's got a
477
00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:13.279
little bit of a higher voice, although I'd say it
478
00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:14.960
had nice grit to it.
479
00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:17.400
It's weird to hear a voice I would describe as.
480
00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:21.359
Both high and husky, but I kind of liked that.
481
00:25:21.440 --> 00:25:23.400
I thought she was actually a pretty good feature on
482
00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:25.880
this album when she does show up when it's not
483
00:25:26.160 --> 00:25:28.960
jazz freak outs and things like that, which I also love.
484
00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:32.680
Once again an album that I didn't quite get what
485
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:34.839
I was expecting out of it, but I think I
486
00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:37.480
like what I got a little bit more so.
487
00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:39.720
I had a good time at full smeeting, glad to
488
00:25:39.720 --> 00:25:42.200
hear it. Like I said, I'm not dissing it by
489
00:25:42.200 --> 00:25:46.279
any means. I will say for fans of Canterberry, this
490
00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:50.680
is a nice glimpse of a Canterbury scene where the
491
00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:53.519
edges have not been smoothed out, because so much of
492
00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:57.640
that stuff is just very delicate and pretty, and even
493
00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:01.680
the experimental stuff. Maybe not Henry cal but most of
494
00:26:01.720 --> 00:26:07.000
the other albums they have a smoothness about them, and
495
00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:11.160
Carol Grimes and Delivery has much more grit as you mentioned,
496
00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:14.319
and it does have a stronger connection to I think
497
00:26:14.440 --> 00:26:17.960
the lingering British blues scene and of course psych rock.
498
00:26:18.119 --> 00:26:20.720
And it's interesting because I'm pretty sure Soft Machines first
499
00:26:20.759 --> 00:26:22.920
album came out in nineteen seventy two, although I think
500
00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:25.799
that one may have been slightly more psych rock influenced,
501
00:26:25.839 --> 00:26:28.880
as well, it's the unfortunate thing about picking their second
502
00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:31.440
one for that episode, but all the same, it's an
503
00:26:31.519 --> 00:26:35.279
interesting take on how Cantberry may have sounded a different
504
00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:38.920
universe where this became the preferred flavoring. I feel like
505
00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:41.680
I'm drifting, so let's go one to your next one.
506
00:26:41.799 --> 00:26:42.279
All right.
507
00:26:42.519 --> 00:26:45.880
Well, speaking of drifting, let's hit some more shoecase. So
508
00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:48.359
that's going to take us to School of Seven Bells
509
00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:51.680
and their album ghost Story. Ghost Story is in like
510
00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:55.440
just one word, it's not two separate words. So this
511
00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:59.200
band is not around anymore. They haven't been around for
512
00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:03.640
quite a while, but their general sound is well really
513
00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:07.319
drink poppy shoegaze, and they did it damn well. I
514
00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:10.720
would say at formation it was a three piece. By
515
00:27:10.759 --> 00:27:13.160
the time this album, one of the members had left
516
00:27:13.480 --> 00:27:17.680
and that left the singer and front woman, Alejandra Dejesa
517
00:27:18.039 --> 00:27:22.160
and a multi instrumentalist by the name of Benjamin Curtis.
518
00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:25.799
One thing I really like about how School of Seven
519
00:27:25.839 --> 00:27:28.480
Bells operates, and I think you can really hear it
520
00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:32.680
in the music, is their songwriting approach was pretty much
521
00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:37.119
come up with lyrics, record all the vocal lines, and
522
00:27:37.160 --> 00:27:39.039
then they just figure out what the music's going to
523
00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:41.960
do to compliment it later, and for this album, I
524
00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:44.559
really feel like you can tell that's how they came
525
00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:48.160
at it, and it really works. Every song is hooked
526
00:27:48.200 --> 00:27:50.480
around Alejandra's vocals.
527
00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:51.839
She is the central.
528
00:27:51.480 --> 00:27:54.319
Part of the whole thing, and it just turns into
529
00:27:54.319 --> 00:27:59.079
this big hypnotic wash of effects drenched guitars and synths
530
00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:04.640
and these just very simple but very engrossing drum patterns.
531
00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:08.319
And to cap it all, I think Daza has kind
532
00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:11.640
of gone onto a post music career as a poet
533
00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:14.960
and kind of shows in the lyrics. They're very impressionistic
534
00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:19.920
but very evocative, and it just it works so well.
535
00:28:20.079 --> 00:28:22.480
The song that I first heard from this band. Other
536
00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:25.440
albums theirs have been a little bit more popular, but
537
00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:28.519
I was introduced to them through the song When you
538
00:28:28.599 --> 00:28:31.960
Sing and talk about a song that'll just suck you
539
00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.119
in for eight minutes and not let you go. I
540
00:28:34.119 --> 00:28:36.720
guess to use the same word again, hypnotic. It is
541
00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:40.240
just an outstanding song and I wish they would have
542
00:28:40.279 --> 00:28:43.119
had more time to do more like this. This was
543
00:28:43.160 --> 00:28:46.920
the last album they made as an active band. I
544
00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:50.440
think a year after this came out, Benjamincurtis was diagnosed
545
00:28:50.480 --> 00:28:52.559
with some form of lipphoma.
546
00:28:52.079 --> 00:28:53.559
That just killed him.
547
00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:57.839
Their twenty sixteen album was alle Hundra had her vocals together,
548
00:28:57.960 --> 00:29:00.599
but they just had to use sketches of what Benjamin
549
00:29:00.599 --> 00:29:03.640
Curtis had written for music add to that, and they
550
00:29:03.680 --> 00:29:06.680
put that out as possumous album having already broken up.
551
00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:10.079
And it's a shame because I think they were onto
552
00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:13.839
a really good approach with basing everything musically on the
553
00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:18.359
vocal lines. Alejandra has a great voice. It's just straight
554
00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:22.119
up beautiful for most of the album and just really
555
00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:24.119
goes to show how much changing a little bit of
556
00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:27.640
an approach can make you a genre that's very easy
557
00:29:27.680 --> 00:29:30.359
for bands to get lost in the mix. They found
558
00:29:30.359 --> 00:29:32.799
a good way to take that sound and do something
559
00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:35.400
unique with it. And I got to check out more
560
00:29:35.400 --> 00:29:38.839
of their discography. But it's a pretty damn solid start,
561
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:41.680
I would say, But what'd you think of it?
562
00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:45.960
I like School the Seven Bells a lot, and again,
563
00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:47.480
I'm not sure if I'm gonna have a whole lot
564
00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:50.839
to add. It definitely reminded me of twenty twelve. I'd
565
00:29:50.880 --> 00:29:53.680
throw the XX in there again. I'd also say stuff
566
00:29:53.720 --> 00:29:58.000
like Crystal Castles, and as tainted as her name has become,
567
00:29:58.319 --> 00:30:00.599
i'd say Grimes as well, or a lot of that
568
00:30:00.680 --> 00:30:03.000
music that was popping off at the time. With that said,
569
00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:06.440
as much as I think those are valid sonic comparisons,
570
00:30:06.759 --> 00:30:10.440
I do agree. I think that School seven School of
571
00:30:10.440 --> 00:30:13.400
Seven Bells elevates it to a level that I haven't
572
00:30:13.599 --> 00:30:17.000
previously heard. I like a lot of that stuff Grimes included,
573
00:30:17.119 --> 00:30:19.640
but none of it has ever really sunk in on
574
00:30:19.960 --> 00:30:23.279
a deeper level. It's always just been pleasant and I
575
00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:25.880
like listening to it, but I don't find myself going
576
00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:28.880
back to it very often, and I think probably to
577
00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:31.839
be expected since I am a person who focuses so
578
00:30:31.880 --> 00:30:34.359
heavily on lyrics. The fact that the music is all
579
00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:37.519
in service of her vocals, I think really helped drive
580
00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:39.680
this one home for me and force me to pay
581
00:30:39.680 --> 00:30:41.599
attention to it in a way that I don't normally
582
00:30:41.640 --> 00:30:43.720
with this sort of music. I like that a lot.
583
00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:47.920
I like hearing modern shoegaze that isn't attached to the
584
00:30:48.119 --> 00:30:52.279
post metal or black metal scenes. Shoegaze, I think, is
585
00:30:52.279 --> 00:30:55.599
a genre whose influence has been unfairly limiting. I don't
586
00:30:55.599 --> 00:30:58.319
think people really explore it as much as they should,
587
00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:01.960
and I like hearing it different context, and actually listened
588
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:04.680
to some shoegaze for my non episode listening so we
589
00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:06.839
could talk a little bit about that later. Very sad
590
00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:09.839
to hear about the fate of Benjamin Curtis. I would
591
00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:12.359
have loved to heard more from these guys. I guess
592
00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:14.480
it's all I have. I feel like a lot of
593
00:31:14.519 --> 00:31:17.920
the other adjectives I could have used. I probably used
594
00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:20.319
on Tamarin and the Zola, Jesus and maybe even a
595
00:31:20.359 --> 00:31:23.039
little UA. But again, if you're just looking for more
596
00:31:23.079 --> 00:31:28.279
of that good, poppy, atmospheric rock music with heavy electronic influence,
597
00:31:28.519 --> 00:31:31.160
you're in the right place. Yeah, ghost Story won't steal
598
00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:34.920
your own steer. You're on. All right, Well, let's see
599
00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:36.640
where do I want to go next. I guess I'll
600
00:31:36.640 --> 00:31:38.960
do my other holdover, and that is the one that
601
00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:41.079
I knew you liked a lot, and that will be
602
00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:45.279
water Bearer by Sally Oldfield. All right, So this is
603
00:31:45.400 --> 00:31:52.039
one that I was holding over for my Singer Songwriter episode.
604
00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:54.279
I found out about this one not what I was
605
00:31:54.279 --> 00:31:57.680
initially putting that episode together, but actually when I was
606
00:31:57.759 --> 00:31:59.960
exploring albums that we're gonna be doing for a six
607
00:32:00.039 --> 00:32:03.039
these in the seventies new Age episode or probably a
608
00:32:03.079 --> 00:32:06.440
couple episodes pulled from that puddle or pulled from that pile,
609
00:32:06.799 --> 00:32:09.200
and I was gonna throw her on there, but I
610
00:32:09.240 --> 00:32:12.640
figured she's like the biggest she's probably the biggest name,
611
00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:15.880
even if she's not particularly famous outside of certain circles.
612
00:32:16.160 --> 00:32:17.960
So let's just get her out of the way now
613
00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:20.559
as a little bit of a toe dip for Ian
614
00:32:20.839 --> 00:32:23.079
and talk about her, and then we can focus on
615
00:32:23.160 --> 00:32:26.759
some of the more lesser knowns when that episode rolls around. So,
616
00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:30.440
Sally Oldfield is Mike Oldfield's sister. Mike Oldfield. If you
617
00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:33.240
know him from nothing else, you'll recognize him as the
618
00:32:33.279 --> 00:32:37.079
composer of the Exorcist theme, which is just a segment
619
00:32:37.119 --> 00:32:39.640
of tubular bells. I think it's just side one of
620
00:32:39.640 --> 00:32:41.880
side A and SIDEB of a record. Much like Mike,
621
00:32:42.200 --> 00:32:46.880
Sally definitely has an interest in fantasy and esoterica and
622
00:32:47.160 --> 00:32:49.680
New Age ideas. If you only know Mike from his
623
00:32:50.119 --> 00:32:52.680
Exorcist theme, he might not pick up on that, but
624
00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:55.119
it's definitely a recurring theme on some of his other work,
625
00:32:55.160 --> 00:32:58.519
which I've explored a little bit as I've gotten into
626
00:32:58.519 --> 00:33:02.359
more library music, ambient and whatnot, and I'm sure he'll
627
00:33:02.400 --> 00:33:04.559
show up on an episode in his own right later
628
00:33:04.640 --> 00:33:08.839
on onto water Bear itself. It was a really beautiful album,
629
00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:11.920
another one that I think just sounds light years ahead
630
00:33:11.960 --> 00:33:14.559
of its time. I could easily see this one showing
631
00:33:14.599 --> 00:33:18.000
up on your Singer Songwriter episode as well. I definitely
632
00:33:18.000 --> 00:33:20.960
think Sally Oldfield created a template. I definitely think she
633
00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:24.880
represents a type of creative that gained more prominence later
634
00:33:24.920 --> 00:33:27.319
in the music scene, which I'm very happy about. God,
635
00:33:27.319 --> 00:33:29.279
who wouldn't I recommend this too. If you're a fantas
636
00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:31.400
singer songwriter stuff, you're gonna love this. If you're a
637
00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:33.480
New Age fan, you'll like this. If you like the
638
00:33:33.480 --> 00:33:36.559
Lord of the Rings soundtrack, he might like this as well.
639
00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:39.319
There's just a lot go one one here and I
640
00:33:39.359 --> 00:33:43.079
love it. I love that medieval English fantasy setting. I
641
00:33:43.160 --> 00:33:46.680
love that slight ren fair vibe to it. Or actually
642
00:33:46.759 --> 00:33:49.559
more fairy fest which is a local thing around here.
643
00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:51.640
I don't know if they had those other places or not,
644
00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:56.559
but whatever, this is not a central Pennsylvania festival podcast. Ian,
645
00:33:56.799 --> 00:33:58.559
what'd you think of a water Bear?
646
00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:01.400
My first note was I guess this progue ability just
647
00:34:01.480 --> 00:34:02.279
runs the family.
648
00:34:02.599 --> 00:34:04.200
I was very oppressed with this one.
649
00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:07.359
It's just a dandy block of full eat Progue material.
650
00:34:07.759 --> 00:34:12.760
Songwriting flows like well water, I guess, and yeah, musicianship.
651
00:34:12.840 --> 00:34:16.000
It's outstanding that it's never too flashy, which I think
652
00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:18.079
is a lot more than can be said about a
653
00:34:18.119 --> 00:34:21.599
lot of this app's contemporaries. Seeing that this came out
654
00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:23.920
in seventy eight, Yeah, this is about the time that
655
00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:28.599
prague was starting to shudder and crack under its own weight.
656
00:34:29.079 --> 00:34:32.599
And it's kind of nice hearing something that goes back
657
00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:36.159
to these really pastoral roots of the genre and goes
658
00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:39.119
back to a time when the ambition was a bit
659
00:34:39.159 --> 00:34:40.360
more important than just.
660
00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:42.960
The technical ability to play. And it's also just.
661
00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:46.000
Very strange when this album came out, considering how much
662
00:34:46.039 --> 00:34:50.039
progue was either drifting towards the art rock direction where
663
00:34:50.039 --> 00:34:53.639
they were tightening things up but also getting weirder or
664
00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:56.880
going in a punchier direction. As you know, some band's
665
00:34:57.079 --> 00:35:00.199
Pink Floyd put out Animals, which was so much more
666
00:35:00.360 --> 00:35:03.079
aggressive and anything they do and done before. I think
667
00:35:03.079 --> 00:35:05.519
a lot of prog bands were getting into that. Genesis
668
00:35:05.559 --> 00:35:07.960
was kind of doing the same thing. It's just really
669
00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:11.159
cool seeing Sally Oldfield sticking to the old ways here
670
00:35:11.480 --> 00:35:14.119
and doing it damned well. I think this would rival
671
00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:17.440
just about any other super soft prog album from the
672
00:35:17.480 --> 00:35:20.880
early seventies that I've ever checked out. It's just really
673
00:35:20.960 --> 00:35:23.519
damn good, and her voice is great for stuff like this.
674
00:35:23.880 --> 00:35:27.519
Turns out i've actually heard her before. She did vocals
675
00:35:27.559 --> 00:35:30.840
on the final track on Steve Hackett's debut solo album,
676
00:35:31.119 --> 00:35:33.840
which I mean, Voyage of the Accolades just an outstanding
677
00:35:33.880 --> 00:35:36.880
album too. But it was really good hearing the whole
678
00:35:36.920 --> 00:35:39.880
album's worth of her singing and knowing that she actually
679
00:35:39.920 --> 00:35:43.119
put the whole thing together equally good. And you know,
680
00:35:43.480 --> 00:35:45.480
I guess, kind of as an aside, we do have
681
00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:48.000
to get on that new age stuff. Because I was
682
00:35:48.039 --> 00:35:51.280
thinking about, like, what the very first songs I ever
683
00:35:51.440 --> 00:35:53.559
liked were when I was young. You know what the
684
00:35:53.599 --> 00:35:57.119
first music I can remember hearing and enjoying was, And
685
00:35:57.679 --> 00:36:00.719
two names that keep coming up are Any and Alex
686
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:04.719
de Grassi, and they were both just total New Age musicians.
687
00:36:04.920 --> 00:36:08.079
So between that, listening to this and just anything else
688
00:36:08.360 --> 00:36:10.480
new Age that I've ever listened to, yeah, I could
689
00:36:10.480 --> 00:36:12.079
definitely dig into some stuff like that.
690
00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:14.320
Well, hey, if you want, we you can pick that
691
00:36:14.440 --> 00:36:17.679
for your first month when we start programming for the
692
00:36:17.719 --> 00:36:20.199
new year. But glad to hear it. I think this
693
00:36:20.280 --> 00:36:23.599
is her most well known album, but she has quite
694
00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:27.400
a number of other records if you're interested. She has
695
00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:30.440
I think damn near twenty albums, and she shows up
696
00:36:30.480 --> 00:36:33.559
one unsurprisingly, a lot of Mike Oldfield stuff, along with
697
00:36:33.599 --> 00:36:35.519
the Steve Hackett album, which I don't know if you
698
00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:37.760
said the name of is a Voyage of the Acolyte
699
00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:41.079
for anybody curious, I think I did. But yeah, well,
700
00:36:41.119 --> 00:36:43.039
just in case, we're covered and I can always cut
701
00:36:43.079 --> 00:36:46.320
this out. Okay, Well that was Sally Oldfield. Where do
702
00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:47.719
you want to go next? All right?
703
00:36:47.800 --> 00:36:50.679
I guess at this point we're two my two favorites
704
00:36:50.719 --> 00:36:53.360
of my picks. I'll save there really out there in
705
00:36:53.400 --> 00:36:56.159
different ones. So let's go with Blackwater, Holy Light and
706
00:36:56.199 --> 00:37:00.559
their album Silence Motion. Wow, this one hit way harder
707
00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:02.599
than I thought it was going to. I'd put off
708
00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:05.119
listening to this because I think you could hear it.
709
00:37:05.159 --> 00:37:07.079
At the end of the last episode, I referred to
710
00:37:07.159 --> 00:37:10.559
them as an occult rock band, which wasn't totally accurate.
711
00:37:10.840 --> 00:37:14.480
They were more a straightlaced psych rock band before this album,
712
00:37:14.760 --> 00:37:17.159
and I knew this had come out and it had
713
00:37:17.159 --> 00:37:20.960
gotten some preisee but I figured, all right, I'll throw
714
00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:24.159
it on here. Hopefully it's something I enjoy. Something about
715
00:37:24.159 --> 00:37:29.679
them has changed rather drastically, and I loved it. Instead
716
00:37:29.679 --> 00:37:32.760
of that like really stonery, trippy riff rock that they
717
00:37:32.800 --> 00:37:36.400
had on their previous albums, this album like throws so
718
00:37:36.480 --> 00:37:39.559
many different genres in a blender that I'm not exactly
719
00:37:39.639 --> 00:37:40.840
sure what to call it.
720
00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:42.039
Genre wise.
721
00:37:42.400 --> 00:37:45.639
There's the doom, there's the psych rock, definitely still there.
722
00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:50.519
There's also bits of post rock, some delicate folk coming
723
00:37:50.559 --> 00:37:53.559
in here, and there bits of shoegaze because apparently that's
724
00:37:53.599 --> 00:37:56.960
my theme for the episode, even some fringes of extreme metal.
725
00:37:57.159 --> 00:38:01.679
I mean, track one has this soft vibelin intro running
726
00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:05.800
into this fuzzy, not aggressive, but very fuzzy riff while
727
00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:09.119
the singer of the band is dueting with I believe
728
00:38:09.159 --> 00:38:12.400
the vocalist from Thal, and he's not the only metal
729
00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:15.280
guy who shows up as a guest. There's also members
730
00:38:15.320 --> 00:38:18.800
of both Inner Arma and Mismore, and actually I think
731
00:38:18.840 --> 00:38:21.679
the dude from Mismore produced this album. You don't know
732
00:38:21.719 --> 00:38:24.719
it's gonna happen going into any song because they're all
733
00:38:24.880 --> 00:38:28.760
just they're all so different sounding, and nothing in their
734
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:31.599
previous career really had me prepare for what was going
735
00:38:31.639 --> 00:38:34.960
on here. I think the keyboards in particular are a
736
00:38:35.039 --> 00:38:38.159
real highlight that sets an intriguing mood. I picked out
737
00:38:38.199 --> 00:38:41.199
track too. There's a synth rhythm that reminds me of
738
00:38:41.239 --> 00:38:43.679
the Beyond the Black Rainbow soundtrack that I was just
739
00:38:43.760 --> 00:38:47.000
listening to in my off time a week or two ago. Yeah,
740
00:38:47.000 --> 00:38:49.800
other parts they go very rick right with it. Then
741
00:38:49.920 --> 00:38:54.039
the guitar's tremol over a thing is just as likely
742
00:38:54.079 --> 00:38:57.280
as any sort of chunky stoner chords, and the production
743
00:38:57.519 --> 00:39:02.719
is very unusual. It has this of detachment and lack
744
00:39:02.760 --> 00:39:06.119
of energy. Always sounds like it's an insult, but there's
745
00:39:06.239 --> 00:39:09.280
like a torpor to this album that I really appreciate
746
00:39:09.440 --> 00:39:12.480
because it feels like how I drove through life, and
747
00:39:12.679 --> 00:39:14.800
you know, credit to them for evoking that so well.
748
00:39:14.920 --> 00:39:16.800
There's so many cool moments on this album.
749
00:39:16.880 --> 00:39:17.760
It just kind of.
750
00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:20.920
Broke my expectations over my head, and you know, as
751
00:39:20.960 --> 00:39:24.239
anybody who's Facebook friends with me saw, it ended up
752
00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:26.599
landing on my End of the Year list in very
753
00:39:26.639 --> 00:39:29.599
short order, because I was just that damned impressed with it.
754
00:39:29.880 --> 00:39:32.920
But that's me being impressed with Blackwater Holy Light by
755
00:39:32.960 --> 00:39:34.360
is that a weird name to shoot worn in?
756
00:39:34.679 --> 00:39:36.840
How'd you like them? Well? I had never heard of
757
00:39:36.920 --> 00:39:40.199
Blackwater Holy Light, so I did not have any expectation
758
00:39:40.360 --> 00:39:43.360
for this, but it did not stop me from being
759
00:39:43.679 --> 00:39:46.239
maybe not equally impressed, but damn near close to it.
760
00:39:46.280 --> 00:39:48.800
Probably equally impressed, just not as surprise. I don't even
761
00:39:48.840 --> 00:39:50.039
know where to start with this, and I think you
762
00:39:50.079 --> 00:39:52.239
covered most of the points I would have. I don't
763
00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:55.960
know if is doom gaze the word I know doom
764
00:39:55.960 --> 00:39:58.639
gaze is kind of a genre. I think it's one
765
00:39:58.639 --> 00:40:02.599
of those weird Spotify ones that isn't officially recognized as
766
00:40:02.840 --> 00:40:05.599
recognized as a genre can get by the internet yet.
767
00:40:05.920 --> 00:40:08.880
I don't know how comparable this is, but yeah, there's
768
00:40:08.920 --> 00:40:11.599
just such a wide range of influences here, even if
769
00:40:11.599 --> 00:40:14.119
I don't think they call themselves post metal. To me,
770
00:40:14.280 --> 00:40:16.719
that's almost what I would call this. And I know
771
00:40:16.800 --> 00:40:19.559
I've harked on this point before, but to me, post
772
00:40:19.599 --> 00:40:22.800
metal should invoke a little bit more than just an
773
00:40:22.880 --> 00:40:26.239
arpeggio fest. I don't think it's really as experimental as
774
00:40:26.239 --> 00:40:29.840
the name implies it should be. Yet this, I think
775
00:40:30.079 --> 00:40:32.800
is such a weird blend of influences done in a
776
00:40:32.840 --> 00:40:36.639
completely different way that I would feel comfortable calling this
777
00:40:36.679 --> 00:40:39.679
post something. It reminds me almost of the same level
778
00:40:39.719 --> 00:40:42.320
of deconstruction. And you know this is gonna be a
779
00:40:42.480 --> 00:40:46.320
big praise, but it reminds me of almost those later
780
00:40:46.400 --> 00:40:50.800
day Talk Talk albums just to shear terms of deconstruction
781
00:40:51.119 --> 00:40:55.320
and minimalism and atmospherics. And I love the bits of
782
00:40:55.360 --> 00:40:57.679
extreme metal in there. I had to stop and make
783
00:40:57.719 --> 00:40:59.360
sure I was listening to the right album here and
784
00:40:59.400 --> 00:41:02.840
there I fall maybe something skipped, but no, it didn't.
785
00:41:03.280 --> 00:41:05.599
I love the doom that's left. Some of it reminded
786
00:41:05.679 --> 00:41:09.079
me of Warning, Sad Warning that we talked about before.
787
00:41:09.320 --> 00:41:11.719
It's a very rare experience when I can listen to
788
00:41:11.719 --> 00:41:13.119
something and it reminds me of the first time I
789
00:41:13.159 --> 00:41:15.360
was hearing watching from a distance, and this did it.
790
00:41:15.519 --> 00:41:18.440
This is one that I don't do much at home listening.
791
00:41:18.599 --> 00:41:21.280
I listened to a lot of stuff at work because
792
00:41:22.280 --> 00:41:26.119
I have ADHD brain and I need multiple points of focus.
793
00:41:26.199 --> 00:41:29.000
But this one made me long for the days of
794
00:41:29.039 --> 00:41:32.639
twenty twelve when I was drinking cheap pre made Long
795
00:41:32.679 --> 00:41:35.239
Island iced tea in my one room apartment and listening
796
00:41:35.280 --> 00:41:38.440
to sad music. This would have been a great soundtrack
797
00:41:38.480 --> 00:41:41.360
to one of those nights, just absolutely beautiful. If I
798
00:41:41.360 --> 00:41:42.800
had to make an end of the year list, I
799
00:41:42.800 --> 00:41:45.119
think black Water Holy Light would be on it. And
800
00:41:45.559 --> 00:41:48.280
I thank you for introducing me to them, And I
801
00:41:48.320 --> 00:41:51.159
really hope they continue in this direction and get even
802
00:41:51.239 --> 00:41:53.880
weirder with it, because I think these ladies are onto
803
00:41:53.880 --> 00:41:55.559
something very special here. Yeah.
804
00:41:55.719 --> 00:41:58.559
I didn't even remark besides the guest, all the members
805
00:41:58.559 --> 00:42:01.639
of this band or women got the full coverage here,
806
00:42:01.880 --> 00:42:04.159
But damn yeah, very glad to hear that.
807
00:42:04.960 --> 00:42:05.480
Very happy.
808
00:42:05.800 --> 00:42:07.320
Yeah, it sounds like you took to it as well
809
00:42:07.360 --> 00:42:10.280
as I did. Awesome Blackwater early like check them out?
810
00:42:10.440 --> 00:42:10.800
All right?
811
00:42:11.199 --> 00:42:14.079
Well, I guess speaking to black metal and women and
812
00:42:14.239 --> 00:42:16.800
post metal, why don't we talk about Dreariness in the
813
00:42:16.880 --> 00:42:21.559
album Fragments. So this is the second album by I'm
814
00:42:21.599 --> 00:42:24.960
pretty sure it's a one woman project, Dreariness. I had
815
00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.079
discovered her first album from I think twenty thirteen, called
816
00:42:29.159 --> 00:42:32.360
up My Mind is too Weak to Forget a while ago,
817
00:42:32.760 --> 00:42:36.760
and I've always lovingly referred to them as Girl Silencer.
818
00:42:37.320 --> 00:42:40.840
But I realized that she had a second album as
819
00:42:40.880 --> 00:42:42.880
I was going to look up the first on Spotify,
820
00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:46.400
and I was like, you know, youve's never heard her.
821
00:42:46.639 --> 00:42:49.159
I've never heard this album. Let's see how it is.
822
00:42:49.559 --> 00:42:54.320
And I think I do still prefer my mind is
823
00:42:54.360 --> 00:42:57.719
too weak to forget. But she definitely went for a
824
00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:00.559
slightly different direction on this one, and I don't think
825
00:43:00.559 --> 00:43:03.239
it's a bad one. This is very post metal influenced,
826
00:43:03.280 --> 00:43:07.000
I think a little bit more than her previous album was.
827
00:43:07.440 --> 00:43:10.079
I really like the way she handles the musical elements
828
00:43:10.079 --> 00:43:12.079
of black metal, which I know is a very broad
829
00:43:12.119 --> 00:43:15.840
thing to say, but speaking of minimalism, I really feel
830
00:43:15.840 --> 00:43:18.639
like the music is also just in service of her voice,
831
00:43:18.679 --> 00:43:22.119
which is absolutely incredible. There's something very spaced out and
832
00:43:22.320 --> 00:43:25.800
ambient about a lot of this stuff. Again it's post influence,
833
00:43:25.840 --> 00:43:27.760
but it doesn't really always build up to that one
834
00:43:27.760 --> 00:43:32.199
particular emotional crescendo and then collapse upon itself. It's really
835
00:43:32.280 --> 00:43:36.280
just slow and plotting and depressing, which is the whole point.
836
00:43:36.559 --> 00:43:39.760
Her voice is probably not going to be for everyone.
837
00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:44.119
As I said, she has toned it down a little
838
00:43:44.119 --> 00:43:47.880
bit on this. On her first album, it's much screechier,
839
00:43:48.519 --> 00:43:52.400
well not screech here, but it's much much harsher and abrasive,
840
00:43:52.880 --> 00:43:55.360
and I enjoyed that quite a lot. I don't know,
841
00:43:55.800 --> 00:43:58.400
it represents a much angrier form of depression than I
842
00:43:58.400 --> 00:44:01.800
think Fragments does. But you know, we're three years removed
843
00:44:01.800 --> 00:44:04.920
from the release of the first album and she's back here,
844
00:44:04.960 --> 00:44:08.800
and it's completely natural that her emotional state is going
845
00:44:08.840 --> 00:44:11.440
to progress and change. This one seems a little more
846
00:44:11.440 --> 00:44:15.840
contemplative and less angry and raging than I think my
847
00:44:15.880 --> 00:44:20.360
mind was, and I appreciate it. I like her musical journey.
848
00:44:20.480 --> 00:44:22.920
I know she has a EP that came out in
849
00:44:23.000 --> 00:44:26.000
twenty twenty, and I'm curious to see where she's at now,
850
00:44:26.239 --> 00:44:28.519
particularly because, as I just clicked the link, it has
851
00:44:28.599 --> 00:44:32.760
synth wave and tripop listed as influences. So I'm very
852
00:44:32.800 --> 00:44:35.079
excited to check that out. If you think you've heard
853
00:44:35.119 --> 00:44:37.039
all there is to hear from black gays and you're
854
00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:40.119
looking for something a little bit different and damn solid,
855
00:44:40.280 --> 00:44:42.440
I think Dreary Nous is a good place to go.
856
00:44:42.639 --> 00:44:44.519
Ian how'd you take to it?
857
00:44:44.679 --> 00:44:47.519
Yeah, it definitely wasn't the Girl's Silence or I was expecting,
858
00:44:47.840 --> 00:44:50.599
but what I got I was really into.
859
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:51.239
Now.
860
00:44:51.320 --> 00:44:54.880
I know this project is Italian, but holy hell, do
861
00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:58.039
they sound French To me? Parts of this album sound
862
00:44:58.119 --> 00:45:01.239
like rough demos. Because the product is a little blowfi
863
00:45:01.599 --> 00:45:04.559
of stuff you'd hear from bands like All Sest. Now,
864
00:45:05.039 --> 00:45:07.480
it's not necessarily a bad thing in this case. I'll
865
00:45:07.519 --> 00:45:12.360
admit I'm not that huge on the Allest sound latest Great. Yeah,
866
00:45:12.440 --> 00:45:16.119
I'm all about that, but this particular version of black metal,
867
00:45:16.159 --> 00:45:19.159
it is very hit or miss with me, more miss
868
00:45:19.480 --> 00:45:22.639
than hit. I'd like to listen back for some stuff
869
00:45:22.679 --> 00:45:26.159
and see what I like better nowadays. But this is
870
00:45:26.280 --> 00:45:29.000
a very good omen of things to come if I
871
00:45:29.039 --> 00:45:32.800
do do that. Because I very much enjoyed this album
872
00:45:33.000 --> 00:45:35.679
as much as you can enjoy a depressive black metal album.
873
00:45:35.920 --> 00:45:39.719
They're doing a great job of managing something that's both
874
00:45:39.760 --> 00:45:43.679
beautiful and mournful. The electronic elements that occasionally bleed in
875
00:45:43.719 --> 00:45:47.000
are pretty damn cool too. That's always an easy way
876
00:45:47.039 --> 00:45:49.000
to win me over to your black metal sound.
877
00:45:49.320 --> 00:45:49.880
Obviously.
878
00:45:50.239 --> 00:45:52.880
The vocals are where this sets itself apart from you
879
00:45:53.280 --> 00:45:55.840
All Sest or somebody like that. I led this off
880
00:45:56.000 --> 00:45:59.519
saying she has an excellent, clean vocal tone. It's unpolished,
881
00:45:59.559 --> 00:46:03.360
but it works so well. It evokes mood just perfectly.
882
00:46:03.800 --> 00:46:06.679
And then when she's done with her clean singing, shrieking
883
00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:11.519
is just a It sounds lung collapsing. And I'm very
884
00:46:11.559 --> 00:46:13.519
curious to the fact that you said she's toned it
885
00:46:13.559 --> 00:46:18.239
down for this album, because she's freaking spine chilling on
886
00:46:18.280 --> 00:46:22.400
this album. Whatever Dreariness is going through, it's some hard
887
00:46:22.480 --> 00:46:26.159
shit and it shows rounding out the approach she got
888
00:46:26.239 --> 00:46:31.559
like haunting whispers and occasionally distressed crying, which that's a
889
00:46:31.559 --> 00:46:34.599
hard sell for me as well. Usually when my favorite
890
00:46:34.599 --> 00:46:38.719
depressed black metal band Shining works and crying sounds, that's
891
00:46:38.760 --> 00:46:42.079
when I'm thinking, all right, skip forward a little. But no,
892
00:46:42.639 --> 00:46:46.159
for Dreariness, it works really well, just fits the whole
893
00:46:46.199 --> 00:46:50.119
castraalt of the thing perfectly, and the album's just really
894
00:46:50.159 --> 00:46:53.559
deeply evocative and genuinely haunting. And yeah, even if the
895
00:46:53.639 --> 00:46:56.440
vocals on this are toned down a little bit, it's
896
00:46:56.480 --> 00:46:58.360
still enough that when I put it on at work,
897
00:46:58.400 --> 00:47:02.400
I was like shit and turned down my speakers kind
898
00:47:02.400 --> 00:47:05.280
of quickly ufortunately nobody was in the room. Then if
899
00:47:05.320 --> 00:47:08.800
you're into Black Gays and DSBN. Definitely get on this.
900
00:47:09.199 --> 00:47:11.559
It won't let you down. If you're into one or
901
00:47:11.639 --> 00:47:14.320
the other, still give it a try. Maybe it'll make
902
00:47:14.360 --> 00:47:16.400
you a fan of the other side of the equation
903
00:47:16.519 --> 00:47:20.199
a little bit more. I definitely appreciated this album. Fragments
904
00:47:20.280 --> 00:47:21.559
was damn good, awesome.
905
00:47:21.719 --> 00:47:24.719
I'm really glad to hear that because I know that
906
00:47:24.760 --> 00:47:27.119
you are in pretty much the same boat as me
907
00:47:27.159 --> 00:47:30.199
when it comes to the all sound we'll call it.
908
00:47:30.320 --> 00:47:32.400
And I'm really glad that you use the word lo
909
00:47:32.559 --> 00:47:35.679
fi and unpolished, because I do think that is one
910
00:47:35.679 --> 00:47:38.360
of the factors that really sets this apart and makes
911
00:47:38.400 --> 00:47:40.760
it sound a little bit more real than some of
912
00:47:40.760 --> 00:47:44.199
that stuff does. I don't mean to stereotype or put
913
00:47:44.239 --> 00:47:47.360
any o those bands down, because I do enjoy All
914
00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:49.760
Sessed and a lot of Scray and some of those
915
00:47:49.760 --> 00:47:51.840
other bands that came out from that scene. I'd love
916
00:47:51.880 --> 00:47:54.159
them even more when they first came out. But there
917
00:47:54.280 --> 00:47:57.280
is something I don't contrived as the word. It just
918
00:47:57.320 --> 00:48:00.239
seems like very planned that they were going to be like, oh, okay,
919
00:48:00.280 --> 00:48:03.840
let's write an album about depression, and this feels far
920
00:48:03.920 --> 00:48:06.719
more organic, and it feels like a much more sincere
921
00:48:06.880 --> 00:48:09.039
expression of negative emotion than I think some of that
922
00:48:09.079 --> 00:48:11.320
stuff is. And post metal as a whole, and that
923
00:48:11.360 --> 00:48:15.079
whole gaze scene, as I've mentioned many times, including I
924
00:48:15.079 --> 00:48:17.719
think three times on this episode already, a lot of times,
925
00:48:17.719 --> 00:48:21.519
that does feel artificial to me and emotionally manipulative. And
926
00:48:22.039 --> 00:48:24.719
I don't always take the hook. I don't always bite
927
00:48:24.800 --> 00:48:27.679
on that bait. This is one that it works, and
928
00:48:28.000 --> 00:48:30.800
I think it's because there is a sincerity to it
929
00:48:30.920 --> 00:48:34.000
and rawness to it that is missing from a lot
930
00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:36.199
of that stuff. I'm really glad that you enjoyed it.
931
00:48:36.239 --> 00:48:38.199
I would really recommend you go back and listen to
932
00:48:38.239 --> 00:48:40.760
her first album. I think you may like it even
933
00:48:40.760 --> 00:48:44.599
a little bit more than this, based on my knowledge
934
00:48:44.599 --> 00:48:47.960
of your taste in black metal, and I'll throw that
935
00:48:48.000 --> 00:48:50.400
recommendation out to our listeners as well. If you enjoyed
936
00:48:50.400 --> 00:48:53.239
Fragments by Dreariness, go back and listen to My mind
937
00:48:53.320 --> 00:48:55.960
is too weak to forget the also join me and
938
00:48:56.000 --> 00:48:59.719
listening to the EP closer. After this episode's done. All right, well,
939
00:49:00.159 --> 00:49:02.719
I guess the one to your next one? All right?
940
00:49:02.920 --> 00:49:05.840
Well, I guess this will be it for the first
941
00:49:05.880 --> 00:49:09.679
five I suppose and that is Julia Holter with her
942
00:49:09.719 --> 00:49:13.400
album Loud City Song. Julia is another one of those
943
00:49:13.480 --> 00:49:17.599
refugees from my Singer Songwriter lists where my sampling told
944
00:49:17.639 --> 00:49:21.440
me that maybe she wasn't the right fit for that episode,
945
00:49:21.760 --> 00:49:26.639
but I definitely want to double background. Specifically, Holter's sound
946
00:49:27.119 --> 00:49:33.239
is a blend of modern classical with what I've found
947
00:49:33.239 --> 00:49:36.880
out is described as chamber jazz. I think specifically chamber
948
00:49:37.000 --> 00:49:39.679
jazz is the descriptor where I said, all right, I'm
949
00:49:39.679 --> 00:49:41.920
gonna have to check this out eventually, but it's not
950
00:49:42.000 --> 00:49:46.440
going on my Singer Songwriter episode. This album really evokes
951
00:49:46.480 --> 00:49:49.440
an urban sense to it and a lot of the
952
00:49:49.480 --> 00:49:52.599
classical bits. You remember that Max Richter album we were
953
00:49:52.639 --> 00:49:55.440
talking about on one of the first randomizers.
954
00:49:54.800 --> 00:49:56.920
Yeah, Blue Notes I think it was called or something.
955
00:49:57.119 --> 00:50:01.559
Yeah, Blue Notebooks. Yeah, this album brought that to mind
956
00:50:01.719 --> 00:50:04.920
a whole lot. About also being an album where Till
957
00:50:04.960 --> 00:50:07.719
the Swinton is narrating the story of a woman looking
958
00:50:07.800 --> 00:50:10.760
out the window of her apartment in the city discussing
959
00:50:10.760 --> 00:50:13.840
what she witnesses. This album had a lot of that
960
00:50:13.960 --> 00:50:17.000
same feeling. And then when the orchestration gets a little
961
00:50:17.000 --> 00:50:18.880
more dense, I dare say there's a bit of a
962
00:50:18.960 --> 00:50:22.000
Danny Elfman feeling to it, which as much as I'm
963
00:50:22.000 --> 00:50:25.559
an Oigo Boingo guy, his classical stuff is a little
964
00:50:25.599 --> 00:50:27.800
more hit or miss for me. But when it hits,
965
00:50:27.880 --> 00:50:31.000
it hits, and I think Julia Holter does an excellent
966
00:50:31.079 --> 00:50:34.320
job giving the same sort of feeling as Danny Elfman
967
00:50:34.400 --> 00:50:37.559
when it hits. So Max Richter Danny Elfman, there's the
968
00:50:37.639 --> 00:50:40.599
idea for the classical, and she also works in this
969
00:50:40.800 --> 00:50:44.159
undercurrent of instruments, kind of duplicating city noises in a
970
00:50:44.199 --> 00:50:47.800
lot of these places, and it works just wonderfully. To
971
00:50:47.920 --> 00:50:49.760
use a word again that I think I'm used on
972
00:50:49.800 --> 00:50:52.800
a couple of these albums, it's very evocative, very much
973
00:50:52.840 --> 00:50:55.119
gives you that feeling of walking down a city street
974
00:50:55.159 --> 00:50:58.199
in the evening, whether that's a good thing or a
975
00:50:58.239 --> 00:51:01.519
bit more anxiety inducing some of these songs get into.
976
00:51:01.800 --> 00:51:06.320
In addition to just a really intriguing and outstanding music,
977
00:51:06.639 --> 00:51:10.639
Julia's voice is just really damn good and she puts
978
00:51:10.679 --> 00:51:12.920
it a great use throughout the album. There's a real
979
00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:15.679
variety to her approach and cadence in a lot of
980
00:51:15.719 --> 00:51:18.559
places I don't hear from a lot of other singers,
981
00:51:18.840 --> 00:51:21.639
and that's not that's not just women's singers as just
982
00:51:21.679 --> 00:51:24.960
singers in general. She just has a great flow to
983
00:51:25.079 --> 00:51:29.159
or singing, utilizes whispers expertly as a great voice. This
984
00:51:29.239 --> 00:51:31.559
is one of those albums that I was just so
985
00:51:31.719 --> 00:51:33.800
taken with that it's kind of hard for me to
986
00:51:34.159 --> 00:51:37.119
say all of my thoughts on best for a focused listen.
987
00:51:37.360 --> 00:51:39.880
This is one that I actually had to give a
988
00:51:39.880 --> 00:51:42.119
second listen, just to make sure I really soaked in
989
00:51:42.159 --> 00:51:46.119
the whole thing. And yeah, second listening just on headphones
990
00:51:46.119 --> 00:51:49.360
in my room, it's even better than listening to it
991
00:51:49.400 --> 00:51:53.119
while driving around the first time. I'm damned impressed. Need
992
00:51:53.159 --> 00:51:55.119
to check out more of her stuff. If any of
993
00:51:55.199 --> 00:51:58.920
it's anything like Loud City Song, I think she might
994
00:51:59.000 --> 00:52:01.760
end up a sleeper favorite musician of mine. I don't know.
995
00:52:02.079 --> 00:52:05.599
Time will tell, but that's me rambling what you'd think.
996
00:52:05.880 --> 00:52:08.360
Yeah, I agree that this required a second listen, and
997
00:52:08.480 --> 00:52:09.960
I did not get a chance to do it. I
998
00:52:09.960 --> 00:52:12.920
probably didn't realize that it needed it until jumping back
999
00:52:12.960 --> 00:52:15.599
through and revisiting it now. I guess I'll just hit
1000
00:52:15.639 --> 00:52:17.960
on some of the same stuff you did for Julia
1001
00:52:18.360 --> 00:52:21.679
very urban. I think that's reflected in the album cover,
1002
00:52:21.719 --> 00:52:23.599
even which is like just a low five picture of
1003
00:52:23.599 --> 00:52:25.400
a city street that looks like it was taken on
1004
00:52:25.440 --> 00:52:27.800
a two thousand and five digital camera. I think I
1005
00:52:27.880 --> 00:52:30.880
threw a Noir comparison out there again as well. Now,
1006
00:52:31.239 --> 00:52:34.360
Noir implies a certain level of jazziness and a certain
1007
00:52:34.440 --> 00:52:36.639
type of jazz that I don't know if I would
1008
00:52:36.679 --> 00:52:41.639
say his influence here, but I think esthetically and period wise,
1009
00:52:41.719 --> 00:52:45.280
she is pulling a lot from that gritty old America.
1010
00:52:45.519 --> 00:52:46.920
And I know, as I was just looking at like
1011
00:52:46.920 --> 00:52:48.760
one of the music videos, everybody was dressed as like
1012
00:52:48.800 --> 00:52:51.960
a flapper, very much nineteen twenties influenced, so I think
1013
00:52:52.000 --> 00:52:55.400
that's there too. Sometimes it does get upbeatn a little jazzy,
1014
00:52:55.559 --> 00:52:59.320
particularly like old old school jazz, less so than which
1015
00:52:59.360 --> 00:53:02.400
is nice because I feel like myself and probably you
1016
00:53:02.480 --> 00:53:04.639
as well, our interests tend to lean a little bit
1017
00:53:04.639 --> 00:53:07.199
more towards like the fusion and the smooth end of things,
1018
00:53:07.360 --> 00:53:09.960
so I don't visit much of that kind of jazz
1019
00:53:10.159 --> 00:53:13.079
very often, and I'm gonna rectify that for both of
1020
00:53:13.159 --> 00:53:17.039
us at some point. But a nice tidbit, it's amazing
1021
00:53:17.039 --> 00:53:19.239
that she can kind of invoke all those influences at
1022
00:53:19.280 --> 00:53:21.679
the same time, some of these songs are just so
1023
00:53:21.880 --> 00:53:25.679
hauntingly beautiful and again minimalistic. I think that's like the
1024
00:53:25.719 --> 00:53:28.039
other recurring theme with a lot of ears today, just
1025
00:53:28.079 --> 00:53:30.960
for instance, a Hello Stranger in particular, Even though there
1026
00:53:31.039 --> 00:53:34.280
is music behind it, sometimes it just sounds like just
1027
00:53:34.400 --> 00:53:37.559
her voice echoing in like a dark alley or something.
1028
00:53:37.719 --> 00:53:41.119
It's very evocative and very delicate. She does have like
1029
00:53:41.360 --> 00:53:44.880
a brittleness to her voice that I really appreciate, a fragility.
1030
00:53:45.159 --> 00:53:47.800
I always like that in a singer, male or female.
1031
00:53:47.880 --> 00:53:50.360
And yeah, I really look forward to listening to this
1032
00:53:50.400 --> 00:53:52.639
one again. It's another one that I think may be
1033
00:53:52.639 --> 00:53:55.559
best suited for dark listening alone at home, which I
1034
00:53:55.599 --> 00:53:57.559
did not have a chance to do with it and
1035
00:53:57.719 --> 00:54:00.800
don't often do. But much like you, I would say
1036
00:54:00.880 --> 00:54:03.599
Julia Holter has a good chance of being one of
1037
00:54:03.599 --> 00:54:05.199
my low key favorite musicians.
1038
00:54:05.760 --> 00:54:09.079
So good stuff, nice, nice, all right.
1039
00:54:09.239 --> 00:54:11.519
I guess that does it for the episode proper. If
1040
00:54:11.519 --> 00:54:13.320
you want to hear what else we listened to this week,
1041
00:54:13.880 --> 00:54:15.920
check out the bonus, which will be a continuation of
1042
00:54:15.920 --> 00:54:19.960
this discussion and a talk of our weekly listening, which
1043
00:54:20.000 --> 00:54:22.000
for me is going to be a little lengthier than usual,
1044
00:54:22.159 --> 00:54:24.199
but i'll try it to ramble for too long. So
1045
00:54:24.239 --> 00:54:26.079
that's that, and we'll talk to you guys soon.