Richard Dawson (raucous experimental UK folk racket w/ intense picaresque realness vox)

I...I...I'm...

'Nothing Important', both the song and the album.

This is some of the best music I've heard in ages, I think. Four songs and with them - with TWO of them - he's become one of my favourite British artists. A certain chap agrees:

Marcello Carlin @marcellocarlin · Oct 16
By the way, “Nothing Important” by @richarddawson12 is the most striking and stunning piece of music I've heard this year. Album out Nov 3.

https://soundcloud.com/weirdworldrecordco/richard-dawson-nothing-important/s-OiEAn

^the title-track - there's another one called The Vile Stuff that's pretty much just as good - there's an 11-minute video version on Youtube and the full 16-minute version elsewhere.

Apparently an incredible live perfomer as well:

No, but seriously: my friend played me 'Poor Old Horse' when I went home for christmas last year, but he did the thing he always does and made the preamble so amazing that nothing can ever live up to it. So I spent the year thinking Dawson was good but not as amazing as he was made out to be... until I saw him live. When I was super pissed off with my tent probably having been blown away by horrible winds and worried about everything... and Dawson really *was* as good as the preamble. Pulling up this intense voice, hitting himself to make it come out, screaming and yelping... he is genuinely so so good.

― emil.y, Monday, November 17, 2014 1:03 AM (19 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Fully expect ILM to get behind this guy

ah you started this while I was in rolling time travel, also everyone likes a guy who posts his posts to multiple threads

Richard Dawson is p much one of my favourite working musical entities in the world and has been for the last 18-24 months maybe. he is also a v nice person ime. really glad he is getting more and more opportunities to do his thing in front of more people.

if you happen to see a review of his new album as published by a weekly UK music paper of note, please don't bother reading it as it's been edited to make its writer sound lukewarm on the album, and intimidated by its scary weirdness. FUCK EDITORS

― proper maoist (DJ Mencap), Monday, November 17, 2014 8:36 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Really hope this takes off completely. Not sure how. If tedious worthy dreck like Young Fathers is winning the Mercury, what chance does Dawson have, eh?

Anyway, this isn't about him taking off, this is about how his music is fucking astonishing & his personality one of the most performatively engaging I've heard on record

Not seen him live, but the record is extraordinary. In all sorts of ways: people who like it will really, really, really like it; those who don't will simply be unable to make any sense of it, and I'm not yet sure which camp I fall into. It sounds like a stream of consciousness, both musically and lyrically. In many ways its a truer and more difficult form of alternative/outsider music than any noise or deliberately anti-melody record, because there are tunes and melodies here, they just seem all wrong - the notes, the chords, the progressions all seem wrong. Like a folk Beefheart.

I've definitely mentioned him on here a few times as well. Seen him probably about half a dozen times in the last 3 or 4 years, I think the first time was just as The Magic Bridge came out and he's never been less than brilliant. From the visceral impact of Poor Old Horse the first time I saw him, to the pouring out of his heart in Wooden Bag, to co-opting folk standards like The Brisk Lad, to the sinister tragedy espoused in Ghost Of A Tree - which could also live on the creepy british tv thread in tone - I've always been rapt.

I wrote about Nothing Important on FB but can't find my post. I'll repeat what I said there though - The Vile Stuff is the distillation of his career to date and if he never does anything again that song will be enough.

let's post it here, in fact

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQVlNt6DAxY

2:40 into "Nothing Important" and this is very easily going into the "I don't get it" file

"The Vile Stuff" is completely obsessing me right now. Probably my favourite track of the year. (Evidently based in truth, as his teacher left a comment on his FB:

"Ha ha. I remember that trip to featherstone castle one of the highlights of my teaching career"

Also heard very good things about him as a live performer, from a trusted source. Hell, even his collages are good: http://www.richarddawson.net/collages.html

I'm interested

i've liked some of this guy;s stuff but i'm getting an icky jam-band feeling from that last youtube

how many minutes did you listen for

after 2 or 3 minutes the vocals come in and it's completely gripping, imo

i listened to the whole thing!

I think this would probably appeal to folks who dig the Incredible String Band. I'm more on the Holy Modal Rounders' team, myself.

I can see tracks like Judas Iscariot and all the instrumental pieces on The Glass Trunk appealing to Derek Bailey fans. John Fahey fans might get a lot out of this too.

Judas Iscariot is like a more deliberate Bill Orcutt

Yeah, I can see that.

Dammmm, just listened to Nothing Important on Spotify: "Judas Iscariot" an instrumental,justifies the Fahey and Derek Bailey comparisons right away, unselfconsciously; title track's vocals vulnerable, idealistic, tenacious, suggesting Robert Wyatt and Roy Harper; "The Vile Stuff" is a mighty tag-magnet for all of the above and RIYL ISB, the groove of solo Wino, Dredd Foole, and maybe Jandek (though I'm not a J-man fan). This track is or surely should be the one to get him on campus etc. radio. "Doubting Thomas" instrumental perfectly folds into its four minutes plus. The words haven't all registered yet, but I like the ones that have. Thanks ILM!

Seems that this all comes from his own youngblood experiences (incl. listening to his records and himself), more than wearing influences on his sleeve. Though still working on his own unmistakable sound, own voice, as writers say.

It sounds like a stream of consciousness, both musically and lyrically. In many ways its a truer and more difficult form of alternative/outsider music than any noise or deliberately anti-melody record, because there are tunes and melodies here, they just seem all wrong - the notes, the chords, the progressions all seem wrong. Like a folk Beefheart.

Description sounds like Kevin Coyne, in KC's more out there moments. But he doesn't sound like Kevin Coyne, more like Roy Harper gone weird.

Yeah, Coyne and Beefheart are in the same associative family tree, but actual sound closer to young Harper.

Seriously one of the year's best records

i liked the first track on glass trunk with the letter so much but have cooled on him since then

Oh yeah this is pretty cool. Like the guitar playing a lot.

listening judas iscariot right now

good, but as a couple others pointed out VERY bill orcutt almost to the point of distraction for me sometimes

I'm liking "Nothing Important" quite a bit.

huh ok now the next song is L@@K RARE OOP PRIVATE PRESS UK PROGRESSIVE WITCH FOLK VG++ ONLY 200 COPIES WERE PRESSED

this song is awesome

also the first song was good, i shouldn't be backhanded, it was more "put together" than orcutt usually is and it's not like recalling bill orcutt is an easy task either way

Richard Dawson 'The Vile Stuff' (Karen Gwyer Remix)

Listen to Karen Gwyer's hypnotic version of the song https://soundcloud.com/weirdworldrecordco/richard-dawson-the-vile-stuff-karen-gwyer-remix

"Nothing Important is driven by an ongoing conflict between entropic impulsiveness and an almost classical sense of beauty and order...Dawson's most ambitious and affecting composition to date." 7.8 - Pitchfork

"The 33-year-old Newcastle avant-troubadour has made one of the most unique singer-songwriter records in recent memory with the abrasive, vivid Nothing Important.” - Rolling Stone

The sinister lament that is ‘The Vile Stuff’ shows Dawson as a master of the minutiae of British storytelling as he charts the downfall of a group of students on a school trip, “downing Asda’s own-brand stubbies in the lad’s bogs” before succumbing to all sorts of transgression and calamity – fracturing skulls and cheekbones, stabbing screwdrivers through their hands and hopping into bed with their teachers. It’s a song as surreal as it is strangely relatable in its pitch-black humour and effortless conjuring of grizzly adolescent fantasy.

In her remix, Gwyer takes the song's ominous instrumental loop and tones it up into a muscular, sinister alien-club track reminiscent of her releases for No Pain In Pop.

Read a recent interview with Richard Dawson via BOMB Magazine (conversation w Cian Nugent):http://bombmagazine.org/article/2000044/richard-dawson/

That's from dominorecordco.com, so's this

http://i2.cmail1.com/ei/d/36/889/699/csimport/RichardDawson-CROPPEDFORPR.151153.jpeg

oh my fucking god this remix

just found myself listening to this dude earlier today cuz he is supporting the ex next week. definitely pro him

listened to him for the first time yesterday, siked to have a new person to listen to whose work I think is amazing

to me, this has some similarities to akron/family back in the day when they were really on top of what I believed to be an extremely compelling sound

listening to the back half of nothing important and oh man this guy

maybe I need to go to both days of the the ex thing

aah, i used to kind of know this guy from when he worked at alt vinyl in newcastle years ago, pleased to see him making a name for himself (or is it just on ilm . i saw him play loads of times about 5 or 6 years ago and he was always great but never got round to hearing any of his albums somehow (will rectify this). i remember being being quite taken aback when i first heard him singing, him being such a mild mannered, softly spoken chap.

i`ll admit my memories of that time in the north east are getting pretty hazy, but i remember wondering at the time htf maximo park and the futureheads blew up when field music and richard dawson were sooo much better

gosh how did a band whose calling card was a novelty 80s cover make a deeper impression on the public than this guy with his sixteen minute song about school kids getting drunk on 4x and stabbing themselves with screwdrivers

ha! well it was back when i actually gave a fuck about such things.

five or six years ago RD's music was much more quote-unquote accessible straight-bat folk-rock kinda stuff; afaik no-one took much notice until he started to get ~weird~

So what a couple of bits I've heard reminds me of (so far) is some Harsh 70s..-era Dead C 'heavy' strumming. After five mins I can't be arsed.

I dreamt about Richard Dawson last night.

In the dream the mainstream had decided to try and co-opt him and so he had been invited on TV wanker-fest Sunday Brunch with Tim Lovejoy and The Other One. It was a special summer edition which was outside and the invited "too old for Hoxton but we're going to pretend anyway" middle class twunt target market were having a picnic. To try and make him more palatable they had given him a completely inappropriate backing band and they started a version of The Brisk Lad that sounded a bit like Take That. Richard tried to destabilise things by picking up a saxophone (which he clearly couldn't play) and tunelessly honking over them after the first verse. The producers responded by turning up the backing to try and restore order. Richard then walked off the stage in amongst the picnickers and started ad-lining verses, but when he said he would split the stolen sheep "from maw to cunt" it got a bit much for the producers and it went to a black screen.

:D

someone not on phone pls repost to striking imagery thread asap

That should have been "ad-libbing" near the end, but autocorrect obvs.

AAAAAAHHHH

Just interviewed him. Lovely man.

Spoke to him after the gig and can corroborate this

this is great! how did i not hear it till now?

This should be right up my alley but I've never managed to get past the first couple tracks.

there are only 4 tracks

I've listened to this about 4 times in the last 24 hours. Such expressive guitar playing. It makes me wonder what his guitar method is. He said in a Wire interview that when it comes to different tunings, he forgets what they are, but it definitely sounds like he's throwing in some interesting tunings in there all the same.

also everyone likes a guy who posts his posts to multiple threads

imo it is nothing short of the finest pastoralia the north of england has produced, its folk stylings tempered with something utterly seaborne & untameable. 'nothing important' is a preternaturally brilliant folk-prog exegesis on mortality for god's sake, yet it also feels…slightly improvised?

glad to have you on board, i really think this stuff is the most interesting & emotionally affecting music coming out of this country at the moment

― London's Left-Wing Utopian Non-League Ultras Are Reclaiming Football (imago), Wednesday, January 7, 2015 2:26 PM (11 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if nothing else, "utterly seaborne" has me downloading this atm

this fucking guy... the lyrical swing between the mundane and the fantastical... All in a weird semi-tonal bloodchant:

Year 7s on a school trip to Featherstone Castle
And some wee scallywag's brung
A Coca-Cola bottle containing a spirit
Poor Peter Hepplethwaite cracks open his head
On a shiny brass doorknob
And has to be rushed by helicopter amublance
To Haltwhistle Hospital

Si Shovell fills a Reebok pump
With the pulp from his belly
Then sets off a fire extinguisher
In the girl's dormitory
And finally clambers into bed with Miss Bartholomew
Much to the chagrin of the deputy headmaster
Whose scarlet skull is firmly wedged between her thighs

I only drank a few little droplets
I only took a tiny draught of the vile stuff

Downing Asda's own-brand stubbies in the lad's bogs
I listen to the dull reflection of a carillon in the toilet bowl
My A-levels drifting away from me
Matthew Mooney's hockle in my hair
Smells like menthol tabs

Outside the chip shop Thaddeus Wagstaff fractures my cheekbone;
3 empty cans of Castlemaine XXXX
Go rolling down my trouser leg
Blood, snot and curry coalesce in the corners of my nails
My friends drifting away from me

I only drank a few little droplets
I only took a tiny draught of the vile stuff

Attempting to penetrate a coconut husk with a Philips-head screwdriver
I pierce a hole straight through my hand into the laminate worktop
It's a major operation to repair a damaged tendon;
I come around with the tube still down my throat
The milk of amnesia fills my cup and back into the hole I go

Snoring like a pan of broth, I arouse the ire
Of my fellow patients
Wagging their ladles in the dark

My neighbour Andrew lost two fingers to a Staffie-cross
Whilst jogging over Cow Hill with a Pepperami in his bum-bag
He's a junior partner at James & James no-win-no-fee solicitor
Thinking of relocating to a Buddhist monastery in Halifax

He reckons I should try meditation
He reckons it could benefit my peace of mind

My bedroom walls are papered with the stripes of Newcastle United
Between which I perceive the presence of a horse-headed figure
Holding aloft a flaming quiver of bramble silhouettes
He is the King of Children
Singing like a boiler: 'Tomorrow is on its way'

I haven't had a wink of sleep and now the sun is in my porridge
I'm starting a BTEC in Engineering at Tynemouth College
My thermos flask leaks parsnip soup on the metro
Clogging up the keys of my MacBook

Carrot pennies steam amidst a pyre of pencils
Ruck-sack dripping up the steps of WH Smith's
To buy a fresh pad of paper

I only drank a few little droplets
I only took a tiny draught of the vile stuff

Nothing Important is even better, maybe?

I am born by Caesarian section at 9:30 AM
in Princess Mary's Maternity Hospital
on the 24th May, forty years ago today,
dangled by the ankle, smacked across the bum,
swaddled in a blanket howling like a wheel.
My big brother on his tip-toes hisses 'I don't like him'.
He's Maradona, I'm Peter Beardsley, chasing a ball through the mud
followed by the kitchen window, bellowing through the fern:
'Boys! Dinner's ready!'
Dad is tuning in the telly beyond a heaving mountain of spaghetti hoops.

I am nothing
You are nothing
Nothing important
Death within a dream

Petrified on the back of a pedalo in the Balearic Sea off Alcudia
I can see the ghost of my uncle Derek waving to us from the beach,
gently drifting out of reach,
the telephone receiver swinging by its cord,
a glass of broken beer expanding on the lino.
My mam slips into the coffin
a polaroid of his sweetheart
Clutching Good-Luck Bear I peer gingerly over the side,
press my nose up to the tide,
and there behold a barracuda chewing on a chrysanthemum
and a family of clownfish hovering in the corpse's hair.

I am nothing
You are nothing
Nothing important
Death within a dream

In the scullery of the cub-hut my clarinet falls
into a sack of flour - a flurry of pins
squashed into the leather handle
a crescent moon of sleeping fig-wasps.
Drizzling my fingers with The Magic Sponge
Dad says 'we'll probably have to chop them off'.
He collapses like a canvas tent on the floodlit astroturf
rent by a fibula guide-rod poking a hole through his shin
There are teardrops in his moustache
charging a flute of champagne
down the aisle and out for a throw-in
A St.John ambulance careers between the sugary pillars of the wedding cake

I am nothing
You are nothing
Nothing important
Death within a dream

A crystal spoon
A pewter tankard
these words inscribed upon the base:
HAPPY RETIREMENT BEST GRANDDAD IN THE WORLD
A toby jug filled to the brim with curtain hooks
A sheepskin rug discoloured with tobacco smoke
within its braids concealed a rank
of plastic soldiers set to burst underfoot
Berwick in oils: a skiff on the swollen Tweed
cradling a false pearl
a ceramic seraph
with an ashtray for a brain
- and I don't care about these things
Why do they remain so clear while the faces of my loved ones disappear?

A Rington's plate
a forking hairline seam of superglue through the Black Gate
a digital photoframe
frozen on a blurry orange thumb
I don't care about these things
Old karate trophies
I remember these things
Thimbles and pesetas
I remember all these things
A roll of Woolworth's price stickers
I can see all these things but
where have all my people gone?

In the end it wasn't meant to be.
He was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen.
He survived for seven days
before he slipped away

yeah try not to cry

I like those lyrics. Right now, I just wish he didn't sing them in unison with the guitar lead like Robert Wyatt doing George Benson. But I am trying.

'Nothing Important' > 'The Vile Stuff', though

The Vile Stuff is utterly amazing but yeah it got those votes (compared to NI) on the strength of having a shortened version with a video. Nothing Important is maybe one of the 20 greatest songs I've ever heard. I like that it got 134 points in the EOY poll with 3 votes alone!

Richard Dawson is an interesting one. Yes, there are similarities with other avant garde guitarists like Bill Orcutt and Derek Bailey, but those dudes strike me as being very deliberately deconstructionist to an almost academic degree whereas Dawson's playing style is 100% expressionist and very audibly so. His lyrical approach and the regional, historical and autobiographical references he incorporates into his work are truly unique. Also, the influence of art and world music in his work is as strong as any English folk music. Not to mention the way he amps his nylon string guitar through a Fender, which is considered highly unorthodox but achieves a very particular tone. There's a reason Wire mag has been going crazy over him this year.

― quinoa: how's it spelt? (dog latin), Friday, January 23, 2015 2:43 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

brilliant post that needs to go here, nice one dl

New remix of Judas Iscariot by Basic House (Bish from Drunk In Hell/Opal Tapes).

http://www.factmag.com/2015/01/23/hear-basic-houses-misty-remix-of-newcastle-guitar-bard-richard-dawson/

An over-reliance on locations and names in lyrics is not to my taste. But: Dawson does it so much and so arrogantly I feel he's doing it deliberately to mock American songwriters who have interstates and national parks they'll namedrop without thinking about it. I mean, I think he's "taking the piss"

srsly been struggling with which riverbed tbh

He's basically doing the same stuff that happened in so much early 2000s psych-folk and freak-folk that I loved, not Devendra/Vetiver/Akron Family, but Cerberus Shoal/Big Blood, Eric Chenaux, Deep Dark United. Love this kind of stuff.

xp please LJ don't I come here to relax

sorry

there's something to be said about an overreliance on place names but dawson's use of microscopic detail is a v important part of his aesthetic - see the lyrics to Nothing Important where he compiles a huge list of childhood memories but then REJECTS them all - he has no need for them - it is more the tragic pathos of detail that he is invested in I'd say, less taking the piss (although there is a bit of that; he's very funny)

never heard any of those artists. links would be appreciated :)

or just single-song/single-album recommendations

I'm not so into that piss-taking theory, if only because it seems like a poor payoff for the effort it requires. I think as Dawson does it, it's serious (I don't mean po-faced).

Silly thing to take the piss out of, so, no.

Richard Dawson is an interesting one. Yes, there are similarities with other avant garde guitarists like Bill Orcutt and Derek Bailey, but those dudes strike me as being very deliberately deconstructionist to an almost academic degree whereas Dawson's playing style is 100% expressionist and very audibly so. His lyrical approach and the regional, historical and autobiographical references he incorporates into his work are truly unique. Also, the influence of art and world music in his work is as strong as any English folk music. Not to mention the way he amps his nylon string guitar through a Fender, which is considered highly unorthodox but achieves a very particular tone. There's a reason Wire mag has been going crazy over him this year.

― quinoa: how's it spelt? (dog latin), Friday, January 23, 2015 2:43 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

brilliant post that needs to go here, nice one dl

― my shoes are deception (imago), Friday, 23 January 2015 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

No it isn't.

LOL

I just responded to that in the EOY thread:

hey dog latin I am late for this but there is not one single thing about Bill Orcutt that is "academic", now please go listen to Harry Pussy's What Was Music and Ride A Dove.

it's a great post about Dawson, at least - I don't know Orcutt or Bailey

so you didn't know a few of the bits he was comparing it to - are you even going to start thinking before you type this stuff.

Place naming has always incited ire in my heart I guess since I heard some Canucks try and do it "she blew like a Chinook down Yonge Street" or something

If you like the raga guitar of Richard, search Eric Chenaux "Worm and Gear", it's on Soundcloud. Stompy vibe? "Sweetie" from the Cerberus Shoal split w Herman Dune (no Herman on it don't worry). Deep Dark United is my favourite band ever, seek "Zut".

Hey, I like Herman Dune. Grrrr.

omg I did not know about that Cerebus Shoal split, I love them, thank you!

I like Herman Dune too tbh! But for different reasons, different moods

Weirdly that CS/HD split is imo the best thing the Cerberus camp would do til Big Blood

yh cheers, stoked to hear these. micachu mixtape was gr8 btw so ty doubly

I agree that place naming can be irksome - claiming a sort of rootsy kinship in a play for perceived authenticity - but Dawson is playing with memory and its trappings, also he likes & revels in the sounds of the names a lot. Hogwhistle Hospital!

Didn't hear much Harry Pussy in the Dawson tracks I listened to; solo Orcutt is a different matter.

oh for sure, was just bringing up the HP albums is response to Orcutt's perceived "academic" qualities

Yeah they are pretty much the antithesis of academic albs (unless the Centre for Advanced Bill Harkelroad Studies has really taken off recently)

Hogwhistle?

OMG, it has been a long time since I listened to anything by Chenaux or Deep Dark United! Should dig some up. Has Dawson ever mentioned being aware of them?

For the record, the only Orcutt I've heard is 'A History Of Every One'. I will check out Harry Pussy. But yeah, IIRC that was an album of deconstructed standards and reminded me very much of Derek Bailey. I mean, I love and respect Bailey. He's a revolutionary and his ideas are incredible, but I listen to Dawson for very different reasons.

Respec' to Del

A gentleman and a scholar.

Not much of a singer though

Nobody's perfect.

Place naming has always incited ire in my heart I guess since I heard some Canucks try and do it "she blew like a Chinook down Yonge Street" or something

It's okay when Stomping Tom does it though, right?

we used to live there on vine st

feel like street names should be exempt bc there are so many repeats

Stompin' Tom does it just fine
Americans can get away with it usually but if you hear "Dayton, Ohio 1903" and get what I mean then good

I choose to take "Dayton, Ohio 1903" as a reference to first powered flight so that I can laugh at the narrator tbh

think I got that interpretation from a comment on songmeanings.com, though.

actually, I laugh with Randy at the person that asked Randy to write that type of song, i.e. "Sing a song of long ago"

listen not to belabor this orcutt stuff but listen to "judas iscariot" off the dawson album and not think of orcutt is pretty ridiculous imo

also i really do like this album good job richard dawson ilx poll season makes me combative for no good reason i'm glad this album exists and ppl are digging it

actually, I laugh with Randy at the person that asked Randy to write that type of song, i.e. "Sing a song of long ago"

Yes we're on the same page

"Robert Wyatt doing George Benson" is a wonderful observation.

yeah the first thing my wife compared "The Vile Stuff" to was Wyatt

An over-reliance on locations and names in lyrics is not to my taste. But: Dawson does it so much and so arrogantly I feel he's doing it deliberately to mock American songwriters who have interstates and national parks they'll namedrop without thinking about it. I mean, I think he's "taking the piss"

I think more specifically, the apocalyptic content of The Vile Stuff, wouldn't be as apparent if he didn't name all of the apostles [Thadeus, James and James Solicitors = James Son Of James, Miss Bartholemew…] so whether he's mocking or not, the list of names is kind of what the song's all about and it wouldn't work without them.

I dig this and I love the place-naming. His lyrics remind me of Nigel Blackwell although straining for a darkly surreal and wild poetic quality rather than Blackwell's comedy of the mundane.

amazing detail about the apostles - I totally missed that

well i'll be...

^

Listening to this record with a bit of a wobble on this morning, s'got me all over the place, am a mess

:)

think this might be my favourite music of the last few years. Nigel Blackwell gone art-folk makes sense as a comparison bit there's something more wide-eyed and Romantic about Dawson's outlook (not that Blackwell lacks these qualities entirely). I don't think Dawson would be overly given to snipe at things he disapproves of.

I like the press of accumulating, involuntary and unwelcome minutiae vs. and I don't care about these things
Why do they remain so clear while the faces of my loved ones disappear? That's life, kid, more and more: the memories you have vs. the ones you *should* have, even want to have. But there can be a liberation or release, relief, in submitting to that, in art, at least.

Although he doesn't sound relieved yet. Letting it spew, though.

The delivery and placement of that line is so great

Olllld karate trophies

just listening to The Ice-Breaker Baikal on the way home, magnificent

The theme of the apostles - and other religious matters - came up in an interview I carried out with Richard Dawson last week if anyone's interested.

god's work, doran

He knocked on the door and my brother answered. I was frightened so I hid behind the door. I peeped around and saw that he had come in a big old dragster car (we actually had a little dragster racing board game at the time). It was parked at the end of the drive and the engine was still growling. I remember I was really scared. The Easter Bunny understood this and leaned around the door to look squarely at me. He was very serious and not like a cartoon bunny. He was a very realistic looking rabbit, but human sized and wearing quite simple clothes. He looked at me and was very solemn. Then he slowly nodded and handed me a chocolate egg. I cannot stress how melancholy an air this giant rabbit had about him. Then he got back in his dragster and roared off.

brb going to create a sort of cultish wallchart with dawson, julian cope, cardiacs, oliver postgate, dylan thomas and some others until british pastoralia leaps forth connected as a sort of salvation

dawson on religion is as close to my own position as anyone i've read

he is beyond, a marvel

great great interview, thanks doran

cheers, i've 'pocketed' this for later reading.

Excellent interview, that.

yes, thanks

That's great.

Great interview. Fascinating that he works on the lyrics for so long. Apart from maybe Leonard Cohen, I don't think I've heard someone talk about working on a lyric to a single song in that way.

Fucking hell, that's an amazing interview.

just broke open a coconut and because of the cautionary tale on this album all I could think of was not to use a screwdriver under any circumstances

ftr I hit it with a big wrench and did not injure myself

Who's going to the Lexington tonight?

sold out by the time I found out - but hunting a spare ticket today & strongly tempted to go along and see if can get one there

Ruth Flecknell We did go on a ghost hunt at featherstone but the real spirit was definitely in that bottle and the trip to haltwhistle was in my car- a helicopter would have been much more well driven! It was definitely a weird experience for the adults as well as the youngsters we took. The genius is in the way you narrate the event and from the adult perspective looking back I can see how bizarre it was on so many levels for some of the children on the periphery of events. Good luck with your tour, I will catch your next one, the tickets were sold out this time before I woke up to how in vogue you are
Like · Reply · 1 · 10 February at 15:05

RICHARD DAWSON Mrs Flecknell - there will always be room for you at a gig, please remember this!
Like · Reply · 10 February at 15:15

Ruth Flecknell I will. Thanks richard. You deserve your success.
Like · Reply · 1 · 10 February at 15:16

the best person. 'Mrs Flecknell'!!!

didn't get a ticket for tonight :( and scarletmist is gone :(:(

thinking there's no great hardship sitting in a pub for a couple of hours and keeping an ear open for spares & returns.

maybe we might join you tbh

how big is the venue? slightly surprising he has such a following
city boys paying high three figures on the secondary no doubt

by 'we' i mean me and my fifteen friends, all of whom like to barge in front

the lexington is what i'd call a 'large pub venue'

i reckon I'll recognise you lj, so I'll say hello, shake hands before the fight to the death over the single spare.

Vile Stuff as city boy drinking anthem, I can see it

If I wasn't feeling like shit I would have joined you, but no doubt he'll be playing Cafe Oto at some point soon.

how big is the venue? slightly surprising he has such a following

I'm not at all surprised!

we are here (it's near my gf's work)...let the hunt begin

Awww man Mrs Flecknell

He was incredible last night. Did an 80 minute set, felt too short. I got a little overexcited and drank a whole bottle of red wine during the set and could barely walk afterwards, I blame him doing The Vile Stuff last, if he'd done it first I'd have felt forewarned.

http://photos-f.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t51.2885-15/10979611_1413180728981101_1236214605_n.jpg

Had to leave the Lexington after four songs because I was getting besieged by texts about Steve Strange and had to go and sort out coverage. Unfortunately I was right at the front in the corner, which made getting out horrible for me and everyone I had to get past.

Didn't scrounge a ticket, but booked in for May at Bethnal Green WMC.

the qawali element of the vile stuff hadn't really struck me before, but hearing everyone clapping along to it and with dawsons voice wailing high above the rhythm, it was so damn obvious. Could have done without people tunelessly moaning along to poor old horse though, felt like dawson was altering his phrasing every time on that chorus just to try and shake them off his tail

The Lex gig was amazing. Poor Old Horse. What an upsetting song.

Cambridge gig tonight was so good. I've been ill for a few days and thought about not going but reading this thread convinced me - thanks guys! Highlights included stories about his cat, Poor Old Horse, when his guitar string broke halfway through The Vile Stuff and he ended up singing "In Dreams" instead with audience participation.

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8654/16555073335_29d5b781a3_z.jpg

seandalai i had no idea he was playing cambridge. damn!

Joseph an 84/100 in carpentry? ridiculous.

Saw him last night at Bethnal Green WMC. cannot remember being transfixed like that in an age. ghost of a tree…

woah just announced playing in bristol next month with eek and islam chipsy

fuck fuck fuck are tickets on sale?

yep, just £10
http://musicglue.com/qu-junktions/events/12-dec-15-islam-chipsy--eek--richard-dawson--kit-wilmans-fegradoe--dave-howell-dj-arnolfini/

damn bit all to hell I can't go.... aaaaargh!!!

http://thequietus.com/articles/22164-new-richard-dawson

so this is going to be the best album of the decade, then

i don't like the new song as much as the stuff on the previous album, but i do like it.

and he's playing bristol with a full band soon! whoop!

I just listened to it for the first time while walking through an abandoned rural village in blazing sunshine and now I am Woden himself

New sound is maybe a bit like if you took the old sound and added North Sea Radio Orchestra. It is deep imago.

his guitar style seems to have mellowed a tad though..

Maybe for this song, but those background sonics, especially during the climax, my god...if that's mellowing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfaW-yD7DoA&

simpler times

It's too much. I'm extremely emotional

love this.

now for a rewatch of Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending.

http://thequietus.com/articles/22157-richard-dawson-peasant-interview-michael-hann

....aaaand the record was inspired by Hard To Be A God. Of COURSE :D

Wonderful interview - by one of ILX's own

been in my head all weekend

yep

this new song came up on Spotify, sounds a bit like peter hammill

Spent a big part of the weekend listening to Peasant. A real mind-boggler, album of the year contender for me.

I am excited & very ready for this

this is better than i had dared hope

at some point during 'prostitute' the distinct sensation of music being broken and remade settled over me

Haha Richard Dawson's retweet of you has just hit my timeline.

It was a like, not a retweet! Twitter has begun timelining likes haha

Waiting on mine from Norman but I have a couple of ordered in items before they ship.

Definitely going to buy this as well but I couldn't wait to hear it

everyone kindly stop talking about the sodding arcade fire and start talking about this pls

Regarding Dawson's guitar playing. Most of the time it's *reasonably* conventional. Relying often on the classic alternating bass thumb etc. I've barely heard Bailey or Orcutt but I'd imagine they are less structured

now for a rewatch of Be Glad for the Song Has No Ending.

Was about to say the guitar playing reminds me a bit of some Incredible String Band tracks, something like "White Bird" perhaps.

He also plays a travel guitar with a short scale and strings downtuned, which gives him loads of string buzz

So even when he's playing deft little melodies, it can sound slightly "wrong"

this is quite a record. slicker & tighter with the band backing, frequently too camp and overripe for my taste, but it concentrates the power and he is undeniably at the top of his game. the way he rips through shapeshifter is amazing

digging 'ogre'

while Ogre is astounding I hope you have since moved onto digging all of it, even the overripe bits (i.e. Masseuse, which was the only one I was unsure about but which has since settled nicely into my head for ever more)

let's pick up some floating Talk Talk enthusiasts (the ambient background sussurations and blurts here are as good as any on TT's last two records)

saw him in leeds on friday, slower & more dramatic than on the record & got so much heavier and fierce which sold me on tracks I hadn't been as keen on - scientist - and the likes of ogre & the vile stuff were overwhelming & awesome. just as charming & funny as I'd expected (& ofc everyone slightly giddy post election), he sang a mike waterson track a cappella & opened with the parents address to his firstborn song (the first RD track I loved), so he couldn't really have won me over any more (well I could have really gone for poor old horse but I need something to look fwd to next time). I've been discovering the magic bridge over the past few weeks too, which is a gorgeous album & right up my street

a good friend of mine turned me onto Richard Dawson's music a couple weeks ago. he played me "Ogre" and then some 20 minute solo guitar & voice piece. didn't listen to him again for a week and then the end "Ogre" got stuck in my head one night ("when the sun is dying") so i got Peasant and it's amazing. makes XTC look like the MC5.

seeing him in 2 days, couldn't be more excited

if this isn't album of the year then...someone else will have made a seriously great album

There's no such thing as 'album of the year'.

being alone is

this is definitely one of the best things i've heard this year, Beggar especially is fantastic

*my* album of the year ffs

Saw him on Saturday and I'm not convinced the full band works if I'm honest. Still tremendous though.

Can't remember the order but Scientist/Prostitute/Soldier/Weaver plus a version of The Cruel Ship's Carpenter in there somewhere, then closing with Ogre and The Vile Stuff.

Chat involved a fake electrocution, how John broke his guitar (but Richard wasn't going to make a big deal out it even though John broke his guitar), texts from Richard's dad and something about cats I don't remember.

has he toured the USA? would love to see him live this year

Yeah Im loving this. Some wyrd "A Field in England" vibes on some tracks. "Soldier" is one the best songs I've heard this year

soldier has such a comfortably-worn plodding weariness to it. played it v differently live, snarled and shouted his way through it. in general I thought he pulled the more progge elements off better live when the intensity of his performance could bear them better

good lord

that was a tonic

i am tired
and i am afraid

A cross between..

Super furry animals, Comus and Ed Barton.

That's good, BTW.

Love it so far

This guy makes me want to revisit Bob Drake, who I haven't listened to in years.

I'm so in love with this album. Really feeling 'Weaver' and 'Beggar' today.

can't stop wondering about how the potato in shapeshifter got to bryneich/bernicia. it's such an odd line, is it deliberately anachronistic/anatopic?

there are a few deliberate anachronisms! like what's a collie doing in the dark ages

it's a better world he's made

the blurring of those times and these is like what paul kingsnorth was doing with his 'shadow tongue' in 'the wake', which i read concurrently to discovering this album, both complementing each other brilliantly

see also: the closing poem of m* n***l

but what is the significance of this potato?!

perhaps the shapeshifter is also able to shift the shape of objects, and it had been a humble apple beforehand. magic does what magic does iirc

the more i think about it the more deliciously puzzling the song is, but the potato is somehow what sends it over the top for me. the potato as a casual yet unsettling gesture to seal the deal after the shapeshifter has freed them. and the way he sings it of course.

everyone i've played "ogre" for says it sounds like polyphonic spree :(

Mmmm hmmmmm

Yeeeah, this is good

how good :p

I really wasn't sure to start with but then Ogre took over my inner jukebox and now I'm getting mildly obsessed

In other words it's growing on me like a bastard. How does it compare with his older stuff?

As good as the last album, i.e. as good as it fucken gets

late to the party but aoty

obv

imo a lot of people are going to be figuring where this fits into their decade list come december 2019

Blame it on the 'shock of the new', or changing musical tastes, but I'm just not as impressed by this one as I was Nothing Important. Guess that last album hit me during my peak Wire-reading / free jazz listening / Derek Bailey celebrating phase, but this record, to me, feels safer and more flat-plan. I loved the lyrical sprawl of those longer songs, as well as the abstruse guitar playing. This feels more reined-in by comparison, but maybe I need to do some background reading here to get a better feel for what the songs are about and the concepts behind them.

maybe I need to do some background reading here to get a better feel for what the songs are about and the concepts behind them.

Progge warning.

Some of the weirdness and atonality has been delegated to other instrumentalists, but it's still there! It does have a more straight-folk vibe but that's a conscious aesthetic decision and I think it works beautifully - this record really brings out RD's amazing sense of melody and progression. Plus the arrangements are flat-out wonderful.

If forced at gunpoint to choose I'd probably still go with Nothing Important but they're both phenomenal IMO, he is the best songwriter going

I admired rather than enjoyed Nothing Important but Peasant has really struck a chord with me - that it's more melodic probably does help a lot. Definitely a highlight of 2017.

"Soldier" is a fucking great song.

Don't know much about this subgenre (British avant-folk?) but to me Dawson sounds like a less roots-anchored Robin Williamson – if we go by his later, ECM material. Anyway, I'm really enjoying this, especially the dirge-like 'Hob'.

There's nothing like it.

I like to roll out the North Sea Radio Orchestra comparisons, but that's mostly because that's the only other UK alt-folk-adjacent contemporary music I love this much. It's more chamber music than Dawson, who's in turn much more experimental. Peasant represents some kind of melodic rapprochement between the two though, perhaps

Was about to say the guitar playing reminds me a bit of some Incredible String Band tracks, something like "White Bird" perhaps.

― Punnet of the Grapes (Tom D.), Saturday, 3 June 2017 18:05 (six months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

... which is a Mike Heron track actually, though he's definitely more Robin Williamson. Not that I've heard enough of his material though, tbh.

HEN OGLEDD

http://thequietus.com/articles/25272-hen-ogledd-problem-child-richard-dawson

HEN OGLEDD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O9BXeFm_yg

HEN OGLEDD

A spokesperson for the band says: "Each hailing from historically different tribal regions of the Old North, the musicians on Mogic challenge the idea that the ancient world was rife with magic, while the new is infiltrated by cold logic. The tracks on Mogic create new phantasmal blends of images and ideas that draw upon the mystical and technological. Mogic is a discombobulating pop prayer exploring artificial intelligence, witches, nanotechnology, pre-medieval history, robots, romance, computer games and waterfalls.

"I live on a mountain
The only tall sculpture on this planet
The view is appalling"

Excellent song, excellent video.

this was certainly unexpected but it's very cool

saw him live at a festival this year, was indeed something to behold, guy is brilliant

for everyone who wished peasant sounded more like the super furry animals

lmao this rules

Bass reminds me of The Cure in parts. Unexpected, this. I like

If you're going to make lazy comparisons to other Welsh pop acts, make them to people who are actually excited to hear this album

‘I live on a mountain, the only tall sculpture on this planet. The view is appalling..’ YES @HOgledd https://t.co/yLCzA3rJi4

— G W E N N O (@gwennosaunders) September 11, 2018

actually, speaking of Welsh postpunk, the song it reminded me of most was this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KquxHMQD1Z0

GWENNO KIND OF QUOTED WHAT I QUOTED FIRST I AM MORE IN LOVE THAN I ALREADY WAS <333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

Gwenno reads ILm, I am sure of it now. And that is alright.

Finally got around to Nothing Important. I think I like his sinister minimalist moods more than his whimsy, but then again 'Hob' was the highlight of Peasant for me.

hen ogledd album good-not-mindblowing, worth a listen though

am now decided that weaver is the best track on peasant, so much range but moves through all these different moments with eerie smoothness, carried along by that slightly nervous, unsettled energy

I'm partial to 'Hob', for predictably temperamental reasons. I also happen to prefer the relative nihilism of Nothing Important, also for predictably temperamental reasons.

I too prefer the best album of the decade to the third or fourth best album of the decade

Weaver was always one of the best tracks, as was Hob, as were all the others. I can barely talk about it

springtime is dawson time

i still have vivid memories of my first listen to Ogre, walking through a Surrey village en route to a lesson, on an extremely idyllic spring afternoon

New track "Jogging", from forthcoming album 2020 (due October):
https://youtu.be/UGiQ_-Ktpvc

!!

he's gone...rock!

Droll lyrics, as usual, but I'm underwhelmed by the song proper. Nothing Important was the peak imho.

It was the peak of albums by anybody this decade, so

I mean I still like this and am intrigued by the album

did he get muse to do the arrangement? not really feeling this

muse?!

yeah this is great

I must say, I prefer him when he's stripped down and dirty. Peasant felt too dense and painterly for me to be able to get into.

This is okay though.

actually this is really good with the video

about the third listen before I was fully this song's humble servant

have to admit the bathos of the last verse/chorus got me a bit choked up. I like this song. always helps to have the words to read along with I feel

love it

You are all mad. Peasant was his peak. This next album might better it.

It will be something, that's for sure.

There's a limited-edition David Squires comic with the LP! Might have to get that...

I like the way it's somehow both specific and universal, and I also like the contrast between the surging rock chorus arrangement and the almost humdrumness of the words being sung over them. Plus, I'm just coming to the end of reading Jonathan Coe's Middle England, and - the direct lyrical parallel aside - the themes of both dovetail well. It articulates something which feels more contemporary and less past-referencing than other stuff I've heard of his, and Rock suits him better here than on the Hen Ogledd project, which didn't really do it for me.

agreed and nicely put

WOW

i think the song itself is fine but the rock arrangement is just so plodding and doesn't really work with his voice

okay this on at least the best song I've heard oooh.. in the last day of not week. Nice one Dawso

is. I'm drunk

if. fml

dl otm :)

Great song, and re: mike t-diva, it's the specific that makes it universal. Loving this.

I tried to listen to Peasant again and couldn't get into it. Maybe I need to read some of the lyrics, but it feels more like the work of a full and different band: a lot more traditional and folky? I'm starting to think Jogging is my favourite thing by him that I've heard

anyone else getting Super Furry Animals vibes off this too?

yeah the vocoders made me think of them, that's all though

I always got a SFA vibe off him, so I can imagine this does.

Yep, good sentence that, sticking to it.

Even the clean vox have a tinge of Gruff Rhys straining to them.

Then again, it's a NE accent, which (when some people try to imitate it) can end up sounding Welsh-ish.

I don't think this song is up there with the best of Peasant. (After only a few listens). I tend to agree with ufo above that the heavyish arrangement is a little plodding. But I'm really looking forward to the album. He's one of my favourite people.

I've come to realise that 'anyway, will you sponsor me for my stupid run? its gonna do fuck all' is the ultimate message from this song.

the yellow hoodie
the England flag
the kids in their karate outfits

the whole. fucking. thing.

I like this and it makes sense as a lead off single but I'm eager to hear more skronky folk jams like Weaver and Shapeshifter off the last album.

I like this and it makes sense as a lead off single but I'm eager to hear more skronky folk jams like Weaver and Shapeshifter off the last album.

― hot dog go to bathroom (cajunsunday), Sunday, 4 August 2019 10:11 

Exactly my thoughts.

'there's no such thing as a quick fix'

I'd never heard of this guy until I saw the Jogging video earlier. Loved it. Watched it three times. Teared up.

:)

you are in for a treat

Agreed!!

I didn't think I liked the arrangement much but the lyrics have stuck with me since it was posted. Coming back for a second listen it's all sounding pretty great now.

I know I'm like Top Fan of this song, but I think the music really suits it. The opening heavy metal salvo is kind of a mocking tribute to Eye of the Tiger which gives away to that slightly clompy palm-muted rhythm. Makes me think of every time I've thought about jogging outside: that initial burst of inspiration quickly turning into mild disappointment at my own physical inabilities. And yeah, the robot voice bit provides some nice, light, maniacal relief.

new one; much prefer this to jogging, which i'm yet to warm to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkSvn23fbAg

Eh, the poppier his aspirations the more I struggle with his fanciful streak. I'll start caring again when he reverts back to the relative nihilism of Nothing Important.

While I do genuinely love Jogging, I agree. For the first time a new Dawson song that feels like self-parody to me, lyrically. I'd be fine with never hearing Two Halves again, and that's a first for me w/ Dawson.

Brace yourself for imago's beatdown!

*joggs off*

Best stop-motion interpretive dance of the year.

yeah this is great but clearly you both need to marinate more

and retrospectively nominating this for the animated poll yeah

yeah this is great but clearly you both need to marinate more

Prophetic.

Begrudgingly agreed :)

I thought Nothing Important was great but not nearly as much as a lot of you. Couldn't get into Peasant too much. But both of these singles have blown me away. I haven't heard anything prior to NI but this feels like a drastic but pretty awesome departure so far. I think I love these.

Nothing Important is probably least favourite release of his, oddly. Peasant blew me away. I'm also really looking forward to this album. The more Dawson the better

this is so great obv :)

jogging is just so amazing still

hmm. it seems to frontload the best stuff

still good!

'Fulfilment Centre' tho.

The entire Kurdish people have had a brick put through their kitchen window :(

Can't really think of another musician who so accurately captures what it's like to live in our world right now.

I was just thinking, prompted by his calling a track heart emoji, that there's a similar eye for the details of contemporary pains on the superb default genders album (aoty)

will have to check it out

Wherein he reveals his favourite albums:

https://thequietus.com/articles/27269-richard-dawson-interview-favourite-music

that is one of the most interesting and 'not heard; better check' bakers dozens ever. dicky daws is the coolest man alive

I've got a holy trinity of music, which is Eliane Radigue, Sun Ra and Circle. I could happily lose everything else and I think I'd be ok.

<333

I'm in two minds about this album. Much as I love Richard Dawson's work, I always appreciate it best when I'm reading the lyrics along with the music and that's why watching the video for 'Jogging' works so well.
I'm not sure how well this works as something I can just play and enjoy without the lyric sheet.
Enjoying the way each song is a little short story in itself, like a mini Mike Leigh movie. But as with so many writers of short stories, he has a tendency to rely on the same tricks, and occasionally condescends in a 'look at these poor souls and their rough lives' kind of way.
Opener, 'Civil Servant', aims for the same levels of kitchen-sink bathos as 'Jogging', supplementing the 'British Red Cross' for 'Call of Duty'. But the story of the beleagured council worker lacks 'Jogging''s subtelty, and strays into uncharacteristically sith-form angstiness.
More interesting are 'Two Halves' (in which a young foootball player worries about failing in front of his pushy father), and 'Heart Emoji', in which the creeping, ponderous music mimics the murderous thoughts of the song's jilted lover.

*sixth-form, not sith. That would be interesting and very Dawson

yeah as I said, this album isn't nearly as good as the last two, but Jogging is absolutely incredible and I also really love Civil Servant

i'm finding the new record quite difficult so far, his lyrics and sense of melody seem as great as ever but the arrangements and musical palette can feel quite odd and it's not as rich and full-sounding as peasant. some of it is very plodding and i'm not really into the dissonant stabbing. i don't really expect to love it as much as peasant but i hope it'll open up more to me

are his pre-nothing important records worth checking out btw? i'm just realising that i've never really heard anyone mention them much ever

they are. 'the magic bridge' has some amazing playing (and it has 'black dog in the sky' on it ffs) and 'the glass trunk' has some truly wonderful a cappella songs that showcase his voice and storytelling powers

I would like to give Peasant another go. I need to read along with it I guess

What imago says xpost. The Magic Bridge is amazing. Black Dog..., Wooden Bag and We Picked Apple's... are some of his best songs.

On second listen of the new one. Enjoying it. But it's no match for Peasant. So far.

I'm enjoying it more too. I'm wondering if I'd like it a bit more if Civil Servant had been left off though. I guess it works as a nice scene-setter, but lyrically it doesn't do anything more than Jogging and Fulfilment Centre already do a lot better

has one of the strongest melodies on the album though

I find the 'I refuse refuse refuse!' bit a bit cringey though eeeeh... and it is a strong melody but Dawson's vocals are just a bit much

digging into this properly. come fully round on jogging with how the album kinda repurposes pub rock and shitty synth effects. black triangle by far the standout for me.

not a patch on peasant tho

indeed. he did a reddit AMA the other night, need to read that

"Civil Servant" is hilarious. I must check this album out

think the less overtly 'state of the nation'-y parts are its strongest. was expecting a dawson song titled freshers ball to be too real, fortunately hit pretty hard in a different way

from the ama re black triangle

the whole ufo sighting was something that really happened to me and my pal neil. the song is completely as it happened right up to the point where neil lives in a barn conversion. so even though it uses this experience, it's not about me........

"Robert Wyatt doing George Benson" is a wonderful observation.

― charlie h, Friday, January 30, 2015 8:33 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

vile stuff really is the best song ever made, isn't it?

What a crazy selection of favorite albums, there were two on there I couldn't even find online (and not the one he said you can't find online).

vile stuff really is the best song ever made, isn't it?

― devvvine, Sunday, October 20, 2019 2:43 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

its a close-run thing with 'nothing important' but yeah

I voted for Person Pitch. That and Feels are fading for me but still like them very much.

Love the images!

lol I doubt either of his first two albums will place.

if dicky dawson doesn't double-up come the 10's poll then i'm banning everyone

Hah. It's been a long weekend...

(Agree The Vile Stuff is damn well perfect.)

Worth a read:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/oct/26/richard-dawson-king-of-uneasy-listening-2020-album-interview

Reveals he has begun work on the next album

ty for that! don't remotely agree with the guardian framing this as his breakout masterpiece though

Yeah, for me that was Peasant, which must have significantly widened his audience. But 2020 seems to be getting even more mainstream attention.

while NI is probably my favourite album of the decade, i can fully buy Peasant as his breakout moment yeah. mainstream is always slow to pick up on these things but RYM and the wider nerd community got on board at Peasant

imo peasant sounds way more accessible than the nu one

Crazy talk. The new one is may more accessible on several levels (not leats that's it's way easier to identify with totally relatable stories about people who live now versus people who lived 1400 years ago, never mind tunes and arrangements), and is totally the breakout record. Peasant is the one that hinted a breakout was possible, but it didn't go over the parapet.

Yeah, lots of people (my boss included) seem to be very familiar with Jogging. It's been getting a lot of Radio 6 airplay whereas I think Peasant was really a cult thing

i meant purely the arrangements and how it sounds, the ugliness of how jogging sounds compared to a song like weaver. not denying the the hooks and lyrics are more accessible.

working from a base of what wld my mum prefer so good chance i am talking nonsense

Shades of how my other Favourite Current Artist, Weyes Blood, had to release three incredible albums in a row before the powers that be really caught on. (And as with Dawson, the one that pushed her over the edge might not be her best, although in her case it's much more arguable)

Finally got a copy of Nothing Important yesterday, bought direct from Domino after reconciling myself to the fact that it will A: never be cheap online and B: never be in stock in my local HMV again.

So apart from The Vile Stuff it all sounds basically like unlistenable improvised torture to me right now, but HOLY SHIT I've listened to The Vile Stuff about 6 times in a row and WTF

What's it doing?! It's a 16-minute raga about a school trip that somehow finds a level of emotional intensity that is completely unwarranted. It makes Venus In Furs sound like Scouting For Girls. It makes a lyric about Newcastle United wallpaper sound like something occult.

Wow.

It's a brilliant song. The bit about him spacing out and having visions as he stares at his Newcastle United poster is something else

He has a visual disability that brings such visions about

Wait until the title-track clicks...

I must admit that, as much as I enjoy Dawson's music and Nothing Important in particular, there's a dare I say cultural barrier that will never dissolve completely.

Kitchen sink mysticism ftw.

xp Is that barrier not what makes it all the more compelling and appealing? For me it is tbf.

Up to a point. Then again, I'm not much of an anglophile – anglo-agnostic is probably a better descriptor.

omg

https://thequietus.com/articles/17205-richard-dawson-interview-2

"Dawson hides his intent in plain sight, threading his lyrics with plenty of clues. The assailant outside the chip shop (Thadeus); the lad who cracks his head open (Peter); the pupil who “fills a Reebok Pump with the pulp from his belly” (Simon) and the object of his affections (Bartholomew); the lad who gobs at the narrator (Matthew); his neighbour who “lost two fingers to a Staffie-cross” (Andrew) who works at a no win no fee solicitors (James and James) and even the brand of screwdriver he injures himself with (Philip) are all the names of Christ’s apostles. (He hides his intent elsewhere as well. The two instrumental tracks on the album are called ‘Doubting Thomas’ and ‘Judas Iscariot’.)"

xp Aren't we all in a way? :) (I hear you though)

xp [eric wareheim exploding head gif]

Most of it just reminds me of Half Man Half Biscuit.

the other great uk folk-rock act of our time, but there's a distinct spirit

The potato line in Shapeshifter is bugging me. They weren't introduced to the UK until 1586 or whenever, so how is one in this song. I have tried googling "Richard Dawson potato" to no avail of an explanation from the author.

he did explain it somewhere - elements from all time periods are included by design. 'prostitute' has a prominent synth part!

Poet(ato)ic licence.

Shapeshifters have also yet to be introduced to the UK

That's what you think.

They've been on the throne since the turn of the 18th century surely?

One's prime minister right now.

giving his 2005 debut album a listen for the first time. found it in a charity shop for 50p a couple of years back and hadn't ever got round to playing it before. it's not especially good tbh, mildly eccentric in places but nowhere near as daring as what was to come. probably one for the sale pile i think.

Part of me would love to hear it. But I know he's disowned it, so the other half of me wants to respect that.

happy to share wavs or whatever if anyone is desperate

God I thought I was on the politics thread for a bit and we were talking about Boris Johnson. I need sleep

saw him at the moth club earlier in the week. all the live versions very much more potent than anything on record. (i like the records but this was something else).

the song the almsgiver, which i hadn’t heard before, was where the gig really built into something wonderful for me.

god you get some pricks at gigs tho. chuckling away at his righteous anger or expressions of sentiment and pathos.

anyway it was excellent and made me want to go and see him again as soon as possible

I'd love to see him again live. Such an amazing performer and an all-round great, compassionate, funny guy.

This is his next London show I think: https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2020/event/richard-dawson-delight-is-right

Yeah he's touring the UK. Fingers crossed he comes to Berlin

2020 is really connecting for me in a way the previous ones never quite did

I bought it and listened to it a few times. I feel a little bit like I'm rewatching a stand up routine sometimes though, as in the novelty of the storytelling wears off after a few listens.

I still think Jogging is absolutely transcendent though

yeah that might end up topping my tracks ballot

I bought it and listened to it a few times. I feel a little bit like I'm rewatching a stand up routine sometimes though, as in the novelty of the storytelling wears off after a few listens.

― YOU CALL THIS JOURNALSIM? (dog latin), Monday, 9 December 2019 20:31 

Crazy talk. It's not as good as Peasant but still amazing. One of my top five of the year.

I read the lyric sheet as I listened to it the first time, so in a way that kind of revealed everything in one go. in a way I wish I'd listened to it a few times before doing that. the music is great of course, but sometimes I feel like I'm listening to tone poems, the music arranged around the words, which in itself isn't a problem but at times it feels like I could be reading a book of short stories. and once you know the twist in the tale, the impact is lessened. it's also a fairly depressing album. don't get me wrong, it's very much an amazing album. I just don't find myself willing to replay it very often

He certainly has an odd way of scanning his lyrics, which sometimes leads to crammed sentences.

this is finally clicking hard for me, or at least six of its ten tracks are. if it was just

Civil Servant
The Queen's Head
Two Halves
Jogging
Black Triangle
Fulfillment Centre

then it'd be up there with the others, but there's a slightly scrawny tail on this beast

Black Triangle especially is such a wonderful song and I've only just realised it - although Jogging remains the crown jewel

For me the keepers so far are Jogging, Heart Emoji and maybe Two Halves, Fresher's Ball and Fulfilment Centre.

"Dead Dog..." is one of my favorites!

Civil Servant is the only sub par song on this, IMO

nitsuh's thing in the nyt was great - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/11/magazine/best-songs.html#richarddawson

Nabisco otm

I was supposed to be seeing him live in a few weeks. I'll just have to be patient...

omg

he and his partner are attempting to make a mini-album every day

https://bulbils.bandcamp.com/music

oh awesome

I was meant to be seeing him tonight. Mini-albums, you say? That'll cushion the blow, nice.

now everyone in the UK is out running every evening, Jogging is even more prescient

Thanks for this !

so far it's all fairly ambient, but Mole (track 2 off the 3rd release) is a lovely standout with a bit more going on

Today's long-form track, The Easter Bunny, is the first one since Mole that's properly grabbed me. A huge organ-and-guitar ambient wordless ballad

https://bulbils.bandcamp.com/album/15-the-easter-bunny

oh yeah this is real lovely, thanks for shouting it out

I must have listened to it at least 15 times since lj tipped me off y'day in teh slack. It's sermon for our elegiac times, an intimate, pastoral masterpiece.

Sonically the piece evolves into what sounds like the coda of A Silver Mount Zion's '13 Angels Standing Guard 'round the Side of Your Bed', a soft murmury wailing from the after life, mantra wise. To me it sounds crazy hopeful.

particularly after Dawson put the finishing touches on an album he’s been working on with brilliant Finnish metal outfit Circle

lol just came here to post that

https://thequietus.com/articles/28221-richard-dawson-sally-pilkington-bulbils-interview

also of note imo

http://s3.amazonaws.com/quietus_production/images/articles/28221/20200405_181053_001_1588782312_crop_550x412.jpg

otm

Bless 'em. Their corpulent output has been too vast to digest in full, but a number of the Bulbis releases really hit the spot. Most notably, ty LJ, 'The Easter Bunny', a hymn for our times and then some.

Mole (off album 3), The Easter Bunny (15) and The Princess And The Frog (25) are the three standouts so far imo

The element with Circle doesn’t feel so sad because I think we’ll get to it and it’ll be even better for it, so that’ll be good, but yeah, we didn’t get to play with Hannah Diamond.

need that dawson/diamond link up at some point

More standouts:

Cherries (35)

and now Genie In A Bottle (40, just released) is sounding amazing too

We're at #45 today, 'Darling', and it's aquatic ambient bliss. Cannot respect him and his wife enough for this extremely vast output. And it's free, people! Though he'd prefer it if you donate to Black Lives Matter, as per his Bandcamp.

The project is already of an intimidating size, I realise this, but more people need to hear the greatness of this massive project he's quitely building.

I was wondering if this was still going!

new album of odds n ends and some lockdown recordings

https://richardmichaeldawson.bandcamp.com/

o nice, will listen soon

very lovely, shorter instrumental pieces really hit the spot in this heat. the fifteen minute track feels like it could have gone on nothing important

i mean that would put it in the upper thousandth percentile of songs by anyone ever so

this is wonderful. is it just me or has his singing improved somewhat? I guess recording an EP a day or whatever could do that.

awwww his little Newcastle United anthem is so dear

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zL75N1NMIdg

the first single 'Trouble' was a total earworm too, think this will be better than the first one

lol the track sandwiched between the two singles on the album is actually titled 'Earworm', aiming high

2020 truly is the year of incredibly long albums huh

j/k I'm stoked for this

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/sep/25/songs-about-sewage-and-space-travel-its-prog-folk-band-hen-ogledd

the new Hen Ogledd album is an absolute delight!!!!!

I'm enjoying the new one too. The last one was ok - a bit frontloaded qualitywise.

It's fine. Some nice moments. Far too much Bothwell, who's quite annoying (although Trouble is good)

I wonder when he's going to release the album with Circle.

It’s way too twee for me. Dawson lockdown bandcamp daily is where it’s at.

https://www.nts.live/shows/richard-dawson

new collaborative album with finnish experimental band circle out november 26, titled henki. it's apparently a "hypno-folk-metal" concept album about "special plants throughout history"

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

lead single "lily" is less awkward than a lot of the last album but doesn't really do much for me

i quite like it, but the artwork is stunning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nly2TwK4tio

oh i like this much more

What do we think

I vacillate between 'good' and 'could have been better' on my first listen

Closing track tho

I hope to buy this locally later.

solid, covering similarish ground to the last album but much improved

I had been observing him from afar and I can say this works well for me as an introduction. The krautrock is unobtrusive and gives a solid foundation for his chanting and falsetto, I like how expansive this is, good collaboration. I was listening to late career Robert Wyatt and also early Genesis the other day and this is totally in line, thanks to the piano touches and the songwriting in different parts / playing with different voice levels. Methuselah and Lily especially could be on Nursery Cryme or Selling England. Sounds great as a revival, if it was the intention.

Add Pitcher

Maybe it’s just fated that this would be my favourite thing Dawson has done - just to frustrate and perplex imago.

It really is great though.

Hey I still really do like it! It feels to me like there's not quite enough Circle until Pitcher, but the flipside of that is plenty of Dawson

https://thequietus.com/articles/30858-circle-richard-dawson-interview

interview suggests the collaboration is likely to be continuing beyond this, with circle calling dawson their new lead singer & everything, they seem extremely enthusiastic about it all

having circle as his backing band makes him going rock & really indulging his prog tendencies work so much better than on 2020, they're a really good fit. i'm revisiting 2020 and it still doesn't really move me - the songs are fine but the arrangements are so clunky

That's cool! Very exciting and I'm certain it will produce brilliant music. Great interview and write-up too

I sort of agree that this album's instrumentation suits his rock/prog choices better overall, although 2020 got the songwriting absolutely spot on at times - and hey, Black Triangle did the heavy rock thing superbly!

love this
ivy is a banger

Still haven't heard this, my copy apparently won't arrive for another few weeks, but love the positive reception so far. Coming from this as a Circle fan might be interesting, I've only checked out a few Dawson songs in the past (fine, but he never fully clicked for me). I'm happy about whatever brings Circle back out of (relative) slumber and gets them excited again.

the one downside of dawson going full prog rock with circle is that it's not quite as distinct and singular as his previous work, and so something is lost there (i certainly still prefer peasant), but the results here are still very very good

Nothing Important and Peasant both sui generis masterpieces ofc yes and both in my top 3 albums of the previous decade, but losing that guitar was like losing a limb - he has adapted really well, but...at least we got what we did get

yeah absolutely

there's still a little of the guitar but it's a shame there's not more

i mean the specific guitar he made those two albums on. someone literally broke it beyond repair while he was touring Peasant and he took it as a cosmic sign and pivoted

Isn't there a little bit of myth-making here with this unique guitar story.

I wouldn't say so. I've heard it from his own mouth that the strange sounds he got out of it inspired his playing style, and that style has been notable for its absence ever since

idk he's still very much working in that style on 2020 even if the sound is a bit different

I havent been able to get this. My local shop has problems getting it delivered

time to crack out the ol' internet streaming imo

What guitar do you mean? The travel sized acoustic? It was already pretty beaten up

Yeah but it wasn't literally demolished by a careless band mate, and its weird acoustics were very much his muse

As a follow to this project up I'm hoping Jussi and Richard swap names and tour as Richard Dawson (Ex-Jussi Lehitsalo) and Jussi Lehtisalo (Ex-Richard Dawson).

Sally gonna have to swap identities with Jussi's partner to prevent awkwardness imo

xp - lol Noel, wouldn't surprise me

What guitar do you mean? The travel sized acoustic? It was already pretty beaten up

― Duke, Wednesday, 1 December 2021 13:50 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah but it wasn't literally demolished by a careless band mate, and its weird acoustics were very much his muse

― imago, Wednesday, 1 December 2021 14:05 

True. But I was always impressed by the huge chunk missing from the lower bout:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-9osMKSyb0

This is great. Ivy. Methusalah. Pitcher.

I really hope to see them live. I had tickets to a Dawson gig that was cancelled because of covid. I've only seen him solo (which was lovely of course) and would love to catch a full band show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOUQCBKyS-Y

Ah. That doesn't work here. A video of his Barbican gig from last year. The audio sounds a little glitchy to me, but you may have a better experience

seeing him live tonight has helped me appreciate some of the material off 2020 anew - he played all the tracks I'm not so keen on (Heart Emoji, Dead Dog, Freshers' Ball) solo with an electric guitar and they were SO much better. he was also v much in the mood for skronk, even with a new guitar - he seems to have found one that brings the old magic back. brilliant set - everything was reinterpreted, emphases in different places, even more barely-in-control than usual. Ogre brought the house down

Just back from the Dawson/Circle show which was great but the highlight was a full-pelt canter through Echo Beach as a tribute to Big Jeff Johns.

Prepare thyselves for...the future

https://richardmichaeldawson.bandcamp.com/album/the-ruby-cord

Apparently the opening track is 40 minutes long. Can you even imagine

ah, this is his aerial

haha yes

i sure hope he pulls it off

Haha so excited for this!

Can't wait to hear this

"the hermit" is pretty tremendous

yeah but have you heard The Tip Of An Arrow

thermonuclear challop: this album is if anything backloaded

The last track is quite earworm-y. It's still cycling through my head after a couple hours of silence!

yeah the whole album is excellent

looking forward to "the hermit" winning the eoy poll and annoying everyone - if "jogging" got to #3 there's no reason it can't do better and it is the single

I've not listened to the new one yet - saving it for the weekend.

He was on Adam Buxton's podcast (not listened to this, either): https://play.acast.com/s/adambuxton/ep194-richard-dawson

Okay on the second go around The Hermit is really quite something isn't it

Only listened to The Hermit so far but yeah incredible. The coda (I guess? Bit long for a coda maybe, idk the final 'tiny cobles' section) had me hypnotised.

thermonuclear challop: this album is if anything _backloaded_

I wasn't. The Fool onwards is perfection

or at least, close to it

seems like a big improvement on 2020. which i found much of fairly flat. lyrically, the move toward the ambiguous, disparate and unresolved is the right one. the 'short stories' on 2020 were far too neat, far too precise. glad he's returned the mystery to his work and understood that it would be false to try to communicate transparently something broken.

I was lucky to get a ticket to see The Hermit film screened this week, it was a deeply moving and affecting piece. Afterwards, Richard was deliberately very evasive about explaining or peeling back any layers. Which had the entirely correct result of leaving you to take it away as your own personal and private experience. Hopefully it'll make its way online at some point.

i think the film is being released online on tuesday

really love the way the last section of "museum" reproduces the central trick from "the rip"

^an astute observation that some fella made in the RYM shoutbox yesterday

https://i.ibb.co/MBDZDgT/Screenshot-20221119-075224.jpg

But yeah, this album isn't so much a return to folk as it is a dramatic expansion upon his pop adventures using the grammar of ensemble folk. While it is an improvement on 2020 it couldn't have been made without it

to me this one's an meditative and extensive expansion of peasant - very organically incorporating some of the sounds of 2020 and the hen ogledd albums into his folk. a sort of culmination

still have no real idea what the lyrics on this one are about for the most part (except "museum" is pretty obvious) and there aren't great transcriptions out there yet

there seems to be a lot about virtual reality and simulated existence, synthesised with a sort of primeval external life (and occasionally overlapping) - some heady retrofuturistic brew, utterly brilliant obv

The Fool may be the single most beautiful thing he’s ever written, weeping over here

I got to see a screening of The Hermit last week. Loved it.

On first listens I instinctively agree this album is better than 2020. I've not digested it at all lyrically and am looking forward to getting to know it better.

Just stumbled on a note that Drag City is reissuing the first two Hen Ogledd albums early next year.

Okay, just finished my first listen to "The Hermit", taking a break for a bit, but you guys are telling me the rest of the album is even better?

arguably

I mean, if it even just matches the quality of "The Hermit", it'll still likely be one of my favorite albums of the year.

great album. i love this guy but haven't done a great job of keeping up with all his various releases

This really is great, impressed that it maintained that level of quality throughout. I wouldn't mind more work with Circle too, seems like that might have been more than just a one off. But just happy to have this new one for right now.

Great Aquarium Drunkard interview with him.

his account is protected so i won't bother to link the tweet, but David Flipping Sylvian has just written:

richard dawson will be, if he's not already, a national treasure. with occasional hints of wyatt, there's no one else writing anything like him. this album, less strident than others, is quite breathtaking.

does anyone want a single ticket for the show this thursday 3/30 at union pool in brooklyn? i bought one not realizing i already had tickets for sunset rubdown at the bowery ballroom happening at the same time and so i've had to make a choice.

anyway i guess preference will go to whoever responds soonest who is interested? the ticket is in the DICE app

man I would love to see him, especially on one of these shows he's playing with Pigs x7 (what a combo!), but it's a pretty small tour.

great show tonight. charmingly digressive between songs. hadn't realized this is his first visit to North America.

still giving a ticket away for thursday in brooklyn if anybody is interested which is painful for me but i've committed to the other show damn me!

I've got a ticket, but have a friend who would love to go, if you still have.

If there's anyone on here who's been listening to and thinking about The Ruby Cord all year long, as I have, I'm putting together a small "roundtable" thing that'll mostly be focused on the lyrics. The words on the album are so beautiful, the stories so good, but I've seen hardly any discussion or analysis of actual details of the lyrics -- and what I *have* seen is usually remarkably different from how I understand things myself. I've read about four or five summaries of The Tip of an Arrow and each one has a different take on the ending. I started thinking that it might be fun to gather some Ruby Cord diehards together and use a messaging app to really go in-depth about things. (And at the end I would shape the talks slightly into some kind of "Ruby Cord Roundtable: song by song" series and post it on a tiny, effectively no-readership music site of mine, just so that it doesn't all completely vanish into the aether.) If this sounds like the kind of thing you'd enjoy, send a message!

And another (sort of) Circle collaboration is one the way! Jussi and Tomi from Circle have released two albums as Mahti, where they've teamed up with Hannu Saha, a traditional Finnish folk musician. Both albums are beautiful and well worth checking out, gorgeous cover art too.

Anyway, a third Mahti record is coming soon and they've added Richard to the group, as well as Sally Pilkington.

https://mahtifinland.bandcamp.com/album/musiikki-1

Phenomenal news! Even if the two are joining more as "Bulbils" than as "Dawson & Pilkington, songwriters of Hen Ogledd," that's still one hell of an addition. Obviously. Bulbils rule the world.

I failed to take that Roundtable very far (though thanx for playing along, imago), but closing on two years since release, The Ruby Cord remains one of my top ten albums ever.

The three new songs he's played live remind me of 2020, which I didn't love, so I'm keeping my expectations low. For me, his work work veers between "holy shit what the hell" (The Glass Trunk, Nothing Important, Henki, Free Humans, The Ruby Cord, and everything Bulbils... okay, that's a clear majority when I actually list it) and "cool in theory but I don't actually enjoy listening" (Peasant, Mogic, 2020).

Still one of the most interesting artists I'm aware of.

2020 ended up growing on me quite a bit! But its lesser tracks really came to life live I thought

For the record, if that'd have been a more general-purpose RD server it might have gone a bit further...ah well! Maybe there's one out there...

new rich(?) dawson day. end of the middle out in feb.

New single easily the lamest thing he's ever put out, but honestly, where do you go after The Ruby Cord

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mraMN1lILXY

yeah this isn't compelling at all sadly. press release has nothing to make me optimistic either, alas

cute video tho