The Breeders - All Nerve (2018)

After much anticipation, The Breeders have announced their new album All Nerve which will be out March 2 via 4AD. It was made with the same lineup that gave us Last Splash and was recorded in Dayton, KY, Chicago and Dayton, OH with Steve Albini, Tom Tastikis, Greg Norman and Mike Montgomery behind the boards. Courtney Barnett and her band guest on “Howl at the Summit” and Breeders bassist Josephine Wiggs sings lead on “MetaGoth.” Graphic designer Chris Bigg, who has worked with The Breeders from the beginning, did the artwork.

1. Nervous Mary
2. Wait in the Car
3. All Nerve
4. MetaGoth
5. Spacewoman
6. Walking with the Killer
7. Howl at the Summit
8. Archangel’s Thunderbird
9. Dawn: Making an Effort
10. Skinhead #2
11. Blues at the Acropolis

really ugly cover
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/files/2018/01/The-Breeders-All-Nerve-album-artwork.jpg

good song titles though

"MetaGoth" is already my favorite song of the year and I haven't heard a note.

OMG AMON DUUL II COVER

^^^ YES ^^^

this...is going to be amazing

Single was underwhelming but I was thinking about “saints” at 3 am last night so yeah, anticipating

was totally down with "Wait in the Car"

holy shit if anyone can do justice to the greatest song ever it's Deal & co

The Lucinda song?

Amon Duul II - "Archangels Thunderbird"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quqU4onSjh8

I will NEVER tire of the thrill of a new Deal song. Undiluted.

i really like that

kim really is great — obviously she's well-loved, but I still feel like she's underrated. just a total original.

i still think she's the best rock star of the '90s, she best epitomized that decade for me.

it feels like she's getting more appreciation lately? feeling more of a buzz about this new album than mountain battles e.g.

i am pumped for it and i am happy for any new kim deal music but the amps album is better than any of the breeders albums, right? they're all great but pacer is perfect.

challenging kim deal opinions

i listened to mountain battles today and it sounds better to me now

i agree re pacer. a perfect album.

Last Splash > Pacer > Title TK > Pod > Mountain Battles

this new album is grrrrrreat

xp POD 4TH?!!!?!???

There are challops, AND THEN THERE ARE CHALLOPS!

Pod's my least favorite.

LS > Title TK > Mountain Battles > Pod

I've never been more mad at u

would probably say Pod is my fave. hard to pick, though ...

and it's still good! It's just the one I listen to least.

Yeah Pod is definitely their best

Mentioned on another thread, but I saw them on their recent small club tour and was completely blown away by "Walking With A Killer" (my first time hearing it) and I'm a jaded fuck who rarely gets into new material. They put on a fantastic live show fwiw.

You can buy all of the KD solo series 7" songs via Amazon music and iTunes I think. Makes a GREAT mini album. "Likkle More" destroys me.

I think Deal just might be my favourite songwriter and singer of all time. Hard to think of anyone who's given me more joy.

My challop: Title TK > Pod > Pacer > Mountain Battles > Last Splash

(I hate the overproduction of LS and think it buffed out the ragged charm of the real Deal aesthetic)

Honest, earnest question from me: what exactly do people like about Title TK? I can't figure it out for the life of me. Such a tossed off, songless record.

That's me re Pod!

:O

Look, arguing about the merits of this or that album is futile. The ethos produces a remarkable consistency.

JF - I don't know what to say to you except that the writing on that record is better than any other of the albums. The songs are loose and sketchy, they ride the tension between pop sweetness and chaos so perfectly that I never tire of them. It's the thing Deal does better than anyone else I've heard (maybe Bob Pollard gets there but his hit:miss ratio is lower, plus he doesn't have THAT VOICE). "London Song" I have probably listened to a hundred times, it never fails to raise the hair on the back of my neck and feels like pure energy. If you don't feel it you don't, I guess, but it took me maybe a year to fully dial into its wavelength and it's just kept giving since then.

Pod, Pacer >>>>>>>>

Hm, 16 years ago? Make that 300 times at least, I guess!

Pod and the Kim Deal 7"s MattK referred to (as an album) are truly unfuckwithable.

It helps that Title TK was stuck in my car CD player for a year before fixing it. I can hum every note.

xps That's what I get from songs like "Oh!" and "Iris" and basically the entirety of Pod and don't get at all from anything on Title TK, but it's not you who needs to be sold on the virtues of Pod (it's your #2).

I mean, agree to disagree and whatnot, and I feign a lot of confusion and outrage on this board just for the sake of comedy, but this is a thing I am legit confused by out in the real world.

I love Title TK, the production is perfect, layered and weird but distinctly garage-y in the Deal way.

Nothing with "Little Fury" can be called songless

Or Off You or Too Alive or

"Dawn: Making an Effort." WOW.

I love this whole album.

Thank you for reminding me, to my surprise my local CD store had the physical disc on release date! Got there with 10 minutes to spare, about to hit the car which is one of my few remaining disc players.

The Josephine Wiggs co-writes are bringing the muscle, playing this loud on a decent system now.

which ones did she co-write (besides, i assume, MetaGoth)?

and Skinhead #2

I had no idea she was back. delighted about that.

this is the Last Splash lineup jed!

yes!

Bass so heavy.

this is a great record.

who produced this? It's HEAVY.

Self produced but I think albini is semi involved?

only 3 songs I think? I haven't listened to it yet. but I was thinking about Pod the other day and how heavy the drums are on it. I suppose that's typical Albini production and just how In Utero is recorded etc but he's so good at that

"I need spit/to crush these beetles on my lips" is divine.

It's crazy how "Archangel's Thunderbird" just sounds like another Breeders song.

it sounds so WILD and cray though. I'm not sure it does sound like another breeders song. It doesn't to me. I mean obviously, the end product does!

I'm drunk!

oh man I gotta hear this

Self produced but I think albini is semi involved?

― tylerw, F

one song -- the cover

Great album, great listen, a great birthday gift.

Yeah this is seriously so good.

wait they cover amon duul ii??

yes and it rules

I love this album.

Oooh baby, this is a helluva Breeders album

I played it three times in a row this afternoon, can't get enough. Especially love "Dawn: Making an Effort" which is not really the kind of song I come to the Breeders for but man they pull it off

Good Morning!

WAIT IN THE CAR. I'VE GOT BUSINESS.

MetaGoth is such a Pixies song

I dunno, it slots right in beside “Roi” in my mental Rolodex

I listened to this album in the car on the way to Cheapo, and they were playing it there too. It's everywhere!

"Dawn: Making an Effort" is the only tune on here I like, and I had to listen to this album four times in a row yesterday while my record shop-owning pal tried to "Beta Band it" (his phrase) in his store

He didn't end up selling any and I'm not surprised. I think you've all been listening to a different album than I did. There are zero hooks on this thing.

also, horrid cover art / design. Enough with the 4AD boilerplate already!

For the record, I really liked Title TK (and I love Pod and Last Splash).

Sorry to be the lone voice of dissent here, but this album does absolutely nothing for me

Not a voice of dissent, but I have mixed feelings about this album, which I dont feel like elaborating here. I definitely think "Metagoth" & the one-two punch of AT & Dawn p much make this album

hittin' home runs
and line drives
with the sun in their eyes

yeah this is really good, remarkably so. i am surprised by how good this is for some reason. don't know what i was expecting.

everyone on this thread is talking about how great this album is, how it rules, how it's really good, but no one is really elaborating on why they think this. what's great about it? MatthewK did a nice job upthread describing why he thinks Title TK is worth listening to (and I agree), but no one seems to have anything interesting to say about this record, which is just confirming my suspicion that this record just isn't interesting

in my defence, I don't have anything interesting to say about any music.

Xpost

Apart from “zero hooks” (to which my thoroughly thought through reply would be “check again”), there’s not much you’re offering, either.

It's a good album that's not much different from their 2008, 2002, and 1993 albums: spare, gnomic, adept at a certain kind of precision that would make other bands sound amateurish.

after one listen, iirc:

it *sounded* awesome
Kim snarls & sneers a lot, always a plus
drums are killer throughout, very solid
good sequencing, kind of back-loaded

It's a good album that's not much different from their 2008, 2002, and 1993 albums: spare, gnomic, adept at a certain kind of precision that would make other bands sound amateurish.

It's a good album that's not much different from their 2008, 2002, and 1993 albums: spare, gnomic, adept at a certain kind of precision that would make other bands sound amateurish.

Exactly! Well put.
― willem, Tuesday, March 6, 2018 9:58 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

very well put

i will always love rock music even as it continues to be "dead" and irrelevant because at this point in history i don't delude myself that there are great rock revolutions coming, it's about taking joy in how certain musicians play, how combinations of different talents and personal quirks interact when they play together, a certain sound and dynamic.

but no one seems to have anything interesting to say about this record

Sorry, I forgot this was a requirement.

Anyway, I'm stealing jed_'s answer.

I filed 600 words on Saturday, so let's see if it's interesting .

i have only listened once--it SOUNDED great and i can't wait to get to know this more. i loved loved wait in the car and the title track

i still think she's the best rock star of the '90s, she best epitomized that decade for me.

― omar little, Tuesday, February 27, 2018 9:40 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and yes, no doubt

Interesting things being said here - and it took me a few months to dial in to Title TK so I can’t claim I recognised it at first listen. All their albums have taken time to unfold, except Last Splash which was exciting out of the gate and didn’t last the distance for me. I find quite a few tracks immediately appealing - esp the opening four and Skinhead 2, plus obviously I knew and love Killer, but the more subdued tracks are taking their time, or may not hit, as Mountain Battles never quite did.

Title TK for me is like their ZEP/Houses of the Holy, but subtler hooks
i loved digging for and finding the hooks in college, beauties buried in guitar fuzz

One thing that strikes me about this album is Kim's very very unique sense of vocal melody is on display here. The harmonies with her sister on these extremely unique vocal melodies are intriguing and compelling.

It helps that Title TK was stuck in my car CD player for a year before fixing it. I can hum every note.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, February 27, 2018 8:20 PM

surm otm

thanks!! i've always kind of thought that and just put words to it

also v much agreed kurt

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/mar/03/kim-deal-breeders-misogyny-pixies-cobain-rehab

Good little interview.

You once spoke about how you wished you’d had kids.
The broody phase lasted a while. I realised, it’s not going to happen, and that was depressing and sad. But nature takes care of things, because later, I was: “Oh, I’m OK about not having kids.” I just snapped out of it… I do wish that I’d maybe not drunk so much that I couldn’t have organised [having children]. But it’s funny, because everybody my age who had kids, those kids are now about 20, and all I hear about is shit kids who are hungover and smoke pot all day. It was different when I couldn’t have them, and there were all these little babies of precious joy. Now all I hear is: “My kids are driving me crazy!”

kim was my first favorite artist tbh
she was like my introduction to music
i feel like this happened even before Madonna and Mariah took a place in my heart
i will always hold her in that regard, forever
like what a career

/emo /vodka /you've heard it all before

That live set on P****fork was decent, a bit more subdued than the club show I went to recently.

but I was never a stage drinker

gonna call bullshit on that one

yeah lol

but kim wouldn't lie!

AMA on reddit in an hour.

omg!
speaking of i just checked reddit and found this comment "omg i can ask them about Off You (the most beautiful song ever written)"
which reminded me that i meant to post here that i think a lot of this album is kim investigating that uncanny melody structure from off you

how do AMAs work even

[–]RimshotSlim 1 point 2 hours ago*

Hey Steve Phelps here from Dayton. I want to know if Jimmy Mac remembers calling me out to fight during a church service while we were acolytes as kids. I remember being surprised (not only because it was during the service) because I really didn’t even know who he was. And what am I supposed to do, tell my parents I’ll need a minute before joining them in the car because I need to go fight this kid? LOL. Great show last Friday, guys. I’m glad I don’t have to avoid Jim later in life because I had to fight him as a child . Have a great tour!

which reminded me that i meant to post here that i think a lot of this album is kim investigating that uncanny melody structure from off you

this is a good point! this album is very "off you"-esque in general

I wish that was true, because I think "Off You" is fantastic, but the "Dawn..." song is the only one here that comes close imo

i had made a loose connection. one thing i like about all nerve is that it sounds p relaxed, especially in contrast with title tk which is such a tense record, with the notable exception of off you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvas5q0R000

YESSSS

Fabulous freeze frame.

Kim Deal has the best smile and a perpetual twinkle in her eye, tbh i get happy just seeing her (that's probably quite relevant to my "best rock star of the '90s" opinion upthread.)

glad that she seems happy / healthy — there was a time in the early 00s when things seemed kinda dark.

I saw a solo gig a few yrs ago that was lovably shambling/bonkers, I need to listen to this new one

Great short album. They still have got it in them.

yeah that twinkle is real xxxp

The new record is really good, I also pulled out Title Tk which still blows me away, that album is amazing. Still not sure how I feel about Mountain Battles

mountain battles has great songs on it but doesn't quite add up to an album. it's fun

It sounds weird and not in a weird in purposeful way, like murky or distance, I couldn't believe it was the same rhythm section as Title Tk, I didn't exactlu spend a lot of time with it yesterday and I don't recall spending much time with it when it came out

all nerve is amazing btw, last splash-era of the band doing their own title tk imo, haze and shadow and harrowing space framing a collection of desiccated indie rock songs. my favorite section of the record is probably "howl at the summit"/the "archangel's thunderbird" cover for how it implies that they're really a psych rock band

Then with Dawn as the perfect comedown track. I like it!

Holy damn is this good. Reminds me why I fell in love with music

Yeah I mean it feels weird saying something like "this is up there with their best work" when talking about a band who have been consistently great but this record is so much better than I ever could have hoped for.

Side note but I've been thinking about this poll that I ran for the hell of it 8 years ago and I have a feeling the results would be much different today.

Which, re-reading the thread, I now see milo z mentioned last month.

milo z otm.

I liked it a lot!

Great review Alfred. Had exactly the same thought about twin peaks and it made me happy to read that!!

I fell in love with the Breeders when I saw them play Divine Hammer on Conan. Been a devout follower ever since and I've loved everything that Kim has touched (erm except Bam Thwok). New one feels really special, almost as though they had been going down a fascinating but dark road on Title TK and Mountain Battles and the sun has come up and burned off the fog. So happy that they are happy, healthy and making great music!

I know it has been mentioned in this thread already, but if you've slept on Kim's solo singles please check them out. Are You Mine in particular is gorgeous and heartbreaking. Her mom, in the throes of dementia, looked at Kim and said "are you mine?" Damn near makes me cry every time I listen to it.

omg i did not know about that :/ shit i betta brace myself.

I am so surprised how good this is

I know it has been mentioned in this thread already, but if you've slept on Kim's solo singles please check them out. Are You Mine in particular is gorgeous and heartbreaking. Her mom, in the throes of dementia, looked at Kim and said "are you mine?" Damn near makes me cry every time I listen to it.

― Cow_Art, Friday, March 23, 2018 9:07 PM (four days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I didn't know this either - it adds a whole other dimension to that song.

same here

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhHX8APhZoy/

<3

that's great

omg awesome

I saw them last night. Incredible. They’re a very happy-seeming group, there was some fun awkward banter, and apparently everyone in the crowd was in love with Kim Deal. The new songs all sounded huge live.

I saw Kim do a solo set a few yrs ago and it was rambling & funny, she was forgetting songs or playing them wrong, which on paper sounds terrible but was somehow hugely charming and engaging.

A Breeders gig from the mid-00s was similarly discursive and chaotic, but great.

I'm struggling with All Nerve. I've listened to it about 5 times and it's not connecting. I'll stick with it cos some of you people keep raving about it. And because Kim's voice is so wonderful- that's pretty much one of the only positives I can take from it at the moment. It often sounds so muddy and I can't get to the melodies somehow. This is making me sad because I've loved so much this band has done before.

How am I listening to this wrong?

are you a pod person?

Absolutely yes. And Title TK.

But also v. much a Safari person

Louder, good speakers. First 3-4 tracks. If the couplet "I hit the hall / Oh god, I hit them all" doesn't get you, you might be dead.

Sometimes when I'm not getting into something I feel like I should like it helps to put it back on the shelf and come back in a month or so.

or you never have to like it. it's ok

NA otm

i still need to really dive into this
can somebody help me understand the one track on this where she like adopts a slightly british accent
that's been my ONE thing so far

If you mean MetaGoth, that's Josephine Wiggs singing. She's a brit.

OMG
GAME CHANGER
i was like what is this voice kim's doing
makes me feel a lot better lol

how do we feel about metagoth? it was legit the only pause i had with my first runthroughs

haha! i like it a lot!

JW also sings the lead on Metal Man on Pod.

ok duh i'm not that daft :)

used to be obsessed with the percussion drop in metal man

Metagoth sounds great live, kim plays bass

(but there is a solid precedent for Daytonian w/ faux Brit accent)

Josephine also sings lead on Cannonball b-sides “900” and “Lord of the Thighs,” a killer Aerosmith cover.

I think she wrote 900 and Head to Toe. Always meant to check out her solo stuff. Anybody got thoughts on it?

When I saw them a few months back, JWiggs did a perfect note for note Joey Santiago impression of that breakdown* guitar lick on Gigantic which was pretty amazing!

*

[guitar break]
|----------------------------------------------------|
|----------------------------------------------------|
|--0-------0-----1-----------------------------------|
|--0----0-----2--------1---------2------4---5--------|
|--2----------------2---------3------5---------------|
|--3-------------------------------------------------|

I happened to buy it on CD and it sounds fabulous.

Xp hah she totally fucked it up when I saw them and they laughed about it after

Ha! It's a little tricky...

Saw them tonight in Houston and two nights ago in Austin. I've seen them a few times before, and this is the best so far! Kim seemed so happy and genuinely surprised at how warm of a reception they received. A good mix of old and new, leaning heavily on All Nerve and Last Splash. One each from Title TK and Mountain Battles, a handful from Pod.

Highly recommended.

This is great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHMZW9kLpg0

Agreed.

that's the coolest thing i've ever seen

http://4ad.com/news/891

All of the Breeders’ previous albums – Pod, Last Splash, Title TK, and Mountain Battles – will be re-issued on vinyl on 18th May. Available to pre-order from today, this is the first time Pod and Last Splash will be released by 4AD in North America.

The looks on Kelley's face playing "Off You" from sheet music are hilarious.

Tiny Desk made my day thanks

For people that care about such things: They are selling copies of Title TK at their shows that have the original vinyl cover (different from CD art). It looks like the reissue will change the vinyl artwork to be the same as the CD art.

Have we talked about how great their cover of Gates of Steel is? Because it is.

Have we talked about how great their cover of Gates of Steel is? Because it is.

― Cow_Art, Friday, April 27, 2018 5:08 PM (one hour ago)

YSI?

Got it on vinyl. Looked around for a digital copy but couldn't find one.

Not even on youtube, it looks like. The Mike Nesmith cover, "Joanne" is there though and it's very nice.

Gates of Steel and Joanne are on the Japanese CD release. Gimme your email for a YSI.

flamingrev at hotmail.com

Thanks!

alrbroccoli at google's mail service dot kom

Let me know if they didn't come through for you guys.

Thank you!!!

I got nuffin!

FLAMINGREV @ HOTMAIL . COM

THANK YOU!!!

Excited to see them tonight.

Jealous en

Hope they play gigantic for ya

They have every other night so far at recent shows :).

What ya wanna hear??

Ohhh enjoy E.!

Report back

Will do :)

good show in chicago last night. highlight for me was during the opening set by awesome local band melkbelly, who are apparently opening for most/all of the tour, i'm 90% sure one of the deal sisters sang back-up on a song from backstage.

set list was fairly predictable but i was pleasantly surprised they did "safari"

I really liked Melkbelly!

"Spacewoman" is the best song ever.

(So are like 10 other Breeders songs fwiw)

On first listen, I didn't think much to it. A couple of further listens I love every song on it.

I won’t stop!!!!

Dawn: Making an Effort is the highlight imo

^ YES. One of their best songs ever.

I love that one, but it's seriously difficult for me to pick just one highlight.

I feel like no one ever talks about how strange and abstract Deal's lyrics are. they're not Pavement-level wordplay but they have a very cut-up stream-of-consciousness kind of thing going on, so 90s indie

Absolutely

Dawn: Making an Effort is the highlight imo

Id go so far to say that the Howl > AT > Dawn sequence makes the album

(Ok I already posted that)

agreed about Dawn, my fav on the album along with Nervous Mary, I think.

my favorite single moment is still *riffage* "good morning!"

otm that is always thrilling

I GOT BUSINESS

TAKIN' A NAP, CUZ STRATEGY'S FOR PUNKS

(Ok I already posted that)

― bedraggled vorticist (Drugs A. Money),

keep saying it imo

"walking with a killer" is an instant kim deal classic to me, so creepy and sad and pretty

^^^

I feel like no one ever talks about how strange and abstract Deal's lyrics are. they're not Pavement-level wordplay but they have a very cut-up stream-of-consciousness kind of thing going on, so 90s indie

― Οὖτις, Thursday, May 31, 2018 2:28 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

She's a great lyric writer, this line from "Skinhead #2"has been killing me lately "I need spit /To crush these beetles on my lips"

This is fast becoming one of my favourite albums from this year.

I've been having a curious "4ad phase" that I can't really explain beyond wondering if I'm having a mid-life crisis. Anyway, on a week away in the Kent seaside town of Whitstable, I was motivated to pick up "All Nerve". The record shop lady seemed really pleased though perhaps she looks like this with every sale. I'm at my happiest writing holiday postcards, half-way down a bottle of red. Some of them said "I've bought a Breeders album in 2018, which seems like such an odd thing to have done."

Anyway, that NPR concert is curiously life affirming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVk4xRdD5MA

Still one of the best albums of the year

otm

Yep, I'd agree. Strangely, if I'd not heard it/been in the Breeders zone and I'd have seen it in anyone's end of year list, I would have thought it the most ridiculous thing ever.

"Director: Richard Ayoade"

just saw them live, they looked like they were having a lot of fun... the crowd was going nuts! awesome set, split mostly between the new album and last splash, with a handful of songs from pod and also all those middle albums I don't have.

this album fucking rules - everything i want in a modern rock record - taut length, barnstorming riffs and great vocals

yeah... Wait in the Car, Nervous Mary, Spacewoman and Howl at the Summit sounded huge live!

Desperately hoping they hit the studio and put something out before the next ten years or whatever.

I had no idea there'd been massive lineup changes in the interim between Last Splash and now, until people at the show were so effusive about it being the "original" lineup playing.

the Last Splash lineup only did that record and then split after about 18 months of playing; they reformed for a 20th anniversary tour (then including session/touring vioinist Carrie Bradley), and have now been back together for five years and a second record.

(The 2008 album Mountain Battles and 2009 EP Fate To Fatal are the sole time the exact same lineup has made two records, but the only change between 2000 and 2008 was a third guitarist leaving. Kim regrets not making The Amps that year's lineup of The Breeders, though.)

years when I didn't keep up with the Breeders: 1995-2018

oh well title tk is a really great album

I'm giving Mountain Battles a spin right now!

Ha, yes. I have a similar gap.

Listened to this album for the first time today, pretty good! I must admit I've never been a huge fan of the band (even Last Splash, which like this one I sort of lose interest in after a little bit) but there were moments in it that really hit the spot. There is nothing objectively wrong with it, the singing or playing or writing, just not necessarily my thing right now.

Had Kim done anything before the Pixies? I've always wondered if she would have released anything had she not been in the Pixies, not least because there are a striking number of sonic similarities between the Breeders and the Pixies.

> Had Kim done anything before the Pixies?

She was in a band called The Breeders with her sister Kelley!

Kim and her identical twin sister Kelley were introduced to music at a young age; the two sang to a "two-track, quarter-inch, tape" when they were "four or five" years old,[5] and grew up listening to hard rock bands such as AC/DC and Led Zeppelin.[4] When Deal was 11, she learned Roger Miller's "King of the Road" on the acoustic guitar. In high school, at Wayne High School in Huber Heights, she was a cheerleader and often got into conflicts with authority.[5] "We were popular girls," Kelley explained. "We got good grades and played sports."[4] Living in Dayton was for her like living in Russia: a friend of Kelley's living in California used to send them cassettes of artists like James Blood Ulmer, Undertones, [Elvis] Costello, Sex Pistols and Siouxsie [and the Banshees]. "These tapes were our most treasured possession, the only link with civilization".[6]

As a teenager, she formed a folk rock band named The Breeders with her sister. She then became a prolific songwriter, as she found it easier to write songs than cover them. Deal later commented on her songwriting output: "I got like a hundred songs when I was like 16, 17 ... The music is pretty good, but the lyrics are just like, OH MY GOD. We were just trying to figure out how blue rhymes with you. When I was writing them, they didn't have anything to do with who I was."[7] The Deals bought microphones, an eight-track tape recorder, a mixer, speakers, and amps for a bedroom studio. According to Kelley, they "had the whole thing set up by the time we were 17". They later bought a drum machine "so it would feel like we were more in a band".[8]

Following high school, Deal went to seven different colleges, including Ohio State University, but did not graduate from any of them.[4] She eventually received an associate degree in medical technology from Kettering College of Medical Arts[9] and took several jobs in cellular biology, including working in a hospital laboratory and a biochemical lab.[10][citation needed]

so are there early recordings? do they sound like the Pixies a little, too?

I still feel bemused that this is one of my favourite albums of the year.

why bemuse?

Well, there's been a long gap since I listened to the Breeders and its not particularly close to what I'd normally listen to these days. I think I've said up thread that if I'd seen a Breeders album in anyone's end of year list, I'd have presumed they were just being lazy. But, but, but ... fairly by chance, I heard a fucking brilliant 4ad mix on NTS (I think I've only ever played the Autechre and 4ad mixes) and it resonated with me. I ended up making myself multiple 4ad compilations (for the car, for friends). This included a handful of Breeders tracks and found myself intrigued by what they might be doing in 2018.

it's a completely awesome album and i recommend listening to it

otm

Can you capture what you like about it?

idk all of their records are fucking good for different reasons, this one’s like what if the last splash lineup made something as deep and mysterious as pod, the songs are pretty much all simultaneously full of hooks and open-ended and strange

idk all their albums are open-ended and strange and full of hooks. It's impossible for me to explain what separates this from that one.

I realise I have only said the circumstances in which I heard it and the vague idea that "listening to the Breeders in 2018 seems odd". "Open ended and strange" is part of it: certainly I couldn't really say what many of the less obvious songs are about, even when they resonate with me somehow. Like, I love "All Nerve" and the first half always reminds me of someone specific and the second half doesn't.

I love this album and it's one of my favorites of the year, easily. I'm bummed that it didn't appear on ANY end of year lists, as far I can tell.

It's turned up on a few lists for sure. The 2018 lists thread may have some of them...

a quick search turned up: Mojo and Uncut

Heard a little of this for the first time this morning, and it does sound good.

"listening to the Breeders in 2018 seems odd"

Part of their charm beyond the music is that for a long-running rock band, their history doesn't follow the typical rock band arc in any way. Other than heroin problems. It's as disjointed and compellingly odd as Deal's writing.

I don't think there's any "comeback" record that made me as happy as this one did

They're all comeback records, kinda!

It is my understanding that these songs - at least I think most are - are about Kims experiences dealing with her mothers Dementia. I think she has been looking after her for a while.

I've heard that said before. I think you could play the album loads and not reach that conclusion (though it does seem likely given what we know).

https://pitchfork.com/news/the-breeders-josephine-wiggs-announces-new-album-shares-song-listen/

I realised I've never heard the Josephine Wiggs Experience album. New song is very pretty, reminds me a lot of Hans-Joachim Roedelius
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_NQSuxIQhk

that is really an alternate dreamy universe compared to the breeders directly into the face approach. a little on the cutesy/mellifluous side of things.

cutesy/mellifuous covers most of her 90s stuff - with Ladies Who Lunch and Dusty Trails at either end. cool to see that Jon Mattock is at least involved with this - Honey Tongues and The Josephine Wiggs Experience were both duos of the two of them.

has there ever been a more iconic but awkward fit than the breeders and 4ad/vaughan oliver aesthetics?

The worst was the Last Splash anniversary box set with awful new artwork.

Title TK's cover is fairly blah.

I appreciate that the artwork isn't too easy, but once the novelty faded i haven't been fond of how text/font heavy 4ad's artwork tends to be.

the whole 4ad thing is all very soft-focus, ethereal, sophisticated and british. lots of text and different typefaces like you say whereas i see the band and their music as being very dry, american, suburban and working class or something? even something vaguely contemporaneous like lush worked better with it as they were at least british and their aesthetic sound-lineage from things like the cocteau twins; the obvious analogue to the soft-focus aspect of the 4ad cover style.

i dunno, all those recent self-released kim deal singles have these really "designed", layered image-heavy assemblages on the covers too, so she clearly just likes that stuff and wasn't just stuck with the 4ad house style. just seems

in some ways it kind of works to differentiate them from their time. if all of their covers were standard '90s sebadoh/pavement/gbv-ish collages or that kind of naive anti-photo thing with some scrawled text on it they would blend in more maybe? the presentation being slightly at odds with the content has an interesting way of gilding it or framing it differently.

Good summer for this record

I'm in the mood for them to chuck out another album fairly speedily. Fucking love "All Nerve".

I played it yesterday!

xxp This band has a remarkably ugly set of album covers, IMO

The covers don’t suit the band’s sound for sure.

disagree x2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture

except in font/layout/design, definitely fits with the savagely precise music IMO

Walking With A Killer video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xBwXJkxlPI

love it

Nice video but still getting used to the album version of this as opposed to the first 7" version which was so great.

They don't seem radically different?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NtcXD3cefuA I mean obviously it's the same song but the original version seems more sure of itself to my ears but maybe that's just the one 'heard it first must be best' thing going on

Holy fuck this album

it's so good

Been spinning it a lot lately too - loving Josephine's bass tone, it's thunderous.

Like the first six tracks are fuzzy gold
Spacewoman tho

Also Dawn: Making An Effort
Fuckkkkkkkkk

title track is a perfect example of Kim’s deeply odd but exquisite sensibility, she’s been a top-5 favourite songwriter for me for 30 years

Same
Well 20 for me

Also Dawn: Making An Effort
Fuckkkkkkkkk

― surm, Tuesday, September 22, 2020 2:02 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

It's not on the album but Kim's "are you mine" brings me to tears pretty much every time.

That and "Likkle More". Both about her mom's dementia I believe.

wtf hvnt i hrd either of those songs

All of Kim's solo singles are great. God I wish she would put something new out. All Nerve seems much farther away than two years.

they're from a 7" series that Kim Deal's been releasing for the last 5-6 years... most of 'em are still available on her site:

https://kimdealmusic.com/

O shit

they can also be purchased as mp3s via Amazon music (does that still exist? that's where I bought my digital copies). The five singles make a pretty excellent mini-album.

I'm normally very much more into the rockers than the slow songs w/ The Breeders - going back 25 years - but Dawn Making An Effort is definitely my favorite song on All Nerve.

It is really devastating

90

million

miles

away

GOOD MORNING

staring at their discography and starting to think this is my favorite one

idk if this is my fav breeders album, but "dawn: making an effort" might be my fav breeders song

I'm listening to the whole thing for the first time in several months right now and thinking the same thing.

Last post was an xpost but the drums JUST kicked in on "Dawn" and at least at this moment in time I agree with you 1000%.

Just kind of had my mind blow to see that today was the Deal sisters' 60th birthday.

happy birthday cool sisters

tough kids love
sad songs

Just kind of had my mind blow to see that today was the Deal sisters' 60th birthday.

happy birthday deals but also mods pls delete this post that makes me feel ancient

It's Joey Santiago's birthday today as well, 55 years old

Title TK forever but All Nerve is casual majesty, the years will not diminish them

they are one of the few bands I can think of with a pretty flawless run of albums, more so if the Amps record is included.

I love the slurry singing that Kim sometimes does.

I have fantasies of moving to Dayton and being Kim’s handyman so she’ll have more time to work on music. I wish she would put out some more solo singles.

They are my favorite band, but I don’t think I can pick a favorite album of theirs.

I love “MetaGoth” so much. Crazy to imagine where this iteration of the band would’ve gone post-LS if they’d held together.

And what about that earth shattering bass tone on Skinhead #2. A band that just do not decline.

kim deal is releasing her first-ever solo album!
https://pitchfork.com/news/the-breeders-kim-deal-announces-debut-solo-album-shares-new-song-listen/

Not so sure about the new song, Crystal Breath? The electronics are more surprising to me than the horns on Coast. Maybe i'll like it more in the context of the album, but this is probably the least impressed I've been by a Kim song since Bam Thwok. And this is much better than that. Maybe it'll grow on me.

omg this song is dope

yeah it is great. kind of 'all nerve' if recorded by 154-era wire?

loved those 2013 singles, basically treated them like an album. cool to see Are You Mine / Wish I Was show up again.

I love it, there's a '90s thing to it like this is going on a mixtape with some Folk Implosion but it doesn't sound dated.

Coast is lovely, but it's also something off Parallel Lines, right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6_rBsjQJFs

Have been holding off ordering in case there were any (for example) Rough Trade only bonus discs etc. Have there been any?