Big Thief - Two Hands

one month passes...

― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, October 2, 2019 6:59 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

I like that! Stoked for the new album, they're really treating us this year.

― Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, October 2, 2019 7:34 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

that's wonderful

― ufo, Wednesday, October 2, 2019 7:16 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Sounds like the new one will be a lot closer to the sound of Masterpiece, which I’m happy about. Glad they aren’t leaving the rock sound behind.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Thursday, October 3, 2019 2:22 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Revisiting Masterpiece and Capacity, which didn't really grab me the first time. Enjoying them better this time. Maybe the 2 new tracks have helped me appreciate their rock tunes more. Still, I prefer the pure weird folk of U.F.O.F., and hope that direction isn't just a one-off.

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Thursday, October 3, 2019 8:37 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

I get the feeling they're just getting warmed up

― frame casual (dog latin), Thursday, October 3, 2019 8:45 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I'm glad this new song is more single-y sounding. I hope they keep doing both the poppier stuff and the more abstract stuff.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, October 3, 2019 9:09 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Sadly, the singles (and Shoulders) are the best songs on this album. The rest are just ok i guess. Nothing special, much less rock-y as anticipated by many including myself.

― nostormo, Wednesday, October 9, 2019 2:06 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm not sure it's quite as special as UFOF and "Not" is the clear standout but i'm still enjoying it a fair bit

― ufo, Wednesday, October 9, 2019 2:28 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

y’all made me think it was friday

― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, October 9, 2019 5:52 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's out there if you look for it

― ufo, Wednesday, October 9, 2019 5:53 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

just heard Not, much prefer the first half to the wig-out (surprisingly?)

― imago, Wednesday, October 9, 2019 6:19 AM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

another amazing record imo

― american bradass (BradNelson), Friday, October 11, 2019 8:34 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

It's possible it took the last two albums to prepare me for this one, but this is their masterpiece.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, October 11, 2019 8:40 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I get the feeling they're just getting warmed up

― frame casual (dog latin), Thursday, 3 October 2019 13:45 (one week ago) link

Lenker is only like 28 years old -- I feel like her best could very much still be yet to come.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, October 11, 2019 8:42 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

that said I just xp'd alfred and haven't listened to the one that dropped yet

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, October 11, 2019 8:42 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Just bought the new one and am on the last song. It's great. Not is their best song.

― kornrulez6969, Friday, October 11, 2019 9:36 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Just bought it too, along with Richard Dawson (it's a good day for folk-rock!). Anyway, it's jaw dropping so far

― frame casual (dog latin), Friday, October 11, 2019 1:13 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Does Lenker play lead?

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, October 11, 2019 1:14 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

no one told me there's a white guy with cornrows in this band

― na (NA), Friday, October 11, 2019 1:19 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

would you like to walk some posts back

― j., Friday, October 11, 2019 1:21 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Heard “Not” when they released it last month and liked it a lot then, but it is on fire in the context of the record.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, October 11, 2019 1:51 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Does Lenker play lead?

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, October 11, 2019 1:14 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I feel like I have seen videos where she does leads -- I think the really noisy/out ones are hers, not sure about others.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, October 11, 2019 2:23 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I just figured something out that was bugging me... so obv very different bands, but the repetitive drum beat/bass cadence of "Not" is TOTALLY Lungfish

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, October 11, 2019 2:44 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

this album is fantastic.

picked up the "desert peach" colored vinyl and it sounds great.

― omar little, Friday, October 11, 2019 2:59 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Heard “Not” when they released it last month and liked it a lot then, but it is on fire in the context of the record.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, October 11, 2019

otm, a stunner now

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, October 11, 2019 3:04 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

picked up the "desert peach" colored vinyl and it sounds great.
― omar little, Friday, 11 October 2019 20:59 (fourteen minutes ago)

Me too from Norman Records

― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Friday, October 11, 2019 3:14 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Ugh I’ve listened to this album three times today. The only disappointing thing is that now UFOF isn’t my favorite album of the year.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, October 11, 2019 4:59 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Hyperbolic day-of-release praise CHECK

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Friday, October 11, 2019 5:00 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

new thread?

― sleeve, Friday, October 11, 2019 5:05 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

great performance

― ufo, Friday, October 11, 2019 5:59 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I still prefer U.F.O.F., but this new one is great

― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Friday, October 11, 2019 6:42 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I listened to this once through on the way home. It’s incredibly rich and dense and almost overwhelming at first but I immediately wanted to listen to it again and will tonight. The real jaw dropping moment for me was the end of Not follows by Wolf. I actually cried a bit.

I love the sound of the record. It’s very in the room with the band, but with a touch of hyper realty. I almost felt like they were right in front of me, which is an odd sensation while driving a car.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, October 11, 2019 8:04 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I really like Forgotten Eyes, but I was trying to work out what it reminded me of...

It was Teenage Dirtbag

lol i can't unhear that now

on the plus side, some really interesting chord sequences on this album.. Love the ambivalent sound of Those Girls and how it the verses resolve in this strange way before starting again, like a spider weaving a delicate web

It's funny because I had a similar reaction and the two songs I came up with were Bones by Radiohead and She Don't Use Jelly by Flaming Lips. It def has a bit of a late 90s 120 minutes pastiche thing going in, but not in a bad way.

What I love the most about this record (other than just how great Lenker's songwriting always is) is how much it does with just the sound and vibe of the band playing together in a room. The record is probably the most sonically consistent and most reliant on live room sound so far and it does so much with just that. Just the incredible sonic presence of the band itself and the way the instruments meld like different metals into an alloy.

I don't think I'll ever accustom myself to her voice, sadly.

It's taken a couple years but I finally did.

I love the way it breaks up at the end of the last verse of Not. Very sincere and exposed.

... idk if i like this better than ufof and i don't know if i'll ever be able to know that, but it is the exact album i've been wanting them to make since masterpiece

It kind of feels like a synthesis of their approaches on Capacity and UFOF

Part of me kind of wishes the album just ended after Wolf. Cut Your Hair is v good though.

"the toy" is so perfect

*cut my hair

"replaced" is very red house painters

... idk if i like this better than ufof

― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, October 14, 2019 8:32 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

never mind! this is their best record

I'm willing to concede that "Not" is their best song, possibly the best track of the year from anyone.

i'm personally addicted to the extremely organic and fluid way this band plays together

I wanna say it's their Amnesiac to their Kid A maybe..

Really love their bass player

i'm personally addicted to the extremely organic and fluid way this band plays together

― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, October 14, 2019 12:55 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

very much so, it's quite intoxicating. refreshingly, they don't really sound exactly like anything else, but there's something in their kind of swirling, mystical alchemy that reminds me of people like Van Morrison and R.E.M.

i still get some Neil Young w/Crazy Horse once in awhile. on the more heavy songs, obv.

i hope they continue to remain vv prolific.

Teenage Dirtbag, Bones, She Don't Use Jelly... All otm!

Finding it impossible to see 'Two Hands' as anything other than a companion piece to UFOF. The former feels more... major key, a tad more 'optimistic' and relatively care free than UFOF? UFOF is like this warm cocoon to crawl into, in the small hours, feeling very small. A shelter. 'Two Hands' feel more open, taking on the world more in defiance. I will need both records equally along the way, I know that much.

'Not' is, of course, a magnificent piece of art.

this album is so good. love 'the toy' and 'replaced'

i'm personally addicted to the extremely organic and fluid way this band plays together

― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, October 14, 2019 12:55 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah this. Even the way Adrienne and Buck play together -- I suspected the lead on Not was Adrienne, and based on the late show performance it is, but Buck is actually playing a kind of accompanying lead part rather than just chords and they really just blend together -- it reminds me a little of how Ian and Guy from Fugazi play together.

i was intrigued by 'century' and checked out this record.. man the band sounds great and the way the songs move around feels very distinctive but the singer really is a lot. she has a nice voice when she's singing low + controlled; mostly she isn't doing that, and it's awkward. reminds me of coco rosie at their worst in a lot of places. i dunno, maybe will grow on me like they seem to have for a lot of you.

Really love their bass player

― Heez, Monday, 14 October 2019 17:11 (three hours ago) link

This record also was the first time I noticed just how good their bass player is, but I also think that his ability to not stick out except at just the right moments is part of what makes him good.

Re: that CONTROVERSIAL Big Thief tweet, this is correct. Like 'em well enough but if I've learned anything from the '10s lists and really 20 years of paying attention to this, the tasteful indie-rock faves of the day are never safe from the next wave of critics. pic.twitter.com/fGnhgi824c

— Ian Cohen (@en_cohen) October 15, 2019

yes definite vibe of this off this band and all the critic friends who are swoony over them

Backlash cycles grow shorter and shorter

i had to research what the controversial big thief tweet was and i would like those three minutes of my life back thanks

I feel this more about Angel Olsen than Big Thief.

not sure i'd blame the collapse of the music media landscape on this phenomena which was observable at least ten years ago, and the fact that a nyt editor is pushing back against the deluge of love for big thief means the space for backlash isn't lost

also imo there is nothing "emperor's new clothes" about this band unless you just hear them as undistinguished folk rock, fleet foxes 2.0. which would be v superficial listening. which critics aren't immune from

I'm not against the argument that something better may be out there, but if so, let's see it.

it's a very big leap to go from 'i don't like this hyped artist' to 'everyone who likes this artist is faking it for clout.' it reminds me of a (much less malicious) version of right-wingers calling liberals/leftists 'virtue-signalers'

i don't begrudge the fact that 20,000 people pay to see billy joel at msg every month.

The Neil Young/Crazy Horse vibes are what take them to the next level for me, way above Fleet Foxes et al. I can't bring myself to stomach her voice, though – it's instinctive, and it's a damn shame.

agreed that it's a shame

'everyone who likes this artist is faking it for clout' is basically chris ott's classic indie rock conspiracy isn't it lmao

Might have to do with the voice as presumed seat of subjectivity and how it needs to partially mirror your own sense of self or whatever. Something about Lenker's vocals registers as inauthentic or false to my ears and no amount of discourse or autosuggestion can change that (well, for now). Everything else about them is wonderful.

but where is the 'hype' here? they've just grown steadily and got better over a number of years by... making consistent records and being a good live band over 5 years. its not like the attention is sudden or some sort of cooked up PR hype here... the PR isn't making the band - the band being good is what makes the PR job easy?

journos shouting hype almost always translates to them being late to the party, and being convinced that if a band could get attention without them noticing, they must have been bamboozled by nefarious means

i made a thread for masterpiece bc i heard the title track and "real love" and thought they were pretty tight and also at the time they were on saddle creek, who put out hop along's painted shut the year before. both bands felt special in a similar way. i'm def an unwitting victim of the pr machine

I have lectured my charges over the years endlessly about the difference between "not liking something" and "something not being good" and I argue this band is not good. People love what they love. I'm just making a critical statement and a social observation.

— cganz (@mehpatrol) October 15, 2019

I feel this more about Angel Olsen than Big Thief.

Agreed. I only listened to the new album once but it was a slog, particularly towards the end.

Reads like trolling tbh.

xp

Agreed. I only listened to the new album once but it was a slog, particularly towards the end.

― kornrulez6969, Tuesday, October 15, 2019 8:03 AM (forty-five seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

"I only listened to the new album once"

journos shouting hype almost always translates to them being late to the party,

OTM

When I ask if she will actually take a day job sometime soon, she responds instantly: “Yeah, probably. I’m not afraid to slow down.” The only thing that matters to her is longevity, flame-keeping. “I’m not afraid of needing to work at a diner. I know I can be happy doing that. I was just as happy living out of a busted RV, burning CDs and selling them, and playing shows for no one. I was happy doing that; it felt right.”

Yes, this definitely sounds like someone who is thirsting to be the new indie-rock queen. Nobody's saying you HAVE to like this band but the guy who tweeted out the original thing about "emperor's new clothes" just seems really small, not to mention a total jag.

pretty sure it's a lady, but otherwise yeah

caryn is a woman yes

Haha my mistake for assuming someone who would unironically use the phrase “my charges” was a man

but where is the 'hype' here?

i dunno about hype, i think i might have heard of them before but didn't really know anything about them—a journalist teased the super-positive pitchfork review also in super positive terms and i took a listen. that journalist, along with what was just said here, seemed to be keyed to the idea of the band/records being special moreso than good, which is i think where the potential for critical disproportion comes in.

what's this all about? I don't have three minutes

This B*g Th*ef thing is the emperor's new clothes of 2019 rock, don't even think of @-ing me

— cganz (@mehpatrol) October 15, 2019

Egregious bait works best.

seemed to be keyed to the idea of the band/records being special moreso than good, which is i think where the potential for critical disproportion comes in.

does "special" not imply and include "good"? the feeling i get when i listen to their records is that something is transpiring in their interplay that other bands will likely be unable to repeat. to me that's special

it does imply and include good but i don't think being special is just the same as being good but at a higher point of intensity

if they would just have more than one rhythm my feeling would be different i'm sure

i understand the job of critics, but i hate it when they think / talk like their opinion is fact. hate it, hate it, hate it.

who gives a flying fuck what theoretical Pitchfork writers are supposedly going to think about this record 10 years from now?

people who post on the pitchfork is dumb thread about the 2010s retrospective pitchfork publishes in 2029

I'm proud of myself for not looking at that list, therapy is working

it's your privilege that lets you stay insulated from best-of lists, some people don't have that luxury

hahaha

irl lol

understand the job of critics, but i hate it when they think / talk like their opinion is fact. hate it, hate it, hate it.

― alpine static,

Example?

Pitchfork's application of the Ludovico Technique was probably a bridge too far, but that's where we are now

lol j.

xxp that cganz tweet from above ("i have lectured my charges...") seems like a relevant one

Arguments like this are stupid as shit and not worth engaging in, but it's particularly grating with Big Thief where (1) I discovered the band by accident, having no idea whatsoever who they were (no "hype" played into it) and (2) they have been my favorite contemporary band for the past couple of years. I love their music on a really deep level, and if they're not ROCK AND ROLL enough for you, fine, but honestly just fuck off. Don't tell other people what they feel.

luv 2 be a twitter bluecheck w/no name or identifying details

yeah and on that note who is this person, am I supposed to know who they are?

The tweet is dumb, Big Thief barely warrants a takedown bc I mean whose oxygen are they really stealing, and anyway as someone who mostly comes away from Next Big Thing indie with a shrug, I took to this band immediately with the first album. Her voice never bothered me but I also have built up immunity after years of listening to Neil Young.

everyone self selects their Twitter bubble so what seems like an overbearing national discourse on Big Thief is basically like 20k nerds and no one gives a shit

the tweeter in question is a music editor at the nyt

Also, "emperor's new clothes" is just a weird criticism to make of them in particular even if you don't like them? Emperor's new clothes makes me think of something more like, IDK, that absurd overwrought orchestral project that Jack White did, lots of bluster and not much substance. Big Thief's music is obviously carefully and lovingly crafted and extremely sincere whether it's your thing or not.

make up your mind, is it gonna be 'to each his own' or 'fuck you if you say anything against this obvious gem'

the tweeter in question is a music editor at the nyt

oh boiee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RXwe-v72rE

make up your mind, is it gonna be 'to each his own' or 'fuck you if you say anything against this obvious gem'

― j., Tuesday, October 15, 2019 9:37 AM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it's "don't even think of @-ing me"

as a critical posture it's both dismissive and defensive, two things i think criticism should strive not to be but ymmv

I am always more interested in critical writing that involves subjectivity and really digs into it that way, vs this sort of objectivity lording over how others are supposed to feel. There’s of course a middle ground, a vast one occupied by many. Idk i think there’s a bit more room for being generous towards music if you start to dig into your own reactions, maybe. But I think the ego of a decent number of writers means more personal opinions being passed off as fact, much more dismissiveness and contempt. Don’t @ me w/r/t this post.

make up your mind, is it gonna be 'to each his own' or 'fuck you if you say anything against this obvious gem'

― j., Tuesday, October 15, 2019 11:37 AM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I mean I'm really not saying it's an "obvious gem," I just don't think "emperor's new clothes" is really an apt criticism? I don't particularly like Lana Del Rey, but I don't think she is "emperor's new clothes." Like there is objectively *something* there.

right i agree with you there, i'm not sure what the exact original formulation was but my interest is not in seeing the band as new-clothesey or as hype-driven epiphenomena of the criticism industry. someone itt put it better, i think, that they seem to be an instance of a more general phenomenon where actually musically respectable bands get caught in waves of overestimation by critics-fans because of their role in the impoverished indie rock milieu but rapidly subside in esteem—yet you would expect critics to be more reflective about this when praising bands like this.

you could also expect so-called critics to maybe explain why they don't like a piece of art rather than dropping a "this sucks and everyone who likes it is dumb" stink bomb and refusing to engage with anyone.

^^^^ this

it's called editing!!!!!!!!!

I can't get over this choad referring to "'my charges." It reminds me of a National Review editor yelling at interns for using soy milk instead of REAL FUCKING CREAM in his coffee.

I mean, fwiw I've almost never enjoyed most of the NY Times' music criticism. Their house vibe seems to be very boring people trying to prove how fun they are through their appreciation of popular music.

doesn't it imply a custodial relationship, like the ones whom she has been tasked with shaping into fine critical wordsmiths and journalistic pros

I've always been annoyed by the whole "don't @ me" thing anyway, but it's one thing tagged onto the end of an obviously jokey tweet, another thing at the end of a weird (and, I'd say, misguided) blanket dismissal of any piece of art from a critic for a national outlet.

somehow i missed that this band switched drummers between masterpiece and capacity, previously i thought jason burger had developed a sudden restraint on the latter record lol. james krivchenia's quiet, understated, very in the pocket playing feels much more tied to the spirit of the band than the sick fills burger unleashes all over "real love" but i love those sick fills regardless

haha so how many other ppl thought they had honed their intuitive communication when really they just dumped their lunkhead caveman

i mean it's both tbh

anyway, i finally checked out two hands and it's unsurprisingly great. i think capacity is still my favorite of the three--they maybe hadn't turned into world-beaters yet, but the best songs on capacity still hit me the hardest (haley, mary, mythological beauty, great white shark).

everyone otm about how 'not' hits even harder in context of the record.

huh, I actually didn't realize that either, only I assumed Krivechnia had been the drummer on Masterpiece. I think that explains a big part of why I find that record more uneven as much as I like it. I always felt like the title track wasn't done the way it deserved to be due to that big rock splash it tries to make.

i don't think it's necessarily all his playing. there are many great songs on there that don't feel secure in their arrangements, some of them drumless ("velvet ring"). weird to think "paul" points the way to the rest of their discography but it does

and "randy." good ol paul and randy, pointing the way

"Paul" is still one of my very favorite songs of theirs

Handwringing over Big Thief like this is giving me flashbacks to Music Tumblr

if your guitarist is named buck, chances are he's pretty good, ex. big thief, blue öyster cult

the buckaroos

R.E.M.

10,000 Maniacs

i made a thread for masterpiece bc i heard the title track and "real love" and thought they were pretty tight and also at the time they were on saddle creek, who put out hop along's painted shut the year before. both bands felt special in a similar way. i'm def an unwitting victim of the pr machine

― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, October 15, 2019 10:01 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

ha my old roommate was a super trad rock dude who had white stripes posters on our living room wall. He would play new rock sometimes & I mostly found it super boring. I got into the first Big Thief album bc it was the best thing he played to my ears -- was a little embarrassed for liking it at first bc it had some indie-pop perpetua vibes which has never been my aesthetic wheelhouse but her voice was distinct enough & there were some surprisingly good songs on it, esp for such a familiar aesthetic, and after a few times hearing it I started listening to it on my own

had no idea the band was going to broaden its sound like it did but it was such an organic discovery process for me its difficult to follow that tweet

i don't like what i have heard of the new album which is not a lot but i would never ever dare to say it is not good. that's a very patronising statement. it's more like my ears and eventually my brain do not seem to be made to appreciate it. but i liked large chunks of the album before.

I feel the same as you, voodoo chili. Myself, what keeps me from full-bore adoring these most recent two albums are the Extremely Strong Lyrics that I was hearing on Capacity which are largely absent

i do not perceive as much of a gap between the lyrics of capacity and the following two records as you do fgti, but i get where you're coming from. the songs on capacity feel like they all have this personal specificity and inwardly-searching quality, and together they end up touching on gender and power dynamics, family, presence and absence, scenes of horror and beauty lining up simultaneously without a sense of irony and more with a sense of this is just how things happen. ufof is much more mystical and outwardly-directed and about getting kissed by the flicker of a lake but songs like "from" and verses like "driving through the night / rings of crystal, crystal light / every gulp of the warm suburb air / betsy's auburn, auburn hair"... idk it's less specific but i'm still stunned and a little terrified. i do not have a grip on two hands lyrically at the moment; imo "shoulders" is a capacity-quality lyric but "shoulders" is as old as capacity is

in trying to make that post not horrible i ended up reading a lot of big thief lyrics and capacity's title track just has this perfect verse tucked away inside of it

Slipping away from the party
Totally vacant
Everyone gone from their bodies
You were outside kissing another
She was a friend of mine
I was surprised to discover
I wrapped my arms around her
She was a beautiful figure

also really love "evelyn's kiss was oxygen / i leaned over to take it in" from "shark smile"

shit doesn't even rhyme right

lyrics on UFOF were very hard for me to get a hold on (other than maybe From and Terminal Paradise). These already seem a little easier but still not as immediate as Capacity. I feel like she is very much not trying to write with the same level of immediacy though and is going for something more abstract and oblique.

shit doesn't even rhyme right

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, October 15, 2019 12:35 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

oh no i take it all back

When she holds me in her jaw
All my blood dripping
Will I be free
To cease gripping?

is one that has been standing out for me so far

tell me i'm rare

When she holds me in her jaw
All my blood dripping
Will I be free
To cease gripping?

is one that has been standing out for me so far

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive),

that's from "Wolf," right? It stood out in the car this morning, in part b/c there's nothing lupine about the arrangement.

capacity had beautiful, inward-facing lyrics that gave the quiet arrangements a steely intensity. UFOF had these super-intuitive, earwormy melodies that still pop into my head even though i haven't gone back and listened for a while. Two Hands, so far, is a more visceral listening experience with moments that show off just how tight these guys have become, but i'm feeling less emotional connection to the songs. there is still time for them to worm their way into my head like the last two albums did.

in about 20 years of seeing live music constantly, i can count on one finger the number of times i've seen a band perform a new song and have it immediately become my favorite of theirs. heck i've been all over the big thief threads obsessing over 'not' for about a year now.

preaching to the choir here, but this band is special

Yeah I felt that way when I saw her solo live, and also "From" became my favorite song of theirs for a while after just watching a video of it once. In fact, when I saw her live I enjoyed hearing the unfamiliar songs much more than the familiar ones, and when she played "Paul" it almost felt trite.

Listening to this album now... not quite what I expected (one way or another) for something that kicked up all this discourse, but it's good... I like the song "Not" a lot. Her singing, and some melodies, remind me a bit of Will Oldham.

Will Oldham is a good reference point, yeah. I really like Two Hands, I don't know if more than U.F.O.F., but not less in any case. Song for song, it may be stronger.

It's funny to me for Big Thief to get called out as indie darlings, because I've had an aversion to a lot of indie darlings — TVOTR, Arcade Fire, most of the Strokes and Animal Collective — but I don't feel that way at all about them. Obviously they are indie darlings by definition, 9.0 in Pitchfork and all, but I think that's mostly because they're a good, interesting band. They remind me of some things I like, Blonde Redhead was the first thing that came to mind in some places, but are their own distinct and odd entity. The interplay between the musicians is as interesting as the songwriting, they have a particular cohesiveness that reminds me of Sonic Youth or R.E.M. in their earlier years, when you can hear the whole unit really coming together and exploring what they can do.

i know it doesnt choogle in the same way, but i feel like the psych guitar solo freakout of "not" lives in the same neighborhood as "ramble tamble" by ccr

this record has so many classic rock touchstones which is kinda refreshing in 2019.

still on not which is a monster, but the way the drummer lets fills go past the first of the next measure beat feels v mick fleetwood. the major-minor switch is p beatlesly and shows up a lot. there's a lot of traditional i-iv and i-iv-v chord progressions which i dont recall them using as much on previous records. uh, the second song reminds me of tom petty for some reason? "wolf" sounds kinda fahey-ish to me. it's like there's familiarity but enough variation where it's not just a pastiche. i dont know if i like this as much as capacity of ufof yet, altho "not" is absolutely my fav song by them. there is so much mileage out of those three chords. (someone better at music theory feel free to correct me, im an amateur)

i hear so much Silkworm in it but I'm sure that is entirely coincidental

Silkworm was the first band I thought of when I heard the solo the first time.

Tim Midyett from Silkworm agrees, he tweeted this about "Not"

Missed the one after Masterpiece (so far), wasn't nuts about UFOF. Here once again tho...*very closely aligned* with my band's own jams and my overall preferences for a life in music, including the melody-wrecking coda (mmmmmwhah). So I love it

the solo is the most Andy Cohen thing i've ever heard that isn't Andy or Karl Hendricks. which is good, world needs more of it

there's a lot of traditional i-iv [...]chord progressions which i dont recall them using as much on previous records

'we have the same power, we have the same power'

love ufof now btw, will revisit this one once i've played it out

not that they’ve never used it ofc

So far the tracks I'm loving most are Rock and Sing, Those Girls, Shoulders, Not, Wolf. I love the way the album just opens on beat/full band with a lyric -- was thinking about starting a thread about "no intro" albums/songs that start like that.

I think the bassist is kind of the secret hero of this record -- there are some just gorgeous moments where the bass momentarily rises above the band and then plunges back down again into the mix, like the brief instrumental coda of Rock and Sing or the bass fills during the guitar solo on Not.

xxxpost - WITD thanks for sharing! that is cool he's into it and glad it just wasn't me

Hmm I sort of missed the boat on Silkworm and that makes me want to spend more time with their music

this all feels very arcade fire to me like the yr they broke through with a set of emotionally direct competent rock songs

just saw an advert for this album at London's busiest tube station, they've officially transcended the usual means of dissemination and gone Royal. this unfortunately means i have to view them with suspicion from now on

lj take a day of PTO no one can be that vigilant all the time

Big Thief already have a larger catalog of interesting songs than The Arcade Fire

TBF, a lot of people who’ve put out any music at all can claim that distinction.

I've been trying to figure out for a while what Buck Meek's stage movements remind me of, and I just realized it's those Chuck E Cheese animatronic bands

well, yeah

xp

Their performance of "Not" on Colbert last week was great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWW-eKX8uSo

they are very good live!

I've been trying to figure out for a while what Buck Meek's stage movements remind me of, and I just realized it's those Chuck E Cheese animatronic bands

IDK why but that ganz tweet got under my skin and it keeps coming to mind. Something about a music critic at the paper of record just taking a big public dump on something I love, not even an artful takedown but just "this is bad and you are pretending to like it" with no further explanation.

good that I'm not on twitter

The entire “people are only pretending to like this because...” form of criticism is empty

Not defending that garbage tweet but it does happen sometimes.

xp -- not even so much as a "because" is part of what bothered me about it. Yes, it is possible for hype to take hold of a crowd and for something to sort of get overly pumped by that. Usually time erases that phenomenon. Honestly I feel like no one is more susceptible to it than music writers.

But also, no music writer really has any special ability to discern when it is happening to others around them.

Mostly men telling me I’m wrong! Love 2 tweet.

— cganz (@mehpatrol) October 15, 2019

*rolls eyes*

take comfort in the fact that "big thief is actually bad at making music" is such a wildly stupid thing to suggest that i would not really ever take this guy seriously no matter where he worked.

lol and then to come back with "men tweeting," f this guy

Is that a gender-neutral use of 'guy'?

oh my bad, did not actually know who this person was

I mean it was mostly men telling her she was right too, but so pointless to even respond. Wouldn't care if it wasn't someone with that particular imprimatur.

Ugh, dudebros and their queer woman-fronted bands who sing about pansexuality and gender anormativity, amirite

lol. the worst

That Colbert performance is good (the drummer = a Brett Gelman character)

theres def bands driven by media hype but this isnt one of them...media is at best keeping up w/ the irl buzz and at worst slightly behind

first album still the best imo

I forgot to mention there was a jammy segue in the live show that made me think of Jandek!

i'm not super into this band (haven't been all along) BUT that is a very good song and that video up there is a great performance that really lets you see how each member of that band has a sort of weird, wild-eyed, slightly unsettling quality that you can't take your eyes off of. (Lenker the least so, but she is the focal point, so...)

they're like a band full of the guy in the corner of the bus station that is making a harmless scene and you're keeping an eye on him without looking his way. i mean this in a very complimentary way, of course.

The band's look in that clip reminds me of the end of The Apple, when BIM shows up at the park w/Mr. Boogalow, sporting a "new style"... don't even think about @'ing me

the difference between "not liking something" and "something not being good" and I argue this band is not good. People love what they love. I'm just making a critical statement and a social observation. Obv. fallacy of "objectivity," but she could make a possibly persuasive or significant case, just prob not on Twitter---where so many people (incl. me at times) think they're masters of the mic-drop maxim, and the more insistent they are, the more loaded the lines, the less likely it is to worke.
However! When she says that it's mostly guys telling her she's wrong, that is more significant: a friend quoted his w!fe as saying, when asked (not bothering to volunteer an opinion on a then-celebrated singer-songwriter, I forget who) that she was okay, though very "womany"--projecting this ingratiating, sympathy-seeking image, brave and thoughtful, confiding her experiences, brave and tendah---well, and also the early rock critic Ellen Willis, while professionally and personally immersed in the Janis Joplin experience, especially live, came to wonder, as she stood near guys also immersed, if the theatricality, the sonic baptizm, which could be pretty strenuous for all concerned, especially when Joplin was still with Big Brother, if all this Story of the Pain and Glory of Womanhood, waw not somehow making it too easy for guys, with another far-out rock spectacle, throw yer popcorn in the air (well, the breakthrough album was Cheap Thrills--wonder how Joplin, no dummy would have dealt with this if she had lived longer, like well into the 70s wave of feminism)
But I can only say, I've got a simple male mind, and I like what I like.

you can't apply either of those descriptions to this band, they're not courting the gaze of the male counterculture

not that janis was or whoever that singer-songwriter is is

It reminds me of my suspicion of male critics or fans who praise a female performer's sexuality as a sign of her independence

xpost

theres def bands driven by media hype but this isnt one of them...media is at best keeping up w/ the irl buzz and at worst slightly behind

― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Friday, October 18, 2019 12:37 AM (thirteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

deej on point here, if anything the critical hysteria that PFM has worked up around bands has historically tended to fall flat if the band in question wasn't of interest to people beyond the initial hype wave. there are so many justly or unjustly forgotten acts who caught a BNM merit badge with an OTT, rhapsodic review and subsequently vanished. primarily bc people weren't interested in what they had to offer, despite this small group of critics writing for an influential website who championed them. And Big Thief i guess kind of "arrived" due to a similar early notice from PF and other similar sites w/Masterpiece, but they stuck around (maybe even quietly so, with little hype), and the reason this one is catching more notice is because people have finally caught up and of course "Not" is massive.

and also the early rock critic Ellen Willis, while professionally and personally immersed in the Janis Joplin experience, especially live, came to wonder, as she stood near guys also immersed, if the theatricality, the sonic baptizm, which could be pretty strenuous for all concerned, especially when Joplin was still with Big Brother, if all this Story of the Pain and Glory of Womanhood, waw not somehow making it too easy for guys, with another far-out rock spectacle, throw yer popcorn in the air

I lost the thread here -- "somehow making it too easy for guys" to what?

Making it too easy for guys to enjoy the show and not be challenged by what she was making of the struggles of women and Woman.
I think "womany" had to do with seeming to seek sympathy from whomever, not just guys. However Joplin thought about courting her mass audience, which she sure worked for, she was, for Willis and everybody back then (incl. me), somebody who was saying what otherwise wasn't being heard by so many, no matter what or how much they thought of it---when Willis wrote "Lessons of Chicago," about '68 Democratic Convention chaos. she was described in the notes on contributors to that isse of New American Review as "a member of Women's Liberation, a feminist organization"--es-o-ter-ic, man---also check that eyewitness account on xgau's site, of Jefferson Airplane concert where Slick tried to let it blurt and got razzed by the largely male audience, visibly patronized by her otherwise all-male band---those were different tymes (in some ways)

And I'm not saying I was or am more sensitive than those bros over there etc., but she did make me think about a lot of stuff I didn't particularly want to think about or deal with.

woo ok i'm out of my depth here

IDG what any of that has to do with this band whatsoever xp

FWIW, I took “Mostly men telling me I’m wrong” to be a general social media move, rather than a claim that d00ds were responding to a female-fronted band in a particular way (tho who knows)

Yeah see that's the prob with tweets.

has she written a piece about this?

no, and that's sort of the frustrating thing, I would be fine with her writing a reasoned takedown of Big Thief that I didn't agree with, at least relatively more fine than with just a shitty tweet with no explanation. I just kind of expect better from a music critic at a major publication. But then that is sort of the problem with Twitter -- for all I know it was just some drunk tweet that she made after having an argument with someone.

Yeah, and it didn't start with Twitter---some of those little shit % run Real Life Ten/Consumer Guide lines came way before (although some other lines got me to buy shit I admit)

shit & run, that is

Seeking sympathy is of course not a bad thing in itself---and I don't think Lenker is trying to be the
new vanguard of feminist etc. and/or a superstar, maybe any kind of star, but I'm sure *some* women a9nd maybe some guys) are like, "Oh sure, lady," like she can seem inward-turning, twee (re the early REM appeal) at times, but then, as w Stipe, she's got that band ready when she wants to step forward, so look out for the oblique strokes

One of the things that strikes me about Big Thief and maybe also about the time in which they exist is that they seem able to be feminist and queer-friendly and all that stuff in a small way, without needing to announce it to the world or put themselves in a box the way "lilith fair" type acts might have done in the 90s. And admittedly I probably am more likely to respond to them because of that, because they're not holding up a big sign that says "this is specifically for someone other than you."

Agree 100% with the sentiment above that Big Thief do not seem to be actively courting hype or backlash. At least, from my perspective as a 42yo dad who mostly keeps up with music via this board, Spotify algorithms and Wikipedia rabbit holes.

I find Big Thief’s music to be so insular and unassuming, full of depth that’s not totally apparent on first listen. Even four albums in I still get the sense they’re just building a devoted cult following—nothing that would warrant a vicious takedown, whether in article or tweet form.

the first time i heard "paul" from masterpiece i thought, well this is an extremely accomplished + assured song for some random band's debut album. and they've just continued from there. i haven't vibed with every song on every album but to suggest that the band that wrote "mythological beauty" or "not" is failing on some sort of objective level is ridiculous.

there's a moment at about 3:08 in that late show performance where the camera gets all of them singing the chorus and it's as locked in as i've ever seen a band doing a tv spot.

Okay so as well as 'Teenage Dirtbag', I realised that Forgotten Eyes really reminds me of early Radiohead b side 'How Can You Be Sure', which I can't find on YouTube but honestly.

It's amazing how much BT occasionally remind me of Radiohead without specifically sounding like them. I'm betting the guitarist is a huge Johnny Greenwood stan

their chord progressions sometimes feel very radiohead-esque too, which is quite nice since not much else out there evokes the same feeling as in rainbows

Indeed. Now if only she could sing like Thom Yorke ca. The Bends…

actually i think her voice is a fair bit reminiscent of thom's

As a side note, I seem to be utterly alone on this one, if my cursory 5 minute Google search is anything to go by.

huh dow I never thought of xgau's smug dickhead quippy one liner reviews as proto Twitter but they kind of are

Saying it’s good cuz it’s not loud and proud queer or bc it sounds like Radiohead?? Stop ruining this band lmao

i hate to beat a dead horse, but big thief have seized the heart of my partner--someone who has never listened to nor cared about indie rock in her life. needless to say she was offended by the nyt critic's tweet

they were excellent last night in chicago. cattails and not were clear highlights. it goes without saying, but SEE THIS BAND LIVE

buck also played a solo number which kinda blew me away. so much talent in this band

love a POPCAST talking dababy, memes, real rap perseverance, moshing and catching feelings at rolling loud w/ @joecoscarelli

(also incl. bonus #defend @mehpatrol footage)https://t.co/GqodFzYmHE

— Jon Caramanica (@joncaramanica) October 19, 2019

NYT not about to let you get away with liking an indie band in 2019

/troll

Last few times I've listened to this, I kept thinking - "I'll bet these guys were big fans of Wheat's '99 'Hope and Adams' record.'

yeah i mean come on, they start off the whole conversation by saying that ganz has a private twitter, which she does not.

I checked this out with a chip on my shoulder -- "how good can it be, this album I keep hearing about, I don't really listen to indie rock much, I'm not going to like this but I guess I should find out what it sounds like." fucking blown away. I listened to the one from earlier this year, too, and it was good, but this album has a very locked-in musicians-listening-to-one-another feel that just astonished me. what outstanding music.

<3

"Orange" from UFOF is the one that devastates me.

This one's recorded pretty much live in a dusty room in a desert or something, isn't it? I think that's a BIG contributing factor to the locked-in musicianliness of it.

i listened to the album twice today and guess what? i really liked it, i got over her voice or maybe better into her voice. except one song which destroys the flow and which i have to skip as it is just too much pastiche, too obvious. it's "not" which almost made me not listen to the rest of the album as i didn't like it from the beginning on and couldn't join into everybody's hooray. it definitely deserves it's name.

"Orange" from UFOF is the one that devastates me.

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 22 October 2019 23:44 (yesterday) link

Have you listened to her pre-BT solo stuff at all? Because Orange reminds me of some of it.

wayne and garth in mainhatten

the album lives up to the name Two Hands because that's what i used to cover my ears

I don't understand how a listener could really like most of this album, but strongly dislike "Not."

even the second part of "not" with the guitar jam is really boring and conventional. in parts it reminds me of the endless guitar noodling of 70s prog rock. corny and asking for a punk rock answer.

no

alex, dude - it sounds like Greg Ginn playing with the Voidoids

which prog rock bands specifically does it remind you of

big thief.

case. closed.

to be fair, Not is kind of a pale imitation of The Gates of Delirium.

I'm going to keep saying it sounds like Silkworm because only like 5000 ppl like Silkworm and we are super nerds, also it's true

I don't get the prog thing at all

jk actually Big Thief sounds like National Health meets Porcupine Tree

having spent some more time with it over the past week i definitely hear the 'worm in this record

I bought the CD to-day

oh boy

5,000 RPM inside the player

Yeah man, it really spins good in there

anyone have the vinyl?

finally got around to listening to this. Some amazing song writing as to be expected but the sound blows me away here. not sure where i place it in their catalog yet after only my first listen .

haven't caught up on the last 2 albums yet but just wanna point out that the status quo indie rock 'one thread per album' model is a terrible way to organize online discussion on this plain text message board

I think this is really a remarkable album... It just holds you in the palm of its hand. There’s something almost “outsider”-y about it, as if they’re roughly transmutating esoteric sources of inspiration into the earthy language of rock and roll (and, I guess, “folk”).

I've got the vinyl with 'desert peach` colouring. pretty much every new record I buy these days is a special colour

Technological/practical "backward steps" we all just accept now

decent pressing?get so wary of new indie vinyl

I got the regular black vinyl, just as I did with UFOF, they sound very decent (i.e. good) to me

anyone have the vinyl?

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap

Yeah, I got the peach colored version and it's terrible quality. The second side in particular is so bad due to it being off centre. I had to return it and I'm not sure if I'm going to try it again or just get the CD.

ah thanks, that's what I worried when I saw the peach whatever bullshit

CD it is

Looking on Discogs, it looks like some people have had the same issue as me but some have got lucky and say it's fine. I'll probably just go for the CD as it gets a bit tiring and takes the fun out of it trying to find good copies sometimes. I had to buy and return four different versions of the last Japanese Breakfast album before I got one that played perfectly.

I didn't notice anything wrong with mine, but then I have wonky hearing anyway

My peach colored LP sounds good

The title track is fuckin bliss

^^^ it's great, isn't it? i like what the guitar does and i love those weird, scratchy,dissonant noises at 1:20. is that a violin they are massacring there? it comes back near the end. the next song "those girls" is beautiful as well especially the transition and the sudden end and the long pause after which is like a big huge fullstop.

Just listened to both 2019 albums back to back, now that I’ve had some time with both. They are both among my favorite albums released this year but Two Hands now feels for sure the superior of the two. It has a little more variety, highs and lows.

i love those weird, scratchy,dissonant noises at 1:20. is that a violin they are massacring there? it comes back near the end.

This band should make a play for the “I’ve Got My Own Album to Do” thread, by naming their next one Big Thief Energy

(be sure to hit the ‘subscribe’ button so you don’t miss a single one of my posts)

*hits that like button*

Cover: Shot from below, all members of band with obviously massively stuffed pants, Adrianne's pants are the most-stuffed

surprised by people's love for the opening track. does very little for me other than work as a lead-in

I think it's very effective, both musically & lyrically (and obv. it pulls you immediately into the world of the album). Love the final verse, and the way the song ends after a simple musical phrase, when it could have kept going.

Saw them last night, they were pretty solid. The Two Hands songs worked particularly well, building up track by track to a real rock spectacle. I was a little surprised that U.F.O.F. felt fairly unrepresented, but I suppose the folksier songs might not carry as well in such a big venue.

good to hear ! i'll be seeing them saturday

she flubbed the lines on a couple songs when i saw her on sunday but i assume that's the result of constantly having new lyrics popping into her head. great show otherwise

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

They're a funny bunch, aren't they?

Why, in this setting, would one choose to play without a shirt on?

Can't buy that vibe at the mall, man

4AD has a 25% off code on their site now, with shipping got this and UFOF for $31

I’ve been a little surprised to see that UFOF seems to be the album showing up on EOY list. Or to be more precise, I’m surprised this one is being omitted.

^^ one friend of mine who did that in his list just straight up admitted "I haven't had time to hear the new one yet"

I noticed that too (and was also surprised).

I’m not yet clicking with the new one the way I did with UFOF, “not” notwithstanding.

likewise

same. will give it some more time though as most people here are so positive. i don't think i'll ever get behind the "this album has a very locked-in musicians-listening-to-one-another feel" though - not to dismiss it, i just don't think i'd know it if i heard it.

Thanos for the heads up on the 4AD sale. Taking advantage of it now.

The craziest thing to me would be to rate one album highly—high enough to be best if the year—yet not feel the same about the other. There are differences to be sure but the overall quality is high on both. They are a fitting pair even if not officially a double album.

many XP

thanks for the 4AD tip! snagged them both as well. Also, scott walker's "the drift" double LP for $13!

They're a funny bunch, aren't they?

― djh, Friday, November 29, 2019 2:22 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

What is the sound of one clave?

I finally got around to “getting into” their other albums.... what an absurdly good band. It feels almost preposterous that they’ve written & recorded this many great songs in the span of just a few years.

It’s remarkable how many different styles and “moods” they inhabit, while always sounding like themselves. (Some of the songs on Capacity almost have a Pinback feel — that measured, chiming, tick-tock quality.)

Also, I don’t typically notice lyrics unless they’re very good (or very bad) — and Adrianne’s are clearly very, very good.

Yes. These guys are the real deal.

I found a secondhand copy of Masterpiece for about £12 the other day, meaning I just need Capacity to own them all. I have a sneaking feeling Capacity is their best, but that's nonsense - ofc ourse the one that's their best is whichever one I'm listneing to at the time, right?

That said, I find there's a bit on each album (usually towards the end) where I'm not as into the songs. Or maybe they're just not as instantaneous.

NOT TO DIE
NOT DYING
NOT TO LAUGH
NOT LYING

the crack (rasp?) in her voice on that "it's not the hunger" line just slays me

Masterpiece is the "poppiest" / most immediate; Two Hands is the heaviest / most intense. The other two fall in between, I guess...

NOT TO DIE
NOT DYING
NOT TO LAUGH
NOT LYING

― alpine static, Thursday, January 16, 2020 12:51 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

fucking love that part

Masterpiece is the "poppiest" / most immediate; Two Hands is the heaviest / most intense. The other two fall in between, I guess...

― stop creeping my instagram storiez (morrisp), Thursday, January 16, 2020 2:33 PM (eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

ufof is the most spectral, capacity has a little of everything

i still think capacity is the best one

agreed

Shark Smile was the first track I ever heard and loved right away

Masterpiece: Bang
Capacity: Back From the Dead
UFOF: Bang 2
Two Hands: AlmightySo

Two Hands has left the biggest impression on me overall though

pvmic

xp

Is it wrong though

it makes more sense than it should

I'm not sure Two Hands is the heaviest. 'Not' is heavy, and the sound is rawer and more upfront than UFOF but Capacity feels weightier in comparison

I dunno, there are parts of Two Hands that I almost find hard to listen to — due to that rawness, and intensity, and lyrics that evoke things of terrible gravity (without naming them directly):

Charcoal womb, the jet planes purr
And the croon, distant as paper
Children burn, faceless vapor
'Cause the toy in my hand is real

(But I also haven’t spent as much time with Capacity yet.)

"mythological beauty" from capacity has that rawness in spades. i'd copy and paste parts but then i'd just start pasting verses

https://genius.com/15624811

Masterpiece: Bang
Capacity: Back From the Dead
UFOF: Bang 2
Two Hands: AlmightySo

― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Thursday, January 16, 2020 2:29 PM (five hours ago)

hall of fame post

I've been enjoying watching YouTube videos of this band; there are some great ones (their Tiny Desk Concert is older and brief, but mesmerizing).

I particularly get a kick out of the thin, blonde guitarist with the unlikely name of "Buck Meek"... he's like some conglomeration of Buddy Holly, Andy Dick, and Zander Schloss, pulling a constant assortment of shimmies, jerks, grimaces, and head-bobs.

I'd say none of these 4 people are particularly shy about flaunting their sartorial eccentricities.

to their credit!

Thoguht I'd put together a 'Best-Of' / 'Beginner's Guide' for my pals

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/41650wZfn3Mjd0AMcjrWDT?si=We6DsegYSImEIb3HPRvBYw

In line w my earlier post, this is one of the few indie bands where I feel like a ranked list of their songs would actually flesh out rather than minimize their talents .... 25 best big thief songs ranked or whatevr ... between that & releasing two albums in a year they kinda operate like a rap group

yep. and a band whom I'm very happy are churning it out because I spend a lot of time with each one and each is high quality

I mentioned them to my uncle a little while back... he and I sometimes talk music, tho our tastes only occasionally align (he's mainly into mellow singer-songwriter/c&w).

He emailed me today that he's been listening to Masterpiece nonstop, and that he likes it even more than Two Hands ("because I'm old"). He also said that "Masterpiece" (the song) "weirdly and for reasons I haven't yet put my finger on makes me think of The Band's 'The Weight.'"

“Masterpiece” does have a 70s classic country-rock chug, & is a very easy entry point to the band for folks coming from alt-country. “The Weight” isn’t a huge stretch.

When I first heard the opener of 'Capacity' I mistook BT for a country-rock band. They definitely have a bit of Bobby Gentry / Delta Swamp Boogie feeling somewhere in there

So far I've heard Capacity, U.F.O.F., and Two Hands, and I love them all. How does Adrianne's solo album (abysskiss) compare to them?

It’s acoustic, and fairly calm/meditative; with a bit of a “droning” effect from the repetitive fingerpicking and slow tempos. A few of the songs are performed by the full band on U.F.O.F.

Her earlier album, Hours Were the Birds, has a more traditional singer-songwriter feel.

of course the one that's their best is whichever one I'm listneing to at the time, right?

^I've sort of come around to this p.o.v., after listening all weekend.

Also, this band has a quality that reminds me of Led Zeppelin -- not because they sound anything alike (it's hard to imagine two more different singers!), but because each of their albums is so distinctive, and every song they've released carries a certain importance.

You know how you can find those online features with "All 92(?) 74(?) 87(?) Led Zeppelin Songs, Ranked"? (there's disagreement on how to count). Even your "Hats Off to (Roy) Harper," or whatever, is elevated just by being etched on that awesome stone tablet of the Official Zep Catalog. There are no Zep "throwaways"; every song is important & key, part of the mythology (...until maybe you get to Coda). I'm sure there are other bands whose fans would say something similar about them; but I don't think I would personally make the same claim about most of the bands I love (they all have "lesser" tracks here and there, or, "yeah, that's an ok song," etc.).

Big Thief are obviously only halfway to matching the Zep output -- though if the parallel is accurate, they're about to hit their most killer stretch (lol) -- but they feel similar to me, in the sense that each Big Thief song has its own center of gravity. Even the few songs I'm not super hot on (I wish Capacity's title track were a little less, I dunno, sludgy?) have my respect & attention, and feel like they should be inscribed up on the big Rock 'n Roll wall somewhere.

'Capacity' title track always reminds me of Moon River for some reason

xp yeah the first thing I thought when I heard them was Comus (voice, melodies) and then Zep (overall band vibe)

Huh, never heard of Comus (just looked them up). I mentioned on the other thread how I hear some Slapp Happy in certain Big Thief songs; looks like there may be some overlap there.

“Not” gets all the attn... but “Shoulders” is also

A

JAM

Yeah Not I'd great and everything but maybe a tiny bit overrated at the expense of other songs on the album.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-EAOdaDidy/

adrienne posted a lovely new song to instagram

why do i always misspell her name

be guided by the capitalized-“A” stylization: https://www.discogs.com/release/12550569-Stages-Of-The-Sun/images

!!!

O_o

This is some Y Kant AdriAnne Read shit right there

www.AdriAnne.com is still under her control!

A batch of recent demos on sale, to benefit their road crew: https://bigthief.bandcamp.com/album/demos-vol-1-topanga-canyon-ca-feb-2018

One more: https://bigthief.ffm.to/loveinmine

“We all felt this song was one of the strongest
songs/captures in the Two Hands batch but we could never quite get it to fit in a sequence. Happy to be sharing it now”

definitely too straightforwardly pretty for the album. splendid as a standalone single though

this sounds like a christine fleetwood mac song, its v v v good

https://i.imgur.com/XF9HQCQ.jpg

these twitter culture wars are outta control :(

#bigthiefisoverparty

It was just a matter of time

I think we may be getting a few new albums soon, guys: www.instagram.com/p/CADtCEpH-t7/

(btw - what kind of cyber-guitar is Adrianne holding in that first pic??)

I flubbed the link

I flubbed the link and the link won

Got ahold of Lenker's first album, recorded when she was 13.

Kudos to her for getting an album out that early, but I wouldn't recommend it at all.

Oh, nice! Good catch, did you find it in a store or online?

That alb is p terrible but it’s a charming kind of terrible, esp in light of what she’s doing now.

that looks like one those things lee ritenour played. it’s on his Wayne Gretzky tribute album

wait I’m mixing him up with Steve khan re: the Gretzky thing. Anyway here it is: https://www.discogs.com/Lee-Ritenour-Earth-Run/master/80205

A SynthAxe(tm)?

found it: Casio DG-1

https://youtu.be/3hf7AsraFx8

Thx!

Bought the first Lenker through Discogs. I’ve fallen pretty hard for Big Thief so I decided to start at the beginning. It’s not awful, but it sounds like a reasonably talented 13 year old
imitating... Sheryl Crow maybe? If she has any say in the matter, I can’t imagine it getting reissued anytime soon.

Pretty sure Lucid Tunes was a vanity label, likely run by her dad; this was its only other release. From what I've read, she and her dad are on good terms, so he's not likely to reissue it w/out her consent!

This demo "Mermaid" is sick... it's kind of a new take on the "Cattails" idea

These goofy-dressing hippies are the sickest band

really hoping the casio guitar is going to make the new album

https://open.spotify.com/album/2e3TrMSoC2IdX6tksQwpls

new adrianne solo track!

Big Thief's Adrianne Lenker announces two new albums, songs and instrumentals, out October 23rd on 4AD

songs and instrumentals are two distinct collections, both written and recorded in April after Big Thief’s March tour was abruptly cut short due to coronavirus. After returning to the states from Europe, Lenker decamped to a one room cabin in the mountains of western Massachusetts.

This recording is 100% analog-analog-analog (AAA). No digital process was used in the production of this sound recording.

The album’s stunning artwork are watercolor paintings done by Adrianne’s grandmother, Diane Lee.

Tracklist
songs
1. two reverse
2. ingydar
3. anything
4. forwards beckon rebound
5. heavy focus
6. half return
7. come
8. zombie girl
9. not a lot, just forever
10. dragon eyes
11. my angel

instrumentals
1. music for indigo
2. mostly chimes

very curious about what the instrumentals album will be like

Sounds like it will be mostly chimes.

mostly.

interesting! you know it's serious when someone decamps

This recording is 100% analog-analog-analog (AAA). No digital process was used in the production of this sound recording.

i'm enough of an audiophile douchebag to admit that at least part of big thief's appeal is how much better their records sounds than 99.9% of indie rock bands

Decamps(?) Adrianne solo albums aren't a new thing...

"No digital process was used in the production of this sound recording, except for the sick tones of the Casio DG-1 Digital Guitar."

Btw - the new song is good (no surprise)!

i just think the "decamped" to a one room cabin thing is funny, sounds like something a deposed military leader would do

"anything" is really pretty

Some more context on the new albums from Adrianne here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEowCPND49R/?igshid=cudu4affgpgx

(sorry I failed to trim out the tracking ID)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUqxxN7EbeQ

another new adrianne song "dragon eyes"

the guitars on it are so shimmering and pretty

The band has a track (a Two Hands outtake called “Jane”) on this benefit album: https://keeledscales.bandcamp.com/album/to-the-people-of-the-land-carrizo-comecrudo-solidarity-compilation

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/10/19/adrianne-lenkers-radical-honesty

good profile of adrianne that also mentions big thief were recording recently so i'd very much hope another album is on the way for next year

A good read, that. Ta.

Sorry to hear about her breakup.

“Adrianne has that disorienting quality all real-deal types have, where she comes at her songs so sideways that it subverts the form,” Jeff Tweedy, the front man for Wilco, told me. “Sometimes you would swear it’s a mistake or misunderstanding of her own song—‘Why’d she start singing there?’—but it’s not, it’s a precise angle that only she seems to possess.”

Great quote / observation

By coincidence, playing the KEXP version of "Masterpiece" and enjoying the messiness (and their obvious joy in that).

I see this thread and I think it's about Big Chief and I get excited for a second.

I'll show myself out now.

“Adrianne has that disorienting quality all real-deal types have, where she comes at her songs so sideways that it subverts the form,” Jeff Tweedy, the front man for Wilco, told me. “Sometimes you would swear it’s a mistake or misunderstanding of her own song—‘Why’d she start singing there?’—but it’s not, it’s a precise angle that only she seems to possess.”

Great quote / observation

― Guitar Dick (morrisp), Monday, October 12, 2020 3:56 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

more evidence for my chief keef parallel lol

big chief keef

https://open.spotify.com/album/25llO5FF2feSQx4Fxyd20O

instrumentals is out now

Coming up as a placeholder for me

yeah I can't get it yet -- US vs other countries thing?

liked but did not love the two recent songs

i'm in australia so maybe it'll be available at midnight for you? it's a day early here

"music for indigo" is basically exactly what i'd expected in that it's some very pretty noodling around. also has some nice ambience from a storm in the background

songs has some of the prettiest acoustic guitar sounds i've ever heard. the songs themselves are wonderful too of course

"music for indigo" is basically exactly what i'd expected in that it's some very pretty noodling around. also has some nice ambience from a storm in the background

― ufo, Wednesday, October 21, 2020 8:16 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

It's extremely stoned

As far as Adrianne's solo albums go, "songs" is grabbing me more than her past albums.

looking forward to giving songs a full concentrated listen. So far I CANNOT get through instrumentals. Maybe on a long solo drive at night or something.

Yeah, "Instrumentals" was less engaging than I expected it to be (on one background listen). The "Songs" sounded great, though....

"Songs" is good, I dig it. The degree to which it does not sound like a Big Thief album is also an affirmation of how much of band they are.

Haven't listened to Songs and I'm not a big Thief fan, but Instrumentals has been great as ambient music. I really like the first long piece.

Instrumentals is very Windham Hill/ECM and for me that's a very good thing. late night with rain on the roof candle music.

Yeah, I've just gotten around to Instrumentals and it's very nice.

Songs is nice, but hasn't really grabbed me yet. I'm sure it'll grow. It sounds busier than I was expecting - double tracked vocals and maracas etc.

Maybe not maracas. Some sort of shaker.

FYI - "the only instruments used were the acoustic guitar, a paint brush, the needles of a white pine tree, and my voice."

Ha! Must be the paint brush. It's used for percussion on the first few songs.

Zombie Girl shares a 5-7 note sequence with Mr Tambourine Man, which catches me each time.

Yes! I noticed that too.

I've had Songs on repeat for days, it's really nice. And Instrumentals is indeed great background music for writing/working.

xp yes, noticed that. beautiful record.

i'm not really into stripped-bare acoustic songs which is why I've not really checked out much of Lenker's solo stuff. Should I?

Hours Were the Birds is fantastic.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as dog latin, but all the positive reviews have me curious, even though I'm still afraid a stripped-back Lenker solo album removes exactly the things I've loved the most about the two most recent Big Thief records.

I don't think the sound/feel of Songs is drastically different from U.F.O.F. (it's closer than Abysskiss was, even though that record had a few songs that actually appeared on U.F.O.F.).

It doesn't feel totally stripped bare.

I don’t think I’m as into her solo stuff as I am big thief. Not sure why it shifted off of my personal Pinterest board here, it’s not like it’s bad, but I’m not as much into the cult of lenker for whatever reason

I had trouble staying with Songs first listen as well, it's just a little too precious and meek for me, whereas I guess the full band balances that out somewhat and brings out her more aggressive side. I loved her live solo but I haven't heard recordings that quite capture the magic it had. The early solo stuff is cool and I like some of the songs on Abysskiss.

particularly like these songs from A Sides:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-5dBOuXdrA&list=PLb94Zw9KCu-cx-P7usTVAdQgxqa3uHKp3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAMmf4NhA5o&list=PLb94Zw9KCu-cx-P7usTVAdQgxqa3uHKp3&index=3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIC-9bUU3uA&list=PLb94Zw9KCu-cx-P7usTVAdQgxqa3uHKp3&index=5

Not sure those links posted, but Indiana, Kerina, and Jonathan

precious and meek

I think this was the original name of Adrianne & Buck's performing duo ;)

haw

fwiw - I don't think there's anything particularly unusual or mysterious to be into a band but not so into the lead singer/songwriter's solo stuff (especially if it's acoustic). I love Hours Were the Birds, but it's very much a solo folkie thing - it doesn't sound at all like Big Thief (which didn't exist yet). The sound/vibe of Abysskiss is a little static and difficult for me to engage with, for whatever reason. The new one does kind of tap into the BT vibe for me (as I said above), but yeah, it's still not the full band.

(it may be an interesting thread idea - "Love the band, indifferent to the solo artist")

fwiw - I don't think there's anything particularly unusual or mysterious to be into a band but not so into the lead singer/songwriter's solo stuff (especially if it's acoustic). ... The new one does kind of tap into the BT vibe for me (as I said above), but yeah, it's still not the full band.

― Video Drama (morrisp), Wednesday, October 28, 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Funny, I was having a similar thought about the Jeff Tweedy album that just came out (on the same day as the Lenker stuff, I think). I like Wilco but I've never been super enthusiastic about his solo material, even though it's perfectly fine and not even that far off from the full band stuff!

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

a great performance, i'm fascinated by her using a brush to strum on "dragon eyes"

yeah! really great performance. she is very straightforward. i love that.

Just noticed Adrianne did an AMA on r/indieheads yesterday

Been coming back to this one a lot recently. In terms of composition I think it's my favourite. There are things they're doing with the music that completely confounds me, like I can't understand what it is or how they conceived it

Or at least, at this stage, UFOF, Two Hands and Capacity hold level as my favourites. But these days it's the Two Hands material I find myself craving most

two hands has such great, dry 70s drums

The new Buck Meek album is really nice... kind of like a poppier Will Oldham, or mellow, mid-70s Dead. Upbeat tunes, pedal steel, warbly singing, etc.

Wow, am only three songs in (Track 3 must've been the advance single, since I remember hearing that one months ago) but am already taken with the production on Two Saviors--finding it a flattering mix of polished but scrappy so far.

a really good friend of mine, who has an excellent ear for production, also said he loved the sound of it

i have permanent "played drums in a concrete echo chamber" ears, so i have no fucking clue

Nothing against the Lenker album from last year, which I did like, but I can see myself coming back to the new Meek far more often. The Lenker one is so wispy that I need to be in a certain mood for it, the Meek one feels more comfortable.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CLcLUyYnmwt/

performance of a new song "simulation swarm"

mesmerizing...

you can tell the difference btw a song she's writing for the band, and the "adrianne lenker" songs

i don't really hear much of a difference, except in how the final arrangement ends up of course, as demonstrated by the abysskiss tracks that also were reworked for ufof

I was thinking more of this one in comparison with the tracks on songs (her most recent release) - this feels more intense - though admittedly I've only spun songs a few times.

I c-a-n-n-o-t w-a-i-t to hear the studio version of that jaw-dropping live song that was posted above (from a few different shows) some months back.

Love that new one she just posted. Man I need to see Big Thief live one of these days.

I wish I had enjoyed their show better than I did. They blew up so quickly and I don't think they quite figured out how to project to a large sized venue.

had a ticket to see them last august? september? :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8qczqgXvB4

hadn't heard this japanese bonus track "red leaves, falling" from songs before, it's incredible. gorgeous sax

I c-a-n-n-o-t w-a-i-t to hear the studio version of that jaw-dropping live song that was posted above (from a few different shows) some months back.

FTR, I was referring to "Time Escaping," which was actually posted on another thread – here it is again (still rules):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C_ax0XYn1E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF0dXT-v-vY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBc-yGE7IkU

new music!!!

they go on tour in the first week of september so i wonder if the new album will be out by then

i'm not huge on "sparrow", it's a little repetitive, but wow "little things" is incredible

like that free-flowing groove is so good, i could listen to this band just noodle away forever

I'm hoping, iirc there was an interview in March-ish where Buck Meek said their new album was pretty much done.

yeah i'm expecting it'll surely be out before the end of the year

"little things" reminds me a lot of tusk but way more out there, i've had it on loop basically for the last three hours

I think "Little Things" is the song Adrianne was playing/singing in an Insta story last week

Yeah, this is great

(also not huge on "Sparrow" - assume it's not an album track?)

they're presenting this as a double a-side so i would assume that both of these are probably going to be on the next album

I agree "Little Things" has a bit of a Fleetwood Mac feel, but also – like other recent BF stuff (see "Time Escaping," above) – has deep roots in other precedents that hit me hard on an aesthetic/emotional level, but I can't put my finger on what exactly they are. I could also listen to this groove all day!

"Sparrow" has sort of a "devotional" quality, no? It's like Lavender Diamond or something.

I love "Little Things" and it also makes me think of them as an arena band -- it's kind of a U2 move (in addition to other influences mentioned above).

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSaTgjuJf9D

confirmed that both tracks are on the album

"sparrow" is growing on me, i think it'll be a solid enough album track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1eypolupH0

another new single "certainty"

Their most country-fied tune since the first album, no?

Def my fave of the three advance singles so far--am liking how it strikes me as a slight companion to/vocal reversal of something like "Candle" off Buck Meek's great recent album (a tune which Lenker co-wrote)

some of the other new songs they've played live have been more country-tinged too

Nice but a bit unremarkable, no? - how I felt about the Buck Meek album.

"Little Things" -- which, aside from the electric guitar, sounds like DMB -- is an absolute jam.

when i see the letters DMB, in that order, i immediately hear carter beauford whipping little 16th-triplets on a tightly closed hi-hat before opening it up to ring on the 4. ba-da-ba-Tsssss! maybe something for big thief to think about

Chimes, too

oh yeah, start of that glissando chime-wave, let it settle in for a few beats before the chorus, then 16th-triplets on the hi-hat, ba-da-ba-TSSSssssss! now you're in a new place with dave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-tnbx7sm5s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H8vT4HSzy8

more recordings of new songs they're playing live, this time "red moon" and "dried roses"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRiAWV525lo

playing p4k fest right now

A rather dull start: three of their softest ballads.

they're playing the hits now. my old pals are at the show right now, crashing here later. i hope they're wearing masks

"dragon", this new one they're closing with, is really cool

If the album doesn’t include “Time Escaping,” I’m gonna be Big Mad!

they've been playing it on tour so it'll probably be there

20-song double album confirmed for early next year

i'd heard rumours it was going to be a double album so nice to have that confirmed

Fantastic! Well maybe not the “next year” part, thought it was coming sooner than that, but I’m sure it will be worth the wait.

I hope they embrace the messiness of a double album. I don’t think I’d enjoy a full double album of Big Thief by the numbers.

https://www.reddit.com/r/indieheads/comments/q1ia87/big_thief_confirm_20song_double_lp_being_released/

that's what they say they're doing

figured i'd compile as many of the new songs as i can to get an idea of what the album's going to be like. definitely a bit of a shift towards country

new songs played on tour 2021:
dragon
spud infinity
simulation swarm
change
dried roses
blue lightning
promise is a pendulum
red moon
blurred view
12,000 lines (i can't find a full band recording of this one)
happiness
time escaping
once a buncha times

"once a buncha times" is unlikely to be on the album though, it was apparently written just before this tour & the album was mostly recorded in june last year. it's also very possible some of these aren't on the album & there's unheard tracks that will be on it - they haven't been playing "little things" live yet. there's also "flower of blood" and another new song with an unknown title but i haven't tracked down recordings.

unreleased songs they played on tour in 2020:
bruiser
shadow too
someone 2
another unknown title

recent new adrianne solo songs:
only place
heavy bend (fan title)

full band versions of adrianne solo songs:
ingdyar
two reverse

^ufo doing the work, big handclaps

will this be their "Physical Graffiti"?

it's going to be their tusk

Thank you for this, ufo! <3

Sorry if this has been addressed, but have they said anything about whether "Little Things/Sparrow" and "Certainty" definitely are or aren't intended for the new one?

also thx a ton for that digging, gives me something to tide me over!

there was a deleted instagram post by the bassist who said they're intended for the new album but that's all

"change" is the next single apparently

just listened to "change" (as I work my way down the list); nice tune. most of these are indeed quite country-ish! (the "blue lighting" vid seems to be down, btw)

"Red Moon" is where they get all the Dead Heads on board...

("blurred view" also down, nuts)

they were the same full show bootleg, there aren't any other videos of those unfortunately

bassist @ Copenhagen show wearing baggy day-glo magenta jumpsuit is next level

they are 100% a hippie band, luckily that hasn't stopped them from making good music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTIzsTv1ENY

here's the studio "change"

tour starting at the end of january, so maybe the album will be out around then, since it's set for early next year

theres a 4-song single on spotify now

That's a grouping of the four recently-released songs.

yes

So far I'm only seeing it on RYM, so grain of salt and all that, but they are showing the forthcoming album title as Dragon New Warm Mountain, I Believe in You. Which is interesting since it's pretty close to lyrics from Adrienne's solo track "anything":

Dragon in the new warm mountain
Didn’t you believe in me?

looks like some portuguese distributor leaked that, also with the detail of feb 11 release date

I’ve had trouble getting into the latest EP. I can’t help but feel like both the songwriting and production have gotten…fuzzier? Like there was an immediacy to Masterpiece and Capacity and still to a lot of UFOF and Two Hands that feels like is getting lost. But I’ll give it more chances and look forward to the double record.

the "change" single having all the previously released new singles on streaming is just a common tactic to boost streaming numbers these days fwiw

don't really think the new songs are less immediate, "change" and "certainty" are both fairly direct folk-rock tracks. "little things" is maybe 'fuzzy' in how its constantly shifting rhythms make it near-impossible to keep track of but it's also one of the best & most immediate things they've ever done. the only one of the new songs i'm not huge on is "sparrow" which is just so repetitive.

The new material lacks the raw-nerve feel of Two Hands (not surprising, the group changes up its sound with each album); and some of the country-folk songwriting does sound more conventional than what we've been accustomed to from them... but I think these songs really will need to be heard in context of the full album.

Also – I was joking about Physical Graffiti, but I do sort of have the sense that we're hearing, say, "Custard Pie" and "By the Seaside," while "Ten Years Gone" is waiting in the wings (in the form of "Time Escaping").

I also think "Red Moon" is gonna be an absolute jam

the raw-nerve feel of Two Hands

"dragon" though!

Yeah - there's yr "In My Time of Dying"

I think I like "Change" the most of the new songs so far (just the studio recordings, haven't delved into the live stuff yet). It's got a magical simplicity, but the cumulative effect of the lyrics is really weighty

Also I love the production--it sounds like they're playing in a circle and I'm standing in the middle

they are 100% a hippie band, luckily that hasn't stopped them from making good music

― Mr. Cacciatore (Moodles), Tuesday, October 5, 2021 5:55 PM (six days ago) bookmarkflaglink

OTM, in the best way possible--I get warm cosmic hug vibes like the best of Hunter/Garcia

I don't like it when she does the frail grandma voice.

Which is a good word actually for what I don't like so much about the songs on this four-song, they sound a bit frail to me. I don't like this super lo-fi recording aesthetic, I don't think it suits them well. They sounded a lot stronger on the other releases, especially the first two. They're not bad songs or anything, but I don't love any of them.

Plenty of the other new material posted above seems more promising, so yeah, I hope these are the weaker tracks/b-sides.

I love "Certainty" and "Little Things" so much, the other two are... fine? I feel like they will work much better in the context of a double album though.

xxxp at first, I thought you were referring to when Adrianne calls out, "That's my grandma!" – in the Red Moon house show clip.

lol, no I mean that voice she does on, e.g., Change, that sounds like she's just come to the door in a babushka scarf and wasn't expecting us but it's ok if we come in and have some candied fruit

I somehow didn't notice how flat she sings before I watched this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oODr-7y3M0

guys, I hate to be the ultimate buzzkill – but I was trying to figure out which Big '80s song the "Little Things" chord progression reminded me of (something by Peter Gabriel? Bruce Hornsby?), and finally realized... it's Toto's "Africa" ;-D

some Sarah Brand moments there xp

She looks/sounds a little exhausted there imo.

africa is a jam, more bands should borrow from africa

Sarah Brand comparison? I might need to have a lie down.

guys, I hate to be the ultimate buzzkill – but I was trying to figure out which Big '80s song the "Little Things" chord progression reminded me of (something by Peter Gabriel? Bruce Hornsby?), and finally realized... it's Toto's "Africa" ;-D

― juristic person (morrisp), Monday, October 11, 2021 2:22 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

it is very "solsbury hill"

xp The whole band looks/sounds a little wiped out in that clip...

Yeah, I thought it just looked like they were wiped out after being on the road for awhile.

What's that "chord" that Buck Meek seems to play so often, e.g. on the first song on that video - Shoulders - at around the 58 second mark?

Stretching over 5 or 6 frets

Dunno why I put the word chord in inverted commas. It'll be a chord of some kind.

Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That Buck Meek played, and it pleased the board

That so-called chord

I'd say he's either barring in a A major shape with his pointer finger on and then playing melodic lines off that with his remaining fingers, or he's in an alternate tuning that has necessitated a big stretch.

But judging by chords he plays later in the piece, he's in standard tuning.

it looks like he's doing a big stretch to grab two notes that are 5 frets apart. i doubt it's a full chord.

that note could be played on a higher string without the stretch, so i think its either easier for him to pick or he's just showing off. i think it's the latter but it's OK cuz it's subtle and he rules

After watching that live video, she sounds under the note to me a lot of the time on studio recordings as well, though, if not as strongly. It's not even a bad thing, necessarily, just something I hadn't noticed. I like a lot of singers who bend pitch.

that note could be played on a higher string without the stretch, so i think its either easier for him to pick or he's just showing off. i think it's the latter but it's OK cuz it's subtle and he rules

― diamonddave85​​ (diamonddave85), Tuesday, October 12, 2021 11:56 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

he has enormous hands from what i can tell

buck not so meek after all

Couple friends of mine saw him in a coffee shop the morning of a show here, before pitchfork. He ordered an XL magnum size

maybe he should change his name to... Buck Naked

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/AxuBVGMCAAI7KYv.png

(I realize it's time for me to resign from ILM after making that joke)

Looks like Consequence of Sound published, and then deleted, a promo piece on the new album yesterday?

there was a pre-save link for the album that lead to that article which is gone too

seems like album announcement & "time escaping" are coming in the next week

& album title is dragon new warm mountain i believe in you releasing on feb 11 as previously leaked

"time escaping" coming in the next week

if this is true... the "most wonderful time of the year" is coming early!

yeah there was a pre-save link for "time escaping" that got dug up too & it apparently indicated a release next week

That's good news, I hope we don't have to wait too much longer! I'm surprised by how much I'm anticipating this record.

The bass playing on "Not" is an underrated feature of "Not"