New Secret Machines

The one asking purchased it. Go figure.

The drummer is fantastic too.

I think the new record gets a little old--largely because of somewhat uninspiring lyrics (yeah, even though I praised it to start the thread, and I still like it)--but every time I think about their live set, I get wistful.

It was Shit-hot.

If you get a chance to see them open for Blonde Redhead on this tour (even if you hate Blonde Redhead), it will be worth it. They are also really nice guys.

in fairness, I was there to see the headliner (Blonde Redhead) so sometimes I don't think I give openers a fair shake...

Everything's 4/4, no extraneous modulations, no long solos--is it a prog-estic vide thing?

There are three notes copped from "Breathe"/Floyd, two notes from a Zep song (not repeated), the Wurlitzer sound from the first Roxy--these are so fleeting I pegged them for laffs.

As for the "prog" bit, you're right, the structure isn't prog, but it seems to find inspiration, in part, from the sound of 70s prog rock. Without, you know, trying to start a thread about what's prog or not, I am referring specifically to Yes and late 70s Rush. It doesn't have the intricacy of those records, but it has the sort of spacious and spacey feeling that they managed to create. at least to me,

http://www.citypaper.com/current/trax2.html

I give this album a huge thumbs up.

It is overly serious, I'll give ya that. They don't use hand puppets or dress like fuckin' plushies like the Flamign Lips....which I think is considerably to their credit.

here's that song i love so much

i hear the floyd reference, but not too much.
but, the slow songs draaaaaag.

I just saw them open up for Interpol yesterday, and the differences between the band couldn't have been much starker. Secret Machines were pretty no nonsense (you have to be, as an opener) but also pretty uncompromising. No banter. No space between songs. It also showed how nuanced the album is, since hearing them live you'd never guess there were melodies. All in all pretty cool, and the crowd seemed to dig it. At least, they were standing there paying attention, since there was little space in the music to cheer. One guy was giving the permanent thumbs down, though.

Interpol ... boy. I like them a a lot, even if I never listen to them. I had to leave their set early (read: wanted to, 'cause I was getting a headache), but it's been a while since I saw so many in the audience going nuts. Not as in "let's hit each other" nuts, but pulling each other up on one another's shoulders to shout the lyrics back at the band while pumping their fist nuts. You'd think if someone took the time to memorize Interpol lyrics they'd realize they suck, and certainly aren't worth shouting back at the band, but these dudes (mostly) were every bit as intent and intense at the crowd at Morrissey a couple of days earlier. Go figure.

Did you just revive this thread to try and cheer me up?

I'm going to see their Marfa film on Saturday. I'm quite excited.

x-post FFS get one clue

I liked their cover of "de luxe" by harmonia. they should do a whole album of big streamlined rock versions of krautrock classics!

Track 6 ... Faded Lines? That's one of my favourite songs on the album, I love the "Uh-huh, uh-huh" vocal riff that runs through it, it reminds me of Polara.

Has anyone else heard the "funky" alternate mix of "Daddy's In The Doldrums"? I think it turned up as a b-side. That's utterly amazing kraut-jam spacerock epic.

I always think I don't like the song AJ&S, because the beginning of it is a bit... meh. But then I forget that it explodes into this psychedelic epic with these amazing bendy guitar bits whipping around my head in stereo. And that's great.

xpost

Funky alternative DITD? I'm intrigued...it had better keep that climactic riff though.

And how did I manage to get through this thread without once mentioning my giant clit-on for Benjamin's guitar pedals? Strange times.

Is anyone else going to see their Marfa film at the Tate this weekend or next?

Tickets on sale here:

http://www.tate.org.uk/tickets/default.htm?performancelist.asp?ShowID=2331&Source=web

I'm going to the one on the 5th August. tempted to go to the other one, as well, if it's not sold out yet.

not a good follow up to the first album...
better luck next time.

The rest of the songs are ok, but I wish they stuck with the breakup theme of the first 3 songs.

Saturday night in Chelsea was the first show post-Benjamin (ok, second show-- they did a barely-announced thing Thursday night).

One hesitates to make judgements when the band have obviously had so little time to find their legs. But it was pretty ramshackle. Replacing Benjamin on guitar were two new guys, one on keys/gtr, one on gtr only. I recognized neither (but then, I wouldn't would I?) Benjamin's grandiose, detailed atmospheroics were replaced with a kind of generic post-cure noisepop guitar. Again, I have no idea if these guys are permanent members and if so, how much time they've had to work out parts.

I did, however, have a great time because god damn Josh Garza is a monster on the drums. I could listen to him do his Motorik Bonham thing all night long, and with the guitar element sort of wing-lamed the drumming became the focus. I laughed out loud at the start of four or five songs just at the RIDICULOUS mass of his playing. Was actually hoping this would just be him and the singer/keyboardist guy as a duo. Still think they should consider that.

Several new songs, one of which was real heavy, like Sabbath-1st-song-1st-album heavy (but with purty quiet little chorus).

Benjamin's grandiose, detailed atmospheroics were replaced with a kind of generic post-cure noisepop guitar

this sounds great. but, yeah, the drummer is the whole band for me. when i saw them live, i could feel the kick drum floating past me. it was amazing.

i dunno if we're allowed to talk about this on nu-ilx...?

why wouldn't we be?

i saw these dudes play an hour and 15 min set outside in 90 degree heat and i almost became homicidal

aw wtf man i love these dudes

deezdudes

I really like the first two records and the first ep... but I heard this "atomic heels" song from the new record and it is pretty terrible. I might buy the new record out of loyalty but it really needs to not sound like that song.

anyone hear the school of seven bells album alpinisms (by one of the secret machine's guitarists)? it's much better than anything secret machines ever did (from what I remember).

I've just heard one song... good, interesting, need to hear more before I can form a real opinion though.

huh didn't even know there was a new one

atomic heels is after a couple of listens by far the tritest, most disposable thing on the record, although the second song spends about 3 minutes ripping off the "first wave intact" beat (like daddy's in the doldrums before it) before developing a mind of its own

but after that there are some cool surprises. they don't QUITE stick the landing; the 11-minute closer is certainly uh epic and uh noisy but doesn't have quite enough grace to go with the pyrotechnics IMO. it's still groovy, but no NHIN, and no 1000 Seconds (which I have unashamed love for). the three songs before it (and "have you run out") are all good-level SM fare.

that said i am now listening to "the fire is waiting" (the aforementioned 11-minute closer) and it's actually a lot better than it was the first coupla times, maybe it just loves being cranked LOUD

I'm really hoping it's a grower, because my first listen was just... um.

They still have one of the most amazing rhtyhm sections I've ever heard (Josh Garza - ROCK STEADY) but I just don't like the new guitarist. he seems to play in a way that is really... safe. It didn't excite me like the previous 3 albums.

School of Seven Bells are just... OMG OMG ZOMG everything I've heard by them just seems to have been *made* for Kates. The electronics, the female harmonies, the noises etc.

But I really don't want to compare the two, they're very different things. It's hardly a Spectrum vs. Spiritualized type rivalry.

OK, after a few listens, this is actually very good indeed, better than Ten Silver Drops and probably one First Wave Intact short of being (quite a bit) better than NHIN

One caveat is that although this has revealed itself to be rewarding, it also took quite a few listens to "work". A lot of subtle production tricks this time around, and in fact subtler all-round songwriting (opening and closing tracks aside), placed over a fairly stripped-down, smooth psych framework. Expect some decidedly dicey reviews declaiming the album as mediocre and pointless. Whatever, it works for me. A lot more going on than meets the eye. Much of this comes from the squealing, feedbacking, choppy guitar of the "new bloke", who adds a far more schizophrenic edge to the SM sound (Brandon's now-more-unpredictable keyboard FX have adapted accordingly). It suits them, dare I say it. But it doesn't really work unless you "learn" the songs. Elsewise they sound disjointed, fraudulent and a little forgettable.

But give it some patience. The delicate feedback storm at the end of "Last Believer, Drop Dead" emerges as the gorgeous counterpoint that gives the entire song meaning and thrust. In "Now You're Gone", all sorts of studio wizardry gently massages an otherwise smooth, faceless ballad into a thing of tortured, emotional beauty. "I Never Thought To Ask" has about 8 drumbeats total and they're all perfectly deployed (as well as some awesomely tingly ambient-shoegaze guitar). "The Fire Is Waiting" gets better every time, mostly thanks to all that subtle sound-manipulation going on in the outro. "The Walls Are Starting To Crack" is flat-out awesome, but again it takes a few listens for the weird midsection to click. The three tracks I haven't mentioned are also great, albeit that two of them are somewhat fluffy pop pleasures which I won't make a song and dance about. This leaves "Have I Run Out" which grooves like a motherfucker, in its own idiosyncratic way. I hope I make myself clear. This is going to be dismissed as both incoherent and derivative, both plain and pokey, but its derivations are, I stress, superficial, and its magic lies in its subtle and attainable coherence. Plain grooves mesh with jiggery-pokery, repeat for greatest enjoyment.

N.B. This is nowhere near being either a) my album of the year or b) a jaw-dropping breakthrough in recorded sound. It's a very good, solid record. 8.5/10.

I opened for these guys in 2004, thought they were really nice. Small crowd, because Radiohead was also in town that same night.

I do not like the guitar style of the new guy. I will give it another listen today at work, on headphones, but it really hasn't done it for me.

OK, I'll give you one thing - it's totally a headphones album. It works a lot better, on headphones, in my ear and close-up, rather than played in the background with a million things going on.

I still utterly love the drums - i don't know what it is, if Josh tunes his kick drum a certain way, or if it's triggering a synth sound, but there's this massive sound it makes when it slams in, it's like the sound of digging yr own grave, it's that big.

But I really, really miss the kind of psychedelic... HAZE that Benjamin Curtis used to wrap around everything. This new guitarist is just too clean.

I mean, it's a good solid album, by anyone else, I'd be impressed.

Averaging almost 30 less than fucking Glasvegas and 10 less than Kings Of Leon on Metacritic. I knew this was gonna happen. Understated psych = critic's kicking ground. I see the Dandy Warhols are languishing near the bottom of the heap too.

that's because the Dandy Warhols neglected to get in AN EDITOR on that new album of theirs...

I'd actually quite like to hear the last 2 Warhols albums. I have one track off Odditorium (Love Is The New Feel Awful) and it's actually kinda brilliant. Rangy, murky and playful = what they do best.

I disagree. But this is a Secret Machines thread, not a DWs thread.

Well, what they do best actually = all the great songs off the first record like Genius, Not Your Bottle, TV Theme, Nothing etc. But nowadays I'll take 'em long and explorative, plz.

Back to TSM, I think the new guitarist does a great job. It's not such a swirly, enveloping psych-out as before, but a much edgier, much more vulnerable listen. I like this vulnerability. Perversely, TSM would never have had the confidence to completely break the back of one of their songs (TWASTC in this case), show its vulnerabilities, a few years ago.

I love how you are such an expert on a band's "confidence" levels.

have you ever even heard the first TSM album? Hello, "Marconi's Radio"?

I don't even know where to start with the rest of yr post. Obviously we have different interpretations based on our own emotional projections, but I find it pretty unstable ground trying to second guess artists' motivations based on one's own wants or likes.

(I had the wrong band back above - forget that post.)

Based on the fact that I think all three of their other releases are outstanding, I had to be loyal and pick this up despite hating "Atomic Heels." Based on exactly one listen... the first half of this record is probably the worst stuff they've ever done; the second half of the record may well rank amongst the best stuff they've done.

I didn't have song titles in front of me, but there is a song toward the end where everything suddenly gets kinda abstract for a minute or two before bursting into a huge arena rock guitar solo - that was the first moment on the record where I was really surprised by what they were doing, in a good way. And the last song is pretty fantastic. I have no objection to its length or its repetition. And yes, it definitely needs to be played loud to work.

The first three songs especially have REALLY grown on me after many repeat listens, but I will agree the second half is better. That song near the end is "The Walls Are Starting To Crack", which is pretty mighty.

I'm just glad there was something on the record to reassure me that they haven't lost the plot entirely. My first impression (Atomic Heels) set my expectations so low that I think I was "listening negatively" for much of the record, until "The Walls are Starting to Crack" shooke me out it. I think I'll be able to go back to it and give it a more honest listen the next few times through.

Well I was disappointed the first couple of times too. But even "Atomic Heels" sounds quite groovy now (and yeah I REALLY didn't like that one at first). I genuinely think this might be their best, most consistent record, although these songs don't really top the highs that book-end their previous two full-lengths (the first and last tracks of each album are by FAR the best things on them imo).

Pitchfork review is a sort of 8.0-8.5 quality review, but they give it 7.2. Humph.

Just got back from seeing them tonight. New songs work better live - everything just on the edge of flying apart. New guitarist is OK, but he's too quick going from zero to feedback squeal. Kinda annoying because he's got a great textural Manzanera-esque sound but he doesn't stay there enough. Brandon is playing an eight-string bass now and between that and Garza's drumming it's low-frequency heaven.

Garza really is an amazing drummer.

I thought Brandon had been playing that 8-string for a while!

The new album has been growing on me, but it's still nowhere near as... epic as the other 3.

I'm gutted because School of Seven Bells cancelled their Pure Groove instore last night. Is it time they got their own thread?

Wait, I just realized, I don't think I've heard these guys yet. I should get around to that.

Who? School of Seven Bells? I think you'd really like them. they'd push a lot of yr ethereal girls buttons. Except they're more... warm and inviting than cold and pristine and ethereal. I kind of think of their musical palette being more reds and ochres and plums than ethereal which is all icey blue and lilac.

http://www.myspace.com/schoolofsevenbells

(I know I'll get beaten up on this thread if I say I actually think they're better than Secret Machines, but they're more... KATE than Secret Machines are currently. Kind of like a mashup between Cluster and early Throwing Muses.)

Haha, no, I meant I still have never heard the Secret Machines!

WAHT?!?!?!??!?!

Barrus, you are closer, hit him with something! Hard!

i too am fairly surprised by this revelation

Well I keep hearing their name but they're one of those 'oh right I suppose I should get around to them' bands to me. Lately I tend to listen more to obscure electronic/techno weirdness.

I thought Brandon had been playing that 8-string for a while!

When I saw them a couple years ago he had a EB-2 (or something like it)

Lately I tend to listen more to obscure electronic/techno weirdness.

Don't want to drag this thread OT, but I'm curious to know the details ... Name names? Link threads?

Putting that on another thread would be a good idea, considering this is a SECRET MACHINES thread and Ned has never even heard them.

(grrrrrr)

I too would like to hear more about the electro weirdness. Ned, if yr listening, have you posted a load of these to a recent purchases thread?

I will see what I can do when my brain is not so fogged.

cool!

s/t album very much underrated, underexposed...a real shame, because they've still got something to give

you mean their first ep thing? If so, then very much agree. Loved this. Now here is.. was a major disappointment afaiwc.

nono, i mean their recent s/t album. still haven't heard september 000

I once saw Secret Machines when they were supporting ...Trail of Dead on their Source Tags & Codes tour, around 2001-2002 I suppose. They were really, really good but gave off misleading impression as to what their forthcoming albums would sound like. When I saw them they started with a 20 minute long song, one that I think was included on September 000, only this performance was just one repeating guitar line, building and building in what would now be derided as "GYBE! style". It was mindblowing. It was tough to give the full lengths they released after that a proper chance because I went into them expecting postrock builds.

I saw them live in 2004ish and they blowed my mind.

Now Here will have a special transition-to-college place in my hart.

I saw them live in 2004ish and they blowed my mind.

Interpol tour?

yessir

I was there too!

get dressed eeeeeasy on your evening chest.

self-titled record still the one i find myself going back to, although objectively NHIN might be the better album (and certainly has the more iconic songs, at the book-ends)

but dammit 'last believer, drop dead' might be a 3rd-gen FWI rip-off rhythmically but it's so fucking amazing in every other way, and the rest of the album just works really nicely in sequence

New single out now. I like it!

What's the title? Where can i find?

Do they have anything else like "Lightning Blue Eyes?" I think it's their best song, but I haven't heard all their stuff.

What's the title? Where can i find?

It's on iTunes, or listen to it here: http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?blog=122&p=7925

thx

is it too early for me to say how fucking brilliant secret machines are sounding tonight ?

hope not.

i only have 'now here .. ' and 'ten silver drops', and fuck, i am on verge of genuine tears as to the perfect spots the albums are hitting.

Miss u miss u miss uuuuu u u u u u

I promised Brandon I wouldn't hate on Interpol too much right now, because they are providing a good home for Brandon right now, but jeez when I think of the things that we don't get to listen to because Brandon is off being Gillian Gilbert on yet another Interpol tour (last TSM album, Cosmicide album (Brandon's solo project) etc.) it really does make me kinda Grrrr.

But mostly missssss uuuuuuuuuuuuu

Maybe the Electric Flower Group album will hit the spot in the meantime! Read an interview with Josh today that made me hope something would be happening with that soon!

EFG news for the fans of Mr Garza: http://www.theweeklings.com/joe-daly/2014/04/07/elevator-stories-and-the-secret-of-grooving-the-return-of-electric-flower/

hello bb.

i did worry about posting this cos of your 'connection' to the groove.

(And yeah, I am being bratty; I am aware there are perfectly good reasons recently that Brandon can take as long as he needs to finish his stuff.)

((But really, I would much rather have new Curtis material than new Interpol. He is way more talented. There; I said it. Not even sorry!))

AFAIC, there's no better way to honour Benjamin's memory than to listen to his truly awe-inspiring music! This stuff is so great.

there is some excellent motorik on the debut album

It's my birthday and I'm listening to Now Here Is Nowhere.

This album will be 10 years old next month. Kinda wish like there was going to be a deluxe remaster special anniversary edition with bonus tracks and full colour glossy booklet etc but I guess not. Hard to think of another album released in the past 10 years that's had the same impact and long-lasting-ness.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!

http://m.noisey.vice.com/blog/cosmicide-a-new-disaster-premiere

Cosmicide - Brandon's new project. (Video is really, really visually stunning (though I'm slightly annoyed Brandon isn't in it) too - worth waiting for.)

Can't remember if I started a Cosmicide thread (probably not) or if I mentioned this on SVIIB or InterLOL threads?

Now Here is Nowhere is awesome.

I want to say I saw them open up for interpol on this tour. I had seen Interpol at a smaller club, and came away very impressed. But Interpol following the secret machines were such a bore.

You can vote for a vinyl reissue here http://runoutgroovevinyl.com/now-here-is-nowhere-2lp.html

Expanded reissue of Ten Silver Drops on the way - https://shop.runoutgroovevinyl.com/ten-silver-drops-expanded-edition-1.html

God I loved that album. Tracks 1 through 3 are a hell of a run. They were great on the tour, as I recall.

A few years back I took a hiatus from reading about music and didn't read the news about Benjamin Curtis until a year after he died. Very sad.

i love ten silver drops so much

its closing track is secretly one of the best coldplayish ballads of the 00s

I'll have to listen again, because I haven't heard it since the week it came out and remembering thinking it a big step down from Now Here is Nowhere, which is not only a monster of an album but one of the best album *titles* of all time

the biggest secret machines secret is that the s/t album, made without benjamin curtis, is actually quite good

otm. they nail the motorik on a few of the debut's epics

That last s/t one had some great moments. It felt like they were transitioning into a different kind of band. Would have been interesting to see where they took it. Still, it’s my least favorite of theirs.

Now Here is Nowhere is the best overall album, but some of their best songs are on Ten Silver Drops, especially the aforementioned tracks 1-3 and final track. And then thebEP has the glorious “Marconi’s Radio”.

Looking back on the 00s it just seems like this band doesn’t fall nearly into the narrative of that decade, that they’re in danger of being overlooked in the long run.

Weren’t they overlooked at the time too? Idk.

Yeah, maybe so.

i love ten silver drops so much

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, September 11, 2018 6:39 AM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://i.imgur.com/lKxKA7P.png

Not sure if it's mentioned upthread, but some members were in UFOFU & that record is a lot of 90s hooky rock fun, too.

New live record out now, from 2006. Glad I saw them on that tour...what a great band they were.

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

what

whut!?!

huh!

Awake in the Brain Chamber is an excellent title

From AVClub, where it premiered:

It’s been far too long since we’ve heard from Secret Machines. After three excellent albums that blended haunting shoegaze, driving krautrock, and arena-ready anthemic bombast, the group quietly went its separate ways in 2010 without any formal announcement that it was taking a break. But throughout the previous decade, founding member Brandon Curtis was working on material that would eventually become Awake In The Brain Chamber, the group’s latest album and its first new music in ten years. That music begins seeing the light of day as of now, with the record’s first single, “Talos’ Corpse,” available to hear below, exclusively at The A.V. Club.

The first single finds the band employing its signature stately rhythms in service of a bright arrangement of synth and warm backing vocal patterns. “This song, for me, has the sonic vibe of Tubeway Army meeting up with John Bonham in a dark alley in the late ’70s, after seeing a Bowie concert in Paris,” says Machines’ drummer, Josh Garza. The refrain echoes an encouraging plea, alternating “I want to give, give up” with its immediate retort of “but don’t give, give up,” an inspired couplet from singer Brandon Curtis, whose distinctive baritone rasp has always anchored the group’s sound, here getting even lower in his register than usual during the verses. “I am hopeful,” he tells The A.V. Club about the song. “Ultimately, that is how I would like to describe the song. I think there are obvious influences, and we can quibble about this or that. But the vibe is hope.”

The upcoming record, composed and reworked obsessively over the past decade, bears all the classic influences of the band, including the input of Benjamin Curtis, Brandon’s brother and the band’s original guitarist, who passed away from cancer in 2013. Curtis and Garza both took pains to retain Benjamin’s influence on the final versions of the tracks, as a “sort of living tribute” to their beloved former bandmate. “I have been living with some of these songs for a long time,” Brandon says of the album. “They have witnessed a bunch of stuff that has happened in my life, the world, and so on. I feel like they are the better for it. To me the songs represent a time before, during, and after. I guess I am excited to watch these songs go out into the world and blend with other peoples’ lives. To let them be a part of some new stories.”

Ten years is a long time to work on a collection of songs, and Curtis acknowledges that he can be a bit of a perfectionist, yet also knows eventually it’s time to let go. “Ever since quarantine I’ve been cooking a lot, and I’ve found that I’m the kind of person who will play with a recipe forever. You know, sometimes things are done when the dish tastes right, and sometimes it’s just time to eat.” Listeners can feast on the sounds of Awake In The Brain Chamber when it’s released on August 21. The record is available for pre-order now.

doesn't have their usual pep but as with the previous album, hopefully there are a few tracks good enough to justify it

It's out! https://secretmachines.bandcamp.com/album/awake-in-the-brain-chamber-2

Downloading now!

I promised Brandon I would keep my excitement about his new project going for at least two years, but that was in about 2015. Will this be psychedelic enough to stop me listening to the Shamen? Let's find out when the download finishes.

New one hits the spot.

It's a pleasant little album with some lovely, wistful tunes, but it doesn't have even a vestige of the ambition or the prog heroics that they brought before, which were a big part of why I liked them (obviously). I guess it serves its function nicely though and it's good to have them back; obviously they've been through some shit.

Yeah, I'm just glad to have new music that is not bad.

At least this way their s/t album really will be the ignored, underrated ugly duckling of their discography (while also having some really great stuff on it)

It's a pleasant little album with some lovely, wistful tunes, but it doesn't have even a vestige of the ambition or the prog heroics that they brought before, which were a big part of why I liked them (obviously). I guess it serves its function nicely though and it's good to have them back; obviously they've been through some shit.

― imago, Monday, August 24, 2020 bookmarkflaglink

Sums up my reaction. First track had some real promise--sort of reminded me of more recent Ride (which is not a bad thing imo). Subsequent few tracks were good, not great, and nowhere near now here is nowhere. (say that last part five times fast) I didn't have a chance to hear the last few tracks yet.

I think it will take some time, and some more attention (while my attention is, at the moment, definitely elsewhere) because I was very underwhelmed by the S/T when I first listened, but in time grew to love its subtleties. So I am definitely expecting this one to grow on me, too.

A few weeks later, I can totally confirm that this album is very definitely a grower and is revealing more and more, each time I listen.

...aaaand back on tour - which I'll inevitably skip as all the dates are openers for Metric.

i love ten silver drops so much

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, September 11, 2018 6:39 AM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Saturday, October 13, 2018 12:11 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

Huh, they had a new one out earlier this year, completely missed that.

Reading now that it was apparently the results of what was originally shelved back in 2010.

Much like a frantic movie about “unfinished business” or “the one that got away,” Secret Machines spent the past few years finally putting the finishing touches on what should have been their fourth LP. Long regarded as a lost album, The Moth, The Lizard and the Secret Machines was actually put on pause in 2010 and massaged in the aftermath of 2020’s return-to-form record Awake in the Brain Chamber.

This essentially makes it the missing link between that effort’s brash pop songs and 2008’s sorely overlooked self-titled LP. (The latter receives a long overdue digital reissue this fall — one that features a far more fitting tracklisting and robust final master from Slowdive drummer/like-minded solo musician Simon Scott).

never spent much time with the s/t and it's incredible???? obv there are posts in this thread recognizing how incredible it is

have been waiting for you to say this

'last believer, drop dead' such a sick deep cut from their catalogue. and that closer!