Working For a Nuclear Free City (c/d, etc.)

Anyway, ENOUGH, I don't want this thread locked. WFANFC need more coverage!

This thread is only going to be locked if you keep acting like a worthless cunt (which it will because you can't control yourself).

Music great and I stand by my first post. Dammit.

Erm, welcome to ILM.

may i also point out that the opening few seconds of the album sound JUST like a bit from the middle of Yes' 'Close To The Edge', which is speechlessly awesome, and surely deliberate.

the run from 'england' through to 'innocence' is just...just...indescribable.

This is really, really, really good.

Yus.

They list Four Tet and Manitoba twice each too, plus Caribou once as well.

this is what happens when you follow my advice, nick, HEAVENLY NOISE appears in your very expensive hand-crafted headphones. whoopsie, i'm drunk again, maybe i should only post to this thread when hammered, seems to do the trick.

Bit... hollow at times (emotionally / content wise, not sonically), too in thrall to some things, not massive on the vocals, but for the most part, still very, very, very good.

Emotionally hollow? Give 'The Tape' through 'So' another listen. Then stick 'Forever' on. Some of the most affecting music I've heard from any band this century!

I would actually say that despite their being 'in thrall' to certain aspects of shoegaze/rave culture, they are probably the current band with whom I am able to find least fault. Their intentions and their methods of creating music strike me as being entirely noble.

Emotionally's the wrong word, I think. Not sure.

Um, no idea of their intentions.

You've not got aspergers have you, Louis? Last person I knew who went on about intentions had aspergers.

ooh thanks for the reminder, must dig this one out again - it fair knocked me over when i first heard it but then it got lost under a pile of life. it deserves A LOT more than that.

Another Sonic Cathedrals band. (Though I missed their show) Are they worth checking out?

Or, are they just the latest Maps/Nathan Fake/Manitoba?

Much better than maps, probably better than Nathan Fake, not as good as Manitoba (very different though).

You'll hate them Kate - I like them!

I'm just sick of the sheer ... bloke-ishness of that "one man and his laptop" type nu-gazing.

These guys are definitely a band. Very dance-oriented though, as Ned alluded. Really interestingly recorded, very hazy.They're not Ride, more... Happy Mondays playing Spiritualized in a room next door. With no vocals.

Their intentions? To me, the album is a coherent 45-minute document, a single piece (the quoting of Yes' Close To The Edge in 'The 224th Day' is perhaps a hint) which charts a course through a certain rave mindset. I believe their intentions to be psychedelic; they aim to use identifiable dance beats in conjunction with weird and wonderful electronic sounds in order to create a trippy, cogent musical experience with no compromise or genre hang-ups; they purely care for the listener's enjoyment. As I say, noble.

I have been diagnosed as 'perhaps having very mild Asperger's', yes, but on the autistic spectrum as a whole I'm barely dipping my little toenail below the surface.

There are vocals, but they're not really 'legible'. It all sounds indiscriminate and ravey and great!

Saw this lot last night, supporting Fujiya & Miyagi. I was very impressed with them live. So I picked the album up and I'm liking it a lot so far. I can see the Spiritualized comparison but the band they remind me of most of all, particularly live, is Chapterhouse.

Anyway, they're very good.

This is fucking terrific. Hurry up and arrive, EP.

cardiacs and WFANFC at top of page = MY sorta New Answers

there's an EP?! cool!

Aye, tis called Rocket, and I have it on my desk.

It's very good, as you might expect. Less schizeclecto, slightly, as if they're finding their own voice a touch more.

Some more news:

We are happy to nnounce that we are now signed to the rather excellent U.S label Deaf, Dumb & Blind who will take care of all our state-side releases.

They are re-releasing our debut in September as a double album!!!

It's called Businessmen & Ghosts.

Some tracks are new, some are old (many of which have been reworked/re-recorded) tracks which never made it on to the U.K release, and there are tracks from the Rocket E.P.

The tracklisting is thus -
CD 1

1 The 224th Day 01:33
2 Troubled Son 02:49
3 Dead Fingers Talking 03:29
4 Rocket 04:47
5 Kingdom 04:06
6 Sarah Dreams of Summer 03:22
7 Apron Strings 03:56
8 All American Taste 03:06
9 A Quiet Place 04:33
10 So 03:57
11 England (part 2) 07:24
12 Over 03:44
13 Fallout 01:53
14 Forever 04:35
15 Stone Cold 03:27

CD 2
1 Eighty Eight 03:37
2 Donkey 04:08
3 Get a Fucking Haircut 01:37
4 Innocence 04:18
5 Home 01:16
6 Heaven Kissing Hill 04:24
7 The Tape 02:57
8 Asleep at the Wheel 04:20
9 England 01:08
10 Soft Touch 06:32
11 Pixelated Birds 01:39
12 Je Suis le Vent 03:03
13 Nancy Adam Susan 05:58
14 The Tree 02:32

New songs up on their myspace site.

11 England (part 2) 07:24

I need to hear this song!!! The original was brilliant, but only a minute long! Plus, it HAS to be brilliant to excuse the splitting up of 'Over' and 'So', whose transition on the self-titled album is nothing short of miraculous.

OMFG it's on their myspace! Along with the other 3 longest new tracks! I guess this is some sort of 'thank you' to the fans...

holy fuck

these myspace songs (the three 5+ minute ones especially) are astonishing. ASTONISHING. PROGRESSION LIVES

Wait till you hear Rocket and Stone Cold.

I wasn't that keen on the Myspace songs; nice atmospherics and grooves, but a little lacking in... 'song'ness, perhaps. What I like about these guys so far is that they pack so many influences, so much aesthetic richness, etcetera, into really compact songs, and I'm not entirely sure the longer numbers worked as well. They almost sounded like earlier, unedited jams, to me. Definitely not progress, Louis! They were nice enough, but Stone Cold off the new EP has an amazing emotional depth to it in the movement of the tune, for instance, and Rocket is just... great shuffling abstract riff groove pop.

Hmm. By 'progression' I meant that the songs themselves roved between different soundscapes, creating tension and release through their kaleidoscopic ambition and unpredictability. Although in retrospect, the initial buzz has worn off a tiny bit, "Nancy Adam Susan" is still fairly close to being my track of the year. It signifies for me a sort of sexually-charged longing for beauty, a three-tiered assault upon the imagination that has to recharge every time it gets too intense. The three freakouts I take to signify the three names (lovers? victims?) in the title. Furthermore, there's no denying that when the depth-charge bass hits first time out (to signify the first freakout), the listener gets something of a rush. This will sound silly, but I've thought of the track as "timeless erotic space-poetry"; it's got a melody and an urgency that will ensure its continuing affection in my heart, and an overall atmosphere of conceptual vastness. However, if you say the shorter songs are progress, you might have a point; if all their albums flow as well as their debut then they'll be onto something good!

I'm just sick of the sheer ... bloke-ishness of that "one man and his laptop" type nu-gazing.

This baffles me. I'm trying to think how Schnauss is at all blokey for one thing.

she means that there are no women involved, hence "sheer bloke-ishness". ulrich can't win. :( unless he recruits a female vocalist, which of course he HAS.

Fuck the heck, Louis.

"timeless erotic space-poetry", fuck the heck.

I'm not good at mornings.

(But I'd be lying if I said I made that one up on the spot. Actually, I came up with it last night whilst trying to find a way to neatly describe such an emotionally affecting track.)

Were you drunk?

I think I was very mildly tipsy. Hell, I quite like it! It's not like you don't occasionally hit us all with abstract metaphors in your reviews! :p

Never ever "timeless erotic space-poetry" though.

Louis, have you heard the Studio and Strategy records? You should.

Strategy I nearly bought in HMV but it cost fifteen smackers. I'll get it online. Studio I know nothing about, but doubtless I'm about to.

I reviewed it for Stylus on Friday.

Aha!

1 The 224th Day 01:33
2 Troubled Son 02:49
3 Dead Fingers Talking 03:29
4 Rocket 04:47
5 Kingdom 04:06
6 Sarah Dreams of Summer 03:22
7 Apron Strings 03:56
8 All American Taste 03:06
9 A Quiet Place 04:33
10 So 03:57
11 England (part 2) 07:24
12 Over 03:44
13 Fallout 01:53
14 Forever 04:35
15 Stone Cold 03:27

CD 2
1 Eighty Eight 03:37
2 Donkey 04:08
3 Get a Fucking Haircut 01:37
4 Innocence 04:18
5 Home 01:16
6 Heaven Kissing Hill 04:24
7 The Tape 02:57
8 Asleep at the Wheel 04:20
9 England 01:08
10 Soft Touch 06:32
11 Pixelated Birds 01:39
12 Je Suis le Vent 03:03
13 Nancy Adam Susan 05:58
14 The Tree 02:32

So I have this now, just as files at the moment, but CDs are on the way. Listened to most of the first disc. Gosh, these chaps are talented.

Actually the only two tracks of the first disc I've not listened to are the last two, which I have already on the album and EP. So yes, the first disc is very good indeed.

Louis Louis.

plz to give review in stylus w/A grade

Done gone listened to the second disc now. The really remarkable thing is the consistency - some of the new stuff is as good as the best material from the album proper and the Rocket EP. It plays like two albums as well, rather than a compilation - things are segued thoughtfully. Very nice consistency of aesthetic and texture across all 29 tracks, too. Donkey and Get A Fucking Haircut are jump-out new favourites. Louis, Ned, have you two heard the Rocket EP yet?

I haven't (well, I've heard 'Rocket' and 'Heaven Kissing Hill' because they were on the band's Myspace, and yeah, they were very good, but I haven't heard the other two tracks; the new Myspace tracks are even better IMO - have you come round to Nancy Adam Susan yet?).

Nancy Adam Susan has grown on me, aye, but I'm still not getting your "pearls of glistening sex tryst psychedelia sugarbomb" thing.

It'll take a couple more listens. It's more kinetic than a psychedelia sugarbomb, more a rush to escape the solar system before the sun blows, but glistening sex tryst it most assuredly is.

Donkey is fucking ace. Ferocious. Grooving.

Missed this thread. Heard them last year and was terribly disappointed - I had been led to believe that they were a nu-kraut band, but in actual fact they were Madchester revivalists. Don't suppose they've dropped any of that crap in their new stuff, have they?

There's a definite dance slant to what they do, a big emphasis on bass and rhythm, and they're from Manchester. There's a slight Krautness in there, but they're definitely not nu-kraut. Much more modern eclectic psychedelia.

Hmmm. They've fucked this up.

?

?!?

actually, y'know, 65DOS' new album isn't all that either. and talk talk stink.

I doubt anyone else will notice or care, but, off a couple of plays, the double-CD comp is mastered WAY louder than the debut album and Rocket EP. I'm just going off some (decent bitrate) MP3s I got sent, and will reserve full judgement until the physical CDs arrive, but the space and detail of their music was what lured me in totally and utterly. The debut is almost comically dynamic and it's terrific, as is Rocket. "So", for instance, has that great leap after about two and a half minutes when the drums drop in and it WHOOSHES off into outer space, and that impact is massively lessened on the MP3s of the double CD. Colour me unhappy.

Just going off the graphic equaliser on the CD player I'm using, and it's pinned to the roof almost all the time. The album most definitely wasn't.

dude you are talking about MP3s

although if the actual album's like that, then that's a shame.

The mastering doesn't change just because it's an MP3. These are (at a guess, from file sizes, not checked) 192kbps, presumably ripped straight from the CD. Data compression and dynamic compression are different things.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/njsouthall/Picture1-3.png

you should write to them and ask why this was done

holy shit the mastering is insanely loud (on the myspace songs at least)

Mmmm. Been happily blasting the comp for a few days here.

It's out now then? I had an email off their PR a couple of weeks ago saying it was put back till November? Colour me confused.

Ned, could you email me a ccouple of MP3s ripped from your CD so I can judge the mastering?

FAKE SOUTHALL

this will prove the difference between an A- and a C- (see: iLiKETRAiNS review the other day)

ok - just received word about this US re-issue re the remastering ..
lots of res in that sentence.
but hey ..

"Phil actually went back into the studio and re-did some of the tracks and then yes it was re-mastered again here in the US. "

So does this mean the final release is loud as fuck or not? Cos those MP3s I got sent certainly are. I've ordered a physical copy on import but I'm gonna be spitting shit if they limited it to fuck in the mastering cos this band were beautiful as it was.

That's bunk, man.

CD arrived yesterday. It is louder, and it's not quite as good as a consequence, but it's not totally fucked.

i shall acquire this and then tut my way through southall's B+ review

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/working-for-a-nuclear-free-city/businessmen-ghosts.htm

This is a pretty definitive statement.

'Nancy Adam Susan' probably my song of the year.

This is sequenced perfectly, and it's a goddamn compilation! Further to this, it does not dip once below 'fantastic'. Seriously, I urge more of you to get hold, whatever your taste.

Anyone make it to any of the LA shows this week?

;_;

Just saw them last night in Cambridge MA. Wow they have some punch live. Admittedly I adore the record but they certainly met my high expectations. The lead guitar wanker is especially impressive. Soundman kept the knob-twiddling effects too low in the mix for me but the bass and drums were strong. If they're passing through your town (or you're at SXSW) make the effort!

Louis Jagger (Cambridge) wrote
at 2:33pm
One of three or four bands unquestionably leading the British pack at the minute. I sincerely hope you guys play Nancy Adam Susan live. Man, that song.
Write on Louis's Wall - Message - Report

From the band's MySpace page, updated January 9th:

"We are relieved to announce that our second album is finally fucking finished bar a few weeks of mixing and adding little bells and other detritus. We hope it will be a 20 odd track double called "jojo burger tempest" but it has a factory to go through yet. Anyways, its pretty good."

So. Fucking. Excited.

Haha wow that took forever. But glad it's finally happening!

I mentioned that on the Delphic thread earlier! Mostly because Delphic were a sort of tiresome stopgap between WFANFC events. STOKED LIKE A HOT DAY IN HELL

Also that is as rad an album-title as I've seen recently

And this from their twitter:

"Another double if the company allow. Side 1, 19 tracks of songs. Side 2, 1 half hour thing. Thax Douglas included."

Hmm. Being from Chicago means I've had my fill of Thax, but excited anyway.

Side 1, 19 tracks of songs. Side 2, 1 half hour thing

oh shit, I think I might combust

Hahah I'm already taking that division over whatever the Joanna Newsom tracklisting is supposed to be.

I had wondered where this lot had gone - nothing on their Myspace for ages. Turns out it's ALL in their Facebook group - things are hotting up big-time! :D

http://www.facebook.com/wfanfc?ref=search&v=app_5179614317#!/wfanfc

get on Spotify so I can listen to you for fuck's sake

or am I gonna have to buy you I mean it's not like I have any money atm

the new one was disappointing initially, but it's grown on me quite a bit. not sure how they could have done much better without rehashing the first album.

I hear there's another one on the way before too long, also.

is that half-hour thing as incredible as I'm hoping it is

it's a good listen. closer in style to businessmen & ghosts than anything on disc 1, but a few bits smell leftover-y.

businessmen & ghosts is IMO so, so much better than WFANFC - it's a definitive statement of the band's scope

have heard only good things about this album, can't wait to hear it

It sounds like they're covering Hocus Pocus by Focus at one point.

the opening 1-2-3-4 salvo of the album proper is awesome.

you can tell they're aiming for something different within seconds of the first track, though. they're still growing.

have heard that the opening track is a thing of proggy wonder :D

It sounds like they're covering Hocus Pocus by Focus at one point.

I assume this is a good thing?

that focus comparison isn't far off!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPzHUtNwbX0

fucking glorious

is on spotify, is fucking glorious (so far)

Which album should I listen to first?

Um....well, there's only the new album on Spotify! So start there I guess. Opening track is Yes-tastic.

Ha ha, this is like something off Fragile.

yeah this is going well - may pause for a lunchbreak but EVERYONE GIVE THESE GUYS A SPIN

How many songwriters are involved with this band, because so far each song has been a completely different thing.

One Fragile-like Yes progsterpiece, one sort of wubtastic glitchy nugazetronica thing, and now just bog standard jangly nu-gaze with overlapping harmonies.

Which is fine, but... I don't know if they seem to be better at certain aspects, or if I just prefer certain aspects better.

hey give it a few more tracks before leaping to judgement (btw every song is pretty much different to the others)

track 4 is a massive highlight imho

I'm not leaping to judgement, I've liked it so far. It has a lot of what I actually liked about nu-gaze, even though I've mostly moved on from nu-gaze as a primary interest. It's kind of like a cross between the first Engineers album and Youthmovies last album so I can totally see why you love it. But with added extra laser noises and bleepy electronic bits. I just usually tend to want more bleepy electronic bits.

And a less ... nothing-y singer. Better a nothing-y singer than an annoying one, though.

main album is awesome, half-hour title-track is a goddamn trip :D

opening track is so, so, so very good inna 'written for LJ' way

Still getting to know this, but I like it.

Turns out this album was a massive grower too

I prefer the more immediate songs that hit me on first listen, but I've come to enjoy straight-through listens, too. Very excited for whatever comes next.

The main songwriter turns out to be an angsty so and so with severe doubt issues about his band's output - all the signs of a troubled genius tbh - anyway I like that he worries a bit - the stuff he deems worthy of putting out, be it in song or collage form - is superb.

colour me chuffed.
having had the 'normal' debut album in the archive since its release, just found the 2cd remixed/reissue/expanded edition of this in the bins for a few quid.
guess the follow up album didn't quite hit the same highs ?

I do think Businessmen and Ghosts is one of the best albums of the 00's, but I think the second kind of destroys their momentum. Maybe I need to hear it again but it sounded mostly like a bunch of fragments with only a few actual ideas. Plus the production is god awful - it's sonically overwhelming with some weirdly high treble levels. Every cymbal crash makes me wince.

Hmm, loved the two-disc version of Businessmen and Ghosts to death, but have yet to come across a copy of the follow-up, maybe thats not such a bad thing from the sounds of frogbs' post.

it's sonically overwhelming with some weirdly high treble levels. Every cymbal crash makes me wince.

blimey.
one of the best things about the debut/business.. is the upfront use of thunder storm bass lines.
have to say the title of the follow up album, and cover art did make me wince and hold off from picking up the one copy i saw.

no, i actually agree with that

it's just that on the new one, those big washes of sound seem to come at the expense of everything else and make the album hard on the ears. not powerful, but actually kind of painful. you can hear some clipping too which really takes you out of the album (which otherwise is fairly good)

gave it another listen on headphones today; IMO it's basically the cymbals and vocals that have a ton of hiss on them. the rest of it is mastered fine. still, a lot of it is giving me a headache. the music itself is pretty good though - doesn't have many standouts like the last album, but it kinda falls somewhere between Ruins and the Stone Roses, which is a good thing

http://sickmouthy.com/2013/02/20/working-for-a-nuclear-free-city-working-for-a-nuclear-free-city-2006/

real shame if you can't see beyond the first record/ep.

Anyone heard the Motorifik album? Phil Kay from WFANFC and another guy. Gary McClure involved too. I like it.

http://motorifik.bandcamp.com

McClure has a solo release upcoming on Edwyn Collins' AED Records.

this is pretty lovely

real shame if you can't see beyond the first record/ep.

you think? I liked the 'other' songs on Businessmen and Ghosts - that album is very neat as a whole. but the stuff that was on the s/t was usually my favorite.

as I mentioned above, I really could not stand "Jojo Burger Tempest" because of the production. I really thought I got a faulty copy when I first heard it.

B&G is the best one but there's plenty of gold on JBT - it really all comes through after a few listens. Highlights at the beginning and the end (Do A Stunt was my song of the year - joy upon joy upon joy)

B&G is miles and miles better than the s/t. Fucksake, it has those three epics on it, all of which are incredible, as well as ace shorter stuff like Heaven Kissing Hill and Donkey

I'll have to take your word for Do a Stunt...I find the whole album basically unlistenable. Give it some leeway at first because I was really excited about new WFANFC material but my god does the loudness war kill this one.

Gonna be giving B&G another listen then. I do like both the tunes you mentioned and I realize that I haven't heard the "new" stuff half as much as the "old" stuff so maybe I was a little biased. But I still thought it was one of the 00's best so I'm not sure how much more I'm going to like it.

Well, the three epics (England, Soft Touch and especially - oh my god especially - Nancy Adam Susan) are up there with Do A Stunt and So/Over (or was it Over/So?) as the band's all-time highlights IMO. And yeah, decade top-twenty, probably.

It's a shame about the mastering on JBT compared to their earlier stuff, but it doesn't kill the album for me.

Alphaville is another standout.

And here's what happened to McClure since:

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/rftmusic/2015/04/how_st_louis_american_wrestlers_signed_to_a_respected_label_before_ever_playing_a_show.php

I enjoyed Wreaths. Glad to hear that he'll be recording again.

I've been listening to the American Wrestlers album this weekend, it's really good.

whoa this is great

fuck it's *really* great

Ha, been listening to American Wrestlers' album for many months now, having no clue the dude was part of Working for a ...yada yada band. Not to long ago a song popped up on my ipad on random from their 2006 album, so I thought a new album was coming out.

well this is unexpected

http://www.melodic.co.uk/wfanfc1/

Went in blind. Listened while walking about the neighborhood this sunny winter afternoon. Some really lovely moments, but I need to let it sink in.

whoa

ended up thinking that my rapturous reaction to the american wrestlers album was an overreaction. pleased there's new wfanfc. phil kay clearly been a busy chap

There's at least one track on this that wouldn't sound at all out of place on the American Wrestlers album.

The horns on ''New Day'" are the greatest thing right now.

did they wind up mastering this one properly? as I've mentioned upthread I found their last album unlistenable and I'm leary about buying this one if it's the same

I keep forgetting to listen to my copy! Got an advance but then the holidays took over.

this is great

feels like the music Caribou should be making if he wasn't such a boring dweeb

lovely all the way through. doesn't have any of those B&G epics but it has the concise flow of the debut release

crazy how little press this disc has gotten. I bet a lot of people who loved the debut/B&G don't even know it exists.

currently sitting at 2.78 on RYM...seems a lot better than that

RYM is giving some serious bullshit ratings this year. anything both obscure and low-key gets trashed for some reason

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DY_Aa3Pj_0

Listening to "What Do People Do All Day?", this band is pretty dope. "feels like the music Caribou should be making if he wasn't such a boring dweeb" is about right - although I get a bit of an Out Hud vibe from them too

may have to listen to it again. I remember thinking it was pretty good but didn't really blow me away the way their early stuff did

the fact that this pretty much conked out means this band is kaput, doesn't it?

nah, it's basically just one guy now and I think he'll continue to use the name. the other main guy is American Wrestlers, who are slightly less good but interestingly more high-profile

I see B&G all over the place in discount bins.

I keep wondering what the last great 90s album is*, 2008's B&G a fine contender. My 7-track redux of the album (featuring nothing from the s/t) is stellar

*it's probably the new Sea Nymphs lol

Seriously, try it: https://open.spotify.com/user/louisjagger/playlist/0qDEhkxk8XUZq9GcmIJgso

may have to check that out. never really knew how to parse B&G since I had been so obsessed with the s/t

I remember listening to "Forever" a few days after Klaus Dinger died and it felt so impossibly moving, in that context