twin shadow: the official ilm thread started by max

okay so this is some ill 80s revival shit--obviously a little bit of peter gabriel (otherwise why would i even be fucking with it) but mostly sort of uhhhh new wavey? i dont really know about music, except that this rules. (cutty was the one that "hipped me" to this dude so you know this shit is on point)

anyway i know it deserves a thread now because hipster runoff wrote about it: http://www.hipsterrunoff.com/2010/08/will-twin-shadow-be-the-only-harvestable-buzzband-of-2k10.html

you can download some mp3s there. "i can't wait" is a jam. and now when this shit goes huge you can all be like "max was there from the very beginning."

annoyed that you werent the first to post that cee-lo song huh

Those songs were boring. Sorry

oh wow i didnt realize...

now i feel pretty embarrassed for starting this thread

"max was there from the very beginning."

I put "Castles in the Snow" on one of my mixes LAST YEAR. So, no.

FURST

multiple xposts

Oh no, wait...I was thinking about the wrong one. I put "Castles in the Snow" on one my mixes in APRIL. Still, no.

oh christ can we just talk about how good this is instead of the joke i made about being there first

Yeah, it's good. The dude looks kind of like a cross between Phil Lynott and a genie.

highlights so far for me are "i cant wait" and "tyrant destroyed"

highlight so far is "yeah i like muscle cars"

so i guess 2011 is going to be about unfiltered, unadulterated 80s pop then? huh.

this is much better than that swedish faux toto b.s. u tried to push on us before

Montee

that was matt dc, and it was good

if you dont like toto i dont like you ®

really stretching to hear the peter gabriel connection. doesn't come anywhere near as as TVOTR sometimes do. as much chris de burgh as peter gabriel, but not in a bad way. "slow" kinda reminds me of the smiths, and in some distant way the bronski beat.

It's high noon in Brooklyn but its always midnight on southern, dead end suburban streets. Here, there is total silence except for the house at the very end, where inside a tin roof garage, teenagers are kissing for the first time. The humidity is too great, the boys peel off white t’s and the girls cheeks are flushed, beet red under the garage’s two fluorescent stripes. In a pond behind the house an alligator waits for a snow birds’ Pomeranian to take its night stroll. A child is sleep walking for the first time. Some one is running away for the last time. The music is too loud on the 12 D battery boom box radio, the cops are on their way. It’s at this moment you hear the music of Twin Shadow on a radio station transmitting suburban ghost dreams that sound like a slow motion shot of a cannon, singing about spirits, visions, and aural hallucinations cutting through the first American night.

what the hell is that

really stretching to hear the peter gabriel connection

That's Francis and the Lights where it's very pronounced. I don't hear it all in Twin Shadow.

artist's statement

xpost

"tyrant destroyed" is apparently the suburban ghost dreams part

really stretching to hear the peter gabriel connection. doesn't come anywhere near as as TVOTR sometimes do.

Ha, "Castles in the Snow" reminded me of TVOTR.

really enjoying the suburban ghost dreams part btw

that was matt dc, and it was good

― max, Thursday, August 26, 2010 12:02 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

if you dont like toto i dont like you ®

― max, Thursday, August 26, 2010 12:02 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

whoa whoa whoa -- i didnt say anything about toto, i said montee
& they fit in w/ your 'personal brand' so i associated them w/ you
the retro style felt like the only 'trick', the transcendent bridge or w/e ... spot on pastiche but not more than pastiche

that artist statement tells me everything i need to know about never listening to this

Yeah, out of all the '80s big pop fetishists out there, Montée are among the least interesting.

that artist statement tells me everything i need to know about never listening to this

― gg eileen (jjjusten), Thursday, August 26, 2010 12:11 PM (29 seconds ago) Bookmark

u might be reading it too literally

yeah, it works better if you laugh

still kinda o_O

some of these songs work fine as demos, but it all screams for a big, glossy 80s production

specifically thinking of "when we're dancing"

only listened to 2 songs, but so far this is rad

it is rad, and it doesn't let up. there isn't a bad song on here. otoh, it starts to sound a bit wallpapery after a while. like dude has made a such a close study and perfect reproduction of 80s moody pop that it eventually gets swallowed up by your memories of other stuff. "tether beat" is quite a standout though, love the vibe and quizzical guitar.

the guys voice sounds like peter gabriels voice

i dont know why i bother starting threads on ilm im always disappointed when people dont love stuff as much as i do

*sighs heavily*

just do not hear the peter gabriel thing at all, not even on "castles in the snow", which otherwise sounds exactly like TVOTR sounding like peter gabriel. i do like it in spite of it not sounding even a tiny bit like peter gabriel.

this thread is a pretty good example of 'branding'

i really like these tunes max, thanks for starting this thread

just remember: i was there first

putting you in the acknowledgments of my thesis right now

i preferred the start of this thread

cool dog

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_f3SZ5Tu916o/SRhNTCu-vJI/AAAAAAAAIJ4/yv79gkYN-JY/s400/poochie.gif

what is this crap? where's the steel guitar?

see best line in "graceland" thread

Pitchfork gives it an 8.4 and their best new music tag.....let the backlash/indifference begin.

really loving this so far

couldn't get into it. I don't like the guy's voice.

man I can't wait for this 80s thing to be over so we can get on with an ironic nu-metal cargo shorts revival

oops sorry, thought this was the bat for lashes thread

http://cdn.stereogum.com/downloader/?file=/files/mp3/Bear+In+Heaven+-+Lovesick+Teenagers+(Twin+Shadows+Twins+In+Heaven+Remix)/

lol ilx url api sux

try again

Hey I am really liking this album.

And I *do* see the Gabriel thing, at least on a few of the songs - early era Gabriel, not shit like "sledgehammer" ffs. Something about the production and vocal work.

It has a real 80s 4AD feel to it as well: a bit Clan of Xymox, a bit Modern English, in feel.

I am liking this muchly on first listen.

Stuff like "Slow" on the other hand sounds massively Morrisey-esque.

YES i knew the gabriel was there thanks trayce

u r welcome. I totally hear it! Which makes it really bloody good.

hey guys i'm looking for max's official thread on this band, is this it?

I've been loving the shit out of a few bands doing this kind of dreamy 80s pop lately - Bell Hollow, Veil Veil Vanish, old Prids stuff.

xpost haha.

Also, "im always disappointed when people dont love stuff as much as i do"

I so agree with this :/

hey slocki--youre in the right place--have a seat

Last.fm poster said: "Molly Ringwald is dancing to this in her bedroom". hahah <3

*awkwardly squeezes through row of sitting ilxors and takes last empty seat as max's presentation begins*

Realised too late for my top 10 of 2010 ballot that this is my favourite album of the year :/

it's october?

Monthly print mag lead times wait for no man.

http://www.lonesentry.com/gi_stories_booklets/78thinfantry/pics/78thpamphlet_frontcoverx.jpg

i like this a lot.Random friends of mine that have heard me playing it in the background around the house seem to dig it too

*raises hand*

how can i hear this without clicking anything OR buying anything

*farts*

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/album/Forget/4580052

Just a few clicks?

too many!

*sips latte*

remember i was there before max

I find that hard to believe, given that max started the official ilm thread

just to clear up any confusion, cutty "hipped" max to the band!

max doesn't really know about music

Those songs were boring. Sorry

― van smack, Thursday, August 26, 2010 4:31 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

oh wow i didnt realize...

― max, Thursday, August 26, 2010 9:19 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark

evidenced here^

I am listening to this and it's pretty groovy.

thank max

max, thank you for making this gentle music.

lol

lp out in the UK on 4AD next year i think

100 blog years too late

lol

just to be totally clear here--cutty did NOT start this thread

wait a second

maybe cutty is max's "twin shadow"

PLOT TWIST

THE THREAD IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE SHADOW

more like 'twinside' the shadow

no one is wondering in what manner i "hipped" max to the recording artist known as twin shadow

(it was a gentle whisper in his ear)

in whole foods?

i like your band twin shadow max, sent you guys a myspace friend request :)

Major step back on the album cover art tho

Hey a question on this dude - why is the video for "Slow" tagged "NSFW" on the 4AD site/on youtube? I couldnt see anything that would require that tag except what appeared to be a ver brief reference to a smack needle stabbity hole in his arm at the start or I dont know?

not safe for wanking

Poor max ;(

Does the chorus of "Tyrant Destroyed" go "as you sat sinking in my head" or "as you sat sick in my head"?

IT MAKES A BIG DIFFERNENCE.

(I thought it was "sick", but a lyric site suggests otherwise. Are there lyrics on the elpee?)

http://cbsstreetdate.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/twin-shadow-castles-in-the-snow-com-truise-remix.mp3?dl=1

~explodes~

this singer reminds me of Caleb Followill sometimes

this would be a dope show imo

http://s1089.photobucket.com/albums/i359/dg11469/May 1 2011 - May 7 2011/?action=view¤t=twinshadowfallon_Segment100-00-02-00-03-53.mp4

http://www.hulu.com/watch/239163/late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-twin-shadow-i-cant-wait

that hair and a hello kitty necklace :D

better first link since it broked

http://s1089.photobucket.com/albums/i359/dg11469/May%201%202011%20-%20May%207%202011/?action=view¤t=twinshadowfallon_Segment100-00-02-00-03-53.mp4

seeing them at the Scala on Wednesday, looking fwd to it

http://www.beggarsgroupusa.com/images/news/1308235858Screen%20shot%202011-06-16%20at%2010.50.37%20AM.png

heard this in urbanoutfitters (lolz) the other day and it reminded me of what a great album this is

he was awesome at Primavera

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ddhtt0TUzIs

new track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruHzYtq0oRU

http://thenjunderground.com/storage/Twin-Shadow-Ton-Up-Tour.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1336508060534

^^this is so cute!!

is it, though?

yep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiC9XNQSxFQ

I am really digging the album

album streaming now: http://www.the-fly.co.uk/feature/general/1014424/twin-shadow-album-stream-2/

wasn't sure at first but really getting into this now

its really good.

Is that the "Take My Breath Away" bass synth sound or just something very, very close?

Huh. I loved the first one, but I'm really not feeling this (yet).

felt the same way, but somehow I've wound up listening to it about 5 times today and it's really sticking to me now.

New album is great but takes a few listens. Loving 'Run My Heart'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zwZDvj565g&feature=related

Huh. I loved the first one, but I'm really not feeling this (yet).

― Never translate Dutch (jaymc), Wednesday, July 4, 2012 2:27 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

He was amazing last nite in London. Encored with a special 4 July medley of "American Girl" into "Star-Spangled Banner". The Forget stuff still felt stronger tho.

wow i must be amazing because i'm enjoying this on my first listen

*applauds*

i really like this! first four tracks in particlar

man this is the junior boys album that i wanted that last junior boys album to be

it doesn't sound that different from the last album aside from being better/more expansively produced, i'm curious why a couple of people said they were having trouble getting into it?

just not catching my earholes the same way

This is pretty good. Hooks don't stand out like the ones on Forget.

I have never heard them, but I foud this of interest:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/positive-reception-for-twin-shadows-confess-shows-the-low-bar-in-indie-rock/2012/07/08/gJQAV2SvWW_story.html?wprss=rss_style

Chris Richards of the Washington Post:

The album itself couldn’t play it any safer, embarking on another dead-end expedition to the 1980s. It’s all retro-glassy textures outfitted with lyrics about love’s complexities sung by a young man whose ego seems to have replaced his heart.

It’s bad. But what makes Lewis’s music so interesting is how eagerly it has been embraced — it’s critical reception illustrates indie rock’s sexual double standard at work. Earlier this year, an online shouting match erupted around Lana Del Rey, a fast-climbing New York singer whose background was scrutinized as if she were running for office. When her first album, “Born to Die,” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts, the blogosphere chased its tail in a style-vs.-substance debate that is reserved almost exclusively for female artists. Could someone this attractive, this fashionable, this concerned with her image, this unapologetically ambitious, actually be “the real thing”?

New question. Will anyone bother to ask those same questions of Lewis? He’s an equally ambitious, equally good-looking guy who loves to talk about the depth of his ambition and the extent of his good-lookingness. He recently described his look to Spin as “James Dean in Bollywood in the late ’80s.” Other interviews make him look like a first-class narcissist in ways that are both amusing and sad.

But instead of putting him through the wringer, the blogeratti are pinning medals on Lewis’s chest. He’s being championed as a savvy, stylish bad boy for the same reasons Del Rey was dismissed as a fraud.

They’ve both made treacly albums that fail to communicate actual emotion, and “Confess” is the weaker of the two.

lol great headline, looks like something off the national security desk

that might even remotely have a point of TS hadn't already released one really great & critically acclaimed album

Difference is I really like the new TS album and Lana Del Rey had two amazing tracks and a couple of okay ones and a bunch of duds, for me anyway. I don't care about LDR's aesthetics or persona, the same way I don't care about George Lewis'. His album isn't about being a motorcycle gang badboy from the 50s or whatever, so for me that doesn't enter into the quality of the songs.

But yeah everytime something is hyped there is going to be the reactionary who wants to call out the emperor as having now clothes.

ha great typo

lol whoops

it doesn't sound that different from the last album aside from being better/more expansively produced, i'm curious why a couple of people said they were having trouble getting into it?

Not as immediately catchy/hooky, but who knows, it might be a grower.

bit plodding if u ask me

Yeah, is there anything with the fast fizzy sparkle of "At My Heels"?

http://thequietus.com/articles/09339-twin-shadow-confess-review

re: run my heart

i could just listen to boys of summer?

yes, you could listen to it

if you have spotify for example, or own the record

of course i don't have spotify wtf BUT YOUTUBE I'VE GOT YOUTUBE

Only skimmed it, but doesn't that Quietus review (like the Chris Richards one in the W. Post) not mention there was a previous Twin Shadow album?

Regarding that W.Post article, since when was indie-rock's raison d'être to provide rebel heroes? I really hate articles where an album/artist is criticized for mainly extramusical reasons. I thought the whole "real vs fake" dichotomy ended years ago, at least with music journalists.

I'm enjoying this much more than his debut. I found Forget mostly forgetful, which I thought I'd like based on his many positive reviews (80's-inspired music is my personal catnip).

interesting album

I found Forget mostly forgetful,

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv149/jwalkhatesyou/sickburn.gif

"forgettable"

i like this whole album but have just abt had 'run my heart' on a continual loop the past few days

Yeah, this is quickly becoming one of my five favourite albums this year. The hooks are so fucking massive.

Those enjoying the Twin Shadow album will probably find much to like in the new Chad Valley record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVj0-E9mIRY

huh this guy is sort of brilliant

duh

Have been playing Confess a lot recently. I bought the first album months ago but haven't got round to playing it yet, I'm not sure what I'm saving it for really.

a cross between Phil Lynott and a genie.

cmon guys you have to admit now the 2nd album was a letdown

nah not even fronting. i like the first one a lil more probably but the 2nd was great too

2nd album is way better

2nd album is way better

― ❏❐❑❒ (gr8080), Tuesday, April 1, 2013 12:09 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

forget is star wars, confess is empire. five seconds is the at-at attack on hoth.

the second album is pretty poor. some of the lyrics are horrendous and make it hard to listen to.

fyi i prefer star wars

Finally got round to playing the first album today (like I said earlier in this thread I've owned it for months now) It totally blows Confess away. This album is incredible! When We're Dancing and Yellow Balloon are my early highlights.

The other day I was reading his reviews on Rate Your Music and came across one for Forget that said, Where did the interesting songs, beautiful vocals, and strange production go? I think they were being way too harsh on Confess but I can see what they mean. Forget is quite unique and just beautiful in places, Confess is way more straight forward and seems a little hollow in comparision. Of course Five Seconds still rules all.

so which one of these albums is better?

recently picked up Confess, and it's def holding my attention, but it's also giving me a second-guessy feeling which i haven't really figured out.

the first is way better

upthread there's an argument about if/how he sounds like peter gabriel. whether he does or not seems a little beside the point.

i forget who argued this (reynolds probably), but there was an argument out there, in the flush of the "80s boom" ten years ago now, that all of the chilly, harsh, dominatrixy, ice queen type vocals that were all over electroclash and neo-nuwave at the time were a serious misremembering of 80s. that the 80s were a time of very lush and florid and soulful vocals; even about vocal pyrotechnics being attempted by people who really couldn't do them (phil oakey, hi) -- iirc the end of this piece wondered when the bigger, cheesier, sweatier 80s would come back into fashion

i have this in mind because it sounds to me like TS is trying to fully inhabit the lame side of the 80s, the grand reach of "boys of summer" or phil collins or even clapton's "behind the mask". certainly on ilm (and in my house) this is a very natural and welcome kind of move. seems obvious to describe it here, even.

to try to put my finger on it, Confess is giving me a play-acting feeling. like running into someone who always cops an accent. like he's treating 80s arena-pop the same way rockabilly or bluegrass bands treat their referent sources. is he a roots act?

"run my heart" rules pretty hard though.

the first is way better

― flopson, Tuesday, February 19, 2013 3:24 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

first one is better

all right, shit

i have this in mind because it sounds to me like TS is trying to fully inhabit the lame side of the 80s, the grand reach of "boys of summer" or phil collins or even clapton's "behind the mask".

totally, see also rhye and the one vocal track on cfcf's new ep

or chad valley for that matter

i'm a full calendar year behind on all music fyi

thx tho!

haha i am paying extra close attention b/c i have been waiting for this particular flavor of 80s revivalism to break wide since tv on the radio

oh man i never liked them

totally, see also rhye and the one vocal track on cfcf's new ep

― max, Tuesday, February 19, 2013 10:02

What new CFCF EP? Or do you mean Exercises?

yeah I mean the David sylvian half cover on exercises

Ah. I got all excited for a moment as Exercises was one of my favourite releases of last year.

which rhye tracks/lp do you have in mind, because i'm not hearing it?

MUSO POST

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

i figured out what he's doing on guitar here. it's an alternate tuning! and a pretty odd one; it's tuned to an Eb maj 7 chord

Eb Bb Eb G Bb D

i wonder how he came up with that, and if he writes in that tuning a lot. somebody should ask him!

Someone recently told me that George Lewis Jr. was in a Boston punk band, Mad Man Films. I found their MySpace today:

https://myspace.com/madmanfilms/music/songs

The songs sound very early-aughts, but nonetheless, are pretty fun.

From a harmonic and lyrical perspective, “Betsy” sounds like a punk precursor to stuff on Forget. Anyway, enjoy.

i figured out what he's doing on guitar here. it's an alternate tuning! and a pretty odd one; it's tuned to an Eb maj 7 chord

So weird. I love him.

Did we ever talk about "To the Top" here?

It's not exactly Jim Steinman "huge," but it's the most luxuriously grandiose track TS has ever put out. lurve it.

"the official ilm thread started by max"

A+

I really didn't like To the Top at all. It's not really the direction I wanted him to go in at all.

To the Tops's cool, I like it.

So, I had no idea this guy has a new album coming out next week. Surprised there's been no talk about it.

http://www.npr.org/2015/03/08/390941870/first-listen-twin-shadow-eclipse

major label no less

great record.

weird that only 4 tracks are on spotify, npr has the whole thing tho

The 4 tracks on Spotify have been staggered out as "single" releases.

Not really into this sadly. Forget is one of my favourite albums of the decade so far but this isn't really what I wanted from him.

I still have a favorable opinion of "To the Top," but the rest of this is a big NOPE.

to the top is great

sometimes this hits me just right and sometimes it sounds like onerepublic

its very grandiose but i like it

couldn't handle this one

"Eclipse" was pretty bad huh

So bad. Just one big empty and overproduced misfire.

Didn't even bother.

Yeah I don't think I even managed to listen to this in its entirety. Forget is one of my favourites from this decade as well. :(

forget has got to be his best. the other two don't have the same strangeness. when i first head forget it seemed like an album i dreamed up after falling asleep watching weird science.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNpq942YT50

His best album by a mile. I go back to it a lot.

His new single features Haim and is thankfully so much better than anything on that last album.

https://youtu.be/NXpYoiCOuLE

much much better than anything from that last album!

Listening to Forget again. It really is one of the most perfect records of the decade for me.

"I Can't Wait" one of the least popular songs on Forget according to Spotify stats. I don't understand people at all.

Yeah that's odd considering its strengths and that the closing title track has a lot more. Although I often skip 'Tyrant Destroyed' this is still one of my favourite albums since 2010.

In the past there was an additional version of 'Forget' on Spotify with iirc a slightly different running order and the apostrophe in 'I Can't Wait' was also different - don't suppose that could've affected its tally at all?