iceage - plowing into the field of love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roB4hRdLlas

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bz9DfmOauM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EagCKe2Au8E

Nick Cave meets Gun Club = good.

top 5 of the year for me. it vaguely sounds like The Gun Club but this band is very modern sounding in my opinion.

All of this is great! I loved You're Nothing - it was my favorite album last year - but this is even more dynamic.

uh oh theyre writing songs now instead of a bunch o goddamn noise

And are they done flirting with fascist and racist imagery and stuff? Most of the articles about that are from 2011 to 2013.

Yeah, now they are plowing into the field of love
(sowing the seeds of love)

and were p much exclusively referencing things from 2010 or earlier xp

Yeah, they kinda stopped during the racist/fascist thing when the sorta racists/fascists stopped being in power in Denmark. It's almost as if they were commenting on what was going on in their own country, rather than 'flirting' with stuff.

Not that I'm going to have this idiotic debate again.

Wow these new songs are amazing. I've always liked/respected this band from a distance and have seen them live but this seems like a major/super shift. Just got tix for one of their North American dates. Kind of wondering what their fanbase response to this new one will be.

I like the concept but I find none of the songs outstanding (yet?!)

this has grown to be one of THOSE albums for me after listening to it constantly this week. "Glassy Eyed, Dormant and Veiled" hits hard

I like this record quite a bit. Not surprisingly, most of my friends who were diehard supporters of New Brigade hated it. Same thing with Lower though; hardcore dudes don't take kindly to genre hopping. Wife said Elias' vocal delivery reminded her of Thom Yorke circa Pablo Honey- thought that was an interesting interpretation.

I almost passed on tickets to see them in Philly until I saw they were touring with Helm. Should be an amazing show

I saw them in Philly twice, the first time at the Church and the last time at West Philly basement. Good times.

I am hoping to see them at the Church again next month.

Even Grantland is writing about the new one. It summarizes:

Along with Cymbals Eat Guitars, Iceage has joined the rarefied company of Titus Andronicus and Japandroids as bands playing expansive, big-eyed rock and roll without embarrassment or self-effacement. Hopefully, it will soon have more company, even if we’re well past the point where there’s any real mainstream for it to break into.

he has certainly turned his bellowing in a different direction, to good and interesting effect

a lot of divisive opinions on this thing right now but i do totally agree with "Iceage now looks like our best bet for a truly great rock band"

Iceage has joined the rarefied company of Titus Andronicus and Japandroids

ok i'm out

I don't like Cymbals Eat Guitars, Titus or Japandroids but I love what I've heard of this album.

def planning to see em again either in Philly or NY next weekend once i figure myself out

If you go to the Philly show, lemmy know. I am probably going as well.

I sorta can hear the Titus comparison but only if say, Nick Cave was singing with them

On My Fingers is my current favorite.
They inject so much emotion into this song..

I'm not quite as wowed as I hoped I would be. The vocals can get a bit trying to me after a bit. Will try to give it a few more listens.

I felt like you but it's a grower

Same here re: the Philly show

Iceage has joined the rarefied company of Titus Andronicus and Japandroids

"Iceage has joined the rarified company of bands that aren't as good as Iceage"

yeah, they share absolutely nothing in common with those bands other than being in the same era. and they blow them out of the water ten fold

my never really planned Philly trip is off, might go to the NY show Sunday if there are still tix

as of now there appear to be, and there's also a show on Monday at a smaller venue in Brooklyn, the Acheron

Is anyone going to the Philly show? I got my tix already so I am definitely going...

well Monday is a work night, and smaller venues in Brooklyn are not comfy for the aged

their "country" song on this is hella The Fall

I'll be at the Philly show

...and I guess I already said that

Email me your cell if you wanna say hi. I'll be hitting the beer store down the block for libations if you imbibe.

Had a great time at Iceage this evening, the second time I have seen them at the Church.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10436172_10154715524145597_6517058711707937249_n.jpg?oh=8b8d8e0db967d2e19788873d91603b61&oe=54AB21C7&__gda__=1421572242_0a9866b7091e84996df347755c6a968f

The band played only songs form the new album!

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10641075_10154715524845597_5655222881131985831_n.jpg?oh=3affac2ebd4eb5a0462a3477fa336d51&oe=54C6D75C&__gda__=1421080394_71750bfa571af4426bd59fb626da436d

As someone who loved You're Nothing that was kind of a bummer but I loved the new material - so Birthday Party - and the singer, while emotive, was not in shambles like he has been in previous shows where I caught the band. I have an hour commute to work tomorrow and will be bringing the new disc which I purchased at the show. Looking forward to it.

Also, I did indeed get to meet ILXor Telephone thing.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10435032_10154716014980597_3425095960672607320_n.jpg?oh=9e43b85b3fda70a0f4b5f7622ba3f930&oe=54C1C601&__gda__=1422574615_6e0296f03cb71e9affff4632843db668

Really nice kid, it was a pleasure to talk music and life with him.

Sounds fun! Hope they come here

Such a short setlst?
How long was the show?

it's a short album

Oh noooooooo this record is baaaaaaad and yet they're still so cuuuuuuuute

This is gonna be like one of those Fucked Up moments where they clean up their sound and I'm like "fuck this" and everybody else is like "finally!"

what's wrong with it? it sounds good to me. they seem like a very musical little band of performers, very well in tune with each other.

Really? Drums mixed out and vocals lazy and mixed hot and the performance slow as shit, it sounds like Libertines. I'm gonna watch the videos with Vår playing instead

Really liking this record but yeah the Libertines vocal thing is something you have to make yourself not hear.

thus live the vocals are drowned out and you can still look at Elias

i've never heard the libertines, i guess i am what the kids call ~~blessed~~

That vocal sound is just a young guy who cannot really sing trying to sound maniacal and decadent. It's forgivable. I have old demos from my first band that would sound like the singer was influenced by Pete Doherty except they were recorded in 1991.

So you don't like Nick Cave's voice-Birthday Party era as well?

I like Boys Next Door and the Mutiny EP. Mostly I just really like the first two Iceage records tbh.

So you don't like Nick Cave's voice-Birthday Party era as well?

Birthday Party Nick Cave was channelling something original and exceptional - easy to say with 30 years' hindsight obviously - but yeah you have to forgive the vocals a little bit on those records still. Iceage guy is fine - his throat is young and our ears are old.

I like it and I'm old.
Even though the lack of originality.

I like it and I'm old too.

Also, it's refreshing compared to most indie singers, who sound too soft sometimes imo

Maybe we like him BECAUSE we are old..

Well you always have to check yourself. You just like things in different ways at different times. "Even though the lack of originality" is a filter that once didn't apply.

usually it doesn't apply to me too
but this one is an exception.

i think it's because of the sincerity, the erupted emotions and the good songwriting here.

i really don't like most BP imitators,( or imitators at all ). Except Iceage and Scratch Acid probably.

*lack of originality*

sigh. i'd really appreciate it if music critics (especially older ones) would just take a great piece of work as it is. they sound like themselves and it sounds modern to my ears

it's hard to be a guitar band and genuinely shock someone these days i guess

case in point here where a critic compares them to Wire and is struggling to not to be impressed:

http://www.popmatters.com/review/186590-iceage-plowing-into-the-field-of-love/

they don't fucking sound like Wire, not in the least.

i will have to listen to this again, but i wasn't hugely impressed. i haven't listened to their other albums. his voice reminds me a lot of nick cave, which should be promising but somehow wasn't

My perennial and v personal ish is when an artist cleans up their sound or tightens up their band, there's a loss of potential energy. You don't want to see the sound fully dressed or it spoils the fun. I'll give this another listen when I've had time to put my baggage away

i agree with Iggy Pop: at long last - a (post) punk band that sounds dangerous

My perennial and v personal ish is when an artist cleans up their sound or tightens up their band, there's a loss of potential energy. You don't want to see the sound fully dressed or it spoils the fun.

I find I have the same reaction, but I don't think I've ever been able to phrase it so well. And I'm a little worried about this album going by what I've heard so far.

Yeah, except that they didn't clean their sound or tighten it up (as a matter of fact they sound even looser now).
It's more about change in style.

Vox up drums down constitutes a sonic clean-up to my ears but maybe that's just me

this record is really bad imo but i don't like nick cave or gun club so

It's complicated for me. I like Gun Club but don't much like Nick Cave. I AM also old. I like the record.This is some top level discussion going on here.

Deep inside, you ALL like this record. You just don't know it yet.

Really liking this record but yeah the Libertines vocal thing is something you have to make yourself not hear.

― Eyeball Kicks, Saturday, October 11, 2014 7:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

when I saw them the other week, having heard the album earlier in the day and been amused that this band were doing songs that kind of sounded like the Pogues, I had a bit of a moment of clarity wrt this. wasn't the vocals so much as the general demeanour. being surrounded by a bunch of super drunk crowdsurfing doofuses in east London probably didn't help. the album is good though, more successful at what it appears to be trying to do than You're Nothing imo

Are the lyrics included in the physical release of this?

I'm old, and all the bands I've seen mentioned in this thread - Japandroids, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Cloud Nothings, Titus Andronicus - makes me think this album is yet another energetic indie-rock band with loud guitars and yelly singers. I'll get in around to it soon, but first I'll type No Age and Fucked Up, just because.

they sound nothing like those bands.

yeah maaaybe titus andronicus, but with a different lineage, different aspects of drunken belligerence (pugilisticness, more like, for titus), glowering masculinity, etc. rather happily, when i hear their records, i don't think, 'indie rock'. titus, i do a tiny little bit, there's something weedy about them.

whereas japandroids' whole sound is kind of built around adolescent yelping, i-wanna-touch-a-girl's-boob yearning

I mentioned Fucked Up only because their sound changed in all the same ways, Epics : New Brigade :: Chemistry : Plowing

I'm always intrigued when bands sound nothing like the bands they are compared to. Like when Arcade Fire debuted, and people kept comparing them to Talking Heads.

I hadn't heard Iceage before the new album (and so am not troubled by if it's better or not than the previous albums) but am finding it a very addictive album, difficult to tear myself away from it.

Vocals wise it's perhaps a bit unfortunate they chose The Lord's Favorite as the single/video, because that one really is the only song on here where he sounds like Pete Doherty. Mostly because it's the only song on here that sounds like a Libertines song. It's 'the odd one out' really, and not representative at all for this album, in terms of atmosphere.

Huh, this album sounds nothing like I expected. That is, I did not expect it to sound like an indie-rock Nick Cave (despite the above), but it does. Which is not a bad thing. Or, I dunno, Crime and the City Solution or something in that mode.

i've heard someone compare this to "Public Strain" by Women, not in sound at all, but just in a band creating a similar frenzy in an otherwise boring time for guitar rock.

i can agree with that even though it took Women a few years to become a cult favorite

I don't even hear this as guitar rock, really.

Arthur Lee orchestrating a hardcore band?

"Mariachi Punk"

Arthur Lee orchestrating a hardcore band?

Good shout. They've mentioned Forever Changes a lot in interviews.

AOtY

Quite possible, nostormo, along with Amen Dunes "Love" lp.

that amen dunes is tite

I tried listening to this again today. It's probably my fourth attempt since it came out. So many people I know whose taste (for the most part) aligns with my own, love this album. I can't even make it to the halfway point. Iceage leaves me cold.

I loved their first EP and album, took a long time to get into the second one; I'm trying to hold off on judgement until I've given this one a while to sink in. I'm actually bothered by the vocals for the first time; they just sound too crude with music that's more developed and well produced to me.

Saw Elias's "side project" Marching Church performing live this weekend, great concert and I was stunned at Elias's charisma - reminded me of Nick Cave.