black midi - anyone been tracking these?

No releases, but they've just signed to Rough Trade and are playing round the UK at the minute. You could reference pere ubu and beefheart and all that typical lineage for weird guitar music, but they've hacked it, or something, with this blend if you're asking me.

https://youtu.be/TMn1UuEIVvA

I liked it. I hear a little Q and not U I hope they get the right producer to keep the live sound but also maybe finesse the vocals in there a little.

So this isn't for actual black midi stuff :-/

actual black midi stuff is quite fascinating and i feel like there's room for someone to do something very very cool with the idea (pushing midis to absurd limits) instead of just recreating meme songs etc. but idk that anyone actually has yet. i'm sure the textural possibilities of millions of midi notes could get even wilder if they started using more instruments than just the piano and perhaps combined it with real instrumentation too?

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

there is this composition by Nicole Lizée which incorporates the style into a classical piece and i really like the results, i would love to hear something that has a similar set of textures in a more pop context

as far as the band black midi goes that live set is a lot more interesting to me than previous stuff i've heard from them, will look forward to whatever they're up to this year

Now I hear some DNA or maybe Life Without Buildings.

I feel like this sort of musical template (no disrespect) really depends on the vocal performance.

Got this in an email touting local shows here in Philly:

A quick but noteworthy show addition — London’s BLACK MIDI are the hottest new band on planet earth, and although their music sits definitively in the indie/experimental/electronic world, they asked us if they could play with a death metal band in Philly, and we managed to secure our city’s reigning kinds. HORRENDOUS are now playing! Holy shit? Is this now the wildest, most insane bill of the year? We think yes.

I checked out some stuff... Reminds me if Primus and Death Grips collaborated on a Judgement Night redux ("Now, even more judgy!") based on the couple of songs I listened to. Pretty cool they wanted to play with a death metal band and they got a good one to do so.

I'll be at the show so I'll come back to provide a Hesher's view, probably!

def hear a Deerhoof influence which is great in my book

also a new indie rock band with a great drummer godz be praised

fucking awful

^^ wrong

that video ufo posted above may be more your speed imago. if you dig stuff like James Ferraro that is.

actual black midi is cool yes

this band is watered-down trendy jank with zero songwriting instinct and the worst vocals ever

not at all sure what trendy jank means but this sounds pretty good to me 1 and a half of a go in. Bought it on a whim at the weekend and it's intriguing. The vocals don't irritate me - I can't quite place what he reminds me of - a subdued Ozzy? Dunno.

Is it the posh school they ended up at that annoys, imago, or the wall to wall press (inc. the Telegraph, I've seen). There were vv many copies in the Rough Trade shop. It's not true there aren't songs. Anyway, I'm gonna keep listening.

ok the vocals are now totally different

From an email chain with a friend who discovered them today

"The vocalist sounds at times like a mix of Johnny Rotten + Scott Thompson doing his Queen Elizabeth character in the Kids in the Hall. "

sometimes get a Deerhoof vibe, they are so young through who knows if they even know Deerhoof

lol I already posted that

i was getting a kinda m.e.s. / ian curtis vibe from the singer, like arch and derisive about the whole enterprise of singing but nevertheless doing it, filling in the spaces with words, because he doesn't know what else to do there yet. which is fine i guess for a young band—would prefer some development there but they jam pretty hard so whatevs.

fucking awful

Then it's no 'moloch with strings', an epithet that may only be applied to a decadent, mildly Orientalist tone poem.

this band would be at home on skin graft & I am into that vibe

^^^^^^^

But also there's more going on and that's what impresses me most about the LP.

this is not particularly my thing, nor do I love the vocals, but at least they're bad vocals with obvious effort applied, instead of the standard indie arrangement of bad vocals with obviously zero effort applied

also, I don't get "derisive about the whole enterprise of singing" at all -- I could be wrong on this but the vocalist, to my ears, is clearly trained, and if anything might be too into the enterprise of singing, very showboaty about it

I think I'm talking myself into really liking this

xxxpost Skin Graft is a good call

xp haha katherine that's fair, i guess i'm put in mind of something like, and i don't mean to taint them with an association here, but like zappa where if they could have their way they'd just as well not have singing. but since they gotta have it, sure, maybe they could still try to do it.

ol GEORDIE GRUMPS or whatever his name is

the vocals give the whole thing a weird Gabriel-era Genesis vibe to me, very much *performance*, and lend it this unsettling, uneasy edge. And also like an evil David Byrne. But again, what I also like is it has a lot of gears to it - the switch from that first track, which is musically like some dirge-metal with tricksy Skin Graft rhythms and Mogwai weight, slips into that minimalist, Krautrock, tense second track is really inspired. And each track has Something Going On, it's not just another excursion in the same vein. I'm really impressed. And bummed that I manage to miss every single show they play, even when they're literally only several roads away.

hey this doesn't suck

Anyone have the ILM scoop on how they went from zero to super-hyped so quickly? Was it just Youtube virality, and that they're babies? They're a good band (helped hugely by an amazing drummer) but I can't help but think that if they were from Milwaukee nobody would be talking about them.

It's not really my thing, but I will probably go see their free campus show here next month, since I'm sure that if/when they come around after that it will be in a bigger and more expensive venue.

being from England never hurt

does BRIT school do PR lessons?

coming out of there practically IS pr now, i think?

BRIT school

Ohhhh, say no more

I wondered the same thing Jordan. They have 1700 ratings on RYM and are up to #4 on the 2019 chart, I have no idea how or why but it's kinda cool

it's just the novelty factor....a good rock band from England 😎

Been listening to some of this on Youtube and why haven't This Heat been mentioned on this thread yet?

but I can't help but think that if they were from Milwaukee nobody would be talking about them

*cough* Dead Rider *cough* DEAD RIDER *cough*

I haven't heard this band btw, just some headz I know drew some comparisons to Dead Rider...a band seemingly no one cares about, even though they are on DRAG CITY!

And are the best currently extant "rock music" band, ok sorry please continue with this thread where English people all think they invented the wheel or whatevs

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it all Americans praising this band itt? The one definitely English person who's posted said, and I quote, "fucking awful"?

I retract my previous statement and resubmit as:

"this thread for Americans acting like English people invented the wheel or whatevs"

chris, are you a better judge of music than you are conversations?

tho i am totally going to check out dead rider now

chris, are you a better judge of music than you are conversations?

― Like A Turrican (stevie), Wednesday, June 26, 2019 3:51 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes

I just listened to two Dead Rider songs and they're great, ty!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiOiqz6vItE

SEE!

Take that! Englander pigdogs!

It's U.S. Maple not U.K. Maple

#thesecolorsdontrun

Brits Out of America #deepcut

SEE!

i lay in bed corrected!

It's U.S. Maple not U.K. Maple

*applauds*

eh, I'd say it's worth a 3.5

lol

man this first song sounds like Mahavishnu…

I just realized that black midi, new road exists and is exactly what you think it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpegm3h79y0

"Hogwash and Balderdash" == "Jerry Was A Racecar Driver"

Black midi
Esp like the name, the drummer, the new hella/primus sounding song ...Their recent kexp session.

all smooth bonkers

— Stephen malkmus (@dronecoma) May 28, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0FypjnAZEk

ok their taylor swift cover rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOT1fOlOExY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIHKnPizo5Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yV6f6UKtR8

they're good at this covers thing wow

this album is pretty frustrating to me because i love it when they're not being a little too skronky

I wish you had all continued talking about Nicole Lizée, who needs rock music.

lol

i can post more of the youtube gimmick genre that they got their band name from if you want, it's kinda fascinating though gimmicky

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzXDQZzQq6w

as i said originally i'd love to see someone do stuff with the ideas of this stuff that really explores the textural possibilities, instead of just seeing "ok how many midi notes can we have"

all smooth bonkers

must just be me but the hushed tones and buzz around this band makes no sense in my brain - every time I dig in and try to check it out I want it to stop after about 90 seconds -seems like a bunch of jazz school grads trying to be cool

i mean that pretty much is what they are

please do not ignore!

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

these covers alone should indicate they're a lot, lot more than 'a bunch of jazz school grads trying to be cool'

They can certainly play all the notes of King Crimson, Talking Heads and Beefheart, so good homework there.

Man, every single one of those covers videos is unavailable now.

i was not sold on these guys at first listen a month ago and then suddenly it clicked and I think they are amazing.

Yes they are great. It's easy to dismiss this guys, considerung the fact that the rest of the post punk/art rock British scene is mostly boring and pretentious. but black midi (and especially the new record) are the exception.

God bless this dude for not taking down his adorable old vids:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xAUq1xLGzM

Saw these live in Bristol on Saturday having never previously listened to them. Verdict: Yes, very clever but calm down

Obvs these dudes are all very talented but when I hear this kind of clever virtuosic music, I want to be able to hear what's going on. I like the sounds to be "tight", not smothered in reverb and unnecessary distortion. The singer was buried under piles of it, sounding like a circus crier faintly announcing stuff. His guitar tone was kind of frustrating - for the mostpart crunchy, low-mid range chords which inhabited much the same frequency as the keyboardist (who seemed to be there to supply whirling textures more than anything else). It was all a bit like being smacked in the face by jazz chords over and over again. They were at their best during the parts where they let their compositions breathe a bit, but even then when things quietened down it often just sounded like a band having a jam or a warm-up. So no, I'm not sold but I'll check out their album to see if it makes any more sense

I note you've all been too busy posting about classic rock and debating the progginess of Radiohead (lol)

Anyway, fuck all that

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efmq_uXt1Rk

they covered taylor swift

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC-Yl0L3Vis

they also covered "21st century schizoid man" and "moonlight in vermont" in less piss-take-y fashion (tho there are still elements of piss take lol)

i was bummed I missed them live the other month but a friend who went told me is was really a mess. not sure if that's always the case or if it was just this tour; I've seen live clips of them and thought they were great; so could have been a case of different expectations.

Well! this is just about the best album ever

yeah this is cool. that "Welcome to Hell" track posted above is pretty fantastic

It's good but I prefer Cavalcade still - this is a bit relentlessly vaudevillian, prefer 'em when the songs meander and build

It may click fully at some point though, especially if I follow along with a lyric sheet

I'm liking these new songs better than the stuff I've heard from them in the past. I have a feeling I'm going to like this album.

At various moments it put me in mind of Beefheart, The Garden, Jono El Grande, Benjamin Clementine, Sun Ra, Horse Lords, Naked City, Ought, Incredible String Band, Jason Forrest - that's an impressive range of weird music to be evoked by just a few songs. Actually I think keeping the dial stuck on eleven is a good mode for them.

Fell in love with Cavalcade on the first listen. This one is going to take a few more than that. Overall, I did like it on the first pass. There’s a lot to digest.

Vocals on "Welcome To Hell" remind me of "One Night In Bangkok"

i don't love this but it's another big step in the right direction for them, by far the most i've enjoyed them

also actually kind of approaches the feeling of their namesake in places

first black midi breakup now everyday i wake up, somebody got a problem with hov
https://www.nme.com/news/music/black-midi-are-indefinitely-over-confirms-bassist-and-frontman-3782676

if black midi were a true prog rock band they wouldn't break up, they'd just replace Geordie Greep with a succession of different guys they found on craigslist for the next 20 years and then meanwhile Geordie is also touring solo as "the REAL ORIGINAL black midi show"

— merton ♨️ (@mertonesque) August 12, 2024

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4EU_0vFzuU

problems with this are that the lyrics are not compelling, and he doesn't have the vocal presence to really pull it off, something like this really demands some real drama in the vocals and he can't deliver that. quite good otherwise though

as a non-fan of black midi this is way better than i thought it'd be. like if xiu xiu and glass beach teamed up to do a cover of "let's groove tonight"

Haha, just some punky prog into salsa disco fronted by a sleazy Tom Jones-type character, he's really going for it, respect.

Haha, just some punky prog into salsa disco

mars volta?

Ooh that's a good call, although I can't imagine TMV delving into this sort campy cabaret thing.

this kind of sounds like prog the nightfly and not as good as that makes it sound

it really just sounds like later period shiina ringo

I wonder if they broke up because this is the direction he wanted them to go in. Excited to see what the other members do next.

the greep unlocked his full powers w this track imo this fuckin rips

i have played this song multiple times a day every day since last week

problems with this are that the lyrics are not compelling, and he doesn't have the vocal presence to really pull it off, something like this really demands some real drama in the vocals and he can't deliver that. quite good otherwise though

― ufo, Tuesday, August 20, 2024 9:27 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think this is wrong, and that he plays this insecure sap character well, like there is v real flopsweat desperation in his voice in the second half

Cool to see him in jazz mode, great band -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO8CYlsyoaQ