Squid - Bright Green Field (Warp 2021)

How is ILM feeling about this Brighton-based contemporary post-punk band?
Very much indebted to The Pop Group but with a few modern twists and turns?

Was really enamoured with 'Narrator' when it came out and the way it switches up a few notches every few bars:

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

That said, the rest of the album is still starting to seep-in.

Only just realised their drummer is their singer.

not sure if I like this yet. I find the production a little too tidy for its own good maybe?

Yeah, I really want to like it. As I say, 'Narrator' really worked in a... tidy kind of way? Maybe if I think of them as a British Ratpure it might help rather than trying to compare them to the OG postpunk?

actually this would sound great with the rawer production style of the first ratpure album

I'll be seeing them live in November and will judge accordingly. But I like all I've heard.

this is really pretty great. not doing anything really new with the sound or anything but it's still a very very solid stylistic endeavour. certainly feels like a significant step above most hyped-up post-punk stuff of the last decade

pretty solid Tricot influence to my ears, I like it

this is really some sort of platonic ideal of the post-punk sound to my ears they got the balance of everything right

kind of like if talking heads got really into neu instead of fela kuti

Sometimes sound like the Fall with an over-dramatic theatre kid as singer.

I only heard one track from this but it was enough to pick up the record since my local shop had it. Listening now, it's super cool, like what if the dancepunk scene of the 00's got really into The Fall & Devo instead of Talking Heads

think "Pamphlets" is my favorite, closing tracks with long Neu!-ish grooves are the best

as i said it does actually remind me of talking heads, but i definitely hear the fall too

it's such a great record, absolutely nails the sound they're going for & despite that sound being very familiar they've managed to make it their own

like there aren't any classic post-punk albums that really do quite what this album does & while this obviously isn't innovative in the way those were at the time, or anywhere near as boundary pushing, just taking it on its own terms it's as good as the very best in the genre at what it does

Catching up on 2021 listening...Is there a name yet for this new wave of young British art-rock/post-punk bands?: Squid, Dry Cleaning, Black Country New Road, black midi. This one might be my favorite of the bunch.

people who can still afford to rent in Brixton-core

Perpetua named it something in one of his playlists.

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/06/993931617/new-wave-post-punk-brexit-squid-dry-cleaning-black-country-new-road

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1waonK4xk9LtxR73hdcelV?si=a0d59b4c7cec45cc

Post-Brexit is unsatisfying. ILX can do better.

All of these albums just make me want to listen to this song by Ought:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-KdrAVh52I

Yeah, I get the impulse but tying it directly to "post-Brexit" seems like a good way to ensure this whole scene is dated in amber and subject to an expiration date and I think some of this stuff deserves better.

I think it goes well beyond London and the UK even. There's definitely a big upsurge in post-punk revivalism at the moment and I'm not quite sure what's spurred it. Some of the bands have been around a while, yeah, but it feels more like a "thing" now

squid are good but the others are largely not

good to know, thanks

dry cleaning are also good

more discussion here best out of the current-ish crop of post-punk bands people and algorithms keep telling you to listen to

the moment in Paddling where they shift to double time for the rest of the song is so good

the guy totally is doing a MES / Byrne / Hell / ?mashup thing… or maybe just James Murphy, lol. The music sounds good, but the vox are a big impediment for me (even though I like some of those other singers).

Like ufo, I hear plenty of Talking Heads in the gtr – but yeah the grooves are stiffer

my first impression was that he was doing both XTC vocalists circa-White Music at once.

can definitely see why some people might not be able to get past that but I think he's good for this group. plus the decision to make his voice so crisp & up front is pretty interesting. usually they try to bury singers like that a little

or maybe just James Murphy, lol.

― tumblin’ dice outro (morrisp), Wednesday, September 8, 2021 11:23 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

See: "Peel St"

what's the deal with the cover art and inserts? are they AI generated?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RooBTIwG13c

still good at their thing

i find it very annoying, the vocals

really love the video - as soon as that first guy walked across I was like "hmm that looks kinda green screened, some crazy stuff's probably gonna happen"

new album is more of the same but they're still great at what they do so i'm happy with it

My favourite of the three new albums I've heard tonight (Boos and um McFly the others). Weirdly I didn't even know this was being released until two days ago whereas the first album I interviewed Ollie about four months in advance. I feel a bit dizzy now I'm out from under this rock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohyi1AjieE

new song, an outtake from the last album. wish it'd been on the album though, that being on the short side is one of the few issues i had with it

being short was good, imo the issue was a lot of it was unmemorable. RYM likes it as much as the first though so maybe I'll give it another go

it wasn't quite as great as the first but i still really liked it

squid are the only windmill band i follow. and the 20 something rock band i have the most goodwill towards (knew em before they wuz big, interviewed ollie in early 2021 - lovely guy, etc.) so it's probably quite bad i still haven't seen them live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqM8hhwNsJA

they're still good at their thing and it's great they work so quickly. clarissa connelly is on the new album which is promising

track times:
Crispy Skin 6:19
Building 650 3:51
Blood on the Boulders 5:46
Fieldworks I 2:23
Fieldworks II 3:19
Cro-Magnon Man 4:07
Cowards 5:51
Showtime! 5:08
Well Met (Fingers Through the Fence) 8:15

one 8 minute one at least, they're at their best when they really let things breathe

Last week I found O Monolith far preferable to the debut. Today I really liked the new single (space in the mix! Subtlety! Breeziness!) And now CLARISSA CONNELLY is on the new album?! Team Squid

last task on this (with connelly!) is unlike anything else they've done and is really wonderful

okay i was gonna work on some music but i'll hear that song first

hmm, do i like post-minimalism now

*track

the whole album's really good but it's nice to hear them branching out a bit too

lol i did in fact very much enjoy that and am looking forward to hearing the rest later!

co-sign the love for "well met"

Dropped a new single:

https://squiduk.bandcamp.com/album/the-hearth-and-circle-round-fire

this is crazy

better than anything on Cowards imo

first listen to Cowards I was thinking "maybe I'm just not into this band anymore" but now on SECOND listen I think these guys are really great. maybe it clicked imagining it as a rock opera or something