Dry Cleaning

Simon Reynolds mentioned he'd played Dry Cleaning's New Long Leg more than any other recent release, figured I would check it out, am now in that giddy flush of love for anew band and a new sound. Hadn't heard them mentioned here yet. The pleasure buttons nudged by Wet Leg and LoneLady are jammed on full by these guys (and I see there was a mention on the Wet Leg thread after all).
anyway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PuqlOTyJt0

i think there was a fair bit of discussion in the current-ish crop of post-punk bands thread

they're decent but i think squid ended up mining somewhat similar territory much more successfully to my ears this year, just without the deadpan thing

I found Squid interesting but ultimately too fussy - may do that with these guys too but it’s much more electrifying at present

I get Lithics and Dry Cleaning confused sometimes. (Love em both)

They're very close to the only rock act I can imagine voting for in a 2021 poll. (Admittedly, I haven't searched particularly vigorously for other contenders.) Some days "Viking Hair", from a couple of years ago, is clearly the best thing I've ever heard lol.

I feared early on that I was merely desperate for a Life Without Buildings substitute but they're pretty durable and the comparison now feels kinda regrettable.

"Scratchcard Lanyard" was first released, ahead of the album, in November 2020, but it seems to have grown in popularity over the past few months. I've been obsessed with it over the holiday period, and I nommed it for the EOY tracks poll.

I like the album.

“Her Hippo” made my year-end playlist, but the couple of times I listened to the whole album I wasn’t sure I needed more than the one song. Maybe I’ll try again.

The album is pretty good, a grower. I found the preceding two EPs more immediately appealing especially “Sweet Princess”.

I’m smiling constantly and people constantly step on me

the last thing I looked at in this hand mirror was a human arsehole

My brain started mashing up "Scratchcard Lanyard" and Sleater-Kinney's "Get Up" the other day and it was a lightbulb moment of why Dry Cleaning and Lithics are so appealing to me.

new song & video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjVc8lYIaUM

Nice! Good for 3 consecutive plays, even. (Brevity obviously helps on that front.)

file under 'fantastic verses, godawful chorus', what the hell is that banking-advert whistle doing here

i mean thankfully 75% of the song is fantastic but that was A Decision wasn't it

so good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkYbEPd2qTY

Saw them live on Saturday, incredible show.

another new one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYNwr7wuRHY

New one is possibly their all time best

Or at least feels like it could be

Really liking the McGeoch influence on Tom

"Anna" is good, I think, after a few listens. It's apparently the LP opener, which seems a bold move, unless perhaps it's quite representative of nu-DC.

I like how their visuals keep oscillating between "seemingly near-random footage" and "discernible production budget" lol.

got my tickets for the Melbourne show in December WOOOOO

also milo z thanks for the Lithics mentions, I've had a blast getting into their catalogue

"Gary Ashby" is seemingly a tortoise, no?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdvrSu38pWY

just got tickets for their february nyc show

New single/video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyfYFznhyJI

No great surprises but a nice Reynolds piece: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/arts/music/dry-cleaning-stumpwork.html

Wearing a long black lace skirt and a sparkly gold camisole, she curled her fingers around the mic stand like the stem of a wineglass

yes

loving "stumpwork" so far. it's only a slight shift from "new long leg" (she sings a very tiny bit! there's more acoustic guitar) but that's OK with me. i would turn the vocals down a hair in the mix if i could

This is fantastic isn't it? A clear step up

The vocals are absurdly high in the mix. It actually does my head in.

I’m not feeling this, the separation of the vocals makes them feel too disconnected and it’s missing the counterpoint between high energy music and lackadaisical vocal word. Feels kind of plodding overall.

I'm still trying to assimilate the early-released tracks into the context of the album (super irritating strategy to me) but I sure wouldn't describe Shaw's vocals as lackadaisical. I think the mix is right to foreground her charisma over the less unique sounds of the band, and it adds power to have her insinuating in your ear rather than blending with the band. I'm a little concerned the live show might favour the latter.

Before this thread it really hadn't occurred to me that the vocals were particularly foregrounded. At least not problematically so.

I need to put in some more effort with the 5+ minute tracks but I may end up preferring this to New Long Leg. Feels more varied and I'm totally digging the wonky sax and synth shadings on a bunch of tracks, not least the final three.

droopy flute solo comes here

I’ve come to realise Shaw has the same acerbic, insightful, imitative qualities I love in Laurie Anderson, simultaneous horrified fascination and baffled affection for the culture.

I’ve come to realise Shaw has the same acerbic, insightful, imitative qualities I love in Laurie Anderson, simultaneous horrified fascination and baffled affection for the culture.

Feel like this one is a “grower”. After listening to “Stumpwork” on Friday I immediately listened to “Sweet Princess” again and marveled how great they were straight out of the gate.

The cover grosses me out and somehow makes me want to listen to this less

haha yeah no fucking way would i buy the vinyl

Haha right? Imagine going back and telling Vaughn Oliver that’s what the label would release for a cover in the future.

this is one of his sleeves for Scheer
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a2/Scheer_-_Infliction.jpg
and Pod featured him nude dancing with a belt of dead eels, he would have been totally down with the Stumpwork sleeve.
There’s a limited mirrorboard edition with a silver cover if it helps?

It was a joke based on how 4ad used to be known for a very specific house style, from which this Dry Cleaning cover diverges wildly, but thanks for the “well, actually” lesson anyway.

ok, missed it

the mix doesn't bother me on headphones

i do see the laurie anderson thing, though i feel like anderson's lyrics are more cohesive/thematic than shaw's, which often feel like a string of non sequiters (not a criticism)

It reminds me of the week I spent using the Conet Project CDs as commuting listening in the train, a sense of tuning into the random clutter of unspoken thoughts around us.

Also, jon v c, I frequently feel like the stupidest person in the thread for my banal posts, I’m sorry that one came across as condescending but usually I’m explaining things to myself.

Feels very weird that this is isn't being widely spoken of in the terms of something quite brilliant tbh. Liberty Log alone has single-handedly rescued Anglo post-rock from a decade of torpor

It's more quiet, more unassuming, more humble, and yet contains vastly more galaxies than any number of these Squid types combined. It isn't just the frontwoman, rightly foregrounded. This band's secret weapon is its music. And so the Life Without Buildings comparisons make more sense this time

Hot Penny Day (Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul Remix)

omg go OFF

She is a bit under-deployed on that, isn't she? I do like her faces in the video, though.

I like papal hotwife's suggestion.

Was there any build up to them playing various South American dates or is that a recognised part of a tour itinerary for a band these days. Really had no idea bands toured there until the recording of their Argentinan date turned up this morning.
I am seeing that Siouxsie played there in teh mid 80s but really wasn't aware of it as a destination for tours.
I guess there is going to be an audience for a popular band and the network of people talking about them will be worldwide since they are quite good. But logistics of affording to play and travel around the continent must be somewhat high, not just like jumping in a transit and going to Dover for the ferry to tie in with an existing tour network. or is it?

Apparently they played Mar Del plata and Buenos Aires, Chile and have 2 dates in Brazil.

I think I've heard of stadium gigs and festivals but not a smaller single date per town tour . Don't think I'd even been aware of US bands touring the various countries much either.

So there's audio on Dime for teh set in Mar del plata and a separate one for teh soundcheck and i saw that a video had been upped to youtube but the account that upped it had been closed.

I'm also aware that there is a Soul jazz compi of some post-punk bands from Brazil and may have seen posters for hardcore/metal bands from South America playing Galway but I think that would be part of a longer European tour and that would be more dates in a much smaller amount of space.
Just striking me that there are almost always going to be alternative scenes to the mainstream. But I just wasn't really aware of things in South America beyond the Tropicalia and post that individual recordings from brazil and taht Soul Jazz cd which I have somewhere cos it turned up in a sale somewhere.
If it is a more widespread thing now for bands from teh UK to be playing South American tours before they're stadium sized it is news to me.

Probably easier to get visas in South America than it is in the US!

bands play here all the time. it's 2020. get a grip.

^ play there. xpost

wasn't what the person who upped the recording was saying re UK bands at least

new album Secret Love coming in January! produced by Cate Le Bon

https://www.instagram.com/p/DPMS2QQkSEN/?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

hell yeah

saw them play on saturday, they played several new songs (i recognize the title "my soul/half pint" for sure). they sounded like dry cleaning, but maybe with a touch more melodic singing. their guitarist is so sick

He really, really is. He's the main guitar player in the past decade or so where I've felt the pull to sit down and figure out and learn all his lines. So much of it is simple, but there's something really thoughtful and sort of painterly about how he makes the songs move. And it stays fantastic even when they lean in directions you'd think might sideline it.

I'm curious to see how people will react to that on the new stuff, maybe especially with the single that's out now, "Hit My Head All Day." When I first heard this I spent like 15 seconds or whatever thinking uh-oh, I'm not sure this is territory I'm going to love for them — then the guitar swung in and it was like ... sorry I doubted you, you've got this figured out just right.

he's very riffy but avoids a lot of riff cliches. or they're more like postpunk riff cliches instead of classic rock riff cliches

I remember one early interview where he says he's just ripping off the Wipers at all times, which sort of tracks, especially on the EPs, but ... there's also a level where he almost reminds me of Johnny Marr? As in, he's often playing simple changes, but he always finds ways through them that sound totally unique and evocative and unexpected. I guess the setup of the band helps with that: equally good players on bass and drums, and a lot of the songs seem to start from bass lines, and there aren't a ton of vocal melodies to work around, so Dowse ends up totally free to float and paint above everything in interesting ways. I've already seen one other guitarist go hard on copying that delay-pedal thing he used to do, stomping one on for dramatic tails on specific notes; probably won't be the last pulling some inspiration from here

his mix that someone shared before in thread shows a lot of variety for sure

https://worldofechomusic.com/blogs/inner-world/inner-world-027-dry-cleaning

lol I was gonna share that, his phc background adds so much to the soundworld

given how much better stumpwork was than the debut i'm incredibly excited for this

actually I DID share it in the jump upthread lol

The ‘What’s in my bag’ they did a couple of years ago was fun and a little surprising. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8slReHFb40

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7V6zQFU6w ok this song is <3

sade/balearic/gil scott heron "bmovie" + geordie walker/keith levene vibes on guitar + florence doing her thing as always

Didn’t immediately hit me but I have faith in the band

That video is my first time hearing this band, and I really liked it. Don't know why I avoided them for so long. No particular reason, I just missed them somehow.

The production on the vocal is really interesting to me. Is it always way out front like that on their records? It has a cool and really unusual effect.

And otm re: the Levene / Georgie vibes on the guitar. Boy you weren't kidding!

OK, I listened to a few more tracks at random and answered my own question about the vocals. I think I really need to catch up on this band's discography, everything I've heard so far is pretty great

You’re in for a treat, Paul

Good stuff indeed. Still bummed I've never seen them live! I was on the verge of doing so in November 2021, even though I was still leery of going to shows, then literally the day before I suffered my upper arm fracture and that was me out. I know they've been back since but that didn't work out so hopefully this time.

Saw them last time around January ‘24. Nourished by Time opened, a fantastic concert.

Oh damn, THAT'S a one-two I would have loved. Alas!

I think I said this on a different thread, but the Nourished by Time remix of "Gary Ashby" where he sings an action-packed rewrite of the lyrics is just amazing. I'd 100% run out to buy a whole album of "Nourished by Time writes alternate vocal lines for Dry Cleaning songs."

That "faith in the band" thing has hit me with each album. First one dropped the peppy immediacy of the EPs' highlights to get a little more stretched-out and heavy, which I questioned until I sank into it. "Stumpwork" got more spindly and atmospheric and pulled back the drums, which I questioned until it became the one I reach for first. Over the past decade there have been a lot of bands I like in their indie-rock early days, but then they all grow and change by converging on the exact same choices as one another, this boring tilt toward a kind of obvious half-pop they're seldom very good at. Dry Cleaning stand out for changing in ways that do more of what's interesting about them, instead of less — you know, "Stumpwork" feels more like something only they would make than the first EP does.

Yeah that was my first time ever hearing NBT!

I saw them at Pitchfork Festival '22 and they were wonderful.

I've already seen one other guitarist go hard on copying that delay-pedal thing he used to do, stomping one on for dramatic tails on specific notes; probably won't be the last pulling some inspiration from here

This made me check out the music, ty. Yeah, he's sick, it's an approach more like you would use in mixing or dub, but now that you mention it isn't very common for guitarists, is it? It's usually "here's my sound for this section of the tune"? Idk I am not a guitarist.

Guitar sound often reminds me of early Christian Death. Love it

Xxxp to nabisco—Stumpwork really insinuated itself into my brain until I found myself mumbling lyrics from “Liberty Log” to myself.

“Weird premise, but I like it”

it isn't very common for guitarists, is it?

This is that "painterly" quality I had in mind, where you maybe start thinking less about parts and more about sounds you're daubing in particular spots? That specific trick definitely isn't, like, unprecedented, but yeah, you don't generally see guitarists doing it — it's slightly tricky and occasionally risky (note may sound comical if the effect doesn't click on) — so it feels like using it repeatedly as a song element says something about how you're imagining the guitar's role. (There's probably more of it lately, but I'm guessing that has to do with the huge number of pedals out there and the number of them that can be controlled with expression pedals, which is easier. I'm pretty sure that in the early Dry Cleaning stuff Dowse was actually stomping a delay, not sweeping an expression pedal.)

Was listening to some new stuff this morning and felt compelled to add something. There was that period when a whole clutch of UK bands seemed to be doing a "post-punk with spoken vocals" thing, but a lot of them wrote lyrics that felt pretty similar to stuff you might sing. Shaw really stands out: so many of the phrases she collects are super-interesting specifically as speech, and really worm into your head. And the way they're collage together is amazing sometimes — each one instantly conjures a whole tone and mood and situation, so the songs gets to flit between those registers in very cool ways, putting, like, disgust next to tenderness next to droll business language or whatever. Worked when she was just reciting sad YouTube comments on "Goodnight," works even better now

I like that, but also have noticed that they (and those bands with similar approaches) are particularly popular with my writer friends, I assume because they all fantasize about being able to say clever things into a mic in front of a cool band without having to sing.

yeah but how many can hold a microphone as well as Shaw does

xp yeah, as much as I really like the guitar playing, it's the vocals that have really won me over

Oh wow, I would feel way more comfortable singing badly in front of a crowd than speaking over music

Also interesting that she practically never sings/talks about love/relationships. Pretty refreshing

Obliquely at best. I take her lyrics as the kind of chatter overheard strolling past cafe tables and bar stools.

Some of these are poets, who are already inured to speaking to largely unreactive audiences.

xp

I already liked them, but the new single is probably my favorite thing they've ever put out. It's groovy.

Somehow stumbled on 'Cruise Ship Designer' while doing something wholly unrelated. Dig the backing vocals!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qs5XV4rIU8

The backing vocals on the two singles so far have been awesome— I don’t think they’ve done that before?

I was going to post something about this earlier — a lot of their songs manage to inject some element where you're suddenly like huh, I've never heard this from them and never really expected it as part of their palette, and now I'm sort of stunned and surprised by how weirdly perfect and well-matched it feels, like it's been sitting there unused all along. Definitely had that reaction with the dry Gang-of-Fourish backing vocals on this one, and there are more and cooler versions of that feeling on other forthcoming songs. I guess those are the fruits of being sort of deliberate in how you expand the palate — the appearance of something new feels like a minor revelation.

Im a bit underwhelmed by this one. The backing vox are cool and I like the lyrics. Still, I’m finding it harder to disagree with my kids who think that if you’ve heard one DC song you’ve heard them all.

I would disagree with assessment.

I think it's one of the most misleading ideas emerging in the culturescape today.

US tour postponed to May

Depressing, but understandable, reason for it as well:

Aside from the great pleasure of sharing ‘Let Me Grow…’ with you all today, it is with heavy hearts that we must also share some important news.

We have had to take the difficult decision to move our Jan/Feb ‘26 US tour to May. This is due to a number of factors, not least of which the increasingly hostile economic forces that govern touring in the present day. Thankfully we have managed to reschedule the majority of the original shows and all tickets will remain valid, if that suits you, and refunds available if it does not. Regrettably, we have been unable to make this work for all dates due to the shortened routing. Refunds will be available from your place of purchase and we will do everything in our power to play for you as soon as we can.

Thank you for your patience and continued support.

Notice the part about "shortened routing". Sadly I think this is only going to get worse in the near future.