OOP Plaid Dog Productions

I don't like the Black Dog a whole lot.

I really don't enjoy Spanners a whole lot, neither much off of Trainer either. Tracks like Psilcosine (track 5 off of Spanners) build up and build up and just as it's about to get good it stops. To me it just sounds like hippie tribal rubbish you'd expect from the Megadog crowd circa 93 (which it kind of is), but I adore Plaid.

I can never get the track names right on Bytes, though.

Also tim OTM - Spanners is great and hugely underrated.

warm memories

as for plaid ... i have to say i prefer the tura and balil material to plaid proper. i suppose "nort route" or "reishi".

I've been somehow reluctant to investigate them too. I have suspicions their albums get filler-ish, wiffly and mediocre. They don't seem to have a lot of edge. I've heard tracks I love like 'Eyen', 'Squance' and tracks which have just bored me and not seemed like much to speak of. I don't even care for 'Lilith' from 'Not For Threes' and it has Björk on it ffs! And the Björk remixes they did were ok but not as insanely great as the Black Dog work (maybe more 'playful' or something).

But I guess a few recent purchases of 'nice' electronica have made me think... maybe I should give these guys another chance?

I don't want to try and 'compare' them. I do love The Black Dog though (have all the albums excepting the stuff on 'Trainer' which I do know I need to get sometime.

"Not For Threes" is lovely stuff indeed. I finally like the Björk song now(!) in context... I can see why I didn't think much of it last time I investigated, but I was wrong. It is also much more interesting than much of "Trainer" (almost tempted to sell that now!). Lovely completely unique harmonics, and quasi-classical & exotic sounds & strange oscillating, oval beats & rhythm constructions. I guess they are safe, friendly & downtempo, but in a good way. I'm always oddly reminded of Fila Brazillia when listening to them actually.

i've really been getting into spokes recently. it's like some kind of kaleidscopic, ever revealing intricate ket-fueled wonder.

I'm remembered of B12 and Stasis when I listen to them. Both better IMHO

xpost - seconding Restproof as best LP overall

I also love the way they really think about the interplay between the off-kilter melodies and the off-kilter rhythms; reminds me a bit of current dancehall actually

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, June 11, 2004 1:28 AM (7 years ago) Bookmark

I would just like to point out that I was OTM here.

Listening to Trainer not too long ago, I was struck at how much a lot of current Bass music is n a similar vein to what they were doing in the early 90s, no?

Oh yeah I'd go so far as to say Black Dog/early Plaid is the biggest single across the board (albeit probably mostly inadvertent) reference point.

Been getting really into Black Dog stuff recently, I think I like it more than Plaid on balance.

chap : which era of black dog ?
i happen to think the new material is absolutely fantastic.
very much in the ambient-techno vein, and there are none of the mad breaks tracks like there used to be on the early albums.
basically, the new version of the collective, is a very different beast to the Warp era.

I only got to really know Black Dog from Radio Scarecrow onward (I worked my way back from there though), indeed their more techno/ambient (or the other way around, depending on which album you pick) period. Not much talked about/loved (?) here, maybe too generic/not ambitious/weird enough for first gen. fans? I agree with mark e that it's absolutely fantastic.

I've just been listening to classic era; Spanners and the Book of Dogma comp. I love the rave/acid house influences. I'll check out the new stuff.

ordered a ton of the new stuff yesterday - liber chaos (the remixes), neither/neither, tranklements, very extended.

bloody hell it sounds good.

they really know how to craft deep sonics without overdoing the bottom end.

dont get me wrong, i love the spanners/bytes era, but these days, its the new material that i always turn to.

What's the best of the recent records?

if you like the more dancefloor friendly stuff, then the Liber dogma album, liber ep collection should do the trick ..

not had a lot of time to absorb the last 2 albums yet.

via their dust store, you can listen to excerpts.

two more albums coming this month

gotta say I've been digging Radio Scarecrow quite a bit lately. that album totally breezed by my eardrums on the first 3-4 listens but I'm loving it now

OTAKU

oops missed this revive.
i added details of the new albums to the recent Plaid thread revive.
have ordered both albums (and t-shirt - hope i get the old school smash hits badges as well),
cannot bloody wait, as i still have days/weeks when nothing hits the spot as good as tBD.
in other news.
a few days ago, they released a brilliant sunday morning hangover soundtrack :
https://soundcloud.com/the-black-dog/the-black-dog-live-at-photon-010418

quick update : both albums are bloody great if you like the whole tBD sound.
deep, rich sonically gorgeous ambient techno.
one album more techno, the other more ambient.
both sound deep and very ear pleasing.
and yes, I got the badges.
in fact I ended up with a spare set if anyone is interested.

thanks for the reminder. still picking up the ones I missed. glad these dudes are still at it.

Speaking of OPO I dug out the Parasight EP recently and spent a couple of days caning it. That and the first two Bedouin Ascent records are among the very best electronic (or any) music of the early 90s IMO.

Actually for me personally Bedouin Ascent edges it but this is the BDP thread.

Otaku is good too. A shame the Rising High catalogue doesn't seem to be getting much of a decent afterlife.

How does TBD compare to Plaid

I love plaid and all their remix work-collabs (particularly mara carlyle - the lovely, whom her husband of plaid produced)

I only have one plaid album that I have heard a mere handful of times, so I cannot really comment.

I think MHO is pretty close to conventional wisdom:

Plaid = whimsical, pretty melodies and harmonies (I don't mean this to sound dismissive AT ALL)

post-breakup tBD = bass and atmosphere, dat kick

as Voltron circa Bytes (and I really need to relisten to Temple of Transparent Balls) = perfect fusion. Plaid but harder-hitting. tBD but with more fun and play in it.

Plaid = whimsical, pretty melodies and harmonies (I don't mean this to sound dismissive AT ALL)
post-breakup tBD = bass and atmosphere, dat kick

perfectly describes why I clearly prefer the tBD side of the fence.

don't dismiss Plaid. their trilogy (Not For Threes, Restproof Clockwork, Double Figure) is solid, classic turn of the century Warp par excellence. So much to enjoy on those

I will buy Plaid as and when I get the opportunity via my cheapskate options.
whereas I will continue to drop ££ on tBD cos I know they will always hit my ambient/techno requirements.

P brane Ep by plaid is essential

If you like Plaid and really(?) haven't listened to Bytes (and indeed Spanners which is often more Plaid-like) and the other Balil stuff like the aforementioned Parasight EP (play Island immediately,) Nort Route and his As One remix, as well as Otaku which I think is an Andy Turner tune, then you are probably in for a bit of a treat.

Whether it was Ken feeding them strange ideas and/or potions or just something in the air there's some rare inspiration to this stuff.

I think I like Bytes more than anything by Plaid. I revisit it more often than SAW1, even.

good timing as there is a new tBD album, 'fragments', due in a couple of weeks.
that said, its nothing like the Bytes era.
much deeper/moodier/atmospheric.
hence why it hits the spot for me.

Oh cool, I actually had no idea.

Tracks like Psilcosine (track 5 off of Spanners) build up and build up and just as it's about to get good it stops.

this seems to be a common technique for plaid, lots of tracks that do that, Do Matter, Little People, Coat, Drowned Sea. sometimes it works, sometimes it’s more just irritating, and i wonder where does it come from (the technique not the irritation). it’s like fear to be too pretty or too emo or thinking it’s a proper build up for when they have an especially haunting melody.

as for the answer, OTAKU, forever

new tBD thing "Fragments" is reallllly working for me. I love them when they hew towards the idm side.

Spanners is 30. I got into electronic music with a sampler from Sire I got in Dinkytown in '95 or '96, meant for record store buyers or radio stations or something, half tracks from Spanners, half tracks from ICBYD.

raxmus - great 90s vocal sample

bolt1 - 📀

barbola work - Plaid have really just gotten less wacky on every subsequent release right? monotonically decreasing wackiness? anyway this is still early enough to threaten robot ska. it's fun though! Plaid trying to express their playful thing through very limited gear might be my favorite Plaid.

bolt2 - 🏪

psil-cosyin - sick Bytes-level beats with upgraded sound design. after five or six minutes something like a main melody line does eventually show up, and the factory orchestra retreats to let it announce itself, until everything swells together. a gorgeous shuffle, acid - an embarrassment of riches. fin.

chase the manhattan - psil-cosyin probably didn't have two bars the same, this one gives you a solid beat so when the synth pads come in you are fully levitating, moving across a VGA desert. this one would have gone down well at certain raves.

bolt3 - ᭩

tahr - probably if tBD lived a couple hundred years they could have re-invented the tabla. nothing prefigures the harmonic madness that breaks out a minute into this, though.

bolt4 - the postcard you sent me won't sit still

further harm - the music is happening somewhere a little ways away, but you can see the spirits doing cartwheels overhead.

nommo - the track isn't moving forward, it's involuting and the synths are drawing you in.

bolt5 - no. that didn't happen.

pot noddle - briefly, this gives aching vulnerability that wouldn't sound out of place on a Stars of the Lid album, then decides that's not incompatible with everything else the album has been doing.

bolt6 - are you okay? you're out of phase

end of time - it's kinda surprising that the relatively straight-ahead drumming on tracks like this sounds so great stacked up against all of the phenomenal craziness on the rest of the album. or not - it makes more apparent the way that repetition lets other things snap into clear focus.

utopian dream - we can't know what dreams would be like in utopia. what this track proposes - urgent purple dreams with polyphonic floating blocks - seems as likely as anything, though. as the dream progresses you wonder, is that urgency you're hearing? or is it rapidly modulated calm?

bolt7 - band practice in the basilica cistern

frisbee skip - this track didn't have to exist, which gives it a kind of weightlessness, I mean that in the best possible way, it's a blessing.

chesh - it turns out the integers do end - in a floating, symmetrical rotating Form, the final prime

Love this write up. Happy birthday Spanners!

Hard to imagine a more perfect articulation and elaboration of a singular soundworld vision than Virtual —> Parallel —> Bytes —> Temple of Transparent Balls —> Spanners

I always forget that there was actually an album between Bytes and Spanners; although I've never heard it. Spanners is the one I'm most familiar with. It frustrates and delights me in equal measure - possibly because its best tracks do this thing where they build and build but seem to end just short of the conclusive point they're heading towards

I find that it helps to think of Black Dog as the Wire of 90s techno

new ambient 3cd album, 'my brutal life - ambient mixes', out tomorrow.
the ltd cd boxset sold out in one weekend.
i prefer the beat based material, but when in the mood, their recent ambient stuff does sound really good.

I always forget that there was actually an album between Bytes and Spanners; although I've never heard it

You've never heard Cost II???

Black Dog has been on a tear recently. Powerful run from Other, Like Me->Sleep Deprivation->My Brutal Life 1 & 2.

Agreed.
Apologies - release for boxset is Sept.
Was getting a little ahead of myself there.

statement from tBd yesterday :

It’s with great sadness and a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Ken Downie on 20/12/25. Rest In Peace brother, you will be deeply missed and never forgotten.

Very sad to hear.

Discovering the Black Dog was something of an awakening. I still clearly remember the day I bought Spanners, back in 2004, and what it felt like listening to it. I always thought it was sad that there was a rift with the Plaid guys, because that trio felt like something really special in my mind, but I don’t know what was going on with them and people’s business is their business. Ken directly produced and co-produced a chunk of what I consider the most important music in my life. I am deeply grateful for that

Yeah the first electronic album I got was a sampler of tracks from ICBYD and Spanners, was life-changing. My Brutal Life 2 sounds great. RIP.

https://www.woebot.com/2023/01/the-black-dog.html?m=1

what a great article.
for all the love i have for tBd, i have very little knowledge about them prior to bytes/spanners.
i used to pop onto their forum when i first got online, but it was an absolute nest of secret jargon, and very obtuse for a noob.
so, i loved reading that insight into the early years.
ta for the pointer.

https://cdm.link/remembering-ken-downie-of-the-black-dog/

this is a good summary of how things developed from the early stages to the final era of the collective.

Plaid posted to their FB:

We’re still processing the loss of our friend Ken. He was a visionary, gathering us together in ‘88 to make ‘Acid House’. Setting up Black Dog Towers BBS in the 90s. We were shaped by him and will be eternally grateful. Sending love to friends and family.

is it time to start posting YTs of their brilliance yet ?
this fantastic remix was hidden away on the genetically modified release.
it clearly confirms how close to the major label/big name scene ken was (as per indicated in the woebot post).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldi0HMlOaXs

crazy that this album isn't discussed more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahTgU1UM8ZM

was lucky to get the skinny promo reissues of temple and the 2cd version of dogma/parallel via soma.
despite their age and limited recording budget, they still sound amazing.

Bytes still amazing. Much more of a Plaid album than Transparent Balls, but still with the high weirdness of Black Dog.

Appalled that Warp hasn't mentioned Ken but not shocked.

Warp released two albums and two compilations three decades ago, and tBD have put out 50 or so long records since. Is there anyone other than Steve Beckett still there who would have worked with them? The “Editorial” page is so non-obituary-focused that the tenth most recent article is about the Bytes/Advert-era publicist’s “new album”…

I recognize that Artificial Intelligence and its offspring isn't the only lineage Warp has, still those are those who treasure it and the people that created it. I'd hoped Warp was among them.

have been on a completionist black dog/plaid kick, have been really enjoying myself, but just got to radio scarecrow and uhhhh this is the best album ever????

if you love RS and are going through their catalogue in sequence then you have so much more brilliance to experience.
their last few years releases have been insane if you like ambient/techno with an added dose of bass.

p.s. i love radio scarecrow so much that i succumbed to the remastered cd edition.
something i rarely do.

loud ambient was a really rewarding end to this listening project. practically dancefloor-oriented. looking forward to the sequel out next month

as i have said here there and everywhere whenever the chance arrives,
i will always prefer tBd with a pulse.
something martin said would be the case for a while after the release of loud ambient.
admittedly this was before the news of ken broke.
but yeah, loud ambient, has been the best release by the collective in quite a while.

ftr : martin often does facebook live streams for chats and questions around any new release.
that or a listening party thing on bandcamp.
he is never ever anything but warm, welcoming and open to answer anything put to him.

loud ambient 2 incredible!!!!