coloma

agree that its lovely

personally i'm big on affected lyrics.

Finney's piece is what got me interested, and I'm very glad I picked up the disc. Not sure it will end up seeming like the year's best, but it's a strong contender for year's most beautiful. A lot of folks recently seem to be fusing "traditional songwriting" with the sonic vocabulary of glitchy minimalist techno and microhouse -- along with Coloma, noteworthy examples include The Notwist and The Postal Service. (And Bjork, too, although I'm less enthusiastic; and I'm sure the list could be longer.) I don't think either half of this fusion "needs" the other, but I still quite like the results when it's done well.

Jess I'm sure you'd agree though that this is the point - eg. "the second closer still" wears its daft affectness like a badge of honour. "Next to the angels of the cathedral there is always room for gargoyls/I was waiting for you to notice me but a watched pot never boils." It's like the apotheosis of my teen poetry.

Jim, Finery is great. Silverware is good but not nearly as much and I like it a lot less now that I have their second album to compare it to.

I think though that Finery is quite odd in that it captures a lot more of what makes microhousey/glitchy stuff good on its own terms than similar attempts from say, The Notwist or Hood - I like both of the latter bands, but I think their fusions actually reduce the potential impact of the sonics, because they're not doing anything with them except applying like cosmetics to their songs. With Finery (and to a lesser extent Silverware) there's a sense of a bilateral transaction between songcraft and sonics.

Yeah actually I should specify that I don't think The Notwist are exactly windowdressing when it comes to electronics, but rather that their songs could stand up fairly easily without them. I like Neon Golden a lot, but it wouldn't occur to me to think of it as being anything other than a rock record at heart (NB. can I stress that this is *not* a criticism), which is not true at all for Finery (although maybe it is for Silverware?). Of course peripheral issues such as record labels properly play a huge part in how I think on this as well.

I'm still much fonder of Silverware than Finery, though I keep expecting something in the latter to grab me and change my mind.

Oddly I just loaded into iTunes 4 tracks from Junior Boys, a new act that Nick Kilroy is working with. At first blush they reminded me very much of Coloma, though now I'm beginning to hear how they differ. The vocals are extremely similar, if a bit breathier (less histrionic), but the beats are beginning to sound different - more of a Pole influence, plus a bit of Spacek's glitch-R&B (though there's nothing R&B about the chords used). Fennesz' remix of "Birthday" is a corker, as well..... maybe the poppiest thing he's done yet.

I'm shocked that you'd like Silverware more than Finery. Everything about the second album strikes me as incomparably superior.

Finery is looking like top one here, unless the Villalobos album is as good as certain people say (the Taka Taka mix = yet another great mix in a year of great mixes).

the sense of similar territory or tone to that of Junior Boys is uncanny but somehow right: shared Blue Nile &/or Japan appreciation?

such a strange band

a weird confluence of overwrought lunatic emotion, 80s-style lyrics & delivery and 90s electronica

silly too in a lot of places and not quite great in other

but overall wow quite weird

Oh god that just made me realise how much Peter Gabriel circa Selling England By The Pound is a reference point for the vocalist/lyricist. Peter Gabriel meets Tim Rice.

Never heard Clearlake - always assumed they were just another second tier earnest Brit band a la Starsailor??!?

I love that first clearlake record like a friend

plus i like their lyrics (on finery, anyway). i find 'you are here' rather affecting.

Andy Kellman to thread!

I was listening to it today and realised despite my continued slight hang-ups about the vocal style (Colin Newman meets Paul Buchanan?), I already love at least 3 of these songs, which means it's gonna crash my Top 10 of 2005.

Finery is one of my absolute faves of 2003, especially "Illegible Love".
a nice lady from Ware wrote me (and others if I remember) to thank for comments!

Dovetail doesn't seem as easy to find - maybe some distribution glitch? I've been trying to source it, but I'm gonna have to push harder cos no results yet...

www.allmusic.com
front-paged Coloma as a featured artist recently (like earlier this week?)

oh and Philip Sherburne upthread:
Oddly I just loaded into iTunes 4 tracks from Junior Boys, a new act that Nick Kilroy is working with.
the sense of history about this place... and that's a 2003 post

The new album is Klein Records rather than Ware right? You'd think that considering that it would be easier to find. I haven't seen it anywhere yet though.

Coloma are (hushed) THE BEST...(!)
no reservations now, they've released some of loveliest albums of this century.

Looking forward to hearing the whole album.

new 2009 album

Coloma - Love's Recurring Dream
http://www.dotshop.se/ds/release.php?code=ITA083CD

Italic (ITA083CD)
February 23rd, 2009

Coloma is the collaboration between singer/lyricist Rob Taylor and producer/composer Alex Paulick. Though originally from England, the two spent a period of musical education and discovery in Cologne, Germany, where Taylor is still based. Paulick flits between Berlin, the UK and his teenage hometown in California (a few miles from the Gold Rush town of Coloma). This geographical caprice is without doubt one key to the Coloma sound.

The fourth Coloma album is a song cycle with recurring harmonic and rhythmic themes. Lyrically, Love's Recurring Dream is a narrative chronicling the phases of a romance, which symbolically runs over the course of a year. In the twelve songs, singer Rob Taylor follows the progress of the seasons from spring, summer and autumn to winter, with the implicit promise that a new spring will follow. For the recording, a group of musicians was assembled in San Francisco for improvisational sessions that make up the body of the album. Precise editing by producer Alex Paulick brings coherence to these spontaneous takes, with performances ebbing and flowing between rather loose and artificially tight. Under the influence of co-producer Bacchus Marteau, female backing vocals, harpsichords and vibraphones were added to the fold. Pristine mixes by Marcus Schmickler (PLURAMON) ensure that this ambitious contrast of sounds remains delicately balanced.

In its entirety, Love's Recurring Dream is a modern concept album featuring classic song writing and bold production, combined to create profound popular music. Prior to the release of Love's Recurring Dream, Coloma have been rehearsing a six-piece band lineup for an initial string of live dates in 2009!

Tracklisting:
1. Four Seasons (5:13)
2. Strength of Wine (6:14)
3. Do You Know What It Is Yet? (3:06)
4. A Man Barely Alive (5:16)
5. These Days Are Ours (3:36)
6. Standstill (3:45)
7. Tired of Summer (4:19)
8. Blue Blood (5:30)
9. The Grateful Lover (3:20)
10. Should I Be Untrue (5:02)
11. Tonight Let Me Sleep (5:16)
12. Snow (5:08)

Has anybody heard this yet?

i'd love to hear it

It's good, though not as good as "Finery". You need "Do You Know What It Is Yet" (pastoral schaffel as per Borneo & Sporenburg's "Boys") and the marvellously widescreen "These Days Are Ours" and "Tired Of Summer".

The more conservative parts remind me of Rufus Wainwright at his more subdued end.

i'm pretty interested in this.. dovetail took me a bit to warm to but now i like it a lot. 'so much in common' is up there with the best moments of finery

oh god this is good

"tired of summer"

ok this album is gorgeous, a real improvement on dovetail

seems much more gentle than they've been before, without getting dull.. perhaps the most overtly blue nile-ish they've been?

'blue blood' is a bit crap unfortunately

Yeah "Blue Blood" is like a concentrated dose of all their worst habits - but at least it's largely restricted to just that song.

If i had a criticism of half of the new album it would be that it doesn't singular enough. But the tracks I mentioned above (plus "Standstill") are awesome.

yes standstill was the (ahem) standout on my first listen

6 months on, should i be untrue and these days are ours are my favourites from LRD

having said that, and i hate myself a little for saying it, they still don't touch the heights of finery