nathan fake - drowning in a sea of love

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so have i just missed the thread about this? it strikes me as weird that no one's talking about it yet!

http://www.discogs.com/image/R-617086-1138987774.jpeg

fake's debut lp. it's twee, morr-inspired, playmobil idm made darker by a huge cloud covering of pulled-taffy shoegazey synth sounds a la "the sky was pink", which gets a workmanlike remix here. overall, it sounds light as air and easily digestible, im not sure how long it is but it can't be any longer than 45mins. after 3-4 spins i really love it, even though i do find myself wishing there was just a bit more gristle, a bit more counterpoint. some great holden remix opportunities here though. your thoughts, ilm?

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 19:44 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't heard it yet but played with him about ten days ago and it was very much downtempo stuff, which didn't please everyone, though did please some people. It's quite MBV and more rocky, I think that's what he's going for maybe.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 19:49 (nineteen years ago)

it got covered briefly in...some other thread somewhere.

i think it's pleasant enough but also a bit dull and boards-of-canada-lite (i don't like boc to begin with anyway). however the news that a REMIX ALBUM is planned for later in the year is very exciting...

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

I am biased because he was one of the nicest artists I've ever dealt with, and played shortly after one of the rudest.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 19:56 (nineteen years ago)

he does seem very nice! he's younger than i thought he was, like 22 or something. the album also seems a bit too nice.

(ps who was the rudest?)

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

remix album! that is rad. all the hype surrounding fake is a bit perplexing, as he's basically just a cooler, more credible morr artist who's picked the right people to surround himself with (ie. ronan). i liked some of that morr shit though, back in the day. it was good morning music.

xpost ronan do tell

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 19:58 (nineteen years ago)

Well, if you think of the biblical character that is this guy's second name, he's the one who was raised from the dead. (a clue not Jesus)

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 20:01 (nineteen years ago)

damian lazarus?

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 20:03 (nineteen years ago)

i can't say i'm surprised, really, maybe even less than the kittin tale!

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 20:05 (nineteen years ago)

maybe he was having a bad day. one of those bad days where you get paid to play records etc

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 20:07 (nineteen years ago)

poor guy

― mark p (Mark P), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 20:10 (nineteen years ago)

or maybe he was fucking freezing

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

he was fucking freezing!

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

great dj though, which is the main thing I guess.

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 20:11 (nineteen years ago)

i was next to lazarus on a plane to berlin almost two years ago now and he was actually quite nice.

― ryan caskie (Fita), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 02:14 (nineteen years ago)

What is it with the Irish and DJ personality hating

― blunt (blunt), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 02:23 (nineteen years ago)

Is it like with the Scots

― blunt (blunt), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 02:24 (nineteen years ago)

the only track off of this that I have heard is "Charlie's House," and it is absolutely fantastic. personally, i understand that wish for more grit ... but at the same time ... there is so much dirty electro and hard house ... it's nice to see someone operating under the banner of techno, tech house, or whatever and still make pop music. i'm all about expansion. widening the possibilities and further problematizing genres is good fun.

nathan fake for president.
alex smoke for vice-president.
villalobos for head of the DEA.

(united states)

― Cameron Octigan (Cameron Octigan), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 02:28 (nineteen years ago)

love this

― cutty (mcutt), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 02:40 (nineteen years ago)

Has there been any confirmation that the title is a Fleetwood Mac reference? I'd be very disappointed if it's not.

Where is the minimal remix of "Sara" anyway?

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 05:33 (nineteen years ago)

I've got no grasp on the guy's history whatsoever, but I've been going back to this album for the last week when nothing else I've got seems like something I want to hear and it doesn't disappoint.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 05:56 (nineteen years ago)

It *has* to be a Fleetwood Mac reference, more specifically his second 'Sara' reference a lá "Undoing The Laces".

― stevo (stevo), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 06:11 (nineteen years ago)

I can confirm that the title is a fleetwood mac reference and was chosen by the guy who does his visuals apparently after he saw a documentary about this guy who taught people to heavy metal sing where the guy was heavy metal singing "drowning in the sea of love"...!

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 10:49 (nineteen years ago)

... and can confirm tht n.fake and v.oliver (the guy who does is visuals) are both lovely and funny

both love limmy too, mark

― cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 10:50 (nineteen years ago)

It is a Fleetwood Mac reference. His VJ heard a death metal act performing the song and liked the "drowning in a sea of love" part and I think suggested it to Nathan. At least I think that's how the story went.

About the now named DJ I said wasn't nice, as I say, he may have been having a bad day! I don't think it's an Irish thing since I've met plenty of acts we've had over and the vast majority are nothing but nice. In fact I've never thought any of the others weren't nice.

Except the curly haired bloke from Optimo of course.

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 10:53 (nineteen years ago)

oops, x-post with cozen, who was also "there"

― Ronan (Ronan), Wednesday, 8 February 2006 11:00 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know about this ... why do I feel as though I've heard this type of record a million times before? Hasn't Datach'i made this album a few times already?

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 9 February 2006 09:14 (nineteen years ago)

sounds sort of like pilote's old stuff.

― cutty (mcutt), Thursday, 9 February 2006 12:12 (nineteen years ago)

Nice hazy ambience. I hear a lot of BOC but barely any MBV. But then again, I didn't really hear any MBV in Ulrich Schnauss, either. Maybe I take the reference too literally.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Thursday, 9 February 2006 16:05 (nineteen years ago)

well, since the last M83 album decided to be awful, due to one man's need to indulge his own ego and expel the apparently creative member, it's nice to have someone take where they left off and do something else that may be as brilliant as "dead cities ..."

although, i think Nathan Fake is much more restrained, and calculated, than M83. he doesn't just go straight to the drum rolls and layers. you know, the cheesy drum fills on that last M83 album were just terrible, and i'm glad to see that someone making shoegaze/idm/techno/? doesn't need a programmed glam rock drummer to make a point.

and he's younger, and he's got more time to develop, and he'll be better. so there!

― Cameron Octigan (Cameron Octigan), Thursday, 9 February 2006 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

Before the Dawn Heals Us is WAY better than Dead Seas, Red Cities etc. Dead Seas really becomes a snoozefest after a while, BtDHU is more dynamic, more over-the-top; it actually risks saying something, rather lulling you into a stupor of fuzz.

― Freud Junior (Freud Junior), Thursday, 9 February 2006 21:43 (nineteen years ago)

Freud, with all due respect ...

"BtDHU" says nothing. It is a sonic piece of shit. The synths are about 18 times louder than everything else in the mix. The first single had a shit guitar riff that slid all the way up the neck and forced my index finger down my throat. EVERY transition on "BtDHU" has a drum roll before it, and synthesized choir voices as accents. But the thing is ... when you ALWAYS do something, it ceases to be an accent.

"BtDHU" ... terrible. Awful.

― Cameron Octigan (Cameron Octigan), Friday, 10 February 2006 04:18 (nineteen years ago)

I can really see where you're both coming from regarding M83. Dead Cities.. was great as a fuzzy electronic wall of sound while Before the Dawn eschews a lot of the colors and the landscape of that sound in order to focus on melody. The problem is that the landscape sometimes tended toward tedium while the melodies on the latter album aren't always so hot and the faux-sampled voice is pushed to the forefront. Different strengths, different weaknesses. I was going to try to defend the drum fills on the last album, but after a quick count I realized they're on both singles and about five tracks total. That kind of bothered me as well, although not enough to throw out the baby with the bathwater...

I think Nathan Fake has a lot of the electro-fuzziness while flowing more like an Ulrich Schnauss album. He's a lot more beat-oriented than Schnauss, though (with the exception of the more ambient, beatless tracks). Either that or I just realize that he's going to get the remix treatment and have been thinking of how the tracks can be ripped apart Holden-style.

― mike h. (mike h.), Friday, 10 February 2006 05:18 (nineteen years ago)

Hello.
I didn't do well on another thread so I thought I would ask here.
Please can you recomend me some blissed out electronic music like M83 and Nathan Fake. Is there more stuff like this about? I would like to think there are loads of artists so I can just like in my bed and listen to this kind of thing all them time. On Xanax, with some nice fruit juice.

― The Hand (Hand), Friday, 10 February 2006 09:11 (nineteen years ago)

try Manual / Azura Vista

― rizzx (rizzx), Friday, 10 February 2006 10:07 (nineteen years ago)

Slowdive
My Bloody Valentine
Manual
Eluvium
Fennesz

also try ...
dntel

― Cameron Octigan (Cameron Octigan), Friday, 10 February 2006 10:24 (nineteen years ago)

oval systematisch

― ambrose (ambrose), Friday, 10 February 2006 10:55 (nineteen years ago)

Anything mentioned before on the thread, probably! Stuff on Morr, especially the Slowdive tribute thing, are probably a good fit. I think Lusine's last album and a lot of idm-ish fuzzy beat stuff probably fits the bill, too.

― mike h. (mike h.), Friday, 10 February 2006 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

from nathanfake.co.uk:

pps. "drowning in sea of remixes" - vinyl ep containing remixes of some of my album tracks - is out now, as a prelude to the album proper. which is out on 20th of march. i can't stress how good vincent's remix is. x

― mark p (Mark P), Thursday, 23 February 2006 20:14 (nineteen years ago)

i'd take any xela or n.ln's astronomy for children over this anydaayyy

― harshaw (jube), Thursday, 23 February 2006 22:14 (nineteen years ago)

bit of a yawner :(

― last post ever (fandango), Monday, 6 March 2006 00:17 (nineteen years ago)

ok, a bit too harsh. I like some of this, but it's a slight, and somewhat unsatisfying debut edging far too far towards Ulrich Schnauss in places.

But it has it's moments too.

― last post ever (fandango), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 01:04 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's rubbish.

― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 17:39 (nineteen years ago)

i think you're rubbish.

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:07 (nineteen years ago)

I'm exagerrating as usual, but there must be a hundred records exactly like this! I wanted him to bring the new style.

― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

i just wish i hadn't heard a hundred other records like this before, because this sounds like it would have been a good one to hear first. or more importantly i wish i hadn't thought that the holden mix of 'the sky was pink' is what nathan fake's album would sound like.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

that's very otm.

i dunno, i still really like it. it's a little more sinewy and better defined than most laptop electro records, but it's not as rich or as oppressively busy as something by, say, m83 or ulrich schnauss. (both of whom i love, albeit in very tiny parcels.)

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:28 (nineteen years ago)

m83 sort of rocks, and I need that.

i wish i hadn't thought that the holden mix of 'the sky was pink' is what nathan fake's album would sound like.

yes

― Adamrl (nordicskilla), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

xpost mark p - those things are exactly what I like about it too (I seriously can't stand Ulrich Schnauss) when I like it.

But when it bores me (quite often) I want to curse it for not being brave enough to expand past a very limited "my first album" kind of comfort zone. And the very, very over-familiar genre territory (what firstworldman is OTM about).

But I'm sure he's got much more to give, and I hope he'll get a bit more ambitious with it too.

― fandango (fandango), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:04 (nineteen years ago)

he's young, there's time

― mark p (Mark P), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

i don't like the nathan fake album much, but the genius element to it is that it's totally malleable--i see it less as an album, and more as pliable raw material for other people to remix, sort of along the same lines as M83 is total neo-shoegaze garbage that somehow gets elevated to genius levels when it's remixed by the right people. the remixes i've heard so far from this record kick ass, and i have a feeling that trend will continue. so i see it for what it is--pretty, whooshy sonic play-doh.

― geeta (geeta), Wednesday, 8 March 2006 21:28 (nineteen years ago)

I saw soooo many copies of drowning in a sea of remixes when in melbourne, but never the original.

― etc, Thursday, 9 March 2006 14:26 (nineteen years ago)

geeta i am so with you in re m83

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:33 (nineteen years ago)

i mean that shit is pretty unlistenable straight.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:34 (nineteen years ago)

oh pshaw

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

you're a fan? really?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

i'm not saying it's any GOOD (tho it's not bad) but c'mon

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

my bloody vangelis

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:36 (nineteen years ago)

it might have to do with never having been a shoegaze fan on my part

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

not so into the pothead music anymore

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

m83 is just a little starchild-at-the-birth-of-the-universe-cosmic-choir-of-fire-angels for me

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

maybe i do too many drugs

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:38 (nineteen years ago)

my bloody vangelis

hahahahaha!

― geeta (geeta), Thursday, 9 March 2006 20:40 (nineteen years ago)

Do the M83 haters hate the dead cities, etc album as much, or just the newest one because there were more mixes to draw attention to the originals? I've heard the second album in at least one movie promo lately..

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 9 March 2006 21:09 (nineteen years ago)

And this ..Sea of Remixes thing is only four tracks? That hardly qualifies as drowning! I was hoping for much more.

― mike h. (mike h.), Thursday, 9 March 2006 21:11 (nineteen years ago)

M83 haters?

Just hate that last album ... as said above ... its too "starchild-at-the-birth-of-the-universe-cosmic-choir-of-fire-angels" ...

one man's ego gone terribly wrong. should've kept the other guy.

― Cameron Octigan (Cameron Octigan), Friday, 10 March 2006 03:08 (nineteen years ago)

i'm with geeta on m83. all those schlocky layers make me feel a bit nauseous, like i'm listening to a synth version of stars. like nathan fake though, great for remixes!

― The Lex (The Lex), Friday, 10 March 2006 10:57 (nineteen years ago)

just a little starchild-at-the-birth-of-the-universe-cosmic-choir-of-fire-angels for me

That's why it's good of course. :) Unlike this Nathan of Canada album.

Sea of Remixes thing is only four tracks? That hardly qualifies as drowning!

Lol.
I've only heard the Fairmont rmx of 'Long Sunny' which is way better than anything on the album and the Apparat rmx which is kinda boring.

― Omar (Omar), Friday, 10 March 2006 13:53 (nineteen years ago)

i'm listening to this album again... i like it a lot!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 10 March 2006 20:15 (nineteen years ago)

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 10 March 2006 20:20 (nineteen years ago)

sometimes i think my favorite border community related thing is the website .gif

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 10 March 2006 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

i could watch that shit all day

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 10 March 2006 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

that petter guy has a couple good tunes actually

― mike h. (mike h.), Friday, 10 March 2006 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

i don't know why but i like this so much more than m83... and pretty much anything else in this loose genre

― s1ocki (slutsky), Friday, 10 March 2006 20:35 (nineteen years ago)

geeta i said the exact same thing about his remix-readyness in my review! weird.

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 10 March 2006 20:46 (nineteen years ago)

mark p, sometimes i think you and i have the same brain.

― geeta (geeta), Friday, 10 March 2006 20:55 (nineteen years ago)

ATTACK OF THE ILX HIVEMIND

― geeta (geeta), Friday, 10 March 2006 20:57 (nineteen years ago)

I like this record but maybe am biased by having my best ever gig as support for a live version of it.

Border Community is quality though, always with the anthems.

― Ronan (Ronan), Friday, 10 March 2006 21:07 (nineteen years ago)

i am sort of surprised ronan likes it. would i be wrong to say...folktronica?

― red flag over st pancras (gareth), Monday, 13 March 2006 19:37 (nineteen years ago)

I said folktronica before I even heard it.

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Monday, 13 March 2006 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

Someone told me "Nathan Fake is going all indie, improv, shoegazey" and I shuddered "FOLKTRONICA!"

― jimnaseum (jimnaseum), Monday, 13 March 2006 19:40 (nineteen years ago)

krautronica!

― Yawn (Wintermute), Monday, 13 March 2006 19:44 (nineteen years ago)

snoozertrack

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 13 March 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

Hobbitwerk (well, he looks a bit like Frodo doesn't he?)

― Omar (Omar), Monday, 13 March 2006 20:03 (nineteen years ago)

heard a live set at utrecht, opens with grandfathered, and i like that track a lot more now

― charltonlido (gareth), Saturday, 25 March 2006 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

I like that live set from the R1 essential mix tons more that the actual album.

― file under cozy techno (fandango), Saturday, 25 March 2006 19:56 (nineteen years ago)

his breezeblock is more listenable for some reason, too. maybe the songs flow into one another better in these settings.

― jergins (jergins), Saturday, 25 March 2006 19:57 (nineteen years ago)

I like this. Have I fallen foul of the ILX Hivemind again? I just wish it had something else... maybe pretty girly vocals like Slowdive? Then it would be the best thing ever. But right now it's pretty.

I wouldn't call it IDM or dance music at all, though. Wibbletronica, yes. But I couldn't dance to this even if I was on drugs. I would prefer to sit and drink chamomille tea and look out the window.

Yes, I like this indeed. I need to find some Ulrich Schnauss and M83 if that's what everyone keeps comparing this to. Give me more things like this, it's like shoegazing or wombadelica made with laptops.

― STOP! Time Thief! (kate), Saturday, 1 April 2006 11:06 (nineteen years ago)

If you like this I would check out some live sets, they're much more laptop-shoegaze-chaos inclined that the album, which I found a bit too studio-preserved.

http://www.backlash.ie/mixes.html (isn't this Ronan's night?)
(or - http://home.tiscali.nl/fullspectrum/Nathan_Fake_live_at_Full_Spectrum_Ekko_Utrecht_NL_20_1_2006.mp3)

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LUS8E6LV (Nathan Fake/James Holden Live set on Radio 1)

I don't mind some M83, but I bloody hate Ulrich Schnauss! But I'm not you, etcetera.

― Delivering over 43,973,865,717,760 bytes per day | What are you sending? (fandan, Saturday, 1 April 2006 11:21 (nineteen years ago)

(haven't actually listened to that first one myself yet)

― Delivering over 43,973,865,717,760 bytes per day | What are you sending? (fandan, Saturday, 1 April 2006 11:23 (nineteen years ago)

Hrmm, thanks, I will download and listen. (ha, now I've finally got a decent computer that will play music.) I've only heard Schnauss once, at some shoegazing club - I asked a friend what it was, I liked it so much. But then again, I would like that kind of thing or I wouldn't be at a shoegazer club to start with!

I wonder if this will continue to grow on me, or if it will turn out to be this year's Manitoba?

― STOP! Time Thief! (kate), Saturday, 1 April 2006 11:24 (nineteen years ago)

I could imagine Ulrich sounding better/different in a club, his sound is very warm & cozy... Just does nothing for me at home, this is probably a personal thing 'cos I never really clicked with Four Tet or Manitoba either!! Nathan Fake has something that does edge it closer to the good shoegaze stuff though, whatever it is. I guess this is discussed upthread by more eloquent people than me.

― Delivering over 43,973,865,717,760 bytes per day | What are you sending? (fandan, Saturday, 1 April 2006 11:30 (nineteen years ago)

I dunno; me, I think I'd like it to be even... more shoegazery. But then again, I'm listening to Slowdive now!

(Actually, it's funny because a lot of these IDM bands are namechecked on the liner notes to the rerelease of Just For A Day. However, what is striking me about early Slowdive (it's one of the few shoegazer bands I've not had a copy of in a while) is just how... *minimal* they were. The *sound* is huge and sprawling, but there's actually very little going *on* in this music. Wibbletronica sounds quite... *busy* compared to Slowdive.)

― STOP! Time Thief! (kate), Saturday, 1 April 2006 11:44 (nineteen years ago)

More... almost exactly "like this" http://www.feedle.co.uk/

Hmmm.

― Delivering over 43,973,865,717,760 bytes per day | What are you sending? (fandan, Sunday, 2 April 2006 10:35 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

just hit me: jesse somfay is a better version of nathan fake!

― jermainetwo, Thursday, 26 July 2007 10:56 (seventeen years ago)

I love Small Pebbled Forest - what's his other stuff like? I heard a remix of his the other day and it sounded kind of wishy-washy and chill-out area.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 26 July 2007 11:24 (seventeen years ago)

well, my other faves of his in the shoegazey style are, yeah, "forest", "for one brief moment i was there", and this mix of differnet's "caring arms" i seem to be hyping on several threads.

― jermainetwo, Thursday, 26 July 2007 11:47 (seventeen years ago)

Not shoegazy but "Lying in a Bed of Mist" is astonishing.

― Tim F, Thursday, 26 July 2007 11:51 (seventeen years ago)

five years pass...

Finding the new album a bit busy (admittedly on a couple of plays).

― djh, Monday, 3 September 2012 19:21 (twelve years ago)

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