Beach House

Record's top three of the year for me, though. Parts of it sound like The Marble Index as produced by Phillip Glass, which pleases me muchly.

it's a really good record -- and "go team" and all that -- but i'm kind of surprised by the blanket omg reception it's getting

haha, it took me a second to figure out this wasn't about "Beach Chair," too

i just saw them last night and it was a gorgeous set, with that nice drifting, lazily precise sound (and decent mix). they're also both great people, had a bunch of drinks with them afterwards.

Any thoughts on 'Devotion?'

Lush and pretty, especially "Turtle Island", but I need to give it a closer listen.

Is that "Chamber of Hearts" song on it?? They played that over a year ago when I saw them and it was really, really great, better than anything on their first album (which I enjoyed)

Big fan. It is almost a rerun of the previous album, which is fine by me. Maybe a little more ooomph in the production

really like "gila" a lot

yea, 'gila' is a gem in this box of cubic zirc

Art
http://a955.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/33/s_5062ef6ecfe8383cc1908dac105d13f2.jpg

Jan 26 2008 7:48 PM

Greetings, Shalom Aloha I am Art Vandalle, ERT I am very thanks to you for my additon to your pages of myspace. Your music is a great elation to my spirits. I especially enjoy when I am bathing. Keep up the greatness of your work hope to see you soon at a concert. Much blessingsness

Art Vandalle,ERT (VAN-dell)

"Greetings Shalom Aloah" is pretty brilliant

Devotion is an *amazing* album, but I'm thinking every review should probably mention Kendra Smith.

If I found the first one pleasant enough but am not really feeling the need for more of that thing, does Devotion have any surprises for me?

it does sound like kendra smith, and sounds (musically) a fair amount like galaxie 500. devotion is wonderful though, first thing I've heard by them, and just heard it for the first time yesterday

I was swooning over this album for a good three or four weeks straight. I still really like it, though I have less desire to put it on now.

all the right ingredients, boring album - TERRIBLE lyrics...

I think it's rather lovely. Haven't paid much attention to the lyriz tho

Apparently the singer is related to Michel Legrand, composer behind Umbrellas of Cherbourg, among other things.

She's hawt in that "always looks like she's trying not to laugh" kinda way

listening to this album for the first time, this is beautiful and perfect for right now.

I like "Gila". Lazy, sad. Nice guitar.

This album is good but it's lost its luster as the months have gone by. "Gila," "Heart of Chambers," and one or two others are still really strong but I'm not feeling pulled back to this record. It's just sorta sitting in my library now.

I saw them live not too long ago, and I liked their sound, but I think Mazzy Star did something similar, but much, much better. "So Tonight That I Might See" is a great album that deserves more of your time if you like this.

But her voice is really great. She could elevate pretty much any material with it. "Home Again" wouldn't be one-tenth the song it is without her voice.

That's true.

she sounds a lot like Kendra Smith, which is a big plus in my book (and Opal >>>>> Mazzy Star)

i know and love Mazzy Star but don't know Opal at all. Devotion is beautiful and deserves it's own love.

I'm really enjoying this, more than I thought I would.

Enjoy it a lot, but I wish they had a producer who would push them. The Spector-isms are awesome & have their place, but there's a wealth of untapped potential in this band.

What I've heard of this new disc sounds almost exactly like their first disc. It's kept me from downloading the new disc. Am I missing some progression in their sound from disc one to disc two?

the songs are better by a wide margin

That first record came close to creating a new mini-genre. I love the sound of it so much, it took me a long time to let go of it and embrace the new album.

i like Devotion a lot.

'Master of None' off their debut is one of my fave songs of the past few years.

"Master of None" is pretty amazing on its own. But Devotion is a lot stronger from start to finish. Agree with John though, i get the sense when listening to them that they can take a huge step forward. Still, for their second album the progression is a good one.

Really fun to watch her sing live too.

Yes. Amazing live. When I saw them in Toronto, she reminded me sometimes of Judee Sill. I told her so, and she said, "Who's she?" at the same time her bandmate said, "Oh no!"

That's good to hear, that they're good live. Maybe one of my two problems with them (the other is that their rhythms/chord progressions get repetitive, and I'm kind of in a glass house on that front) is that I don't always get a sense of involvement - it was more the case on the first record though. Her growth as a singer between the two seems pretty pronounced to me.

Good to see you Owen!

Yeah, you really understand just how good of a singer she is when you see them live. Not to overrate their live show, though - it's still just two people hangin' out on stage. The white outfits are nice, but it's not like there are any pyrotechnics.

Anyway - J0hn is completely on the mark. This band is capable of genius if they possess the ambition to reach for it.

such a great album, it's in my top five for 2008 at the moment.

Right, there's nothing amazing about their live show. They both sat most of the time when I saw them. But her voice is something to behold in a live venue & watching her facial contortions is a pleasure unto itself.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2578/4093209793_8925884428.jpg

Recorded in upstate New York, in a converted church called Dreamland with producer/engineer Chris Coady (who has worked with TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Blonde Redhead, and a bunch of others) Teen Dream is the third album from the Baltimore-based duo Beach House, and their Sub Pop debut. The new album gives voice to a full universe of unbridled imagination, and the manifestation of Teen Dream has been a welcomed and all-consuming obsession for Beach House the past 9-12 months. Teen Dream will arrive packaged with a companion DVD featuring a video for each song on the album, each by a different director.

Track listing

1. Zebra
2. Silver Soul
3. Norway
4. Walk In The Park
5. Used To Be
6. Lover Of Mine
7. Better Times
8. 10 Mile Stereo
9. Real Love
10. Take Care

will be released on January 6, 2010.

also has just leaked, looking forward to this record.

i like that cover.

ahhh sorry for the misread!

It’s here! And it’s one of the most gorgeous vinyl packages I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/tEcSHbcu52

— kyle (@solace) February 17, 2022

My not so great attempt at an “unboxing” video pic.twitter.com/ViJQXs3ewP

— kyle (@solace) February 17, 2022

extremely bee gees, as is the depression cherry artwork

not my thing at all, but when you're the mayor of fartin island you get used to being lonely

Digging into it in full now. I can’t help but contrast it to last week’s double album from Big Thief, which is so full of shifting styles and pacing even while always retaining its Big Thief-ness. Beach House on the other hand are going for a sustained 80-minute vibe. (n.b. I haven’t gotten all the way to the end yet.)

Neither approach is better nor worse.

Digging into it in full now. I can’t help but contrast it to last week’s double album from Big Thief, which is so full of shifting styles and pacing even while always retaining its Big Thief-ness. Beach House on the other hand are going for a sustained 80-minute vibe. (n.b. I haven’t gotten all the way to the end yet.)

Neither approach is better nor worse.

Not a lot of activity on this thread now that it’s fully out. Is it just an anti-climax since folks have had enough time to acclimate to it?

I put off playing most of the EPs other than few cursory listens. Initial standouts for me are the title track, “Runaway” and “New Romance”. Still absorbing the back half.

still waiting for my copy to arrive

It's funny how many of us praise Spoon for their foolish consistency yet I get quite bored with Beach House. I might absorb the new album with less resistance if it were 35 or 40 minutes long.

Has there ever been an epically Long Beach House song? I feel like that could d happened on this album. Like if you really want us to settle into the vibe, give us one that really envelops.

this album is just too much at once, there's good material here but it doesn't justify the length at all

When Bloom came out I was disappointed because it seemed so similar to their previous albums and I wanted something wild and fresh from them. I'd listened to S/T, Devotion and Teen Dream dozens of times but couldn't get into Bloom. Then after Depression Cherry / TYLS I realized that Beach House is just really good at exactly what they do. From S/T to 7, it's incredible stuff, and to pull off such consistency in craft and execution, for 16+ years is extremely rare. I'm excited to get a full listen in on Once Twice Melody.

It is kinda their great strength and great weakness at once. There are times when this feels like a slog and other times when it’s just a perfectly sustained mood, and I think that perception has more to do with me in any given moment than it does the quality of any one song.

Well said

I'm digging the seasick swoon of "Modern Love Stories". Beach House LPs usually take about six months to embed themselves in my heart so I'm just rolling with it for now.

same here. i tend to be disappointed in their latest in then a couple years later it's in my usual beach rotation

Maddens me when they pull that shit on black athletes because hello, they're the only ones with a platform. When it's some "average" citizen making the complaints the dismissal is just as quick but the rationale changes to "pfft they just want free shit"

Oops

over and over is fucking incredible

^^^^^^

Beach House’s new album Once Twice Melody is No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart this week, Billboard reports. Of the 20,300 copies the band sold in the first week, over 70% of those came from vinyl sales.

this makes me realize how out of touch i am with music and how it works, how it sells, the formats, the amounts, the band involved, absolutely everything

this seems like a bizarro clip from a 1970s world where no one bought music (note: i love beach house etc etc, not ripping them)

just sign o the times etc

what's so hard to understand, karl? the people that would be into this band would want to invest in a physical manifestation, as I did. I am somewhat surprised that enough people bought the record in enough numbers that it met that metric…but not that surprised…

not surprised at all that they're on top - i think that's great! i'm more just surprised that a #1 album in the US "only" sold ~20K copies in its first week. but i think my brain is still calibrated for 2000-era sales figures

I wanted to have a day-of-purchase experience with the new album but wasn't in the vicinity of a proper record store that day. I wanted the CD and visited a Barnes and Noble that was supposed to have it in stock, but they couldn't find it; I ended up buying the standard black vinyl across the street at Target, who weren't stocking the CD.

visited a Barnes and Noble that was supposed to have it in stock, but they couldn't find it

Yeah, this seems to be par for the course. I've pretty much given up buying music there. The last time I went was to pick up Neil Young's latest which, three weeks after release day, was still sitting in a box in the back that they had to dig out. Can't tell you how many times prior to that I heard, "well it says we have it in stock, but I can't find it".

Beach House’s new album Once Twice Melody is No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart this week, Billboard reports. Of the 20,300 copies the band sold in the first week, over 70% of those came from vinyl sales.

this makes me realize how out of touch i am with music and how it works, how it sells, the formats, the amounts, the band involved, absolutely everything

― the world's undisputed #1 fan of 'Spud Infinity' (Karl Malone)

that quote makes it sound better then it is. if you look at the Billboard Top 200 you can see Beach House is at number 12. when you factor in what is being streamed then it actually drops and they are talking about pure sales without streams. the only reason i know all this is because i was tracking Spoon's new album. it debuted at number 38 last week in the Top 200 but fell out of the Top 200 in the second week. Big Thief was number 31 in the Top 200 last week but also, surprisingly, fell out of the Billboard Top 200 this week as well. ILM couldn't keep it in there i see,

https://pitchfork.com/news/kanye-west-posts-studio-photos-with-beach-house/amp/
Thought this was gross.

Beach House now also collaborating w/Pete Davidson.

This is so good. I'm really impressed. I've always liked, but never fully loved this band. I always heard lots of good "vibe", but the songs never clicked for me. I don't find that to be the case here, as soon as "Superstar" was over I was absolutely hooked.

https://pitchfork.com/news/kanye-west-posts-studio-photos-with-beach-house/amp/
Thought this was gross.

― Chris L

Agreed.

still letting this record sink in, but there are already 3 greatest-of-all-time beach house songs on this one: over and over, masquerade, and modern love stories

also, is modern love stories their first use of acoustic guitar?

title cut has acoustic, fairly sure there are others on the record without checking…

Beach House’s new album Once Twice Melody is No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart this week, Billboard reports. Of the 20,300 copies the band sold in the first week, over 70% of those came from vinyl sales.

wow

was mentioned before, top albums sales chart isn't the top 200 that incorporates streaming, just pure sales like the pre-2014 chart.

as the industry has become increasingly streaming-centric recently those two charts have diverged a lot more and now it's pretty normal for indie acts who are a popularity tier below the ones who regularly chart in the top 5 anyway to get #1 for album sales on weeks that there's no bigger new release. haim had a similar outcome in 2020, getting #1 on the album sales chart while only reaching #13 on the top 200.

Okay I appreciate the humor

Honestly not far off from the truth https://t.co/9XCHkkD9O3

— Beach House (@BeaccchHoussse) May 4, 2022

I think the staggered release ultimately killed OTM for me, the front of the album is overplayed and means I lose interest before I get to the less familiar stuff toward the end. Hats off to those who waited til the whole thing was out.

Yeah I kind of miss the electricity of ‘7’ and its tour. I saw Beach House recently and the energy just wasn’t the same. The gig I saw in 2017 was eardrum shatteringly wild.

one of my favorite in music, all-time, is the instrumental passage near the end of the end of "Myth", where it adds in the synth-strings for the first time, and somehow the thudding toms which have been present the entire song seem even more pounding. i don't listen to beach house for the lyrics -- i would be hard pressed to name more than a few snippets. but the name of the song, "Myth", alone is perfect for the feeling when those strings come in

Was first dance at our wedding.

<3

I know

silent thinking "damn, what a great choice" several times over.

I've always loved Beach House, they are one of my favorite bands. I've recently come around to fully accept their programmed drum sound.

Myth is such a great song, very swoon-worthy and perfect as a first dance song. It makes me wish I had gone to your wedding, Alba, even though I hate weddings

For me they’re like a continuation of Cocteau Twins’ HOLV period but stripped back to the emotional core, i.e. more or less perfect

(another band to whom programmed drums are essential)

good lord there is so much emotion in 'depression cherry', i'm eight years too late but i cannot get it off the stereo. recommendations of where to go next, either within their catalogue or something of this ilk?

I think if you scroll back in this thread you’ll see some rankings of favorites but generally I’d say you’re safe with everything from Teen Dream to 7. The albums before TD are a little rawer, and the newest double album is too much of the same all at once.

I think Once twice Melody is excellent, maybe two or three cuts are merely okay & too lachrymose, the majority is poignant and manna for people like me who are way into analog synth… and furthermore, last year, after 20 years in which pop, r&b and hip-hop artists were my favorites in contemporary music, Beach House, nominally an indie rock act, were my favorites…