Blonde Redhead - 23 (nu-ilx version)

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the 1st track,23, is the best MBV rip-off ever,and one of redhead's best tracks i think.

― Zeno, Thursday, 1 March 2007 11:36 (eighteen years ago)

the fact I don't hear any MBV in it, but tons of "shoegazey" guitars (and a lot of Sonic Youth...) maybe proves baaderonix's point in the other thread. hmmm... far from their best but it's alright.

― fandango, Thursday, 1 March 2007 14:00 (eighteen years ago)

Excellent album and 23 might just replace I Don't Want You as my fave song

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Sunday, 4 March 2007 19:22 (eighteen years ago)

OK, now that I'm on the proper thread,

I'm liking the first half of the album a lot, not so sure after that. It's bugging me. Something about the second half just doesn't gel, even though you could take pretty much any isolated 30 seconds of it and it sounds great.

― Z S, Sunday, 4 March 2007 19:31 (eighteen years ago)

sorry dude...

man that reference to "the other thread" is vague as fuck. It was something about MBV not really fitting "shoegaze" as much as the other bands around did anyway. I wish I found "23" more special... it's just kinda there, not even in the same universe as "I Don't Want You" ...

― fandango, Sunday, 4 March 2007 19:36 (eighteen years ago)

It's different but it's great. One of those songs I wanna hear over and over again. Like when you hear a truly great single.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Monday, 5 March 2007 02:31 (eighteen years ago)

this album is totally great.

― s1ocki, Sunday, 11 March 2007 21:33 (eighteen years ago)

The MBV comparison I got for this album is distracting and definitely only applies to the first song. In its own right, the whole thing's a very good listen. I realize it's heresy in some quarters but knowing that they and TV on the Radio are buds, I gotta say Blonde Redhead do this kind of moody art rock much better to my ears -- more sinuous, for lack of a better term.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:04 (eighteen years ago)

I kinda need to hear this.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:08 (eighteen years ago)

you do. it is really rather fine.

― grimly fiendish, Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:17 (eighteen years ago)

you kinda need to buy it, too. great packaging.

also nyc people: they will be playing the apple store in soho on the day of release, 4/10/07.

― hstencil, Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:44 (eighteen years ago)

The MBV comparison I got for this album is distracting and definitely only applies to the first song.

Right. I actually get more of a tAtU vibe from the song. Which is a good thing, mind you.

― Turangalila, Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:51 (eighteen years ago)

you kinda need to buy it, too. great packaging.

I've just got the promo copy -- what's the full packaging like?

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:53 (eighteen years ago)

no jewelcase, for starters. heavy cardboard digipack with the lady embossed on the front, and a red band around the whole thing. much, much nicer than the promo.

― hstencil, Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:58 (eighteen years ago)

actually in some ways it's not really a digipak. there isn't that glued-on tray action, it's more of a tight-fitting sleeve, which i think works much more nicely.

― hstencil, Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:59 (eighteen years ago)

Nice! I'll keep an eye out. It was fun thinking up the interview questions for 'em.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 24 March 2007 17:59 (eighteen years ago)

oh weird, where's the interview, ned?

― hstencil, Saturday, 24 March 2007 18:04 (eighteen years ago)

Plan B, hasn't run yet. One of the Plan B bods dropped me a line out of the blue about doing one, I'm all, 'sure!' and I ended up talking with Rich at Beggars, etc. etc. Just sent in the questions this morning; interview should run in early May.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 24 March 2007 18:07 (eighteen years ago)

did you ask about that promo pic of jim carrey with the saxophone for the movie "the number 23"? please say you did!

― s1ocki, Saturday, 24 March 2007 18:42 (eighteen years ago)

Some thoughts:

1)The MBV comparison definitely only applies to the first song, and it's not really a reference to the overall sound of the song, but the specific guitar sound of the chorus. It does the trick where the guitars sort of drop a half-step and then slide back into tune. It's a clear ripoff, but if you're going to do that, you may as well imitate the best.

2)Generally, 23 starts off with the strongest songs and gradually gets weaker, in my opinion. I still like the songs on the back half, it just seems a little front loaded.

3)One of the main differences between newer Blonde Redhead as compared to their older albums is that the songs that Kazu Makino sings on seem markedly better than the songs in which Amedeo Pace sings. In the past, I always enjoyed his songs a lot, especially Kazuality. Actually, I'm not sure if the singer indicates who wrote the song. Either way, I find Makino's voice more compelling on the recent albums, and that wasn't always the case.

― Z S, Sunday, 25 March 2007 00:26 (eighteen years ago)

I love "SW" though! It sounds so desperate, claustrophobic. And that instrumental bit (synth horns?) toward the middle is totally unexpected and weird.

― Turangalila, Sunday, 25 March 2007 00:41 (eighteen years ago)

they have this streaming on myspace. even with the crappy sound quality it sounds amazing.

i dunno, hanging out here for awhile makes me leery of gushing and sounding dorky about stuff, but honestly this album sounds beautiful to me.

i love the older, spikier stuff, but they've evolved now to the point where i think - like all great rock bands - they sound unique, they sound like themselves. i mean, not that you couldn't make references or comparisons, but to me now they just sound like blonde redhead and that's really something.

on first listen this sounds like a much more assured and realized version of what they were going for w/misery is a butterfly.

i can't really put into words what i like about them. if i write it out it just sounds like a cliche, but it's a sense of mystery. when i was a kid, everything sounded sort of weird and scary and strange, like who were these people and where did these songs come from...even "normal" stuff like duran duran "hungry like the wolf" sounded so strange to me, so removed from my world....blonde redhead can still sound that way to me, even now, when you can download and hear everything all the time...

― M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, 6 April 2007 15:26 (eighteen years ago)

or like movies, when i used to see 80s movies and everyone lived in these cold, 1980s modern condos, the furniture and glass brick and stainless steel freaked me out, i was so used to midwest carpeting and big couches and lazy boys and knicknacks and signs that said "if you tinkle and you sprinkle please be neat and wipe the seat"....i couldn't understand how people could live in these weird places....songs used to sound the way those apartments looked.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Friday, 6 April 2007 15:28 (eighteen years ago)

sorry for my gay posts that killed the thread.

Picked this up on vinyl!

Easily my fav. record of the year.

Also, thought it was worth noting how GREAT a deal the vinyl is. People say so much shit about record companies that I'd like to take the opportunity to thank 4AD for giving me such a nice value and packaging:

Even at my local small indie store, the vinyl was 10.99 (this place usually has to price major label stuff like Radiohead on CD at 15.99 or so, for reference)...anyway...the record looks/sounds great (slightly tight inner sleeve that makes it easy to scratch, but I just ganked a nice clear plastic one from this shitty Charlie Daniels record so I'm good)....In addition, inside there is a code that you enter at the beggars site in addition the UPC on the album cover that gets you THREE free 256k mp3 downloads of the album.

to top it off, for buying the early edition at an indie store, they kicked in a free one-sided 45 that has a non-album track - "Signs Along the Path" - which is really great, I'm surprised they left it off the album.

So, short story long, good job 4AD

― M@tt He1ges0n, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 15:15 (eighteen years ago)

hey, matt, thanks for picking up the record! they're playing minneapolis on sunday, go see 'em.

― hstencil, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 15:19 (eighteen years ago)

hstencil, is that free 45 with every LP? I'm gonna go to my local record store within the week to pick it up.

― Harpal, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 07:33 (eighteen years ago)

pfork review so so so wrong.

― s1ocki, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 13:07 (eighteen years ago)

Not to harp on pfork, but that review was as convoluted as it apparently thinks the album was.

― call all destroyer, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 14:12 (eighteen years ago)

hey, matt, thanks for picking up the record! they're playing minneapolis on sunday, go see 'em.

-- hstencil, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 15:19 (Yesterday

no prob, stence. i love blonde redhead...if i have the cash i'm planning on going sunday...

hey actually do you work there or something? i can't get that download code thing to work...is there like a customer service email address or something i could write?

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 14:57 (eighteen years ago)

omg that p-fork review makes me very angry.

Allegedly, somewhere during the course of the making of the self-produced 23, Blonde Redhead got lost; unsure if their early mixes were going in the right direction the band brought in famed alterna-rock producer Alan Moulder (U2, Depeche Mode, My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins) for a tune-up.

Whether the Pace twins-- Amedeo (voice-guitars) and Simone (drums)-- and foxy frontwoman Kazu Makino (voice-guitars) were already drifting toward overblown production before Moulder's involvement is unclear, but the producer's paws are everywhere.

Okay, now this is clearly just bullshit speculation. Read the fucking credits...Moulder only worked on THREE tracks...the majority of tracks by someone name rich costey, read the FUCKING CREDITS dipshit.

man i pretty much started getting all who care about p-fork, but shit like this is just plain bullshit, pure and simple...also, the whole thing about "we'll never know if they were drifting towards overblown production" thing is bullshit....how deaf do you have to be to not hear this as the natural extension of Misery is a Butterfly? jesus...god forbid you work with someone on THREE songs that did like some shit w/Smashing Pumpkins however many years ago...

godawful.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:02 (eighteen years ago)

this album is so much better than TV on the Radio

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:04 (eighteen years ago)

Cofuckingsign

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:06 (eighteen years ago)

TV on the Radio is overrated shite

― modestmickey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:08 (eighteen years ago)

looking forward to picking this up

― modestmickey, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:08 (eighteen years ago)

THIS ALBUM IS SO GOOD

― gff, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:33 (eighteen years ago)

"foxy frontwoman"

― gff, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:34 (eighteen years ago)

love this record

― strongohulkington, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:38 (eighteen years ago)

it's not "overblown" at all!

their great strength has always been arranging: they're one of the best bands I can think of in terms of taking two or three different sounds in different registers (maybe guitars, maybe not) and making them function together. and the parts, individually, are simple and strong and distinctive. this sounds so dry and dull but really it's on a level of, i dunno, creativity? sophistication? that's just head and shoulders above everybody else.

― gff, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:40 (eighteen years ago)

+ i swear there's something to them that comes from differences in musical education btw europe, japan, and the US. there's all these casual little harmonic shifts, chords a half-step "off," a different arrangement of thirds, and none of it is like OMG LOOK @ OUR CRAZY CHANGES, it just happens like it's no thing

― gff, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:46 (eighteen years ago)

i wrote about it for emusic (not up yet) and the one thing that struck me is how stylish and clipped their noise is. it's like they stuffed 200 lbs. of baggy shoegaze into a size 0 coutre dress.

― strongohulkington, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 15:48 (eighteen years ago)

totally. i dunno, this record just... glows... for me.

― s1ocki, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:12 (eighteen years ago)

sorry to be all freshman at college bitching abt p-fork, but another thing that bothers me about it is the line at the end about garish crap obscuring the great mansion of song or whatever...which is exactly the opposite of how it sounds to me...they do a remarkable job of incorporating everything into the whole (to echo some of what gff and jess said).

unless this is just some dude that can't let go of like "Fake Can Be Just as Good" which is a great album, but I have no desire for them to go back to sounding like Sonic Youth.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:24 (eighteen years ago)

ya the review is totally dumb. looks like he read something in the press release and decided to spin a theory around it. whaddya gonna do.

― s1ocki, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:26 (eighteen years ago)

SEETHE WITH MISDiRECTED RaGE?

or...go have a smoke and crack open this cherry coke?

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 16:26 (eighteen years ago)

"hstencil, is that free 45 with every LP? I'm gonna go to my local record store within the week to pick it up.

-- Harpal, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 07:33 (12 hours ago)"

nope, supplies are extremely limited. we got something like 3k in to give to stores to allocate as they see fit. so your store might already be out, definitely give 'em a call to find out.

matt, yeah, i work for beggars group, of which 4ad is a part. blonde redhead is one of the bands i product manage, and they're swell folks, i'm really enjoying working with them so far. except i have a major hangover from being out last night.

email me at hstencil at yahoo dot com and i'll see what i can do about getting that download action fixed for ya.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 19:58 (eighteen years ago)

I'm actually much more a fan of "Fake Can..." and remain sad that they've gone the way they have.

That said, my first impression was that the opener of the P-Fork review was essentially cribbed from Real Astrology. The rest of it seems like it boils down to "I think the album is overproduced." None of it is all that helpful.

― dlp9001, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 20:10 (eighteen years ago)

I bought the record with the 45 in it too... so totally ruling!

― Davey D, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 20:13 (eighteen years ago)

stence is a gent. (and i am dumber than even people on ILM might suspect)

― M@tt He1ges0n, Wednesday, 11 April 2007 21:17 (eighteen years ago)

cool

― s1ocki, Thursday, 12 April 2007 00:40 (eighteen years ago)

No 45 in my LP. I should've gone through all of them. Oh well, good package nonetheless.

― Harpal, Thursday, 12 April 2007 09:09 (eighteen years ago)

my 45 wasn't in the package...the guy at the counter handed it to me seperately...so maybe you should go back and ask them?

― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:01 (eighteen years ago)

Regarding "Signs Along the Path":
http://blonderedhead23.com/remix.php

― Jazzbo, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:04 (eighteen years ago)

I don't suppose the free 7" will be available in the uk?
I was going to ask Harpal to look out for one for me, but it seems he's out of luck too.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:19 (eighteen years ago)

"I don't suppose the free 7" will be available in the uk?"

no, it won't, this is a US-only promotion. the single is the same as the one for sale in the UK, afaik.

― hstencil, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:35 (eighteen years ago)

i should also note that they won't have it for sale on tour, either.

― hstencil, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:37 (eighteen years ago)

i'm going to buy this tomorrow if it's in stock. so excited. 'misery...' still stands as one of my favourites from the century thus far.

― Charlie Howard, Thursday, 12 April 2007 15:48 (eighteen years ago)

ok finally heard this and am kicking myself for not buying it sooner.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 12 April 2007 16:55 (eighteen years ago)

you're still pretty quick off the blocks there.

― Charlie Howard, Thursday, 12 April 2007 16:56 (eighteen years ago)

charlie, you'll dig it..to me, it's essentially misery with better songs and more interesting production.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 12 April 2007 16:58 (eighteen years ago)

haha well

i think i will fall hook, line and sinker in love with this.

― Charlie Howard, Thursday, 12 April 2007 17:03 (eighteen years ago)

I always hated BR until this album.

Lucky you hstencil. This is one of the good ones. I like the fact that you guys do downloads (a lot) now instead of sending me coasters.

― Dandy Don Weiner, Thursday, 12 April 2007 17:36 (eighteen years ago)

OK, picked this up yesterday and gave it a listen.

What's striking about the pfork review is not only how badly it's written, but how WRONG the guy is. It sounds like he wrote a review of the last album, where I thought the production did actually detract from the songs (lots of awkward programming and compression). There are very few production tricks on this record unless reverb and delay suddenly require Alan Moulder's presence to work.

So yeah, it's good. Nice mood pieces and I think I'll appreciate the songwriting more over time. Kazuo's singing sounds great. Still think Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons was their high point--I feel like that record has so much more in the way of varied dynamics than the last two.

― call all destroyer, Friday, 13 April 2007 15:51 (eighteen years ago)

8 bucks at bestbuy

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8291617&st=Blonde+Redhead&lp=2&type=product&cp=1&id=1630626

― modestmickey, Friday, 13 April 2007 15:55 (eighteen years ago)

i still haven't bought :(

wasn't in the shops

― Charlie Howard, Saturday, 14 April 2007 08:01 (eighteen years ago)

had mp3s of this for weeks, finally getting to the store to buy this today; since I now buy only 10 albums a year being all broke, this is a compliment. I think this album just edges out misery, but just barely; both of them are wonderful though. it's even made me reevaluate the earlier albums, which i used to really dislike.

― akm, Saturday, 14 April 2007 14:19 (eighteen years ago)

did all the cds come with no insert like mine?

― akm, Saturday, 14 April 2007 22:30 (eighteen years ago)

oh they're on the cd (it was in the player)

― akm, Saturday, 14 April 2007 22:48 (eighteen years ago)

this is astonishingly good

the best new release i've heard in perhaps years

that pitchfork thing is baffling.

― Charlie Howard, Sunday, 22 April 2007 07:12 (eighteen years ago)

This thread made me go and listen to a fair bit of their back catalouge as I only ever knew them as sonic youthy... wow. 23 is an amazing album, and one that sneaks up on you. Every new listen I hear dischord and restlessness in it. There's something very unique with what they do.

― Trayce, Sunday, 22 April 2007 13:02 (eighteen years ago)

Oh, and ha - I loved yr emusic review Jess: for a band so in love with late-’80s rock — its tremoloverload, silver rocket exhaust trails and garlands of reverb. Heh.

― Trayce, Sunday, 22 April 2007 22:46 (eighteen years ago)

I have finally heard this.

It is awesome.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 22 April 2007 23:06 (eighteen years ago)

Was surprised to actually like much of this. The best parts remind me of Unwound near that band's end, Unwound probably always having been a better comparison than Sonic Youth anyway.

― dlp9001, Sunday, 22 April 2007 23:26 (eighteen years ago)

I really gotta resist going all Bimble on everyone about this album, it is that good (heh sorry Bimble!).

― Trayce, Monday, 23 April 2007 06:50 (eighteen years ago)

kazu's vox on 'top ranking'

damn

― Charlie Howard, Sunday, 29 April 2007 17:02 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

Still think Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons was their high point--I feel like that record has so much more in the way of varied dynamics than the last two

I bought Melody of... at their gig last night, and have already listened to it twice. I know exactly what you mean about variety of rhythm, pace etc. [That's pace, not Pace by the way.]

The live experience has improved a great deal since the last tour. More impassioned, greater variety of material, more hairshaking from Kazu!

― Daniel Giraffe, Thursday, 31 May 2007 07:37 (eighteen years ago)

i love 'publisher' so much that i've forgotten what the rest of the album sounds like.

― fukasaku tollbooth, Thursday, 31 May 2007 11:45 (eighteen years ago)

one month passes...

i love that song ('publisher') too. but i love most of the songs on the record, i'd say

seeing them tonite.

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 05:30 (eighteen years ago)

Fuck they played in Melb last night and I forgot all about it ;_;

― Trayce, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 05:59 (eighteen years ago)

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 06:08 (eighteen years ago)

Eh I think I'd subconciously decided I wouldnt go anyway.

― Trayce, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 06:34 (eighteen years ago)

haha that happens. i've missed many shows that way...just recently dinosaur jr., clutch etc.

― Charlie Howard, Tuesday, 24 July 2007 06:36 (eighteen years ago)

excellent show, btw

well paced, with very effective means of recreating the lush studio sound

― Charlie Howard, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 07:22 (eighteen years ago)

in short -- great band, great new record, great discography, great live show, etc.

i'm seeing a double bill in Austin in a couple months -- an 800 capacity club, with Blonde Redhead and the National co-headlining together -- that i'm really really really looking forward to already.

― stephen, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 17:10 (eighteen years ago)

Been listening to this LP a ton lately. This band has got their shit together on so many levels. Truly an engaging aesthetic experience. Very sorry to have missed them in SF back in april or whatever.

― Sparkle Motion, Wednesday, 25 July 2007 17:13 (eighteen years ago)

i always felt that they write these albums that sound like varied "a clockwork orange" soundtracks. the horns, synths, and esoteric guitars are very reminiscent of sometihng as dark and sexy as that film.

i would also like to add that the "lead" guitar line in "Spring and By Summer Fall" is so great, so jazzy. i love it.

― Forensicscene1338, Thursday, 26 July 2007 04:26 (eighteen years ago)

four years pass...

this album is still really amazing

― Bandersnatch Cumberbund (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 10 May 2012 19:17 (thirteen years ago)

"SW" has prob been my most played track the last ~6 months

― johnny crunch, Thursday, 10 May 2012 19:19 (thirteen years ago)

that's up right now!

what a fucking band

i never was able to get into the most recent one, i should give it another go.

― Bandersnatch Cumberbund (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 10 May 2012 19:20 (thirteen years ago)

the last one was a bit of a snooze iirc

― btw didn't i braek ur heart (NickB), Thursday, 10 May 2012 19:26 (thirteen years ago)

yeah it didn't grab me....what they do is always on the *verge* of being kinda boring but somehow they've managed to make it magical most of the time

― Bandersnatch Cumberbund (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 10 May 2012 19:30 (thirteen years ago)

the last one was more than on the verge of boring actually. big come down off the previous three or four albums. it's pretty and all but not memorable.

― akm, Thursday, 10 May 2012 22:27 (thirteen years ago)

haven't listened to this in forever. Going to give it ago now. Think it may bring back to many memories of putting it on cdrs for girls I was into that weren't into the kind of music I was.

― owenf, Thursday, 10 May 2012 22:44 (thirteen years ago)

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