Section 25 -- _Part-Primitiv_

and it's GOOD?

this is shockingly good.

not what i expected at all: i thought it'd be angrier and noisier. there were some demos up on their website circa 2000 (including "gene") and they were much thrashier; this is slicker, poppier and really much more like "love and hate" than i imagined.

there are a couple of truly cheese-tastic synth noises in there, but it all works. i'm just up to "better make your mind up" now ... v odd hearing jenny's voice on them, but strangely uplifting too.

larry's not playing bass, according to the sleevenotes. shame.

anyway. typical contrary fuckers: after all these years, they make the most accessible album of their career. heh.

actually: "gene" and "cry" are closer to what i expected the whole thing to sound like. which just makes it all even better, really.

and right now i'm listening on shit-ass laptop speakers too. can't wait to hear it properly.

If this is on emusic, I will be able to join the, erm, focus group soon.

Hurray! It is.

this is shockingly good.

Told ya.

I admit I haven't bought this yet. Because um...the clip on the Darla website was a red flag for me "this is not what Bimble wants to buy..." Sorry I wanted something post punk but I don't think that's what this is, is it?

I mean, come on, can't we just pretend it's 1982 again, PLEEEZ?

no, it really isn't like that at all. it's genuinely not like anything they've ever done before, but it's still shot through with that intangible section-25-ness that defines everything they did.

after a lot of listening (they're #1 on my weekly last.fm chart; 43 songs, not all of which are this album, narrowly beating the pet shop boys on 41 and way ahead of muse, in third place on 22 ... anyway, where was i?) i've decided that what it most reminds me of is extricate/shift-work-era fall, which is such a good thing it hurts.

Well I've been good at saving my money. I've bought no music in like 2 weeks or something. In fact, when I went to the shop tonight they were closed, which served me right. So maybe I should spend money on this if I've been so good not to buy anything else for so long.

I listened to this out running the other day and it reminded me of the New Fads on first listen. Having another go now.

it reminded me of the New Fads

you say that like it wouldn't be a GOOD THING.

What - earlier skittish New Fads or later, bigger New Fads?

I could imagine the latter, but not the former.

I really ought to buy this album I think.

Latter I think -- It's Not What You Know era I guess. Would need to re-listen.

And yes, I mean that as A GOOD THING!!

Poppy Fields -- WOW!! How do they manage to hold this all together? Squally guitars, vintage Hacienda-style beats, ravey synth stabs. And yes, I can hear bits of Fall in a lot of this too.

Swoon!

yup: unlike everything else, yet reminiscent of so much i love. i think i'm going to go and listen to it again, in fact.

I really ought to buy this album I think.

of course you should. larry's beer doesn't buy itself, you know.

Yes, and know how much Larry loves his beer!

okay, i am very drunk and listening to this again (at last, but in fairness after a fantastic evening). "poppy fields" is just grimly-tastic.

i can't help hearing "i miss my baby" as some typically larry-esque supremely gnomic comment about jenny, but either way: it is great. like BBP says, the cadence is haç-tastic (as is the "shout" or whatever it is at the end); the way it runs into "she's so pretty" is sublime. this is a truly great, great album by any standards; obviously, my minor personal connections give it a little more resonance, but still.

<!-- beware drunkenness --> when they play live again, we should make sure as many of us as possible go to see them, wherever it might be. have SXXV love, will travel <--!>

Hurrah to all of this.

(yes, i know those tags are fucked up; even by the standards of pretend tags. i'm drunk. and?)

xpost: bloody hell, that was quick!

It happens.

it is very, very weird listening to jenny again. very weird.

in a good way, natch.

i am just about drunk enough to decide that tomorrow i will drive back to blackpool to discover what happened to the house, but i bet that when i wake up that won't seem like such a great idea.

i could, of course, get in touch with the neighbours!

"oh yeh, this angry-looking bloke came round and swore a lot. drank some beer. took a synth away."

Surely any other day in the Grimly neighborhood. You must have 20 by now.

i meant larry, but hehehehh ...

tbh, if i ended up like larry i'd be fucking delighted.

that said, beer and swearing alone won't do it. i'd need a damn sight more good music behind me already. curses curses tits pass the juno-6 and ho! for the arpeggiator! anyone got a metal-bodied bass? ZUNG etc.

unsurprisingly i didn't drive to blackpool. i mooched about with a sore head all morning, then had a big lunch.

WELL JEEZ

:p

See I think that's an interesting and key difference between you and I grimly...if it were me sitting there drunk I would have had the same thought "I'm going to go to Blackpool in the morning" but in the *moment*, I would NOT have been able to follow that thought with "I bet that won't seem like such a good idea in the morning." It would actually take the morning light itself to convince me otherwise.

ha ha grimly has been coming up with daft resolutions while pished for nigh on fifteen years now. Some kind of self-reflection had to kick in eventually!

First a good Gristle album and now the return of Section 25. Life is very good!!

Wow, this thread is kinda hard to find in the search engine.

Anyway, I just heard "Winterland I" and knew immediately that this was an album I wanted to buy, after all.

Listened to this the first time this afternoon, and it certainly made me ashamed of my low expectations. It started out with such a Madchester-era feel it was hard to convince myself it wasn't something from the early 90's (even Mondays-ish at times, but without the funk or swing). There are also tracks where it sounds Fallish and tracks that are just straight-ahead rough-and-tumble RAWK/PUNK. The variety of styles is really astonishing. Hard to pigeonhole this one. And yes, it did seem strange to hear Jenny's voice again, but then this is a band I quit following circa the Bad News Week single.

Still I'm just shocked that it's really that enjoyable. Hell, good for them.

Playing this through a second time, still shocked, just shocked. I don't know what to say. It's probably better than they've ever been, and it's in Two Thousand Sev-EN. What the hell else do you need out of life? If the new Happy Mondays is even half as good, I'll be surprised.

Possible album of the year, this.

Dr. C you better get on board, post haste.

And I still don't think New Order's "new" covers of JD songs for the Control film are going to be half as exciting as this. Sorry.

And please, when's the last time The Fall/M.E.S. did anything this good? Let me know.

told you, didn't i?

Heheheheh.

Also I've managed to figure out that the drumbeat on Poppy Fields reminds me of something on Psychic TV's Towards The Infinite Beat album. When I figure out which song, I'll let you know, but I was shocked that in the end what it was reminding me of wasn't something a bit more well known.

Hahahah, I just realized the irony that leave the capitol mentioned TG upthread!

Power Base slays me, is that some Bernard sounding guitar in there or what?

LCD Soundsystem have been outclassed this year, I'm afraid.

this is a really good record. i didn't expect it to sound so modern and be so tuneful

any of you guize going to the 30th anniversary show in a fortnight??

tunnelvision are supporting!

i didn't, no. didn't actually know anything about it! did anyone go?

they're playing stanley park -- where i used to go and play as a kid -- in august. there's also a "fes parker benefit night", according to their website. i guess that's something to do with fes parker who used to teach at my school (who, surely, must be dead by now?)

fuckin' blackpool. fuckin' nostalgia.

i guess that's something to do with fes parker who used to teach at my school

nope. one of the other -- er, many -- fes parkers out there, it seems.

Half Man Half Fes Parker

LOL

woo! (from the sxxv site)

New Recordings

By admin on March 12, 2009

The Band are currently working on their 6th studio album at West Orange Studios. It is planned that this will be released June 2009 on LTM Recordings-title and catalogue number to follow. It is very much a joint effort between original band members Vin and Larry Cassidy and new boys Stuart Hill and Steve Stringer. An exciting new addition to the bands sound will be some great vocal contributions from Larrys daughter Bethany on several of the tracks. The new material is a blending of the electronica and the excursions into the fuller rock approach-sources from the S25 camp report a return to FTH form.

^predicting this will be my album of 2009

Well, goodness gracious look at them go! I wonder if Grimly's heard about this yet.

new album Nature + Degree out in june..

the track snippet i've heard is fantastic, i assume it's bethany singing on it. sounds like it could be the hybrid of from the hip and part primitiv i was hoping for..

absolutely appalling sleeve art, genuinely awful

but it's out!!!! ordering now..

absolutely appalling sleeve art, genuinely awful

Ha! I was just saying how much I liked it. It's basically Procession, though, innit? Fuckin' chancers :)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41%2BenmQm5zL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Anyway. I thought this was out but it seems to be June 8 ... might as well drop James at LTM a line and pre-order a copy anyway, because I'd like to have the CD. Don't suppose your copy's turned up yet, ES?

not yet, i think darla said it was shipping this coming week..

Holy wow, that sleeve is fucking GORGEOUS! Although yeah there is the Procession rip-off to it, but I think I'm gonna forgive them that. That's like candy for the eyes. I'd probably have sex with that sleeve if I could.

http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/1100/poirot_title.jpg

Different line-up this time, isn't it. I don't know anything about the new musicians, but possibly less driving guitar without Ian B from Tunnelvision?

Yeh, totally different line-up ... ach, I just see them as a sort-of Fall-type setup these days anyway. As long as Larry and Vin are in there, that's enough for me.

N+D is in my hands now.. gonna be a sweeeet morning

this is a really good album.. a bit weak lyrically in parts, particularly compared to part-primitiv which i think was their strongest album from a lyrical perspective, but that's a minor quibble. i think any from the hip comparisons are probably misguided, this definitely feels like an appropriate step forward from P-P more than anything else.

hilariously "l'arte du math" sounds like sarah-era wake. it's great!

I was going to mention this record here ("Nature + Degree", their new one) but I forgot. Anyway, I listened to it once all the way through this week and I think it's just grand. The lyrics in that Math song made me laugh out loud on the bus (not in mockery, not in a bad way but I don't know, I thought it was really funny!) and...see, I thought their last album was really good, but in terms of the STYLE of the music I like this one much better. There was one song that was a real standout, too, towards the end. But I almost feel like to mention any particular song would ruin it because this hangs together as an album really well, in my opinion. So is this lady Beth, is she the daughter of the other lady that was in the band? Do I have that right?

Beth is Larry and Jenny's daughter, aye. And for all I know, she might still be living in my old house in Blackpool. It's a small and sometimes fucking weird world.

Anyway. I have my copy of the album but haven't had a chance to listen yet. Am absurdly excited about it, though :)

One listen in: I really, really like this a lot. Predictably. Attachment is the stand-out so far, but ... to these ears it's a reasonably logical progression from Part-Primitiv, although maybe with a little more to discover.

I like the fact it ends with another comedy Larry moment. He really is becoming Mark E Smith's slightly-less-misanthropic twin.

remembrance and agenda are my faves at the moment. beth has a gorgeous voice and i really like the 'sheffield sex city'-isms of 'mirror' too..

the, er, contrasts of the photos in the booklet are marginally hilarious

Ha, I know. That said: of the blokes, Larry and Vin do actually look like dudes who should be in a band, whereas the other two have that slight "fucking hell, what are we doing here?" thing going on.