I just found Dirty Rope in the bargain bin, and it made remember again how much I love this act. I mentioned it on some Boards of Canada thread, how I think they're much more successful in combining nostalgia and remembrance of things past with an underlying sense of creepiness and menace. The way they use almost exclusively found and non-synthetic sounds but loop and distort them to the limit of recognizability gives them a peculiar feel I haven't really found in any other artist. Their tunes always seem to evoke the past, both your own and the imagined images of eras you weren't even born in, but these images feel disjointed, like false memories covering something you want to forget.
One time I was walking through a silent forest path listening to their first album on the headphones, and it made everything feel so creepy I had to stop the record, otherwise I would've run through the forest scared as hell.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 22 July 2007 13:16 (eighteen years ago)
Even though they're best at creating sound textures, I think they often have kick-ass drums for such an experimental act. If I remember correctly one of them also works as a rap producer or something.
― Tuomas, Sunday, 22 July 2007 13:19 (eighteen years ago)
Hmm, I kinda suspected no one would answer this thread, for some reason 310 has been overlooked by almost everyone.
― Tuomas, Monday, 23 July 2007 06:16 (eighteen years ago)
Anyone?
― Tuomas, Friday, 27 July 2007 08:10 (eighteen years ago)
Never heard of them but I'd really like to check them out, judging by your recommendation above. "Silent forest path"-listening = classic!
― willem, Friday, 27 July 2007 09:24 (eighteen years ago)
Their albums sorta go from very experimental to more poppy: the first one is all loops and atmospherics, but After All already has hooks and a couple of vocals. They're all worth listening though.
― Tuomas, Friday, 27 July 2007 09:40 (eighteen years ago)
I really really liked the 310 track on a Leaf compilation I got, so I picked up an album (possibly The Dirty Rope) and I remember finding it a bit disappointing, to be honest. But I will stick it on again to see what a few years on a shelf will have done for it.
― a passing spacecadet, Friday, 27 July 2007 12:33 (eighteen years ago)
they're no 311
― hstencil, Friday, 27 July 2007 12:36 (eighteen years ago)
Dirty Rope is maybe the weakest of the four albums I've heard, but it still has great moments (the hidden track is one of their best). Snorkelhouse is probably the best summation of their style. After All is great too, though as I said it's quite different from the previous three, it's closer to downtempo/trip hop than to their previous found sound works. I haven't heard the 2003 album, and sadly they seemed to have stopped releasing stuff after that.
― Tuomas, Friday, 27 July 2007 13:03 (eighteen years ago)
Though I can easily understand not liking 310, there isn't much else to them than the atmosphere (plus some great beats), and if that doesn't grab you, there's little to be done.
― Tuomas, Friday, 27 July 2007 13:08 (eighteen years ago)
I got Sixes and Sevens, their latest album from 2007, and it's pretty dope. They've ditched the vocalist who was on the previous two albums, which I think is a good move. The vocal tunes on those albums were actually quite nice, but I think they're style of music tends to work better without singing. The new album has some live drums and in general is closer to typical trip hop/blunted beats than anything they've done before (which maybe explains why no one seems to have heard it, as this sort of a sound is hardly trendy at the moment). One tune has some scratching and a guest trumpetist, and it sounds almost funky! I wouldn't have expected that from these guys! There's still enough loops and found sounds and dreamy ambient drones to make it unmistakably 310 though.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:41 (sixteen years ago)
Sometimes I feel like I'm this act's biggest and only fan. I own all their albums, but I don't really know anyone else who'd even heard of them, let alone listened to their music. It's kinda sad.
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:45 (sixteen years ago)
― Tuomas, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 20:55 (sixteen years ago)
I have After All, and like it. Sort of forget about them sometimes, I should catch up with their others.
― erasingclouds, Thursday, 7 May 2009 11:17 (sixteen years ago)
If you like the more experimental/ambient sounds on After All, you should check the records that preceded it, especially Snorkelhouse, which I think is their best album. If you like the more poppy tunes, check out Recessional, the album that came out after After All. It has more vocals by the dude who sings on "After All" (the song), and in general has a nice trip hoppy feel. 310's progression has been pretty much from very experimental (their first album) to rather poppy (Recessional), though Sixes and Sevens doesn't quite fit into that pattern.
― Tuomas, Thursday, 7 May 2009 15:36 (sixteen years ago)