the new Plush album

heywha? a new Plush album? Details! Details!!

http://www.img8.com/after_hours/top/main.html

for info on Japanese tour (!!!). Info on the LP if you scroll down a bit. All in Japanese. Sigh.

Not heard it yet. Full band LP, apparently.

All I've managed to establish is that it's called "Fed" and features a very well-dressed Liam on the cover (well, his chest anyway). Why isn't DC or Domino doing this one I wonder? Is it because his records sell bugger-all?

I found out some things as well. I think it cost so much money to make that neither Drag City nor Domino could afford to release it. It's for sale at the websites of Other Music and Reckless for around $25. It does indeed feature a full band. Plush are also playing in Chicago in about a month.

I adore Liam Hayes. An incredibly nice bloke too. He played a solo gig in Melbourne to about 12 people. I was enraptured. He couldn't quite understand why I would want him to sign copies of his records.

Dunno if anybody remembers Plush, but Drag City has this to say in their latest news update:

"PLUSH LIFE
Think time passes slowly here? In the decade since the debut 7” single from Plush in 1994, the world has seen a mere two Plush albums (and a pair of swinging singles from the albums, to be completely accurate). Ah, but good things do take time and we’re always willing to wait the time it takes Plush to get it together (even when we aren’t releasing the good things ourselves). So imagine our pleasure in announcing a new full-length release, courtesy of Sea Note, this November! There’s only one hitch — it’s actually only a partially new release. You want us to come right out and say it? It’s called Underfed — and it’s an “official bootleg” of 2002’s Fed CD (on Afterhours/P-Vine)! You’ll have to wait until next year for genuinely new Plush music — but in the meantime, we think that getting Underfed is just what you’ll need. See, in case you hadn’t heard, Fed is one of the world’s most elaborate pop music recordings, with layers of overdubs atop further layers, not to mention the original tracks. Then there’s Underfed. This version of the album is composed of earlier versions of the songs. Overdubbed not quite so extensively with Plush’s signature collection of Chamberlin and Mellotron sounds, Underfed has “Recorded at Home” scratched into the play-out groove (figuratively, that is — it’s a CD only release, okay people?). It also features the unhindered joy and psychedelic madness that didn’t always make it into the mix of Fed. We’re always pleased to offer up an alternative reality — with Underfed, you get two for the price of one: the alternate reality show that is Plush, and the alternate reality soundtrack (to the unreleased film) called Underfed."

nice, this is neat news.

Excellent. Could never bring myself to pay £25 or whatever for Fed and though it's a shame they're not releasing that I suppose this is at least something to be pleased about.

Wonder if anything will top the stumbling Dennis Wilsonisms of Found A Little Baby?

Did this ever come out?

Yes. I need to give it another spin when I'm less sleepy.

I got hold of it recently. I don't really like the production, i have to say. it doesn't feel natural in the context of the songs. however it does make me interested in the "underfed" demos cd that drag city are putting out...

Story in the Reader about the album and the release party from last month. Guess it was the first time the original band had been together on stage since the late 90s. Missed the show but heard from several folks that Hayes and band were in pretty good form:

http://www.chicagoreader.com/TheMeter/041029.html

the funny thing is that it* came out on Sea Note (not Drag City)... anyone know the distinction there?

*It being Underfed (not Fed).

Does this album have a song called "Stone Temple Pilots" on it?

this was a good thread:
Plush: C/D?

(not really).

PFF

Maybe I'm missing something, but the couple times I listened to Fed I hated it. I don't get this at all

"The Plush album Fed is Chicago indie rock's Smile, its Tusk, its Loveless, with singer-songwriter Liam Hayes standing in for Brian Wilson, Lindsey Buckingham, and Kevin Shields"

except in human interest terms. I'll check out Underfed at some point though because the early singles and More You Becomes You are so damn great.

i think it sounds like it's been fussed over too much. i'm no lo-fi apologist but the 7" version of 'no education' that sounds like it was recorded through a single stereo mic (and it probably was) is exceedingly better than the album version.

Sea Note is sort of the in-jokey side label of DC. Typically they put out limited-edition 7"s including Koretzky's band Desert Storm.