Anyone up for this John Foxx and Robin Guthrie collaboration?

Okay, I guess this was mentioned by DJ Martian on a Foxx thread. I found it on Alex In NYC's blog, but maybe it deserves its own thread? If not, please lock or delete this, thanks mods.

From metamatic.com:

The long-awaited collaboration album between John Foxx and Robin Guthrie, entitled Mirrorball will be released through Metamatic Records (distributed by Universal) on Monday the 4th of May, 2009.

Layers of echoes and reverberations are explored on Mirrorball so that Guthrie's unique guitar work merges with Foxx's abstract, often improvised vocals.

I think this thing is cool as shit:
http://tr.youtube.com/watch?v=mjEdrnPW8KQ

http://tr.youtube.com/watch?v=5ABaE8ICj8A&

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5ABaE8ICj8A&hl=en&fs=1";></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5ABaE8ICj8A&hl=en&fs=1"; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

It won't embed!

Aw, man, thanks so much, I really don't know what I was doing wrong. Why don't people care about this? I mean...why don't fucking COCTEAU TWINS FANS GET A LOAD OF THIS?

I care about this. Sounds like Foxx would have fit right in with This Mortal Coil.

into this

this is so much better than it needs to be

Aw, man, thanks so much, I really don't know what I was doing wrong. Why don't people care about this? I mean...why don't fucking COCTEAU TWINS FANS GET A LOAD OF THIS?

because a band whose ideas were incredibly fresh and new 25 years ago aren't quite as urgent a proposition 25 years on?

The track linked sounds damn nice I must admit. I'm looking forward to the album quite a bit.

because a band whose ideas were incredibly fresh and new 25 years ago aren't quite as urgent a proposition 25 years on?

Yes, yes, John. This is well trod ground between you and I. There do seem to be some folks here who have popped up to say they're interested in this. I will take your post to mean you're not one of them. By your argument, there would be no reason for anyone to listen to say...classical music. Do you consider the ideas of your own music to be fresh & new? I just think it's silly to judge music by whether it's got fresh & new ideas, especially in this day and age when stylistically, there's really no such thing anymore. It's all been done. I mean the first time I heard say, Eurythmics song "Sweet Dreams" I was flabbergasted by how new and untried it sounded, but I don't expect that from music now. I'd be a fool to. I'm not interested in starting a war here, because I like you, John, but I think your post here was in poor judgement.

oh Bimble would you kindly take some ribbing from me, it's in good humor. you asked the question ("why don't more people care about this?") & I answered it! how do you get to complain when I answer your question?

Alright, well, let's just agree to disagree. At that time I wrote my question, I just wanted to hear from more people right at that moment. It took some time for them to pop up. Fair enough. Are you even a Cocteaus fan John? Just curious.

Yeah I can take some ribbing, it's no prob, John ;) Just wish that you would say whether you personally care about the subject of this thread or not.

Oh yes, I'll be buying this.

I loved the Cocteau Twins so much - was never as sold on John FoxxVox as I was on the Midge Ure iteration of the same band - can't really get very excited for this, no. I mean, it sounds a lot a lot a lot like a more languid Cocteau Twins, and I have more or less all the Cocteau Twins I need! I would be interested in, like, a Robin Guthrie projet where he decided to swear off pedals, or play a baritone acoustic, or stretch out in some way: you know? it sounds lovely, but it doesn't really reach me.

Hey, fair enough! That's all I wanted out of someone on this thread, was an honest assessment. Thanks!

I would be interested in, like, a Robin Guthrie projet where he decided to swear off pedals, or play a baritone acoustic, or stretch out in some way

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_bkCMtiZ4GRo/SNxqneNkl9I/AAAAAAAAAFY/W7HhrD2fPNM/s320/Victorialand.jpg

my favorite Cocteau Twins album by about a mile!

however I do not think there are no pedals/outboard effects on V-land NTI

Fair enough. I wrote a Stylus piece some years ago about how it was precisely the *lack* of development in the Cocteau Twins' music that I found so appealing about them.

They're probably the only band that was around for an eternity that I actually wish hadn't broken up.

OK, but how about a Robin Guthrie, Liz Fraser, and Simon Raymonde collaboration? I'll shut up and go away now.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA OTM OTM OTM OTM

I am looking forward to this future release.

Hahhaaha Esteban has the best screen names as usual.

This is nice, but it could almost be a Cocteau Twins track (circa Four Calendar Cafe) with Liz's vocals pitch-shifted a couple of octaves down

that youtube song is pretty

It is very pretty but I will probably not buy this.

it was precisely the *lack* of development in the Cocteau Twins' music

I dunno: what kind of time period are we talking about here? The idea that there was any lack of development between, like, Garlands and Four-Calendar Cafe is mindboggling to me.

(That said, I do think Guthrie is a guy who gradually homed in on what would be His Distinctive Thing, and from his band to his production to anything else he's ever done, that thing has been static and distinctive enough that it's bound to be a bit less exciting to anyone already familiar with it.)

that track sounds like fabric softener and the voice reminds me of that awful singer from sigur ros. nobody needs this new age rubbish these days. i don't see the connection to the cocteaus except that guthrie is involved. the cocteaus without liz fraser are dud anyway.

would be interested in, like, a Robin Guthrie projet where he decided to swear off pedals, or play a baritone acoustic

Largely acoustic (but still reverb-y) cover of "Serpentskirt":

^Wow that was very good. I was a little afraid the guy would ruin everything as soon as he started singing, but no, pretty good voice too!

nobody needs this new age rubbish these days.

LOL "new age rubbish" accounts for a large amt of my listening these days but I need it less window-dressing and more DEEP EARTH RESONANCE DRONE like max corbacho

oh jesus if you really are spinning Max Corbacho CDs then you're going to eat your withering Vangelis scorn raw the second you hear side 2 of 'L'Apocalypse Des Animaux'

telling you

ps Korma Moffett's GOLDEN BOWLS OF COMPASSION

The Serpentskirt cover is very nice! Who'd have thought?

I admit I haven't followed Guthrie's post-Cocteau Twins stuff very much at all. Hasn't he ever done any straight ahead acoustic sorts of stuff in all that time? Oh well, maybe not. I saw him play with Harold Budd in 2006 and it was incredibly boring.

Okay I think I'm sortof addicted to this Serpentskirt cover now.

Okay, call me naive but I can't believe these three people are on one stage together. What did I do to deserve this kind of bliss?
&

yes, the third one is the Buchanan dude from Blue Nile, incase you don't feel like watching it all to find out.

Guthrie's solo album erm... I forget it's title now, oh dear. Anyway it's terribly nice but completely unvisceral or challenging in any way.

Challenges are for astronauts. Gimme more music that sounds great when I'm lying in bed high as a kite.

Okay I think I'm sortof addicted to this Serpentskirt cover now.

That guy's got a bunch of interesting covers, heavy on the shoegaze.

+1 on liking that cover of Serpentskirt.

I dunno: what kind of time period are we talking about here? The idea that there was any lack of development between, like, Garlands and Four-Calendar Cafe is mindboggling to me.

Well, there IS development in some ways, obviously -- even putting aside the first few releases (Garlands, Peppermint Pig) Liz started singing real lyrics, the drum programming got a lot more sophisticated, and so forth. But nothing on Milk and Kisses would have sounded particularly out of place on, say, the Sunburst and Snowblind EP.

You really think so? I can't agree with this. M&K had a real adult radio sound to it, at least in some of the songs - S&S was a lot harsher and full of minor chords - think of the start of "When Mama Was Moth". Thats not at all like "Ups", for example. But I suppose if you normalised out the production on each one it might at least get closer.

Yeah I was racking my brains earlier as to how to respond to that comment about whether the Cocteau Twins developed or not. I'm divided on the subject. Sure, they did develop, but not in a particularly dramatic way, I don't think. That said, my friend played me some track from Four Calendar Cafe recently and I was at pains to explain to him what a shock that album was at the time it came out and why it was the only Cocteaus album I've never returned to. For him, it was like the first Cocteaus he'd heard and he had to go back in time. I mean don't get me wrong, I've said elsewhere they left a perfect or nearly perfect catalogue behind. But I'm on the fence if someone says "they didn't develop" because the fact is, they did and they didn't.

Garlands is kindof a separate thing, though with a separate bassist. So it doesn't really count as far as evaluating whether they developed or not.

FCC is in hindsight a rather disappointing release for them - its one I very rarely listen to as well.I feel bad saying so about my fav band, but there it is.

Okay I think I'm sortof addicted to this Serpentskirt cover now.

That guy's got a bunch of interesting covers, heavy on the shoegaze.

yeah, fwiw I kindof flipped over this dude's stuff on You Tube tonight. He's obviously got fantastic taste in music to have covered the songs he did, there. Some of them work more than others though. I decided his Sundays & Sonic Youth covers were the most to my liking and I'm going to put them on my iPod right now. I'll give him big props for covering Pale Saints, but it's just not as good.

this is really good, much more engaging than any other guthrie albums after cocteau twins (the budd collabs are nice but lack character, to me).

although, my first though, half-way through the album was, "jesus this would be the greatest album ever if liz and simon were on it also"

oh jesus if you really are spinning Max Corbacho CDs then you're going to eat your withering Vangelis scorn raw the second you hear side 2 of 'L'Apocalypse Des Animaux'

I missed this but that was just funnin' on that thread, Vangelis is fine (not a patch on Keith Jarrett obv tho lol)

Regarding "did they develop or not?", there were plenty of changes to their music and production up through Blue Bell Knoll, but within a framework that was uniquely recognizable as the Cocteau Twins sound. Heaven or Las Vegas perfected the Blue Bell sound.

After that, while there was still some development going on, you wouldn't know it from Four Calendar Cafe or Milk & Kisses, which stuck with the formula. Any further variation to their sound in the final years appeared only on singles (Mizake the Mizan) or the Twinlights and Otherness EPs.

As good as they are, Four Calendar and Milk didn't have anything really new and couldn't top Heaven, so they felt like disappointments at the time.

Guitar is distinctively pretty, I like Violet Indiana better, the vocals are better.

Went round a friend's house and they were playing this. Complete 'WTF is this?!! it sounds like Cocteau Twins, but... not?' moment.

Had no idea it was so old. No wonder I couldn't find any info about it on the internet.

What language is John Foxx singing here? Is he just spouting Fraserish? There were a couple of moments where I thought he was singing recognisable Japanese words (subete, ima, eto) then thought my brain has been warped by too much Japanese cyberpunk pop.

Ah, discogs reckons it’s cod Latin. Just my brain playing tricks, then

what was the video with paul buchanan mentioned up-thread?

I have no idea! I found the Serpentskirt Cover by Matt Gurley but I can't work out what the Paul Buchanan thing is - no results for him plus Robin Guthrie / John Foxx. (And the link between Paul Buchanan and John Foxx is a Hannah Peel track that wouldn't be released for another 10 years!)

I would be interested in, like, a Robin Guthrie projet where he decided to swear off pedals, or play a baritone acoustic, or stretch out in some way: you know? it sounds lovely, but it doesn't really reach me.

This makes me laugh so much, tho. Can you imagine someone saying 'well, I would be interested in a Metallica project where they stripped off the fiddly guitar solos and just played 3-chord pop' or 'I would love to hear, say, Cannibal Corpse leave off the cookie monster vocals and sing simply in a clear tenor register'

My dude, you are looking for a different band.

what was the video with paul buchanan mentioned up-thread?

The video is Peter Gabriel, Liz Frazier, and Buchanan. This is the original link but there are better quality uploads now if you search.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byBzRI1Z5LE

Errr, Fraser.