White Denim

Hey, I like these guys. Do you like these guys?

ugh i thought this was an ils thread

Yeah. Terrible style choice, terrible band name, good band.

Some irritating schmindie trappings but a lot of surprises. Moments that remind me of some of the lesser macho blues rock bands of the Woodstock era (Guess Who, Ten Years After), math-rocky and proggy interludes, male singer that does not sound 8 years old.

so they named themselves after a functioning record label? good job.

http://www.whitedenim.com/

good job caring

yr right, unoriginal lame-o's deserve a pass. my bad.

label >>>>>> band altho to be fair I doubt a lot of real confusion arises in this instance

Guess Who, Ten Years After

Didn't hear much like "American Woman" or "I'm Going Home," myself. On the other hand, they were liked at Paperthinwalls, although I didn't care the material I was asked to review.

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Turn the thing up real loud, mix with flashing lights, and if there are any epileptics in the vicinity, they'll hurl and seize. Burned to a CD and stuck in the house 500-watter, it made cats run for cover and hide for 15 minutes ... -- White Denim's “Let's Talk About It.”
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That was the gist of it, since PTW's gone.

I like these dudes though they're a little inconsistent; they've got some really hot songs and some boring ones. They should stick to the louder, more raucous songs.

really like "Let's Talk About It" and "Shake Shake Shake"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oPvyUHX3DE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eYwkkujr5Y

hey i really love this band alot, exposion was one of my favourite albums from last year, but i think i like the rawer and spacier let's talk about it ep a bit better. do you know they have a new record due out this year? i went to see them open for tapes n' tapes on like, a tuesday night and my friend and i were the only non-staff members in the venue while they played. for the record there were only like, twenty people there when tapes n' tapes played anyways, and they suck so we left. but yeah, white denim are like retarded underappreciated. someone should sign them.

new album is amazing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTO0ofTIPKE

search "sitting"

destroy nothing, really. they are retardedly brilliant.

def two sides to this band. both are pretty amazing. i can't tell if they are serious or not on the second half of the album.

Kind of fun, I like their laid back aesthetics.

why don't they have an american label?

They should stick to the louder, more raucous songs.

so wrong it hurtz

their quieter less raucous songs are wonderful and every bit as good as their loud raucous ones. i will say, though, that i prefer white denim at their weirdest, alot of which was shaved off on the album versions of songs sadly. search workout holiday and let's talk about it ep but of course everything else is excellent. does anyone have a link for the new album?

new album is fun, look for it on sordo: http://www.sordomusic.com/db/

They're fucking amazing, glad they have some love here. There was a bit of hype surrounding them last year when Workout Holiday came out (UK equivalent to Exposion), but I only really cottoned on ahead of them playing Belfast last weekend. Been listening to very little else since. Fits is just superb, and live they are something else. All the songs bleed into one another, they are unbelievably good musicians, but it's all just focused enough not to get wanky. Loads of sweaty energy as well. Awesome.

Great video of them on a British TV show here - http://www.fromthebasement.tv/artists/white-denim/performances/all-you-really-have-to-do-paint-silver

new album is fun great

― mizzell, Tuesday, June 23, 2009 3:57 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark

not to say it isn't fun.

So when is it supposed to be available in the U.S.? And why is Exposion impossible to find? I thought I'd take the easy way and buy a disc at their show. But it was before either was released, so it was an unmarked early CDR version of Workout Holiday. When I try to rip it, none of the databases recognize it.

i think exposion is only available as a digital download.
they don't really do cds.

So there's a new one? Annoyed it's not on emusic yet and also it isn't mentioned on their site (but it is mentioned on myspace). Definitely weird that they don't have a US label -- they're an Austin band, no?

o nevermind, both their albums are on cd in the uk, i just read a quote of them saying they don't see the point of making cds.
fits is the new one and it is mentioned on their website.

I saw that quote I think on their Myspace page or something. That's dumb. Then how about a lossless download for $4, since I'm not paying for physical media, case, artwork/booklet, manufacturing, distribution and resale?

you get flac files of exposion for 8.99 from their website which seems fair to me.

"Then how about a lossless download for $4, since I'm not paying for physical media, case, artwork/booklet, manufacturing, distribution and resale?"

This stuff represents very little of the actual cost of creating/marketing an album and being a band in general.

I'm basing it on the criteria that CDs really shouldn't be more than $10. I think $5 for the cost of what I mentioned above is about right. Mass paperback books are $7.99 which seems fair. I'd pay $5, but not for Exposion, as I already paid $10 for their CDr. You can try to guilt consumers into paying more because being in a band is hard, or you can offer a good price and actually sell some damn music. What url are they selling flac at? I just see MP3s.

these numbers seem so arbritrary. how are they guilting you into anything?
i bought the album from http://whitedenimmusic.com/ and got mp3s and FLAC files.

They are not. I was referring to the subtext of "This stuff represents very little of the actual cost of creating/marketing an album and being a band in general". The particular comment was not about anything White Denim has done or said. Good for them for offering flac. They should make it clearer on the site.

yeah, it's def not clear, i thought i was just buying mp3s

Exposion CD is so hard to find because they had some crappy deal going with Transmission, an Austin promoter who tried to release the album on vinyl and cd but basically screwed the pooch.

which makes the pfork claim that they are a 'product of the internet' (more so than 'best new music' bands?) just wrong, because getting too involved with a local promoter at the early stages of your career is a pretty old school move.

yeah i'm a little perplexed as to why they're still without an american label. but eugh that pitchfork review. the criticism that they're all ability and no craft seems like such a lazy (not to mention wrong) and back-handed compliment. in my opinion the songs are all real well written, better written than alot of best new music. if anything they use their abilities modestly; more as a way of exploring neat musical ideas and allowing for unconventional interludes that less tech-ey bands couldn't pull off, rather than macho displays of virtuosity. anyways, i am very pleased with the new album's return to rougher and weirder territories and i like the way they really split the album in two, with prettier and softer numbers all crowded in the second half. rock and roll album of the year, probably.

Austin's White Denim has signed with Downtown (home of Mos Def, Major Lazer, Spank Rock, Justice, Santigold, et al.). The group's sophomore LP, Fits, will see a proper U.S. release this October on the label.

i like these guys even though they sort of make me think of primus.

not musically, really. just the overall vibe.

and what's wrong with primus?

they make me think of primus musically more than in terms of overall vibe. but like, still not that much.

nothing's wrong with primus, i just don't like them that much. but i do like white denim, even tho they somehow remind me of primus. (or, since i never really listened to primus much, it's more like they remind me of my idea of primus.)(which is probably unfair to all involved.)

anyway. i do like white denim.

Fits is great.
at long last an indie record that Steely Dan just might like...

Oh shit, Fits is a riot!!!

I'm two and a half tracks in and it's stone-classic! OMG!

New album is terrific but definitely their most straightforward yet.

listened to it twice. didn't love it - seemed a bit strait-laced whereas I was hoping they'd take their eclecticism to new places. maybe it's a grower?

First couple listening sessions, it's even more focused and polished than the last one (which was f-in' great), but definitely leaves behind most of their garage psych prog elements, and more post-Z.Z. Top chooglin boogie, but less Meat Puppets than maybe mid-90s Ween? Not what I hoped for, but enjoyable in a backyard BBQ kind of way. More quirky details are emerging in repeated listens though.

are these dudes any good live? they're coming to town in a few weeks

they're very good. although this was 4-5 years ago when they were in a more rockin/shredding mode

I feel like this band is a little lacking in a clear identity. I generally like them but sort of can't get a handle on what they are.

I love this latest one - it's crazy joyous.

haven't heard the new one yet but i love the yacht rock jam at the end of their last record

has there ever been a good record where more than half of the song titles contain parenthetical appendages?

Hands down the best live currently touring "indie" band in the U.S. I consider garage psych their ground zero, with prog, desert rock, blues and soul elements. After witnessing their virtuosic playing that can seem loose but is always disciplined, it should clear up any doubts about their identity.

There's an article in the latest Bruce Springsteen cover Uncut that I read last night that gives the band history. I wasn't that aware of who the band members were before reading that and now it looks like half the previous line up of the band have left and been replaced. So might mean influence balance has changed somewhat.

I picked up D a few years ago and I think another one. Interesting stuff. I've just been rediscovering them cos somebody on Demonoid was sharing the lps recently. THink I might need to pick up physical copies of a couple more.

Great article. I had no idea their second-ish album, Fits was considered such a classic, and they were making references to it with the title (Fits in reverse) and "Mirrored In Reverse." I love the album, but it seemed like no one else did at the time. One of the new members is so young he said he grew up listening to Fits.

It should be mentioned that pretty much EVERYTHING THEY RECORDED is great. So do check out Let's Talk About It EP (2007), Exposion/Workout Holiday (2008), and download-only stuff like "Goldie Locks" (2008) and Last Day Of Summer (2010), Takes Place In Your Work Space EP (2011).

i saw them recently and they left no impression on me at all. the seems like a nice group of people though.

Band is super tight but their current sound shows SO much fealty to 70s riff rock and AOR that it's almost creepy

Like what is the appeal of making a Bad Company record in 2016?

Its deeper and more varied than that, though: Allmans, choogle, blue-eyed Stax, fluid and fluent jazz-rock. last time i interviewed them they were talking about their label asking them to write pop songs. This album sounds like those pop songs, and they're even better than their other stuff.

I dunno, they seem to get less interesting with each record, if you go back to Fits now it's like a totally different band.

I don't see the second half of that sentence as a problem, and I disagree with the first half inna IMHO stylee.

I loved D so much and was really disappointed by Corsicana Lemonade. Is it worth persevering a bit more?

To be fair, yes, if you are bored with blues and soul based rock, they are less "interesting." They are less spastic and raw, and I would have loved to see them stick with a more garage psych prog direction. However, they are such a tight band, and I think the songs are really enjoyable and well written. They will lose some of the old audience, but judging from their increasingly larger sold-out venues and reception on Austin City Limits, they are doing very well.

The stuff named by Stevie all just sounds like standard ingredients of a 70s bluesy AOR band.

the dudes were always chooglers at heart

I don't know, at the current time I feel about the same way about revivalist AOR blues rock as I do about Brian Setzer. I'm glad they're getting paid and all, but couldn't they make better money as accountants?

I love Stiff. I can get with the criticism that they're doing a...pastiche, or a homage, or that they're treading in well-worn and perhaps discredited sonic paths. They sure have a light touch But the wit of the music gets me--the intro of "There's a Brain in My Head," for example. I got to give credit to any modern group who can pull off a song like "Take It Easy (Ever After Lasting Love)" and not sound like they're just sending up an old style. Seems to me they're referencing an era when pop toons met experimentation and "jamming" and everyone thought that was normal. Sea Level/Randall Bramblett circa '76, maybe, more than the Allmans? The Screaming Gypsy Bandits? Were there progressive soul bands back then that sounded like this?

I'm glad these guys are out there, and I don't quite get all the criticism about revivalists, etc. Nobody says that all the zillions of synth pop & neo R&B acts that are out there.

Yeah I'll confess a lot of it is down to my personal dislike of the style. For my entire life I've had white male mediocrity shoved down my throat, first by the thorough blandening of the "classic rock" canon, then by years and years of critical blandishments piled upon tedious soundalike indie, and now we get to look forward to the combination of the two? Joy.

Without even going into the demonstrative public yawning in the face of the new Frank Ocean record, the neo R&B acts have had to work for years and years just to get their damn _albums released_. Black Messiah was released to universal critical acclaim and bombed, you can't get white people to even _listen_ to King, and these White Denim... who were always based strongly in reference, from their beginning days, but used to bring something else to the table.. they're reaching out to a new generation of Dave Matthews Band fans.

I should rejoice at their success? No. I loathe, with every fibre of my being, fans of the Dave Matthews Band in 2016. This world is going straight to hell, and they are a fucking big part of the problem. I understand this isn't a just world, never has been, never will be, but you release a record with a cover as terrible as _Stiff_'s, and you're just rubbing my face in it.

p much otm, and I like a good amount of the classic rock cannon, but this isn't even referencing the better parts of it. And I also strongly associate the styles on display here with retrograde attitudes toward women.

I smell a think piece coming on

are these guys really that popular??

Ha, that's what I was wondering. I thought they were toiling in obscurity.

i mean i guess i thought they were decently popular like i dunno they could headline a 800-1000 club or something and play during the day at a big festival but not like black keys or anything

they play at the turf club like once a year, if that helps. they're 'making it' as a rock band in 2016

I like a good amount of the classic rock cannon, but this isn't even referencing the better parts of it

― socka flocka-jones (man alive), Tuesday, 2 August 2016 19:34 (48 minutes ago) Permalink

that's what ppl do now though

White Denim is playing in Nashville at an outdoors show with a couple of neo-soul artists, Andra Day and Allen Stone, both of whom I find pretty useless. I'm no fan of the Daves Matthew Band either, but I think White Denim has a lot more musical substance than Dave Matthews. I also hear a softening in their sound since their first stuff back in 2007-2008 and since Corsicana Lemonade--the math-rock part of their style isn't as in evidence, though I think the last track on Stiff, "Thank You," is a pretty astute combination of a kind of neo-soul and math-rock, or whatever you'd call what they do in the intro section of that song. You say "classic rock" and "blandening" and "blandishments" and yeah, "Thank You" definitely derives from what for example Hendrix did during his Rainbow Bridge era, and also from Southern rock. And yeah, they're singing about optimistic shit, "we made it," and that could be construed as bland. Yacht rock. But I have to think that a band in 2016 that at least tries to play "jazzy" (as in the little triple-time section toward the end of "Thank You") is swimming against the current--when's the last time jazz in any form meant anything to fans of rock music? The '80s, when Ulmer and Ronald Shannon Jackson, and maybe Beefheart, were working in that mode and trying to cross over? I like bands like Parquet Courts and Leland Sundries who are kinda doing something with that Beefheart mode--filtered thru Pavement and so forth--and I think what White Denim is doing is as valid as anything PC and LS are doing; the difference may be in the worldview, which in WD's case seems to be a bit less stressed and certainly less concerned with delineating various (indie) conundrums, since someone brought up indie rock above as something we've had shoved down our throats. I mean I am not a big fsn of indie precisely because it abandoned a lot of good practices that I think White Denim, with their jazz influence, is at least trying to bring back. (There are bands who try to revitalize the Cambridge Euro-jazz influence of Soft Machine and their ilk--Nashville's Paperhead comes to mind, and they're not bad at it.) I'm a fan of pop if not exactly a god damn poptimist or anti-rockist and I just hear White Denim as good pop, catchy stuff played a band with chops that aren't too egregiously on display. Interesting music with enough variety to keep me from getting bored, and songful. I also for example think Tom Ze is great, and I'd argue that Ze also combines askew instrumental passages with old-fashioned song form and references his country's "classic" forms in the same way White Denim does. So maybe what I'm getting at is the idea that "indie" has clouded our perception of what musical conservatism is versus supposed innovation--not that there hasn't been innovation within indie, you know. Maybe there is a think piece somewhere in this stuff.

ya but the cover art might mean they have regressive attitudes towards women

Basically if you like them you belong at a Trump rally.

nothing against white denim who i'm sure are swell guys, just like i'm sure those guys who aren't smashmouth from cleveland are swell guys, but there is a culture war on, and the kids who place importance on being "woke" tend to define stuff like white denim as everything they're against. right now i love gentle giant, but ask me again when it's 1977, y'know?

they're just a wasted opportunity, like i'd totally be up for a super tight band doing an adhd take on classic rock but they pander just a little too much to the black keys fans of the world.

Confederacy, could you be more specific about the "culture war" and "what the kids are against"?

i don't think ppl who identify as woke give any kind of fuck about white denim

Apparently no such thing as relaxed white denim

I got to give credit to any modern group who can pull off a song like "Take It Easy (Ever After Lasting Love)" and not sound like they're just sending up an old style

This. They tread a tightrope and risk mawkishness and pastiche and pull it all off with a panache and invention and joyfulness I think is just wonderful.

nothing against white denim who i'm sure are swell guys, just like i'm sure those guys who aren't smashmouth from cleveland are swell guys, but there is a culture war on, and the kids who place importance on being "woke" tend to define stuff like white denim as everything they're against. right now i love gentle giant, but ask me again when it's 1977, y'know?

― a confederacy of lampreys (rushomancy), Tuesday, August 2, 2016 6:10 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hahaha i might have to listen to this controversial band, unless i already did and forgot

tell me more about woke kids and what i shoud listen to on spotify on my headphones at work. want to make sure i'm making a difference.

Are bad company good? which album should i listen to

they are solid for 70s rock

i would advocate that Humble Pie is way better if you want something in that vein

I don't really think White Denim sound like Bad Company, unless I've been listening to the wrong Bad Company records - WD have a restless rhythm section and are always changing up the tempo and keeping things lively. They have more in common with the Jimi Hendrix Experience rhythm section (esp circa Electric Ladyland, and Come On in particular) than the stodgier 70s brand.

Holy cow, it’s true! These guys have been my COVID-19 find. I was all set to see them in March but pandemic.

I have wondered why they aren’t bigger - all of their records are loaded with hooks and good-to-great songs. I figured there was some indie backlash after D was released (which in hindsight was really dumb, D is terrific). But then I see comments above assigning political crap. Bullshit. I just hope I get to see them play - and highly recommend to you all.

p.s. this is my first post in 14 years, where’s Ned Ragget and Anthony Miccio?? 😀

D is great! I love D!

Right? It’s such a great car album. Back at the Farm must be so much fun to play or see played.

I actually came across these guys from a tv show called Letterkenny. Being able to objectively listen to all of their records without any expectations, other than All You Really Have To Do was a killer song, I’m delighted with their output. Their sound has progressed, but the songwriting is consistently strong and the band is technically excellent. Can’t wait to see them live whenever that is.