Cold Cave

http://cdn.stereogum.com/img/thumbnails/posts/btw-cold_cave.jpg

Thoughts on these goth revivalists? song titles like "the trees grew emotions and died" make me think self-aware parody, but i'm digging it in the sincere listen-mope-repeat kinda way.

love them. not as goth as they first seem - the cremations lp is balls out proper industrial. love comes close is one of my pop records of the year. good live too.

Love Comes Close is fantastic, one of my 2009 favorites, too. Don't like Cremations half as much -- gets oppressive/samey long before its over, though I do like the EPs and singles it draws some of its tracks from. Easier to take in shorter bursts, I guess. Adore the spoken-word "Heavenly Metals", though, maybe my favorite Cold Cave track so far.

As for the "self-aware parody" thing, I dunno. I imagine (?) that they're aware of their own ridiculousness and the datedness of the sound, but that doesn't necessarily make Cold Cave a parody. Rather, I think they accept the absurdity of the material/genre, but don't let that prevent them from approaching it in an earnest fashion.

I think Cold Cave is some of the worst music I've ever heard.

Listen to Silk Flowers and get back to me on that.

haha, I don't like that band either!
I think Cold Cave would be a lot more tolerable if their songs were super slow and bleaked out.

yes, "heavenly metals" is my fave too. it's pretty bleaked out.

they use a micron so they must be ok (never heard them, mid)

i really like one song i heard that the xiu xiu chick sings, otherwise what ian said

I saw them live and didn't like it at all, but then heard some stuff on myspace that I did like.

Gossip alert! I heard a rumor that the Wierd guys were mad at them because they used laptops and a micron instead of vintage korgs and rolands.

they didn't use a laptop when we had them play, unless it was very well concealed. but really, who cares (apart from the wierd guys)?

that's the part that I thought was funny.

what does a wierd guy getting mad entail? a pout and a cigarette break?

I quite like "Life Magazine." Sorta reminds of an old Shona Laing single (I'm old).

xp: jw accused wierd guy of unplugging us at nye&e fest last year for "playing too long" (20 min)

I think Cold Cave is some of the worst music I've ever heard.

i agree!

Thirded. I gave a full spin to Cremations a few weeks ago, based on a friend's recommendation of it sounding like Depeche/New Order crossed with vintage industral and noise stuff. For me it simply didn't hit any of those buttons, it was just sketches of those influences without really fleshing itself out into something unique.

Haven't heard the full-length album yet, though.

band needs to decide whether to go the new order pop hitz route or the coldwave obscurantist route & stick to it.

Dunno. They started out crossing harsh noise with industrial & coldwave influences, but have recently (quickly) mutated into a Depeche/New Order styled synth-pop band - with a few lingering traces of the old cold style. Seems like a pretty natural progression.

I prefer their lo-fi stuff. I feel like they're a band who were better when they couldn't afford the equipment they wanted to attain the sound in their head and had to settle on making what they could with what they had.

GATES

haha, that's my drumset in that photo

namedropper

Cutty, did you not enjoy any of Love Comes Close?

i will try it again so i can attempt to understand the love for this

to me it just sounds like bratty emo kids discovered cold wave synth pop

don't waste yer time cuttz.

How are they live? They're playing in just over a week, trying to figure out if it's worth going to. I like the album, but don't necessarily think bands like that are very good live, e.g. Hot Chip and Cut Copy and the like.

Hot Chip and Cut Copy

Hot Chip and especially Cut Copy are awesome live!

Cherish the Light Years is stadium-sized

and I think I hate it

wait but the new single is amazing, it's a brutal song

wow, just crazy-making. having given the album a listen + 1/2, i have to say horribly disappointing, guys (and gal). blatant retreads of late 80's-early 90's Cure and New Order which were really pretty bland in the first place...and not even if you add a trumpet! interesting idea, but poor execution.

as a fan of their previous material (though the last album less so), will try to un-preorder this one. hasty, hasty me.

i heartily agree the single is really grand, though! wish the rest of the disc held up to those kinda standards...sounds like an A-side with 8 crappy B's.

crabbilly,
d

Usually a sucker for blatant retreads of this music, but this is so uninspired and mechanical that I'd have a hard time caring less about it.

Hmm so am I and the descrips upthread sounded right up my alley so now I'm curious. I'll have to check em out later.

Was looking forward to this a month ago, but these reports are giving me the jitters.

i've only heard the single so i'm not holding my breath, but as an introduction to the album - it's not a bad choice

which one is the single?

this is bad two tracks in. like, really really bad. sounds like the killers. does it get any better?

okay track 3 "Confetti" is better... kinda?

still quite pop

yeah this is shit

here is the album's lone decent track. enjoy! (and avoid the rest)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=686K_X9C5qU

It grows with repeated listens but it's an odd change of direction. There's a lot of New Gold Dream Simple Minds, Psychedelic Furs, Twitch era Ministry in there as well as the Power Corruption & Lies with a trumpet stuff.

There are a few belters as well though.

Even that one is half garbage.

yup -- hence "decent" -- i'm hard pressed to use any word that's more positive

Expected much more love for this album. Great record after a couple of listenings imo

my full thoughts here

there goes my matador press pass, huh :/

I doubt it, but I do tend to think reviewers projecting motives to that extent is nagl

there again I think the album's pretty good so am less inclined to feel cynical about it

hardly "projecting motives" tho?

anyway- why do you like the album so much? strikes me as very forced

the "focus grouped..." line seemed a little OTT

um, I think the songs are well-crafted and have a bunch of earworm-y riffs, and the album overall strikes a good balance between being conscious of its own absurdity and not caring if people laugh at it - also feel like it's more similar to the previous stuff than you make out (get what you're saying about the midrange-y production but don't consider it a dealbreaker myself)

the "focus grouped..." line seemed a little OTT

perhaps a bit of a stretch? :x

i'll give it another listen... didn't seem conscious of anything but its own self-seriousness to me. btw, the production looks like this-- really not fibbing when i say it's the worst i've heard in years:

http://i55.tinypic.com/2zojdvp.png

anyway, sorry to shit on this band. i think the reason i feel so strongly is that i LOVED Cremations and was quite fond of Love Comes Close... feels awful to see a band i like go a poor direction, more so than if i had never liked 'em at all, yknow?

I don't rly go in for dicking around with audio levels etc, not least cos I only listen to stuff on my PC out of necessity (and had a hard copy of the CC album), but ^that track is kind of an intentional barrage isn't it... I mean I wouldn't blame anyone for finding it really jarring and obnoxious but wondering if the production 'looks' like that for the rest of the album?

I only listen to stuff on my PC out of necessity

me too! in fact, the production's tailored for cheap headphones, PC mp3 rips, etc. -- it really comes out badly on good headphones, which is how i listen whenever i can. the whole album looks scarily close to that in audacity... i guess that shouldn't necessarily be a measuring stick, but i can't help it. i really like "confetti" as a song, fits in well w/ their aesthetic. it's just too bad about the production, really. feel like i'm having a Sick Mouthy moment...