The Joy Formidable

just seen in a small but sold-out bar in new york, which is intersting because i don't think any of their records are out in the us. yay internet.

it was a really good (if short-ish) show! i can't remember thinking this about many bands, but it seems like they should become big. they have catchy songs, they can rock out, they're attractive -- and everyone loves the welsh, right?

their 2009 album had a modest but well formed following on ILM.. i for one am v interested in their next one

I think they in (or are soon to start) the process of recording the proper debut LP. That "Greyhounds in the Slips" single bodes well.

But yeah, there are a few of us around who've been championing them to all who would listen.

I liked their album more than Passion Pit... I don't know who was first and don't really care. Cutesy gang vocals with synths aren't interesting nor inspiring.

nyctaper.com has mp3 and flac from the piano's show.

They're opening for Paul McCartney in Cardiff next month. Kinda shocked by this, they're still 'the band some friends from school are in' to me.

Thought the first album was good but a bit one-dimensional, but I liked the Greyhound single and am really interested in hearing their new album.

i had a dream that they asked me to sing for them at their show in chicago, but it was like the next day and they didn't give me any of the lyrics or practice with me or anything. then it was time for the show and they had all these extra musicians and there were stage directions i had to follow where i had to like thrust my arms in the air at a certain point

I'm really liking the enormous walls of guitars on the new album. Not so sure about the songwriting sadly.

Realized yesterday that I absolutely HATE what they did to "Whirring" by extending the outro jam to infinity and using double kickdrum hits on it like they're some metal band.

the everchanging spectrum of a lie is fucking great.

xpost -- I fucking love the double kickdrum on Whirring! I'm torn between this song and Llaw = Wall as my favorite on this album.

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to their show last month. Hopefully they will come to Portland again soon.

this big roar is kicking my ass...easily my fav release of 2011 so far.

everchanging spectrum is really awesome, one of my favorite songs of the year. good album but I played it out over three weeks and got tired of it.

Just saw on facebook that TJF is playing Conan tonight. Wooooo!

Glad there's a thread on this band. They were on GlastoBBC last night. This tiny little blonde thing in a summer skirt and doc martens playing brutal attack rock interspersed with pretty indie breakdowns. What I noticed most were her facial expressions that went from elated gaiety to snarling bitterness from verse to chorus. Sometimes I thought she was going to get blown offstage by the ferocity of their guitar playing. Ones to watch...

i think i am going to buy this album this week. loving the vocals and wall of sound production.

no coverage on the iplayer of their G set yet though.

I think you can red button their set on tv? maybe... I'd love to see it again. Good to see a front(wo)man with the right levels of gusto as she.

xpost

yes, me too.

i am lazy - what's it called?

never mind, i just found out and bought it.

album : the big roar.
no access to red button on normal freeview.
never realised how diff freeview is for sat/cable viewers then this weekend.
normal freeview had nothing on the red button really.
booo.

xpost. ha.

I've received The Big Roar in the mail (lovely artwork let down by standard plastic case - should've been a digi-pak). Will be putting my ear quite close to it at lunch and report back.

I like them a lot but I wish the songwriting was as good as their overall sound.

not got this yet.
too busy buying/absorbing the hold steady back cat. this week.
on my list though.

(lovely artwork let down by standard plastic case - should've been a digi-pak)

Yes! At the risk of stirring up yet another debate about the relative merits of each, I'm always a little disappointed when an album comes in a standard jewel case - they should all be digi-paks now.

My husband likes this band and I was never really inspired to care much until today -- watched a live performance of Whirring and there is something so pleasantly late 80s/early 90s about them. I love her!

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

I will admit that I was also put off by their name.

^^^^ otm

on both counts!

I mean, if I was still in high school I would totally have pictures of Ritzy all over my locker and be in a constant state of massive crush.

^^this

I know it's kind of crude, but I'm a sucker for a band with a cuet singer. And the early-'90s alterna-rock thing only emphasises that. Could see them being included on one of the old Volume compilations.

She's cute, but she also has guts and seems somewhat mature -- she's not cartoonishly cutesy or twee/winky. that's why i like her.

Exactly, plus she plays a mean guitar.

I saw them play live a couple of months ago in Cleveland and just stood near the stage and marveled and her and the bass player's pedal rigs. Some of them are labeled for specific songs, some have an effect feeding into another of the same effect with different settings, it's crazy. They're coming back here for a free show at the Rock and LOL Hall of Fame in August, I'll definitely see them again.

Definitely a PJ Harvey/Kristin Hersh thing about her.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5256/5561101431_3ef0d170a2.jpg

That's what I mean -- she is skilled! And adorable! I think the super noisy intro/outro are what sold me, tbh.

*sticks up poster in work locker*

Whoa. Two Line 6 loopers?

Not loopers - the gold box is the distortion modeler, the purple box is the filter (modulation) modeler.

I do not know what these things are, but I want them!

Think the two green pedals in the foreground are a Tubescreamer and a Bad Monkey (excellent cheap Tubescreamer clone)

Ah, thx. They kind of looked like old loopers but I wasn't totally sure.

A graphic eq and a tuner pedal there too. Top tip: if you don't like your distortion, try putting an eq before it, can totally change its character.

It's been quite while since I heard such a great full-on, blasting, melodic rock record.

Very good album, this. Interviewing Ritzy tomorrow if anyone has a burning question or two...

Since buying this, I've had it on my ipod but other than Abacus I couldn't tell you anything about it. Every track is kind of startling but then just wooshes over me. A shame - I like the idea of this band.

I like "Whirring" a whole bunch.

oh yeah, Whirring is the other one. The others are kind of cool, but not memorable.

It's been quite while since I heard such a great full-on, blasting, melodic rock record.

― Asamoah Nyan (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, July 17, 2011 12:45 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

cradle remains one of my favorite songs of the past couple of years

the opening track of this album (everchanging spectrum of a lie) is one of the best opening tracks of any albums in several years. it kind of overshadows the entire album by being so great though. I was on the fence about this band for a long time even after hearing the album a ton, it seemed too derivative and her vocals too siouxsie, but it eventually won me over.

coming into loving this, esp. "tendons" and "the leopard and the lung"

jury's still out on "maw maw song" tho

"Maw Maw Song" is great! I was slow to get into this band but I'm there now, dig the new album.

German livestream happening, y'all

http://www.wdr.de/tv/rockpalast/

I don't get it.

okay this album, it's so good

"Bats" is fantastic

YES.

My attention still drifts when I listen to the back half. But this is an album with "Cholla," "Tendons," and "Bats."

It's quite something.

seeing them tonight, hopefully, for the first time (hopefully because I'm kind of sick, my kid is sick, etc, but should still work out)

well this was very good. a bit slick and professional, but good nevertheless

I saw them last night and have to echo that they were slick and professional. But they are also really good musicians who were definitely having fun playing the songs and jumping around. The only complaint I might have is that because the music just goes from 0 to 100 in no time flat, hearing song after song do this for an hour and forty minutes can get kind of wearing.

I only saw one of the opening bands, Guards, who were dreadful. The best part for them was the second to last song: A sub-Arcade Fire yeller that wound up devolving into a serious psych-rock meltdown. I asked my son after the end of the song, "Why couldn't they have been doing that for the last 30 minutes?"

why are "slick and professional" bad things again?

No, I'm not saying that they are bad. But, I think if you're coming to see them because they might be reminiscent of shoegaze and what you might associate with seeing those types of bands live, they are not that at all.

Also, probably because it was spring break, but there were a load of kids with their parents at the show (raises hand since I took my 13-year old as well) which I thought was really cool.

I think if you're coming to see them because they might be reminiscent of shoegaze and what you might associate with seeing those types of bands live, they are not that at all.

Hell, I don't know about you but when I saw them touring the other year, some of the sheer throb and intensity of the performances wasn't just making me think of shoegaze but frickin' Loop. If that's the atmosphere of a claustrophobic club (as it was), then hey, I got lucky.

Ned, I wish I got to see Loop back in the day. Love that band.

This tour is way different than when I saw them about a year and a half ago. They have a full light show including a gigantic cut out of a wolf's head hanging from the cat walk with different-colored lights ringed around the cut out. There is also projector showing some of their videos and other scenes displayed at the back of the stage. And oh yeah, it was loud. So you do get that throb and intensity but also with strobes and swirling lights. At times it was like a full-on assault of the senses.

Guards were terrible! Holy crap!

Finally picked up 'Wolf's Law' at the weekend, enjoying it. A friend's band supported them in a small local venue when they were touring 'A Balloon Called Moaning' but I missed it due to work - all reports made me regret this.

Guards were heckled here at the Chicago show for their excessive smoke machine use. The other opener, Kitten, were just as bad but in a massively entertaining way, thanks to their ludicrously over-the-top stage moves.

I am all good with this:

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

in a perfect world it would be twice as long and not acoustic

New song, new album soon!

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

Great video!

I haven't heard Wolf's Law since 2013. Should revisit.

wowzers.

I don't like this very much, but maybe there'll be better songs on the record.

Its been diminishing returns since the first two singles, for me. A Balloon Called Moaning is my most played guitar rock album in a decade, but all the "ambitious" production of the later albums just distracts.

^ yes, this.

Ie, they were a lot more fun when they were into punky power-trio dustups than pretending to be Heart.

Here, the only remotely interesting sound (to me) is the descending guitar line on the bridges. On the first album, that would have been allowed to carry the song.

So, what I'm trying to say, is here's Steve Albini's number. He's really not the asshole you may think, and his studio has the BEST coffee.

this album killed any interest left in them eh

Me too, they jettisoned everything interesting.

yup same here

This band seems determined to turn into Linkin Park or some shit.

Did they release something new and uninteresting?

Any any band needed to strip back to its roots and visit Steve Albini's studio...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haktGTrtdx0

Mike Shinoda could "rap" all over this.

last two albums lost me but it's return to form time baby!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fRYvc6jZy0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAR3Wdu9rZo

first single is also excellent

Ooh, digging this!

Yeah already got this on preorder. In retrospect I should have gone to see them in late December 2019 but you can't have it all.

glad to see they're still going, I have a couple albums to catch up on

nice. would love another album as succinct as Balloon Called Moaning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHs7Y2bhJbM

took me forever to get around to it but this album is dope

that last tune you posted is fucking great tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH1ewx6d8j4

can't get enough of this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ftEk8ZYec

oh what the hell, also obsessed with this song. i need tim f to hear this record

Yeah i like 'interval' too, guess i need to check the album. Is there a piano lurking in the mix there? It's giving me tori amos vibes for some reason

Looking forward to the late November show...

This is great! I hate to lean on the overused cliche, but it really is a return to form. This scratches the right itch for me.