When Saints Go Machine

Doubtless mentioned elsewhere on here but I've just heard their debut album the other day and good god, this is kind of like how We Love was for me last summer, the debut release that comes out of nowhere that I immediately fall in love with. Danish quartet fronted by a guy that does the Antony style of singing -- except I like their songs a lot more than Antony's, for a start -- while other comparisons in my brain include Laurie Anderson, Depeche, Planningtorock, These New Puritans, Active Child, Bryne/Eno, etc.

i played this for a long while last year. love that dop remixed them.

voice kinda wavers between antony and arthur russell

feeling this! (where "this" = "church and law")

They changed up their sound a little bit at some point, because the new album (and other stuff released over the months leading up to it) is far more...er, avant garde (?)...than how they began two or three years ago. I like the progression.

I was going to say, I like the major bootstrapping at work.

listening to "Adds End" right now... holy shit

this is fucking amazing, and anything even remotely Antony-esque (lol aside from "Blind") is usually kryptonite to me

Hahah I know, right? I was listening to the album yesterday and it finally hit me the guy reminded me of Antony -- and then I thought, "But this guy is actually GOOD." (And yeah, "Blind" is the dude's saving grace but anyway MORE ABOUT THIS BAND PLEASE. Seriously think you'll love the whole album too, Dan, it does NOT sound just like that.)

"Fail Forever" from the new album is great, too

Also I was amused by this promo image (assuming it's not weird fan art) because it's VERY intentionally referencing a Depeche Mode group photo shot from 1990 or 1993, can't remember which:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-656O2moaJZc/TduOzrvPSII/AAAAAAAAAGg/jhN4bw4hJOI/s1600/wsgmmode.jpg

"You or the Gang" is also great; I see why you namechecked Depeche Mode for them here

love this - can definitely hear arthur russell, esp in adds end

xpost Yeah it's Depeche *just* pre-Black Celebration as I hear it.

"Pick Up Your Tears and Run" lol and here's the Planningtorock bit, although you could also have said tUnE-yArDs

It seems some people are talking about Ten Makes a Face (2009) and others are talking about Konkylie (2011). Which one are you talking about, Ned?

hadn't realized there's a new one

Konkylie, which I had thought was the debut but perhaps not?

I just grabbed the "Fail Forever" EP off of iTunes; this is hottness

yeah fail forever's an ep from the debut (ten makes a face), all of the tracks were from the lp (except for the dOP remix of fail forever)

Ah got it. Well then, their second album slays and then some.

Is the dude on the far right in that photo really in the band? He looks...different from the rest.
anyway, this is nice. Definitely an Arthur Russell quality to the singing (though in my house that just puts him into the general category of Muppet Voices).

tbh I've not spent a great deal of time with either album, so listening to Ten Makes a Face right now (and Konkylie next) I just realized that "New Elvis" sounds a lot like TV on the Radio with more intriguing production.

Haha TV on the Radio was another thing that came to mind for me (as well as me thinking "But I like this better...")

Yeah, so my impressions were correct. Konkylie is a little more loose and demented than Ten Makes a Face, but now I'm not sure which incarnation of the band I prefer. They excel in both directions.

video for "Church and Law"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEvnsKdP2m0

^^^ Church & Law is the first track that struck me, but this album is one of the most immediately convincing things I've heard ina very long while. I put it on when I woke up yesterday morning and listened to it on repeat until I went back to bed. Haven't done that in recent memory.

Bump, cos this is great.

skip straight to Konkylie IMO.

listening to "add ends"....really nice.....was full sure they had sampled an old arthur russell vocal there for the first two minutes of the track

Still definitely top 3 album of the year. <3 this band so much.

yeah this is a nice record. "add ends" is such a great song.

this is still badass btw

Damn right.

I will be very upset if Konkylie doesn't do well in the year-end poll.

^ I gave it a vote.

My own year end thoughts

didn't listen to this until now and heyyyy this is great

record makes me think of silent shout a lot honestly

I should really like this band, they have a lot of elements to them which suggest they'd be really up my street, but I checked out the record and it didn't really do all that much for me.

I had to play it twice to make it go from "good and nice" to "whoa this is brilliant"

man I spent a lot of time sleeping on "Church and Law"

this is kinda what i wanted antony/hercules & love affair to sound like before i heard them

just figured out half the reason I like this so much is because it's basically an albumsworth of "The Captain" by The Knife, which was always my favourite song on Silent Shout.

I have to say, I don't get "Kelly"

or rather, it's such a conventional song compared to what's happening elsewhere on the album that it comes across as boring

It's my favourite, other than maybe Church & Law. Think of it as the 'single'. I think it works really well in the context of the album. For seven or eight songs you have these arty, sparse synth landscapes and then Kelly bounces in and provides a bit of light relief (not to mention a good backbeat for dancing). Also love the general production - that little 'whoo-oooh' after he sings 'first time Kelly kissed a boy'. And the general cadence in that line when he says something like 'the birds got bored and then left'. It's not really that intuitive for a pop song I reckon. It's not supposed to be a difficult album at all IMO.

I didn't say it was a difficult album, I said that the conventional "single" is really boring compared to the rest of it.

Not what I expected, shall we say:

http://drownedinsound.com/news/4144698-listen--when-saints-go-machine-cover-the-verves-bittersweet-symphony-dis-premiere

Meantime, some other cover, but I don't recognize the original:

http://soundcloud.com/when-saints-go-machine/when-saints-go-machine-ft-coco

video for track off upcoming album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbaoMyrG1e8

just playing the song and not watching the video since I'm at work, but yeah I love the song

Do they have a new album out soon? Just got Konkylie last month and it's probably my favourite album from last year.

I'm amazed at how much better this sounds on FLAC than on MP3. I'm no audiophile but this could convert me to a FLACnatic yet.

Trying to compare this to Konkylie is tough. That album was stupendous. This is at once much more detailed but equally less catchy. There are some true standouts while some of the tracks fade into the background. I'm not as keen on Vonsild's vocals on this one. They've done that thing where they reverb his voice so much it just turns into little echoing gurgling noises. I find the album comes into its own when you can make out at least some of the lyrics. This is all very nitpicky of me of course.

current fave is "System of Unlimited Love"

also really, really love the parts of the album where he drops into his chest voice, like on "Order"

System of Unlimited Love is a stormer. Loving the orchestration on Mannequin. Iodine is great too. This album starts and ends really abruptly compared with Konkylie.

System of unlimited love sorta reminds me of that one zero 7 song

― too busy sockin' on my 乒乓 (wins), Tuesday, May 28, 2013 10:19 AM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so this is just me then

there is something 90s "downtempo" about it tho right?

Makes me think of later Pink Floyd or Genesis or King Crimson or something I guess. There is a 90s downtempo vibe that I kind of try to ignore I guess. It sounds like a necessary indulgence for WSGM to draw from, but I worry that it lounges-down their sound.

I love it, I wasn't casting aspersions!

I did not expect them to release a poledancing video for "System of Unlimited Love"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cug2qoJpMX4

"Blurred Lines", what have you wrought

Okay so... How about a new album guys?

Just listening to Konkylie for the first time in a long while. My god.... it's definitely one of the best albums to come out this decade

lead singer doing a side project under the moniker Cancer, maybe you'd like it

i'll check it. thanks niels

most welcome

FYI the singer has an album out under the name Khalil titled "The Water We Drink"

It's not awful but it's not anywhere near as wonderful as anything he's done with the band. There's a lot of Autotune on his voice on it and it really doesn't suit him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSRsOC-8l-E

new song and an EP due in May!

if only the song wasn't a bit of a mess eh

I'm excite, even though I must say the last album was a bit patchy

It's a nice toe in the water, if you will.

that Khalil album was really not good but I was hopeful that it was a diversion while they got back on track, hopefully all that directionless meandering is reined in on the new material

not sure about this new EP. It's a bit washy and unfocused, which was part of the problem with their last album I guess. Also, they should not work with Killer Mike. It doesn't work

New music: https://open.spotify.com/album/7GFYkow5SkzIXXX2RZVqy0?si=-6E010-hTSyA_7910n4f2A

sounds a bit meatier than a lot of other stuff they've released recently. Hurry up and get an album out please

can't believe Konkylie was 2011. Fuck!

Yeah been away too long.

I'd also welcome a new album.

Just looking back at this thread, it's weird how much I initially loved Infinity Pool. It's had such diminishing returns for me since then. So much so that I ended up selling my copy on. Iodine, Mannequin, System Of Unlimited Love and Slave To The Take In Your Heaven make an excellent EP. The rest of it seems so aimless. Konkylie is still a masterpiece though. One of my favourite discoveries from reading ILM over the years.

OTM re: Infinity Pool being a great EP with a bunch of padding, although I'd probably still include "Order" in my version

agree kitchen person. I like those tracks but it's nowhere close and I really hate that opening track

Still getting to grips with the new album, I think it is good but a little unfocussed in parts.

Love getting tipped to new releases by a thread refresh. The "I Don't Tell" video is beautiful. Ordered!

A few listens later and this has really opened up. I know there are many other acts being equally adventurous and bold, but who else is making music like this?

Just bumping this because Konkylie really holds up

hoping for a When Saints Go Machine/Let's Eat Grandma tour when live venues are allowed to reopen

didn't even realise they released a new album last year. is it any good? found infinity pool to be a bit hit and miss, but nowhere near as strong as konkylie

I played it once, it seems like a grower but not as immediately arresting as Konkylie or Infinity Pool before the shine wears off

Saw some tweet or something from them the other day about new work, I think.

The last one sounded amazing from a production and textural standpoint but it seems to actively repel hooks. I really liked it and went back to it a lot but there was nothing on it that stuck

It's funny reading that last post right as "Reflection of You (Bloodshot)" started up, which is eminently hooky to my ears

compared to Konkylie and Infinity Pool I think the last one makes a lot of unobvious choices, I do really like it but it's a different kind of listen

New album tomorrow!

I haven't seen a cd version announced - is it digital-only?

Oh, didn't know about this. Looming at their discography I don't think I've even listened to So Deep.

looking

although i like the idea of looming over a discography

Still Running's got a real modern r'n'b vibe

Weeknd Go Machine more like. What happened with this bunch?

New album due in September!

and it's their best album in a while, definitely

they've gone back to writing songs with proper choruses and synth parts that feel like choruses instead of meandering textures, which was nice but not anywhere near as satisying as this is

A good sign!

I wasn't really sold on their pivot towards pop-r'n'b really - felt like the sort of thing other people do a lot better. I'll check the new stuff though