Peaking Lights

hey let's have a Peaking Lights thread

936 was one of my favorite records of 2011

on first listen the new one "Lucifer" is sounding super chill

love the new album cover too. very krautrock.

http://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000024809783-xm1fn2-crop.jpg

full album stream:
http://soundcloud.com/weirdworldrecordco/sets/peaking-lights-lucifer

really feeling this - came to 936 way late, think i prefer it to the new one

seems like the new one tilts a bit more toward burbling/bubbling/twinkling electronic textures, where 936 was mainly about big basslines and more explicit dub sounding stuff

I'm liking it though

I thought the last one was pretty decent, but I'm disappointed that the awesome cover doesn't seem to be translating to a much heavier krautrock vibe on the new one - at least not judging from the tracks I've heard.

def. not heavy but not all krautrock is heavy. it's more on the ambient electronic side.

I guess I didn't really mean "heavy", just that the two tracks I've heard didn't really read very krautrock at all.

DUDES

peaking lights lady is the lady from NUMBERS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqSmmsrZYw4

i don't know, this one might be even closer to straight dub than the last one, at least in terms of the rhythms & parts. it definitely has some big basslines. sounds great but kinda makes me want to listen to 936.

xp

they used to live a couple blocks away from me but i didn't really know it until they moved away. and i had dinner with some folks the other night who had a phone pic of PL playing in their garage, w/the baby in a sling.

DUDES

peaking lights lady is the lady from NUMBERS

DUDE, I did not know that.

Numbers were kinda irritating, they seemed like something I should like but I sold the one record of theirs I bought (the one with the yellow cover)

heh, that's how i felt about the entirety of the tigerbeat scene and the extended idm/glitch electropunk axis

i had a roommate and coworker (still coworker) who is a pretty white-bready dude from wisconsin, very cool but also kind of a norm if that makes sense. and i was all CHECK OUT THIS RAD BAND FROM WISCONSIN!!!!! and he was like UHHHHHHH and i feel dumb now because i should've realized they are hipster transplants from SF

love the new album cover too. very krautrock

krautrock w/ a spritz of chillwave

for some reason I thought Peaking Lights lived up in Seattle / Portland thereabouts, didn't know they're in Madison

I'm seeing them at Woodsist Fest in August. them and Pierced Arrows are the bands I'm most stoked about on the bill.

not in madison anymore, moved to l.a. iirc

haha well, there ya have it

perhaps you are thinking of mexican summer labelmates and fellow tripster power couple honey owens & adam forkner?

i've had the bassline from 'midnight in the valley of shadows' in my head for the last couple days

i have not heard peaking lights as far as i know but i will continue to hold the bias i have against them because i confuse them with pretty lights

also from wisconsin iirc?

non-peaking-lights-digging roommate was a big pretty lights fan.

936 was one of my favorite records of 2011

It was my FAVORITE record of 2011. full stop

pretty lights are def not from wisconsin, and are much worse. but i'm pretty sure that even the kids who love pretty lights don't listen to the records, they just go to the shows.

Peaking Lights dude's solo stuff as Faceplant mines a Zuckerzeit vibe. At least, it does on the split 12" with Bitchin Bajas.

i have not heard peaking lights as far as i know but i will continue to hold the bias i have against them because i confuse them with pretty lights

― they loooovin the crut (The Reverend), Thursday, June 14, 2012 10:41 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

don't think you'd like them

i liked 936, had a nice bullwackies vibe to it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH-9_ddFKk8

yeah, 936 was amazing. i didn't really hear it until it landed on a bunch of year end lists (including ilx's?). i dig the mixes they put out occasionally, too.

i love how the first keyboard tone in "Live Love" = the startup noise for macs

Listening to 936 just made me realise how completely my musical tastes have changed over the past 5 years. Like, 5 years ago, I would have been all over this record, I would have thought it was perfect. But now it's just strangely unsatisfying and I'm not sure exactly why.

Bitchin Bajas

Listening to 936 just made me realise how completely my musical tastes have changed over the past 5 years. Like, 5 years ago, I would have been all over this record, I would have thought it was perfect. But now it's just strangely unsatisfying and I'm not sure exactly why.

Huh? I love this record. What do you mean? These tunes are stuck in my head for days, makes me want to iie on the grass in the park and drink prosecco all afternoon.

Loved '936' and am loving this new one, too. Damn is it sounding perfect on a hott Friday afternoon...

936 was great great great. Took me a while to get into it, but once it clicked, I loved it.

Out of curiosity, Lex: I remember you not taking to the whole echo-ey productioin on 936 back when first encountering it in the EOY threads. Has your opinion changed about that?

i'm kinda w white chocolate on 936. nice sounds and vibes, always enjoy it when it's on, but it doesn't inspire much devotion or excitement in me. tunes don't stick in my head - nothing does, really. prefer the scruffier early stuff, tbh. still looking fwd to the new one.

lex?

nm, i see, couple days back

I think it's just me that's in the wrong headspace. I put it on and I just kept wishing that the songs were over so I could go and listen to something else. I think it might be the roughness and the indie-ness that is bothering me. But that might also be down to me being stuck in a weird obsessive groove where I only want to listen to one kind of music at the moment. And this just sounds like a dub-flavoured pot noodle compared to what my ears are craving. I should probably give it another chance when I've got out of this obsessive streak.

Lol it def is a dub-flavored pot noodle. Like I said, it didn't click right away for me. I had to listen to Belong and La Big Vic (and get some headphones) before I could fully appreciate it.

I've not been able to really get into 936 either. Might give it another go ahead of the new one but I know what you mean about strangely unsatisfying.

Hmm. I should investigate all this, it seems to be bringing together a lot of different ILX tribes.

I must say I'm intrigued too.

If I'm gonna listen to Dub flavoured pot noodle, I'm gonna listen to someone like Rhythm & Sound or King Midas Sound which are probably the equivalent of those 59p fake pot noodle they sell in dodgy cornershops which actually taste ~amazing~ and really much better than actual Pot Noodle?

Yeah I tried to listen to 936 again and got bored about four songs in. I really like the aesthetic they're trying to go for but there's an unresolved tension between 'hazy sunshine' and 'dark smokey room' that doesn't quite work for me. There's a kind of pale indie drone kid approach to it as well, neither the basslines nor the tunes really hold my attention.

Will still give the new one a go though.

See, 5 years ago "pale indie drone kid" was totally my aesthetic, and now I feel the shame of an ex smoker about it. :-/

Also a Dub record without adequate bass is like a pot noodle without salt. You have left out the single most important ingredient.

Bassline for "All the Sun That Shines" is great.

Don't see either of these Peaking Lights albums as being straight dub, so the lack of bass isn't an issue.

But the dubbiness is the thing that sets them apart from god knows how many other bands, in terms of making them interesting. Otherwise they'd just be x collection of chillwave signifiers all over again.

Interesting as a prospect I mean, unfortunately I'm not that interested in the music I've heard but I'm hearing enough there to want to keep trying.

yeah, i'm not a huge fan, but accusing 936 of being bad or fake dub misses the point. it's got some dub influence, but it isn't "dub music" per se (no more so than all those dub-influenced UK postpunk outfits). "indie drone" sounds pejorative but is fairly accurate. cousin to sun araw and emeralds. chillwave if we must.

It's not that it's fake dub or bad dub, it is just not dub.

I have finally, after 30 years or whatever, just reached the point where I've kinda listened to all the indie-drone I need in this lifetime.

I'm not criticising ppl who do like it! I'm just slightly disappointed I have no interest in this kind of music any more.

It's not you, Peaking Lights, it's me. Sorry. Bye.

Somehow this got me thinking earlier of David J and his Bauhaus basslines; one reason why the band (and Love and Rockets for that matter) works is precisely because he was such a dub freak and wasn't trying to adapt it to a sound, instead it was the bedrock of a sound. (See also in a parallel place/context John Taylor indulging his inner Bernard Edwards.)

That cannot be a review of the same record I've listened to.

The first line made me smile.

I really wanted to like this record :-/

is there something obvious I'm missing about that review that makes it bad enough to be highlighted for scorn? just reads like a completely standard downpager to me

Most obviously, the reviewer is totally unaware that they made an album in between 936 and this one.

Yeah that's basically why I thought it was such a half arsed review. When you're writing a review that is so short surely checking your facts would be a must.

lol gotcha

need to give the new one some proper attention, all I took in from a couple of spins thus far was that it sounds much more polished

It pains me to say things like this, because I really like this band, but this new one isn't for me at all. I'll still buy the next one, but, err, three tries with this and I think I dislike it more each time. That "telephone call from space" song is awful. Why do smart people write lyrics like this??

I feel like the Lucifer in Dub EP might be their best work. Really plays to their strengths (ie not songwriting/vocals although I enjoy them in spots).

New Peaking Lights

https://soundcloud.com/peakinglights/everytime-i-see-the-light

Can we all collectively listen to this new album and not talk and just glance at each other and smile from time to time? Yeah.

is it good?

Very. I didn't like Cosmic Logic very much, and this fr Le like a partial course correction. It retains the technicolor pop feel but i's much spacier. I suppose the best comparison point is their remix of Young Galaxy's "Pretty Boy" - extended dub remixes of pop songs that don't exist in original form.

Pursed lips from me, sorry. Just can't get past those vocals. Shame, as I really loved Cosmic Logic and the "Little Flower / Conga Blue" single from earlier this year was pretty good too.

I quite like this, better than the last one for sure. But it never seems to end.

^^Looking forward to paring it down to 936/Lucifer length.

this album is so so awesome

its length is a boon imo bc if i'm high enough i never want it to end

"que du bon" is the most radical thing i've heard all year

new one is aces

Yeah, love the new one. Since the Chromatics can't be bothered to put out their new album, this one will do.

ya i tend to believe that one won't come out as they're not happy with it, but that's unconfirmed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVbDF8k_lOk

one of my fav tracks from 2017

Last album damn

I don’t know their old stuff but I adore the last record. What’s their output like prior?

Worth a listen

new one on dekmantel sounds absolutely bonkers

their attempt at making a house track turns out curiously like a mashup of eric copeland and maurice fulton

http://youtu.be/lWNkfvaQi3A

i prefer the stuff that sounds more like trad peaking lights

http://youtu.be/t52CdfkgyzE

they also get into a lot of italo

and some straight up new age

http://youtu.be/FVVT8EBqK3g

can't wait to get this

fifth state was legit incredible

so it's an ep? probably as long as a full length tho?

i think it’s about 40 mins

thanks for the heads up

I have a love-hate relationship with this band. Back on board with this latest release though.

i personally did not much enjoy cosmic logic or fifth state, but the new one is on point

why didnt you enjoy it

fifth state has long songs that justify their length imo, as brad mentioned up thread he never wanted it to end which is OTM

I thought Cosmic Logic was a misfire but loved Fifth State, I guess this one is more concise (in both song and total length) but otherwise it strikes me as an extension of the ideas from that album.

on dekmantel

crazy

ya this is p good. best parts are the least peaking lightsey

their attempt at making a house track turns out curiously like a mashup of eric copeland and maurice fulton

lol otm

that's strange

i didn't mean to post that link to "what will happen in one billion years"

i meant to post the new age title track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E44yUJIh23Y

what are your favorite parts flops

https://pitchfork.com/news/lee-scratch-perry-and-peaking-lights-announce-new-album-share-new-song-magik-listen/

oh shit

I love the way this band sounds, but I find them exhausting to listen to because like 90% of their songs are in a minor key. It's a quirk of personal taste, and I love lots of minor-key music, but at this band's level it becomes kind of a wash for me. It's the same problem I have with Klaus Schulze. I need more light in my electronic psychedelia.

i apparently missed sea of sand last year and whoa i regret it

whyyyyyy is this band so underraaaaaaaaated

whyyyyyy is this band so underraaaaaaaaated

― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, November 18, 2019 6:49 PM (thirty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

My guess would be the vocals

i am rolling my eyes at you so hard i'm pretty sure it is audible

Could it be because people aren't smoking enough weed?

they co-produced this new lee scratch perry EP that basically sounds like peaking lights with occasional interjections by lee scratch perry

https://stonesthrow.bandcamp.com/album/life-of-the-plants