The Album Review Club - Week #194 (page 1303) - Ants From Up There - Black Country, New Road

Coatigan said:
I won't lie at one point I did think where is spires when you need him when it was all looking a bit bleak on the guessing front.
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In a meeting lamenting the state of education funding in the UK would be the answer to that.

Given my initial thought reading through the posts where you started to try to steer people, was 'phytoplankton' I'd don't think I'd have been much use tbh!
 
threespires said:
In a meeting lamenting the state of education funding in the UK would be the answer to that.

Given my initial thought reading through the posts where you started to try to steer people, was 'phytoplankton' I'd don't think I'd have been much use tbh!
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'When I worked as the minister of education..'
 
Coatigan said:
'Desert rock is a subgenre that originated from the Palm Desert scene. It's characterized by a hard rock sound that incorporates elements of heavy metal, psychedelia, blues, punk, and alternative, often featuring repetitive drum beats, free-form jamming, and "trance-like" or "sludgy" grooves. While stoner rock and desert rock are sometimes used interchangeably, not all bands within either genre fit perfectly into the other'. According to wiki.

There is a good collection called The Desert Sessions, of the big bands of the scene. Most stemming from the late 80s reactions to what metal had become. It happens to be a bit of an inbred scene kn the sense that most bands have members that have overlapped in some fashion and can all be traced like some weird family tree. Which was one of the reasons for picking a band detached from that particular circle.
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There's a fairly broad range of sounds covered under the banner. For me one of the key defining things I like is that repetitive groove and/or pulsing that has that hypnotic or as you say trance like feel. The different rhythmic approaches give quite a different range of sounds from the more stoner rocky driving sound these guys create to the more off the beat laid back and funky stuff at the other end of the spectrum. Thinking about it I might vary my pick to be bit more at that end of the spectrum for a bit of contrast. Or I might even do a sideways wriggle and go full desert blues.

Anyway for now very happy to listen to these guys and their more straight up and driving approach. You didn't say lots in your write up so intrigued as to why them versus some of the other bands you've championed on the playlist thread like Kyuss.
 
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threespires said:
There's a fairly broad range of sounds covered under the banner. For me one of the key defining things I like is that repetitive groove and/or pulsing that has that hypnotic or as you say trance like feel. The different rhythmic approaches give quite a different range of sounds from the more storner rocky driving sound these guys create to the more off the beat laid back and funky stuff at the other end of the spectrum. Thinking about it I might vary my pick to be bit more at that end of the spectrum for a bit of contrast. Or I might even do a sideways wriggle and go full desert blues.

Anyway for now very happy to listen to these guys and their more straight up and driving approach. You didn't say lots in your write up so intrigued as to why them versus some of the other bands you've championed on the playlist thread like Kyuss.
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Well if ever a nail had been hit on the head so soon. While there are trademarks of that genre that they quite heavily borrowed from or were influenced by, despite being on the other side of the ocean, there are also things that kind of defy it. Their earlier stuff was a lot closer in sound in fairness, but as they progressed, well, they 'progressed' more.

That was partly the reason I tried to nip the discussion on the genre in the bud though yesterday, and what I meant by there being purer examples. Didn't want to go rigidly defining it and then it starting off with a 'not what it says on the tin' discussion, not till it had time to settle.

You are also right in that I stopped myself a bit in the write-up, with the view that there is room for itnto come out more organically.
 
BimboBob said:
Bits of Soundgarden, QOTSA and Kaleo so far. Which is not a bad thing.

Just listened to their 'Another Brick In The Wall' reworking...quite nice.
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I'm unlikely to nominate but I imagine QOTSA would spark some interesting discussion depending on the album chosen.

Very late to the party on Kaleo and can't quite decide what I think of them.
 
threespires said:
There's a fairly broad range of sounds covered under the banner. For me one of the key defining things I like is that repetitive groove and/or pulsing that has that hypnotic or as you say trance like feel. The different rhythmic approaches give quite a different range of sounds from the more stoner rocky driving sound these guys create to the more off the beat laid back and funky stuff at the other end of the spectrum. Thinking about it I might vary my pick to be bit more at that end of the spectrum for a bit of contrast. Or I might even do a sideways wriggle and go full desert blues.

Anyway for now very happy to listen to these guys and their more straight up and driving approach. You didn't say lots in your write up so intrigued as to why them versus some of the other bands you've championed on the playlist thread like Kyuss.
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Interested in what your picks that you are wrestling with are, so please do make a note that when your turn comes round, you reveal them after you commit to one.

The two other albums I might have ended up going with in a similar vein were Seeds by Domkraft (if you think the clues for this were bad, fuck knows what I'd have done there) and The Devil and the Almighty Blues' self titled album (easy clues, the two manc badges). In case you fancy some extra curricular activity in your own time, which is ultimately what this thread is imo about any given week.
 
bennyboy said:
Great pick.Never heard of them.First 2 songs i got a Dan Auerbach vocals vibe.
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For me it's not just the vocals vibe. Though in many ways it's very different from The Black Keys it sort of prompts the same response in me. I struggle to get out of my own head with rock more than I do with say funk or soul but some rock bands I can just listen to and enjoy without them scratching my brain in unhelpful ways. The Black Keys are one those bands and this has the same feel for me.
 
FogBlueInSanFran said:
Well that is interesting given that I've spent a few weeks every year since 1981 one town over from Palm Desert (my folks had a little place in Indian Wells; my best friend lives there now) and I've never heard of the Palm Desert scene!!!
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You would have, just probably not under that branding maybe.
 
BlueHammer85 said:
Definitely QOTSA, also Royal Blood & BRMC, impressive first listen.
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Given Josh Homme is somewhat the jesus of the genre from his Kyuss days (not that Brant Bjork and John Garcia's contribution should go unmentioned), the QOTSA comparisons are not at all unsurprising. If I find the time, I might tally up the number of bands the 4 original members including Nick Olivery have been in over the years. It's a lot. QOTSA probably being the best known or most successful though.
 
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RobMCFC said:
I enjoyed the first listen as it livened up a boring training module.

However, it did occur to me that if you turned the volume down low enough so that it was just a nice, satisfying background rumble, it would make for ideal dinner party music.
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I would go to that dinner party!

I imagine it would be a bit like one of those womb sounds machines left on to soothe the weans.
 
Coatigan said:
Well if ever a nail had been hit on the head so soon. While there are trademarks of that genre that they quite heavily borrowed from or were influenced by, despite being on the other side of the ocean, there are also things that kind of defy it. Their earlier stuff was a lot closer in sound in fairness, but as they progressed, well, they 'progressed' more.

That was partly the reason I tried to nip the discussion on the genre in the bud though yesterday, and what I meant by there being purer examples. Didn't want to go rigidly defining it and then it starting off with a 'not what it says on the tin' discussion, not till it had time to settle.

You are also right in that I stopped myself a bit in the write-up, with the view that there is room for itnto come out more organically.
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I actually like your minimalist approach.
It’s not that I don’t like the overly long song by song analysis of how every note makes you feel.
Ahem! I’ve done it myself.
But I find this, that I haven’t a clue about, neither band or genre they may or may not be labelled with, quite refreshing and intriguing, being presented to us as……
Here’s an album I like. See what you think.

Just bare in mind, my reaction may be equally brief. I like it or I don’t.
Really looking forward to the missus going out soon now. I’ll slap it on and see what we’re talking about.
 
First listen.
Well my overall impression is, quite listenable, but why does it have any particularly new rock name.
I was getting kind of lost in the same rhythms up until about the 5th song, The Rumble and the Weight followed by We are the Pawns and Oh my Bones.
It picked up but still seemed lacking something.
I’ve no difficulty playing this, but I can’t quite put my finger on what I like or why I find it lacking also.

I’ll reserve judgement for a few more listens.
 
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