The band broke up in 2002, and I don't know if there have ever been any other side projects or anything like that. Does anyone have any idea what anyone in the band, particularly Sue Tompkins, is up to now?
pppp
― pppp, Sunday, 7 August 2005 00:09 (eighteen years ago) link
the australian only single is great as well http://www.trifekta.com.au/artists/artist.asp?id=3
― zappi (joni), Sunday, 7 August 2005 00:16 (eighteen years ago) link
will and robert were briefly also in proforma but will left to concentrate on writing and robert left soon after to focus on his graphic design business. none of them are involved with music any more.
― stirmonster (stirmonster), Sunday, 7 August 2005 01:00 (eighteen years ago) link
No matter how many times I read this line, my brain just won't process it. Maybe if I read it one more time, word by word, very slowly...
― The Spiderwebbed Wilderness (Bimble...), Sunday, 7 August 2005 01:06 (eighteen years ago) link
― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Sunday, 7 August 2005 03:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― gem (trisk), Sunday, 7 August 2005 03:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― simon 803 (simon 803), Sunday, 7 August 2005 09:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― Michael Lambert (Michael Lambert), Sunday, 7 August 2005 20:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― nicholas de jong (nicholas de jong), Monday, 8 August 2005 00:34 (eighteen years ago) link
― my favorite cover band, crystal shit (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 8 August 2005 00:37 (eighteen years ago) link
As it stands, my favorite thing by them is an admittedly straightforward but still fun cover of Prince's "Pop Life."
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 8 August 2005 00:42 (eighteen years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Monday, 8 August 2005 00:47 (eighteen years ago) link
― jed_ (jed), Monday, 8 August 2005 00:49 (eighteen years ago) link
― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Monday, 8 August 2005 00:51 (eighteen years ago) link
― my favorite cover band, crystal shit (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 8 August 2005 01:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― my favorite cover band, crystal shit (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 8 August 2005 01:12 (eighteen years ago) link
― Pharmaceutical Executive, Monday, 8 August 2005 16:11 (eighteen years ago) link
― Garrett Martin (Garrett Martin), Wednesday, 14 September 2005 18:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Saturday, 8 October 2005 05:01 (eighteen years ago) link
Jesus H.
This album is just...the best goddamn thing of the last 10 years. Did I say that already?
THE RIGHT STUFF
― Bimble, Tuesday, 25 December 2007 07:30 (sixteen years ago) link
LOOK BACK AND SAY THAT I DIDN'T
― Bimble, Tuesday, 25 December 2007 07:32 (sixteen years ago) link
There was a Magnet article in 2001 on the five bands that represent Nu No Wave:
Liars, Ex-Models, Life Without Buildings, Seconds and _______?
― Whiney G. Weingarten, Tuesday, 25 December 2007 09:02 (sixteen years ago) link
...erase errata, if i remember correctly.
― spastic heritage, Tuesday, 25 December 2007 14:13 (sixteen years ago) link
Goddammit, for a split-second I thought the thread was revived for a new album. It seems like the only real reason I check ILM these days.
Did anyone get that live album that came out this year?
― alex in montreal, Tuesday, 25 December 2007 15:06 (sixteen years ago) link
i did, and it's terrifically fun. and since i can't currently find my copy of "any other city" that's all i have to listen to right now.
they were always my secret band that i sprang on anyone who liked the fall or the pixies or post-punk in general. such a shame. but it's kind of nice in some ways that it is what it is, and we just have the one great album to love.
― Emily Bjurnhjam, Tuesday, 25 December 2007 16:44 (sixteen years ago) link
The one new/unreleased song on the live album, "Liberty Feelup," is as wonderful as anything on Any Other City, too.
― maciej recognizing trill, Tuesday, 25 December 2007 17:11 (sixteen years ago) link
I can't believe how long it took me to notice how much this band takes after Sonic Youth! The guitar playing is a whole lot like how Thurston plays rhythm, just cleaner and low-gain and pretty (e.g., "Young Offenders"); he even likes to throw in ringy harmonics in a Thurstony way; and the vocals are really not unlike something Thurston or Kim might sing, only higher and a rate of about 5x as many more words per minute.
Which isn't weird, since probably most indie guitar stuff could be compared to Sonic Youth in some way or other -- I just can't believe this never even crossed my mind before, and then suddenly I'm listening through the record and it's, like ... the distance between some of these things and a poppy SY track is surprisingly short!
― nabisco, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:04 (fourteen years ago) link
(Ha, googling around suggest I might just have been slow on this point -- I guess a decent number of reviews at the time identified that template under there)
― nabisco, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:08 (fourteen years ago) link
Huh, I'm not sure that would've crossed my mind, but I like both Life Without Buildings and pop-oriented Sonic Youth enormously, so I wouldn't be surprised if there is indeed a connection.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 22 May 2009 19:10 (fourteen years ago) link
What has crossed my mind is how well the music would work without vocals as just a nice breezy post-rock record, like Tristeza or something.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 22 May 2009 19:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Heartbeat always skitters across a couple of grooves seeing a LWB thread get revived.
― Enemy Insects (NickB), Friday, 22 May 2009 19:15 (fourteen years ago) link
^^^ Such a wonderful track.
― Enemy Insects (NickB), Friday, 22 May 2009 19:17 (fourteen years ago) link
xxp Which maybe has to do with a tendency to play little melodic riffs and arpeggios as much, if not more so, than outright chords -- which I do think is true of Sonic Youth and also, incidentally, Sleater-Kinney's The Hot Rock.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 22 May 2009 19:18 (fourteen years ago) link
thx for the video link. I'd stopped looking for videos a while ago.
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Not a video I'm afraid, just audio :(
― Enemy Insects (NickB), Friday, 22 May 2009 19:19 (fourteen years ago) link
:(
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Also: a friend introduced LWB to me as "the Sugarcubes meets Pavement" for whatever that's worth.
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 22 May 2009 19:26 (fourteen years ago) link
!
That's bizarre.
When I first heard the album, the combo I made in my mind immediately was Altered Images vs. Sleater-Kinney.
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:29 (fourteen years ago) link
my realization was based on watching SY play a thing all morning, then having "Young Offenders" pop up on shuffle on the way home; if you can engineer a similar situation of being SY-sensitized and then hearing that track, it might have the same head-slapping quality
― nabisco, Friday, 22 May 2009 19:30 (fourteen years ago) link
That Love Trinity track is really good. Haven't heard it before. Can someone up it?
― van smack, Saturday, 23 May 2009 00:03 (fourteen years ago) link
gimme 1 sec
― jump in the looool (electricsound), Saturday, 23 May 2009 01:26 (fourteen years ago) link
oh thanks
― van smack, Saturday, 23 May 2009 01:39 (fourteen years ago) link
http://rapidshare.com/files/236160811/01_Love_Trinity.mp3.html
― jump in the looool (electricsound), Saturday, 23 May 2009 01:41 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh wow we're turning people on to LWB songs here they haven't heard before! Nice work, ILM!
― Sacriligiously Dead (Bimble), Sunday, 24 May 2009 10:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Alas, limit reached. Re up please?
― phantompenguin, Sunday, 24 May 2009 14:19 (fourteen years ago) link
― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 22 May 2009 19:12 (2 days ago)
^^^ this. it's the vocals that really push the songs over the edge. case in point: http://www.imeem.com/people/wgMI9AD/music/0B6wbnjb/life-without-buildings-daylighting/
― a somnambulist in an ambulance (r1o natsume), Sunday, 24 May 2009 14:43 (fourteen years ago) link
don't know if this has been mentioned already but seeing as we're talking about soundalikes, thomas tantrum sound very very much like LWB:
― NI, Sunday, 24 May 2009 16:26 (fourteen years ago) link
i mentioned that somewhere, and i agree, sadly their album was v disappointing
― jump in the looool (electricsound), Sunday, 24 May 2009 23:54 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-City-Life-Without-Buildings/dp/B00005AKO2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1243287289&sr=8-1
This is insane, the LWB studio album listed at £83.52 - 2 copies, one of the sellers admitting that the digipak is pretty worn. My first copy was £2, and was given to a friend when I found another copy recently in better condition for a whole 10p. Spotted "Is Is & the IRS" cd single for 1p on Amazon, so have broken my self imposed "no CD purchases in May" rule to get it.
Does anyone have an MP3 of "Daylighting" they'd be willing to provide me with? Or know where I can get a legit download of it, I don't fancy paying the £66 someone wants for a copy of "Young Offenders" to complete the collection.
― MichaelJLambert, Monday, 25 May 2009 21:46 (fourteen years ago) link
Stuart Murdoch in the audience at the end stops clapping way too early IMO.
― kitchen person, Friday, 2 April 2021 04:47 (three years ago) link
xxp She uses notes in a lot of her spoken word performances.This was so great to see
― maf you one two (maffew12), Sunday, 11 April 2021 05:39 (three years ago) link
of COURSE she's jumping around everywhere :D
― imago, Sunday, 11 April 2021 08:42 (three years ago) link
When I saw them there were notes for only 2 songs I think, maybe The Leanover & New Town? Even then it seemed more of an affectation or a comfort, rather than actually relying on them for a memory aide. The band were really tight but visually static, and then this whirling dervish monopolising the full stage space
― Jonathan Hellion Mumble, Sunday, 11 April 2021 15:36 (three years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3atVbiV_Ow
― Clay, Thursday, 22 April 2021 05:46 (three years ago) link
totally missed that last lot of thread updates. amazing!!
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:15 (two years ago) link
so i searched and these were also on youtube...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxIbwsauQMkNew Town
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uOHEueVGdgJuno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWJW5-26IXgLet's Get Out
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:17 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MySIwLnSQUYoung Offenders
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5uICT2o5MELive in Paris
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:18 (two years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7n9ELcXnJ8Life Without Buildings Live at Transmission Gallery, Glasgow
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:19 (two years ago) link
am i tripping or something? are all these videos actually really real? i'm flipping out here
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:22 (two years ago) link
Was only (only!) coming here to post this, a recent interview here with Robert Dallas Gray (formerly Robert Johnston):https://arcane-delights.com/2021/11/21/robert-dallas-gray-life-without-buildings-interview/
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:23 (two years ago) link
also an AG Cook remix of The Leanover which tbh i'm not totally sure about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSv6MzFVzc0
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:25 (two years ago) link
and i don't think i ever heard this before...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qkkbGMGYgUDaylighting (b-side of Young Offenders)
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:26 (two years ago) link
Fuck I missed the earlier revive too!
Was already in bits by three quarters of the way through the Leanover
― hiroyoshi tins in (Sgt. Biscuits), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:31 (two years ago) link
last thing: never knew sue was from leighton buzzard, she would've been in the year above my sister at school there. wonder if she remembers her at all? will find out at christmas
anyhow, leighton buzzard: the baron knights, kajagoogoo, silver bullet, and now sue tompkins. talk about punching above your weight :)
xp: aww! amazing isn't it?
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:33 (two years ago) link
final post i swear: sue did a track with el hombre trajeado in 2016!! how the heck did i not know this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bY8RiDuqTI
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:41 (two years ago) link
my god that live Juno is beautiful
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 21:49 (two years ago) link
also hayley tompkins
https://www.themoderninstitute.com/artists/hayley-tompkins
― stirmonster, Monday, 13 December 2021 21:54 (two years ago) link
okay this killed me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKkpuLYlcF4
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 22:10 (two years ago) link
I was at this
― Qamon (||||||||), Monday, 13 December 2021 22:26 (two years ago) link
|||||||| !!!!!!!!
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 13 December 2021 22:28 (two years ago) link
I was at the Transmission Gallery one.
― stirmonster, Monday, 13 December 2021 23:02 (two years ago) link
thanks so much for the new links
― maf you one two (maffew12), Tuesday, 14 December 2021 12:29 (two years ago) link
bagsie first dibs on stirmonster's memories if the component parts of his brain ever come up for auction.
btw optimo is given the love in that Robert Dallas Gray interview i linked to above :)
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Tuesday, 14 December 2021 19:14 (two years ago) link
i just read that! robert and his friends were the very first regulars the club had and came almost religiously for the first year or so when not so many people attended. i'm not sure why LWB never performed there. memory is an interesting thing as i am 99.9% sure that television song he recalls hearing wasn't ever played.
― stirmonster, Tuesday, 14 December 2021 20:01 (two years ago) link
Nick's Youtube link got me curious and it looks like Sue has done a number of solo/guest vocals:- "Country Grammer", a 2004 solo track- "Raid" / "Turnover", a 2015 solo 7"- "Do It Puritan!" with El Hombre Trajeado in 2016- "Special Long Version (Demo)" with Russell Haswell in 2018- 5 tracks with TSX on recur³ followed by 4 tracks with TSX on recur² in 2019/2020
Given her slow build-up of work the last 5 years, I wonder if she's planning a proper solo or new band LP.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Tuesday, 14 December 2021 20:43 (two years ago) link
time for a comeback to show these Wet Dry Leg Cleaning posers how real random talk songs should be performed
― akm, Tuesday, 14 December 2021 21:46 (two years ago) link
Tompkins and Haswell have performed as a duo a few times now. I once saw them browsing DVDs in the Fopp on Union Street in Glasgow.
― Ward Fowler, Tuesday, 14 December 2021 22:18 (two years ago) link
I saw LWB in London one time, with Piano Magic I think. In Highbury, just near the Garage, can't remember the venue name. No trace of it online. Maybe I dreamed it?
― Position Position, Wednesday, 15 December 2021 02:19 (two years ago) link
I saw the same bill but it was in Camden in a basement. Right after Artists Rifles
― akm, Wednesday, 15 December 2021 02:40 (two years ago) link
yep, they played in brighton with piano magic too, round about the time of 'low birth weight' but i didn't go for some idiotic reason, genius that i am
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Wednesday, 15 December 2021 06:05 (two years ago) link
I think Michael Jones of this parish and I saw the mystery Highbury venue Piano Magic support slot too - iirc it felt like a theatre space? A few actor friends of mine were there and seemed to be friends with Sue, which made me think they were some kind of improv/performance art thing, which slightly put me off. Saw them again a few months later, on some random NME bill with a friend's band at the LA2 and they completely won me over - so much so that by the time they played the Spitz a few months after that, they were pretty much my favourite band. And they split up :(
― Piedie Gimbel, Wednesday, 15 December 2021 07:27 (two years ago) link
I've doubtless mentioned this numerous times in this thread, but I saw them support The Strokes at the latter's debut headline show at the Barfly, and the Strokes were amazing - much better than I ever saw them again - but there was an unlikely magic to LWB that was sublime, and it felt like the indie scene was swapping this weird sublime music for stuff aimed squarely at the cash register. I guess it was similar to when Britpop began to coalesce and flex its commercial muscle.
― Enjoy the brighter sounds of Analog on CD (stevie), Wednesday, 15 December 2021 10:27 (two years ago) link
boops!
― dark end of the st. maud (sic), Wednesday, 15 December 2021 20:01 (two years ago) link
guess there's a repress of 'any other city' in the works...
hmm how interesting. wonder who else is in this series https://t.co/A9ctd3KxCD— Robert Dallas Gray (@rdg_music) July 26, 2023
― NickB, Thursday, 27 July 2023 16:08 (nine months ago) link
Only 500 of that first one? Maybe there'll be nice liners.
The previous represses look to be still around... e.g., Rough Trade website
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 27 July 2023 16:11 (nine months ago) link
kinda of hoping for some added extras tbh, 'love trinity' on vinyl would be an absolute dream
― NickB, Thursday, 27 July 2023 16:15 (nine months ago) link
btw if you're into solo guitar stuff, you might be interested in rdg's forthcoming solo album. sounding very lovely to me...
https://robertdallasgray.bandcamp.com/track/stolen-moments
― NickB, Thursday, 27 July 2023 16:16 (nine months ago) link
Yeah, I'm happy with my WYR pressing from 2014, but I might replace it if a new one comes with the Love Trinity tracks.
― ⓓⓡ (Johnny Fever), Thursday, 27 July 2023 21:18 (nine months ago) link
I did the artwork for the WYR pressing. Meaning I put the existing artwork in a new templates, shuffled around a few logos and dates etc. Was an honor.
― dan selzer, Thursday, 27 July 2023 22:12 (nine months ago) link
I would be happy if it was the live album on vinyl.
― kitchen person, Friday, 28 July 2023 00:26 (nine months ago) link
I guess something is happening today
Huge news coming this afternoon.Sign up to our mailout for first dibsHead here: https://t.co/KD1VvQUxOD pic.twitter.com/c8gmSVL2c0— monorail music (@Monorail_Music) August 21, 2023
― ⓓⓡ (Johnny Fever), Monday, 21 August 2023 13:11 (eight months ago) link
nice thanks. i'd probably down with international shipping just for a lyric sheet lol
― maf you one two (maffew12), Monday, 21 August 2023 13:29 (eight months ago) link
So it's a slightly deluxe version of the regular tracklist of the album.
LIFE WITHOUT BUILDINGS: Any Other CityThe Glasgow School 02Monorail Edition: 250 on colour vinyl Handstamped+numbered folder with Sue Tompkins Lyric book, flyers, final gig ticket + 2 badgeshttps://t.co/F5f5NxMkn6The most special of groups,So much love for this LP pic.twitter.com/s4tqSPUqCT— monorail music (@Monorail_Music) August 21, 2023
― ⓓⓡ (Johnny Fever), Monday, 21 August 2023 16:16 (eight months ago) link
one for the guit nerds:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyGpOt0Kb3T/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
― blazin' squab (NickB), Saturday, 7 October 2023 21:30 (seven months ago) link
In EADGAE btw
― blazin' squab (NickB), Saturday, 7 October 2023 21:32 (seven months ago) link
awesome. always wondered what tuning he used, so simple once you know
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, 7 October 2023 21:59 (seven months ago) link
Good to see albums being reissued 'From Glasgow' not from complete and utter cunts
― PaulTMA, Saturday, 7 October 2023 22:10 (seven months ago) link
gorgeous, ty for posting
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 7 October 2023 22:11 (seven months ago) link