The Hidden Cameras' 2014 album "AGE"

single/video

http://vimeo.com/74297907

great video. i never would have guessed that was a hidden cameras song!

Yeah at first I thought we were in for an Afterschool Special, but not really.

What other vids have been similarly themed besides Bronski Beat's "Smalltown Boy"?

Joel Gibb has one of my favorite voices in popular music, so I'm always ready for some new Hidden Cameras material. Agree with Z S that it's an atypical song for him/them, but the video is wonderful.

That is some Mary Margaret O'Hara on that chorus, I think. Also, four of the songs on Age are at least nine years old which is really interesting! seeing how much his songwriting has changed with every record

The single is meh.

thx for that info, fgti

an Awl critic called it "Bronski Beat for the Arcade Fire generation."

The Singles Jukebox review.

Alfred you really have to go back to the beginning with these guys, first EP is great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGyN37V64a8

Kind of amazing on that Singles Jukebox that the sole defender, Anthony, takes the "you had to be there" route but it is so, so true, Hidden Cameras were at their best when they were a community-building exercise. It's a point of frustration for me (and lots others) that Stuart Berman's "history of Toronto via Broken Social Scene" so completely ignored tHC and the many other bands and artists in that scene. At the same time, I feel that posterity would feel about Queer Toronto 2000-2005 the same way I feel about Elephant 6-- whoooo carrrrres

that's partly why I posted the blurb ;)

This is a great return from them.

Sometimes I feel they might be the most underrated band of the last 10 years. All their albums have something great about them and they're so awesome live. Can't believe it's already 10 years since I heard (and fell in love with) Ban Marriage.

alas I had little experience of Queer Toronto 2000-2005, unless the homo who split my lip in a boxing match there counts

(we're still friends)

So this is one really dark album.

http://exclaim.ca/MusicVideo/ClickHear/hidden_cameras-age_album_stream

It's streaming on Pitchfork too but I couldn't get it to work yesterday.

thx

Listened to the Pitchfork stream this morning. Different than past HC albums, but still totally in line with where I am at the time I'm listening to it. Joel and me are in sync.

Not sure I loved the reggae song but apart from that seems like another great album from them. So bleak overall but really enjoyable and yeah as you say quite different from their other albums.

I am honestly shocked by how good this is. I remember Origin: Orphan not really doing much for me at all at the time - maybe I should revisit it? But yes, this is good good good.

Origin: Orphan took ages to grow on me. I remember it getting some great reviews (9/10 in NME, top 10 Guardian albums of the year) and not really understanding why. It was only when I went back to it a year after that, it really clicked. Part of the problem was I just couldn't get past how great In the NA was and none of the songs could compare.

I liked Origin: Orphan right out of the gate, but it seemed to make zero waves at large at the time.

"Underage" from that album gives me the creeps, but it's one of his best melodies.

I love Origin: Orphan. I feel like there was this transitional phase in his songs, going from the "BJs, etc." of his first two records to "I am playing with language in interesting ways", and it reached a nice peak with O:O. I don't know if I've said so on ILM but imho the finest-ever tHC release is the first album of demos, "Ecce Homo", recommended it to an unappreciative Alfo earlier this year, prob my favourite 4-track records of all time and the record that made Gay Canada fall in love with the guy

Joel growin' evermore bearishly rowrrrr

http://www.thehiddencameras.com/2016/06/01/massey-hall-toronto-august-4/

I still love The Smell of Our Own. MOAR gay gospel. 'Shame' kills me.

Still love this band. They haven't made a bad album.

New album/song:

http://exclaim.ca/music/article/hidden_cameras_announce_home_on_native_land_lp

Lots of great guests, incl. Mary Margaret O'Hara. Also "Ode to an Ah (ft. Neil Tennant)." Seeing that made my day.

YES!

Would've preferred a Martha Wainwright guest spot over a Rufus Wainwright one, but Mary Margaret O'Hara makes up for it.

This is all so exciting.

You can stream the new album here. I'm amazed that they've been working on this on and off for 10 years as I think it's their most disappointing record to date. So much of it passed me by.

http://www.cbcmusic.ca/posts/14512/first-play-the-hidden-cameras-home-on-native-land

Wow, what a waste of Neil Tennant.

This is disappointingly dull.

Uhh, I actually kinda like this album.

Wow, what a waste of Neil Tennant.

― self-clowning oven (Murgatroid)

Yeah, I listened to the album once and totally missed him. Had to check the credits to see where he was.

I like the first two songs, Big Blue, The Great Reward and Counting Stars and that's about it. The rest ranges from totally forgettable or really annoying. Log Driver's Waltz, Twilight of the Season and You & Me Again are the worst things they've ever done. Really gutted about this.

I wish I could post a message on a forum like this one and that would somehow have the effect of Joel Gibb examining his fifteen-years-ago-written songs like "He Is The Boss Of Me" and "Big Blue" and find that magic within himself again

I didn't realise Big Blue was an old song too. Those are my two favourites on the album.

any other fans besides Murgatroid? haven't heard yet

p set on going to London show on 29th tho

I liked this: https://thequietus.com/articles/32824-hidden-cameras-final-fantasy-interview

Enjoying the demo versions and sessions from the newly reissued *The Smell of Our Own* as well.