I just heard the Clientele for the first time

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I hope to hear it soon via a file-sharing network. The Lost Weekend EP is amazing. I'm glad the new one's not available until July because I can't afford it right now.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Thursday, 22 May 2003 23:21 (twenty years ago) link

i wonder if the knit separates were ever in a ral studio if they would not come out sounding a lot like the clientele.

― keith (keithmcl), Friday, 23 May 2003 03:11 (twenty years ago) link

The singer used to be a semi-regular on ILM.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 23 May 2003 03:42 (twenty years ago) link

the singer's partner still is!

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 23 May 2003 03:42 (twenty years ago) link

Who dat?

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 23 May 2003 03:45 (twenty years ago) link

she's about seven posts above you there

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 23 May 2003 04:10 (twenty years ago) link

Don had no idea that anyone in the band hung out here. Cheers to The Clientele!

― don weiner, Friday, 23 May 2003 10:10 (twenty years ago) link

four weeks pass...

Oh man, The Violet Hour is incredible. I'll be playing this unit a lot... especially on rainy nights like tonight.

― blutroniq (blutroniq), Sunday, 22 June 2003 08:56 (twenty years ago) link

OK, finally got a hold of the Violet Hour, and it is indeed everything I had hoped it would be, especially the second half. Like an old attic dusty with powdered sugar. It's possible I didn't cotton to the first half as much because the air conditioner was drowning it out. And the CD is going to have little films on it apparently! Can't wait.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Sunday, 29 June 2003 00:44 (twenty years ago) link

i just ordered it, i wonder if i will get a snazzy button. it comes out here a week before the uk release. now if the knit separates would release their record already it could be a great week.

― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 29 June 2003 03:14 (twenty years ago) link

every time i try to get mixing engineers to put as much reverb on my voice as the clientele do i get laughed at to my face :(

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Sunday, 29 June 2003 03:40 (twenty years ago) link

do you sing about the rain?

― keith (keithmcl), Sunday, 29 June 2003 04:33 (twenty years ago) link

no, only about towns and love gone wrong.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 30 June 2003 00:23 (twenty years ago) link

there's your problem.

― keith (keithmcl), Monday, 30 June 2003 02:22 (twenty years ago) link

I have seen the Clientele talk to engineers / mixing people about how much reverb they want. It's always fun.

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 30 June 2003 07:52 (twenty years ago) link

Reverb is a cop out.

― harveyw (harveyw), Monday, 30 June 2003 09:53 (twenty years ago) link

piffle

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 30 June 2003 22:22 (twenty years ago) link

this has rocketed into my top 10 for this year

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 30 June 2003 22:31 (twenty years ago) link

tho it seems a bit churlish to say anything the band does "rockets"

― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 30 June 2003 22:32 (twenty years ago) link

funnily enough i really wanted to like the clientele but they do nothing for me. i sold my copy of surburban light last week after i realise that i never did play it much. not as much as james yorkston; etc. i think the fact that i was supposed to like it put me off and the uber-literary lyrics about the english pre-occupations of rain and misery put me off as well. i am seeing them live tomorrow (with the tyde) and well, will the live experience change my mind significantly?

― doom-e, Monday, 30 June 2003 22:47 (twenty years ago) link

nice to see the clientele get the props they deserve around here. i have yet to hear the new record and am patiently awaiting it. i love pretty much everything they have put out, my favorite song in particular is "bicycles" off the fading summer 10", with "rain" a close second. i have seen them only once here in SF - last year - and was pretty dissapointed with the low turnout at BOTH. they still put on an amazing show and added a nice bit of SF charm to the chorus of "joseph cornell" - when you're on the cable cars at night ...

i might also add that its true that alasdair is an exceptional and original guitarist with an amazing, dripping voice; the other members of the band are amazing musicians as well. james' bass lines are silky smooth ...

― tk, Tuesday, 1 July 2003 03:01 (twenty years ago) link

the clientele are simply lovely, beautiful even...I can't believe I missed the SF show, I'm sure I had some good reason at the time. I hope they come back. Is the new album out in the US?

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 06:42 (twenty years ago) link

http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGCOVERS/music/cover200/dre000/e004/e00449m3ysv.jpg

― trife (simon_tr), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 06:49 (twenty years ago) link

im astonished that jess likes this record. i think this must be a very good sign. i saw them live and was mostly bored, their improvisations on their songs were unimaginative and the new songs weren't the greatest. i was worried that they had shot their load (again, an inappropriate metaphor here) but... i guess the evidence suggests no? i shd march to the record store and buy this?

― amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 20:57 (twenty years ago) link

i just got back from seeing them live, my evidence says: no.

― doom-e, Tuesday, 1 July 2003 21:52 (twenty years ago) link

i often agree with doomie but not in this case - the clientele are fab and you need their records. i have never (and will probably never get to) seen them live and don't much give a toss what they're like live when the records are as good as they are.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 22:00 (twenty years ago) link

the album is out in the US on july 8th, merge is selling it on their website now. i agree with jim but i also don't get what people see in james yorkston? i listened to his records and didn't find anything compelling, the clientele have seemed to have taken great pains to make their sound their own even if the songs aren't overly complex(they could be what do i know) it seems like they put a great deal of effort in making each and every one beautiful.

― keith (keithmcl), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 23:46 (twenty years ago) link

what band is james yorkston in?

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 23:48 (twenty years ago) link

keith, the clientele songs all sound the same. it's there. floating about. they are very tedious live (remember this is my opinion). i wanted to like them but found it very hard going and it was one of those cds that i had in my collection which was there because i felt like it had to be there - they are sort of like the guitar rock high llamas, i guess. nice to look at, critically praised but bores the pants off of me.

james yorkston is basically a singer-songwriter with a collective. the clientele have yet to release something as worthy as 'Sweet Jesus'. A simple soul song. "they look so cosmopolitan like this is france or this is londontown" - something so heart-breaking about that line. a folk song from people on the outside looking in at the bright lights. i don't buy the clientele's bedsit poetry. something more honest about james yorkston. even in the winter pastoralism of the music with the lone pidgeon doing mantra-like backing vocals.

i would have to say no to the clientele - though ric menck never heard them before - (we had an argument at the tyde show) that - clientele were alright. better than that godawful london rubbish of comet gain.

you should check out aidan smith. an eccles singer-song writer.

jim - i don't think you are missing much re: clientele live. yawn. the tyde review is done, going to bed.

― doom-e, Tuesday, 1 July 2003 23:56 (twenty years ago) link

i like both 'emptily through holloway' and yorkston's 'man with my skills' equally, and a LOT.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 1 July 2003 23:58 (twenty years ago) link

the clientele are missing that crucial x-factor, though, that brings it to reality rather than reality television show james yorkston is not comparable to clientele - different sort of singer songwriter. i honestly can't tell the difference between clientele songs - they all sound the same. i'm off to bed. yawn. goodnight.

― doom-e, Wednesday, 2 July 2003 00:00 (twenty years ago) link

well, far be it from me to try and convince you how to hear what i'm hearing, but anyway.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 00:01 (twenty years ago) link

jim are we going to implode over this? ; - ) because we agree on alot of things. i'm not saying it's rubbish. it's just sort of there.

― doom-e, Wednesday, 2 July 2003 00:03 (twenty years ago) link

i.e. for me; clientele are there, like tescos is there. i'm not going to firebomb tescos and i'm not going to firebomb clientele, you know what i mean?

― doom-e, Wednesday, 2 July 2003 00:04 (twenty years ago) link

fair enough. i'm not hella passionate about it.. just saying that i hear an x-factor in the atmosphere and melodies that's too entrancing to my ears to ever be bored by it..

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 00:05 (twenty years ago) link

they still don't have a song that is in the calibre of sweet jesus though.

i have to tell you about some crazy news re: ric menck. as for now, i have to get up in four hours and the tyde review still needs tinkering! yikes. music journalism dead lines for weeklies really sucks sometimes. and they took my eagles reference out of the cosmi review! the eagles revival stops here! : - ( i am not poo-faced enough. : - [ i guess!

― doom-e, Wednesday, 2 July 2003 00:07 (twenty years ago) link

poo- or po-?

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 00:08 (twenty years ago) link

po! i'm tired. i've got to go to bed!

― doom-e, Wednesday, 2 July 2003 00:09 (twenty years ago) link

i like their 1st album and a few singles. my favorite is the split single with the relict--both sides have female vocals. one of the songs is "(i can't seem) to make you mine" (nice seeds reference) and it's great.

― amateurist (amateurist), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 00:54 (twenty years ago) link

that james yorkston album was the most boring album I've heard in ages. just so, so derivative. it makes mojave 3's nick drake aping sound stunningly original. yorkston = david gray for people too embarassed to buy a david gray album.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 01:12 (twenty years ago) link

they've been pretty well flawless since 'a fading summer'. i am anxious to hear the album. new camera obscura cd soon too, every band i love is releasing an album this year.

― keith (keithmcl), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 01:13 (twenty years ago) link

are Andmoresound doing the UK version? i'm still pissed at them for not releasing the Tacoma Radar album yet

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 01:18 (twenty years ago) link

elefant is releasing it everywhere. september 8th.

― keith (keithmcl), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 01:36 (twenty years ago) link

all their songs sound the same! oh, me. on that level, surely the fact that they play guitars and not synthesizers should make them real enough?

perhaps i should try listening to music with cerebro instead of headphones in order to better isolate the crucial x-factor, i have obviously been doing it wrong listening to music with my ears instead of with my psionic forebrain.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 01:57 (twenty years ago) link

for a moment there i couldn't tell whose side you were on.

Elefant releasing it everywhere? shame.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 02:18 (twenty years ago) link

why is that a shame? what is tacoma radar like?

― keith (keithmcl), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 02:22 (twenty years ago) link

galaxie 500 except with a wonderful female singer (not dissimilar to Camera Obscura girl) in place of Wareham. ergo fookin ace.

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 02:25 (twenty years ago) link

shame because Elefant seems to have issues getting its product well distributed. i'm sick and tired of having to mail order EVERYTHING

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 02:26 (twenty years ago) link

jockrock, the scottish music site, has a nice review of the tacoma radar album fthat looks like it was posted like a year ago.

― keith (keithmcl), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 02:39 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, appears it never ended up being released :(

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 2 July 2003 02:45 (twenty years ago) link

Skipping 113 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

for a nonbrit that last phrase sounds hopelessly lurid

― !!!! (amateurist), Friday, 19 March 2004 16:54 (twenty years ago) link

amateurist you have to change your new handle so i can stop thinking you are endlessly shocked by everything on ilx

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 19 March 2004 16:57 (twenty years ago) link

sorry

― amateur!st (amateurist), Friday, 19 March 2004 17:28 (twenty years ago) link

bought suburban light on saturday. it's making me feel happy.

― AaronK (AaronK), Monday, 29 March 2004 19:04 (twenty years ago) link

four months pass...

I like the shunting sound at the end of "The Sea Inside a Shell" from the Ariadne ep. I had never listened to it loud enough to take notice of it before. I only looked up the title to write about the sound. It makes sense now and confirms a thought I'd had about the droning: even though it's an artificial sound, its loudness, its insistence, has the pull of sounds in nature. And even though the shunting sound is mechanical, the after effects put it in the natural world.

― youn, Saturday, 28 August 2004 05:33 (nineteen years ago) link

three years pass...

Better late than never. Scooped up some tunes after reading thru the Clientele threads. A Fading Summer EP, "Rain," and "Since K Got Over Me" best so far. Superb.

One thing I don't get. The AMG review of A Fading Summer says it's for people who cherish Love's Forever Changes. Huh?? Forever Changes is great and all but A Fading Summer is very different in tone and intent. The references to Neil Halsted and Dean Wareham make more sense.

― that's not my post, Saturday, 28 June 2008 04:03 (fifteen years ago) link

new EP is out sometime in the next couple of weeks, by the way.

― f. hazel, Saturday, 28 June 2008 08:18 (fifteen years ago) link

Always found the Love referencing a tad odd myself, though I think it has to do with an approach to songwriting more than the actual sound. Someone who likes Love more than I could probably explain. Anyway, listening today to Violet Hour all the way through for the first time in a while and it sounds pretty fucking great -- better than I remembered. Not hard to see why it was a little disappointing after Suburban Light-- how could it not be?-- but it seems like the perfect album-length distillation of their early sound in retrospect.

― Mark Rich@rdson, Saturday, 28 June 2008 17:35 (fifteen years ago) link

New EP? Is it new, original material or re-mixed old songs?

I love this band, BTW.

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 28 June 2008 21:20 (fifteen years ago) link

ariadne ep is my favorite

― tremendoid, Saturday, 28 June 2008 21:31 (fifteen years ago) link

six months pass...

The Love comparisons are only half-right. If you took Arthur Lee out of Love and just let Bryan MacLean (presumably someone who's only spiritually related to Alasdair) sing about "orange skies, carnivals and cotton candy" you'd have a pretty decent blueprint for the Clientele's sound. Bryan's collected demos released ten years ago, as well as the Love songs where he sings lead, would be an example of what this Lee-less Love would sound like.

― Cunga, Saturday, 3 January 2009 08:48 (fifteen years ago) link

seven years pass...

Fans of the C should check out this band Murals

― calstars, Friday, 21 October 2016 20:44 (seven years ago) link

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