Alcest

Nice!

Seriously you could tell me "Yeah this was some lost tape from this band that knew Bethany Curve and SoulWhirlingSomewhere" and I'd be all "Oh okay, got it" and I wouldn't be phased. It's very much that kind of total lost-in-float ease.

Oh and the title track is SUCH a 1992 era Cure rip. Beautifully done.

this album ("Shelter") is awesome.

Interviewing Neige in half an hour so if you have any burning questions...

And I guess you didn't! Or didn't read this. Anyway, great interview, some interesting insights on the new album, and I get a sense he's a very focused but content artist.

this is the best slowdive album since souvlaki

better than pygmalion, spoon & rafter or a strangely isolated place? gosh

yes my good man, even better than ulrich schnauss's cover of "crazy for you"

Its a fine album. Not metal in the least and the album Neige has probably always wanted to make.

I doubt I won't adore it.

i wasn't too crazy about the last one, i felt like it really dragged in places but this record is just so well put together. i'm a big fan of the centrepiece(s) of the record, "Voix Sereines" & "L'Eveil Des Muses" which have the most gorgeous melodies.

reggie is right and to me that is a compliment. I'm going to listen to this one a lot this year.

Now streaming on PF

http://pitchfork.com/advance/312-shelter/

after the understandable-ish thinkpieces that come out around this album (like the Stereogum one) can we all agree that as of like Feb. 1 we will just never use "metal" to describe Alcest again? i don't care that they're not metal, but i mean this album puts the nail in that coffin rather forcefully.

I look forward to avoiding all those hand wringing think pieces

I decided a long time ago that anything made by people who like metal and listened to by a majority of at least a sizable minority of people who like metal would be metal. That definition has served me well to date so I see no reason to abandon it now.

what about the backlash from people who always hated them? they are allover facebook taking great glee that they "arent metal"

One wonders why they go to the alcest page to say it

I'm enjoying this new album, but I don't quite get all the Slowdive comparisons.

"alcest are not metal theyre hipster indie" comments everywhere. anything indie or indeed non metal is "hipster" to those types btw

Is it because they're the goto reference point for anything dreamy and shoegazey?

people got bored saying MBV/Ride

I'm enjoying this new album, but I don't quite get all the Slowdive comparisons.

It helps that Neil Halstead actually sings on it...

the metal vs. not metal argument is going to turn out at least as interesting as the punk vs. not punk argument.

yeah i'm not saying it's this exhilarating argument or anything, but given the success of Deafheaven last year (and esp. last month) you can see why ppl who need to create content would write something.

then haters gotta reply and we have to suffer both!

it doesn't matter whether it's metal or not it just matters if it sucks. people not wanting to address that it sucks will write THE PURISTS ARE ANGRY! pieces because it distracts people from how this music is fuckin boring

it is boring, but in a very elegant way

it is boring, but in a very elegant way

yes. late-bourgeois metal

so does it work as ambient?
I am delighted that this band stopped having those lame Dragonlance via Vertigo comix style sleeves.

on further inspection, i'll revise that assessment to nth tier MTG card art

god the metal community has been dealing with a lot of brutal existential dilemmas, eh? Are true schizms in the metalverse even possible in the www age (diffusion of styles/lister preferences)? Metal fan community to diffusive in terms of taste? Sorry, this probably sounds hella patronizing..

people have been writing a lot of reviews/thinkpieces about that exact q, actually, that seems to be the primary function of these crossover releases - to generate "what does this mean for metal?" ruminations

it is somewhat interesting, I can't lie, that 80s/90s nostalgia as a driving force has resulted in this moment where what metal bands are nostalgic about is old Curve records instead of old Bathory records...but really nowhere near as interesting as people wanting to squabble about "purists!!" seem to think. there are way, way fewer people making purist objections than there are people basing their assessments on what the purists are purported to be thinking imo

feel like Ulver might be relevant to this discussion

probably a thread in itself as a lot of people dont like alcest so wont read this

xp

probably a thread in itself as a lot of people dont like alcest so wont read this

for my evil faux-purist purposes it's better if these discussions are relegated to threads no-one reads

Listened to this album this morning on the train. It's great. Here's the thing: I like it so much, I have no interest in exploring the band's back catalog. This album is perfect as it is; I am very happy to let it live as a shimmering, singular object without ever bothering to learn "how they got there."

what i got out of my listen yesterday was that the guitars sounded really good, there were some noticeable nods to post-rock and emo that i was into, but the package as a whole is just a little bit....lame? idk, there's a chance i come around and it becomes a record i really like. the stakes just seem a little too low atm.

re: thinkpieces and influences and all that, i'm just going to assume those are only interesting questions (as they specifically pertain to this record) to ppl who never heard the amesoeurs ep. because this sounds a lot more like that than it does any of the old alcest records.

the last song on this is gorgeous

The interesting part of the metal/not-metal question for me is whether it's possible to hear this album (assuming previous engagement with Alcest) without thinking of metal or having its metal provenance colour your experience. Can you listen to it just like you would a Curve album, where metal isn't even relevant, or is the 'not-metal' lacuna always there also? It'd be different if it constituted a complete break with an older style, but it's obviously continuous with what Alcest have done already. We aren't in some new world, it's still Neige's fairy land where black metal is part of the geography, even if this time around it's unexpressed.

diamonddave otm

The amesoeurs album was wonderful

yeah i was a big fan

I know what aerosmith is getting at earlier with a genre comparison and why people keep saying it since but the Curve mentions keep throwing me, I admit -- Curve to my mind, more so in the earlier days, are overlapping layers of guitars that just sound contemptuously angry, industrial/EBM leaning rhythms, and pissed-off/feminist lyrics coolly delivered. Shelter's way more on the agog Slowdive/Sigur Ros tip.

Ned I gotta be honest I don't really differentiate between all the NME one-word band name guitar bands of the early 90s, they're all pretty much one band to me

xpost I'm not really getting the Curve comparisons either

I'm getting a bit of a metal vibe from the new Alcest, in that it's awash in 6+ minute epics with multiple crescendos, as opposed to the noisy pop side of shoegaze. IOW, it's closer to Ride's "Dreams Burn Down" than anything resembling Slowdive.

yeah I'm getting a slight GY!BE/ASMZ vibe from this

I suppose that's the thing; it might not sound very metal but as it's a metal band making the album the approach is still gonna be that of a metal band.

love love love the Ruines Humaines EP by Amesoeurs. there is something irresistible about its looseness. it's as if the band could just one-hundred percent wig out at any second and it wouldn't matter because it would be the natural culmination of all those loose nerves anyway. the full-length was a bit manicured in its unhinged-ness by comparison. still excellent though.

I'm gonna listen to this album and I've never listened to Alcest before. sorry 2 my metal fans.

it's ok bro they weren't really that hot to begin with so nbd

i know it's lame asking about the meaning of band names, but alcest = sleeping with al??

Alcestis

i was going to say that that was a disappointing answer until i learnt she was daughter of pelias, king of lolcus

what's alcest up to

Album out this coming Friday

I pre-ordered the box vinyl. £40!!!! there was a complete box with the box vinyl and the fancy book cd but that was over £60 and wasnt paying that

Release date: 30.09.2016

Available editions:
- CD digipak with die-cut sleeve
- LP (33rpm) on heavy-weight 180g black virgin vinyl
- 2CD hardcover book (36 pages with lyrics, elaborate liner notes by Neige, Winterhalter and Fortifem, translations of the lyrics, ca. 18x18cm) incl. bonus CD with bonus track "Notre Sang Et Nos Penseées"
- Deluxe 3LP box (45rpm) with vinyl etching, 6 art prints and lyric sheet; ltd. to 777 copies, split to: 200x black vinyl, 200x clear vinyl, 200x clear/black marble vinyl, 177x magenta/black marble vinyl (exclusive to the Prophecy online shop!)
- "Complete Kodama Box": 4LPs (45rpm) incl. two vinyl etchings and bonus track "Notre Sang Et Nos Penseées", 2CD hardcover book (36 pages with lyrics, elaborate liner notes by Neige, Winterhalter and Fortifem, translations of the lyrics, ca. 18x18cm) incl. bonus CD with bonus track "Notre Sang Et Nos Penseées", 6 art prints and certificate; ltd. to 777 copies, split to: 200x black vinyl, 200x clear vinyl, 200x clear/black marble vinyl, 177x magenta/black marble vinyl (exclusive to the Prophecy online shop! SOLD OUT)

I'm expecting there to be a couple of black metal ragers and a couple that sound like Clannad.

I just hope one of the BM Ragers isnt the bonus track as that's only with the book or complete box not vinyl box.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to this. I like all Alcest though, even the last one.

Are you interested in this? I love both their albums but dunno what to make of this new direction

Drawing inspiration from acts like Portishead, Massive Attack, Lana Del Rey, Pink Floyd or Blonde Redhead, Fursy Teyssier keeps his musical core with a calmer version of Les Discrets, maintaining the inherent melancholy and melodics.

"Virée Nocturne" will be released in two different formats: CD Digipak and 12" vinyl EP.

"Kodama" the fifth album from Blackgaze pioneers, Alcest, marks the French duo's ferocious return to the stylistic maximalism of its early albums while continuing the band's relentless pursuit for new sounds and fresh ideas.
"Kodama" is the Japanese word for 'tree spirit' and 'echo' and from the album's structure and dynamics to its cinematic sound, "Kodama" indeed 'echoes' Alcest's 2010 classic, "Écailles De Lune". But this is no simple back-to-the-roots album: the band has more punch, rhythm and organic feel than ever before. While clearly influenced by bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, Dinosaur Jr, Grimes and The Cure, "Kodama" ultimately reveals itself as Alcest's 'Japanese album', drawing substantial inspiration from Japanese art and culture.

Originally triggered by Hayao Miyazaki's anime film "Princess Mononoke", "Kodama" picks up on the fate of its protagonist and, at its core, deals with the sensation of not belonging; of living in between worlds, be it city and nature or the physical and spiritual one. Duality is also crucial for the visual approach of the album, realized by French graphic designer duo Førtifem. Paying tribute to Japanese illustrators like Takato Yamamoto, the visuals portray contrasting elements like nature/urbanity, youth/death, femininity/animality and combine poetic elements with darker ones that were not present in Alcest's earlier works.

By giving the album a cultural, stylistic and compositional narrative, Neige and Winterhalter keep "Kodama" from just being the latest improvement on the Alcest sound and instead make the album a most rare and exciting thing: a vital, relevant record from a pioneer that not only upholds the band's trailblazing legacy but actually makes you want to see where they go next.

I don't remember being hugely impressed by Les Discrets when I gave them a try god knows how long ago, might give the new one a listen if I manage to cut down my 2016 backlog a bit.

I haven't listened to any of the preview tracks from Kodama, I'd rather hear the whole thing fresh. That press release might be making it sound more interesting/adventurous than it actually is but I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy it anyway.

I think this might be the time to start liking Alcest again

Haven't received mine yet, has anyone heard it?

I think this might be the time to start liking Alcest again

― imago,

WORD UP

http://www.tigerstrypes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/download-2.jpg

Really good and a great change of pace. It rocks a lot harder than the last one.

New one is exactly what I was expecting but I was hoping for, idk, a little more. I mean I like it fine but when I hear a band treading water this much I can't help but find it slightly offputting.

The three tracks from this that are available on Spotify are really, really good.

Yeah, another fine album from them.

Alcest is somehow becoming one of my favorite bands without me noticing

New Alcest track, "L'envol". Full album out in June.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haQ_zgn9ck4

https://alcest.bandcamp.com/album/lenvol

Listening to an advance of the full album and it's a damn treat.