Scott-O -- as in Scott Walker and SunnO)))

I haven't listened to the leak, hung up about it for some reason. But the printed lyrics in the Quietus piece from "Herod" hark back to late 60s Scott for me, almost. Until it gets to that fucking breech birth verse and then we're back in the loving care of The Electrician and his ilk.

the drone in "brando" reminds me a bit of the bass note in "the electrician" actually

I don't really have any clue what happens at "listening parties" but I like the idea of a bunch of people who've been listening to a leak for weeks attending a preview & pretending not to have heard it before. I'd be tempted to start singing along

Tbf it looks like they play it on a really nice big rig that you or I would never own

no I can see why people go, I just can't really picture what they do when they get there.

download the 320 onto their iphones and play it on speaker just out of sync with the playback

tbh the flac of this has not leaked yet which might be one reason people will go

Viscerally Piercing the Semantic Mist (for completion of this thread, and bonus points for the quite frankly exquisite headline)

I only ever went to one listening party and it was a small room horribly crammed with people.

Oddly I found Drift to be his most accessible album, because at first listen I thought it might be a lot more difficult.

I've gone through find great the Drift terrifying to being just fine with it and more recently back to finding it terrifying. Cue has kind of overtaken the Escape for frighteningness

Doran, excellent interview. I really enjoyed it.

What are the writing credits on this? Is it all SW?

yes a good interview, scott walker never less than engaging and dignified as hell

On first listen this sounds very much like a new Scott Walker album, with Sunn O))) as a backing band, delivering their heavy feedback sound. The slashing whips, the broody atmosphere, the shrieking guitar sounds, and Herod 2014 to boot, tying it all together: that's all Walker, it sounds like a logical progression from Bisch Bosch.

I think it is magnificent, but one would think that rather easily being so in love with Walker's sound. I'd love to read similarly devised interviews as Doran's about the record with O'Malley and consorts now, to hear more about their input and ideas about what they brought to the table.

i remember that stephen thomas erlewine or somebody wrote a review of "tilt" on AMG that called it "the most difficult album ever made" or something which is the kind of thing you would write about "tilt" if you were sixteen years old.

the music is very non-generic (i mean it's hard to affix to a particular genre) and in that sense can present some initial difficulties but i dunno. i think folks have overemphasized the challenges of scott's later music. "the drift" is probably the most user unfriendly one IMO.

I think it's just the contrast in styles from his early work, and this intimidates some listeners who aren't that into anything avant garde. I really don't think the later era is much less accessible than the early albums. I think I got Tilt when I was 18 or 19 and I was fascinated by its reputation and I became a huge fan on the basis of that.
I think I was also surprised that Swans were way more accessible than I imagined from first listen.

I guess it probably made a difference that I was attracted to dark and extreme music and a lot of music fans won't have that enthusiasm to be so receptive.

woooo no you better than them big man

Yeah was gonna say there's some good hardmanning going on itt.

I was trying not to sound like my preferences made me a better listener, just talking about what we're predisposed to welcome. Because there is just loads of stuff I really don't get and I'm totally lost when it comes to a lot of noise music, so it taken me by surprise when I found something easy that had a reputation for difficulty.
Back then extremity for its own sake had more appeal and I wonder if that would make some stuff easier or more difficult now.

and now we've found a new way not to sound like we think we're better listeners

i have to admit i find swans really abrasive and haven't found a way "in" to them yet; is there an album i should be starting with?

http://eil.com/images/main/The+Dooleys+-+The+Very+Best+Of+-+CD+ALBUM-337651.jpg

People, people...

Couldn't get into Masonna, Merzbow, Mingus, Pig Destroyer, Steve Reich, Messiaen's Turangalila, Spiritulised's Ladies & Gentlemen, Body Lovers, Swans- My Father & The Seer (which really bothered me because I felt very left out), The Clash, most of a Bauhaus album, Darkthrone, some Sunn 0))) (fingers crossed for the future), Negura Bunget, Venom.

Don't get the majority of art house films.

So it was a pleasant surprise to get into Scott Walker and most of Swans easily.

you don't have to defend yourself. what you are saying is perfectly reasonable and clear.

more like ShitO)))))

How could one possibly not "get into" Spiritualized's "Ladies & Gents"? What is there to get? And why is Spiritualized even mentioned in a Scott O))) thread?

Is this the ugly face of nu-ILM?

xxp

i can totally imagine SW using "wind yer neck in" in a song.

How could one possibly not "get into" Spiritualized's "Ladies & Gents"? What is there to get? And why is Spiritualized even mentioned in a Scott O))) thread?

Is this the ugly face of nu-ILM?

xxp

― definite classic, predicting a solid 8/10 from the p-fork boys (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 10 October 2014 01:24

I quite liked the last track but I was kind of distressed because loads of people loved it at the time and I just didn't understand it.

It's a great album, start to finish, I just have difficulty comprehending that album being mentioned in a thread about Scott O))). But all the best to you man. Live and learn and discover etc.

most accessible swans song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oeZmWUl8dM

Yeah well I get arthouse films, sorry. I can enjoy them cause I've watched them for years and I'm familiar with the different set of conventions involved, I think it would be pathetically self-congratulatory if I were still going around banging on about how ~challenging~ it all is. If that's hardmanning fine

again, he's been making albums in this vein since 1995, I always just wonder why these goths can't just say they like it

just a bit of funn O))) let's be cool

I like latter Scott partly because I find it challenging. It's not exactly Kenny G is it? Even Tilt, I mean, Farmer in the City is its own kind of harrowing and I don't find the Cockfighter relaxing to listen to. It's fantastic art music but you can see why a lot of people don't like it.

It's not exactly Kenny G is it?

No but neither is anything

not what you'd call "dinner party music"/one for the music buffs/predicting a solid &c

In some ways, the 60s Scott albums are as 'difficult' as Tilt etc for some modern listeners because they code as MOR, with all the negative connotations of blandness, show business, non-rock action that that entails.

Kenny G!

Yeah, but that means you have to listen.

There is a whole chunk of "This could be Stuart Gilles" amongst the sixties stuff, but keep the Scott penned stuff and the Brel stuff and you will be all right.

stuff

Keep it all & throw out your bs hangups about show biz non rock action imo

would be fun to hear scott o))) in st. john's

I heard the Brel version of Jackie for the first time the other day and honestly, if you can understand the language it's a very amusing take. The Walker version is a brilliant translation but some of the nuances of the French language are just as, if not more, hilarious.

It's not like everyone gets all the popular stuff. Lots of people don't understand lots of pop music. Not everyone gets Beatles.

I said I don't get most art house films (mostly realistic stuff, I like surreal arthouse) but I also don't get James Bond films.

More than anything the appeal of first person shooter videogames like Call Of Duty is the most baffling mystery.

kenny G)))

Really looking forward to this based on the Quietus interview.

In some ways, the 60s Scott albums are as 'difficult' as Tilt etc for some modern listeners because they code as MOR, with all the negative connotations of blandness, show business, non-rock action that that entails.

definitely true for me. My introduction to Scott Walker was Tilt and I quickly grew to love that album. I then decided to go back and check out his early albums and could not get into them for a long time.

In retrospect, I think the mistake I made was going from Tilt all the way back to his first album. I should have worked my way backwards from Tilt.

For me, words like "difficult" and "challenging" never seemed right in describing music or images. Straining and putting effort into understanding something always backfired on me. I think I probably didn't get into a lot of stuff in my early teens was because I worried too much and got frustrated.

I don't think I've ever got into an album and thought "whoah that was tough", it was always just a case of listening to it enough times, which isn't difficult unless it really tries your patience. But some music you just never get.

I've never heard of "hardmanning" in this context, makes me think of some big bald muscular guy saying "I'm a huge fan of Scott Walker and neo realist films; you may have seen me in an episode of Danny Dyer Meets Britain's Hardest Bastards".

I guess this is more about amateurist's view that calling Tilt 'difficult' is something a sixteen year old would say. Obv, the semantics of 'difficult' and even 'challenging' are open to long and boring debate, and it's entirely subjective. but it's not 'easy' listening. There are quite clear barriers here.

i don't have a problem with using the word 'challenging' to describe a piece of music any more than i would have trouble calling a book 'challenging'. 'Difficult', I can see, has a suggestion that the artist is being wilfully awkward or unlikeable, so i can see why there's an issue with this word.