Life Without Buildings

the australian only single is great as well http://www.trifekta.com.au/artists/artist.asp?id=3

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.

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...

As it stands, my favorite thing by them is an admittedly straightforward but still fun cover of Prince's "Pop Life."

Jesus H.

This album is just...the best goddamn thing of the last 10 years. Did I say that already?

THE RIGHT STUFF

LOOK BACK AND SAY THAT I DIDN'T

There was a Magnet article in 2001 on the five bands that represent Nu No Wave:

Liars, Ex-Models, Life Without Buildings, Seconds and _______?

...erase errata, if i remember correctly.

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?

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.

The one new/unreleased song on the live album, "Liberty Feelup," is as wonderful as anything on Any Other City, too.

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!

(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)

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.

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.

Heartbeat always skitters across a couple of grooves seeing a LWB thread get revived.

^^^ Such a wonderful track.

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.

thx for the video link. I'd stopped looking for videos a while ago.

Not a video I'm afraid, just audio :(

:(

Also: a friend introduced LWB to me as "the Sugarcubes meets Pavement" for whatever that's worth.

!

That's bizarre.

When I first heard the album, the combo I made in my mind immediately was Altered Images vs. Sleater-Kinney.

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

That Love Trinity track is really good. Haven't heard it before. Can someone up it?

gimme 1 sec

oh thanks

http://rapidshare.com/files/236160811/01_Love_Trinity.mp3.html

Oh wow we're turning people on to LWB songs here they haven't heard before! Nice work, ILM!

Alas, limit reached. Re up please?

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 (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/

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:

i mentioned that somewhere, and i agree, sadly their album was v disappointing

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.

i have it, i'll dig it out when i get home tonight

i will also search for their prince cover too, i have the cd somewhere

Just buy it from Amazon US and not UK, it is only 10.50 on there.

BTW Daylighting is a bonus track on the US pressing.

Daylighting: http://rapidshare.com/files/237239605/11_Daylighting.mp3.html

Thanks very much for that! One day I hope to find a copy of the "Love Trinity" CD single for a reasonable price.

Just buy it from Amazon US and not UK, it is only 10.50 on there.

― svend, Tuesday, 26 May 2009 01:10 (17 minutes ago) Bookmark

Thanks, but I've already got the UK pressing of the 'Any Other City', was just surprised that someone thought they'd get anywhere listing at that price - I know it's the EIL approach, hope someone's desperate enough. Someone on Amazon UK was after £66 for the "Young Offenders" CD single, which is "only" $19 on Amazon US.

And I'm also a muppet - 10.50 for US pressing which includes "Daylighting" rather than $19 or £66 for the single. Duh.

Plus the US one is in a jewel case, I have both as well and the LP :).

At least it's a small discography to be trying to hoover up!

i was going to suggest getting in contact with trifekta as they may still have stock but they seem to have fallen off the face of the earth

http://chaos.com/product/love_trinity_380323_18294.html

The Trifekta website has disappeared but found a myspace, will give them a shout.

I also found that listing on chaos.com, but the 14-20 day wait for dispatch wasn't promising - that would imply they don't have it in stock and would be ordering it in themselves. May as well try and cut out the middleman.

back in the day their website had a free download of a live acoustic take of the leanover that was really good. i last had it in like 2006 - does anyone have that now? i can't find it anywhere!

interesting - a recently conducted "follow up" interview with the drummer and guitarist of lwb: http://musosguide.com/life-without-buildings-the-catch-up-interview/8990

I would love to know if anyone had a .rar of "Love Trinity." The single, not the live one since thats easier to come by.

yeah, i have it. are you looking specifically for the song, or the whole single, which features two other songs?

If the other two are good I'll take them! Thanks!

https://www.yousendit.com/download/RmNBK3BDd0k5RlpjR0E9PQ

there you go!

Saw Life Without Buildings years ago supporting Hefner and thought they were terrible. It wasn't until a few years later when I picked up 'Any other City' and realised how wrong I had been. I was pretty young when I saw them and I guess I didn't have the listening background in post-punk I have now which makes them more understandable. Still, missed opportunity.

Yeah, I'm still cursing myself for missing them the one time they played here (supporting Piano Magic circa Low Birth Weight!). Why the fuck did I miss that?

Catch-up interview with Robert and Will: http://musosguide.com/life-without-buildings-the-catch-up-interview/8990

"We broke up because Sue didn’t want to do it anymore. She wanted to focus on visual art, and had never really bargained on being the singer in a band. To put that in perspective, when the band began of course none of us really thought anyone would be interested, so there wasn’t anything at stake. As things went on, it started to feel a bit more pressurised, so we did some daft things like taking support gigs with larger bands because it would be ‘good for us’ and generally treating it more like a job than like fun (I take a large part of the responsibility for this!). If we had been a bit smarter about it we could probably have carried on a bit longer and tried to plough our own path rather than do things the way we thought they were ‘meant’ to be done. For Sue i think it turned from a laugh into being a commitment she’d never signed up for."

Oh, haha... I guess I should've spotted that seven posts above.

I'm fifteen and just discovered them. I'm glad I don't just sit around being sad they broke up and instead just jam their jams.

JAMzzzzzzzzz

was hoping this thread revival meant they were reuiniting

SEE

So I only got round to getting this album about a month ago and I am completely in love with it. I cannot believe I left it so long to check them out. I'm sure they used to get played on Radio 1's Evening Session back in the day but i was probably too busy obsessing over Mansun to really notice them, even though I'm a huge Japan fan and remember being impressed with their name.

14 Days is probably my favourite track, the chorus is just heartbreaking.

Should I be picking up that live album that came out?

Sure. It's got at least one unique track on it. Be sure to round up the singles tracks, too.

'liberty feelup' is the exclusive on the live record and it is worth having

You get 'Love Trinity' too, which isn't on Any Other City and is pretty much the definition of a must-have.

yeah love trinity is essential. i reckon a second album would have been wonderful, but what are you gonna do

Be sure to round up the singles tracks, too.

yeah, the single versions of "New Town", "The Leanover", and "Let's Get Out" are appreciably different from the later album versions. they're rougher and more shoddily recorded, like demos almost. I prefer the better sound quality of the re-recordings, but the singles are worth hearing if you're a completist like I am.

"Love Trinity" and "Pop Life" are essential, as is "Is Is and the IRS". the latter was recorded twice; the earlier single version (b/w "Let's Get Out") is slightly better than the re-recording on the b-side of "Love Trinity".

"Daylighting" (another "Love Trinity" b-side, which resurfaced as bonus track on the American release of Any Other City) is one of the few songs of theirs where the vocals really grate on me. no, Sue, I will not take you to the kino.

I wish they'd recorded a second album too, electricsound. I feel like a follow-up album where they tried to match the spastic energy of the singles and most of Any Other City would've inevitably disappointed people. but if they went in a prettier, slower, more polished direction in the vein of "Sorrow" and "Love Trinity", I think they could've come up with something as fresh and compelling as their debut.

those guys doing some insane altered images kinda pop record would have been amazing

they could have done a very credible cover of "Pink Blue", imho.

er, "Pinky Blue"

The band essentially broke up because Sue didn't want to be a singer anymore iirc, so the rest of them should've just called Clare Grogan and said "hey, let's do something."

^^

the single versions of "New Town", "The Leanover"

This is the sort of tidbit I love ILX for. I had no idea the single versions were different, thanks!

Of course, if anyone can point to a source for these versions... ;-)

i actually like the 45 version of the leanover way more than the re-recorded version.

if i find a source i will let you know!

I can webmail those track to you if you'd like, gerald.

How is this stuff still out of print?! It's not even available digitally. So many indie nerds go on and on about these records; I find it hard to believe some label couldn't do an all-tracks re-issue that would get some buzz (a'la that Sub Pop Vaselines comp).

if you haven't heard it you should track down their cover of Princes 'Pop Life', Sue trying to rein in her vocal tics and sing it straight is fun to listen to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Pvu3r5_xg

the live album is on spotify if you have access to that. love the version of New Town on there. I love the way she introduces it with "this is new town! this is australia!" she seems so excited/happy to be there.

they were a total blast live

love the version of New Town on there.

Just been listening to this and my god, I had forgotten how good it was. Totally fierce!

Meanwhile Spotify says...

Users who listen to Life Without Buildings also listen to:

David Cronenberg's Wife
A Grave With No Name
Internet Forever
Shrag
Young British Artists
Hymie's Basement
Orphan's & Vandals
volcano!
Marble Valley
Teeth of the Sea
Bell Orchestre
Bearsuit
Effi Briest
Ten In The Swear Jar
Simon Bookish
Remember Remember
Lift To Experience
Forest Fire
Mechanical Bride

Would any of these be of any use to me as a surrogate LWB?

oh shit, stray apostrophe in there somewhere

i've never heard of a single one of those bands, except for bell orchestre. weird.

What a weird collection of bands. To answer your question: not really.
Ten inthe Swear Jar is what became Xiu Xiu. They're more poppy.
Effie Briest is probably the closest, but they're punkier and less tuneful.
I refuse to believe there is a bad called "Internet Forever."

Effi Briest is pretty good, but not at all similar to LWB. Likewise, Ten in the Swear Jar was good too (Jamie Stewart's pre-Xiu Xiu band), but nothing at all like LWB.

xp oof

Ha - I guess "quirkily female fronted indie" is all they've got in common...
I really liked Ten in the Swear Jar (and IBOPA, which had one awesome 7")

I need to go and find other ways to acquire this, huh? I'm never going to just "come across" a real copy out there.

LWB?

I bought my copy at Tower for $1.99 back in 2001(ish) because someone there had mistakenly put it in the discount import singles section. STEAL OF ALL TIME!

Sorry, yeah, the LWB album I meant. Its been on my "to buy" list for years, but I've yet to come across a copy of it or the live disc.

Well, I'll rep for Simon Bookish as being awesome but nothing like Life Without Buildings
If I'm craving more Life Without Buildings I'll listen to "The Power Out" and/or Altered Images and that usually does it

Would any of these be of any use to me as a surrogate LWB?

dunno! Art Brut might appeal to you though.

"There Goes Concorde Again" by ...And The Native Hipsters also comes to mind. but it resembles LWOB on such a shallow level that it seems almost insulting to bring it up.

The earlier stuff by Thomas Tantrum is a bit LWB-ish (the newer stuff isn't, as they likely got harassed for it and decided to cut it out)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RioZmv1lmVU

My problem with The Power Out is even though I do like it, whenever I put it on I just immediately skip to the glorious & transcendent 3rd track and listen to it on repeat. Life has programmed me to do that.

oh man i used to listen to any other city a lot

that Thomas Tantrum clip is pretty good & I can definitely hear the resemblance. thx.

How did you guys find out about this band?
Me, it was a Little Darla compilation, loaned by a friend. "Envoys" was on it.

I bought everything tugboat records put out so I discovered them that way. I fell in love with the leanover immediately..

this thread

My friend Martin mentioned something about them, so I went to their website (pre-Myspace/Facebook/etc when everyone still had an individual site and most of them were shit-tay) and streamed some RealAudio.

Anybody I ever show this to in real life is either indifferent or horribly annoyed by her vocal stlye/delivery.

Fuck the real life.

Oh Sal, my e-friend, Life Without Buildings would be nothing without real life!

Seriously love it though. Mostly has to do with the melodic sensibilities of the guitar parts.

Ok, so I'm slow on the uptake sometimes - I happened to hear that Thomas Tantrum song on my local cool college radio station and was quite smitten. Anyone know if any of their albums are of similar quality?

which TT song?

i liked their first bunch of singles a lot, but the debut was patchy at best. the new album is a considerable step forward.

Oops, the one upthread, "Shake It".

the new one is really good, and a lot more dreampop than the LWB-lite of earlier efforts

Embarrassed at myself for my use of the term "real life" in here.

Was re-listening and enjoying this again very much. These guitar parts are something to strive for when I play.

thanks for bumping this thread and getting my hopes up...

Ha, I knew someone would say that! Sorry.

Whenever this thread gets bumped, I just concede before clicking that someone has pulled the album out again and was overcome with joy. Because...how could it not have that effect?

i was also punk'd

Anyone ever found any video footage of these folks?

No, they haven't gotten back together.

But there's this. Oy Gevalt.

I'm glad she's happy, but that is so not my scene.

One of the more inexplicable band breakups of recent years. Everybody loved them, they had instant success, and now she's hopping around talking about black holes.

It's the pee-dance

the history of half past ten

interesting interview:
http://musosguide.com/life-without-buildings-the-catch-up-interview/8990

We also got a lot from the post-rock and post-hardcore sounds of the Glasgow scene at the time, and from Sue’s fantastic refusal to be interested in anything other than the most mainstream music and the most esoteric literature.

Frustratingly, this has no sound:

Sue Tompkins - Be My Wife, Live At The Modern Institute

I can hear it!

damn! any good?

Yeah, pretty sweet actually!

she does look like she's having fun

there is also a new-ish video on youtube called "sue tompkins - captain beefheart tribute", which looks like another poetry reading but i couldn't get the sound to work on that either

If you're in Newcastle tonight why not drop by and catch this...
http://www.thenortherncharter.org/errorshitorient

Sue Tompkins is playing in NYC on Saturday. Does anybody know what this is going to be like, or anything about it?

http://www.themoderninstitute.com/media/images/large/11938.jpg

It'll most likely be Sue performing her poems straight, ie with no music.
She's been doing this a while (I feel like maybe before LWB) and i've been lucky enough to see her a few times and it's always been brilliant. Very similar to how she was onstage with LWB — skipping about and tentative but totally in the moment.

Totally go!

link to event listing?

if its what its titled, it looks to be this:

https://vimeo.com/74618301

That flyer is the only thing I've seen about it. It's at White Columns at 8 on Saturday.

I'm going for sure! Very excited.

Any Other City getting a vinyl reissue for Record Store Day.

http://pitchfork.com/news/54418-life-without-buildings-any-other-city-being-reissued-for-record-store-day/

Really hope I can hold of a copy.

Yeah me too!

Looking at this list it's not listed as limited edition so hopefully it'll be easy to get.

http://new-vinyl.blogspot.com/2014/01/record-store-day-2014rsd-7-april-19.html

I don't really know how Record Store Day works, I've never gotten involved with it before. The thought of trying to fight for the records I want stresses me out but I'd do it for this reissue.

It doesn't seem to me like the release that you have to fight for.
I'm optimistically suspecting it'll be the kind of RSD release that lingers in stores after the frenzy.

First editions of the LP come with a 7” that contains alternate recordings of album cuts “The Leanover” and “New Town.”

That 7" originally came out before the LP iirc and I prefer those versions, though the LP versions kill too

Would be nice to get the version with the single but think I'll just take the easier option and aim for the album on its own.

The best thing about this review is the link it provides for the original NME review back in 2001. Had forgotten just how long the NME have been making absolutely no effort into writing actual reviews.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19181-life-without-buildings-any-other-city/

Never heard this album but all the re-release hype has made me super excited to hear it (it's not available on Spotify or anything like that). So this will be one of those increasingly rare albums I purchase without hearing first. I do miss that experience.

This album and Since I Left You volley back and forth as my favorite albums of the 00s, but this one's on top most of the time. I sincerely hope you find you love it.

Not sure how I missed it the first time, b/c it sounds right in my sweet spot and I was devouring this kind of stuff at the time.

But in the years since I've been burned by so many NME-ish bands that I stopped checking most of them out—"RIYL The Fall" is no longer the catnip it once was for me—so I do fear sometimes that I'm missing out on at least a few awesome UK bands I'd love if I gave them the chance

Yeah, I picked it as my favorite album of the 00s for the Stylus Decade.

The best thing about this review is the link it provides for the original NME review back in 2001. Had forgotten just how long the NME have been making absolutely no effort into writing actual reviews.

I'm pretty sure I wrote a glowing review of their last London live show, supporting The Strokes (who were playing their first London live show) at the Barfly, but I can't find it on the NME website.

Funny that I don't love this album the way I did in 2002, but I do love it for killing post-rock dead

So I wasn't able to find this on Record Store Day. Do we know if this was a RSD-only re-release? I'm not finding any place online that's selling it, even Rough Trade's web store isn't

I knew an mp3 version is being released on iTunes and Amazon next week (or the week after, I can't recall) but don't know about the vinyl.

idgi, how did LWOB "kill post-rock dead"?

i heard this for the first time yesterday

it rules

they didn't kill post-rock in the UK, most UK post-rock probably came after they split up - or at least it was in the early 00s that it scene-ified over here (outside London and maybe Glasgow and a few other places, anyway)

and they probably did get knocked down the bill from headlining to supporting the Strokes on their first UK tour at the last minute (a story one of the articles upthread mentions and then calls "possibly apocryphal"), but so did the local support here, who were no Life Without Buildings - the Strokes were basically unheard of one week, NME single of the week two days before their UK tour started, and bills were rearranged all over the country

anyway all of that is beside the point, as this is a great album. how does the reissue sound?

and they probably did get knocked down the bill from headlining to supporting the Strokes on their first UK tour at the last minute (a story one of the articles upthread mentions and then calls "possibly apocryphal"), but so did the local support here, who were no Life Without Buildings - the Strokes were basically unheard of one week, NME single of the week two days before their UK tour started, and bills were rearranged all over the country

i can easily imagine this. buzz about the strokes from the Modern Age single was massive, and definitely the anticipation at the London show was for the strokes, who were excellent - indeed, I never saw them play better. but life without buildings were better still.

FWIW I bought the re-issue at Rough Trade East towards the end of the day yesterday, and they still had at least a dozen copies left. They're going to sell their unsold stock next Saturday online, so maybe look for it there.

The only downers are that it was £29.99, which is fucking insane, and that I forgot that the album doesn't actually include my favorite song of theirs (Love Trinity) which I now realize I had on a CD single which Discogs tells me goes for over £50 and which I'm sure I gave to a charity shop a decade ago after ripping it, like an idiot!

Sounds great, anyway, and comes with a bonus 7" with a couple of demos which I haven't played yet.

Just picked it up at Saki in Chicago, $23, they still had a few.

the right stuff, the right
the right stuff

Does the remaster sound any different? I'm thrilled this is getting a reissue but it never sounded like it was missing anything in the first place..

someone should write up an alt-canon that has this at one end and sonny sharrock's 'black woman' at the other

Anyone still looking for a copy of this. I ordered it from the website two weeks ago thinking I'd probably get told it was out of stock or something. It just turned up today and is the version with the single. I'm delighted.

http://whatsyourrupture.bigcartel.com/product/life-without-buildings-any-other-city

$29 with shipping which seems like a great deal.

I just ordered it and it seemed to go through, so I hope I'm successful as well.

After a few days of not hearing anything I did email them to check they had it in stock. They got back to me within minutes saying "Yes, we have a copy for you. Enjoy your record" It took another ten days to arrive and they didn't send a confirmation email but here it is. It looks great but haven't played it yet.

I feel bad for the people who have paid over a hundred dollars on eBay for a copy.

I just got my copy in the mail yesterday. IIRC, my shipment confirmation came from USPS or some third-party mail forwarder, not from WYR, so maybe it got flagged as spam? I don't get the impression that this was a terribly limited release, or if it was, maybe most shops just didn't get it. WYR in the states and Rough Trade for Britishers seem to have plenty.

Mine just came today. I just emailed WYR yesterday to see why it was taking so long and he said they'd just received the re-pressed stock but that he'd found some leftover RSD stock there at the office and sent it out last week. I wonder if the re-pressed albums include the 7".

They are full of shit. I ordered them on May 4th and I mailed them last week and this is what they said.

"If you read teh description it says

"Reissue of Life Without Buildings LP. These copies do not include
the 7". Stock will arrive around May 30th and will ship out after."

BUT! I ended up finding a few extra LP+7" versions and sent one of
those your way yesterday. Expect the record next week.

Kevin"

My email still has the link to the one I ordered

"Life Without Buildings - Any Other City
$24.99"

If it would have been the normal version then it would have been 19.99. I haven't checked my mail box yet.

Amazing how they found some......

He can lie to me all he wants as long as he holds up his end of the bargain. Now that the (RSD version of the) record is in my possession, I no longer care.

this thread just reminded me of the existence of erase errata

nightlife was an astonishing record

classic review:
http://www.nme.com/reviews/4076

classic indeed!

yeah this album is incredible. total magic eye thing.

and while the vocalist is undeniably the star, i am not sure this would have worked with a more vigorous or in-any-way-pointed musical backdrop, nor a more ambient one - it's pretty perfect autumn music

ting ting!

love some of the mini crescendos in these songs, those still kill me after all this time
- look back and say that i didn't!
- my lips are sealed (mad as a seal?)
- looookin in your eeeeeyyyyeeessss! looookin in your eeeeeyyyyeeessss! looookin in your eeeeeyyyyeeessss!

Agreed but it's funny how the vocals put most people off. I think it's all the repetition.

imago so otm.

all time album!

I'm hoping Sue did something with Underworld.... she is mentioned in the liner notes of Drift episode 2. One of the guys recently discovered the album and met with her.

did a dj set a few months ago during a happy hour thing I was doing and played Life Without Buildings in a set with Anne Clark, Leslie Winer and Algebra Suicide. One young woman in the audience lost her shit. It was a good set.

looookin in your eeeeeyyyyeeessss! looookin in your eeeeeyyyyeeessss! looookin in your eeeeeyyyyeeessss!

impossible for me not to hear this as "lookin in your arse", but that somehow doesn't distract from the power of the song.

"if i lose you if i lose you if i lose you, to her to her to her" is a thrilling in media res opening too

in the loos
in the loos
in the loos
("leaves", really, i guess)

if i lose you *to her*? I only hear "uh huh" -- same on lyrics sites. She then goes on to elaborate, "in the street".

that live album too, right? goddam

i always heard "to her," or i guess in her accent "to huh"

ooh ooo

Love this album and it makes me so happy how it has a mini fan-club on here.

I go back to their Pop Life cover a lot.

The music is so lush too. Sometimes I want an instrumental version of the album so I can also use it as background jam mood music.

if i lose you *to her*? I only hear "uh huh" -- same on lyrics sites. She then goes on to elaborate, "in the street".

it's 'the huh, the huh, the huh', you can hear it pretty clearly here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY5G_jvyDo8

clearly "uh huh" to my ears from that

uh huh? nuh uh

Oh weird, now I hear "the huh, uh huh, uh huh" each time she repeats that part.

yuh huh

my favorite is the one about Laurel

ok but she's definitely saying, "looking in your arse," right?

i always hear arse too tbh, but that's cos i want to

back at 'the leanover', it took me ages to work out where i'd heard the phrase 'i like you mostly late at night' before ('sea song' by robert wyatt obv)

mbv mbv mbv mbv mbv more mbv hi fi.

Have embarrassed myself on a least a couple of occasions by drunkenly telling the guitarist of this group how great they were.

correct protocol imo

in the loos
in the loos
in the loos
("leaves", really, i guess)

if i lose you *to her*? I only hear "uh huh"

Am I missing something here? It's clearly "if I lose, If I lose, If I lose you in the street"

yeah "if I lose"

the many ways the many w-w-ways

dddddddays like television

'leanover' lyrics would be a good poll

guys ffs it's "a Fallujan street". it takes place in Iraq.

the album was released two years before the war in Iraq started

I..um..... think about that and post back?

Haven't listened to this stuff yet but just found a yt user who's uploaded an australian radio session...

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

(that's track 1 of 5)

...and also a live show at the cavern in exeter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fyeX1vAQOU

(track 1 of 9)

i <3 lwb

We don't drive. We walk everywhere,

'Liberty Feel-Up' always reminds me of the Blue Aeroplanes circa 1986 when they really had that beatnik poetry meets Tom Verlaine guitar thing dialled like a fine-tuned engine. '14 Days' hits that spot too

not sure about this new direction

Presidential spiritual adviser Paula White is currently leading an impassioned prayer service in an effort to secure Trump's reelection. pic.twitter.com/hCSRh84d6g

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 5, 2020

Bwahahaha

Trump is the shaky baby amirite

https://crossfade.io/#!/5lpkxvpdnk

yesssss

this kind of thing has a 100% success rate:

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

they're coming here
they're coming here
they're coming here
from africa right now
from south america
angelic reinforcement
angelic reinforcement
i hear the sound of victory
i hear the sound of victory
i hear the sound of victory

I see they're a meme now

no fucking way is life without buildings being used on 19k tiktok’s like this hahahaha pic.twitter.com/BqeWFY5zuu

— LaurenN🦷 (@1aurenmoose) January 11, 2021

Wow! Its so cool to see a new generation discovering them.

It's weird how seeing someone else copy something can make it diminish or disappear; with Tompkins, it somehow makes her more unique.

this is amazing

that compilation definitely peaks with the hair dyeing one though

life without buildings has gone from 30k monthly listeners on spotify to 210k lol

— basic charnel 2021 (@basic_charnel) January 10, 2021

a lot of that does seem to be going to "The Leanover" but I'm sure some people are exploring

lots of sue tompkins activity recently. have seen her twice in the last week in my neighbourhood and she followed me on twitter today. must be preparing for a comeback. ;-)

hope she knows about the uptick in young fans!

squeeeeeeee

She will surely notice the massive surge in streaming revenue. I bet next time i spot her she is being chauffered around.

From 12 cents to $1.28! Good for them!

ker-ching!

Getting ready for their performance on Top of the Pops.

This is awesome. Kinda warms my heart. I actually first heard about LWB from this board about 16 years ago thanks to an early 00's album poll at the time.

sea shanties also v big on tiktok right now pmsl

2021 is the year of the sea shanty pic.twitter.com/ohOAGvkbtC

— Tim - Poster of Hugo Pics (@Beertheist) January 11, 2021

here's what Sue and Robert from the band think about all of this

Aw. I'm hoping Sue did or will do something with Underworld... In some notes to do with their year long "Drift" series one of the guys talks about discovering the album and meeting with Sue. There's apparently more Drift coming sometime.

Aw bless! Is that your piece GM?

Interesting (though not shocking) detail about not seeing a dime from the original US release of the CD. They must've gotten a little from the 2014 vinyl release? Should be able to do another run now.

Aw bless! Is that your piece GM?

Yes! Sorry for the self-promotion!

Not at all - good job getting in touch with them and thanks for sharing! <3

From the Guardian:

Life Without Buildings: in praise of the cult Glasgow band revived on TikTok
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jan/19/life-without-buildings-cult-glasgow-band-revived-on-tiktok-sue-tompkins

i have no idea why that piece mentions math rock and post hardcore. i don't see them in that lineage at all?

I always thought there was something mathy about LWB, FWIW (NB: not W very much), if I think about the airy chug of, say, "Daylighting" it's a comparison that makes sense to me. I don't think I know what "post-hardcore" is so I can't really comment on that but I do know that Jennifer Hodgson knows what's what.

Rhythmically I always heard some post-rock and math-y stuff in there.

Indeed. when they formed, Glasgow was overflowing with post / math rock bands. It was hard to walk down the street without seeing someone carrying a Slint album under their arm. LWB were a hugely refreshing breath of fresh air at that time.

I'm not sure what post hardcore is either.

As she mentions the 80s specifically, I'm guessing it's a reference to groups like Rites Of Spring and Shudder To Think? Again, I can hear parallels.

Glasgow was big on midwest style indie back then, some of which , eg music of the kinsellas,slint could be considered post hardcore

Rodan would be another post hardcore example

Ah, i see. Yes, of course; i had completely forgotten about all those bands. All were hugely popular in Glasgow around that time and it is of course very possible that their influence rubbed off on them.

I also know Robert Johnston was a big Joy Division and post-punk fan back then.

Glasgow was big on midwest style indie back then, some of which , eg music of the kinsellas,slint could be considered post hardcore

― Fenners' Pen (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, January 19, 2021 9:01 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I can hear some shared musical DNA between Any Other City and, for instance, the American Football debut that came out a year earlier. Just thinking of like the guitar tones and interplay.

Both Life Without Buildings and the first American Football album were a big influence on a friend and I and the music we were making in the mid-2000s. Both separate but satisfying in a similar way - the cleanliness and deftness of the music. I love that Sue’s voice is an instrument; the words aren’t just there as words.

New and quite in depth interview with sue here:

https://toneglow.substack.com/p/050-sue-tompkins-life-without-buildings

no fucking way is life without buildings being used on 19k tiktok’s like this hahahaha pic.twitter.com/BqeWFY5zuu

— LaurenN🦷 (@1aurenmoose) January 11, 2021

I can't get over her magnificent hair.

Looks like Any Other City is being reissued again:

https://www.resident-music.com/productdetails&product_id=76644

(^ that's just a link to my local record shop btw, you might want to order it from elsewhere if you live in any other city. in any other city in the world)

This is cool. Live footage has emerged!

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1805059259694167&id=703119639888140

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

Just saw someone post this on Facebook. I felt emotional watching it.

been a fan of this band for nearly 20 years and that's the first i've ever seen of them, astonishing

Yeah, I'd seen the same 4 or 5 photos over the years, but never actual moving footage of them performing. Did Sue always sing from notes?

I'm finally seeing visual footage of my life's soundtrack

Stuart Murdoch in the audience at the end stops clapping way too early IMO.

xxp She uses notes in a lot of her spoken word performances.

This was so great to see

of COURSE she's jumping around everywhere :D

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3atVbiV_Ow

totally missed that last lot of thread updates. amazing!!

so i searched and these were also on youtube...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxIbwsauQMk
New Town

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uOHEueVGdg
Juno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWJW5-26IXg
Let's Get Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MySIwLnSQU
Young Offenders

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5uICT2o5ME
Live in Paris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7n9ELcXnJ8
Life Without Buildings Live at Transmission Gallery, Glasgow

am i tripping or something? are all these videos actually really real? i'm flipping out here

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/

also an AG Cook remix of The Leanover which tbh i'm not totally sure about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSv6MzFVzc0

and i don't think i ever heard this before...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qkkbGMGYgU
Daylighting (b-side of Young Offenders)

Fuck I missed the earlier revive too!

Was already in bits by three quarters of the way through the Leanover

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?

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

my god that live Juno is beautiful

also hayley tompkins

https://www.themoderninstitute.com/artists/hayley-tompkins

okay this killed me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKkpuLYlcF4

so i searched and these were also on youtube...

I was at this

|||||||| !!!!!!!!

I was at the Transmission Gallery one.

thanks so much for the new links

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 :)

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.

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.

time for a comeback to show these Wet Dry Leg Cleaning posers how real random talk songs should be performed

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.

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?

I saw the same bill but it was in Camden in a basement. Right after Artists Rifles

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

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 :(

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.

final post i swear: sue did a track with el hombre trajeado in 2016!! how the heck did i not know this?

boops!

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

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

kinda of hoping for some added extras tbh, 'love trinity' on vinyl would be an absolute dream

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

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.

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.

I would be happy if it was the live album on vinyl.

I guess something is happening today

Huge news coming this afternoon.
Sign up to our mailout for first dibs

Head here: https://t.co/KD1VvQUxOD pic.twitter.com/c8gmSVL2c0

— monorail music (@Monorail_Music) August 21, 2023

nice thanks. i'd probably down with international shipping just for a lyric sheet lol

So it's a slightly deluxe version of the regular tracklist of the album.

LIFE WITHOUT BUILDINGS: Any Other City
The Glasgow School 02

Monorail Edition: 250 on colour vinyl Handstamped+numbered folder with Sue Tompkins Lyric book, flyers, final gig ticket + 2 badgeshttps://t.co/F5f5NxMkn6

The most special of groups,
So much love for this LP pic.twitter.com/s4tqSPUqCT

— monorail music (@Monorail_Music) August 21, 2023

one for the guit nerds:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyGpOt0Kb3T/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

In EADGAE btw

awesome. always wondered what tuning he used, so simple once you know

Good to see albums being reissued 'From Glasgow' not from complete and utter cunts

gorgeous, ty for posting