HAIM

Any takers?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEwM6ERq0gc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dtIjyG9gTg

I love this band.

Just about my favourite live band of the year. Be interested to see if they've got a good whole album in there. One thing that makes me think they do is that they were signed by Jim Chancellor.

Lindstrom remix is great imo http://soundcloud.com/feedelity/haim-forever-lindstr-m-prins

live on lauren laverne (who pronounces their name wrong) -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p011jm4m

in this mutant-80s-RnB world we now live in, i like that haim seem to be mining the rockier side of that, the strutting, jagger/michael jackson side. so far it seems to MOSTLY be a kind of stored-up potential (i can imagine live shows being more... kinetic?) but by my lights it's a good sign that they're starting simple

Really like them. This is kind of amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gtP0dQV0Rlg

This their best song, I think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K936dIhm05Q

The songs are actually pretty enjoyable but they feel so derivative without really bringing very much personality to the table that I can't imagine ever really loving them. The L&PT remix is terrific though.

brilliant remix material almost seems like their destiny? :/

There's a definite feel of 2006-era Bigstereo band to them.

Don't Save Me video just popped up today...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiqIush2nTA

I'm liking them pretty well. They're like Warpaint's younger cousins who still get out during the daytime. I do get the complaint about not "bringing very much personality to the table"; the lead singer is a too restrained too much of the time. She sorta reminds me of Bob Weir in that way, if that makes sense.

I watched the little mini-doc on them yesterday: http://youtu.be/ZE_Kgk7w4f8

Like most sibling acts, it seems like one or more parents are living vicariously through their experiences. Not that their dad is taskmaster or a glommer—he actually seems really nice—but HAIM the band probably wouldn't exist if left up to chance.

There's a definite feel of 2006-era Bigstereo band to them.

― Matt DC, Monday, November 26, 2012 6:36 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

What are some Bigstereo bands from 2006 that you are thinking of? I found that blog and the few things I checked out either sounded way dancier than this or more like Franz Ferdinand or the Interpol or whatever.

Haim have been really mis-sold by the whole Fleetwood-Mac-play-R&B thing. There's nothing R&B about them live. And not a lot that's Fleetwood Mac either. They're a good American pop-rock band. One thing that seemed odd to me is that both times I saw them the set was no more than seven songs, including covers, and the best of them had been knocking around for a while. Which made me winder if there was definitely a while good album in them.

this will surprise nobody who's ever taken even the most cursory of glances at the Lindstrom thread but I completely love the L&PT remix. probably listened to it twenty times over the long weekend.

The first single sounds very Phoenix to me - something about the vocal mannerisms.

Something about them still sounds a little too "we live in a nice suburb and our parents helped us put up the money for a good producer." Talented though. Maybe in a couple of years.

Is it really any wonder, I reject you first
Haim, Haim, Haim, Haim

Even though I find them slightly annoying, it's pretty hard not to like "Don't Save Me"

winners

http://www.bbc.co.uk/soundof2013

someone has already tweeted "i thought they were the sound of 1984!" haw haw

I like this Cyril Hahn remix of "Don't Save Me".. It comes across a bit Benoit and Sergio

woah! hold your horses! going out on a limb there beeb

I thought restating what everyone in the industry already thought was the point of this list?

Don't Save Me is great, not so sure about the rest yet.

"don't save me" is better than anything on that chairlift album - which i liked a lot

the big, clacking, off-kilter drums are incredible

Even though I find them slightly annoying, it's pretty hard not to like "Don't Save Me"

― UnderControl, Monday, November 26, 2012 6:21 PM

yep

is that the current single? accidentally heard haim on the radio the other week and thought it was something dredged up from the actual 80s

on that tip, here's some actual west-coast girl-group pop-rock dredged up from the 80s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOKP3n6l0r4

and here's haim's new single -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01374g9

just listened to "Don't Save Me" for the first time and I really, really, REALLY love the lead singer's voice

the song itself is a little on the whatever side

she ENUNCIATES very well

for reasons I can't quite explain they remind me a bit of Lone Justice.

my first reaction while listening was "I wonder if I'd be able to deal with Lana Del Rey's songs if Danielle Haim was singing them instead" and then I remembered that I've hated every iteration of "Video Games" that I've heard

xp Going out on a limb is pretty much the polar opposite of what the BBC poll is about.

I love what I've heard so far - Forever was one of my singles of the year - and I hope they don't botch the album because ones-to-watch culture has become so overheated in recent years that it practically guarantees backlashes.

I think Haim are probably better at nailing a certain bittersweet rushiness that you get in that kind of 80s teen movie pop than a lot of acts who are striving for that sound. I listened to the Chairlift album a bit last year and couldn't connect with it at all.

unsurprisingly they sound great when they harmonize together (there's a whole interesting sideline thing about genetics and how people who are related tend to have naturally-matching vibratos that ties into why so many family-based singing groups sound awesome together)

posted this already at the start but its a cracker so..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onsJ1MFpKxQ

I feel a bit sorry for Chairlift. I Belong In Your Arms is one of those great recent pop songs, like Zero/Heads Will Roll, which feels like it should have been Top 10 but didn't get anywhere near the charts because radio wasn't interested. I think Haim are going to benefit from a more open-minded mood at Radio 1. Strictly UK perspective of course - I don't understand how US radio works.

that's okay, neither do we

I don't understand how US radio works.

It doesn't.

http://www.svfreya.ca/photos/fiji3/radio_fix.jpg

I can't let go of this absurd, meritocratic, utopian ideal - which never existed - of radio programmers hearing a really good catchy song and playlisting it without worrying about where it fits in. It's the poptimist Brigadoon.

Has anyone won/appeared high up on the Sound Of... poll and NOT found themselves immediately playlisted on Radio 1? That'd be like the BBC admitting they don't have faith in their own poll.

Pretty sure 'Zero' made the R1 playlist as well.

recently i had to spend about 5-6 hours in one day listening to radio 1 and it was an entirely dreadful experience. in that entire time ONE song i enjoyed was played (kelly clarkson's "stronger", i nearly wept with gratitude) but even the shit songs were a relief because it meant the intolerable presenters shut the fuck up briefly

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/playlist/

^^^ I mean this basically looks like a mashup of things that have been on the 6music playlist for ages, things that have been on the 1xtra playlist for ages and yr obvious massive pop acts that go straight on there anyway. I'm not really seeing anything different to how it's been for years.

good fucking god, that playlist

None of the Top 5 are currently on the playlist - only Peace and Tom Odell from the longlist. Although Everything Everything, alt-J and Foals are all on the A-list, which surprised me. I don't have an archive of old playlists to compare but I'm sure it's opened up recently.

I'm not really viewing the presence of those three bands as opening up, they're all reasonably well established acts at this point and you'd have seen, I dunno, Friendly Fires or Noah & The Whale or whoever on the R1 list in the recent past. It looks like box-ticking rather than open-mindedness really.

I'm feeling optimistic

haim have been getting play on radio 1 for ages, just not the daytime shows

same with laura mvula (first played by zane lowe, of all people), angel haze and pretty much everybody else really

that said the daytime playlist is particularly dire at the moment

Non-daytime carries about as much weight as 6Music though - it has no power to make a hit, unlike the playlist. Of course you'd expect Zane Lowe or Annie Mac to be playing all kinds of underground stuff.

.... which then gets nominated in lists like this, then maybe wins, then gets playlisted...

mm yeah Foals, Alt J, Everything, Everything etc are all bands that would have been on the B list a year or so ago i think.
also its interesting to see how Grimmy's recent playlist has full of stuff like Alt J, Foals, Biffy Clyro, Fenech-Soler, HAIM, MIA amongst the more obvious stuff
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p23k9

I think the Moyles/Grimshaw transition is the main reason to be optimistic. Unlike Moyles he actually likes music.

how are those NOT obvious stuff

xp

Unlike Moyles he actually likes music

sadly, the kind of music he likes is wank

Alt-J have just won a Mercury Prize. HAIM have just won this poll. Foals are an established band with a big following on their third album. MIA is MIA. Biffy Clyro are (still) huge in this country - it isn't really a surprise to see any of them playlisted on daytime R1.

Fenech-Soler is a bit of curveball admittedly.

I wish I had access to A-lists from 2009-2010 to tell you why you're wrong.

this idea that R1 daytime has some kind of unfulfilled potential as the place to spring totally unplayed, unknown bands on the wider public, breaking them "from scratch" is bizarre to me. has it ever worked like that? why would it? why should it? there are all sorts of minor leagues that new acts can get some attention in. R1 specialist shows, 6, uh... i mean people like to talk about the glory days of john peel, hey anybody could send in a tape and it might get played, but that was 10pm-midnight. today there's an entire franchise of BBC regional programming that filters those tapes up to six national shows that air them every week.

here's a Moyles show from September 2012 the first 7 tracks are 'his' show the rest is the Golden Hour.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01m348b

that's purely at random.

Wed 7th October 2009 - A List

Biffy Clyro - The Captain

Alexandra Burke featuring Flo Rida - Bad Boys

Chipmunk - Oopsy Daisy

Cobra Starship featuring Leighton Meester - Good Girls Go Bad

Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love

Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart

Editors - Papillon

Green Day - East Jesus Nowhere

Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys - Empire State Of Mind

Lostprophets - It’s Not The End Of The World But I Can See It From Here

Medina - You And I

Muse - Uprising

Paramore - Ignorance

The Saturdays - Forever Is Over

Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne - Down

Jordin Sparks - S.O.S (Let The Music Play)

Tinchy Stryder - You’re Not Alone

The Temper Trap - Sweet Disposition

Robbie Williams - Bodies

i dunno whether daytime R1 could or should be anything other than what it is, i'm just saying that what it is right now, since as long as i can remember and probably in the foreseeable future, has been absolutely dire and god help me if i ever put myself through it again

guess you don't like "the hits", lex

at least not the ones aimed for a younger audience

it's okay, it happens to everyone

by the way it's too bad you weren't listening this week - the playlist has been banished since new year's day! normal services to resume, though

8th September 2010 - A List

Katy B - Katy On A Mission
Biffy Clyro - God and Satan
Danny Byrd - Ill Behaviour
Taio Cruz - Dynamite
Example - Last Ones Standing
Brandon Flowers - Crossfire
Alex Gaudino - I'm In Love (I Wanna Do It)
Ke$ha - Take It Off
Labrinth - Let The Sun Shine
Linkin Park - The Catalyst
McFly - Party Girl
Pendulum - The Island
Katy Perry - Teenage Dream
Mark Ronson and The Business Intl - The Bike Song
The Script - For The First Time
Tinie Tempah - Written In The Stars (feat. Eric Turner)
The Wombats - Tokyo (Vampires and Wolves)
The xx - Islands
You Me At Six - Stay With Me

I mean the balance looks pretty much the same to me.

I think the Moyles/Grimshaw transition is the main reason to be optimistic. Unlike Moyles he actually likes music.

This is probably true though - how much freedom do R1 Breakfast Show hosts get in playing personal faves these days? Never got the sense that Moyles was ever particularly interested in championing music of any kind, in the way that even someone like Chris Evans was (NB the music he was championing was mostly terrible but hey).

how much freedom do R1 Breakfast Show hosts get in playing personal faves these days?

very little, but they and their producers do have a choice in how MUCH music to play vs just gabbing around - grimshaw currently plays almost twice the number of tracks that moyles did - and they have a choice in what they talk about (could be about reality shows, could be about music), and they have a choice about what guests to book (i.e. reality show contestants vs musicians)

those are the only two categories of subject matter in the entire world, by the way, i'm pretty sure

xp Of course it's not exactly a revolution but the pendulum swings back and forth, especially when there are big staff changes. A while back, possibly in an understandable spirit of post-landfill detox, Everything Everything or their equivalent wouldn't have been on the A-list, and Nick Grimshaw is clearly a pro-new music choice. It seems daft to pretend that it's the same as it ever was - every sector of the music industry goes through different phases.

Tracer, if you think I'm saying daytime Radio 1 should be breaking completely unknown bands then sorry, I haven't explained myself very clearly. Obviously the specialist shows are the conduit.

(NB the music he was championing was mostly terrible but hey)

Well you can say what you want but it won't change my mind...

haha dorian i think i got so worked up that i missed that part where you admitted that idea was the poptimist brigadoon

surprised to find that its pronounced 'Hyem' and not 'Hame' courtesy of this interview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKHwDHaVv9w

it's "hime"

although on front row yesterday the presenter did repeatedly say it as "HI-yem" and was audibly uncomfortable every time she did

confusing for Hiem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYlfGOai310

refuse to believe this group werent named and pronounced after corey haim before some mortified label intern stumbled upon creatively bankrupt newish chillwave/post-AnCo bands whose names are just '80s ephemera

r1 playlist discussion is interesting, mdc makes a persuasive perhaps inarguable case for same as it ever was but when you're beaming a vibe into people's heads, which is what radio is, then smoke & mirrors shifts in tone actually do have conferring value. a few years ago the feeling was very much the moylesy you like this, we don't get it but w/e it's only music, now it's all rah rah in new music we trust yoof enthusiasm

you do also get little things tbf, 'aaliyah' didnt have to be c-listed for example

mdc otm re haim themselves, ithappens otm re the utterly pathetic and mindless "r&b" marketing

Pretty sure everything that isn't straight-out rock music or Mumford & Sons now has to marketed as "R&B-influenced" by law.

Corey Haim should be pronounced hi-yem too you know

i know i'm blowing some minds here

IT'S NOT PRONOUNCED HI-YEM, GAWDDDDD

has the new Dan Lissvik remix been posted anywhere? http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/new-music/blog/listen-haim-x-dan-lissvik-send-me-down-115804 p nice

i don't know but props to piscesx for anticipating their name change to all-caps

I can't let go of this absurd, meritocratic, utopian ideal - which never existed - of radio programmers hearing a really good catchy song and playlisting it without worrying about where it fits in. It's the poptimist Brigadoon.

― Deafening silence (DL), Friday, January 4, 2013 10:04 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think if ILM will have made one important contribution to the world, it will prove to be the phrase "poptimist Brigadoon"

creatively bankrupt nJewish chillwave/post-AnCo bands whose names are just '80s ephemera

(correction)

also isn't it pronounced hy-em as in "l'chaim!"

also also, in re. dan's point about siblings harmonizing beautifully, exhibit A:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70NTMplUlfw

also chairlift is a good point of comparison but i feel caroline has some kind of art-school visionary thing going on that's absent from haim.

i'm relieved at the total absence of art-school visionariness going on w/HAIM, it's one of the things i like best about them

We have 6music on the office and both 'I Belong In Your Arms' and 'Don't Save Me' were both playlisted and consequently played like six times a day. The Haim song definitely made people prick up their ears here in a way the Chairlift song didn't.

I quite like 'I Belong In Your Arms' but it's one of those 'great pop songs' that's filtered through an 90s indie disco prism, and yeah the art-school thing, whereas the Haim song bypasses all of that.

I am totally onboard with this lot now by the way, I think it was hearing 'Slow Me Down' that did it.

That's a really good point - the old dichotomy of "perfect pop" vs actually popular pop. I love both so I sometimes have problems realising which is which.

guys this is fresh

https://soundcloud.com/haimtime/haim-send-me-down-dan-lissvik/s-c7OL8

Not mad about that remix, which reminds me too much of 80s Euro summer holiday disco hits for comfort. I kept expecting them to burst into La Dolce Vita.

that is pretty poppy for lissvik! love it.

Lissvik has definitely been out raving more of late, his Mungolian Jet Set remix is really upbeat as well.

i didn't mean to set up a competition b/t haim and chairlift, much less some kind of "perfect pop" vs. actual pop debate. there's room for both. caroline from chairlift is whip-smart in a way that codes, i think, as precocious and a bit arch and that persona/sensibility is something you can sense even in "i belong in your arms" and probably keeps it from being genuinely as opposed to semi-popular.

ah the old "whip-smart"

???

does that read as sexist or something?

would you prefer "smart as a whip"?

i mean i'd describe, i dunno, hal hartley the same way.

Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

Don't Save Me feels like its coming from a similar place to Francis and the Lights, of whom I am a stan.

although emotionally more flat and less unhinged

more hinged?

I'm not sure I need much beyond Don't Save Me, but that new Lissvik mix is pretty cool imo.

Don't Save Me feels like its coming from a similar place to Francis and the Lights, of whom I am a stan.

― space phwoar (Hurting 2), Thursday, January 17, 2013 9:45 AM (40 minutes ago)

hurting i cant remember if ive ever seen a wdyll of you or not but whenever you post i picture you as a dude who looks like francis, albeit one w/ less dramatic hair

that's not a far fetched description of me

maybe slightly less dramatically svelte also

xp I referred to a man as whip-smart in a piece the other day. I've never thought of it as gendered in the way that "sassy" is.

I sort of do. cf "Sharp as a tack".

I basically only hear it used about women, and usually attractive women. I always detect a slight "you'll never guess, she's intelligent as well, I'm so proud of her!" in the term.

fit as a butcher's dog

I've never read any gender association into either "whip-smart" or "sharp as a tack", though the term "whip-smart" now always makes me immediately think of Liz Phair.

likewise

yup.

i just thought "whip-smart" was a cliché rather than a specifically gendered cliché

pre-Liz Phair examples of the phrase "whip smart" from lexis nexis:

1. Comic relief saves July cable lineup
St. Petersburg Times (Florida), July 4, 1989, Tuesday, City Edition, FLORIDIAN; Cable;, 375 words, Thomas B. Harrison
... director Ron Shelton. Whip-smart and funny, with a solid ...


2. Critics recommend 'Jones' for fun-seekers
Orange County Register (California), May 26, 1989 Friday, 647 words
... In his third adventure, whip-smart archeologist Indiana Joneshas to ...


3. A BLESSING IN REPRISE // 'Eleemosynary' explores familiar women's themes
St. Petersburg Times (Florida), May 26, 1989, Friday, City Edition, WEEKEND; Pg. 24, 1133 words, THOMAS B. HARRISON
... fear of intimacy. Artie's whip-smart daughter, Echo (actually ...


4. CONNECTICUT OPINION; Thank You, Mark Twain
The New York Times, April 30, 1989, Sunday, Late City Final Edition, Section 12CN; Page 30, Column 3; Connecticut Weekly Desk, 667 words, By Ed McNamara; Ed McNamara lives in Stamford.
... infallible memory of some whip-smart computer in the publisher's ...


5. All this sex can mean just one thing: it's sweeps time
The San Diego Union-Tribune, February 4, 1989 Saturday, ENTERTAINMENT; Pg. B-13, 959 words, GREG JOSEPH
... Starletta DuPois); Lena's whip-smart daughter Beneatha (Kim ...


6. 'Silent Night': a quiet baring of souls
St. Petersburg Times (Florida), October 19, 1988, Wednesday, City Edition, FLORIDIAN; Theater Review; Pg. 1D, THOMAS B. HARRISON
... Peter Joseph, as Katherine's whip-smart son. Director Sanders (To ...


7. 'Fourth Protocol' is first choice on cable
St. Petersburg Times (Florida), July 2, 1988, Saturday, City Edition, FLORIDIAN; ON CABLE; Pg. 3D, THOMAS B. HARRISON
... efficiency expert (Tracy) and the whip-smart researcher (Hepburn) he woos and ...


8. Perretti's; Win, place or just show, N.J. spot is good grazing
Crain's New York Business, October 27, 1986, RESTAURANT REVIEW; Pg. 48, 622 words, By BOB LAPE, SPECIAL TO CRAINS' NEW YORK BUSINESS
... 22), and Oscar, a whip-smart young captain, filets the ...


9. Nino's Grill; Bruno's upstairs annex triumphs with light Italian
Crain's New York Business, October 20, 1986, RESTAURANT REVIEW; Pg. 28, 634 words, By BOB LAPE, SPECIAL TO CRAINS' NEW YORK BUSINESS
... at Nino's Grill is the whip-smart young Ted Anderson ( ...


10. WHEN EMPIRES COLLIDE: Fierce battle threatened when the Reichmanns' expansion drive bumped into the Bronfmans
The Financial Post (Toronto, Canada), October 4, 1986, Saturday,, 2186 words, Peter Foster
... Jack Cockwell, a whip-smart South African-born ...


11. Slow Going in 'Beverly Hills'
The Washington Post, December 7, 1984, Friday, Final Edition, Weekend; Weekend at the Movies; Pg. 39, 330 words, Rita Kempley
... puts Foley, a whip-smart, Motor City Dirty ...


12. Comedy With Class; The Creative Spark Behind CBS' 'Kate & Allie'
The Washington Post, March 19, 1984, Monday, Final Edition, Style; TV Preview; C1, 1168 words, By Tom Shales
... for a classy, whip-smart sitcom, and she brings her special ...


13. The managers; a gallery of notable and quotable newsmaking executives.
Dun's Business Month, January 1, 1984, Pg. p113(2), 1355 words
... more than $300,000, whip-smart Vanderslice--who holds ...


14. The Duke's Downfall
Newsweek, October 2, 1978, UNITED STATES EDITION, NATIONAL AFFAIRS; Pg. 50, 1040 words, DON HOLT with PHYLLIS MALAMUD in Boston and bureau reports
... Massachusetts defeated a whip-smart, attractive and moderately liberal ...

any adjective applied to indiana jones has got to be a compliment

even if it is a pun

Kind of wish I hadn't watched that interview with them. I mostly like their songs, but find their personalities pretty annoying.

OK so

http://stereogum.com/1258291/haim-falling/mp3s/

Like it. (I also found them personally okay when watching a short documentary about them, so maybe they just get into some sort of annoying mode in some interviews.)

they are super charming imo, wkiw

DRUMS

Feeling like Bryan Ferry would admire the instrumental framework for Falling. Somehow the solo Bryan Ferry comparison is jumping out at me, when I'm sure there are much closer comparisons to be drawn. This is way too peppy for solo Bryan Ferry (post- like mid-70s). Maybe it's the use of real instruments to create a very polished, piece of pop with a bit of a dance beat.

Now we need to get Bryan Ferry interested in music.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4051/4422250647_68a76a4a9d_o.jpg

this band is so damn good

"Better Off" at around 2:56 and a little onward is reminding me of the climax of Kate Bush "Big Sky." The inevitable Kate Bush comparison ("they are female artists, they sound like Kate Bush")--but no, this is specific.

On "Falling"- producer Ariel Rechtshaid hit the Bushism's more squarely in his work with Glasser.

Haim seems to pick producers that submerge their Fleetwood Mac-ish live sound, leaving middle sister/lead singer Danielle's rushed syllables as the main idiosyncratic element.

Is she the gregarious/domineering one in the interviews? I predict a solo career.

I don't know about that. I do think their studio recordings would sound better if their core band sound were less submerged, though part of me is happy they want to go for a broader pop appeal and not stick to I'm not sure there's anything wrong with slick studio production and rougher edged, more rocking performances--a combination that I think has probably worked for other act. Whether it will work in this case, I don't know. Actually, I like the way the production works on Falling in particular. Whatever the song is in live performance, I think it works here as something pushing toward dance pop(again, a la some sort of Bryan Ferry solo sound, with an underpinning in traditional musicianship). I haven't really kept track of their producers (or probably producers in general!) and am unfamiliar with Rechtshaid.

I've been playing Forever and Don't Save Me a lot, probably overplaying them because they aren't holding up for me quite as well as I expected. On the other hand, Better Off has grown on me.

love the video for 'falling'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIjVpRAXK18

x-post: I've been really sick of music videos in general, lately, and I do think this one is pretty good.

(Oh yeah, Falling is also the song that has some other vocals that remind me of recent Bush, but I don't think that has anything to do with production. Again, it's fairly subtle, I think, it doesn't sound remotely like a Kate Bush song or anything. I think it's kind of cool to hear late Kate Bush already possibly being a source for a younger artist's sound (since I don't really know where the resemblance is coming from.)

"Falling" is so good.

While I'm making comparisons, the main chorus on Send Me Down, sounds like it could be from a Solange song. (I think the song is just okay, though it has some nice moments I could eventually latch onto more.)

I prefer this remix of Send Me Down over the original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwkUDrVYlAY

I feel like HAIM has one trick but they do it really well

really enjoying the 9 songs they have out (incl. one cover and two remixes)

I feel like HAIM has one trick but they do it really well

What do you think that one trick is? I don't hear them that way and they seem like an odd band to single out for that sort of description.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmOEKvcASB4

oh shit i thought it was hame not hime.

ok can't watch this right now but nardwuar caps for their nardwuar interview <3<3<3

lol, so it's actually pronounced as in "if you go to tel aviv, you should meet my cousin, haim"

This is awesome, but also makes me think 13:36 is just about the right amount of time to hang around with them, lest you get worn out by sistery shenanigans.

psychemagik adds inspector norse style blissful squiggly bleeps to 'falling', to great effect imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07W2o0rTOss

new fan on Twitter

Rihanna ‏@rihanna
What y'all think about HAIM?

ILX First Mentions:

Matt Armstrong wrote this on thread Rolling Teenpop 2007 Thread on board I Love Music on Jun 22, 2007

A few months ago, dabug rattled off a few forgotten (or soon to be forgotten) teenpop acts. That's how I discovered the insanity that is Gemz.

One of the other ones was The Valli Girls. And the Valli Girls confuse me.

I was only able to download 2 songs, a dull ballad off the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movie (Always There In You) and a mindbending single- Don't Gotta.

Don't Gotta is amazing. It has an extremely lame chorus-- "Don't Gotta Have Sex, babe, if you want to be sexxxxy!"-- and the verses are a nonsensical melange of female empowerment, but the song is an assault of hooks. This song has it all: monstrous chord progression, huge bass, beautiful vocal harmonies and fills, a rap solo, a soaring guitar fill, and even a tire screech for good measure. I love it.

So then I visited their myspace page. It hasn't been updated in 7 months. The band is seemingly defunct, without ever putting out a record, but you can stream basically an entire album.

The descriptions of the band itself on the myspace, and their label's website, are unbelievable:

"Costa Rican native Houghton is the band's powerhouse vocalist. Guitarist Danielle Haim-who is endorsed by Gibson guitars-was schooled on Zeppelin, Hendrix, Clapton and "all three Kings-Albert, Freddie and of course, B.B." Danielle's sister, Este-the most outgoing and boy crazy member of the band-brings the slappin', in-your-face bass to the party. The classically-trained, Japanese-American, Ally Maki works her magic on the keyboard. Although she is the youngest member of the band, Lil' Nix plays seven instruments and brings slamming drum beats with a hip-hop attitude."

"Lil Nix can quote any Notorious B.I.G song VERBATUM (sic). Try her. She never disappoints. She also happens to be ridiculously punc tual (sic)! Jeez Nix! Raquel Houghton is our fearless lead singer who always brings the funk when we're jamming. Plus she has the best reflexes of anyone in the Valley. Not sure what that means but its gotta be good. Pura Vida. She also hails from Costa Rica. Sweet. Danielle Haim rocks out on her guitar and puts all the boys to shame with her mad shredding skills. It has been witnessed. Please do not attempt unless you would like the shredding of the skills up close. Don't mess with her, she knows Kung Fu. Ally Maki is our resident Chopin/Keytar player, who also has the most vast knowledge of the Chanel clothing line EVER! Not to mention she's pretty handy with a pair of scissors and a needle and thread. Ally really needs to be in the next installment of Charlie's Angels. Just a thought. Este Haim enjoys slapping things, among them is the bass. She also has a kick ass sense of humor and always keeps us laughing. And no....she's not crazy........ all in all, to us its all about having fun and playing our music! that's all for now folks!"

I mean, seriously. WHAT? Is this for real? Or is it all a Monkees-like act? The gorgeous lead singer with chops, the quirky bassist with a more rock voice, the cute asian keyboardist, the spunky rapper/drummer. It's all a little hard to believe. But... I want to believe.

Do they actually play the instruments on the records? Because, indeed, the drumming on the records IS awesome, and the bass is great too. And I mean, fuck, a KEYTAR?!?!!?

And the songs, the songs! Why didn't they ever release the record?

Born to Lead- Minimalist R&B with synth riff. Somehow related to a Cosmo Girl promotion

It's a hair thing- Fun Disney Channel rockpop with the INSANE lyric "Welcome to the Trollz World," and the awesome lyric "Conquer evil, then go shopping." Apparently from some Trollz related cartoon.

Don de esta Corazon- Latin ballad. Why not? Effective chorus, yet again.

Keys to the hummer- AWESOME lyrical hook in chorus. "don't want to be the fun for your summer, just give me the keys to your hummer" Novelty subject matter should have resulted in a hit, I think. Feisty, ultra-simple guitar fill that warms my heart.

Amazing- Maybe their high point. The chorus has a vocal run that is delicate, subtle and irresistible. But listening to this song, you'd think it was not from a band, but a solo pop singer. That's a striking thing about their songs-- each one is dramatically different.

Never Say Never- Enjoyable ripoff of Complicated. Like that song, has fun rhythmic adventures in the verses.

I would appreciate any and all further information about this unusual band that the board can provide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1JD7-Mydtw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVLpMS74yig

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1JD7-Mydtw

oh, I see that it was covered in the Nardwuar video. Still, lolling at the ghosts of Rolling Teenpop 2007.

The track they do with Cudi on his new album ("Red Eye") is shamefully good.

warming to this band a lot. I think I didn't really dig their presence in the videos much, but the songwriting and production is great. Comes from a similar place to Francis and the Lights -- highly emo, painstakingly crafted, 80s-tinged pop.

lol just realized I used almost exact same description upthread

oh and also that lindstrom/prins remix of forever is tight

They're coming to Merriweathr Post this summer, but opening for something called Of Monsters and Men.

hey!

Of Monsters and Men

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.starpulse.com/news/Dave_Simpson/2013/06/30/primal_scream_bring_haim_onstage_at_gl

lol, starpulse was just the first thing that came up in google news search. I don't know why I didn't pick a better story to link.

here's a live clip from Glastonbury

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmes5nAOUa4

more here
https://www.youtube.com/user/fallingforhaim?feature=watch

impressive performance

and I like their drummer

those links are dead now but extended highlights here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ej58q9/acts/a6r38g#p01c3642

"falling" and the introducing stage set are both available internationally

I can't get enough of this http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01372ns
I prefer it to the studio version.

wow! great performance.

yeah I think I'm liking the more rock-ish edge they put on their live performances vs. the more programmed sound of the studio stuff.

They were singing for Primal Scream rather well too.
Can't fault them.

this is really good. i was thinking that the recorded sound vs the live sound was kind of mirage-era f mac vs peter green-era f mac and then they do that killer version of 'oh well', lovely.

I'm still tripped OUT by the rolling teenpop 2007 mention upthread. That was right when I came onboard ilx and I didn't really get the whole musical vibe here and I remember thinking who the hell listens to teenpop?

They need to release a full album right now. Do we have any release date confirmed? Their music is ripe for the summer.

I feel like I'm already kind of burned out on the EP material, but somehow that makes me agree they need to release an album. I have this feeling like their timing is off at this point for releasing an album. Too much material has been out for too long. I hope they don't miss a chance for bigger commercial success. I can definitely see them staying around for a long time as a live band, but if they don't get the timing write for recorded releases, I don't know. They might not get later chances.

I feel that I'd like their studio material to be just a little less smooth and studio polished (in most cases), but I don't actually prefer the live recordings. I'd try to see them live, though, given the chance.

Release date for the album is September 23rd at the moment. I think it should have come out last week just after their Glastonbury performance, it would have sailed to number one.

how about releasing any of those remixes for real?

Don't Save Me is such a jam - wish they would just get on with it and release a record that they've clearly had in the can for a while, the Glastonbury period did seem like the perfect time, high summer suits these songs?
(u could write this post off as incoherent longing for a HAIM album tbh)

I know for a fact they haven't had it in the can for a while.

hawt!

i hope they can come back with a killer new single and not just reissue one of the tracks off the already released EPs or whatever.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/p480x480/1044236_10151427398651841_1698919906_n.jpg

"I know for a fact they haven't had it in the can for a while"

What do you mean by that? sorry english isn't my first language so I don't understand all slangs. It's a bit weird to me that even though they escalated to "fame" pretty quick there isn't much info on them out there, they know how to keep it on the down low.

That means they haven't had an album ready to go and are waiting to release it. The implication is that they're still working on it.

Thanks man. If that's the case they better put it out there as quick as possible before the hype dies, unless they prefer to stay indie and under the radar, but I feel they really want to go more commercial and mainstream.

http://soundcloud.com/haimtime/haimthewire

NEW HAIM!

Man, just drop an album on us. This whole drip, drip, drip thing... sheesh. TYPICALLY GREAT SONG THOUGH. How many more do they need to put out a record. Anybody counting?

thought it was gonna be a cover of "heartache tonight" for the first few secs

Who is their producer? He/she is making an amazing job in everything I've heard from them.

whoa those string stabs. this rules!

i love this fuckin band so much

Wow, this song slays!

Damn, what a build at the end!

i was wondering if they were gonna do something that sounded a bit bigger. their shows are kinda heavy, they're really into guitar solos and stuff. this is dope.

i still find it hilarious that i didn't know about them until the ilm 2012 poll

V. nice, this.

xp: why? this thread didn't even start until November 2012.

Late spring/summer 2012 is when they first started popping up in blogs, so it's not like anyone was that far behind by the time of the poll.

Why are people so impatient with this band? Their first single was October 2012 and the album will be September 2013. That seems normal to me.

I hear people in the industry saying they've left it too long but if they are going to crack the mainstream, which I think they will, the kind of people who'll love the album won't know or care that it's taken a year.

Ha! I just noticed that a very early version of "The Wire" is posted near the top of the thread.

Why are people so impatient with this band? Their first single was October 2012 and the album will be September 2013. That seems normal to me.

this is practically the same release schedule as the 1975

it's a little odd but i'm into it

I just went back and looked for the first place I ever read about Haim. I knew it was on the Neon Gold blog, and it turns out it was March 5th 2012. http://neongoldrecords.blogspot.com/2012/03/tired-of-fighting-good-fight.html

I think The Wire was the first song of theirs I heard about a year ago. Daytrotter session or something?

Anyway it was what turned me on to them as it seemed to have a bit of a Phoenix vibe about it. Great song.

This is fantastic. Yet again.

Stupid soundcloud. I keep wanting to hear this song on repeat, but the first track that autoplays when it's over is some Macklemore piece of shit.

Same here.

i love this fuckin band so much

― max, Monday, July 29, 2013 2:54 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

seems they're pretty much following the time-honoured 1st single to debut album timeline of say Suede in the early 90s who's debut single was May 92, and the debut album was March 93.

i got a lotta love for these ladies. really like the way they radiate endless but sincere positivity in interviews / stage presence / social media / etc etc

new tune A+

I really don't like it at all, I prefer the live version, it's way more rock, strong and imposing, whereas this just goes back way too much into the 80's and takes too many elements from that era. The overuse of synthesizers, the long echo after the "it felt right" part, It feels like I have just turned on the tv and I'm watching an 80's marathon on vh1, which I love, I love the 80's and until now I had loved all of their songs and the nostalgic 80's touch butI this one I'm just not digging it, but hey that's just me, apparently everybody else loves it and. I predict their album to be more pop than anything else.

maybe it's juss cuz I sang "Every Heartbeat" at karaoke over the weekend but I'm getting a bit of pop Amy Grant somewhere in this.

not enough synth bass then

I can see the amy grant thing, it's way too 80's that's why. Ok so the more I listen to it the more I like it lol, the sound is catchy but I still prefer the other version

The other version just sounds like a sketch to me. Half of Haim's charm lies in the production choices they make. The songs are really compressed, wound tight, like they're about to explode. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It's a guessing game.

They do sound a bit wound tight when live, like they're always on a rush, I believe that's because they like to maintain a certain upbeat atmosphere during their shows or they're like that and it's directly reflected through their performances. I think this song could have been better produced, I stick to that,or better said had a different route. I really don't know to what extent these girls have a saying on what goes in and what goes out in their music, they're working with high end producers and label, the audience is being very well controlled (observe tumblr, twitter and all the hype) it's mostly 15 to 18 year old girls who are making a buzz out of this it's all being very well orchestrated and I don't think it's casual they're pushing the release this much, they're actually testing the waters with the singles little by little and observing what the audience response is. Yeah call me a PR nut or whatever but I've studied PR so I know all about it.

Are they really working with high profile producers and marketers? I don't get the feeling they a group who is willing to be pushed around. Like, if they want the songs to sound a certain way, those songs will sound that way.

Sky Ferreira could learn a thing or two.

lol, so it's actually pronounced as in "if you go to tel aviv, you should meet my cousin, haim"

― i've a cozy little flat in what is known as old man hat (Hurting 2), Thursday, March 28, 2013 5:01 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark

this pops into my head every time i scroll past haim on my iphone

does ariel rechtshaid count as high profile?

I didn't recognize the name, but I looked up his credits. Mid-profile at best.

The producers are the same ones who have worked with Florence + the Machine, Adele and Vampire Weekend

Oh and the label is Polydor hence the sound, that's definitely not gonna be a rock album

yeah supposedly Epworth is/was involved too and he's pretty much as big a name in pop/rock production from the last decade as any i can think of, especially after winning an Oscar.

The thing about Paul Epworth is that he seems really adept at working with artists to get the sound they want to get. He doesn't come in with a sound. That's a good thing, imo. I mean, Adele doesn't sound like Florence and neither of them sound like Bloc Party and none of the three of them sound like Haim, which sorta proves the point I was making about their recordings sounding like the band wants them to sound.

ferxez, I think they're just a pop/rock band at heart, no matter how much they wail live.

Also, the idea that Polydor wouldn't release a rock album is silly.

I didn't say Polydor wouldn't release a rock album but judging by the last single I don't think they will. When they were starting to get known a lot of people, and not only teenagers, were really excited about this band of girls who sounded different and didn't see to care about mainstream, everybody was excited and thought they would be a promise for rock music and music in general, breaking out of the mainstream sound of these times and going for something different, now they only seem to be interested in going mainstream and ubberly commercial. Make a poll or log into twitter and you'll know what I mean, they're targetting the music and themselves to a more young audience, they definitely want to be pop, that's what I meant, and by pop I don't only mean the sonics but popular in itself

I still don't understand what the concern is. 80% of all music is targeted towards a young audience. Some sticks, some doesn't. If the music business was aimed at 40-somethings, though, there would be no music business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tom4UFjdxAQ

They're hardly occupying the same territory as One Direction.

rechtshaid had a few production credits on the last bieber album iirc

"When they were starting to get known a lot of people, and not only teenagers, were really excited about this band of girls who sounded different and didn't see to care about mainstream, everybody was excited and thought they would be a promise for rock music and music in general, breaking out of the mainstream sound of these times and going for something different, now they only seem to be interested in going mainstream and ubberly commercial."

are we seriously making this argument

I can't say that any of the four singles ("Forever", "Don't Save Me", "Falling", "The Wire") have scanned as anything other than pop to me

I mean it's fleetwood macky guitar-pop but it's still unmistakably pop

dgaf about LDR-esque "PR" arguments tbh

I don't think ferxez is anyone's sock, but a wayward soul who wandered in from a blog comments section somewhere.

ferxez needs to go now

Lol why do I have to go? I like their music, I have liked them since last year when I saw them live in the UK and weren't even much known by then, I have already saw them twice live and they're fantastic, I just don't like much the production of the latest single, I believe I'm entitled to have my own opinion like a lot of people around here, you can't silence people's opinions.

or can u

I think this is their weakest single to date but that's really down to the song rather than the production choices. Didn't think much of the rockier version they played at Glastonbury yet.

They were one of the more talked-about performances of the festival, you kept overhearing people talking about them, that was as much for the personalities and human element as anything else. They've done enough to take their time over the album rather than just rushing it out like so many heavily hyped debuts.

Would have been nice to have had the album for the summer though.

Yeah, I'd wait an extra six months or whatever for an album that's 90%-100% good as opposed to wanting one immediately that only has 3 or 4 good tracks.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that the band that put out "Don't Save Me" is now going for a mainstream, radio-friendly sound

cutting their teeth in the teenpop world is such a cool little detail

I think this is their weakest single to date but that's really down to the song rather than the production choices.

Word. Actually, I feel like each successive single has been weaker than the last.

xpost to MattDC I saw them a couple of times last year, and both times was impressed, but noticed the sets were only six or seven songs - and the best of them had been floating around YouTube for years. Which didn't fill me with confidence for the long term.

Word. Actually, I feel like each successive single has been weaker than the last.

― suggest bando (The Reverend), Tuesday, July 30, 2013 5:18 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

"falling" is their best song imo

^^

Don't Save Me > Go Slow > The Wire > Falling > Forever > Better Off > Honey & I (maybe? I haven't heard a studio version yet)

Oh whoops. I forgot Send Me Down, which would probably be between Falling and Forever.

was gonna complain how the hype is doing this thing of fixating on the wrong old band they sound like (fleetwood mac instead of the pretenders!) but google shows me this isn't really true at all.

I don't get why I've seen so many Stevie Nicks references when she sounds way more like Christine McVie to me.

they musically sound like FM but she is in no way like nicks! so dumb

Pretenders with a FM production sounds more accurate.

Hypem.com community loves them btw, yesterday I gave the wire a 'like' and it was on a measly 28 or so today it has jumped to 2.3K

I always forget about hype machine being a thing that exists, but I guess it's still useful in some way?

If you have a profile and personalize it to follow your type of blogs it's a great way to find new music, otherwise it's filled with bloghouse and amateur remixes. The popular section is also a fun alternate to the mainstream charts (albeit also filled with the afformentioned crap remixes).

Like per example you can follow cool mp3 blogs like awesome tapes from africa and soulsides (and moteldemoka, heh) and its an easier way to listen to a feed.

Would have been nice to have had the album for the summer though.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 30 July 2013 16:44 (Yesterday) Bookmark

i'm not even so head over heels for this band but this greatly disappointed me too

Is blog house still a thing that exists? Or did dubstep take over that?

Yes and yes.

bloghaus just eventually subsumed dubstep back into itself

i get why their drummer isnt a band member but i wish he was

But he is.

(Just not in the photos, I guess.)

is he though?

Dash Hutton makes it into some promo shots:
http://24.media.tumblr.com/5ba116843c3fbc92a6d2892361dda74b/tumblr_mlxd71tAUl1s4vka6o1_500.png
http://sxsw.com/sites/default/files/news/image/photo_0.JPG

He does get to be in some but that guy in the last picture isn't Dash

http://worldredeye.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Haim-Hayley-Williams1.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/6g56lQo.jpg

i'm into "the wire"

HAIM announce debut album Days Are Gone
By Luke Morgan Britton, 5 August 2013, 10:53 BST

LA trio, HAIM have finally unveiled the full details of their long-awaited debut album.

The BBC Sound poll winners for 2013 will release the record, entitled Days Are Gone, on 30 September. The album is 11 tracks in length and features recent singles ‘Falling’, ‘Don’t Save Me’ and ‘Forever’.

The LP is available to pre-order now. The tracklist and artwork are as below:

1. Falling
2. Forever
3. The Wire
4. If I Could Change Your Mind
5. Honey & I
6. Don’t Save Me
7. Days Are Gone
8. My Song 5
9. Go Slow
10. Let Me Go
11. Running If You Call My Name

link w/ albumcover

i feel like that cover could be better

http://www.rollingstone.com/assets/images/album_review/c2e6ad0c93032588d328fdf50bf441addf082130.jpg

i wonder why it took so long if so few of the songs are new

Don't like the cover choice, but I took it upon myself to at least make it a little more in line with the singles that have been released so far.

http://i.imgur.com/zMZMDLu.jpg

yeah the cover's not up to much is it? i preferred the black-and-white-and-pink-scrawl of this, much more like a 'classic album'

http://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000040471442-s62582-crop.jpg

I was hoping "Send Me Down" would be on this.

K, quick sketch since I don't have the actual font nor the cover photo with good quality

http://i.imgur.com/u5mHJ5N.jpg

ha well that's amazing.

I tweaked Moka's just a teeny bit with higher res image and making the "days are gone" script slightly darker. I'll be using this image for my id3 tags when the album leaks/comes out for purchase.

http://i.imgur.com/C2cFHkr.jpg

Ah yeah that photo looks way better, good job JF.

:D

what a remarkably ugly cover (the real one)

if we all stick this on our Tumblrs maybe they'll change it; it's clearly better than the real thing.

I'm already using it as the definite cover in my itunes. I tried the real one and this alternate one and I much rather prefer the later one.

http://i.imgur.com/pGHc56j.png

That looks great!

YES!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkd47bcQHxM

lol

http://eil.com/images/main/Julee+Cruise+-+Falling+-+7%22+RECORD-512001.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/nnzIaE7.jpg

angel haze and ???

grimes

album is really good btw. Probably the best songs on it have already been released but front to back a really strong and consistent piece

yep

i think "if i could change your mind" is probably their best song

has it l£ak£d or have you guys got copies?

i've got a promo idk about those other bros

i don't think it's leaked

really disappointed that better off got left off, i think its their best

that's my least favorite song of theirs. v glad "go slow" is on this thing but i also rep for "send me down" and might've preferred it to its twin on the record "my song"

weirdo

love the Lindstrom and Prins Thomas remix of "Forever."

most curious about the title track which according to wiki has a jessie ware co-write.

!

A lot of the time I think Better Off is their best as well. Sorry to see it was left off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TffpkE2GU4

#misandry

mean but fun

I've been those guys once or twice, so I'm totally cool with laughing at the ridiculousness of it.

why'd she have to do j0rdan s. like that?

hahaha thought the same thing. did someone already say they looked the same on ilx or something? idk. but they kinda do

i like when he mouths "forever"

concept A-
execution C+

^^^

wont make me popular around here but that's basically how i feel about the band itself (except the remixes, which are all so good they make the originals seem kinda drab)

yeah, a little mean, kind of funny, not done that well

the video I mean

The band's execution could be better too, but I feel like it has been getting better and is now pretty close to awesome.

wont make me popular around here

somebody had to speak up max

Didn't realise when watching the video that the guy with the ring is Booth Jonathan from Girls. I always hated that guy!

Agree that the video does not work at all. There's something annoying about the over the top reactions of the guys and it's really grating when the Haim girls sing "I know that you're gonna be okay anyway" in that really insincere way. I'm aware I'm reading too much into just a video but it kind of put me off a song I really liked. I'm sure I'll get over it, just surprised how much I disliked it.

The video is pretty funny but the joke gets a bit repetitive. For some reason I like the song MORE now than when I previously heard it without visuals. Maybe the light-hearted nature of the video makes me perceive the song as breezy and light-hearted, whereas before that may not have been my response. Then again, maybe it's just a case of watching the video twice has enabled the song to grow on me (I had previously listened to it a few weeks ago about three times).

I'm not completely sure what the "joke" is tbh -- is it "give me a break 20-something brooklyn indie boy, this was obviously not some kind of 'forever' relationship?" Is it just funny because it's dorky looking guys getting overemotional?

Both of those, probably.

i'd say the latter

lol indie guys b*hurt over video making fun of indie guys

Song has grown on me btw

i like seeing grown men cry

Great song, annoyingly stupid video.

being an asshole in videos to sig others is awesome but only if u make it look cool imo. they should have been more derisive

I'm not completely sure what the "joke" is tbh -- is it "give me a break 20-something brooklyn indie boy, this was obviously not some kind of 'forever' relationship?" Is it just funny because it's dorky looking guys getting overemotional?

― HOOS next aka won't get steened again (Hurting 2), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 11:00 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's also just casting guys in a scenario that is stereotypically reserved for girls

how does this compare to that avril video where she's being unnecessarily mean to that other girl?

that one makes me mad. oh, so it's OK to be a horrible bitch to this poor girl because she's typed as square? it was like the definitive ass-end of the "punk" ethos.

"if i could change your mind" is as good as any of their pre-album singles imo

I forgot how much I liked them after the EOY poll, remembered again a couple of weeks ago
don't save me is such a jam

looking forward to new album so I can listen to them endlessly

saw them in boston a few nights ago, they seemed like the most wkiw people alive, predictably. most of their new songs sounded more like led zeppelin than steely dan, but i was very much into it.

yeah don't save me is my fav, too

the wire is super catchy, seems like a song i've heard before but it's not

"if i could change your mind" is as good as any of their pre-album singles imo

― J0rdan S., Monday, August 19, 2013 10:05 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

omg this song

somebody at work said the wire sounds like the wanderer and it's true

title track also A++++++

god i love this band

it sounds like something else though, it is on the TIP OF MY TONGUE.

this really feels like a 1980s fleetwood mac album (in a great way) not least b/c even the filler sounds really good

wow @ "If I Could Change Your Mind."

Saw them at Glastonbury, they are really good life. Is the album out yet? Curious to know whether the studio version of "Let Me Go" is as good as the live version.

This is a great album but I'm envious of anyone who's going to hear this while being unfamiliar with the singles. Because I'm so familiar with so much of it there are relatively few wow tracks on first listen (and 'If I Can Change Your Mind' is definitely one of them). If I were coming to this completely cold there would be five or six.

The production on this is excellent by the way, there's so much going on and the sound is huge. I'd never noticed quite how deep those drums on 'Falling' are. Also, there's a moment on the title track where the drums and the 80s guitars and the vocals fall away and there's like three seconds of post-dubstep bass rumble and echo chamber synths, it's a really odd production detail but it totally works.

My wife came in yesterday and actually thought this was Fleetwood Mac.

I blame ILX for focusing my ears to the residual Eagles-ness of "The Wire," but this song is better than "Heartache Tonight" X100.

Yeah, the production is wonderful. So many details that keep me coming back, although it's weird how different the live sound is - The Wire is one of the only songs that bridges the gap.

I think the Fleetwood Mac-isms are pretty overstated by just about everyone. Not every tightly produced 80s pop/rock single was by Mac, and Haim definitely stand apart from the nostalgia hordes in 2013. I just think people don't know how to deal with new sounds anymore, especially inside familiar genres, because it doesn't happen often.

Eh, I think my respect for the Mac-isms goes deeper than facsimile. That is, this sounds like Fleetwood Mac without sounding just like Fleetwood Mac. It captures a similar vibe and attention to detail as '80s Mac. But I agree that there's a freshness and excitement to this that transcends trends. Like, I sometimes get a certain Tegan and Sara vibe from this, too, but it's just so much more easygoing than that stuff, which (lately) sticks to a particularly contemporary radio vibe. HAIM is sort of like had someone described a lot of bands to this talented group or musicians without actually playing them the music, leaving them to imagine how it sounds.

Who did produce this, the band?

Hmm, Ariel Rechtshaid. His credits are slick but diverse enough that he proved a pretty sympathetic producer! But, wow, it really could have gone any direction. I credit the band for being too awesome to ruin.

'My Song 5' is useless toss though. Not sure what possessed them to include that. Ten songs is enough.

At 2.35 on Forever there's a weird thing where the bass is pitched down for a sec, but the tempo reduces too, like a sample being played back slower. It's distracting to my ears.

xp I think band that was overly concerned about Fleetwood Mac comparisons would not have covered two Fleetwood Mac songs (Oh Well and Hold Me)

THIS ALBUM IS THE FUCKING BIZNESS

Getting a bit of a Paul Simon vibe off Honey & I.

On first listen I thought there was a big gulf in quality between the singles and (most of) the rest of the album but now I'm not so sure. They're really fucking good at doing the last minute of a pop song, all those crescendos and interweaving harmonies.

I'm on my fourth consecutive listen. Can't remember the last time I played an album this many times in a row.

i note that ILX faves Better Off and Send Me Down are both on the 'deluxe edition' along with a bunch of remixes, although bizarrely not the Lindstrom remix of Forever.

http://store.universal-music.co.uk/restofworld/artists/haim/icat/haim

The Lindstrom mix wasn't even on the 10" vinyl - it gets no love from Haim for some weird reason.

the psychmagik remix is so freakin good

tomorrow:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039x7n4

"HAIM pick the music, taking control of Radio 1 with their Super Sweet Bat Mitzvah playlist!"

did anyone mention on this thread how they rip off prince when you were mine in parts of "forever"? so maybe they are analagous to story of stevie nicks pulling over to side of road after hearing little red corv and then writing stand back but replace her with christine mcvie soundalike and when your were/forever

has unperson weighed in yet

don't save me and forever are still their only great songs for me. maybe the album will kick in shortly

Can't wait to hear this.

perfectly sweet album (sweetly perfect more like perhaps) but i can't say i'm really finding anywhere to connect with it. just kinda seem like savages for not-savages at the end of the day

Not hearing the "Forever"/"When You Were Mine" connect. They're both pop songs with chugging new wave guitars but beyond that...?

days are gone days are gone oh!

that song is so good

not sure what i think of the latin freestyle/lisa lisa and cult jam-like touches. more than touches, really. all over the title track. not opposed to this in principle, but it really breaks up the album in a distracting way.

solution: just put that song on repeat for long periods of time :)

kind of wish I had two brothers I could start a Haim tribute band with :(

just kinda seem like savages for not-savages at the end of the day

― r|t|c, Tuesday, September 17, 2013 8:46 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

what does this even mean

really

Based on two listens on the bus today, this album is really good but the song with the dubstep bass stops it from being great. I don't get much of an r&b vibe - 80s or contemporary - from this at all, it reminds me more of those El Perro Del Mar/Taken By Trees albums produced by the guys from Studio.

xp i guess you are trying to say you don't connect with either haim or savages? i just don't see how they are comparable groups

other than they have wymmyn with guitars in

Enjoying the new tracks on the album immensely but really every time "the wire" comes on I have to put it on repeat.

i heard "the wire" on an actual american commercial radio station this morning.

what kind of station? alt rock? top 40?

I don't get much of an r&b vibe - 80s or contemporary - from this at all

I get more r&b from some of the new songs, "If I Could Change Your Mind"/"Days Are Gone"/"My Song 5" specifically, than any of the old songs.

alt rock station

this so great. not sure why i waited on listening to it. i think i got some fatigue from the trickle of songs and 'the wire' didn't make me as excited as 'don't save me' or 'falling' but this is really really good stuff.

except the wire is hitting hard now. is the album version different from whatever i originally hard?

the version at the top of the thread sounds v much like a demo compared to the album version

I get more r&b from some of the new songs, "If I Could Change Your Mind"/"Days Are Gone"/"My Song 5" specifically, than any of the old songs.

My Song 5 is terrible because you get the sense that they actually believed all that nonsense about them being Fleetwood Mac-meets-R&B or whatever and tried to write an obviously R&B-influenced song. Only problem is that both they and their producer are really bad at it, the whole thing is clumsy and just doesn't work.

"Honey I" is a nice take on "Sweet Jane"-isms.

love my song 5 and all the production on this across the board, dunno what y'all on about

"Honey I" is a nice take on "Sweet Jane"-isms.

And, of course, Fleetwood Mac, not least, um, a bit of "Honey Hi."

Also, there's tons of R&B to this. It's like an awesome fusion of Fleetwood Mac and Teena Marie.

Based on two listens on the bus today, this album is really good but the song with the dubstep bass stops it from being great. I don't get much of an r&b vibe - 80s or contemporary - from this at all, it reminds me more of those El Perro Del Mar/Taken By Trees albums produced by the guys from Studio.

― boxedjoy, Wednesday, September 18, 2013 1:19 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

maybe, but the vocals on the title track are pretty obviously influenced by 80s R&B. teena marie might be a good reference point, but I hear a lot of latin freestyle type stuff. like real commercial freestyle. lisa lisa. maybe even martika or something.

yeah and "my song 5" seems like a failure to me

"My Song 5" keeps reminding me of Dirty Projectors' "Stillness in the Move".

Speaking of hamfisted attempts at R&B homage...

I hear a lot of latin freestyle type stuff.

Oh totally. These guys would do an awesome Nu Shooz or Pretty Poison. I mean, holy shit, this is basically Haim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omx7u0ZWUAY

An "I Can't Wait" cover would be a good look for them.

omg

Stevie Nicks' "I Can't Wait," he means.

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

If they conflated them live people would lose their shit.

my god

Please assume I meant a Nu Shooz / Nicks mashup.

I also feel like Haim is the band to rehabilitate "Hungry Eyes".

Now that's just going too far.

"my song 5" is a way less good version of "send me down" but i'm still down with it

oh man, pretty poison. it's 1987 all over again! were the haim girls even born then? not that this would invalidate their tastes.

i'm going to post this just cos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v8YragSIuI

haim's lyrics kind of remind me of this stuff, too

but yeah, there's no getting around that they've probably worn their copies of mirage and tango in the night down to nothing

were the haim girls even born then? not that this would invalidate their tastes.

i interviewed alana about this point specifically and i think a lot of it is unconscious reverberations that this stuff possibly had in late-'90s r&b?

I've been waiting years for Tango in the Night to displace Rumours in the influence department.

were the haim girls even born then? not that this would invalidate their tastes.

i interviewed alana about this point specifically and i think a lot of it is unconscious reverberations that this stuff possibly had in late-'90s r&b?

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, September 19, 2013 10:11 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you mean they're picking it up 2nd hand? that doesn't seem possible. anxiety of influence maybe?

Yeah, I dunno, the period details of the Haim music is so OTM that it has to be more than osmosis at work.

i agree! it's just i didn't get much out of going that direction in the interview. who knows

they might just be sick of FM comparisons/questions, or anxious about being too close to their influences

but yeah they seem to have gone to some lengths to replicate certain sounds so the naïve line rings kind of hollow

unless it's like the monkeys writing shakespeare thing, where they just some ended up in this "tango in the night" space without ever having heard any pop music whatsoever

that would be the bomb

Man, how much would that suck, if you were a band and you stumbled on this awesome, awesome sound, and then someone passes you a copy of "Tango in the NIght" and you deflate once you realize that's exactly what you sound like. I mean, it would be awesome, of course! But it'd still be a bummer.

xp i guess you are trying to say you don't connect with either haim or savages? i just don't see how they are comparable groups

other than they have wymmyn with guitars in

― monotony, Wednesday, 18 September 2013 22:00 (Yesterday) Bookmark

i was merely referring to and concurring with the commonplace assertion that both bands are pretty dead-end pastichey. hopefully this transmission reaches you over on planet duh

if I stumbled into sounding like "Seven Wonders" I'd force my manager to buy me an expensive dinner.

I don't think Haim is that pastichey, in the end, esp. compared (for some reason) to Savages, who are truly A+B+C=exactly the sum of its parts.

Was Cut Copy the first on the '80s Mac tip?

Haim's songwriting is pastichey as hell but the production is full of shiny modern details. Savages are about as rote as they come.

"My Song 5" isn't one of the best songs here but it has a sinister creep to it that I find very satisfying.

Was Cut Copy the first on the '80s Mac tip?

"Take Me Over" is more than inspired. It's copied.

i was merely referring to and concurring with the commonplace assertion that both bands are pretty dead-end pastichey. hopefully this transmission reaches you over on planet duh

ok m8 no need to get snarky

fwiw i'd agree with Matt DC in that HAIM represents a confluence of disparate influences whereas savages are more, like, explicitly drawing just from the one scene

"take me over" is also very men at work in addition to being very FM

i was way more into the remixes than the originals as stand-alone songs but packaged together as an album i'm enjoying it quite a bit

Yeah the Duke Dumont remix of Falling is transcendent.

heard club remixes of 'don't save me' quite a bit while out this summer, very good jam that i approve of

when is the lissvik mix of send me down gonna officially come out is my question

idg people who don't think the tunes are up to par. This is the catchiest set of songs I've heard since, I dunno...4?

since you were four

What can I say? Poison was that damn good.

if it gets rough, it's time to get ruFFFFFFFFF

"my honey and i" is sounding real good this morning. hard to imagine another contemporary band coming up with something like this.

holy shit @ the title track!

thanks much for having me relisten to "point of no return" for the first time in over a decade

now listen to a Nu Shooz/Nicks "I Can't Wait" mashup.

last night i watched haim interviews on youtube for about 2 hours

the story of them writing "days are gone" with jessie ware was pretty kewt

didn't know they cowrote it!

They're so personable! It's probably linked above somewhere, but the Nardwuar interview is cute: http://youtu.be/FmOEKvcASB4

oops yeah it def is above, why didn't i ctl+F

I love that they made (?) hats

I've p much listened to this album 1-3 times a day since it leaked.

if the singles left me cold (didn't hate just didn't care) is there any point in giving the album a go? i have limited time right now

There would be worse ways to spend 40 mins. That said, I can't imagine this bring particularly lex-ian save for the title track.

Being*, oops.

Given that you like Tango In The Night-era Fleetwood Mac I'd be quite surprised if you couldn't find something to like in this, but then again I'm really surprised you don't like Falling.

lex, I could see you liking "If I Could Change Your Mind" or "Days Are Gone" if anything on here

just listened to the first half of this again on the way home from uni, very nearly danced down the metro platform to "if i could change your mIIIIiiiiiiiiiIIiiind"

i listened to it. there's nothing WRONG with it i guess but it's sooooooo pastichey, like there is literally no modern twist on a very old sound, and i don't think i have quite enough affection for that sound to have a connection to something that just replicates it - it's so exact that it almost seems automated, all the little hiccups of breath and melody exactly where you expect them.

also tbqh my fleetwood mac/stevie nicks knowledge has a long way to go - i only really know rumours and tusk and a handful of other songs - and i'd rather carry on gradually investigating them

all the little hiccups of breath and melody exactly where you expect them.

one of the things i like best about the album is danielle's surprisingly weird vocal tics and the way she constantly plays with meter, elongating and suffocating words etc - i suppose you could say you expect her to do that by the last few tracks, but she certainly doesn't have a conventional vocal delivery to my ears

lex you gotta hear tango in the night!

Yeah I don't see anything predictable about Danielle's choices - the way her voice keeps changing through a song like Don't Save Me is my favourite thing about the band.

i feel like the vocalist could actually be foregrounded more - didn't get much of a sense of her personality at all. i didn't find anything particularly weird about her delivery though.

There are three vocalists, although two of them sound pretty similar because y'know sisters.

Srsly though the idea that Lex went to Tusk before Tango In The Night is kind of hilarious but really you should listen to the latter immediately and forget about this Haim album for a bit.

Was listening to "The Wire" again and got major Shania vibes. Just me, or was that mentioned above?

tbh guys it's not like it's a big crime to like something that hits a partic retro spot, i just don't get why all the absurdly overstated swivel-eyed flannel about "shiny modern detailed latin freestyle type confluence of disparate surprisingly weird vocal influences" etc - these supposed innovations are totally marginal, remedial

and tango in the night sounds like, aeons more future-minded than this fwiw

A couple summers ago I talked with some Pitchfork types who agreed that Tango was not only the Mac album that mattered most as adolescent and teens but in retrospect outlined a pop future we still haven't totally heard.

History of ILM is full of people overinflating marginal production quirks into radical innovations. Saying something has been given a modern production sheen is hardly the same as saying it's innovative.

i don't think i ever said they were innovative. i just think labelling them as mere pastiche, as nothing more than fleetwood mac facsimile, is a very facile and unfair criticism

I don't think you can deny the songwriting is pastiche really.

as i feared you guys are sort of narrating the piece i'm writing about them as it is being written, oh well

tango has a presence and humidity that this doesn't and, as alfred said, nothing has really lived up to. still i think a composite of pastiches and approaches in even the slightest modern setting can be thrilling, and is here. i feel ppl who think that is sort of a dead end bc while the songs are strong and the feel is almost mathematically right i am colder toward this record that i expected. still good fun.

tango is also the product of songwriters and musicians with decades of work on their own and together under their belts. the fact that haim is even being compared to that mac lineup is... impressive!

i don't really even hear any modern sheen. the first time i heard them (without knowing what the song was) i genuinely thought it was an actual d-list 80s soft rock song. if i didn't know they were a contemporary band i would never have guessed. i think that's what strikes me as particularly pointless about them. i think i get the same bot vibes from them that rtc gets from ariana grande

think you misspelt inane there max

lol

Saying something has been given a modern production sheen is hardly the same as saying it's innovative.

― Matt DC, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:11 (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't think i ever said they were innovative. i just think labelling them as mere pastiche, as nothing more than fleetwood mac facsimile, is a very facile and unfair criticism

― monotony, Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:25 (24 minutes ago) Bookmark

k pedants not "innovations", uh... ~areas of distinction~ shall we say then

fwiw i didnt and wouldnt argue they were "nothing more than fleetwood mac facsimile" either, they're obv a little bit cannier than that but still nothing that adds up to much that would cause a stir in anyone without a mojo subscription

still good fun.

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 26 September 2013 14:41 (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

i agree with this just ftr

They sound like a really good young contemporary version of a late '80s pop outfit like Wilson-Phillips. The Mac element is being a tad overstated here, as is the future-genius of "Tango," which is one of my fave records, Mac or otherwise, but definitely in line with what Lindsey was up to at the time courtesy new technology/samplers and def. in line what he's still up to today. This HAIM is nowhere near that frantic/frenetic/anal retentive. Credit different drugs, perhaps.

or no drugs

Yeah, that too!

What HAIM needs is overwhelming paranoid and control-freak tendencies fueled by swimming pools full of cocaine.

In other words, they need to have Lindsey Buckingham produce them, for old time's sake.

well, he's on the NIN album. Maybe he's in session mode again.

blah blah late pass i really like this band

Shit, now I feel like a shmuck seeing that DeRo also compared it to Wilson Phillips. But I didn't mean it as a criticism!

Haim, Days Are Gone (Polydor)

Has indie-rock seriously gotten so twee and “poptimistic” that it can hail as a buzz band a California trio aiming at a modern update of Fleetwood Mac as distaff beard-rock but barely achieving a less polished version of Wilson Phillips? Really?

Rating on the four-star scale: .5 stars.

"distaff beard-rock"!

Does anyone actually use the terms 'poptimist' or 'poptimistic' for anything other than handwringing purposes?

I already loved this album but DeRo being a prick about it makes me want to gold-plate it and wear it around my neck. Good use of scare quotes, asshole.

wilson phillips? i've heard wilson phillips, i saw wilson phillips live just one calendar year ago, and this is no wilson phillips

I'd seriously die if Haim covered "Impulsive" though.

I already loved this album but DeRo being a prick about it makes me want to gold-plate it and wear it around my neck. Good use of scare quotes, asshole.

^this

did this guy just stay in 1994 permanently or

also i had to look up distaff and i'm pretty confused now

I had to look it up the first time I saw it in an album review. I get that writers want a synonym for "female" but a word based on the idea of a woman's job being spinning seems a tad archaic.

haha i think that might be the most inchoately splenetic use of the p-word i've ever seen

Haim are basically motivated by the same eternal indie rock impulse as Wilco circa Summer Teeth only brought forward two decades. As with all dumb music critics dero has no capacity to abstract away from specific stylistic cues.

Yeah. OTM.

Fuck that guy and his misplaced contrarianism.

serious question: does he have a Chicago following?

lol I was trying to remember who I had UNfavorably compared to wilson philips recently, turns out it was Fun.

DeRo? I don't know if he has a following, per se, but he's well liked enough. I mean, if you read the comments on the NPR site and on his Facebook page, people tend to take him seriously. He's also capable of being reasonable, but that rarely comes out in print. It's just so easy to take the contrarian dismissive stance, because it's so much easier/more attention-getting to take something down than praise something.

I get why someone attached to his views of rock would hate Haim, I'm just glad I'm not attached to those views

i'm surprised he did not get something in there about how you should listen to the cellar-aged post punk of SAVAGES instead

Tim otm. Make it three brothers instead of sisters and rub off a little of the production gloss and DeRo would be all over this.

Eh, the guy's pretty useless, but I don't think this is accurate at all. If anything, DeRo tends to rate rock bands with women in it higher, because, OMG, finally, ladies playing rock. And he severely underrates pop, because, OMG, ladies playing pop, but not the kind of pop this guy thinks they should be making, they should be ashamed of being ladies.

lol distaff beard-rock appears to have been stricken from his blog

dude loves donut rock

Geoff Barrow weighs in

https://twitter.com/jetfury/status/382194599164649473

https://twitter.com/jetfury/status/383369303997050880

damn every time someone criticises this band i like them a bit more, wtf is wrong with me

er the band i mean

More interesting to me than boring old dudes is the probable double-standard w/r/t dance music - Lindstrom strikes me as no less pastichey than Haim by and large (and the Lindstrom/Christabelle album is one of the few obvious precursors to what they're doing here, at least in part) though obviously over the course of his career he's covered a lot more pastiche-ground, but it's not a criticism that tends to come up - like, we all know it but it's not something that tends to worry people.

Also I think Haim could stand to sound more like Shania Twain to be honest.

Give 'em time! They're young!

So it's pronounced HIME? I did not know that until tonight.

"If I Could Change Your Mind" has squatted in my brain for the last week and refuses to leave. Help!

super super technically it's "HI-yem" but the accepted baseline pronunciation is indeed "hime"

Dad was Israeli. Name is Hebrew for "life."

Sloppy typo on the back of the CD cover

http://i.imgur.com/DOWU6fk.jpg

Is that the commercial release or a review copy?

Commercial

Oooh, like l'chaim. I get it.

i'm probably five years too late in thinking it's weird that bands release deluxe editions simultaneously with the official release, right?