The Clientele - Best Band Since The Smiths

"gaps" not "space." Shouldn't go by memory when drinking...

maybe 'luxuriant' or 'lush' is the wrong term, perhaps I meant 'busy'. it seems the rest of the band had much more to do with how this one sounds, I could just be against democracy.

re: Hitchcock, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Alasdair didn't name him as an influence, but I do think there's a similarity at times in the guitar style and the kind of magical melancholy vision of England both of them have going on ...

(i didn't know alfred hitchcock played the guitar!)

there's footage of the tiny acoustic lexington gig up on youtube. i was sat downstairs minding the coats...

oh goodness Strange Geometry is still soooo good. "Spirit" is divine. I guess I should get the new one. I've been listening through their whole library again over the last week or so, and Strange Geometry stands out (though they are all wonderful): these songs are taut, as though they were trying to play Motown songs, lovely but concise, with nothing to spare.

yeah, it is a wonderful record,especially during the winter -- just listened to it a week or so ago. the songs kind of seem simple and hummable on the surface, but when you start paying attention they're sometimes super complex!

I just listened to God Save The Clientele for the first time in ages, and it is a letdown after Strange Geometry. Well, it leads off well, but "Isn't Life Strange?" kills the momentum. And I think I get the earlier remarks about self-parody. Take "The Queen of Seville". The sound is gorgeous, but the lyric is empty, and actually kinda lazy, Clientele-by-numbers: pick a geographical location, make it kinda "olde England" by invoking royalty. And then the song is goes on about being lonely.

I'll get the new one, though. I just looked at the album art and it's gorgeous! It's an Archimboldo! I keep running into Archimboldo paintings lately, prob. b/c artistic references like that are more common coin in France; my kids just got an Asterix comic book with a parody of an Archimboldo painting in it. I guess kids here know that kind of thing? The painting in question hangs in the Louvre (I saw it a few weeks ago), so maybe it's not unreasonable for kids here to get that kind of reference. Well, that's the painting in the comic; I'm not sure where the one on the Clientele album cover is from.

much as i love strange geometry, it had the distinction up to now of being the only clientele record i could say with any certainty wasn't my favourite. it is strong, has a strident, television-y kind of clarity, i can see why it's regarded by many as their best. god save the clientele, on the other hand, is just flawless, victoria street aside. i like the new one an awful lot but it does suffer by comparision a little.

I kind of agree with this ^^^^, even tho Losing Haringey is my favorite Clientele song.

I also agree with cw, never got on with Strange Geometry.

is alasdair's side-project (amor de dias) still happening? no news since mid-2009, and since then there's been the announcement of a new clientele "mini-album" coming later this year.

i love the idea behind this side-project, btw. clientele vibe plus a tropicalia vibe could yield beautiful music.

I was wondering when that Amor de Dias album was going to turn up as well. I had the impression it was already completed and just waiting to be released, though. The new Clientele EP is, according to a post on their forum, mostly material from the Bonfires on the Heath recording sessions deemed good enough for release. There's a West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band cover, and I see "Jerry" is on there as well, which is a much older Clientele song (and a good one!).

i just asked alasdair via twitter about the amor de dias record, haha. i'll let you know what he says!

thanks! i guess this "tweeting" thing has its uses.

Have been struck lately by how much "My Own Face Inside The Trees" sounds almost like a Moles song. That organ bit is very very Untune The Sky-ish. Also love the way the song suddenly shifts, after the first two verses. Very Davies...

got a tweet back from alasdair about amor de dias: "hey - we're at mixing stage, so when that's done it depends on who will release it, and their schedules. I think next year for sure."

Thanks for the update! However... next year? Cry cry cry.

minotaur is really lovely.

just started listening to 'bonfires' this week. thought it a bit samey at first but certain songs are starting to reveal their magic ('Jennifer and Julia').

yeh i've started listening to it again too with the onset of autumn, it does have a very specific mulchy mood. minotaur is generally a much sparklier, breezier affair, though there is a real undercurrent of menace to it.. the new recording of gerry is particularly good.

new ep is really good. jerry effectively blends the group's trademark-sound with a much harder-edged guitar break.

so hoping the ep means they aren't breaking up.

minotaur is just $1.99 at amazon.com (mp3). hadn't gotten it yet, but am listening now -- sounds great.

air turned colder this morning. the clientele sound great right now.

^ Yes! The ultimate Fall band.

been listening to their latest album today. bonfires on the heath, never anyone but you, jennifer & julia sound perfect now.

listened to bonfires on the heath last week for the first time in a while. had written it off to some extent as their weakest effort, but i was wrong! pretty great record. still need to get around to that amor de dias record ...

beginning to think BOTH is one of their strongest records.

ah, yes it is great and back in rotation, thanks for the reminder.

Bonfires on the Heath and Never Anyone But You are fantastic. Waiting on the box set...

i'm just hoping they keep recording together as a band. (unless yr aware of an impending box-set?)

one of the cliente's best moments, and saddest songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpDu37hhKVg

an amazing string of albums.

just wishful thinking about a boxed set.

merge should do a suburban daylight vol.2 / louder than bombs / bubblegum perfume style affair of the previously uncompiled singles & eps, interspersed with those long droney/spooky instrumentals/collagey bits, there's an instant classic double album right there. it would have to have 6am morning rise on it though, thats the deal. and paul verlaine. and all of the lost weekend and . what a band.

they've got a fair number of odds and ends I think are worth compiling, mostly covers (Where the Universes Are, for example), but most of their latterday singles are taken from their albums.

I really cannot overstate how great the Amor de Dias album is, especially if you dig Bonfires on the Heath.

"Emptily Through Holloway" is my jam lately.

circling back to losing haringey, one of my favorite sad songs of the past decade.

I listen to them in the summer when I am dreaming of cooler weather, then when cooler weather comes, I listen to them again.

i need to get the amor de dias lp pronto

yep, lost weekend is tops. it's the violet hour in miniature.

i'm not sure how sad losing haringey is though! i have fond memories of listening to that last world cup in the sweltering heat when i lived down the road from green lanes, where those strange little weeds grow...

it makes me feel deeply, sadly nostalgic for my youth.

i miss this band.

the violet hour. Every summer. Forever.

Was so thrilled to have caught them on their last or one of their last tours.

so good so good

i would still love a box set

that is, i only really got into them a couple of years ago so everything i own from them is digital.

Bought The Violet Hour and Suburban Light about 18 months ago without knowing any of their music. Have spent the time since then falling completely in love with this band. Originally I found The Violet Hour to be one of their weaker albums (Strange Geometry was my immediate favourite) but it really got under my skin after a while and has become one of my favourite albums.

Feel the same way about Violet Hour

yes, violet hour forever, my favorite record above all

I hear that some shows are in the offing, and it looks like they have a contribution to the Merge Singles Club if this is to be believed: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2014/01/merge_records_c.html

Clientele things! Happening!

The violet hour is probably under my skin more than any piece of music. There was that summer where every night my best friend and I would chat while falling to sleep to it. I miss this band. I miss that version of our friendship. I miss that version of myself. Anyway. ~livejournal entry~