i just don't share yr perception that the thing went from being ignored in the uk to trendoid accessory in the last cpl of years. as crackle and stew have pointed out, gustaffson's name and reputation have always meant SOMETHING here, amongst the v v small number of ppl actually interested in this stuff, and I definitely remember the early albs getting gd reviews in the usual places (the wire, most obviously.) maybe the thing's popularity/visibility has grown in the last cpl of years (as you might expect after recording a rec w/ neneh cherry) but you cld also just put that down to them being a really really exciting group of performers who have, over time, generated great word of mouth and a slowly increasing following. w/out neneh cherry i'm p sure they'd still struggle to 'sell out' a venue much larger than Cafe Oto, because pop/rock cover version aside, they are still playing a p fierce and uncompromised form of music that has always alienated many more ppl than it has ever attracted. Personally I hope they have a number one album and sell out the 02 Arena.
Also, when did they first play live in the UK? My memory is that they didn't tour here for a while, and I only got to see them for the first time last year. i was living in London at the time of their first albs and am sure I would've gone to see them at the Vortex or wherever if they had played here then.
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 14 June 2012 08:58 (twelve years ago) link
HOLY SHIT LOVE THE NEW ONE
― balls, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 14:40 (eleven years ago) link
Hey, people who like this might also like Mats Gustafsson's release with Kieran Hebden from last year Live at the South BankIt's bananas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-xxzCurgR0
― game of crones (La Lechera), Wednesday, 20 June 2012 16:19 (eleven years ago) link
and pardon the omission, Steve Reid
man before i was excited for this in a "kinda weird/cool/interesting that this is happening" way, but this is fucking great
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 5 July 2012 21:49 (eleven years ago) link
yep.
― EZ Snappin, Thursday, 5 July 2012 22:03 (eleven years ago) link
really surprised there hasn't been more talk about this album
― bitch I'm on the 242 (lex pretend), Friday, 6 July 2012 09:41 (eleven years ago) link
I love this album to bits but it's the kind of release where I might say inadvertently stupid things if I talked about it in depth.
― Tim F, Friday, 6 July 2012 11:46 (eleven years ago) link
haha yeah trying to review it paralysed me a bit. best policy was transparency really, "i know nothing about the thing or free jazz or don cherry or any of the originals but here is why i like it"
― bitch I'm on the 242 (lex pretend), Friday, 6 July 2012 11:55 (eleven years ago) link
and i DO know about neneh
I was listening to this at the end of my work day yesterday and all I kept thinking was "...baller!"
― I see you, Pineapple Teef (DJP), Friday, 6 July 2012 13:25 (eleven years ago) link
wait she covers Suicide and the Stooges on this? I need to check this out.
― mississippi joan hart (crüt), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:17 (eleven years ago) link
seriously this album is a uniter, not a divider. lots of different people will like it. (imo the thing turns everything to noisy gold)
― nicest bitch of poster (La Lechera), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:22 (eleven years ago) link
On the few occasions i wrote about jazz it was always a case of "I am an interloper in this idiom but here's why I like it, and oh boy do I like it a lot" generally.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:25 (eleven years ago) link
yeah it's really good - i'm not crazy about the madvillain song though, ends up sounding like slam poetry due to the jazz backing. dream baby dream is fantastic though.
― congratulations (n/a), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:25 (eleven years ago) link
Feel like the lone dissenter here that I just couldn't finish the album.
But my hatred of Free Jazz is longstanding and goes so deep I can't get over it, even for Neneh Cherry.
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Friday, 6 July 2012 14:28 (eleven years ago) link
Not crazy about free jazz, but I love Neneh and the new album is pretty interesting. I'd buy it if I could find it for a good price somewhere.
On a slightly related note, I never realized how much Madvillian's album resembled ODB's debut...
― blerdguy, Friday, 6 July 2012 14:37 (eleven years ago) link
that's what happens when it goes a leeetle too far (and the concept starts to kinda fall apart/become threadbare for me as soon as that happens) most of these songs have interesting arrangements though, i think. there are times when i wish the vocals were not there, though but i realize that i am prob in the minority here
loooove the end of dream baby dream -- awesome freakouts are what free jazz is about for me. i do appreciate that this is making the words "free jazz" more accessible to people too.
― nicest bitch of poster (La Lechera), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:39 (eleven years ago) link
oops that was xp to n/a
― nicest bitch of poster (La Lechera), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:40 (eleven years ago) link
ha i'm also coming from the side of generally liking free jazz freakouts (though not being a free jazz expert) and knowing almost nothing about neneh cherry
― congratulations (n/a), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:44 (eleven years ago) link
i kind of want to hear them cover a load more songs in this manner
― bitch I'm on the 242 (lex pretend), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:47 (eleven years ago) link
Yeah, well I'm coming from a couple of decades of being super annoyed at free jazz wig-outs ruining my dronerock and my spacerock so I don't want to hear it in the context of a musical area I thought was free jazz wig-out free.
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Friday, 6 July 2012 14:47 (eleven years ago) link
Free Jazz Wig-Out Free.
Things I hate myself for typing.
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Friday, 6 July 2012 14:48 (eleven years ago) link
tbh, given Nenah Cherry's lineage I am surprised more of her music hasn't incorporated free jazz wigouts
― I see you, Pineapple Teef (DJP), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:51 (eleven years ago) link
that's what i like -- free jazz wig outs in my space rock! how funny. to each her own, eh :)
i would like to recommend this video -- the thing and joe mcphee "sounds like a sandwich" http://vimeo.com/44342292
and i have a bunch more recommendations but i have to find this cover of pj harvey's "who the fuck" first -- it's GREAT.
― nicest bitch of poster (La Lechera), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:55 (eleven years ago) link
They also do a version of "Whole Lotta Love" with the Cato Salsa Experience on Sounds Like a Sandwich that is REALLY good.
― nicest bitch of poster (La Lechera), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:56 (eleven years ago) link
Ok here it ishttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixgFavxutys
― nicest bitch of poster (La Lechera), Friday, 6 July 2012 14:59 (eleven years ago) link
Sorry for ruining this Neneh Cherry thread :(
(I wonder if we can find a "you got free jazz in my dronerock/spacerock/postrock" thread to continue discussion on because this has long been a source of perplexment to me.)
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Friday, 6 July 2012 15:01 (eleven years ago) link
free jazz + dronerock - different 'means' (sometimes), same ends (ecstatic transportation/communion)
― Ward Fowler, Friday, 6 July 2012 15:24 (eleven years ago) link
In theory, yes. But in practice, it often doesn't seem work that way at all.
But this is not the thread. I'm aware that I'm doing in this thread what I shout at others for doing and don't want to continue it here.
― White Chocolate Cheesecake, Friday, 6 July 2012 15:27 (eleven years ago) link
Holy Fuck. Did anyone else see this??
― mmmm, Sunday, 15 July 2012 22:49 (eleven years ago) link
see what?
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 16 July 2012 00:18 (eleven years ago) link
Sorry that made little sense. Neneh & The Thing surpassed all expectations last night. Definitely one of the best live things I've been to in a while. Rare for me to go to a gig and just not want it to end..
― mmmm, Monday, 16 July 2012 11:48 (eleven years ago) link
sad I missed this ;_;
― bitch I'm on the 242 (lex pretend), Monday, 16 July 2012 12:26 (eleven years ago) link
Neneh had such a huge stage presence. Literally stalking the stage. Dressed in customised Adidas. Everything sounded so tight, I half expected The Thing to dominate but she had such control. The noise! The encore was just brilliant.
― mmmm, Monday, 16 July 2012 12:49 (eleven years ago) link
oh man! Wish I could have seen that. Sadly, not even coming to my continent. Glad it was amazing.
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 16 July 2012 13:22 (eleven years ago) link
so is Buffalo Stance where the title of that Style Rookie blog came from?
― President Keyes, Monday, 16 July 2012 13:31 (eleven years ago) link
They were at Pfork, I think? (I didn't go) I've seen The Thing a couple of times and those players in other ensembles a bunch of times -- all of them were really interesting and I won't go so far as to say 100% ALWAYS SPELLBINDING but there's always a lot going on and a lot to pay attention to.
Basically, if I've enjoyed practically every show I've ever seen those guys perform (Nilsson-Love, Gustafsson, Haker-Flaten have all been in a lot of other bands) Add Neneh Cherry stalking the stage, and I think the wider audience potential skyrockets.
― nicest bitch of poster (La Lechera), Monday, 16 July 2012 13:44 (eleven years ago) link
(For reference - afaik they all came through Chicago a lot b/c of the Vandermark connection, Haker-Flaten lived/lives here too.)
― nicest bitch of poster (La Lechera), Monday, 16 July 2012 13:45 (eleven years ago) link
aah.
p4k wasn't listed on her Facebook page, but that doesn't really mean anything.
― EZ Snappin, Monday, 16 July 2012 13:47 (eleven years ago) link
Maybe they weren't there -- maybe I'm misremembering that
Either way -- those people used to (and still do) play around Chicago a lot, but there seems to be a next generation brewing since the last time I was really paying attention. My point was that The Thing are totally awesome.
― nicest bitch of poster (La Lechera), Monday, 16 July 2012 13:58 (eleven years ago) link
the cherry thing is amazing, really delivers on pretty much every level.
― tylerw, Monday, 16 July 2012 15:16 (eleven years ago) link
i finally caught up w/the cherry thing last week, found it underwhelming but will play it more. on a car trip this weekend we played homebrew, first time since the 90s and it held up v well. our 16 y.o. son was intrigued by the stylistic blend asking "what do you call this?" dunno. trip-hop pop?
― (REAL NAME) (m coleman), Monday, 16 July 2012 15:25 (eleven years ago) link
man I actually forget exactly how much I love "Buffalo Stance" unless I play it
― PITILESS LIVE SHOW (DJP), Tuesday, 17 July 2012 17:15 (eleven years ago) link
I love this song a lot.
― *sad hug eomticon* (Control Z), Wednesday, 18 July 2012 04:48 (eleven years ago) link
for ages now the font on the front of the cherry thing was reminding me of something, and then it clicked today
http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/7e01a08b8476fa6841214972f1c89668/21082.jpg
― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 19 July 2012 22:17 (eleven years ago) link
How did I not know until today that this song originated from this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igcNxCyErogwhich was a remix of this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKJH_cbFm_0
― MarkoP, Tuesday, 24 July 2012 19:50 (eleven years ago) link
I was reading the OED entry for "like" and at the bottom I was very tickled to see an attested use of "like" attributed to "N. Cherry et al, Buffalo Stance". Led me down the same path as MarkoP here, tracing the etymology of the song. Keep going! You have Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Gals" still to find!
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Tuesday, 24 July 2012 21:04 (eleven years ago) link
Oh Buffalo Gals and its connection to that song is pretty well known. But my lack of familiarity with lower tier SAW singles, meant that I never knew about that.
― MarkoP, Tuesday, 24 July 2012 21:26 (eleven years ago) link