KM otm because the first 3 albums were when they wanted to be Sonic Youth and Unwound, after that they wanted to be way more polished and suddenly seemed like they were drawing from entirely different influences.
― Evan, Thursday, 1 March 2018 13:24 (six years ago) link
I'm annoyed that Lost Songs isn't on (Canadian) Spotify, thus preventing me from making a proper best-of-TOD playlist
― Simon H., Thursday, 1 March 2018 13:40 (six years ago) link
Unwound is so underrated
― It's not delivery, it's Adorno! (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 1 March 2018 13:44 (six years ago) link
there is/was plenty of uk post hardcore, post fugazi underground rock too tho
― ogmor, Thursday, 1 March 2018 16:15 (six years ago) link
oh man i played ST&C for the first time in forever yesterday. what timing
back around that era i tried to see them every chance i could. great band
― scoff walker (diamonddave85), Thursday, 1 March 2018 16:31 (six years ago) link
never really associated the singers with the song before, but busch has some really great ones on there!
― scoff walker (diamonddave85), Thursday, 1 March 2018 16:34 (six years ago) link
the one time i saw them was around the ST&C-era, and it was amazing...
really great post which captures the spirit of that era. their live shows were about complete and total annihilation of their equipment and bodies. one show i saw reece broke a rib when he fell onto the audience barrier and he finished the song without even missing a beat
― scoff walker (diamonddave85), Thursday, 1 March 2018 16:42 (six years ago) link
I hope they play TO this year, I'd love to see them live finally
― Simon H., Thursday, 1 March 2018 18:15 (six years ago) link
They're playing My War and Relayer in their respective entireties at a fest this summer, which kinda explains their whole thing.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 10 July 2018 11:16 (five years ago) link
ahahaha oh my god
― imago, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 11:19 (five years ago) link
:D
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 10 July 2018 11:20 (five years ago) link
you know maybe this will be the thing that makes me finally listen to black flag
― imago, Tuesday, 10 July 2018 11:21 (five years ago) link
enjoy side two of my war lj
― princess of hell (BradNelson), Tuesday, 10 July 2018 11:57 (five years ago) link
ha!
Hope it gets filmed, I'd like to see if they can pull off Relayer given that there's almost always been a tention between Conrad's prog ambitions and the fact that their musicianship tends to be little above the level of competent and functional (that's not a criticism, it works for them).
― obnoxious pun (ultros ultros-ghali), Thursday, 12 July 2018 19:51 (five years ago) link
I SWEAR I KNOW NOT WHYTHESE EYES HAVE ALWAYSLEFT ME DRY
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 10 December 2018 23:04 (five years ago) link
according to a locked post on Conrad's Patreon, they started mixing #10 last week.
― resident hack (Simon H.), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 00:32 (five years ago) link
That is great news! Has his solo album been discussed anywhere on ILM? A doozy, with mostly 2 or 3 minute songs. Would swap the whole album for three or four well-worked out and longer ToD versions of those sketches.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 09:55 (five years ago) link
I had no idea it even existed until....just this second.
― resident hack (Simon H.), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 12:59 (five years ago) link
This reinforces the weird ToD/GbV connection.
― resident hack (Simon H.), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 13:05 (five years ago) link
Ha, it does!
I had no idea it existed either until I stumbled upon a deluxe LP w/ 40 pages of drawings and lyrics in a Basque record store last month. Was very surprised to see it.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 13:37 (five years ago) link
That's great news about a new album, I was wiondering when they'd come out with anything again. Conrad's solo album is maybe a bit MOR but very likeable I find.
― obnoxious pun (ultros ultros-ghali), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 14:57 (five years ago) link
'Hills of K-Town' is a great song
Source Tags was a huge album for teenage me, and I will occasionally revisit it when I'm feeling nostalgic. I kind of fell off with them after that, and never really kept up. Prompted by this thread I'm listening to Worlds Apart now, and...IDK. Can't really get into it at all. I'm pretty sure it's Keely's voice. It feels like not the right voice for what he's trying to do at all. Does it get better later in the discography?
― days of being riled (zchyrs), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 18:25 (five years ago) link
yeah, i'm pretty much right there with you (down to having the same initials, i think?). i loved ST&C, and a show i saw around then still ranks as one of the best shows i ever saw. they were FERAL. madonna is quite good as well. i haven't been able to get into anything since.
― Karl Malone, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 18:27 (five years ago) link
Almost every album after WA is superior. I'd skip straight to Tao of the Dead and see if that strikes your fancy at all.
― resident hack (Simon H.), Tuesday, 11 December 2018 18:49 (five years ago) link
Thanks to Simon for the good advice. Tao is leagues better. Now I'm listening to IX which is really surprisingly quite good. Also, this band is ideal for blocking out office noise.
― days of being riled (zchyrs), Friday, 14 December 2018 17:30 (five years ago) link
IX is like my second favourite of their albums tbh
― imago, Friday, 14 December 2018 17:35 (five years ago) link
Lost Songs is also great and I'm annoyed it's not on Spotify
― resident hack (Simon H.), Saturday, 15 December 2018 17:05 (five years ago) link
On tour again. Anyone seen them recently? Worth dropping 20 bones on?
― Simon H., Monday, 18 March 2019 18:28 (five years ago) link
only saw em once in 2011 to a mostly empty club, they rocked, I say go for it because you'll probably regret not going whenever they call it a day
― flappy bird, Monday, 18 March 2019 18:50 (five years ago) link
back then it was like half new album, half old favorites, of course they closed with Richter Scale Madness... I remember Surfer Blood opened for them, and I guess most of the crowd came for them because by the time Trail of Dead came on there were maybe 40 people left. Didn't deter them at all, didn't even look pissed or disappointed, just happy to rock for whoever was left.
― flappy bird, Monday, 18 March 2019 18:51 (five years ago) link
sold. I've wanted to catch them live since catching that "Mistakes and Regrets" performance on that show Matt Pinfield hosted (lol)
― Simon H., Monday, 18 March 2019 18:54 (five years ago) link
they were great on the source tags tenth anniversary tour which uh i guess we're creeping closer to the 20th
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, 18 March 2019 18:55 (five years ago) link
yeah this year marks the 20th of Madonna
incidentally I relistened to the s/t today and while it's badly in need of a remaster, it's still great. "Novena Without Faith" is so beautiful
― Simon H., Monday, 18 March 2019 18:57 (five years ago) link
Hate to say it, but they were absolutely dreadful when I saw them a month ago. I don't go to concerts a lot anymore, but I really wanted to see these guys. But It. Was. Bad. A huge disappointment. It was billed as a ToD plays Madonna/ST&C concert. They did play Madonna from start to finish, but bailed after three or four ST&C songs. Not that it mattered: they were horrible. They pulled up a wall of sound that obliterated all melody, everything that makes their songs such great songs. I know Madonna by heart so I know which song follows which song, but you couldn't make out the songs they were playing at times. Too much feedback, too much noise, a great injustice to what makes them so great.
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 18 March 2019 19:27 (five years ago) link
oh no :/ hopefully they've got that sorted by May
― Simon H., Monday, 18 March 2019 19:35 (five years ago) link
Hope so too. You can always go and buy a nice hand-drawn Keely drawing at the merch stand, that's something.
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 18 March 2019 19:46 (five years ago) link
A buddy of mine saw them a few weeks ago in Vera, Groningen and according to him they were great. Loud, but great.
― Marty8501 (Marty Innerlogic), Monday, 18 March 2019 20:12 (five years ago) link
That was the same show I was at :) It was loud, and terrible. The loudness obliterated what I find ToD's strength, which is melody. They did not find that balance, at all. There's no need for them to be this loud. It felt like they tried to obscure bad vocals/bad play by just blasting their songs out there. Plus: bailing three songs into ST&C - my fave ToD album - was nagl, to say the least.
Idk, ymmv, but I was bitterly disappointed by one of the bands I admire most.
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 18 March 2019 20:25 (five years ago) link
They played well in TO last night - their drummer in particular is great - but the mixing and tone was absurd. Specifically, their lead guitarist was so amped up (both in terms of amplitude and maxing out distortion) that it drowned out everything but those drums! Conrad was literally inaudible. Completely baffling choices. The set was Madonna plus a couple Source Tags tunes, though it took me a full 45-60 seconds each to figure out what those were due to the sound.
― Simon H., Thursday, 9 May 2019 12:51 (five years ago) link
This was nice to see, incl some great trivia I hadn't previously heard.
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-madonna/
― Simon H., Sunday, 10 November 2019 12:20 (four years ago) link
never got why people think that's the classic, including the band itself seemingly, they got much better later on
― imago, Sunday, 10 November 2019 12:25 (four years ago) link
go back and correct your atrocity of a worlds apart review cowards
― imago, Sunday, 10 November 2019 12:26 (four years ago) link
I think the review is correct to say it's not seen as *the* classic (see poll results!) but was important nevertheless, and was a big part of that loose scene of "aggro" indie acts mentioned
lol at "Totally Natural" being inspired by Dogstar, who even Keanu recently admitted sucked
― Simon H., Sunday, 10 November 2019 12:32 (four years ago) link
i guess in context it was important
― imago, Sunday, 10 November 2019 12:35 (four years ago) link
that completely contrived Farmclub performance that's mentioned is absolutely what got them on my radar in the first place. I wasn't aware Iovine had taken such a personal interest in them, though
― Simon H., Sunday, 10 November 2019 12:42 (four years ago) link
The pitchfork sunday reviews lead with this quote:
Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible.
I guess that means they had deleted the original review from their archive?https://web.archive.org/web/20060508094809/http://pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/a/and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead/madonna.shtml
(it's not nearly as embarrassing as some of Ryan Schreiber's reviews, and the number rating they gave it back then is just about the same)
― enochroot, Monday, 11 November 2019 00:53 (four years ago) link
That’s really funny. I was wondering why they wouldn’t have reviewed it the first time around. That original review is godawful, of course.
― quinn morgendorffer stan account (morrisp), Monday, 11 November 2019 00:55 (four years ago) link
https://youtu.be/bbXNaERHIfA
new one X: The Godless Void and Other Stories (lol) out in January. single's good, Keely is....sort of really singing on it?!
― Simon H., Thursday, 14 November 2019 16:33 (four years ago) link
Singing's not too bad! Not blown away by the song, but I'm not left hopeless, which is something
― Le Bateau Ivre, Thursday, 14 November 2019 16:44 (four years ago) link