Me I'm trying to find reasons to keep anything prior to DDD on my hard drive.. I don't ever find a place for those records in my life
Also I think "Clearing" is her best song but Ruins is a very weak album
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Saturday, 10 March 2018 14:33 (six years ago) link
i think ruins is fine but it seems worse in the context of her work bc it really lacks the sense of drift she usually nails
― lowercase (eric), Saturday, 10 March 2018 15:15 (six years ago) link
I like the new song. I agree that it sounds similar to some of her other ones but this doesn't bother me. There's different stuff in there also. Sometimes I like artists that have a strong central focus to their work and then explore lots of subtle variations of those ideas. Grouper is a bit like this, William Basinski is like this also. In a completely different idiom, I think Howlin Wolf is like that as well, all are artists I like a lot.
― mirostones, Saturday, 10 March 2018 18:54 (six years ago) link
Imma rep for Way Their Crept here, too. I'd have it over Alien Observer and Ruins all day long.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Sunday, 11 March 2018 14:32 (six years ago) link
Hear Grouper's stunning headlining set at @LEGUESSWHO last fall, featuring new songs and the late Paul Clipson. https://t.co/LqJmRILRfQ— FACT (@FACTmag) March 14, 2018
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 18:13 (six years ago) link
this really is stunning, and a great setlist:
thanksgiving songfield recording 1cover the windows and the wallsfield recording 2no one (four of cups)fishing bird (empty gutted in the evening breeze)field recording 3i saw a ray
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 18:17 (six years ago) link
jesus, when the distortion comes in on 'i saw a ray'
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 18:20 (six years ago) link
page not found?
― sleeve, Wednesday, 14 March 2018 22:04 (six years ago) link
shit it looks like it got pulled? i can't find the set on soundcloud either. it's gotta be a technical issue or something, Liz Harris was quoted in the brief piece saying that she doesn't usually like listening to her own live recordings but that this one was an exception. i'll post it if i find it or they update the page.
― flappy bird, Thursday, 15 March 2018 01:04 (six years ago) link
https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?visual=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fplaylists%2F460766655&show_artwork=true&dnt=1&secret_token=s-tHR28
here it is. this seems like the same setlist she did when i saw her last year, nice to find out what most of the songs were
― ufo, Thursday, 15 March 2018 01:44 (six years ago) link
Oooh sorry for my dumb opinion, I relistened and realized I just don't like "Way Their Crept" on earbuds
Which was how I last listened to it
It's OK, it's pretty good-- Wide is amazing tho, especially the last track-- Cover The Windows is so wild also-- renewed fandom
― nevertheless, he stopped (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 15 March 2018 14:26 (six years ago) link
Close Cloak is the standout track for me.
― The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums (Chinaski), Thursday, 15 March 2018 17:44 (six years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8Btd9qL68A
― flappy bird, Saturday, 24 March 2018 06:18 (six years ago) link
another new song, "driving": https://www.stereogum.com/1989713/grouper-driving/music/
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 3 April 2018 17:21 (six years ago) link
Thanks for that link @ufo
Thanksgiving Song is amazing.
― plazzTT, Friday, 20 April 2018 21:16 (six years ago) link
comparing track lengths on the Grid of Points iTunes page + the length of that live recording, Thanksgiving Song is likely half-mislabeled - the second half is a guitar arrangement of Holding from Ruins.
― flappy bird, Friday, 20 April 2018 23:03 (six years ago) link
also I can't believe this record comes out in a week. I keep forgetting about it.
― flappy bird, Friday, 20 April 2018 23:04 (six years ago) link
Today's resident advisor podcast is mixed by Grouper
https://www.residentadvisor.net/podcast-episode.aspx?id=621
― I am using your worlds, Monday, 23 April 2018 05:10 (six years ago) link
just put on her boiler room set
― flappy bird, Monday, 23 April 2018 05:12 (six years ago) link
Good timing thank you for the link
― flappy bird, Monday, 23 April 2018 05:13 (six years ago) link
She was also on NTS a couple of weeks ago
https://www.nts.live/shows/kranky/episodes/kranky-w-grouper-12th-april-2018
― toby, Monday, 23 April 2018 06:22 (six years ago) link
"Tae Keening" <3 <3 <3
― sleeve, Wednesday, 25 April 2018 00:51 (six years ago) link
really great mix, thank you
― sleeve, Wednesday, 25 April 2018 00:54 (six years ago) link
the new album is pleasant but very short - only 20 minutes. it's basically just Ruins 2 as expected. i hope she has more like Paradise Valley in the vault, Headache is the greatest
― ufo, Wednesday, 25 April 2018 03:06 (six years ago) link
'Grid of Points' vinyl alert! Don't know how many lp's are pressed but I'm guessing not a lot, going off her previous lp's.
― lbi's life of limitless european glamour (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 25 April 2018 11:22 (six years ago) link
first listen to GRID OF POINTS tonight from a soulseek leak. melodies seem neither here nor there, vague. midrange a little harsh at some points. the whole thing feels too brief to really settle into - not quite rushed, but not paced, either. i thought 'ruins' was grouper's best work, that record really stands alone for me -- the environment feels very immersive, like old erics trip records or something. whereas the piano is so animate and vocal on 'ruins', the recording of 'grid' just feels a little too distant, floaty, indefinite. the reverb almost feels like an obstruction at times. at any rate, i didn't want another 'ruins', and that it very much isn't. maybe it's a grower. standout track would have to be 'blouse'.
― meaulnes, Thursday, 26 April 2018 01:57 (six years ago) link
FTR, and contrarily: though i think that the hemming and hawing holds 'grid of points' back in places, i feel that ethereal, gossamer fragility/femininity is such a rare quality/sonic palette that very few contemporary artists exhibit. see also emily haines' two solo records for piano/vox. please more softness forever
― meaulnes, Thursday, 26 April 2018 02:07 (six years ago) link
Ruins really is such a stunning work. so OTM about how immersive it is, the quality of the recording and how the piano, her voice, and the environment sound. I know I complained a lot about familiar melodies in the promo songs upthread, but I was also immediately put off by the way everything sounded. Whatever, any new Grouper music is good. But right now, in a sleep deprived daze, about to go to bed, Ruins is the best thing in the world.
― flappy bird, Thursday, 26 April 2018 04:34 (six years ago) link
beep
lol
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 26 April 2018 04:39 (six years ago) link
it's ALL about the microwave
― startled macropod (MatthewK), Thursday, 26 April 2018 07:49 (six years ago) link
https://pitchfork.com/features/profile/groupers-liz-harris-explains-the-art-of-the-paradox-and-the-beauty-of-mistakes/
this is a great piece
interesting (but not surprising) that she has so many unrecorded songs and that she's learning lap-steel guitar
― ufo, Friday, 27 April 2018 06:59 (six years ago) link
so, about 5 minutes into my first listen, i realized that perhaps i should be playing it at 45 instead of 33! starting over at normal speed now. :D
i have to say...i know the slowed-down thing is kind of gimmicky, but seriously - i was enjoying the slower, pitched-down version! knife-like vocals
― Karl Malone, Friday, 27 April 2018 17:18 (six years ago) link
there's no sort of indication on the record or sleeve that it should be played at 45, so i'm guessing a lot of people are having a similar experience right around now
― Karl Malone, Friday, 27 April 2018 17:19 (six years ago) link
playing it at 33 makes it a 28-minute album
i will need to give this more listens. at it's proper speed, it's 21 minutes and it does fly by rather quickly. 'birthday song' stuck out on first listen.
― Karl Malone, Friday, 27 April 2018 17:49 (six years ago) link
y'all heard Quiet Eyes? from a 2008 ambient comp. never heard it before last night. so beautiful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBk05B2JKBI
― flappy bird, Monday, 30 April 2018 01:33 (six years ago) link
Wow, that's gorgeous.
Would love another Helen LP at some point...
― J. Sam, Monday, 30 April 2018 01:56 (six years ago) link
https://www.allmusic.com/album/dragging-a-dead-deer-up-a-hill-mw0001233331
This might be old news but I just realized that Dragging a Dead Deer up a Hill got upgraded to a 5-star rating on Allmusic!
― josh az (2011nostalgia), Monday, 30 April 2018 07:12 (six years ago) link
anyone else listening to grid of points?
still struggling to find a way into it, tbh.
― Karl Malone, Monday, 30 April 2018 15:14 (six years ago) link
after a couple listens there are kinda bright spots in the murk but it might take a little while to really put it together. the length is part of the problem imo, as soon as i settle into the vibe the train sounds start and it's over.
― adam, Monday, 30 April 2018 15:46 (six years ago) link
got Grid of Points and have listened all the way thru maybe a dozen times now. i love the bookends - acapella stacked harmonies / flanging train. i like the previously released songs much more in the context of the record. all of the songs are beautiful. but it isn't much more than a companion piece to Ruins, which is fine. it just isn't long enough, also while the songs are great none of them come close to anything on Ruins. if anything Grid of Points reinforces what a masterpiece Ruins is.
― flappy bird, Sunday, 6 May 2018 04:19 (six years ago) link
anyone recognize the first song here? sounds new to me. similar to headache / i'm clean now but slightly faster. maybe from that batch of material. i saw her a month before this show and she definitely didn't play this song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF32TA4WUJQ
― flappy bird, Saturday, 23 June 2018 04:44 (five years ago) link
the yt comments claim it's an unreleased song titled California
― ufo, Saturday, 23 June 2018 05:19 (five years ago) link
Ok, I finally listened to the rest of the songs for the first time, and yes, they're all great. Not enough have just straight up said "What a graceful voice", and they should. This is peaceful death music, I love it.I predict I will post about this again on August 3rd of this year, because that's the day I finally get back home. And when I arrive, there's going to be a small pile of her records because I'm going to have to drunkenly order a good half of those LPs and EPs Milton just mentioned. Not the Xiu Xiu one, though.― Z S, Monday, June 23, 2008 2:26 AM (ten years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I predict I will post about this again on August 3rd of this year, because that's the day I finally get back home. And when I arrive, there's going to be a small pile of her records because I'm going to have to drunkenly order a good half of those LPs and EPs Milton just mentioned. Not the Xiu Xiu one, though.
― Z S, Monday, June 23, 2008 2:26 AM (ten years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― flappy bird, Friday, 3 August 2018 05:07 (five years ago) link
Seeing her next week
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZgkmnOXc0g
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 5 September 2018 06:31 (five years ago) link
NY folks please please please go to her 9/12 and 9/17 shows. I think only one of them is sold out. Show in Philly tonight was fantastic. Opened with The Races -> Alien Observer, lots of new stuff, some songs from Grid of Points, DDD, Ruins, and what I'm pretty sure was Cover the Windows and the Walls but with completely different lyrics. The train whistle is the new microwave beep.
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 11 September 2018 05:31 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcp3H93CXVw
― flappy bird, Saturday, 15 September 2018 05:22 (five years ago) link
and what I'm pretty sure was Cover the Windows and the Walls but with completely different lyrics.
"One song to the tune of another"?
― sbahnhof, Sunday, 23 September 2018 04:32 (five years ago) link
Listening to the recording it is actually CTWATW
― flappy bird, Sunday, 23 September 2018 04:45 (five years ago) link
Speaking from the other side of the world, Grid of Points is absolutely beautiful music for Christmas morning.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Monday, 24 December 2018 20:34 (five years ago) link