can't waaaaaait to get home from work today!
― Karl Malone, Friday, 8 February 2019 17:13 (five years ago) link
i love how the track lengths go down to milliseconds
0 - 7:48:544 Cloudmouth 7:48:544 - 8:19:489 blue room 8:17:503 - 11:27:011 Night-walking 11:27:011 -16:41:254 Funeral song 16:41:254 - 26:00:991 Thirteen (version) 26:00:991 - 28:39:125 Crying jar 28:39:125 - 29:29:394 Entry 29:29:394 - 37:33:056 Walking in a spiral towards the house 37:30:846 - end Weightless
Walking in a spiral towards the house
0 - 3:14:509 Night-walking 3:14:509 - 8:37:153 Funeral song 8:37:153 - 12:59:510 Thirteen 12:59:510 - end Walking in a spiral towards the house
― Karl Malone, Friday, 8 February 2019 17:14 (five years ago) link
also very interesting how the "nightwalking>funeral song>thirteen" sequence is repeated twice (once per LP)
― Karl Malone, Friday, 8 February 2019 17:16 (five years ago) link
Damn!
― flappy bird, Friday, 8 February 2019 17:26 (five years ago) link
― Karl Malone
otm, although I have a record show to hit first so this will have to wait a bit
sound amazing!
― sleeve, Friday, 8 February 2019 17:34 (five years ago) link
Ordered the double LP sight unseen / sound unheard. Can't wait.
― flappy bird, Friday, 8 February 2019 18:49 (five years ago) link
has no one else listened to it yet? of all days where i had to stay 3 hours late at work...
putting it on (aka 'clicking the bandcamp button') now!
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 9 February 2019 04:32 (five years ago) link
also i just remembered that i'm seeing her play next week (for the first time), so hopefully i'll be able to pick this up at the show!
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 9 February 2019 04:36 (five years ago) link
this is very ambient even by her standards, only "Cloudmouth" really resembles her usual work
not really sure what the intention is for Walking In A Spiral Towards the House to be mostly repeats of tracks from After Its Own Death, only track that isn't is the alternate version of "Thirteen"
― ufo, Saturday, 9 February 2019 04:41 (five years ago) link
i haven't made it to the second LP yet, but i was assuming they'd be different versions of the tracks that appeared on the first LP? i'm really enjoying the vibraphones on 'night-walking' and 'funeral song' so far.
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 9 February 2019 04:43 (five years ago) link
they're all the same except "thirteen" which swaps out the guitars on the first LP's version for more of the vibraphones that are everywhere else
― ufo, Saturday, 9 February 2019 04:49 (five years ago) link
oh, bummer! well, i'll cross that road when i get to it (in about 20 minutes)
sounds like you weren't a fan of it, overall? i have to say, i'm really really enjoying the first side of LP1, but i also like super ambient stuff.
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 9 February 2019 04:54 (five years ago) link
but yeah, i could understand the criticism that it's just a bunch of super reverbed out vibraphones. it is that, a lot of the time. i must admit that i played percussion in middle/high school, and i always really enjoyed my time after school, by myself, just holding down the vibraphone pedal and playing lots of chords in a row. i would do that for a really long time, just playing chords and listening to them slowly dissipate. a lot of this kind of brings me back into that happy zone, but it probably wouldn't have that effect on everyone
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 9 February 2019 04:57 (five years ago) link
i think it'll be pretty nice music to fall asleep to but nothing much more than that for me. the second LP being mostly a condensed version of the first is a weird choice but looking as it as "two slightly different versions of the same thing" rather than "one album across two LPs" is how i'm trying to understand it
― ufo, Saturday, 9 February 2019 05:04 (five years ago) link
yeah, i'm listening to the second LP now and i see what you mean. it's kinda weird, because even if i end up preferring the versions of the songs which appear on the second LP, they appear without the context of the other songs that appear on the first LP, which i also enjoy.
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 9 February 2019 05:19 (five years ago) link
re: it being more ambient than her usual work - how close is it to Dream Loss? I ordered the record and am going to wait to listen.
― flappy bird, Saturday, 9 February 2019 05:33 (five years ago) link
"Cloudmouth" is pretty similar to Dream Loss but a pretty significant part of the album is indeed a lot of super reverbed out vibraphones, without her usual vocals.
I think the "Thirteen" on the second LP might just be a fragment of the longer version on the first? the second LP seems to just collect all the echoey vibraphone tracks together in one place
― ufo, Saturday, 9 February 2019 05:49 (five years ago) link
that's an interesting comparison to make...
it's less distorted than dream loss, more clear, less reverb and echo. the instrumentation is much more limited - most of it is just vibraphones, with occasional guitar. there's not much singing on it, other than the first track and a few seconds at the very end. the tracks run together, so it pretty much plays as one long piece (repeated in abridged form on the second LP). i think it's more ambient in the eno sense of blending into the background. i need to listen to it again, obviously, but i can already imagine that i will play it as music for writing or making stuff.
xp
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 9 February 2019 05:52 (five years ago) link
sounds cool! very curious about her working with vibraphones
― flappy bird, Saturday, 9 February 2019 05:52 (five years ago) link
i guess, yeah, it is super reverbed out vibraphones. but dream loss (and so much of grouper's music) is SUPER reverbed out, so it seems more direct and clear to me in comparison.
― Karl Malone, Saturday, 9 February 2019 05:54 (five years ago) link
anyone recognize this song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBE08ybWZ_U
― flappy bird, Saturday, 9 February 2019 07:15 (five years ago) link
new helen when
― J. Sam, Saturday, 9 February 2019 22:19 (five years ago) link
wow flappy, that song is gorgeous. sounds kind of like "Water People" but darker
― J. Sam, Saturday, 9 February 2019 22:23 (five years ago) link
I was at that (incredibly excellent) show. Not my video; glad someone got it.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 9 February 2019 22:28 (five years ago) link
I had to stop listening to Grouper when I realized how many creeps there are out there whose entire personality consists of “listens to Grouper”
― flamboyant goon tie included, Sunday, 10 February 2019 15:51 (five years ago) link
I have yet to meet a Grouper groupie
― bhad bundy (Simon H.), Sunday, 10 February 2019 15:57 (five years ago) link
You are fortunate
― flamboyant goon tie included, Sunday, 10 February 2019 16:59 (five years ago) link
lol. they can't all be bad
― calumy (rip van wanko), Sunday, 10 February 2019 17:47 (five years ago) link
Only takes a couple to really spoil it! That said, this new album is refreshing in its pivot away from obscurantism-- "Grid Of Points" made me wonder if she was gradually moving toward entire albums of untouched, unprocessed single-take field recordings. Not the case! I don't know if I like this Nivhek thing more or less than the more clouded stuff but it's definitely good good good
― flamboyant goon tie included, Sunday, 10 February 2019 21:12 (five years ago) link
the Helen album is really good
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Sunday, 10 February 2019 21:18 (five years ago) link
Love the Helen album as much as the late 80s early 90s indie pop it resembles
― Evan, Monday, 11 February 2019 01:10 (five years ago) link
always happy to have new music from Liz but i hope someday we get a new Mirrorring album
― alpine static, Monday, 11 February 2019 02:18 (five years ago) link
First listen and I'm IN in a big way.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Thursday, 14 February 2019 15:37 (five years ago) link
anyone know the set time for Friday’s show. billed as an afterparty, but doors at 7:30?
― by the light of the burning Citroën, Thursday, 14 February 2019 15:44 (five years ago) link
oh this new one is excellent.
― calzino, Thursday, 14 February 2019 15:51 (five years ago) link
....... this is tightdamn
― flappy bird, Thursday, 7 March 2019 06:08 (five years ago) link
I keep forgetting I'm listening to Grouper because I'm not
the show in chicago a few weeks ago, at the athletic association, was so, so good. first time i saw her play live. i went in expecting a great show and was still still unexpectedly blown away. she played a new song, an acoustic/reverb one in line with D a D D up a H, that i'm guessing flappy b referenced or posted above somewhere, that was on par with the best of her work
― Karl Malone, Thursday, 7 March 2019 06:20 (five years ago) link
I'm glad I listened to the black record first. the white record, the 45rpm one, feels like a bonus disc at best but is it the one that's sequenced first in the digital? there are no markings on the LP at all, not even in the runoff grooves (besides her usual aphorisms).
― flappy bird, Saturday, 9 March 2019 22:07 (five years ago) link
Hey the vinyl is back on the bandcamp for those that missed it:
https://grouper.bandcamp.com/album/after-its-own-death-walking-in-a-spiral-towards-the-house
― Evan, Thursday, 14 March 2019 17:35 (five years ago) link
Okay! So I was fortunate enough to interview Liz H about Nivhek -- and I could be wrong but I think this is the only interview she's doing about this project in specific.
https://thequietus.com/articles/26584-liz-harris-nivhek-interview-grouper
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 15:37 (five years ago) link
That’s one of the best interviews with her that I can recall, thanks!!
― i will never make a typo ever again (Karl Malone), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 18:54 (five years ago) link
yes great read, thanks ned
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 19:30 (five years ago) link
Thank you both!
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 5 June 2019 19:58 (five years ago) link
performing as Nivhek for a few lucky cities this fall.
https://www.instagram.com/p/By1FKAslPEX/
― Evan, Tuesday, 18 June 2019 15:38 (five years ago) link
“I’ve been buying Grouper records for a pretty long time,” Tweedy says of Liz Harris’s opaque experimental project. “There’s real growth from record to record, but she’s been able to maintain this mysterious atmosphere even as some things have become a little more unlocked and a little more accessible.”“It’s the kind of record that I almost don’t want to know who’s responsible for it,” he laughs. “It’s not presented in a way that makes that a priority. It’s presented with a very limited exposure of identity. It could be a group of aliens that kidnapped a female singer, or any number of things.”
“It’s the kind of record that I almost don’t want to know who’s responsible for it,” he laughs. “It’s not presented in a way that makes that a priority. It’s presented with a very limited exposure of identity. It could be a group of aliens that kidnapped a female singer, or any number of things.”
https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/10/04/wilco-jeff-tweedy-bandcamp-picks
― flappy bird, Friday, 4 October 2019 19:51 (four years ago) link
Previously unreleased 11 minute live recording of "Alien Observer" from October 2009
https://soundcloud.com/kranky/grouper-alien-observer-live-at-emanuel-vigeland-mausoleum-oct25-2009
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 15 October 2019 22:27 (four years ago) link
just FYI AIA: alien observer and AIA: dream loss are being reissued on vinyl by kranky on the 25th of this month
― the late great, Tuesday, 15 October 2019 22:43 (four years ago) link
best album of the decade!
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 15 October 2019 23:22 (four years ago) link
makes me want to pull out my OG “vinyls” and give them a spin. Title cut of Alien Observer is one of my fave tracks.
― omar little, Tuesday, 15 October 2019 23:35 (four years ago) link