i've only heard the pre-release tracks (will hopefully correct this state of affairs today) but from those I was reminded of junior boys at their more spectral end
― Tim F, Monday, 11 February 2019 01:24 (five years ago) link
I didn't immediately think of Rhye, but I guess I can hear it...except lower tech and more whiteness.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 11 February 2019 01:31 (five years ago) link
(caveat: I've only listened to Lay Here)
― Johnny Fever, Monday, 11 February 2019 01:32 (five years ago) link
I think the difference is that Rhye (certainly when Hannibal was in the band) have a certain compositional neatness that can be ghostly but is never "fractured" - it's that "professionalism" (which I don't mean pejoratively) which draws comparisons to Sade as much as the vocals.
― Tim F, Monday, 11 February 2019 01:40 (five years ago) link
i know i'll regret saying this but i don't think i'll hear a better record this year, this album is the genuine article
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, 11 February 2019 01:40 (five years ago) link
yeah there's a slippery unmoored feeling to the instruments throughout, they kind of melt around the drums (and yet there is so much clarity and space my god! junior boys otm!), that i don't really hear in rhye
re: johnny feves' "whiteness" comment i nearly clarified itt that "lay here" is kind of reaching into r&b from a nearby sophistipop dimension, though i ultimately didn't post it bc i'm suspicious of myself whenever i describe music as if it were designed to compliment my tastes specifically (could be!)
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, 11 February 2019 01:47 (five years ago) link
this music does feel as if the band carefully read Brad's entire ILX posting history before entering the recording studio haha
Pope was very much my favourite of these!
― imago, Monday, 11 February 2019 10:13 (five years ago) link
the pre-release tracks only give the faintest hint of how great this is
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, 11 February 2019 16:59 (five years ago) link
lj if you like "pope" you're gonna dig the rest, album could potentially collapse venn diagram of ilm into a circle
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, 11 February 2019 17:00 (five years ago) link
will not be able to join the brad record love-in this year as I am almost always totally incapable of deeply engaging with records about/evoking fucking, alas
― bhad bundy (Simon H.), Monday, 11 February 2019 17:14 (five years ago) link
man i love this band. i'll hold back any thoughts until i can hear the whole thing
― marcos smart (Spottie), Monday, 11 February 2019 17:36 (five years ago) link
simon i'm not trying to second guess your tastes here but i think you're going to be able to get past it + it's pretty easy to listen to the record without being conscious of that layer i think, beyond which it's more sexy than sexual
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, 11 February 2019 18:06 (five years ago) link
tim and i talked about this record last night and how it arrives at a r&b space from what seems a less traditional path; tim specifically said it's like they reverse-engineered the theoretical existence of r&b from the quieter stretches of in rainbows which is exactly otm
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, 11 February 2019 18:11 (five years ago) link
that sounds right from what ive heard, altho i do hate and rme at any and all r***ohead comparisons...
i dont think theyve ever fit into any r&b pockets, like at all. ixora may have butted up against it on a few spots. but to me the rhye comp only vaguely works in the sweet vocal styling and i guess in some the empty spaces, and really only on the song lay here.. very intrigued by the new direction if they are beginning to cross over a bit. these guys really know how to explode into a hook and i hope they dont lose that completely.
― marcos smart (Spottie), Monday, 11 February 2019 18:27 (five years ago) link
altho i do hate and rme at any and all r***ohead comparisons
enthusiastic same, a little hard to avoid with this album still
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, 11 February 2019 18:29 (five years ago) link
yeah it was the first thing i thought of after listening to the new tracks and i tried and tried to connect something else but in the end i circled back to the same place...
― marcos smart (Spottie), Monday, 11 February 2019 18:39 (five years ago) link
I think one reason that Radiohead comparisons can feel both seductive and “too easy” is that Radiohead since the 00s have tended to signify very weakly in terms of genre. In Rainbows in particular is an example of an album that is quite hooky and memorable and low-key inventive that never sounds like it’s doing anything radically new from a genre sense, but at the same time for the most part it has this quality of ~not particularly sounding like anything~
So when another band moves into a similar negative space, “this is reminiscent of Radiohead” can become shorthand for “this doesn’t obviously resemble other stuff but nor would I feel confident demarcating its space as new territory”.
Then in this case the effect is heightened becauseCopeland actually do sound like Radiohead in a lot of ways. But the comparison feels annoying because it still has that sense of being a stand-in for a better, more substantive analogy that might be available.
― Tim F, Monday, 11 February 2019 21:14 (five years ago) link
yeah agree.
since i kinda grew w the band from the beginning its easier to block out any comparisons. tim have you heard any of the older albums?
― marcos smart (Spottie), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 06:48 (five years ago) link
ive listened to the full alb a few times now. feels like the perfect next step from ixora and im in love w this obv. so glad they got back together and continue to grow.
suddenly >>>>>
― marcos smart (Spottie), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 06:58 (five years ago) link
I care not for music that has vocals mixed as high as this band has chosen to mix their vocals tbh... in this regard they resemble Rhye's first album a great deal
― flamboyant goon tie included, Tuesday, 12 February 2019 13:24 (five years ago) link
― marcos smart (Spottie), Monday, February 11, 2019 11:58 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yep
"strange flower" is just unreal too
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 17:01 (five years ago) link
and "waltz on water" has a chorus that could've appeared on the last two maxwell records
oh yeah good call, especially with the ha-hoo-hooos.
feel like kev k would like this record
― marcos smart (Spottie), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 17:24 (five years ago) link
yes k3vin to thread
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 22:28 (five years ago) link
lol i forgot they were actually releasing this on valentine’s day. it’s out now
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 14 February 2019 07:26 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mvo1Ytilgwg
lol i'm obsessed with this record and want other people to hear it!!! i think this is my new favorite copeland song. seems to reach back all the way to in motion by its end, seems to collapse every copeland record into one
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 14 February 2019 16:23 (five years ago) link
valentines is a perfect day for this lol. colorless is exactly what i want a copeland song to sound like in 2019
― marcos smart (Spottie), Thursday, 14 February 2019 16:32 (five years ago) link
I got Beneath Medicine Tree when it came out. I really loved it at the time. An old roommate of mine had In Motion which I was into but never stuck with them after that. Starting this one now and im digging it a lot. Excited to actually dive into this.
― gman59, Thursday, 14 February 2019 18:26 (five years ago) link
omg I love this album so much
― Tim F, Thursday, 14 February 2019 21:49 (five years ago) link
i knew it!!!!
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 14 February 2019 22:16 (five years ago) link
This is pretty cool ... not like in a formalistic sense but emotionally this reminds me a bit of ... suede?
― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Thursday, 14 February 2019 22:26 (five years ago) link
the pre-released tracks sound even better in context.
― but I can't let Trae do it I got Huerter on my mind (Spottie), Thursday, 14 February 2019 22:31 (five years ago) link
im listening over and over for a skippable track and not finding any.
― but I can't let Trae do it I got Huerter on my mind (Spottie), Thursday, 14 February 2019 23:17 (five years ago) link
if you folded every aspect of my taste down the resulting origami would be this record
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Thursday, 14 February 2019 23:33 (five years ago) link
i get lost when you look my wayit's genuine
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 15 February 2019 20:17 (five years ago) link
so this is a really challenging record, something I need to listen to in a setting more appropriate than in the car stuck on west street traffic
I haven’t read this whole thread yet, but I’m trying to figure out where I stand on the question of the r&bness of this record, because on the one hand I can see it in some moments — as with parts of “lay here” most obviously — but on the other hand this record’s aesthetic seems almost antithetical to r&b as I understand it: it’s so loose and, yes, fractured, almost closer to jazz.
that might be related in some way to this essential quality I can’t quite place but keeps me at arms length for the time being — while almost every song has something to it that really comes out of left field and impresses me, there’s this feeling of...amateurishness?...that strikes me, like its unfinished — every song seems like it’s a hook short of fully coming together. I also am trying to figure out how I feel about this guy’s voice, but my initial impression is not overwhelmingly positive
like I said though there is a lot here that intrigues me, and, also, truly seems challenging in a way I really wasn’t prepared for, and I’m thankful for this recommendation and will give it more time
― k3vin k., Sunday, 17 February 2019 02:14 (five years ago) link
I think I have more to say about tim’s characteristically insightful post about radiohead up there, but the random touchpoints rattling around in my head as I listened to this included like...portishead, bon iver, mark hollis, some amalgam of latter-day emo vocalists (manchester orchestra maybe?)
none of which really make sense on their own but all feel like ingredients in some way
― k3vin k., Sunday, 17 February 2019 02:31 (five years ago) link
I hear a faint echo of Earwig’s ‘Under My Skin I Am Laughing’ in that fractured, abstracted aspect to their sound.
― Tim F, Sunday, 17 February 2019 10:51 (five years ago) link
Blown away that they’ve been going since 2001
― Vapor waif (uptown churl), Monday, 18 February 2019 07:05 (five years ago) link
I decided that this album is amazing
― k3vin k., Monday, 18 February 2019 22:24 (five years ago) link
it is
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Monday, 18 February 2019 22:34 (five years ago) link
just listened the album. i'm overwhelmed. is 'suddenly' the best song ever or what?
― Nourry, Wednesday, 20 February 2019 11:18 (five years ago) link
Just listening to this and liking it. It took me ages to work out what it most reminded me of (and it may just be the burr on the guy's vocals) but it's the Notwist.
― Good cop, Babcock (Chinaski), Wednesday, 20 February 2019 11:28 (five years ago) link
I thought of it too but it lacks The Notwist's restraint, which I personally can't do without.
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 20 February 2019 11:44 (five years ago) link
this is great
kills 1975 imo
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 21 February 2019 21:50 (five years ago) link
nice to have kev on board. i thought maybe the emo-ish vox might be a hurdle too high but glad you stuck with it.
didnt expect m@tt to like it either!
re to Nourry: suddenly is for sure my early favorite on here. back half of it is perfectly melancholy.
― but I can't let Trae do it I got Huerter on my mind (Spottie), Thursday, 21 February 2019 23:18 (five years ago) link
went from blushing to beneath medicine tree this morning which was v weird bc the songwriting on bmt is way less developed, a lot more obviously derivative ("testing the strong ones" is like what if texas is the reason and jimmy eat world were one band), in many ways it is obviously a debut, but they had also already established their relationship to atmosphere on it; it doesn't sound obviously distinct from other well-produced emo records of the early-'00s but there's this dreamy sleepwalking feeling throughout that makes it feel special and like it's probing a different emotional space than other emo records (which, it was: grief)
in line with this, my favorite copeland songs are the few that sound like they could be on any of their records, like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkI3iSozeVQ
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 22 February 2019 15:25 (five years ago) link
(also "eat sleep repeat," "love affair")
― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Friday, 22 February 2019 15:44 (five years ago) link
totally see the in rainbows comparison on "as above, so below"
the vox get *a bit much* for me at times, but musically and melodically it's a very strong record
partially i just feel happy for brad because honestly it's like god reached into the stars shaped it into a record just for you
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 February 2019 15:50 (five years ago) link
also lol I didn't know these guys were lifers that used to be on Tooth & Nail haha
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 February 2019 15:51 (five years ago) link
there are some great bass lines on this album, i miss rock bands w/cool basslines
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 22 February 2019 15:55 (five years ago) link
i've given this album a lot of listens now and i'm still not quite sure what to make of it. it's enjoyable for sure, and "night figures" and "suddenly" are certainly standouts, but as a whole it's been a bit difficult to get a grip on. i think its sound stretched across the length of a whole album has just ended up feeling a bit formless to me unfortunately
― ufo, Sunday, 24 February 2019 06:18 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dL3RYwhSIUE
― but I can't let Trae do it I got Huerter on my mind (Spottie), Monday, 15 April 2019 16:39 (five years ago) link
favorite jam on the album
― gman59, Monday, 15 April 2019 21:25 (five years ago) link
that video is excellent
― american bradass (BradNelson), Tuesday, 16 April 2019 13:13 (five years ago) link
i just wanna make you smiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiile.... onnn your worst day. I just wanna make you caaaaaaaaaaake... forrrrr your birthday *start weird drums and synths(?)*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COuhLiQtLN0think this is my fav now on here. the back half >>>>
― big city slam (Spottie), Friday, 2 August 2019 00:27 (four years ago) link
Had never heard of this band until this album. Didn't care for the vocals on first listen, but kept coming back for the atmosphere. Pretty sure this album is going to make my EoTY list now.
― beard papa, Thursday, 17 October 2019 19:22 (four years ago) link
welcome, beard papa
― de-mamba mentality (Spottie), Thursday, 17 October 2019 19:29 (four years ago) link
im in for this
We’re hitting the road to celebrate 20 years of Beneath Medicine Tree. We’re bringing our buddy Kevin Garrett and the amazing girlhouse on select dates! Come sing along with us. Tickets are available at https://t.co/OTbEnqChmJ. pic.twitter.com/e32Atz0jxm— copeland (@copelandband) February 2, 2023
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Thursday, 2 February 2023 16:51 (one year ago) link
umm also had no idea they put out a new record last year!
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Thursday, 2 February 2023 16:58 (one year ago) link
it's rerecordings/rearrangements of old songs and i just haven't gotten around to it myself lol
― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Thursday, 2 February 2023 16:59 (one year ago) link
ok lol i was like what have i done how did i miss this
― four square ups... no punches thrown (Spottie), Thursday, 2 February 2023 17:00 (one year ago) link