The Joy Formidable

sampled by The Lonely Island, of all things:

hulu.com/watch/450051?playlist_id=1031&asset_scope=all

n/a otm

coming into loving this, esp. "tendons" and "the leopard and the lung"

jury's still out on "maw maw song" tho

"Maw Maw Song" is great! I was slow to get into this band but I'm there now, dig the new album.

German livestream happening, y'all

http://www.wdr.de/tv/rockpalast/

I don't get it.

okay this album, it's so good

"Bats" is fantastic

YES.

My attention still drifts when I listen to the back half. But this is an album with "Cholla," "Tendons," and "Bats."

It's quite something.

seeing them tonight, hopefully, for the first time (hopefully because I'm kind of sick, my kid is sick, etc, but should still work out)

well this was very good. a bit slick and professional, but good nevertheless

I saw them last night and have to echo that they were slick and professional. But they are also really good musicians who were definitely having fun playing the songs and jumping around. The only complaint I might have is that because the music just goes from 0 to 100 in no time flat, hearing song after song do this for an hour and forty minutes can get kind of wearing.

I only saw one of the opening bands, Guards, who were dreadful. The best part for them was the second to last song: A sub-Arcade Fire yeller that wound up devolving into a serious psych-rock meltdown. I asked my son after the end of the song, "Why couldn't they have been doing that for the last 30 minutes?"

why are "slick and professional" bad things again?

No, I'm not saying that they are bad. But, I think if you're coming to see them because they might be reminiscent of shoegaze and what you might associate with seeing those types of bands live, they are not that at all.

Also, probably because it was spring break, but there were a load of kids with their parents at the show (raises hand since I took my 13-year old as well) which I thought was really cool.

I think if you're coming to see them because they might be reminiscent of shoegaze and what you might associate with seeing those types of bands live, they are not that at all.

Hell, I don't know about you but when I saw them touring the other year, some of the sheer throb and intensity of the performances wasn't just making me think of shoegaze but frickin' Loop. If that's the atmosphere of a claustrophobic club (as it was), then hey, I got lucky.

Ned, I wish I got to see Loop back in the day. Love that band.

This tour is way different than when I saw them about a year and a half ago. They have a full light show including a gigantic cut out of a wolf's head hanging from the cat walk with different-colored lights ringed around the cut out. There is also projector showing some of their videos and other scenes displayed at the back of the stage. And oh yeah, it was loud. So you do get that throb and intensity but also with strobes and swirling lights. At times it was like a full-on assault of the senses.

Guards were terrible! Holy crap!

Finally picked up 'Wolf's Law' at the weekend, enjoying it. A friend's band supported them in a small local venue when they were touring 'A Balloon Called Moaning' but I missed it due to work - all reports made me regret this.

Guards were heckled here at the Chicago show for their excessive smoke machine use. The other opener, Kitten, were just as bad but in a massively entertaining way, thanks to their ludicrously over-the-top stage moves.

I am all good with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaQGZwDNFHo

in a perfect world it would be twice as long and not acoustic

New song, new album soon!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpWUIRGZwvE

Great video!

I haven't heard Wolf's Law since 2013. Should revisit.

wowzers.

I don't like this very much, but maybe there'll be better songs on the record.

Its been diminishing returns since the first two singles, for me. A Balloon Called Moaning is my most played guitar rock album in a decade, but all the "ambitious" production of the later albums just distracts.

^ yes, this.

Ie, they were a lot more fun when they were into punky power-trio dustups than pretending to be Heart.

Here, the only remotely interesting sound (to me) is the descending guitar line on the bridges. On the first album, that would have been allowed to carry the song.

So, what I'm trying to say, is here's Steve Albini's number. He's really not the asshole you may think, and his studio has the BEST coffee.

this album killed any interest left in them eh

Me too, they jettisoned everything interesting.

yup same here

This band seems determined to turn into Linkin Park or some shit.

Did they release something new and uninteresting?

Any any band needed to strip back to its roots and visit Steve Albini's studio...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haktGTrtdx0

Mike Shinoda could "rap" all over this.

last two albums lost me but it's return to form time baby!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fRYvc6jZy0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAR3Wdu9rZo

first single is also excellent

Ooh, digging this!

Yeah already got this on preorder. In retrospect I should have gone to see them in late December 2019 but you can't have it all.

glad to see they're still going, I have a couple albums to catch up on

nice. would love another album as succinct as Balloon Called Moaning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHs7Y2bhJbM

took me forever to get around to it but this album is dope

that last tune you posted is fucking great tbh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH1ewx6d8j4

can't get enough of this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93ftEk8ZYec

oh what the hell, also obsessed with this song. i need tim f to hear this record

Yeah i like 'interval' too, guess i need to check the album. Is there a piano lurking in the mix there? It's giving me tori amos vibes for some reason