Music that sounds like 'Spirit of Eden' and 'Laughing Stock'

I tried Solid Air and kinda couldn't roll with it. The ECM catalog surely contains more apposite examples but I don't know what they are.

I'd definitely second the Hood recommendation. I have them in my mind as closer to Bark Psychosis (and even Disco Inferno) than TT (been years since I've really listened), but you should certainly give them a listen. "Cold House" is a great album.

Autistic Daughters (on Kranky) especially the second album.

SF band Laughingstock.

Also what is the name of that French band, Bed? Bedhed?

yeah, Bed.

Movietone - The Blossom-Filled Streets, this one sounds more like LS though.

Someone mentioned that in a recent Talk Talk thread and right away, even without even hearing it, I was already getting annoyed at how scarce it seems to be.

hahahaha it was me. I can upload it if you like. I'm sure it's readily available for high quality legal download too.

i always imagined that Climate of Hunter by Scott Walker sounded in this vein but I've never actually heard it.

Cheers Davek, as if if I'm not losing enough sleep with all this stuff already!!! =)

Afraid I'm a lossless guy. If I can't buy something I get mighty upset.

Autistic Daughters (on Kranky) especially the second album.

Ditto! I think that me and MaresNest say this every damn time this question comes up. They don't have the same diversity of instrumentation that Talk Talk had -just double bass, drums, guitar and voice really- but as far as honing in on that whole sustained mood, these guys are totally OTM. Guess you'd call them improvised ambient rock. The Dean Roberts solo stuff is great too, particularly the one on Kranky (Be Mine Tonight) and And The Black Moths Play The Grand Cinema which originally came out on Mille Plateaux but got reissued later by Staubgold.

The most recent Zelienople album (Give It Up) is kind of in the same vein too, but a bit more rainswept and autumnal. Actually, they're probably a closer match for Bark Psychosis, in that they're more identifiably indie than Talk Talk ever were.

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

Thanks for the Autistic Daughters heads up. I'll buy almost anthing on Kranky with confidence so that one's right to the top of the pile.

It's a shame they have such a terrible name really, cos the music is nothing like you might imagine it would be.

Mind you, Talk Talk is a really shitty name too tbh.

Ah, I was looking for a thread like this just the other day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQkU23crm3U

M@tt Climate Of Hunter is kind of like late Roxy Music/Japan but gone quiveringly paranoid and fearful. It's an incredible record and would probably appeal to most late-TT fans though I don't hear much real sonic kinship. There is this multitracked soprano sax break in Climate Of Hunter that is as much of a sonic epiphany as anything on Laughingstock.

I would mention Shearwater from a listener's perspective even if I didn't know they know these albums. Their new one, The Golden Archipelago, is one of my favorites of 2010 so far.

The Blue Nile are the closest thing in my mind to actual Talk Talk peers, even if their balance of elements is different. Thomas Dolby's album The Flat Earth is worth hearing, if you've never heard it, for another interesting example of New Wave synthpop starting to turn into something else.

And the band that actually comes closest to affecting me the way these two albums did is Low, maybe because they're doing something different enough that I don't find myself wanting to listen to Spirit of Eden instead. Haunting minimalism, more intense and less airy, more Winter than Spring.

Oh, and two other wildcards that you're probably 94% likely to find irrelevant but for the other 6%'s sake: Officium, by Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble (jazz improv sax over early-music choir, new-age-y but for me it works), and Amazing Things, by the Celtic-rock band Runrig (neither spare nor delicate, but up there with Spirit of Eden in my pantheon of the greatest life-affirming records).

X-Post: Ha yep, A.D. always come up at these times. I never did thank you Nick for the heads up on Dean's solo records, all fantasic! So, thank you.

The Low/Dirty Three 'In the Fishtank' record has a version of Down By The River that substitues the long guitar solos with a front-loaded scratching about section that sounds a lot like Spirit Of Eden.

It doesn't necessarily use the same instruments, but with regards to dynamics and structure, I think Mary Lou Williams' Black Christ of the Andes is a pretty close correlative. The ECM recommendations are also pretty on the nose.

The middle of the album is boilerplate Van bebop sputtering, but the bookend tracks on Van Morrison's Common One sound exactly like Talk Talk and are two of his best tracks ever. Very much in the same tone and spirit as Veedon Fleece but much more expansive and ethereal. I would describe it as In a Silent Way with soft, distant Van singing in the distance.

Oh yeah, 'Haunts of Ancient Peace' OTM!

sometimes LS reminds me of Giant Sand/Calexico/Calla type of desert music

"Spanish Dancer" by Steve Winwood

I intro to this '80s cheese nugget is totally "Colour of Spring" y.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc3Sa4n0rS8

As mentioned, similar music to Spirit of Eden is Miles Davis' In A Silent Way and Hex (Bark Psychosis) which is one of my favorite albums and is, for me, perfect late-night listening and the quintessential winter album.

Spirit of Eden is one of my Desert Island albums, alongside
A Storm in Heaven (The Verve)
No Other (Gene Clark)
Lazer Guided Melodies (Spiritualized)

Aside from the obvious... Bits of Grizzly Bear's output. Bits of the last Notwist album. Rook by Shearwater. That french band called Bed (but they only sound like the quiet bits). Bits of Hidden by These New Puritans. Bits of early Elbow. Reckoner by Radiohead. That Unkle song that samples laughing Stock and has Thom Yorke on vocals. Bits of Wild Beasts.

I hear you on that Notwist album. Great thing about it is it seem's to draw influence from the more abrasive side of late Talk Talk rather than just the ethereal pretty side which seems to be the norm. See for example the wicked one note noise solo in 'Alphabet'.

No-Man's Together We're Stranger fits the bill.

"Beautiful People" - Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke

Yeah, No-Man is a good recommendation. Their Returning Jesus precedes Together We're Stranger and is quite similar in tone. It was also just reissued in an expanded 2CD version.

Tim Bowness is no Mark Hollis, to put it mildly, but I quite like the songwriting and the instrumental textures on both of those albums (I couldn't get into their first two and have yet to hear Schoolyard Ghosts).

As far as Sylvian goes, the Rain Tree Crow album is far closer to TT than anything else he has been involved with.

i agree with this

what about parts of gone to earth?

for sure but production-wise, RTC is the closest thing i've heard that sounds like late talk talk: avant-pastoral jams with digital clarity

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

i mean https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEJe6cJ10kw

yeah i wasn't challenging, it just occurred to me at the moment that Gone to Earth has a lot of that stillness and pastoral trumpets and sleekness and stuff

yeah they both rule, i really just wanted to post that RTC song. and actually thinking about it, i believe this thread is actually what led me into the deep sylvian rabbit hole a few years back

The new Gaussian curve

I love Shearwater and will defend them to the hilt against the charge of being Talk Talk copyists. That said, there is enough in their Island Arc trilogy to satisfy any TT fan, although I feel Palo Santo has more similarities than the aforementioned Rook.

Since someone mentioned Autistic Daughters upthread, Dean Roberts's Be Mine Tonight is wonderful as well, though I haven't heard it in years. I wish he hadn't given up on music (assuming that's what happened).

Sigur Ros - ()

"ave yet to hear Schoolyard Ghosts" you need to hear that one, it's a much more tonally compatible album (in that, I feel like much of No-Man is a bit electronica heavy; that album, however, is not).

that barbieri-hogarth album is good too.

hogarth is an unabashed hollis fanboy

I did these two mixes pretty much seeking this feeling--maybe equal parts Talk Talk and Blue Nile as the inspiration:

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/musicophilia_00_various_-_the-dawning_1981-1989_cover.jpg?w=600

Various – ‘The Dawning’
(1981-1989)

Part I

01 [00:00] The Blue Nile – “Over the Hillside” (Hats, 1989)
02 [05:00] Heaven 17 – “Let Me Go” (The Luxury Gap, 1983)
03 [09:16] Hot Gossip – “Morale” (Geisha Boys and Temple Girls, 1981)
04 [12:18] Dif Juz – “The Last Day” (Extractions, 1985)
05 [16:13] Tears for Fears – “Start of the Breakdown” (The Hurting, 1983)
06 [21:03] Mick Karn – “Tribal Dawn” (Titles, 1982)
07 [25:12] Thomas Dolby – “The Flat Earth” (The Flat Earth, 1984)
08 [31:34] Peter Gabriel – “Zaar” (Passions, 1989)
09 [35:56] Nona Hendryx – “Off the Coast of Love” (Skin Diver, 1989)
10 [40:23] Cocteau Twins – “Lazy Calm” (Victorialand, 1986)
11 [44:34] Talk Talk – “I Believe In You” (Spirit of Eden, 1988)

Part II

12 [50:40] Comsat Angels – “After the Rain” (Fiction, 1982)
13 [54:31] King Crimson – “Two Hands” (Beat, 1982)
14 [57:48] Bel Canto – “Without You” (White Out Conditions, 1987)
15 [61:43] Scott Walker – “Dealer” (Climate of Hunter, 1984)
16 [66:33] Scritti Politti – “Absolute” (Cupid & Psyche ’85, 1985)
17 [70:53] Arthur Russell – “This Is How We Walk On the Moon” (Another Thought, 1984)
18 [75:34] David Sylvian – “Orpheus” (Secrets of the Beehive, 1987)
19 [80:20] Durutti Column – “Love No More” (Vini Reilly, 1989)
20 [83:06] Kate Bush – “Never Be Mine” (The Sensual World, 1989)
21 [86:42] David Byrne – “Ghosts” (The Knee Plays, 1985)
22 [89:54] Colin Newman – “I Can Hear You” (Commercial Suicide, 1986)
23 [94:16] This Mortal Coil – “Ivy and Neet” (Filigree & Shadow, 1986)
24 [99:04] Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – “Of All The Things We’ve Made” (Dazzle Ships, 1983)

[Total Time: 1:42:27]

Download or Stream

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/musicophilia_00_various_-_evensong_1985-1995_2017_cover.jpg?w=600

Various – ‘Evensong’
(1985-1995)

Part I

01 [00:00] It’s Immaterial – New Brighton” (Song, 1990)
02 [05:31] Tears for Fears – “The Working Hour” (Songs From the Big Chair, 1985)
03 [12:06] Tortoise – “His Second Story Island” (Tortoise, 1994)
04 [14:14] Michael Brook & Pieter Nooten – “Searching” (Sleeps With the Fishes, 1987)
05 [17:07] Shelleyan Orphan – “One Hundred Hands” (Helleborine, 1987)
06 [21:29] Stina Nordenstam – “A Walk In the Park” (Memories of a Color, 1991)
07 [24:54] Sade – “Pearls” (Love Deluxe, 1992)
08 [29:38] Massive Attack – “Protection” (Protection, 1994)
09 [37:26] The Cure – “The Same Deep Water As You” (Disintegration, 1989)
10 [46:19] Depche Mode- “Waiting For the Night” (Violator, 1990)

Part II

11 [52:41] Evelyn Glennie – “Light in Darkness” (Light In Darkness, 1991)
12 [55:59] R.E.M. – “Sweetness Follows” (Automatic For the People, 1992)
13 [60:21] The Innocence Mission – “Medjugorje” (The Innocence Mission, 1989)
14 [61:53] Disco Inferno – “Second Language” (Second Language EP, 1994)
15 [66:52] Slowdive – “Rutti” (Pygmalion, 1995)
16 [76:53] Rain Tree Crow – “Cries and Whispers” (Rain Tree Crow, 1991)
17 [79:26] Bark Psychosis – “Pendulum Man” (Hex, 1994)
18 [82:37] Peter Gabriel – “Mercy Street” (So, 1986)
19 [88:27] Low – “Sunshine” (I Could Live In Hope, 1994)
20 [91:35] Portishead – “Roads” (Dummy, 1994)
21 [96:44] Hector Zazou & Bjork – “Visur Vatnsenda-Rosu” (Songs From the Cold Seas, 1994)

[Total Time: 1:40:43]

Download or Stream

Those look great. (getting a 'permission denied' on the Evensong download btw)

It bothers me that The Colour Of Spring gets overlooked because of these two albums. They're great and everything but COS is up there too (and the songs are catchier)

Oh I love this (Zelienople)

that weather station album is finally out and is really good!

Matt Christensen is sounding weirdly reminiscent of Adam Granduciel on the whole record.

― Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Tuesday, February 9, 2021 4:31 AM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I thought "wait, who is that?" then as soon as I hear the first syllable of vocals in the above song, instantly "oh yeah that guy"

surprised that there's not been mention of sylvian's nine horses project though.

Just stumbled on this and thought of this thread. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5hp4nIJd-8

I feel that unearth, one of the great and most consistent users of RYM, has basically his whole taste built around Talk Talk.
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/unearth/eternal-recurrence/1/

I only got to 150 but good grief that’s a dull list.

It's auto-generated from 5-star reviews in Mojo.

breathtakingly curious about user unearth's thoughts on women

Careful, there might be a list

So his taste is drastically different than most people who would be reading a message board thread about Talk Talk?

idk let's magnify the boring and poll it

last few comments aren't really in the spirit of this great thread tbh and a bit unnecessary

is the need to feel superior to someone that pressing, really

the internet took "hey we like the same things, let's be friends!" and mutated that into "i only like you if you hate the same things as me."

although, yes: i am automatically suspicious of any rate your music user.

Modern Nature's Annual from last year (or was it the year before?). Their new album Island of Noise is perhaps more like Mark Hollis

So uh, this was just released today:

https://mellotone.net/collections/held-by-trees

It's now on streaming platforms but no non-lossy digital downloads are available yet.

Listening to this now. It's nice - like morning vacation music. Reminds me a bit of All India Radio's vibe.

sounds like an AI was tasked with making something that sounds like a Talk Talk album

Well, "members of Talk Talk, etc" lacking Hollis has a similar weight as "a new movie from one of the Executive Producers of...", so hearing it more in RIYL vein, works for me.

is there an uncanny valley for music?

stereophonics

Is there really anything that sounds like Spirit of Eden?

I'll cross-link this thread about Thirteen Moons to this thread:

Thirteen Moons (RIYL Talk Talk, Tim Buckley, Blue Nile, 4AD, et al)

Who sound like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHlzkIml28E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSsVQ2HqwKQ

Also worthy of mention, a biography of Hollis is coming out in the next couple of months. Somebody Wardle?

Ordered it--hope it's good!

Current issue of mojo apparently has an excerpt

the Held By Trees album is really good (though the last track definitely gets guitar wanky in a more Dire Straits/Floyd way than some might like).

if anyone is looking for music that sounds very like early talk talk, have you heard this one yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WljEUb0815g
Zakochany Człowiek - Better Person

the artist is called better person btw, zakochany człowiek is the name of the song

The new Thousands record is rather good and fulfills this criteria - https://thousands.bandcamp.com/album/no-farther-moon

Lately I have been enjoying Modern Nature's No Fixed Point in Space, which features Julie Tippetts and Chris Abrahams of The Necks, also Maria Elena Silva's "Jasper" (wait for the brushed snare at 3mins):

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