Third Eye Foundation/Matt Elliott

The new one, "The Dark". Tempted to say album of the year, after one listen. Seriously heavy and melancholic.

Can't listen to it through in one go, I get bored.

this is GORGEOUS

<3 u ILX

<3 u 2 Spotify haha

holy god. this is...wonderful

d/ling now, have always liked his stuff. he used to work in an excellent record shop called Revolver on the Triangle in Bristol. When it shut in the late 90s, rumour was that they chucked all there excess stock in a skip.

I thought this couldn't get better than the first two tracks, then I heard Closure. Holy mother of god.

Dälek should ask to sample the whole of that track and rap over it, btw

love the way it builds over the whole first two tracks, from 'bog standard' TEF to 'omg i am being crushed under an ocean of sadness'.

yeah srsly, at first I was all 'this is some neat dark electro' and then halfway thru part 2 I was basically reduced to 'my god this is the end of days'

only clicked on this thread coz I dimly remembered the dude having produced Hood's two best (by fucking MILES) albums

The new one, "The Dark". Tempted to say album of the year, after one listen.

It's my album of the year, and my reaction was the same as yours the first time I heard it. It had been years since I was so floored by an album on the first listen.

more ppl plz listen to this

when it winds up at like #20 in the ILX year-end ballot a lotta folks are gonna be 'whu'?

but it's shot to my top 3, just like fucken that

Hmmm, I should listen to this I guess.

It's good, more dubby than his earlier stuff IIRC

oh shit how did i miss this

i have no time to get to a record store until after retail death march december but maybe i will poke around on line a bit

this

this is great

cmon ILX a record hasn't had a first-listen reaction like this since idk A VERY GOOD ALBUM

Listened to this at full blast while reading about the inhumane incarceration of Bradley Manning. Unsurprisingly, seriously bummed myself out. Incredible bass though.

this soundtracks absolutely everything really well

Okay, I'm liking this whole dub-rovnik thing.

really good album indeed

Quite wonderful to hear this, and as an immediate followup to the These New Puritans album at that. Sonically dissimilar but crucially allied in terms of uneasy mood...

hey this is still album of the year you guys

alright guys, can we do a quick Third Eye Foundation C/D, S/D for a new listener & potential fan? for some reason i just found out abt this guy's origins w/ flying saucer attack (obv. awesome & untouchable) so must explore TEF now

- what do i seek out first?

- what's essential?

- is there anything i should avoid/save for later?

- etc.

"Ghost" and "The Dark" would make for a good bookendish overview, I think. Much of the other stuff is either too wishy washy shoegaze for me or goes too far in the other direction with the masturbatory breakbeat stuff. Hes's at his best when he finds the middle.

Ghost is great and all but good lord you have to start with Semtex.

Still one hell of a way to start a career, this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90rIyiuQ5B0

I think the Semtex 12", which is different from the Semtex album, is better.

Oh and I agree that to get a quick and dirty introduction, Ghost and The Dark would be the best way to go. You can tell from there how much deeper you want to get -- it's all good.

ned: yesss that is awesome

incidentally, i ended up getting Little Lost Souls, which i found for $2 in one of the local used bins on my way home. played 3 or 4 tracks, digging it so far -- vaguely shoegazy textures, dubby basslines,, breakbeats that sound a bit like autechre stoned/on downers, and disembodied female vocal wails looped over the top at various points. not mindblowing, but pleasantly right up my alley.

Little Lost Souls is my favourite of the TEF albums I've heard I think. For all the praise The Dark has been getting, I find it quite a slog to listen to.

Same for the track Ned just posted. Interesting, but not actually enjoyable for me. Obviously I'm a lightweight when it comes to such things.

good lord you have to start with Semtex.

YES. Then Ghost. And the Semtex Remix 12" in between, like Marmite.

I've briefly investigated this dude's other stuff but as things stand it's stone-cold clear to me that The Dark is his masterpiece. As an album experience it's...nigh-on perfect, the use of sound and narrative here is exquisite. Haven't heard Semtex yet, however - am fully prepared to believe that one's on a similar level, and of course the others may grow on me...

fsa were far better

why don't you go and namecheck them in a song about an ILM poll

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/042/e/a/se__epic_stance_by_thoughtless4ever-d39c5vq.jpg

the dark is alright, nice sound design etc but v much in a l8 90s premillenial angst art-junglist vein that seems kinda played

Although one cannot oppose to Ghost and Semtex, I do really like the territory Elliott veered into with Little Lost Soul and I Poo Poo On Your Juju, both fantasticly subtle dark albums.

But then I love all of 3EF's albums equally as much, except for The Dark maybe, which is great but not as sublime as the previous albums. Maybe it's different if you've heard that one first, like LJ has. I wouldn't call it his masterpiece though ~ the man's whole discography is one big masterpiece.

fyi nakh and anyone else, yr presence and neoclassical avant-awesomeness is v much desired here: Rolling dilettante convocation 2011

clearly I need to give the other albums a closer listen! even the one with the worst album-name ever. like, worse-than-chocolate-starfish bad.

The new album is incredible.

does he sing?

A new new album, like not-The Dark?

it's a matt elliott record, no?

Matt Elliott - The Broken Man

Track here: http://mattelliott.bandcamp.com/album/the-broken-man/

Yes, singing.

I don't, or I shouldn't at least, have anything in principle against electronic intrumentalists suddenly getting all singer-songwritery, but "one mans analysis of his own descent reflecting the frustrations and sadness that touch us all at some point" doesn't really sound like an enticing prospect and when it ends up just being "this is how it feels to be alone" intoned repeatedly in a funereal bass, then - and speaking as a miserablist who would happily listen to "Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me" on repeat - this one man's analysis really adds nothing new to the picture, and the touches of TEF ethereal electronics and the trusty bowed saw beneath aren't enough to tempt me to listen further, I'm afraid.

I must admit I've barely played this since January 3 but it is sounding magnificent right now.

Still love The Dark - listen to it all the time, especially if I need to get into a writing zone. (And yet I am left totally cold by the stuff he does under his own name.)

can be peeped here - https://thethirdeyefoundation.bandcamp.com/

Ha, yes. Also bought from Norman in a "not scribbled on" version.

Even played quietly, the bass on the opening track prompts grumbles from the next room.

I realized I haven't listened to Semtex in forever so I just put it on and "Sleep" is still incredible

Pretty much every 3EF release is amazing, I still regularly play them. I'm a huge stan for Elliott's work under his own name, too, though that's very different.

By coincidence or otherwise, I've been playing various TEF tracks recently.

Yes, Sleep is incredible. I'm enjoying Wake The Dead tonight.

Do you have the extended version of Semtex? It was expanded to a double cd and came with a download code for another two hours, 29 tracks total.

I... do not

They was a solid couple of months when I'd hear something unfamiliar but that I liked on my MP3 player and when I'd take it out and look it'd be one of those extra tracks.

I must have this extended version.

me too!

I only got around to listening to Wake The Dead a couple of weeks ago, it's very dark.

Did anyone ever watch the film?

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/whatafuck

First I'm hearing about it but it looks great. Will try to make some time to watch this weekend