GROUPER "Way Their Crept" --- CONTACT

Damn!

can't waaaaaait to get home from work today!

― Karl Malone

otm, although I have a record show to hit first so this will have to wait a bit

sound amazing!

Ordered the double LP sight unseen / sound unheard. Can't wait.

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!

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!

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"

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

"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

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

sounds cool! very curious about her working with vibraphones

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.

anyone recognize this song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBE08ybWZ_U

new helen when

wow flappy, that song is gorgeous. sounds kind of like "Water People" but darker

I was at that (incredibly excellent) show. Not my video; glad someone got it.

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”

I have yet to meet a Grouper groupie

You are fortunate

lol. they can't all be bad

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

the Helen album is really good

Love the Helen album as much as the late 80s early 90s indie pop it resembles

always happy to have new music from Liz but i hope someday we get a new Mirrorring album

First listen and I'm IN in a big way.

anyone know the set time for Friday’s show. billed as an afterparty, but doors at 7:30?

oh this new one is excellent.

....... this is tight
damn

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

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).

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

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

That’s one of the best interviews with her that I can recall, thanks!!

yes great read, thanks ned

Thank you both!

performing as Nivhek for a few lucky cities this fall.

https://www.instagram.com/p/By1FKAslPEX/

“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.”

https://daily.bandcamp.com/2019/10/04/wilco-jeff-tweedy-bandcamp-picks

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

just FYI AIA: alien observer and AIA: dream loss are being reissued on vinyl by kranky on the 25th of this month

best album of the decade!

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.

Maria Somerville made a beautiful album this year, 'All Our People'. Perchance it's not entirely fair to put this here, but a) I didn't know where else to put it and it's definitely anchored in the Grouper realm, and b) it deserves all the love it can get imo.

Maria Somerville draws on folk forms alongside post-punk, traditional Irish motifs, starry eyed pop and hypnotic drones to create wholly original music that is borne of her roots in Connemara, Western Ireland.

All My People (self-released on 1 March and distributed by Rush Hour), channels the wilderness of the Irish landscape through dense, ethereal soundscapes, bare boned percussion and a heady electronic undertow, interspersed with ghostly vocals that are ever present and all encompassing, like crystalline glints of sunshine peeking through dark stormy clouds.

https://mariasomerville.bandcamp.com/album/all-my-people

i like this a LOT. wish it wasn't sold out already! i will keep my eyes peeled for new stuff from her!

my 2019 listening is very scattered and shallow, as always, but this would be one of my faves from this year for sure.

Hmm, noted!

As for Liz, there's a Nivhek show happening Saturday night here in SF.