Also would recommend if people haven't heard it - Rozi Plain - What a Boost
again not identical or anything but a very great and evocative album that has a somewhat similar feel and mix of folk/indie/jazz, def comes from a different place musically but if you like this you might like that
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 10 May 2019 14:24 (four years ago) link
listening again and i think the second half is what makes it special. love how 'strange' uses a blues shuffle beat and still manages to remain so delicate, and how adrienne sounds like a totally different person on 'betsy.' and 'terminal paradise' and 'jenni' are just devastating.
― i think ur a controp (voodoo chili), Friday, 10 May 2019 14:34 (four years ago) link
The great thing about Capacity was its contrast of delicacy with hugely muscular moments.
i mean, there's that big moment near the end of 'contact,' but yeah, maybe that's one thing i miss on this record.
― i think ur a controp (voodoo chili), Friday, 10 May 2019 14:35 (four years ago) link
Evokes a sort of jazzy, gauzy quality that I love about Hejira by Joni without really sounding derivative of that at all
― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Friday, 10 May 2019 19:20 (four years ago) link
― i think ur a controp (voodoo chili), Friday, May 10, 2019 9:35 AM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I also wish there were some harder-hitting vocals/songs of the sort the first two albums had. She definitely goes more toward the delicate on this one.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 10 May 2019 19:30 (four years ago) link
how adrienne sounds like a totally different person on ‘betsy’
― computerleg, Friday, 10 May 2019 20:11 (four years ago) link
The wispy vocals help emphasize that weird quality they're riding so well here. It's like they exist in their own hermetically sealed universe. Going back to the older albums, they almost sound too normal to me.
Also, the arrangements are all immaculate. I'm enjoying this a lot.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Saturday, 11 May 2019 01:11 (four years ago) link
their slow, calm, harmonical music is like a warm blanket i can wrap myself in.
This is a great description of the quality I most prize in any music.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Saturday, 11 May 2019 01:13 (four years ago) link
xp
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, May 10, 2019 12:30 PM (five hours ago)
but the atmosphere of it is so amazing, better than anything they have achieved previously
― Dan S, Saturday, 11 May 2019 01:17 (four years ago) link
I listened to all 3 albums in a row the other day & I really enjoyed how small and intimate this one sounded. Masterpiece, my first fave, sounds a bit too brash & widescreen when sandwiched between Capacity and UFOF. I’m really digging this one, with particular props to the Paranoid Android guitars on the title track.
― Una Palooka Dronka (hardcore dilettante), Saturday, 11 May 2019 04:50 (four years ago) link
listened another time w the hejira comparison in mind and it opened up the album enough for me that it's now my fav big thief i think? ums helpfully otm
― lowercase (eric), Saturday, 11 May 2019 12:44 (four years ago) link
I'm thinking this along with the new Lambchop will be my two most regulars listens this year. i love it. hoping the new Bill Callahan will be great to join them soon.
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 11:34 (four years ago) link
I love this record. I wish I found the lyrics more rewarding but that's my only criticism really
― flamboyant goon tie included, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 13:50 (four years ago) link
I'm definitely having a harder time accessing them than with the past albums. Really any criticism I have is in the context of this still being almost certainly one of the best records of the year.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:16 (four years ago) link
yeah, "not as special as Capacity" is true of 99.9999% of all records.
― i think ur a controp (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:17 (four years ago) link
I've been completely obsessed with this record for the last couple of weeks, have now gone back to the previous two and abysskiss, and... wow.
Has anyone seen them live? They're playing in London in a couple of days, and while it's sold out I'm tempted to try to get hold of a ticket.
― toby, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 19:35 (four years ago) link
i completely adore the lyrics on this album
― ufo, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 22:39 (four years ago) link
really liked em when I saw em
― but everybody calls me, (lukas), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 01:03 (four years ago) link
saw them circa masterpiece, very good
― flopson, Wednesday, 22 May 2019 03:53 (four years ago) link
one ear to the floormy dog barking loudcouldn't tell for surewhere the screaming soundwas coming from
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 22 May 2019 11:45 (four years ago) link
I made the effort to get a ticket and was really glad I did - they were absolutely fantastic..
Also while "Not"wouldn't fit on this record, I hope it's on the next one, I can't get it out of my head.
― toby, Friday, 24 May 2019 19:32 (four years ago) link
I haven't seen the band but I saw her solo and it was magical.
They are playing Brooklyn in October -- I hate having to plan these things so far out in advance. It's a fucking weeknight show, how can I decide five months ahead that I'll be up for it?
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 24 May 2019 19:46 (four years ago) link
You buy the tickets safe in the knowledge you can sell them on (for face value) if you don’t feel like it.
― fancy the Dirkishness of carrying Doré a round (fionnland), Friday, 24 May 2019 21:14 (four years ago) link
(Or alternatively don't buy them in the knowledge that you can buy them face value if you feel like it (although this is probably slightly more hassle).)
― toby, Saturday, 25 May 2019 12:32 (four years ago) link
was really struggling to fall asleep last night and kept putting on this record and nodding off and waking up in different pockets, really ideal even though i'm currently suffering
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 25 May 2019 14:07 (four years ago) link
I Think this is growing on me slightly. I keep going back to it and little things pop out each time. I like how it doesn't sound anything like Radiohead, but there are small melodic vamps that suggest these guys grew up with Kid A and HTTT.
― frame casual (dog latin), Wednesday, 29 May 2019 09:09 (four years ago) link
I really wanted to like this but her voice is the epitome of banal indie.
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 29 May 2019 09:15 (four years ago) link
I had a similar feeling when I first heard them - maybe not 'banal' but 'been there, done that'. The stronger/lyrically clearer songs - Paul, Mythological Beauty - were what pulled me in, feel like this one's definitely a harder sell.
― The Pingularity (ledge), Wednesday, 29 May 2019 09:52 (four years ago) link
a lot of this actually does feel like a better executed version of what Radiohead were going for on some of A Moon Shaped Pool, it's not that close overall but the songwriting is very Radiohead at times ("From" in particular invokes "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" quite strongly and there's the occasional melodic fragment that feels 'Radiohead' here and there) and all the individual pieces are there for the AMSP vibes (the loose swirling piano in the background of "Cattails", the general sense of ambience, a lot of the lead guitar parts especially on "From" and "Terminal Paradise", the drumming) though they come together in a much better way than on that album
i understand how some can prefer Capacity to this if they were really into the lyrics on that but this one's so much stronger musically, but i do much prefer them going all in on the dreamy folk thing that was only one part of Capacity and still don't really care for the more straightforward indie rock songs like "Shark Smile"
― ufo, Wednesday, 29 May 2019 10:17 (four years ago) link
this actually does feel like a better executed version of what Radiohead were going for on some of A Moon Shaped Pool
The similarities are indeed there, but 'better executed'? Pffft.
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 29 May 2019 10:19 (four years ago) link
I think it's unfair to compare the two too much. Radiohead is large-scale, grandiose, maximalist. Big Thief are still grounded in acoustic folk-rock and country and this album is extremely minimalist. The only similarity is in some of the melodic and guitar elements.
― frame casual (dog latin), Wednesday, 29 May 2019 10:42 (four years ago) link
tfw singing in a whispery way is the epitome of banal indie
i can see feeling that way but it's a real projection from the listener
― american bradass (BradNelson), Wednesday, 29 May 2019 12:57 (four years ago) link
Nah. I love whispery vocals but hers lack anything resembling a signature. I would really enjoy this album otherwise.
― pomenitul, Wednesday, 29 May 2019 12:59 (four years ago) link
This is the best album ever made
― frame casual (dog latin), Thursday, 30 May 2019 22:58 (four years ago) link
let's put it this way, it is quite good. probably in this year's top ten. what i really love about it is that it is an album flowing nicely with lots of excellent songs. something very rare these days.
― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Friday, 31 May 2019 21:57 (four years ago) link
it hasn't got the emotional heft as Capacity.but I am a convert
― frame casual (dog latin), Saturday, 1 June 2019 02:28 (four years ago) link
never heard the band before but I put on the new one for review and damn this is impressive
1st three things I thought of, in order, were:
1. Comus "First Utterance" (lol)2. Led Zep III3. early Joanna Newsom
pretty special mix of sounds, catchy stuff, I'm legit impressed
― Ambient Police (sleeve), Wednesday, 5 June 2019 23:51 (four years ago) link
I don't know anything about this band (I kept confusing them with Big Youth ), but I like this album a lot.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 28 June 2019 16:41 (four years ago) link
Check out their new Song Exploder episode. P cool.
― tobo73, Friday, 28 June 2019 17:07 (four years ago) link
Still the best I've heard all year (in the genre). Hits so very hard without trying to do so. Effortless brilliance, straight to the gut. Goddamn.
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 4 July 2019 23:06 (four years ago) link
Coming back to this again after a break, I'm finding I especially like the second half, i.e. from Century onward.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Sunday, 7 July 2019 03:59 (four years ago) link
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, May 10, 2019 9:24 AM (two months ago) bookmarkflaglink
this album is very nice, goddamn. i don't have the intense emotional reaction to it like i do to the best of big thief, but it has a similar sonic palette (especially rozi's "old money" which would've fit right on ufof)
― jakey mo collier (voodoo chili), Monday, 29 July 2019 22:04 (four years ago) link
this is still the best album of the year.
― Hmmmmm (jamiesummerz), Tuesday, 30 July 2019 10:18 (four years ago) link
a mysterious unmarked 7in arrived with big thief b-sides. still no "not"
― diamonddave85 (diamonddave85), Tuesday, 6 August 2019 22:37 (four years ago) link
apparently a new new album is coming out later this year
― american bradass (BradNelson), Monday, 12 August 2019 15:23 (four years ago) link
oh wow, i'd heard rumours of an adrianne solo album coming later this year but a new album from them already is even more exciting - hard to think what could be more exciting this year
here's the press release from a retailer that put up a listing early:
“30 miles west of El Paso, surrounded by 3,000 acres of pecan orchards and only a stone’s throw from the Mexican border, the band Big Thief (a.k.a. Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, Max Oleartchik, and James Krivchenia) set up their instruments as close together as possible to capture their most important collection of songs yet. The band had only just finished work on their 3rd album, U.F.O.F. – “the celestial twin” – days before in a cabin studio in the woods of Washington State. Now it was time to birth U.F.O.F.’s sister album – “the earth twin” – Two Hands.
In sharp contrast to the wet environment of the U.F.O.F. session, the southwestern Sonic Ranch studio was chosen for its vast desert location. The 105-degree weather boiled away any clinging memories of the green trees and wet air of the last session. Two Hands had to be completely different— an album about the Earth and the bones beneath it. The songs were recorded live with almost no overdubs. All but two songs feature entirely live vocal takes, leaving Adrianne’s voice suspended above the mix in dry air, raw and vulnerable as ever. Where U.F.O.F. layered mysterious sounds and effects for levitation, Two Hands grounds itself on dried-out, cracked desert dirt.
With raw power and intimacy, Two Hands folds itself gracefully into Big Thief’s impressive discography. This body of work grows deeper and more inspiring with each new album. While you listen, let your own two hands rest in front of your body with palms facing inward and see what power grows between them.”
― ufo, Monday, 12 August 2019 15:26 (four years ago) link
also the tracklist (featuring "not"!):
Rock And SingForgotten EyesThe ToyTwo HandsThose GirlsShouldersNotWolfReplacedCut My Hair
― ufo, Monday, 12 August 2019 15:29 (four years ago) link
and release date is 11 october
you need to adapt your username
― Thus Spoke Darraghustra (Oor Neechy), Monday, 12 August 2019 15:30 (four years ago) link
I'm excite, hope it's as good as U.F.O.F., which is quickly becoming one of my favorites of the year.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Monday, 12 August 2019 18:42 (four years ago) link
that's a great song (& nice sounding guitars), i'd love to see them live, they seem to be a band better in concert than in the studio...
― walking towards the sun since 2007 (alex in mainhattan), Monday, 25 May 2020 14:59 (three years ago) link
this band fucking rules
― treeship., Friday, 14 August 2020 03:16 (three years ago) link
i don't have that much more to say. i was listening to fordham radio and heard a live version of 'masterpiece.' it just ripped
― treeship., Friday, 14 August 2020 03:19 (three years ago) link