Horse Lords

I'm a sucker for some mictrotonal guitar action. These guys, King Gizzard, Noura Mint Seymali, who else am I missing?

Ahleuchatistas' Arrebato album from a few years back, for starters!

xp Mdou Moctar?

that band with the long name that imago likes?

Lol, that describes most bands imago likes.

I'm checking these out, thanks!

Immediately liking the Ahleuchatistas record. Some pretty string similarities to Horse Lords so far, but also getting Tortoise, Battles, and King Crimson in the mix.

it's a tremendous album

Ah yes, I think I've heard Mdou Moctar before, good stuff

also Harry Partch of course! not rock by any means, but great.

Weirdly, the thing this Mdou Moctar album reminds me of the most is Weld era Neil Young

xp

Well yeah, La Monte Young too

don't sleep on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE5mA7YIFnY

think it's tommy tedesco @ 2m30s but not sure

Oh shit, this grooves

"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for an independent band to record a new album, generally the proceeds from touring the previous album are more than enough to pay for it. As the 1-year anniversary of our last album approaches, we find ourselves bursting with new, recordable material, but when we consult the touring ledger are assaulted by dust, cobwebs, tumbleweeds, and find with horror that our accountant is a skeleton! There was of course no tour last year—we have no money!

Fear not, beloved reader, you your beautiful self may be in a position to help! We are appealing to the generosity of our fans (which history has shown to be great) to finance what will be our ninth release, and any bit you can spare will be very meaningful. Any donation over $50 will get you a "free" copy of the record! We're grateful beyond words for your support over the years and into the future, many thanks in advance."

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-make-the-next-horse-lords-record

https://horselords.bandcamp.com/album/comradely-objects-2

new album "comradely objects" nov. 4

!

Who else here helped to crowdfund this one? I haven’t heard a peep before I saw this link.

Oh nice, last record ruled I imagine this one will too. Interested to see just how far they can stretch the sound.

Had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't "Step On" by the Happy Mondays when I first heard the new track! Sounds good though, looking forward to the record. It was crowdfunded? Where?

Ooh! That sounds v appealing. I need to listen to this immediately I think

Also did not know about crowdfunding

Love an instrumental band that can create compelling music this consistently. I’m always happy to hear whatever HL has to offer, so far at least.

If you contributed to our crowdfunding last year and didn’t send us your email and address, now is the time! We have names but not deets - horselordsb✧✧✧@gm✧✧✧.c✧✧

— Horse Lords (@HorseLords) August 30, 2022

Oh shit ... I forgot I contributed to the crowdfunding. Thanks for the reminder, MacDara.

ha, i crowdfunded also but completely forgot. love this track, gets almost poppy but still sounds like them. they're amazing in how they can push and warp their 'formula' for lack of a better word

Yeah well said global. One thing I love about the band is that the changes happen in the racks but often in ways that are hard to anticipate/pin down. They just kind of morph and shift from one place to another throughout so they act kind if like little journeys and not "songs" (verses, choruses, breaks etc.). I really love some of the guitar runs in this one in particular.

"changes happen in the tracks"

New one just isn't hitting like The Common Task on first listen. Sure it'll open up eventually.

Any bagpipes?

I really dig the housey piano on “Mess Mend”

https://thequietus.com/articles/32245-horse-lords-interview-2

i walked away from this interview liking the band less but i can't quite put my finger on why

whole thing smacks of privilege, self regard, ivory towers.
sometimes i think steve reich is a pox on music.
it's like hugh laurie playing the blues

I don't get what's so offensive about that. They just sound like intelligent dudes doing cool stuff?

this reads exactly like what i expected a horse lords interview to read like

the sniffy "i don't even OWN a tv" vibe, unappealing imo

XP not offended, so much as disheartened that such rather pedestrian math-rock should be framed as something high falutin, vorticist or "intellectual" - I think the fault there lies with the author, who comes on way too wide-eyed and bowled over by the assumed value of terms (or ideas) such as "contemporary composition"
fwiw i dig andrew bernstein's solo stuff. horse lords not so much diff strokes etc

the sniffy "i don't even OWN a tv" vibe, unappealing imo

tbf did anyone really expect them to be like "we just want to party and rock your asses off, ARE YOU READY TO TESTIFY??"

not a shocking read considering the language around their promo stuff, song titles, solo projects, etc but i dont really care, i can still jam the albums without having to listen to them pontificate about architecture. very glad i got to see them a few times when they were still playing DIY spaces and not hifalutin' New Music festivals in Frankfurt or whatever.

tbf

(my phone put a second "tbf" there because it really really wanted to make it clear that i was being fair)

it's good to be fair!

tough but fair to be fair

Sucks to see a good time workin class rock n roll band like Horse Lords putting on such pretentious airs after they got big

this senegalese mbalax needs more brian ferneyhough!

are they big?

i'm not just asking in response to ums' post (which i understand is jokey) but i also have had other observations recently that made me feel like ... maybe this band is kinda big? or no?

or maybe they just hold a high opinion of themselves and that feels "big" from the outside.

interview makes them seem like cool smart dudes

appreciate their commitment to the unified band outfit

I have faith that Baltimore dudes can't get too pompous.

Sucks to see a good time workin class rock n roll band like Horse Lords putting on such pretentious airs after they got big

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, October 27, 2022 8:26 AM (ten hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

LMAO

The last time I saw them (prob 2019 iirc) someone in the audience commented they had clearly “gone to school” (had a formal musical education). You don’t get to be a circular breathing saxophone player and precise af drummer DIY-ing in your spare time. It’s not news that they’re well-schooled imo.

idg why this is a bad thing. Pretty much every great jazz artist revered here and elsewhere was well-schooled, too

yeah they tended to put forward some worthwhile ground-breaking stuff tho

i don't think max eilbacher went to a fancy music school. he was in baltimore noise bands throughout the 00s