Horse Lords

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

circular breathing isn't so difficult. knowing what to do with lips & fingers thereafter is the tricky bit

wow

well this revive inspired me to listen to the preview track of the new record and it totally rules, which is all I really care abt

Their use of just intonation and irregular time signatures lifts this well above standard math rock. The recombination of elements is really clever and exciting to listen to.

There is certainly something to said about the rise of conservatoire trained musicians in indie rock, avant-jazz and all points between. But I think one of the most positive developments in 21st C music is when that training is combined with DIY approaches, so you're breaking down the artificial race and class inflected barriers between jazz, rock, noise, new music etc. HL are one instance of that and I'm all for it. Saw some of the members play some great free improv sets with the likes of Luke Stewart at Moers this year - they're totally comfortable in that world. Fuck genre! :D

y'know i just took a listen to these guys on spotify and they're actually tons better than i remember.
the inner curmudgeon got the upper hand, my bad. (reasons)
was my issue more with the credulous style of journalism? i can't remember.

Not having lyrics can be an advantage too: the band do not have to write anything on the nose or ridiculous. Music is just an object that acts as a nexus for the centre point of their communication with others. Gardner remarks that sound is a sort of abstract vector for this kind of expression, forcing more imagination. “We’re thinking about a new way to listen and forcing this kind of listening that’s more engaged with form and the abstract aspect of it, the experience of music. It puts people in the role of participants rather than just passive observers. It’s like we’re building this together.”

lol gtfo

New one out today, just finishing a first listen through this morning - it's phenomenal. I'd heard two of the tracks prereleased on youtube, but this works so well as a fully sequenced album. also operating just on a few hours of sleep thanks to world series game 5, but this seems to be a perfect state to take in their music!

Any other crowdfund backers get a message from them yet? I don’t want to be ‘let me speak to the manager’ on release day but it’s kind of disappointing not to know what’s going on there.

No message here. I agree with you a message by now would've been ideal ... seems reasonable to give 'em till Monday, I think, before asking what's up.

Complaining makes you a participant, not just a passive observer!

listening to the full album and OK this rules, I like it more than anything since their first album? and way more than Common Task, which I couldn't really connect with. something about the production, sound, and the way the parts all interlock is just perfect for me here

I should say, I like it more than anything since the mixtapes (which are incredible, go check them out if you haven't)

Re: crowdfund backers, from an email reply from Andrew Bernstein just now: “Pre-orders have been shipping this week and last week, so your record should be on its way.”

pic.twitter.com/eEvl1396sz

— Fritz Pape (@fritzpape) November 10, 2022

lol

just digging into this, dope so far

think i like this new one better than any Horse Lords I've heard previously. very very cool.

fuck yeah i'm digging this all bloopy bleepin guitar shit in a danceable ⌺/12.3 time signature

New collab release from drummer Sam Haberman: https://cachedmedia.bandcamp.com/album/radial

new album is awesome. love the acid house 303 in ‘mess mend’

cool guest mix of the Folkways catalog:

https://folkways.si.edu/playlist/peoples-picks-horse-lords

We might have embarked on this playlist—as others wisely have—with a theme to lend some cohesion to the result, but instead we chose chaos. The dizzying, impossible variety of music and sound that Smithsonian Folkways (and some smaller labels under their caring umbrella) has given the world ought to be experienced as a disjointed, disorienting maelstrom of pleasure, totally resisting any representation of its totality ...

love these guys but god are they insufferable. like just admit that you threw something together at the last minute

Nothing insufferable about that statement imo.
Started listening in bed yesterday and fell asleep, first three tracks I liked though :)