Woods

you crazy

i'm taking that as meaning u enjoy the singing?

rain on is a nice lil jam but that's as far as i'm going atm.

'sunlit' sounds kinda like the elevators. the softer stuff is too twee imo not my bag i can't groove on that maaaaan

Great band. The new one has leaked, and it's fucking awesome...which I expected. Great day. This and the new Ariel Pink.

Yeah its great. Is the vinyl available to pre-order anywhere?

what's it called

At Echo Lake

recent live show here, including woods and real estate jamming blind melon's "no rain"

http://www.nyctaper.com/?p=2687

cheers! I saw the no rain clip on youtube.

is this album longer than previous ones?

i love those guys i just wish they'd make something that doesnt sound like an extended e.p.

death rattttttttles

i just wish they'd make something that doesnt sound like an extended e.p.

Really? I like shorter albums. I wish more bands would use some semblance of quality control, and release albums that *do* sound like extended EPs. Great example unrelated to Woods: Lady Gaga's 8-song macro-EP/mini-album. Perfect length!

Woods and pretty much all of the Woodsist-related artists are really good. Ganglians in particular.

i like the new album.
very similar to the previous one (though the production is clearer), but thats fine with me.

" wish more bands would use some semblance of quality control, and release albums that *do* sound like extended EPs"

i agree but the thing is, that even though the Woods albums are short - they still got some fillers .

i tht they were p mediocre live? spoiled by seeing a lot of really dope live bands recently, maybe

still think the woods family creeps album is their high point

still think they didnt release their best/breakthrough album yet, and they have the potential for to do it

woods family creeps really is awesome

recent live show here, including woods and real estate jamming blind melon's "no rain"

guh. that was terrible

the encore I mean, rest of the show was good. Woods clicked for me live more than when I heard their record (Songs of Shame), some of the tunes are good but there's something a little thin sounding about it

I'll def. check out the new one though

this sounds like simon & garfunkel? it's pretty awesome in any event

I state my support for these folks once again, though they are probably not for the audiophiles among us. Quirky, jangly bizarro-folk with the sound of the porch included.

I like the new one, but dude's voice is trying hard to make me hate it.

one of my favorite things at the moment, though i can only take them in small doses and have to be careful who i play them around. went to sleep last night listening to/to how to survive in/in the woods. and stockhausen.

have to be careful who i play them around

why?

guys i cant stop listening to echo lake

why?

vocals and twee/folky vibe offend some

and yeah, at echo lake

bland vocals, like canadian folk rock vocals, offend me wayyy more. also i'm overexposed to canadian folk rock in canada so i prefer this style

i like twee vibe when it's done right. to me the whole point of twee is balancing cheerful and morbid. tough alliance is my favorite example of twee vibe done like that.

and i dunno it's just so C A T C H Y

oh yeah forgot to mention that woods also balances cheerful and morbid really nicely!!!!! it's nice... but SO melancholy. best way 2 be

Didn't know there was a thread for them. On one of the Neil Young threads, I posted about how much I love "Blood Dries Darker," and how it sounded like a munchkin version of "Powderfinger." The last song on the same LP is also pretty great.

I read a little bit upthread but can someone explain the problem with the vocals? They are so beautiful and integral to the sound of this band I literally can't imagine anything objectionable about them.

his voice cracks and is frequently out of tune? not that i don't like them, it's just pretty unpolished

probably why they're so good. fuck being polished.

Any thoughts on the new album? On first listen I like the mellow parts that sound like their recent albums (it's been a good year for folk rock!) and am not so sure about the parts where they try to play motorik.

A decent track that's on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk4eaDYwbfs

Yeah, I agree. There were a couple of songs I unchecked pretty quickly (Out of the Eye, Sol Y Sombra) but he writes some great tunes (Any Other Day, To Have in the Home, I guess I like the poppier, upbeat ones). Shame about the vocals though. It's hard to take too much of it at a time.

Revive inspired me to give WFC a go...wow! This is great!

i am enjoying the heck out of this record

out of the eye is awesome!!

hi i'm new here. but i really love woods and am a fan of the new album. i think their sound is pretty unique: the combination of their grainy, lo-fi campfire vibe with the sort of bee gees-ish falsetto vocals was striking to me when i first heard it. a lot of their songs are really ear-wormy too; i'm surprised they're not more popular. i half suspect that pushing onlys is going to show up in a movie trailer.

I read a little bit upthread but can someone explain the problem with the vocals? They are so beautiful and integral to the sound of this band I literally can't imagine anything objectionable about them.

Still trying to figure this out.

New one is great but the last three have stuck pretty close to a "formula," it's a formula that works really well but I'm hoping they shake things up slightly, maybe even production-wise, with the next record.

Well, going off of the Bee-Gees comparison, those dudes can actually SING. Woods is like somebody who can't sing doing a jokey Bee-Gees impression at Karaoke. Also, the Bee-Gees didn't do the falsetto thing on every damn song. He needs to break it up a bit. I love individual songs but I honestly can't make it through an entire album in one sitting. And I guess some people are just more sensitive to pitchiness than others.

hmm, i've always found the vocals to be very well integrated with their sound. they've never struck me as a karaoke-type novelty. but i think that's the risk with using unapologetic falsetto the way woods do, some listeners can't really take it seriously because it's so obviously an affectation and, as you said, it's harder to control the pitch. one reason i like woods so much may be that i'm not really very sensitive to pitchiness and i rarely ever find myself wishing that idiosyncratic vocalists were more 'traditionally' skilled or polished.

and yeah, MFB, i would definitely welcome more experimentation in their next record. they definitely need to expand their sound if they want to make a 'great' album. but maybe they don't want that, i feel like people see them primarily as a live band.

wait, I finally figured out my problem. he sounds exactly like Mickey Mouse.

well, he sounds like early mickey mouse. like, before the coke and polyster suit period, when it was still about the music.

Bend Beyond is a nice album

having seen them live a bunch of times recently though ... I like most of these new songs better the way they've been doing them live. the title track being only 4:25 long is a surprise, in their set they stretch that one out with a buncha spacey shit in the middle.

Cali in a Cup is a p sweet track. sounds like sunshine. nice harmonica.

best song on this might be Size Meets the Sound, pretty awesome

Enjoying this a lot, best album I've heard from them since Songs of Shame. The B-Side to "Cali in a Cup" is lovely too (only clip on Youtube involves the knees of a crazy cat guy):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d1DSGSR_so

Fuck I love this new one, right up my alley. What of their other stuff sounds like the new one?

the new album's good. i like how this band releases albums every year, seemingly. this is what bands should do when they are solid and can make consistently enjoyable, if rarely "surprising" music. they haven't topped "songs of shame" yet but that's probably for the best. to top it they'd have to deviate from the by-now reliable formula.

i really like this new one, anyone else listening?

Loved it all summer long.

summers just started here & yeah its perfect

Any thoughts on Strange To Explain? I haven't heard it yet, I was stupidly waiting for the physical copy I pre-ordered to show up before I played it, but since I'm entering week 4 since it was shipped I might have to just go ahead and stream it anyway.

it's good but not as proggy as the last one. few if any obvious reflections on purple mountains

They were not on my radar at all pre-Purple Mountains (name too boring to care) so Strange to Explain is the first thing I've heard from them. I liked a couple of the singles but the album is yet to fully connect with me.

I pitched it to my dad as existing somewhere on a continuum from Todd Rundgren to The Shins... am I crazy? lol

Still waiting for my copy to show up, USPS is really shitting the bed on some deliveries lately. Really curious myself to hear where they are heading these days (yes I know I can just stream it, but I'm silly and old-fashioned about albums by bands I really like that I've pre-ordered).

Bit underwhelmed by Strange to Explain sadly cos I loooove City Sun etc

Finally getting a chance to spin this after the nine week journey for my copy to get to me from Long Island, I like it. It's definitely not as good as With Light and Love or City Sun, but I think it's a step back in the right direction after Love is Love.

Reflections, Vol. 1 is stunning if you already love Woods

this band puts out consistently good stuff

they do

found a copy of Love is Love in the clearance bin at a record store, they deserve better (but was happy to pick it up for $8.99!)

they are astonishing live