LBx wrote:

birth of mirth wrote:Has anyone heard "Vision Swim" yet?

i've given it a few listens. i'm not really into it. the early stuff seems a bit more "human". i'd rather hear guitars than the processed sounds of the instrument.

I agree that the earlier stuff is definitely more organic sounding, but the new record has been growing (Please don't hurt me) on me a lot. Some of it sorta sounds like Kraftwerk, in a really odd way.

I've recently gotten all their Live Tape series, and apparently the studio records are all edited down from live sets; I'd recommend seeking those out if you're into the earlier records (Or I can put them up into the Sendspace thread if there's interest).

And yeah, I'd say Color Wheel is the best one to start with, it's a good cross section of everything they've done.

why? seems a bit more honest i suppose.

i hear more personality in acoustic sounds.

i'm not that interested in electronic sounds comprising the whole of an album. as an element it can be interesting. it's just not that interesting more often than not. i am willing to be proven wrong though...

are you talking about the above album or generally?

birth of mirth wrote:apparently the studio records are all edited down from live sets

really... i thought i read that the first two were self recorded in their practice space?

birth of mirth wrote:I can put them up into the Sendspace thread if there's interest

i'd certainly have a listen if you could do so. their aRCHIVE release has been posted there as well if you haven't heard it. it's good. hoping that's still the tone of their live show when they come here in a few months time.

LBx wrote:i read that the first two were self recorded in their practice space?

well, seems i'm wrong about the first album. so what...

LBx wrote:

LBx wrote:i read that the first two were self recorded in their practice space?

well, seems i'm wrong about the first album. so what...

You might be right about this actually; I hadn't listened so closely that I know what albums tracks come from what tapes, it's just that I've noticed that sections of each of the tapes appear as tracks on the "real" albums.

Do you know if they're touring the US? I know they're in Europe opening for Thrones right now, but I haven't heard anything else.

birth of mirth wrote:Do you know if they're touring the US?

not sure about the States, but they will be in Montreal in June.

the Total Life record is good too if you're into monotonous noise and subtly and things...

i'm not sure if i like the newer processed stuff (esp the latest one 'Vision Swim') as much as the more drone orientated albums on Kranky, though it's good to see that they're prepared to experiment and adapt their sound.

Lovely guys as well!

I'm going to have to vote crap. I thought they were very good live, but always dull as hell on record. Slightly disappointing since the way they were described to me made me quite excited about them. Fortunately Expo '70 have now fulfilled all those expectations so I can forget Growing bar that one good live show.

tarandfeathers wrote:I'm going to have to vote crap. I thought they were very good live, but always dull as hell on record. Slightly disappointing since the way they were described to me made me quite excited about them. Fortunately Expo '70 have now fulfilled all those expectations so I can forget Growing bar that one good live show.

when did you see them - when they toured the UK in 2004?

i saw a couple of those gigs and they were great

gjhardwick wrote:when did you see them - when they toured the UK in 2004?

Yeah. As I said I enjoyed their show, but one good show doesn't make up for any number of disappointing records. By rights I should be really into them, but for some reason they just don't do it for me. I'd see them live again though...