Jonathan McLeod

Jonathan McLeod is a writer living in Ottawa, Ontario. (That means Canada.) He spends too much time following local politics and writing about zoning issues. Follow him on Twitter.

8 Comments

  1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2012/oct/08/godspeed-you-black-emperor-stream

    the new album is coming out next week, iirc. having not been a tremendous fan of yanqui uxo* i’m intrigued rather than all whee whee whee whee, as it were. also haven’t seen the reformed lineup, having seen these guys six times during the first go-around. but it was still worth a preorder.

    *in the context of “this is very good, but it’s not quite as rich as these other recordings, which are all flawless”. and albini didn’t do them any favors.

    • Yanqui I don’t have. I don’t think I knew Albini recorded that one for them. I like a lot of Albini’s recordings, but he does seem like a strange choice for a band that relies as heavily on ‘drone/textured suspend’ as they do on ‘apocalyptic climax’. Like I wouldn’t expect him on say an early Spiritualized record either (but he can do wonders for pop/rock bands like Wedding Present and Cheap Trick).

      Thanks Jonathan!

      • I guess what I am saying is that bands like Spiritualized and Godspeed are ‘epic/widescreen/cinemascope’, whereas Albini sort of specializes in ‘small, black and white, grainy but powerful documentary’ – Albini makes you feel like you are in a small room (actually, inside the drumkit in that small room), with sweaty real humans.

        • i dig it. also everything he touches sounds very similar. he has a signature, and that signature was a little too flat and 2d for gybe.

          • i’m actually not familiar with the wedding present.

            just got the new gybe in the mail and am listening to the first track – it’s borrowed quite a few klezmer-isms for the first track. very noisy.

          • WP might be a bit poppy for you from what I have gathered. But Seamonsters in particular owes a lot to Surfer Rosa, due to Albini. Otherwise, I usually tell people if the idea of Ian Curtis fronting the Buzzcocks intrigues you, give the Weddoes a try.

            Great, great lyrics – Gedge has examined love from every (male) angle, from heartbroken romantic to lecherous cad, and you might be shocked at how many of his song scenarios you have found yourself in at one time or another.

            Here’s the opening track off Seamonsters. The whole dang album is great, seriously. Came out the same year as Nevermind (a similarly Pixies-indebted melodic rock record), but I can’t tell you the last time I listened to Nevermind. Seamonsters still gets regular spins.

          • pretty good, i’ll have to check them out. it’s definitely very albini. the vocalist is very curtis, though, so good description on that.

Comments are closed.