could you be a little more specific? I understand that TWDY is not completely original, but to say that its a "wanna-be sound" is mendacious. TWDY and EITS have very distinctive differences. TWDY's crescendo for instance, it builds identical to EITS, slow and quiet but the pinnacle is a lot louder, heavier and more raw than EITS's peaks will ever be. TWDY packs a much heavier punch with fuzzy distortion laden riffs(The World Is Our....) whereas EITS incorporates more 'angelic', light-hearted, softer peaks(The Only Moment We Were Alone) EITS also tend to take a lot longer to build their peaks, often the climax is at or near the end of a song(First Breath After Coma, Your Hand In Mine ). TWDY's pinnacles are almost always in the middle of the song(Threads), getting to the point a lot faster and either building another, smaller peak or gradually descending back to a slow atmospheric or ambient fade out. Now, one of the biggest differences, is the drums. TWDY uses digital drum samples, sometimes for fill, and sometimes as an outright layer, as in the beginning of A Three Legged Workhorse and about the 2:40 mark of They Move On Tracks Of...., I'm not sure if EITS uses samples, when I saw EITS live, I looked for a laptop or something to be plugged into the drums...I could have missed it but I saw nothing and if they do, they aren't anything like the samples that TWDY uses. TWDY's physical drum patterns are more simple, more crisp. EITS's drums seem to be more complex and aggressive. Another massive difference is Chris King's (TWDY) gear. He's using a Rickenbacker 330(with thicker gauge strings, for a different tone) whereas nobody in EITS uses a hollow body(as far as I know). Accompanied with Abelton Live and a plethora of plug-ins, and most notably his e-bow which is virually attached to his playing hand at all times, Chris King achieves a beautiful wall of swelling synthy string textures (you can hear it fill and start to swell at about 0:35 on the track Burial On The Presido Banks and peak at 3:00) that are absolutely non existent on any EITS song. TWDY also uses orchestra strings, when I saw them in Austin awhile ago, members of Sleep Whale(mom) cameo-d a few songs on cello. Lymbyc Systym has also contributed cello/violin performances on a few TWDY songs.(Freedom Blade) I could be wrong, but I don't think EITS uses a keyboard, whereas TWDY does. one other bizarre technique that EITS uses(although not often), that I personally don't care for, and am glad TWDY does not utilize, is this weird portamento-ish pitch bend thingy like on A Song For Our Fathers add all this up and you have (a creepy dude who knows too much about TWDY)and a, not completely, but very different sound. I can't just 'listen' to TWDY, it's too much of a journey, every track is hauntingly vibrant. I get sucked into their sound everytime I hear it. EITS is great for kickin back and relaxing, there is a lil on the surface to work with, but it's not very deep.
<object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/5c81X6BiI0Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/5c81X6BiI0Y&hl=en_US&fs=1&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object> Kraftwerk- The Catalogue I saw them about a year ago and it was one of the coolest shows I have ever seen. I could not love this band more!
Its a combo of things actually. I contribute some content to some blogs from time to time and they hook me up with some really new stuff that hasn't even hit the pre release stage. I also get alot from private torrent sites and also from friends who have early stuff as well. Generally I listen to three types of indie rock, American, British and Scandinavian. The American indie rock I get from alot of my friends who are in the Brooklyn art/music scene. That is how I hear about alot of the stuff as well. The British indie rock is mostly from a few select blogs I read. The Scandinavian indie rock (which is my favourite of all) I usually hear of from folks who are from that area. By attending alot of these shows, I tend to meet alot of folks who work in industry (music labels, record companies), media (indie radio, bloggers) or just general fans. In previous years, I might have attended 60-70 shows a year. The American indie rock scene is alot more what people call true scratchy type that people refer to in this genre. It is probably least pleasant to the ear, if heard by a newbie. Canadian indie in recent years has surpassed the American scene, in my opnion. So many amazing bands from that area especially Montreal and Toronto. (Born Ruffians, Wolf Parade, Plants and Animals, Caribou, Junior Boys, Tokyo Police Club etc...) British indie has become alot of bands trying to be very melodic (think Coldplay) in their approach, which I'm not that big of a fan. British indie has embraced the youth movement alot more than the US scene has. Alot of their biggest acts have band members who are like 16-19 years old. (Bombay Bicycle Club, Macabees, Fryars, Mystery Jets, Lo Fi Culture Scene, Cajun Dance Party..etc..). These guys all either heavily influenced by The Strokes or are heavily influenced by 80's synth. Scandinavian indie is focused around what is called art rock. (ex..Mew, Moi Caprice, Mary Onettes, Royksopp). Gothenburg, Sweden is like the Williamsburg, Brooklyn of Sweden. The musical talent that comes from that city is crazy. (Jens Lekman, Jose Gonzalez, Tough Alliance, Air France, Kings of Convenience, Erland Oye) Indie rock is one of my few passions in life, so I generally spend alot of my free time reading, listening and talking about it. I should send you my portable external hard drive sometime I get back to the States. I literally have about 350GB of indie rock that dates from the years 2000-2009. Its great stuff.
Day 6 of Shoegazing/Dream Pop/Influences on Shoegazing: Decided to go with a little slowcore/sadcore: Mercury - American Music Club Long Division - Low Frigid Stars - Codeine
Oh my God. I just finished listening to The Antlers - Hospice. This is the best album of the year. What an incredibly haunting and amazing piece of music. Get it now. Seriously. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospice_(album)
Kraftwerk does put on a cool f'kin show. I saw them in 08 at Coachella. Kraftwerk into Portishead and then Prince might be a musical feat that I never top in my lifetime.
Yeah, no worries! I didn't mean offense either. As said, I really do like both bands, really, And I agree "sound the same" isn't accurate and I didn't mean to say that if I did. I can't argue w/ any of your points. In fact I'm surprised/impressed/thrilled that anyone has put that much analitical thought into a comparative discussion on what I (wrongly) still think of as 2 bands that are "local" secrets. You present a case like someone comparing (for want of a better analogy) Monk and Bill Evans, and I love it! I love this thread and insight like yours is why I return to it. That, and finding new stuff!
For the last week or so, i've been jamming to Steel Panther (formerly known as Metal Skool)... Lyrics NSFW. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/7bC0A9TXpm0&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/7bC0A9TXpm0&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
comfortable - carter 3 daisy cutter - 311 daylight - matt & kim The last is a personal fav <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WgBeu3FVi60&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WgBeu3FVi60&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I wish I would have been into them back during SXSW. They are doing some shows right now in the south but predictably there is nothing in Houston. Brightside are you a fan of Friendly Fires? I've loved their album for a while now and saw them put on a really fun show earlier this year. Going to see them with The XX next weekend in Austin.
Whoa...are you still marrying the ex-wife? Has she been your ex TWICE??!! Leave it to Harrisment - the only topic on this BBS that makes me go SwoLy crazy on the emoticons, I think he gets a kick out of that
Have you heard : <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9BQsOGF8J9w&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9BQsOGF8J9w&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Also unapologetically upbeat periphery-pop, me likey both.
