Comments on: Rob St. John – Like Alchemy EP

By: Dylan

Dylan — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:23:15 +0000

I like WH666′s weird signatures.

They bring some much needed light relief to the interminable chin-stroking and dull intellectual debates on this stuffy, highbrow message board.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:33:07 +0000

Although I will often play my whole collection on random, I never play a whole album on random because that does seem a bit naughty.

By: WrinklyHeirloom666

WrinklyHeirloom666 — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:20:36 +0000

i agree, there are some salient points made here about the way technology maybe has changed the way albums are conceived. even the old side A, side B thing, which i think was really beautiful, and the time constraints inherent in the old vinyl format, and on cassettes for that matter. i liked the way it was more difficult to circumvent the sequence the artist may have intended you to hear the album in. but hey ho…here i am using a computer. what a joke.

also i like ep’s for the simple reason you don’t have to write as many songs to make one.

Wrinkly H’loom 6×3

(c’mon, when is someone gonna tell me to stop being a dick and using those weird signatures im using?)

By: Campfires & Battlefields

Campfires & Battlefields — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:26:26 +0000

I see LPs as the musical equivalent of novels and EPs as the equivalent of short stories or poems. Both can be beautiful and expressive, but for some reason the public taste gravitates toward LPs just as it does toward novels. I've always liked short stories, and I really love EPs. I enjoy The Blue Trees by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci better than any of their full-lengths. Edinburgh isn't alone in its great EPs this year. How about Gentleness of Nothing by Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter? The Second Gleam by Avett Brothers? The Confiscation by Samantha Crain & The Midnight Shivers? Sun Giant by Fleet Foxes? Just A Boy by Angus & Julia Stone? One after another. There's something stirring there.

By: nic

nic — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:42:21 +0000

(I wandered off to a meeting and came back to discover that most of these points were made in my absence, but I’d already typed the comment so dagnamit I’m going to submit it anyway)

On comments:

For many people, it takes a certain quantity of cojones to state an opinion on anything artistic (beyond perhaps “I like/don’t like it”). Particularly if they don’t produce art themselves (and might think “who the fuck am I to pass judgement?”). Even more so when the comment is being read by people who know the artist personally, and potentially even the artist. OK, that might be a bit of a lazy attitude to adopt, but it’s a hell of lot less committing to pass judgement on cheap gin (depending on context I guess, I must have missed that discussion).

That said, the above track intrigued me enough to order the CD, so I’ll pass judgement in due course.

On albums:

While appreciating that EPs offer a whole lot of advantages, particularly for bands getting off the ground, and that there are some hogwash albums with two killler tracks out there, I’d be really sad to see bands stop trying to make albums. OK, prog rock may have consigned the concept album to an unholy grave, but there is still value in having a sustained sequence of songs, thematically unified to some degree, that is long enough to take you somewhere for a while: Mariee Sioux and David Thomas Broughton come to mind; also Donny Hue: great songs individually, but the whole also manages to exceed the sum of the parts very nicely.

I think a more positive sign is the fact that, after what seemed to be a slew of bloated albums through the 90s that seemed to run to 70 minutes just cos a CD could hold it, it seems to once again be acceptable to release an album running for 35-40 minutes. (That’s a subjective observation by the way, I’m sure counter-examples abound.)

The constraints of the old LP do seem to be felicitous ones.

By: Dylan

Dylan — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:56:00 +0000

And it hardly takes consideration to make a smart-arsed remark, and a little more thought to actually comment sensibly on music.

I was going to make this point earlier.

It took me about 45 minutes to bang out that long, considered post; and about eight seconds to bang out that silly one-liner.

Like it or not, that will make a difference to the sort of comments that will be in the majority.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:46:59 +0000

Well they get an avalanche of stuff, so they have to limit it somehow. And I guess most groups like to make albums and see being given the opportunity to do so as some sign of validation, but there’s a touch of chicken and egg going on there, so I don’t know. Clash and Artrocker are pretty good about EPs and single, I think, as are Plan B. It’s a shame though. We had the Nightjar record reviewed as a single twice, but it’s six songs long, so is it an EP or a mini-album? Who knows and, frankly, who fucking cares.

By: dav

dav — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:38:41 +0000

Er, I meant to say “attention to this”, it makes more sense!

By: dav

dav — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:37:03 +0000

Matthew – I totally agree, a well constructed album is a beautiful thing it’s just sad that the press seem uninterested in ep’s. I think that the meursault album is fucking brilliant and if the reason the press dont pay attention is just because this, or some of the ep’s you’ve put out, is an ep then they are fucking idiots.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:34:18 +0000

I t happens to US bands all the time. Bear in mind as well that it’s my task to write the thing, and no-one else’s to do anything at all.

And it hardly takes consideration to make a smart-arsed remark, and a little more thought to actually comment sensibly on music.

(Dylan, I’d have drunk bleach, diesel fuel, or pretty much anything else at that point.)