Anathema - Endless Ways

I finally got around to revisiting Anathema's new record The Optimist , as I hadn't given the whole thing a listening since I first got to hear it about 2 months ago.

I can say, I have a better sense about it now, and maybe its concept to a point.

But for me, especially right now, the 1st half worked very well, and the 2nd half I found a little more hit and miss.

But the biggest thing that I'm retaining right now from it is this track "Endless Ways" with Lee Douglas on lead vocals. Sohhh melancholy. It just hit me like a ton of bricks. I would rank this now as 1 of my 5 favorite Anathema songs, and kind of like 2016's track "You Never Were Alone" from Cloud Cult and "Happy Returns" from Steven Wilson.

I was fighting back the tears trying to listen to it. Different images and reasons for them. A bit like The Antlers 2009 album Hospice and the timing of discovering it not long before and then after when my grandfather passed away. My head is lingering with nostalgia for the recent past and my now old apartment.

I feel almost like someone or something died. And actually, my wife's Aunt did sadly just pass away, and I was at the funeral last Friday which was melancholy in a lot of ways like this song. But this song is capturing my sadness from my memories of the past 8.5 years. I'm not sure how else to describe it.

I guess leaving my independence in a lot of ways behind. Sort of closing a chapter in a book. It definitely carries that emotion. And given the timing of hearing it more profoundly now, I may always associate it with losing or leaving my independence behind and the memories I have of my life since 2009 and my bachelor-lifestyle back in my old apartment in Maplewood.

I suppose it and a lot of the rest of the album brings my frequent thoughts of mortality and aging too, and the story about someone living on the West Coast of North America, likely Northern California and a tragic event (a Wild Fire?) that impacts them. Their home burns in a fire and they have to drive away to an unknown destination?

I am not sure how much I will love The Optimist compared to their other recent records which are all 4-4.5 stars, but the criticism of it not comparing I only can follow to a small degree. It may just be more of a slow burner and a grower. At a minimum, Endless Ways is gorgeous and sad as all fuck, much like many of their songs are, which is one of the biggest reasons I love a lot of their music. And to add to the timing of this for me, may just be what makes it an all-time favorite of mine.

The Antlers - Familiars (2014)

I'm just passing this along, but not with huge hopes or anything about it. The new song, while it isn't bad, doesn't necessarily have my interest in this band what it was when I loved Hospice a few years ago.

I suppose I give them the 1-album stumble rule, but I consider the likes of St.Vincent, Russian Circles and many others, and I'm still way more skeptical than hoping they will capture my passion for their music again, as not only was Burst Apart pretty forgettable, but the EP they released in 2012 I think I dismissed even sooner.

But, that being said, I know there are folks who enjoy them and will want to know about this new record of theirs. Hopefully they bring back the extreme falsettos and the textures (they did use trumpet I noticed on the single below), less of the slowcore elements.




https://www.facebook.com/TheAntlers/posts/10103983260485919?stream_ref=10
We're beyond thrilled to tell you that our new album, Familiars, will be released on June 16th in UK via Transgressive Records and June 17th in US via ANTI-. 
Here's the first track, "Palace", with a film by Hana Tajima. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9afJSKCOQQ

With love,
Peter, Michael, & Darby

The Antlers - Undersea [EP] (2012)

1 Drift Dive 4:48
2 Endless Ladder 8:30
3 Crest 3:42
4 Zelda 5:31

I'm guessing you have to *like* The Antlers on Facebook in order to stream this. Given I have, I am able to.

fb link

Otherwise, here's some of it.





Honestly, after hearing this, I'm really wondering if they've jumped the shark. Hospice was an incredibly moving and powerful record, which had its slower moments certainly, but also included those huge emotional vocal sections. And frankly, well-written, addictive and with many nmemorable parts.

2011's Burst Apart really did not. All I got from it was boredom. And honestly streaming this collection of 4 pieces, it may be even more boring than Burst Apart.

It's like they now have a fetish for slowcore of a kind, which is some of the most pointless kind of music for me to try and listen to. They almost are becoming like Low, the band they got compared to on Hospice and their previous 2 records, In the Attic of the Universe and Uprooted as well. Which never made much if any sense to me. They should have been compared to the likes of Ours, Neverending White Lights or Blackfield instead.

But seeing all those slowcore/Low comparisons, I wonder if Peter Silberman and the band were exposed to some actual slowcore and decided they wanted to actually make music of that sort.

Blech, o well. Hardly the 1st band whose early work was promising and then floundered.

The Antlers - Burst Apart (2011) (1.0)

4/24/11 11:59PM

the whole thing is here to stream.

4/14/11 4:52PM

AllMediaReviews

another new song from @theantlers 'Every Night My teeth Are Falling Out" can be streamed/downloaded here http://is.gd/SF1Hwn.

4/5/11 1:30AM

Hipfork sucks, but you can hear the new track "Parentheses" here

3/18/11 6:10AM

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/17/134532285/sxsw-2011-the-antlers-live-in-concert

the whole new album was played live and is stream-able there. Hearing just a few minutes: more falsetto not surprisingly.


3/8/11 3:23PM



Burst Apart release date is May 10th.

Track List

01 I Don't Want Love
02 French Exit
03 Parentheses
04 No Widows
05 Rolled Together
06 Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out
07 Tiptoe
08 Hounds
09 Corsicana
10 Putting the Dog to Sleep


title, track list, cover. a press release I'll try and pass along in an edit (other than Hipforks).

Hey everyone-

We're completely thrilled to finally share with you the details of our forthcoming new album, Burst Apart. Finally!

We spent somewhere in the realm of 5 months recording it (although truthfully, we've been planning and sketching the record since we began touring on Hospice back in 2009). We moved into our own recording studio in September 2010, and spent essentially every waking hour working on Burst Apart, producing the record ourselves, with Darby at the helm engineering. We wrapped up recording this past January, and will be releasing this record to you on May 10 via Frenchkiss Records. I can honestly say that I've never been more excited to have people hear something as I am with Burst Apart.

Below is the tracklist, as well as the cover art, designed by the amazing Zan Goodman (who also designed Hospice's infamous hands).

1/21/11 7:06PM


twitter post

FYI- this was posted the second we officially finished our record.

They just posted on twitter they finished their new album.

Projected for May. Sounds like it'll be more electronic, psychedelic, and less depressing. Guess we'll see if that's a good thing, or a disappointing follow-up, as I've seen many cases of both instances following a great record. Although I sure hope it doesn't require something as traumatic as a relative of mine dying (not necessarily a death though, but something that serious/emotional to me) to have the impact Hospice did.

And ss much as I am anti-pitchfork and everything (not to mention Arcade Fire who the writer name drops of course, lol), I just noticed a good interview with Peter Silberman from p4k that they linked on twitter yesterday.

link

Born out of isolation, terminal illness, and heartbreak, the Antlers' 2009 breakout album Hospice was a wrenching-- and often triumphant-- affair. Led by singer and songwriter Peter Silberman, who is now 24 years old, the band's Arcade Fire-style emotional crests caught on, and they were soon traveling around the world, opening for the National at places like Radio City Music Hall and playing their own increasingly populated gigs.

But instead of bulking up their sound even more for the follow-up, the group-- also featuring drummer Michael Lerner and multi-instrumentalist Darby Cicci-- is dialing things back with their electro-inspired, as-yet-untitled new record, tentatively due out this May.

I recently met the guys at the converted loft studio in Brooklyn where they've been toiling away on the new record since September. They were quick to poke fun at their rep as a bunch of sad sacks while playing a few new songs and playfully bullshitting about receiving a mysterious box of Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo tequila (which gets the Antlers' seal of approval, btw).

Of the new tunes I heard, a highlight was "Parentheses", which featured a hypnotic drum loop and plenty of Silberman's falsetto coos. The track could be accurately described as "sexy"-- a word I've never associated with the Antlers before. Meanwhile, "French Exit" had a damn near tropical outro, and the moody "Hound" peaked with subtle restraint.

Click on for a Q&A with Silberman, who talked about some of the new album's unlikely inspirations and how he managed to be upbeat while playing songs that are anything but:

Pitchfork: Did playing big shows while touring Hospice make you want to make "big" music with this album?

Peter Silberman: We definitely became a louder rock band on tour but we didn't want to do an arena rock record. Over the past couple years, we got into a lot of electronic music and post-rock that ended up coloring the new record. Stuff like Portishead, Boards of Canada, Dirty Three, Low-- I'm not listening to [Neutral Milk Hotel's] In the Aeroplane Over the Sea as much as I was when I was 19. To me, the new album sounds like an electronic, grooving record. There's less big, dramatic fanfare.

Pitchfork: After your success with Hospice, did you feel a need to hang on to fans by making something similar?

PS: For a while, I thought the next logical step from Hospice was to make some very sad, post-Hospice concept record. But thinking in those terms started to feel really manipulative and gimmicky. So I just let go of that idea and, from that point on, I was much happier.

In a lot of ways, this album is an easier record to listen to than Hospice; you can put it on and not feel like it has to be a severe emotional experience. It might be. But it could also be on in the background.

Pitchfork: Did you feel manipulative at all while playing those Hospice songs to so many people on tour?

PS: When I first started playing them, it really felt like I was just getting the message across. But, while the shows didn't become less important as time went on, my emotional intensity diminished. The record became much more real than the things it was based on. It was like I wasn't allowed to put the relationship Hospice was based on in the past. That's when I had to kind of separate myself from the songs we were playing. I'm not going to torture myself by trying to relive the songs over and over again. That'll destroy you.

Pitchfork: When I interviewed you about Hospice in 2009, you talked about how making it was a very solitary and harrowing experience. But now that you've toured a bunch and people like what you're doing, I'm guessing your life may not be so bad. Is that change reflected on the new album?

PS: That was the trickiest thing for me to figure out as far as writing this record. Hospice revolved around such a specific, crazy life event and, moving forward from that, I realized I wasn't in a position to complain anymore. I was really happy with my life. It was good because it meant that I couldn't just rely on misfortune or unhappiness to write.

This is not a sad record. It's sort of energetic and, in its way, psychedelic. It does have an emotional punch, but it's a little less desperate. There are no life or death situations on this record, no terminal illness, no abusive relationships. I felt like this album didn't necessarily have to be so directly based on my life-- it puts too much pressure on your life to be interesting. [laughs]

Pitchfork: I imagine it's tough to stay connected with the songs while not being miserable all the time, how did you figure out a way to balance that out?

PS: We went on tour with Frightened Rabbit a little while ago and I was asking [frontman] Scott [Hutchison] about this, and he said, "It's [the audience's] now. You'll sing it to them, but they're the one singing it. You can let it go and give it to them." That's how I managed to keep going.

Pitchfork: In our previous interview, you mentioned how Hospice was partly inspired by a rough breakup. Are you still in contact with that ex-girlfriend?

PS: No. One of the weirder moments of my life was running into her at our label's holiday party a couple of years ago. It was after our biggest show in New York and our Times review-- we were feeling really great. And while I caught up with her, people are coming up and congratulating me and being happy for us as a band. Meanwhile, this person who is responsible is standing right there having to see this whole full-circle thing happen. [laughs] I haven't seen her since.

also some news related to this band, they are going out on tour soon in Japan, and Local Natives is also on the same tour. Instead of The National (or Phantogram for that matter), I might be more optimistic about seeing them again with LNs on the bill.

The Velvet Teen - Elysium (2004) (1.0)

1 Sartre Ringo 3:33
2 Penicillin (It Doesn't Mean Much) 4:42
3 A Captive Audience 5:56
4 Chimera Obscurant 12:50
5 Poor Celine 6:18
6 Forlorn 4:05
7 We Were Bound (To Bend The Rules) 7:42
8 (Untitled) 1:26

two eyes doesn’t mean double vision
i never questioned this stance but now
i’ve been seeing things
i can hear a voice in the distance
trying to turn my attention to their truth
someone’s moving behind the curtain
i point it out to my friends
but they don’t see a thing
i just keep my synaptic active
to prepare for the day that they do
cos this ain’t how it ends
and they’ll say*
let’s hear it
for the post-moderation
for tolled salivation
who cares so much about these things
availed denomination
the ‘so shall’ domination
*now i think it’s funny i feel distant
i’d run away if it’d make any difference
i’d look up my childhood crushes
but they’ve all have their own children since
and even if their hearts tarnish
they've gold wedding bands to hide the green
pearly gates to show from her past or his mouth
he too bears the burden of a bulbous belly
yeah, yeah, i know, i know this veil ain’t real
and still it never fails to fall or send me reeling
i awaken to the same ceiling
and i can’t seem to shake this sick feeling

i don’t need surgery to keep my smile fixed
ever confidant, never nervous
for i feel nothing
i work hard and come from a respected family
we take care of each other, we do
we won’t live until we shed this skin
oh, to be free again
a vestige interest in the instrumental moment
you’ll know it when
now all the pieces keep falling faster
your letters spelling disaster
i wish i was in paris getting plastered
cos all this masquerading’s started my façade fading
turned my quiet heart to hating
whatever
it is that we’ve been waiting for (it)
when they’ll say*
let’s hear it
for drained health and elation
brain cell annihilation
who cares so much about these things
pupil dilation
more light to the patient
*that every word that i’m speaking
will poison the chance that you’re listening
i know that you think you’d be missing out
with an answer
that we can’t make out or make up
but even if we black out and break up
it’s just a breath ‘fore we’re looking back, laughing out
cos every end’s a beginning, beggin' to get back in
you know i’ll come around, if you just let me sleep in
with each wave more violent than the last
i’ll keep my thoughts silent till they pass
we’re not ready yet
they’ll say you’ve got to build your tolerances now and then
make your heart a callus with thicker skin
i just can’t seem to shake this (sic) fealing

the more they interfere to forestall me
the clearer i hear her calling me, calling me
i must have struck a nerve cos someone’s following me
i pull over to the shoulder of the freeway
my history profiled on the licensed registry
the shepherd keeps a careful eye on his personal inventory
saying we’re the same

so come on, child, you’ve slept enough
and i know you’re tired but i’m waking you up
there is much to be done, and we’re right on the cusp
of this shit getting real, i’m mean really, really fucked
every sheep for the shearing waiting around non-plussed
trading branding irons for brand-name cuts
we were born in labor, baptized in dust
given life anew as a living trust
with every hair numbered and cross-referenced
for each soul they claim to save, they have added interest
with a price on your head, what you think matters not
every credit card statement, every lie you’ve bought
rates our exchanged faith for the next fiat
on the blotter paper, the blood don’t clot
it just bleeds you dry and then leaves you to rot
in a dead end job till at last you drop
into this old noose, with the rope drawn taut
left with your hands bound so they’ll never be caught
you may sabotage our education
to a calculated chaos born of confusion
a controlled market through the inflation
truly euthanasia to waste on the young
but, we’ve caught you now, and we’re cutting your funds
we outnumber you over a million to one
it’s a sharp weapon, but the point’s left blunt
there’s no skill to the game, no challenge to the hunt
with each target deaf, blind, and reticent
got your ducks in line for the same false front
cos when free will costs even ten percent
false tongues speak lies over catholic hunts
from the cathepsin to the cathexis
i’ll bear the stigmatic focus of the anti-catechist
with each catalytic pill slowly slitting my wrists
so when i raise my hand, see my bloody fist
may have killed brain cells, but i’ve kept my wits
and i'd rather go sooner to have known and said this
i’ve peaked at the end, where the answer sits
all the rest is just problems and more questions
hear the classes getting loud and the teacher getting pissed
in the end this pattern goes 666
soon my name’s showing up on every government list
free speech shouldn’t cost, let alone be a risk
so when i die young, it’ll prove me right
cos it won’t be pills, swear it won’t be the knife
no matter how hard it gets, i’m in this for life
and i’m never giving up till we make things right
god gave me this voice, so i can’t stay quiet
they can’t kill this love, i’ll come back to fight
to return each star and remove each stripe
from each prism cell, we’ll refract the light
to reveal each move, catch the thieves in the night
make them share what’s left and return our rights
though it may still shine from a hormone diet
this knowledgeable fruit’s grown overripe
and robbed his breath, birth absorbed he
when the planets line up, every eye shall see
that this invite-only disparity party
has brought enough despair to the already broken-hearted
in the wake of greed, in the name of flow-charting
leaving broken-homes where once were gardens
see it’s our pale horse that we’re riding in on
bringing pestilence as a plague of love
with hell at our heels and heaven catching on
it’s the hanged man, it’s the crux fiction
it’s the pentagram, it’s the pentagon
it’s david’s star, it’s the pyramid song
what was once upright
now is upside down
and isaiah, it’s a revelation
2368, 2701
means a way out
and if i can, you know i’m bringing everyone

A friend of mine on rateyourmusic told me to check this record out on multiple occasions, and I have gradually been doing so the past couple of months. And I have really been enjoying it more and more.

There's a sad, emotional quality with a lot of it. The expression in the vocals and the use of strings and some other chamber instruments. It kind of reminds me of The Antlers or Ours in some ways, almost if you stripped away their guitars and the emphasis on falsetto vocals, but added a lot of piano and strings.

Amidst all the end-of-year stuff of late, this record along with 1 other that I should be talking about soon in this blog, have come into my play-list and impressed me a lot. Just because it's the end of the year, doesn't mean I'm going to ignore good music, no matter when it was originally released.

I probably will be playing this a fair amount in the near future (I just ordered a copy of this disc off Amazon) but of course I cannot help but wonder what the rest of their music is like.

The Antlers - Sylvia (official video)

Just saw this on The Antlers Blog
Very excited to finally see this band next Tuesday (4/20)

ifc.com page

[The Antlers. Darby Cicci, Peter Silberman and Michael Lerner]

Silberman's band, The Antlers, now a threesome have just finished a video for one of those tracks, called "Sylvia." Director Trey Hock explored the depths of the song and found a story about a tortured relationship in sepia there. "I tried to think of examples of truly frustrating or tragic unions," he said of conceiving the narrative structure of the video. "I felt that an argument with someone who was not physically there, would be the pinnacle of this type of torment. A restricted color palette and almost uncomfortably static shots kept coming to mind."

"After talking with the band, I knew that I wanted to explore the style of the silent era of the 1920s," he added. Some of his inspiration came from D.W. Griffith's 1919 film "Broken Blossoms" (about brutal boxer, his young daughter, and the Chinese immigrant who falls in love with her but that's another story).

also some SXSW footage

The Antlers and Local Natives in Minneapolis Spring 2010!

The Antlers are I believe HEADLINING @ The Varsity Theater (niice!) on 4/20/2010. The same date that Transatlantic with Daniel Gildenlow will be playing in Chicago.

Pros:
-seeing my brother in Chicago, on his bday (but seeing him and his wife + kids another weekend is likely anyway), seeing Daniel and with TA. And seeing Mike on his bday and whatever they may do.

Cons:
-cost. $200+?
-The Whirlwind, as I posted in my 2009 Turkeys of the Year, was a HUGE disappointment. if they play a lot of that music live (which I'd think they would) I don't know how much I'd be into it.

Now on the flipside, if and likely when they do stuff off Bridge Across Forever, well that would be sweet.

I'm WAYYY more into The Antlers right now though, and with my budget-conscious mind among other things, it just seems a lot more feasible and responsible to save the $ and enjoy seeing The Antlers. I have the memory from 2000 at Nearfest of TA. And any live release. Not to mention what happened the last time I saw a Portnoy-sideproject on Chicago, lol. 'When the keyboard breaks"..interesting but not exactly what I looked forward to without a keyboard in LTE.

I'm curious how good The Antlers are live. I finally purchased a copy of Hospice. The Radiok flavore-of-the-month Phantogram is on the bill (opening?)

Another note about The Antlers. They posted this new official video for the song "Bear" earlier.






The buzz band of the day/week/time/season/year even..Local Natives will be returning, headlining I believe, on May 17th @ The 400 Bar. Should be sweet although it may sellout quick. I probably will try contacting them tomorrow. But I wonder if the show gets enough demand, it'll be moved to another venue (Varsity..or more like The Cedar, which I don't like how 89.3 has pretty much changed, but with groups like St.Vincent and LN's, I can bite my tongue).

The Antlers - Hospice - (2009)

I love this record. All I can say, it's become addictive over the last few months and belongs in the Blackfield, Ours, Jeff Buckley, emotional, beauty..wail-a-thon, let-me-yell-at-you-and-the-whole-world-until-i-get-my-fucking-point-through-andyou-try-and-understand-how-I-feel.

kind of mold.

Here's a good interview, chat, show, discussion with a cool old fella.



sometime soon..I'll try and elaborate on more about them..the band and Hospice I suppose.