Re: Swervedriver

Never heard these guys before, but just fnished listening to Mezcal Head on Spotify.

This albums kicks all kinds of butt. I'm VERY impressed.

Any other fans here?

I'm not a rabid fan, but yeah, I dig Swervedriver. Shoegazer with drive - more Stooges than...whatever shoegazing is influences by. Still kicking myself for not going to their reunion tour stop here in Austin.

Love Swervedriver, but always thought the fact that they were considered shoegazers was kind of odd. I guess they were just around at the same time, used lots of distortion and were signed to Creation. But they never really had the woozy atmospherics that most of the shoegazers had.

Most of the shoegazers made you feel like had just been punched in the face and were trying to make sense of things. Swervedriver always felt like they were still punching you.

Ha! Check my thread from last fall. (Oops, the linky thing didn't work. Here's the longhand version: [trouserpress.com])

Mezcal Head is my favorite, but I like all their albums. I did catch them on the tour stop here a month or so ago and it was pretty great. As you might imagine, they don't put on the most impressive stage show you've ever seen, but the music was great. I was struck in the live show by how much they reminded of a British Dinosaur Jr. I'd never made that connection listening to the albums, but it was a pretty apparent comparison live.

I also recently picked up an Adam Franklin disc from a couple of years back, and it's pretty good too. Not as raucous as the Swervedriver stuff and certainly less heavy than even modern-era Dinosaur, but not quite singer/songwriter quiet either.



Post Edited (05-15-12 18:02)

I saw Franklin do a solo set at SXSW a few years ago (as in solo music - he had a full band). He was pretty dull, frankly. The studio records are pretty, though.

Swervedriver?

Loved the first two albums. I had an old friend who used to describe them as "Elvis Costello fronts Ride."

That used to make me smile.

"Duel" still sounds good to me. But a lot of Mezcal hasn't aged as well for me. But I could say that about MBV and Slowdive too...and I once loved them as well.



Post Edited (05-16-12 20:22)

love the lads originally known as "Shake Appeal" (I am sure they never regretted renaming the band) since I picked up "Raise" on a whim back in the early 90s. Then saw them live with my bandmates at TTs in Cambridge, MA in maybe 92 or 93 - a show so packed the fire marshall came and made some unlucky latercomers leave. "Son of Mustang Ford" is one of my all-time favorite tunes from that (or any for that matter) era. Best played at 11. I think their stuff holds up, though the first two albums definitely outshine the latter ones.

Funny this thread came back around. I just picked up a disc by the Cheatahs, who are to Swervedriver what the History of Apple Pie are to Lush - a band of youngsters trying their damnedest to recreate the sound of a long gone great.

I'm liking it quite a bit so far.

Cheatahs..hmmm will have to check them out . Dialing up on Spotify as we speak

I saw a Cheatahs CD in a cut-out bin yesterday and picked it up for less than $3. Pretty good stuff, Reno, so thanks for the tip.

A buddy of mine who's a huge shoegaze fan also sent me a disc earlier this year of a similar (but American, I think) band called Airiel. Anybody here know them? He raved about them and I thought it was fine, but it didn't bowl me over.

He also raved about DIIV, so I picked up their newest (only?) from the library and thought it was OK. It's not quite so shoegazy, but it's definitely got an early 80s British feel to it to my ears (Cactus World News?). But then an interview with the main dude on Pitchfork last week made me want to never listen to the CD again.

I've got one Airiel album - The Battle of Sealand or something like that. I like it but haven't ever really loved it enough to rave over it. Plus, I always get them confused with Air Formation.

I have the DIIV album and know that I like it very much when I'm listening to it, but can't remember anything much from it when I'm not.

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what the History of Apple Pie are to Lush

Wow.

They sound like Lush? Slavishly so? Please?

...

In related news: How about The Pains of Being Pure At Heart? They sound tons like early My Bloody Valentine. Slavishly so, at times. If that's what you're into.

It's like Beatlemania without The Beatles, I guess.

The Scene That Celebrates The Scene That Celebrated Itself?

I saw The Pains during SXSW a couple of years ago. They were pretty terrible live. Kinda put me off them. It doesn't help that the Joy Formidable came on right after them and blew them out of the water.

I wouldn't say History of Apple Pie slavishly sound like Lush. Maybe just indentured servantly. But Lush is influence #1 for them.

They always sound like they're going to be good but imo they don't get better after the first listen, like shoeprog is supposed to. It gets so close but something's missing compared to peers (Priest Driven Ambulance, Deserter's Songs, plus several Brit era-cohorts/classics).

Ejector Seat was one of the few times I searched due to TP review. Didn't keep it (hmmm,...I'd have to dig)

That said, Raise is worth owning plus 1/3 of Mezcal. I bought the latter on a Monument Valley/Powell/GC vacay, so, indelibly linked.



Post Edited (06-28-13 08:17)

Quote

Any other fans here?

Love(d) 'em!

...

As an old friend used to say: "Elvis Costello fronts Ride."