New Chills album

There is a new Chills album coming out at the end of the month - "Silver Bullets". New song - Warm Waveform. Very good in a chilly (sorry) sort of way.

I've been waiting for ages. Saw a gig poster *somewhere* online that indicated that there was a new album. Hooray for Martin Phillips!

Yes, very excited, and have heard some of the tracks as they have come out slowly on Spotify, etc. I am hoping they may tour in the States at some point! Of all the vintage Flying Nun bands, they're my favorite, but the one I haven't seen in concert (I have seen Verlaines and 3Ds in Dunedin, and the Clean and Bats in DC).

My updated writeup on the Chills is now here, including the new Silver Bullets and some of the other Martin Phillips releases which have trickled out over the past few years. Chills are now touring in Australia and have posted about the idea of European and North American touring - very exciting stuff.

ah our New Zealand connection. That's pretty cool about the album titles and 'SB', I would have never noticed that.

I see that Ira put up an update on the Mysteries of Life as well. I have been just discovering that several TP bands had releases last year, that I completely missed:

Grip Weeds
Urinals
DOA
Penetration
The Black Watch (two!)

I keep hoping to find time to update the TBW entry with the most recent two. Same with the Porcupine Tree entry and Green Pajamas entry - I think there's been three PJs records, plus three or four side projects. New Baroness and Mastodon albums as well. Someday!

I think Green Pajamas need to do another compilation to update from GLASS COLORED ROSES. I am a casual fan/admirer, but no way I could keep up.

For all fans of the Chills and the Dunedin scene, there is a kickstarter for a documentary on Martin Phillips and the Chills, a few hundred kiwi dollars short of its funding target with barely a day or two remaining. Please consider chipping in! (USD equivalent looks like they hit their target, but it's not quite right.)

[www.kickstarter.com]

Anyone else hear Brave Words (Spoken Bravely: The Remix)? I actually hadn't gotten around to listening to the original before listening to the remix. (I probably felt less motivated because Phillipps had been talking about remixing it for a while and by the time I discovered them, I read that it was being worked on with an imminent release date.) With no familiarity with the music, it sounded like a good mix, but after listening to the original, I don't think that was a bad mix either and the extra ambience kind of feels apiece with some of their earlier singles like "Pink Frost." I guess I'll have to keep a copy of both.

I'll have to take back what I said about the original mix for Brave Words. Once I put it on a good system, it really is terrible and I totally get Phillips's disappointment. The new mix is a big improvement. Probably could do with less compression in the mastering and a little less in the upper midrange, but it corrects a lot of what's wrong and brings the ambience much closer to what you hear on those early Chills records. "Dark Carnival" could not be remixed as it's implied the multi-track was too damaged. It's actually one of the better-sounding mixes from the original set of mixes, but sandwiched next to newly mixed tracks, you can still make out what's wrong with the original mixes. It doesn't sound that bad when it's only one song, but it's tough to enjoy the album when every single track becomes metallic mush.

Wondering why Ira left out Beginning to Move and the Home Recordings release? It's nearly impossible to find their post-90s music on disc. I really miss this band.

Here's the ep:

[themysteriesoflife.bandcamp.com]



Post Edited (01-15-16 20:30)

Just read on pitchfork a review of an album called ‘springboard: the early unrecorded songs’

He did one song at the show I was very lucky to see, and it was excellent. I haven't heard the album yet but there's been good word-of-mouth. Sad that it's his last but I'm glad he was able to complete so much unfinished business before he passed. Between this and the new Brave World mix, I'm sure it was a great relief to him, especially given how long these projects have been around.

Been streaming Springboard and it indeed is good. Highly recommended.

Can confirm that Springboard is pretty damn magical. Given how good it and the three other albums they put out over the last 10 years or so are, it makes me even sadder that we've lost Martin.

I listened to it on Spotify and have to eventually get a physical copy. Songs sounded really good.