Need help IDing a band

August 10, 2007 9:45 PM

I heard music that I really liked at a pub the other day, and am hoping someone can help me identify it. I have very little information but am hoping the fact that it seemed I was listening to tracks on an album might help. Genre is alternative-ish. (notmany)More details inside.

The sound of the band was somewhat similar to Nirvana (I'm an electronica fan, so this association may be completely lame, best I can think of) The main identifying factor was that the first two songs I heard made heavy, heavy usage of (beautiful) string arrangements, and the songs were also incredibly morose. I strained to hear a snippet of lyrics that I could google when I got home, but the pub was a bit loud and the singer had a sort of low voice, so that I couldn't make anything out.

After two tracks of this (definitely by the same band), the next track was largely a somewhat grating, scratchy interference type sound. It was definitely a song of some sort, though not terribly enjoyable (wasn't equipment malfunction). It went on for a bit and they switched it off. I don't know for sure that this was from the same album, but they proceeded to play a patsy cline cd straight through, so I imagine that they maybe had one cd in at a time, and all three tracks I heard were from the same album.

Seems rather of hopeless as I type this, but does anyone have any idea who this might have been?

posted by FortyT-wo to media & arts (17 answers total)

A shot in the dark: The Verve "Urban Hymns"?
posted by softlord at 10:28 PM on August 10, 2007

I actually thought The Verve too.
see if
Bittersweet Symphony, the first track on Urban Hymns sounds familiar.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 11:00 PM on August 10, 2007

Your description makes me think that they may have been playing a My Bloody Valentine album, possibly Loveless or the Glider EP. Those certainly fit what you've described--beautiful and morose songs interrupted by grating, scratchy interference--though there is one sticking point: there aren't strings on the songs. There are, however, layers upon layers of masterfully manipulated feedback and noise, and in a crowded and noisy pub I could totally see how you may think it was a string section.

(If it's not MBV--and let's face it, what are the chances it is?--you should still pick up Loveless, which is one of the albums of our generation and something an electronica fan would be greatly interested in.)
posted by Ian A.T. at 12:24 AM on August 11, 2007

Could it be Thievery Coproration?

I got into them before all the "hip" joints around here started playing them; they've got really generic *shit* that sounds "cool," lately.

TC is also known for taking other people's works and adding a moving drum&bass and re-tempo-ing it, which may make something seem familiar.

They're *great* for original stuff, but their adoptations leave a lot to be desired. If you like them, try out earlier albums.

Their original compositions, though, are *really* good - especially their early stuff and the latest (they've got enough of a 'brand' to bring in real talent.)
posted by porpoise at 12:43 AM on August 11, 2007

Sounds like it could have been Loveless.
posted by ludwig_van at 1:06 AM on August 11, 2007

Mansun - Attack of the Grey Lantern?
posted by cogat at 4:27 AM on August 11, 2007

Another shot in the dark: Neon Bible by The Arcade Fire?

First two songs have strings.. third song is a bit grating.. morose lyrics..

Their first album (Funeral) is one of the greatest (and most underrated) albums of the last ten years. Get into them.. even if they arn't the band you are looking for :)
posted by TheOtherGuy at 6:55 AM on August 11, 2007

Thievery Corp definitely does not fit with "morose" and "heavy string arrangements." Even their remixes.

Portishead?

Were you able to identify the gender of the singer?
posted by cowbellemoo at 7:39 AM on August 11, 2007

Morphine - Take me with you?
posted by borkingchikapa at 8:37 AM on August 11, 2007

Thank you all so much for the answers. The funny thing is I actually own all the Portishead and Theivery Corp albums as well as Bittersweet Symphony. So those are definitely on the mark of music I'd like.

I checked out My bloody Valentine, Mansun and Arcade fire, and none of the tracks seemed to fit the mold.

I can say that the tempo seemed similar to Heart Shaped Box, and the strings were lush arrangements somewhat like the ones in joga by bjork. The strings were a substantial part of both songs. The singer was male, and his voice was sort of low and somewhat unexpressive? I guess just very gloomy sounding

The interference was all on a track of its own, it never played during the other songs.
posted by FortyT-wo at 8:50 AM on August 11, 2007

Low, slow and lush strings makes me think of the Tindersticks... check the song "Another Night In" on Curtains, since that track is rather emblematic for the band.
posted by xo at 9:40 AM on August 11, 2007

Another shot in the dark

Athlete?

Some tracks are definitely morose, slow and almost to the point of being spoken.
Tourist kinda has that scratchy interference. Chances and Street Map both have string backups, along with a few others.
posted by moonshine at 10:55 AM on August 11, 2007

Me again. Tindersticks is a great guess, especially since the pub played Patsy Cline afterwards. Not that the two have a whole lot in common, it just makes sense on a certain level that, say, My Bloody Valentine doesn't.

(And, again, even if it's not Tindersticks, I can't recommend their work highly enough. I agree with XO...start with Curtains. Recommended if you like: Portishead, Thievery Corporation, Bittersweet Symphony, feeling like a heartbreaking badass.)

Maybe it would help if you told us what sort of pub you were at, so we could weed out bands that certain kinds of bars wouldn't play. For example, the sort of bars that play Patsy Cline--in New Orleans, anyway--tend to be full of slightly older, slightly chubby girls with unflattering blunt-cut bangs and cat's-eye glasses talking loudly about burlesque and "fetish" to their morose wallet-chained boyfriends, who are busy trying to look like rockabilly shitkickers instead of senior web developers. These bars wouldn't play any of our suggestions, with the notable exception of Morphine.
posted by Ian A.T. at 12:20 PM on August 11, 2007 [1 favorite]

it might help to say where this pub was.

since it was a pub, i'm guessing you're somewhere in the british isles.

thus, my wild, left-field guess is that it was the twilight sad, since they're scottish, noisy, have a deep-voiced singer, and have an emergent profile.
posted by Hat Maui at 2:55 PM on August 11, 2007

Have you ever heard Why I'm Here by Oleander? It's really similar to Heart-Shaped Box. Ridiculously so. Oleander sounds a lot like Nirvana sometimes and this album (February Son) also has a squawky distorted song on it called You'll Find Out, but they aren't in order like you listened to them.
posted by iconomy at 3:51 PM on August 11, 2007

arguing in the alternative, i am now suggesting two gallants, who sound a lot like nirvana.
posted by Hat Maui at 9:56 PM on August 11, 2007

Total derail, but I one saw two gallants play entirely by accident. They kinda sucked. Not a good show. I actually kind of like the album though.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 1:12 AM on August 12, 2007