Date: Sun, 27 Oct 1996 13:14:36 -0500 From: "[spiral]" (99lear@LAB.CC.WMICH.EDU) Subject: * laBRADford ! ! !* re: Lababrador or something On Sat, 26 Oct 1996, Scott, Mari & Brian wrote: > I was in the record store the other day and they were playing a cd > by a band/group called lababrador (or something like that) and It was > very pretty/flowey. as yes. labradford. nice nice nice. (my knowledge is limited so please flame me, i love it) -precizion lp (double vinyl.flyingnunn/kranky) -a stable reference (kranky.lp) -scenic recovery (single) they are a three piece with gui/vox, bass, keys... the first album is real laid back and sparse... more dynamic (in labradford terms) than aSR.. singing is more in the spoken vein, but works well. no percussion. i guess a good comparision is the spaces between rutti on pygmalion... only 5 minutes long... with some spacemen3 thrown in. arpeggios: low style. dirging bass. but still more upbeat. a stable reference is darker; strange noises in and out. more changes within songs... still no percussion. seems more sinister to me. there is singing but dont plan on hearing the words.. you can hear the vocals fine but you just cant hear the words. its strange. the scenic single is more shoegaze style. (if i may be so cliche) a little dabbling of percussion, chords this time. thick walls of sound. spoken word. great stuff. > Anyone heard of them or any information on them? their new album is out in two weeks. yum. (spiral and .mark. in unison: yum) > Definitly worth checking out if you have a few extra dollars. i agree. ---> [spiral] 99lear@lab.cc.wmich.edu Date: Sun, 8 Dec 96 17:14:52 -0800 From: "Brendan A. McCarthy" Reply-To: ctip@dharma.firstcomm.com To: Multiple recipients of Subject: Bowery Beat/ Labradford \\--------// labradford - s/t (kranky krank013) CD/LP 39:46 it seems that labradford are still painting brilliantly lonely sonic landscapes. after creating exploring the tundra with last year's "a stable reference," they've on to explore the deserts of the american southwest. this album isn't as intense and overwhelmingly gorgeous as ASR (which may well be one of my favourite albums ever.) but after a few listens, it is holding up quite well. the album opens with "phantom channel crossing" - an subtle instrumental appetizer with intermittent clanking chains. the guitar melody/reverb and violin on "midrange" set the album's vaguely western motif. mark's vocals are nearly obscured by the keyboard melody and mysterious beacon-like beeps. this song has a wandering, lost feel. "pico" - this song sounds like it could have escaped from labradford's incredible "a stable reference" album. haunting and beautifully desolate. the eerie keyboards call out of the fog created by braided bass and guitar. (the keyboards remind me a little of the haunting theme from "In Search Of" which i loved as a child. Leonard Nimoy hosted this paranormal-wierdness series in the late 70's.) "lake speed" - initially reminds me of lost desperation of "at the heart of it all" ("scatology"-era Coil) and then labradford take over again. this track doesn't work for me as well as "pico," but the subtle crackling on the vocals and the chilly layered echoey radio-like tones and feedback are a pleasant counterpoint to the warm bass. at nearly 8 minutes, "battered" is my favourite track on the album. beginning with loneliness (little noises and beeps weave in and out of this track recalling the moods on slowdive's moving "pygmalion") //--------\\ i'll review the new jessamine and fuxa soon. brendan ectomort@slip.net http://www.slip.net/~ectomort