Life Without Buildings

the australian only single is great as well http://www.trifekta.com.au/artists/artist.asp?id=3

will and robert were briefly also in proforma but will left to concentrate on writing and robert left soon after to focus on his graphic design business. none of them are involved with music any more.

No matter how many times I read this line, my brain just won't process it. Maybe if I read it one more time, word by word, very slowly...

As it stands, my favorite thing by them is an admittedly straightforward but still fun cover of Prince's "Pop Life."

Jesus H.

This album is just...the best goddamn thing of the last 10 years. Did I say that already?

THE RIGHT STUFF

LOOK BACK AND SAY THAT I DIDN'T

There was a Magnet article in 2001 on the five bands that represent Nu No Wave:

Liars, Ex-Models, Life Without Buildings, Seconds and _______?

...erase errata, if i remember correctly.

Goddammit, for a split-second I thought the thread was revived for a new album. It seems like the only real reason I check ILM these days.

Did anyone get that live album that came out this year?

i did, and it's terrifically fun. and since i can't currently find my copy of "any other city" that's all i have to listen to right now.

they were always my secret band that i sprang on anyone who liked the fall or the pixies or post-punk in general. such a shame. but it's kind of nice in some ways that it is what it is, and we just have the one great album to love.

The one new/unreleased song on the live album, "Liberty Feelup," is as wonderful as anything on Any Other City, too.

I can't believe how long it took me to notice how much this band takes after Sonic Youth! The guitar playing is a whole lot like how Thurston plays rhythm, just cleaner and low-gain and pretty (e.g., "Young Offenders"); he even likes to throw in ringy harmonics in a Thurstony way; and the vocals are really not unlike something Thurston or Kim might sing, only higher and a rate of about 5x as many more words per minute.

Which isn't weird, since probably most indie guitar stuff could be compared to Sonic Youth in some way or other -- I just can't believe this never even crossed my mind before, and then suddenly I'm listening through the record and it's, like ... the distance between some of these things and a poppy SY track is surprisingly short!

(Ha, googling around suggest I might just have been slow on this point -- I guess a decent number of reviews at the time identified that template under there)

Huh, I'm not sure that would've crossed my mind, but I like both Life Without Buildings and pop-oriented Sonic Youth enormously, so I wouldn't be surprised if there is indeed a connection.

What has crossed my mind is how well the music would work without vocals as just a nice breezy post-rock record, like Tristeza or something.

Heartbeat always skitters across a couple of grooves seeing a LWB thread get revived.

^^^ Such a wonderful track.

xxp Which maybe has to do with a tendency to play little melodic riffs and arpeggios as much, if not more so, than outright chords -- which I do think is true of Sonic Youth and also, incidentally, Sleater-Kinney's The Hot Rock.

thx for the video link. I'd stopped looking for videos a while ago.

Not a video I'm afraid, just audio :(

:(

Also: a friend introduced LWB to me as "the Sugarcubes meets Pavement" for whatever that's worth.

!

That's bizarre.

When I first heard the album, the combo I made in my mind immediately was Altered Images vs. Sleater-Kinney.

my realization was based on watching SY play a thing all morning, then having "Young Offenders" pop up on shuffle on the way home; if you can engineer a similar situation of being SY-sensitized and then hearing that track, it might have the same head-slapping quality

That Love Trinity track is really good. Haven't heard it before. Can someone up it?

gimme 1 sec

oh thanks

http://rapidshare.com/files/236160811/01_Love_Trinity.mp3.html

Oh wow we're turning people on to LWB songs here they haven't heard before! Nice work, ILM!

Alas, limit reached. Re up please?

What has crossed my mind is how well the music would work without vocals as just a nice breezy post-rock record, like Tristeza or something.

― Bianca Jagger (jaymc), Friday, 22 May 2009 19:12 (2 days ago)

^^^ this. it's the vocals that really push the songs over the edge. case in point: http://www.imeem.com/people/wgMI9AD/music/0B6wbnjb/life-without-buildings-daylighting/

don't know if this has been mentioned already but seeing as we're talking about soundalikes, thomas tantrum sound very very much like LWB:

i mentioned that somewhere, and i agree, sadly their album was v disappointing

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-City-Life-Without-Buildings/dp/B00005AKO2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1243287289&sr=8-1

This is insane, the LWB studio album listed at £83.52 - 2 copies, one of the sellers admitting that the digipak is pretty worn. My first copy was £2, and was given to a friend when I found another copy recently in better condition for a whole 10p. Spotted "Is Is & the IRS" cd single for 1p on Amazon, so have broken my self imposed "no CD purchases in May" rule to get it.

Does anyone have an MP3 of "Daylighting" they'd be willing to provide me with? Or know where I can get a legit download of it, I don't fancy paying the £66 someone wants for a copy of "Young Offenders" to complete the collection.

bagsie first dibs on stirmonster's memories if the component parts of his brain ever come up for auction.

btw optimo is given the love in that Robert Dallas Gray interview i linked to above :)

i just read that! robert and his friends were the very first regulars the club had and came almost religiously for the first year or so when not so many people attended. i'm not sure why LWB never performed there. memory is an interesting thing as i am 99.9% sure that television song he recalls hearing wasn't ever played.

Nick's Youtube link got me curious and it looks like Sue has done a number of solo/guest vocals:
- "Country Grammer", a 2004 solo track
- "Raid" / "Turnover", a 2015 solo 7"
- "Do It Puritan!" with El Hombre Trajeado in 2016
- "Special Long Version (Demo)" with Russell Haswell in 2018
- 5 tracks with TSX on recur³ followed by 4 tracks with TSX on recur² in 2019/2020

Given her slow build-up of work the last 5 years, I wonder if she's planning a proper solo or new band LP.

time for a comeback to show these Wet Dry Leg Cleaning posers how real random talk songs should be performed

Tompkins and Haswell have performed as a duo a few times now. I once saw them browsing DVDs in the Fopp on Union Street in Glasgow.

I saw LWB in London one time, with Piano Magic I think. In Highbury, just near the Garage, can't remember the venue name. No trace of it online. Maybe I dreamed it?

I saw the same bill but it was in Camden in a basement. Right after Artists Rifles

yep, they played in brighton with piano magic too, round about the time of 'low birth weight' but i didn't go for some idiotic reason, genius that i am

I think Michael Jones of this parish and I saw the mystery Highbury venue Piano Magic support slot too - iirc it felt like a theatre space? A few actor friends of mine were there and seemed to be friends with Sue, which made me think they were some kind of improv/performance art thing, which slightly put me off. Saw them again a few months later, on some random NME bill with a friend's band at the LA2 and they completely won me over - so much so that by the time they played the Spitz a few months after that, they were pretty much my favourite band. And they split up :(

I've doubtless mentioned this numerous times in this thread, but I saw them support The Strokes at the latter's debut headline show at the Barfly, and the Strokes were amazing - much better than I ever saw them again - but there was an unlikely magic to LWB that was sublime, and it felt like the indie scene was swapping this weird sublime music for stuff aimed squarely at the cash register. I guess it was similar to when Britpop began to coalesce and flex its commercial muscle.

final post i swear: sue did a track with el hombre trajeado in 2016!! how the heck did i not know this?

boops!

guess there's a repress of 'any other city' in the works...

hmm how interesting. wonder who else is in this series https://t.co/A9ctd3KxCD

— Robert Dallas Gray (@rdg_music) July 26, 2023

Only 500 of that first one? Maybe there'll be nice liners.

The previous represses look to be still around... e.g., Rough Trade website

kinda of hoping for some added extras tbh, 'love trinity' on vinyl would be an absolute dream

btw if you're into solo guitar stuff, you might be interested in rdg's forthcoming solo album. sounding very lovely to me...

https://robertdallasgray.bandcamp.com/track/stolen-moments

Yeah, I'm happy with my WYR pressing from 2014, but I might replace it if a new one comes with the Love Trinity tracks.

I did the artwork for the WYR pressing. Meaning I put the existing artwork in a new templates, shuffled around a few logos and dates etc. Was an honor.

I would be happy if it was the live album on vinyl.

I guess something is happening today

Huge news coming this afternoon.
Sign up to our mailout for first dibs

Head here: https://t.co/KD1VvQUxOD pic.twitter.com/c8gmSVL2c0

— monorail music (@Monorail_Music) August 21, 2023

nice thanks. i'd probably down with international shipping just for a lyric sheet lol

So it's a slightly deluxe version of the regular tracklist of the album.

LIFE WITHOUT BUILDINGS: Any Other City
The Glasgow School 02

Monorail Edition: 250 on colour vinyl Handstamped+numbered folder with Sue Tompkins Lyric book, flyers, final gig ticket + 2 badgeshttps://t.co/F5f5NxMkn6

The most special of groups,
So much love for this LP pic.twitter.com/s4tqSPUqCT

— monorail music (@Monorail_Music) August 21, 2023

one for the guit nerds:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CyGpOt0Kb3T/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

In EADGAE btw

awesome. always wondered what tuning he used, so simple once you know

Good to see albums being reissued 'From Glasgow' not from complete and utter cunts

gorgeous, ty for posting

Sue Tompkins instagram update: "LT coming xxx"

wassup??

reissue of Love Trinity i guess?

which is absolutely highest tier LWB imo

a single reissue?? or maybe they recorded more than we know about for a second album?

I've been looking for the Love Trinity single for years now. Really hope it's something to do with that.

I kept hoping they would do a deluxe version of the album with the B-sides and that single on the extra disc. Maybe give us an official release of the Pop Life cover too.

ooh would love a vinyl release of Love Trinity, I hardly ever reach for my CD singles

Annnd "Love Trinity" it is:

https://heavenlycreaturerecords.bandcamp.com/album/love-trinity

thanks ned, duly ordered!

Nice, i didn't realize the original release was so obscure.

Writeup mentions that the live album just came out on vinyl for the first time for Record Store Day. News to me!

a 500-copy reissue is probably even more obscure than the Trifekta release — iirc their first 2 7”s had their lowest pressing runs, and those were both 500 per.

Weirdly I found that Trifekta single in charity shops an improbable number of times. I might even have more than one copy to this day, as a result.

I was recently reunited with my CD collection after some 15 years of it sitting in my parents' attic. I was surprised by the prices this single was supposedly commanding on Discogs. Kind of a shame the b-sides aren't included in the reissue?

Yeah is it really just a single track 7"? If they filled it out with a couple others either from the Trifekta or otherwise might help somewhat justify the $24 after shipping I'm faced with considering from the US :(

if anyone else is waiting for their's, my copy of 'Love Trinity' was laid on my doorstep when i got back home after the weekend (it had been sat in the rain for a day or two and the outer packaging was soaked through and starting to disintergrate and well, just about ready to leave the visual world, but luckily the record itself was inside a plastic sleeve and was fine - praise the lord!)

this was a tough watch tbh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1aeyshn5Z0
Sleaford Mods Ft. Sue Tompkins - No Touch

https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/life-without-buildings-reform-one-off-show-celebrate-rough-trades-50th-anniversary

xp how so?

I like that song, especially like the one handed wheelie on a racer guy

I'm assuming the presence of the Sleaford Melts was the issue.

really not into jason's voice, bit too dj smile for me

anyhow, robert says more dates to come...

https://www.instagram.com/p/DTfDA6_CFUG/

fair

I have to say, the one time I saw them play, they were absolutely transcendent. That show was them playing as support to The Strokes at that band's first headline London show, at the Barfly, and The Strokes were also transcendent, in a much more saleable way, and it was a real turning point. Like, here's this remarkable, inexplicable, wonderful, lightning-in-a-bottle thing happening -leftfield, post-rock-ish, post-punk-ish music, this livewire vocalist - and then there's this band of pretty young boys playing perfectly crafted pop songs with perfectly crafted, but pointedly retro and referential rock visuals and vibe. I'd been following and championing glorious weirdos like LWB for a couple of years, and I still would. But it was really clear that the future belonged to The Strokes and their ilk, at least for a while. It must have been similar to when Britpop swept in - all the weird, shambling, subterranean stuff indie seemed to offer was trumped by bands with guitars suddenly (briefly) writing pop hits. I wonder if LWB can still tap that brilliance, 20-odd years on. I hope so.

The next year I interviewed the Strokes and at least 4/5ths of that group were bored and boring. I bet LWB wouldn't have been boring.