President Squidward Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 idk i saw the clark haters thread and now this made me want to make the topic to anyone who isn't a fan plaid *may not* blow your face off much but they sure are pretty tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumbass Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 love plaid BUT some of their albums might sound a little bland to some people. they are defo not the most adventurous idm act out there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
President Squidward Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 3 minutes ago, thumbass said: love plaid BUT some of their albums might sound a little bland to some people. they are defo not the most adventurous idm act out there True. Their sound seems to be much more subtle but also sounds very accessible in the IDM genre. Plaid has shown cool instances of experimenting (like with some hip hop-type stuff on Rest Proof, making their most complex album Spokes, Greedy Baby has some of their coolest work imo), but they've always sounded like themselves in general. It's very great music but I would love to see some more experimentation a bit here and there. What's very interesting is the fact each album you can tell their sound evolving a bit, especially if you compare their first few albums with their 2010's work, while still having structures and touches in sound design that are Plaid. Very strange duo with how they make their music. It's also weird that their unreleased/rare tracks that never made it to albums seem to be some of their coolest work to date (just listen to the midnight snacks mix they did in 2012, some very cool shit in there): https://soundcloud.com/titsacid/plaid-fuzzy-unreleased-bits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thumbass Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Was never that big into plaid, but I like revisiting them from time to time. Although their music is good, I feel like other IDM acts just make more interesting music. Thanks for the SC link though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
President Squidward Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 5 minutes ago, thumbass said: Was never that big into plaid, but I like revisiting them from time to time. Although their music is good, I feel like other IDM acts just make more interesting music. Thanks for the SC link though! Definitely undertstandable. Makes sense why Plaid is one of those groups that seem that has fans, but in the IDM fandom they're not as adored as the other Warp labelmates. I think me, ThePlaided and a few others on here are the fanboys of the smaller Plaid fandom XP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limo Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Every album has a handful of really great songs on it ... and filler. Lots of filler. Except Rest Proof Clockwork. Oh, and to this day I can’t get into Not For Threes at all. Terrible album. Just terrible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcom Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 Count me in as a Plaid fanboy. Spokes is definitely my favourite album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendish Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 The Muji of IDM. Moments of genius though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
President Squidward Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 1 hour ago, dcom said: Count me in as a Plaid fanboy. Spokes is definitely my favourite album. It's a battle between that and Rest Proof Clockwork as favorites. Spokes seems to be overlooked due to Double Figure, no one really seems to mention Spokes in their discography outside a few people. Even Rateyourmusic is quiet on it compared to some of their other releases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcom Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 23 minutes ago, President Squidward said: It's a battle between that and Rest Proof Clockwork as favorites. Spokes seems to be overlooked due to Double Figure, no one really seems to mention Spokes in their discography outside a few people. Even Rateyourmusic is quiet on it compared to some of their other releases. Plaid have said that a lot of people don't like Spokes because it's their most experimental and thus least approachable album. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
President Squidward Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 1 minute ago, dcom said: Plaid have said that not many people like Spokes because it's their most experimental album. Interesting. I always wondered what people really like about Plaid the most, since I've seen people complain when Plaid is too much of the same most of the time, and going back to a sound of old, like some negative reviews I've seen for Scintilli. It's so confusing lmao. I've always loved Plaid in their most experimental, but even then I would love more albums like Reachy Prints, which nails the minimal approach they were going for so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcom Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 7 minutes ago, President Squidward said: Interesting. I always wondered what people really like about Plaid the most, since I've seen people complain when Plaid is too much of the same most of the time, and going back to a sound of old, like some negative reviews I've seen for Scintilli. It's so confusing lmao. I've always loved Plaid in their most experimental, but even then I would love more albums like Reachy Prints, which nails the minimal approach they were going for so well. I think that a some people are put off by Plaid using non-western scales and tonal/chord arrangements and intervals, it makes people uneasy and some have commented that it sounds like they're intentionally making "difficult" music. You can also hear the influence of Benet Walsh in their more recent albums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcom Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 I also like the Tekkonkinkreet OST very much, it's often overlooked because it's not so readily available, I had to order a copy from Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diatoms Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 I'm not too fond of gingham does that count? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncrtx Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 3 hours ago, thumbass said: love plaid BUT some of their albums might sound a little bland to some people. they are defo not the most adventurous idm act out there +1 They're especially mild when compared to the other 'greats' (read: WATMM selected artists) both in terms of musicality, innovation, emotionality, image (which is also quite important), etc. Most often I find their tracks enjoyable but rarely ever genious - especially when compared to acts like afx, autechre, squarepusher, etc. They're not really ICONIC is the word I'm looking for, as the aforementioned artists are. Guess they also just started at the right time, don't think they would get this legend status if their output started in the early 2000's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goDel Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 2 hours ago, dcom said: Plaid have said that a lot of people don't like Spokes because it's their most experimental and thus least approachable album. Their most experimental? I wasn't a fan of Spokes, but that's because I thought it sounded like Plaid going through the motions. It's way too stereotypical/formulaic plaid, imo. At least, that's what it sounded like to me. And the couple of albums after Spokes as well. Really lost interest with Spokes. They went from "buy blind" to "first check and pick the tracks I like". I'd argue they weren't experimental enough! Hard to believe they think Spokes is their most experimental. If that's from an interview, I'd be happy reading it for extra context. I'm not hearing it. Still love some good Plaid, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDEM Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 I'm far from being a Plaid hater, and I still buy every album of theirs, but mostly out of loyalty, I have to say. If I'm honest, the last one I really loved was Double Figure. Lately, their playfulness and their ornamental little melodies can sound somewhat twee to me, and I wish they were just a little less nice sometimes. I'm afraid they're running into danger of becoming IDM's Woody Allen, just routinely churning out album after album every two or three years without any real standouts. That's as much hate as you're gonna get out of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
President Squidward Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 15 hours ago, goDel said: Their most experimental? I wasn't a fan of Spokes, but that's because I thought it sounded like Plaid going through the motions. It's way too stereotypical/formulaic plaid, imo. At least, that's what it sounded like to me. And the couple of albums after Spokes as well. Really lost interest with Spokes. They went from "buy blind" to "first check and pick the tracks I like". I'd argue they weren't experimental enough! Hard to believe they think Spokes is their most experimental. If that's from an interview, I'd be happy reading it for extra context. I'm not hearing it. Still love some good Plaid, though. I guess tracks like Cedar City, Even Spring and Marry do amplify with their predictable melodic sound, but I always loved the amount of details that pile on a lot of the songs off that album. Zeal was always one of their most coolest tracks to look at what's going on in the background, same with Marry, which I feel goes hard. I don't know, I guess I feel Spokes is what I wanted Double Figure to be more like. Darker but tracks that feel more memorable and catchier. Double Figure does seem to be more experimental though, since there's tons of tracks on there that do much more styles of electronica compared to Spokes (Zamami is very downtempo, Eyen has Benet Walsh's guitar and gets a bit industrial with the ending portion, Zala has Drum and Bass). I like that Double Figure has the interlude layout, and I would kill for another 70 minute Plaid record with some interludes between tracks again, and I respect all the cool things you hear in the background in every track, which are all still very enjoyable tunes, but I wish half of them hit the entire landing for me, which is why I've always wanted to know more about Double Figure's love. I still love it but I've never had it in my top Plaid records for some reason. *also bring back Tim Hutton for a collab. Ti Bom is the greatest track on there* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
President Squidward Posted August 4, 2020 Author Share Posted August 4, 2020 16 hours ago, ncrtx said: +1 They're especially mild when compared to the other 'greats' (read: WATMM selected artists) both in terms of musicality, innovation, emotionality, image (which is also quite important), etc. Most often I find their tracks enjoyable but rarely ever genious - especially when compared to acts like afx, autechre, squarepusher, etc. They're not really ICONIC is the word I'm looking for, as the aforementioned artists are. Guess they also just started at the right time, don't think they would get this legend status if their output started in the early 2000's. I did want to mention they definitely don't have a big image compared to what artists like Aphex, Squarepusher, BoC and Autechre have shown, but I've always liked some of their promo images for an album, looks pretty cool with the range of promo images of the duo there is that are very aesthetically pleasing to me. I also do dig their old TV logo from Mbuki Mvuki/Not For Threes as well as the globe one they have currently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xyrofen Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 I hate that I always end up liking their albums like half a year after I first listen to it but feel bored on initial listen. Except Spokes. That album was immediate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweepstakes Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 They occupy such a weird spot in my brain. I'm kind of nostalgia-phobic but Not For Threes was one of the albums that got me through my darkest time (literally, fucking Alaska in the winter) as a teenager. I don't listen to that often anymore but "Headspin" is pretty great. Also I think the Freemix of Abla Eedio was the first thing I heard of theirs (also one of the first tracks I ever downloaded on broadband internet!) and I still think it's one of their best tracks - it's one of the few tracks where it didn't feel like they were getting in their own way (which I can't say for the original mix of that, even). They can do some seriously gorgeous things but they always, always gussy it up with some inane twee shit. Literally every track has some kind of cartoon character running through it I wish I could shoo out of the way. On their older, loungey stuff, this actually worked somewhat because it felt like it was supposed to be a bit campy with the smoky jazz samples. But later it cleaved from the groove and turned into something bordering on embarrassing, maybe even obnoxious. It's frustrating that they can make such pretty stuff but they have to slather the "quirky" sauce on it every god damn time. Maybe that is their shtick, that they want to hold onto some whimsical playful notion of childhood and for their aesthetic that requires some really cringey rhythms and textures. That's fine, I can see how people would be into it, but I do find it a bit alienating nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IDEM Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 13 hours ago, President Squidward said: I guess tracks like Cedar City, Even Spring and Marry do amplify with their predictable melodic sound, but I always loved the amount of details that pile on a lot of the songs off that album. Zeal was always one of their most coolest tracks to look at what's going on in the background, same with Marry, which I feel goes hard. I don't know, I guess I feel Spokes is what I wanted Double Figure to be more like. Darker but tracks that feel more memorable and catchier. Double Figure does seem to be more experimental though, since there's tons of tracks on there that do much more styles of electronica compared to Spokes (Zamami is very downtempo, Eyen has Benet Walsh's guitar and gets a bit industrial with the ending portion, Zala has Drum and Bass). I like that Double Figure has the interlude layout, and I would kill for another 70 minute Plaid record with some interludes between tracks again, and I respect all the cool things you hear in the background in every track, which are all still very enjoyable tunes, but I wish half of them hit the entire landing for me, which is why I've always wanted to know more about Double Figure's love. I still love it but I've never had it in my top Plaid records for some reason. *also bring back Tim Hutton for a collab. Ti Bom is the greatest track on there* You said it yourself, they're exploring more styles on that album instead of doing the same old thing and sticking to the tried and true formula. Man, I love "Zamami", it's such an atmospheric track. Would like to hear more from them in this vein for example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyrex Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 I'm more partial to an Oxford or Tartan myself... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chronical Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 I don't feel a whole lot of emotions in their music. I did in Tekkonkinkreet years ago, but other than that it just feels a bit.. plain to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 Not for Threes/Restproof/Double Figure were a great run IMO. I know it is widely praised here but I never could get into Spokes. thought the tekkonkinkreet soundtrack was nice, but not great. Greedy Baby, Scintilli I also didn't much care for. I guess I mentally wrote them off at that point, that they had released their best in the '90s/2001 and then boom - out comes Reachy Prints, which impressed the hell out of me. I've probably listened to that more than any of their others. IMO it is their most mature sounding album. I didn't much care for the last 2. and I get that their twee/cartoony sounds can be off putting for some, but for me those playful sounds are part of their charm. I used to listen to a lot of older ninja tune stuff, and I somewhat associate Plaid with some of that (Coldcut for example). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.