High Llamas - "Talahomi Way" (April 2011)

Is the mini-LP Hawaii a gatefold like the 2xLP version? According to Amazon the album was rereleased with the mini-LP sleeve (and without the US bonus disc) but who knows if they're correct. I know I had the 2xCD but it seems to have disappeared - however, I think I have all the bonus tracks on other releases so if I'm rebuying it I'd rather track down the cool packaging.

Someday I'll complete my High Llamas LP collection, but that's going to take a decent bit of cash.

BTW, I highly recommend the 2xCD Retrospective Rarities & Instrumentals to both fans and newcomers if you can find it for cheap. The "hits" disc is well-structured and the rarities disc has almost every b-side/bonus track collected in one place, some instrumental versions of album songs and one or two unreleased tracks.

 

This is true. Italian flat-leaf parsley is best, but we us curly leaf parsley in our lasagna when we can't get anything else and it does just fine. Parsley is a hugely underrated herb.

 

The version I have is not a gatefold. It's a simple mini-LP sleeve and I'm pretty sure it was a promo-only issue by V2 in the US. I also have a promo paper sleever version of Snowbug. The artwork is different; just the abstract ellipse designs on a green-&-beige-tone cardboard sleeve.

Hawaii really didn't need bonus tracks... there's plenty to digest in the album-proper.

 

The only High Llamas records I'm missing in my collection are Snowbug and Buzzle Bee, am I missing out? My favourite record of theirs is Cold & Bouncy and my least favourite is Can Cladders, if that helps...

 

This is great news. I've been a big fan since Gideon Gaye. I do think, as their career has gone on, that the records take longer for me to really engage with. A couple of the more recent ones had me scratching my head for quite a while before I really got attached to them.

Hurray!

 

In my opinion, Snowbug and Buzzle Bee are their worst albums; I rarely listen to them. I find the former to be staid, dull and sterile, and the latter self-indulgent and less melodically engaging (although the first track is quite good). But then my favorite Llamas albums are Hawaii, Gideon Gaye, and Beet Maize & Corn, so I tend to prefer their more organic sounding material.

Personally, I think Cold & Bouncy is miles better than Snowbug and Buzzle Bee. It's fairly easy to find High Llamas CDs used for cheap, so I would just say try to find both cheaply and see what you think.

 

If Cold & Bouncy is your favorite you should track down the follow-up, Snowbug. Sonically, it's in the same ballpark.

I enjoy the High Llamas and am looking forward to a new album, but they're not for everyone. To my ears their songs are built on the interlocking chord structures; other ingredients are layered on top, but never truly compete for the listener's attention or command melodic focus. I don't think they've written a truly memorable SONG since Gideon Gaye. You know, something you can hum along to in your head rather than hearing piano chords and plucked banjo figures ambling along.

It's a cast-in-amber kind of preciousness and I enjoy it. But I can understand how others view them as a curate's egg, mining the same [highly-detailed, but incomplete] compositional territory with every album.

 

I agree, and like I mentioned above all the V2 albums are OOP so they're worth grabbing while they're still cheap. Sealed copies have shot up in price, and used copies of the earlier albums are slowly creeping upwards. Of course, I like Snowbug a lot and think it's worth owning regardless of price. Similarly, Drag City still has copies of Buzzle Bee on LP and CD, if you buy vinyl I'd say pick it up just so you don't pay out the nose if you decide you want it later.

I agree, although I've had "The Old Spring Town" from Can Cladders stuck in my head for a week or two now. Not sure who the main female vocalist is on that track, but she does a great job of stepping in for the deeply missed Mary Hansen. I like O'Hagan's singing voice, but female vocals seem to get his melodies across better for whatever reason.

It's really a shame Mary never truly got to step out of the backing vocal role, she had a nice voice and I would definitely have loved to hear a whole album with her singing lead, especially if O'Hagan or Tim Gane was involved.

 

I actually think they're pretty different from each other. The electronic elements in Snowbug are more integrated, and the sound of the album is much, much cleaner (and in my opinion, sterile and clinical sounding). On Cold and Bouncy, the electronic elements are at times kind of cuckoo, with lots of blips and beeps bouncing about the periphery, often in a percussive or textural way. The overall sound is much busier, fuller, imo. Compositionally, much (but definitely not all) of Cold and Bouncy is closer to Hawaii, whereas Snowbug contains far less of the Brian Wilson influence.

I don't know - I know what you're saying, but I think Hawaii's "Nomads" is pretty darn memorable, as is "Old Spring Town" from Can Cladders. I'm sure there a couple of others I'm not thinking of at the moment.

 

Never heard Buzzle Bee or Cladders but Snowbug is my favorite so far. It has all the good of Cold n Bouncy without the bad...lol

Interestingly enough, in the recent interview with Sean O'Hagen (linked earlier in the thread), he says that Snowbug is also his favorite High Llamas album. (as opposed to the standard REM media line, "our new album is the BEST we have ever done!")

The psuedo-bossa nova of "Go To Montecito" is as memorable as anything O'Hagen has done, IMO.

 

You're right, but they approach music as a construct rather than composing a song and then arranging it. Which is fine. I like the High Llamas and they occupy a faily unique place in music.

I hope they play some shows in the US, but if it's not on the horizon now it's doubtful. The one time we saw them the performance started with a recital-like flavor, but got pretty intense and hypnotic towards the end. My wife had never really listened to any of their albums, but loved the gig. The band took obvious joy in music-making.

 

When Drag City first teased the album last December they said UK and US tours were being booked for this year, hopefully it's still in the cards.

 

Yes, I really, really hope they play some US dates this year. I've seen them three times now, and each show was truly mesmerizing. The last time I saw them, in 2004, was particularly memorable, given that they were crammed onto the fairly small stage at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, and the intimacy of the venue was perfect for the music.

 

Actually, I've been a big fan until Gideon Gaye.

 

I've been listening to Snowbug all day and I definitely agree with Thoutah that the production is very sterile - I suspect some of that came from John McEntire and Jim O'Rourke being involved. Looking back on the late 90s, I'm really glad that that production style has faded away. It worked for a group like Gastr del Sol, but I really dislike how, for instance, all the drums on Snowbug sound like loops (I doubt that's actually the case).

 

Not sterile...."clean". Like a basket of laundry fresh out of the dryer.

 

http://www.dragcity.com/products/talahomi-way

Drag City has the LP and CD up for preorder, with short clips of most of the songs. There's also a full mp3 of "Fly Baby, Fly" up on the DC frontpage. Obviously this is just a taste, but Talahomi Way is shaping up to be pretty interesting - "Fly Baby, Fly" is probably the straightest pop song they've done in a very long time, and the rest of the album appears to be filled with strings and slightly baroque touches but also some very playful instrumentations (love that harmonica on the snippet of "A Rock In May.") I can't wait!

 

Has the release date changed at all? I don't do preordering. I'll buy it when it's out.

 

Nope, still 4/19 - and there's really no reason to preorder, although I'll probably order through Drag City anyway.

 

"Beet, Maize & Corn" is stunning in my opinion and a real career high after ALL the brilliance they had already given us. That's a band that as progressive as any in my view. Can't wait for the new one.....

T.

 

"Beet" is indeed a classic.

 

It's been over a week and I can't stop listening to "Fly Baby, Fly" - it feels very similar in presentation to the last two records, sort of a halfway point between the percussion-light chamber pop of BM&C and the more ebullient "band" vibe of Can Cladders. I also stand by saying that this is the most "pop" High Llamas song since Hawaii, it's focused and structured in a way I really wasn't expecting. Absolutely love the woodwind arrangement.

 

Good, I just ordered it...

 

"Beet" has finally arrived and I'm listening to it now.

Soft and symphonic, are my first impressions. More classical than the 90s albums, less trendy electronic flourishes.

I'm enjoying the time before the "Talahomi Way" album is released to catch up on the High Llamas albums that I haven't heard before. I have them all now except for Buzzle Bee and Can Cladders. What can you tell about those albums, fellow Llama fans?

 

Personally Jose I could seriously do without dear old 'Buzzle Bee'..the odd decent track for me. 'Can Cladders' also dissapointed me initially because 'BM&C' was such a truly wonderful record but it is a great little record with some great tunes on it. I buy everything by them because they're so important a band in today's filthy musical landscape so get everything I say!! I just don't play their entire catalogue daily although I play large chunks of it RELIGIOUSLY.

Essential, wonderful band. Long live Sean O'Hagan and his band of lethargic talented gypsies.

T.