I keep looking. I like the covers, I like the music, the video projections. I like the idea but...
I can't seem to see what other people see about Demdike Stare. It's just... okay, isn't it? It's turning into a Shibboleth.
I mean, it's hard not to like this kind of thing, especially with all the pulsing nakedness:
But, I dunno, I'm creeped out in a different way; can't escape the feeling that I'm being manipulated somehow. It's really hard to define. It seems so calculated.
It's like it's checking boxes, boxes that I like but... the emotional aspect is missing for me. I haven't seen them live, maybe it'll make more sense then, maybe I need some fungal accessories, or maybe at the bottom of a k-hole I'd find illumination but, right now, I feel about them the same way I feel about, say, Love Actually: it presses buttons that I'm not sure I want pressed - it's sad that Emma Thompson just gets the Joni Mitchell CD, I'm happy that Colin Firth has found love, I'm vaguely understanding of that guy from Teachers being in love with his best friends missus but...
Does no one else feel like this? Seems like lots of people (everyone?), whose opinions and taste I value, love these guys - Demdike Stare have been elevated to the status of untouchables (cf some of the Ghost Box stuff) and I just don't see it. And when there's no visuals to distract...
I dunno... I've bought quite a few of their releases, mostly because each one seems to get a better review than the last and I want to like them so much that I end up thinking: this one will be the one, this one will sound like people say it sounds, this one will dig straight into my ZNS and I'll get it but then I put it on and... Nothing. It's like some kind of cruel joke, the Emperor's New Clothing for the new generation...
I need someone, anyone, to write an article counter to the prevailing opinion. I'm gonna go mad. The consensus is crushing. It's making me suspicious; it feels (ironically) like a Witch Hunt. Like even writing this (if anyone reads this fucking thing anymore) might be an act of revolutionary suicide. I'm dreading the time when I'm at one of their gigs and the whole crowd is going with them and I'm standing there, thinking about going outside for a cigarette...
UPDATE: I should have mention that, as well as asking for anyone who agrees with me, I am interested in anyone who disagrees... disagreement gets more done, I think....
10 February 2011
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15 comments:
my newfound status as a recording artist (who sometimes gets mentioned in the same breath as Demdyke, and who has met and enjoyed the company of one of their members)prevents me saying too much, but just to let you know I feel exactly the same way as you. i feel like i should like this stuff a lot more than i actually do.
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Yeah, I must admit I've found it to be the same as you describe... There is nothing I *don't* like about them... But it just doesn't seem to have that grabbing aspect... I can enjoy listening to it, and watching the videos - but I find that I can't ever remember the tracks, or have a desire to replay them
Thank you, you have expressed the exact same sentiments I've had about this group since I first got wind of them. Like you, I feel this strange sense that I *want* to like them more than I actually do. They have established a very nice overall aesthetic, but there seems to be no substance behind it all.
I think they wear their hearts on their sleeves. You can hear all the things that have influenced them, but they just aren't taking it that extra step beyond "sounding" like their heroes.
I like to compare them to Shackleton. With Shackleton, I can tell he's been influenced by the likes of Muslimgauze and Test Dept, but he takes things far beyond those influences to create something newer, fresher, and completely involving.
Demdike Stare, for me, are missing these key elements in their music. They are not pushing things forward.
Who knows, maybe they are still capable of creating more than just satisfactory mood pieces good for background chilling.
v.
Well, there are people who agree... Thank God... I was worried there for a minute that my ears weren't on message... agree totally with you about Shackleton... it's a good contrast...
They're filed under "investigate further" for me. I first heard them when Jonny Mugwump played em on Resonance whilst I was there with Giant Paw. I think it sounded pretty great.
But I haven't really investigated them... In my 40s I still expect that RUSH with new things, but there's much less of that now...
it's background music
pleasing enough while it's on
but
if you asked me to whistle one of their tunes,i'd be hard pressed
the thing that amuses me about demdike is their steadfast, determined shying from the term "hauntological"
when if anybody's ticking all the right boxes....
they're a classic case of "sonically correct"
heh... well, now you've said that Simon... I like it that they're shying away from the hauntology theme... it's getting too, er, inclusive and more like a record rack every day... Still, 'sonically correct' is a runner, I think; lots of stuff I feel like that about...
And John... the RUSH... ah, yes; so difficult to find now ( but maybe it always was) - most of us have just a few real music crushes don't we? And once you have a first love, the others inevitably pale... even if the hormonal rush of bedskipping and the beautiful Other keeps trying to seduce us away...
I agree, it's just OK. I hadn't heard them/heard of them before, and I shan't be purchasing any of their records if these examples are anything to go by. Not with things like the complete Coil back catalogue in .flac format sitting on my portable player to compete with...
Babaluma... ah, Coil... you're preaching to the perverted there... Coil could never do any wrong for me (well, except for the disappointing last album)
I'm going to fall in line w/ the consensus here, if only because I've been waiting for someone else to cut through all the buzz and mention this very thing over these past many months. Yes, merely okay. Has potential, but falls short -- underdeveloped and could use a little more in the way of craftsmanship.
They're re-engaging a "dark" tendency that used to be around about a decade or so ago, one that more or less languished. (I'm thinking of Third Eye Foundation chiefly, tho' there were numerous others doing similar things at the time). Yes, I've been intrigued that there's a new crop of artists doing such stuff again. But with DS, much of it just sounds a bit anemic. Expected them to take some steps in the right direction with the recent release, finally do some exploring and flesh things out more fully. Instead, I found it a bit tedious and boring -- too sketchy.
You say you've never seen them live? Don't, it's utter garbage. Caught them in London a couple of weeks back, really *really?* sucked.
I suppose I will tow the line, in favor of them. They have potential, they have done about 3 albums of material? I am hard pressed to think of any contemporary artists that have hit their creative stride at that point, maybe burial but we are still waiting on album 3.
I am over in lovely san francisco, and I don't really know anyone that is doing darkwave dubstep. I drop some pendle coven and mlz tracks, but i favor electro and dubtec. DS have made a slight blip in the states, their cd set is in stores, but like many things music is not selling here.
Thanks fro post these videos! I searched for them for years, thank you.
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