Efterklang

jonahpwll

I just picked up this album...



Efterklang - "Performing Parades"
This is a live album in which they join forces with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra to perform a live version of their recent studio release "Parades".
The best I can compare Efterklang to is imagine what the Polyphonic Spree would sound like if they had a jazz approach to their music. Very uplifting yet still intellectual music. I liked this album to start with, and it's growing on me increasingly the more I listen to it. For a live album, it has great sound.
Here's their myspace...

http://www.myspace.com/efterklang

And here's their emu page...

http://www.emusic.com/album/Efterklang-Performing-Parades-MP3-Download/11637688.html

They're touring right now, and gonna hit the U.S. and Canada in Feb and March. Balmorhea is the supporting act.

Quite frankly, I wasn't sure what genre to stick this under. Since they originally came up with a conversation with Sort under the Kammerflimmer Kollektief thread, I figured I'd keep it in the same category. If anybody has a better place to put this thread, suggest it to the mods; I won't have any objections. All these sub-genres confuse me, and then I go and listen to music that seems to defy genres anyways. Go figure.

jonahpwll

I've now picked up another album by Efterklang...



Efterklang - "Tripper"

One of their earlier albums, it leans more towards stripped-down electronica than their current Polyphonic Spree-ish orchestral sound. A couple times through and I'm pretty happy with it. I wasn't that hip into buying it, but there's a song on their myspace page off the album (Step Aside, I think it's called) that I couldn't stop humming to myself, and, well, you know how that goes. I had to download the fucking thing.
They're gonna be in Chicago on March 8th, a Monday. I'm gonna be in Chicago (most likely) the weekend before that day. I'm trying to find a way to stay Monday and Tuesday, but I don't see how. It's killing me that I might just be missing two bands (Balmorhea is the opener) that are getting a lot of playtime on my stereo, and in the case of Efterklang, they're from somewhere overseas, so how many chances am I gonna get to see them live in the States? Probably not many.
They're playing somewhere called Lincoln Hall or something. It looks like it used to be the old Biograph, but I couldn't tell for sure. Right by where the old Three Penny used to be.
Efterklang has a new album coming out Feb. 22nd, which I am very much looking forward to. The first song on the myspace, "Modern Drift" is off of it.

Sort

I'm geeked for their new one; anybody know if it will be on eMu? The combination of electronics, jazz elements, and chill voices with crashing emotions should appeal to Bjork fans. My favorite thing with Parades and Tripper is that both are lifer albums, stuff I feel confident I'll be listening to in ten years. Great musical and lyrical depth.

Brighternow

The opening track from their new Magic Chairs album is available from their website
Btw...
Great album cover!

jonahpwll

I wish I had grabbed a bunch more Efterklang with my final emu dls. After a bit of burnout, I'm diving back into them and love them just as much as the first go-around. The Wire, unfortunately, does not have their stuff. Efterklang really makes me happy. They're like the Euro-Polyphonic Spree.

Also, for those who haven't purchased their stuff yet, they now have some great deals on emu where you basically get an album and ep in a combo pack for 12 dls. Well worth it.

thomnottom

I just got my 2nd or 3rd to last 50. I think it's time I grab those first 2 LP+EP combos.

tim

I'm so glad you brought these guys up! I admit I've been trying to find an only mildly obnoxious way to bring up that there's still a TON of great indie music at emu, for much lower than you can find it anywhere else, and I was going to use these guys as one of my chief exhibits. Not that other stuff doesn't stink. I'm just saying.

Efterklang is one of my very favorite emu finds. I may slightly prefer Tripper, but here's my comment on the Springer page: "Among the quietest record ever made by 10 people. This one has gotten all the way under my skin. Ideal for manic depressives sticking their head out from under the rock and wondering if it's okay to come out again. Yes. It is. Start with Him Poe Poe, one of those where the good stuff is after the sample." I could go on at a lot more length, but the short version is that I have everything of theirs, and highly recommend it.

Hey, and am I missing something, or is there no Efterklang at limewire?

jonahpwll

On their website, they have a cover done by someone named (something like) Tobias Helvinski of my favorite song off Tripper. It's quite beautiful. His album is gonna be one of the first things I dl off The Wire.

thomnottom

@tim - Oddly enough the Leaf Label that carries Efterklang's earlier work is not on Limewire. They also don't have 4AD, which eMu lost, so the latest isn't on either. And damn is that a great album. I loved your review on Springer.

jonahpwll

I'm curious why Efterklang (and 4ad) were on Amie and emu but not on The Wire. I understand they're different services and all, but no so much that you'd think a label wouldn't be on all three. Maybe musicians aren't doing so good on The Wire?

thomnottom

To add to that, Merge was never on Amie but is on The Lime (competing nickname, let's see which wins out). You'd think that Beggars would be on The Lime if they were fine with Amie.

tim

It's allllll about the terms. Not to poke a stick into the major labels at emu beehive, but as one example, you have early Aerosmith at emu, but NOT at iTunes. I'd have never guessed this in a million years, but there you go.

And while the cynical parts of me say that the bottom line for participation is how the LABELS feel and not the musicians, the fact is that even at the most cynical labels, individual artists do have something to say. I suspect that the residual baggage of Limewire's overt illegality early on will create issues for it until the very end, not unlike Napster, which came out of the gate strong in their push for legitimacy, and started slowly circling the drain almost immediately.

jonahpwll

The Lime (competing nickname, let's see which wins out).

Mine (The Wire) will give the user more street cred, but no one will die of scurvy using yours.

I suspect that the residual baggage of Limewire's overt illegality early on will create issues for it until the very end, not unlike Napster,

I wonder the same thing, if The Wire will ever shake its reputation.

jonahpwll

Efterklang has done the soundtrack to a movie called "An Island". The link below takes you a to an efterklang site page that gives a link to the movie site. I gave this page because there's an intro song performance video which is pretty cool. I didn't realize that John Waters leads the Efterklang ensemble.

http://www.efterklang.net/

brittleblood

i have "springer" and am in the blizzard. when you going to be in town jonah? what's the occasion? have time for a beer?

68

jonahpwll

when you going to be in town jonah? what's the occasion? have time for a beer?

I seem to be getting that question a lot lately, and unfortunately, I'm further from furnishing an ETA than ever before. I was hoping to get there in Jan/Feb for a week, but money was tight before I went unemployed, so worse now. Plus, all the writing I'm getting done, I'm fearful to do anything that might injure The Routine. And the more I think about it, why the fuck would I go back to Chicago in the winter. Winter in Chicago is one of the reasons I was glad to be gone from there. Spring, on the other hand, ah, that sounds like my cup of tea (well, not really, because it would have to be a word that rhymed with 'kava root' for it to sound like my tea, but you get the idea).
But, yes, I most certainly would have time for a beer. I'll let you know when travel plans are afoot.

brittleblood

x.

by the by, i have not been to lincoln hall but been by the biograph a gazillion times as i used to live off fullerton on surrey court...an old two flat that felt all of 1920. looks like the folks who owned "schubas" opened the place

jonahpwll

Ah, I just realized what spurred your question. My post you read about seeing Efterklang in Chicago was actually January of a year ago. I did not see that show, which had Balmorhea opening. I was in Chicago then, but the show was on a Tuesday and we just couldn't stay past Sunday. In retrospect, seeing as how both those bands have become two of my favorites, I wish we could have found a way to see the show. Oh well, more regret.

brittleblood

lol - guess i can stop bugging my better half if its ok to extend the guest room to an emuser in agony.
----

for what its worth, we're getting belted by the blizzard.

Germanprof

The blizzard had some energy left for a few hours north of you too. Energetic morning of shoveling, no work today, at least at the office, as the college is shut down by the snow.

jonahpwll

Also, for those who haven't purchased their stuff yet, they now have some great deals on emu where you basically get an album and ep in a combo pack for 12 dls. Well worth it.

With the new pricing scheme, these "double albums" aren't a deal anymore. Even though all they do is reissue the exact same albums as previously released so that they're more of a bargain so that people will buy them up, Emu considers them "new releases" and prices them at .79/track, basically wiping out the value. On the one I checked, it's still a bit cheaper by fifty cents, but that seems to be defeating the purpose.

I would like to add, however, that even at 7.50, that double album has a lot of wonderful music on it, and were I to see that as a physical cd in the store, I would jump all over it. Great music, Efterklang is (and like Yoda, Jonahpwll is speaking like).

However, it might be worth holding off purchasing any of those Efterklang "doubles" until emu no longer considers them new releases and the price drops down to .49/track.

kargatron

Enjoyed listening to their new one Piramida last night on Rdio.

jonahpwll

I forgot to mention that their newest is/was on NPR First Listen.

I listened to the first track, though it was okay, but never went back to listen to the rest of the album. I hope I like the rest of the album more. I still listen to my other Efterklang albums relatively frequently.

Brighternow

I forgot to mention that their newest is/was on NPR First Listen

:-(

- Here's what Other Music writes about it:

Efterklang, once a sprawling Danish group that begged to be called a collective rather than a band, has now slimmed to an economical trio, not jettisoning the orchestrations that so defined their earlier work, but nonetheless greatly streamlining both their songwriting and their sound. With Clasper Clausen's coolly resigned, cerebral singing now holding more weight, and the orchestrations now more about accenting the emotion than defining it, Piramida is at its core a quiet pop record that neatly folds into the mix both bubbling electronics and swelling acoustic orchestrations. It's not the groundbreaking avant-garde pop explorations we've come to expect from Efterklang, but it's still far more sonically varied and smart than most, and it is the sound of Efterklang 2.0. [JM]

jonahpwll

That "Other Music" review sounds like an Efterklang fan disappointed with the new album but wanting to write nice things about it anyway. I can sympathize.

Brighternow

It's on 4AD and not likely to show up @ €music . . .

They have two tracks for streaming on Soundcloud:


+ a nice video on Youtube:
The Ghost performed by Efterklang & Sydney Symphony in Sydney Opera House