Talk Talk: Spirit of Eden and Laughing Stock

[Babaluma]

no worries!

the last interview at the bottom of the interview page, with phill brown, is the most technical i think, loads of equipment and micing details.

[AnalogousGumdropDecoder]

AH, shit... There's a huge audio interview somewhere with Mark Hollis about Laughing Stock (one of the top five EVER)! It's amazing. Can't find it....

Basically he and a couple of people would jam for extended periods and then they would take the highlights and edit them into coherent pieces, add and remove things, etc... VERY SPARSE. That "solo" on After the Flood (a minute of noise) is Mark Hollis holding one note this broken wind controlled synth thing through a bunch of amps, feeding back and gurgling.

I swear the most amazing interview exists about this... There was also a pretty good article on Hollis in a Mojo a couple of years ago... Ray Davies on the cover...

[AnalogousGumdropDecoder]

P.S. - I have the ugliest picture of Marc Hollis ever taped to my guitar.

[centurymantra]

. It does feature some aesthetics that I feel like I should hate... but somehow I don't.

Some of my favorite music...or, at least, the music that intrigues me the most is music that fits this very bill. The "this should be cheesy, but somehow it isn't type" of stuff. It's usually impossible to truly define why or how this is. It's an abstract presence, vibe...almost a spiritual quality sometimes that elevates it above itself.

One of my favorite definitions of genius: "Genius is when someone (ie. an "artist") takes you somewhere and you have no idea how you got there."

BTW...I too love Laughing Stock.

[AnalogousGumdropDecoder]

I do remember he cited his primary influences on Laughing Stock as being free jazz and krautrock.

[stephen bennett]

Basically he and a couple of people would jam for extended periods and then they would take the highlights and edit them into coherent pieces, add and remove things, etc... .

This is the way we work with my band (henry fool) on our instrumental stuff and demonstrates the true beauty of the Non linear editor. You record the playing, capture the passion and excitement with the musicians not worrying about getting it 'right' and then edit the best bits into a coherent whole.

Must have been a lot harder when Hollis did his solo record!

The first hf album and the one I'm working on were recorded in a studio - the next will be recorded in an old school taking advantage of the acoustics of the various rooms - Phil Brown's interview has been inspirational!

Regards

Stephen