The Necks?

[fearandpanic]

I wouldn't say that I necessarily dislike them, but what I've heard of them hasn't interested me much..

My feeling is the same, generally not interested, though possibly edging closer to actually disliking some of them.

[faster]

I wouldn't say that I necessarily dislike them, but what I've heard of them hasn't interested me much..

My feeling is the same, generally not interested, though possibly edging closer to actually disliking some of them.

A pretty serviceable summation of my feelings, as well. I've only heard a couple discs though.

[Yii]

I wouldn't say that I necessarily dislike them, but what I've heard of them hasn't interested me much..

My feeling is the same, generally not interested, though possibly edging closer to actually disliking some of them.

A pretty serviceable summation of my feelings, as well. I've only heard a couple discs though.

i confess i have not listened to any tracks of them.

[fearandpanic]

I quite liked some of the short noirish tracks with piano on The Boys (soundtrack), but I couldn't understand with some of the other records why such limited material was stretched out for so long. I'm sure from an admirer's point of view I'm missing the point, and some of the comments earlier in the thread are prompting me to maybe try another one and revise that opinion.

[onthestrip]

I saw them live once, they really kicked ass then, most notably the drummer, as many mentioned before. Recently I listened to some of their records and they just didn't rock that much. The rhythms were nice but didn't really develop or change. The bass and piano to my ears seemed like a pointless jazz impro.

However -- their record 'chemist' i really like, I think it's more focussed, maybe a bit tortoise-y but definitely original and interesting. Plus their records do vary quite a lot, so don't dismiss the necks just because you don't like one record!

[fearandpanic]

However -- their record 'chemist' i really like, I think it's more focussed, maybe a bit tortoise-y but definitely original and interesting. Plus their records do vary quite a lot, so don't dismiss the necks just because you don't like one record!

That one sounds like the one to try, thanks for the pointer.

[Kyrre Laastad]

I haven't really heard a lot of stuff by The Necks, but the stuff I've heard has reminded me of something like an Alice Coltrane outro last chord fermate quantized and sequenced by Steve Reich. I kind of like the idea, but I don't really like the music.

And yeah, they're obviously incredible musicians with monstrous stamina. I'm impressed.

[anasara]

Anyone seeing them at Le Poisson Rouge tonight?

I might have if it weren't twenty bones...

[dwd]

I've now seen The Necks perform 5 sets in the last week - two nights (3 sets) here in Chicago last week, then twice (once as not really The Necks, but the three of them with Ned Rothenberg) in Knoxville this past weekend at the Big Ears Festival - and seriously, it's worth the $20 - the set last Wednesday at the Hideout and Saturday night at that festival were both two of the best live performances I've witnessed. Like, you know, EVER.

I've long been an admirer of their concept and their albums, but their live performance is such an entirely different experience beyond the recordings, much more intense and captivating; I'll likely have a hard time listening to them on CD again.

[Jason Brogan]

I liked The Necks years ago (before my discovery of, for instance, AMM), so I saw them recently in Chicago—for old time's sake, I guess—and nearly fell asleep several times!

[jon abbey]

I saw the Necks once in NYC in 2002, and I actually just made that same AMM/Necks comparison to my friend this morning (Ben Ratliff, who reviewed the Big Ears fest in today's NY Times). the way that the Necks suspend time is very cool, and that's where I think the AMM similarity comes in (obviously I'm talking about the Prevost/Rowe/Tilbury incarnation), but AMM's aesthetic felt much freer and more open to me, even if in reality their dramatic arches became pretty predictable towards the end of their run together.

anyway, David, I'd be curious to hear some specifics about just what blew you away so much.

[Alastair]

$20 for two hours of The Necks is very good value. Stereolab are playing here soon and charging AU$55 - that's US$36.

I saw Tony Buck in duo with Magda Mayas a few weeks ago - they have a Creative Sources CD out which may have skipped under the radar They were ok but I preferred the opening act, Jon Rose (violin), Clayton Thomas (double bass), Mike Majkowski (double bass). Mayas was more impressive up at The NowNow Festival the weekend before in other lineups.

[horaflora]

Second "Chemist".

[anasara]

Its either seeing The Necks or buying metro tix for work...

[jkudler]

I liked The Necks years ago (before my discovery of, for instance, AMM), so I saw them recently in Chicago—for old time's sake, I guess—and nearly fell asleep several times!

is this a criticism? i probably came close to falling asleep at various AMM shows, but i still found it amazing. . . .

[jkudler]

i listened to the necks for a while earlier today, mostly because of david's (dwd) ravings on facebook. other stuff i'd heard hadn't really connected (actually, i probably "actively disliked" it), but two full sets i heard today were really great. this one in particular:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/set/1.htm

there's also plenty of other stuff there that's should interest folks.

the necks are playing for free tomorrow in princeton, at the stupid time of 4:30, and i think i am going to try to make it. maybe worth it for some nyc folks.

http://www.ffmup.org/

-jesse

[Jason Brogan]

I liked The Necks years ago (before my discovery of, for instance, AMM), so I saw them recently in Chicago—for old time's sake, I guess—and nearly fell asleep several times!

is this a criticism? i probably came close to falling asleep at various AMM shows, but i still found it amazing. . . .

It was meant as criticism as I nearly fell asleep due to lack of interest and boredom.

[jkudler]

I liked The Necks years ago (before my discovery of, for instance, AMM), so I saw them recently in Chicago—for old time's sake, I guess—and nearly fell asleep several times!

is this a criticism? i probably came close to falling asleep at various AMM shows, but i still found it amazing. . . .

It was meant as criticism as I nearly fell asleep due to lack of interest and boredom.

i guess that was clear from the context, but i just wanted to point out that falling asleep doesn't always have to be bad. sometimes one can be nicely lulled.

-j.

[Shivering Manatee]

For me The Necks do 2 different things ( on CD at least, as I've never seen them live). One is long meandering improvisation that doesn't seem to go anywhere or have much obvious structure, like Mosquito. I mean....an hour of rattling some bamboo gamelan instruments....
Then there are the very tight, highly rhythmic, time-stretched trance-jazz of Oceanic , Drive-By and Chemist, which I absolutely love. Quite often there's just one track which the three players really take their time over, the interplay between them does remind me of the way the different groups of instruments interact in Reich's Music for 18 Musicians.
I also like their very minimal choices of usually just one extra instrument to augment their usual drum/bass/keys line-up. On Oceanic it's Hurdy-Gurdy, and on Chemist it's a noisy electric guitar.
Didn't write that very well, but yeah, I'm a fan.

[jkudler]

did anyone make it to princeton? i actually left work and tried to go, but i hit BRUTAL traffic and just gave up and turned around. bummer.

-j.