Clark's Crunchy Sounds

we all have mixed feelings, it would seem, about clark working with more subdued, soft sounds. we of course know he is capable of shredding ears while warming hearts.

so what is next? maybe he has the taste again for the big, crunchy sounds? also, what are some of your favorite big, crunchy sounds from clark past?

actually I expect a pure ambient album by him... Farewell Mining Town is still my favorite ambient piece ever... also, dunno, oh yeah, volcan veins

ambient would really be wonderful and good transitional move from his last two releases. 'farewell mining town' is breathtakingly beautiful. i'm hoping he will release the 'hold' modern dance musics some day, those are so good. clark is captain of his ship naturally and so we'll just have to wait see

  On 4/22/2012 at 4:56 PM, logakght said:

actually I expect a pure ambient album by him...

yeah, probably something along those lines i reckon. i predict he'll get softer and more minimal, and use more traditional instruments...

maybe.

i really like clark's ambient side, much more than most other artist's attempts at ambient music. one of my favorite songs of his is definitely "the autumnal crush." the abrasive loudness and distortion melding into the slow sustained movement later in the song is utterly fantastic. what a great way to end that album in particular

  On 4/22/2012 at 5:57 PM, benc812 said:

i really like clark's ambient side, much more than most other artist's attempts at ambient music. one of my favorite songs of his is definitely "the autumnal crush." the abrasive loudness and distortion melding into the slow sustained movement later in the song is utterly fantastic. what a great way to end that album in particular

Agreed on The Autumnal Crush. Beautiful song.

I've whined about Iradelphic as much as anyone, but Clark'll probably go crunchy again someday. Whether it's the next album or five years from now (or maybe both, ::), who knows. If Squarepusher can come back with Ufabulum, Clark can at least get back to Body Riddle. All the way back to Turning Dragon? Maybe not, but not many people really want that, anyway.

Whether intentional or not, if critics were ever going to love a Clark album, Iradelphic was the one. And they don't. Love it, at least. If Clark entertained any notions of becoming significantly "bigger" through this album, he has been disabused of those notions.

But Clark has always been at best playful, at worst, a prick, about being "catchy" or "crunchy" or whatever. Many tracks abruptly go ambient far too early or for seemingly no reason whatsoever (a shitload of his remixes; Totem Crackerjack, etc.). Others find an absolutely sick groove and play it out for an absurdly short time without even building on it as a theme.

Just to name a few:

Bricks @ 1:37

Outside Plume @ 3:22

Rainbow Voodoo @ 4:11

Totem Crackerjack @ 3:55 (arguable)

Beg (all of it)

Nordic Wilt (live edit) @ 1:29 (this one is my favorite, a complete middle finger)

Hammersmashed remix @ 0:58

Kitchen Sink remix @ 2:45

You get the idea (sorry, I was kind of enjoying finding those). Then think about his most straight-up crunchy tracks. Hot Bath Rinse, Dead Shark Eyes, and Violenl are the first three that come to mind. Only one even got a proper album release, and Violenl'd been around for years prior.

So why pull this shit? I'm obviously speculating; I don't know the guy. But, to me, Clark's music suggests that he thinks there's more to his music than we think there is. He comes across, honestly, as someone who's still struggling with how much his art is supposed to say about his self. Love the album or hate it, does anyone really think it makes any sense that he trod through the wilderness for three years or whatever, took field recordings of Tibetian Monks pissing off the end of the Earth, and crafted the album he always wanted to create--only it sounds exactly like a boring outtake from his Wolverhampton BFF?

The guy's clearly still struggling with who he wants to be. Freud out.

Violenl is one of my favorite clark songs for sure... Not sure if that fits under your "crunchy" category though mr Redruth...

I need more Springtime Epigram.

Don't gay up the only subforum that isn't totally shit with you're pretentious bullshit Troon.

I think his Turning Dragon sound was his most interesting. I think he tapped into something pretty original tbh and I'd be nice to see him go for it again, though perhaps with a less crunchy production.

  On 4/23/2012 at 1:17 PM, Backson said:

Don't gay up the only subforum that isn't totally shit with you're pretentious bullshit Troon.

illiterate asshole. *slap*

  On 4/23/2012 at 1:17 PM, Backson said:

Don't gay up the only subforum that isn't totally shit with you're pretentious bullshit Troon.

you are the one 'gaying' up the subforum with your pretentious bullshit backson and this post is clear evidence of the fact. what the fuck happened to you? you turned into whinny little cunt. you used to be quite decent watmmer years back. did you get an operation or take bad drugs or something?

I think these are crunchy. In any case they are some of my favorite upbeat Clark tracks.

Dead Shark Eyes

Dirty Pixie

Urgent Jel Hack

See See

Totem Crackerjack

Re-Scar Kiln

Penultimate Persian

Vengeance Drools

Alpha Dodgem Fortitude

Future Daniel

  On 4/23/2012 at 5:17 AM, Jobe said:

I've whined about Iradelphic as much as anyone, but Clark'll probably go crunchy again someday. Whether it's the next album or five years from now (or maybe both, : :), who knows.

  On 4/23/2012 at 1:17 PM, Backson said:

Don't gay up the only subforum that isn't totally shit with you're pretentious bullshit Troon.

lol

  Quote

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I don't know how much it matters to sound off on this subject, but I'll do it just the same. I for one hope Clark does what he wants, if that means more crunch, awesome, if it means ambient, cool, if it means opera, okay. As an artist, (I know many of you are as well,) I tire easily of retreading the same ground, and get fed up with myself when I churn out something too similar to what I did yesterday. I think in a similar fashion as Turning Dragon, Iradelphic appears to be a stepping stone to whatever comes next. Just takes a bit of faith on my part to know he'll get there, and probably soon, which is why I'm not overly concerned with Iradelphic not grabbing me by the nuts like Body Riddle or Totem's Flare. And I could certainly stand to hear more tracks like Com Touch, I love his Baroque-esque stuff.

  On 5/16/2012 at 10:36 PM, EskimoSpy said:

As an artist, (I know many of you are as well,) I tire easily of retreading the same ground, and get fed up with myself when I churn out something too similar to what I did yesterday.

i think the problem is not whether an artist should be free to create what they will, this is clearly true, it is more the question of continuity regarding the particular nom de plume. i believe that

if musician has already been quite well received and wants to continue to remain successful when drastically changing styles of musics - if it is sever change, the only sure way to not make

messy things is to release using alternate pseudonym. i think maybe this is where clark went a bit flimsy at turning dragon, that exact (turning) point may have been the perfect opportunity

to start diversifying his identity, his different styles of sounds

  On 5/17/2012 at 5:49 PM, Redruth said:

  On 5/16/2012 at 10:36 PM, EskimoSpy said:

As an artist, (I know many of you are as well,) I tire easily of retreading the same ground, and get fed up with myself when I churn out something too similar to what I did yesterday.

 

i think the problem is not whether an artist should be free to create what they will, this is clearly true, it is more the question of continuity regarding the particular nom de plume. i believe that

if musician has already been quite well received and wants to continue to remain successful when drastically changing styles of musics - if it is sever change, the only sure way to not make

messy things is to release using alternate pseudonym. i think maybe this is where clark went a bit flimsy at turning dragon, that exact (turning) point may have been the perfect opportunity

to start diversifying his identity, his different styles of sounds

But why when the different sounds are still recognizably Clark should he put this under pesudonyms?

As a point of reference, Squarepushers albums are all decidedely different/of a different flavour but identifiably Squarepusher. I see no difference with Clark, Iradelphic/Body Riddle etc are all recognizably Clark.

It could go either way I suppose, but most artists we seem to respect have many different sounds and put them under the same name with success. As Mr Eskimo pointed out, it's related to the evolution of the artist and is a logical stepping stone. Putting it under an alias might detract from that as a musical statement from the artist that is Clark. IE, when looking at it from some point in the future, if it had not come out under Clark perhaps we might attribute it to his development as an artist or to his progression, but instead as a "side job".

Not sure what I'm on about...

i'm not sure either. most (if not all) musicians who use multiple identities have traces of their signature running through all of their various pseudonyms

  On 5/17/2012 at 11:42 PM, Redruth said:

i'm not sure either. most (if not all) musicians who use multiple identities have traces of their signature running through all of their various pseudonyms

Why the need for pseudonyms when the "traces of their signature" run throughout? That "signature" I think is what identifies that artist, hence Clark not putting albums like Iradelphic under a pseudonym....

multiple identities create experiential partitions in the listener mind. the pseudonym is a structural tool, a filing system if you will, within an artists styles of expression.

I definitely agree with that.

Why then, isn't every squarepusher CD under a different pseudonym? They are all pretty much stylistically different/180 degrees from the last album, with the aforementioned squarepusher "signature".

Some artists such as Vibert, as an example, have complete stylistic differences under pseudonyms IE wagonchrist, plug, amen andrews etc.

Other artists I don't feel there is enough of a tangible difference from album to album to necessitate this. I think Iradelphic is borderline, it still really sounds like Clarks' earlier works to me. Com touch/Tooth Moves sound a little like herzog to me, the pining in a lot of parts has the crunchy beats of his earlier work, etc.

I guess maybe theres a tipping point at where it's ENOUGH of a departure from an artists sound that they should make a pseudonym for the work.

I think it's where this tipping point is, that gets people talking. (oh this sounds like Clark/it doesnt, etc).

Redruth, I see your point. I think the disagreement is a philosophical one perhaps.

I'd prefer to broaden my idea of Clark rather than to request that he fragment his identity, does that make any sense?

Also, RDJ may be a great example of a fragmented identity, but I think that largely stems from his idgaf/deviant attitude and his relationship with various labels.

also that rdj is simply a better musician than clark.

but yeahhhh why does this thread exist? we covered all of this in BOTH iradelphic threads already..