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Who was the last act you became a proper fan of...?
Not just which band do you currently 'like' but yuhknow, gone and bought merch, investigated their rarities and side-projects or remixes...?
For me it was Nicolas Jaar. I liked the LP last year, but seeing him live for the first time earlier this year at Mutek in Montreal utterly blew my mind. I then saw him being interviewed by Resident Advisor, saw him DJ, listened to his Essential Mix, his remixes, browsed the Clown & Sunset catalogue, bought the prism and generally gorged on whatever I could, and now I'm patiently waiting for more live dates and an album.
I know and like a fair bit of music, but there aren't more than a couple of acts a year that I become a proper fan of, which is why I find a lot of the media quite weird, especially when people have a band a day or post about 20 different acts on their blog in a week or whatever. I guess some people are less loyal and more fluid. I mean, I can be a fan of a song like Katy Perry's 'Firework' but not really be a fan of her music. Whereas, when Deftones - who I own four different t-shirts of - had a new track online, I stopped what I was doing and listened to it ten times. I did the same with Antlers earlier this year. And School of Seven Bells. And Twin Shadow. And Cat Power. 2012 is being good to me, but I'm not sure if I'm being good to 2012, as I'm struggling to find acts this year that I've become a fan of (I mean, sure, there was Blondes, Sharon Van Etten, Foe, Stay+ and Chromatics, but those love affairs were already raging last year..) and I'm wondering if perhaps my listening time is being monopolized by things I already like, and if I'm missing out on stuff. Or whether most of the 'new acts' this year have been a bit mediocre or perhaps not given the time to shine...?
TL;DR, don't care... I'd be really curious to know which acts you've fallen for or finally come around to this year, and at what point you feel like a 'fan' rather than just someone who quite likes an act or a song...?
@sean: Metric is not on that list?
a lot of stuff isn't on that list. I do bloody love the new Metric album tho!! I didn't mention Grizzly Bear, Efterklang, Twilight Sad, Liars, Blood Red Shoes, dEUS, The Shin and a few other things either... or Polica or Chairlift or Errors who I still can't stop listening to.
Alright.
I also love "Synthetica". For me it's their second best album after "Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?".
Who was the last act you became a proper fan of...?
Churches
Cat Power
Tycho
The Grid
Laika
Ozric Tentacles
Yeah but you're the fanboy
To rule all fanboy's. Churches have what, one song?
their two songs are nearly half a song
weird how much they sound like MS MR
They have 2 songs. I have a feeling they will deliver a great debut album.
Also I'm not a fanboy.
It seems that on DiS forums all penguins are lame.
STRONG COUNTER ATTACK
not obsessive inna poring over lyrics type way, but
Trembling Bells and Sleigh Bells have both blown me away with two or more of their recent albums, have been excellent live, and I'd buy any of their upcoming releases or live tix without hesitation. Phantom Band and FoTL probably fit that description, too. The Rapture recently came back from the brink (with a brilliant new album and gig). Battles stand a chance of being slow burner entrants up to that level, too (after an excellent ATP set and a lot of repeat plays of Dross Glop has had me working my way through their stuff in reverse order).
I think it goes in phases,
sometimes you'll think I haven't found a new favourite band in ages but then suddenly something new will come along and bam!
Most recent band I fell for was prob Johnny Foreigner, I always liked them but then the eps they put out between their 2nd and 3rd albums made me revisit their stuff and have now become an all time favourite.
Often you can't tell which band it'll happen with I just find it's the ones you keep going back to year after year. So so of the acts you just like now you might find become one of your faves next year or something.
that was sort of what happened to me with Frightened Rabbit
I was always aware of them, and then something changed about six month after Midnight Organ Fight came out, and I revisited The Twist (possibly because of a DiS thread, thinking about it) and didn't listen to anything else but them for several weeks.
Hasn't happened for ages, with *bands* anyway
I think I've reached my limit of bands that I love. I'm finding it difficult to approach anyone new with anything other than cynicism at the minute.
if not 'bands' then what? Genres? Eras? Surely you've been listening to SOMETHING? I find it weird how 'fandom' is always meant to be something fresh. Totally agree that we can all get sick of constant upgrades (just ask any Windows user)
In terms of actual debuts and new music from brand new artists I'm finding a lot more sticking from the *urban* world than anything else
The Weeknd is the last new artist to absolutely blow me away to be honest and I'm in love with the new How To Dress Well album but the first one did absolutely nothing for me at all.
By *bands* I guess I mean, indie/alternative music and I'm finding myself really struggling to get going with anything new and hyped and buzzy the last year or so. I'm becoming a lot more cynical about the hype machine I guess.
I think I've just reached a stage where I've got the bands and artists I love and I'm just waiting for them to put new material out.
Destroyer
Well, I don't go in for merchandise or any of that jazz...for me becoming a "fan" of someone manifests itself purely in my enjoyment of their music. More specifically, I get to the point where I am 99% certain that I will enjoy their future output, regardless of prevailing opinion. This is especially true of Destroyer, since Kaputt acted as a sort of key to his sound, and now I love almost his whole discog (previously I only liked parts). Shortly before this, I also got this feeling towards Wild Beasts too.
As for new bands in 2012...
well you're right you cant just be constantly picking up new bands...you'd reach the point of no return. The last time I properly searched for a few new acts to get excited about was 2010...by now, all but a couple of those (Lord Huron have an LP out soon) have released material, but I have no desire to replace them with a whole other Battalion of future promises.
thiny veiled 'I've been to Montreal' thread
Indeed. I still need to write a Montreal Monday feature.
I wanted to extend it into a week of stuff about the city from all my favourite bands from there, but I'm not sure any of the bands will ever get off of tour long enough to pen anything...
Miss Black America
I think I have everything that they put out.
See also: X is Loaded.
I love me some Second Division indie bands.
the boredoms
made me wonder about religion and the nature of human interaction and the possibilities of physical and spiritual transcendence and all sorts at atp on a sunday afternoon. i've been thinking of them daily since but have no wish to buy more of their records (i've a few) only to watch them live every day forever. i'd say i was into them.
Arthur Russell
i'm not sure what the real definition of a proper fan is though. But with Arthur I've bought all his albums, got the book and DVD on him and even got some demo stuff from an old friend of his. oh, i named my record label after him too.
before that probably Scott Walker.
I got properly obsessed with Unwound a few months ago
so probably that, new music sucks x
Flying Lotus
Got into him when Cosmogramma first came out and loved it but only in the past couple of months I've really been hammering the catalogue hard, especially Los Angeles. Been scouring youtube for live clips and interviews and stuff. Actually got the Zombie t-shirt through in the post this morning and I'm contemplating whether I can afford to put in a pre-order for the deluxe edition of Until The Quiet Comes or if I have to wait till pay day after it's been released.
Also really fancy a trip down to Manchester for the Warehouse Project show but again, money - bastard!
Converge
Bloody excited to see them for the first time in November.
you're in for a treat
mostly people attempting* to sing along with Jacob
*failing
Ukkonen
Not sure if he counts though seeing as he's barely put out any material. Before that it was Mark McGuire, and he's put out loads.
Black Moth Super Rainbow
After a year or so of being madly in love with Dandelion Gum, i FINALLY got round to downloading their whole discography and checking out Tobacco and desperately scratting round trying to find any trace of a UK tour.
probably that whole nils frahm/olafur arnulds
erased tapes scene
most of my super fanboy bands have been going a while and make me squeal whenever new stuff drops
actually Chromatics
after that album and seeing them at village underground i am unhealthily obsessed...cant wait till heaven gig
Yeah
I did that with the Erased Tapes bunch last year.
Stupidly pumped for their 5th Birthday gig at Hackney Empire.
can't wait for that gig!
The last band would have to be Carissa's Wierd
Somebody mentioned them on here maybe two ago and posted one YouTube link and that was it for me. Luckily it coincided with their kind-of-but-not-really comeback, so I picked up all of the vinyl reissues, the new 7" EP, and seriously considered going to New York to see them live. It was one of those great moments when a band seems to come along who serendipitously embody everything you've been looking for in a band but didn't know was already out there. That also led to the same thing happening with Jenn Ghetto's solo project S (although I wasn't taken with Grand Archives, Band Of Horses etc). That seems to be the unifying factor in which bands are bands that I really like and which bands I'm fervently a fan of. Daughters was probably the last band that that happened with contemporaneously, while they were still a going concern. I guess, because your frame of reference is that much smaller, that's why you're more prone to passionate fandom when you're younger, because everything's new to you.
*two years ago
hi
HI
I realise I've become a fan when...
My fervent enthusiasm has led me to listen to the same album/song 20 times in a row. I've purchased everything i can on Vinyl. And in extreme cases I've set my alarm and ringtone to a particularly song.
It's rare i love an album as a whole so when that occurs it defintitely aids my fandom. An instant hit for me this year was A Whisper in the Noise and the album just grew and grew on me. The eclectic mix of genres helps because i can listen to it when i'm in more than 1 state of mind and each song has a pleasant familiarity in which I'm reminded of other artists whilst the band as a whole retains it's individuality. A Whisper ... also have a great 3 album 1 EP back catalogue, which will again increase my musical hunger.
years of rice and salt are another recent one for me and although they only put out 1 album last year and an EP, they've brought back my love of post-rock and between each listen of their album i'm going back to old constellation records and the likes of Yndi Halda and The Evpatoria Report. i have 2 copies of their 100 edition vinyl release.
You purchase everything you can on vinyl?
^SUPER FAN!
uh,meh...
Actually A Whisper In The Noise could be one for me too,
I'd not heard of them until they played Cafe Oto earlier this year. Blew me away. Haven't got in to full blown back catalogue buying and obsessing over but that's probably just lack of funds. To Forget is close to a perfect record.
get Dry Land if you can
almost level with To Forget particularly tracks like As We Were and Armament.
I'll pick that one up next, thanks
Easy
Tom Williams & The Boat
Alt-J
Probably Washed Out
Though I genuinely find it difficult to see myself as a *fan* of anyone properly anymore.
Nicki Minaj ^__^
I'm going to see her play at the O2 :D
Are they the criteria for being a proper fan then?
Can we expect DiS to be renamed 'Drowned in Merch and B-Sides'?
Yeah
You have to show up at 3 o'clock and cheer them on from the sidelines.
Emeralds
Hard work keeping across everything those guys were releasing. I gave up eventually, but not before amassing about 60GB worth of Emeralds and Emeralds-related material, just ridiculous.
60GB?!
*googles*
I now listen almost exclusively to The Fall.
It feels like middle age has come early.
For me it has been Spencer Krug
After hearing Moonface - Organ Music and loving it, I began to delve into the wealth of previous bands and side projects. Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade, Swan Lake, all fantastic.
Errors and Tycho, and maybe Tim Hecker.
Electronic music is amazing. :D
Errors & Tycho are very good
I find it odd that you omitted Tim Hecker
Arguably the finest ambient/drone artist of the last ten years. By comparison, the other two are....okay.
KVELERTAK!
Not that there's much to get beyond their first record but boy am I stoked for the follow up.
Those 11 songs are the only 11 songs you need.
Japandroids
Really like their work at the mo. Fucked Up are another band I just keep trying to amass as much of their work as I can.
aye its pretty difficult to get everything by Fucked Up
rewarding though!
Perfume Genius and Cold Specks for me this year.
I'm trying to think actually.
I suppose Down I Go, as I've pretty much made sure I've got everything they ever released in a physical format and digital, which is 2 CD albums, 1 CD-R album, 2 CD EPs, 1 Vinyl EP, the two mini cds they released that had christmas songs on. Saw them live 5-6 times, bought a t-shirt. I know they weren't around for long, or were that big but yeah, I call myself a proper fan, of their proper songs about proper disasters etc.
http://sphotos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/s720x720/373914_10151058350575182_182543234_n.jpg
More recently, probably Torche, who I bloody love.
Zun Zun Egui
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Big Star
Wooden Shjips
Watersons
It's as likely to be an old band as a new one these days for me due to Spotify
2012: Broadcast & Chromatics
2011: The Radio Dept.
For the last couple of years, I've immersed myself in old music in the first couple of months of the year, when there haven't been too many new releases around, hence Broadcast and The Radio Dept.
Drop Out Venus
Got both the cassettes (even though I don't have the technology to play them) and the 7 inch should arrive next week. And I can't play that either.
I take it you have heard the band tho, yeah? ;-)
Hookworms, Woods...
Really love Hookworms, got the split with Kogumaza (another great band) and the S/T LP. Both fantastic and the album is out this year I believe. I've tried with Woods a couple of times but it really stuck this time, Sun & Shade is a great album. I like Kraut-esque tracks on that album...
Oh and the Goat album is great
Natural Snow Buildings
Only been listening to for a year or so but easily in my top 5 bands, got everything I could physically buy and a few twinsistermoon isengrind records but still barely scratched the surface of their back catalogue
dunno
i've got a sat nite duets t-shirt but i never really listen to their music
I've never brought any B- Sides or rarities by any band, but that doesn't mean I'm not "into" them. The last bands I bought loads of material by were Mogwai and Dinosaur Jr.
i never thissed this
Donato Dozzy
that's the only new one I've been obsessed with recently. Can't be bothered finding out about new artists anymore. There isn't any. It's just older musicians laying eggs, dying and hatching themselves reborn.
I went nuts on Jesu when I finally decided to investigate
THE THERMALS
Yesterday. Instant love at first listen.
I think I was most fanatical about Two Gallants.
I had their bootleg recordings, their early demos and nearly knew everysong they ever played let alone recorded.
BATS
Chrome Hoof
The Books.
Deer Tick.
slick rick
I got mildly obsessed with Liturgy about 18 months ago.
And now New Look are selling t-shirts with the design from Aesthetica on them.
Alt-J.
Saw them support Wild Beasts and became pretty obsessed. I've moved onto Cloud Nothings now.
The Twilight Sad
Amazing band, first 2 albums are marvelous, but after remarkable "No One Can Ever Know" and this year's outstanding performance at OFF Festival I'm their proper fan!..