The Horrors ~ Primary Colors

[bono_212]

God, I'm not the biggest fan of "New Ice Age" but it was SO loud and really pumped live.

 

[Carek1230]

I'm a Horrors fan, but I like their previous material better than the newer cd. My favorite is Fives. They're awesome LIVE. Actually, I think they are much better LIVE.

 

[bono_212]

Ha, then you wouldn't probably want to see them this tour . The setlist was:

Mirror's Image
Three Decades
Primary Colours
Do You Remember
New Ice Age
Scarlet Fields
I Only Think of You
I Can't Control Myself
Who Can Say
Sea Within a Sea
***********
Count in Fives
Sheena Is A Parasite
Gloves



Which made me incredibly happy lol

 

[U2lunatic]

They had Primary Colours, Dear Science and Saturdays = Youth on rotation before the first Chicago show. New Ice Age sounded immense over the sound system. Reminded me how how awesome it would have been with one of those three bands warming up.

I loved it how they've been playing the whole Primary Colours before shows. It made me love that album even more. But I can't imagine The Horrors as a support for U2. I think that most people would get freaked out by them cos most of the U2 fans probably don't know who they are or don't listen to them. At the 3 concerts I went to there was nobody around me who knew their songs.

 

[u2popmofo]

Wow, it's sad that I didn't notice The Horrors being played before the shows at all. Guess I need to listen to the album more. I commented on M83 and TV on the Radio though. Actually, walking into the stadium to hear M83 was one of those, "It's going to be a great night" type moments.

Think I'll listen to Primary Colours right now.

 

[If you shout...]

Saw them at the Double Door, on Sunday night. It was a really, really, really (surprisingly) strong and (even more surprisingly) LOUD set. They played every single song from Primary Colours, much to the crowd's delight, along with a few stinkers from the first so-called "album." They sounded great, and perhaps owing to my proximity to the stage (just four or five feet back), it was at times the loudest gig I've ever attended; this includes the MBV concert I saw, last year. I couldn't stop sneezing, during one of the songs, because the low-end sound was so brutally pummeling me. I was shocked both by that and by the liberal use of the tremolo bar, which made every song sound like a great Loveless outtake. Pretty good stuff, and at times just devastatingly beautiful. I really look forward to seeing them again, at some point.

The problems? Well, the band, in a word. What a bunch of fucking twats, at least according to their stage presence, general demeanor, and attire. The lead singer, a HORRIFYING mix of 25% Jarvis "I'm a Spider" Cocker, 35% Keanu Reeves, and 40% Robert Smith (yes, that one) made the show at times physically uncomfortable/laughable--he just stared like he was trying to kill something/somebody at the exact same spot at the back of the venue (a window) for the ENTIRE show, and emerged wearing a too-small trenchcoat before removing it to reveal a too-short jacket, before removing that to reveal a too-short t-shirt. Absolutely hilarious. The bass player, too, was about the biggest douchebag I've ever seen on a stage. HILARIOUS to watch, from his 1982 button-up, black-and-white checkered New Wave sweater to his crab-dance and equally disconcerting thousand-yard stare. I just...man, I try really hard not to care about band image, but these guys REALLY have me reconsidering that stance, as you can tell.

The problem, ultimately, was one of attitude, because these guys didn't look half as fucking insane or ridiculous or silly as many of the great shows I catch--just a few months ago, Asobi Seksu's Yuki Chikudate was wearing wool tights, brown felt boots, and what looked to be a Christian Lacroix burlap poncho. But there was a radically different kind of self-awareness to her than to these guys, who were ENTIRELY serious and unironic. There was no wry self-awareness--simply self-importance. It was mostly hilarious, like I've been saying, but at times either distracting or frustrating.

Anyway, though, the show was great! If you get a chance to catch this tour, do it! The songs are AMAAAAAAAAAAAZING. I'm not saying that the songs sucked or even that the band sucked, but rather that it was tough to take these guys seriously...or at least as seriously as they so fucking obviously took themselves! ...Especially with that spoken-word NONSENSE during the middle eight of "Who Can Say":

And when I told her
I didn't love her, anymore,
she cried.
And when I told her
her kisses were not like before,
she cried.
And when I told her
another girl had caught my eye,
she cried.
And then I kissed her
with a kiss that could only mean, "Goodbye."

So fucking funny!!! Great stuff, though, honestly. I rant about their presence because the songs deserve more than that. They are terrific.

 

[bono_212]

Haha, I think they had on a completely different wardrobe when I saw them because I don't remember it being THAT distractingly ridiculous, just normal ridiculous. But yes, Faris did just stare towards the back of the crowd the whole thing, but he was much better than the lead singer of the opening act, Crocodiles, who stared at the floor the whole show and had no light on him. I guess he was trying to give an aura of mystery? It just made me not interested.

 

[If you shout...]

Yeah, Crocodiles were nothing too special. It was nice to hear "I Wanna Kill," though. Fucking awesome song.

 

[bono_212]

Yeah, Crocodiles were nothing too special. It was nice to hear "I Wanna Kill," though. Fucking awesome song.

That's probably the one song of theirs I bothered to record, I wanted the audio to look it up later, and just never got around to it.

 

[bono_212]

So, Faris confirmed on The Horrors forum that a new album will be out in July.

Also, I guess he has a side project going? I'm a little confused, but here is link to song: http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?b..._s_eyes_exclusive_stream&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

There's a few other songs as well that the article links to, I just haven't had a xhance to listen to them yet, so I didn't individually link them.

 

[iron yuppie]

So, Faris confirmed on The Horrors forum that a new album will be out in July.

That's deserving of excitement. I finally heard Strange House a few months ago and was surprised at how different it was from Primary Colours, in terms of both style and attitude. I would never have predicted the direction of Primary based on the debut.

 

[bono_212]

That's deserving of excitement. I finally heard Strange House a few months ago and was surprised at how different it was from Primary Colours, in terms of both style and attitude. I would never have predicted the direction of Primary based on the debut.

No not at all, which had me super excited for the new album, based on "Whole New Way" alone. But, now I've heard this, and I'm not so sure that there will be quite the new angle I expected:

YouTube - The Horrors - Endless Blue (new song live at Off Festival 2010)

 

[martha]

That's deserving of excitement. I finally heard Strange House a few months ago and was surprised at how different it was from Primary Colours, in terms of both style and attitude. I would never have predicted the direction of Primary based on the debut.

I know. Which is why I didn't even bother with the second record because I liked the first one so much.

 

[bono_212]

You never even listened to it? . I thought you at least gave it a go.

 

[IWasBored]

i misread this as to be a thread about the horrorpops, and was--for lack of a better word--immediately horrified. now i need to find a way to going back to my blissful state of forgetting that band ever existed.

but since it's not, all is well and i will give this a listen later.

 

[iron yuppie]

A new track has surfaced, and it sounds really promising:

http://pitchfork.com/news/42628-listen-the-horrors-still-life/

In my current post-punk infatuation, I have become extremely fond of Primary Colours, so I am looking forward to this new one.

 

[bono_212]

 

[bono_212]

Oooh. I liked that song very much. Maybe not as a lead single, but definitely as general song. Quite a bit different, but I expected something different after "Whole New Wave".

Glad something's surfaced, I'd feared they weren't putting anything out this year, as it seemed like a whole lot of nothing every time I checked their website.

 

[If you shout...]

God damn. I have listened to this song like 20 times. The Horrors. Jesus.

 

[bono_212]

Dear God, I wasn't quite in a music place the first time I heard "Still Life", but finding out how close we were to the new album really got me pumped and I finally gave it another listen. Fucking awesome song. Fucking. Awesome.

 

[bono_212]

Oh man, I went ahead and listened to the Glastonbury video of "Moving Further Away". I don't think I'll listen to much else, but wow oh wow am I so excited.

 

[iron yuppie]

When I was in the UK, where they are huge in the indie scene, I read an article about their frontman. He apparently has been recording with some classically-trained virtuoso and performing in Vatican St. Peter's Cathedral, so we'll see how those forays influence the album.

 

[Saracene]

Is that his Cat's Eyes side project with Rachel Zeffira? I haven't listened to any stuff by The Horrors but I really like it. It's influenced by 60s girl group music and in places is a bit like Julee Cruise songs from the Twin Peaks soundtrack. There's just one track where the male vocals are so hideously bad I could only listen to it once.

 

[iron yuppie]

Is that his Cat's Eyes side project with Rachel Zeffira? I haven't listened to any stuff by The Horrors but I really like it.

That's the one. I need to hear it.

 

[If you shout...]

I thought it was decent, at best. But I'm only one person.

 

[bono_212]

The couple of songs I heard from it I enjoyed pretty well. I was too bitter to listen to it at the time, because I thought it was stopping them from doing an album any time soon. Over it now.

 

[bono_212]

Drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip

 

[LemonMelon]

It's pretty good. I like the textures they used, and I feel the production is suitably swirly and attractive. They are surprisingly good at nailing the sounds they're attempting to approximate. My problem with it is the apparent lack of hooks outside of Still Life. I actually liked Endless Blue more, but in general I feel they picked the only single from this that was bound to go anywhere. Perhaps Monica Gems.

It's a sleepy album, too much so for my taste, but most of the songs are really good, if a hair too long and polished. This isn't the direction I wanted to see them take, but they made a really solid album with it. Verve fans will like this a great deal.

 

[iron yuppie]

The new album is now streaming over at Stereogum:

Stream Horrors’ Skying - Stereogum

All that I can say for the moment is "wow." This is a band that is rapidly coming into its own. The vocalist has a tremendous amount of feeling in his delivery, and his tone complements the synths perfectly. I admire that he has been able to shift his style in order to reflect the transition from the icy soundscapes of Primary Colours to the warmer textures on this album. I also love how they are also able to switch from one to the other seamlessly, as they do on "Moving Further Away." I'm just going to throw out a few convenient but slightly platitudinous associations here and say that it sounds like Unknown Pleasures meeting The Head on the Door. I can't wait to have Skying in my hands - what a shame that the release date has been delayed a few weeks.

 

[If you shout...]

Sounds pretty decent, if kind of long. I think that the out-of-nowhere (for me) factor is greatly contributing to how much I prefer Primary Colours, though, at this point. I prefer it quite a bit. Of course, who knows what the future holds?