New Wave Outpost Forum

Tough to verbalize what I'm on about here, but bear with me...

Listening to the new album by Rhye ("Woman") and although maybe the songs aren't particularly strong, I am interested in how it maintains a certain mood, timbre, aesthetic throughout with little exception.

...mind you, it's the sound of something I might've dismissively heard while shopping with an ex-girlfriend in a Pottery Barn or Pier 1 Imports on a Sunday afternoon circa '85. But because it invokes that feeling, that era, that lack of adult repsonsiblity/stress(?), it is somehow a positive sound to me.

I would say the debut by the XX a couple years back had the same sense of maintaining an aura / aesthetic throughout. It doesn't veer much. While some might complain about lack of stylistic adventure, sometimes I appreciate those albums which maintain a particular atmosphere from beginning to end.

What from OUR era would you say did the same?

I'm tempted to list something by the Cocteau Twins, where the songs all stayed in a certain environment - - even the artwork fit the mood.

The Pop Group - For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder

This fits the bill.

Duran Duran's [i]Rio[/i] evokes a breezy, fun, light-hearted mood throughout. This album was the epitome of Andy Taylor's guitar sound. Back then, it might've been buried under the whole crazed "Duranimal/fan" hype (of which I was a part of), but listen to it now, and I guarantee you will hear it with new ears. It REALLY sums up a lighthearted, breezy mood AND era.

Whether you were serious or not, the Pop Group lp DOES maintain an aesthetic throughout (I've had that in my vinyl collection for years). And oddly enough, as different as it is to something as milktoast as Rhye, I'd say both put maintaining that aesthetic over songcraft. I couldn't say the same for say, the Jam, Gang of Four, or even the Exploited. To me, they all focused on creating the best songs they probably could.

The others focused more on creating the atmosphere/mood they wanted to achieve, bombastic or tranquil.

Maybe that's Eno in a nutshell, I don't know.

[quote][i]Originally posted by KYYX4ever[/i]
<br>Duran Duran's [i]Rio[/i] evokes a breezy, fun, light-hearted mood throughout. This album was the epitome of Andy Taylor's guitar sound. Back then, it might've been buried under the whole crazed "Duranimal/fan" hype (of which I was a part of), but listen to it now, and I guarantee you will hear it with new ears. It REALLY sums up a lighthearted, breezy mood AND era.

[/quote]

Rio was the first record I thought of when I saw the topic. I would say Depeche Mode's Black Celebration creates exactly the opposite mood.

The correct answer to everything is always Ocean Rain. [:D]

New Order: Low Life
Echo and the Bunnymen : Ocean Rain
Roxy Music: Avalon
Love and Rockets : Earth, Sun and Moon
Simple Minds: Sparkle in the Rain
Ultravox: Quartet
The Damned Phantasmagoria

Scoundrel Days -A-ha, every track maintains a variety of moods that will tickle your inner sense..

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds
... or Pornography for that matter.