Cheer Accident

[thedunno]

Okay, I bought my first Cheer Accident album a while back 'Sever roots tree dies' and I am enjoying it.
Tunefull when it needs to and raw and angular when it wants to. Not too far off from what Thinking Plague was doing in the 80ies I think.

I know this band has been around for ages and released a lot. So where to go next and what to expect?

Joost

[Scrotum Scissor]

I know this band has been around for ages and released a lot. So where to go next and what to expect?

Wow. That's almost impossible to answer *fully*. They are one of my 5-6 fave rock groups in the whole world and HAVE been for about a decade now, so I can only try to explain how *I* went about with them.

I bought Salad Days! on release (from Steve F.) and was caught by their strange and somewhat "mocky" approach to the whole post/math-aesthetic. Wildly intricate and dissonant, yet somehow still beautiful and with a most subtile sense of force to it. Still I was warned that none two C-A releases ever really sound much alike.

I got Dumb-Ask next (at a record store in London in 2001), and was surprised to find that it contained a kinda mathy sludge-core. Intriguing, but not something I was very into at the time. Still I kept listening to it.

In 2004 Steve offered most of their back catalog, and I practically got the whole bunch (except for the early cassettes and that Gumballhead thing, which I still haven't heard). I fell in love with Enduring the American Dream and Introducing Lemon at once, and I hold these titles in extremely high regard as far as 90s/00s "avant-rock" (at large!) are concerned. There are no obvious musical concepts or recipes at play here; they simply do what they do - and they are pretty much alone at doing exactly their thing. Not a Food and Babies Shouldn't Smoke are noisier and less melody-ridden (although you'll definitely enjoy the latter if you like Sever Roots), while The Why Album and What Sequel? contain intimate, intelligent and fairly skinless (albeit sometimes ironically so) pop/rock songwriting.

And then Steve F. himself was kind/wise enough to finally let them in, releasing what I consider one of the 10-or-so finest "prog" albums post-90s, Fear Draws Misfortune - which is precisely where you wanna go from here. Powerful, fun, surreal, intense, often quite gorgeous contemporary progressive rock music. Just get it!

And then get these:

Enduring the American Dream
Introducing Lemon
What Sequel?
No Ifs, Ands or Dogs

There's also the recent record by Stopping Clocks (a duo with Thymme Jones as drummer/vocalist), which somehow continues the more poppy/folky antic of C-A's "singer-songwriter" strategy.

Good hunting, and welcome to the game!

[thedunno]

I kinda suspected that this band hasn't been samey during their career ;-)

Allright then, I will include 'Fear Draws Misfortune' in my next wayside order (if still available)

[Kavus Torabi]

I don't have everything but I love everything I do have.


While my favourites are Fear Draws Misfortune and Introducing Lemon, it's What Sequel that really gets me in a funny way.

[Werbinox]

Expect nothing beyond a willingness on the band's behalf to challenge / annoy you, and a distinct sense of humor (touch of misanthropy?) that you may get to recognize as you get to know them better. "Sever Root Tree Dies" is a great place to start. My other favorites are "Babies Shouldnt Smoke", "Introducing Lemon", "Not a Food", and "Salad Days", specifically the 15 minute or so epic title track on that last one. There's plenty more but Im not as familiar with the other albums. Also the last two releases on Cuneiform are essential.

[Scrotum Scissor]

the last two releases on Cuneiform are essential.

And don't let that ludicrously tedious front cover of No Ifs... fool you - musical contents are awesome.

[NogbadTheBad]

I got into C-A in 2009 when I got Fear Draws Misfortune when I started exploring Avant. To me its one of the best albums of any genre in the last 10 years. The subsequent No If's Ands Or Dogs is very strong with a similar feel. I have 3 or 4 others of which I consider Introducing Lemons the best as personally strongly recommended by Steve F. The material they are releasing every month on their subscription site is also excellent.

[Scrotum Scissor]

I found Sever Tree Root Dies on vinyl in a secondhand store here in Oslo only last year; got that German CD reissue some eight years back. It's about as fascinating a debut from a "progressive rock" band that could ever have come during its day - 1988! Just to think that this was actually BEFORE the debut of Slint etc.

Still, C-A moved beyond even the daring arrangements on that record and into mental obscurity - as well as multi-layered/levelled humour - on many subsequent releases. I find it particularly enticing to know that the band essentially emannates from a scene which also spawned Tortoise, Yona-Kit, Bobby Conn and even Bonnie Prince Billy. C-A may seem to break free from the pack, yet one could also turn it around and see that the whole "post-rock" phenomenon was down to an artistic enigma altogether. I don't believe it's significantly helpful to try and "understand" the idiosyncracies and peculiarities of a project like C-A. You either like it or you don't, and it is perfectly viable to dig them without having to endorse ALL the music or ideas they commit.

[Steve F.]

I don't believe it's significantly helpful to try and "understand" the idiosyncracies and peculiarities of a project like C-A. You either like it or you don't, and it is perfectly viable to dig them without having to endorse ALL the music or ideas they commit.

^ ^ ^

This. Big fan of quite a lot. Don't really like some of it. Doesn't make me a lesser person.

[Steve F.]

Great live band too, btw.

[Steve F.]

There's also the recent record by Stopping Clocks (a duo with Thymme Jones as drummer/vocalist), which somehow continues the more poppy/folky antic of C-A's "singer-songwriter" strategy.

I also strongly recommend this one, which, since it wasn't released under the CHEER-ACCIDENT name, seems to have been missed by a lot of folks, but which, for me, is as good as many of the C-A albums.

[moecurlythanu]

Great live band too, btw.

Indeed.

The gig in Chi-town with Sleepytime and Faun Fables was pretty special. I recorded it, but don't think I got round to doing the transfer.

[NogbadTheBad]

They were outstanding at RIO

[Scrotum Scissor]

as good as many of the C-A albums.

[Stopping Clocks]. Yeah! And it perfectly captures that intensely melancholic sense of melodic beauty which appears in much of the poppier C-A material.

Those who fancy C-A wearing their Why Album and What Sequel? hat will do well in getting this. Beautiful record! And a token to T. Jones' talent for making the most out of very sparse arrangements, for instance when he pulls in the melodica in song no. 2 and effectively renders it the 'voice' of a lonely soul's narrative - BEFORE there are words in the song.

I almost listened this record to death last summer on visiting a small coastal island where I have friends, one of which was terminally ill and had been sent a shore to see his final days in hospital. I went to his deserted estate (which is truly beautiful) and noticed that he'd left the kitchen lights on when being transported off. I just sat there, sporting a tiny drink from my flask (hey, it was the holidays!) and contemplated all the great times we'd had right there. And I kept that melody (song no. 2 from Stopping Clocks) ringing in my head during the seance.

The guy never returned. Pancreatic cancer.

[Lebofsky]

I adore all their albums. ALL of them. In fact I'm shocked nobody mentioned any of the three amazing Variations on a Goddamn Old Man records. Well maybe not shocked but I find these records incredibly deep and beautiful in their rawness. I would highly recommend them all.

Also get albums by Brise-Glace and Dead Rider (I really like "Chills on Glass") for other great stuff involving C-A peeps.

- Matt

[strawberrybrick]

Chiming in, I'd start with the two Cuneiform releases and then start working backwards. Lemon is great, so is Enduring the American Dream, but as others have said, they're all a little different.

Living here in Chicago, I can say that they are almost a different band live than in the studio, but I'm spoiled because I can see them frequently. Great people too, I should add.

CA also have a "song a month" thing going on for well over a year now. Every month, there's a new track to download, and it only costs a minimum of $2.00, auto-debited to your paypal acct. Great way to get new music AND support the artist. There were some real highlights last year,

http://www.cheer-accident.com/subscribe/

And then there's this:

[miamiscot]

Fear Draws Misfortune is their best. By far. All their stuff is pretty great though.

[Phlakaton]

OMG - This band was a real ear opener for me. I first heard them live - Humanizing The Distance I was HOOKED for LIFE once this piece of mastery hit me. Thymme is so unique and full of amazing ideas and vocals. I love how they use trumpets and trombones - a good horn section can make all the difference.



Fear Draws Misfortune is definitely a good place to start - or - my personal favorite - Babies Shouldnt Smoke

SUB UP TOO like it was mentioned by strawberrybrick --- I've done it over a year and I have more than a good albums worth of new music from massing each month's new song. Those songs arent cheap either - some awesome music going on each offering.

[gearHed289]

I used to see them in clubs in Chicago early 90s. Love "Babies Shouldn't Smoke", though I never seem to see it mentioned. I'd done some recording with the late Phil Bonnet. He was a fun guy to be in the studio with. Interesting video collection...

[chalkpie]

I only own "Fear Draws.." and really dig it daddio. I could see meself becoming obsessed with this band - not sure why it hasn't happened.

[Steve F.]

I could see meself becoming obsessed with this band - not sure why it hasn't happened.

Because you only own one!

[chalkpie]

Because you only own one!

True!

But my point is I probably should own all of their albums AND be obsessed - this seems like that kind of a band. It's never too late I guess.

And StrawberryBrick - I managed to watch about 3/4 of that pizza tip video posted above. I almost stopped it like 5 times but oddly I just couldn't do it - it was like a pizza delivery black hole. Great sense of humor on Thymme there - he seems like a really funny and witty guy - probably fun to hang with.

[SteveSly]

They are one of those bands that are a real mixed bag for me. Some of their stuff I really like, while other stuff I am not that into. Of the albums I own probably my favorite is “Introducing Lemon”, but as others have mentioned their music can be very different from album to album. I have had the chance to see them live a couple of times, and they are a lot of fun on stage, but like their albums, some of it I really dig and some not so much. Their live shows can be very different too as every time I have seen them they have had different lineups and instrumentation.

[Prog Lives]

No ifs ends of dogs

Then fear draws misfortune

Both killers!

[Hobo Chang Ba]

The only one I like all the through is Enduring The American Dream. Salad Days and Sever Root, Tree Dies comes close.

Other than that it's specific songs for me, which is unfortunate, but how it goes sometimes.