Lost Crowns

[auxfnx]

after more time with this album, i feel like it's very harmonically exciting and interesting but is lacking a lot in terms of rhythm - it feels like the vocals are doing the same rhythms and patterns throughout most of the album, and there is very little groove throughout in terms of the overall composition. it feels very gridded and straight with the pulses consistently and gets very dry quickly. i do wonder if it would seem less stale without the vocals? i guess it just doesn't really line up with my tastes as much as i'd hoped! who knows, i may come back to it again at some point and quite enjoy it.

[NogbadTheBad]

Had another listen today and its complexity is starting to grab me.

[Bob Drake]

I hear 5uus all over this - especially some bass line passages - I wanted to press Bob on this at the show but decided it wasnt a good idea. haha. He isnt too fond of comparison talking - at least I get that impression.

Hi Eric, About the bass parts - have you asked Charlie (for those who don't know, the bass player) or Richard (composer) ? They're the only ones who could definitively answer anything about that. And if you tried to talk with me about it, it must have been in the crowded, busy venue or just outside, where it's hard to settle into a good in-depth talk. Out by the stone wall under the trees is a good place, or the park across the road. Let's go there next time! I did buy the Lost Crowns album in support and solidarity, have seen them live three or four times and we've played on the same bill a few times, I consider them my pals, but I haven't "looked" for similarities with other bands. It's their first album - I'm sure if they stick together long enough to do a second, it'll be more "them". Like all of us, they are finding their way as they go.

BD

[Scrotum Scissor]

its complexity is starting to grab me.

It is indeed a very "focused" (i.e. lineary) intricacy at play here. Together with the skewed harmonics and the feeling of continuity between pieces, this makes for a most demanding listen. It doesn't surprise me at all how some would be turned off by or maybe even provoked by the sheer difficulty so evident here.

I've come to really prize this band, and Larcombe's stuff in general. A highly talented dude with a fascinating voice of his own.

[Zappathustra]

It's funny, but I did not find it such a demanding affair, and it grabbed me instantly. It's overall production-aesthetic has a pleasant, light 60's feeling and there are many hooks to grab on. Its accessibility is one of its great virtues in my opinion.

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ But it's precisely the apparent accessibility or "familiarity" which I believe would tend to distance some listeners, as it tended to do at times with the marvellous 5uu's, Thinking Plague a.o. People hearing faint echoes of their fave veterans and then suddenly being overrun by alien attack and hostile dissonance of (to them) unknown origin.

Change, challenge, otherness and the new - they're often unwanted assets in music. Even with the claim of "progression" to the fore.

[NogbadTheBad]

I've come to really prize this band, and Larcombe's stuff in general. A highly talented dude with a fascinating voice of his own.

I'm a big fan of everything Larcombe does, he's got an excellent touch.

[Phlakaton]

I'm a big fan of everything Larcombe does, he's got an excellent touch.

Same here. Have you ever sat and talked to him? He has this energy that doesnt stop. Maybe it's the dress... but its like he exudes constant frenetic mojo. Lovely guy though and I agree with the music end - he definitely has a nice touch. Stars in Battledress is also some fine stuff - Richard and James - talent abounds.

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ I believe it is the dress. I'm a dandy-dresser myself (became one as an act of protest when my first wife left me) and can talk, walk and drink most tossers under the stool. Dress and Sharp tongue helps, but brain is somewhat quintessential - as long you've got it.

But - needless to say - I haven't got the talent of the Larcombes. I'm really hoping that Lost Crowns will be an enduring venture, as I'm truly excited at where they might fare. Anticipating another release by Stars In Battledress too, of course.

[thedunno]

I'm a big fan of everything Larcombe does.

Me too. I just wish he'd do MORE of it

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ Agree, but it -really- takes time and effort to conceive music like theirs.

Rehearsal and execution, but foremost the very idea of what's to be. And that's excrutiating.

[chalkpie]

A pretty amazing cover by The Brothers Larcombe

[polmico]

It doesn't surprise me at all how some would be turned off by or maybe even provoked by the sheer difficulty so evident here.

It's probably that. I'll go ahead and chuck it now.

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ You need to stop listenin' so heavily to that Glenn Medeiros song, Polmico!! There's more out there!

[Baribrotzer]

Firstly, bravo to these guys. Impressive. I'm really not hearing T. Plague in this. Harmonically and rhythmically it hits me most like an updated H. Cow, with a little 5uus (the former having influenced the latter). And just a tad, maybe, of Zappa. The repeating "anthem" at the end is slightly reminiscent of G. Giant, but not much, imho. Ultimately, as was said, while influences are inevitably there, these guys are really creating their own thing. The only thing "psychedelic" I'm getting from it is their clothing. The animal heads are kinda Residents-ish. It is definitely an interesting video. It's a melange for sure, but with its own vision, and wonderfully executed. Congratz to them.

Interesting. To me this sounds a whole lot like Thinking Plague, and that was what I thought as soon as I heard it. From the highly chromatic melodies full of large jumps, to the harmonic texture that seems to involve at least two unrelated keys going simultaneously, there are quite a few similarities. Granted, it also sounds like a less jibbery and twitchy version of Cardiacs, with a considerably different vocalist - maybe like Hatfield and the North covering a Cardiacs tune with Richard Sinclair singing.

[Zeuhlmate]

On their facebook they answer today (very briefly) there are two albums coming up next year !

[NogbadTheBad]

Sweet!

[moecurlythanu]

Indeed. Looking forward to that.

[LidaUnaBass]

Indeed. Looking forward to that.

Me also.

[Camelogue]

Finally made an appointment to get the crown, as dentists are open again.

[interbellum]

Nice to notice that Gary Steel mentions Lost Crowns as one of the modern bands that have been influenced by Gentle Giant in his epilogue of "On Track...Gentle Giant, Every Album, Every Song".
https://burningshed.com/gary-steel_g...-on-track_book

[Mascodagama]

Nice to notice that Gary Steel mentions Lost Crowns as one of the modern bands that have been influenced by Gentle Giant in his epilogue of "On Track...Gentle Giant, Every Album, Every Song".
https://burningshed.com/gary-steel_g...-on-track_book

I can't say I find the influence all that evident. Though this should be an excuse to dig the album out again - haven't listened to it in ages.

[Scrotum Scissor]

^ Frankly I hear more of a pronounced GG-feel on the (latest) Stars In Battledress-record than on the Lost Crowns.

There are, however, perhaps a bit too many a "prog" writer who seems prone to draw in the GG-parallel at any instance where the music gets more overtly intricate than with the usual "big six" suspects. For example there's that ludicrous PA-recension (where else?) of Motor Totemist Guild's City of Mirrors in which the reviewer keeps calling out GG because they apparently were the only other ones doing things "that complex".

[LidaUnaBass]

Under no circumstances am I saying they are trying to emulate or clone GG, but I definitely hear an influence to the way the lyrics flow and are delivered and the instrumentation surrounds those lyrics. Again Lost Crown are their own entity and great by themselves, but when I recommend them I always say, "if you like GG you will like LC".

[Zeuhlmate]

Lost Crowns

"Our thanks to everyone who failed to avoid our concert on Thursday, and to Kavus Torabi and Michael Woodman for helping us summon up the spirits. These photos by Ashley Jones will serve to remind us. We will return later in the year with our second album."

https://www.facebook.com/lostcrowns