November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

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luvulongTIM
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November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by luvulongTIM »

On their third and most radio friendly album the triumphant toe tapping trailblazers Tilly & the Wall tantalize with timeless tunes of textbook tenacity. My introduction to this band came upon listening to the radio play the dashing dance dirty “Beat Control” not featured on the American release. Despite that disappointment I decided to give the quirky disc a spin particularly thanks in part to the recommendation of KCRW’s Nic Hartcourt who named it Album of the Year in 2007. The album, which featured the heavily rotated single Pot Kettle Black, as played on The Rodney On the Roq show, The NEW Beverly Hills 90210 in which they performed live and even a car commercial, added a flavorful mix of synth, twee and Mamas and The Papas stylized guy/girl melodies. This time around however highlighted by ferocious finesse and alluring anger. Their ability to achieve melodic mixes of moody meaningful merriment marvels with bouncy beats and contagious craft.

[spotifyalbum] http://open.spotify.com/album/5wusRm6Zx ... nJBtEW25OQ [/spotifyalbum]

1
Tall Tall Grass
Tilly and the Wall
2:57
2
Pot Kettle Black
Tilly and the Wall
2:50
3
Cocophony
Tilly and the Wall
2:27
4
I Found You
Tilly and the Wall
2:36
5
Alligator Skin
Tilly and the Wall
2:20
6
Chandelier Lake
Tilly and the Wall
4:16
7
Dust Me Off
Tilly and the Wall
2:56
8
Falling Without Knowing
Tilly and the Wall
3:05
9
Poor Man's Ice Cream
Tilly and the Wall
2:33
10
Blood Flower
Tilly and the Wall
3:11
11
Too Excited
Tilly and the Wall
Last edited by luvulongTIM on Mon Nov 06, 2017 3:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Henrik
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by Henrik »

luvulongTIM, you need to reove the s in https to make the spotifyalbum link work.
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by luvulongTIM »

Ok. Sorry. I’m new to this (despite being here for 15 years)Was going to write you about how to post from Spotify but didn’t want to bother you
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Henrik
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by Henrik »

No problem!

I think you also need to remove everything from the question mark. I'm the one who should be sorry for the troubles.
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by Hymie »

luvulongTIM wrote:
Tilly And The Wall
I was prepared to hate this, but it's not bad at all.

1 - Tall Tall Grass
Nice mellow track that gets electric guitarish towards the end.

2 - Pot Kettle Black
Reminds me of 1974-ish Suzi Quatro like "Devil Gate Drive."

3 - Cocophony
The weakest track so far IMO, but not bad. I like the fact that the tracks end cold rather than fade out.

4 - I Found You
This one sounds sorta Pretenders-ish. That's not a bad thing.

5 - Alligator Skin - Tilly and the Wall
With the percussion toned down this would have fit right in on a Go-Gos album 30+ years ago.

6 - Chandelier Lake
I don't think the guitar distortion belongs in this genre. I'd like this track better without it.

7 - Dust Me Off
I hear a little B-52s in here. Good beat. I like the bridge with the high piano notes.

8 - Falling Without Knowing
Could do without the echo. It makes the track sound muddy. The rhythm track reminds me of the Human League, like "The Sound of the Crowd."

9 - Poor Man's Ice Cream
This one makes me think of Pat Benetar's version of "You Better Run," the Rascals song, to tie it in with last week's album here. I like the casual use of profanity.

10 - Blood Flower
Another Pretenders type thing. Would also like this better without so much echo.

11 - Too Excited
The tap dancer-percussionist really is spotlighted here. While it is amazing that he can tap out percussion like that, sonic-ally it's nothing special. This one is Joan Jettish.

Overall I give the album a 5 (pretty good). That's a great rating for me to give a rock album from this century. Most others get a 2 or a 3. Unlike most albums from this century, this one certainly does not make me want to run for the hills. It's got plenty enough of a retro feel to attract me to pay attention. Sorry if that seems like a backhanded complement, but that's where my head is at when it comes to modern music.
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by bonnielaurel »

Their desicion not to use a drummer makes it interesting to hear what they do to replace it. They use strumming, clapping and stomping to provide a beat. The opening track has acoustic guitar and piano, until a gritty electric guitar sets in. The next songs have more instruments and chaos. I had never heard of them, but they're a nice discovery.
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by jamieW »

I really enjoyed the musical variety of this one, something not very common with pop-punk albums. (If that's even what this could be called.) They seemed to go out of their way to make sure each song sounded differently from the one before - something I can appreciate - and I really liked some of the fuzzy, psychedelic elements. My favorites were "I Found You," "Poor Man's Ice Cream," "Blood Flower," and "Cacophony." First listening, I have it rated at 6.09 (a good album for me), which will probably go up with repeat listening, since there's a lot to take in. (I've read that they use a tap dancer instead of a drummer - now that's something you don't find in your average rock & roll band!)

So far, 2 for 2 for me in this new project. (Everyone will know when an album doesn't particularly click with me, as I'll suddenly disappear for the week. :P )
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by Hymie »

jamieW wrote:First listening, I have it rated at 6.09 (a good album for me),
I don't do decimals on album ratings, but if I did this would probably be something like 5.28. Anything from 4.50 through 5.49 would round to a 5, so this album is a strong 5 for me. The "Groovin'" album for me would be like 7.05.
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by jamieW »

Hymie wrote:
jamieW wrote:First listening, I have it rated at 6.09 (a good album for me),
I don't do decimals on album ratings, but if I did this would probably be something like 5.28. Anything from 4.50 through 5.49 would round to a 5, so this album is a strong 5 for me. The "Groovin'" album for me would be like 7.05.
Yeah, I spent years trying to perfect an album rating "system" that worked for me. I ended up just averaging the individual song ratings (from 1-10) and then adding .5, 1, 1.5, or 2 to represent my general feeling about the album as a whole if I feel it deserves a bonus. (If not, the rating stays as is.) Typically, I give the bonus to an album based on how many songs it has that I absolutely love. (Like The Young Rascals, with "How Can I Be Sure" and "It's Love.") It's not a perfect system, but it's simple and I've been very happy with the results overall since it allows me a lot of flexibility.
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by DocBrown »

Thank you, luvulongTIM, for reintroducing me to Tilly and the Wall. I first discovered this album through the inclusion of "Pot Kettle Black" on the soundtrack of "Whip It", the 2009 film starring Ellen Page. Yes, I have a fixation with Ellen Page.

TatW had three things going for them a decade ago: the unique percussion courtesy of Jamie Williams (hey JamieW, do you have a conflict of interest to report?); the support of Conor Oberst's Omaha music community; and, for me, lead vocalist Kiana Alarid's native American heritage (explored on subsequent album "Heavy Mood") and vegetarianism. It always helps to be able to personally relate to an artist in my mind. Unfortunately that latter album was their swan song and they disappeared off my (and apparently everybody else's) radar after it was released in 2012. Williams married guitarist Derek Presnall but otherwise none of them have been particularly active since, at least musically.

"o" veers between twee pop ("Tall Tall Grass", "Chandelier Lake") and hard edged rockers (the aforementioned "Pot Kettle Black" and my other favourite, "Too Excited"). The former wear on me very quickly as the tap dancing seems like a gimmick against an acoustic background while it sits back in the mix on louder tracks. "Too Excited" has that lengthy solo by Jamie at the beginning but segues into the best realized track on the album IMO.

I give this album a 62 on my scale which is a better than average score, but not sufficiently compelling to make me revisit it again anytime soon. TatW had enough quality tracks over five albums and a dozen singles that perhaps a retrospective Greatest Hits package might be in order (are you listening, Conor?) but they didn't do enough here to break out of the 2000s indie rock pack.

Nonetheless, a great choice of unique album for discussion purposes. Well done, luvulongTIM!
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by jamieW »

DocBrown wrote:TatW had three things going for them a decade ago: the unique percussion courtesy of Jamie Williams (hey JamieW, do you have a conflict of interest to report?)
If only I had that level of musical talent! (Either that, or I was just being humble when I gave the album a "good" rating to throw everyone off track. Did it seem at all suspicious that I pointed out the tap dancer substituting for a drummer? ;) )
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by Moonbeam »

Another week featuring another artist I had never heard of before this game. Nice!

This album has a lot of hallmarks of the 00s indie scene that I like and a few I don't like as much, but overall, I enjoyed it quite a bit. The bratty "Pot Kettle Back" is raucous fun and a real earworm, and "Alligator Skin" is likewise a blast. My favorites, though, are the soaring electro fun of "Falling Without Knowing", the visceral punch of "Bloodflower", and the gorgeous bonus track "Heartbeats". All 3 of those are likely to end up somewhere on year-end lists for 2008 for me. Thanks, Tim!
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by luvulongTIM »

No problem, I actually didn’t even know they had a bonus track until you mentioned it right now. It’d have been even better if they included “Beat Control” but “Heartbeats” is quite the beautiful ballad.
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by spiritualized »

Tilly and the Wall... the name sounded familiar when I first saw it. I may have heard a track on a compilation, but I never attempted a full album experience.
O starts well with gorgeous vocal harmonies led by piano and acoustic guitars... I particularly liked the feedback at the end, sign of things to come ?
And indeed they do. Pot Kettle Black reminds me of the French band Plasticines, in-your-face basic indie rock. Further tracks don't let go. Tilly and the Wall (great name btw) are not afraid of experimenting, slotting piano, trumpets and brass in those rock arrangements. Sticking to a 2-3 min track length also gives a great pace to the overall experience.
As the album progresses, you realise that the band has a knack for catchy, immediate but quirky melodies (listen to the end of Chandelier Lake, a quality which makes them immensely likable.

However, it's not those songs which make the album so enjoyable. It's the hidden, less obvious gems like Cacophony and I Found You.
Excellent discovery, JamieW luvlongTIM thank you, a solid 8 for me.
Last edited by spiritualized on Sat Nov 11, 2017 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by jamieW »

spiritualized wrote:Excellent discovery, JamieW thank you, a solid 8 for me.
As much as I'd love to take credit for this one, it was actually luvulongTIM's recommendation. (Though Tilly's been good to me so far - not only an enjoyable album, but I've also been credited with discovering them and (possibly) being a secretive member of the band. :P
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Re: November 5, 2017-Album of the Week- Tilly & the Wall•o

Post by spiritualized »

Sorry :) got confused
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