random ramblings of the band known as camera obscura....

Glasgow bound. Barrowlands show tonight. Come and join us and try to figure out who is the most terrified. Kenny


anyone notice kennys gettin into this now,he`ll soon be housebound with a box of pringles,battered old accoustic and slobberin at his monitor.......

probably in the lee & nancy vain geoff?i know what you mean although even though i believe john is still recording,i think he was only ever gonna be in camera obscura for a while,from what i`ve seen live from that period there appeared to be an imbalance to their performance,not a power struggle as such but an underlying unease......some of those early songs as you say are fantastic,and now for the most part its just tracyanne singing(although carey and kennys vocals are there but understated) because of the subject matter(although tales of heartache work for either gender i suppose) adds to the songs a fragility that twangs away at any kind of affinty you have within any one line in any of the songs,the delivary/tone/pitch and pronouciation of the vocals are one of the things that make the band so special...obviously every member of the band play their part...its such a balanced outfit...sometimes you should except the songs/music for what they are,but unfortunately or maybe fortunately its quite the luxury to dissect it all and place it within your own world...like so many artists before them....there are so many great songs as you know...........

From Myspace Gra

Life is No Abyss
Hello chaps

we're having a good time just now. really enjoyed the UK shows last week, it was good be out celebrating the album with actual people. Just having a day off for doing laundry then we've got shows in Belfast and Dublin.
We're as happy as you can imagine to have sneaked in to the UK top 40 album chart at no. 32. amazing, thanks to everyone who bought the record.

we're getting quite into winning these days so i hope you can help us out again. the french navy video is the thing to champion and it can be done here http://www.mtvu.com/category/music/the-freshmen/. I have been told that you have to be in the USA to vote but it might be worth a shot anyway... and you can vote more than once. should you fancy developing repitive strain injury, who would I be to stand in your way?

once you've done your work you can reward yourselves by watching this

ta ant........

Great clip.

she`s is gettin better at that kinda stuff to,which is quite a brave effort.........

shyness is nice etc.......

Stuart Murdoch (and wife)'s views on 'My Maudlin Career' in his wonderful diary

i`m surprised he didn`t mention careless love,for me its the best thing on the album,with it peter and the wolf cello* at the end..its a gigantic song.........

*i think that what it is anyways..........

i suppose if you`ve made as many great songs as him/them,its hard to get over excited by owt..........

Agreed Gra, but then I also rate 'Forests and Sands' - like the country vibe going on there...

agreed nick,its a horn in careless wolf of some description,not a cello........i`m hammerin the album so i can give it a decent review...all of side two is good...even the naughty one(other towns and cities)........

the person that wrote on the bus is in big trouble.

that would be paul westerberg...whats he done?

Quote :

There are a lot of people certainly in their fifties and sixties coming to see us now and I think that’s good because when I look at an audience like that I think these are people that probably buy records.

I'm only 24 and I buy your records! Both on CD and vinyl. We're not all lazy piracy illegal-downloading punters, you know, although we are young.

Big Julie wrote:

I'm only 24 and I buy your records! Both on CD and vinyl. We're not all lazy piracy illegal-downloading punters, you know, although we are young.

LOL, ditto that Julie.
All though I'm ashamed to admit I do download albums once in awhile to make sure I like it first...like the Clientele this week. I'm on such a low budget and I hate paying for crappy music. But I always buy physical copies in the end, if for no more reason than my own audiophile tendency. I'm one of those crazy people who can hear the compression artifacts in an MP3 file and actually cares.

When I think about it though, Camera Obscura is one of the few bands I discovered NOT using this approach. I was buying the She & Him Volume One vinyl online from Merge and they recommended I check out Camera Obscura. So on a whim I added Underachievers (LP) to my cart as well, if for almost no other reason than I thought the girls on the cover were incredibly cute. But the music was as lovely as Tracyanne and Carey are, so I was hooked after that.

i think you are both typical of fans of what i would call good taste in music...there is a kind of person that is a music fan...they buy stuff,they want the actual artifact...it is a fact mentioned by the rolling stone magazines david fricke in the film"i am trying to break your heart"as for the she & him album...i woke up this morn oddly thinkin i should get round to orderin this soon....you like it paul??it may be a call this month between that and aforementioned bonfires on the heath.....i went to manchester with a friend recently,she was goin to get her hair done(how much music could you buy for £140??)anyways..i wandered off to the vinyl shops and the second hand clothes shops..i came back with

treason 12"-the teardrop explodes(mainly for use me,erm which i already have on 7")
i`m waking up to us12"-belle & sebastian
attic lights 10"
and rainman on dvd

i spent about £16,sittin in the coffee shop watchin paris,texas on me mp4 player,pawin the vinyl,its the business these are the things that make me happy,i am easily pleased..........nowt better for us than a record shop with loads of stuff to peruse........

graeme wrote:

as for the she & him album...i woke up this morn oddly thinkin i should get round to orderin this soon....you like it paul??

It's fantastic. I bought the CD first from a local store and since there are NO bonified music shops selling vinyl in Iowa, (NONE. Not a single one. Nadda. Grrr) I ordered the vinyl later directly from Merge. Twas definitely worth the upgrade, the warmth and rich textures of the music and Zooey's voice really come out in the wax. I'm not really an M. Ward fan, but I've always loved Zooey Deschanel, and the album is basically her songs, a few covers, sung by Zooey, and performed by Zooey and M. It's very classic pop style, similar to the latest two Camera Obscura albums except not as "wall-of-sound". Anyway, when I first got it, I'd just sit in front of the record player listening to side A over and over and over... (I'm a bit shallow sometimes.)
But it's very very different style then the Clientele's new album. If I was choosing between the two, it'd completely depend on what mood I was in.

Sorry for being quite crap at the instore, I suck at things that aren't keyboards. Thanks for having us though. c

carey oughta be careful with what she says...hahahaha,someone might take her up on it................suck?once again carey goes the extra bit to cater for our american cousins.....

@not_stuart Excitingly, we both use Shubbs. Tracy also has a squeezy Jim Dunlop one but I'm scared to go near it in case I harm myself. K

Nice to see tracy still usin the capo i gave her in manchester..................

really?! nice one Graeme! when did ya give her that?

graeme wrote:

..suck?once again carey goes the extra bit to cater for our american cousins.....

sorry, just reread this one... is "suck" an american (and canadian) expression only? dint know that..
or is it just cause she performed instore in US? jus bein a dolt this morn...
bolony

it was in the tobacco tin i gave her to replace the one that was stolen by some bint in manchester...it was an old glasgow company tin 1940`s??with some other stuff.....the day i got a hug from tracyanne...cute............she was not best pleased when it went missin like...she had a right go on the arl official site.............................

graeme wrote:

@not_stuart Excitingly, we both use Shubbs. Tracy also has a squeezy Jim Dunlop one but I'm scared to go near it in case I harm myself. K

Nice to see tracy still usin the capo i gave her in manchester..................

Hehe. Glad I asked about that now. In my experience, I've never liked those dunlops because the plastic they're made out of breaks easily. But I suppose it'd be great for stage as you can just stick it to the headstock when you're not capo-ing.

the dunlops are metal...............an by far the easyest to use...........i`m kinda sorry i gave it away hahahaha..i use a kyser now............

i was tryin to respond via twitter...but didnt have a scooby doo...i`m graeme3...by all accounts...........

graeme wrote:

the dunlops are metal...............an by far the easyest to use...........i`m kinda sorry i gave it away hahahaha..i use a kyser now............

i guess it depends on which one you buy. the one i have was only $15 (10ish pounds) and is plastic. i didn't know there was a metal one...

also, a scooby doo... what? i'm oblivious to one or more references.

now following you on twitface. anybody else here a fellow upperclass twit of the year 1973?