PJ Harvey - The Hope Six Demolition Project
 

I didn't realize it was coming out April 15th...

http://www.pjharvey.net/

The wait is finally over!!!

Awesome.

PJ Harvey shares new song "The Orange Monkey"...

http://pitchfork.com/news/64660-pj-h...monkey-listen/

Shit I didn't realize it was coming so soon either. Or I forgot. It's pretty much the only rock-type album I'm excited about for the year at this point. I can't fucking wait now. Hell yeah.

I am totally fucking down for this

Man, I checked out "The Wheel" the other day and I'm very pleased. I can totally see why this is being marketed as sort of a spiritual sequel (as well as a chronological one) to Let England Shake. There's a very similar dark, rhythmic instrumentation on this song that makes me totally fucking amped for the album.

Odds are this will be my #2 album of the year. At this point, I can't see it going down any other way.

God I fucking love PJ Harvey! And oh! how I've missed her these past few years. Let England Shake was my hands down fav rotor album of 2011, and let's face it -- she's just a fucking goddess. She not only seems to be physically incapable of releasing bad albums, but also seems to only know how to make classic ones. This is a big deal for me and I'm just dying to hear the album in full.

I share your passion for Polly Jean. She's an all-time great and can do no wrong. I'm totally amped. Now I just need an Atlanta tour date.

Really hoping to catch her live myself. It's been well over a decade since the last time I saw her at this point.

I've been a fan for a long time, but Let England Shake was just so goddamn good that it really rejuvenated my love for her. It just hit me in all the right places, and as an album I think it's my favorite thing she's ever done. For me it recalled the genius of Tom Waits's Real Gone (another all time favorite album of mine), and just annihilated everything else that dropped that year.

Two days? Still?! Aaagh! Too... pumped... to live!

I'm going to savor. Might take a while buying it, then I'll listen to a track a day perhaps, skipping a day now and then. She's most likely not releasing another one anytime too soon and I feel it would be best to listen prudently.

And at least for me, there's an expectation/disappointment ratio. That is, the more pumped I get, the more I later deflate. I read a bad review of the new one and I'm glad.

http://www.theskinny.co.uk/music/rev...project-review

I hate reviews unless they praise the fuck out of artists I like.

But this is PJ Harvey we're talking about here. She's doesn't make bad albums. Maybe not all of them are "10/10" but I highly down the album is bad.

And if I know PJ, it'll be a long process getting to know the record. That's a good thing. After one listen it will probably be satisfying and good but nothing mind-blowing. As the weeks and months go by, it will start to sink in. That's how I tend to process albums. Very few hit me right in the chest on first listen. But Let England Shake did.

Anyway just saying, the reviewer is probably a dickhole. I ain't readin that shit.

I just can't stand over-praising. I'm sure it's good. But I don't want the music-critic-establishment to tell me so over and over again.


PJ Harvey's least beautiful record by some distance, The Hope Six Demolition Project's intentions are admirable and inarguable. But weighed against the expectations raised by the overwhelming invention of her stout back catalogue, it falls uncomfortably short.

HA! Made you read it. Some of it at least. It is indeed a dippy review. But maybe a little refreshing too.

By the way, I've heard not a whisper of a US show. Mostly European Festival shows through August, so even if she crosses the pond, it might be awhile.

Well folks, it's out! What the hell are we waiting for? Why aren't we talking about this shit? This is like the indie rock version of a new Beyoncé album or some shit!



My impression so far is that it's a simultaneously sharp and blunt weapon of an album. Musically, it's like a razor. Lyrically it's a bit more like a baseball bat... but while pitchfork thinks that's a sign of Polly Jean forgetting how to write lyrics, I personally think it's deliberate.

The songs are intoxicating. I'm still getting the feel of it. Hard to compare it to Let England Shake, which is one of the best albums ever in my opinion, except to say, as Pitchfork did, that this is kind of like her "Let America Shake."

Sax sounds fucking great all over this thing.

I was a little disappointed to Let England shake at first, but this new one is amazing! Hit me very deep second time I listened it whole through. There is something same as Let England, but it´s much more "back to the roots"-album like Stories from the Sea was when it came. Doesn´t go higher than White Chalk, a Woman a Man, Dance Hall or Is this Desire in my PJ album rating, but really didn´t even expect it to go, very hard to make better album than those excellent albums.

Absolutely this is going to be my best 2016 album. Only one who can make better is Tom Waits and it doesn´t seem he´s going to release an album this year. Nick Cave? Doesn´t hear anything about him either.

I've enjoyed it a lot so far. I'm always perplexed by reviews that throw the whole album in the bin because of the album being "preachy" or being too ambitious thematically. I think it reveals more about the reviewer themselves than the music.

I like that the production is less reverb/delay-soaked than Let England Shake. It lets you hear a lot of little details about the songs... the subtle vocal inflections, the distinctive vocals of Parish and Mick Harvey, little shakers and claps dropping in and out, the ambience of the room I love that sort of thing.

As mentioned, the sax playing is fantastic. She sounds like Archie Shepp on The Ministry of Social Affairs... "wrong" notes and everything. It's glorious.

I know what you mean about the production. One album that really stands out as a standout in the kind of production you're talking about is Real Gone by Tom Waits. I think both Let England Shake and Hope Six actually sound a lot like Real Gone in a lot of ways, but I do appreciate being able to make out the various thumps and claps and shakes. I think some of this was definitely present on LES, but this album makes it easier for the messy pieces to become part of the greater sound.

This did make me take an afternoon to listen to Dry, Rid of Me and and To Bring You My Love, however, and as good as Hope Six is, throse records just slay. PJ era 1. Absolutely classic.

Agreed, especially the first two. I find Rob Ellis' drumming to be right up there in terms of all time rock drummers... distinctive, constantly toying and interacting with the guitar parts, detailed. Then is seems he's been resigned largely to backing vocal duties for the last 20 years! I cant believe it hahaha

I think PJ found true herself in To Bring You My Love, although those first two are not bad albums (prefer more Dry than Rid Of Me). Love also 4 track demos.

Anyone else see a similarity between PJ, 2011-2016 and Tom Waits, 2004-2007?

Am I just nuts here?

Well, I have thought PJ is some kind of female Waits in music (not become my mind any other female you can say she´s like Waits). But I don´t hear lots of similarities in Real Gone & Let England Shake. Real Gone is one of the rawest Waits, and I think Let England is much more sophisticated although has also rawness comparing other music of it´s time. Also same thing in new PJ album. Lyrically? Yes, maybe.

I think closest to Real Gone in PJ`s albums is Uh Huh Her. Both have simple, raw but great song arrangements & production. Also Dance Hall has something same but it´s more into Beefheart direction than Waits. And Yes, even To Bring my love is much more produced than any Waits album, I hear lots Waits primitive blues in it.

Well I'm talking about mixing. Production. The way the instruments sound. That slinky, grimey, bluesy sound. And the actual instrumentation and percussive arrangements. I may be wrong, probably an, but it's always a connection I've made.

I meaned also production. Even PJ:s two new albums are produced quite old-fashioned way these days, I think Real Gone is produced much rawer than those. If you had compared Bad as me, Alice or Blood Money to those two PJ albums, I would have agreed much more easily. I just think sound in those PJ albums is much more softer than it is in Real Gone. But anyway really love also Real Gone production.

Well, yes, maybe in instrumentation there is something same. Both use very little ordinary drums. There is very little guitar in PJ`s new albums, but Ribot´s guitars are just great also in Real Gone.

I fucking love Real Gone man. What an incredible album.

Really love it also when it came. Haven´t listened it a long time, going to some of these days. Also should listen again Mule.

Im liking what im hearing

I have a real soft spot for '90s and '00s Tom Waits. I think he hit a late career stride with Real Gone, Alice and Blood Money. And I love the '90s material like Black Rider and Bone Machine. And of course because I'm human and have ears, I love Rain Dogs and Swordfish Trombones and so on and so forth.

But I don't think it was until Real Gone that I started to consider him one of my favorite artists of all time. Something about that album just floored me. It's urgent, and it's subtle, and it's mysterious and it sounds like a wild animal. The solo in "Hoist that Rag" just kills me. It's got this mix of bluesy soul, dirty hard rock and even bits of dub and punk. Almost sounds like it could be a Clash record at times. And something about that sound and feeling seems to live in Let England Shake too. And Hope Six.

Yay! Glad to hear it. It's definitely a good album.

I can't get that "Community of hope" hook out of my head... "They're gonna build a Wal-Mart here! They're gonna build a Wal-Mart here!" To me it comes across not so much as a repetition, but as a fact. Like a DC tour guide is saying, "and on you're left, you'll see a vacant lot where they're getting ready to build a Wal-Mart, and to your right, another vacant lot where they're preparing to build another Wal-Mart! After this light, you'll see where the next block's Wal-Marts are going to be erected!"

I think it was -89 when I heard Swordfishtrombones first them and after that I have been huge Waits fan! Bone Machine was my first album to buy right after it´s release and it hit me hard right in the beginning, so did Black Rider. I was also glad after Mule just because there was so long time between Rider and Mule, but started thinking then he is getting old and little bit softer. To my suprise Blood Money & Alice were again sharper & greater than Mule. And I was really glad Real Gone was so raw album in the time almost everybody else made too much produced albums. It´s also of course songwriting is just great in those albums. Have to mention also Oprhans, it´s just so absolutely great when it´s supposed to be "just a off-takes compilation".

Really, Tom Waits creativity has been in the middle & last parts of his career. I don´t believe I would become ever so big fan of him if he hadn´t met Kathleen and started to make Swordfish etc.

With this new PJ-album and also many others I have to mention one man: John Parish. I don´t believe Polly would become as great as she is without him. Maybe too much to compare them to Lennon-McCartney, but I believe John really be with Polly when making arrangements into her songs. Also hard to understand why John´s solo career seem to be really underrated. I love all his albums, they are really personal mix of Beefheart, Syd Barrett & J.J. Cale.

Ok, I'm showing my own ignorance here, but when did Parish become involved with her solo albums?

I know he was in Automatic Dlamini, and I know they released A Woman a Man Walked By and Dance Hall at Louse Point (both great albums) together, but I'm woefully ignorant of the extent to which he's been involved with her other albums.

If I'm reading what you're writing correctly, he's a regular collaborator? Was involved with Hope Six? Would you mind explaining a little more.

The only PJ albums I have on hard copy at this point in my life are Dry, Rid of Me, TBYML, Stories..., and Let England Shake, so I don't have access to many of the liner notes to check for myself.

Bought hope six on iTunes, but I think I'm gonna order a hard copy because it's just turning out to be a major fucking record for me this year. And I used to have her entire discography on cd or vinyl, but moving, navigating storage units and running afoul of ex-girlfriends who were in possession of my shit has lead to the unexplained disappearance of many of my cd's and LPs. :(

Don't piss off your significant others and leave them with stashes of your personal belongings folks. I lost an entire comic book collection, a guitar, and about 300 albums to my previous girlfriend in 2007. Still stings.

I agree that John Parish is highly underrated, though. Even his records with PJ aren't given the level of attention that her "real" albums receive. I fucking love Dance Hall at Louse Point, but it's not considered a classic in the way the first three, Stories..., and Let England Shake are. Kind of a bummer.

Ok.. i like this record less now after full listen. I like that gutteral PJ epitomized in Uh Huh Her.. this is admittedly a better crafted and artistic record BUT not in the direction i prefer.

Frankly i find this record to be a bit too "British" for me

I get that. I do. I think I know what you're saying exactly.

Me, I love it... Though not as much as other PJ records.

I think you should really read the liner notes of PJ albums closer. John is one of the producers in To Bring You My Love, Is This Desire, White Chalk, Let England and the new one, naturally of course Dance Hall & a Woman a Man. And he also playes a lot in all those albums he´s producer (in this new on every song). There are no mentions about arrangements, but I believe John is also at least one of the arrangers. And those albums I mentioned are the greatest one in PJ albums IMO.

About John´s solos, I think you don´t know he´s made also own solos. How Animals Move, Once Upon a little time (my favourite), She Chinese and Screenplay are all huge Records, really recommend them all to you!

I have listened the new one all over again and it has become just greater! But one that I think is greatest is a Line In the Sand! It´s so supernatural beatiful, almost too much for me (like whole White Chalk). Hope she will play this one in June!

No, I know about Parish's solo albums. I was agreeing with your about them being underrated, and saying that even the albums he's done with PJ (which are of a higher profile than his solo albums) don't seem to get as much credit as I think they deserve.

But yes I will look at my liner notes more closely. Never really thought about it until I asked. I love PJ Harvey, but she's not one of those artists that I know everything about. I've just always really loved her music, and that's just how it is for me. Not sure why. I pay attention to production and session credits for other artists, and I learn where samples come from and what guitars are used for what parts, but I've never been that way with Polly Jean.

She's still one of my favorite artists though.

Well, at the moment when SY is in a hiatus that maybe lasts forever, I think PJ is my favourite artist! Really don´t still fully understand I am going to see her very soon (she´s never been in Finland)!

Yes, you´re right, also I think a Woman a Man didn´t get really much attention even it´s one of the best 2000 albums. John is too old? And a little bit more about his influence to PJ, I think I read from somewhere PJ wanted to change the guitar rock based music of Rid Of Me, but didn´t really at first know to what direction to go. But John helped in To Bring My Love her to find it. And then came great Dance Hall etc.

Thanks Mortte.

Yeah she's up there for me, and has been since the '90s. I think Sonic Youth's "hiatus" is pretty much just a break-up now. Thurston seemed to say as much recently. And let's be honest -- I'm not sure if you read Girl in a Band, but I think anyone who did is going to have a hard time picturing Kim Gordon willingly sharing time and space with Thurston Moore any time soon, and I don't really blame her much.

SY reuniting would be awesome, but at this point it would have to be a full-fledged reunion. Not just the ending of a "hiatus," which has been in effect for years.

But I do agree that with SY "out of the picture" (they'll ALWAYS be my #1 favorite band of all time, period) PJ is one of the last remaining champions of weird, awesome music.