big leaps since the last one I listened to from you, Francis, in the production stuff. I really liked all the songs, nice listening.

woah check this out rad dudes
I'll try and get it listened to sometime during the week and post some thoughts on it

My one gripe about this is that I really don't think you guys put enough effort into the lyrics.

Actually, I really like the lyrics here in comparison to previous solo works.

It might not be so complex or full of metaphors (only All These Springs can claim that), but the innocent grace of youth and simplicity are some ideas I'm in love with.
The first song is so clear, we are singing for an ideal. We are entering adulthood, but we don't think that in the maturing process we have to lose our youth and our inner child. I personally believe we have to rescue that facet of ourselves, a facet that people misunderstands with immaturity, and a facet of our persona that is what keeps us so alive.

Then take My Shoes, it has a very straight and clear statement, I don't even need to explain it, but that's what I adore most about those lyrics. It is so frank and heartfelt and real and simple.

History and Memory crosses a very dreadful event with childlike singing. Innocence, youthfulness and simplicity keeps on being the common denominator.


In a way, Play Young has a concept. The album title is a statement by itself.

I don't really know your work all that well so i don't know your background. Or influences! But heh, i guess that can be an advantage.
I have listened to this, now will write out summary/thoughts/c&c?!?!?/questions/MORE MYSTERIES for now but i won't rush with it or anything.
I'll take your thoughts/concept/words into consideration when marveling my sum-up.

btw, a very nice album sheppieboy.

was this really recorded and everything? Like in a studio

Edit: oic I just assume everybody's American

the album art is better than most radiohead covers or something seriously what was that I    NRAI NBOWS INR A INBOWS crap

but yeah all of this stuff I instantly enjoy better because somebody made it. I mean like someone I partially know not just somebody in a store/found out about on the internet they're like not real people anyway the Beatles were totally CGI

thanks for listening and thanks for the comments everyone! I usually prefer to let the record speak for itself, and I don't want to feel like I'm making excuses for it, but some folks have brought up things that I'd like to address.

Francis and I became friends because we talked about music and began sharing the music we made with eachother. This lead to a few internet based collaborations. A song I'd made called More Foodstuffs made it onto Francis' amazing album Future Science vs. Man. Francis lent his saxophone skills to my last record Safe Places. I made some music videos for a couple of his songs. He has been responsible for the wonderful artwork on my last three records.

So, of course when we met up in Buenos Aires in January, we were going to play some music together. That anything came of it at all, let alone something that I'm really quite proud of, is pretty astonishing. Though we share similar tastes and certain aspects of the music we make share aesthetics, there was nothing to suggest that when we sat down in a room together we would click as musical players.

There are things on Play Young that are amongst the best things I've ever done, I think. There are also some small niggles that given the chance I would do again, but hey, it's the same with all creative ventures. This wasn't the easiest record to make, we're both used to recording on our own and I think we work in different ways. I'm used to the slow gestation of ideas and building them up over some months and tampering with them on my own. Francis has an amazing determination to make music and he really became the driving force behind this collaboration, pushing me when I thought it was too hot to even move, let alone play bongos. But y'know, we had a great time making this record. It was a challenge and we did it and I think it sounds great and seperate from each of our usual ventures. I'm also confident if we were ever to make a second record, it would be 10x better (which I think is saying something considering the quality of this one). We'd know how eachother works,  we'd skip the pleasantries and get straight down to it.

So thanks again for listening and commenting! Really hope you enjoy it.

also, to the comments on the cover art: it's great isn't it? Francis did a great job. He's turning into Peter Saville!

also also, and this probably is a bit dirty, but whatever; I get the feeling most people around here are familiar with Francis' music. If not, if you heard this and want to dig deeper, you should totally get his albums Future Science vs Man and Good Change. They are seriously great.

i've actually promised not to listen to any new albums released in 09 dogg! its silly but i have so much to work through. that's my horrible explanation, everyone else has no excuse...

what the hell steel, that's ridiculous. Discipline is something that bugs me so much.


great post G, I'd also recommend his record FACES it is just brilliant.


also another thing

G mentioned those 2 albums of mine, and let me tell you something. Those record has a much lower recording production in comparison to this one.

When I released my last solo album, Heart's Uprising (which imo is one of my weakest albums), I mentioned I was closing a phase as a musician with that record.

After that, I bought a synthesizer, a recording microphone, a good external sound card.
Got Cubase and Audition.

Those became big changes for me.
Play Young is also an indicator of my change in direction.
The recording, producing and mixing quality has been improved. Everything is much cleaner and accessible. That's an important thing to me.

Future Science and Good Change, for though amazing records (to me both records have me in a creative peak) have a very cheap production.

i think Untitled Head has a last.fm page.

yeah...http://www.last.fm/music/Untitled+Head  you can download Faces and stream songs and stuff there.
also quite fond of this song from my last Untitled Head album Safe Places (ignore the video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjBg8-FqItA


ahem...

way to jump on the tailcoats of the attention Spacelanding is getting.

listening to this now. I will give some thoughts later. on the first song now and so far its cool

This is the best thing you've ever been in Shepperd, I don't know who did what but all of it is really good.

listened to it a few times through. this is really good. good music guys. please make more

edit: come on steel!!! support your gw

I wanna dl, but fucking worst captchas ever!

yeah they are pretty awful. Man up.

hey i just got this and its pretty amazing. i really like the style and its really good to find a GW collab working

I'll download this because I think the back cover is awesome..


Give my crits later.

*A dinosaur emerges from the bushes. It shakes dust out of its whitening beard and utters the following sentences as all of its teeth fall out:*


Aha, very interesting. I just went through a stress-induced spell of livejournal entries and mentioned that I had found Shep's music again recently from a long time ago, then Steel linked me to this topic. Fascinating that I'd been wondering what you might be doing musically these days and this was exactly the kind of music I might have expected, which is absolutely wonderful because it is a very beautiful kind of music.

The breakdown in Old Season is hands-down my favorite part of the album (from about 1:48-3:15). The album as a whole is very comfortable and soothing to listen to. I think the names are all very appropriate. It feels like a work surrounded by joy and experience.
I love the percussion on this record. I do think the two of you should just sing constantly and put a little finer focus on matching pitch. Sharp vocal harmonies can be incredibly powerful but they take a lot of work to develop.

My major suggestion to you, as one musically-active human being to two others, would be to give more. More, shorter songs or more in every longer one. This might mean more layering and greater diversity of coordinated sounds, or it might be clearer lyrics with poetic content. This is not to say that it felt empty, but very interesting repetitions can only carry you for so long. Just the same, it is rather impressive that you put this together in a month and a half, having just met one another formally, and doing many other things besides. On the other hand, that is the only way I think a project could find that much inspiration.

Perhaps more accessible than other work, but it is still a bold and fundamentally creative sound, and that is what I've always liked about your music. I believe it, and I have respect for what I believe in. And even now it has grown immensely more pleasant to listen to.

And who am I to say this? I'm nobody--another person, a player, a listener, an illusionary.

*It's skin blows off like dust and its bones fall to the ground, and are later found and housed permanently in a Creationist museum.*

Thanks for this amazing post Diggity Dawg.
You really did a deep reading of the album, and I love you for that.
And I think you nailed it here with those criticisms.
Left a comment at your LJ.

thanks Diggity Dawg for taking the time to write that. And indeed, thanks to everyone who's taken the time to download and listen to the record. I hope you enjoyed it, if only a little bit. I would address some more of the things that people have brought up, but I think now I'll just let the album speak for itself and let it be.

ps. mtv here we come