#the the

[sowhatifiliveinfukuoka]

Record Label History: 4AD Records (AD 10)

The The

Controversial Subject (1980)

[spilladabalia]

The The - Uncertain Smile

[musicandoldmovies]

The The - This is the Day

From the album Soul Mining

[the-hottest-band-tournament]

Round one

The Psychedelic Furs

Formation: 1977

Genres: post punk, new wave, alternative rock

Lineup: Richard butler - vocals

Tim butler - bass

John Ashton - guitar

Vince Ely - drums

Albums from the 80s:

The Psychedelic furs (1980)

talk talk talk (1981)

forever now (1982)

mirror moves (1984)

midnight to midnight (1987)

book of days (1989)

Propaganda: 

The The

Formed in: 1979

Genres: Post-punk, synthpop, alt rock

Lineup: Matt Johnson – vocals, guitar, keyboards

Johnny Marr – guitar, harmonica

James Eller – bass guitar

David Palmer – drums

Albums from the 80s:

Burning Blue Soul (1981)

Soul Mining (1983)

Infected (1986)

Mind Bomb (1989)

Propaganda: 

[r144l3r]

Matt johnson of The The and me need to makeout immediately

[tuffluff7]

covers for the the "soul mining" + single for "this is the day"

[chasedbybuildings]

The The always remind me of living in London in the mid-1990s. I also love the coda. Song arranged by Anne Dudley, of The Art Of Noise.

[fleetshotter-minstrel]

“The stains on the Heartland can never be removed…..”

[allfillernothriller]

« There's a high wind blowing, and the stars are shining bright, and the rain upon the tarmac helps me sail through the traffic lights. I'm heading down to the dock of the bay, to feel the power of the waves. I'm gonna move up close to that wind, and wrestle with the thoughts solitude always brings. »

[spilladabalia]

The The - Heartland

[bestsynthpop]

Propaganda for Major Tom: One of the best synthpop songs of all time. It's amazing in English but the German version is even better imo.

All the bracket 1 match-ups

[mywifeleftme]

321: The The // Soul Mining

Soul Mining The The 1983, Epic

I’d hazard Soul Mining is the only The The album most people have heard and, while it amply demonstrates definite article Matt Johnson’s capacity for genuine brilliance, I think that’s generally fine. The others have their interest, but Soul Mining is the only time Johnson consistently limits his compulsion to wallow in baroque self-loathing to the lyrical arena. Though the words frequently sound like the prequel to My Twisted World: The Story of Elliot Rodger (“You’ve been a ‘PROSTITUTE TO HUMILITY’ / She’s invaded your life and you’ve got to live apart / In order to SURVIVE”), the music has an irrepressible vibrancy to it, its cutting-edge for ’83 electronic beats garlanded with unexpected touches of accordion, fiddle, xylimba and more. It’s the juxtaposition that gives Soul Mining its immense charm, the fact that its form and content frequently don’t align, the sense of a man working on music for people to dance and make love to despite his brain’s persistent efforts to eat itself alive.

Soul Mining is defined by its singles, “This is the Day” and “Uncertain Smile,” two of the greatest of the ‘80s, of all time in fact. “This is the Day” is about nothing less than those hinge points in life where something inside you shifts, and you know that things are going to be different, even if the full ramifications of that change may take years to come into focus—a song of such tender empathy that just listening to it can be enough to bring one of those shifts on from the deep place it lay, waiting for a sign. “Uncertain Smile” also places its finger directly on an ineffable, almost inexpressible sensation, the uncertain moment when an emotional block inside has begun to thaw, and a feeling that’s been absent so long you’ve forgotten its name returns. The album version climaxes with a bravura piano solo from former Squeeze Jools Holland that would get my vote for the instrument’s finest moment on a pop song.

Of the rest, the song that comes closest to these peaks is the near-ten-minute closer “Giant,” a simmering 12”-single style head-nodder that rides one nasty bass synth lick, gradually layering on tricky, interlocking analog and synth rhythms. Johnson famously didn’t have a sequencer at the time, meaning he played a lot of the album’s “loops” manually, and the hands-on approach means he’s constantly switching up his patterns in a way you don’t always consciously register. Two-thirds of the way through he drops everything out for a while to let former Orange Juice drummer Zeke Manyika take an extended drum solo—when he finally brings everything back up a few minutes later I want to throw shit around I’m so hyped. Johnson intended it to close the record, but much to his ire international versions of the record (like my Canadian pressing) tack on contemporaneous single “Perfect.” A pop gem somewhat in the vein of “This is the Day,” it makes for an amazing cooldown from the last few tracks of clattering psychic angst, and the album’s lesser without it—it’s one of Johnson’s best.

321/365

[thisautistic]

okay the song at the beginning of why r u reminds me of this one SO MUCH. during zon's dream? i just. it's insane. i have to listen to it when i start why r u again because it's uncanny

[soulzerofever]

a couple david doodles from last night while watching the BAFTAs!! :]