Some influences on Narodni Trida...
Here are some of the records that have been an influence on one or more of us. For current bands that we think are worth checking out go to the approved page.
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The Cinematic Orchestra 'Man With A Movie Camera'
(Ninja Tune 2003)
Sweeping and atmospheric, syncopated and robust, this album is an epic. Working equally well as a standalone album, it truly comes to life as a soundtrack to the 1929 silent film of the same name (and is available in that form on the DVD).
Tight, jazzy grooves are augmented with strings, ring modulated keyboards and the occasional clank but it's the spaciousness that gives it its real power and flow. (SM)
CD and DVD available at the Ninja Tunes Shop.
Cinematic Orchestra Website
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Miles Davis 'In A Silent Way' (Columbia 1969)
A perfect record that is barely there. Stitched together by Teo Macero from the sessions tapes, this was one of the early staging posts on Miles' journey into his ferocious fusion period and is the album before the 'Bitches Brew' (also a fantastic album). It's evident that this album has been a big influence on bands as varied as Tortoise and The Necks (another great band to check out).
Tracks like 'Shhh/Peaceful' just build and build with Miles' trumpet making the occasional appearance to shape and guide the players. The cut and paste approach to creating the final work (check out the 3CD Sessions boxset) has been a big influence on the Narodni Trida approach. (SM)
Available at Amazon.co.uk but you owe it to yourself to get the 3CD sessions boxset version. It is sublime.
Sony's Miles Davis Site: www.miles-davis.com
Estate of Miles Davis' Site: www.milesdavis.com
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Pale Saints 'In Ribbons' (4AD 1992)
Leeds-based Pale Saints really didn't fit in. The other Leeds bands I used to hear on the local 'indie' radio show were the likes of Cud and The Wedding Present - fun, but not really important. Pale Saints' first single 'Barging Into The Presence of God' contained plenty of noise but they were signed to 4AD and this was reflected in the fact that there was a whole lot more going on in the structures and dynamics of the band's music.
By the time they got to album number two, they'd got the confidence not to reach for the fuzz pedal quite so often and they delivered the exquisite beauty of 'In Ribbons'. The album weaves sinewy but lush guitar and cello lines around crisp drumming (some 'complex' time signatures going on) and wonderfully fluid, roomy bass-playing. Ian Masters (co-creator of another favourite album in 'Spoonfed Hybrid' several years later) left the band soon after and they drifted into more predictable shoe-gazey fare, but this is a mighty album. (SM)
Available at Amazon.co.uk
Unofficial website: Barging Into The Presence...
Ian Masters' website: Institute of Spoons
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Ride 'Nowhere' (Creation 1990)
This is brilliant song-writing disguised by the band’s embracing of guitar effects in order to emulate the tape saturation on My Bloody Valentine’s studio recordings. The music pulls in many directions as the rise and fall of guitar noise is given structure by a tight rhythm section, clearly influenced by funk and the house music of the time. Drummer Laurence Colbert could play as much as he liked. The sections of high energy wall of sound are somehow subdued by lazy two-part vocals. And there is quiet too. Ride’s love of dynamics kicked off the 90s by setting a good pace for the loud-quiet music that was to come. (PC)
Available at Amazon.co.uk
Official website: www.rideox4.net
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Rodan ‘Rusty’ (Quarterstick 1994)
Rodan were not a very lame band unless you grew up in Louisville, Kentucky where they used to play live all the time. To the listener from afar, Rusty, the band’s only album, grabs you by the heart and then pulls you around all over the place. The band really played together. As Slint did on their Spiderland album, they demonstrated to us how orchestral-like arrangements can be written for guitars. Is that a clarinet, a piano, a cello? No, not yet but it will be when some members go on to Rachels, another band on the Quarterstick label. But yes, that was a time signature change.
Less is more. QED Rodan. Rusty is a lesson in the interaction of concurrent single note melodies, the strength of a single cymbal stroke. Play quietly to begin with and the loud will be loud. Rock music can be moody, jazzy, groovy and hard as barbarians. (PC)
Available at Insound (USA)
Website: Southern Records/Rodan
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Slowdive 'Just For A Day' (Creation 1991)
Oft-derided in their day as the epitome of the whole Shoegazing scene, a search on ebay bears testament to the lasting fascination that Slowdive's music holds to this day. Moody and emotional, they created a deceptively simple but infinitely layered set of early EPs that culminated in this fantastic debut album, a more wistful take on the abstract expressionism of My Bloody Valentine.
Apparently, large parts of this were improvised in the studio with a handful of tracks being enhanced by swooning string parts. Sublime. After this they dug deeper into the realms of dub and more skeletal ambient shapes which are also worthy of investigation. (SM)
Available at Amazon.co.uk or ebay
Unofficial website: www.slowdive.co.uk
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(c) Narodni Trida 2005
