Wimbling along on another thread about Sophia I suddenly realised I don't think I've heard anything about them or the God Machine in the 6 months or so that I've been on this site.
So - is it just me? Anyone else out there loving the fusion of indie and metal of the God Machine or the more stripped down acoustic stuff of Sophia?
i've got one sophia single
its fairly ace. i saw them support mogwai at brixton a few years back and they were awesome.
I love Sophia
'Fixed water' is in my 10 favourite albums ever...
Absolutely
second that. Fixed Water is a solid gold classic. Thoroughly enjoyed People Are Like Seasons from a while ago too.
Saw a Sophia charity gig at the spitz last year and there was noone there/noone interested. It was heart-breaking, really. Totally rate Shepherd, he's a major talent.
aye
that is a brilliant album. i listen to those first two sophia albums quite alot still. So Slow is an amazing song.
Hooray! Seems it's not just me
Right - my campaign to get 'Scenes from the Second Storey' recognised as a DiS essential classic starts now.
'Scenes from the Second Storey' is one of those very rare albums that once you've become infected by it you'll wonder how you ever did without it. I would put it on the same pedestal as 'Spiderland' by Slint or 'In The Aeroplane Over the Sea' by NMH.
Instrumentally / Musically you would probably call this a metal album but the addition of 'clean' tuneful vocals and full orchestral sound on many of the tracks makes it hard to categorise. It is also experimental with song very long songs that reject traditional song structures and build to enormous crescendos (it predates the 'post-rock' fashion by a decade too).
It'll be bloody hard to get hold of a physical copy of it but... make every effort you can to hear this album soon.
2nd god machine album is better
one of the best live bands i've ever seen
ooooh contraversy
rears it's welcome head in the 'get The God Machine back in popular consciousness' campaign.
Granted 'Boy by the roadside' and 'In Bad Dreams' are tunes that scream quality but I still think 'scenes' is even better. It has more strings, more ambition, more variety and 'purity'.
I've only got 'People are like Seasons'
which is excellent.
Haven't got around to checking out anything else he has done yet.
For me, it's his weakest album
...
possibly - but it's still great
testament to the man's genius!
not great but very good !
As mentioned
the other day, the second God Machine album (One Last Laugh etc.) is a modern classic. The first two Sophia albums (Fixed Water and The Infinite Circle) are close to brilliant too, but after that the studio albums get a bit patchy. Check out the live mini-album though.
Robin Proper-Sheppard was supposed to support Malcolm Middleton in London last year, but had to pull out at the last minute due to work-permit issues. Very dissapointing. Sophia were excellent though when they supported Mogwai a few years back.
Robin
Will release a solo acoustic album this year at some point, and I can't wait.
Columbia own the God Machine recordings, and as I understand it there's a dispute between them and Robin - I don't know enough about it to say any more without embarrassing myself, but I can't see them being reissued soon.
I was vaguely in the sophia line up for a european tour 2 years ago, and I loved every minute of it - such amazing music, and a really nice guy. He should be much better known in the UK, but as it is he's much better known in Europe, so that's where he mainly plies his trade.
The God Machine
are seriously underrated. I do like Sophia but for me it's all about the God Machine.
this ^^
been listening to scenes all night...
i love sophia
Hooray!
Robin will be playing a solo acoustic show in Cardiff on 29th may, quite probably his only UK date this year. More info to come...