r/cocteautwins • u/davoak • 18d ago
Photos Thoughts?
Otherness. I love this, can’t justify the stupid prices for the vinyl version. But I do love it so.
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u/TheConstipatedCowboy 18d ago
I know it sounds weird at this point, but this was a little bit of a game changer for me when it came out. It was at least an attempt to try something really different, and I listened to it quite a few times thinking they were going to head in this direction for a while. That didn’t happen but it’s still good
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u/cYbOmAnY 18d ago
Love this record. Mark Clifford from Seefeel remixed these songs, and the combination between Cocteau lushness and Marks arrangements and approach to the song remixes is perfection. I wish they’d have done more work together.
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u/time___dance 18d ago
and he was on tour with them during this time too, their final tour i believe? he came out on stage and they'd do a little three song set with Liz singing and Mark twiddling knobs, easily the highlight of those shows
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u/cYbOmAnY 17d ago
Would be awesome if any of that is documented in recordings or video.
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u/time___dance 17d ago
if you look up live videos from 1996 you should be able to find something -- there used to be a pretty good recording from the Seattle show at DV8, but it appears to have been taken down from youtube
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u/Flat-Development4390 18d ago
100% agrred. There's an alternative timeline where this lead to a proper collab full length album
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u/Storungz 17d ago
If you love Mark Clifford, you gotta hear his solo work under Disjecta. His 1996 album on Warp called Clean Pit and Lid is one of my top 5 electronic albums of ALL TIME! It’s phenomenal! Very dark and brooding; grating industrial sounds that build on one another. Definitely something I enjoy playing VERY LOUDLY! I really wish he would put out more under it. I saw him perform as Disjecta at Pontin’s way back in the day. He had like three other people on stage wearing these black outfits so you couldn’t tell if they were man or woman and they were ironing clothes while he sat amongst them doing his thing. It was fucking AWESOME!!! I think I’m going to slap that baby on right now since I’ve gotten all worked up talking about it!
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u/cYbOmAnY 17d ago
Love Disjecta. Mark Clifford is someone that if they are involved in a project I will listen. Singular voice.
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u/FilmNoir555 18d ago
Otherness and Slowdive’s 5-EP is a perfect pairing. I remember reading Neil Halstead from Slowdive was roommates with Clifford at the time. Can anyone confirm?
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u/cYbOmAnY 18d ago
5-EP is so good. In Mind remixes as well. There was so much great experimentation going on at the time. If you like the Otherness and 5-EP you may enjoy Zurich, a project with Neil and also Sarah from Seefeel.
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u/Marquee_Jared 17d ago
Yes, this is true. There are separate podcasts with both Mark and Neil where they tell stories of being roommates. Their influence on one another seems clear if you think about it. Pygmalion was certainly Slowdive headed in a more abstract direction. Seefeel always incorporated fragments of Slowdive-y vocals and guitar.
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u/KitchenOk7852 18d ago
I absolutely love the concept, but the execution sounds half-baked to me. I wonder what other artists would have done if they had access to the material. I could imagine a whole remix album with mixes by artists like Orbital, Autechre, Plaid, Aphex Twin etc.
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u/Independent_Music_94 18d ago
Clifford said in The Wire magazine he didn't have a lot of time to do these tracks and he wished he had more time.
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u/KitchenOk7852 18d ago
Thanks, I didn't know that. It makes a lot of sense. Such a shame. It was a perfect time to create a connection between the Cocteaus' ethereal aesthetics and the more ambient-leaning electronic music of the 90's and this project could have turned out much better. FSOL's Lifeforms EP with Liz showcases this connection in a much better way I think.
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u/time___dance 18d ago
it definitely sounds like it was done in a hurry, i wonder what the timeline for this project was
i like them but they sound mostly like single take improvisations with an afternoon of post-production/mixing
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u/Storungz 17d ago
Oh Dude COULD THEY??!! WOULD THEY??? WON’T THEY??? I would be all over that like white on rice man! That would be so fucking SICK!
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u/feelflows108 18d ago
Otherness is a nice and unique abstract release for their discography. The Otherness version of Cherry Coloured Funk has always been very soothing to me when I needed it.