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Underground > Radio & Music >

Hugo Largo

  
 
Lugue
21:43 / 04.06.06
Well, wasn't planning on starting a whole thread on the thing, but since putting the 'What are you listening to?' thread to use is, it seems, out of the question (and googling Lith revealed naught as to the band), errm, here's Hugo Largo's Lith space, I suppose.

Mind you, I'll admit for the start this is more along the lines of a) check it! and b) drop thoughts! than having much potential for further discussion and whatnot - the band's work comes down to two albums, Drum and Mettle.

The band was formed 'round 84 as, essentially, a reaction to abrasive guitar tendencies in New York music - which probably accounts for the distant airiness of the whole deal.

Anyway. I've gotten Drum and am discovering how to love it, pretty much.

The whole band's sound is pretty much driven by vocalist Mimi Goese's voice, which to me sort of rings of artificiality; of composed, theatrical emotion rather than an outpouring, on one level. This is a good thing though, absolutly - it's beautifully detached from my head as it gets into it, in a way, keeping distance through said artificiality while still being gorgeous. It hovers pleasantly, while threatening to pierce (wank, I know...).

The sound's rather stripped down, for the most part - a general absence of drums and guitars being what strikes me the most, taking in consideration my general listening habits. Instead, basses and string work predominate. Probably what defines the lack of carnality(?) that it has to my ears, making it... distant, airy, dreamy, un...earthy. While keeping some sense of drama, though.

I don't know; I'm horrible putting music into words.

Does anyone round here enjoy 'em, or even know 'em? Any thoughts? Any bands whose sound might fall in the same category? What do you make of it as a specific response to guitar music (though I reckon that this has become a rather vacuous point with time; it has to me at least)? Any related stuff you'd like to bring up, such as things its members went on to do that might be worth checking out as well?

Is this thread doomed, as the short-lived band, to obscurity (snff snff)?
 
 
COG
22:24 / 04.06.06
This thread is not doomed yet. I have both records on vinyl, somewhere in a box. Haven't listened to them in years but I loved them at the time. I realise now, reading your description of their sound, that I can't actually remember any of their tunes at all.

My turntable's up the spout at the moment, so I have no chance of checking if I still like them at all.

Other bands with a similar sound : try AC Marias, formed by one person from Wire I think.
 
 
Jack Fear
23:07 / 04.06.06
Fun facts wot I remember from Hugo Largo's first go-round:

Michael Stipe was a huge supporter of the band and prouced a couple of tracks on Drum.

One of Hugo Largo's two bass players, Tim Sommer, was (and for all I know still is) a correspondent for MTV news. He can be distinguished by his curly floppy hair and general air of punchable smugness.

Violinist/guitarist Hahn Rowe played on That Petrol Emotion's record Chemicrazy.

Mimi Goese (who's going by just her first name these days) has a solo record, Soak, on David Byrne's Luaka Bop label. More breakbeat, trip-hop stuff. She's worked with Tony Maimone (ex-Pere Ubu), Damian O'Neill (ex-Undertones and That Petrol Emotion), Porl Thompson (ex-Cure), vocalist extraodinaire Syd Straw, and eclectic Franco-Algerian world-electronica weirdo Hector Zazou.

Mimi used to do a thing onstage with knives that kinda freaked me out.
 
 
Lugue
14:48 / 11.06.06
Well, thank you; trivia is the blood of the world.

Mimi Goese (who's going by just her first name these days) has a solo record, Soak, on David Byrne's Luaka Bop label. More breakbeat, trip-hop stuff. She's worked with Tony Maimone (ex-Pere Ubu), Damian O'Neill (ex-Undertones and That Petrol Emotion), Porl Thompson (ex-Cure), vocalist extraodinaire Syd Straw, and eclectic Franco-Algerian world-electronica weirdo Hector Zazou.

Is that solo album worth checking out?
As far as collaborations go, well, I don't know any of those bands, except for The Cure, so - any gems?
I'm particularly curious about her stuff in particular, actually, especially after a friend's reference to a song of hers in CocteauTwin'esque nonsense-speech, which tends to touch the right buttons, haha.

cog: Am downloading AC Marias already, thank you for the suggestion.
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
15:25 / 11.06.06
Violinist/guitarist Hahn Rowe played on That Petrol Emotion's record Chemicrazy. He has also played with Foetus.
 
 
Jack Fear
17:32 / 11.06.06
As far as collaborations go, well, I don't know any of those bands, except for The Cure, so - any gems?

Hector Zazou is a very interesting fellow. His method, on his most successful albums, has been to pick a theme, asemble an eclectic all-star cast, mix well, and see what happens. Zazou himself will help out with the production and the writing, maybe play a bit of keyboards... he calls himself the "director" of these sorts of projects.

And sometimes it's absolutely magical. Sahara Blue was his first notable album in this vein, and was themed around the poetry of Rimbaud. Results ranged from straight recitations-with-music to songs like "Amdyaz" (download the mp3 here, good til 18 June), where Rimbaud's words are spoken by French actress Anneli Drecker to the accompaniment of Algerian vocals (courtesy of Khaled) and North African-sounding guitars.

Songs From The Cold Seas is both a simpler and broader concept—folk musics of subarctic cultures put through the culturemashermachine. It's a record encompassing Inuit shaman chanting, Lapp joik, Oscar Wilde (!), Siouxsie singing a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins... it's pretty amazing. "Annuka suaren neito" (download mp3 here) puts the Finnish traditional choir Vaartina in a setting of harsh electronics, multi-ethnic drumming, distorto guitars and trumpet: "Havet Stomar" (mp3 here) wraps a Norwegian in a call-and-response of mandola and pedal steel, creating something both eerie and weirdly luminous.

Zazou's a very sympathetic producer, I think, in the way he works with singers—the way he frames them, showcases them, but never overpowers them. So it'd be interesting to hear what he does with Mimi.
 
 
Tsuga
23:53 / 13.09.06
I'm resurrecting this thread like a corpse bobbing to the surface of a murky pond, because this is the thread that brought me via google to barbelith. This is one of my favorite bands (or as many of you like to put it, favourite). I seem to have a penchant for emotive music, and this certainly is in that category. I understand the sentiment

The whole band's sound is pretty much driven by vocalist Mimi Goese's voice, which to me sort of rings of artificiality; of composed, theatrical emotion rather than an outpouring, on one level. This is a good thing though, absolutly - it's beautifully detached from my head as it gets into it, in a way, keeping distance through said artificiality while still being gorgeous. It hovers pleasantly, while threatening to pierce (wank, I know...).

Her voice is beautiful, dramatic, and emotional. When I finally heard an interview with her, she seemed kind of flaky, intense and awkward in an uncomfortable way, which explained alot. Still, immense talent in that flake. Like much of my favorite music, the first time I heard it I was like, "eh, a bit much, I think?" But I was intrigued enough to listen more, and it just got better and better.

While Mimi's voice is the centerpiece, the pared-down but deeply subtle music drives it on. Hahn Rowe's violin is remarkably expressive, alternating between delicate and tearing a new hole in it, and everywhere in between. The bass and guitar, sometimes two basses, while not as...I dunno, vituosic? as the vocals and violin, really fill out the sound. It doesn't sound lacking to me at all.

I'm not sure why most people seem to prefer "Drum" over "Mettle". Maybe because of the Michael Stipe element. I love them both, but I think Mettle is more consistently excellent. A few songs on Drum are a bit flat for me. Years ago, someone sent me a tape with a few unreleased b-sides and some live tracks from a show at Texas Records and KCRW. Some of the b-sides were fantastic, I wish I could find better copies. The live stuff I heard was hit-or-miss, you couldn't always trust Mimi's voice to hit it, makes one a bit edgy listening, though when it worked it was sublime.

As far as Mimi Goese solo effort, I thought it was pretty good, but a bit more cool and synthetic.

Tim Sommer was a VJ on VH-1 for a while, and I think he's done some producing. He's now in a band "Hi-fi Sky"

Hahn Rowe has done some soundtracks, producing, and does some DJing in NYC under the name "Somatic".
 
  
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