[EFN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by guynamedjohn If you like Joy Division you'd probably like early Sisters of Mercy. Like This

Sounds interesting..I am checking them out now.


Another one that I had in mind is My Bloody Valentine, which is more on the shoe-graze side......I am looking to buy some CDs on them soon

 

[DarkAngel]

A group that sounds exactly like Joy Division including almost indentical vocals is Ikon
Ikon

Listen to those short samples and you will think you are hearing Ian Curtis identical twin.

 

[Gatticus]

I don't think Sisters of Mercy is anything like Joy Division. I like SoM but they are nothing alike. Sure, they both have a dark sound but JD was the real deal and SoM wasn't, IMO.

 

[Gatticus]

Yea, that band Ikon does sound similar to Joy Division. Even the titles of their songs look similar though. That's ok and all I guess but it is just too similar for me to take seriously.

 

[EFN]

I am not very keen on very similar bands, but I think this Ikon deserves a try.

On the other hand, I know some might find this cheesy, but I am quite impressed with The Bravery. Those New York outfit, new they may be in the scene is not as cheesy sounding like millions other "try harder" rockers in the market nowadays.

I despise MTV rock groups (most of them) and I was surprised that a new band like The Bravery could come up with something so original. They sounded almost like they belong to Brit goth/electronica scene in the early 80s in fact. It's like The Smiths meets The Cure with a little hint of New Order.......

 

[jjhatfield]

Quote:

Originally Posted by EFN I am not very keen on very similar bands, but I think this Ikon deserves a try. On the other hand, I know some might find this cheesy, but I am quite impressed with The Bravery. Those New York outfit, new they may be in the scene is not as cheesy sounding like millions other "try harder" rockers in the market nowadays. I despise MTV rock groups (most of them) and I was surprised that a new band like The Bravery could come up with something so original. They sounded almost like they belong to Brit goth/electronica scene in the early 80s in fact. It's like The Smiths meets The Cure with a little hint of New Order.......

I was not impressed with The Bravery. I did not find their sound original, it was to derivative for me of the bands you mentioned: The Smiths, The Cure, New Order, and they came out when The Strokes were still God's gift to rock and roll (geez, did we overreact there or what?) and a lot of their songs sound borrowed from them.

Having said that, I'm not going to knock your musical preference!

An MTVish band I've been really impressed with is Bloc Party--I don't know if they've received MTV airtime or anything, but I know they had a poster for them at Best Buy, thats "commerical" enough for me. Both Silent Alarm and Silent Alarm Remixed were great albums. Of course, time will tell if they can do it again.

 

[guynamedjohn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gatticus I don't think Sisters of Mercy is anything like Joy Division. I like SoM but they are nothing alike. Sure, they both have a dark sound but JD was the real deal and SoM wasn't, IMO.

I never said they were alike. I said if you like JD there's a chance you might like early SOM. Since you like them both I guess we are in agreement.

 

[bong]

i love Joy Division, i'm probably the biggest Joy Division fan i know. my story started with my budding obsession with The Cure, and a friend of mine suggested to try out Joy Division. he said both bands have an equally dark sound and that Robert Smith was a fan, so i gave in. i bought Substance, which had came out not too long ago and to be honest, except for a few choice tracks like "She's Lost Control," "Transmission," "Digital," "Glass," and the classic "Love Will Tear Us Apart," i wasn't too impressed.

then i bought Unknown Pleasures and everything clicked... what a perfect album and an oustanding sound! i guess the Substance compilation was a bit too accessible for my taste but Unknown Pleasures has everything i was asking for, then Closer provided even more of it, although with a more polished sound in comparison to the stark, minimal, and atmospheric Unknown Pleasures. Still came last but the collection of aggressive outtakes still appealed to me more than Substance. i was hooked.

Heart and Soul is everything you'll need from Joy Division. besides a few tracks, it has almost everything the band has officially released. i didn't know Rhino was going to release the box set in the states, so i bought the very expensive import two years prior.

the producer Martin Hannett was basically Joy Division's fifth member. it was very well known that Ian, Peter, Barney, and Steve aren't the best of musicians back then (just listen to some of their concerts and you'll see how sloppy the band is when playing live), and Martin Hannett was able to mask some of their inabilities with his production and mixing techniques. it may not be the entire reason but it's been said that one of the reasons why the guitar parts on Unknown Pleasures are mixed so low (hence the resulting emphasis on bass and drums) was because of Barney's inabilities.

Peter Saville was also an important member of the Joy Division story, helping shape the band's mysterious public image with a series of cryptic sleeve artwork, promotion posters, and other graphics. to this day he still designs for New Order.

it's weird because most people discover Joy Division through New Order but i did it the other way around. i knew a few New Order songs at the time already but didn't become a fan until i exhausted Joy Division's catalogue.

there's a new movie out soon called Control, that's based on Ian's widow, Deborah Curtis' book Touching From A Distance, can't wait to see it.

as much as both bands would not like to acknowledge it, Joy Division/New Order and The Cure are basically twin bands for a good number of years... they were practically parallel with their musical development right up to around 1985 or so. compare Unknown Pleasures to Seventeen Seconds, Closer to Faith, Movement to Pornography, Power Corruption and Lies to The Cure's 1982-1983 singles (collected as Japanese Whispers), and Low-Life to The Head on the Door; it's almost uncanny.

i'm not sure if Sisters of Mercy can be considered similar to Joy Division except that both bands are highly influential to the goth scene. another Leeds Goth band that is far more similar to Joy Division (although cannot match JD's genius) would be Red Lorry Yellow Lorry.

umm... other stuff of interest would be Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark's album Organisation, which has been described as Joy Division-esque with lots of synths, and Simple Minds' album Real to Real Cacophony.

i guess Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Bauhaus should be mentioned as well with this group of gothy bands.

as much as i love Interpol, they can't compare to Joy Division. i know Paul Banks and Ian Curtis share a very similar baritone voice but i think that's where the most of the similarities end. Paul Banks has always said Turn On the Bright Lights came out as dark as it did was not by design, it just happened that way.

i'll mind as well throw in Editors in the discussion as singer Tom Smith also shares the similar Ian Curtis baritone voice.

i like The Bravery, although i can't really see why they're mentioned in this thread except they sound alot like your classic post-punk bands. i think i'll take The Bravery over The Killers though.

Bloc Party, i don't thnk they're MTVish, they're highly political aren't they? great band though.

ok... i'm done!

 

[EFN]

bong:

You are absolutely right about that synergy sourrounding Joy Division, The Cure & New Order. I loved all three to no end. And I am madly looking about right now to get myself an Unknown Pleasure & Disentagration CDs. New Order on the other hand never failed to amaze me. No matter how different they sound from Joy Division, they are trully amazing in their own right. I am blown away by thier latest offering "Waiting for the Siren's call".

Ah hell I gonna get the boxed Heart and Soul set one way or another

 

[TempleOfEar]

Check out the movie '24 hour party people'- it's a retelling of the story of Joy Division's band manager. exceptionally well done film. And the use of their music throughout the film is brilliant.

 

[markl]

There's a new Ian Curtis bopic being filmed right now with Anton Corbijn in the director's seat. He's the one who took all those iconic black and white pics of the band way back when. Rumor was that Jude Law wanted to play the title role

, but thankfully, they've cast an unknown.

There are a number of great live performances by JD on youtube. His "trance-dance" is something else. His eyes roll back in his head, and he just jerks and twitches away, immitating the epileptic seizures he suffered from.

We was robbed. Why do we always lose the most talented and unusual ones so early?

 

[EFN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl We was robbed. Why do we always lose the most talented and unusual ones so early?

I read somewhere that Ian has this morbid fascination with die young concept that has haunted some of the suicidal rock icons like Jim Morrison etc. I think during one of his most depressive moment he took a plunge into this idea a bit too deep and ended that way. Such is the fate of Joy Division, engulfed in the melancholic atmosphere much like their songs......

 

[jjhatfield]

Yo La Tengo, I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One showed up from amazon last night; I listened to the whole thing in one sitting (okay, I took one smoke break). My first impression is that this is an amazing disc that will definitely provide continued entertainment for many more listens. The instrumental tracks were my favs.

Thanks for the recommendation, 7.99 well spent.

 

[gsolman6]

This is a great idea for a thread.

I remembering buying New Order's Technique back in '89 and not being too impressed. I did like The Cure so when I saw that Rolling Stone included Closer in their top 100 albums of the 80's I decided to give the band a try. I actually found Unknown Pleasures in a used record store. It made an immediate impact on my 19 year old psyche and I called up Tower Records to make 'em put a hold on Closer.

I would like to say at this point that I didn't know much about how Ian had died but that I was very impressed with the music anyway. So I can state unequivacally that you don't have to be a morbid Ian Curtis martrydom hero worshipper to appreciate the band. Joy Division to me presents the best synthesis of musical influences that a band could have at that time - Iggy Pop, David Bowie, The Door, Roxy Music/Brian Eno, VU/Lou Reed, Kraftwerk, Neu, Pere Ubu, etc. - whilst creating their own niche. On that note I would recommend some of the early Pere Ubu material for JD devotees, the compilation Terminal Tower, The Modern Dance, and Dub Housing. From what I read Ian was a big fan of Lou Reed's Berlin which certainly has a depressing quality.

One thing I think that is overlooked is how influential JD was on 90's music in the States. Radiohead, Bush, Moby, NIN and Pavement(yes you can find part of Disorder online) covered their songs and Bono referred to his voice as 'holy.' [I have to give credit to Moby as his cover of New Dawn Fades is the only example of someone bettering JD at their own song.]

So I would definitely state that any big JD fan has to read Deborah Curtis' book, Touching From a Distance. It is probably the most objective account of Ian Curtis we will ever get, though it is not much for myth-building.

I have all the proper JD releases, a single-CD for atmosphere, the Warsaw album, a mini-CD/booklet, the two live CDs, 2 tribute albums. Everything but the box set. Would it be worth it to pick this up?

 

[Jahn]

interesting timing. i was just listening to The Cure's "Primary" - the studio outtake version from the remastered "Faith" redbook - and something about it was very joy division but with a more uplifting early new order feel. anyhow, i got the same "feel" as I did from JD/NO.