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CD
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PICI 017CD
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In the wake of Young Marble Giants' breakup, two camps were created, with Stuart Moxham taking the band's minimalist, geometric play to extremes and Alison Statton adding more warmth and feeling to the same basic template and creating something stunning but based in popular forms. Those two opposing -- almost knee-jerk -- means of forging new paths away from one of music's most astonishingly unique debuts both happened to include Stuart's brother -- Alison's former boyfriend -- Phil Moxham. Without a real template to guide him, Stuart's new form of music -- as The Gist -- was widely regarded as wildly uneven. Stuart admits that he didn't know which way to go, so in perverse style, he decided to take all directions at once. The Gist's original discography stood at a scant 18 songs, but only seven featured Stuart's own voice, often in heavily processed and oddly mixed form. So, while The Gist's label, Rough Trade, had the widest array of unique voices in popular music, Stuart buried his own voice. Sales disappointed. The Gist were dropped. A decade later, starting with a critical reevaluation of The Gist's sole album, Embrace The Herd (1982), in an issue of Mojo, the tide begin to turn. Ambience in pop music had enjoyed a cult following from Eno on, but the non-linear structure of many of The Gist's songs had certain parallels with the rise of artists such as Aphex Twin and Seefeel. One song from the era was covered by Etienne Daho in France. The Gist's story could have been different. Recent discovery of a trove of unreleased songs, versions, and demos showed that Stuart had ample material on a par with his YMG work, sometimes in rough demo form, but often in five or six complete, entirely different arrangements. With the 2017 album of unreleased material by The Gist, Holding Pattern (PICI 009CD/LP, 2017), a new audience discovered the band and the release sold out quickly. Interior Windows adds 13 new performances or alternate versions to the band's catalog, and does the service of finally making both sides of The Gist's first 7" 45 (recorded at the same session as the final YMG single) available again, along with their contribution to the Rough Trade/NME classic compilation C81, and in keeping with The Gist's tradition, at least one song on which Stuart does not appear.
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PICI 017LP
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2023 repress; LP version. In the wake of Young Marble Giants' breakup, two camps were created, with Stuart Moxham taking the band's minimalist, geometric play to extremes and Alison Statton adding more warmth and feeling to the same basic template and creating something stunning but based in popular forms. Those two opposing -- almost knee-jerk -- means of forging new paths away from one of music's most astonishingly unique debuts both happened to include Stuart's brother -- Alison's former boyfriend -- Phil Moxham. Without a real template to guide him, Stuart's new form of music -- as The Gist -- was widely regarded as wildly uneven. Stuart admits that he didn't know which way to go, so in perverse style, he decided to take all directions at once. The Gist's original discography stood at a scant 18 songs, but only seven featured Stuart's own voice, often in heavily processed and oddly mixed form. So, while The Gist's label, Rough Trade, had the widest array of unique voices in popular music, Stuart buried his own voice. Sales disappointed. The Gist were dropped. A decade later, starting with a critical reevaluation of The Gist's sole album, Embrace The Herd (1982), in an issue of Mojo, the tide begin to turn. Ambience in pop music had enjoyed a cult following from Eno on, but the non-linear structure of many of The Gist's songs had certain parallels with the rise of artists such as Aphex Twin and Seefeel. One song from the era was covered by Etienne Daho in France. The Gist's story could have been different. Recent discovery of a trove of unreleased songs, versions, and demos showed that Stuart had ample material on a par with his YMG work, sometimes in rough demo form, but often in five or six complete, entirely different arrangements. With the 2017 album of unreleased material by The Gist, Holding Pattern (PICI 009CD/LP, 2017), a new audience discovered the band and the release sold out quickly. Interior Windows adds 13 new performances or alternate versions to the band's catalog, and does the service of finally making both sides of The Gist's first 7" 45 (recorded at the same session as the final YMG single) available again, along with their contribution to the Rough Trade/NME classic compilation C81, and in keeping with The Gist's tradition, at least one song on which Stuart does not appear.
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CD
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PICI 009CD
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As Young Marble Giants imploded, Stuart Moxham started The Gist, a group more theoretical than real. Members included Vivien Goldman, members of This Heat, Swell Maps, Essential Logic, and various Cardiff pals. One song, "Love At First Sight", led to a French hit by Etienne Daho and a shoegaze version by Lush. Three singles and an album, Embrace The Herd (1982), were released and performed well. The Gist was an attempt to create another sonic world, influenced by travel, Eno, and dub. It was perplexing, and years passed before its originality was revered, via a lengthy Mojo piece, and reissues on Rykodisc, Cherry Red, and 1974 Records. After David Byrne reunited Young Marble Giants to play Meltdown, Stuart reemerged. An extensive trawl through miles of recording tape resulted in the discovery of hundreds of recordings of an unusually high standard. The first fruit of this archaeology is Holding Pattern, an unreleased album by The Gist which might have been Stuart's follow-up to Colossal Youth (1980), instead of the strange choice of the more tentative Embrace The Herd. The confidence of these tracks is bolstered by a closer adherence to pop song structure, despite the relentless sense of experimentation found in nearly every track. Had it been released in its time, several of the songs would be regarded as classics today and much of Stuart's history would tell a different tale. There are plenty of surprises; remarkably, it's fresher and more full of brave ideas than anything new you'll hear in 2017.
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LP
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PICI 009LP
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LP version. As Young Marble Giants imploded, Stuart Moxham started The Gist, a group more theoretical than real. Members included Vivien Goldman, members of This Heat, Swell Maps, Essential Logic, and various Cardiff pals. One song, "Love At First Sight", led to a French hit by Etienne Daho and a shoegaze version by Lush. Three singles and an album, Embrace The Herd (1982), were released and performed well. The Gist was an attempt to create another sonic world, influenced by travel, Eno, and dub. It was perplexing, and years passed before its originality was revered, via a lengthy Mojo piece, and reissues on Rykodisc, Cherry Red, and 1974 Records. After David Byrne reunited Young Marble Giants to play Meltdown, Stuart reemerged. An extensive trawl through miles of recording tape resulted in the discovery of hundreds of recordings of an unusually high standard. The first fruit of this archaeology is Holding Pattern, an unreleased album by The Gist which might have been Stuart's follow-up to Colossal Youth (1980), instead of the strange choice of the more tentative Embrace The Herd. The confidence of these tracks is bolstered by a closer adherence to pop song structure, despite the relentless sense of experimentation found in nearly every track. Had it been released in its time, several of the songs would be regarded as classics today and much of Stuart's history would tell a different tale. There are plenty of surprises; remarkably, it's fresher and more full of brave ideas than anything new you'll hear in 2017.
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IF 023LP
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2013 release. "Though lesser-known than Young Marble Giants' output, the sole LP from Stuart Moxham's The Gist is an essential entry in the great canon of English post-punk. As the principle composer in Young Marble Giants, Moxham honed minimal songwriting to maximal effect with the help of early electronic experimentation. He formed The Gist shortly before Young Marble Giants' dissolution to realize experiments in sound outside his primary group's mold and feature friends from such bands as Essential Logic and Swell Maps. The Gist yielded several singles and Embrace the Herd, originally released in 1982 on Rough Trade and featuring fellow Giants Alison Statton and Phillip Moxham along with Epic Soundtracks. Recorded at home by Moxham, Embrace the Herd is a venerable instance of post-punk liberation to indulge every stylistic whim. With a four-track reel-to-reel, tape echo machine and menagerie of instruments, he veers from the beautifully understated and evocative 'Love at First Sight' (with a timeless, quasi-R&B chorus) and the gleaming pop progression on 'This Is Love' to instrumentals like 'Far Concern' and 'Fretting Away,' the latter evoking Young Marble Giants' sparse but evocative work on Colossal Youth. Moxham sometimes dons a prominently mixed baritone, coos soulfully elsewhere and defers to Statton's inimitable voice on 'Clean Bridges.'"
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