The Grey Album
by The Black Dog
Thomas Beers
Thomas Beers
Another gem from my hero’s The Black Dog.
Black belt electronics, and a lot of diversity.
The sounds are thick as concrete walls as well delicate.
Please come to the Netherlands for a live performance! Favorite track: You've Heard This One Before.
Black belt electronics, and a lot of diversity.
The sounds are thick as concrete walls as well delicate.
Please come to the Netherlands for a live performance! Favorite track: You've Heard This One Before.
έκλειψη λαγουδάκι
έκλειψη λαγουδάκι
Less cerebral, more pure than The My Brutal Life series TBD has been in the past few years (which have made them my favorite artist). I was apprehensive about The Grey Album since it wasn’t a continuation of the My Brutal Life series (which I will devour forever) but I was pleasantly reminded of how clean, deep, and exquisite TBD are when they just have fun. Currently in my top 3 albums of 2023, The Grey Album is a delight.
Favorite track: You've Heard This One Before.
Satori Rotors
Satori Rotors
Has that signature Ken Downie sound (especially 98 Russell Street) that I always loved since the early days of Bytes, Temple and Spanners. This is a great album!
Favorite track: Empire Statement Humanoid.
themilkman
themilkman
Resolutely more techno-infused than some of their recent output, this is another example of how The Black Dog effortlessly go from the chillout room to the dancefloor and back. Special mention to This Is Phil Talking, which is pure bliss.
Favorite track: This Is Phil Talking.
Paul Watt
Paul Watt
This isn't Techno.
This is high quality Techno.
It's proper. Favorite track: Ghosts Of Decay.
This is high quality Techno.
It's proper. Favorite track: Ghosts Of Decay.
xinomorf
Mark Scorah
David Abravanel
Deep Gloss
George Lara
Paul Dennis
dj manos
muddle_one
derbybeardo
Mass Dosage
quil17
Kenmhorne8875
yuliab
Crawford King
rcamp-
Dan S
Leak
AB
Spencer Towner
Philippe Giroux
Wojciech
LeMac
Viktor SB
aparatjan
Nick Simmons
radiator
Jim Kartoffel-Kopf
Aaron Hutchinson
cvon
Chris Yates
Jeff Tyson
kenjobi
Colin Currie
stevo69
Tanner Volz
GARY WARNER
apullu
bigcol73
hddnmgsy
Stuart Gould
michaelf1d
mike nettleton
JaneQ
k_shigure
simon lamb
Markus Speissegger
finldavi
raskul
Jill Sandwich
Christopher Dilkus
Empty Scott
bunchofsteve
smthdr
Glen Phelan
kholkhoz
e-tromix777
Daniel Tischmeyer
James
ames-af
David Hove
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Digital Album
Streaming + DownloadIncludes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Purchasable with gift card -
Cassette + Digital AlbumOnly 100 of these made, grab one sharpish.
Includes unlimited streaming of The Grey Album via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 3 daysedition of 100Purchasable with gift card£13 GBP or more
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Full Digital Discography Full Digital Discography
Get all 93 The Black Dog releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Grey Album, The White EP, Music For Airport Lounges, Music For Real Airports (Repress), Music For Dead Airports, The Black EP, Brutal Five To One Mix V2, Dubs Volume 4: Suburbia, and 85 more.
Purchasable with gift card£282 GBP or more (25% OFF)
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The Grey Album (CD)
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumLimited to 500 units worldwide.
Includes unlimited streaming of The Grey Album via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Sold Out
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The Grey Album (2 x 12")
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album2 x 12" on 180g Vinyl, 200 Grey Units only
Includes unlimited streaming of The Grey Album via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.Sold Out
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1. |
Ghosts Of Decay
04:27
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2. |
Let's All Make Brutalism
03:24
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3. |
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4. |
[b] Owls In Tesco Bags
01:02
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5. |
Open Your Head
04:41
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6. |
Harder Times
03:27
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7. |
[b] We Never Wanted You
01:17
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8. |
98 Russell Street
02:44
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9. |
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10. |
Thee Difference Ov Girls
04:26
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11. |
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12. |
Circus Ov Daath
03:50
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13. |
[b] Let Me Dada
00:26
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14. |
This Is Phil Talking
03:32
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15. |
Sound Ov Thee Crowd
04:35
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16. |
I Dare You
05:50
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17. |
Borstal Communications
01:20
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about
Sometimes, things "just happen". For months, we’d been working away on various projects and then, without really thinking about it, The Black EP just happened. It seemingly appeared from nowhere.
We’d been talking about the old days; making music with friends and dodgy kit, renting small practice rooms and using makeshift recording studios. It was such a common thing back then, you could pick a dusty space in a half-derelict building for as little as £25 a month. In those days, the Cabs and Human League had studios with posh-sounding names, but in reality, they were the same old workspaces long abandoned by the industries they were built for. Nevertheless, the grand names made them sound magical.
Sheffield had thousands of these spaces, and some still exist today, but their abundance and low-cost made Sheffield a very active place. Someone was always doing something. They’d exploded onto the scene in a flurry of excitement before disappearing just as quickly.
There’s something about these little mesters (workshops) that we believe lives in the very consciousness of Sheffield. It’s one of the reasons we never really had big scenes like Manchester or Leeds. The Hacienda would've never been built here.
We don’t really do big gangs or have that kind of mentality. We tend to exist in little pockets, often leaving each other alone. It would be 30 years before any member of The Black Dog talked to Cabaret Voltaire. Sure, we’d stood outside their practice room as kids, trying to listen in, but never felt any reason to approach. Sheffield is like that.
Once we had the first two tracks of the Black EP, we set off to see Jon at Do It Theesen, where he manually cut the tracks to an extremely limited set of 7" singles using a vinyl lathe. It just felt right to go back to the old ways; a small gang creating something special in workshops and sheds. There’s something very satisfying about it, a perfect circle, if you will.
We pushed further by adopting old practices, working with one synth per person and limiting the use of our computers. We only stopped short of putting everything on beer crates. It seems like madness these days, but there is raw creativity within these confines. Pretty much every band started this way. Depeche Mode travelled to the studio on the London Underground for their first appearance on Top Of The Pops, all lugging a synth each. That's how we approached the creation of this album; stripped back, raw and minimal - it just felt so right.
And then there’s the competitive element that was influenced when the original Human League split and became Human League MK II and Heaven 17. Both continued to use the same studio to write what became the albums "Dare" and "Penthouse and Pavement". There is something about that drive that is very Sheffield, just making stuff and hoping everything falls into place.
In Sheffield, we do things differently, because that’s how we are built.
We’d been talking about the old days; making music with friends and dodgy kit, renting small practice rooms and using makeshift recording studios. It was such a common thing back then, you could pick a dusty space in a half-derelict building for as little as £25 a month. In those days, the Cabs and Human League had studios with posh-sounding names, but in reality, they were the same old workspaces long abandoned by the industries they were built for. Nevertheless, the grand names made them sound magical.
Sheffield had thousands of these spaces, and some still exist today, but their abundance and low-cost made Sheffield a very active place. Someone was always doing something. They’d exploded onto the scene in a flurry of excitement before disappearing just as quickly.
There’s something about these little mesters (workshops) that we believe lives in the very consciousness of Sheffield. It’s one of the reasons we never really had big scenes like Manchester or Leeds. The Hacienda would've never been built here.
We don’t really do big gangs or have that kind of mentality. We tend to exist in little pockets, often leaving each other alone. It would be 30 years before any member of The Black Dog talked to Cabaret Voltaire. Sure, we’d stood outside their practice room as kids, trying to listen in, but never felt any reason to approach. Sheffield is like that.
Once we had the first two tracks of the Black EP, we set off to see Jon at Do It Theesen, where he manually cut the tracks to an extremely limited set of 7" singles using a vinyl lathe. It just felt right to go back to the old ways; a small gang creating something special in workshops and sheds. There’s something very satisfying about it, a perfect circle, if you will.
We pushed further by adopting old practices, working with one synth per person and limiting the use of our computers. We only stopped short of putting everything on beer crates. It seems like madness these days, but there is raw creativity within these confines. Pretty much every band started this way. Depeche Mode travelled to the studio on the London Underground for their first appearance on Top Of The Pops, all lugging a synth each. That's how we approached the creation of this album; stripped back, raw and minimal - it just felt so right.
And then there’s the competitive element that was influenced when the original Human League split and became Human League MK II and Heaven 17. Both continued to use the same studio to write what became the albums "Dare" and "Penthouse and Pavement". There is something about that drive that is very Sheffield, just making stuff and hoping everything falls into place.
In Sheffield, we do things differently, because that’s how we are built.
credits
released May 12, 2023
license
all rights reserved
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discography
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May 2023 -
Apr 2023 -
Feb 2023 -
Jan 2023