Revenge of the art-rock theater kids! The LAST DINNER PARTY strikes back

I don't have any reference points for this band except I heard them on the local college station and looked them up and I like the album. I gather it's caught in a hype-backlash-hype cycle of some kind in the U.K., so U.K. posters my apologies if I miss some important context. Best I can tell they're a bunch of theatrically-minded college friends doing a modern art-rock thing. Their songs have a lot of hooks, is what sells them for me. Plus I like the swing-for-the-fences vibe of it, they're very self-assured.

This one's catchy (most of them are catchy).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn90THdOpd4

And this performance clip is nicely choreographed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFsJuYb42hw

Hal Blaine intro on the first one there.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/courtney-love-helped-the-last-dinner-party-censor-nothing-matters-lyrics-for-radio-radar-3576310

I love this band, and I truly love their album, it couldn’t be more up my street if it tried. I hear Wild Beasts and Wolf Alice in there more than the references which have been touted elsewhere, Florence and the Machine and Kate Bush etc. It feels like a long time since a talked-about British band was this good right out of the gate. And yeah, aside from the actual tunes, the whole theatrical, dressing-up thing seems to have caught on with folk too, every few gigs have a different ’theme’ etc. Big not-quite-arena-sized shows in September, are already sold out.

This is a good debunking of the silly-arsed ‘industry plant’ talk from last year

https://amp.theguardian.com/culture/2023/may/05/the-guide-the-last-dinner-party-music

‘What’s striking is how atypical this buzz-building feels, compared with how most overnight successes occur these days: through prominent slots on Spotify playlists, canny use of TikTok, a well-placed sync.
.. The Last Dinner Party’s method of gigging intensely and earning a glowing write-up in the NME feels about as current as sending your seven-inch to Radio Luxembourg.’

Yeah I'm impressed with the whole presentation in addition to the music, it all feels well realized. Like they know what they're going for, and they're really going for it, and they're good.

I'm amazed it took you lot this long, lol

The occasionally superficially effective element can't hide that this is a slick package that the UK industry periodically constructs to pretend it's vaguely functional. There are thousands and thousands of bands 'gigging intensely' who don't somehow secure a Rolling Stones support slot before releasing a song. The music is distinct from Wet Leg but the method of delivery isn't - lavish presentation, hypestorm from Guardian, NME and the other surviving klaxons of Which Five CDs UK Middle Aged Former Music Mavens Should Buy, hotshot producer, chosen-ones aura. I'd hoped in vain that ILX would hold out but I suppose we've got to do our jobs and swallow it whole

Like, the whole 'industry plant' discourse is really stupid because it's largely predicated on the notion that said 'plants' are brought together from scratch by labels, manufactured. Whereas the truth with this lot and Wet Leg is that yes, they did form 'naturally' and yes, they did gig, but they were not afraid to, uh, use their contacts, privilege and so on to help themselves get very noticed, and they did fit very marketable profiles that industry types have inevitably pounced upon - none of this has anything to do with their songwriting, which I personally don't think is very strong or interesting. Being thuddingly brazen about sex in breakout single lyrics is the sort of move that gets instant normie attention too, lets be honest

regarding the music, a pal of mine has put it better than i could: https://rateyourmusic.com/music-review/slamdunkrai/the-last-dinner-party/prelude-to-ecstasy/217918453

really struggling to understand what anyone is excited about here (uk press hype cycles are as dismal as ever) though i guess their 70s glam thing would never really be for me. despite their songs being full of gratuitous tempo changes they feel rather restrained, they're not really going for it enough. at least there isn't a whole wave of glam rock revival following in their footsteps or anything

referencing red scare (& positively too lol) in a lyric is deeply embarrassing though and a sign they will not last

Nothing Matters is great. They also released the single most embarrassing song I encountered last year (My Lady Of Mercy) which displays impressive range, if nothing else.

The Discourse feels vaguely out-of-time in a context where the success they’ve supposedly achieved through contacts and privilege is one top 40 single, an album that sold 30k copies, a bunch of videos with sub-500k views on YouTube and a Hozier support slot.

I'm amazed it took you lot this long, lol

I knew this thread would be imago bait :).

You all have to be nice today!

Alice Low has brought back glam in grand style. Where's her Hozier support slot :D

Can't find a dedicated birthday thread for you (did you ever have one? Should I start one?) but honestly I'm pleased to see you being very imago over here - happy birthday!

I haven't checked these guys out yet but they're playing here soon so have been on my radar for a bit - I thought the concept sounded interesting but have to admit the points imago is raising are things I've been concerned about.

referencing red scare (& positively too lol) in a lyric is deeply embarrassing though

Also - ewww

Happy for you to temporarily hijack proceedings here - thank you!

And as I type, we pull into Galway bus station. There will be pubs

happy bday imago

I think I searched ILM months and months ago for any mention of this band and found nothing. The reason is because the local AAA radio has been playing the hell out of them since I want to say at least late last summer, which I thought surprising; I couldn't remember the last time I heard the radio play the advance single from a new/unknown band several months before the album release, which definitely underscored some serious hype. And then I saw they were on a major label, and produced by an A-lister (James Ford, who also did Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Haim, Jessie Ware, Gorillaz, the upcoming Pet Shop Boys, etc.), got prime TV and opening spots, only played live for the first time in November 2021, was immediately signed to a top management team, etc. At first I admit I thought I smelled a rat, but given the amount of times I heard that first song, and heard people tell me they liked that first song, I ultimately just figured, well, good for them, they clearly have impressed or made an impression on a lot of people, so they must be doing something right. The hype/buzz/whatever cycle does itself feel like a bit of a throwback, a proper full-court promotional rollout.

Sinner was one of the songs that didn't quite make my ballot in the EOY poll.

Have listened to the album a few times but it's not really doing it for me.

And on streaming services, they've now changed the chorus of Nothing Matters to a more sanitized "And I will have you" which diminishes the song greatly.

We Singles Jukeboxers did not like "Caesar on a TV Screen."

https://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=31347

It does remind me of Wet Leg in the way they're being shoved on people. I did like the Wet Leg album though and liked Chaise Lounge even if it was a bit Cartoon Network Dry Cleaning. I've heard a few TLDP songs and they've done nowt for me.

god this band feels so calculated and mediocre in a deep musical-theatre-kids kind of way

Strong annoying theatre kid energy here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqcYU_eoihU

The best live musical events I’ve ever experienced had more theater, not less, so “theater kids” has never been a pejorative to me. First I’ve heard of them, mostly like so far.

The “Red Scare and how they get it right line” is a deal breaker

I find "theater kids" often is used to mean "tries too hard." Like, perpetually over-expressing/projecting for the folks in the back of the house.

that jazz hands video they do, i dont know

lol I expected them to be divisive. I'm not in any way allergic to theater kids (Kate Bush!), so I don't mind that side. But for me it's the tunecraft, I think they write nice melodies that can veer into knotty territory but generally resolve to a rousing chorus. (On one had re the Singles Jukebox, I'd say that's not one of the stronger singles — but also, it's the one I heard on the radio that prompted me to shazam them, so it worked on me.)

ot and not so useful, but--

it's funny how i often to look at ilm simply to understand better the uh, discussion about relative merits for new "finds." for me, i just learned of the band everything everything, 14 yrs late. and i looked for posts or lodestars here, to even understand who they are taken for. and finding almost zero, i looked around the web, and they are quite quite well known, esp in uk, and i'm like-- why is there almost nothing here? i assume they're either incredibly boring, or worse, incredibly bad. so bad that they are beneath even consideration.

it is a little freeing, in that i can sorta peruse at will, and make judgments/opinions, no crutches.

(for ee and me, i'm still divided. they're often q boring to me. i should post to the lone ee thread when i have more to say, i guess. my third album adventure with them is re-animator. while listening, i looked at my 17 y/o at teh kitchen table, hit speaker, and said "who are they doing?" and played like 10 seconds of random tune and she blinked brightly and said "ha, that's thom yorke," and i said "yup! indie disco thom yorke. it's that he does it sorta good, really. listenable for me, so far.") actual factual.

or "look to ilm"

performances vmic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5gJPwpXzFY

this is the sort of record that, going off reviews, descriptions, comparisons...would be something I'd love; but it's not doing it for me. I don't dislike it, I guess, but I can't see myself intentionally listening to the album again

(the same goes for everything everything, which Hunt3r mentioned in a post above)

Well while we're here we might as well watch their Coachella performance. They've become a pretty tight live band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVEuN4OsGOU

Lefsetz is on board (didn't know they were managed by Q Prime and Cliff Bernstein lol)

https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2024/08/11/the-last-dinner-party-at-the-fonda/

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-iWWyRtJwU/?igsh=MWxrMzRoejhxbjl5NA==

Russell Mael stopped by for the L.A. show.

lol at lefsetz. Mael makes sense, definitely some Sparks in the DNA.

I like this record…but I am curious if anyone, particularly UK posters, can back me up… I've heard it said that in the UK, being in a band nowadays is prohibitive… you can do hip-hop or pop or electronic music by yourself, put your shit up on YT and maybe somebody from a label will notice you… but running a band of 3-6 people, touring, rehearsal, recording in a studio with Alan Moulder or someone like that, etc etc is expensive in the present circumstances, so it's a pursuit that is now achievable for people from a more than comfortable background… and listening to this record, and reading up on these young ladies, it does seem to be the case… it doesn't seem to be stated baldly in anything I've read, like it was a few years ago when there was some band made up of fancy Tory public school people that everyone got mad about, and then of course there is Genesis… any insight, UK people?