04. Jacquard Causeway (6:35)

[In_The_Annexe]

at 3:55 onwards is where this track has quite possibly the most chillingly beautiful compositions I have ever heard.

This track goes through many progressive changes.

[NorthcutTAmnestY]

It still sounds like death to me, as in, an auditory take on the actual process of dying. Every time I hear the rhythm in this song, I am reminded of labored breathing for example. It sounds like dying to me - just listen to it with this in mind.

Fitting considering the whole theme of the album, and all of a sudden, the Albert Jacquard reference seems much more the intention here.

It's still easily the best track on this album for me.

[SmilingHobo]

This track is my everything...so good. It easily ranks among my top 10 favorite BoC tracks right now, and I don't think it will drop anytime soon.

[Moz]

They must be really proud of that snare. I know I would be.

[Polaris]

When I was listening this during TH transmission stream, I felt like listening to somebody's crying - the lead theme sounded to me like crying. Definitely it's something emotional in this piece.

[hamhax]

Definitely one of my favorites from the album. Feels like the beat is gasping for air, a very suffocating track.

[irv]

This one gets better and better as it goes along.

I was very dubious at first about the 3/4 beat and the repetition, thought it may turn into one of those rare BoC tracks that I skip every time. However, as it goes on, layer upon layer, the 3/4 aspect of it becomes less rigid and it all begins to flow beautifully, letting you drift along with it.

The lush synth strings that come in around 3.52 are exactly what it needs at that point too.

[b0qurant]

They must be really proud of that snare. I know I would be.

It sounds like someone is sucking a drumset into a vacuum, then switching to reverse and shooting it back out, then sucking it up again ... etc. etc.

I love it.

[Torn n Frayed]

They must be really proud of that snare. I know I would be.

It sounds like someone is sucking a drumset into a vacuum, then switching to reverse and shooting it back out, then sucking it up again ... etc. etc.

I love it.

For me it reminds me of tripping balls in Amsterdam on 3 hash icee's; I could feel the pulse in my body pounding so hard that it felt as if the top half of my body was being slammed into the pavement. And the way the snare sucks in and out was the sound I was feeling throughout my body, intense!

[thepastinsidepressant]

this is very sad, those sort of feedback frequencies begin to almost cry from their machines

they sound like they are crying, unreal achievement. very emotional.

[aperture]

To me it's like birdsong, swarming the listener. It's incredibly visual music and I think they really succeeded with that goal here. On headphones with eyes closed, I imagined the loops dropped into a spinning drum or cylinder, to which more sounds are added, then you move down the line and they fade behind you and a new set arrives, beginning the cycle again. Feels like walking down a causeway, with sea birds spinning and weaving jacquard around you as you progress, enveloped in mist and natural sounds. I don't completely understand looms. Am I the shuttle in this metaphor? Either way, it's very cinematic and feels like they're sending us down a tube of somehow-not-claustrophobic sound.

[TaoTapeTao]

This song kind of annoys the shit out of me. Sorry.

[aperture]

This song kind of annoys the shit out of me. Sorry.

"This post has an air of 'better than thou' to it and that irks me."

Thanks for stamping your stink on what used to be a pretty positive place.

[Mr Sheep]

I played the album in my art studio for the first time today and my studio mate, who knows I'm obsessed with BoC and happily lets me play them, was really struck by this track. She said it sounded like it was based on bell ringing playing on a kind of mathematical formula. She had no idea that the guys have created tracks using maths before, so I was really taken aback by her comments. And I can totally see where she's coming from with the heavy bell ringing approach.

It's weird, but I totally expected her to hate the track because it's so obtuse, but she loved it! I must confess, on first listen it did my head in, but it really gnawed away at my brain and now I love it too! It proper sticks in your head long after it's finished.

Edit: I think she's actually done some bell ringing, which is why she immediately thought she'd recognised the approach.

[SneakyTT]

I like this one more and more ever time I listen.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causeway:

When first used, the word appeared in a form such as “causey way” making clear its derivation from the earlier form “causey”. This word seems to have come from the same source by two different routes. It derives ultimately, from the Latin for heel, calx, and most likely comes from the trampling technique to consolidate earthworks. In Ancient times, the construction was trodden down, one layer at a time, often by slaves or flocks of sheep. Today, this work is done by machines. The same technique would have been used for road embankments, raised river banks, sea banks and fortification earthworks. (The layers, though not the trampling action, can be seen in the Bayeux Tapestry: Building Hastings Castle.)

The songs really does sound like layer after layer being pounded into the ground, over time, years and years...

[Mexicola]

Interesting take in the Guardian's review:

'The title of the loping, suspenseful Jacquard Causeway seemingly indicates French geneticist Albert Jacquard, a proponent of "degrowth": the idea of increasing happiness by working and consuming less.'

This seems highly plausible.

Apologies if already discussed.

[thinkdontpray]

hey folks, do you want to not sleep tonight?

yeah? ok well play jacquard and watch this video with its sound off

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgWPbnwsIeE

enjoy!

[cosecha1969]

I really want to like or at least "get" this song, but damnit, I'm just not enjoying it at all. The rest of the album is simply amazing (Pretty sure it's gonna be my favorite!), but I'm almost inclined to burn a disc with this song left out.

Maybe it will grow on me, but for now I keep finding myself reaching for the skip button

[NorthcutTAmnestY]

I played the album in my art studio for the first time today and my studio mate, who knows I'm obsessed with BoC and happily lets me play them, was really struck by this track. She said it sounded like it was based on bell ringing playing on a kind of mathematical formula. She had no idea that the guys have created tracks using maths before, so I was really taken aback by her comments. And I can totally see where she's coming from with the heavy bell ringing approach.

It's weird, but I totally expected her to hate the track because it's so obtuse, but she loved it! I must confess, on first listen it did my head in, but it really gnawed away at my brain and now I love it too! It proper sticks in your head long after it's finished.

Edit: I think she's actually done some bell ringing, which is why she immediately thought she'd recognised the approach.

I dig mathematics too, so maybe it just appeals to all the left-brainers out there immediately or something. I can definitely see the guys doing this, and where she's coming from. Cool.

[boardsofdublin]

I really want to like or at least "get" this song, but damnit, I'm just not enjoying it at all. The rest of the album is simply amazing (Pretty sure it's gonna be my favorite!), but I'm almost inclined to burn a disc with this song left out.

Maybe it will grow on me, but for now I keep finding myself reaching for the skip button

Thats how I felt with Rue the Whirl on Music has... all those years ago. Only started to like that track when TCHP came out...
As we know, some of their tracks take a lonnng while to 'get' or 'get into' and what have you.

This track, first listen was this morning and I thought Massive Attack first but then it became a mess, didnt get it, but i listened to it about 5 times this afternoon and i do like it more, I dont love it, but its there and I to like the second half, but then, in 6 months time, a years time, 5 years time I my love it!