English Teacher - Is the hype justified?

[MazzyJaster]

The first play gave me a headache as there is so much going on, and it jumps around all over the place. I even disliked the vocal style, but now after a number of plays I think the album is actually quite good. They may have overdone it with their inventiveness, but as a musician I can only admire the scale of it. Once they settle down, I think they could turn out to be a decent band, as their technical ability seems to be pretty high.

[interceptör]

I'd never heard of them before, found some video on YT and hit the emergency exit button the second I heard autotune/vocoder or whatever the kids call it these days. It was kind of an interesting novelty when Cher did it 20 (?) years ago, but now it just makes me want to hurt people.*

* No people were hurt during the writing of this message.

[MazzyJaster]

I'd never heard of them before, found some video on YT and hit the emergency exit button the second I heard autotune/vocoder or whatever the kids call it these days. It was kind of an interesting novelty when Cher did it 20 (?) years ago, but now it just makes me want to hurt people.*

* No people were hurt during the writing of this message.

That's exactly what happened to me when I wrote them off after listening to a track. It took a good couple of listens to acclimatise my ears to what they were actually trying to do. The album is not perfect, in fact it's rather incoherent in parts, and it was definitely a case of perseverance as I tried to work out what all the fuss was about.

[distressed]

It took a good couple of listens to acclimatise my ears to what they were actually trying to do.

It took me listening to 4-5 random songs to get the idea behind this. Part autotuned 21st century teenage pop, part almost Dry Cleaning-styled post punk with sugar on top, part 80s ballad style spiced with some shoegazey vibe... there is something for everyone.

[marqueemoon]

I’m sort of into it.

I find Dry Cleaning a bit tedious and try-hard, but this is just goofy enough to be charming.

[MazzyJaster]

I’m sort of into it.

I find Dry Cleaning a bit tedious and try-hard, but this is just goofy enough to be charming.

It's a grower.

[BoringPostcards]

I liked the tracks Nearly Daffodils and World’s Biggest Paving Slab, but haven’t dug into them much. They’re definitely interesting. I could see them becoming more accessible, and I can also see them becoming more esoteric/obscure.
I was unaware there was any hype around them. Maybe more in the UK than here.
The only reason I am aware of them is I stumbled upon them browsing YouTube a few months back.

The algorithm led me to them, which is funny as I was listening to a lot of Deichkind (A German art hop/ techno group) and Glintshake (a Russian noise rock/art rock band) at the time. Two totally different types of music and the algorithm throws English Teacher at me.


*BTW I recommend Glintshake to anyone into noise/ art rock, and who can handle the lyrics being in Russian. The guitar work is excellent and the vocals are quirky and wonderful.

[crazyzeke]

I'd never heard of them before, found some video on YT and hit the emergency exit button the second I heard autotune/vocoder or whatever the kids call it these days. It was kind of an interesting novelty when Cher did it 20 (?) years ago, but now it just makes me want to hurt people.*

* No people were hurt during the writing of this message.

Yeah it's weird because autotune is supposed to make music more listenable but in my case it gives me earache/headache because I'm very tired of hearing that "notes robotically stretched and snapped to whole semitones" thing, it's a horrible artifact. Just do lots of takes and comp them together, much better than autotuning as a general rule if you can't single take nail it.

Regardless from what's been said it's a deliberately unconventional use and I will try and spin this album...

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EDIT: Okay to answer the thread question, I'd say the hype isn't justified, no.

That's not me throwing shade over it - I've listened to about half and I don't hate it - but it's faint praise. It has potential, it is quirky and a bit different but at their best I don't hear anything I haven't already heard artists like Regina Spektor/Cursive/MBV do years ago and better too.

Occasionally stream-of-consciousness monologuing is fine in small doses but there's a tad too much of it here, plus a lot of the songs just stop and I find myself going, "is that it?" before it really peaked. When I got to the Space Spa song and she started monologuing again, and then skipped it and she's monologuing again I did literally roll my eyes and basically gave up. Trying too hard to do certain eras of Sonic Youth, maybe?

They show a lot of potential and assuming they keep writing, i.e. have longevity enough to refine their sound, they may well make at least one album that beats this. A promising start, and it stands out a bit more than some because the guitar music scene is so in the doldrums. A couple of the songs I'd listen to again but it doesn't really grab me. Musicianship is respectable - some clever counterpoint here and there, plus they do a lot of time signature changes without it sounding forced so they've got some uniqueness to build on there.

[mcbrandt]

Perhaps it's the American in me, but that whole English 'genre' for lack of a better word, of bands like English Teacher, Dry Cleaning, Wet Leg, and even Sleaford Mods, I just can't get into. The whole "I'm barely gonna try and singing and maybe just do some stream of consciousness nonsense" really doesn't appeal to me at all.