It's all gone quiet on the Manafon front...

[Simonp]

Fed up with it already? The discussions for Blemish seemed to go on for months after its release but Manafon doesn't seem to have ignited the same debate...past caring people?

[ScottR]

Hi Simon,

I like to refer to it as Man-a-bomb. What in the hell was he thinking?

As I had mentioned in another thread, the sales for this thing outside of his core audience are non-existent. The only thing that is selling is the limited edition, and that is probably all speculators trying to make money on ebay. And with all of the money he dumped into this project, artwork, promotion...etc, he will be lucky if it doesn't fold Samadhi up. Huge gamble...he lost.

I just wonder what this will mean long term. Hopefully he can find a way to continue on. Maybe burning shed will release this crap for him. Maybe he will start making music that people actually like to hear. At any rate it will have to change.


Ok Baht, your turn....And yes, I love to stir the pot.

[baht habit]

shhhhh.... Please don't summon evil Baht now, as I am getting into the mood for the upcoming season by listening to the soothing and tranquil traditional sounds contained on Sting's If On A Winter's Night. ahhhhhh.

[Stoobie]

Simon

its all gone quiet in general on this site i feel !

Thank god for us scots !

Stoobie

[neonico]

Hi Simon,

I like to refer to it as Man-a-bomb. What in the Jersey was he thinking?

As I had mentioned in another thread, the sales for this thing outside of his core audience are non-existent. The only thing that is selling is the limited edition, and that is probably all speculators trying to make money on ebay. And with all of the money he dumped into this project, artwork, promotion...etc, he will be lucky if it doesn't fold Samadhi up. Huge gamble...he lost.

I just wonder what this will mean long term. Hopefully he can find a way to continue on. Maybe burning shed will release this crap for him. Maybe he will start making music that people actually like to hear. At any rate it will have to change.


Ok Baht, your turn....And yes, I love to stir the pot.

i find this post very affending moderators please ------i thought musik is a free will of the person that writes it..

a shame for david i love his label

he reads the stuff on here .....just sad

[Foales Arishes]

Well Manafon was my first DS album, and I am now in the process of collecting other work by him...thanks to others recommendations I now have Blemish, Naoshima, Plight & Premonition, Everything and Nothing and Approaching Silence [on its way for just £3] - I have also listened to as much material of his I can around the net, and I can honestly say that Manafon is far and away the best thing for me, followed by Blemish then Naoshima.

I love the fact that DS is ploughing his own furrow, with not one jot of concern for his fan-base or critics...as an artist myself, I too do whatever I please, if people like it great! If not, I lose no sleep over it, and yet I do ok in my own small way. I have no idea of its sales figures -obviously others do - but I bet it justifies its being in that respect, even though it doesn't have to.

Repetition is the death the death of art...and "pot stirrers" end up being very dull...yawn

[neonico]

Well Manafon was my first DS album, and I am now in the process of collecting other work by him...thanks to others recommendations I now have Blemish, Naoshima, Plight & Premonition, Everything and Nothing and Approaching Silence [on its way for just £3] - I have also listened to as much material of his I can around the net, and I can honestly say that Manafon is far and away the best thing for me, followed by Blemish then Naoshima.

I love the fact that DS is ploughing his own furrow, with not one jot of concern for his fan-base or critics...as an artist myself, I too do whatever I please, if people like it great! If not, I lose no sleep over it, and yet I do ok in my own small way. I have no idea of its sales figures -obviously others do - but I bet it justifies its being in that respect, even though it doesn't have to.

Repetition is the death the death of art...and "pot stirrers" end up being very dull...yawn

thanks .....

[Blemished]

Fed up with it already? The discussions for Blemish seemed to go on for months after its release but Manafon doesn't seem to have ignited the same debate...past caring people?

I think it's worth remembering that Blemish was a radical change in direction that came out of the blue, whereas there was less surprise around Manafon given the preview snippets etc. Also the Blemish release suddenly alerted everyone to the sad events in his private life, which also contributed to the extended discussion.

It has gone quiet but maybe that's to be expected a couple of months on from a new release...I just hope he ignores the grumbling reactionaries...

At least DS isn't a) reforming Japan and going on 80s revival tours [Spandau Ballet et al] b) running out of creativity and rewriting the same songs 20 times [Morrissey] or c) wearing cardigans and singing naff old folk tunes [Sting].

[ScottR]

:-) shhhhh.... Please don't summon evil Baht now, as I am getting into the mood for the upcoming season by listening to the soothing and tranquil traditional sounds contained on Sting's If On A Winter's Night. ahhhhhh.

Haha... you've got nothing on me. I have the new Jay-z single stuck in my head. its really not that bad.

i find this post very affending moderators please ------i thought musik is a free will of the person that writes it..

a shame for david i love his label

he reads the stuff on here .....just sad

Hi Neon, sorry to offend (affend?) you. That was not my intention, just stating my (not so humble) opinion.

But if you think DS reads these forums you are very mistaken. The odds of him being affended are nil. And even if he did happen across this site I would think that some contrary opinions would be good for him. To often artists only hear from those that they choose to surround themselves with. Consequently they only hear what they want to hear. When my wife as me "do these pants make my butt look fat?" ...what do you think I am going to say to her

[Bern]

I remember when Blemish was due for release "A Fire In The Forest" was released as a downloadable promo, and I remember on first hearing Blemish thinking was I going to have to plough through this turgid mess to get to the final track? now however I love the album and for me it really doesn't have a bad track, and that I think is the problem in that I don't think Manafon is as good as Blemish, with Manafon we were given "Small Metal Gods" as the promo a track that bears no resemblance to anything else on the album and once the track was finished I had to force myself through the rest of the album presuming I would have a road to Damascus moment as I had with Blemish and fall in love with it, "Snow White.." stood out immediatley and could be both a Blemish or Nine Horses outtake and both "Emily Dickinson" and the title track have really grown on me, I have made some progress with "The Rabbit Skinner" mainly because I think the lyrics and the musicality of the track seem to come together out of nothing but isolating "Random Acts.. and The Greatest.." I just find them even after now numerous plays so disappointing, disjointed and lacking in any passion or poetry

[DeMarkov]

I love the fact that DS is ploughing his own furrow, with not one jot of concern for his fan-base or critics...as an artist myself, I too do whatever I please, if people like it great! If not, I lose no sleep over it, and yet I do ok in my own small way. I have no idea of its sales figures -obviously others do - but I bet it justifies its being in that respect, even though it doesn't have to.

Repetition is the death the death of art...and "pot stirrers" end up being very dull...yawn [/color]

well said. i totally agree in every aspect.

besides:
i wonder where ScottR has got his info about manafon's sales from...

and again, even if the sales aren't good, what would it mean? it would mean, that DS takes a turn where not anybody is able to follow.
good.
why not?
good, not to follow the mainstream.
great, he does what he is up.
does DS had to write easy listening stuff or his own songs back and forth to make listeners or people who might buy his releases happy? it's the artist's death to make music oriented at commercialism and - luckily! - DS is one of a very few who obviously doesn't care about that, when it comes down to his music.
i'm listening to DS's music since adolescent sex (in real time) and even though, i still love adolescent and a bunch of his records he did inbetween, manafon is one of his very best and i'm not wishing him to do something else than this.
i had no clear expectation of this album, when it has been announced, but i was hoping he might continue his way he started with blemish and he did. phantastic! thanks dave, thanks a lot!

ScottR, you don't have a certain connection to recordlabel beginning with V????

[neonico]

I remember when Blemish was due for release "A Fire In The Forest" was released as a downloadable promo, and I remember on first hearing Blemish thinking was I going to have to plough through this turgid mess to get to the final track? now however I love the album and for me it really doesn't have a bad track, and that I think is the problem in that I don't think Manafon is as good as Blemish, with Manafon we were given "Small Metal Gods" as the promo a track that bears no resemblance to anything else on the album and once the track was finished I had to force myself through the rest of the album presuming I would have a road to Damascus moment as I had with Blemish and fall in love with it, "Snow White.." stood out immediatley and could be both a Blemish or Nine Horses outtake and both "Emily Dickinson" and the title track have really grown on me, I have made some progress with "The Rabbit Skinner" mainly because I think the lyrics and the musicality of the track seem to come together out of nothing but isolating "Random Acts.. and The Greatest.." I just find them even after now numerous plays so disappointing, disjointed and lacking in any passion or poetry

i find also that blemish was a lot more interesting more variable and flexible maybe because of the input from fennesz...

i still love manafon but blemish was the most orginal cd that i ever heard there he broke his boundries...

[ScottR]

Charts:

Billboard 200 ranking: did not chart
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,177
Amazon #39 in Music > Miscellaneous > Experimental Music - This is funny. Four of Porcupine Trees records rank higher, including 1995's the sky moves sideways
Amazon UK: #1453

[ob8]

Foales, i am very jealous and happy that you are discovering Davids work. I am sure it will all be rewarding for you and some will please you more than others but thats the beauty of music.

I have not participated in the discussions since Manafon was released, i am still soaking the album up. For me the albums that take time to appreciate fully are the ones that offer up more rewards over time, and i am not just talking albums by DS. I am not interested in it's sales position on Amazon or what the detractors and the Sylvian fans who yearn for repetion say. I am happy that David is not listening to anybody but himself. He is his own greatest critic and i for one love him for being that way. David is not perfect, Micks book shows a different perspective on some matters but if David stops being creative i think he will disappear and we will all be worse off for that. I dont care if anybody else does not like Manafon...........i do

[jon abbey]

Charts:

Billboard 200 ranking: did not chart
Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,177
Amazon #39 in Music > Miscellaneous > Experimental Music - This is funny. Four of Porcupine Trees records rank higher, including 1995's the sky moves sideways
Amazon UK: #1453

the point is you have no idea how many copies Samadhi Sound is selling directly. the limited edition alone likely made this project instantly profitable, not that Sylvian probably cares too much about that.