That sounds fun!
ION, anyone heard the latest from the Marseille Figs? I'm gonna be lazy and cut and paste this description from Boing Boing:
Yesterday, I picked up "The Dirty Canon," Marseille Figs's first album on the advice of a friend. I've barely listened to anything since. My pal called them a "three piece big band" who trade instruments around a lot and change up on every track. That's a great explanation -- they sound like a cross between Violent Femmes and Tom Waits, with some Squirrel Nut Zippers and even a little Louis Jordan tossed in for good measure, a rich stew of every music style overlaid with funny and soulful lyrics. Mostly uptempo, it put me in an instant good mood. What's more, it's just plain lovely -- there's a current of something delicate and wistful swirling through all twelve tracks. Check out the free downloads on the site and see what you think.
From their webiste:
The Dirty Canon is the Figs' first full length album, featuring 12 new songs. Produced in Hamburg by polymath artist and Pogues-founder Jem Finer and Louisiana swamp-pop legend DM Bob, and finished in London with Brian O'Shaughnessy (of Screamadelica fame), The Dirty Canon has big booming piledrivers, lost soul singalongs, flophouse ballads, epic screeching skronking songs, monkey grunts, thunder and lightning.
At their website you can listen/download three tracks for free. Available on iTunes and eMusic (but I'm out of eMusic downloads at the moment, so I've only listened to the three free tracks. Which are awesome.)
R.I.P. Dave Day of the Monks [link]
One of my fondest musical memories is seeing them in NYC in 1999, where they performed together for the first time in over 30 years. The energy was unbelievable.
R.I.P Fiery Furnaces' Grandma: [link]
The Magnetic Fields have their entire new album available for streaming on myspace: [link]
Quoting Stephin Merritt:
"I wanted to make a record of three-minute pop songs, then they turned into three-minute power-pop songs," Merritt explains. "The previous Magnetic Fields record had been self-consciously soft rock, with all the songs starting with the letter 'i.' The idea here was to make this record quickly and use the same instrumentation on every song. And if I had to use the same instrumentation all the time, what would I want it to sound like? Well, like the first Jesus and Mary Chain album! So I attempted to adapt the sound of Psychocandy to the orch-pop reality of the Magnetic Fields, where we have a pianist and a cellist. And the occasional accordionist."
what would I want it to sound like? Well, like the first Jesus and Mary Chain album! So I attempted to adapt the sound of Psychocandy to the orch-pop reality of the Magnetic Fields, where we have a pianist and a cellist. And the occasional accordionist."
Awesome! More stuff should sound like the first Jesus and Mary Chain album....
Why is it that whenever I feel stressed out, Glass's
Einstein on the Beach
always relaxes me? I don't even listen to EotB that often, as I have to be in the mood to listen to it. And the mood apparently is stressed out.
The version I have on CD was recorded in 1993. I think I like the version I have on LP (which I bought in '85) better, so I think I'll buy that on CD as well....
Did you read my earlier knock-knock joke in this thread?
I think so.
It was something mean about Glass, right?
Oh yeah, I remember that.
But it's not true! The knock-knock-who's-there's change subtly. Or something.
