Howdy!
I decided to make a post about my favorite band of this month - The Magnetic Fields. I had never really heard of them before...but I was perusing an mp3 blog and saw that they had their album "69 love songs". I was intrigued and downloaded it along with their album "Distortion". It took a little while to get into it...I mean it's hard to like 69 songs all at once, on first listen. However, on both albums there are some really stand out tunes and I've been listening to them on repeat for a while.
Wiki says The Magnetic Fields is a band led by New York City singer-songwriter Stephin Merritt. Albums released by Merritt under the name "Magnetic Fields" often make extensive use of synthesizers underlying clever lyrics, often about love, that are by turns ironic, bitter, and humorous.
So the synth's really remind me of the 80s new wave/synth stuff. Think New Order and some of The Cure. The main vocalist Stephen Merritt has a kinda deepish voice too (though not *quite* as doom as Ian Curtis' of Joy Division). But I really like the deep voice.
Anyways, this is not to say that all the music is like that. Distortion follows the synth trend quite well, but on 69 love songs there's more variety. Some is folky, some is synthy and others are just strange.
My favorites from 69 Love songs : Long forgotten fairy tale (reminds me a bit of New Order's - Temptation), The book of love, world love, time enough for rocking when we're old, grand canyon, the way you said goodnight.
From Distortion : Old Fools, the Nun's Litany and Till the bitter end.
But there really is a lot of great stuff in general.
I leave you with two songs, one from each. I'll have to listen to the rest of their albums now :)
So, I'm having more problems with Matlab and decided to take a break. I was perusing Angelo's facebook and he did one of those song shuffle things, so I'm gonna do the same :P
1) Put your music playlist on shuffle.
2) For each question below press the next button on your media player to get your answer.
3) You must write that song name down no matter how silly it sounds.
1. IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
My Night with the prostitute from Marseille - Beirut
2. WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
City Girl - Tegan and Sara
3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Boys - The Dandy Warhols
4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Auf Gott steht meine Zuversicht - Bach (Cantatas 138-140)
In english means "In God is my confidence"
5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Green Man - Type O Negative
6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Machine Joy - Miss Kittin
7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Untitled 8 (The Pop Song) - Sigur Ros
8. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Lets pretend we're bunny rabbits - The Magnetic Fields
9. WHAT IS 2+2?
Boundaries are open - After Forever
10. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
nevesyelaya pesnya - Kino
(in english means "unhappy/joyless song")
11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
All I want is you - Barry Louis Polisar
12. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Breaking Away - Ratatat
13. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Velvet Revolution - Tori Amos
14. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
The Cydonia Complex - Memmaker
15. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Small Children in the background - Mogwai
16. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?.
Modern Romance - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs (I do like this song very much :D)
17. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
The God that Failed - Metallica
18. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Untitled 4 (Njosnavelin) - Sigur Ros
19. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Long Distance Drunk - Modest Mouse (HAH)
20. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Fix the Sky A little - 65daysofstatic
21. WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Summer of 69 - Bryan Adams
22. HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Sinkin' Soon - Norah Jones (I guess I'm gonna drown...)
23. WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
There There - Radiohead
24. WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Old Flame - The Arcade Fire
25. WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Summerhead - Cocteau Twins
26. WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Underwater - Architecture in Helsinki
27. WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
On the Tower - Sondre Lerche
28. DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Grass - Animal Collective
29. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Open Arms - Journey
30. WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Sacred Darling - Gogol Bordello
31. WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Jigsaw Falling into Place - Radiohead
1) Put your music playlist on shuffle.
2) For each question below press the next button on your media player to get your answer.
3) You must write that song name down no matter how silly it sounds.
1. IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
My Night with the prostitute from Marseille - Beirut
2. WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
City Girl - Tegan and Sara
3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Boys - The Dandy Warhols
4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Auf Gott steht meine Zuversicht - Bach (Cantatas 138-140)
In english means "In God is my confidence"
5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Green Man - Type O Negative
6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Machine Joy - Miss Kittin
7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Untitled 8 (The Pop Song) - Sigur Ros
8. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Lets pretend we're bunny rabbits - The Magnetic Fields
9. WHAT IS 2+2?
Boundaries are open - After Forever
10. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
nevesyelaya pesnya - Kino
(in english means "unhappy/joyless song")
11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
All I want is you - Barry Louis Polisar
12. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Breaking Away - Ratatat
13. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Velvet Revolution - Tori Amos
14. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
The Cydonia Complex - Memmaker
15. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Small Children in the background - Mogwai
16. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?.
Modern Romance - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs (I do like this song very much :D)
17. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
The God that Failed - Metallica
18. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Untitled 4 (Njosnavelin) - Sigur Ros
19. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Long Distance Drunk - Modest Mouse (HAH)
20. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Fix the Sky A little - 65daysofstatic
21. WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Summer of 69 - Bryan Adams
22. HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Sinkin' Soon - Norah Jones (I guess I'm gonna drown...)
23. WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
There There - Radiohead
24. WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Old Flame - The Arcade Fire
25. WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Summerhead - Cocteau Twins
26. WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
Underwater - Architecture in Helsinki
27. WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
On the Tower - Sondre Lerche
28. DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Grass - Animal Collective
29. IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Open Arms - Journey
30. WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Sacred Darling - Gogol Bordello
31. WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Jigsaw Falling into Place - Radiohead
I just finished watching the Miroir Noir: Neon Bible Archives - a DVD by the Arcade Fire documenting their 2006-2007 tour.
I actually just found out about it yesterday while killing time on the net.
The clip is shown on the site dedicated to the dvd
It is also on youtube:
In addition, there's a new track called Burning Bridges which is entirely instrumental. It's a pretty interesting song - in some parts it reminds me a bit of Black Waves/Bad Vibrations but at the same time it sounds very epic. In anycase, I like it a lot.
As for the DVD, on the whole, I really enjoyed it. It's not really just footage of a concert - it's many concerts, backstage/acoustic recordings, them perusing in the streets and just doing various shenanigans. There are also tape recordings of people giving their testimonies of the Neon Bible. What I also liked was the quality of the film - it's kind of an old, grainy, sepiaish texture. So, generally liked the effect.
For the most part, the songs are not played in their entirety (except for Neighborhood #3 (power out) and Rebellion) which appear at the end of the DVD. It reminds me of when I saw them with Paw at Arena Maurice Richard. Despite having seats, their performance was truly electrifying. They all have so much energy, which can be seen here too. When I showed Paw the clip, she said it looked pretty "Destroy", which I agree.
My favorite parts include:
The "destroy" part of the DVD where Cold Wind is playing. I really do enjoy on stage chaos :P
Neon Bible in the elevator (which was released as a clip previously)
The Intervention singalong
The Ocean of Noise dance
If they came again, I would definitely go. Hopefully they'll play a smaller venue and I'll get spots in the front :D
It might prove to be difficult though, for I remember when they played 5 nights at the Ukrainian Federation - all nights sold out and when there were 50 ticket added for each night, there were overnight line ups to get those tickets - In the middle of Febuary!
In anycase, we shall see. So far there are no concerts I particularly want to see. Seems like this Winter might be a calm concert season.
I actually just found out about it yesterday while killing time on the net.
The clip is shown on the site dedicated to the dvd
It is also on youtube:
In addition, there's a new track called Burning Bridges which is entirely instrumental. It's a pretty interesting song - in some parts it reminds me a bit of Black Waves/Bad Vibrations but at the same time it sounds very epic. In anycase, I like it a lot.
As for the DVD, on the whole, I really enjoyed it. It's not really just footage of a concert - it's many concerts, backstage/acoustic recordings, them perusing in the streets and just doing various shenanigans. There are also tape recordings of people giving their testimonies of the Neon Bible. What I also liked was the quality of the film - it's kind of an old, grainy, sepiaish texture. So, generally liked the effect.
For the most part, the songs are not played in their entirety (except for Neighborhood #3 (power out) and Rebellion) which appear at the end of the DVD. It reminds me of when I saw them with Paw at Arena Maurice Richard. Despite having seats, their performance was truly electrifying. They all have so much energy, which can be seen here too. When I showed Paw the clip, she said it looked pretty "Destroy", which I agree.
My favorite parts include:
The "destroy" part of the DVD where Cold Wind is playing. I really do enjoy on stage chaos :P
Neon Bible in the elevator (which was released as a clip previously)
The Intervention singalong
The Ocean of Noise dance
If they came again, I would definitely go. Hopefully they'll play a smaller venue and I'll get spots in the front :D
It might prove to be difficult though, for I remember when they played 5 nights at the Ukrainian Federation - all nights sold out and when there were 50 ticket added for each night, there were overnight line ups to get those tickets - In the middle of Febuary!
In anycase, we shall see. So far there are no concerts I particularly want to see. Seems like this Winter might be a calm concert season.
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