The Current Music Blog: January 15, 2008 Archive

The Stream 01/15/08

Posted at 8:55 AM on January 15, 2008 by Barb Abney

Brit Awards nominations announced yesterday.

Pitchfork talks about new Atmosphere release(s).

Gutter Twins annouce more dates. (First Ave. March 8th.)

Today In Music History:
1951 - Martha Davis (The Motels) was born.
1952 - Melvyn Gale (E.L.O.) was born.
1961 - Damian O'Neill (The Undertones) was born.
1965 - Adam Jones (Tool) was born.
1967 - The Rolling Stones were forced to change the lyrics of "Lets Spend The Night Together" to "Lets Spend Some Time Together" while playing The Ed Sullivan Show.
1976 - Paul Simonon auditioned for The London SS (which later became The Clash.)
1983 - Men At Work's "Down Under" was #1.
1994 - Harry Nilsson died.
1998 - Junior Wells died.
2002 - Adam Ant was admitted to a mental ward after pulling a gun in a London pub.

Live Blogging 01/15/08

Posted at 9:31 AM on January 15, 2008 by Barb Abney (1 Comments)

11:40 a.m. Cass McCombs
His forthcoming release, Dropping the Writ will be in stores January 28th.
He's on the road with Band Of Horses.
More..

11:30 a.m. Magnetic Fields - CD Of The Week
Distortion is The Current's CD Of The Week.
Get your own copy when you support us online.
More...

11:00 a.m. The Flaming Lips
They're headlining The Lovebox Music Festival in London this summer.

10:50 a.m. The National
They will be featured on the Human Giant DVD.

10:30 a.m. Local Music - Gary Louris
His new album, Vagabonds will be released on February 19th.
More..

Song Of The Day Info - Matt Costa
Today on our Song Of The Day Podcast we're featuring Matt Costa with the tune "Mr. Pitiful" from his forthcoming album, Unfamililar Faces which will be in stores next week.
He's playing The Varsity on February 18th.
More info here.

9:40 a.m. Richard Hawley
Here's an interesting promo item for his new album, Lady's Bridge.
More...

9:15 a.m. Rumble Strips
They began a brief tour along with Mark Ronson last night.
More...

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New Facemelter: Prince

Posted at 2:10 PM on January 15, 2008 by Jill Riley

Have you signed up for Facemelter yet? So far Brett and I have covered Eddie Van Halen. This week we're talking about the tiny, tiny man with the big, big sound: the one and only Prince. That's quite an intro for the purple man, but he's worthy of a big entrance for all the faces he's melted. Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down? Oh no, let's go!

Thanks to everyone who has been suggesting awesome guitar solos, keep em' coming!

"My 3 Songs" for Tuesday

Posted at 2:42 PM on January 15, 2008 by Steve Seel

"About a month back, the sun wasn't shining ... and I had the day off of work and I felt a little down," writes Mary Burke of Mpls. "But I heard Mary Lucia call the weather and the day 'gloomy beautiful'... (and) that was enough to turn me around. These songs remind me of that. Gloomy beautiful."

1) Regina Spektor, "Us"
2) Sufjan Stevens, "Chicago"
3) Sonya Kitchell, "Can't Get You Outa My Mind"

That's a five-star set as far as I'm concerned, Mary. Actually, I guess I should say thanks to both Marys.

A Brief History of the Magnetic Fields

Posted at 4:00 PM on January 15, 2008 by Mac Wilson (40 Comments)

The Magnetic Fields are releasing a new album, Distortion, today; it also happens to be the Current's CD of the Week. Because the Magnetic Fields are one of my very favorite bands, I couldn't let the occasion of their first album in four years pass without saying a few words about the band and their history.

The band's brainchild and frontman is Stephin Merritt, a grouchy yet endearing misanthrope with a knack for wry, subversive songwriting. Before recently moving to Los Angeles, he wrote his material in coffee shops and recorded most of his music in his apartment in the Lower East Side of New York City. Fellow bandmates include vocalist Claudia Gonson, guitarist John Woo, and cellist Sam Davol; Merritt has also worked on numerous side projects over the years, including the Future Bible Heroes, the 6ths, and the Gothic Archies, in addition to penning several operas. Merritt draws from the classic pop songwriting school of Cole Porter and the Brill Building, while retaining contemporary rock touchings like synthesizers and feedback, often changing his sound from album to album. One of his primary goals is to establish a distinct concept for each new Magnetic Fields album, whether sonically, lyrically, or structurally.

The Magnetic Fields began in the early '90s as a duo between Merritt and vocalist Susan Anway. After two albums, Distant Plastic Trees and The Wayward Bus (the latter of which strove for a pop sound in the vein of the Crystals), Anway departed and Merritt took over vocal duties as well. The instrumentation of the band's mid-90s work was produced almost entirely on keyboards, stemming from Merritt's adoration for Human League-esque synth pop. The album themes ranged from traveling (Holiday), escape (Get Lost) and vampires (The Charm of the Highway Strip) -- these characterizations are given by Merritt himself in the 69 Love Songs liner notes. Some of the band's songs from this period also appeared in the Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete and Pete. As the decade drew to a close, some critics wondered whether the band would step beyond morose synth-pop. Merritt embarked on the conception and development of the most audacious project in pop music history - 69 Love Songs. The album was exactly what it said it was -- sixty-nine songs evenly spread over 3 CDs, approaching the love song from literally dozens of angles. The successful completion of the record was an accomplishment in itself, but even more amazing was the overall quality and diversity displayed over three hours. Some of the songs are goofy intermediaries (just like some of our relationships, let's admit it), but song after song displayed new insights into love -- and writing songs about love. Merritt employed numerous guest vocalists on 69 Love Songs, and the album was performed in its entirety (spread out over two nights) on several occasions. One interesting hallmark of the band's live shows was their almost entirely acoustic nature; the songs were performed with no rhythm section whatsoever. The band's album i was released in 2004, in which all songs began with the letter I and were sequenced in alphabetical order. The new record released today, Distortion, calls upon Merritt's love of the Jesus and Mary Chain and swathes all the songs in heavy feedback and distortion(!).

Most of the attention the Magnetic Fields have received have been for their album concepts and for Merritt's sardonic lyric-writing. He has never met a rhyme he didn't like, but a lot of what makes the songs endearing is their ability to make you chuckle or grown at first, but then to sit up and realize that there was actually a profound insight hidden in there. Perhaps the most common point of comparision is Jonathan Richman, and this brand of storytelling has been adopted lately by lyricists like Jens Lekman. Merritt is openly gay, and he has never been afraid to write from his own perspective on love: the lovers being beaten up in "Take Ecstasy with Me" just for holding hands, and the epic "I Thought You Were My Boyfriend", which is meticulously-constructed lyrically so that while the sentiments could apply to any breakup, the song itself specifically deals with male/male love. Merritt has also gained a reputation as being notoriously irrascible, responding coolly to just about anyone outside his inner circle of friends (just check out his appearance on the Atlanta FOX News affiliate to see the glaring contrast between him and the overly enthusiastic anchor).

There's a lot more, of course, but that's as concise a recap as I could hope to come up with. I'm obviously very excited for the new record, Distortion; maybe I'll check back in a week or so to see what I think.

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