Strange Powers

Stephin Merritt is a personal hero of mine. You'll probably know him from his most significant project, The Magnetic Fields. I love the philosophy behind his songwriting, love his use of melody and think his lyrics clever and engaging, facets that inform my own crude attempts at song-writing. And despite my dislike of 'concept records', 69 Love Songs stands out as an exception. A record detailing songs about love songs - absolutely brilliant!

I was fortunate enough to see the band play in New York earlier in the year, an enthralling and intimate experience which demonstrated Merritt's droll persona and his often brutal sense of irony (you can read my thoughts on this show by clicking here).

The Brisbane Underground Film Festival happens to be showing the Stephin Merritt (and The Magnetic Fields) biopic, Strange Powers, on the 29th of September at the Brisbane Powerhouse. As far as I know, it's the only showing of this film in Brisbane, so if you're a fan of the man and his band, this will prove to be very interesting. Apparently filmed over ten years, the reception has generally been good.

In the meantime, perhaps its time to revist the song by which the film is named after. I love the lyrics, particularly in the opening stanza, "On the ferris wheel / Looking out on Coney Island / Under more stars than / There are prostitutes in Thailand". Enjoy.

View York: Wild Beasts, Evan Dando and the Magnetic Fields

Folks, it has been some time. As some of you may know, I have been in New York City for the past two and a half months interning at the United Nations. Unfortunately, the full-time work and full time social responsibilities endemic to New York have put the brakes on any music blogging. However, as I’m back in Brisbane, I can continue the usual ramble of meaningless thoughts on popular music.

New York is one of the best places to catch live music. Literally you can see a great band nearly every night of the week for a bargain price, something that in Brisbane, Australia, you may not be able to do. Side note: literally I’ve been overusing the word ‘literally’ to the point where I want to rip my tongue out. I blame a few of my New York compadres for covertly inserting it in my vernacular. Yeah, you know who you are!

I have a few gigs that I attended during my NYC visit that I wish to speak about. I already covered Jonathan Richman a few weeks ago, but I did manage to go see Wild Beasts, Evan Dando and The Magnetic Fields during this sojourn to Obama’s Revolutionary Empire.

WILD BEASTS


Several weeks ago, my good pal Gabe got me to tag along to see an entertaining UK indie band Wild Beasts. What makes them particularly distinctive is Hayden Thorpe’s distinctive countertenor voice, something that is unusual in today’s modern ‘indie’ world. While unusual, I eventually grew used to Thorpe’s eunuch braying – it mixed well with the Morrisey-esque baritone of Tom Fleming.

Playing most of their sophomore record “Two Dancers” (which is quite good by the way), Wild Beasts meander their way through a range of dreamlike ballads that seem to revolve around working class subjects and working class people. As Gabe aptly pointed out, they evoke memories of Talking Heads. Unfortunately, at the time, I wasn’t familiar with their records, so cannot allude to the songs they played. However, the title of the concluding song is obvious, the band finishing with the delicious sing-along ballad suitably entitled 'Cheerio Chaps'.

In addition, I must point out that the support act Violins were also very enjoyable to watch. All in all, a very good night. (thanks Gabe!)



EVAN DANDO

I managed to also catch Lemonheads alumni Evan Dando in an acoustic solo gig at the Mercury Lounge in Lower East side Manhattan onMArch 8th. There was a plethora of supports (well, three), a factor that pushed Dando to a late start. However, due to some technical and transport problems, Dando only manages to hit the stage circa midnight and proceeds to play a two hour plus set. Unfortunately, due to excesses the night before; I ended up struggling my way through most of this Dando’s late set.

I’ve seen Dando play with the Lemonheads during their reforming tour in Australia a few years back. I was a bit disappointed in that effort and I didn’t have high expectations for this performance. As it turns out, I needn’t have been so pessimistic. Dando plays a remarkably well paced set consisting mostly of Lemonheads songs, something that struck me as strange considering he didn't when he was performing with that actual band in the aforementioned Australian tour!.

Starting off with a beautiful rendition of 'The Outdoor Type', he reels his way through 'If I Could Talk', 'Big Gay Heart', 'Alison’s Starting to Happen', 'Tenderfoot' and a plethora of other classics, including my own personal favourite 'Down About It' from “Come on Feel the Lemonheads”. At the conclusion of 'My Drug Buddy', Dando reveals that the ‘King Street’ referred to in the song is not actually King Street in New York, nor London, but actually the King Street in Newtown, Sydney.

2.30am rolls around and Dando doesn’t look like he was going to stop anytime soon. My body forces me to leave – I *literally* could not keep my eyes open. As Dando begins a version of ‘Skulls’, I decide to head for home, completely satisfied.

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS

For what seems like eons, I’ve always wanted to catch The Magnetic Fields in the live arena. They’ve just released what is a solid album, “Realism” (which I by far prefer to "Distortion"), concluding what is called Stephin Merrit’s no synth trilogy (I, Distortion, Realism).

The venue is Town Hall, just off Times Square, a beautiful theatre apt for hosting the Magnetic Fields. It’s a strictly no nonsense affair, the band lining up side by side, in a row across the stage. No out-and-out percussive instruments are on stage – Merrit has a condition that makes him sensitive to overly loud noise – the band utilises keys, guitar, cello and ukulele. Merrit plays the ukulele exclusively and runs through a setlist which features songs from much of the Magnetic Fields back catalog albeit with the songs in a more stripped back, non-produced format (obviously to accommodate only the instruments and voices on display).

I’m writing this a few weeks after the event and the setlist is hard to recall exactly. They do draw from their wide ranging back catalog, playing songs from "69 Love Songs", "I", "Realism", "Holiday", and "The Wayward Bus" amongst others. The highlights include 'Kiss Me Like You Mean It', 'I Don’t Really Love You Anymore', 'You, Me and the Moon', and my own personal favourite 'I Don’t Want to Get Over You'. The revel in a dose of humour, playing 'Wi’ Nae Wee Bairn Ye’ll Me Beget', which produces stifles of laughter from the appreciative audience. Without a doubt, the best song of the night is 'Fear of Trains' from "Charm of the Highway Strip".

Merritt has the reputation of being a sourpuss. He engages in some ‘banter’ with his fellow musician, his body language often insinuating they’re annoying, but its hard to tell if its genuine or not. Regardless, the show is quite brilliant, the crowd lapping up the stripped-down devotions to love and other related disasters. I leave, one happy chappy.

The Anti-Valentines Day Mixtape.

Many ‘lovers’ will be celebrating valentines with mountains of flowers, soppy hallmark cards and overpriced jewellery. Many more will be lying around moaning about commercialism, crying into pillows, or getting raucously drunk and whining about how foolish the whole event seems to be. Unless something dramatically changes in the next few days, I will definitely be in the latter category. How sad, right?

Well, it got me thinking. What is the perfect mixtape for someone who might not be the most happy chappy come the 14th of February? I guess the tunes don’t have to explicitly on the subject of Valentines day, just about subjects not usually associated with romantic love or lust, perhaps tunes about the disillusionment that is inherent with broken relationships. Some might suggest digging around the Magnetic Field’s ‘69 Love Songs’ compendium and that is, I think, a great place to start (despite the fact that they are songs about love songs, many of them deal with falling out of love).

For what its worth, here are a few songs that I think would be a great addition to any such mix.

1. The Magnetic Fields – I Don’t Want To Get Over You

I envy Stephin Merritt. I don’t know how he writes lyrics of such good quality. They are just too clever. They are just too correct. It almost annoys me. This song has some brilliant lyrics that divinely sum up the yearning that inevitably follows being dumped. For example, ‘I should just take a sleeping pill and sleep at will and not have to go through, what I go through. I guess I should take a prozac right and smile all night, at somebody new’, and so forth. Love this song, and it is probably in my top five Magnetic Fields songs that ever graced the cassette deck.

2. The Cure – In Between Days

This is definitely my favourite Cure song. I think it has one of the strongest intros to a pop song ever composed. When that closed high-hat snaps in, well, I feel the urge to go mental. Anyway, you can see by the lyrical content that it concerns some kind of relationship breakdown complete with the denial and regret cycles that so often occur with relationship breakdowns. For instance, the lyrics ‘Go on, Go on, just walk away’ at the beginning of the song, followed then by a later stanza that counteract the earlier lyrics 'Come back, Come back, Don’t walk away'. Perhaps I’m getting slightly too deep here, but I’d thought I’d just highlight these small aspects of what is a great pop tune. Who knew that such depressing subjects could be so dance-able?

3. Burt Bacharach / Hal David - I’ll Never Fall in Love Again

What a tune! This classic pop number involves itself with all the alleged traps of falling in love, for example, 'What do you get when you kiss a girl? You get enough germs to catch pneumonia'. Hal David, you got that spot on. I’ve avoided kissing girls for this EXACT reason. Pretty much a great tune to take the edge off falling in love. Yeah that’s right; this song gives love (and Valentines Day) THE BIRD!

4. Billy Bragg - Valentines Day is Over

Admittedly, I do not know this song all that well having only really listened to it on a handful of occasions. However, I believe it warrants being on my list for the title alone. The lyrics pretty much consist of Billy Bragg giving some sage like advice to men on how to treat their woman, with the consequences if they are not up to scratch. Not the best Bragg song, in my own humble opinion, but certainly one of the most relevant to this blogpost

....And I almost can’t resist....

5. Genesis - In Too Deep

OK, I’ve already discussed my Phil Collins obsession before on this very blog, so you simply must allow me this guilty pleasure. It is a bit of a cheesy 80s ballad, but come on, that chorus section just weeps smoothness. Apparently a song about Phil Collins and his ability to deal with relationship. Many of Collins’s tunes deal with this issue. It also seems that the guy has a legion of wives with matching divorce certificates. Perhaps he just marries women, breaks up with them, so as to manufacture a string of pop hits about the experience. Sounds like this is his method. Hrm, anyway, yes the song. Suitable for an Anti-Valentines day mixtape. Marginal at best, but I’ve quickly run out of ideas.

...*edit* I almost forgot....

6. Roy Orbison - Crying

Bah, how could I forget this song. This really should be my number one. I love Roy, and if I was a homosexual and a necrophiliac, I'd probably dig him up and make love to him. This is my favourite song of his, and it is probably the most suitable for this anti-valentines day mixtape list. Could you really argue with its brilliance?

Happy Valentines Day (losers:P)!

My 2008: Artists and Records of Note.

‘Best of’ lists are a collective certainty in the music blogging world, and I am personally not adverse to them myself. In fact, I think it’s a great method of discovery new artists, and celebrating the lesser known genius that occasionally elude the mainstream press. Everyone enjoys spinning yarns about the aural pleasures that have popped up throughout a calendar and I’m not going to buck the trend by not doing one.

As I’ve said elsewhere before, it can take me some time to ‘discover’ acts from bygone years and I’m not going to attempt to try write an article solely devoted to my favourite new bands or records that have been released throughout 2008. Some of these relationships can be fleeting anyway. I’ll give you a concise overview of records and artists who have dominated my speakers throughout the year.

For most of the year, I’ve been on the move, traveling to several new continents. Consequently, the diverse musical tastes of fellow travellers, work pals and other new friends have facilitated my exposure to many new artists. Generally, I can sum up the year with a few bands that, while most of them I’ve heard of, I grew to appreciate. Sort of like a fine wine I guess (alternatively insert some other innocuous metaphor here).

Wilco was one band that asserted itself in my consciousness with their classic “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” album accompanying me throughout South America (I do recall with fondness traversing the Bolivian salt flats with ‘Jesus Etc’ belting from the four-wheel drive speakers). I now curse myself for once giving up the opportunity to see the band live a few years back when I was slightly ignorant of their talent.

Ryan Adams is another artist that I grew to appreciate, particularly his most recent release “Easy Tiger”. I had cycnically assumed Adams as a petulant rock star of little talent and all hype, but now I’m a bit more forgiving. Yes, he is petulant and given to some childish behaviour but he does write some rather good little ditties such as ‘Oh My God Whatever Etc’ which is a personal favourite.

Fleet Foxes (pictured above) released their sublime self-titled debut which quickly became a personal favourite. I’m sure if you’ve listened to the radio or read the music press at any stage this year then you would have heard about some of this bands work. Trust me; they deserve all the praise they have rightfully garnered.


As you may have read, I delved into some older 80s punk/alternative music, with The Replacements and their records “Let It Be” and “Pleased to Meet Me”, along with some Husker Du. R.E.M’s “Murmur” has also undergone more than a few listens.

In terms of new releases and new records, the folk pop crooning of Chad Vaangalen and Bon Iver have been a pleasure to find their way on to my stereo. On the flip side, the doom metal of Japanese rockers Boris kept the metal monster inside of me alive and kicking. On that point, I’d never thought I’d ever say this again, but my teenage romance with Metallica was wistfully re-imagined after the released of the surprisingly good “Death Magnetic” (despite what pitch-arse might say!).

Recently, The Pains of Being Pure of Heart have shaped up as a great new prospect and I eagerly await the release of their debut record scheduled for 2009. Guided by Voices, Of Montreal, the Magnetic Fields and a dozen other regulars still provided me with a lot of joy, head banging, shower-crooning and even air-drumming.

Well, that’s a typically meandering essay of my musical adventures of 2008. I hope 2009 will provide even more fresh discoveries.