- Doug Stephen in FOR FUCK SAKE EVERYONE KNOCK IT OFF WITH THE GOD DAMNED ACCORDIONS JESUS CHRIST Woah, okay Vice Magazine.
- Doug Stephen in Vampire Weekend - S/T I’ve never listened to a solo Paul Simon record, or to Graceland, so I don’t know about that. But the songs I’ve heard by Vampire Weekend...
- bjyhore in New Single: Patrick Wolf’s “Accident and Emergency” She had actually been robbed of it cant be cruel. Mistress. I could do. jennifer lopez porn Three.
Magnetic Fields have been, at various points in my life, my favorite band. I don’t think I’ll ever get over the prodigious 69 Love Songs; it’s undoubtedly one of the best releases of all time. Yes, all time. The band’s other releases don’t fall very short of that pedestal, either.
I’ve saturated myself so completely with their work that I feel pretty certain that somewhere, in the back of my mind, there will always be a Magnetic Fields song playing. Which is fine with me, as long as it isn’t a track from Distortion.
I’m not a fan.
There are two major problems with this record. The first, to me, is the very aesthetic behind it. Merritt wanted to do a noisy, feedback-filled record, My Bloody Valentine style. That’s all well and good, in theory, and god knows I was excited about it (Merritt + MBV noise = all I need), but a lot of the material on this album doesn’t lend itself well to that sound. Like plaid and paisley, these elements, when combined, do not look good together. The odd pop of Magnetic Fields doesn’t translate into shoegaze, pure and simple. It sort of works at various points on the record, and it is interesting to hear them sounding so relaxed and making such a racket. But mostly it just sounds off, and very far away from the polish of Merritt’s hyper-clever pop songs.
Which brings me to the second thing wrong with this record – it is severely lacking the captivating cleverness that makes Magnetic Fields so damn good. Most of the songs are overly simplistic in content, and some of them are just outright cliché. I don’t need Einstein level lyrics, but I’m accustomed to a Magnetic Fields that can turn a phrase. When style impedes substance I lose interest, and I think that’s what’s happening on Distortion.
Not that there aren’t good tracks on it. There are. “Please Stop Dancing” is excellent. “Too Drunk To Dream” is obviously a crowd pleaser, with lyrics like “…sober, you’re a Cro-Magnon, shitfaced you’re very clever…” and so forth. (I have to restrain myself from typing all of the lyrics out, as that would be tedious, but the whole thing is very charming.) “I’ll Dream Alone” is the typical MF lament, and also a fantastic track on this album. “California Girls” is quite likable, though the lyrics are kind of trite. But a handful of decent songs does not a great album make.
It all boils down to this: as an album, Distortion is a fine release. It’s certainly not bad, and there’s a lot to like about it. But as a Magnetic Fields album, it is disappointing.
The Offering blipped onto my radar sometime in mid-2007, and I haven’t taken my eyes off the band since. Their self-titled EP, released by the exceptional Safranin Sound record label, was on my “Best of 2007″ list, which means a hell of a lot to me, and it should to you, too. Because my list was the only actually correct one made.
Just kidding, kids. Well, kind of. My point is, you should be listening to The Offering right now.
The band will be releasing a full length sometime in May on Safranin Sound. It will be “…the most adventurous, risky record we’ve done yet, all but abandoning our pop roots for a little more rock n roll inspired experimentation and psychedelia.” Sounds like it’s going to be awesome.
Charles of The Offering was kind enough to subject himself to our 5 Questions routine, and if you keep moving your eyes in a downward direction, you can read his answers.
1. When historians listen to your most recent album 1000 years from now, what will they say?
1000 years from now global warming, terrorism, the war to fight terrorism, the destruction of civil liberties, the total annihilation of music as art, and many other historical and sociological factors will have led to one of two things: 1. we’ll all be dead, or 2. music will no longer exist, or will be controlled as if in some sort of strange vonnegutian existence. Pitchfork Media will offer online degrees in music theory, and their writers will be considered the authority on all things music. They will probably still not know who the fuck we are.
2. if you could play a show with any band/musician living or dead, who would you pick and why?
There are so many to choose from. Syd Barrett/Pink Floyd, Ian Curtis, Kurt Cobain, the Velvet Underground, the Zombies, Can, the Doors, Black Sabbath in the good years. All of the above? Shit, actually I’ve got it. The Four Seasons just after Genuine Imitation Life was put out. Fucking phenomenal.
3. What is the strangest band-related dream (one of) you have had?
I dreamt that my brother, who passed last year, came to see me at my mother’s house. He had blisters on his hands and dirt on his body. He was tired and gaunt looking but still healthier than he looked near the end of his life. He was eating gummy worms with a spoon out of a cereal bowl. He told me that he was tired. I asked him why. He said it was because “they have us digging holes”.
4. What do your fans look like?
Parasites.
5. What bullshit do you run into at most every show that makes you think “man, this bullshit again?”
We don’t generally run into much bullshit because we don’t care enough to really get involved but recently a show we played in philadelphia turned out to be a pretty miserable experience involving a certain band and their now apparent hatred for us not only as musicians but as people. I’m going to leave it at that as this is already a pretty severe beating on a very dead horse.
the good:
the bad:
and the ugly:
Not only did the Magnetic Fields just release a new album, Distortions, they are also going on a tour. Swoon.
A tour that is coming no where NEAR Houston, I might add. I mean, I can’t really blame them, but what the fuck. Merritt, I’ve worshipped you for years and this is all I get?
Anyway, to my Chicago pals - have freakin fun. Or whatever.
02-11 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
02-12 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse Music Hall
02-14 Somerville, MA - Somerville Theater
02-15 Somerville, MA - Somerville Theater
02-22 New York, NY - Town Hall Theatre
02-23 New York, NY - Town Hall Theatre
02-28 San Francisco, CA - The Herbst Theatre
02-29 San Francisco, CA - The Herbst Theatre
03-02 Los Angeles, CA - The Henry Fonda Theatre
03-03 Los Angeles, CA - The Henry Fonda Theatre
03-06 Seattle, WA - Town Hall
03-07 Seattle, WA - Town Hall
03-14 Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk Music (two shows)
03-15 Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk Music (two shows)
03-16 Chicago, IL - Old Town School of Folk Music (two shows)
1. ceremony. disappear. safranin sound.
2. caribou. andorra. merge.
3. a place to bury strangers. s/t. killer pimp.
4. jesu. conqueror. hydra head
5. julian fane. our new quarters. planet mu.
6. montag. going places. carpark.
7. ifwhen. we will gently destroy you. clairecords.
8. shocking pinks. s/t. dfa.
9. matthew dear. asa breed. ghostly international.
10. the field. from here we go sublime. kompakt.
the almosts:
antiques. sewn with stitches. safranin sound.
crystal castles. thrash thrash thrash. say hi.
black dice. load blown. paw tracks.
liars. s/t. mute.
strategy. future rock. kranky.
jatun. s/t. other electricities.
2 lone swordsmen. wrong meetings. rotters golf club
dan deacon. spiderman of the rings. carpark.
venetian snares. pink + green. sublight.
best EPs.
screen vinyl image. the midnight sun. safranin sound.
alcian blue. years too late. safranin sound.
jesu. lifeline. hydra head.
wire. read and burn 03. pink flag.
the offering. s/t. safranin sound.
best record labels.
safranin sound.
carpark.
dfa.
Perfection is rare. I would go so far as to say that perfection, in the very truest sense of the word, is impossible. Not just impossible, but also completely subjective on like 17.5 different levels. And it’s not even regular I-can’t-wrap-my-mind-around-it impossible. It’s also mathematically and scientifically impossible. However, because I’ve never really trusted math, science, or other people’s opinions, I’m not bound by their stupid laws of nature, or whatever. I can say, with conviction, that Ceremony’s Disappear is as close to perfect as I would ever dare call a record.
Seriously. It’s kind of a big deal.
I mentioned Ceremony briefly in my recent review of A Place to Bury Strangers, since the combined members of APTBS and Ceremony were once a band called Skywave, who were un-fucking-believable. When the members split and formed the two new bands, I was understandably excited because, you know, that would double my pleasure. Always a good thing.
And I was right. I was very pleased with APTBS’s recent self-titled release, which was incredibly solid. A few weeks later, the Ceremony record was released and also lived up to the high expectations I had for it, then exceeded said heighth by trekking into remote parts of outer space and orbiting distant moons and shit. It was light years past my already super high expectations, is what I’m saying.
The band is typically considered “shoegaze,” and certainly those elements are there, but the many other styles and atmospheres this band weaves into one cohesive album pretty much defy classification for me. Ceremony picks up where all of my old idols left off, somewhere in the mess of dark noise and electro; it’s music that could make you sulk or dance, or both simultaneously (a preferable combination). With the band’s unapologetically gloomy lyrics set to super amplified drum machines, black synth lines, and guitars turned up to 10, it’s the most fun you’ll ever have feeling sorry for yourself.
It’s impossible not to point out the band’s obvious influences, somewhere in the range of bands like the Cure, New Order, Love and Rockets, Sisters of Mercy, Chameleons, Gene Loves Jezebel and other similar mopey groups from a bygone era. You know, the bands that had the sense to turn up the synth AND the guitar and let the drum machine do it’s dark, dirty work. Those bands. Mix these elements with both Paul Baker’s and John Fedowitz’s (Ceremony has only two members; they share vocal duties) detached, my-heart-has been-broken-27-times vocals and you’ve got yourself one hell of a dark pop group.
Skywave’s residue is scant; perhaps the track “Heard You Call My Name” is the closest Ceremony gets to referencing them at all. Ceremony take a decidedly more electro route, but even still, they never truly leave their fuzzed out shoegaze sound behind either. “Never Love Again” has plenty of that warm My Bloody Valentine fuzz, but Baker’s and Fedowitz’s cold vocals take the song to a very different place. “Nothing Inside” is a straight up electropop track, but again, the song is anchored into a dark place with the band members’ voices and lyrics. The excellent “Cold Cold Night” is so reminiscent of Power, Corruption and Lies-era New Order that it makes me want to pull out that timeless record and spin it right now. I could go on, but do I really need to say more?
Ceremony’s music is a superb hybrid of dark noisy pop, shoegaze, and electro; the result is a sound both unique and nostalgic. The year isn’t quite over yet, but I can say without a doubt that this is my top release of the year.
Release date: October 15th, 2007
Label: Safranin Sound And Design Records
Rating: 9.6/10
