930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: Herr Professor Doktor Doom on September 20, 2004, 10:47:00 am
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Is that a show likely to sell out? Is anyone going?
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Hopefully a few people will go to this and keep the crowd size at the DBT show smaller.
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it's yom kippur evening, so that might mean that 4 or 5 people who would have gone won't be there. maybe i'm overestimating. i'll catch them opening for wilco a few nites later. after seeing them open for mission of burma a few months back, i think i like them as a 40-minute opener as opposed to a headliner. i like parts of "blueberry boat," but i can't say i find myself reaching for it all that often.
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Hold up here a second. Rhett is going to the DBT show?
Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Hopefully a few people will go to this and keep the crowd size at the DBT show smaller.
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I was wondering the same thing this morning, Doom. I can't quite decide which show to go to, or what to buy tickets for.
I haven't heard the FF album. I've read all the hype, but wonder if they'll be Modest Mouse Mach II for me -- a band everyone is digging as the hot thing, but too eccentric or quirky for me. ??
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Originally posted by BookerT:
after seeing them open for mission of burma a few months back, i think i like them as a 40-minute opener as opposed to a headliner. i like parts of "blueberry boat," but i can't say i find myself reaching for it all that often.
I thought the first 5-10 minutes of their set was good. After that, the schtick got really tired. Then it became just plain annoying.
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I bought Blueberry Boat a while back, based on all the hype. To be honest, I find it incredibly annoying. I have a hard time sitting through it.
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I listened to it last night and I kind of liked it, but I admittedly didn't give it my full attention. Anyway my ulterior motive here is I was thinking of having a little get-together for my birthday and I thought a combining that with a band-viewing session would be fun, but only if it's not a sellout-type show.
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yup
Originally posted by nkotbie:
Hold up here a second. Rhett is going to the DBT show?
Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Hopefully a few people will go to this and keep the crowd size at the DBT show smaller.
[/b]
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I really dig the fiery furnaces and can't wait to see them live at the BC on Friday...My friends have pretty eclectic musical tastes and I've played Blueberry Boat (and Gallowsbird's Bark) for all of them. Only a couple have actually tolerated it, and maybe one of them enjoyed it.
Unbeknownst to me, my husband put Blueberry Boat in my car CD player before I drove to the Curiosa Festival and I was hooked by the time I hit Fells Point that afternoon to meet up with friends. I was raving to them about this great new band with a crazy rock-operish style and schizophrenic pop melody hooks. I think most people are initially turned off by the borderline-annoying sing-songy quality of some of the tracks. Oh, well...less people to cramp my style at the show on Friday.
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so is it likely to sell out or are they still obscure enough so that's not a concern?
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i caught the last 15 minutes or so of their set at the siren festival. definitely liked what i heard (it probably ended up being the best 15 minutes of music i heard that whole day).
i'll be there.
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Doom, they've got SO much hype, I think this one might be close.
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heh, I am so immune to hype I had no idea...
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Then why are you going to see them?
Originally posted by Doctor Doom:
heh, I am so immune to hype...
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Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Then why are you going to see them?
what's it to ya?
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Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
After that, the schtick got really tired.
what's their schtick? someone played me a song of theirs and they sounded reminiscent of a more polished mates of state
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Well they are a band that hasn't been around that long, and received hype right from the very beginning. Unless you just heard about them from a friend or something, you probably heard about them from sort sort of hype machine, no?
Originally posted by Doctor Doom:
Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Then why are you going to see them?
what's it to ya? [/b]
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Originally posted by Celeste:
Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
After that, the schtick got really tired.
what's their schtick? someone played me a song of theirs and they sounded reminiscent of a more polished mates of state [/b]
Children's songs sung with an off-key voice over dissonant music.
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Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Well they are a band that hasn't been around that long, and received hype right from the very beginning. Unless you just heard about them from a friend or something, you probably heard about them from sort sort of hype machine, no?
I heard it from a friend, who possibly heard it from a hype machine. But my only source of hype is this board. ;)
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Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
Children's songs sung with an off-key voice over dissonant music.
Holy cow, that sounds awful. Not Bags' bag, likely.
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Originally posted by Doctor Doom:
I heard it from a friend, who possibly heard it from a hype machine.
Heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend who, heard it from another you been messin' around.
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Originally posted by Bags:
Heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend who, heard it from another you been messin' around.
curse you! That'll be stuck in my head for the rest of the day! :mad:
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Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
Children's songs sung with an off-key voice over dissonant music.
shit, that sounds terrible! is that really all they do?
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Originally posted by Bags:
Heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend who, heard it from another you been messin' around.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
;)
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I couldn't help it...Doom put it in my head -- blame him!!
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well anyway I'll be meeting some peeps for drinks at the Red Room @ 8:30 in honor of another milestone in my aging process... anyone here is invited to join us :)
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Hey, Doom. I will be in NYC that night seeing The Blueskins for the very first time (yippee!). But Happy Birthday in advance!
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thanks Kurosawa and enjoy :D
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I would rather sit around and have my toenails plucked out than have to put up with that most irritating new schlock of hype aka the Fiery Furnaces. Completely agree with GGW's assessment.
Don't worry Rhett, I won't be buying a ticket from under your friend's nose for the DBT. Not my cup of tea. But I'd take them over Fiery Furnaces any freaking day of the week! Warning, I've been reading about lots of different kinds of people getting into them lately. Luckily for you, most are far away from here.
Oye, I'm not Jewish either. Mazel tov! ;)
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Well I like the fiery furnaces, but the new album is much more annoying than their first album, and the first album was still moderately annoying......
I think there is little chance of it selling out.
I think two songs from the new album sound like childrens songs.
I think I will try and go.
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Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
Children's songs sung with an off-key voice over dissonant music.
pretty much, i saw them in NYC at Siren Festival and i thought it was a joke....really.
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I'm out. Blech. And I'm listening to the 'more poppy' first album, "Gallowsbird's Bark." My inclination that this was not my cup of tea is probably on mark.
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I guess we'll see you dancing up a storm at the Drive By Truckers.
Originally posted by Bags:
I'm out. Blech. And I'm listening to the 'more poppy' first album, "Gallowsbird's Bark." My inclination that this was not my cup of tea is probably on mark.
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well, y'all have certainly put me off the idea of forcing my friends to see them by attaching a birthday gathering to the show!
ps... visit Doomlink. (http://www.alex.to/doomlink)
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Doom, don't go by me...I'm of the more traditional indie ilk. Actually, I'm more power pop and less indie, so I'm just a kook in terms of board preferences. I have a hard time with quirky.... The Red Room is one of the best bars around, and there's lots of interest in the FF.... Give it a shot! And happy birthday!
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Saw FF last night in Pittsburgh. Very interesting performance. FF slices and splices all of their songs into one long smorgasboard of sound. Pretty cool. The tempo of the songs are much faster than what is on their albums. I'm sure some of you will not like it, but I enjoyed it.
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And Jenkins pulls out one of the board's most controversial as a point of measure for the FFs...
THE FIERY FURNACES "Blueberry Boat" Rough Trade INOUK "No Danger" Say Hey
Friday, September 24, 2004; Page WE06
Both the Fiery Furnaces and Inouk are New York bands that play blues-based rock. That's hardly a full description of their music, however. The two groups also incorporate folkie melodies into their work, and sometimes emphasize piano over guitar. There are differences between their styles, of course, but the bands are as compatible a double bill as any two post-hard-core or neo-punk-funk outfits.
One of the year's most-discussed indie-rock acts, the Furnaces provide plenty of talking points: They're a self-indulgent, sometimes contentious brother-and-sister act whose music is simultaneously naive and ambitious.
Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matt Friedberger has confessed his admiration for the Who's pre-"Tommy" song suites, and the duo's second album, "Blueberry Boat," includes several kindred experiments: Such longish tunes as "Quay Cur" and the title track loosely combine sea chanteys, bluesy thumping, abstract electronic passages and childlike lyrics, often sung by Eleanor Friedberger.
Yet the Furnaces resemble the Who less than another Who-struck contemporary band, Guided by Voices. Both groups make fragmentary music that draws on '60s rock, but have a modern cut-and-paste sensibility. The distinction is that GBV's songlets are usually treated separately, while the Furnaces often string theirs together. Like a GBV album, "Blueberry Boat" is often catchy, sometimes inspired and occasionally silly -- and, whichever it is at any moment, it will be something else the next.
While more compact than the Furnaces', Inouk's compositions also tend to forgo customary pop-song structure. The 11 numbers on the quintet's "No Danger" shift and meander, although some of them do feature classic-rock elements, notably three-part harmonies. Guitarist Damon McMahon, guitarist-keyboardist Alexander McMahon and bassist Jesse Johnson all sing during the climaxes of such tunes as "Elected" and "Island," pushing the mood skyward. Still, the album's overall vibe is intriguingly misty. Even the mostly driving "Nudie Suit" ends as madrigal.
-- Mark Jenkins
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"intriguingly misty." I like that! I'm still thinking of going tonight.
I know you're not supposed to say this in RepubliKKKan America, but their music makes me want to light up a spleef.
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Yes, you can usually enjoy crappy music if you're high enough. Classic example: any reggae.
Originally posted by Doctor Doom:
"intriguingly misty." I like that! I'm still thinking of going tonight.
I know you're not supposed to say this in RepubliKKKan America, but their music makes me want to light up a spleef.
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Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Yes, you can usually enjoy crappy music if you're high enough. Classic example: any reggae.
your characterization of all reggae as crappy is symptomatic of your extreme lack of depth in taste.
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wow. i really haven't heard much of their albums, just what i hear on our college's radio station, but the fiery furnaces were absolutely fantastic live. i couldn't take my eyes off the drummer half the time, he was amazing. they played for about an hour or so straight, no breaks, each song flowed together and it was great.
in case anyone was wondering. i went into it not really knowing what to expect, and i left a huge fan.
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someone mentioned the tempo was speeded up as sort of a montage, and i was already expecting that.
did anyone else think the show was louder than usual?
i liked the show, although it was tough trying to pick out the song. i wish the guy sang a bit more, he has a great voice.
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Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Yes, you can usually enjoy crappy music if you're high enough. Classic example: any reggae.
Another ignorant post from Rhett! He's probably only heard Bob Marley and current dancehall. Reggae is NOT pot-smoking music. I'm so sick of that. Ever heard "Heart Of The Congos" by The Congos? Didn't think so.
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The Fiery Furnaces, Blazing Away at the Black Cat
Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52804-2004Sep26.html)
Monday, September 27, 2004; Page C08
The Fiery Furnaces played without a break Friday night at the Black Cat, collaging its repertoire into a continuous suite and, in the process, stretching the boundaries of song as we know it. The New York quartet's latest album, "Blueberry Boat," includes several eight-minute songs, and its performance expanded those experiments into a single 45-minute piece. Only the encore, which ran about four minutes, resembled a conventional song.
Mention the word "suite" in a rock context and most people will think of bombastic '70s British bands such as Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. But there's little of those groups' Bach- or Mussorgsky-quoting in the Furnaces' sound, which is assembled from bluesy vamps, folkie melodies and classic-rock riffs.
Matt Friedberger, who switched between guitar and keyboards, clearly ran the show, sometimes issuing audible instructions to singer Eleanor Friedberger, his sister. Yet the band's improvisations were not instrumentally oriented. Instead, the Friedbergers recombined (and sometimes repeated) vocal-driven passages from free-associative tunes such as "Don't Dance Her Down" and "My Dog Was Lost but Now He's Found." The individual parts were simple, but the whole was driving, complex and dynamically unpredictable.
Inouk, which opened the evening, also blends rock and folk elements, though it does so in songs that are more conventional in length (if not structure).
As is often the case with bands that include three guitarists, Inouk sometimes flirted with chaos. Still, songs such as "Elected" came together nicely, and the lyrical guitar passages were engaging.
-- Mark Jenkins
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Good job by the Post for covering Friday night shows by both Fiery Furnaces and Heart and ignoring Drive By Truckers. Brilliant.
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excellent show.
the overt sibling tension was fun to watch too (i believe at one point she adlibbed the lyrics to curse out her brother for fucking up).
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the FF show was probably the most groundbreaking performance i've seen in the last few years...it was great to hear them f&%k with the recorded song structures, tempos and themes to create a precise and driving medley.
the "tense" relationship between matt and eleanor was most visible onstage. i've heard people say that it's all an act but after seeing the dirty glances and hearing matt bark cues at eleanor in the midst of songs i'm convinced the sibling rivalry is real...pretty creepy. anyone else think that eleanor could be the love-child of patty smith and karen carpenter?
we ended up taking a taxi back to our place with a stranger who had been at the drive-by truckers show. i actually felt sorry for them and all of the others that went to DBT instead...they don't even realize that they missed out on the most interesting show to hit dc in a long time.
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We walked by the Black Cat and felt sorry for those who opted for the Fiery Furnaces show. Well, not really...just glad that we were at the Truckers show. I'm sure anyone who was there would concur.
Originally posted by joz:
the FF show was probably the most groundbreaking performance i've seen in the last few years...it was great to hear them f&%k with the recorded song structures, tempos and themes to create a precise and driving medley.
the "tense" relationship between matt and eleanor was most visible onstage. i've heard people say that it's all an act but after seeing the dirty glances and hearing matt bark cues at eleanor in the midst of songs i'm convinced the sibling rivalry is real...pretty creepy. anyone else think that eleanor could be the love-child of patty smith and karen carpenter?
we ended up taking a taxi back to our place with a stranger who had been at the drive-by truckers show. i actually felt sorry for them and all of the others that went to DBT instead...they don't even realize that they missed out on the most interesting show to hit dc in a long time.
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whatever makes you happy, rhett...personally, the DBTs bore the shit out of me; their music seems to be designed for those who prefer their music spoon-fed in chunks of predictable song-structure and lame choruses that are repeated ad nauseum.
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Song structure with choruses are definitely a good starting point when looking to make good music.
Originally posted by joz:
whatever makes you happy, rhett...personally, the DBTs bore the shit out of me; their music seems to be designed for those who prefer their music spoon-fed in chunks of predictable song-structure and lame choruses that are repeated ad nauseum.
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heh, Rhett you always opt for the safe indie mainstream don't you? :D
man reading all this stuff about the Fiery Furnaces, I'm now kicking myself for not going. Sounds like it was a good show!
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Hope you had a good birthday shindig on Saturday Dr. Doom...I think you would have enjoyed the FF show also. They're playing at the ottobar in Baltimore in late October for those who missed them this time around.