We Are Having a Hootenanny
Jan. 30th, 2010 04:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vovat
If there's one thing of which no one can fairly accuse Stephin Merritt, the perpetually grumpy front man for the Magnetic Fields and several other bands, it's being out of ideas. Realism, the band's follow-up to last year's Distortion, switches between several different styles, but always with the typical lo-fi electronic sound that we've come to associate with them. Based on my first few listens, I prefer Realism to Distortion, but that could change in the future. Songs that immediately grabbed me include the faux-country "We Are Having a Hootenanny" and the probably deceptively upbeat "The Dolls' Tea Party" and "Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree." The latter two actually sound kind of like the stuff on Merritt's Showtunes record. If you're interested, you can watchthis video in which Stephin and Claudia Gonson discuss the title. I like the idea of naming the album after what's likely to be the most common complaint, but I guess that's a more recent thing, as I'm not quite sure how it could apply to, say, Distant Plastic Trees or The Charm of the Highway Strip.
When I bought the album, I also did some browsing for cheap stuff that interested me, and ended up with the following:
Liz Phair, Somebody's Miracle - Although it seemed to be her self-titled fourth album that achieved mainstream popularity, I still don't think she's made anything else that's lived up to her third, whitechocolatespaceeeg. This particular album, which is her fifth, doesn't have anything that really grabs me, but it's still a pretty solid album. I'll have to give both it and the self-titled a few more listens, as I might not be giving them enough of a chance.
Throwing Muses, University - I know a lot of fans of Frank Black and the Pixies also like them, and I thought the songs of theirs that I've heard ("Bright Yellow Gun" and "Portia" being the two main ones) were pretty good, so I gave this a try. As with the Liz album, nothing on it really jumps out at me, but it's an enjoyable listen nonetheless. This is another one that I think might need some time to grow on me.
Shonen Knife, Let's Knife - The cheapest of the three used CDs I bought, but far and away my favorite. Funny how that works. I was marginally familiar with their work before, but this is the first album of theirs that I've heard, and it's really fun pop music. And is that an intentional XTC reference in "Bear Up Bison"? I think I'll have to add some of their other albums to my wishlist.
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Date: 2010-01-30 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-30 11:45 pm (UTC)I like "Somebody's Miracle" (and the S/T!) quite a bit, though I tend to think of the former as a little bit uneven. It sorta seems that she's trying to have it both ways on that one, where about half is really shiny pop of the S/T, and the other stuff is more like the earlier records (just produced more). That said, there are a lot of good tracks on it. I really like "Can't Get Out Of What I'm Into" (which is apparently an ANCIENT song that might even be on the Girlysound cassettes) and I think that's got the song about hiding booze in the space behind the clothes dryer. (It was a casualty in my media-drive crash, so I can't check for certain until I re-rip it.)
I think we're kind of in the same boat with Throwing Muses. I like them (though I don't have that particular album), but they don't hugely grab me. I mostly got the records I did from work, so, yes. I would say I'm a casual fan at best. (Though, at worst, probably only a well-wisher, as everything I've heard, just about has been pretty keen, even if it doesn't make me go OH MAN THIS IS GOD.)
SK rule so hard. And, yep, that IS indeed a deliberate XTC reference. I've even seen that song crediting Colin as a co-write, which is weird, considering that they only have the phrase "we're only making plans for" in common, really. But yes! On 712, the opening song has them kinda quasi-rapping about their influences and they include Jonathan Richman, Buzzcocks, XTC and I think Captain Beefheart. (Michie, the former bassist, has gone on record as particularly being a big Beefheart fan if not in that actual song.)
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Date: 2010-01-31 09:29 pm (UTC)I also really like Tanya Donelly's solo stuff, especially (a theme here?) the first two, Lovesongs for Underdogs and my favorite Beautysleep.
Y'know, in case you hadn't heard of these and needed some more music to listen to. :)
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Date: 2010-02-01 03:27 am (UTC)And, yep, that IS indeed a deliberate XTC reference. I've even seen that song crediting Colin as a co-write, which is weird, considering that they only have the phrase "we're only making plans for" in common, really.
Also "we only want what's best for him," right? Still, that does kind of seem akin to, say, TMBG crediting Jimmy Webb as co-writer of "It's Not My Birthday."
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Date: 2010-02-01 03:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-01 03:41 am (UTC)Also, I think the song I was thinking of is "Table for One", when I mentioned the one about the booze behind the dryer.
And you're right -- I forgot the "we only want what's best for him" part too. But yeah -- weird. I think in most situations it IS credited to just SK, but still. Wiggy.