Ha ha ha! Good stuff, Seamus. I do disagree with you, as you guessed since I raved about The Fiery Furnaces when Bitter Tea came out, but I understand your position. I even appreciate it. The Friedbergers definitely won’t appeal to most people, and that’s a good thing; at least to me. I find it hard to get any personal feelings for art that does have mass appeal.
When I was a kid, I didn’t listen to pop or rock. I didn’t even really listen to the radio. Sometimes I’d tune into the oldies station, but mostly I played those goofy Dr. Demento tapes we got from the Daniel Boone library, or the gooey sweet Weird Al albums we bought at Peaches Records. Read More
This post is probably going to stir up a hornet’s nest, especially from my fellow monkeys, but after watching Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger shriek through a monotone set at Desdemona this past weekend, I have one thing to say: the Fiery Furnaces suck.
I‘m psychologically preparing myself for the inaugural Desdemona Festival here in Cincinnati this weekend – a festival which features some pretty fucking good bands in my opinion: Apples In Stereo, Saturday Looks Good To Me, Annie, Mates of State, Enon, The Walkmen, the Fiery Furnaces, Rogue Wave, and We Are Scientists, to name a few.
BUT, there’s always a big butt. When I performed my monthly MySpace check last week, I found the following message in my inbox:
Also… we need everyone to BUY TICKETS NOW. If you haven’t already, PLEASE go to desdemonafestival.com or hit Shake It!/Everybody’s and PURCHASE THEM IMMEDIATELY. With the city failing to show its support for Desdemona, we need an additional 1000 people to show up to break even. THAT MEANS YOU!! With all the bills we have to pay, the earlier you buy tickets the better.
So understandably, I’m worried. I’m not a big MySpacer, but maybe the organizer of the festival, Nick Spencer (owner of Alchemize) assumes all possible attendees are. Tiff with the city or not, it would have been nice to have received an email, after all I bought my tickets online and they know where I am.
Anywho, the inaugural Desdemona festival could also be the last hurrah.
Here are a few tracks from the above to get you excited. So you just can’t hide it. I’m about to bite my arm off and I think I like it.
Listen to:
- We Are Scientists – The Creeper
- Saturday Looks Good To Me – When The Party Ends
- Enon – Sold!
- Annie – Me Plus One
- The Walkmen – Thinking of a Dream I Had
- The Fiery Furnaces – My Dog Was Lost But Now He’s Found
- Rogue Wave – Publish My Love
- Mates of State – La’hov
Have you noticed that lately the good people of France have graciously offered to entertain us through song? That recent Phoenix album is awesome enough, but if you’re looking for something lighter and possibly relaxing, there’s a pair of Juliens ready to fill your DAP, a duo known as Hey Hey My My.
Listening to a few of their songs it’s easy to understand why they chose such a name. Though they don’t really sound like Neil Young, they do share a love for well-placed harmonica and hats from the old west. To be precise, Hey Hey My My sound very much like European cowboys, especially on their single “Too Much Space”. Hear that spaghetti western harmonica? See the name of the other song below? But I think the other songs on their websites sound more like Kings of Convenience harmonies laid over Beatles folk. That’s a great combo in my book. Really, what could be more pleasant?
They don’t have an album, yet; I think they’re still working on a 7″; but add the tracks below to your mix, check out their MySpace page, and keep them in mind.
- Listen to “Too Much Space“
- Listen to “Morricone“
Last weekend I worked on the 48 Hour Film Festival here in Cincinnati.
What’s that, you ask? Well, over the course of a 48 hour period, Friday, June 9 through Sunday, June 11 in this case, we made a short film. And by made, I mean all creativity (concept, scriptwriting, casting, rehearsing, costume/set design, shooting, scoring and editing) took place over 2 days.
And we were required to incorporate these three elements into our film:
- PROP: An Egg
- CHARACTER: Paul or Paula Schwarz, Preacher
- LINE OF DIALOGUE: “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
These elements, and the genre we drew from a hat (comedy), were told to us at the beginning of the competition Friday night.
Anyway, here ’tis, all 7 minutes of it.
Visit the 48 Hour website for more information or to learn about participating in your city.