Menomena - Friend and Foe

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fQkUjeH5pK8

phenomena

menomena

....
ahh i didn't participate in the sandbox thread but I am definately a fan of this album. there are a few tracks i could do without but there are so many great moments that it makes up for it.

The first 6 songs are sorta super.

at NYC So Street Seaport tnite, free.

I really like this. Some really enjoyable songs, and interestingly put together, too. A little too loud and abrasive at times, but the juxtaposition with the gentler moments and pianos is terrific.

I find myself frequently returning to this album and it impressive more with each listen. The piano, sampling, the horns. Hell, the percussion alone is worth the price of admission (e.g., "Air Raid" - somebody listened to (a lot of) Led Zeppelin growing up...in a VERY good way).

Something tells me that ProTools is doing all of the heavy lifting for these guys.

Not so. Well, maybe so, in the studio.

But the instrumental depth of their tracks wasn't lost live. Basically there were a few times live when I'd expected Justin to be playing bass/guitar, where he instead played sax and the former instruments very occasionally stemmed the Brents's laptop instead (mind you he was simultaneously manning the keys) - but Danny's drumming's VERY live, as are most of the instruments.

Unlike other artists that haul a computer (or two) on-stage, Menomena certainly aren't beholden to theirs. As a matter of fact, here's a review of their Boston show (the same one I attended): http://www.qromag.com/Reviews/Concert_Reviews/Menomena_%3A_Live/

The part where the writer mentions the drummer making an end-of-concert run to McD's was when I personally thought said drum was about to pass-out from dehydration and/or exhaustion.

For those interested in comparing and contrasting Menomena's studio concotions with their in-person delivery (is it live, or is it ProTools?):

Menomena:

07-22 Portland, OR - Edgefield Amphitheater !
09-01 Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot
10-26 Boise, ID - Neurolux
10-27 Salt Lake City. UT - Kilby Court
10-28 Boulder, CO - Fox Theater
10-30 St. Louis, MO - Billiken Club
10-31 Nashville, TN - Exit/In *
11-02 Tallahassee, FL - Club Downunder *
11-03 Orlando, FL - Social *
11-04 Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbit's*
11-06 Washington, DC - Black Cat *
11-07 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church *
11-08 Hanover, NH - Dartmouth *
11-09 Boston, MA - Paradise *
11-10 New York, NY - Webster Hall *
11-12 Montreal, Quebec - La Sala Rossa *
11-13 Toronto, Ontario - Mod Club *
11-14 Ann Arbor, MI - Blind Pig *
11-15 Chicago, IL - Metro *
11-16 Grinnell, IA - Grinnell College *
11-17 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater *

! with the Decemberists
* with Illinois

(Un-nice to omit source): <a href="http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/44326-menomena-announce-fall-north-american-tour";>link</a>.

Damn you semi-colon!

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that the Menomena guys aren't good musicians. The arrangements just strike me as so:

1) Menomena records a buttload of tracks
2) Menomena mutes mutes a different grouping of these tracks measure to measure
3) Menomena receive mucho praise
4) I get irrationally pissy

I actually like these guys, but the production on this last album bugs me.

on their last album they apparently wrote their own looping software to give it that live/not live feel. dunno if they used the same thing here

Being as I'm 99% ProTools ign'nt (i.e., I know it exists, I know musician friends of mine regularly praise(d) it, I know it aids in the creation of tracks [by digitizing them you can match 'em up with less, say, organic real-life-instrument {vs. computer} skill])...

But what's 2) Menomena mutes mutes a different grouping of these tracks measure to measure mean? Is there a verb out of place?

I think there was only meant to be one "mutes" there.

So, the idea is: they put their various and sundry tracks into one seemingly great big basket; synch them up time signature-wise; press play; and then mute-unmute (sort of ad infinitum) until something strikes their fancy and they say, "There it is, that's the [give or take 3-minute] ticket. Now let's write some lyrics"?

I'm asking because I'm uncertain.

I don't want to put words into darin's keyboard but that's how I understood it. I have no idea if that's what they do or not, but I couldn't really give a shit because it ends up sounding pretty good.

ends up sounding pretty good

Agreed. I can feel a sausage analogy hanging in the air (i.e., don't care/don't wanna know how it's made, but dig the end-product, etc.).

I have to say, having listened to both albums I expected there either to be more than the three bandmates on stage (touring crew or something) or a mammoth supercomputer pulling most of the strings.

Imagine my pleasant surprise when, live, any of their reliance on technology didn't rob them of either instruments, or their musicianship.

xpost What he's talking about is in ProTools (and most all recording apps) you can group tracks together and have them do different things in sync such as mute, pan, etc.

I didn't notice it so much on this album but the last one (fun blame monster) used that trick quite a lot.

That's what I kinda figured (at least to my novice understanding of ProTools) - and there was some on/off switching/panning/muting of elements via laptop during the live show. Just not to the exclusion of instruments, or as the crutch one might otherwise expect in concert. (I'll relisten to IATFBM to see how much more noticeable it is than of their latest - thanks for the tip!).

Nice lil' GuardianUK write-up of the lads here. Although I can't get a read on whether it's a live "review" published early or just a teaser to get you to go...

tonight i realised that i seriously love the disjointed stop/start aspects of the sax/horns in air raid.
protooled or not i couldn't give a shit about.
the production makes this album a lot more interesting than i ever would have believed.
and damn, its good too see some nice effort in the cd packaging.

seeing 'em in london tonight, woo...

New album leaked yesterday and it's great.

BUMP. mikethegrouch is OTM.

This sounds massive. At first, the awkwardness of some of their lyrics on here (the songs were apparently conceived as "teenage angst anthems") bothered me a bit. I don't remember having that problem with their last two albums.

"...spending the best years of a childhood horizontal on the floor
like a bobsled minus the teamwork and the televised support..."

That's not especially awful or anything, it just sounds a little strange to me coming from this group. That line should be on an anticon album.

in the morning i stumble my way towards another daily thread

LOL @ old man here waiting for the physical release, but got this last week and its great!

enh, it's ok. is a diff band member doing some of the vocals on this? it sounds exactly like trey anastasio imo

listened this morning--it's pretty good. the drummer sings a lot more on this one (he's got the deep voice) and one of the other guys sings less.

love the way these guys construct a song, maybe my favorite straight-up indie band going right now

new album is great despite being more grim and less playful than Friend and Foe which i initially thought would turn me off of them

the drumming and drum sound is still fantastic

I interviewed 'em.

I thought they'd split? Just splintered?

new record is solid, took me a few spins to get into it but now it sounds about as good as the last 2, though with fewer high points

I think it's their best yet.

I'm loving this new LP as well. I think they're an underappreciated band lyrically, some really hard hitting lines and wonderfully original metaphors.

Despite the often bleak themes 'Moms' is a triumphant album insofar as they've managed to make a great record despite losing a key member of the group. Not sure if it's their best album; 'Friend and Foe' was my introduction to them and holds a sweet spot because of that and 'Mines' is a giant grower of an album, it's probably my favourite. That's not to knock the debut and that ballet soundtrack they did. One of the finest bands around for me.