The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City

anyone trying to search "widow city" two years from now is fucked.

it's being fixed

it has leaked

i brought this up in the Blueberry Boat thread, but WC sounds reactionary. Like they took the spoken word ish from RMC and married it to the pop-prog of BB because they want to be avant but also because everyone loved BB, and it kind of sounds like a mess to me.

am i wrong?

When will this band stop fucking around with the annoying synth tangents and just make a great pop album?

i think the abundance of talking Eleanor is the only thing keeping this from being a really great pop album.

I like the retro L.P. look of it at least.

i think that might be a promo cover and not the actual cover, but that's just a guess.

godawful fringe. prolly suits her long face though

What's godawful about it? Great cover, I'll be a little disappointed if this is not the real one. They have had pretty good cover's up until now with the exception of BB which is magnificently beautiful.

i love that cover. i hear that is more their EP in length than their other albums.

i'm not a huge fan of indie fringes on females.

it's better than the "tea" record for sure, but it doesnt have new interesting ideas to make it a great record,i think,as were the 1st and 2nd lp's.
(but at least it has old interesting ideas, which is something)

It is! And its more fun than all of them!

Thrill Jockey has signed the great New York band Fiery Furnaces (brother and sister Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger). They’ve previously issued records on Rough Trade and Fat Possum. Their first album for the label, Widow City, is scheduled to be released on October 9.

i'm liking this album much more then their last album (though i have only heard it twice because i'm waiting for Oct. 9). i think Bitter Tea suffered because of the last two tracks being repeated, but has some great songs. this album feels more like a Eleanor release, like their debut, but i miss Matthew singing every once-in-a-while.

My first run-through of WC made me question my affinity for them in the first place.

Weeks have passed since the initial displeasure, and i can't make myself give a big enough shit about the outcome to investigate further.

I pretty much had the same experience as christoff, although maybe not as severe.

So, I saw them play the new record last night. Alot of it was good but the songs got a little samey, a really hard-rocking part then a tinkly little rhodes interlude, then a shuffle with singing. Some songs were good, there was a couple bass solos!
still not into the drummer, friedbergers still really cute, matthew still seems like a dick.

it would be better if she was holding an over sized cigarette

are you sure they were playing the widow city songs true to the album? they usually rework their stuff for shows...

it sounded way less fucked with than any other stuff I've seen by them.
They did a little bit of repeating parts from different songs and maybe a couple medley like things, but a lot of sounded like the mp3s I'd heard. Less variation in instruments certainly didn't help.

http://i5.tinypic.com/4mme8ee.jpg

see

they're reputably very hit or very miss live.

who wouldn't look better holding a giant cigarette tho?

this album is painfully good
it has its little quirks and flaws like all their releases but then you get to 'wicker whatnots' and all is forgiven :D

i keep forgetting to listen to FF. silly me.

they're reputably very hit or very miss live.

i love them anyway.

I'd like to thank FF for finally making another album that doesn't make me want to break things. I'm even tempted to say that this album kicks ass.

Clear signal from Cairo is pretty awes. I like the whole thing though.

clear signal and navy nurse are my favorites.

The 70's drums and prog keys throughout make me very happy.

It's interesting that the "Bitter Tea" thread had like five kajillion posts before the album even came out. Have the people finally given up on these guys?

probably. it didn't even get the lead review on pfork the day it ran.

also matthew perpetua doesn't post to ilx anymore.

i could see how ppl could tire of dudes after rehearsing (garbage) and bitter tea (actually v. awesome but i can buy the wtf stop with this shit/inconsistent arguments)

Rehearsing was great.

i 'respect' it and listened to it some at the time but i would be lying if i said i wish there was no grandmother ever on it.

My first run-through of WC made me question my affinity for them in the first place.

Weeks have passed since the initial displeasure, and i can't make myself give a big enough shit about the outcome to investigate further.

-- christoff, Thursday, September 6, 2007 12:59 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

^^^^this is how i felt for like two months.

I had written them off, pretty much (I did like about half of "Bitter Tea," couldn't stand "Rehearsing") but on a whim I bought the new one on vinyl, partially because of the awesome cover art and because it was 12 bucks for a double album. Listening to it on vinyl is great because it forces you to break the album into bite-sized chunks and makes their whole approach that much more, er, approachable. It's great.

w/ bitter tea there are a bunch of real show-stoppers ('i'm in no mood', 'teach me sweetheart, 'i'm waiting to know you', 'benton harbor blues') that made it easier to try and digest the more denser/backwards vocally stuff that i grew to love after god knows how many listens.

i didn't hear any really obv. awesomely stuff during my first few listens to WC so i stopped bothering, which is my fault obv, but i'm really thinking this is awesome.

more dense* ;_; i need an ILM copy editor.

My take on this. Quite frankly I haven't got the time.

i like this album a lot. its pretty fun.

and may i say it is their most 'metal'.

cover art is dope

Just saw them play, and liked that well enough, but the songs are much better on the record. As good as Blueberry Boat, for sure. "Philadelphia Grand Jury" especially superior to the live version.

it sounds great on itunes shuffle. a little hard to get through as a whole album. "navy nurse" is awes beyond words, "ex-guru" also awes.

cover art dope indeed.

i've listened to 'egyptian grammar' so many times tonight. 'clear signal' and the opening track are good, too. i'm satisfied.

yes, "navy nurse" riffage is awwes.

i'm really liking this album, in my top ten for 2007. they might be suffering because they put out too much music in a short span of time, if this was the late 60's then it would be OK but today it's too much music for the pubic to absorb.

today it's too much music for the pubic to absorb.

Trust me dude, the music sounds better when you put it in your ears.

No, because in the late 60's people released like 30-45 minutes of music at a time. FF fill up a goddamned CD every time.

O T M previous post.

It's called EDITING.

anyway i think ya'll sold me on buying this

Yeah, it's good.

the more i listen
the more i like

love the drums.

If this is another overstuffed casserole, like Blueberry Boat or last year's Bitter Tea, then I'm probably not interested enough to buy it. Matthew has a remarkable musical facility, but I think he needs something to rein it in and focus it - something like the elemental song form of the debut or the conceptual gambit of Rehearsing - otherwise he tends to descend into filigree for its own sake.

the first three tracks off their EP were the best 8 minutes i've ever heard from them. other then that i can't stay very interested

yup, tis true.

I think there are equally good 8-minute stretches on the debut: like "Up in the North"->"Inca Rag/Name Game"->"Asthma Attack", or the medley at the end.

hath just obtained, full report later. pretty good thus far.

it has taken three listens to become totally awesome

It's pretty equal with Blueberry Boat as their best, but they should have stuck the landing. Instead they give us the title track, a protest of the previous 15 songs, just to (seemingly) prove they can still fuck off when they want to.

I love this record. I bought in on vinyl as well, thinking if it was anything like Bitter Tea I would rather listen to it in manageable chunks, but I've found myself listening to it right through for the most part - a first since Gallowsbird's Bark. For my money it's got the best mix of pop tunes, synth tangents and narratives they've achieved so far.

I keep skipping the first track, if only because tracks 2-4 are so COMPLETELY BRILLIANT

And track 5. I do like the first song though.

Hey, the whole album's superb, especially to listen to straight through. I think 'Navy Nurse', 'Right By Conquest' and 'Cabaret of the Seven Devils' are my later-order favourites, but the Duplexes-Guru trilogy might GENUINELY be the best 8 minutes of music the Fieries have ever conjured. 'Clear Signal' will probably grow on me just as much, mind.

i can't get into the last third at all. and i keep trying.

Well, I finally picked this up. I do like it better than Bitter Tea. Matthew seems to have relaxed his compulsion to relentlessly fuck with expectations at every moment, and thankfully the backwards vocals and harsh synth sounds are in abeyance. The album also has more of a live-band sound, even though it appears that Matthew multi-tracked at least a couple of the parts himself, as per usual. I saw them play a lot of this material last night at Maxwell's, and with the addition of a good bassist (Jason Lowenstein) they are able to reproduce these songs pretty close to as recorded. Only listened to it once through so far, but it gives me hope.

im going to see them next week....has anyone seen them on this tour yet?

Other than me, you mean?

haha missed that part....nice im psyched i liked the album a lot

I think they said last night that it was the first show of the tour, so unless some other ILXers were there, I may be the only one who's seen it yet. It was nice to see them in an intimate space like Maxwell's. Last time I saw them was at Webster Hall, which is cavernous. I liked their more stripped-down sound. The drummer they have now is great - the whole rhythm section was good. Matthew sat at the keyboard all night. I didn't get a good look at what he was playing, but it sounded like he had some kind of electric organ type thing, and a synth for the more squealy sounds. No guitar, but the bass player played a lot of chords - he may have had an octave pedal too. Their sound actually reminds me a bit of the Ruins now, or of John Zorn's recent "Moonchild" project - both guitarless heavy rock combos who play complicated time-signatures. Eleanor's stage presence dominates - she's the only one who moves around. But she is interesting enough to watch by herself.

What the, this is their first album w/crappy clipped brickwall etc. mastering. why why wa wa wa

Remember (Live) out August 19, 2008.

Disc: 1
1. Intro
2. Blueberry Boat
3. Single Again
4. Two Fat Feet
5. Don't Dance Her Down
6. Single Again (Reprise)
7. Wicker Whatnots
8. Little Thatched Hut
9. I'm In No Mood
10. Black-Hearted Boy
11. Bitter Tea
12. Waiting To Know You
13. Vietnamese Telephone Ministry
14. Oh Sweet Woods
15. Borneo
16. Benton Harbor Blues
17. Japanese Slippers
18. Benton Harbor Blues (Reprise)
19. Whistle Rhapsody
20. Crystal Clear
21. Whistle Rhapsody (Reprise)
22. Teach Me Sweetheart
23. Evergreen
24. Bitter Tea (Reprise)

Disc: 2

1. Chris Michaels
2. Quay Car
3. My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found
4. Spaniolated
5. Name Game
6. Birdie Brain
7. 1917
8. Slavin' Away (Intro)
9. Tropical Ice-Land
10. Asthma Attack
11. Tropical Ice-Land (Reprise)
12. The Wayward Granddaughter
13. The Garfield El
14. A Candymaker's Knife In My Handbag
15. Forty-Eight Twenty-Three Twenty-Second St.
16. Slavin' Away
17. Seven Silver Curses
18. Clear Signal From Cairo
19. I'm Gonna Run
20. Here Comes the Summer
21. Chief Inspector Blancheflower
22. Automatic Husband
23. Ex-Guru
24. Clear Signal From Cairo (Reprise)
25. Philadelphia Grand Jury
26. Navy Nurse
27. Uncle Charlie

Remember is out this week:

This double CD/triple LP live album features 51 tracks spanning the band's entire catalog and was recorded over the past three years of constant touring. CD is limited to 9,000 copies and comes in a deluxe 6-panel digipack with coupon to download an exclusive bonus track. Vinyl is limited to 2,000 copies and is housed in a custom-made old style tip-on gatefold jacket with a pasted-in flap that holds the third LP. Also includes download coupon.

I didn't know this till right now: "From August 2005 to the present, Jason Loewenstein (of Sebadoh) has performed with the Brooklyn-based band The Fiery Furnaces."

Love this album.

no you don't you're supposed to HATE the fiery furnaces especially this album everyone's forgotten about for what must be a good reason

*opening riff from Clear Signal From Cairo slays p much every modern indie band ever, Friedbergers sail to righteous victory on a sea of melody*

The bit in 'pricked in the heart' where she goes "I gathered all the tokens of her passion, people,
waiting for the promise of her father ("Whereof you heard of me"). In the past. John baptized with water; now, with wine. But don't weep, he'll Make sure: Pricked in the heard the Wednesday after last." is crazy, E.F. can flow with the best of 'em.

Pricked in the Heart = still bangin

Wish I liked this whole album more. Rehearsing was the last FF that felt solid, you know? I can barely even listen to Bitter Tea .

edited down bitter tea or widow city is my favorite.

Black-Hearted Boy
Bitter Tea
Teach Me Sweetheart
Waiting To Know You
Oh Sweet Woods
Borneo
Police Sweater Blood Vow
Benton Harbor Blues

solid, 40-minute album

Duplexes Of The Dead
Automatic Husband
Ex-Guru
My Egyptian Grammar
Japanese Sleepers
Navy Nurse
Right By Conquest
Restorative Beer
Cabaret Of The Seven Devils
Pricked In The Heart
Widow City

even better. 36 minutes.

I think pretty much all of Widow City is pretty solid, except for Matt's keyboard doodles at the end of "Philadelphia Grand Jury" and maybe the last track. It's the only FF album I still listen to. "Right by Conquest" is their sexiest song - is there more stuff like that on Eleanor's solo album?