The Magnetic Fields - Realism

Woooooooooooooooooooo. So excited. Hope it is as good as Distortion was.

http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/magnetic452.jpg

01 You Must Be Out of Your Mind
02 Interlude
03 We Are Having a Hootenanny
04 I Don't Know What to Say
05 The Dolls' Tea Party
06 Everything Is One Big Christmas Tree
07 Walk a Lonely Road
08 Always Already Gone
09 Seduced and Abandoned
10 Better Things
11 Painted Flower
12 The Dada Polka
13 From a Sinking Boat

At least the cover isn't *as* ugly as Distortion's. Some promising titles too.

I hope it's better than Distortion tbh. That being said, the tracks he played from Distortion when I saw him live sounded amazing.

Swerving from the unrelenting feedback pop of "Distortion," this record explores the various genres under the umbrella of folk. Stephin says, "I thought of the two records as a pair, and I initially wanted them to be called 'True' and 'False.' But I couldn't decide which I wanted to be called 'True' and which I wanted to be called 'False.'"

ominous...

the umbrella of follk

I expect "False Part 1" and "False Part 2" would be fitting names for these. It's not that I want more conventional sincerity from SM, and I don't mind his deadpan vocals (although I'm not a great fan of his singing). It's just that he never seems more than superficially engaged with a sound or a style. So many inventive, well-crafted songs in his body of works, yet nine times out of ten it leaves me cold.

body of work

Good cover... but I haven't really liked anything Merritt has done in the past 8 years or so :S

Streaming now on their myspace page:

http://www.myspace.com/themagneticfields

What do we think? I have "Painted Flower" on now. It is OK. Who's singing it? It doesn't really sound like Claudia. Might be Claudia + voice effects.

I've listened to it just once and am pretty disappointed. It certainly does have a skewed folk feel, what with the seemingly endless zithers. Not working for me but I'll give it another shot.

Apparently they weren't allowed to use any instruments that could be plugged in, going back to the i instrumentation. I wish they'd record with keyboards again, 90s Magnetic Fields style.

"You Must Be Out Of Your Mind" has a kind of classic MF sound, wouldn't be at all out of place on Get Lost.

"i want you walkin back to me, down on your knees yeah
like an appendectomy sans anaesthesia"

joints "Coney Island / prostitutes in Thailand" in the Merritt gaudy rhyme pantheon.

On my first couple of listens nothing stood out except the first track. Hopefully this will change.

I wish they'd record with keyboards again, 90s Magnetic Fields style.

Absolutely.

Doesn't Distortion have keyboards?

Pretty boring on second listen.

i like the myspace songs more than i, and 100000000x more than the execrable distortion. painted flower does sound like claudia, though maybe pitched up?

you are nuts, nothing on here is close to being as surprising or exciting as the amazing "Three-Way"

"i" and "Distortion" are both solid records, but "Realism" is just lacking something.

i hate distortion so much

Why?

the songs are irritating imo, i found it to be an unpleasant listen

Eh. Distortion had memorable songs.

"Realism" reviews I've seen have been quite positive. *shrug*

I want to like this, but so far, uh,

I don't love Distortion that much, but "Three-Way" is the best song they recorded in the 2000s and is superior to all but 4 or 5 of the 69LS.

Listened to everything on the myspace page, enjoyed it, it didn't grab me, but I feel their records always have to grow on you a bit, they're not a love-at-first-sight kind of act. (Except "Three-Way" dammit!)

tbh I knew I was in deep shit with Distortion when everyone was giving big ups to "Three-Way" and I thought it was on the boring side!

Maybe I'll try playing the new record again, this time yelling "Three-Way!" two thirds of the way through each song, and see if it works better for me that way.

lool

Three-Way is not even the best song on Distortion. Drive On, Driver and Too Drunk To Dream are A++++, Drive On, Driver in my challopsy own opinion possibly better than 100kfireflies& 3/4of69ls

myspace doesn't want to load for me :(

Petridish review here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/21/the-magnetic-fields-realism-review

Haven't heard the new album, but I agree with most of what he says about 69 Love Songs, with the exception of this "wtf?" comment:

"he looks like an academic from a minor university who's just been informed that his department's funding has been slashed"

yeah he looks more depressed than that

that was the best line in the review (low bar, i know, but i don't see what was "wtf" about it)

Well, isn't Merritt actually more famous than Rufus Wainwright?

that was the best line in the review (low bar, i know, but i don't see what was "wtf" about it)

well, whether he looks like that or not, it didn't really add anything to the review or to the way I think about Merritt. imho that kind of "trying so hard to be witty" comment is at best irrelevant and at worst annoying.

hat kind of "trying so hard to be witty" comment is at best irrelevant and at worst annoying.

SM should take this advice for his latterday lyrics

xp, are you new to the british print media?

no, I'm British and I've been reading music press/broadsheet reviews for years... why?

just the idea of expecting to get sincerity or insight out of a guardian review

(music that is, bradshaw's film reviews are sincerely moronic)

I like a lot of the Guardian's writers e.g. John Fordham, Robin Denselow, Dave Simpson, Maddy Costa. that kind of comment is pretty rare in the Guardian imho (except in Petridish reviews).

I like Bradshaw as well.

completely unaware of this album til today.

flippant attempts at one-liners and writers who fancy themselves as funny per se (rather than using humour to illuminate a point) are not rare in the the guardian ime. not saying this are a good thing (although i actually found that one funny), but i'm surprised you're surprised by it if you're a regular reader.

pre-ordered this album but kinda regretting it based on 30 minutes flicking through the myspace streams. we shall see.

Huge let-down after Distortion imo. Sounds more like Merritt's Showtunes than any Mag. Fields album.

i find this record lovely, but then i thought the last was a colossal bore.

completely unaware of this album til today.

hey everyone, Dr Morbius wants us to know he hasn't heard this

yeah, fuck you asshole.

tour:

http://houseoftomorrow.com/calendar.php

Took me a couple listens to get into this...also got my signed poster today! the Magnetic Fields are really the only band I still act like a fanboy about.

I was happy to hear this was an acoustic record, and it's not bad. I was hoping every song would song kind of like the last song on i.

ok can i say a big fuck you to whoever put the cardboard thingy around my cd case too tight? i can't get the fucking thing out! this is just one of the many reasons people don't buy albums any more.

(crazily, i think i had the same problem with distortion- had to cut it open. do the magnetic fields hate me?)

this album is ... eh.

Kind of surprised, looking at youtube now, that they didn't actually bother playing loud shows for any of the distortion material. Kind of disappointed.

Merritt has hearing damage so they don't do gigs like that any more afaik.

oh ok. fair enough then!

acoustic 'three way' sounds pretty odd:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUWripFBrII

Yeah so far I'm not really enjoying it. Will try again though, it's not often I buy new records anymore.

I feel like their post-69ls output can be divided into 'songs which, while clever, are set up for you to find genuinely affecting as songs' and 'songs which are basically just there to be clever and radiate their cleverness'; this seems like another step towards the latter. That said I don't think I've managed to listen to the whole thing yet.

OTM. 69LS still their best

I have often found his cleverness genuinely affecting.

this album is fucking garbage.

I have often found his cleverness genuinely affecting.

haha yeah, i fear that's sort of what my false binary up there leaves out

Nothing they do can compare to 69LS, but this album still has its endearing songs.
Except for "We are having a Hootennany". That one is just too silly.

What is wrong with a silly pop song?

never could see the point of these dudes post-cheap-keyboard-era

I feel like their post-69ls output can be divided into 'songs which, while clever, are set up for you to find genuinely affecting as songs' and 'songs which are basically just there to be clever and radiate their cleverness'; this seems like another step towards the latter. That said I don't think I've managed to listen to the whole thing yet.

― thomp, Thursday, January 28, 2010 6:22 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

OTM. 69LS still their best

― Adam Bruneau, Thursday, January 28, 2010 11:05 AM (2 weeks ago) Bookmark

Well, sure, except for the matter of their pre-69LS output.

As for the new record, "You Must Be Out of Your Mind" has now grown mightily on me. I endorse it. Not sure what I think about "Hootenany."

Well, sure, except for the matter of their pre-69LS output.

otm

i dont have anything wrong with silly pop songs at all. hootennany just threw me off in the context of the album, as it is so much sillier than the others.

hootenanny is really bad and being that its early on nearly turned me off of the whole thing but this grew on me. Everything outside of that song is A or B material, even the other 'silly' song dada polka. must be out of your mind is truly one of their best ever and several others like better things, walk a lonely road and from a sinking ship are at least notable. it's nowhere near as bad as the positively GRATING distortion.

It's funny that 69 Love Songs seems like the beginning of a decline now. I wonder if it did at the time?

Still not sure about this album - it starts and ends very well, but I'm less sure of the middle. I saw them live twice this week, though, and they were fantastic both times; but apart from You Must Be Out Of Your Mind and From A Sinking Ship there was nothing from Realism among the highlights of either show.

it's funny, they existed mainly in the indiepop world before '69ls' and then everyone felt as if they needed to acknowledge the greatness of that record or at least the greatness of the achievement and yet ever since it has been as if the band is really mismatched to the people who would deem it necessary to assess it. clearly they will never again appeal to pitchfork nation which is where most of the people here reside and I bet stephin merrit is cheered by that.

On the 3rd/4th listen through I like this alot. Some really pretty arrangements here: they should seriously consider releasing a Magnetic Fields music box.

The Hootenany, man making fun of Scientology is old hat and such an easy target. Otherwise the song would be alright but I can't get past it. OTOH the opening track is amazing and "The Dada Polka" has a awkwardness that I really like.

it's funny, they existed mainly in the indiepop world before '69ls' and then everyone felt as if they needed to acknowledge the greatness of that record or at least the greatness of the achievement and yet ever since it has been as if the band is really mismatched to the people who would deem it necessary to assess it. clearly they will never again appeal to pitchfork nation which is where most of the people here reside and I bet stephin merrit is cheered by that.

I'm pretty confused by this - could you elaborate? Who is the audience that they are now matched to?

Yeah, this confused me too.