Future Islands - On The Water

Out October 11th. Anyone else looking forward to this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vI_kx4J8Vc

cute video, love this band but was a bit disappointed by the last record

Apparently, they were great at FYF.

anyone heard it yet?

These guys were one of the few opening bands (for Dan Deacon) I was really impressed by. It's hard to take them seriously but they do write great songs and the singer is incredible. I bumped into him at a later show and he turned out to be a really nice guy who seemed very surprised that someone would recognize him.

I haven't heard them yet but I think I'm seeing them tonight in Baltimore. Pretty psyched

The other single - the one that was a 7" on Thrill Jockey a couple of months ago ("Before the Bridge" maybe?) - was really great. I am looking forward to this.

Just picked it up - so far I'm digging it more than "In Evening Air". Reminds me of a good Yukihiro Takahashi album, has a real new romantic vibe and some cool synthpop-type stuff. It's really well-produced and most of the songs are pretty memorable. I would say that I liked Sam more when he was just yelling everything but he's definitely a better vocalist now. The droney track in the middle "Where I Found You" is a real stunner. I'm only on my second listen but I suspect this is going to be my favorite of the three.

by the way don't read the Pitchfork review, they give it a good score but the review makes the album sound a lot more boring than it is

<3 this so much. What do you mean "hard to take them seriously"? Because the vocals and music are so full of pathos?

Tin Man was the first song of theirs I heard and it hooked me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GhtZt2HYkM

They were really boring live; I thought they'd be like frenzied electro jams and they were just dull and plodding and sounded like third-rate Tears for Fears b-sides. Half the time I was just thinking "who actually desires to make music that sounds like this?" and then I left the show early.

I saw them live before In Evening Air came out, and I wasn't even sure if they were taking themselves seriously then. Sam was bellowing like a madman, hitting himself, etc., and you've got that bass player with the goofy moustache, all the ultra-dramatic lyrics, etc. etc. When I got the CD I was impressed that it wasn't as campy as I thought it would be and was surprised that they started going more overboard with every release instead of turning into an average dancepunk band like they could have. Either way I think they're totally awesome.

camp will always be an inseparable part of a lot of baltimore music. it doesn't mean they don't take themselves seriously (quite the opposite)

sam's performance is what hooked me into this band, tbh

i really like the new one

interesting thing about the vocalist - he's a little more gruff sounding - but i really think he apes peter gabriel's vocal PHRASING a lot, which before i heard this i never thought of gabriel as having distinctive phrasing, just a distinctive voice, but in "tin man" the phrasing is so gabriel to me

sometimes he sounds like a mad leprachaun tho

i've really been meaning to check this out

it's good, kind of interesting update on 80s synth pop but feels really current, very dramatic almost camp, seems like something you would like

both "Before the Bridge" and "Where I Found You" are stunners

Touring the UK next March, must try to see them if they're anything like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGYaPSI5tkg

They have a show in London in December as well.

I can confirm in evening air remains a wonderful album

They are the quintessential band where I rarely think about them, then when a song comes up on shuffle I will become totally obsessed and play them non-stop for a week straight

this album is still so damn good. when I saw 'em on one of Danny Deacon's tours they were quite awesome but also a little tough to take seriously. But I'm still totally enthralled by this.

Dug this out. Better than I remebered.

I got this 7" with Will Oldham covering Sheryl Crow's "Strong Enough" on one side and the other side is credited to Microkingdom (with the Future Island singer on vocals), covering Springsteen's "I'm on Fire." That song is covered a lot, but this sounds practically like U.S. Maple - really crazy and free jazzy, and his vocals are fantastic - it's weird hearing that song sung sort of histrionically, since Bruce is so creepily sleepy on it, but it works well.

Anyway, yeah - such a good band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Ae-LhMIG0

can't stop listening to this

I had no idea they'd signed to 4AD

http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2014/01/Future-Islands-Singles-608x608.jpg

Stoked for the new album

that's really good - On the Water was probably my favorite album of 2011 so I'm really looking forward to this one

seriously obsessed with this song i keep meaning to listen to the ilm trax results but i can't stop listening to "seasons" over and over again

i miss his more painful higher straining voice but the combination of him + the guitar in the chorus is just arena huge and beautiful

i like this band a great deal.

Supposed to interview them this week, if anybody has any questions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ee4bfu_t3c

so good

also, how did the interview go some dude?

yeah. he looks like he's dodging imaginary lasers, but it's awesome.

great interview, they're really good dudes.

^^^ I've watched that Letterman performance like a dozen times & showed it to everyone I know who hasn't already seen it... they haven't been 'local' (formerly of Greenville, NC) for a long long time, but I know many of us in the Triangle still fondly remember being rocked like that in tiny venues, and it's wonderful to see them bringing it to a national TV audience

I don't think I've ever seen Letterman that excited after a performance

I DJd after one of their shows in hawaii and i put on screamin jay hawkins and dude started making the most joyful ruckus on the other side of the bar, literally swinging his beer back and forth like a cartoon pirate all yo-ho-ho style and then he came up to the dj booth and gave me the happiest smiliest high-five ever

also the video in the 2nd post is really beautiful and i watch it about once a month

i took these:

http://i.imgur.com/dWe8fzn.png

http://i.imgur.com/Tj5oB92.png

Jesus, those are beautiful

yeah 2nd one is so good

this song is really good but that letterman performance was like a deleted scene from "walk hard" or something

so i thought the letterman performance was like bad paul young karaoke. is the studio shit like good paul young?

It's all good. Give me all of that you've got.

missed there was a link to the actual video up top, sorry.

i wonder whether neil diamond or tom jones will cover this first.

you guys are making very good unintentional arguments for why they're awesome

i dunno if i'd say unintentional - i'm well aware someone could respond with "I love Paul Young!"

this is machine-tooled for ILX & will probably go top 5 in the EOY

On the Water was awesome in the same way and didn't get too much attention here.

Walter Galt
Posted: May 19, 2013 at 12:30:46 PM
They are the quintessential band where I rarely think about them, then when a song comes up on shuffle I will become totally obsessed and play them non-stop for a week straight

This is otm. I always hear "beach foam" on an old mix in my car and play it over and over.

i dunno if i'd say unintentional - i'm well aware someone could respond with "I love Paul Young!"

― da croupier, Sunday, March 9, 2014 8:02 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

in the youtube comments, a lot of young ppl who had never heard them prior to the Letterman performance were like "omg his voice reminds me of Springsteen!" so just keep in mind that not everyone is familiar with Meatloaf or whatever terrible shit you were subjected to in your youth

shouldn't you be like "oh yay, now i have all these 80s synth-soul hams i can check out!" rather than complaining they're being brought up?

Paul Young lacks growl. The comparison is weak

soul hams

i'll admit there were those moments on letterman were he got a frog in his throat in a way that would never happen to paul

He growls a bit through every song. For the whole song.

i only know the hit, sorry

i mean i said paul young karaoke. I'm acknowledging the amateurish elements.

shouldn't you be like "oh yay, now i have all these 80s synth-soul hams i can check out!" rather than complaining they're being brought up?

― da croupier, Sunday, March 9, 2014 8:34 PM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

(xps)

it's like, when my mom would overhear me listening to heavy metal and say "jesus, this is worse than AC/DC!", it didn't make me want to listen to AC/DC, y'know?

sorry dude but if someone making a cynical "lol are people really getting into Some New Group That Sounds Like This Old Thing" crack gets you upset that people are making reference points you don't know and not taking it seriously suggests you maybe shouldn't be passing around a clip of a dude doing a herky-jerky dance to 80s synth-soul on letterman

indie favorites often resemble unfashionable shit from 20-30 years earlier, you know? life is hard.

just given it to us straight, maaaan

da croupier you must have missed the memo, "caring what the 80s were like" is no longer a thing my generation has an emotional investment in :)

i still remember when the mean ol' guys at the record store brought up vanilla fudge when i made them listen to the afghan whigs. it hurt, but i'm grateful in hindsight.

WOMEN DANCED BEHIND TOM JONES, AND MEN THEY FOUGHT THE WARS
THE CHILDREN LISTENED TO PAUL YOUNG, AND EVERYONE WAS POOR

(last post, then I gotta bounce)

1. Dismissing a contemporary band because they sound too much like the sum of their influences without appearing to break any new ground stylistically
2. Dismissing a contemporary band because they remind you of stuff you never liked in the first place and resented having to hear during its window of mainstream popularity

I do not believe that the difference between 1. and 2. could be totally lost on you, da croup

actually, i'm a little young for description #2. But i'm sorry if you don't think it's fair to say (again, based on their hit) that these guys sound like an amateurish version of something that was popular a while back.

Letterman clip made me think "if Rick Astley had never met Stock Aitken Waterman."

HOW DARE YOU

like the children of the eastern seaboard have any responsibility to care about your precious SAW

this is machine-tooled for ILX & will probably go top 5 in the EOY

― You cannot interrupt his tea stirring because it is his holy trick (imago), Sunday, March 9, 2014 4:04 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

bookmarking

"machine-tooled"

3d printed for ILX

am I right that the argt being presented here is "you whipper-snappers don't know the roots of this music"

I thought that was it, but after reading da croupier's latest replies, I'm more confused than ever

croup, I'm not sure why you're hung up on the notion of this performance being "amateurish"—the band is perfectly tight, & Sam goes all-in on his schtick despite having an audience of mostly indifferent non-fans... which is basically the definition of "professionalism"? like, when I think of "amateurish" TV performances, I think of 90s alt-rock bands mumbling thru their one hit as if they were just dragged out of bed and thrown on the Letterman stage by major label hired goons.

... maybe you woulda liked them better when they sounded like New Order, idk

man they're way more meatloafy than sprinsteeny, thank god

haven't watched the letterman yet but it's probably awesome, only saw them once a few years ago and it was one of my favorite lead singer performances ever, he was like a campy hamlet belting every line to poor yorick

nice description. definitely gives that feel on letterman when he lifts his right arm up. it's all very theatrical, but he seems so genuinely in it that it's mesmerizing. felt like young sufjan seeing idioteque on SNL with this performance.

Saw the Letterman clip and to me its kinda of an amateurish take on Simply Red

am I right that the argt being presented here is "you whipper-snappers don't know the roots of this music"

nope

lol xpost

Local band done good. Lovin it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What is yr argt dc, I'm not getting it either. Also just watched/loved this

My argument is that it struck me as Paul young karaoke. Amateurish vocals over eighties synth soul. After that its just variations of saying "sorry but tough shit" to Bernie's various qualms with that estimation.

I never said the kids gotta learn, just that the kids gotta toughen up if they're gonna boo Hoo when cranky old farts in other towns aren't "zomg these guys are from a college town, transcendence!"

Fair enough. Mostly loved how it looked exactly like a guy singing along to something in his room bt onstage

amateurish vocals says da croupgeir

I used to be with it, but then they changed what *it* was. Now what I'm with isn't *it*, and what's *it* seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you...

can you elaborate on what makes herring's vocals amateurish? he doesn't sound pitchy to me. it's about the quality and strength?

Dude can def sing, tho. Just awesome to see no polish or selfconsciousness, given that I've seen many indie bands play live

lol you guys

Otoh listened to their new single and wasn't interested, so

can i say "unpolished" without bruising your souls or is that still too harsh a take

when someone calls something amateurish, it sounds like they might have a good idea of what'd qualify it as such. i just thought you may have had some more interesting information about what made his vocals amateurish.

there was some of that on the Haim thread that I found interesting.

fyi if you're going to respond with "oh really, sir, are you a musicologist?" when someone says these guys sound like a rando singing 80s shit you better hope this little shimmy is the peak of their mainstream awareness

I am not making a "hey man I'd like to see you try argument", I just honestly thought you might have some more insight to add to one of your posts.

but it sounds like you meant "unpolished" so I get it now. and I realize there is no way for me to convey this information via post without sounding sarcastic, but I am not being sarcastic.

i mean, yeah, if you're genuinely assuming everybody on ilx has a technical "insight" to back up terms like "amateurish," lemme tell ya that's not the case.

I have no problem with calling Sam's vox "unpolished", but "amateurish" comes pre-loaded with a "professional" opposing term, which in this case (as you've made clear) is Paul Young—the problem is that I can't tell whether you genuinely think the music would be improved by singing that sounded more like Paul Young, or if he is just a red herring you're using to draw attention away from the fact that you dislike this musical style in toto.

Dude I'm describing what i hear. People can decide for themselves whether they agree with the description, and whether its something they would or would not want to hear. And if you don't like someone sounding dismissive or reductive in their description of a performance on letterman, sorry but tough shit.

So glad that Letterman performance has made finally made American indie safe for overenthusiatic amateurish dorky dudes who can't really sing.

I like overenthusiastic dorky dudes who can't really sing - Fred Schneider is one of my biggest life heroes - but this seemed kinda sub-Har Mar Supertar to me. Meh.

He's a better singer than Bryan Ferry and that's good enough for me

Ouch.

its so weird and sad when music nerds confronted with a vocalist who has a unique and/or unusual voice just go with "cant sing"

like, he is singing. his voice is singing songs he wrote.

"Confronted" would imply I've actually listened to it, I was just mocking the discourse.

cool.

he can sing. but can he sing?

he sings on-key and quite well, gr80 otm. people generally don't know anything at all about singing tho and by good singing often mean "did it sound like somebody doing the national anthem at a ballpark"

otm. is timbre the correct word for what is turning people off? bc I agree that the pitch seems good.

i guess discussions of pitch are kind of ridiculous. we could find out if he was singing off-pitch by mixing his vocals with a near-perfect reference (like a synthesizer), recording the experiment (say on a talkshow), and then listening for a beat frequency.

a lot of the disparaging terms itt are the things that I really like about this band. like say Dan Deacon or Andrew W.K. they are one of those groups to which the first question is always "are they serious about this?" and the answer is "yes, and it's awesome"

It's the singer's job to sell the song, and if you didn't buy it, claims of "amateurism" though not precisely correct are not off-base, imo. I appreciate the "I never got into his voice" dismissal because it assumes a certain position of philistinism on the critic's part

That said, this was a vocal grand slam for a network TV appearance

last 2 posts very otm

I don't recall saying he was off pitch. People at karaoke aren't necessarily off pitch. Can I say he sounds like a goofball? Or is that another Pandora's box?

sure.

So weird to think of people getting upset about a loose hammy performance of a corny synth song on letterman with anything less than considered respect

Being treated with anything less, I mean

yeah it really is bizarre that instead of a bunch of "actually this is just amateur Paul Young" thinkpieces people saying "woah that was a great performance"

totally agree, man

people ARE saying

How dare you suggest I'm asking for thinkpieces of any kind

anyway the official video linked upthread is really cool.

ive posted before about how big a fan i am of documentary-style music videos and this one is right up my alley

And dude I am not shocked in the least that indie folks are blown away by hometown faves getting to do their shtick on late night TV. In my day you had to stay up for it, the kids don't know what with their blogs and dvrs

let's be clear. in every post, you assume that every future islands fan is a 24 yr old indie fan from the band's hometown. you then give advice about how these fans are gonna "go into the shit" up ahead like a disillusioned war general.

Actually that's not fair, forgot you could program the VHS player.

Dude I'm responding to Bernie's comments. This is the context I was provided.

After hearing that Letterman song it stuck in my memory although it almost immediately became a mashup of itself and the J. Mitchell "riding on the freeway" song (Coyote). Tempo thing I suppose.

indie bro David Letterman audibly blown away by the right-in-his-usual-wheelhouse performance. just more home cooking from the indie front

croup your critiques here are so weird and wrong - every fuckin indie band on the planet does late night TV, the buzz here is not "oh boy the indie band came up!" it's the actual performance. it's a focused, engaged, wholly inhabited performance (in a genre not exactly known for those) by a dude who (pretty surprisingly, imo; cameras are hard) works the camera like he was raised in front it. vocally, he's both unique (the weird death growls thrown in van morrison-style like they come from some personal vocabulary of what counts as emphasis; good singing is in part about finding a way to sound like yourself instead of just another person who can hit the notes) and in a tradition that's if not unknown, kind of a weird pocket: singers with soul tics/tendencies in a synthy environment. San Serac does this but who listens to San Serac? his stage presence isn't a tenth of this dude's. Alyson Moyet is who he kind of reminds me of - nowhere near the range, but the same way of situating his style in a musical context where it's not the first approach one naturally expects.

nb I will probably never hear another note of their music I don't give a shit, but for people who are ostensibly into music as performed art to hand-wave this the way you're doing is like...do you actually think or give a shit about performance? this is like so obviously a good one that like idk man whatever

this conversation has become v. uninteresting so let's change the subject: I recently reread Roland Barthes' essay "The Bourgeois Art of Song", in which he takes Gérard Souzay to task for his overly-expressive renderings of Fauré (sickest burn = "Souzay's phrasings are constantly destroyed by the excessive expression of a word"), which Barthes attempts to generalize into a theory of 'bourgeois art': "essentially descriptive, it constantly imposes not emotion but the signs of emotion"... it occurs to me that this criticism could very easily apply to Sam Herring ("signs of emotion" = beating his chest so hard the microphone picks it up), but it's precisely the reason I love him. does this make me hopelessly bourgeois??

sorry aero, "this conversation has become v. uninteresting" preceded yr last post, u know i love u dude

lol I think if I post 200+ words it is generally fair to conclude that the conversation has become uninteresting

the weird death growls thrown in van morrison-style like they come from some personal vocabulary of what counts as emphasis

most excellent

*You* say uninteresting *I* say bourgeois. "Words".

well the reason I cite the Barthes essay is that he touches on something I imagine is not far from da croupier's criticisms (overly "expressive" singing could very well read as "amateurish"), but he grounds his critique in concrete details, i.e. 'is it really necessary to emphasize the double-F in affreuse?'

"it is a somewhat nauseating happiness, this bonheur signified by an initial emphasis, expelling happiness from the mouth like a plum pit" <<< gets me every time

is it necessary for van morrison to sing "you" so many times in "Cul De Sac"?

this guy looks like he works out a LOT

sorry for flippantly dismissing a performance from a band you don't care about and will never hear again, aero

it doesn't really sound like you are

Well I'm sorry it bothers him. I thought "paul young karaoke" was a humorous description myself but its true I may undervalue combining death growl with van Morrison.

Death growl with Paul young, rather

i get mad van morrison in the last waltz vibes from this guy it's true

people generally don't know anything at all about singing tho and by good singing often mean "did it sound like somebody doing the national anthem at a ballpark"

Hope we get to him do this in the 2014-15 season.

the rule is props where due croup - you're putting whether you like what they do ahead of your ability to critique whether they're doing what they do well. I don't really watch track and field but if I see a guy and I don't like his clothes so I say "that guy's really slow" then I'm fronting

http://i.imgur.com/gFpsAHG.gif

I honestly don't think calling this guy's hammy, goofy or unpolished is quite comparable. And I already rescinded the vile "amateurish"

Guy's performance, rather

@ bernard, Souzay is finding some tendentious and convoluted ways of saying "he over-emoted". Furthermore the idea that one performance is "emotion" and another performance is "a description of emotion" is missing the whole point of the word "performance"

aero I hope you investigate these guys on record I genuinely think you are being dismissive, indie sure but they're great

pour a glass of cherry wine and put On the Water on imo

yeah I was saying this before this thread got flooded with whatever the hell you guys are arguing about but On the Water was my favorite album of 2011, it's really really good

aero I hope you investigate these guys on record I genuinely think you are being dismissive, indie sure but they're great

they're from around here originally, I think I saw 'em back when - l. got some shots of them at a tiny club up the street. I listen to metal 3/4 of the time and classical the other 1/4 that is just reality around here these days

xp to goon tie: strongly disagree—I am much more interested in a critic who writes "he emphasizes individual words, or parts of words, in a way that detracts from the melody and merely reiterates the sentiments already present in the lyrics" than one who settles for "he over-emotes"

You realize there is a beautiful bit of metonymy to that post

but of course!

So I finally watched this and there are dozens of reasonably well known indie bands who would perform way more amateurishly in such a setting. Like the guy clearly knows what he's doing (and I agree he can sing in tune) but his clothes and his dancing and the weird guilelessness-not-guilelessness on show make it *look* extremely amateurish in a 'first round on America's got talent' way.

The song was way less interesting than the performance so dude got something right.

I have listened to this album three times today based on this performance being entertaining and I really like it, so well done everybody.

is the new album streaming anywhere yet or are you referring to "on the water"?

how awesome is it at 1:48 when the mic picks up the sound of him beating his chest

very awesome. This art lord album is fun. Gives you a feel for the bands' growth.

ok i watched it and i am so happy about that performance

dude lost a lot of lbs and seems very excited about the possibilities of newfound bendiness

or maybe just the possibilities of a wide stage

strongly disagree—I am much more interested in a critic who writes "he emphasizes individual words, or parts of words, in a way that detracts from the melody and merely reiterates the sentiments already present in the lyrics" than one who settles for "he over-emotes"

― merciless to accomplish the truth in his intelligence (bernard snowy), Monday, 10 March 2014 18:27 (Yesterday) Permalink

You realize there is a beautiful bit of metonymy to that post

― continually topping myself (flamboyant goon tie included), Monday, 10 March 2014 18:31 (Yesterday) Permalink

(and this is the last time I wanna talk about anything on this thread besides how great Future Islands are)

... the ideal critic would be one who, if pressed, could expand the latter judgment into the former set of verifiable observations.

You want the barthesian ideal of a critic, you gotta pay the barthesian ideal of a critic.

seasons (waiting on you) is on spotify now fyi

yyeaaaaaaah

I am disappointed that this thread is about a croupier rather than the new album. I need someone to help me sort out my feelings about "A Song For Our Grandfathers".

have not heard anything outside of what is available for streaming

but I am excited to hear that song now

it is like a fairy floss of feels

streaming!

http://www.npr.org/2014/03/16/286898446/first-listen-future-islands-singles

ty!

This song has grown on me quite a lot, it's some forgotten 80s heartland rock star decided to write a big wussy epic over the top of the opening chords to Born Slippy.

haha it does sound like the opening of born slippy

(nuxx)

Don't really know much about this band but that Letterman performance has got me interested. I could watch it all day.

I just streamed the album which was nice enough but a little samey. I think I'd enjoy it more if I'd watched him dancing for the entire 45 minutes. The sound of the album really reminded me of Twin Shadow which is no bad thing.

ha!! i thought that bit sounded familiar!

I applaud Matt DC's use of the word "wussy" as a +

I really like this album a lot, I know that parts of it are basically The Killers (in the Springsteen tribute years) with unusual vocal stylings but I can live that.

Cannot stop watching that Letterman performance.

Really digging the album based on the stream - dunno if it's better than On the Water (which was probably my favorite of 2011) but it's up there. Agreed that it's a little samey but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There is a bit towards the end of the album that really took me by surprise. Especially if you've got the volume cranked.

On my basis of my first listen this tended towards the plodding, although I do like the single.

Cannot stop watching that Letterman performance.

― Kitchen Person

reminds me a lot of this:

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

Was surprised by how close to mono the single is mixed. It is pretty dead center.

Curious to know who mixed it. Several mixers I know have been championing a mono (or almost mono) approach recently

agreed that this is a bit samey at first but I encourage you all to give "A Song for Our Grandfathers" another listen, it's so incredibly massive, definitely my early favorite right now

my profile of the band is up: http://wonderingsound.com/feature/future-islands-interview/

nice work

This is way too samey IMO, they use a very similar sound palette throughout and they aren't distinctive enough songwriters to get past that.

Yeah, that Letterman performance. I'm kind of into that song now.

But agreed with the album, I don't think it's bad, but the production could be a lot more interesting.

Agree with what people have said about the album. It's nice enough but doesn't blow me away. Having said that I just have to think about the Letterman performance then I want to run to a record shop, buy all their albums and then get the band name tattooed on my arm. I can't remember the last time I wanted to like an album so much more than I actually do.

How does Singles compare to their previous albums? Haven't checked those out yet.

I think there's decent variety in the previous albums if you want to check them out. I love the "Tomorrow" EP. I think the vocal performance on the title track is great in the way the Letterman performance is great. The extended version of "Tin Man" on "In the Fall" is great and also has a different feel. They also put out an acoustic EP called "Undressed".

"balance" at the top of the thread still their best imo

yeah, spotify agrees with you. my brother is seeing them at a pretty small venue in Grand Rapids tomorrow. I am pretty jealous.

btw gr8 writeup, sd. all killer + no filler.

they've really paid their dues haven't they? been gigging hard for years. good to see them finally getting some payback.

thx!

yeah that was an excellent profile

Four or five years ago, my old band played a festival with Future Islands at a small festival in France. We'd just gotten to the venue and were kind of snacking, decompressing from the drive, etc., in the green room, when Sam popped his head in. He was carrying a large laundry sack.

He really sweetly and enthusiastically introduced himself to all of us and said something to the effect of:

"Hey, I'm Sam. It is SO nice to meet all of you. Anyway, I was going to try and find a place to do some laundry... would any of you like me to grab your laundry and bring it back to you all clean?"

We were flabbergasted. It was the nicest gesture EVER. I still think of it often.

:D

^srsly every anecdote i've heard about dude (including mine upthread) makes him sound like the best guy ever

some dude i liked your point about how the letterman video is way more popular than the nicely-shot, but fairly typical video. so many director's reel-style videos out there and they're so unmoving.

i like the video a lot but agree it doesn't play to the band's strengths.

i was actually a little disoriented seeing them live in late 2012, having only seen the video for "balance" (no shots of the band) and only one press photo briefly. i don't know what i was expecting their appearance/performance to look and feel like but it wasn't that.

i don't get what was special about that letterman performance? looked like overwrought karaoke. didn't like the song or especially his terrible voice either but even so the hype around the performance seems weird

Aside from the enormous dancing, the weirdness is in the hardcore growling he hints at on the beginnings of his phrases, then the moment of real hardcore growl at the end

the dancing is just amateur incompetence à la every dorky white dude at a wedding ever. s0 authentic

i did not think the moments of growling were that weird or confrontational or compelling but maybe growing up on tori amos just set the bar high in terms of what i expect performances of on-stage catharsis to be like

Would love to go to a wedding where someone dances like that.

what makes the performance special is that it's a moment of complete self-possession, which is not really something we get much of these days, especially on nat'l tv.

the dancing is just amateur incompetence à la every dorky white dude at a wedding ever. s0 authentic

uhhh I have never seen anyone dance like that in real life, ever (not even white people!)

Yeah, for me the weird thing is precisely that it comes across like overwrought karaoke, yet knowingly performed as sincere and earnest. Sort of a mockery of prog-pop chart music of the 80s (I'm thinking of Genesis/Peter Gabriel/Phil Collins, maybe? Although I also hear a schmaltzy Tom Jones-seque vibe in that performance), but also played straight. The affective grunts, metal vocals and other stuff are sort of hints or punctures to its actually being something else.

If I'd make a criticism of it tho, I'd say it all ends up feeling more like pomo performance art, blank parody, which is possibly neither here nor there when it comes to pop music anyhow.

Actually, the reaching to the sky thing in the chorus reminded me a bit of Tenacious D for a second, but not enough to completely ruin it.

like, i can totally see why people find the letterman thing charming, why the growling impresses people who like growling more than i do, but when we get to "moment of complete self-possession" i kind of have to fart

i don't think it was remotely that interesting or out of the ordinary. you could take any given tv performance and talk about how "knowing" or "sincere" or "earnest" it was and it'd be as much projection and guesswork as any other. the line between "performed" and "real" is kinda meaningless when it comes to on-stage catharsis

oh the chest-beating made me roll my eyes

Sure. There's a sense of sympathetic embarrassment going on.

weird lex, i'd have thought you would've been all over the latest indie rock sensation!

It's true that the performance, while odd, is nowhere near as unusual as is being claimed in some quarters (especially that overexcitable Guardian piece).

we need to figure out EXACTLY how weird it is.

i don't think it was remotely that interesting or out of the ordinary. you could take any given tv performance and talk about how "knowing" or "sincere" or "earnest" it was and it'd be as much projection and guesswork as any other. the line between "performed" and "real" is kinda meaningless when it comes to on-stage catharsis

― lex pretend, Tuesday, March 25, 2014 10:37 AM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah those are not the words i would use, it's just a guy owning his moment and it's cool to watch.

i thought of barry from east enders doing "walking in memphis", but he's got a cool eddie munster / ernest borgnine thing going, and i enjoyed it, and it was infinitely better than the last not-weird "weird" thing that got hyped to high heaven when gobshite bradford cox "had a meltdown" (quite unremarkably jamming through an extended 80's pop cover, endlessly reported as if it were some kinda gg allin vs jj burnel incident, for no discernible reason)

Gonna leave this here without comment

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

quantum leap

LOL

I'd be a huge fan if he exclusively rapped about Scott Bakula's guest role as Chuck's Dad on Chuck.

album's starting to grow on me, "A Dream of You and Me" is as good as anything they've done, that groove, that insistent guitar lick

yeah, I've been enjoying the album today as well. my brother met Sam before the show tonight and confirmed that he is very nice. They also have Two Hearted Ale for $2.50 a pint in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is a good argument for seeing shows in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Re. lex's comments and rebuttals, his energy in the Letterman video is, in my opinion, what's unusual about it. I mean, if you don't like his voice, you don't like it, but there's the soul music connotation and I'll go ahead and put myself out on the limb and say that I DO hear it as real soul singing. And you might say, 'So what?' but his physicality in the whole performance strikes me as quite awesome.

lex i never understand why you go out of your way to avoid megapopular monoculture shit like gangnam style but you just keep trying with these random american indie bands with < a million YT views

will you ever win

woah this is like a bizarro world Henry Rollins who grew up the son of a preacher man and decided to leave the ministry and become Rick Astley instead.

I said this elsewhere but to me he's a cocktail of Andy McCluskey, Rick Astley and Damian Abraham (the facial similarities to Damian are remarkable)

a young marlon brando says i

It's almost as if Lex is a dick or something

Being a dick abt indie, anyway. Not a dick per se. It's a funny schtick, anyway

xpost
Get quite a strong young Shatner aiming for Brando vibe tbh.

My god, so OTM.

maybe growing up on tori amos just set the bar high in terms of what i expect performances of on-stage catharsis to be like

I've seen Tori Amos live multiple times and the idea that she represents the ne plus ultra of on-stage catharsis is just ridiculous

Lex is always right, even about genres he talks about hating all the time.

Todd Carty is currently starring in the Commitments at the Eastbourne Winter Gardens

there's a thing going around tumblr about how this performance captures the free-spirited magic of singing in your bathroom or something, which reminded me of this clearly prescient mr show sketch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvCmvSKenzY#t=18

As previously noted (and I know you are capturing the opinion of tumblr here), he works the camera like a pro and he's a good singer. Though it's fun to look at the higher order terms of the function that's captured mr. letterman's heart, I think the bands' fundamentals are more refined than these analyses acknowledge.

Oh the piece in question, I think by "fek", def acknowledged their legitimate skills or whatever you're worried is lost in the hubbub

Coldplay ‏@coldplay Mar 23
Guy found this video of Future Islands on Letterman. We all love it! http://youtu.be/1Ee4bfu_t3c CM

xp ok, cool. I will search it out and read it as penance.

I saw this for the first time, it's entertaining but I'm gonna put the 'viral' success down to slow news week. Dude looks like he's trying to do a version of that "Tom Jones goes crazy" video, only indie rock, and thus, way more awkward.

just to make it clear, Future Islands have always been like this live. even when they're an opening act playing for 100 people.

this was amazing and all of you who are jaded idiots are jaded and idiots

al otm

To put it mildly, there’s no other frontman quite like him, a strange mix of earnestly old-fashioned and deeply weird.

Holy shit.

I've seen the name Future Islands but I never even thought of looking them up.

So, I know nothing of them.

And the first things I see, hear or read about them are these last few posts and video.

Fucking blown away. I was sleeping and waking up reading random shit and just stopped everything to listen to their new album (or collection of singles?).

I can't be bothered to find Al's post, but yes. I get a feeling from the singer's performance that his lyrics are heartfelt and pretty genuine. It may be maudlin but I love that; it's so refreshing. But I like people who are unashamedly themselves and just happen to be quirky or weird as fuck (not done on purpose or to make a point or whatever).

And um...I don't mean to go off-topic too much, and it certainly does not matter, but the singer's right arm seems bigger than his left. Is this a medical condition or does he work one out more than the other by chance or am I seeing things?

that's the one he hits himself in the chest with

haha. surely you jest, j

i mean, correlation/causation?

he obviously does it really hard!

i mean, he does, which is something i find strangely appealing. very emotive.

k, will continue enjoying this album

i couldn't help but think that on letterman the hulk was singing his most heartfelt song ever, his poignant stab at making himself understood to people who don't knock walls over with their unwieldy bodies and can just emote with their faces

and then sure enough

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19124-future-islands-singles/

Just after “Like the Moon” comes the album’s highpoint, the post-mortem ballad “Fall From Grace”. It could be a Beach House song with its below-freezing tempo and a spotlight on Cashion’s guitars, but then Herring gets to thinking about one of those heartbreak events and it all comes rushing back above this overdriven baritone guitar. He unknots all the emotion that has only bubbled up until now and asks one last question about their love and basically Hulks out: “was it ALL INSIDE OF ME?” The moment is arresting, and in the context of the sometimes mushy poetry of the album, these four words are blinding and absolutely unforgettable.

i wish ilm of yore (10-12 years back) could hear this, you can tell from all the reviews so far that the reviewers find something mysterious about the record and they genuinely enjoy taking a crack at figuring it out right as it's happening instead of the same old content-generation grind

Nice coincidence. I'm two minutes away from that song.

Just bought the record from the 4AD site!

my bro sent me some video clips from the show in Grand Rapids. i just wish I could have been there. "Balance" is great live. I also like that they are LOUD (i capitalized the letters to convey the increased amplitude of the longitudinal waves).

∞, you will probably love On the Water too!

googling!

Concert in Fargo (yup) this Saturday. Opening act apparently accompanies himself on bongos. Shall debrief after ears stop ringing.

yeah wow this record is nice

I'm gonna have to take a break then listen to all the records again. I suspect On the Water will remain my favorite but Singles is very strong. Infinity Symbol, you should definitely pick that one up too, then go backwards. Some of their non-album singles are great too - check this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcnNS7WiLV4

theres definitely a bit of jokiness to it that went away as of In Evening Air, but it might be their catchiest tune

'a song for our grandfathers' is wonderful

frogbs, will do. Thanks!

It's on Spotify so I'll preview it first. I don't want to buy too many records right now, as I'll be moving and don't want to carry too many records on the plane. Actually, I don't even know how I will transport the ones I have left, which aren't that many.

'a song for our grandfathers' is wonderful

haven't heard this one mentioned a lot but it's my favorite on the record right now

seems like the clear highlight to me

re Fargo show: They were loud, but the vox and keyboard/synth got buried in the mix. Singing style seemed less affected than on the new album. No bongos involved in opening act.

Singles is a massive grower. Got round to listening to their previous two albums too. They are not really what I was expecting, quite strange records but very enjoyable.

I have this really exciting of feeling of finding a new favourite band. Already been checking out t-shirts on their website.

Oh, also have to agree that Song For Our Grandfathers is just wonderful.

It has been a joy discovering this band of late. No idea how I'd overlooked them, right up my street. Came across them on the back of praise for 'Singles' and while it's great 'In Evening Air' totally blew me away. A wonderful record.

That Letterman performance linked upthread is outstanding, one of the best live on TV things I've ever seen. The vocalist seems like a lovely guy in interviews and I think he has an amazing and expressive voice. One thing that is nagging me though, and I hope I don't ruin the band for anyone, is the similarity I just can't shake between him and *shudders* Jack Black.

i get more of a young brando look personally

jack black has a great voice

he used to be heavier so it was more clear he was a fellow "surprisingly agile rotund dude"

I can't get the mental image of the guy from Crash Test Dummies doing a Joe Cocker impression when I listen to this band. Even that doesn't stop me from enjoying the album though.

http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/andrew-mccluskey-future-islands

^ omd's mccluskey loves, respects it

catching up on this thread just prompted me to watch the letterman clip again. dude is just entrancing, moreso with each viewing, i think.

Opinions on Chris Coady's role in the album's sound?

Am I the only one getting a Fine Young Cannibals vibe from this? Or is that old news?

I mentioned Roland Gift in my review: his voice mixes Gift, Wayne Casey, and David Johansen.

i got a rod stewart vibe, right off the bat.

Okay, so I just watched their Coachella performance on Youtube and pissed myself laughing throughout. You'd think that this kind of thing would be exactly up my street, but sadly not.

A friend of mine just summed it up as "a Gerry Anderson puppet on cowies growling incomprehensibly over piss-weak electro pop". Yup, that about sums up my view also.

^Lol this guy bloke.

major future islands takedown pip pip cheerio

A friend of mine just summed it up as "a Gerry Anderson puppet on cowies growling incomprehensibly over piss-weak electro pop". Yup, that about sums up my view also.

― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican)

This guy is a fan. http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/andrew-mccluskey-future-islands

what the fuck is cowies?

any1 catch these guys on Letterman?

This guy is a fan. http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/andrew-mccluskey-future-islands

― Kitchen Person, Monday, April 14, 2014 10:06 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I saw that posted above. I'm a huge OMD fan but... nah, this isn't for me.

Carl Wilson:

With Future Islands, it’s like they’ve put the post-coital cigarette at the beginning of the song and ended it with the casual accidental meeting. The storyboards of their relationship to the audience are cut and shuffled and fanned out and scrambled – and yet by the close, like a street magician, they look up and smile, and say, “So was your card the King of Hearts?” And we say, yes, goddamn it, yes, it was. How did you do that?

http://333sound.com/2014/04/21/lets-talk-about-love-week-the-sound-of-post-taste-pop-future-islands-play-seasons-waiting-on-you-on-david-letterman-march-2014/

Also,

It’s schmaltz that via either semiotic brilliance or lucky poetic misfire plays for higher stakes.

I like Carl, but when he writes that the song is a "logical successor to “Yacht Rock” as a genre due for semi-ironic reclamation" I grind my teeth all over again. I'm only a handful of years younger than he so, show or not, what the hell is so unpalatable about, what, the Michael McDonald-led Doobie Bros that needed semi-ironic reclamation?

The closest the Doobie Bros. have come to semi-ironic reclamation has been via people your age and my age who half-fondly remember that one episode of "What's Happening?"

i sort of vehemently disagree that future islands has anything to do with yacht rock

like, i want to believe there was a time where this just would have been a well-constructed song with an expressive vocal and we wouldn't have needed any more analysis than that

I like Carl, but when he writes that the song is a "logical successor to “Yacht Rock” as a genre due for semi-ironic reclamation" I grind my teeth all over again. I'm only a handful of years younger than he so, show or not, what the hell is so unpalatable about, what, the Michael McDonald-led Doobie Bros that needed semi-ironic reclamation?

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, April 21, 2014 6:58 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah sometimes i wonder if he learned the supposed lesson of his own book

also agree with cad, it's kind of hilarious that all a band has to do is wear slacks and people freak out about what non-punk lineage they might dare have

Yeah, I vote not very yachty at all. Is it the mostly smooth vox that does it? But, like, Tom Jones is not yacht rock, either.

wondering if these semi-ironic reclamations have to do with good listeners and critics still in thrall to what they think are punk orthodoxies.

there's also no real relation of any kind to Tom Jones either, tbf

*throws panties*

I guess I think of these guys asa synth pop band, like OMD, so yeahb the soft rock thing is weird to me. Esp the bass lines are so post punk to me

wait was was the supposed lesson of the book

i don't see how you can regard this record as anything but synth-pop, which has a healthy tradition of appreciation by the alt/indie set already and is in no need of any reclaiming/reappreciation in and of itself

(could be that this is a resurgence of a certain mode of ~feeling~ in that music, though)

xp yup those types of bands are their logical forebears, i guess that's not interesting enough or something

Not so synthpop at the live show I saw. Rather hard to pin down, actually, and surely this is a good thing.

If anything there's an element of James Murphy to it. A huskier, middle-aged guy totally giving his all vocally, albeit eccentrically, over dancy, synthy post-punk. I recall some interview with Murphy where he even had to ask if his take of I want to say "I Can Change" was too ott. Seems apropo.

what the heck future islands is totally of the new romantic era if anything

these guys couldn't be any more synth-pop if they used wang chung as a verb

just clicked through to the carl wilson piece and ffs alfred learn how to read

Breaking it down, the song scoops into mid-1980s U.K. synth-soul brie, a logical successor to “Yacht Rock” as a genre due for semi-ironic reclamation, but also has a hook that’s hard to forget.

He's saying "UK synth-soul brie" is due for reclamation, LIKE yacht rock already had

though lol that apparently none of us bothered to check for ourselves what carl had to say before casting our votes

He's still a monster imo

If anything there's an element of James Murphy to it. A huskier, middle-aged guy totally giving his all vocally, albeit eccentrically, over dancy, synthy post-punk. I recall some interview with Murphy where he even had to ask if his take of I want to say "I Can Change" was too ott. Seems apropo.

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, April 21, 2014 11:42 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

middle-aged? the members of Future Islands are 30ish and started the band in college.

As a guy pushing 40, I will say that, yes, that counts as middle aged in indie rock years.

You'd have to work out some algorithm factoring in things like coolness/attractiveness/genetic history/gender etc for that to be a workable system tho ie. can we just use years years

I use indie dog years.

time is a flat circle

You just say that because he's balding

http://99gifs.com/-img/5318e62f1605fb7efb0000e3.gif?w=400&h=225

The guy dances so old.

Also 30 pfft. Up to 30 is like teen years for ppl now.

I sort of think the cooler you are, the cooler it is to come off older. Like, Bryan Ferry has been 50 since he was 20.

not to suggest that these guys are beyond compare but I always thought the most appealing thing about Future Islands was how far off the synthpop/LCD axis their music could be. even their more straightforward/catchier songs ("Follow You", "The Happiness of Being Twice", and of course "Seasons") dont really fit the mold

http://www.streamingoldies.com/content-images/rays/RolandGift.jpg

once again we're making associations based on the singer's hairline instead of the band's music

you can't mention Bryan Ferry w/out reaching for hairlines

Except y'know Eno wins over ferry at everything baldness included

Bryan Ferry has had the most impressive and well-styled hair in rock for more than 35 years. Eno has had the brainiest scalp. It's like comparing Pinochet and Stalin.

Initially I thought 'Seasons' was a bit top heavy with all the best songs being at the start. After a few weeks of listening I feel the exact opposite and it's actually the 2nd side of the LP (from 'A Song for Our Grandfathers' onwards) that I like the most. Always a sign of a genuinely good album that.

bit late to the thread. why does every song on this sound like something else from the early-mid 90s? Born Slippy, Falling etc? This is a weird thing at the moment, like Haim - making tracks that just remind you a little bit of a bunch of old songs, but not enough to put your finger on them

it's retro, but what kind of retro is it??

more like future hasbeens

sounds to me like you enjoy hot dogs and a good laugh!

Two performances on Kimmel last night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goXSBOL_7FE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZJ01ed1bWY

man his whole posi-vibes motivational speaker routine is so not my thing and yet i find it so endearing

haha yeah...there's something so cute and kind of inspirational about how earnest it all is, like the guts to be so dorky in a world of all these cool sunglasses synth bands

also the bassist is really great, in a low-key, tasteful way that doesn't really call too much attention to itself

I only saw "Doves" last night. Did that first clip not air or do I suck at DVR?

So awesome to see these guys on TV. I remember back in 08 or so seeing Sam at a Dan Deacon show in Milwaukee - he wasn't performing or anything, just hanging out and helping to sell shirts and CDs. He was surprised that anyone recognized him but couldn't have been more friendly, even handing out a signed copy of the first Future Islands disc. I remember my friend telling me "these guys should be huge"...they're not exactly there yet but seeing them on TV is a real trip.

set aside the sound completely, and there is something about this dude/frontman that is completely and totally engrossing, in a good way.

this has already been said, but it bears repeating because that's a quality we see less and less of, i think. like, to the point where when i see/feel it, i'm shocked.

part of it, i think, is how increasingly rare it is that a band has a singer who doesn't play an instrument onstage, let alone one who actually uses that opportunity to physically throw themselves into the 'frontman' role.

For sure that was going on with Craig Finn, at least for a while. His role was that of a dude just so happy to be there that he wanted everybody else to be as happy as he felt, too. Like be the world's biggest fan of the band that you're fronting.

sam has a pretty awesome rap side project called Hemlock Ernst, played here in baltimore at the crown on saturday, wish i got more video but there were like 4 dudes who came just to film him

yeah there was a whole weird thing after Singles came out where Pitchfork and all these other sites were suddenly posting old Hemlock Ernst live footage from the Metro Gallery or w/e because i guess it was a big revelation that he rapped and has he put out any records of that stuff yet?

I'm not sure- dont think so, at least not in a while / not on a big scale, but i know he's been doing it for years, since they were still in NC

everybody here's checked out Art Lord & the Self Portraits, right?

yeah i didn't hear that stuff until they reissued it last year and it's really fun to hear them play in a different, formative context
http://friendsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-definitive-collection

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p020c03p

I've worked out what this band reminds me of so much and it's the War of the Worlds soundtrack with Richard Burton and various Moody Bluesmen.

thanks dog latin

my pleasure

So riveting at Field Day in London last Sunday. "the world's biggest fan of the band that you're fronting" is OTM and the reaction to Seasons was joyous.

Saw these guys headline a stage at a neighborhood festival in Baltimore today and it was maybe one of the best live experiences I've witnessed. Near transcendent band/crowd synergy happening. People hanging out of windows, standing on roofs, climbing walls, grinning and dancing their faces off. The sun was setting and the singer was basically 8x that Letterman performance for a solid hour. I'm pretty mellow on their recorded stuff but absolutely see them live if you can.

That sounds awesome!

It really was. Also John Waters was like 8 feet in front of me through the show. Caught him turning to his friend at one point with eyes wide and fist clenching his chest and saying OH MY GOD.

http://instagram.com/p/tL6mMpnKMK/

thought mb you were talking about transmodern and looked up if transmodern was ever scheduled and it starts tonight!! i'm so mad they took so long

Whoa, I wasn't even aware that was happening either. Awesome!

this has already been said, but it bears repeating because that's a quality we see less and less of, i think. like, to the point where when i see/feel it, i'm shocked.

still shocked and overwhelmed

yep

https://i.gyazo.com/e76dec9ae815214669bec8c6d86202d6.png

New Snails music!

https://thesnailsbaltimore.bandcamp.com/album/songs-from-the-shoebox

i wonder if many/any Future Islands fans follow his rap appearances (as Hemlock Ernst)

New album is sick. I can't understand people who hate this band.

I can. It's the limp electronics, weak songs and borderline "hilarious" vocals that do it.

not enough 'musical content' for you?

The compositions aren't particularly great and the individual parts that the music comprises of are generally uninteresting and never coalesce into anything worthwhile... so in answer to your question: yes.

you mean the notes?

lol

My general reaction to this album is "this is what I wish Destroyer sounded like"

you mean the notes?

― Sufjan Grafton, Tuesday, April 11, 2017 4:49 PM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That would be one aspect of it, yes. My, we have some clever people here.

i like the record but nothing they've done has topped the one-off from 2012 "Cotton Flower" for me... that's a perfect song

Really enjoying the new record. North Star has been stuck in my head since I first heard it. It's such a lovely song.

"Comprises of". It's "...is comprised of", Mr Musicology.

Oh yes, that either could have been "comprised of" or "consists of" and in a rush I ended up with a mash-up of both. Shit happens. So yes, you're absolutely right, good catch. Your medal for services to pedantry are in the mail. Unfortunately for you, this doesn't change my stance on this woeful band and their music in any way.

*is

"Comprises of". It's "...is comprised of", Mr Musicology.

― albvivertine, Tuesday, April 11, 2017 10:57 PM (forty-three minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

O_O

Turrican: T/S - Future Islands or The 1975? Show your work.

For clarification, I enjoy four aspects of these future island songs: the selected notes, the selected times at which these notes are excited in my atmosphere by my personal transducer, the harmonic content surrounding the notes caused by the way these notes were excited and input into the recording transducer, and the words sung by the vocal instrument.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Fingers_and_thumb_in_circle_downward_motion.jpg/220px-Fingers_and_thumb_in_circle_downward_motion.jpg

and the hooks, yes

that was @ turrypoo btw

Thank you kindly for the offer, qualx, but I'm afraid the prince you seek is in another castle. Ask your dad instead.

I think this is a good band.

I am amused at who doesn't.

That's all

this new one is just 100% hooks its good

Thank you kindly for the offer, qualx, but I'm afraid the prince you seek is in another castle. Ask your dad instead.

― ...so music and chicken have become intertwined (Turrican), Wednesday, April 12, 2017 2:04 PM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://ih1.redbubble.net/image.7412653.0836/sticker,375x360.png

So far I'm convinced this is their best album, although listening to their back catalogue I will say that the format has been roughly the same for several years. I was kind of hoping they'd go full prog for this one.

"Future Islands sound like Robert Palmer struggling to untie a raincoat". David Quantick on Twitter

"Future Islands sound like Robert Palmer struggling to untie a raincoat". David Quantick on Twitter

psyched that Sam wore a Double Dagger shirt last night on Conan.

Sam singing with Double Dagger in 2009:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD8V-f4L2Jc

I'm out of the loop, is Turrican a less friendly Geir

*yawns*

I'd say a more cheerful Alex in NYC

Actually, I'll take that.

lots of double dagger/FI connections - William Cashion plays in a band with one of the guys from DD

yep, Peals - the record they put out last year is sweet. James Iha plays on "Punk Migration"!

Future Islands and Dan Deacon opened for Double Dagger at their last show in 2011.

So far I'm convinced this is their best album, although listening to their back catalogue I will say that the format has been roughly the same for several years. I was kind of hoping they'd go full prog for this one.

but yeah, I totally agree with the second part and it's been pretty funny to read reviews of The Far Field which are mostly like "they've been generally about the same thing, it's a band that values consistency, sticks to one formula and doesn't try to break musical ground, hey, they're good guys". I guess you can argue there's nothing wrong with making safe record but some of those writers go so out of their way to justify that it's hilarious.

I also think that this one is a lot less hook-based than Singles, nothing really caught my ear too much on this one, it flows pretty much from one song to another.

Every time it hits "Day Glow Fire", I stop whatever I'm doing and look up the song title so I can make sure I remember the name of the song this time. (It never works because, aside from specific new albums that I instantly imprint upon, I can't remember the names of any of the songs/tracks on any of the albums I purchase these days, but that one is a specific standout that distinguishes itself from the other songs to my ears.)

I like the new one a lot. Singles was awesome, why not spend a little bit more time in that mode?

i like this song "ran"

Ran is great. North Star is great. If they carry on in this groove for the next album they'll lose me but for now I'm quite happy to float around in their little weird world

it's got some great cuts like 'Time On Her Side,' 'Ran,' and 'Ancient Water,' but then there are clunkers like 'Shadows,' which is kind of cringe-y (imo)...

"Future Islands sound like Robert Palmer struggling to untie a raincoat". David Quantick on Twitter

^ This is such an insufferable "zing". Can almost hear someone chuckling "Oh, DELICIOUS!" into the arm of their smoking jacket.

a raincoat!

This band is great *and* that's a very funny joke from a very funny writer

joke is ilm xkcd

It's a good joke if you're one of the lamer British people on this board or Alfred Lord Sotosyn.

that is what they sound like though. (still great)

I'm quite enjoying Samuel Herring's debut of his hip hop side project as Hemlock Ernst with Kenny Segal.

ooooh wtf that's him? popped on my recommendations, it's good! i was wondering who the other dude was