― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Friday, 8 August 2003 01:44 (twenty years ago) link
― youn, Friday, 8 August 2003 05:37 (twenty years ago) link
I suppose one problem I have with FM is how determinedly not-shouty it is, or rather how simpleminded is their solution to that perceived problem.
― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 05:49 (twenty years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 05:53 (twenty years ago) link
By "FM" I mean Field Mice, without exception. I've never heard them on the radio!
I wonder how this thread would've progressed if the confusion continued...??
― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 05:54 (twenty years ago) link
is it fair to say that the FMs were one of the 'indie-dance' pioneers? and if so is this something to be proud of?
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 05:56 (twenty years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:01 (twenty years ago) link
― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:01 (twenty years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:04 (twenty years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:05 (twenty years ago) link
well what i'm getting at is that i think they pre-dated all that Madchester/"indie dance" nonsense (back when "indie dance" wasn't really dance at all)
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:06 (twenty years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:18 (twenty years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 06:19 (twenty years ago) link
― youn, Friday, 8 August 2003 06:26 (twenty years ago) link
― etc, Friday, 8 August 2003 07:21 (twenty years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 07:25 (twenty years ago) link
― Jim Eaton-Terry (Jim E-T), Friday, 8 August 2003 08:30 (twenty years ago) link
Jim E-T: the idea that TFM were ever the Band You Had To Like in Exeter is baffling to me in the extreme. Did indie really have a heyday in Exeter? (I left the area in 1989 and kind of assumed that the same 10 people stayed liking that kind of stuff as had been interested for the previous five years.) TFM played their second (third?) ever show in Exeter, as I recall.
― Tim (Tim), Friday, 8 August 2003 08:56 (twenty years ago) link
― Alan (Alan), Friday, 8 August 2003 09:14 (twenty years ago) link
(Sorry Sarah)
― Tom (Groke), Friday, 8 August 2003 09:23 (twenty years ago) link
― Jim Eaton-Terry (Jim E-T), Friday, 8 August 2003 10:18 (twenty years ago) link
Jesus, we must have overlapped. I was there from 89-91.
― Jim Eaton-Terry (Jim E-T), Friday, 8 August 2003 10:19 (twenty years ago) link
I saw the WDYLTKTW comp for a fiver and bought it meaning to flog it on e-bay for as much as it could get. I haven't sold the bugger yet, as I do very occasionally play the keybd/sequencer tracks which aren't bad. But the jangle-indie stuff is staggeringly useless - Wratten's lyrics are so *literal* and plain - no mystery, nothing unexpected, just 'I am so far way from you/summer's too long..blah blah blah.How can anyone stand to listen to this shit? It's delivered in such a mopey, 'I'm so useless' milksop croon that you want to say 'Stop hanging around the fucking coach station you dozy twot and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!' Or bring back national service!At least Morrissey was funny.
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 8 August 2003 10:44 (twenty years ago) link
i like wratten veers towards the wet on many occasions, but how can you deny a song like "so said kay" or "missing the moon", two of their least literal (and most beautiful) songs..
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 11:12 (twenty years ago) link
― flowersdie (flowersdie), Friday, 8 August 2003 12:29 (twenty years ago) link
I really dislike the record sleeves, for the most part, and I know I part ways not just with many of you but with several of my closer friends as well on this. I always thought the lettering was too big! They often seem like Minimalism for Dummies. (I guess this quality--a kind of studied naivete--is on purpose.) I find the For Keeps cover especially ugly. I like a lot of the covers to the Sarah comps, though.
― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 14:28 (twenty years ago) link
― flowersdie (flowersdie), Friday, 8 August 2003 14:38 (twenty years ago) link
This is something that bothered me about the FM, but now it doesn't for some reason. I think the first time I heard "If You Need Someone," I probably cringed.
If you need someone to tell you everything is gonna be alright, I can do that, I can do that, I can.
Bob is really a wimpy, wistful, fragile fellow (and seeing him live confirms this), and it comes off as completely honest. So it works for me. A little sincerity is refreshing nowadays, isn't it? (But I can *totally* see how people would hate his lyrics. I gave the comp to a friend of mine, and he said that he loved the music but sometimes the lyrics made him want to punch the guy.)
So, "Willow":Don't you go thinking I never did love you
Kills me every time.
― Ernest P. (ernestp), Friday, 8 August 2003 14:45 (twenty years ago) link
― amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 8 August 2003 14:46 (twenty years ago) link
― flowersdie (flowersdie), Friday, 8 August 2003 15:03 (twenty years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Friday, 8 August 2003 21:32 (twenty years ago) link
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 06:20 (twenty years ago) link
― Rob M (Rob M), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 06:32 (twenty years ago) link
Matt Haynes makes me well cross with his attitude to reissues.
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 07:14 (twenty years ago) link
[Homer Simpson voice] Bids, anyone?
― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 08:02 (twenty years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 08:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Rob M (Rob M), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 08:23 (twenty years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 08:28 (twenty years ago) link
I bought all the records at the time because I loved the music, and I still love the music now, and it breaks my heart that I've had to sell them and I'll never be able to see them again, but on the other hand my financial needs (paying back a loan for an eye operation) are more important than music at the moment. I'm refusing to sell any of my Sarah CDs because it's those I play the most, but the vinyl can go in dribs and drabs and if people want to buy it, let them. I'd dearly love some kind of "Sarah Soup" compilations which compile all the first 50 singles onto CD (and I've done what I can from my collection anyway), but I don't think that's ever going to happen.
So, people like me will sell our records, and Matt will complain. But he's the only one with the power to do anything about it.
― Rob M (Rob M), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 08:33 (twenty years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 08:34 (twenty years ago) link
― marianna, Wednesday, 20 August 2003 09:07 (twenty years ago) link
― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 11:08 (twenty years ago) link
Matt's attitude to reissues/collectors annoys me too. But being realistic (and playing devil's advocate for a moment), he's working with limited funds, and, given the choice, wouldn't you prefer to release a new record than repress an old one? Either way, I get the impression he's really not interested in music any more, if indeed he ever was.
I won't go into the ins-&-outs of Bob's songwriting here; all a bit too close to home. But, cover designs: yes, uniformly bad. "Minimalism for Dummies"..exactly.
Marianna: a Bob W retirement fund is a *very* good idea...
― harveyw (harveyw), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 11:35 (twenty years ago) link
But let's face it, as nice as the occasional Fosca or Tompot Blenny record are (and yours of course are marvellous, Harvey, any chance of another?) Shinkhansen seems to be slowly fading off into the distance, even a TBS compilation is like admitting defeat, that people only are interested in Bob's bands, and now they've gone I can't see the label lasting for too long. As Harvey says, I think Matt's lost interest in music.
(Of course, Matt could always reply to the contrary here)
― Rob M (Rob M), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 11:58 (twenty years ago) link
― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 12:02 (twenty years ago) link
― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 20 August 2003 12:03 (twenty years ago) link
Absolutely. There's some serious (and highly varied) pastoral evocation going on here
― imago, Monday, 18 December 2023 21:05 (five months ago) link
holland street is a dazzling instrumental
― brimstead, Monday, 18 December 2023 21:22 (five months ago) link
i adore "missing the moon" but i've never really dug into them beyond that
― ufo, Monday, 18 December 2023 21:33 (five months ago) link
“letting go” is really gorgeous and dreamy too, I don’t think it’s on the Shinkansen comp.
― brimstead, Monday, 18 December 2023 21:40 (five months ago) link
"Other Galaxies" is pretty epic by their standards, and only shows up on a Waaah! comp if I recall. They also recorded a version of Loop's "Burning Sky" for a Waaah! flexidisc. There could be an amazing collection of experimental stuff by The Field Mice in which the word "twee" dare not be spoken.
― henry s, Monday, 18 December 2023 21:48 (five months ago) link
only field mice I own is For Keeps and it has such an inventive and surprising mix of styles, much more than I expected from their twee rep
― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Monday, 18 December 2023 21:50 (five months ago) link
I'm not super familiar with the Field Mice catalog but "Fabulous Friend" sounds like it came straight off of R.E.M.'s Reckoning, which is a very good thing in my book.
― The king of the demo (bernard snowy), Monday, 18 December 2023 21:56 (five months ago) link
Too many people here need to explore more it seems
― Evan, Monday, 18 December 2023 21:56 (five months ago) link
this song from a Peel Session is so good, v New Orderish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_27IUnBk1o
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Monday, 18 December 2023 22:13 (five months ago) link
― brimstead, Monday, 18 December 2023 21:22 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink
this one absolutely leapt out at me yeah
― imago, Monday, 18 December 2023 22:39 (five months ago) link
Humblebee was lovely ty!
― imago, Monday, 18 December 2023 22:47 (five months ago) link
ditto Anoint
― imago, Monday, 18 December 2023 22:53 (five months ago) link
"Below The Stars" has a lovely Lazer Guided Melodies vibe. More of this sort of thing please!
― The king of the demo (bernard snowy), Tuesday, 19 December 2023 19:24 (five months ago) link
Another obscure good one, originally given away on vinyl with Bob Stanley’s old Caff zine. Goes for a small fortune nowadays
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYsMIDKeMCI
― piscesx, Wednesday, 20 December 2023 13:26 (five months ago) link