I know what you mean, Otis - anyone who's ever been in the same room as me when I've played Magnetic Fields has used it as an excuse to complain about my music tastes ("You've got so many cds - how none of them are any good?").
― Tim, Wednesday, 31 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Wheeler, maybe if you stopped listening to the MFs, you wouldn't be a moron anymore. Did you ever think about that?
― Ally, Wednesday, 31 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Wheeler, Wednesday, 31 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
When I bought the set at Record Runner 2 years ago, Organised Sound didn't stock it yet (usually go there before RR) and I don't think anyone else in Ottawa did either. I think it was still an import at the time. Don't know if it still is now.
I'm guessing that $32 * exchange rate + shipping + taxes (?) would still come out to at least $50.
Am I acquainted with you offline Vic?
― sundar subramanian, Wednesday, 31 October 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Wheeler, believe me, the improvements have been vast and numerous. I mean, in the past six months, you've gone from your Potion Lounge performance to the way you behave now, which is lots better - I mean, you are the King of Hampshire College. AND your taste in music has improved, you now carry around those great mix CDs we listened to on the way to Orient Point, whereas just a few months ago it was that godawful Turbonegro CD all the time. If you stay off the Mags long enough, you might become like the next Derek Jeter or something - all your life problems, solved.
Though not listening to the Mags has added a disturbing tendency to ditch me and Ramon to hang with Stephanie, who is moving into an artist wherehouse full of weird diaper wearing freaks and mannequins.
― Ally, Thursday, 1 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nitsuh, Thursday, 1 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Sterling Clover, Thursday, 1 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
But this has nothing to do with Stephin Merrit!
― ALly, Thursday, 1 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
That said, I was a much happier person back when I was a more frequent Mag Fields listener (although you probably would have said I was a "sadder" person in your opinion -- but then again, you'd probably still do that now). Come to think of it, I can't think of a single Mag Fields song that I've ever interpreted as "sad."
I don't mean sad like necessarily actually miserable or sad...It's hard to define, maybe "wanker" is a better term. I fully acknowledge the possibility that this is merely because the people I know are wankers and nothing to do with the Magnetic Fields.
I.e., they're sort of like really huge They Might Be Giants fans -- people who could never make any serious emotional connection to music, and therefore only like music that's deliberately self- conscious and jokey and awkward about the fact that it even is music.
I saw the first of their 69-song Chicago shows, and there were a number of people like this in the audience, who seemed to expect that the show would be, like, comedic or something. They somehow thought Mag Fields were joke-rock.
― the pinefox, Friday, 2 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― sundar subramanian, Friday, 2 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Nick, Friday, 2 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Best exemplified by someone I know's reaction to a sort of house-y track on the new TMBG album, which involved a lot of amazed giggling: "Whoah, check it out, they're doing a dance track!" To which I wanted to reply something like: "You know, there are thousands of whole albums that are entirely house music, but you won't dream of listening to any of those." It's this weird "I only listen to music as parody" kind of phenomenon, but I don't think it should reflect too poorly on the bands involved, and only covers a limited portion of their fanbases.
― Nitsuh, Friday, 2 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
The whole comic / pastiche etc thing, this convinces me, is *one aspect* of the MFs, which is really mainly a 69LS issue. (TCotHS = staggeringly significant LP, as Steady Mike has been insisting for ages before I went near the thing.)
― the pinefox, Tuesday, 6 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― sundar subramanian, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mark, Wednesday, 20 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― geeta, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Ally C, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― sundar subramanian, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Tallulah Gosh?
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― Mark, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― BadAssFrey, Tuesday, 11 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― electric sound of jim, Tuesday, 11 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
― felicity (felicity), Friday, 13 September 2002 02:31 (twenty-one years ago) link
If you're asking, "Ernest, aren't you a little bit obsessive?", the answer is yes.
― Ernest P. (ernestp), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 02:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 03:13 (nineteen years ago) link
rufus, who i like but not nearly as much, has an entirely separate problem. it's not mawkishness. it's that he isn't a very good lyricist.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 03:28 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 12:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 15:52 (nineteen years ago) link
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 16:07 (nineteen years ago) link
he's done some great stuff since then, but he's never been the same, having entirely given up on his homemade synth-pop attack by the time of 69 love songs. he's going for something entirely different now. but he was a pop song machine back then, and wasps' nests weren't throwaways but rather the mark of a guy who had too many good songs to contain within his own records. a lot of those 6th songs were staples of the mag fields' live shows in those days, too.
― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 16:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― the bellefox, Sunday, 19 February 2006 20:08 (eighteen years ago) link
― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Sunday, 19 February 2006 21:39 (eighteen years ago) link
But the true answer, I think, is: whichever is playing. For they are both so irresistible!
I really like the melody of the second half of the verse of 'Young & Insane': 'the record store / is execrable'. Maybe I mean I like the lyric too. I don't really know the whole lyric. I like also the way that at the end of the chorus he flatly repeats 'Young & Insane', just to make things clear.
It is queer how those two songs are so far ahead of the rest of that ep, which is droning rather than delightful; unless I am forgetting something.
― the bellefox, Sunday, 19 February 2006 23:53 (eighteen years ago) link
― the bellefox, Monday, 20 February 2006 00:01 (eighteen years ago) link
― toby (tsg20), Monday, 20 February 2006 01:38 (eighteen years ago) link
It is a great phrase, and it always seemed to me to promise a song of great depth. I don't think the song itself is that song - it's just a piece of tremendous freshness.
But what does the chorus mean, then? That love's real home is in Paris ... that it is Spring now ... and so it is leaving Merritt (in NYC? you could hardly sing the song in Paris) and flying home ... leaving him antipathetic to the addressee?
― the bellefox, Monday, 20 February 2006 10:59 (eighteen years ago) link
"tremendous freshness" - excellent!
― toby (tsg20), Monday, 20 February 2006 14:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― cousin ill, Monday, 20 February 2006 15:45 (eighteen years ago) link
― the bellefox, Wednesday, 22 February 2006 14:44 (eighteen years ago) link
You're out of luck there.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 22 February 2006 15:04 (eighteen years ago) link