The Father John Misty Thread

yknow I could really go for a whole album of "Well You Can Do It Without Me" type jaunty country-pop but I guess he's too "smart" for that or whatever

"Real Love Baby" is great because he didn't write it for the insufferable Father John Misty character he's lost himself in. Truth be told, his earnest folk albums as J. Tillman are pretty unlistenable, but at least he was easy to ignore back then. It's frustrating now because every stunt he pulls gets hot take'd into death—the novelty songs, the interviews, the controversial lyrics, the stage rants—clogging up news feeds for days. Worse, it all happens with the knowledge that he's really talented and can make infectious pop songs (i.e. "Real Love Baby") but decides to spiral further down into his meta rabbit hole of masturbatory in-jokes and freshman philosophy level musings. He's funny, too, but that gets obscured by the fact he doesn't think a musician can court fame without compromising some antiquated notion of authenticity.

Oh no a musician w personal ethics how terrible rmde

The problem is that he tries to impose those personal ethics on other artists. He said to Rolling Stone, "Artists need to consider whether they can live with themselves if they’re just singing about breakups and whatever," like his dorm room critical theory is any more socially Important.

in the current rush to destroy straight white guys i fail to understand how this one isn't first on the list

"Artists" is obviously generalized/abstract there, I'm sure he's including himself in that statement.

Xp

doesn't make it much better

he doesn't think a musician can court fame without compromising some antiquated notion of authenticity.

― Handsome Bookor, Thursday, March 23, 2017 9:09 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

isn't Pitchfork proving him right, though? It's as if his publicist concocts a new 'hot take" every day and Pitchfork are just hanging on the line waiting to see if the latest scoop will be about Stranger Things or Kanye or Taylor or...

Again, his thing--such that it is--is working, despite the pushback. A lot of people I know know this guy's name, very very few have heard his music or even the name of his latest album ("It's 'Honeyboo-boo something-something' right?")

in the current rush to destroy straight white guys i fail to understand how this one isn't first on the list

― call all destroyer, Thursday, March 23, 2017 10:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

completely otm

not sure I can ever truly forgive Aziz Ansari for building an episode of Master of None around seeing this tool in concert.

Yeah, true. In his defense, though, is his dilettanteishness blandery. He isn't /quite/ dumb enough to write off entirely, /quite/ pretentious enough to eye-roll, /quite/ drab enough to become wallpaper, /quite/ honest enough to be admirable. I find his antic persona weirdly relatable- like, the kind of dumb inchoate shit I might say if given a pop platform.

It's as if his publicist concocts a new 'hot take" every day and Pitchfork are just hanging on the line waiting to see if the latest scoop will be about Stranger Things or Kanye or Taylor or...

The annoying thing, as far as I see it, is that he wants to have it both ways. Sing about VR sex with Taylor Swift, get a lot of press for his album, and then say it's social commentary. He'll make the songs, and then criticize people for liking them.

Total Entertainment Forever = totally Captain Fantastic era Elton.

he doesn't think a musician can court fame without compromising some antiquated notion of authenticity.

which is itself a fucking tired antiquated notion. at least Bowie invented a space alien.

Who he really reminds me of is Nilsson, sort of agent-provacateur pop

he really sounds like he wants to sound like Nilsson. but he doesn't have the pipes, he doesn't have the charm, he doesn't have the humor. Nilsson was effortless and sly and dgaf. he could get you thrown out of a club even if you were John Lennon.

this guy is a tryhard, safe as milk coffee shop rebel. the pomo "What is authenticity?" stuff is tired, old, leaden Trenchant Social Commentary.

lol @ "You guys don't know irony!" it's a lot like watching a bad comedian and people defending them by saying "You don't get it/It's going over your head".

like, ah yes, it is "performance art", that means i must shut my brain off and appreciate everything he is doing.

I'll grant that he doesn't have Nilsson's pipes, but that's a p high bar

no one can sing like that guy

this guy was being interviewed by Charlie Stayt and Steph McGovern on BBC Breakfast this morning! I didn't realise he had any profile beyond ilm/pitchfork etc

A "tryhard?" What a fantastically shitty thing to say.

yeah, don't try as hard!

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=try-hard

A person who puts a large amount of effort into achieving a certain image, or counter-image, to the point where it is obviously contrived. Rather than achieving an image through genuine personality, the try-hard consciously attempts to fit a certain style through deliberate imitation, forced style, or scripted behavior. That is to say, he/she is trying hard to create an image.

here you go wise guys

he seems pretty up-front about his image being totally contrived and putting a lot of effort into it idgi

Rather than achieving an image through genuine personality,

lol, who's priveleging tired notions of authenticity now?

i really liked his cover of "God"

he seems pretty up-front about his image being totally contrived and putting a lot of effort into it idgi

ah, the old "It's performance art!" get out of jail free card. i am well aware he has made this disclaimer. it's all he has. it's just not interesting. this is an uninteresting person musing about how interesting they are.

i actually like everything about FJM except his music. it's a drag

when someone like David Bowie or Madonna does the self aware performance art deconstruction thing, it was about that journey, not about how clever they were for doing so.

also, their music was awesome, which certainly helped the medicine go down

ah, the old "It's performance art!" get out of jail free card. i am well aware he has made this disclaimer. it's all he has. it's just not interesting. this is an uninteresting person musing about how interesting they are.

I'm not using it as a get out of jail free card, I'm pointing out that your critique of his persona makes no sense/is inconsistent.

Madonna's music is 99% garbage

Nilsson doesn't seem like the right point of comparison to me. If we're talking 70s pro-studio gloss + darkly cynical/sarcastic lyrics about sex and drugs and assholes then the obvious reference point is everyone's favorite Coachella 2015 performers

― Οὖτις, Thursday, January 15, 2015 9:22 AM (two years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha btw I obviously changed my mind about this, although I do still think the Dan are also a good pt of comparison (sans the smooth jazz chops obviously and maybe unfortunately)

OBVIOUSLY, I say

@Adam Still a horrible term, even though you didn't make it up.

I still like FJM, although so far the new tracks have all been a bit samey: ponderous ballads with shoehorned-in lyrics and meandering melodies.

ponderous ballads with shoehorned-in lyrics and meandering melodies.

this is literally the dictionary definition of indie music, what more could you want?

<i>Madonna's music is 99% garbage

― Οὖτις,</i>

dude no. it's much more like 45% garbage

70s pro-studio gloss + darkly cynical/sarcastic lyrics about sex and drugs and assholes

if you want to do this & don't have the stones to go full trainwreck like tim buckley c greetings from la, then you should be doing something else.

I dont know that one, will check it

Omg Greetings from LA is amazing avant sleeze, like US Maple goes LA coke rock, FJM's arms are too short to box w god

i kinda hate buckley's vox in general unfortunately

figured i'd drop in to see how angry this album made people....and ya didn't disappoint lol

i've never fully been able to comprehend how people who were probably 100 percent in the tank for 9 zillion other indie artists with performative as fuck attitudes who said dumb things find /this/ fuckin dork (which i say as a fan) to be the straw that breaks the rage-camel's back, but w/e i guess

(and if anyone thinks he actually is "offended" by pop stars making pop songs they're taking the most obvious bait. if what enrages you is him dropping the bait in the first place, thats an entirely fair criticism. and i personally wish he'd never opened his bloody mouth about taylor swift, whom i generally like.)

ALL THAT SAID, "leaving L.A." is all his worst aspects taken to sadistic extremes and overall this record is only gonna make people who hate him hate him 9,000 times more. but it feels reeaaaallly appropriate for my beer and missile strike news hangover & my suspicion that we're all gonna die soon

wb sloth! stick around awhile

The Rolling Stone interview where he tries to pretend that "Swift" is the only word that rhymed with "Occulus Rift" was highly stupid. Obviously it was for attention...perhaps he's just trolling. But like if I had never heard him before that, I would honestly not bother seeking him out.

The disproportionate attention given to the TS line is kinda pathetic. Some reviewers doth protest too much.

A divisive record I guess, but I'm loving it. FJM's prior work didn't register with me and his recent SNL performance only disgusted me with what seemed an awkward and self-conscious attempt at, ugh, ironic performance art. But I happened to be bored one day and casually dug into a lengthy interview with him, which prompted me to get past my bias and sample the new album. Strangely enough it's been my main listen for the past week or so, despite it feeling overly long on the first few listens. The record itself doesn't seem at all ironic but then again, I also tend to listen to Jim O'Rourke on just the visceral level. My reaction to Pure Comedy is closer to what sloth has concluded above, in that this album (and the lyrics in particular) is one of the very few things working as I watch in sad horror while the two superpowers on opposite sides of my own country begin to square off.

This guy is worse than Bon Iver and I didn't know that was possible.

so a pop singer said he doesn't like pop songs when in reality he... does? doesn't? it doesn't matter what he means so long as it has been made clear that he is being controversial.

oh wow, i really fell for the bait. what a brilliant trickster.

The mere mention of the name "Jim O'Rourke" on a thread about this imbecile is a crime (and yes I see the context and yes I realize it wasn't a comparison, but I'm thinking more of the scene in A Bronx Tale where Sonny doesn't want the kid in the crap game to have to look at the ugly mobster's face when he's throwing the dice so he covers the ugly mobster's head with a bag)

see, that mention of Jim O'Rourke makes me want to check this record out. really didn't like the title track but i'll give it a chance.

shakey reppin so hard for this dude is o_O

xpost Careful Flappy, I intended no direct comparisons between JO and FJM