Tegan + Sara -- s/d

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so, i been listening to the newish tegan + sara record, and two things strike me:
--i quite like it
--it's also quite generic. there's no edges there; nothing that reallymakes them stand out. but yet, i still quite like it.

anyone else have this experience? anyone want to contribute to a t+s s/d?

bucky wunderlick (bucky), Thursday, 26 June 2003 18:40 (9 years ago) Permalink

yeah, they're quite nondescript. they're okay, but they have really shitty attitudes and so, for me, considering their lukewarm music, that edges them into dud territory.

Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Thursday, 26 June 2003 19:13 (9 years ago) Permalink

im totally convinced they are both deaf, just the way they sing and pronounce their words..
oh and i hate them

jesus_was_a_gogo_dancer, Friday, 27 June 2003 03:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

boring drivel

Shaun (shaun), Friday, 27 June 2003 03:33 (9 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...
Revive, because now that Sasha Frere-Jones has a Tegan & Sara track in his top singles of 2004 the question is: will Pitchfork break down and actually deign to review So Jealous (which just happens to be a contender for best power-pop CD of the year) or would that be way too upsetting for them and maybe they should devote the space to discussing some newly unearthed Robert Pollard acetates instead. Or a Kittycraft best-of. Or something like that.

dlp9001, Sunday, 19 September 2004 22:17 (8 years ago) Permalink

So Jealous is definitely one of my big surprise loves this year. I hadn't heard their earlier stuff and had no idea they sounded like this. I'm going to review it for Stylus this week.

manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 19 September 2004 22:22 (8 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...
So, what style of music is "Walking With a Ghost?" The lead vocal sounds like Missing Persons, but the backing track is something else. I haven't been able to place it yet when it's come on the radio. It's retro somehow, but what is it?

Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 4 March 2005 17:52 (8 years ago) Permalink

"Walking With A Ghost" is maddeningly poor songwriting. Power pop needs at the very least a verse and a chorus; instead, there's basically a "line 1" and "line 2", each repeated 24 or so times in completely random combinations. FFS!

joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 4 March 2005 18:17 (8 years ago) Permalink

OTM. I liked "So Jealous" and "Speak Slow" best. Which song did Sasha pick?

W i l l (common_person), Friday, 4 March 2005 18:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

He liked "Take Me Anywhere." I love the album, but I have no idea why they picked Ghost as the single.

dlp9001, Friday, 4 March 2005 18:23 (8 years ago) Permalink

so... is the rest of the album better? should i check it out, then?

joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Friday, 4 March 2005 18:32 (8 years ago) Permalink

Ghost is the weakest track. I don't think it's an amazing album but it has its moments.

but they have really shitty attitudes

Where does this come from? They didn't seem *that* annoying on the So Jealous documentary.

W i l l (common_person), Friday, 4 March 2005 18:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'm listening to the samples on iTunes and I don't find it encouraging. "Walking With a Ghost" sounds like the nicest one to me, actually, so far. At least the repeating hooks have some impact.

Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 4 March 2005 18:40 (8 years ago) Permalink

i never really minded the stuff i heard off the first album. i wasn't blown away, but i didn't object to my ex playing it either. but that "Walking with the Ghost" just grates on me, something about the pitch of her voice and repetition of the title over and over just hits me in a bad, bad way. and of course the station my boss puts on at work has this track in heavy rotation.

jonviachicago, Friday, 4 March 2005 18:46 (8 years ago) Permalink

I like Tegan & Sara. They have pretty voices, and I like the way their voices intermingle. They're kind of like if the Indigo Girls had listedned to more Sleater-Kinney and less Buffy Ste. Marie.

Lyra Jane (Lyra Jane), Friday, 4 March 2005 21:42 (8 years ago) Permalink

I love the album, "Walking With A Ghost" isn't bad but doesn't even make my top 10 favorite songs on the album.

miccio (miccio), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

and the style is indie-rock bubblegum.

miccio (miccio), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:32 (8 years ago) Permalink

They've performed at the last 2 Bridge School Benefits. After giving the matter some thought: I'd rather sit through Alvin & The Chipmunks. Destroy them with the biggest plasma gun you can find.

VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 5 March 2005 06:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...
So my gf turned me onto this - I had no idea. "Walking with a Ghost" is stupendous. I immediately thought Missing Persons too. What a rush!

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 7 October 2005 23:54 (7 years ago) Permalink

T/S: T or S

joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Saturday, 8 October 2005 01:55 (7 years ago) Permalink

I love it when they used to look like rodents. My faves = Speak Slow ah ah where do we go AH AH where do we take me by the hand and tell me YOU would take me anyywheeeere, you would take me anywheeeere, I bet it stung. They are basically the female Suede. Think about that, it's a fact.

LeCoq (LeCoq), Saturday, 8 October 2005 04:30 (7 years ago) Permalink

Days and Days is awesome.

Jimmy Mod wants you to tighten the strings on your corset (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Saturday, 8 October 2005 04:35 (7 years ago) Permalink

I saw them in concert supporting another band. They were good, except their voices do get a bit annoying after a while.

salexander / sophie (salexander), Saturday, 8 October 2005 04:37 (7 years ago) Permalink

I love last year's record. I listen to it more than is healthy.

polyphonic (polyphonic), Saturday, 8 October 2005 04:40 (7 years ago) Permalink

rrrr what song is it that's quoted at the start of "you wouldn't like me"?? "there's a war inside of me..."

geoff (gcannon), Saturday, 8 October 2005 06:43 (7 years ago) Permalink

oh god it came to me "hey now hey now, don't dreeaaam it's over" by whoever the fuck that was. still, i like the t & s song a lot.

geoff (gcannon), Saturday, 8 October 2005 06:47 (7 years ago) Permalink

That would be from Crowded House "Hey now".

salexander / sophie (salexander), Saturday, 8 October 2005 09:07 (7 years ago) Permalink

I like the whole album a lot!

alext (alext), Saturday, 8 October 2005 09:56 (7 years ago) Permalink

Best album of 2004.

Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Saturday, 8 October 2005 23:27 (7 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

I LIKE HOW ALL THEIR SONGS ARE ABOUT WHAT FUCKUPS THEY ARE W GIRLS

President Evil, Thursday, 5 July 2007 10:13 (5 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

the last album (the con) is like fucking aural crack, it's all I've probably listened to it 100 times in the past month (it helps that it's really short and I've been working around the clock). I'm sure it's have a really horrible effect on me, it remains to be seen what that will be.

akm, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 07:43 (5 years ago) Permalink

wow that sentence was incomprehensible. sorry i've had 3 hours of sleep in two days

akm, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 07:44 (5 years ago) Permalink

For about two weeks when Walking With A Ghost came out, I thought that it was Ween making fun of someone I couldn't identify.

kingkongvsgodzilla, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 09:45 (5 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

4 T&S threads but this one mentions 'The Con', which I quite like

blueski, Tuesday, 22 July 2008 21:30 (4 years ago) Permalink

ONLY this one

blueski, Tuesday, 22 July 2008 21:30 (4 years ago) Permalink

i listen to that album all the time. someone else somewhere on ILX said they listen to them way more than is healthy and I am probably in this same demographic. I certainly think of that quote every time I listen to them (which, lately, is every time I'm in the car).

akm, Tuesday, 22 July 2008 22:01 (4 years ago) Permalink

I picked up "If It Was You" a couple years ago (from the dollar bin), and it kind of sat there for a long time. Recently I got stuck in a CD-only situation for quite awhile, and now I'm addicted to this CD.

KateStand, Tuesday, 22 July 2008 22:51 (4 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

I still want them to go back and de-compress "So Jealous" thereby undoing the only flaw in an otherwise amazing album.

Anyway...new album "Sainthood" is out, and man they're getting awfully consistantly good, to the point where it's easy to overlook them. My favorite thing at the moment is "The Cure" which makes me think that someone's been listening to "Oh Your City Lies In Dust." Pretty amazing production on this one as well...sometimes I'd swear that Eno (like AGW Eno) was behind some of the textures.

dlp9001, Tuesday, 3 November 2009 21:31 (3 years ago) Permalink

love the new one, yeah

a full circle lol (J0hn D.), Saturday, 14 November 2009 20:55 (3 years ago) Permalink

... even if they're just Dancing in the Dark

wax tadpole, Monday, 16 November 2009 18:34 (3 years ago) Permalink

this is great! they are a great band. there's almost a pretenders or, uh, pat benatar feel to some of them (good thing).

i don't have the album in front of me; the ones that really impress me are the slow-burn, low-slung repetitive ones. the pop-punk songs i like a lot less.

goole, Monday, 16 November 2009 18:50 (3 years ago) Permalink

the song they are playing a lot on the current is pretty dope

mr. que, covering up the vital parts, lest he embarrass the ladi (M@tt He1ges0n), Monday, 16 November 2009 19:01 (3 years ago) Permalink

i'm with you guys - it didn't grab me immediately, but on second and third listen i think it's a terrific batch of tunes. they don't sound anything like sleater-kinney, of course, but sometimes some of the vocals put me in the mind of The Girl Banned

Edgard Varese is god (of music anyways) (outdoor_miner), Monday, 16 November 2009 19:01 (3 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

i think the new single is terrific and lol the production/instrumentation reminds me of perfume

emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 18:44 (8 months ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

Newer new track "I Was a Fool" would feel at home on a Fleetwood Mac album with different production and Stevie and/or Christine singing. http://soundcloud.com/teganandsara/i-was-a-fool/s-h5FKe

Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 16 January 2013 00:15 (5 months ago) Permalink

It's great! Copying my comment on the Pop thread:

Never cared much for Tegan and Sara, but The Line Of Best Fit's plug of the new single, deeming it "an epic Taylor Swift covering Kate Bush pop ballad", worked like a charm for me (even if I don't agree with the KB-part of that statement). Lovely song:

http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/new-music/blog/listen-tegan-and-sara-i-was-a-fool-116066

The sound reminds me of the Young Galaxy production from Lissvik (who are also coming with a new albums soon!)

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 16 January 2013 01:37 (5 months ago) Permalink

another new one: http://stereogum.com/1237151/tegan-sara-now-im-all-messed-up-stereogum-premiere/mp3s/

devastating imo

emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Wednesday, 16 January 2013 21:32 (5 months ago) Permalink

ruining the song i posted tbh

Le Bateau Ivre, Wednesday, 16 January 2013 22:06 (5 months ago) Permalink

Loving this Heartthrob album to bits.

Johnny Fever, Thursday, 24 January 2013 06:02 (4 months ago) Permalink

tbh neither of them (both? dunno who sings, don't care) have the slightest bit of character in their voice so it's kinda hard to even remember what they sounded like

lex pretend, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 17:19 (4 months ago) Permalink

also i can't disagree more that this has any resemblance to CRJ, or at least CRJ did not once cross my mind while enduring it

lex pretend, Tuesday, 5 February 2013 17:22 (4 months ago) Permalink

can't really get with any of those impressions except for the lack of space (which i like actually, the crowdedness of it, like a mind populated with anxious thoughts but less chaotic, arranged into this brightened, icy narrative). their voices are pretty weird imo. i don't find the melodies particularly twee and the sad and worried lyrical content allows for a vertiginous effect anyway.

but i still totally get where you're coming from. i just honestly thought you might dig this record a little. ah well.

emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 5 February 2013 17:47 (4 months ago) Permalink

also idk i feel a lot of space in stuff like "shock to your system" but maybe that's just an impression of the song's structure that has nothing to do with the actual effect of the production and mastering.

emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Tuesday, 5 February 2013 17:52 (4 months ago) Permalink

lex, i don't care about you not liking albums. it's more the blithe dismissal of all of our taste in all kinds of music ever, as though none of us have ever hyped albums that you love.

twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Wednesday, 6 February 2013 00:22 (4 months ago) Permalink

i know you often don't mean it but it just comes across as...idk.

twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Wednesday, 6 February 2013 00:23 (4 months ago) Permalink

otm. I know him well enough to see his tongue in cheek but, jeez, quite a few of us are far more restrained than he about lauding our faves.

the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 February 2013 00:26 (4 months ago) Permalink

this shitty album made me actually draw up a list of People To Remember Not To Trust When They Hype Music

― lex pretend, Tuesday, February 5, 2013 11:48 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

like i mean... i know you well enough to know when to hype music TO you and when you probably won't like something? saying "I really like this" isn't the same thing as saying "i think you will really like this" and... anyway. whatever. this is silly and not worth it and i don't want to turn this into a thing.

i just got home from class and need to go to the gym and if this is coming off catty or nasty i'm really sorry. :(

twinkin' and drinkin' and ready to fly (Alex in Montreal), Wednesday, 6 February 2013 00:42 (4 months ago) Permalink

I love Lexerbole
Until it turns to descriptions of actual violence

dry rub come save beef (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 6 February 2013 01:10 (4 months ago) Permalink

lex pretend's taste is one of the most difficult things to parse that i've come across

monotony, Wednesday, 6 February 2013 01:33 (4 months ago) Permalink

His likes are typically good. I understand why they're likeable. His hates are where the confusion comes in.

Except for "Wut," which...idgi.

Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 6 February 2013 03:19 (4 months ago) Permalink

New one sounds like Pink covering Phoenix.
First track nice.

Jessie Fer Ark (Mobbed Up Ping Pong Psychos), Saturday, 9 February 2013 00:09 (4 months ago) Permalink

"wut" being the girl unit track?

bish (bosch), don't kill my vibe (rennavate), Saturday, 9 February 2013 00:30 (4 months ago) Permalink

i like this quite a bit on the first few listens but i can kind of get why lex doesn't. the production sometimes gives me the feeling of being translated-into-pop and not pop itself.

goole, Monday, 11 February 2013 19:23 (4 months ago) Permalink

ie it's an indie record, still. fine with me, but...

goole, Monday, 11 February 2013 19:24 (4 months ago) Permalink

Revisiting the older albums, they all sound so DEAD compared to this new one. So little energy. They're all lifeless and soured. It's like someone came in with Heartthrob and turned on the lights.

Johnny Fever, Monday, 11 February 2013 20:13 (4 months ago) Permalink

i came into this record as a fan of Greg Kurstin and not really knowing their stuff, and i think they work pretty well together on it.

BIG REUSS aka the fun.driver (some dude), Monday, 11 February 2013 20:18 (4 months ago) Permalink

Greg Kurstin makes good pop songs ("Radioactive" by Rita Ora was one of my favorites last year). Does he still release music on his own, or is he just a behind the scenes guy now?

Johnny Fever, Monday, 11 February 2013 20:21 (4 months ago) Permalink

ie it's an indie record, still. fine with me, but...

otm. To those of us who like indie-pop as well as capital-P Pop, it sounds like a nice merger of the two. But if you don't have an indie-pop bone in yr body, it could be a harder sell.

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Monday, 11 February 2013 20:21 (4 months ago) Permalink

his group The Bird & The Bee hasn't made a record in a minute but they're supposedly doing a new one soon. and yeah "Radioactive" is dope. i may make a Kurstin poll thread, i don't think people realize yet how many jams he's done.

BIG REUSS aka the fun.driver (some dude), Monday, 11 February 2013 20:23 (4 months ago) Permalink

Oh, ha! I'd forgotten he was half of The Bird & The Bee. I was wondering how long it's been since Geggy Tah broke up.

Johnny Fever, Monday, 11 February 2013 20:26 (4 months ago) Permalink

unterberger did a good interview w/ him the other day: http://popdust.com/2013/02/08/from-geggy-tah-to-the-grammys-the-wild-ride-of-pop-impersario-greg-kurstin/

BIG REUSS aka the fun.driver (some dude), Monday, 11 February 2013 20:28 (4 months ago) Permalink

cool interview

Johnny Fever, Monday, 11 February 2013 20:34 (4 months ago) Permalink

It would be funny if he and Linda Perry and Gregg Alexander and Dan Semisonic all started their own little Brill Building.

Johnny Fever, Monday, 11 February 2013 20:35 (4 months ago) Permalink

and then the Mark McGrath cruise ship crashes into it

BIG REUSS aka the fun.driver (some dude), Monday, 11 February 2013 20:40 (4 months ago) Permalink

Especially after revisiting the old albums for fresher perspective, the reviews of Heartthrob on RYM are an even funnier bit of schadenfreude.

WAH sold out
WAH where are the guitars
WAH where are the good lyrics
WAH sara hates this album and it was all tegan's idea (huh?)

Johnny Fever, Monday, 11 February 2013 20:45 (4 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Really, really liking this record after being kinda meh on the last two, where the shift from that kind of New Pornographers-y raggedness to a more "mainstream indie" sound was a letdown. The slickness of this record works because it forces the hooks a bit more, and I've already had a number of these songs stuck in my head over the last week or so. "I'm Not Your Hero" is particularly devastating, and I kinda love them for sticking something so confessional and personal on what is meant to be their big crossover record.

Also, this record >>>> CRJ's. Need I remind y'all that Owl City makes no appearance on this one?

Public Brooding Closet (cryptosicko), Wednesday, 13 March 2013 04:29 (3 months ago) Permalink

I live in a city with two alternative rock stations and never heard "Closer" once. Wonder why they didn't pick it up.

timellison, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 05:09 (3 months ago) Permalink

would you really say "closer" is alternative rock?

daavid, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 06:04 (3 months ago) Permalink

ppl keep recommending this to me (even tho i don't know any of their previous work) so maybe i will actually listen to it soon

teledyldonix, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 07:21 (3 months ago) Permalink

(even tho i don't know any of their previous work)

Not a prerequisite imo.

Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 07:25 (3 months ago) Permalink

the airplay "Closer" has gotten has been mainly on rock/alt stations, hasn't really broken through to US pop radio (although it's their first top 40 hit in Canada, apparently).

some dude, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 11:58 (3 months ago) Permalink

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've heard them on alt-rock radio since "Walking with the Ghost," so there's precedent involved with their last few albums. Considering it as something along the lines of "Pink covering Phoenix," though, it makes me wonder if its the Pink factor that's excluding them this time.

timellison, Wednesday, 13 March 2013 21:43 (3 months ago) Permalink

i fell asleep at the wheel while driving listening to this record. not because the album is boring, because I was sleepy. but still now I don't think I will ever be able to listen to it again since I almost killed myself.

akm, Thursday, 14 March 2013 04:35 (3 months ago) Permalink

yikes! glad you're ok

some dude, Thursday, 14 March 2013 04:39 (3 months ago) Permalink

I had a wreck perfectly soundtracked to "Wrong" by Archers of Loaf once and I still love that song and love them. You'll move past this.

(Likewise, glad you're okay)

Johnny Fever, Thursday, 14 March 2013 06:43 (3 months ago) Permalink

Only accident I've ever been in was a biking accident (got scratched up pretty bad, though), and that was while listening to Over The Rhine.

Public Brooding Closet (cryptosicko), Thursday, 14 March 2013 18:47 (3 months ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

I bought a used copy of their first one a couple of years ago, played it once, put it away. Took it out for a drive downtown today, and I'd agree with the first post on this thread: pretty good but very generic. But I like this one a lot (even better as soundtrack music with Spanish subtitles):

clemenza, Saturday, 30 March 2013 19:48 (2 months ago) Permalink

their new album is good

teledyldonix, Sunday, 31 March 2013 04:15 (2 months ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

i wanna hear a country version of "fool for love"

goole, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 22:02 (1 month ago) Permalink

er shit "i was a fool"

goole, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 22:02 (1 month ago) Permalink

Is there a secret to tell who's Tegan and who's Sara?

Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 22:15 (1 month ago) Permalink

It's tattooed on the back of their neck.

Huston we got chicken lol (Phil D.), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 22:19 (1 month ago) Permalink

(sry, Monty Python joeks)

Huston we got chicken lol (Phil D.), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 22:19 (1 month ago) Permalink

Ah, just watched a current video interview. Tegan has the curls, Sara has the straight hair.

Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 22:34 (1 month ago) Permalink

Vocally, Tegan's a little throatier, Sara's more nasal.

something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 23:07 (1 month ago) Permalink

let's make lots of money

A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 30 April 2013 23:09 (1 month ago) Permalink

Yeah, I've picked up on that (based on the song Sara did with Theophilus London sans Tegan), but those qualities in their voices aren't always front and center.

Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 30 April 2013 23:09 (1 month ago) Permalink

also, tegan has a labret piercing and sara doesn't (though that's not always super visible)

kaygee, Wednesday, 1 May 2013 03:52 (1 month ago) Permalink

i was a fooooool

dyl, Wednesday, 1 May 2013 04:53 (1 month ago) Permalink


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