Just bought the record from the 4AD site!
― ∞, Friday, 28 March 2014 03:50 (ten years ago) link
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).
― POO: the blossom or full flower of the evening (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 March 2014 03:51 (ten years ago) link
∞, you will probably love On the Water too!
― POO: the blossom or full flower of the evening (Sufjan Grafton), Friday, 28 March 2014 03:52 (ten years ago) link
googling!
― ∞, Friday, 28 March 2014 03:58 (ten years ago) link
Concert in Fargo (yup) this Saturday. Opening act apparently accompanies himself on bongos. Shall debrief after ears stop ringing.
― MV, Friday, 28 March 2014 04:00 (ten years ago) link
yeah wow this record is nice
― ciderpress, Friday, 28 March 2014 04:44 (ten years ago) link
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
― frogbs, Friday, 28 March 2014 04:45 (ten years ago) link
theres definitely a bit of jokiness to it that went away as of In Evening Air, but it might be their catchiest tune
― frogbs, Friday, 28 March 2014 04:46 (ten years ago) link
'a song for our grandfathers' is wonderful
― ciderpress, Friday, 28 March 2014 04:58 (ten years ago) link
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.
― ∞, Friday, 28 March 2014 04:59 (ten years ago) link
haven't heard this one mentioned a lot but it's my favorite on the record right now
― frogbs, Friday, 28 March 2014 05:06 (ten years ago) link
seems like the clear highlight to me
― ciderpress, Friday, 28 March 2014 10:58 (ten years ago) link
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.
― MV, Sunday, 30 March 2014 16:19 (ten years ago) link
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.
― Kitchen Person, Sunday, 30 March 2014 22:38 (ten years ago) link
Oh, also have to agree that Song For Our Grandfathers is just wonderful.
― Kitchen Person, Sunday, 30 March 2014 22:41 (ten years ago) link
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.
― Internet Alan, Tuesday, 8 April 2014 17:38 (ten years ago) link
i get more of a young brando look personally
― Raptain Chillips (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 8 April 2014 17:41 (ten years ago) link
jack black has a great voice
― °ㅇ๐ْ ° (gr8080), Tuesday, 8 April 2014 17:41 (ten years ago) link
he used to be heavier so it was more clear he was a fellow "surprisingly agile rotund dude"
― anonanon, Tuesday, 8 April 2014 17:46 (ten years ago) link
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.
― brotherlovesdub, Tuesday, 8 April 2014 18:36 (ten years ago) link
http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/andrew-mccluskey-future-islands
^ omd's mccluskey loves, respects it
― j., Wednesday, 9 April 2014 17:31 (ten years ago) link
catching up on this thread just prompted me to watch the letterman clip again. dude is just entrancing, moreso with each viewing, i think.
― alpine static, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 21:31 (ten years ago) link
Opinions on Chris Coady's role in the album's sound?
― MV, Thursday, 10 April 2014 01:16 (ten years ago) link
Am I the only one getting a Fine Young Cannibals vibe from this? Or is that old news?
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 12 April 2014 16:59 (ten years ago) link
I mentioned Roland Gift in my review: his voice mixes Gift, Wayne Casey, and David Johansen.
― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 12 April 2014 17:34 (ten years ago) link
i got a rod stewart vibe, right off the bat.
― braunld (Lowell N. Behold'n), Saturday, 12 April 2014 17:39 (ten years ago) link
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.
― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Monday, 14 April 2014 21:19 (ten years ago) link
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), Monday, 14 April 2014 21:35 (ten years ago) link
^Lol this guy bloke.
― MV, Monday, 14 April 2014 21:56 (ten years ago) link
major future islands takedown pip pip cheerio
― Sufjan Cougar Mellencamp (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 14 April 2014 21:57 (ten years ago) link
― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican)
This guy is a fan. http://thetalkhouse.com/reviews/view/andrew-mccluskey-future-islands
― Kitchen Person, Monday, 14 April 2014 22:06 (ten years ago) link
what the fuck is cowies?
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 15 April 2014 03:35 (ten years ago) link
any1 catch these guys on Letterman?
― Prostitute Farm Online (Bananaman Begins), Tuesday, 15 April 2014 11:04 (ten years ago) link
― 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.
― Toni Braxton-Hicks (Turrican), Tuesday, 15 April 2014 12:51 (ten years ago) link
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/
― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 21 April 2014 21:29 (ten years ago) link
Also,
It’s schmaltz that via either semiotic brilliance or lucky poetic misfire plays for higher stakes.
― MV, Monday, 21 April 2014 22:51 (ten years ago) link
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, 21 April 2014 22:58 (ten years ago) link
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?"
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:09 (ten years ago) link
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
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:13 (ten years ago) link
― 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
― posi riot (some dude), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:15 (ten years ago) link
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.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:15 (ten years ago) link
wondering if these semi-ironic reclamations have to do with good listeners and critics still in thrall to what they think are punk orthodoxies.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:18 (ten years ago) link
there's also no real relation of any kind to Tom Jones either, tbf
― posi riot (some dude), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:32 (ten years ago) link
*throws panties*
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:42 (ten years ago) link
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
― dollar rave club (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 22 April 2014 02:53 (ten years ago) link
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)
― j., Tuesday, 22 April 2014 03:01 (ten years ago) link
xp yup those types of bands are their logical forebears, i guess that's not interesting enough or something
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 03:01 (ten years ago) link
Not so synthpop at the live show I saw. Rather hard to pin down, actually, and surely this is a good thing.
― MV, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 03:30 (ten years ago) link
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, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 03:42 (ten years ago) link
what the heck future islands is totally of the new romantic era if anything
― maura, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 03:55 (ten years ago) link