Field Music

Haha, well a bit. That's certainly the obvious and lazy critical comparison, but they're a lot more interesting than that would lead you to believe. There's bits of jerky post-punk but also dainty psych-pop, gorgeous harmonizing and stylish orchestration. 'Shorter Shorter' may be the one to download.

That's what they said about Dogs Die In Hot Cars and I hated them...

I gather that Field Music may be something better than a lot of these tedious 'post punk' bandwagoners; but might it be a case of promise rather than delivery? I'm certainly more keen on buying the Shortwave Set album, for instance, than theirs. No surprises I guess, considering how much people have been raving about that.

You can hear a couple of streaming Field Music things here:
http://www.memphis-industries.com/field_music.html

It's so hard to find interesting, tuneful, quirky, pop these days.

Ain't that the sad truth.

Harumph.

I've told quite a few people about them, but it's hard to find the album. And the couple of people I was sure would like it didn't seem enthused when I played it for them.

Maybe it's TOO quirky for most. I don't know.

Nathan Michel's "The Beast" is like that too. Brilliant, complex sculpted pop filtered through DSP. Absolutely astounding, but a bit offputting in its' execution. The people that gravitate towards this form of ornate pop aren't sure what to think about the Max treatments on the analog instrumentation.

here's some official tracks via the label site ..

http://static.memphis-industries.com/sittightbyfieldmusic.mp3

http://static.memphis-industries.com/giveitloseittakeitbyfieldmusic.mp3

"xtc vs yes" - good call.

excellent video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBqx9Tpmj-U

Too bad they broke up, but The Week That Was hits the spot just as well.

Yeah, not bad, but needs a few more listenings I think.
School of Language is bit boring, though.

i wasn't too excited by the TWTW album.. zeus probably otm about needing more listenings

woah

http://pitchfork.com/news/36878-field-music-return-with-double-album/

Awesome. Cool cover.

Double album means the whole thing might be longer than an hour?

that new song is pretty cool. i don't listen to them that much, but they seem like a really smart band.

that is a good cover. i was never terribly impressed by either of the offshoots, they seem to do a much better job when pooling their creative resources

i prefer the week that was to field music. they do genesis way better than elbow do. i'd be more excited about a double concept album by them

Measure comes out February 16. So glad, I thought they broke up for good!

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11584-measure/

nice song

"it's their White Album"...

i was never terribly impressed by either of the offshoots

I really, really liked The Week That Was. As usual, though, it was too brief. I hope there's a second one someday.

first impression of the new record:

pros: interesting xtc/mccartney meets some math rock sound, catchy melodies.
cons: too long,probably not constantly successful.

too long

this is a big shame. one of the strengths of the first record is how compact and un-noodly it is

they tried to be a little Deerhoof-y-experimental here, sometimes it works. sometimes not.

but,again, it's only my 1st impression.

Absolutely floored by the new one. Combined with their two other (flawless) albums and wonderful solo projects, I'm solidly convinced that Field Music is one of the most significant bands of the past ten years. They're on par with SFA for quality/complexity/catchiness.

There's a fussy math-rock quality about them that kind of irritates me, but not aws much as it irritates people whom I try to turn on to them.

It is a lonely and not entirely enthusiastic fandom.

Very anxious to hear this!

playing tonight in philly. can't believe the show isn't sold out

Yeah, neither is NYC it seems. Small venue too. Guess whoever promotes them has not figured out how to do it properly. Want to go but I am old and a 9pm show with two openers definitely means a late start time.

there were maybe like 60 or 70 ppl at the show last night. they went on at 10:15.

anti-prog press has poisoned listeners to this type of stuff too

yeah sounding like genesis is not cool in 2016

or roxy music or XTC really, which is way too bad

Which is also super-weird, because my teenage kids and all their friends are really into Roxy Music. You could make a million dollars if you were a young Ferry soundalike right now, I'd-a thought.

The band isn't getting enough attention for this album, which is excellent, but they've never really been a big thing in the US even when they were kinda buzzy a decade ago.

Disappointed is so great and I finally figured out what song it reminds me of: Love at First Sight by XTC

I don't really hear the Roxy Music parallels

roxy music + gentle giant x XTC = fairly solid description imho. they've got the funk

great show! one brother had a huge grin on his face the whole time, playing drums or guitar

I think it's hard to sell a band in their age category to younger fans when the band isn't either pretending to be younger or one of those name-dropped "influential"/cult bands

Show at NYC was really good, love how they kept switching drums and guitar--banter was funny too

i was bummed they didn't do "a new town" in philly to give the bass player a little shine but man, what a show! no fucks to give, just song after great song

I think this band hits a nerve for me because they're roughly the same age as me and sound closer than any band to the band I've had in my head for the past few years.

Album is still so good.

Been loving But Not For You lately

I don't know much about this band but 'Disappointed (Ewan Pearson Extended Mix)' is such fun.

https://soundcloud.com/memphisindustries/field-music-disappointed-ewan-pearson-extended-mix/

i like the new record

My copy arrived this afternoon, now playing. Oh how I love this band.

Yeah, I consistently really enjoy these guys.

FWIW Time in Joy kind of sounds like Siberian Khartu

this is great. love these guys. last two songs on the album are next-level symphonic

I haven't heard it yet, but their last one ended up being my least favourite album of theirs.

I have only half heard this, and it seems incredibly good so far.

i have listened to this once and altho i try to give any album time, especially when the band in question has earned that with their prior output, i will note that i am contemplating staying at work overnight so i don't have to listen to this again on the commute home.

While I wouldn't go that far, I was similarly nonplussed

The Noisy Days Are Over and Disappointed was an awesome way to start an album but to rest of Commontime was drudgery and that seems to have spilt over into this

Measure still their best by miles obv

it's no week that was but what is?

I really dig it - too many gauzy dreamy numbers but the ones that are sharp are sharp. It reminds me of Wasp Star but with more charm.

Okay, so it turns out that Open Here is their best album yet. I tried to recall the last time a Field Music LP blew me away this much and I realised none of their prior work has, not even Tones of Town. Quite remarkable, since Commontime bored me.

Open Here > Tones of Town > Plumb
> Commontime > Field Music > Measure

such is the wonderful variety of ilx that I would pretty much reverse those arrows

Curious to hear why your prefer Open Here to Commontime, turrican

The first and last tracks on Open Here blow pretty much everything on Commontime out of the water, IMO.

Measure is overlong, riddled with filler and a slog, but there's a great record in there somewhere. One of 'em has to come last, though.

(I've since come around to a fair bit of Commontime - 'The Noisy Days are Over' and 'Trouble at the Lights' particularly)

First listen to Making a New World. I’m ... not sure ... about it. I think it feels shorter than it is, which is a good sign.

Haven't picked it up yet but probably will do once payday rolls around.

From a commission and all about the aftermath of the first world war, isn't it?

I do wonder why Field Music have faded so much. I think they maybe grew too obsessed with working on a single sound, and they've worked the life out of it

I'm sort of annoyed such a bunch of nitwits have taken the title from a Paul Nash masterpiece, which is a really beautiful haunted title as well as a painting - which I can't imagine their music matching the gravitas of tbh!

Might be the first time Field Music have been described as “such a bunch of nitwits.”

probably melt cunts as well!

they most likely are led-by-donkieys type feebs that became radicalised by threat of austerity finishing off 6 music!

https://www.brooklynvegan.com/field-music-have-a-side-hustle-as-a-doors-tribute-band-making-a-living-from-making-our-own-music-has-become-increasingly-difficult/

they've definitely got skill I think the bigger problem is nobody really seems all that interested in their music right now, I mean my local shop has four of their albums in the bargain bin (Tones of Town and the last three), I've thought about picking them up because on paper I like this band very much. idk I think in theory the idea of a XTC/Gentle Giant hybrid band is really great but I feel like they sorta took the wrong things from both bands

new one is intriguing so far though, love the Technodelic-style synths, still wish this stuff was like 50% catchier though

Yeah, I pretty much love their first three albums and then … there’s a song or 2 from each of the post-Plumb records that hits but on the whole it’s just fussy and boring. I only stopped buying each new album long after the diminishing returns set in, trying to convince myself there was something there for me.

I liked Plumb a lot and really liked the sound of one of the newer ones, I should catch up. Did anyone keep up with School Of Language and other solo stuff?

David B’s the Soft Struggles album from a couple of years ago was a very sweet piece of Canterbury scene chamber folk, but I found FM to be diminishing returns ever since the debut. Lovely fellas though.

I felt that they were hitting their stride with Measure and Plumb so I should get on with what came next