Like most creative musicians, Matt Friedberger is not a fan of Radiohead and most of their chart busters. Of course, Matt and all the Fiery Furnaces family are great fans of all Tommys living or dead, so much so that lots of the Fiery Furnaces' work is, because of the pun, dedicated to imitating the Who's Tommy.
"Back in the fall of 1996 or whenever that interview was conducted, the interviewer asked what Matt thought of the Radiohead song celebrating a WWI veteran. Matt naturally thought it would be interesting to pretend that they wrote a song about the celebrated American composer of a similar sounding name, hence his joking in the interview about Radiohead composing a song with something like 48 notes to an octave. It was easy and amusing to imagine Radiohead's attempt to colonize that relatively arcane bit of our musical lifeworld. This is what they used to call, in some bohemian and advertising circles, 'riffing' or fooling around.
"Matt has not heard the Radiohead song about Harry Patch, but if he did, he is sure he wouldn't like it. No doubt Radiohead and their fans can ignore his opinion of this matter and continue with their triumphant artistic interventions. Matt would have much preferred to insult Beck but he is too afraid of Scientologists.
― War On The Terrances (DJ Mencap), Friday, 6 November 2009 12:28 (fourteen years ago) link
This guy sounds . . . disturbed.
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 6 November 2009 12:43 (fourteen years ago) link
This is hilarious. Matt Friedberger seems like he is probably not a very nice person IRL. I still need to listen to "I'm Going Away". "Widow City" is one of my favorite of their albums.
― o. nate, Friday, 6 November 2009 16:36 (fourteen years ago) link
What a fun band.
― Your Ribs are My Ladder, Friday, 9 January 2015 11:16 (nine years ago) link
They were.
Was just over to their Wiki page, almost teared up a little.
― RAP GAME SHANI DAVIS (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 January 2015 13:52 (nine years ago) link
Blueberry Boat ages brilliantly, one of the best albums of the 00's beyond doubt imo
― London's Left-Wing Utopian Non-League Ultras Are Reclaiming Football (imago), Friday, 9 January 2015 13:54 (nine years ago) link
oh my fucking god this thread though
― London's Left-Wing Utopian Non-League Ultras Are Reclaiming Football (imago), Friday, 9 January 2015 13:58 (nine years ago) link
EP came out 10 years ago this Sunday. ;_;
― jmm, Friday, 9 January 2015 14:39 (nine years ago) link
Holy christ that makes me feel old.
― Gentle Nibbles (Old Lunch), Friday, 9 January 2015 15:04 (nine years ago) link
Love several, but Rehearsing My Choir is rock of ages, in more ways than one. Granny Olga in Heaven, you rule!
― dow, Friday, 9 January 2015 15:11 (nine years ago) link
how could anyone but the corniest indie fuxors pretend that jumbled indulgent BB shite (except for the title track..i thought that was "neat") is in any way greater than GB??
whatever dude
― mitt fleekwood (get bent), Friday, 9 January 2015 22:01 (nine years ago) link
no kidding
― some kind of terrible IDM with guitars (sleeve), Friday, 9 January 2015 22:01 (nine years ago) link
they're both great records! they're just really really different.
― mitt fleekwood (get bent), Friday, 9 January 2015 22:03 (nine years ago) link
They are the most fun indie band from the 00s imho. Maybe of all time.
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Tuesday, 11 July 2017 06:18 (seven years ago) link
well obviously
― imago, Tuesday, 11 July 2017 09:31 (seven years ago) link
i have trouble perceiving these guys as 'fun'. bit of a mess, but fun?
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Tuesday, 11 July 2017 09:48 (seven years ago) link
Wacky glasses fun.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 11 July 2017 10:16 (seven years ago) link
An excitable dog with a bowel problem fun
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Tuesday, 11 July 2017 11:27 (seven years ago) link
you both suck
― imago, Tuesday, 11 July 2017 11:57 (seven years ago) link
i was thinking about signing up to do this artist poll. not sure if there would be enough interest?
― Bee OK, Wednesday, 12 July 2017 01:01 (seven years ago) link
I'd vote in it, do it
― The Harsh Tutelage of Michael McDonald (Raymond Cummings), Wednesday, 12 July 2017 01:39 (seven years ago) link
that's the problem. you and i and maybe a couple more. i think if i wanted to go down this type of path i would rather do of Montreal instead, as my love is much stronger.
― Winter Is Coming (Bee OK), Thursday, 13 July 2017 02:41 (seven years ago) link
why i chose to add Suede instead of Super Furry Animals. similar circumstances/adding the ILM element.
― Winter Is Coming (Bee OK), Thursday, 13 July 2017 02:44 (seven years ago) link
/
even when i do things on purpose, i still fuck it up.
― Winter Is Coming (Bee OK), Thursday, 13 July 2017 02:58 (seven years ago) link
Maybe a mixed genre poll? Don't know how to call it yho... Quirky, slightly Psychedelic pop from the 00s onwards? I don't know how to classify it. Of Montreal, Flaming Lips and Fiery Furnaces seem compatible.
― dance cum rituals (Moka), Thursday, 13 July 2017 18:11 (seven years ago) link
great idea, can't wait until you do it :-)
― Winter Is Coming (Bee OK), Thursday, 13 July 2017 23:40 (seven years ago) link
Amen, selfLove several, but Rehearsing My Choir is rock of ages, in more ways than one. Granny Olga in Heaven, you rule!
― dow, Friday, January 9, 2015 9:11 AM
― dow, Friday, 14 July 2017 01:42 (seven years ago) link
Olga really delivers her stories, with editing and rocking settings by Matthew.
― dow, Friday, 14 July 2017 01:48 (seven years ago) link
Since “ranking” is all the rage ’round here:
1. Widow City (Side 2)2. Rehearsing My Choir3. I’m Going Away4. Bitter Tea (Side 1)5. Blueberry Boat6. Gallowsbird’s Bark7. Widow City (Side 1)8. EP9. Bitter Tea (Side 2)
Not counted: Take Me Round Again; Remember [but it’s great!]
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Monday, 27 August 2018 02:19 (six years ago) link
(Also, having now bothered to look up how the vinyl actually breaks down — please sub “LP1” / “LP2,” or just “First Half” / “Second Half,” for “Side 1” / “Side 2” in both cases.)
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Monday, 27 August 2018 02:36 (six years ago) link
Also, to give you an idea of the grading curve here — I’d rate “Gallowsbird’s Bark” an 8/10
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Monday, 27 August 2018 02:46 (six years ago) link
haha, I like that
EP is good
― niels, Monday, 27 August 2018 07:16 (six years ago) link
Is I'm Going Away that good? I was too scared to ever hear it. Blueberry Boat is still my favourite album of this millennium
― imago, Monday, 27 August 2018 07:59 (six years ago) link
Happy to see Rehearsing My Choir get its rightful due. Blueberry Boat has become one of my fave records, period.
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 27 August 2018 08:18 (six years ago) link
I've been listening to I'm Going Away. It's...alright. Even In The Rain (where I'm up to) is lovely. I can't remotely see how anyone could prefer it to any of the previous four albums (and EP) but it isn't bad music.
― imago, Monday, 27 August 2018 08:42 (six years ago) link
Lost At Sea is good too
― imago, Monday, 27 August 2018 08:56 (six years ago) link
Yeah, the album ends strong I guess but it's not quite there for me. Still! Hell of a run they had
― imago, Monday, 27 August 2018 09:06 (six years ago) link
I’m Going Away is a great album, with some of their best playing (and it’s the one I’ll still throw on the most often)Stylistically, it revisits the tight, bluesy rock of Gallowsbird and the “empty musical theatre rehearsal room” aesthetic of (some of) Blueberry Boat... making for a nice closure. (Also — the sarcastic guitar solo in “Even in the Rain” always makes me laugh, and is a perfect expression of Matt’s “personality”; for better or worse.)
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Monday, 27 August 2018 13:47 (six years ago) link
Gawker style:
1. Widow City2. Blueberry Boat3. Gallowsbird's Bark4. EP5. I'm Going Away6. getting hit by a bus7. Rehearsing My Choir8. Bitter Tea
― evol j, Monday, 27 August 2018 14:11 (six years ago) link
That must be some bus, lol
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Monday, 27 August 2018 14:23 (six years ago) link
Poor lovely Bitter Tea
Don't sleep on the Mr Fried Burger album fyi, fans of TFF's weirder stuff
― imago, Monday, 27 August 2018 15:52 (six years ago) link
Here https://mfriedberger.bandcamp.com/releases
It's second to BB in my ranking tbh
― imago, Monday, 27 August 2018 15:55 (six years ago) link
Bitter Tea sounded terrific at the time, and still does. The only “problem” is some of the songwriting in the 2nd half...
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Monday, 27 August 2018 16:41 (six years ago) link
(and that damn whistle)
(The 2nd half does have "Police Sweater Blood Vow," tho -- one of their best)
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Monday, 27 August 2018 17:56 (six years ago) link
First Rehearsing My Choir show from 2005 at the 40 Watt in Athens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-2etKWgW20
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 27 August 2018 19:21 (six years ago) link
and also the first FF Show with Jason on bass and Bob on drums
!
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Monday, 27 August 2018 19:28 (six years ago) link
Something interesting to me about this band (if I may pontificate) is how they always seemed to be bubbling just under the surface of “mainstream” success, even by the standards of 2000s indie rock. They were on a string of cool but slightly odd labels (instead of the Matador/Merge/Sub Pop axis)... I don’t think they ever performed on TV, in the U.S. at least (though please send me a YouTube link ASAP if I’m wrong!), in a era when bands at their level were regularly appearing on late-night shows (though maybe not as commonly as today; e.g., look at someone like Parquet Courts).The Furnaces did press and got some attention (and toured a lot, of course); but it felt like somehow they were always just below the threshold of “top-flight” indie rock notice, in a time of Animal Collectives, Arcade Fires, and Wolf Parades. I don’t think they played many festivals, maybe that hurt them?Of course, some people may feel they got just the right amount of attention (or even too much!) — but for me, they were the band of the decade, and I was always wishing they had a little more exposure.
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Thursday, 30 August 2018 03:55 (six years ago) link
I guess I would put them at the level of someone like Unrest in the ‘90s.
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Thursday, 30 August 2018 04:05 (six years ago) link
I did my part to raise awareness, btw. These are two examples of T-shirts I owned and wore until they became unwearable:https://i.pinimg.com/736x/6e/f6/d9/6ef6d9e51bbaca6b63723878763e1555--t-shirt-tee.jpghttps://i.pinimg.com/736x/d9/43/67/d94367597d3788d5f3722b9e5f3f6282--navy-t-shirts-candelabra.jpg
― stan in the place where you work (morrisp), Thursday, 30 August 2018 04:14 (six years ago) link