stars "set yourself on fire"

Except this is their "Nightsongs" version.
http://s56.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=2BBE3ZR4IDW5L37P5BGOXYI24H

I have another Stars rendition somewhere else that I prefer more...I'll see if I can find it.

so they've done two versions?

Ageless Beauty <3

I think this song will always be able to cheer me up

there is an acoustic version of this song for download on last.fm apparently

Found the clip on youtube a couple of weeks back. I liked it! They sound like Lush. Well in that song anyway. It was very lovely.

Good strategy:

"On September 25th, Arts&Crafts will release Stars' fourth studio album, In Our Bedroom After War.

We love it and are excited and proud to be bringing it to the world.

We enlisted Joe Chiccarelli to mix the album. He finished in early June, passing the tapes along to Emily Lazar at the Lodge for mastering. Last Friday, July 6th, a final master was delivered to us.

Traditional music business practice says we are to begin sending out copies of this album now. We give advance copies to print publications in hopes of securing features that coincide with our September date. We meet with radio stations in hopes of securing airplay. etc, etc.

Inevitably someone will leak the album.

Throughout this process, the most important people in this value chain, the fans, are given only two options - wait until September 25th to legally purchase the new album or choose from a variety of sources and download the album for free, at any time.

We hope you'll choose to support the band, and choose to pay for their album. However we don't think it's fair you should have to wait until September 25th to do so.

We believe that the line between the media and the public is now completely grey.
What is the difference between a writer for a big glossy music magazine and a student writing about their favourite bands on their blog? What differentiates a commercial radio station from someone adding a song to their lastfm channel? or their myspace page?

As such, we are making the new Stars album available for legal download today, four days after it's completion. The CD and double vinyl versions of the album will still be released on our official release date, September 25th. We hope you will continue to support music retailers should a physical album in all it's packaged glory be your choice of format.

It's our hope that given a clear, legal alternative to downloading music for free, you will choose to support the creators.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Sincerely,

Stars and Arts&Crafts"

oooh

wow. good on them. hope it works out.

Classic albums released after a 4 day break (or less)

The fact that they're doing this makes me want to support them more than I'd have done otherwise. So yeah, I'm probably going to be legally downloading this album, which I'm already excited about, since I liked the last one quite a bit.

woo! me bai now!

shame about the apostrophes

can't figure out how to buy it...

On first listen: oh no.

so smart--i just bought it

why "oh no" though? haven't listened yet

link to buy??

http://www.galleryac.com/product_info.php?products_id=60818&cPath=

or itunes

thanks guys!

oooooh, didn't really feel the track that was on pitchfork, but these others are wonderful!

Not sure why anyone would say "oh no", it's not like it's anything other than Stars (and quality Stars at that!).

Getting those same goosebumps I always do when I listen to their albums for the first time.

i trust you, spencer, looking forward to a good listen with this

their albums always make me want to fall in love

go ahead, make fun of me

This is a Stars thread, indulge yourself!

I think my "oh no" comes from not being able to shake a nagging feeling I have about them that's developed over the past year or so. I still like quite a few of their songs but over time I have hit a wall with them. I think it has to do with their "love songs for the idle rich" vibe.

Although "Tokyo Bitches" sounds nice.

"Elevator Love Letter" is all about people who work too hard. In general, I think their lyrics are about urban professionals who find it hard to make real connections.

I think that the emphasis on the work routine in that song is the key to its emotional payoff, and it's still their best song - the rest of their ouevre lacks drive by comparison.

might still be their best song but your second statement is untrueth

I mean I get the rabid fandom, I used to be there myself (look upthread!), it's just that a switch got flipped and now I can't take their music to heart like I used to.

track 2 is too dirgey for an opener. 3 is decent. 4 just melted me when amy came on :)

midnight coward is everything great about this band rolled into one. genova heights - decent, there's a little r&b in this album. personal is like old school stars, soft and dramatic, still effective. barricade is a torch song, I like torq's voice but this will get the skip button most likely :/

i'm happy to have more stars but this album could use more hooks. Maybe it'll grow on me. The ending is v. nice.

amy millan is the shit...i saw her with BSS awhile ago and she was amazing

Have never been able to get into Millan's solo stuff even though I love her voice. Maybe it's cos it seems to lack the layers that I'm so fond of on Stars' stuff, like Emily Haines' + Soft Skeleton work compared to her Metric material.

Always loved "Set Yourself on Fire", still do, and then I heard "Heart" which, if possible, I'm even more fond of. Even though it's a bit soppier.

And naturally very excited aboot the new one. I will pay real cash-monay for it.

This album is melting me into a puddle of goo. Rocketing up the 2007 list.

...although "Barricade" is, um... maybe a little embarrassing.

I wish I had better headphones and my iPod cable so I could curl up with this.

A double-dip for Stars with this idea I reckon; have just paid for the download and will definitely buy the album come September. That said, the download is only 192kbps, so not *ideal* quality (A&C should do a Warp style 320kbps or lossless option).

Have only had a chance to listen a couple of times, but am already feeling the Stars magic working - repeat play on Genova Heights this morning, the chorus is purest Scritti Politti loveliness. As a whole it doesn't seem to be AS good as Set Yourself On Fire, but that was a slow-burner for me too and ended up my favourite record of the year. Am also not 100% on the production this time round, seems a bit muddy compared to the fantastic sound of SYOF - might just be the less than perfect mp3s though.

oh, what the hell. i'll buy this. i still think for me there's "ageless beauty" and, er, everything else i've heard by them, but hey. i'll take the risk.

... heheheh, i've just remembered the PAIN AND MISERY i put myself through d/l-ing SYOF in dribs and drabs (right after a glasgow FAP, oddly ... "ageless beauty" will forever be linked inextricably with ally c). the least i can do is buy this. for them and for me.

I love this thread. Even though I wrote something embarrassing waaaayyy back. Please keep the impressions of In Our Bedroom... coming. I should probably rephrase that, but...

I hate to come across as some SQ obsessed chump, but there's definitely something peculiar about either the production or the mp3 encoding on the downloadable version of this - on lots of tracks there's a kind of fluttery distortion in the background on vocals, and also during quiet moments; a good example is in the last couple of seconds of Genova Heights.

Has anyone else noticed this or heard it in their copies? Or is my tired old brane playing tricks again...?

Just wanted to say that I haven't heard the new record yet, but "Reunion" still fills me with unspeakable glee.

Just dl'ed this off emusic...On Midnight Coward, Amy Millan starts the song off with "Sweetness, sweetness..." and I almost started singing "...I was only joking..." Unfortunately, she sang something else. But if she had sung that line, well, that would have been awesome.

Halfway through nothing's immediately grabbing me, but I can tell that with a couple more listens, this should be great. A fabulous grower. Oh, wow: the Ghost of Genova Heights!