That's a great line!
He makes my heart a cinemascope screen showing a dancing bird of paradise
...or something.
― Turangalila, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 17:59 (eleven years ago) link
ehhhh ilm has never been into young female singer-songwriters though, has it
― liberté, égalité, beyoncé (lex pretend), Monday, April 23, 2012 10:22 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
where would women in music be without their sister lex taking care of them?
― wack nerd zinging in the dead of night (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:02 (eleven years ago) link
xp "he excites me! must be like the genesis of rhythm" is an amazing line as well
― kanye kardashian (lex pretend), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:07 (eleven years ago) link
<3
― Turangalila, Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:08 (eleven years ago) link
the arrangements on this are kind of like if she took her ornate rococo brion-era arrangements and took 3/4 of the stuff out but left the essential heartbeat in
― kanye kardashian (lex pretend), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:09 (eleven years ago) link
also how ridiculous that an album with "hot knife" as its most immediately talked-about song is getting these "OH SHE'S SO MISERABLE" reviews
― kanye kardashian (lex pretend), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:11 (eleven years ago) link
I think for 'Bottomless pit of despair' read 'The most self obsessed person ever to make music...I mean nobody's wretched love life is that interesting....
― The Pastiche Liberation Front (sonnyboy), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:12 (eleven years ago) link
musician formerly in bad relationship uses experience as creative fodder, film at 11
― yorba linda carlisle (donna rouge), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:15 (eleven years ago) link
oh go90s flashbacks! the "all these wretched female singer-songwriters are so self-absorbed and they remind me of that crazy girl i dated once" line is pretty much the reason i rejected the music press from an early age
― kanye kardashian (lex pretend), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:18 (eleven years ago) link
Anybody...
― The Pastiche Liberation Front (sonnyboy), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:29 (eleven years ago) link
no. you're alone, all alone, sonnyboy.
― Impetuous hybrid (Matt P), Wednesday, 13 June 2012 18:31 (eleven years ago) link
great album. kind of aggressively weird, I haven't heard this many jazz piano chords on a pop album ever.
― akm, Monday, 18 June 2012 20:28 (eleven years ago) link
Really? I find her melodies dull and undistinguished for the first time. She's singing well though (e.g. the last two tracks). I've played it pretty much non-stop since last Thursday.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 18 June 2012 21:01 (eleven years ago) link
i've listened to this twice. not sure what to make of it yet
right now, i'm thinking it emphasizes rhythm too much, sometimes at the expense of melody.
really digging the warmth/brightness of anything we want, though
― buh, Monday, 18 June 2012 22:12 (eleven years ago) link
so far "Anything We Want," "Werewolf," and "Periphery" are the standouts
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 18 June 2012 22:19 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, i'd agree with those three, and add every single night
i want to like hot knife, but those layered vocals kind of annoy me
― buh, Monday, 18 June 2012 23:20 (eleven years ago) link
Those layered vocals are my favorite thing about that song.
― Turangalila, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 01:06 (eleven years ago) link
They aren't actually layered, though. Harmonies were recorded live with her sister.
― Turangalila, Tuesday, 19 June 2012 01:10 (eleven years ago) link
just now listening to the NPR stream, this is gorgeous -- i liked When the Pawn just fine, didn't care for Machine, but my favorite's always been the debut and Idler Wheel steps back to the less cluttered sound of that album -- but with 1,000% the songwriting chops
― ilxor, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 02:54 (eleven years ago) link
yeah i've decided this is great. i really love the rawness of her voice in certain parts of daredevil and regret. the little chant at the end of periphery makes me happy
― buh, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 03:55 (eleven years ago) link
this "interview" is pretty out there
http://www.vulture.com/2012/06/hiding-out-with-fiona-apple-musical-hermit.html
We got very stoned. We talked about a man who wore upside-down glasses and whose brain, within a few days, adjusted to perceive them as right-side up. She showed me a sample of the secret language she’s been speaking — and sometimes singing — since she was a child, a cross between scatting and talking in tongues.
...
We drank and smoked more. Coming back from the bathroom, she had turned off the lights and turned on a little machine that projected a million green stars orbiting across the whole space of the ceiling. I lay on the floor, spinning, watching them spin. She sat at her desk, not moving much, mostly staring into the screen that bounced a pale glow across her face.
It was late. The music had stopped. I asked her, I don’t entirely know why, to ask me something. She asked me about one of the most intimate experiences of my life. I told her the truth.
I was now standing in the middle of the room; I felt very stupid. Despite my protests, she came over and put her arms around me. We stood there for a while, hugging. She said, and I could hear her tongue clicking in her mouth:
Dan. I’m so sorry.
― dmr, Wednesday, 20 June 2012 15:49 (eleven years ago) link
love this album, love the production, love the sequencing -- the sad songs leading up to the burst of joy at the end. i like a lot of songs off her other albums, but i tend to pick and choose which ones to listen to in isolation. this feels like a full and complete package to me.
― the bibles fake lol don't trust a book (reddening), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 22:35 (eleven years ago) link
yes I do too. This weekend it snuck its claws into me.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 June 2012 22:52 (eleven years ago) link
Seconded re: the article mentioned above. Read it today. She's apparently fond of the weed and the whole article had a surreal feel to it, almost as if she and the writer were doing a performance art piece. It really made me want to hear this record thoug, so there's that.
― kwhitehead, Wednesday, 27 June 2012 02:44 (eleven years ago) link
Didn't like it for the first few listens, but now I can't stop playing it, especially "Hot Knife" (best on the album), "Werewolf," "Anything We Want," and "Valentine." Too much shrieking and hollering on "Regret," though.
― LimbsKing, Wednesday, 27 June 2012 13:11 (eleven years ago) link
it's quite a brave album how she just puts her vocals and poetry out there to be scrutinised -- not concealed behind many embellishments. a lot of her observations misfire, but some strike like a dagger. and both these elements are propped by really jagged piano chords that make everything she sings sound vulnerable and on edge. my favourite so far is "left alone" i think, which gives itself up 100% to the dark side and is suspended in one big, long swell of riled emotion. i'm sure she's alienated a lot of people with this album, but those people are probably not really willing to buy into what she's trying to put out there, so...
― charlie h, Saturday, 30 June 2012 03:40 (eleven years ago) link
God, 'Anything We Want' is just magical, isn't it?
― Austin, Saturday, 30 June 2012 03:58 (eleven years ago) link
Never been a big fan of hers, but damn, what an album. Really loving the vocals on "Regret" and of course "Hot Knife," but it seems like there's something unique about all the songs that make this so solid. Not sure why it struck such a chord, but it did.
― slagterm, Sunday, 1 July 2012 23:49 (eleven years ago) link
you made your major overtures when you were a sure and orotund muttand i was still a dewy petal rather than a moribund slut
^^all-time great opening couplet
this album is so so good. i find it oddly life-affirming
― bitch I'm on the 242 (lex pretend), Friday, 13 July 2012 00:46 (eleven years ago) link
i wrote about this: http://www.factmag.com/2012/07/13/fiona-apple-the-idler-wheel/
― bitch I'm on the 242 (lex pretend), Friday, 13 July 2012 11:41 (eleven years ago) link
Every Single Night is an earworm, heard it tonight and it clicked. For a minute I thought I was listening to an obscure Nancy Sinatra or Dusty Springfield joint.
Hot Knife is good too. This might be better than I originally thought.
― Moka, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 04:35 (eleven years ago) link
The feet shuffling on "Periphery" have really grown on me.
― LimbsKing, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 14:13 (eleven years ago) link
well i heard "every single night" the other day and it is wonderful, def gonna listen to this EVENTUALLY even tho i am really bad about "getting to" albums i want to listen to
― teledyldonix, Tuesday, 17 July 2012 15:37 (eleven years ago) link
Worth a read.
― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 July 2012 15:40 (eleven years ago) link
'sultry analysand'
!
― j., Wednesday, 18 July 2012 16:17 (eleven years ago) link
I adore the minimalism of the instrumentation and imo it suits her vocals better than anything I've heard before. As much as I love Jon Brion I just did not like Extraordinary Machine for this reason. The drums in some of the songs on Idler Wheel remind me quite a bit of Wildbirds and Peacedrums.
― Grease Jones (scottfree), Sunday, 5 August 2012 20:39 (eleven years ago) link
Werewolf is wonderful
― Matt Armstrong, Thursday, 20 September 2012 07:08 (eleven years ago) link
For true
Revisiting this for the first time in a couple monthS, still hits hard
― Raymond Cummings, Monday, 10 December 2012 11:58 (eleven years ago) link
I can totally see why someone wouldn't like this, just like I could Tuneyards say, but I reckon they would be listening with prejudice. It's great.
http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/fiona-apple-the-idler-wheel-etc-round-42-toms-selection/
― yugi ex, Thursday, 20 December 2012 11:37 (eleven years ago) link
"Every single night" is such a smoking opener. I am awed that this woman begins her album with such an explicit "hey guys, I'm craaazeee" lyric, feels empowering to listen to
― you, your max is on fire (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 20 December 2012 13:42 (eleven years ago) link
Ha ha braaaaiiaiaiain! brain! braaaiaiaiaiaiain! brain! Remember 1999 when a girl would sing about something not-cute and people would call her crazy? They were RIGHT suck on IT
― you, your max is on fire (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 20 December 2012 13:44 (eleven years ago) link
"Werewolf" still capable of fucking me up everytime
― Raymond Cummings, Friday, 21 December 2012 12:44 (eleven years ago) link
That track floored me driving this morning.
― Gukbe, Friday, 21 December 2012 13:21 (eleven years ago) link
respect this album more than I like listening to it. but I should revisit it again.
― akm, Saturday, 22 December 2012 17:29 (eleven years ago) link
Just got it this week and am loving it.
― your damn bass clarinet (Eazy), Saturday, 22 December 2012 17:31 (eleven years ago) link
Jesus christ, this fucking album. Speaking as an unabashed Fiona fan, I have no idea why I put off listening to it for so long. The sparse, minimalist rawness suits her so well that I kinda retroactively wish she'd never gotten mixed up with Jon Brion (even though those albums sound great). So many wonderful untethered moments here. Upon first listen, it sounded like a musical version of Isabelle Adjani's performance in Possession, which is about as high a compliment as I could pay an artist.
― Alien Lays (Old Lunch), Monday, 31 December 2012 01:48 (eleven years ago) link
I'm so in love with this album
'Anything We Want' killllls me
― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Sunday, 24 March 2013 00:31 (eleven years ago) link
Thanks for the "It's Only Make Believe" cover upthread. Whazzabout this cover of Macca's "Let Me Roll It"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RM11NrlF8Dc
― Johnny Too Borad (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 26 March 2013 02:44 (eleven years ago) link
what a still
― hoospanic GANGSTER musician (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Sunday, 28 April 2013 05:14 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG1VVFfOnYQ
― Gukbe, Thursday, 25 July 2013 06:41 (ten years ago) link