FJM unveils stunning new digital release strategy
http://www.fatherjohnmisty.com/sap/
― Simon H., Tuesday, 27 January 2015 15:13 (nine years ago) link
Those SAP'd renditions are great.
― schwantz, Tuesday, 27 January 2015 20:09 (nine years ago) link
Josh Tillman is on some fuck shit. I loved the three new tracks I heard in the lead-up to the album's release (well, leak), but I should've sensed that I was in for a disappointment when I found myself returning exclusively to live versions of the songs. Like the last album, which featured sterilized, overproduced versions of his demos and live cuts--another clue I should've caught--this one has been so diluted in the studio as to make close listening to his lyrics unpleasant.
But, the thing is, even his lyrics--sharp as they sometimes are--tend to veer into their own sort of excess. Which is to say that, for all their wit, they're sometimes so willfully clever, so self-satisfied that they read like the sass of an adolescent who's just discovered sarcasm.
The lyrics and the overproduction, then, work similarly and together: they often seem pointless--and he pointlessly clever, pointlessly cruel--and they more often seem to miss the point entirely--that, for instance, Tillman comes across as more or less the male equivalent to the person he's bitching about in "The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment". Maybe that's part of the joke, but the sheer, overwhelming amount of sarcasm and self-consciousness (self-obsession, really) makes it hard to read his intentions well, makes it hard to tell whether and when he's being genuine. I mean, this is probably a dumb question, but my confusion maybe epitomizes my response to the album: he's making fun of us on "True Affection", right, with its vocal effects and its pop-electro instrumental? He's mocking us like he mocks the girl who uses the word "literally" too often and in the wrong situations--as Tillman himself mis- and over-applies his needlessly cutting lyricism and his studio bells and whistles. It seems instructive that Tillman, in spite of his apparent disdain for the girl in "The Night Josh Tillman...", chooses to sleep with her anyway.
― Darvin H.A.M. (AlexPh), Friday, 30 January 2015 07:40 (nine years ago) link
http://grantland.com/features/father-john-misty-i-love-you-honeybear/
excellent longform profile
― slothroprhymes, Sunday, 8 February 2015 23:41 (nine years ago) link
xp based on what he sez in the profile, i think he just wanted to mess around with electro sounds on "true affection" and evidently liked the way it came out - that particular song is not a piss-take on the listener altho it is supposed to be about how frustrating electronic communication can be.
also i don't think how faltering in your own actions in spite of your frustration with someone or something - like, sleeping with a guy or girl you are angry with or even disdainful of - is anything other than an incredibly human thing, albeit a very ugly/unflattering one
― slothroprhymes, Sunday, 8 February 2015 23:49 (nine years ago) link
Debates about authenticity are boring and pointless
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 8 February 2015 23:52 (nine years ago) link
prob but we gotta get these posts off
― slothroprhymes, Monday, 9 February 2015 00:04 (nine years ago) link
brilliant marketinghttp://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0616/5709/products/fjm_shirt_mascera.jpg?v=1422377034
― slothroprhymes, Monday, 9 February 2015 00:08 (nine years ago) link
Can someone tell me what distinguishes the music of Kozelek and this clown from the endless supply of Earnest Singer-Songwriter Dudes that pfork 2015 routinely ignores / ostensibly despises? I mean, apart from narcissistic lyrics that occasionally read like the "outrageous" tweets of an oversharing friend?
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 08:16 (nine years ago) link
this guy doesn't seem particularly earnest as much as painfully self-conscious and hiding behind layers of irony which is more obnoxious
― ufo, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 08:30 (nine years ago) link
ooh the backlash
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 16:27 (nine years ago) link
don't see any similarities to Kozelek tbh
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 16:28 (nine years ago) link
that seems to be the difference JD was wondering about
― Dinsdale, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 16:48 (nine years ago) link
still think Steely Dan is the closest analogue. I guess people found them obnoxious too
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 16:51 (nine years ago) link
(not in terms of jazz-rock chops obviously, but in terms of juxtaposing slick, pretty music with bleakly cynical/ironic lyrics)
― Dinsdale, Tuesday, February 10, 2015 11:48 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
bingo
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 16:58 (nine years ago) link
He doesn't seem to be hiding behind irony as much as he just really enjoys irony, moreso in interviews/persona than in the music itself tbh, which is mostly pretty straightforward
― Simon H., Tuesday, 10 February 2015 17:15 (nine years ago) link
I think that's my main issue with it - he's not committed to it. As a result the context, to me, seems less Bonnie Billy and more I'm Still Here or something. It's neither compelling nor especially inscrutable in a way that makes you wanna peel the layers. It just feels like a bad gimmick. Which would be fine if the music he was producing wasn't bland as bread.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 17:35 (nine years ago) link
hmm Oldham is an interesting point of comparison - particularly "Sings Greatest Palace Music". I'm not interested in peeling layers in general though. it's the songs that count.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 17:36 (nine years ago) link
he does have an I'm Still Here beard
― It's strange to me too. But we're talking about praxis, man. (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 17:40 (nine years ago) link
and I see that he pooped on my spotify as I slept last night
― It's strange to me too. But we're talking about praxis, man. (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 17:41 (nine years ago) link
xp Do they, though? There are far, far better songwriters who put out records last year that don't seem to get the same attention, mostly because their music doesn't lend itself as easily to lifestyle reporting. I also don't think it's a coincidence that Kozelek's star seemed to rise in proportion to his trolling.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 17:44 (nine years ago) link
kozelek's trolling better described as "bread bowling"
― It's strange to me too. But we're talking about praxis, man. (Sufjan Grafton), Tuesday, 10 February 2015 17:53 (nine years ago) link
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Tuesday, February 10, 2015 12:44 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
If you make yourself equal to a compelling character in an indie flick people start to care. Your backstory or whatever else on the outside needs to fuel your musical output and is more important than how interesting the music itself is.
― Evan, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 18:05 (nine years ago) link
with FJM the persona and all its attendant bells and whistles ultimately benefit the music & lyrics, so it isn't bothersome to me
― slothroprhymes, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 18:30 (nine years ago) link
yeah I find it a compelling character, much like Bonnie Prince Billie (or Dylan or any other number of "I can't tell if this is a joke" ironists) in that respect
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 10 February 2015 18:38 (nine years ago) link
I think most importantly the songs are confident and colorful, and the arrangements are big but detailed and not boring. Also it's very well-sequenced. "Holy Shit" and "I Went to the Store One Day" are a great closing pair.
― Simon H., Wednesday, 11 February 2015 00:59 (nine years ago) link
Just got the vinyl, which came w a cassette of demos (incl a cass mccombs cover)
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 01:39 (nine years ago) link
What song did he cover?
― Evan, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 20:13 (nine years ago) link
nobody's nixon
― mizzell, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 20:18 (nine years ago) link
Great choice. Love that song, love the EP it's from.
― Evan, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 20:31 (nine years ago) link
lol @ the canned audience in Bored in the USA - figured that was just a Letterman gag
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 11 February 2015 20:59 (nine years ago) link
on first couple listens - this has a more uniform sound than the previous one (dude sure loves his string section), and I don't hear anything as immediately catchy. it feels v langurous, albeit in a predictably bitter and mysanthropic way. the last few songs seem like the peak.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 February 2015 17:44 (nine years ago) link
steely dan lyrics way more oblique than this dude. the juxtaposition you identify here is literally everywhere in music
― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Thursday, 12 February 2015 18:56 (nine years ago) link
well I didn't say it was unique
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 February 2015 19:03 (nine years ago) link
agree that the Dan's stuff is more oblique
I think I probably find the persona more interesting than I would've otherwise because I was already very familiar with his much more po-faced output as J. Tillman.
― Simon H., Thursday, 12 February 2015 19:08 (nine years ago) link
I guess the other reason I brought up the Dan is because the sonic territory FJM is mining here sounds p explicitly LA 70s, albeit from more of the country-rock end then the jazz-rock end
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 12 February 2015 19:13 (nine years ago) link
can't escape this dude's music playing in coffee shops
― Rave Van Donk (jim in glasgow), Thursday, 12 February 2015 23:13 (nine years ago) link
Have started enjoying this more once I have stopped worrying whether it is any good or not, if that makes sense?
― djh, Wednesday, 18 February 2015 21:46 (nine years ago) link
Sometimes self satisfied, undeniably, but this > "and then he drops a song that is just plain beautiful like I Went To The Store One Day".
― djh, Tuesday, 24 February 2015 20:31 (nine years ago) link
http://www.citypaper.com/music/music-boxes/strum-und-twang/bcp-strum-und-twang-fuck-father-john-misty-fuck-bob-dylan-listen-to-zane-campbell-20150303,0,6672882.story
Guy who has produced unknown Maryland artist Zane Campbell writes guest article for Baltimore City Paper ripping into Father John Misty and others
He starts like this:
First things first: There is no more room in the United States for even one more Father Chode or Father John Misty or whatever the fuck the newest know-it-all trippy sensitive white yuppie songwriter rehashing the ’60s is called. Will the bros and rich kids please stay the fuck out of country and folk music, for crying out loud? You have fucking ruined it beyond all repair with your literary allusions and private-school educations and insecure fake tough-guy shit. Don’t come back either. You aren’t funny or tough or witty and you are clogging up the inboxes of all the booking agents and critics with your reverb-drenched non-singing guitar-noodling ass horseshit and creating more traffic on the roadways while “going on tour.”
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 15 March 2015 22:05 (nine years ago) link
I know this dude has a clear motive, but he's not wrong.
― Johnny Fever, Sunday, 15 March 2015 22:37 (nine years ago) link
laughable authenticity policing bullshit
― slothroprhymes, Sunday, 15 March 2015 22:48 (nine years ago) link
Yup
― Οὖτις, Sunday, 15 March 2015 22:58 (nine years ago) link
Fjm is the worst tho
― got a long list of ilxors (fgti), Sunday, 15 March 2015 23:03 (nine years ago) link
This is narcissism of the smallest difference.
― Tay-Tay Brooklynpants (Murgatroid), Sunday, 15 March 2015 23:11 (nine years ago) link
No bros or rich kids in country music! Enough is enough amirite
― Οὖτις, Monday, 16 March 2015 00:17 (nine years ago) link
Anyway Holy Shit seems to be the standout track to me now. Album ends strong.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 16 March 2015 00:27 (nine years ago) link
Down with this kind of artifice! Up with the kind of artifice I like!
― fuck me, archipelago (Simon H.), Monday, 16 March 2015 00:45 (nine years ago) link