So, Fleet Foxes...

For those that think the record is good but becomes a little too faceless by the end, I recommend removing "Quiet Houses" and the instrumental. Try listening to it that way and see if it doesn't feel like a stronger record.

quite liking 'Blue Ridge Mountains' if nothing else much. one of the better album covers this year too tho fwiw.

Fleet Foxes are no Laurel and Hardy, that's for sure.

Fleet Foxes reminds me of Firefox: pleasant, but not original and somewhat overrated.

I just noticed that Starbucks is selling it. Earlier in the year, Starbucks sold an album of Ray Charles duets, Genius Loves Company at its 6,100 locations. The album went platinum, and 350,000 of those were sold at Starbucks. Fleet Foxes was on a rack on the counter that held only two CDs, including a glam rock compilation. I'm not sure if this is the same for most Starbucks, or if a particular employee chose to feature it. I doubt the average yuppie customer is going to jump at an unknown name, but I'd be curious to see if the sales have increased at all.

Someone's blog post - http://gonze.com/blog/2008/10/01/fleet-foxes-from-starbucks/

Yeah, my wife told me that she saw it in Starbucks the other day. She thinks that I only like obscure bands, so she figured that having a band I like featured at Starbucks would annoy me. I jokingly agreed that it did annoy me. But in reality, I wish them all the success they can get, assuming it won't cause them to go mainstream in a bad way (I know that's Rockist Cliches 101, but I think it does actually happen sometimes).

I really like the album though. Someone mentioned My Morning Jacket upthread - I haven't heard enough MMJ to know, but if they do have an album that sound like FF, I'd like to find it. It reminds me more of older bands like Fairport Convention, David Crosby solo, or newer bands like Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, or Espers.

think they sound more like my morning jacket and band of horses than the beach boys

^^^this. i'm really not feeling the hypeyhype quality here - i mean, the first three tracks are knock-out but the fall-off is massive. not a patch on the BoH album.

Maybe the best tracks are at the beginning, but I don't think the fall-off is that great. I really like "He Doesn't Know Why", "Your Protector", and "Meadowlark", and at least like the rest.

http://vimeo.com/1851415

this is super good fyi

i like this album much more than anything by MMJ.

Someone mentioned My Morning Jacket upthread - I haven't heard enough MMJ to know, but if they do have an album that sound like FF, I'd like to find it.

― o. nate, Wednesday, October 8, 2008

There is no MMJ album that sounds exactly like Fleet Foxes. MMJ never do the harmonies the way FF do. But Pecknold's voice (plus the reverb) is a dead ringer for Jim James. My wife put it best: if MMJ had followed the folkier influences on their first album (Tennessee Fire), rather than going for the big 70s rock direction, they might've made an album closer to what Fleet Foxes did.

(so, in other words, the closest you'll get to the MMJ album you might want to find is their first.)

Yeah I've been super disappointed with MMJ since Tennessee Fire, this is sort of what I'd always wanted them to make.

Not really as good as it should be. Yeah I hear MMJ/Band of Horses mixed with a bit of Grizzly Bear and people who try and sound like the Beach Boys, but it's really meandering and uncatchy. I can see the appeal, but not worth doing a jizz about or anything.

A couple of swedish sisters covering 'tiger mountain peasant'. I think it's fairly interesting, much more refined than your usual youtube cover.

My wife put it best: if MMJ had followed the folkier influences on their first album (Tennessee Fire), rather than going for the big 70s rock direction, they might've made an album closer to what Fleet Foxes did.

Well put, scott pgwp's wife.

My take on the Fleet Foxes is that it is of course a nice album, but this idea that all American "indie" singers have to sound like Neil Young is getting a bit old in the end. I mean, Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev and The Shins are nice enough with some great pop songs, but that doesn't mean everyone has to sing like they do.

White Winter Hymnal appears to have become this year's Erland Oye-approved acoustic comedown song for ravers. I kind of like it now but I'm not listening to the album again.

Pretty sure that if Jockey Slut still existed they'd have given the album 5/5, incidentally.

yeah i heard it first on that aeroplane resident advisor mix. like it, but dont feel the need to listen to any more of them.

All that wimpy bleating about "leedle headsh hud fallen in the shnow" makes me want to go all Steve Buscemi at the end of Fargo on them apropos their heads.

So what you're saying is... 'Jol out'?

White Winter Hymnal appears to have become this year's
Erland Oye-approved acoustic comedown song for ravers

Haha, well put. Seeing all the comparisons to MMJ - I get more of a Iron & Wine vibe from the album. Bought it without hearing it first, and so far it's been sitting on a shelf most of the time. The harmonies just don't work for me so far. But then again... maybe it'll grow on me, insert platitude.

Well, well! Turns out that they're much stronger live than on record, dispelling all of that cloying feyness with an unexpected muscularity, range and depth. Stirring four-part harmonies throughout, and also a terrific cover of Judee Sill's "Crayon Angels", performed solo by Robin Pecknold.

Yes, they are excellent live. Surprisingly excellent.

they sell Fleet Foxes cds at starbucks haha

they sell Fleet Foxes cds at starbucks --> Surprisingly excellent negated

Yr elitism is making me drowsy. (no need to make the FF comeback... I already see it coming.)

the lyrics are so f'ing bad

I note the following from Mike T-Diva's review:

Equally unexpected was the band’s dry, sardonic, and somewhat rambling comic banter – although, as was cheerfully admitted, this could just have been due to some particularly heavy doses of cold medication. How else to explain their eulogies to John “The Mav” McCain?

“We want four more years of the same”, they drawled, to hoots of amused disbelief.

“Hey, if it ain’t broke...!”

KEEL THEM

Americans: not funny

Well, well! Turns out that they're much stronger live than on record, dispelling all of that cloying feyness with an unexpected muscularity, range and depth.

Hmmm... a bit like My Morning Jacket, non?

They don't sound excessively fey or cloying to me, but then I like Incredible String Band, so maybe my tolerance for that sort of thing is high.

“We want four more years of the same”, they drawled, to hoots of amused disbelief.

“Hey, if it ain’t broke...!”

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v111/robbeck/sarcasm_meter.jpg

I've finally realized what band they're actually channeling, it isn't the beach boys nor my morning jacket, it's 'Pearls before Swine':

Further Proof:

http://cdn.last.fm/coverart/300x300/2168138.jpghttp://www.panicmanual.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/fleet_foxes.jpg

I rest my case.

ban Seattle

I'm not sure Pecknold knew about PBS before recording the album, honestly. (disclosure: robin was the nicest dude at bimbo's bitchin burrito kitchen when I did go there, so I am biased.) The interviews I read make it seem that most of those guys aren't music geeks at all. It's like they all grew up with these soppy old 60s/70s rock records, and that's all their universe consists of... I have a hard time believing that's all there is to it, especially if some of these guys had friends in Capitol Hill (i.e. hipster neighborhood), but that's not evidence against either.

Anyway in brief: I wouldn't attribute any Fleet Fox appropriating anything below the radar with a wink. These guys are not James Murphy.

ban Seattle

straight outta Lynnwood CWA

*disgruntled grunt*

The interviews I read make it seem that most of those guys aren't music geeks at all. It's like they all grew up with these soppy old 60s/70s rock records, and that's all their universe consists of... I have a hard time believing that's all there is to it, especially if some of these guys had friends in Capitol Hill (i.e. hipster neighborhood), but that's not evidence against either.

I disagree. Their June interview with MOJO has their singer talking a great deal about how their generation (he's only 22 or 23) differs from older ones in that they grew up with P2P networking and the ability to listen to old records with ease. His love of old, obscure albums he found on the internet is something they talked about briefly. Plus his parents were described as being hippies, so there's also that angle when it comes to their musical influences.

Interview on Jools Holland, dude specifically mentioned Fairport and Steeleye Span as influences. Don't hear *that much* Fairport in them, but 'Gaudete' is a pretty close match isn't it?

wtf lol goths...

Not the Steeleye version though sadly :(

I reread the RS interview, and saw the Mojo piece. Nevermind!

I'd kinda respect the Fleet Foxes or at least their cover art person/group if Balaklava was the inspiration! It's close enough to resemble it, but different enough to not really ape it either.

So is the basic complaint in music aficiando/critic circles about Fleet Foxes topping the End Of Year charts not so much the dislike of the music but that the music doesn't RAWK, doesn't have a captivating backstory, and/or isn't original enough?

I heard them in starbucks earlier. Buncha starbucks yuppies.

sounds like a dude with a nice voice and average musical talent listened to a lot of yellow house. maybe that's just me though (it's not)

my main complainzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

This is basically like if music critics as a unit decided the Shins were the freshest and most exciting thing going on in the world of sound instead of placing them at #14 or whatever.

So is the basic complaint in music aficiando/critic circles about Fleet Foxes topping the End Of Year charts not so much the dislike of the music but that the music doesn't RAWK, doesn't have a captivating backstory, and/or isn't original enough?

What I keep reading (and happen to agree with) is basically that they have a great sound but kind of weak songs—nothing really to do with rocking or backstories or originality at all.