― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 19:21 (twenty years ago) link
― Hunter (Hunter), Wednesday, 26 November 2003 22:17 (twenty years ago) link
― keith m (keithmcl), Thursday, 27 November 2003 04:52 (twenty years ago) link
― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Thursday, 27 November 2003 05:07 (twenty years ago) link
― Rick Spence (spencerman), Thursday, 27 November 2003 18:16 (twenty years ago) link
― possible m (mandinina), Thursday, 27 November 2003 18:19 (twenty years ago) link
― peter dee (peter dee), Thursday, 27 November 2003 21:40 (twenty years ago) link
I brought home Her Majesty to listen to for the next few days while I'm in Providence. I listened to it twice on the way here. The standouts are: "Red Right Ankle" / "The Bachelor & The Bride" / "The Soldiering Life."
I've only heard chance snippets of Castaways & Cut Outs, though my roommate owns it; I ought to just burn it, but I'm anal about things like that. Anyway... I guess, the album is hit & miss, none of it is awful, but only a few songs are really great. The best song on the album is "Red Right Ankle"--vaguely heartbreaking and very catchy. Most people I know, upon hearing it the first time, try to sing along to the second verse, assuming the words are the same. Silly people.
― Ian J0hns0n, Friday, 28 November 2003 02:54 (twenty years ago) link
― raphael diligent (Cozen), Saturday, 29 November 2003 01:19 (twenty years ago) link
― jodi sieradzan, Wednesday, 17 December 2003 00:11 (twenty years ago) link
― the surface noise (electricsound), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 00:17 (twenty years ago) link
Meh.
Songs are overwritten, voice is a bit irritating, musicians are tight, stage antics are occasionally funny but feel forced, overall feeling is too precious. Norfolk and Western were less memorable but felt more honest.
― Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 18 October 2004 02:07 (nineteen years ago) link
http://www.stereogum.com/decemberists.mp3
It's the Decemberists covering Bjork's Human Behaviour. It's quite good.
― papa november (papa november), Thursday, 28 October 2004 01:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― Piers (piers), Thursday, 28 October 2004 05:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― papa november (papa november), Thursday, 28 October 2004 05:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― Piers (piers), Thursday, 28 October 2004 05:48 (nineteen years ago) link
― reo, Thursday, 28 October 2004 05:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― identity theftor (deangulberry), Thursday, 28 October 2004 05:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― reo, Thursday, 28 October 2004 05:54 (nineteen years ago) link
― Hurting (Hurting), Thursday, 28 October 2004 12:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― mclaugh (mclaugh), Thursday, 28 October 2004 16:50 (nineteen years ago) link
camisole, petticoat, vagabond, architect, courtesan, odalisque, cul de sac, legionnaire, bagatelle, boulevard, maidenhead, lioness
... what's the deal with Colin Meloy and anapestically-metered words? Am I wrong?
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 4 April 2005 19:21 (eighteen years ago) link
― darin (darin), Monday, 4 April 2005 19:35 (eighteen years ago) link
― adam (adam), Monday, 4 April 2005 19:38 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 4 April 2005 19:40 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 4 April 2005 19:42 (eighteen years ago) link
The song itself is a near-perfect shanty melody, and Meloy gets in a few good lines-- especially "let me be the one to lay within your thieving arms tonight," but neither version moves beyond tossed-off trifle, which in its own way is a lot more tiresome than nine-minute maritime epics.
I'm not sure the song qualifies as a shanty, but I really disagree with the last part; Bandit Queen is a nice little ditty, but Mariner's Revenge Song makes me want to kill myself. And I'm a pretty big Decemberists fan.
― Steve Goldberg (Steve Goldberg), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 12:26 (seventeen years ago) link
― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― Steve Goldberg (Steve Goldberg), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:06 (seventeen years ago) link
― Steve Goldberg (Steve Goldberg), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:09 (seventeen years ago) link
― Steve Goldberg (Steve Goldberg), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 13:14 (seventeen years ago) link
From pfork's review of Colin Meloy Sings Live:
"The other thing about these solo shows is that they're set up to be like campfire sing-alongs, so you're welcome to sing along as much as you like." The audience hoots and hollers, but judging from the silence surrounding the songs, no one took the offer seriously. Nor did Meloy: "Kumbaya", he says with an audible wink before launching into "The Gymnast, High Above the Ground", putting a knowing spin on what might otherwise be perceived as an earnest gesture. It's as if a bunch of people have gotten together to try and create a communal experience they don't quite believe in.
SEE ALSO: all indie rock shows.
― St3ve Go1db3rg, Tuesday, 8 April 2008 17:08 (fifteen years ago) link
Yes, how embarrassing and uncomfortable. Thanks for pointing that out.
― Emily S., Tuesday, 8 April 2008 17:15 (fifteen years ago) link
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/21/right-wing-obama-critics_n_102868.html
― omar little, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 18:07 (fifteen years ago) link
ha ian is so getting made fun of for this thread
― bell_labs, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 18:14 (fifteen years ago) link
this is definitely what could be termed an embarrassing revive
― dmr, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 18:49 (fifteen years ago) link
enjoying the decemberist lols on the primary thread
argh new album WOW
WOW
― Background Zombie (CharlieNo4), Thursday, 22 January 2009 16:04 (fifteen years ago) link
Has it leaked online or have you got an actual copy? I've only heard the song on their website...
― James Mitchell, Thursday, 22 January 2009 16:45 (fifteen years ago) link
Hated it on first listen, but it's growing on me.
― James Mitchell, Saturday, 21 March 2009 17:15 (fifteen years ago) link
hey i got this in my email. should i listen to it? what will it do to me? i've never heard them. they're big, right?
― scott seward, Tuesday, 18 January 2011 04:13 (thirteen years ago) link
i don't know though, peter buck? gillian welch? i thought they were indie rockers.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 18 January 2011 04:20 (thirteen years ago) link
don't do it dude
― bear, bear, bear, Tuesday, 18 January 2011 05:55 (thirteen years ago) link
i would read a scott seward liveblog of this record
― markers, Tuesday, 18 January 2011 06:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Fucking appalling band. I'd donate my wages for the next three months towards a fund for stopping them.
― Bonnie Tyler The Creator (Doran), Tuesday, 18 January 2011 07:50 (thirteen years ago) link
i like their gay undertones.
― reo
― velko, Tuesday, 18 January 2011 09:02 (thirteen years ago) link
as much as i know its not a very cool opinion but I don't hate the new album at all. really digging january hymm and the country vibes thrown in and out of this album.
― gman59, Tuesday, 18 January 2011 18:03 (thirteen years ago) link
will be hearing this a lot since my wife is a fan. glad it is suppposed to be more songwriter-y and less theatrical.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 18 January 2011 18:12 (thirteen years ago) link
lol as predicted this new one was playing in the kitchen when i got home today. sounded like some deep REM worship.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 19 January 2011 03:25 (thirteen years ago) link
hipster runoff breaks down why the decemberists hit #1http://cdn.hipsterrunoff.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/800/20110128-tfcn6m9gymtcbrjbc5eb2aciwg_0.jpg
― tylerw, Friday, 28 January 2011 15:40 (thirteen years ago) link
"Down By the Water" really reminds me of a Gin Blossoms song when it first starts up, then again with the harmonica. "Follow You Down" maybe?
― rendezvous then i'm through with HOOS (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 16 February 2011 23:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Just want to say that The King Is Dead is awesome! There's no mystery as why it charted so high other than I suppose people thought The Decemberists were more under the radar than they really are? They fit a lot of grooves - indie, americana, folk rock, alt country, twee, victorian nostalgia... I imagine their fanbase is pretty wide and varied.
IMO its the first great album of 2011. I didn't like the Hazards of Love but have much <3 for Crane Wife and Picaresque. This is a step in a different direction, way more folk and country influence than the ragtimey victorian stuff, but I like it all. Fuck the haters.
― no pop, no style -- all simply (Viceroy), Wednesday, 16 February 2011 23:48 (thirteen years ago) link
I really feel nothing for this band in this slightest but I will say this, cool move:
http://yfrog.com/kjsuqvj
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 29 June 2011 01:13 (twelve years ago) link
Context?
― Frogbs Day Afternoon (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, 29 June 2011 01:18 (twelve years ago) link
I think its to celebrate the upcoming season of Curb Your Enthusiasm
― van smack, Wednesday, 29 June 2011 01:30 (twelve years ago) link
Bandmember Jenny was diagnosed with cancer and is going through chemo -- thus her being bald and thus them all shaving their heads in solidarity.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 29 June 2011 01:35 (twelve years ago) link
So the new EP is pretty much uniformly better than anything on the recent full-length. Gone are the country-tinged R.E.M. aping tracks, back to the more folksy and proggy stuff that I prefer. Their Dead cover isn't half bad.
― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Wednesday, 2 November 2011 19:59 (twelve years ago) link
just learned that this band has a song called 'the chimbley sweep'
and thus that i've wasted 17 years by failing to concentrate my hatred upon them
― mookieproof, Saturday, 22 August 2020 05:21 (three years ago) link
they're a great band with a great catalog (although after 10 top-class years, the decline seems to have set in on the last two albums)
― alpine static, Saturday, 22 August 2020 17:52 (three years ago) link
man, the new single is bleak. they sound 100% out of ideas, going through motions, lifeless, etc.
maybe the album will be better, but i'm not hopeful.
― alpine static, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 08:21 (one month ago) link
Yeah, I'd agree with that, but also your previous post from three years ago, the last two albums weren't very exciting either. Would love a return to like The Crane Wife, but I'm not holding out much hope for that.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 27 February 2024 19:17 (one month ago) link
Oh totally. Although each of those had a handful of good songs, I'd say, and this one seems worse than just about anything on either one. I can't believe it's the first single.
I didn't expand on this last night when I posted, but: This band feels like an obligation at this point - come together every five years, record the latest batch of songs, go on tour, bank some dough, then go off and do what you really want to be doing (for Colin) / do whatever pays the bills (for the rest of them) for another five.
You won't find a bigger defender of their first decade than me. Everything through King Is Dead is brilliant, imo. But this one sounds like someone told AI to produce a Colin Meloy song.
― alpine static, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 20:10 (one month ago) link
At least they're bringing Ratboys with them on tour this summer.
― alpine static, Tuesday, 27 February 2024 20:47 (one month ago) link
Wow, you're right. I used to adore this band when I was just getting into that Pitchfork/indie scene, just after their first LP. Saw them about five times between Her Majesty and Crane Wife, even though this required an hour and a half drive to a college town. The first time was at a venue with a stage small enough that they couldn't leave without disassembling their gear, so they just sat down for ten minutes before the encore and told us to occupy ourselves. I remember downloading mp3s of the live Picaresque tracks before they were recorded and tabbing them out for posting on their forum. I drifted away when it seemed like their quirkiness was being smoothed out, and just because my passion moved on, as it does.
I haven't revisited those LPs since; I'm wary that I'll find it all too cutesy-cringey now. That'd I'd feel faintly embarrassed, like when I find my amateurish attempts at music blogging from back then, or old LiveJournal entries. I'd rather keep the memories as they are. Still, I'm running through "Leslie Anne Levine" in my mind and it still sounds pretty/haunting.
― blatherskite, Wednesday, 28 February 2024 19:15 (one month ago) link
Yeah, I gave "Burial Ground" another listen last night and alpine 100% otm with it sounding like Colin Meloy AI.
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 28 February 2024 19:43 (one month ago) link
My wife and I saw them several times in their early days, when they were a somewhat niche act in small clubs.
I still like the first several records, but haven't kept up and probably won't.
― alpaca lips now (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, 28 February 2024 21:01 (one month ago) link
Man, I love "Burial Ground"! Surprised to see so much dumping on it here, it's a total earworm. Basically Decemberists + Shins in a good way (which I wouldn't have predicted at this point). I'm not a huge Decemberists fan, I liked some of their early albums but not super attached to them. I just think this scans as like a good lost Paisley Underground track.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 12 March 2024 23:33 (two weeks ago) link
Haven't played this yet, but slightly encouraged by them going all epic again... new 19-minute song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nhLuHWcTdo
― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 19 March 2024 19:55 (one week ago) link