Future Islands - On The Water

this album is still so damn good. when I saw 'em on one of Danny Deacon's tours they were quite awesome but also a little tough to take seriously. But I'm still totally enthralled by this.

Dug this out. Better than I remebered.

I got this 7" with Will Oldham covering Sheryl Crow's "Strong Enough" on one side and the other side is credited to Microkingdom (with the Future Island singer on vocals), covering Springsteen's "I'm on Fire." That song is covered a lot, but this sounds practically like U.S. Maple - really crazy and free jazzy, and his vocals are fantastic - it's weird hearing that song sung sort of histrionically, since Bruce is so creepily sleepy on it, but it works well.

Anyway, yeah - such a good band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Ae-LhMIG0

can't stop listening to this

I had no idea they'd signed to 4AD

http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2014/01/Future-Islands-Singles-608x608.jpg

Stoked for the new album

that's really good - On the Water was probably my favorite album of 2011 so I'm really looking forward to this one

seriously obsessed with this song i keep meaning to listen to the ilm trax results but i can't stop listening to "seasons" over and over again

i miss his more painful higher straining voice but the combination of him + the guitar in the chorus is just arena huge and beautiful

i like this band a great deal.

Supposed to interview them this week, if anybody has any questions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ee4bfu_t3c

so good

also, how did the interview go some dude?

yeah. he looks like he's dodging imaginary lasers, but it's awesome.

great interview, they're really good dudes.

^^^ I've watched that Letterman performance like a dozen times & showed it to everyone I know who hasn't already seen it... they haven't been 'local' (formerly of Greenville, NC) for a long long time, but I know many of us in the Triangle still fondly remember being rocked like that in tiny venues, and it's wonderful to see them bringing it to a national TV audience

I don't think I've ever seen Letterman that excited after a performance

I DJd after one of their shows in hawaii and i put on screamin jay hawkins and dude started making the most joyful ruckus on the other side of the bar, literally swinging his beer back and forth like a cartoon pirate all yo-ho-ho style and then he came up to the dj booth and gave me the happiest smiliest high-five ever

also the video in the 2nd post is really beautiful and i watch it about once a month

i took these:

http://i.imgur.com/dWe8fzn.png

http://i.imgur.com/Tj5oB92.png

Jesus, those are beautiful

yeah 2nd one is so good

this song is really good but that letterman performance was like a deleted scene from "walk hard" or something

so i thought the letterman performance was like bad paul young karaoke. is the studio shit like good paul young?

It's all good. Give me all of that you've got.

missed there was a link to the actual video up top, sorry.

i wonder whether neil diamond or tom jones will cover this first.

you guys are making very good unintentional arguments for why they're awesome

i dunno if i'd say unintentional - i'm well aware someone could respond with "I love Paul Young!"

this is machine-tooled for ILX & will probably go top 5 in the EOY

On the Water was awesome in the same way and didn't get too much attention here.

Walter Galt
Posted: May 19, 2013 at 12:30:46 PM
They are the quintessential band where I rarely think about them, then when a song comes up on shuffle I will become totally obsessed and play them non-stop for a week straight

This is otm. I always hear "beach foam" on an old mix in my car and play it over and over.

i dunno if i'd say unintentional - i'm well aware someone could respond with "I love Paul Young!"

― da croupier, Sunday, March 9, 2014 8:02 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

in the youtube comments, a lot of young ppl who had never heard them prior to the Letterman performance were like "omg his voice reminds me of Springsteen!" so just keep in mind that not everyone is familiar with Meatloaf or whatever terrible shit you were subjected to in your youth

shouldn't you be like "oh yay, now i have all these 80s synth-soul hams i can check out!" rather than complaining they're being brought up?

Paul Young lacks growl. The comparison is weak

soul hams

i'll admit there were those moments on letterman were he got a frog in his throat in a way that would never happen to paul

He growls a bit through every song. For the whole song.

i only know the hit, sorry

i mean i said paul young karaoke. I'm acknowledging the amateurish elements.

shouldn't you be like "oh yay, now i have all these 80s synth-soul hams i can check out!" rather than complaining they're being brought up?

― da croupier, Sunday, March 9, 2014 8:34 PM (34 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

(xps)

it's like, when my mom would overhear me listening to heavy metal and say "jesus, this is worse than AC/DC!", it didn't make me want to listen to AC/DC, y'know?

sorry dude but if someone making a cynical "lol are people really getting into Some New Group That Sounds Like This Old Thing" crack gets you upset that people are making reference points you don't know and not taking it seriously suggests you maybe shouldn't be passing around a clip of a dude doing a herky-jerky dance to 80s synth-soul on letterman

indie favorites often resemble unfashionable shit from 20-30 years earlier, you know? life is hard.

just given it to us straight, maaaan

da croupier you must have missed the memo, "caring what the 80s were like" is no longer a thing my generation has an emotional investment in :)

i still remember when the mean ol' guys at the record store brought up vanilla fudge when i made them listen to the afghan whigs. it hurt, but i'm grateful in hindsight.

WOMEN DANCED BEHIND TOM JONES, AND MEN THEY FOUGHT THE WARS
THE CHILDREN LISTENED TO PAUL YOUNG, AND EVERYONE WAS POOR

(last post, then I gotta bounce)

1. Dismissing a contemporary band because they sound too much like the sum of their influences without appearing to break any new ground stylistically
2. Dismissing a contemporary band because they remind you of stuff you never liked in the first place and resented having to hear during its window of mainstream popularity

I do not believe that the difference between 1. and 2. could be totally lost on you, da croup

actually, i'm a little young for description #2. But i'm sorry if you don't think it's fair to say (again, based on their hit) that these guys sound like an amateurish version of something that was popular a while back.

Letterman clip made me think "if Rick Astley had never met Stock Aitken Waterman."

I think this is a good band.

I am amused at who doesn't.

That's all

this new one is just 100% hooks its good

Thank you kindly for the offer, qualx, but I'm afraid the prince you seek is in another castle. Ask your dad instead.

― ...so music and chicken have become intertwined (Turrican), Wednesday, April 12, 2017 2:04 PM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://ih1.redbubble.net/image.7412653.0836/sticker,375x360.png

So far I'm convinced this is their best album, although listening to their back catalogue I will say that the format has been roughly the same for several years. I was kind of hoping they'd go full prog for this one.

"Future Islands sound like Robert Palmer struggling to untie a raincoat". David Quantick on Twitter

"Future Islands sound like Robert Palmer struggling to untie a raincoat". David Quantick on Twitter

psyched that Sam wore a Double Dagger shirt last night on Conan.

Sam singing with Double Dagger in 2009:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD8V-f4L2Jc

I'm out of the loop, is Turrican a less friendly Geir

*yawns*

I'd say a more cheerful Alex in NYC

Actually, I'll take that.

lots of double dagger/FI connections - William Cashion plays in a band with one of the guys from DD

yep, Peals - the record they put out last year is sweet. James Iha plays on "Punk Migration"!

Future Islands and Dan Deacon opened for Double Dagger at their last show in 2011.

So far I'm convinced this is their best album, although listening to their back catalogue I will say that the format has been roughly the same for several years. I was kind of hoping they'd go full prog for this one.

but yeah, I totally agree with the second part and it's been pretty funny to read reviews of The Far Field which are mostly like "they've been generally about the same thing, it's a band that values consistency, sticks to one formula and doesn't try to break musical ground, hey, they're good guys". I guess you can argue there's nothing wrong with making safe record but some of those writers go so out of their way to justify that it's hilarious.

I also think that this one is a lot less hook-based than Singles, nothing really caught my ear too much on this one, it flows pretty much from one song to another.

Every time it hits "Day Glow Fire", I stop whatever I'm doing and look up the song title so I can make sure I remember the name of the song this time. (It never works because, aside from specific new albums that I instantly imprint upon, I can't remember the names of any of the songs/tracks on any of the albums I purchase these days, but that one is a specific standout that distinguishes itself from the other songs to my ears.)

I like the new one a lot. Singles was awesome, why not spend a little bit more time in that mode?

i like this song "ran"

Ran is great. North Star is great. If they carry on in this groove for the next album they'll lose me but for now I'm quite happy to float around in their little weird world

it's got some great cuts like 'Time On Her Side,' 'Ran,' and 'Ancient Water,' but then there are clunkers like 'Shadows,' which is kind of cringe-y (imo)...

"Future Islands sound like Robert Palmer struggling to untie a raincoat". David Quantick on Twitter

^ This is such an insufferable "zing". Can almost hear someone chuckling "Oh, DELICIOUS!" into the arm of their smoking jacket.

a raincoat!

This band is great *and* that's a very funny joke from a very funny writer

joke is ilm xkcd

It's a good joke if you're one of the lamer British people on this board or Alfred Lord Sotosyn.

that is what they sound like though. (still great)

I'm quite enjoying Samuel Herring's debut of his hip hop side project as Hemlock Ernst with Kenny Segal.

ooooh wtf that's him? popped on my recommendations, it's good! i was wondering who the other dude was