Three Imaginary Girls - Nonesuch

Let the Magnetic Fields funfest 2010 begin

imaginary liz — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:02:29 +0000

Team imaginary has been counting down to the Magnetic Fields Town Hall two-night residency for months and months... and the wait is finally over. Tonight kicks off their massive double fantasy of Fields-ness and to prepare we've been working on converting our overt joy to somber nods as to not scare those on stage.

Who else in the imaginary circle is headed out to the big show?

Any thoughts on the new album? I have to say I agree with this recent posting on the Tullycraft blog about the similarity of a certain song.

By the way, want to be the luckiest guy on the lower east side with a poster of this artwork on your wall? Mark Gamble, an amazing co.uk designer, has printed a limited run of his above design and he might just have a few left! Thanks to ChrisB and How Fucking Romantic for finding it!

PS - Mark Eitzel is opening so get there early to catch the whole show. It's what Claudia would want you to do.

Best news of the day: Magnetic Fields are coming to Seattle

imaginary liz — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:42:48 +0000

As imaginary keenan reported last week, there's a new Magnetic Fields album headed our way on January 26, 2010 {thanks to Nonesuch Records}. And as we speculated {and crossed all our fingers for}, the band will hit the road in support of Realism in February and March!

Get your credit card ready... tickets are on sale RIGHT NOW!

Full deets from the email sent to superfans {which I'm sure includes you and all of the cool people we love}:

Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

Andrew Bartlett — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:41:06 +0000

7.5

http://www.amazon.com/Oh-My-God-Charlie-Darwin/dp/B0026IZR34/?tag=threeimagi-20

charliedarwin.jpg

You could be forgiven if for a few seconds, maybe longer, you thought that The Low Anthem’s Oh My God, Charlie Darwin was an undiscovered Scud Mountain Boys album, circa Pine Box, with a crisp acoustic guitar and Joe Pernice singing in a higher range. Or maybe you’d guess it was Bon Iver in a slightly different garb, as the brittle lead voice on “Charlie Darwin” ethereally floats over that almost lo-fi guitar and long-vowel harmonies. Like Bon Iver, the Providence, Rhode Island-spawned trio picked and packed their gear for a seemingly backwoods recording session (notated in the liners thus “Recorded in the solace of a Block Island winter”), where random, found sounds peek around the corners (hear that fountain and the bird-chirps as “(Don’t) Tremble” awakens lazily). The trio – Ben Knox Miller, Jeff Prystowsky, and Jocie Adams – adore subtlety: The acoustic guitar picking of “Ohio,” with soft-focus vocal, gains its depth from the slow-rising crest of a minimal clarinet and a harmonica’s spectral glow amidst the harmonies. They shape-shift, too, from gauzy vocals and instrument palettes to indulge a raucous side, growling out “The Horizon is a Beltway,” which chugs along in a simple guitar-specked rhythmic stomp, belting out a reading of “Home I’ll Never Be,” Tom Waits’s Kerouac adaptation, and then their boozy guitar rave-up, “Champion Angel,” with its pile-up of tattered harmonica and sandpapery guitar. They love their Americana tropes, delving often into displacement and road-worn living (“Ohio,” “Ticket Taker,” “Cage the Songbird”). They’re kindred souls with Fleet Foxes, Will Oldham, Phosphorescent, and Centro-matic – not bad company, by any stretch.

{The Low Anthem plays at Chop Suey on Saturday, October 17 with Ryan Montbleau Band; $10 adv, $12 door, 21+.}

Eno gets Byrne'd

Jon Harthun — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:41:19 +0000

Eno and Byrne collaborate once again.

It's New Magnetic Fields Album Day!

imaginary liz — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:20:14 +0000

Let's celebrate the release of the new Magnetic Fields album with some videos... and fellow superfans covering their songs! Do you have a favorite song or cover of that song? Post it here!

Countdown to the new Magnetic Fields album!

imaginary liz — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:59:23 +0000

Our MF friends have posted the ENTIRE album to MySpace!

Magnetic Fields reveal song names for new record. Make up your own lyrics here!

imaginary dana — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:10:56 +0000

Normally I don't get all in a lather when a band reveals an album title or song titles or album art, but this is Stephin Merritt we're talking about!

New Magnetic Fields song (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

imaginary dana — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 21:24:08 +0000

Can I mention again how excited I am for this new record???!?

The day is beautiful. And so are you.

imaginary dana — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:17:33 +0000

The Magnetic Fields are happy to announce that their new album, titled "Distortion," will be released on Nonesuch Records on January 15, 2008.

New Magnetic Fields album

imaginary char — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 22:19:28 +0000

The new Magnetic Fields album is now planned for release in early 2008.

Original Soundtrack to The Fountain

Erik Gonzalez — Tue, 29 May 2007 05:38:18 +0000

yes

7.8

http://www.amazon.com/Fountain-Clint-Mansell/dp/B000IU3YKU/wwwthreeimagi-20

fountain.jpg

If you’re really looking for independent music stars, you need look no further than the Kronos Quartet. They are the alternative rock stars of the chamber music scene. All the cool kids love them and their avante garde schemes, from collaborating with Chinese musicians like Wu-Man to creating cacophonous tributes to a former FBI chief (“Sing! Sing! J. Edgar Hoover”) to being Philip Glass’ favored musicians.

However, now they are projecting themselves into modern rock (well, depending on how you want to define it), finding themselves working with Amon Tobin and Clint Mansell (formerly of Pop Will Eat Itself). Their collaboration with Mansell comes in the form of the score of Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain and finds themselves mixing up with Mogwai while they’re at it with surprisingly invigorating results.

Clint Mansell has converted himself from early 90’s rap-dance-rock pioneer of the much-underappreciated Pop Will Eat Itself to the personal composer for Darren Aronofsky, starting with the electronic soundtrack of Pi to his first collaboration with the Kronos Quartet for Requiem for a Dream to a truly movie-score-like album for the sci-fi love story The Fountain. The dark mood of the film is reflected in the somber, dirge melodies created by Mansell, the Kronos Quartet and Mogwai (who fittingly recorded their portions of the score in “the Castle of Doom”).

If you’re looking for uplifting music, this is not the place to start. Instead what you get deep, resonant tones, hushed vocals, scratched and scraped guitar strings and ominous string arrangements that hover over the horizon like a pall of death. What works out so beautifully is the mixing of Mansell’s slow, pained melodies with the string work of the Kronos Quartet. Just hearing the opener “The Last Man,” you know you’re not going to be enjoying a light-hearted romp. Instead the sonorous quality of the Kronos Quartet mimics the hurt of the film (and of course, points out the biggest difficultly of reviewing a score – how do you talk about it as an independent work and surprising, many aspects of The Fountain work well as their own pieces). “Holy Dread!” as the name implies, is a death march if ever you heard one, with pounding kettle drums mixed underneath the resonant cellos and grunted choral work, while “Tree of Life” picks up the pace some and in that sense I mean that instead you feel like you might be getting hunted down by a demon to this music.

Where The Fountain works its best is where all three corners, Mansell, Kronos and Mogwai, all play a part. In those moments, a fury of sorrow seems to be created, reaching into a Dante’s Inferno to pull back out a mix of howling strings, booming drums and mournful melody that meld together perfectly, such as towards the end of “First Snow” or throughout “Death is the Road to Awe” (yes, uplifting titles) where it becomes obvious that these artists were meant to collaborate at some point (and you really wonder how Clint made it from PWEI to here in only a few steps).

The Fountain is not for everyone, it acts much more like a classic movie score than your typical modern rock album, but the moods created by the trio at work for most of the tracks are moving and beautiful. If you need a launching pad to begin to delve into some less rock-oriented artists like the Kronos Quartet, this might be a good place to start – you can comfort yourself in know that Mogwai and Clint are there to keep you company, but you can also sit back and enjoy (well, maybe enjoy isn’t the word as much as be absorbed by) the textured strings of the Kronos Quartet. It is definitely something for which a chance is clearly worth taking.

On The Fountain, it becomes obvious that Clint Mansell, Kronos Quartet and Mogwai were meant to collaborate.

Saltbreakers

Cal Ledbetter — Wed, 16 May 2007 14:57:11 +0000

7.2

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000N4S8SO/wwwthreeimagi-20

lauraveirs07may.jpg

Laura Veirs’ sixth full-length, Saltbreakers, is a pretty, middle-of-the-road-less-traveled album that never sends you soaring too high, or drags you down too low. Her voice shines, and is the strongest aspect of her music, but the hum-drum guitars and seldom-used pianos may bore some. For others’ tastes, though, this is a great, introspective piece of work.

Regardless of the less-than-attention-grabbing backing music, I can listen to Laura sing all day long. I could listen to her sing the alphabet. I could listen to her read the phone book. Her voice has a certain vulnerability blanketed by an incredible strength. You may be compelled to try to pin-point exactly who she sounds like, but eventually you realize there’s no reason to compare. Her voice is uniquely her own, save for the brief moments in which it can evoke Tegan and Sara, Maja Ivarsson of the Sounds, or Joanna Newsom without all the loogies.

Her lyrics stick to her basic formulas of songwriting — galactic themes such as stars and moons; nautical themes such as oceans and sails; nature themes, such as nightingales and butterflies. Even though her lyrics are dreamlike and playful, it would be nice to cut through the metaphor to hear how Laura really feels about things. I mean really, really feels about things. Is she pissed off that an ex left her for someone else? Does she hate her dad? Does she ever drink herself silly while crying on the floor?

She comes close on the opening song, “Pink Light.” She leads with the lyric, “Sorry I was cruel/I was protecting myself.” But she immediately follows this personal line with the abstract by singing, “Drifting along with my swords out flying/tattering my own sails.” The album continues with these abstract, dream-like lyrics, and never really lets you into the ID of Laura.

The title track uses the same metaphors Laura prefers (“Chinese dragons incandescent;” “You will not burn me up/I’m a fallen leaf who keeps her green,”) but applies them in a more playful way. Dismissing the sigh-inducing, folky, down-tempo ballads, Laura puts these lyrics into a cute pop tune that is posed to land on the WB. The little smile this song evokes prepares you for the rest of the album which floats to the last track like the incoming tide — nothing extraordinary, but still intriguing. Something lacks from this album — it lacks a strong pulse, a punch-you-in-the-gut moment.

For those who love abstract lyrics about our natural surroundings as metaphors for our feelings, this album has everything you need. I'd like to see Laura open up and semote, to get really pissed off, or really happy, or really sad. And take those emotions and put them into lyrics, she’d have a homerun album.

Saltbreakers is a pretty, middle-of-the-road-less-traveled album that never sends you soaring too high, or drags you down too low.

Magic Potion

Erik Gonzalez — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 08:00:00 +0000

7.2

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000GPIPD8/wwwthreeimagi-20

theblackkeys06nov.jpg

One of the greatest struggles of music critiquery (yes, I know I just made up that word) is attempting to evaluate bands as they age. Some bands strike out on their own and try new sounds, with varying success (e.g., U2 or Radiohead). Other bands keep their sound as constant as the tides, keeping their fans pleased until the end of time (think Weezer or the Cure). Both methods have their merits, but it is difficult to assess which either path is, well, the right one. Probably neither. It is like asking for direction and being told "head down the road until you reach the fork. Then, take the fork." That is about as far as I can get with this before my head starts to hurt.

The Black Keys, case in point, clearly fall into the "consistency" camp. Therein lies the struggle for me, as a critic. I really like the Black Keys sound: the fact that I can pop in any Black Keys album and know what I can expect can be very comforting; it's the musical equivalent of comfort food. So, how do you evaluate something that you don't want to change in the first place? On their fourth length album, Magic Potion, the Black Keys are exactly where you would expect to find them: playing their blues-rooted rock and rock, rumbling and growling their way through the songs like rock stopped evolving after Led Zeppelin. However, even though I can put Magic Potion in my CD player and feel completely comfortable with it, I can't help shake the idea that, maybe, someday, the Black Keys might think of trying something new. Overspeciallization can be a bitch.

That being said, Magic Potion gives Black Keys fans exactly what they want. Right from crashing of Dan Auerbach's guitar and Patrick Carney's drums opening "Just Got To Be," you get song after song of guitar-rich rock. It almost makes it difficult to describe a lot about the album because each song is constructed so similar, right down to the themes of women, love and lust. Some of the standout tracks that follow this formula are "Just a Little Heat" that oscillates from growling, low vocals and drums to a full on thunder, "Give Your Heart Away," a song that approaches the all out roar of their previous albums and "Modern Times."

If anything unpleasant can be said about Magic Potion, it is that it feels like it lacks some of the intensity of earlier, rawer Black Keys albums. "Your Touch" and "Goodbye Babylon" follows the blues formula of longing for a woman, with Auerbach's gruff vocals taking it home but lacks some of the fire of earlier sultry Black Keys songs like thickfreakness's "Hold Me In Your Arms," as if the band is holding it back. These songs begin to have a "by the numbers" feel that is dangerous territory for a fairly straightforward duo like the Black Keys.

One of the nice deviations from the modus operandi is You're the One, a quiet ballad where Auerbach's vocals are more subdued and nuanced, echoing over the reserved guitar. It adds a little more variety to the Black Keys oeuvre. "The Flame" also has more of this smoldering sound, albeit a little closer to your typical Keys sound. The album does close s trongly, with the boisterous "Black Door" and "Elevator," two songs that feel like the Black Keys just letting the studio fill with their sound and not worrying about taking anything down any notches.

Magic Potion seems to prove the axiom "the most things stay the same, the more they stay the same." Ok, well, maybe that's not an axiom, but that's the point here. There are some subtle variations from the rest of the Black Keys discography, mainly in that they sound a little more polished, a little more subdued at times, but unless you've listened to the Keys as much as someone like, well, me, you're probably not going to notice. So, Magic Potion becomes one of those albums that isn't going to change anyone's mind about the Black Keys, but if you like what you're heard so far, you're not going to be disappointed.

I can't help shake the idea that, maybe, someday, the Black Keys might think of trying something new. Overspeciallization can be a bitch.

The Tragic Treasury: Songs from a Series of Unfortunate Events

Erik Gonzalez — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 08:00:00 +0000

7.8

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000HDRAMG/wwwthreeimagi-20

thegothicarchies06nov.jpg

It's almost amusing sometimes how many "bands" somehow feature Stephin Merritt. At last count we have Magnetic Fields, the 6ths, Future Bible Heroes, Stephin Merritt (solo) and the Gothic Archies, and really, they all blend into one beautiful Merritt menagerie. The Gothic Archies are the center of Merritt's latest opus and it's a doozy. If you can get Jim Carrey out of your head for a moment, it seems a perfect fit to combine the quirky darkness of the Gothic Archies (self-proclaimed goth-bubble-pop, kind of like a Tullycraft-meets-Edgar Allan Poe) with Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events. This match made in heaven (or maybe hell) has produced a Tragic Treasury, where we get macabre tales set to downright lovely tunes.

For anyone who has listened to Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs (and if you haven't, do it now. I'll wait here for you…), you know that one of Merritt's many skills is the ability to morph genres with incredible ease, and the Gothic Archies are no exception. They (well, "they") might advertise as bubble-gum pop, but the sounds on A Tragic Treasury jump from Decemberist-like shanties like "Scream and Run Away" to actual dance songs like "The World is a Very Scary Place" to dirges like "Things are Not What They Appear". Although the tales of Lemony Snicket do lend themselves to such dark and funeral march-like songs (see also "Dreary, Dreary"), it is the more fun-loving songs that make the Treasury so enjoyable. "Scream and Run Away" sounds like what you might here in the town bazaar being in the middle ages, warning visitors of the evil Count Olaf. The same can be said for the only song not directly related to the collection, "We are the Gothic Archies," a goth 60's pop song (more or less) that introduces us to the band and makes me wish that someone would start making a cartoon series that chronicles the adventures of Archies (Adult Swim are you listening?) There is a child-like playfulness to "In the Reptile Room" even as Merritt sings in the reptile room/where the babies scream, and really, who doesn't enjoy such musical contradictions?

It is the odd sweetness of a lot of the tracks that makes you realize how the marriage of Merritt and Snicket really is. "This Abyss" is an odd love song with undeniable optimism as he sings even in the deepest ocean/is a little moonlight over criss-crossing synthesizers. "Crows," on the other hand, has a darker tone with guitars crashing over the chorus there are crows, crows, crows everywhere/but when I think of you dear, I don't care. Admittedly, when you're writing an album about every Snicket book, it can get a little bogged down with songs that just don't seem to get their act together (e.g., "A Million Mushrooms", "Freakshow") and "Smile! Nobody Cares How You Feel" is a gem merely on its title but you wish the song would have a few more teeth. Luckily the engaging songs make up for it, like the real gem "Shipwrecked," which might be the ultimate love song. Regaling us with a tale of being shipwrecked on a tropical island with your love. Merritt mixes sarcastic wit like suggesting being shipwrecked means we can quit smoking and quickly lose weight and romantic gestures like if it looks drizzly I'll build us a yurt. It slowly becomes clear the deranged notions that take over the minds of the castaways (what shall we use for bait?/lend me a hand/I'll sew it back when we get to land). It is pure ghoulish perfection set to a hollow, strangely tropical melody.

If anything is a failing of The Tragic Treasury in the Stephin Merritt oeuvre, it's the overall fluff feeling of the album, but it's a "soundtrack" for children's books, so it can all be forgiven. The Gothic Archies continues to show that Merritt in whatever form can craft entirely delightful pop gems on almost any subject matter. And really, how often do you get to sit back and enjoy catchy songs about ghastly death?

The Gothic Archies are the center of Merritt's latest opus and it's a doozy.

Three Imaginary Girls Best Northwest Releases of 2005 Readers' Poll Results {40-31}

three imaginary girls — Fri, 06 Jan 2006 08:00:00 +0000

{50-41} * {40-31} * {30-21} * {20-11} * {10-1}
{top 100} * {imaginary picks}

#40 Vendetta Red — "Sisters Of the Red Death"
(Sony)

{official website} * {buy it}

#39 Matthew Shaw — Convenience
(Self-released)

{official website} * {buy it}

#38 Fruit Bats — Spelled in Bones
(Sub Pop)

{official website} * {buy it} * {review}

#37 Aqueduct — I Sold Gold
(Barsuk)

{official website} * {buy it} * {review}

#36 Laura Veirs — Year of Meteors
(Nonesuch)

{official website} * {buy it}

#35 The Emergency — Far Out
(Self-released)

{official website} * {buy it}

#34 Tim Seely — Tim Seely's Funeral Music
(Slow Love Records )

{official website} * {buy it} * {review}

#33 Kelli Hanson — Lullaby for an Astronaut
(Bigger Than the Barn)

{official website} * {buy it} * {review}

#32 Crown Aruba — alotisalot
(Unsmashable Records)

{official website} * {buy it} * {review}

#31 Crystal Skulls — Blocked Numbers
(Suicide Squeeze)

{official website} * {buy it} * {review}

See all the winners in the TIG Best Northwest Releases of 2005 Readers' Poll (see winners #40-31 here).

Top 50 Northwest Releases of 2004: the Imaginary Readers' Poll Results {50-41}

three imaginary girls — Mon, 03 Jan 2005 08:00:00 +0000

#50 Argo — Jetpacks for Everyone
(Ana-Them Records)

{official website} * {buy it} * {tig review}

#49 The Purrs — No Particular Bar, No Particular Town
(self-released)

{official website} * {buy it}

#48 Rochester Fosgate — Rochester Fosgate
(Smooth Excavator)

{official website} * {buy it} *

#47 These Arms Are Snakes — Oxeneers Or the Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home
(Jade Tree)

{official website} * {buy it} * {tig review}

#46 Matthew Shaw — Ghosts in the Concrete
(Burning Building Recordings )

{official website} * {buy it}

#45 Idiot Pilot — </Strange We Should Meet Here>
(Reprise Records)

{official website} * {buy it} * {tig review}

#44 Laura Veirs — Carbon Glacier
(Nonesuch)

{official website} * {buy it}

#43 Kuma — That Moment of Silence Before a Disaster
(self-released)

{official website} * {buy it} * {tig review}

#42 Andrea Maxand — Where the Words Go
(Ghostweed Press)

{official website} * {buy it}

#41 Kultur Shok — Kultura-Diktatura
(Kool Arrow)

{official website} * {buy it}

The top Northwest releases of 2004 as voted on by you, our readers (see winners #50-41 here).

i

Imaginary Boy Shaun — Mon, 02 Aug 2004 07:00:00 +0000

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0001NNL8O/wwwthreeimagi-20

magneticfields.jpg

Stephin Merritt was wise in waiting five years to follow up his last Magnetic Fields record, 69 Love Songs and . Releasing a mere single 14-song CD in the aftermath of that 3-disc genre-hopping behemoth could only have led to disappointed expectations. Not that Merritt was biding his time — in the interim he has released albums by his side projects the 6thsFuture Bible Heroes and composed scores for several indie films.

And now, judging that the world is ready once again for the Magnetic Fields, Merritt has released I, similar to Love Songs in its loose thematic ties and stylistic explorations, but scaled down to a more manageable size. Appropriately titled, every song here begins with the letter I, though the collection is not as narcissistic as that would imply. (The exception is the over-the-top braggadocio of "I Thought You Were My Boyfriend": "Love or not, I've always got/Ten guys on whom I can depend/And if you're not mine/One less is nine; Get wise.")

The main idiosyncrasy of this album is Merritt's decision to go sans synth, then treat the instruments electronically, so that much of the time they come out sounding synth-like anyway. The band here resembles a small chamber-pop ensemble, mainly consisting of cello, guitar and drums, abetted by the occasional piano. The result is a sparse, intimate framework for the lyrics and Merritt's monotone bass growl. And the songwriter's fabled wordplay is on full display, in particular on the sublimely poppy "I Don't Believe You": "So you quote love unquote me/Well, stranger things have come to be", "So you're brilliant gorgeous and/Ampersand after ampersand." The music-hall influence becomes explicit in "I'm Tongue-Tied," conjuring the image of a down-on-his-luck Cole Porter reduced to performing with a tiny pick-up band on a vaudeville stage. In other experiments outside of the strict pop format, "In an Operetta" pays tribute to that form with a dainty harpsichord melody, and the lyrics of "Irma" are broken mid-phrase to conform to its tick-tock banjo rhythm.

The Fields' trademark melancholy pervades the album, from the woe-is-me "I Was Born" to the noir atmospherics of "Infinitely Late at Night." But Merritt manages to grin through his tears, telling tales of forlorn, loveless circus clowns, and evil twins. Prolific though he may be, Merritt shows no signs of running out of ideas.

But Merritt manages to grin through his tears, telling tales of forlorn, loveless circus clowns, and evil twins.