Reconsidering Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Sometimes it's easy to pinpoint when you started to lose faith in a band. In the case of Clap Yours Hands Say Yeah, it was at their performance at Bonnaroo 2006. At that time, their self-titled and much lauded 2005 album was (and still is) one of my personal favorites. I had already seen them live at a small-ish venue in Madison. That show was pretty good. So, maybe it was the big stage, or maybe it was the heat, but they just weren't very good on that June day. I can't even remember exactly why they weren't good, but I do recall the unanimous sentiment in my group that we should have skipped the few songs we did stay for in favor of Elvis Costello.
And sometimes it's easy to pinpoint when you almost completely lost faith in a band...
The Ever-Expanding Catalog of Stephin Merritt
At the conclusion of 2011, Stephin Merrit has the equivalent of 21 LPs, 5 EPs and a generous handful of other songs, scores and soundtracks on his resume. The early 2010 release Realism was Merritt's tenth album with The Magnetic Fields and his 2011 compilation Obscurities brought together rare and unreleased tracks from The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, The Gothic Archies and solo endeavors. The sheer breadth of material that Merritt has amassed in just over twenty years is truly impressive.
Merritt's catalog has a unique characteristic - it's nearly devoid of singles or "famous" songs. I'd imagine creating a traditional "greatest hits" album would be a difficult endeavor. This is by no means a criticism of the materials quality. Instead, it shows a belief in the good of the the album. Very few bands extend a concept like "no-synths" over the course of three songs, let alone three albums. Another result of having no hits is that there are no nagging expectations for your concert performance. The Magnetic Fields can choose from hundreds of songs when putting together a setlist and there is no pressure to put on those few songs-that-everyone-EXPECTS-to-hear. Those songs don't exist on paper.
And no band puts together an original, eclectic, and career-spanning setlist like The Magnetic Fields. Case in point - below are the two setlists from the shows I've attended. The shows, less than two years apart, featured 27 or 28 songs split between two sets and an encore. There was only one song, "The Nun's Litany", that was played at both shows. I can't think of another band who could do this and still leave their audience fulfilled.
On March 6th, 2012, Stephin Merritt will add even more to the catalog when The Magnetic Fields release their eleventh LP, Love at the Bottom of the Sea, on Merge Records.
WEB: http://houseoftomorrow.com/
[LISTEN] The Magnetic Fields - "Beach-a-Boop-Boop" (from Obscurities)
[LISTEN] The Magnetic Fields - "You Must Be Out of Your Mind" (from Realism)
An Introduction to 2010 and 2011 In Review
I didn't write a 2010 Review and that's a shame because there was quite a bit of good stuff to write about. I'll remedy that by wrapping 2010 and 2011 together in a big "D2 in Review" series of posts. D2 meaning decade two, meaning the second decade of the 21st century, meaning no one has come up with a sensible name for this decade. But I'm not writing this introduction just to tell you this.
I want to talk about SOPA.
Infographic: Time Between Concerts
A few weeks ago I saw one of my favorite bands, Man or Astro-Man?, in concert for just the second time. The previous concert had been at the same venue nearly ten years before. It got me to thinking about how much time generally passes between the times I see a band in concert.
Festival Scorecard: Noise Pop 2011
Or, a Cautionary Tale About the 7p Score for Festivals
Noise Pop
Website:http://2011.noisepop.com/
Dates: February 22-27, 2011
Location: San Francisco, California
Top Bills: Yo La Tengo, Ben Gibbard, Dan Deacon, The Concretes
7p Score: 43%
"43%?! What a crappy festival!" Not so fast...
Festival Scorecard: Sasquatch! 2011
Sasquatch! Music Festival
Website: http://www.sasquatchfestival.com/
Dates: May 27-30, 2011
Location: George, Washington
Top Bills: Foo Fighters, Death Cab for Cutie, Modest Mouse, Wilco, The Flaming Lips
7p Score: 60%
Over the past four or five years I've found that Sasquatch! is very in tune with my musical tastes. So much so that when the lineup is released every year I immediately start searching for plane fares and rental cars. I could probably draw a pretty good map of Washington between Wenatchee and Spokane from memory. But every year I come to the same conclusion. Getting to Sasquatch! is hard.
Festival Scorecard: Bonnaroo 2011
Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
Website: http://bonnaroo.com/
Dates: June 9-12, 2011
Location: Manchester, Tennessee
Top Bills: Eminem, Arcade Fire, Widespread Panic, The Black Keys
7p Score: 55%
Swap Kanye West for Eminem and toss in the requisite jam band or two and you've got Coachella East.
Festival Scorecard: Coachella 2011
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Website: http://www.coachella.com/
Dates: April 15-17, 2011
Location: Indio, California
Top Bills: Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, Kanye West, The Strokes
7p Score: 52%
Coachella is in an enviable position. It's one of the most attended festivals in America (for better or worse) and can draw huge acts. Since it's the first major one-site festival in the calendar year, it is naturally the first to announce its lineup. So not only does every act on the bill feel like a "scoop", they're able to tempt you with the promise of music in the oh-so-toasty desert while you're shoveling your car out from under three feet of snow.