Not that the trilogy has officially come to an end , The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt has plenty of extra times on his hands (well, ahead of those Realism tour dates of course!) So, he recently completed a score for the 1917 silent film version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea , and, on May 4th, will unveil the finished product during a live performance at an Francisco's Castro Theatre, as part of the San Francisco Film Festival , Pitchfork reports. "I'm going to [...]
Magnetic Fields mastermind Stephin Merritt is busy plotting a new synth-heavy record, prepping a documentary , and heading out on tour to support the release of Realism this week, but his calendar isn't quite packed yet: "I'm working on a score for the 1917 silent film version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, " Merritt told Exclaim , adding later: "I'm going to try to musicalize it to be more or less in sync with the moving lips of the actors, who actually talk a great deal, considering it's a silent [...]
Enjoy today's full Q&A here. Last week, The Magnetic Fields debuted a video for 'We Are...'. Realism is out today! Catch The Magnetic Fields on their NA tour. MP3: The Magnetic Fields - Zombie Boy
Filed under: News , New Music , Exclusive The last song on the Magnetic Fields ' new record, 'Realism,' is about a shipwreck. Surprisingly, the subject pops up often in frontman Stephin Merritt 's songwriting. "I did almost drown as a child, and I've had drowning nightmares, so I guess every few months or so, drowning comes forcefully to mind," Merritt tells Spinner. "I have songs about desert islands a lot. I think it's because it might be so cheap to make movies with very small [...]
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars When The Magnetic Fields last put some tracks down on tape with Distortion, we saw the band with a wash of feedback and, well, distortion. They return, however, with Realism , a record with cleaner production, purposefully, and one that allows the minimalist chamber pop group to open up their doors once again to the more enchanting orchestration of mastermind Stephin Merritt. Choosing to open the album with "You Must [...]
It's our experience that Stephin Merritt is far more open about his life and work than people seem to give him credit for, but those who've found him impenetrable in the past will now have another... Continue reading "Stream the Realism, the Newest from Magnetic Fields, or Watch the Stephin Merritt Documentary Premiering in San Francisco Next Month" >
Filed under: News , New Music , Exclusive Magnetic Fields singer and songwriter Stephin Merritt is indignant when it's suggested that his band's new album, 'Realism,' follows reasonably quickly on the heels of its 2008 predecessor, 'Distortion.' "It's been two years!" Merritt tells Spinner. "I'm used to putting out a record a year, so I don't feel like it's been a short amount of time." Fair enough, though two years is a flash compared to the four-year gap between 'Distortion' and 2004's 'i,' or [...]
Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News , New Music The final tracklisting of the tribute album for New Zealand indie godfather Chris Knox -- who suffered a massive stroke at his home in Auckland in June -- has been confirmed. 'Stroke -- Songs for Chris Knox'', which will raise money for the musician and his family, will be released in New Zealand on Monday (Nov. 16) and in the US next February. The album features covers of some of Knox's material from a three-decade-long career in [...]
Unos meses después de haber celebrado el décimo aniversario de su clásico 69 Love Songs , los Magnetic Fields estarán de regreso con un nuevo álbum, el cual será publicado el próximo 26 de enero a través de Nonesuch. La placa llevará por nombre Realism , contará con 13 temas y una portada bastante simple, con uno de estos monitos de los anuncios de baño, el nombre de la placa y de la agrupación, todo en tonos café. Todavía no se ha anunciado cuál será el primer sencillo, sin [...]
Filed under: News , New Music Good news, chamber pop fans. The Magnetic Fields will release the follow up to 2008's 'Distortion' early next year. Titled 'Realism,' the newest collection of songscapes from pop savant Stephin Merritt comes, like its predecessor, with its very own restroom-door-inspired album art. If that's not enough, the man who brought us Future Bible Heroes, the Gothic Archies and the 6ths is serving up some of his most intriguing song titles yet. While we haven't yet heard 'You Must Be Out [...]
(In which I face the reality that I rarely wake up before noon on Mondays, so titling a series "Monday Morning Video Fun" was just stupid.) Cortney Tidwell - whose musical virtue we've espoused here on multiple occasions - has a new video out. It's the third video releaed from her latest album, Boys , which you still can't get in the states because American record labels seem to have lost their ear for good music. What a bunch of jagoffs. Anyway, this came to my attention via the fine folks [...]
Gabriel Birnbaum è un artista di 23 anni proveniente da Boston. Nato in una famiglia di musicisti (il fratello Adam è un pianista jazz e la sorella Sara è una violoncellista classica), Gabriel è già stato coinvolto in diversi progetti musicali: Drug Rug, Catholic Skin, The Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Eli Reed e The Tiny Tornadoes, [...]
Enjoy this week's collection, which is a bit stronger than the week before. I'll have 5 more next Sunday, and probably another 5 a week after that. Like I said last Sunday, I'm gonna keep searching around for more. If you've ever recorded a Magnetic Fields cover and think it warrants being part of this feature, send it my way . To the songs: 1) Woodpigeon - You're My Only Home 2) Superchunk - 100,000 Fireflies 3) The Divine Comedy - Love Is [...]
On Wednesday, Chromewaves posted an article which - at the very bottom - had five songs from the fine Albertans of Woodpigeon . Two of those tracks were covers of songs by The Magnetic Fields . Both are from the 69 Love Songs album. Both also happen to be amongst my least favorite songs from that collection, so they didn't make much of an impression on me (A for effort, though). It did, however, get me thinking about other bands that have covered Stephin Merritt's songs. [...]
After The Zookeepers sent me the 47-second song that I posted last week , it got me thinking about other songs in my music collection that were around one minute long or less. By this I meant actual, fully-formed songs - not interludes or any other type of quick album filler. A hasty perusal of my music collection yielded the following mix. So sit back and enjoy what is, most likely, the shortest collection of songs you will ever hear. As usual, my criteria for themed mixes is the following: fuck you, [...]
Future Bible Heroes - Lonely Days (Charnock Richard Mix)
Low - Monkey (Stephin Merritt Mix) Read my review of Stephin Merritt's musical (Coraline) here. Distortion was one of my fave albums of 2008. Visit Low at their official site. MP3: Low - Monkey (Stephin Merritt Mix)
Amber Dawkins So Polaris Prize ballots are due in less than a week and as is seems to be habit with me, I haven't listened to nearly as many of the eligible albums as my fellow jurors, or at least that's how it seems from the discussions going on at our top-secret, private BBS. But besides making me feel inadequate, the forum has been invaluable for pointing me to records that are sitting in my promo piles and might otherwise go uninvestigated for lack of time or whatever. One such record, and one [...]
Enjoy the full Q&A here. Earlier this week, I reviewed Coraline. Keep up to date on all of Stephin Merritt's projects at House Of Tomorrow. MP3: Stephin Merritt - A Man Of A Million Faces
News first broke about Stephin Merritt's NYC stage adaptation of Coraline back in the summer of 2007. For nearly two years, I've been waiting with heavily baited breath to catch the musical. Thankfully, I was fortunate enough to experience a preview of the show last Saturday night and it was nothing short of brilliant from [...]
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