Archive for the ‘Fiery Furnaces’ Category
The Fiery Furnaces – I’m Going Away Album Review
The Fiery Furnaces are a tough listen. Run by the Friedberger twins, I’ve only had a chance to listen to Widow City and I’m Going Away marks their 8th album. I actually wasn’t supposed to be review the album with the original review suffering from burn out, saying that she was just tired of the Fiery Furnaces material. I was a fan of Widow City, it wasn’t an easy listen. I still dig the album but I do find myself not listening to it.
It’s not necessarily hard, just different and they are unique enough that I’d rather not list any comparisons. I actually had some reservations when attempting to listen to I’m Going Away and I was pleasantly surprised with this record. It’s not as risky, nor as epic as the last album (e.g. Philadelphia Grand Jury was epic) but it’s just good. I’m Going Away the title and lead track is fact paced but it doesn’t really quite set the tone for what’s to come. It comes to more of a slow pace and it shows that the Fiery Furnaces can excel in both styles. My favourite songs of the album include Even In The Rain and Keep Me In The Dark but you could staple on the whole second half of the album. The first half isn’t too shabby either but it’s more like warming you up to it.
The album really proves that it’s rewarding to listening to over and over. The treats are at the end of the album, like Lost At Sea and Take Me Round Again make you want to listen to the album over and over again. I really have to say, bad reviews of this album probably had to do with reviewers not reviewing or not digging a more simple style. They probably overlooked some well crafted songs especially at the end of the album. (I hate how a lot of reviewers who are fans of experimentation – are not of a fan of well crafted pop songs where as in contrast pop song reviewers are usually more open minded, at least that’s what I’ve noticed).
The album is less experimental and more pop – which caters to my personal preferences but it’s hard to argue that it’s not good. They inject their own style to it and while it’s more laid back, I can’t help but enjoy myself anyway.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
It’s more accessible and more fun but definitely not worse musically. Widow City was overdone and where this album is more simple, it’s addition by subtraction.
Even In The Rain by The Fiery Furnaces
Lost At Sea by The Fiery Furnaces
Thanks to Thrill Jockey for giving us an advance copy very early on.
Allan’s Top Songs of 07 #50-26
I actually quite enjoyed picking out the top songs of 2007. There were many tracks from albums I loved and other singles that stood out in a lackluster album. Most of these tracks I have posted before (I’ll link to the post if you wish to dig hard enough to download them) and are mainly bands I am familiar with. Generally, I blogged about the band if they appeared in the top 50. There are some tracks I haven’t posted yet so you’ll be able to download them here (I think it looks bad if I have every mp3 listed available for download). I linked to the post where the other mp3s are available.
I did hate uploading tracks though and the linking stuff (takes forever). I also had to re-upload some tracks after annoying my friend Jack with bandwidth usage. Look out for the rest tomorrow.
50. A Girl in Port by Okkervil River
49. Shirin by Jens Lekman (link)
48. I Know I’ll See You by A Place To Bury Strangers (link)
47. For Science Fiction by Maritime (link)
46. Freak Out by Liars (link)
45. Phantom by Justice (link)
44. Sleep Deprivation by Simian Mobile Disco
43. Take Me To the Ballroom by the Moonbabies
42. Tthhee Ppaarrttyy by Justice (link)
41. Myriad Harbour by The New Pornographers (link)
40. Objects of My Affection by Peter, Bjorn and John
39. Blue Headlights by The Shout Out Louds (link)
38. No I in Threesome by Interpol
37. My Moon, My Man by Feist
36. Kookaburra by John Vanderslice
35. Paper Birds by Siberian (link)
34. Make A Plan To Love Me by the Bright Eyes
33. Philadelphia Grand Jury by the Fiery Furnaces
32. I Believe by Simian Mobile Disco
31. You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb by Spoon
30. I’m Not Going to Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You by the Black Kids
29. You Can’t Hold the Hand of the Rock and Roll Man by Okkervil River
28. Airship by Siberian (link)
27. Turn On Me by The Shins (link)
26. White Winter Hymnal by the Fleet Foxes (link)
Halloween Mix!
Today is Halloween and I’m looking for an excuse to make a list of songs simply because they are fun to do! Here’s a Halloween indie (for the most part) mash-upthat I created off my media library so sorry if I’m missing a lot of great tracks. Most of these are titled based but enjoy anyway.
1.Perfect Disguise by Modest Mouse
2.Mistaken For Strangers by The National
3.Is There A Ghost? by Band of Horses
4.The Ghost of You Lingers by Spoon
5.Werewolf by Cat Power
6.What Wolves Would Do by Les Savy Fav
7.They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!!They Have Come Back From The Dead!! Ahhhhh! by Sufjan Stevens
8.It’s a Curse by Wolf Parade
9.Crooked Teeth by Death Cab For Cutie
10.The Old Hag Is Sleeping by The Fiery Furnaces
11.Monster Hospital by Metric
12.The Chills by Peter Bjorn and John
The Fiery Furnaces: Widow City Review
I don’t know why I decided to check out the Fiery Furnaces but I think it has something to do with my general interest in female vocalists.
As a side note while researching the Fiery Furnaces, I found out that lead singer of Franz Ferdinand, Alex Kapranos is dating the lead singer of Fiery Furnaces Eleanor Friedberger. This explains the song “Eleanor Put Your Boots On” (download) quite clearly.
Listen here:
Anyway I don’t think I’ve ever heard a band like Fiery Furnances (good and bad here) with their wide range of instruments and different sounds I found the album quite difficult to listen to. It did start of with an absolute GEM of a song which lasted 7 minutes and 18 seconds. Due to 1. being a long 2. being a great song everything else in comparison seemed lacking or just not good enough for me to start liking.
This album is pretty long with 16 tracks (seems like albums are getting shorter) so it really difficult to sit through a whole album of something that was really different and sometimes headache inducing. Some of tracks are catchy while others I simply can’t listen to for whatever reason.
It’s not a bad album at all, there are some tracks that I can see anybody liking but just out of personal taste I didn’t fully like it. It’s get a 3.5 out of 5 for me.
Here’s my favorite on the album:
Philadelphia Grand Jury by The Fiery Furnaces
