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The Magnetic Fields

Recollection Volume 36 – Love At The Bottom Of The Sea

Recollection is a project to review my record collection. I will listen to an album I own and review it. The album will be chosen randomly by computron. Today computron chooses… Album: Love At The Bottom Of The Sea Artist: The Magnetic Fields Released: 2012 Format(s) I own it on: Vinyl Someone once described modern Magnetic Fields as a parody of Stephin Merritt’s songwriting style. This might be accurate. However, this doesn’t sum up the records completely. Love At The Bottom Of The Sea has some really good songs on it, and though it might be a bit over the top compared to 69 Love Songs, they’re worth the price of admission. Much like most of… Read More »Recollection Volume 36 – Love At The Bottom Of The Sea

Recollection Volume 13 – The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events

Recollection is a project to review my record collection. I will listen to an album I own and review it. The album will be chosen randomly by computron. Today computron chooses…  Album: The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events Artist: The Gothic Archies Released: 2006 Format(s) I own it on: CD We are the Gothic Archies, death, tentacles, and pip. Took longer than I expected to get to a Stephin Merritt project. The Gothic Archies is Merritt’s project of depressing bubblegum pop. The Tragic Treasury is a collection of songs created by The Gothic Archies for the young adult novels A Series of Unfortunate Events. Each audio book in… Read More »Recollection Volume 13 – The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events

Magnetic Fields at The Sound Academy

Did you know that security sucks at the Sound Academy? For those unaware, The Sound Academy is the worst venue in Toronto. Situated at the foot of Cherry Street, The Sound Academy is a large warehouse with bars, shitty sound and worse sightlines. After seeing Belle & Sebastian there1 I vowed never to return. However, I knew I would break that for three bands, Belle & Sebastian, The Magnetic Fields, and The Beatles. Fortunately, Belle & Sebastian felt they needed to apologize to their fans for having played there before, so I don’t imagine they will play there again. Unfortunately The Beatles aren’t touring. However, The Magnetic Fields are touring,… Read More »Magnetic Fields at The Sound Academy

iPhone Ringtones

Time for a non-Rocktober post. I’ve made some ringtones for my iPhone, and I thought I’d share. Yes I’m infringing on some copyright with these, but I hope the BBC, Nintendo, Stephin Merritt, Apple, and the TTC will forgive me. The Magnetic Fields – “BBC Radiophonic Workshop” Doctor Who Theme (Christopher Eccleston era) Doctor Who Theme (William Hartnell era)  Super Mario Bros. coin sound The Magnetic Fields – “One April Day” Sloan – “Cheap Champaign” Tetris music TTC door chime 

Under more stars than there are prostitutes in Thailand…

On Friday night, I went to my first ever Hot Docs screening. Yes, I had never before been to Hot Docs after living in Toronto(ish) for 28 years. How long? 28 years.1 I lost my Hot Docs virginity to Strange Powers, a film about Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields. For those who don’t know who Stephin Merritt is, or who the Magnetic Fields are, you’re obviously new to my blog, and my life.2 The Magnetic Fields are one of the most ambitious pop artists who are best known for their monumentous3 triple album project 69 Love Songs. Stephin Merritt is the band’s songwriter, leader, visionary, and in all honesty,… Read More »Under more stars than there are prostitutes in Thailand…

Realism – In Depth

Some months ago, The Magnetic Fields released a new record called Realism. I briefly wrote about it, with the intention to go back and write something more in depth. We’ve now come to that point. Song: You Must Be Out Of Your Mind Sung by: Stephin Merritt & Claudia Gonson Favourite lyric: “I no longer drink enough to think you’re witty.” You think I’ll run, not walk to you Why would I want to talk to you? I want you crawling back to me Down on your knees, yeah Like an appendectomy Sans anesthesia If you think you can leave the past behind You must be out of your mind… Read More »Realism – In Depth

Mix albums!

I recently reconnected with an old friend, from back in my high school days. We never went to school together, after all, she was, and still is far off in a foreign country. So I made Beth this mix, but I didn’t know what I might have sent her all those years ago, so I decided to limit myself to nothing older than 2000. I also didn’t know what she had been listening to since then, so I decided to limit the selection to Canadian music. “The Indie Queens Are Waiting” by Dan Mangan This is my favourite Dan Mangan song, and I’ve been on a bit of a kick… Read More »Mix albums!

February 2010, in review

In December, I set goals for myself, how many films to see this year, how many shows to attend, how many records to purchase, and how many books to read. This is the standings, as of the end of February… Books I read (2/10 – 20%): Heaven Is Small by Emily Schultz | Originally published 2009 Films I saw (19/52 – 36.5%): Whip It | Originally released 2009 24 Hours On Craigslist | Originally released 2005 The Princess And The Frog | Originally released 2009 The Secret of Kells | Originally released 2009 An Education |  Originally released 2009 Invictus | Originally released 2009 The Blind Side | Originally released… Read More »February 2010, in review

Linky Link

Above, NPR inverview Stephin Merritt & Claudia Gonson. Carrie Brownstein, will you marry me? Okay, we’ve never met, and it would be slightly awkward that my best friend has the same first name as me, and his wife has the same first name as you, but does that really matter? Your love of The Magnetic Fields is enough for me. Oh, and while we’re on the topic, your amazingness as part of Sleater-Kinney doesn’t hurt. With a Gold in hand for Canada, 3000km away in the country’s largest city (and my city), the CN Tower goes gold. Mechanical Forest Sound posts a new Gentleman Reg song. Thanks Joe! Apparently Canadians… Read More »Linky Link

Linky Link

Happy Family Day! CityTV has an article on Eric Warner of We Are Busy Bodies. (via Jen Polk, via The Meligrove Band) Mechanical Forest Sound records the highlight of last night’s Wavelength 500… Barcelona Pavilion. Steregum reviews The Magnetic Fields at BAM. Jian Ghomeshi (did I spell that right?) got a lot of flack last night, and though I’m not a fan, he does put some good musicians on his show. See below…