hi-rez trickle [Archive] - Audio & Video Forums

PDA

View Full Version : hi-rez trickle



Slosh
08-13-2004, 08:45 AM
Today I stopped by one of my local indie stores to pick up The Fiery Furnaces' Blueberry Boat and inquired about some upcoming releases. Ryan Adam's Heartbreaker SACD isn't due out until August 30th. I was under the impression that it was already out . . . no wonder I couldn't find it! Then I asked if they were getting Mastodon's Leviathan, also with the 8/30 release date. They looked it up and I was pleasantly surprised to see it's being released as a DVD-A with a separate CD version, with the MSRP only $2.00 more than the CD-only release! :)

The new Clinic album, Winchester Cathedral is due out next Tuesday and will be available on LP (the original hi-rez format ;) )

It's good to see that there are some indie artists interested in hi-rez. For a while there it looked like only classical, jazz, and classic rock had a chance of making it to one of these formats.

Davey
08-13-2004, 02:42 PM
Today I stopped by one of my local indie stores to pick up The Fiery Furnaces' Blueberry Boat .....
The Fiery Furnaces!!!!!!!!!! My favorite new band. I'm gonna post a review of Blueberry Boat in every one of my posts from now on until someone convinces me to stop! Next up is from the New York Magazine :)

<img src="http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/music/pop/reviews/musicreview040712_175.jpg" align=left hspace=5 border="0" width="175" height="175">
<span class="pimagecaption">Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces.</span>
<span class="pimagecredit">(Photo credit: Todd Selby/Retna)</span>
<p><font size= +1>O</font>ther than Wilco's panic-attack-addled, experimental maestro Jeff Tweedy and the perpetually inebriated yet strangely affecting torch singer Greg Dulli, there are few eccentrics left in rock. Even alt-rock is crowded with well-groomed, inoffensive retro bands like the Hives, Franz Ferdinand, and Jet. Pop critic Jon Savage's description of the British rockers the Jam circa 1977-"their image is of strict uniformity/blandness . . . White shirts/ black ties/suits . . . cold, regular"-seems like an eerily apt summation of rock's current conservatism.
<p>The <b>Fiery Furnaces</b>-a New York-based band led by siblings Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger-are anomalous among the rock dandies. They make music that, though heavily steeped in the past, is neither cold nor regular nor retro. On their 2003 debut, <i>Gallowsbird's Bark</i>, the Furnaces romped through blues, ragtime, electronic music, and rock like brilliant buskers. They didn't reference different eras for the sake of irony or to display their savviness about pop history; instead, they were passionate curators who immersed themselves so deeply in the past that they brought it to life.
<p>On <i>Blueberry Boat</i>, the Furnaces' second album, the band take their experimental ethos even further without sacrificing the emotional power of their debut. The album's eleven-minute opener, "Quay Cur," has the Friedbergers trading verses about a boat that's gone ashore, backed by music that shifts from squishy-sounding, almost aqueous drum-machine beats to galloping guitar playing. This could come across as precious and overly whimsical, like Jon Brion's Beatles-esque productions for Aimee Mann, if not for the intense back-and-forth between the Friedbergers. Their exchanges-as well as the radical transformations of the music backing them-keep the song from collapsing into quirkiness.
<p>The traditional songs of <i>Blueberry Boat</i> maintain the tricky balance of "Quay Cur." On "My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found," the Friedbergers upend the song's simple premise with odd phrases like "I went to the Super K have you seen any recent stray" and music that's gloriously, kaleidoscopically shape-shifting.
<p>Even when it threatens to get carried away by its own eccentricity, <i>Blueberry Boat</i> is held together by Eleanor's vocals, which range from a scratchy, vulnerable yelp to a kind of breathless gulp as she tries to keep up with the band's rambling, Dylan-esque lyrics. It's a voice that's reminiscent of the forceful female voices of the seventies, like Carole King and Stevie Nicks, not the passive wispiness of the singer-songwriter set today. Indeed, when the band played the Brooklyn club Northsix a few months ago, Eleanor held the audience rapt, though she barely addressed it. She has that same effect on <i>Blueberry Boat</i>-almost improbably strange, remote even, but with a humanness in her voice that keeps you with her.

<b>Author E-mail: </b><a href="mailto:ethan_brown@newyorkmag.com">ethan_brown@newyorkmag.com</a>

Slosh
08-13-2004, 05:30 PM
The Fiery Furnaces!!!!!!!!!! My favorite new band. I'm gonna post a review of Blueberry Boat in every one of my posts from now on until someone convinces me to stop!

I dunno man, sounds kinda gay to me . . . kinda like an attempt at a Broadway musical. And they ripped-off Prince's drum sound :p

In fairness I've only had time for one spin so far so I'm hoping it won't be quite as gay as I learn the songs. :rolleyes:

Not that you would care but after poking around the www for a bit it seems the Mastodon album comes with a DVD with 5.1 audio and no video (?), not a DVD-A. Plus it's just remixes and live tracks and is only about twenty minutes long. Hopefully there's at least a DTS track (Dolby Digital sucks a<a>ss for music) but I'm not counting on it. Still, it is only $2.00 more so I can't really b<a>itch too much.

I'm leaving tomorrow for ten days of sun, surf, and finding hidden tanlines. :) It'll probably take me all of three minutes to catch up here when I get back.

NP: My old Disjointed comp that I found under my seat when cleaning my car today. I forgot about this one and not to sound like an egomaniac, but this is one damn fine comp! :D