well, shut up I am dreaming was one of my faves of the year, but this album... well, this album is just strange.

it's like inland empire, david lynch strange. sure some people will love it, but i'll always wonder why.

Anyone that likes Wolf Parade, but is put off by Spencer Krug's Sunset Rubdown work, needs to check out Dan Boekner's The Handsome Furs. Personally I prefer the Krug half of the Parade, but Dan is equally talented, and a bit more "down to earth".

quote:

Originally posted by Shadrach:
Anyone that likes Wolf Parade, but is put off by Spencer Krug's Sunset Rubdown work, needs to check out Dan Boekner's The Handsome Furs.

This is true. I liked the Wolf Parade album, but so far haven't found much of Krug's other work I enjoy. The Handsome Furs album is pretty darn good though. I think the track "Handsome Furs Hate This City" blows anything on Random Spirit Lover out of the water.

I like Dan Boekner's stuff on the Wolf Parade record, but that Handsome Furs album put me to sleep. I'll take all of Krug's work over it any day.

I had the pleasure of seeing the Handsome Furs. They were kind of "meh" to be honest. There's just nothing much to a drum machine that makes it exciting.

quote:

I think the track "Handsome Furs Hate This City" blows anything on Random Spirit Lover out of the water.

Agreed.

I've got to say, I find it interesting that there are a lot of people who think this album is difficult and/or weird. It's not because I don't think it's difficult or weird - I'll agree that that was definitely what I thought of it to begin with, anyways - but it's because I actually feel like I get it. I'm usually one of the ones who doesn't understand the 'weird' ones, and has no idea what people are talking about when they claim that, say, Sung Tongs is brilliant (not to pick on Animal Collective or anything... I actually really like Strawberry Jam.) So, I guess what I'm saying is... it can't be that weird, because I like it!

Also, I feel like I should introduce myself in some way. I posted on here a bit last year, but haven't much in a long time, and I wouldn't expect anyone to remember me. I'm a university student up in Canada, and I've done some DJing at my college radio station, although I don't currently have a show. Oh yes, and I should probably mention that I'm a girl (chick? female? woman...? I can never decide which one to use), since it seems like everyone else here is a guy/dude/man/horseman (OK, I know that was bad, but considering it's a Sunset Rubdown thread I thought it was appropriate).

Welcome to the forums, CoCoCo. Actually, I do remember you, I don’t necessarily remember everything you have said but your screen name is familiar. It is great to have you on board and feel free (I encourage you) to post at all of the forums. If you feel OK with it, you can post more about yourself at this thread.

Also, for everyone else, please use all of the forums here. Sometime people only post in the music one but we have forums for Movies, TV, Books, Video Games and even General Discussions. Please, post as much as you want and can so we can continue to have a lively and fresh bunch of posters.

quote:

Originally posted by CoCoCo:
I've got to say, I find it interesting that there are a lot of people who think this album is difficult and/or weird. It's not because I don't think it's difficult or weird - I'll agree that that was definitely what I thought of it to begin with, anyways - but it's because I actually feel like I get it. I'm usually one of the ones who doesn't understand the 'weird' ones, and has no idea what people are talking about when they claim that, say, Sung Tongs is brilliant (not to pick on Animal Collective or anything... I actually really like Strawberry Jam.) So, I guess what I'm saying is... it can't be that weird, because I like it!

Sunset Rubdown is difficult in the same way that some (including my gf) find Danielson or Deerhoof difficult. Personally, it's the "difficulty" that keeps me coming back to these albums, whereas I tend to get bored with the more straightforward rockers (although I do like Spoon, The Hold Steady, etc.).

Thanks for the Handsome Furs recommendation. I love that album. Actually, Dan is the guy I like most in wolf parade and I cant believe I didn't know he had a side project. Well, that's why I frequent this forum...

This album seems really dramatic to me, and by dramatic, I mean 'fit for the stage,' and by Midas I mean 'faith.' Ba-dump-crash!

But seriously folks, a large part of RSL seems almost Victorian to me in its reverence of the medieval, both musically and lyrically. I noticed several people mentioned they heard elements of the carnivalesque in certain parts. Those elements remind me more of the medieval troubadour than a Wurlitzer-playing clown.

Also, a couple of songs, particularly "Colt Stands Up, Grows Horns" and "Stallion," remind me of folk or viking metal.

All in all, I really like this album quite a bit. There are moments of brilliance, but I have to agree with some of the members that decried the lack of focus. Quite a few of the transitions seem forced or underdeveloped. Despite those faults, I've been listening the shit out of it, and will probably find it in my top 10 or so of the year.

quote:

Originally posted by Briznow:
This album seems really dramatic to me, and by dramatic, I mean 'fit for the stage,'

.

Totally. I can't listen to the album without pictureing a stage production with people doing interpretive dance moves with long ribbons of silk, and a couple of guys in the center fighting to the death with swords.

...

and It's Good!

I enjoy the album and admit that it's much more over-the-place than, say, the new Radiohead, but I find most of the "transitions" brilliant and organic. Listening to your descriptions, I can believe them, yet it doesn't actually fit for me. "Up on Your Leopard" is the most carnivalesque song, but the others veer from rock jams to psychedelia to piano ballads (it's actually surprising, at least to me, how important piano/keyboards and percussion are). I think what I enjoy the most about it is that much of it seems totally original, although I know it isn't really, but when you listen to the whole enchilada, you almost believe that "pop music" can still reinvent itself.

Maybe you misunderstood me, Mark. I was trying to express that I disagree with those that called certain parts of the album carnivalesque.

I also don't mean to give the impression that I think the entire album is an exercise in medieval or Victorian reverie. However, I think those influences are apparent. You mentioned "Up on Your Leopard" as perhaps the best example of what some have called the 'carnivalesque' on RSL. To me, "Up on Your Leopard" is strongly reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon folk music. Also, "The Courtesan Has Sung" is a round, the first versions of which were in Middle English.

Lyrically, there are mentions of thespians (which, to me, evoke Shakespearean drama), stallions and steeds, and royalty.

Regardless, I don't believe that these traditions dominate the album to the point of parody. You're absolutely right that there are a lot of different things going on here. I just came away with these impressions, that's all.

As far as the transitions go, many are definitely brilliant, while others, I feel, are somewhat clumsy. I'll try to make note of some and get back to you.

We do all agree that Krug's just makin this shit up though, right? It's not like he pulled a Sufjan and researched for this stuff at the library, fer chrissakes. And not Ys either, pulled from experience and dressed up in monkey & bear costumes.

Which is a good thing - I think the way Krug strives for evocative imagery can only succeed in its haze of ambiguity.

Hmmm, I can't disagree with him just making it all up; sounds fairly random to me, though perhaps I haven't listened carefully enough thus far.

I'm undecided as to whether it's a good thing though. The lyrics certainly are immersive, and I don't mind ambiguity at all, but as I said, I'm not entirely sure what this album is really about, what it's point is, unlike Sufjan/Ys, and as a consequence it doesn't feel really important or meaningful to me.

Maybe if it's a problem (that it's something that feels like it should have a plot, but the details don't seem to correlate with each other?). It's kind of like the opposite of the problem I have with that Okkervil River album. In the case of the Stage Names, the lyrics seem to me to have nothing but a focus. So over the course of the album there is no story. More like meta-goo and footnotes. You get one big detail and nothing else. Like watching the making-of interviews for Day for Night and not the film.

That might make Random Spirit Lover the film Charlie Kaufman's character in Adaptations was trying to write - the one with 'characters who don't develop...where nothing happens.' (or like Seinfeld, for that matter ) But I digress...

quote:

Originally posted by Briznow:
Maybe you misunderstood me, Mark. I was trying to express that I disagree with those that called certain parts of the album carnivalesque.

I also don't mean to give the impression that I think the entire album is an exercise in medieval or Victorian reverie. However, I think those influences are apparent. You mentioned "Up on Your Leopard" as perhaps the best example of what some have called the 'carnivalesque' on RSL. To me, "Up on Your Leopard" is strongly reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon folk music. Also, "The Courtesan Has Sung" is a round, the first versions of which were in Middle English.

Lyrically, there are mentions of thespians (which, to me, evoke Shakespearean drama), stallions and steeds, and royalty.

Regardless, I don't believe that these traditions dominate the album to the point of parody. You're absolutely right that there are a lot of different things going on here. I just came away with these impressions, that's all.

As far as the transitions go, many are definitely brilliant, while others, I feel, are somewhat clumsy. I'll try to make note of some and get back to you.

I absolutely love this album (I think it's one of the best three or four albums of the 00s) and I still think there are parts that are carnivalesque.

quote:

Originally posted by L. R. William Spencer:

quote:

Originally posted by Briznow:
Maybe you misunderstood me, Mark. I was trying to express that I disagree with those that called certain parts of the album carnivalesque.

I also don't mean to give the impression that I think the entire album is an exercise in medieval or Victorian reverie. However, I think those influences are apparent. You mentioned "Up on Your Leopard" as perhaps the best example of what some have called the 'carnivalesque' on RSL. To me, "Up on Your Leopard" is strongly reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon folk music. Also, "The Courtesan Has Sung" is a round, the first versions of which were in Middle English.

Lyrically, there are mentions of thespians (which, to me, evoke Shakespearean drama), stallions and steeds, and royalty.

Regardless, I don't believe that these traditions dominate the album to the point of parody. You're absolutely right that there are a lot of different things going on here. I just came away with these impressions, that's all.

As far as the transitions go, many are definitely brilliant, while others, I feel, are somewhat clumsy. I'll try to make note of some and get back to you.

I absolutely love this album (I think it's one of the best three or four albums of the 00s) and I still think there are parts that are carnivalesque.

Maybe carnivalesque. I agree that it sounds terribly medieval though.

One of the key strengths of the album though is probably part of what is throwing people for a loop. It doesn't take itself seriously. However, it pretends to take itself seriously. There is a sortof "Spinal Tap" parody feeling to the overtopness of it all. Just listen to the "The Mending of the Gown Again" and listen for the the tounge in cheek sound of the guitar riffs and the beating piano keys.

It like a extravagant stage play, but he purposely leaves the curtain open so you can see the stage hands smoking and drinking beer backstage playing cards while the people in leotards dance in the foreground.

Krug is using what we think we know and expect from music as a weapon to attack our understanding. He's scribbling mustaches and beards on everything we had thought was real musical art. So now we can just relax and say, "Oh yeah, I remember now! It's just music!"

This is seriously challenging Boxer for my #1 spot.

Well, one (or two) other thing(s) I'll mention is that some of the album sounds like a soundtrack to a sci-fi thriller. I'll give you that some of it may sound theatrical, but I believe that it's even more cinematic. But my bottom line is that it's ace rock 'n' roll.