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The Magnetic Fields
The Magnetic Fields (named after the André Breton/Philippe Soupault novel ''Les Champs Magnétiques'') are an American Band (rock and pop), band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocalist, as well as frequent multi-instrumentalist. Merritt's lyrics are often about love and feature atypical or neutral gender roles, and are by turns ironic, tongue-in-cheek, bitter, and humorous. The band released their debut single "100,000 Fireflies" in 1991. The single was typical of the band's earlier career, characterized by synthesizer, synthesized instrumentation by Merritt, with lead vocals provided by Susan Anway (and then by Stephin Merritt himself, from the ''The House of Tomorrow (album), House of Tomorrow'' EP onwards). A more traditional band later materialized; it is now composed of Merritt, Claudia Gonson, Sam Davol, and John Woo, with occasional guest vocals by Shirley Simms. The band's best-known work is the 1999 three-vol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most populous city in the country. The city boundaries encompass an area of about and a population of 675,647 as of 2020. It is the seat of Suffolk County (although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999). The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest MSA in the country. A broader combined statistical area (CSA), generally corresponding to the commuting area and including Providence, Rhode Island, is home to approximately 8.2 million people, making it the sixth most populous in the United States. Boston is one of the oldest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galaxie 500
Galaxie 500 was an American alternative rock band that formed in 1987 and split up in 1991 after releasing three albums: ''Today'', '' On Fire'' and '' This Is Our Music''. The band was made up of guitarist/vocalist Dean Wareham, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist and vocalist Naomi Yang. History Guitarist Dean Wareham, drummer Damon Krukowski and bassist Naomi Yang had met at the Dalton School in New York City in 1981, but began playing together during their time as students at Harvard University.Thompson, Dave (2000) ''Alternative Rock'', Miller Freeman Books, , p.380-381 Wareham and Krukowski had formed a series of punk-influenced student bands, before Wareham returned to New York. When he returned in 1987 he and Krukowski formed a new band, with Yang joining the group on bass guitar, the new group deciding on the name Galaxie 500, after a friend's car, a Ford Galaxie 500. The band began playing gigs in Boston and New York City, and recorded a demo which they sent to Shimmy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Damon & Naomi
Damon & Naomi are an American dream pop/indie folk duo, formed in 1991 by Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang, formerly of Galaxie 500. History After Galaxie 500 completed a tour of the US supporting Cocteau Twins, guitarist and vocalist Dean Wareham quit the band, forcing the cancellation of an imminent Japanese tour. Damon & Naomi had recorded a few tracks before the split, and these were released under the name Pierre Etoile by Rough Trade (UK) in July 1991. The duo then spent time working on their book publishing company Exact Change, with no plans to return to recording, until producer Mark Kramer urged them back into the studio. The resulting album, ''More Sad Hits'' was released on Kramer's "Shimmy Disc" label in 1992. Following the release of ''More Sad Hits'', Damon & Naomi were contacted by Kate Biggar and Wayne Rogers, whose band, Crystalized Movements, had recently lost its rhythm section. The two couples teamed up to form the psychedelic rock band Magic Hour, and rele ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, Worcester, and Springfield. It is one of two de jure county seats of Middlesex County, although the county's executive government was abolished in 1997. Situated directly north of Boston, across the Charles River, it was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, once also an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Lesley University, and Hult International Business School are in Cambridge, as was Radcliffe College before it merged with Harvard. Kendall Square in Cambridge has been called "the most innovative square mile on the planet" owing to the high concentration of successful startups that have emerged in the vicinity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quickies
''Quickies'' is the twelfth studio album by The Magnetic Fields. The album consists of 28 songs, each of which is between 0:17 and 2:35 in length. For the album's conceit, Magnetic Fields singer and songwriter Stephin Merritt was influenced by the short fiction of Lydia Davis and the writing of his own book of Scrabble poetry. Release ''Quickies'' is available as a box set of five 7" records or as a CD. The US release of the CD was delayed to June 19. A single LP release was done for Record Store Day of the same year, pressed on pink vinyl and featuring a bonus track on Side A - "The Witches' Fly". Reception ''Quickies'' was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 74, based on 11 reviews. Marc Hogan from Pitchfork said that the album "thrives" on the shortness of its songs, and Slant Magazine stated that Merritt " lourishesunder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Realism (The Magnetic Fields Album)
''Realism'' is the ninth studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. It was officially released on January 26, 2010 by Nonesuch Records. Content Described by songwriter Stephin Merritt as his "folk album", the instrumentation of ''Realism'' is largely acoustic, stark in contrast to the band's previous album, ''Distortion'', released in 2008. Merritt said he "thought of the two records as a pair" and considered titling the albums ''True'' and ''False'', but ultimately could not decide which title would correspond with which album. The song "The Dada Polka" is the only track to feature an electric guitar. Merritt also avoided using a traditional drum kit, further separating the sound of ''Realism'' from the noise pop of ''Distortion''. Along with ''Distortion'' and the 2004 album '' i'', ''Realism'' was also recorded without the use of synthesizers, completing the band's "no-synth trilogy". Joshua Rifkin, who arranged the Judy Collins albums ''In My Life'' and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exclaim!
''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 issues per year, distributing over 103,000 copies to over 2,600 locations across Canada. The magazine has an average of 361,200 monthly readers and their website, exclaim.ca, has an average of 675,000 unique visitors a month. History ''Exclaim!'' began as a discussion among campus and community radio programmers at Ryerson's CKLN-FM in 1991. It was started by then-CKLN programmer Ian Danzig, together with other programmers and Toronto musicians. The goal of the publication was to support great Canadian music that was otherwise going unheralded. The group worked through 1991 to produce their first issue in April 1992, with monthly issues being produced since. Ian Danzig has been the publisher of the magazine since its start. James Keast ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Distortion (The Magnetic Fields Album)
''Distortion'' is the eighth studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. It was released on January 15, 2008 on Nonesuch Records. Recording As the album's title implies, several of the musical performances featured are distorted by various means. In particular, the album's sound was influenced by the 1985 album ''Psychocandy'' by The Jesus and Mary Chain. ''Distortion'' was recorded at Mother West in New York City. It was produced by Stephin Merritt and co-produced by Charles Newman. No synthesizers were used to record the album; it is the second in a "no-synth trilogy", succeeding the 2004 album '' i'' and preceding 2010's ''Realism''. Release ''Distortion'' debuted at number 77 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling about 8,000 copies in its first week.Katie Hasty"Keys Still Atop Album Chart In Slow Sales Week" Billboard.com, January 23, 2008. Reception ''Distortion'' has been well received by critics. It currently holds a 79/100 rating at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I (The Magnetic Fields Album)
''i'' is the seventh studio album by American indie pop band The Magnetic Fields. It was released on May 4, 2004, by record label Nonesuch. The songs of the album all start with the letter "i" and are all sung by Stephin Merritt. The songs are also in alphabetical order. Musical style The album ditches many of Stephin Merritt's past synthpop and electropop influences, largely being led by guitars and strings. It was followed in 2008, by ''Distortion'', and in 2010, by ''Realism'', which were both also free of synthesizer instrumentation, forming the so-called "no-synth trilogy". Album cover The cover art, designed by Evan Gaffney, is based on ''Gravity in Four Directions'' by Fred Tomaselli. Reception ''i'' has been well received by critics. It currently holds a score of 79/100 on review aggregator website Metacritic. A track-by-track tribute to the album, entitled ''¡AYE!'', was released by Jackson & the Wargonauts in 2014. Track listing Personnel ; The Mag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
69 Love Songs
''69 Love Songs'' is the sixth studio album by American indie pop band the Magnetic Fields, released on September 7, 1999 by Merge Records. As its title indicates, ''69 Love Songs'' is a three-volume concept album composed of 69 love songs, all written by Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt. Conception and live performance The album was originally conceived as a music revue. Stephin Merritt was sitting in a gay piano bar in Manhattan, listening to the pianist's interpretations of Stephen Sondheim songs, when he decided he ought to get into theatre music because he felt he had an aptitude for it. "I decided I'd write one hundred love songs as a way of introducing myself to the world. Then I realized how long that would be. So I settled on sixty-nine. I'd have a theatrical revue with four drag queens. And whoever the audience liked best at the end of the night would get paid." He also found inspiration in Charles Ives' ''114 Songs'', about which he had read earlier in the day: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The House Of Tomorrow (album)
''The House of Tomorrow'' EP is the third major release by The Magnetic Fields, and the first with Stephin Merritt as the main vocalist. Merge Records reissued it in 1996. The EP's five songs are built on both musical and vocal repetition, so much so that the sleeve reads "five loop songs" as a pun on "five love songs". Track listing Personnel *Stephin Merritt - guitar and vocals *Claudia Gonson Claudia Miriam Gonson (born April 5, 1968) is an American musician best known for her work with The Magnetic Fields. She often provides the band lead vocals as well as performing the piano or drums. She is also the band's manager. Gonson met S ... - drums and vocals * Sam Davol - cello ;Additional personnel *Phylene Amuso – bass guitar *Nell Beram - guitar References 1992 debut EPs The Magnetic Fields albums Merge Records EPs {{1990s-pop-rock-album-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
