MFR on Stereogum

Stereogum was kind enough to repost our video from last week's Handsome Furs show.

Check it out here.

(Ian Anderson)

Death Cab For Cutie - "My Mirror Speaks"

Stereogum just posted the latest Death Cab For Cutie track from their upcoming EP (out on Tuesday). "My Mirror Speaks" is the best so far and really should have made the album.

Listen to it HERE.

(Ian Anderson)

MFR's Top 10 of Stereogum's Top 50 Most Downloaded Songs

Stereogum posted their Top 50 Most Downloaded Songs yesterday. We took the liberty of picking out the ten best tracks for your summarizing pleasure.

10.) *MP3: Yeasayer - "Sunrise"

9.) *MP3: School of Seven Bells - "Connjur"

8.) *MP3: Fleet Foxes - "He Doesn't Know Why"

7.) *MP3: Hercules and Love Affair - "Hercules' Theme"

6.) *MP3: British Sea Power - "Atom"

5.) *MP3: She and Him - "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"

4.) *MP3: David Vandervelde - "Someone Like You"

3.) *MP3: Ratatat - "Mirando" (YACHT Remix)

2.) *MP3: Passion Pit - "Sleepy Head"

1.) *MP3: Marnie Stern - "Transformer"

Video: Dosh - "Capture The Flag" (Live)

Stereogum premiered a new video of local multi-instrumentalist/looping genius Dosh performing a song from his rapidly upcoming record Wolves and Wishes. Check it out here. For more live goodies from past times, head on over to Dosh's website, or to the website of his in-studio performance over at Radio K (thanks, anonymous!)

Wolves and Wishes is out on Tuesday.

Dosh MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Three New Songs From The Mountain Goats

Download: The Mountain Goats - "Sax Rohmer #1" (via Stereogum)
Download: The Mountain Goats - "Lovecraft In Brooklyn"
Download: The Mountain Goats - "San Bernardino"

Earlier today, Stereogum posted a new Moutain Goats track called "Sax Rohmer #1" from the Goats' upcoming February release Heretic Pride. The song starts with heavily accented eight-note acoustic strumming which is matched precisely by the drums. The song as progresses, the music breathes a little more, though there is still plenty of that fierce John Darnielle vocal delivery that we all know and love--particularly on the lyric "I am coming home to you/with blood in my mouth/I am coming home to you/if it's the last thing I do". All in all, the song definitely bodes well for Pride being a more hopeful contrast to Get Lonely (which wouldn't be hard to do, but still).

Additionally, two more tracks from Heretic Pride have come to light. "Lovecraft In Brooklyn" is a rocker with a frantic, syncopated bass line, electric guitar, organ and violin, all of which help capture the hectic nature of "trying to keep the wolves at bay" and "waking up afraid of my own shadow/like, genuinely afraid". Oh, the danger of big city life.

Secondly, the heartfelt, peaceful strings of "San Bernadino" stand in direct contrast to the chaos of "Lovecraft In Brooklyn." From what I can tell, "San Bernadino" tells the tale of a romantic getaway, perhaps to a bed-and-breakfast. No matter the subject of the song, the warm, intimate nature of "San Bernadino" is what makes the song absolutely fantastic. Once we get our hands on the physical record (that's February 18th, for those of you keeping score), we'll give mad props to whomever arranged the strings.

Here's the cover:



Pre-order Heretic Pride here

Mountain Goats MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef/April Wright)

Is Kevin Barnes The New Ayn Rand? Or: Of Montreal Doesn't Care About Poor People

Kevin Barnes


Ayn Rand

Download: Of Montreal - "Suffer For Fashion"
Download: Of Montreal - "I Want To Have Fun"

We only know a certain extent of Kevin Barnes' personal life via the backstory of Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer. We certainly don't know the Of Montreal singer's political/economic beliefs (hell, why would it matter if we did?). But based on what Barnes wrote on Stereogum, one could have certainly gotten the impression that Of Montreal's Kevin Barnes was a closeted Objectivist.

Stereogum's blog post begins with an anecdote about being introduced to a PA who worked on a T-Mobile commercial starring Of Montreal. Not only was their music featured prominently, but apparently Kevin Barnes was given a two-line speaking part.

Stereogum tells more:

Curious, and jumping into reporter mode, we heard from another source that oM's spot would feature two lines of Kevin Barnes dialogue and the band in full Monty attire. Hello, America. We were curious about the logistics and the band's decision-making process, especially considering some of the flak they received for their Outback campaign, so we reached out to see what was what. Kevin Barnes, master lobster handler, kindly stepped to the plate.

Long story short, Barnes anticipated a backlash and felt the need to address his fans personally. And He did so by getting all Atlas Shrugged on your ass for calling him a sell-out.

After a brief introduction in which he explains why everyone's a sell-out the moment they become productive members of society, Barnes then writes the following:

The pseudo-nihilistic punk rockers of the 70's created an impossible code in which no one can actually live by. It's such garbage. The idea that anyone who attempts to do anything commercial is a sell out is completely out of touch with reality. The punk rock manifesto is one of anarchy and intolerance. The punk rockers polluted our minds. They offered a solution that had no future. Of course, if the world would have ended before Sandinista! was released then everything would have been alright. It didn't. Now we have all of these half-conceived ideas and idiot philosophies floating around to confuse and alienate us. I think it is important to face reality. It is important to decide whether you are going to completely rail against the system or find a way to make it work for you. You cannot do both -- and if you attempt to do both you will only become even more bitter and confused.

Reading this sentence this weekend was quite serendipitous.

This past Friday, I attended a special screening, sponsored by Sound Opinions, of the documentary Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten, the film about the great, late leader of The Clash. I'll have a review of the movie up on the blog, but I will say that a lot of the film is about the struggle that Joe Strummer went through in reconciling his bourgeoisie level of success he attained with his revolutionary, proletariat-informed ideals.

What's great about the film is that it shows how Joe Strummer spent his whole life trying to figure out whether or not he wanted to completely rail against the system or if he wanted to find a way to make it work. In trying to find an answer that can co-exist with his ideals, Strummer emerges as an endlessly fascinating, complex person.

So, after appreciating how much thought and struggle Strummer put into the matter, I found Barnes' notion that you need to shit or get off the pot re:revolution v. system to be rather glib--along with his characterization of 70s punk rock as being "pseudo-nihilistic" (Jesus, could you find a more genuinely idealistic person than Joe Strummer?).

Barnes then continues on SG:

When I was younger, and supported my parents, I chose to float between the two. A lot of people choose to do this. There are so many confused young people running around now polluted by this alloyed version of the tenets of the punk rock manifesto. Of course they're confused. It isn't possible to be in chorus with capitalism and anarchy. You must pick one or the other. Very few people are willing to do it, though... When capitalism is working on a healthy level, everyone gets their dick sucked from time to time and no one gets their throat slit. It's impossible to be a sell out in a capitalist society. You're only a winner or a loser. Either you've found a way to crack the code or you are struggling to do so. To sell out in capitalism is basically to be too accommodating, to not get what you think you deserve. In capitalism, you don't get what you think you deserve though. You get what someone else thinks you deserve. So the trick is to make them think you are worth what you feel you deserve. You deserve a lot, but you'll only get it when you figure out how to manipulate the system.

As a confused young person--with the hippin' and the hoppin' and the bippin' and the boppin', I don't even know what the jazz is all about--I'm sure that there can be some sort of middle ground between capitalism and anarchy. Furthermore, I feel as if I can make advances in my field of work without having to suck any one's dick, figuratively or literally. I can just work hard and not bullshit people into agreeing with me that I'm worth what I say I'm worth. Rather, I can lead by example by doing good, honest work.

And to hear Barnes tell it, ain't no harder, gooder, or honester thing than writing songs for a living:

People who wanna be artists have the hardest time of it 'cause we are held up to these impossible standards. We're expected to die penniless and insane so that the people we have moved and entertained over the years can keep us to themselves. So that they can feel a personal and untarnished connection with our art. The second we try to earn a living wage or, god forbid, promote our art in the mainstream, we are placed under the knives of the sanctimonious indie fascists.

I have some late breaking, shocking news. If you are standing up, you may want to sit down. This just came across the MFR newswire. I'm afraid I have no other choice but to report this tragic news:

Kevin Barnes Has Been Murdered By Sanctimonious Indie Fascists

My god, it was horrible! Kevin was just trying to play a song on the ukulele while innocently frolicking in a field full of daisies, when all of a sudden they came! The Dreaded Bloggers! Worse than 1,000 Reavers Put Together! Writing tortuous opinions on their keyboards, with each press of the keyboard manifesting itself by killing Barnes over and over again! With Words! With Horrible, Horrible Words That One Just As Well Could Have Easily Ignored!!

Oh The Humanity! My God! My God! Why have you foresaken Kevin Barnes?

By paying attention to what the so-called "indie fascists" have to say, the only one who is placing themselves under the knife of anyone is Barnes himself.

And that's not even the most foolish part of Barnes' post. After bemoaning the tyrannical reign of the indie-rock brownshirts, Barnes drops this bombshell:

The thing is, I like capitalism. I think it's an interesting challenge. It's a system that rewards the imaginative and ambitious adults and punishes the lazy adults.

As much as I love Of Montreal, I found this statement to be unbelievably ignorant. There are people out in the world who have two or three jobs who work just as hard as Barnes does (not that he would dispute that) but don't have even an iota of his success. Just because they aren't living to Barnes' standards of success doesn't mean they are lazy or unproductive; they just aren't in Barnes industry of choice (which is the only right choice, apparently).

Furthermore, capitalism only rewards the imaginative and ambitious if the imaginative and the ambitious happen to make the people who finance the imaginative and ambitious a shitload of money. But it's rare that the imaginative and the ambitious make that kind of green. If that were true, the highest grossing film of 2006 would have been The Fountain, not Pirate Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Capitalism rewards, for better or worse, that which is profitable. And often times, what is profitable is boring, formulaic crap. That's why it makes a lot of money; everyone has seen something like it before and can identify with it. The product makes everyone feel comfortable. Aren't boring, formulaic and comfortable pretty much the antithesis of imaginative and ambitious?

Barnes continues by saying that he reacted against the criticism he got by lending an oM song to Outback Steakhouse by deciding to write more radical pieces of music. He starts the concluding section of his essay by defining selling out as changing your musical style solely to become more profitable (by all accounts, this should be a totally reasonable definition). This is something that Barnes' feels he has never done. The reason, Barnes argues, that Of Montreal is doing commercials is that he feels like now is the only time he'll ever have the ear of the mainstream and that it would be beneficial to profit from that attention for as long as he can:

As sad as it may seem, one of the few ways most indie bands can make any money whatsoever is by selling a song to a commercial. Very very few bands make enough money from album sales or tour revenue to enable themselves to quit their day job.

Next time you see a commercial with one of your favorite bands songs in it, just tell yourself, "cool, a band I really like made some money and now I can probably look forward to a few more records from them." It's as simple as that. We all have to do certain things, from time to time, that we might not be completely psyched about, in order to pay the bills. To me, the TV is the world's asshole boss and if anyone can earn some extra bucks from it and they're not Bill O'Reilly, it's a good thing.

Fair enough. His truest point comes from observing how the only way indie groups can make money is by using their music in commercials. However, I feel like that point is something that actually refutes Barnes' defense of capitalism. After all, why is it that the only way indie bands can make money is by using their music in commercials? It's because big business monopolized radio stations' playlists to make the most amount of money. It turns out that breaking bands costs a lot more than relying on those true-blue favorites.

Not only that, but Barnes' hypothetical quote is silly as well. Bands have been putting out records since before active commercialization. If there is a will, there's a way. One doesn't necessarily have to rely on money from commercials in order to make an album (though they can if they want to. It's a free country, ultimately).

And that's where Barnes is the most correct. We live in a capitalist society and a free country. He can do whatever he wants to do with his music, his business and his life. But don't pretend that the people who disagree with your actions are forcing you to adopt to ideals that you don't subscribe to in the first place. No one is invading your house and forcing you not to do the commercials that you really want to do. If Barnes feels threatened by pseudo-anarchists, mall-punks, and bloggers, then he never really stopped leaving the house only once a day to buy some groceries.

Ultimately, doing a commercial isn't a bad decision because it's selling out. It's a bad decision because it completely erases the hard work that Of Montreal has done creating their music. Of Montreal's records are nothing if not sonically dense and reasonably complex in their thematic content. If Barnes is going to work so hard to become a sonic architect and to create mind-blowing conceptual worlds about his alter egos, then why negate all that work so you can have people think of your song when they buy a cell phone?

But perhaps that question can't be answered. For more food for thought, here's a quote from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged:

So you think that money is the root of all evil? Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?

Sound familiar?

Perhaps Of Montreal's next project will be covering Rush's 2112.in its entirety. But even if it isn't, I'll still buy the new Of Montreal album, which is due in 2008.

After all, it seems as if Kevin Barnes could use the money.

Of Montreal MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)


*Of course, there is only one way we could have avoided all of this haranguing about selling out: if we all stopped watching fucking television, then there would have been no need for the advertisement in the first place.

New Mogwai - "Gouge Away" (Pixies Cover)

Download: Mogwai - "Gouge Away"
Download: Mogwai - "2 Rights Make 1 Wrong"
Download: Clint Mansell (performed by Mogwai and Kronos Quartet) - "Death is the Road to Awe"
Download: Mogwai- "Tracy"
Download: Pixies - "Gouge Away"

Mogwai's cover of the Pixies' "Gouge Away" from the as-yet-unreleased Dig For Fire – A Tribute to the Pixies hit Stereogum today.

I've never been huge into Mogwai, but, after hearing this cover, their CDs will definitely be getting a fresh hearing. I really love the crunch and the weight of this track. The Pixies do it better of course, but that's like putting a pile of kittens next to a hairless Sphynx cat and determining the kittens are cuter. It's a no-brainer.

British Sea Power and They Might Be Giants will also be featured on the collection, which comes out Nov. 27th. I'm really excited to hear what the Johns do with "Havalina."

Listen to Mogwai's cover, as well as the original (in addition to some other Mogwai tracks) at the top of the post.

(April Wright)
Mogwai MySpace Page

(April Wright)

Soul Asylum Gives Stereogum A Video Hangover

Read Stereogum's take on "Just Like Anyone" here

(Jonathan Graef)

The Narrator Cover R.E.M. Track For Stereogum Comp Bonus Tracks

Download: The Narrator - "Try Not To Breathe"
Download: R.E.M - "Try Not To Breathe"
Download: The Narrator - "All the Tired Horses" (Bob Dylan Cover)

As you well know, Stereogum commissioned a Automatic For The People tribute which consisted of 12 different bands covering one of Automatic's classic songs (Read MFR's take on the tribute here).

In the days since, the website has reveled a few bonus tracks that have come from the tribute, one of which is MFR Favorite The Narrator's take on classic R.E.M track "Try Not To Breathe".

In contrast to Dabbled Cities' fragmented take on "Breathe," The Narrator are more faithful to the original, but still manage to add some new touches, the most noteworthy of which is a Gordan Gano-style sing-talk under the more traditional singing approach.

You can listen to the Narrator cover at the top of the post, along with the original for comparisons sake. In addition, I've posted The Narrator's take on Bob Dylan's "All The Tired Houses" (which is also available on this year's


MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

Stereogum - Automatic For The People Tribute

Download: The Wrens - "Nightswimming"

Stereogum posted their tribute to the R.E.M. album Automatic For the People yesterday. The original was released 15 years ago on Friday. The Stereogum tribute features all 12 tracks covered by different artists.

I can't even tell you how absurdly cool this is. I got into R.E.M. when I was 14, after reading that Michael Stipe and Kurt Cobain were friends. As someone who got into R.E.M. right at the same time that I was first starting to open up to the wider world around me, their music and worldview had a pretty serious impact on my own views.

To hear the fantastically creative re-imaginings of R.E.M. songs is amazing. Dappled Cities take "Try Not To Breathe," a folk ballad concerning death, amongst other things, and make it completely electronic, delving into the art of synthesized emotion. Rogue Wave's version of "Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight" is almost completely unrecognizable, but provides a nice window into what would happen if R.E.M. existed in a parallel universe where new wave was considered artier than folk.

It's had to find commonalities between the songs, but if I had to pick something, I would say that for the most part, the original intent of each song is remarkably well-preserved. Sorrow is the mood of the original album, and that's largely present on this tribute. The Figurines take on the mournful tones of "New Orleans Instrumental No. 1" at first seemed to betray the song's gloominess, but after a few listens, I feel like that's only partially true. The vocal mix definitely vacillates between anguished and soaring, and I like that. The Forms are a little light on the venom in "Ignoreland" and Sarah Quin and Kaki King don't convince me of poignant anguish on "Sweetness Follows," but the rest of the album is stellar.

The highlights are, by far, Dappled Cities "Try Not To Breathe," The Wrens "Nightswimming," which highlights the bravery involved with skinny dipping and Blitzen Trapper's version of "Star Me Kitten," which gives the original a run for it's money.

And Stereogum isn't done yet. More artists will be adding their covers in the next few weeks. There's an .mp3 up top, but please go to Stereogum to hear the full tribute. Notes on each song that were made by the contributing bands, as well as R.E.M. bass player Mike Mills, can be viewed on the site as well.

Click here to listen to Drive XV.

(April Wright)

Is MFR Reader Tara Psychic? To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie Make Stereogum's "Band To Watch" List

Download: To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - "A Box Twenty" (Via Stereogum)
Download: To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - "The Patron"
Download: To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie - "Lovers and Liars"

In the comment section of Ian's piece about the 2007 edition of City Pages' "Picked To Click" series, reader Tara suggests that To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie will be one of the bands that are picked to click. Even if they aren't included on the City Pages' list, at someone else on the almighty interweb thinks that TKAPB is worthy of attention. That someone else is Stereogum, who recently featured the band as part of its "Band To Watch" feature.

When all is said and done, a Stereogum endorsement would certainly help a band to click, no? If so, nicely done, Tara.

The new album, The Patron comes out on Oct. 15th on Kranky.

MySpace Page

(Jonathan Graef)

New Fiery Furnaces Track - "Ex-Guru"

Download: The Fiery Furnaces - "Ex-Guru" (Via Stereogum)

Courtesy of Stereogum, and taken from the Chicago based, brother-sister led, band's upcoming Widow City. It's their first effort for Thrill Jockey, the band's new label. The song is called "Ex-Guru".

The song is definitely more along the lines of their LP material, which is a good thing, in my mind. The track starts out in the sort of electropop-blues like "Single Again," but with more of a airy trip-hop feel. It fact, for a while, "Ex-Guru" is both one of the undiluted rock and techno tracks that Fiery Furnaces have written. That is, of course, until the band abruptly decides to become Led Zepplin in its Eastern, orchestral, phase. But that is short-lived as well, as the Furnaces briefly dabble in Beatles-esque orchestral-pop before returning to the song's refrain.

I dig the song a lot, even if I sense that "Ex-Guru" may seque into something that's even better on the album.

Read more about Widow City here. The album comes out Oct. 9th on Thrill Jockey.

(Jonathan Graef)

Stream Sterogum's Tribute to OK Computer

Download: My Brightest Diamond - "Lucky"
Download: John Vanderslice - "Karma Police"
Download: Cold War Kids - "Electioneering"
Download: The Twilight Sad - "Climbing Up The Walls"

Stereogum commissioned several bands to do a 10th anniversary, song-by-song, tribute to Radiohead. Above you'll find four of the more noteworthy tracks from the set, and below you will find artist/track list and the link to stream the rest of the album! It's totally free and legal, so you should not hesitate to download all of these tracks:

1. Doveman - "Airbag"
2. Slaraffenland - "Paranoid Android"
3. Mobius Band - "Subterranean Homesick Alien"
4. Vampire Weekend - "Exit Music (For a Film)"
5. David Bazan's Black Coud - "Let Down"
6. John Vanderslice - "Karma Police"
7. Samson Dalonoga feat. The Found Sound Orchestra - "Fitter Happier"
8. Cold War Kids - "Electioneering"
9. The Twilight Sad - "Climbing Up the Walls"
10. Marissa Nadler feat. Black Hole Infinity - "No Surprises"
11. My Brightest Diamond - "Lucky"
12. Flash Hawk Parlor Ensemble - "The Tourist"

Stream the rest of the album here

(Jonathan Graef)