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Band I Really Love: The Magnetic Fields

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The Magnetic Fields: because nobody else does hilarious, cranky, sweet, biting, romantic songs like Stephin Merritt (vocals/ukelele/harmonioum/keyboard) and his merry crew, aka Claudia Gonson (vocals/percussion/piano), Sam Davol (cello/flute), John Woo (banjo/guitar) and Shirley Simms (vocals/autoharp/ukelele).

For example, Andrew in Drag, from their latest record, Love at the Bottom of the Sea. It’s been stuck in my head for weeks and so now I’m going to share it with you, so I won’t be the only one singing the chorus under my breath at random and inappropriate times. (Note: contains nudity, may be unsafe for work!)
 

The Magnetic Fields - Andrew in Drag

 
This one is called With Whom To Dance and every time I listen to it, I observe, wistfully, that really as far as I’m concerned the only wretched part of being single is not having anyone to slow dance with at weddings. You know? Everyone else gets up to sway and spin and there I am perched on the edge of my chair feeling kind of lonely and awkward about everything. Thank you for capturing that emotion in song, Mr. Merritt!
 
The Magnetic Fields - With Whom to Dance?

 
Dipping into their back catalog a little bit, here’s a live version of Drive on Driver from Distortion, the record I had on repeat for basically the four months of 2008:
 
Magnetic Fields "Drive On Driver" 10/18/08 Meymandi Concert Hall, Raleigh, NC

 
If I ever get a tattoo, it will probably include the phrase characters bold complex and shady will write my memoirs across my heart, which is a lyric from this song, which is The Nun’s Litany, also from Distortion, here performed live in Oslo in 2008:
 
The Magnetic Fields - The Nuns Litany

 
In the category of The Best Kiss-off to an Ex Ever, there’s You Must Be Out Of Your Mind from Realism, live in St. Louis in 2010. Ideal to leave on the answering machine of someone you really, really don’t ever want to go out with again.
 
The Magnetic Fields - You Must Be Out Of Your Mind - Live at The Pageant in St. Louis - 3/6/10

 
And from 69 Love Songs, their three volume concept about love songs, here is All My Little Words, a song about being wordy but still powerless, performed live in North Carolina, in 2008:
 
Magnetic Fields "All My Little Words" 10/18/08 Meymandi Concert Hall, Raleigh, NC

 
Also from 69 Love Songs: The Book of Love, which has been covered by acts as diverse as The Airborne Toxic Event and Peter Gabriel. Seriously, click on those links and watch those videos. Y’all have not lived until you have heard Airborne Toxic Event perform a delicate chamber-pop song and Peter Gabriel aim himself, his voice and an entire orchestra at Stephin Merritt’s wry, reflective lyrics. Here is Mr. Merritt himself singing it in Los Angeles in 2008:
 
http://youtu.be/qzd9zEx6Wis
 
And then, I bring you back to the present with Quick, also from Love at the Bottom of the Sea, live in Chicago during their most recent tour:
 
The Magnetic Fields "Quick" Live

 
In conclusion: some photographs from their show that I went to a few weeks ago, here in New York, at the Beacon Theater.

The Magnetic Fields were as delightful as ever – at one point Stephin Merritt did an amazing dramatic reading of a stray gum wrapper that had made its way to the stage, and I decided that “I would listen to him/her/them read me a gum wrapper” is going to replace “sing me the phonebook” as my personal term of ridiculous fannish devotion – and DeVotchKa, who opened for them, did an exquisite acoustic set.

DeVotchKa
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The Magnetic Fields
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Y’all Need to Listen to This: JJAMZ

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First, an introduction.

Some of you may recognize those faces, but, for those of you that don’t, they are, from left to right: James B. Valentine (Maroon 5), Alex Greenwald (Phantom Planet, Mark Ronson & The Business INTL), Z Berg (The Like), Michael Runion (solo artist, The Chances) and Jason Boesel (solo artist, Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes), and together they are JJAMZ.

Second, a brief meditation on the nature of film, and also of music and video. One of my friends recently noted that “the measure of a film may be how narratively clear and deeply moving it is even if you don’t have the language at all.”

I’d expand on that to say the measure if a music video is how narratively clear and deeply moving it is even if you’re watching it with the sound off.

I give you as an example the video below, for JJAMZ’s new song Never Enough, starring Z Berg and Brie Larson (21 Jump Street, United States of Tara) and directed by Eddie O’Keefe.

It is just exquisite. Beautifully shot, with delicate and precise use of color and light – both shimmery, golden Californian sunlight and harsher neon tones – it absolutely works as a silent film about a complex and passionate friendship between two girls.

That said, I definitely encourage you to watch it with the sound on, too, because the song is great.

Additional warning/enticement: contains tasteful semi-nudity, smoking, cute girls with guns, a glamorous party, and assorted alcohol-induced shenanigans. Bonus fun: spotting the musicians making cameo appearances in the party scene!
 

JJAMZ – Never Enough from Eddie O'KEEFE on Vimeo.

 

JJAMZ will be releasing their first record, Suicide Pact, on July 10, 2012, via Dangerbird Records.

To tide you over until then they have another song entitled Heartbeat available as a free download. I have listened to it several times now, and I can tell you that, as you might expect, they really know how to write a pop hook.

And, okay, NERD ALERT, but part of the reason I was playing it over and over again was to try and focus on the individual parts, specifically, the way the guitars are layered with the synthesizers, and then the way the guitar solo floats up through the hum and crash, like a ray of summer light breaking through dark clouds.

Get it here:

 
Finally, they will also be playing several shows around Los Angeles in the near future, and will be at The Satellite every Monday night in June. For late breaking news and updates, you can subscribe to their Facebook or Twitter feed.