W♥M

Future Bible Heroes at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (07/16/13)

Setlist Losing Your Affection Let's Go to Sleep (And Never Come Back) Sadder than the Moon Digging My Own Grave All I Care About Is You Keep Your Children in a Coma A Drink Is Just the Thing Hopeless She-Devils Of The Deep Lonely Days Living, Loving, Partygoing Kiss Me Only With Your Eyes Memories Of Love I'm A Vampire Drink Nothing But Champagne The World is a Disco Ball Encore: Don't You Want Me (The Human League cover) When Evening Falls on Tinseltown Tour Dates 07/17/13 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall 07/21/13 Cambridge, MA Sinclair 07/22/13 Toronto, ON Lee's Palace 07/23/13 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom 07/25/13 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live 07/26/13 Washington, DC Black Cat Read More Future Bible Heroes Maggie just saw Future Bible Heroes at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, although technically, she tells me it's in Echo Park. From this "fun little show" picture below…

Future Bible Heroes just played at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis last night, July 16th, as part of their Partygoing tour.

I normally also cover opening bands, but unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts, I was unable to actually make it on time to catch Luxury Liners. Just to give you a brief overview, Luxury Liners is the side project from Carter Tanton. Their latest album, They're Flowers came out on Western Vinyl earlier in April and they're currently on tour with Future Bible Heroes.

DJ Jake Rudh of Transmission provided new wave/late 70s and early 80s music between sets. I can now confirm that the music videos are of his choosing, as previously seen/heard at the Garbage show. I think my favorite of the bunch was Visage's "Fade to Grey" from the New Romantics period.

As for Future Bible Heroes, as I've previously mentioned, this current tour does not feature the low baritone vocals of Stephin Merritt. Playing his part will be Figures on a Beach's Anthony Kaczynski and Chris Ewen. The rest of the group consists of Magnetic Fields' Claudia Gonson and Shirley Simms and

It's hard to explain the actual show, because they play sissy dance music. You can tell they want to get up and dance around, but are completely shy about it. I believe all the songs were co-written by Merritt on the new album (I could be wrong), so they tend to be on the depressing side (suicide, death, vampires, hopelessness, graves, etc). Just when you think there is a light of hope, forget about it.

As you can see from their setlist, taken from my notes, they did play a few songs from Partygoing, including "Let's Go to Sleep (And Never Come Back)" (an upbeat song about suide), "Sadder than the Moon", "Digging My Own Grave", "Keep Your Children in a Coma" (Gonson's child love this song) , "Living, Loving, Partygoing" , "Drink Nothing But Champagne", and the "When Evening Falls on Tinseltown".

Highlight of their set for me was either "I'm A Vampire" or the Human League cover song, "Don't You Want Me", which made me laugh a bit when Anthony Kaczynski sings, "I was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, that much is true".

Well, if you feel like living, loving, and partygoing (but in a shy way), you should head out to see Future Bible Heroes on this tour. Their album Partygoing is out now on Merge Records.

Future Bible Heroes at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (07/16/13)

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ futurebibleheroes.com

Future Bible Heroes at the Echoplex, Los Angeles (07/08/13)

Read More Future Bible Heroes Sure, it's been over ten years since Future Bible Heroes' album Eternal Youth, but that's not stopping Magnetic Field's Stephin Merrit and friends from a new album called Partygoing (coming out June 4 on Merge Records). …

Maggie just saw Future Bible Heroes at the Echoplex in Los Angeles, although technically, she tells me it's in Echo Park.

From this "fun little show" picture below, it looked like a nice, intimate evening. Whenever I see bands sitting down, I know that the audience is there to seriously listen to the music.

Notably, for this tour, Future Bible Heroes is missing Stephin Merritt, however, we still get the other Magnetic Fields (Claudia Gonson and Shirley Simms) and Figures on a Beach (Chris Ewen and Anthony Kaczynski).

The band is currently on tour in support of Partygoing, out now on our favorite Merge Records. Check out their song, "Living, Loving, Partygoing":



We are covering their appearance in Minneapolis, so expect a report, come next Wednesday morning.

Tour dates:

07/09 San Francisco, CA Independent
07/11 Portland, OR Doug Fir
07/12 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
07/16 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center
07/17 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
07/21 Cambridge, MA The Sinclair
07/22 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace
07/23 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
07/25 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live
07/26 Washington, DC The Black Cat

Future Bible Heroes at the Echoplex, Los Angeles (07/08/13) photograph courtesy of Maggie

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

Holy Rockin' Rollers

Read More Future Bible Heroes I've decided to write about another Stephin Merritt project, Future Bible Heroes, where Merritt collaborates with Chris Ewen (former keyboardist for the 80's band Figures On a Beach) and Magnetic Fields vocalist/percussionist/pianist Claudia …

FUTURE BIBLE HEROES
futurebibleheroes.com

Sure, it's been over ten years since Future Bible Heroes' album Eternal Youth, but that's not stopping Magnetic Field's Stephin Merrit and friends from a new album called Partygoing (coming out June 4 on Merge Records).

From my understanding, I do not believe Mister Merrit will be going on tour in support of Partygoing, due to "ear issues".

Check out the lead single/title track, "Living, Loving, Partygoing" now:



Future Bible Heroes Tour Dates:

06/12 Brooklyn, NY Bell House Chickfactor
07/08 Los Angeles, CA Echoplex
07/09 San Francisco, CA Independent
07/11 Portland, OR Doug Fir
07/12 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
07/16 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center
07/17 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
07/21 Cambridge, MA The Sinclair
07/22 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace
07/23 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
07/25 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live
07/26 Washington, DC The Black Cat

Read More Broadcast Broadcast is from Birmingham in the UK and could be characterised as a darker sounding Stereolab with a more pronounced sixties/movie feel to them. . …

STILL CORNERS
stillcorners.bandcamp.com

Having been a big fan of Still Corners for a couple of years now, I am thrilled to finally get the chance to see them live. Originally scheduled to headline their own show at 7th St. Entry on June 6, they've now been slated to open for the Scottish band Chvrches at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis on June 8.

They are touring in support of their brand new release 'Strange Pleasures', which was just released on May 7. The new songs are quite a bit more polished and produced in comparison with the songs on their previous release, 'Creatures of an Hour'. With 'Creatures' I immediately loved that their sound was right on par with a favorite band of mine, Broadcast. With 'Strange Pleasures', the vocals are more in the forefront and have a softer, breathy quality to them, flowing well with the breezy synths and guitar lines. I'm excited to see them play both the new and old songs and see how well they translate live.

The show is 18+ and only $15. You can buy tickets here.

They are playing across North America in support of Chvrches and you can catch them at these places on the rest of their tour.

05/28 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom * 05/29 San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stops * 06/01 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour * 06/02 San Diego, CA - Belly Up * 06/05 Austin, TX - Mohawk * 06/06 Dallas, TX - Granada Theatre * 06/07 Lawrence, KS - Granada Theatre * 06/08 Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line *

06/10 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall * 06/11 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall * 06/12 Toronto, ON - The Hoxton * 06/15 Montreal, QC - Le National * 06/16 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club * 06/17 New York, NY - Webster Hall * 06/18 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg * 06/21Washington, DC - Black Cat * 06/23 Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer *

dates with * indicates with Chvrches

Read More White Fence It looks like he's back, this time, teaming up with White Fence (who we previously written about). Ty Segall & White Fence is basically Segall and Tim Presley, but with a full band . . …

GOD?
dragcity.com

Did you know that Drag City has a new imprint called God? (with the question mark)? Their first couple of releases will be a White Fence reissue and Scraper's self-titled 7", both coming out July 16, 2013.

I'm not quite sure why God? exist, but it would seem that their goal is to restore lost and forgotten gems.

Details below:

WHITE FENCE - WHITE FENCE REISSUE
Tim Presley's been building a White Fence he can be proud of since back in 2010; his fourth trip to the other side of the fence just dropped and new pop music horizons continue to shimmer invitingly in all the music that he makes. If you walked into the party when the second album was playing or the new one, that's probably a great place to start too. But this first record is a REALLY good place to start. Tim's a veteran of a few bands before White Fence, like Darker My Love, and he's made records with Ty Segall and The Strange Boys too, but his own thing is very special - a foolproof and ever-morphing approach to writing songs by bringing the freshness of lysergic 60s visions into the present day.

Originally out on San Francisco's Make a Mess label and currently available on CD on Woodsist, White Fence keeps the hits coming - like shafts of sunlight through oblong holes in the ceiling. The tunes warp and ripple as if something had gone awry with the tape machine, and it has highs and lows - like cough syrup in a heat-warped July. Faint hints of British accent makes us feel that we're listening to Nobility Rock, where the singer is a king or someone like that, a Duke or an Earl, ruling over a bit of territory and considering what goes on in his land every day. The songs are these thoughts, and strands and scraps of chime and glimmer are carelessly strewn about in them, magically contriving this enchanted land with an insanely pure view of it all. And the tunes just keep coming at your brain, and hooking it.

SCRAPER - SCRAPER 7"
San Francisco's Scraper is a band throwing curves off a skate-punk kind of mound. Just some kids hanging out on the scene who formed a band out of nowhere. Of the 101 flavors currently coursing through the undead corpse of punk, these guys spray a gritty combination of grind 'n' groove that represents musical life at its most primal level. Then when you're sure they just started playing instruments the day before they recorded this, the overtones hit you - Scraper touched with Flipper and Urinals art-ghetto flair. You might even call it "minimalist," and the lyrics whip a satirical, surrealist-sychadelic angle on the inevitable social/romantic blues of the songs. Coming from the filth with no kind of irony or apology, this is just the sound of a way of life - and somehow, it sounds like fun!

COMA CINEMA
facebook.com/comacinema

Mat Cothran, or better known as his stagename, Coma Cinema, is releasing his album called Posthumous Release on June 11th, via Fork & Spoon Records / Orchid Tapes.

Posthumous Release is a record described as "not a record about pain or misery, but a record about loving everything and letting everything love you." Keep that 'love' in mind as you listen to the lead single, "Burn A Church":



Track List:

1. White Trash VHS
2. She Keeps It Alive
3. Bailey Jay
4. Lee (Columbine High Harmony)
5. Satan Made A Mansion
6. Partners In Crime
7. Burn A Church
8. Virgin Veins
9. Survivor's Guilt
10. Marie (No Sleep)
11. Posthumous Release

laurie + vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

Future Bible Heroes - I'm Lonely (And I Love It)

 

I'm Lonely (And I Love It)

Inspired by Vu's post last week about the Gothic Archies and my purchase last night of their 2000 EP I'm Lonely (And I Love It), I've decided to write about another Stephin Merritt project, Future Bible Heroes, where Merritt collaborates with Chris Ewen (former keyboardist for the 80's band Figures On a Beach) and Magnetic Fields vocalist/percussionist/pianist Claudia Gonson. Merritt's website describes the Heroes as:

Future Bible Heroes is the fruitful product of Ewen's exotic electro-pop instrumentation, replete with samples ranging from Hawaiian birds to computer printers, overlaid with Merritt's exquisite pop songs and humorous lyrical style.

 

Thanks to Ewen's electro-touch, Future Bible Heroes' songs have a definite synthpoppy feel to them, conducive to remixes and the complete dancefloor treatment. Now, I like "serious" music as much as the next indie kid, but I'm also partial to the 3-minute pop song, upbeat and effervescent and full of synths and driving basslines. Add to that Merritt's witty and (at times) hilarious lyrics and Gonson's sweet yet plaintive voice and voilà! You've got yourself a sparkling little pop gem.

 

 

Doris Daytheearthstoodstill

I've included here the title track off I'm Lonely (And I Love It) (with Merritt on vocals) and also a song from their 2002 full-length LP Eternal Youth, 'Doris Daytheearthstoodstill.' Only Stephin Merritt could rhyme "asteroid" with "gas droid" and have it make perfect sense in a pop song.

*Apparently they have released a brand new song 'Mr. Punch' last year, which appears on a Neil Gaiman tribute CD.

-Maggie