The Song Fight Bulletin Board

I love them. They're basically my favorite band. I saw them live in Seattle and they were super-good. I haven't heard their new album yet but I'm going to this week.

i just heard them for the first time the other day and i think they're great. any recommendations on which album to start with?

Start with Castaways & Cutouts.

I haven't heard the new one yet either. It came out Tuesday, but the damn store here didn't order any CDs for that week, so none of the new releases came in that day. I'll get it this Tuesday.

Still making up my mind. I like "The Sporting Life" Which I suppose is the hit right now. They are here this weekend, playing at the little club around the corner. I'll check back in after the show.

Picaresque is a disc-shaped orgasm in disguise. It's a lot higher-energy than previous Decemberists material, without sacrificing their fingerprint. There's more than a passing resemblance to REM at many points. It's a bit weird to hear The Decemberists, who've always sounded more than a little arch, singing about high school football ("The Sporting Life," a low point if there is one), the liberal media ("16 Military Wives," my current favorite), and a bus station ("On the Bus Mall"). Still, I think Picaresque is at least as good as Castaways & Cutouts. So there's my two bits.

The Decemberists are Love.

Josh! Check your PMs.

I have yet to hear or see The Decemberists, which is kinda sad, since I'm from Portland.

Maybe I'll go pick something up of theirs next weekend . . . I've heard nothing but good things about them!

http://www.insound.com/mp3/searchmp3.cfm

type their name into the search engine. mp3's are there.

ok, picaresque is awesome.

I definitely liked Castaways and Cutouts better and Her Majesty and 5 Songs and The Tain or whatever that EP was called... I still think almost all of the earlier work is stronger, but after seeing them perform the majority of Picaresque live, my appreciation of it has gone sky high. These are still good songs, and the epic narrative quality of something like The Bagman's Gambit or The Mariner's Revenge Song just takes you places.

Also, I liked their cover of Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights.

We are two mariners.
Our ship's sole survivors,
Here, in the belly of a whale...

this band is awesome live. i just saw them last night. "mariner's revenge song" is an amazing song when done live.

I saw them live recently and was actually really disappointed. They were so god damn bouncy. My friend said, "holy shit, The Decemberists are like the Counting Crows for a new generation." And the terrifying thing is that she was right. It was a major blow, considering there was a time when I would listen to Her Majesty every day all the way through at least once. But I dunno, a lot of what drew me to them wasn't in their show. It was like a different band. Dressed like a barbershop.

Dude, what the fuck. What do you have against music that's fun to listen to. I saw Rilo Kiley and The Brunettes in June and The Brunettes play fun, twee stuff and it doesn't make me want to slit my wrists (or gag, as Dashboard Confessional might).

That besides, I saw them at Bumbershoot and they played The Tain, Leslie Anne Levine, The Gymnast High Above the Ground, The Engine Driver, Odalisque... those songs aren't poppy and happy.

fodroy wrote:"mariner's revenge song" is an amazing song

I just want to second this. That song steals about 18 minutes of my day, every day.

mkilly wrote:Dude, what the fuck. What do you have against music that's fun to listen to.

I don't understand, are you mad at me? And my problem was that it wasn't fun for me to listen to. It just seemed shallow. I saw Beck recently too, and that was certainly fun and I enjoyed the hell out of it.

I recently bought 'Picaresque' on my way to work, then sat down at a computer to listen to it and the guy sitting next to me looks over, sees what it is and mentions that he used to be in the band 'Calobo' with the piano player, Jenny Conlee. Small world, I guess.