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Tiny Scores, Tiny Rooms, Lofty Goals
Last night Marc Hogan and I went to see Field Music and Menomena play a show at the Bowery Ballroom. This morning, we had a little chat about the gig.
Field Music @ Bowery Ballroom, March 28 2007
Give It Lose It Take It / Sit Tight / Tones of Town / A House Is Not A Home / You Can Decide / Working To Work / If Only The Moon Were Up / Pieces / Shorter Shorter / Tell Me Keep Me
Field Music "Working To Work"
Matthew Perpetua: So what did you think of Field Music's set?
Marc Hogan: Their record is so tidy and polite, and yet they managed to get that across almost seamlessly live. Very precise. Very English. It was a bit of a short set, with a few great songs left out, but they're so bashfully charming. And yet it's hard to see a huge mass of Americans clamoring to hear this type of thing.
MP: I was really struck by how much those guys looked and acted exactly as I had imagined them. Really thin and clean-cut, with neat, well-fit and uncluttered clothing. Polite and friendly, but a bit aloof too. They obviously live out their immaculate, uptight aesthetic on every level. The tightness and precision reminded me a lot of Spoon, but they don't have this kinda macho, sexy frontman. They are so reserved and make no attempt to be "rock and roll;" they seem happy to just make this Music For Stylish Introverts. I thought they were really charming whenever they would chat with the crowd.
MH: True, they had that embarrassed (but completely in control) Hugh Grant factor.
MP: Not hilarious, but rather unpretentious, well-adjusted, and good-humored.
MH: As for their differences from Spoon, I think you're right. They're comfortable with making rock that reflects who they are. They're comfortable with being uptight and uncomfortable!
MP: I'm not sure if they ever seem uncomfortable -- a lot of what I like about Tones of Town is that it feels very relaxed and peaceful. It makes me think of really pleasant spring days.
MH: I always hear a nervousness in their music. Maybe "uncomfortable" was the wrong word. On stage, though, there was nothing nervous about them -- they've got this stuff down. How do you think the crowd reacted to Field Music, though?
MP: I'm not sure if the crowd responded to them at all. The audience was clearly there for Menomena, and I guess I was too focused on staring at them with their instruments to scan around. Did you notice anything?
MH: I didn't really notice anything, either. It would be fun to see them in a smaller venue where people had to come see them.
MP: I think even if Field Music was headlining, the response would have been fairly muted because their music is pleasurable, but not exactly fun. It's hard not to just be passive with their songs.
MH: That was my take on their first album. Really, really pretty -- but how do you convince somebody to get excited about "pretty" when other bands are trying to be "beautiful"?
MP: Also, their emotional content is really measured and focused on details and vague, in-between feelings, so you're never going to be too moved by it. That's one of the things I respond to in the songs, but I think most young people want something a bit more extreme and volatile.
MH: Field Music just owns the whole pleasant/pretty aspect. And good for them. They're not looking to wow anyone -- exactly, they're not going to extremes.A lot of the songs are about work, honestly, and how exciting is that? But it's part of our lives.
Menomena "Muscle'n Flo"
MP: They are very formal in their artistic concerns, but so was Menomena, but they went about things completely differently, and the audience seemed to really connect with them.
MH: Yes! That's the common thread -- both bands are definitely focused on form first, but each has its own personality.
MP: It's funny because Menomena's formal concerns are more in radically reworking the dynamics of a pop song, whereas Field Music is all about working within this paradigm we all know and understand, but Menomena's stuff is so much warmer and emotionally direct, and so they get the fans that really flip out for them. Personally, I find it hard to connect with some of Menomena's stuff, especially the ones where it seems like there would simply not be a song without the drummer.
MH: There's an anthemic, sing-along quality to Menomena's music. Field Music don't seem as interested in that type of communal aspect. Maybe it's a Portland vs. Sunderland, England thing. Oh, but that drummer! I could not stop watching him.
MP: Yeah, he really needs a raise. The other guys are fine musicians, but he carries that band. If he quit or died, they'd have to break up.
MH: He was probably the best singer, too. But the reason a song like "Rotten Hell" works so well is exactly because it doesn't rely only on flashy drums. It has a great, swirling melody and words to which people can relate and sing along. As opposed to the more formal work, the songs you mention that feel more like exercises and only work because of the drums. "Rotten Hell" is a political song, but not in an overbearing or self-important way. It doesn't scream, "Look at us, we're being political now."
MP: I had no idea what to expect of them, so I was happy to see how engaging they were as performers. Very funny guys, easy to like. Handsome, mildly theatrical. Theatrical in the sense of "Oooh, and now he's got a tuba!"
MH: They definitely made more sense to me in concert than on the albums. And I already liked the albums quite a bit.
MP: I wouldn't be surprised if they just kept getting bigger. They clearly inspire fandom, but it also seems like they are just getting the knack of writing accessible pop songs. I can imagine them pulling a Modest Mouse in a few years. "Wet and Rusting," "Muscle'n Flo," "Rotten Hell" -- that seems to be the start of something.
MH: Where the cult just keeps getting bigger, yeah. Not every band gets a "Float On," but it'll be exciting to watch these guys develop their pop sense, and move away from their songwriting gimmick. What do they do with computers again?
MP: Wikipedia explains:
The band uses a computer program called the Digital Looping Recorder, or Deeler for short, in the song writing process - it was programmed by band member Brent Knopf. Drummer Danny Seim explains the process, "First, we set the tempo of the click, which is played through a pair of headphones. We then take turns passing a single mic around the room. One of us will hold the mic in front of an instrument, while another one of us will lay down a short improvised riff over the click track. We usually start with the drums. Once the drums begin looping, we throw on some bass, piano, guitar, bells, sax, or whatever other sort of noisemaker happens to be in the room. Deeler keeps the process democratic, which is the only way we can operate"MH: "We usually start with the drums."
MP: No kidding!
(Click here to buy Field Music's Tones of Town from Insound and here to buy Menomena's Friend and Foe from Barsuk.)
Elsewhere: My new Hit Refresh column is up on the ASAP site with mp3s from Tujiko Noriko, Elk City, and A Sunny Day In Glasgow.
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