Obscurities, a collection of Stephin Merritt's hard-to-find recordings dating back to (and before) his time on Merge Records (1994-99) is out now. Find the new release at your local reseller or purchase it directly from the Merge Records Store, which offers free shipping on all US orders. The $17.98 vinyl edition includes a coupon redeemable for all tracks as downloadable 320kbps MP3 files.

via the House of Tomorrow Newsletter

Labels: Stephin_Merritt

From the House of Tomorrow newsletter:

Obscurities, a collection of new and hard-to-find recordings made by Stephin Merritt, will be released as a CD, LP, and digital download on Merge Records on 23 August 2011. The CD's 14 tracks include five Merge-era recordings from The Magnetic Fields (and a couple of tracks by The 6ths).

Forever and a Day, a previously unreleased selection from The Song From Venus, Merritt's collaboration with author Daniel Handler, aka Lemony Snickett, is available today as a free download from the Merge Records website:

Tracklisting

1. Forever and a Day (previously unreleased)
2. Rats in the Garbage of the Western World (The Magnetic Fields)
3. I Don't Believe You (The Magnetic Fields)
4. Plant White Roses (Buffalo Rome)
5. Rot in the Sun (the 6ths)
6. The Sun and the Sea and the Sky (previously unreleased)
7. Yet Another Girl (the 6ths)
8. Scream (Till you Make the Scene) (previously unreleased)
9. The Song from Venus (previously unreleased)
10. Beach-A-Boop-Boop (The Magnetic Fields)
11. When I'm Not Looking, You're Not There (The Magnetic Fields)
12. Take Ecstasy with Me (The Magnetic Fields)
13. When You're Young and In Love (previously unreleased)
14. You Are Not My Mother and I Want to Go Home (The Gothic Archies)

Labels: Stephin_Merritt, The_Sixths

The feature documentary Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields starts its US theatrical run on Wednesday 27 October at New York City's Film Forum reports the House of Tomorrow newsletter. Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields will appear in person alongside the filmmakers at the 8:10pm shows on Wednesday 27 October and Friday 29 October. Tickets go on sale 20 October via Film Forum.

Tickets are also on sale now for the Los Angeles screenings, which start 5 November 5 at Laemmle's Sunset 5. Stephin and the filmmakers will be making guest appearances at the Friday and Saturday evening shows:

The film's current run includes stops in Austin, San Francisco, Dallas, and Seattle. Screenings and special events related to the film are being added regularly by the filmmakers.

More info including film showtimes, news of a Magnetic Fields exhibition and a film series curated by Stephin Merritt on Facebook and the Official Website.

Meanwhile, Cerysmatic, gets a UK preview of Strange Powers tomorrow as it debuts at the London Film Festival 2010.

It's good to be back!

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt

From houseoftomorrow.com:

Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields, a documentary film by Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara, is making the rounds of the film festival circuit in the US and overseas.

After its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival, the film has screened at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the Florida Film Festival, and the Buenos Aires Festival of Independent Cinema.

The film will soon be screening at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto, the Independent Film Festival Boston, and at a special event at New York's Bell House. The Bell House screening, the official New York premiere, will be preceded by a live performance from the band's own Claudia Gonson.

For more information on these upcoming events please visit the following websites:

April 25 - Boston
8th Annual Independent Film Festival Boston @ The Brattle Theater
** Including Q&A with Claudia Gonson

6/7 May
Toronto
Hot Docs

10 May
New York
Brooklyn Arts Council @ The Bell House ** With special live performance by Claudia Gonson

For more info on the film available at the Official Website and on Facebook

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt

From the House of Tomorrow Newsletter:

Tickets for the stage adaption of Neil Gaiman's Coraline, with music and lyrics by Stephin Merritt (The Sixths, The Magnetic Fields, et al), will go on sale Monday, 23 March 2009 via the MCC Theater website.

The production, a collaboration between Merritt, director Leigh Silverman, and writer/actor David Greenspan, begins a special limited engagement run on 7 May at New York City's Lucille Lortel Theatre.

From 23 March to 12 April single price tickets to any performance will be available at the special price of USD 39 (Regular ticket prices start at USD 65). To purchase tickets at the discounted price, apply the promotional code CLHT upon checkout at the MCC Theater website. There is a limit of eight tickets per order. Availability is subject to change.

Be wise. Be brave. Be tricky. See Coraline this spring!

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, New_Order, Stephin_Merritt, The_Sixths

With the new Magnetic Fields album 'Distortion' getting (generally) good reviews, Roy Wilkinson interviews Stephin Merritt in London for the February 2008 edition of The Word.

We learn that Merritt calls his dog Irving Berlin ("big ears, big nose, cute, not very big" with the proviso "he doesn't write musicals") and that he thinks Psychocandy by The Jesus and Mary Chain is "the last significant production in modern music".

Meanwhile, in the reviews section the 'Distortion' album is likened, favourably, to "a Phil Spector Christmas record remade by Galaxie 500". The London Metro free paper also made it their album of the week.

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt

John Harris in The Guardian gives 'Distortion' by The Magnetic Fields only a 2* review. The aptly-titled album pays "slavish homage" to The Jesus and Mary Chain and indeed Harris says that Stephin Merritt said that he set out to "sound more like the Jesus and Mary Chain than the Jesus and Mary Chain".

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt

The Guardian's 1000 albums to hear before you die continues with parts 2 and 3 covering the letters 'D' to 'M'.

The FACts are:

The Durutti Column 'The Return of the Durutti Column' (1978)

"Former punk turned avant-garde jazz-classical guitarist Vini Reilly and veteran jazz drummer Bruce Mitchell were one of music's oddest but most inspired couplings. Their Factory debut combines fragility, melancholy, birdsong and electronic effects to produce soundscapes of breathtaking, fragile beauty."

ESG 'A South Bronx Story' (2000)

"A compilation that shows how three sisters from the Bronx in the early 80s tried to play slick funk but ended up sounding like a wonky African-American version of Joy Division. With congas. It nevertheless sounded hypnotically brilliant, and set the template for every subsequent strand of mutant disco and punk funk."

Happy Mondays 'Bummed' (1988)

"The work of two drug-addled geniuses - frontman Shaun Ryder and Factory Records' resident producer, Martin Hannett - this second Mondays album bettered most of the Madchester explosion it preceded. Bummed is a record of thrillingly raw white-man funk, built on menacing grooves, surefire pop hooks and Ryder's surreal drawls."

James 'Stutter(1986)

"Before Madchester, and before the Horlicks rock of Sit Down became ubiquitous, James were an invigorating prospect: a folk-pop band apparently engaged in a bout of pro-wrestling with their instruments. Their debut album clangs like a grand piano tumbling downstairs - leaving singalong melodies in its wake."

Joy Division 'Closer' (1980)

"The arrival of Joy Division's second album in the aftermath of Ian Curtis's suicide brought with it a shadow of death that disguised Closer's expressions of life: the clattering energy of Atrocity Exhibition, the metallic pop of Isolation and the virtuosity of Curtis's baritone. Still, its final songs, The Eternal and Decades, are untouchable in their manifestations of abject despair."

Magnetic Fields '69 Love Songs' (1999)

"Stephin Merritt's meticulous modernisation of the Great American Songbook is an absurd folly - a giddy explosion of wit, whimsy, inspiration and ambition that is matchless in its achievement. Every imaginable romantic experience is refracted through every imaginable genre of music, with moods and sounds glittering like mirror-ball lights across a disco floor."

--

Special mentions for 808 State's excellent Ex:El (on which Bernard Sumner guests on vocals) and the ground-breaking 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' by Brian Eno and David Byrne. Peter Saville designed the cover and he talked about working with Eno on that project in the recent Creative Review blog interview.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, books, Electronic, ESG, Factory_Classical, Factory_Records, Happy_Mondays, Joy_Division, labels, Magnetic_Fields, Peter_Hook, Stephin_Merritt, The_Durutti_Column

The latest of the increasingly irregular missives from houseoftomorrow.com, the site for all things Stephin Merritt, informs us that Stephin has contributed to not one but two television commercials for Volvo.

The first, 'Wheels' is already on our screens and the second, 'Showroom' will be airing in mid-October, and features a new Merritt song titled 'I'm in a Lonely Way', which is should be available for download soon iTunes - filed under 'Stephin Merritt'.

Labels: Stephin_Merritt

Stephin Merritt (The Sixths, also known to have recorded as The Magnetic Fields, furthermore known to be a member of The Gothic Archies) has supplied the music for a new advertisement for Volvo cars. Stephin sings "The wheels on the car go round and round" in a new version of the nursery rhyme.

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt, The_Sixths

From the House of Tomorrow Newsletter:

"The new Magnetic Fields album is now planned for release in early 2008. The exact release date and album title will be announced shortly, as well as information on other Stephin Merritt projects.

The Magnetic Fields look forward to playing some US shows following the release of the record.

Meanwhile, Stephin Merritt continues to work on developing several new projects in theater, including a stage adaptation of Neil Gaiman's children's book, 'Coraline'."

http://houseoftomorrow.com

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt

from houseoftomorrow.com:

A Special Event at New York's 92nd Street Y
Stephin Merritt with Rick Moody

Quoted from 92y.org:

Touted as a "contrarian pop genius" by The New York Times, Stephin Merritt has recorded seven albums with his band, The Magnetic Fields, including '69 Love Songs'. Recently, Mr. Merritt turned to theater, collaborating with director Chen Zhi-Zheng at the 2003 and 2005 Lincoln Center Festivals. He is joined in conversation with novelist (and part-time musician) Rick Moody. Mr. Moody's novels include 'The Ice Storm' and 'The Diviners'.

Note: As part of its Young Literary Salon series, the 92nd Street Y is offering a limited number of tickets for sale at 10.00 USD to visitors 35 years old or younger. Visit the event page above for more details.

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt

You can listen to clips from the new Gothic Archies / Lemony Snicket album 'The Tragic Treasury' via a new micro-site on the Nonesuch website [Flash required].

Delights include a video of an interview between Stephin Merritt and Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket, who also plays accordion on the album).

Labels: Stephin_Merritt

When elusive author Lemony Snicket teamed up with allusive musician Stephin Merritt, The Guardian listened in...*

In further Merritt / Snicket related nonsense, 'The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events as Executed By The Gothic Archies' is released by NoneSuch on 9 October 2006.

* - Lemony Snicket is the nom de plume for Daniel Handler, who played accordion on and conducted the interview in the liner notes of The Magnetic Fields' '69 Love Songs' 3xCD boxset. He started writing the Lemony Snicket books around the same time. When they eventually became audio books, they included soundtracks by Merritt under his Gothic Archies pseudonym and it is these soundtracks that are being compiled on the upcoming Nonesuch album.

Thanks to Mike.

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt

From houseoftomorrow.com:

In addition to the upcoming Gothic Archies CD, end-of-summer means several appearances on some worthy compilation projects.

A new Stephin Merritt song, 'The Meaning of Lice', will be included on the upcoming 4AD / Beggar's Banquet recording of the Margate Exodus Project, a British government-funded contemporary retelling of the Book of Exodus.

The Future Bible Heroes have emerged from their temporary retirement to submit a faux-British vaudevillian dance hall tune, 'Mr. Punch', to the Neil Gaiman tribute CD, 'Where's Neil When You Need Him?', now available from Dancing Ferret Discs.

The 6ths's 'You You You You You', originally from 'Hyacinths and Thistles', is included on the companion CD for the annual Music issue of the Oxford American magazine.

Meanwhile, the Magnetic Fields are back in the studio, recording a new release for Nonesuch Records with a target release of next Spring. Wish them luck!

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt

From thehouseoftomorrow.com:

"The Tragic Treasury: Songs from A Series of Unfortunate Events," a musical companion to Lemony Snicket's book series, will be in stores 10 October. The CD features a song for each of the 13 books in the series plus 2 bonus tracks. The Gothic Archies (one of Stephin Merritt's many musical incarnations alongside The 6ths and The Magnetic Fields) will perform songs from the CD on solo ukulele at several of Lemony's bookstore appearances this October and November. Check the House of Tomorrow or Lemony's website for confirmed dates.

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt

Stephin Merritt (also known as The Magnetic Fields, furthermore known as The 6ths, Future Bible Heroes & The Gothic Archies) has his new album 'Showtunes' released in the UK on Monday.

It is only the third to be released in his own name following the soundtracks to the movies 'Pieces of April' and 'Eban and Charley',

David Peschek in The Guardian has given it a 2* review.

From The House of Tomorrow:

"The record contains a selection of compositions created for Chen Shi-Zheng's Orphan of Zhao (2003), Peach Blossom Fan (2004), and My Life as a Fairy Tale (2005). The complete recorded score for each play, including selections not on the CD, will be available online through iTunes and most major pay-per-download services."

'Showtunes'
Release date: 13 March 2006
Label: Nonesuch Records
Catalogue number: 7559798992

Tracklisting:

1. Orphan Of Zhao
2. At Madam Plum's
3. Top And The Ball
4. What A Fucking Lovely Day
5. Auntie Toothache
6. It's Hard To Be The Emperor
7. Sounds Expensive
8. Red Shoes
9. Fan Dance Cha Cha
10. Little Maiden Of The Sea
11. Ukulele Me
12. Train Song
13. Little Hebrew Girl
14. Shall We Sing A Duet
15. Song Of The Humble Serf
16. Collar And The Garter
17. Shall We Sing A Duet
18. Sorry Wrong Show
19. Storks
20. In The Spring When I Was Young
21. Ugly Little Duck
22. And He Would Say...
23. World Is Not Made Of Flowers
24. Behold The Lowly Centipede
25. In China Said The Moon...
26. Hail Son Of Heaven

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt

From the House of Tomorrow newsletter:

"Whether you're local to us or visiting from out of town, we hope you'll stop by for a drink at Stephin's new weekly DJ gig.

THE PHANTASTIC INVISIBLE TENTACLE

DJ Go-Karff, DJ Shermy and Stephin Merritt invite you to attend their weekly mix of psychedelic bubblegum spins, Mondays at 9PM at New York City's Beauty Bar [Flash required] (231 East 14th Street near Third Avenue). No cover charge."

Labels: Stephin_Merritt

From The House of Tomorrow Newsletter

Stephin Merritt's 'Showtunes' is set for release on March 14 on Nonesuch Records. This 26-song CD contains a selection of compositions created for Chen Shi-Zheng's 'Orphan of Zhao' (2003), 'Peach Blossom Fan' (2004), and 'My Life as a Fairy Tale' (2005), and features members of the original casts and ensembles. The complete recorded score, including selections not on the CD, will be available through iTunes and many major pay-per-download services.

Also, Stephin Merritt (as The Gothic Archies) and novelist Daniel Handler (as Lemony Snicket) are set to release a CD of songs to accompany the book series 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'. The CD will feature 13 songs plus creepy bonus tracks. If nothing goes according to plan, the release will coincide with the unveiling of Lemony's 13th and final volume of the series, scheduled for release on Friday 13 October 2006.

Labels: Stephin_Merritt

From The House of Tomorrow Newsletter:

Nonesuch Records will release 'Showtunes', a selection of original theater music by Stephin Merritt (The Sixths, The Magnetic Fields, et al) composed for director Chen Shi-Zheng's 'The Orphan of Zhao' (2003), 'Peach Blossom Fan' (2004), and 'My Life as a Fairy Tale' (2005). The projected release date is mid-February, 2006.

The complete catalog of songs from all three shows will also be made available by digital download. More information about the downloadable songs will be available shortly.

The House of Tomorrow
Nonesuch Records
Chen Shi-Zheng

Labels: Magnetic_Fields, Stephin_Merritt, The_Sixths

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