Topic: Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins (Read 22682 times)

E. Spaceman · « **on:** 15 Jul 2008, 23:41 »

The new Okkervil Album done leaked! You will probably find it in your local piracy hole.

Honestly, this is the best music i have heard in the past two years. I was worried that it would not live up to my expectations, since i was under the misconception that these were tracks left off The Stage Names; but oh dear god I already like it more than The Stage Names. Everything about it seems perfect to me.

Everybody, go and listen to it.

Tom · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 00:00 »

YES!1!!

CamusCanDo · « **Reply #2 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 01:51 »

I didn't know they were even recording one. YUUUUUS.

Tom · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 02:36 »

MEDIAFIRED BITCHES!!

squawk · « **Reply #4 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 03:19 »

i listened to the stage names just before this and they're both amazing but this one is superior oh my god

Tom · « **Reply #5 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 03:34 »

It is void of anything embarrassing, there is no "Savannah Smiles". There is also something ironic about "Pop Lie", "On Tour with Zykos" and Meiburg's recent departure.

imapiratearg · « **Reply #6 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 06:26 »

WOOOOOOO

johnny5 · « **Reply #7 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 07:16 »

for some reason i thought it was mostly b-sides also, like that new mirah album. but this is exciting, i will pirate when i get home

Kai · « **Reply #8 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 08:19 »

On my first listen, I honestly like it more than anything else they've done. I honestly like it more than most of the music I've heard recently.

We'll see how that holds up, but at the moment it is pretty concrete.

Liz · « **Reply #9 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 09:11 »

So far it is quite good.

Oh I get to see them in two months, this is just making my day right now.

Kai · « **Reply #10 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 09:21 »

Yeah, they're swinging by Kansas in a few months as well. I'm really excited to hear some of these songs live.

imagist42 · « **Reply #11 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 09:26 »

So far I'm still in love with Don't Fall in Love... and Black Sheep Boy, but there's no denying my blood started pumping on "Lost Coastlines" and "Pop Lies." I'm definitely going to bask in this album on repeat for a straight week at least.

Liz · « **Reply #12 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 09:33 »

Jens, of all the pictures of me with odd facial expressions from Tronnocon, you had to choose the most normal one.

Please try again.

Quote from: n0t_r0bert_b0yle!! on 16 Jul 2008, 03:34

There is also something ironic about "Pop Lie", "On Tour with Zykos" and Meiburg's recent departure.

How is it ironic? Meiburg and Sheff had different ideas as to where they wanted the band to go, just as they did with Shearwater, so each man took his own project and both got better in the process. Seriously, if you haven't listened to "Rook" yet you are seriously missing out.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #13 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 11:41 »

hey, this a great record. i've still got about three tracks or so to listen to but i like it.

how does the rest of their stuff compare to this? i've never listened to these guys before now.

imapiratearg · « **Reply #14 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 11:49 »

If you like it, you might want to listen to Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See, as the sound is somewhat similar. You could also try The Stage Names, too.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #15 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 12:07 »

actually, i just remembered that Black Moth Super Rainbow is the only music i ever need forever.

thanks for the suggestions though.

Plasticity · « **Reply #16 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 13:39 »

Black Moth Super Rainbow is both some of the best music, and probably the best band name, ever.

I like this album okay? I do not really understand what is so great about Okkervil River, and would love it if someone could explain it to me. I think the guys voice sounds like Jens Lekman, but I do not like it as much as Jens Lekman.

Johnny C · « **Reply #17 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 14:36 »

Quote from: squawk on 16 Jul 2008, 03:19

i listened to the stage names just before this and they're both amazing but this one is superior oh my god

Nicely done. The Stand-Ins is the companion record to The Stage Names, for those of you who don't know; it was originally planned as a double album.

Tom · « **Reply #18 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 14:46 »

Quote from: Misconception on 16 Jul 2008, 09:33

Quote from: n0t_r0bert_b0yle!! on 16 Jul 2008, 03:34
There is also something ironic about "Pop Lie", "On Tour with Zykos" and Meiburg's recent departure.

How is it ironic? Meiburg and Sheff had different ideas as to where they wanted the band to go, just as they did with Shearwater, so each man took his own project and both got better in the process. Seriously, if you haven't listened to "Rook" yet you are seriously missing out.

Just seems really bitter

Quote

He gets close, but I choke
Take your shit, take your clothes
And get out of my home
I want you to love me
Or I want you long gone
You say your real name is John

Hey, thanks John
Go sings songs, go rock on
Roll your crew on down the road
To the next sold out show
Think you can get up above me?
Well, I want you to know

You're a figure of fun to everyone
Beneath the lone star, neon blue broken sign
They wish they were you
Like I wish you were mine
What a dumb thing to do

How come I shout goodbye when god knows I just want to
Make this white lie big enough to climb inside
With you

Another day, lost and gone
Clipping pages from the news for the senator's son
Well, he just strolls through the lobby
And glad hands everyone
Another day, tossed and done

I go home
Take off clothes
Smoke a bowl
Watched a whole TV movie
I was supposed to be writing
Quote
The most beautiful poems
And completely revealing
Divine mysteries of cloaks
I can't say that I'm feeling all that much at all
At 27 years old

I'm disgust with desire by the guys who conspire at the only decent bar in town
And they drink MGD's
And they wish they had me
Like I wish I had fire
What a sad way to be
What a girl who got tired

So, I wonder who you got your hooks in tonight
Was she happy to be hooked and on your arm?
Did she feel alive?
Her head all light

considering, to quote Shearwater's publicist released the following statement:

Quote

Jonathan Meiburg, frontman for Shearwater, has announced that he is leaving Okkervil River to focus exclusively on Shearwater. Meiburg says the split is "completely amicable," and that Shearwater has grown to the point that it excludes his further participation in Okkervil. "This is just a logical extension of the way things have been going since Palo Santo," Meiburg adds. "Shearwater's increasingly demanding schedule has meant that I've performed with Okkervil less and less over the past two years, and with Rook coming out in June, we all felt that it would be best if I completely disengaged from Okkervil rather than stretch myself too thin."

imapiratearg · « **Reply #19 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 14:50 »

Sounds more like Sheff was writing from a woman's perspective than his own or Meiburg's.

Ishotdanieljohnston · « **Reply #20 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 14:59 »

Quote from: Plasticity on 16 Jul 2008, 13:39

Black Moth Super Rainbow is both some of the best music, and probably the best band name, ever.

I like this album okay? I do not really understand what is so great about Okkervil River, and would love it if someone could explain it to me. I think the guys voice sounds like Jens Lekman, but I do not like it as much as Jens Lekman.

Okkervil River have produced just about the most lyrically complex music in the last 20 years and yet their sound is entirely unpretentious and energy filleed. Live they are a presence to behold.

This has just about made my year, I found it after getting home from work last night and it totally made up for the shit of the last 9 hours.

Album of the year contender?

Tom · « **Reply #21 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 15:02 »

Quote from: imapiratearg on 16 Jul 2008, 14:50

Sounds more like Sheff was writing from a woman's perspective than his own or Meiburg's.

Yeah probably, he likes doing that after all.

Liz · « **Reply #22 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 15:31 »

I don't think there's any hard feelings between the two of them. Sheff withdrew from Shearwater because it no longer needed him, if you will, and Meiburg did the same. When I saw Shearwater back in May I talked to Jonathan, Kim, and Jordan after the show and all three, independent of the others, told me that the split was completely friendly.

The important thing is that each band is better than ever. This is all I care about.

MobyDickhole · « **Reply #23 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 01:26 »

Just incase anyone does not know. The Stand Ins and The Stage Names were supposed to be a double album (and essentially still are)

The album art also matches up. If you place The Stage Names over The Stand Ins, the skeleton's hand is the hand from the cover of The Stage Names if that makes sense.

Also, I have been really excited for this album and for the groups upcoming tour for a while now. So Woohoo.

Tom · « **Reply #24 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 01:41 »

Man his arm must bend in some weird ways.

pilsner · « **Reply #25 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 08:49 »

Oh. Fuck. Yes.

So happy right now. Jonathan Meiburg sounds ridiculously loungy on Lost Coastlines. Sheff and Meiburg must have done a duet before, several times I'm guessing, but I can't remember when.

Liz · « **Reply #26 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 10:29 »

I love Jonathan's voice so much. He is probably one of my favorite vocalists.

pilsner · « **Reply #27 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 10:39 »

Well after hearing him in Lost Coastlines, I'm going to go re-listen to a whole bunch of Shearwater. There's something really retro about his style, but good retro.

Liz · « **Reply #28 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 11:26 »

Their new album is so ridiculously good, it's practically criminal. And the remastered version of Palo Santo is amazing as well. I just love them so much.

Tom · « **Reply #29 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 15:02 »

I just got the reissue of Palo Santo and I'm about to go listen to it right now.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #30 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 19:19 »

This is pretty neat.

Ishotdanieljohnston · « **Reply #31 on:** 18 Jul 2008, 06:07 »

What the fuck? He's late... it's been like 35 posts.

fangsanalsatan · « **Reply #32 on:** 23 Jul 2008, 11:00 »

I'm loving this right now, especially Lost Coastlines. Anybody else caught the Twin Peaks theme in that song?

MrBlu · « **Reply #33 on:** 23 Jul 2008, 17:20 »

Er, this is the first FULL album that I've heard by them, so is this excitement justifiable...?

It's an amazing album, yes... But dang...

Johnny C · « **Reply #34 on:** 23 Jul 2008, 17:43 »

Listen to The Stage Names next if this is your first Okkervil River record. Pay attention to how they relate to one another.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #35 on:** 24 Jul 2008, 13:25 »

Quote from: Anyways on 18 Jul 2008, 05:06

Khar entering and calling us all pansies in three... two... one...

...what?

I've never even heard this band.

imagist42 · « **Reply #36 on:** 24 Jul 2008, 22:56 »

Exactly.

pilsner · « **Reply #37 on:** 25 Jul 2008, 11:23 »

Somehow that wasn't the payoff I was expecting.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #38 on:** 16 Sep 2008, 17:37 »

i waited until release to listen to this. bought it yesterday, have listened to it 5 or 6 times already. it is fantastic, definitely one of the three best albums of the year. also they are probably my new favourite band when you consider their last album's awesomeness.

Johnny C · « **Reply #39 on:** 16 Sep 2008, 18:18 »

During "Starry Stairs," the keyboardist held up a cassette player that was running a tape of a woman reciting what I assume were lines of Shannon Wilsey's suicide note and the band was silent while she said, "If you don't love me, I'm sorry."

Truly chilling.

Jackie Blue · « **Reply #40 on:** 16 Sep 2008, 18:22 »

holy shit that's intense.

that's like the "i'm sorry, and i miss you" in "Good Morning Captain" only times a million.

Liz · « **Reply #41 on:** 16 Sep 2008, 18:26 »

It was pretty crazy.

gospel · « **Reply #42 on:** 17 Sep 2008, 06:51 »

It's definitely my (biased) album of the year. It's a lot more immediate than its sister album, The Stage Names, which will ultimately earn it lower ratings by music critics.

I was a bit stunned at the lack of reaction at the live show i saw the other day to the new songs. I love Black Sheep Boy and Westfall as much as the next guy, but the new songs are great live too.

And, Sheff always knows how to write a closing song ot a CD.

TheFuriousWombat · « **Reply #43 on:** 17 Sep 2008, 07:06 »

OR was among my favorite bands and then I stopped listening to them for a long time. I recently started again, mostly to older material (which I think is better than their still excellent newer stuff) and fell in love all over again. They're one of the few bands that can consistently give me chills with a lot of songs every time I hear them. Scheff is a staggeringly good lyricist, never overly complex but often poignant and beautiful. He can take a simple theme and spin out something like "when I fell on the concrete, you went white as a sheet and wished that nothing in this world would ever hurt me. Well, keep wishing" and make it sound heart-breaking. I'm sure that if I ever happened to listen to "Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas" when I was already upset it would make me weep. And so on. My point is that hearing all the hype about this new one, and seriously thinking it's terrific, has made me go back once again into their catalog and recognize how they truly are among the best bands out there right now. Congrats Scheff and co. on a job well done.

gospel · « **Reply #44 on:** 18 Oct 2008, 22:05 »

Was trolling metacrtici's top albums of 2008 in hopes of finding a new CD. At any rate, I didn't see this CD on the top ~40 so I did a search:

http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/okkervilriver/standins?q=okkervil

What the hell?

Even more absurd: http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/22723970/review/22787116/the_stand_ins

imagist42 · « **Reply #45 on:** 18 Oct 2008, 22:55 »

Seriously? Don't pay attention to reviews with numbers, much less a site that does nothing but average said numbers. Case in point: the 2008 top 10 currently includes the new Protest the Hero album.

And especially don't pay attention to Rolling Stone. For anything. Ever.

Tom · « **Reply #46 on:** 18 Oct 2008, 23:00 »

I think this can all be explained with the use of a Venn diagram...

Johnny C · « **Reply #47 on:** 19 Oct 2008, 01:25 »

Numerical scoring is the single worst thing to ever happen to the critical establishment.

Also, I feel obligated to remind everyone who read that Rolling Stone review (or even looked at the URL, frankly) that this is the magazine which called Pinkerton the worst record of the year way back in '96.

EDIT: I'd just looked at the URL. That's a really positive review and why it has a mere three stars is beyond my understanding.

Tom · « **Reply #48 on:** 19 Oct 2008, 02:08 »

I've always found numbers to be arbitrary, I just pay attention to what is said. There is no empirical system for numerically rating things such as music, the scores themselves fail to communicate the creativity and nature of the album under review whereas words manage to do it to a higher degree.

Melodic · « **Reply #49 on:** 19 Oct 2008, 02:11 »

I give this thread eight out of a possible ten wookies.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Okkervil River - The Stand-Ins (Read 22682 times)

Plasticity