Field Music repost - bonus video with just five minutes to post today, i want to repost on a band that really stood out from almost everything i found last year and has made it to at least six spots on my crazy iTunes "Top 25 Most Played" playlist. whoopee, i know. they're really quite something, these guys, and i hope they make it very big (but not big enough to ruin it, like, oh, The Shins).
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lovely, jangly, poppy, happy and British, but not the Kooks (by any means). your ears perk, yes? and they should. they are Field Music, and they're back with a new full-length LP (UK readers: "you have it?" US readers: "who?"), called Tones Of Town. this thing is amazing. i'm going to go ahead and tell you it's the best pop i've heard from overseas all year, just to make a point. they take their cue from old giants (Beatles) and the mediocrity of today's Kooks and mix it with a new depth to take much more seriously. they're talented as hell, expertly employing a wide range of sounds (strings!) and producing a complete work of art, often stringing songs together, flowing one into the next almost undetectably (until you try to pick mp3s to share). Tones Of Town has been the perfect remedy to pick me up in the face of this ever-colder city, snapping my steps to a new beat that just won't leave my head. oh, i promise you a good time. you'll be so glad you believed me.

::::take 'em for a spin:
Field Music - Give It Lose It Take It
-- this is the first track of the album. i hadn't heard anything from the album, and i was walking out of my building as this started, and i paid particular attention to the opening. i was so surprised when the music started up after the bells, and was instantly hooked. watch out at 40 seconds in... and just let the beatles influence floor you. a minute:thirty in and you'll see just why they're so fucking good.
Field Music - Working To Work
-- seventh track presents a catchy-as-hell breakdown, a slightly more simplified arrangement, and quite simply a great song. the Brits in them shine through here, and a little Paul McCartney...
BONUS:Field Music - She Can Do What She Wants
-- it was so impossibly hard not to give you this entire album, i'm telling you. instead, i closed off this line-up with their intended closer, which is just such a great song. oh, man. fantastic lead-in, irresistable harmonies, tambourine, strings (keyboard-produced or no) - oh, luscious. and it will be stuck in your head for the next five years.
edit: this is now probably my very favorite song by them.

::::for all of you lovely Field Music fans! i have bonus material, here - a great video of the band playing this very song live, which is a great way to see the band without leaving your chair. i just love videos, don't you?
Field Music - She Can Do What She Wants.mpg

i mean, this whole album is so incredible it almost makes me angry. it's this frustration that i know not every reader will pick up these tracks, that not everyone will believe me, that i'll fail in conveying my honest passion for the music i've found. but that's the gig here, i guess.

the hype will only grow and grow, so check there often for more and more tracks (so you can believe me, really).
also, tell them hi on their myspace, and listen to good songs.  shan  8:12 AM  |  view comments (0)