Department of Eagles – Phantom Other

Posted on November 5, 2008 by Nick

Akhil mentioned Department of Eagles briefly in one of his brilliant song of the day collections (check them out here and here for oh-so-much music), but this song, and the album In Ear Park, totally deserve a post of their own.

Department of Eagles is the product of Daniel Rosen and Fred Nicolaus, who met at NYU in 2000. Rosen joined Grizzly Bear in 2004, just in time to contribute to it’s masterpiece, Yellow House and enlisted the help ofÂ his band mates for the recording of In Ear Park. The past few days have found me stuck in a compulsory cycle between the two albums; they call to each other, near perfect compliments. As a result, I’m so sappy and romantic right now I don’t know what to do with myself.

“Phantom Other”Â opens in defeat: “Alright, we’ll do this your way” Rosen croons over vaguely classical, utterly haunting arpegios before unleashing an inexplicably devastating chord change, unexpected and visceral. One key note, a down instead of an up, struck with force – his bitter conviction – and my gut is roiling (1:03).The song now sounds like a sunny day in the sixties gone wrong; somethingÂ sinister in the harmonies, one note gone awry, one rain cloud beckoning the impending storm. And that’s the attraction. The song explodes, “My god in heaven/what were we thinking?” cast toward the clouds by a frantic pedal-steel, a twenty-second divergence into a kaleidoscopic bar-room cabaret, and it’s over.

The storm has passed. “Look out/Look Out/We gotta get out now.”

From In Ear Park:

Department of Eagles – Phantom Other

Department of Eagles – Teenagers

From Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House:

Grizzly Bear – Knife

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The Times They Are A-Changin’

Posted on November 5, 2008 by David

Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin’

Vote

Posted on November 3, 2008 by Nyman

Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday November 4th (that’s tomorrow).

In order to make this relevant to music, here are the candidates favorite music (from an article on Blender.com)

Barack Obama

Fugees – “Ready or Not”

Marvin Gaye – “What’s Going On”

Bruce Springsteen – “I’m on Fire”

The Rolling Stones – “Gimme Shelter”

Nina Simone – “Sinnerman”

Kanye West – “Touch the Sky”

Frank Sinatra – “You’d Be So Easy to Love”

Aretha Franklin – “Think”

U2 – “City of Blinding Lights”

will.i.am – “Yes I Can”

John McCain

ABBA – “Dancing Queen”

Roy Orbison – “Blue Bayou”

ABBA – “Take a Chance on Me”

Merle Haggard – “If We Make it Through December”

Dooley Wilson – “As Time Goes By”

The Beach Boys – “Good Vibrations”

Louis Armstrong – “What a Wonderful World”

Frank Sinatra – “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”

Neil Diamond – “Sweet Caroline”

The Platters – “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”

Letter From Sufjan Stevens

Posted on November 1, 2008 by David

(disclaimer: this is the letter Sufjan most likely would have written to us if he actually wrote us a letter)

Dear Indie Muse,

It’s me–Sufjan Stevens. I’m in a big bind, and decided to reach out to you guys to try to help explain myself. I’m constantly receiving fan mail asking when I am planning on releasing another album, or which state I am going to dedicate my next album to. “How are you going to produce 50 albums at this rate, Sufjan. It’s impossible.” “Do you think you are God or something, Sufjan? You are not going to live forever, you know.”

People have no idea that I sold out long ago, and how I struggle with it everyday.

A few months after finishing up my Illinoise tour, I got a random call from John Hoeven, governor of North Dakota. He said, “Hey Sufjan, big fan of your music, I’d love to fly you out here, and give you a tour of our great state.” You know, I was in over my head at the time, with the success and all,Â and going somewhere remote like ND, for free no less,Â seemed like a perfect plan.

I got on a private jet, right off to Bismarck, to meet this Hoeven guy in person.Â The flight was amazing–I had more leg room than ever before, got to eat a sirloin steak, and even got to pick the in-flight movie. Somebody finally asked “Sufjan, what do you want?” for a change.

So when I got to Bismarck, I met up with the governor, and we grabbed lunch–another sirloin steak. If I knew we were going to have steak again, I probably wouldn’t have requested it on the jet–but I didn’t want to be rude now and refuse the steak. It was even better than the first.

You know, at the time, I didn’t question any of it. I just figured that the governor liked my music, and wanted to meet me. I never made the link that he was trying to juice me up for his pitch. He waited a few weeks, you know, just as I was getting comfortable in my complimentary resort, and saw just about everything there was to see in North Dakota (which believe me, isn’t a lot). When I was being driven around in the BMW that they bought for me, it didn’t even hit me–or when I made a comment on a really nice house, and they said “you want it, Sufjan, cause it’s yours if you want it.”

It wasn’t until I made my way back to Bismarck, and had another sirloin steak with the gov that it all clicked. “Now Sufjan, we hope your stay here in North Dakota has been a comfortable one. Our state is a gold mine of history, and the people here are just great, aren’t they?” I nodded my head in agreement, and took another bite out of my juicy sirloin. “So let me just come right out and ask you, Sufjan, what do you think about writing your next album about our great state of North Dakota? I mean you’ve seen the whole state, haven’t you?! You’ve accepted our cars, and houses, and private jet. We need this Sufjan. South Dakota is whooping our ass with Rushmore. We’ve got nothing. Even the animals are bored shitless. Please Sufjan, help us out.”

I dropped my fork, and wiped my face, in total disbelief. Here I was, Sufjan Stevens, trying to just get a breather, and now I see that I’ve been whipped. Then and there, I realized that the states don’t deserve me. I let myself down. I accepted bribes. When I was there in North Dakota, I recorded an entire album. I fell right into their trap–they even gave me my own state-of-the-art recording studio and equipment and said, “we’ll leave you alone now, Sufjan.” When I went on my little hikes they knew I was writing my lyrics. They must’ve known. And I had no idea that they knew. It was all going to be a surprise. Who would have expected North Dakota to be my next state? No one. Except North Dakota. The joke was on me.

So to all those people who don’t understand why I haven’t released another album yet, maybe this will help answer your questions. All I want to write about is the states, and now I don’t know which ones I can trust. Life sucks.

Love,

Sufjan
Illinoise (2005):

Sufjan Stevens- Concerning the UFO sighting Near Highland, IL

Sufjan Stevens-Chicago

Sufjan Stevens- The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!

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Seven Swans (2004):

Sufjan Stevens- A Good Man Is Hard To Find

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Michigan (2003):

Sufjan Stevens- Romulus

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