Monday, May 14, 2007

Under the Covers: The Magnetic Fields

"Hey?!? Am I Making Any Sense At All?!?!"



The Magnetic Fields are a folkie synth pop band (if that makes sense) fronted by Stephin Merritt. Merritt started the group as a bedroom project, but it quickly grew to include childhood friends Claudia Gonson, Sam Davol and John Woo. While the group has held a cult following since 1991, they gained notoriety in 1999 with 69 Love Songs, a triple album of, yep, love songs.

Today we've got two The Magnetic Fields covers. The first is from one of our favorite Norweigan's (we've got many), Erlend Oye. You may know of him as a DJ, a King of Convenience, Feist & Royksopp collaborator, or, possibly, the Whitest Boy Alive. Regardless, this guy's got the midas touch and his vocal on "the Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side" is as genuine, clever and witty as Stephen Merritt's. Download the Kings of Convenience and Magnetic Fields versions below.

!!! If you've seen this puzzling string of exclamation points and were wondering what the hell it means, well it's pronounced 'chk-chk-chk' and it's punctuation for kick-ass drrrrty disco dance punk funk. Think Chili Peppers Meets LCD Soundsystem and My Bloody Valentine. A few years ago they released one of our favorite bangers "Me & Guiliani Down By the School Yard," which they followed with the aptly titled "Take Ecstasy With Me," a song off the Magnetic Fields record Holiday. They couldn't have picked a more appropriate song.

Magnetic Fields- Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side
Kings of Convenience- Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side (live)

Magnetic Fields- Take Ecstasy With Me
!!!- Take Ecstasy With Me

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