Fiona Apple -- The Idler Wheel

[sbessiso]

oh man, downloading now.

and it still makes me laugh how much people jock on pitchforks nuts. WHO FUCKING CARES

[chairmenmeow47]

i just realized i got etta james and etta fitzgerald confused in my earlier lyric comment. though a lot of etta james music doesn't come off as written by her. either way, i will not stand for any hatred of "sunday kind of love" in this thread. music is not all about lyrics. it's about expression too.

still <3 fiona. i'm debating walking to the other building to get my ipod charger so i can listen while i flowchart this afternoon

[Mr. Fuzz]

I haven't heard the new album but I noticed that she added a Vegas date that I will be attending. We've seen her twice. Once at the HOB on her last album's tour. And the other time at Vegoose, during the sunset slot.

[Mr. Fuzz]

Both times were magical, btw.

[Alchemy]

When the Pawn... has been one of the best albums -- if not the very best album -- in my life, since it came out. I was about 12 years old. I had a cousin with good taste in music and she sent that album my way...

Extraordinary Machine did not have as much of an impact on me. That was the year when I really got into music (it was when I went to my first Coachella). I mean, I like the album, but I don't return to it too often. I also don't return to Tidal very much. At least, I don't go to those albums like I do to When the Pawn..., which is sort of like my "palette cleanser."

I've listened to The Idler Wheel... a couple times now. I listened to "Every Single Night" about 50 times before that. I specifically listened to the album for my second time yesterday, out of outdoor speakers, while sitting in a swimming pool. I put it back-to-back with When the Pawn... and listened to both of them all the way through. The new album definitely has a bigger grasp on me than Extraordinary Machine. It seemed to contrast a lot against When the Pawn.... I can't find the word I want to use, whether the music is more "active," "bright," or "sharp." I don't mean in a lyrical sense. It is just that when I think of When the Pawn... -- and this is probably from personal experience -- I get a feeling like it is winter or autumn (I mean that literally; I don't mean sadness). The Idler Wheel... doesn't feel like spring or summer, though it is summer, but it does seem to exist opposite of When the Pawn... in a strange way that I can't quite wrap my mind around.

Anyway, the thing I'm trying to get at is this: I thought that I disliked Extraordinary Machine because it was not like When the Pawn..., yet The Idler Wheel... is also not like When the Pawn..., and I love it, and as I was listening to it, I felt that it was better that she didn't make another When the Pawn....

[chairmenmeow47]

i'm always flabbergasted that tidal is not people's favourite album of hers and that i'm usually in the minority in that when the pawn is my least favourite of hers. but after talking about this with randy last night, i realized that it's because tidal came out when i was in high school. i was raped. fiona was raped. and tidal sounds like an expression of a desperate teenager, not in a bad way, but of course that's why it resonated with me so much. plus i saw fiona apple at the lillith fair in 1997 so there wasn't anything else in which to compare the album to. still though, songs like carrion deserve a lot more respect, people!

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

I had no idea people were this interested in Fiona Apple.

[Mr. Fuzz]

It's time to get with it, Drinkey.

[Mr. Fuzz]

i'm always flabbergasted that tidal is not people's favourite album of hers and that i'm usually in the minority in that when the pawn is my least favourite of hers. but after talking about this with randy last night, i realized that it's because tidal came out when i was in high school. i was raped. fiona was raped. and tidal sounds like an expression of a desperate teenager, not in a bad way, but of course that's why it resonated with me so much. plus i saw fiona apple at the lillith fair in 1997 so there wasn't anything else in which to compare the album to. still though, songs like carrion deserve a lot more respect, people!

Tidal is her best album.

[casey]

I love Tidal, but When The Pawn... is definitely my favorite. The Fallon performance was so great. I've yet to see Fiona but she is very high on my wishlist.

[chairmenmeow47]

oh man, downloading now.

and it still makes me laugh how much people jock on pitchforks nuts. WHO FUCKING CARES

oh, and i meant to wholeheartedly agree with this. i really don't ever have the desire to read someone describe art to me, be it music or film. a quick review of what it is is ok, but i don't want your fucking opinion. it always comes across lame.

[Miroir Noir]

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Aristotle.

[Miroir Noir]

Then again, I am the kind of person whose idea of a good time includes reading Pauline Kael reviews from the '70s.

[Starraven]

i'm always flabbergasted that tidal is not people's favourite album of hers and that i'm usually in the minority in that when the pawn is my least favourite of hers.

She has another album besides Tidal? D;

But really, that's pretty much the only one I can listen to all the way through and say "hey... this is a good album"
Only song I liked as much as the songs in Tidal was this one

[Mugwog]

Extraordinary Machine did not have as much of an impact on me. That was the year when I really got into music (it was when I went to my first Coachella). I mean, I like the album, but I don't return to it too often. I also don't return to Tidal very much. At least, I don't go to those albums like I do to When the Pawn..., which is sort of like my "palette cleanser."

May I ask if you listened to the official release of Extraordinary Machine or was it the leaked release? The two albums are completely different and the leaked one (non official release) I feel is the proper version. You could easily put all the tracks from When The Pawn..., Extraordinary Machine and The Idler Wheel.... together on a shuffle and I feel you wouldn't miss a beat as they all fit together.

If you don't have this album, I'll definitely surface a copy. It is a wonderful piece of work that all should listen to (Extraordinary Machine - leak version)

[kitt kat]

I had no idea people were this interested in Fiona Apple.

Ditto.


And maybe it's because I never was exposed to her during the "Criminal" explosion...but I don't really "get" it. I tried listening to the new album today and it just seemed cerebral to be cerebral and wasn't an enjoyable listening experience.

I prefer Joanna Newsom, I suppose. Different strokes for different folks. I think Fiona Apple is definitely an interesting individual and I respect her as an artist/woman — but yeah, the music doesn't do it for me. (I think it gives me too many flashbacks to my emotional teenage piano songwriting days, which I don't think very highly of.)

[RotationSlimWang]

I can only stand the first five tracks of Tidal. Dunno why, the rest of the album is just too depressing. Not depressing in Fiona's usual way, where she offsets her feelings of suffering by simultaneously copping to deserving it for various reasons, but just straight depressing. Just doesn't do it for me as much.

If When The Pawn is her Sgt. Pepper's (massive arrangement, superb production, sounds like a full orchestra and then some was brought in to create the soundscapes at play) then Idler Wheel is her White Album--stripped down, more pure, just her voice, her piano, and percussion. I'm a little annoyed that I didn't put my finger on why it sounded so different to me until Pitchfork mentioned that aspect but that's definitely it. Her work with Jon Brion was spectacular, but it did make it a little difficult to say that it was HER making it so amazing when there were 80 instruments brilliantly arranged around her. By taking all that shit out it's resulted in an end product that technically isn't quite as remarkable of an album but really shows off just how insanely talented she is all by her lonesome.

[RotationSlimWang]

quoted for posterity.


anyway I didn't 'dismiss' it. I asked why I should give a shit about it.

Um... why should you give a shit... I dunno, because the song is expressing something markedly more self-aware than 99 percent of the bullshit out there? That loneliness inherently makes one crave to be loved but when you've spent a life mired in your loneliness it makes intimacy feel claustrophobic? Is that really a sentiment so uninteresting to your emotional quotient?

[Alchemy]

May I ask if you listened to the official release of Extraordinary Machine or was it the leaked release? The two albums are completely different and the leaked one (non official release) I feel is the proper version. You could easily put all the tracks from When The Pawn..., Extraordinary Machine and The Idler Wheel.... together on a shuffle and I feel you wouldn't miss a beat as they all fit together.

If you don't have this album, I'll definitely surface a copy. It is a wonderful piece of work that all should listen to (Extraordinary Machine - leak version)

I was speaking of the official release. I know I looked up the leaked version once, back in one of my Jon Brion phrases (I love that guy), but I don't remember what came out of that endeavor. I don't own the leaked version now, at any rate, and I would very much appreciate it if you could send one my way (or point me in the direction of a quality torrent).

[RotationSlimWang]

It genuinely pains me that I'll never get to hear a fully mastered version of Brion's Extraordinary Machine. I think it would have trumped When The Pawn if it'd been finished.

[Mugwog]

To hear that an established artist's latest album is being held back due to not having a pop hit is a tragic move by the music business. They probably held back many albums that could have strengthened album sales in the 2000s. "Oh Sailor" on the leaked version brings far more depth in the song with the lack of extra vocals. In the final release, the extra vocals during "Oh Sailor" overwhelmed and didn't really harmonize with Fiona's voice as I feel they were intended to.

And as long as "When The Pawn.." is within the last 3 posts: I gotta say "I Know" is quite possibly the best album closer out of all her albums. This singer makes me feel deep hurt.

[RotationSlimWang]

Actually it turns out the label wasn't holding it back, Fiona held it back. It's confusing to me, because the end product isn't wildly different in any conceptual way, it's not like she ditched Brion's version to make a version drastically different (say, like Idler), and it's not that she had a falling out with Brion 'cause they kept performing together after that album finally came out. So weird.

[Mugwog]

Just read an article how she talks about how she's crazy OCD. Pretty sure that's the answer... I can't even listen to the released version without wondering, "what the fuck is this crap?"

[marooko]

I was just thinking about Fiona a few days ago and was hoping she would release a new album soon. I'm not up on my pop-culture so I don't know if its release had been discussed. I'm 3 tracks in and thoroughly pleased.

[Somewhat Damaged]

Listened to it in full for the first time on the drive home today. Got a special edition with a DVD containing 5 performances from SXSW and a booklet containing artwork and handwritten lyrics (think Kurt Cobain's Journals). I've got to say that this feels surprisingly adventurous and unlike her previous work. I'd argue that as haggard as her voice sounds at points, it's to the benefit of the emotional rawness of the lyrics. I hadn't heard "Anything We Want" before and think it's the best song on the album at first glance. I'm really eager to see if she performs "Hot Knife" on this tour; it'll be interesting to see how she renders that live.

[chairmenmeow47]

Listened to it in full for the first time on the drive home today. Got a special edition with a DVD containing 5 performances from SXSW and a booklet containing artwork and handwritten lyrics (think Kurt Cobain's Journals). I've got to say that this feels surprisingly adventurous and unlike her previous work. I'd argue that as haggard as her voice sounds at points, it's to the benefit of the emotional rawness of the lyrics. I hadn't heard "Anything We Want" before and think it's the best song on the album at first glance. I'm really eager to see if she performs "Hot Knife" on this tour; it'll be interesting to see how she renders that live.

her voice sounded a bit "haggard" as you say in 2005 as well, but has actually improved for me. i think of it that she gives too much and it's a moment where vocally it would be wise to pull back a little. just that emotion slipping through

[RotationSlimWang]

Okay, I gotta get somebody to explain this to me: I recently had a rather passionate argument on Facebook with Algunz and some dumb fuck who's friends with Algunz after she posted a link to the NPR stream of the album. They, too, mentioned this notion of her voice sounding "haggard" or to be more specific in regards to their conversation (feel free to correct if I'm misquoting, Gunz) they referred to the obvious "flaws" of her voice, and much like you described how her passion through these vocal "errors" were what made her such an impressive singer.

I don't hear these flaws. I don't hear anything haggard. I don't get it. Is my hearing fucked up? Is letting your voice quiver, like the sound of someone genuinely emoting, considered to be a mistake on the part of the singer or the singer's voice or something? I don't get it.

[RotationSlimWang]

I'm not even going to be argumentative, I want any of you to give me specific tracks and at what point in the song are the occurrences that bring these adjectives to mind so that I can listen and therefore understand what vocal things you're referring to because I genuinely am not sure what points you're referring to and I want to discuss this reasonably and informed.

[marooko]

With the lack of actual vocalists and singers being filtered to hell because they can't sing, I'm guessing people just don't know what a good voice actually sounds like. I don't think it's a flaw at all. Considering notes she does reach and hold, I think she can handle them all effortlessly and clearly. I think the cracks are part of her style, it's always been. Would they prefer she make that weird sound Britney and every other poor singer makes before opening their mouths?

[icedKeg]

First show of her tour was last night in Ithaca, NY. Here is the setlist:

1. Fast As You Can - When the pawn
2. On The Bound - When the pawn
3. Shadowboxer - Tidal
4. Paper Bag - When the pawn
5. Anything We Want - Idler Wheel
6. Get Gone - When the pawn
7. Werewolf - Idler Wheel
8. Sleep To Dream - Tidal
9. Extraordinary Machine - Extraordinary Machine
10. Tymps - Extraordinary Machine
11. Daredevil - Idler Wheel
12. I Know - When the pawn
13. Every Single Night - Idler Wheel
14. Not About Love - Extraordinary Machine
15. Carrion - Tidal
16. Criminal - Tidal
17. It's Only Make Believe (Conway Twitter cover)

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/fiona-...-33df1c01.html