It's all good. I actually saw them open for The Decemberists BEFORE I liked them. Black Sheep Boy hadn't even come out yet, I bought it a few months later and was kicking myself in the pants for years because I'd actually seen them live, but it felt the same as if I'd never seen them.
Okkervil River thread
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onebloodonelife
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I know I've proclaimed my love for this band in here before, but it hasn't waned. 
I know I've proclaimed my love for this band in here before, but it hasn't waned.
Group hug for all Interference Okkervil River fans!
elevated_u2_fan
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onebloodonelife
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I noticed that too. I had no idea there was a Pop Lie single out, I'll have to buy that mambo jambo from Jagjaguwar tonight.
EDIT: Nevermind, it comes out April 21.
http://www.jagjaguwar.com/onesheet.php?cat=JAG148
There are two additional tracks on the single, on which Sheff plays the role of a whole band: vocals, guitars, bass, and drums. There's an orphaned song from The Stage Names / The Stand Ins sessions called "Millionaire" which displays the storyteller in Will rising to the surface in a soaring acoustic piano-laden shuffle. Also included is an alternate slowed-down, fuzzed-up version of "Pop Lie".
EDIT: Nevermind, it comes out April 21.
http://www.jagjaguwar.com/onesheet.php?cat=JAG148
There are two additional tracks on the single, on which Sheff plays the role of a whole band: vocals, guitars, bass, and drums. There's an orphaned song from The Stage Names / The Stand Ins sessions called "Millionaire" which displays the storyteller in Will rising to the surface in a soaring acoustic piano-laden shuffle. Also included is an alternate slowed-down, fuzzed-up version of "Pop Lie".
Yeah, I threw that in my edit. Humorously, we cut and pasted the exact same thing. It's because we are Okkervil Awesome.
I don't know why I just thought of this, but for a while I had an idea for a website where I'd do a great deal of photo shopping various album covers together. I was going to make one called "Okkervil Rivers" and work Rivers Cuomo's face onto the Black Sheep Boy or BSB Appendix cover. I can't seem to think of any of the other ideas I had now....
I don't know why I just thought of this, but for a while I had an idea for a website where I'd do a great deal of photo shopping various album covers together. I was going to make one called "Okkervil Rivers" and work Rivers Cuomo's face onto the Black Sheep Boy or BSB Appendix cover. I can't seem to think of any of the other ideas I had now....
got_edge
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cobl04
45:33
So I'm going to a concert called 'Groovin' the Moo' in about a month's time and along with De La Soul, Muscles, Architecture in Helsinki and a bunch of other mad acts, Okkervil River are playing.
Just want to know what sort of music we're talking about here, and which album I should check out before the concert. Black Sheep Boy it looks like?
Just want to know what sort of music we're talking about here, and which album I should check out before the concert. Black Sheep Boy it looks like?
GirlsAloudFan
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The band is led by this skinny singer/songwriter dude named Will Sheff. He writes pretty songs on his acoustic guitar and puts pretty words to them and then the rest of the guys in the band play instruments behind him. It's just really good, really literate, melodic indie rock, I guess. Their best and most immediate album is The Stage Names. All the other stuff is great, too.
onebloodonelife
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Great description GAF.I'd say check out in order:
1. The Stage Names
2. Black Sheep Boy AND the Appendix
3. The Stand Ins (or Down the River of Golden Dreams, if you want to hear their earlier, more folk-influenced stuff, which is fantastic)
P.S. to all the other Okkervil fans here, I am writing that paper about The Stage Names, and I'm also including The Stand Ins in the discussion. So far my professor's digging the albums too.
You're in for a treat.
P.S. to all the other Okkervil fans here, I am writing that paper about The Stage Names, and I'm also including The Stand Ins in the discussion. So far my professor's digging the albums too.
I want to read this.
onebloodonelife
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If you truly want to, I'd be happy to send it to you once it's finished in May. You should be warned that it's probably going to be 20+ pages though. 
onebloodonelife
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I'll definitely let you guys know when it's done then. I'm certainly not going to flatter myself by thinking that Sheff would want to read it though.
onebloodonelife
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1. Will Sheff food puns=
2. True, he is a fan of everything that's musically related. We'll see how it all turns out before I start to say it's so good that Sheff himself would want to read it.
2. True, he is a fan of everything that's musically related. We'll see how it all turns out before I start to say it's so good that Sheff himself would want to read it.
cobl04
45:33
haha, cheers GAF. I look forward to it
That's right you're doing musicology or something like that at uni yeah? I remember you mentioned it agees ago in a Confesh thread, and I was sooooo jealous
De La freaking Soul!!!
I'd say check out in order:
1. The Stage Names
2. Black Sheep Boy AND the Appendix
3. The Stand Ins (or Down the River of Golden Dreams, if you want to hear their earlier, more folk-influenced stuff, which is fantastic)
P.S. to all the other Okkervil fans here, I am writing that paper about The Stage Names, and I'm also including The Stand Ins in the discussion. So far my professor's digging the albums too.
That's right you're doing musicology or something like that at uni yeah? I remember you mentioned it agees ago in a Confesh thread, and I was sooooo jealous
I know, I can't wait, the lineups incredible.
De La freaking Soul!!!
onebloodonelife
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Yeah, I am! I can't believe you remembered that! It's a lot of fun, and so interesting...I honestly can't complain about any of my schoolwork, which is a great feeling.
And, you're seeing De La Soul! Jealous!
cobl04
45:33
Yeah, I am! I can't believe you remembered that! It's a lot of fun, and so interesting...I honestly can't complain about any of my schoolwork, which is a great feeling.
And, you're seeing De La Soul! Jealous!
Yeah I have a knack for remembering things like that and forgetting important stuff, like locking doors I really am quite jealous, man I wouldn't be able to wipe the smile off my face if I could do something like that.
Yeah
None of my friends know who they are but I doReally? It's probably my favorite thing other than Lost Coastlines from the "album". I'm not a huge fan of Stand Ins, I'd dare say it's one of their spottiest albums sadly. Wish they would have trimmed some of the fat and just called it an EP or appendix. The little filler songs were completely pointless and did little other than fool people into thinking it was a "full album". Similarly, the fact that one of the best songs had already been released as an "exclusive bonus track" for Stage Names on iTunes or or one of the other downloading services (Starry Stairs) over a year prior to Stand Ins kinda lessened the impact for me as well, especially since it was the exact same recording (if anything, the version that was released as a bonus track was better because it doesn't have the crappy fade out from the previous song tacked into the first of the track). If it was any band other than Okkervil River, I'd probably have been pretty disappointed. Lucky for them, they pretty much have a free ride from me to do any damn thing they please for the rest of their career and I won't complain too loudly.
I guess you don't love "On Tour With Zykos," "Singer Songwriter," and "Calling and Not Calling My Ex" as much as I do, then.
I'm going to attempt an album ranking:
Down the River of Golden Dreams
The Stage Names
Black Sheep Boy
The Stand Ins
Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See
But they're all GR8
I'm going to attempt an album ranking:
Down the River of Golden Dreams
The Stage Names
Black Sheep Boy
The Stand Ins
Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See
But they're all GR8
I love Zykos and Calling and Not Calling, don't like Singer Songwriter much. That's my problem with it, there are 4 or 5 great tracks out of a supposed "11 track album". I'm not used to one of their albums being so heavy on the filler, which made it a bit disappointing. I also didn't really feel the consistency in a theme like they've had with the two albums previous to that, though I may have just never understood exactly what theme he was going for with Stand Ins. Even when I've read what it was supposed to be about, I just straight up didn't hear it in the songs like I did with the others. It really did just seem like an EP of tracks that didn't entirely fit on Stage Names with a bunch of fluff tacked on because they were feeling a bit over confident. Oh wellz. I really don't have a problem with any of the actual songs, I just don't have a strong connection with a lot of them, which saddens me.
onebloodonelife
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That's one of the issues I've had with talking about the two albums as supposed "sequels" to each other in my paper. They are and aren't related in a lot of ways, and compared to The Stage Names, The Stand Ins isn't as cohesive a unit. I think the big problem for me is that because they were conceived as a double album, a lot of the songs on The Stand Ins respond to or are related to songs on The Stage Names, but it doesn't come off that well when they're split up.
That being said, I love "Pop Lie," just for its irony/biting criticism that I think works out well.
Edit: And after listening to "Millionaire," I think it's a solid b-side, keeping with similar themes as "Pop Lie." The Sheff-only version of "Pop Lie" is interesting too, definitely not better than the album one, but worth a listen, at least. It's weird to hear the difference in impact when the music isn't as over-the-top too, since that's one of the song's best qualities to me.
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