Listen to my Five Year Plan
August 21, 2013 6:51 AM Subscribe
Wooden Heart is a video by Listener. Listener is a spoken word rock band. Their new record is Time Is A Machine.
Listener started as a hip hop project got weirder and more spoken word, and now is fully backed up by a folk punk band.
Listener started as a hip hop project got weirder and more spoken word, and now is fully backed up by a folk punk band.
"We're all born to broken people on their most honest day of living..." is one of my favorite opening lines to any song ever. There are tons of great live versions of Wooden Heart on YouTube, this is my favorite. Excited for the new record, and thanks for the post.
posted by togdon at 7:21 AM on August 21, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by togdon at 7:21 AM on August 21, 2013 [1 favorite]
I want to like it! I wish I liked it. It seems like it would be my kind of thing. But there's something about the performances and the presentation that crosses the line from earnestness to mawkishness and makes me uncomfortable.
And my goodness that band bio is embarrassing. The whole thing makes me squirm, but the end in particular:
"If your best friend was a band, who would they be? I think they might be something like Listener. Because Listener is a band made of best friends, who have experienced the best and worst of times, and have survived on songs. No one knows you like they do and no other band can describe how you feel like they can. They have captured just the right words and just the right sounds and pinned on them all of our deepest emotions, our greatest fears, our toughest challenges, and our unbridled hopes. This is a group that sticks close to your heart no matter where you go, who you're with, or how you feel. When you put in a Listener album every song is like an old friend and every moment enjoyable."
Is it supposed to be parody? I think not, but one never knows these days.
posted by The Minotaur at 7:43 AM on August 21, 2013
And my goodness that band bio is embarrassing. The whole thing makes me squirm, but the end in particular:
"If your best friend was a band, who would they be? I think they might be something like Listener. Because Listener is a band made of best friends, who have experienced the best and worst of times, and have survived on songs. No one knows you like they do and no other band can describe how you feel like they can. They have captured just the right words and just the right sounds and pinned on them all of our deepest emotions, our greatest fears, our toughest challenges, and our unbridled hopes. This is a group that sticks close to your heart no matter where you go, who you're with, or how you feel. When you put in a Listener album every song is like an old friend and every moment enjoyable."
Is it supposed to be parody? I think not, but one never knows these days.
posted by The Minotaur at 7:43 AM on August 21, 2013
If somebody tried to create a band just to annoy me, it might wind up sounding something like this.
posted by crazy_yeti at 8:13 AM on August 21, 2013
posted by crazy_yeti at 8:13 AM on August 21, 2013
Sounds like a schizophrenic ranting over an explosions in the sky song. Trying to be weird must be such exhausting work.
posted by Divest_Abstraction at 8:19 AM on August 21, 2013
posted by Divest_Abstraction at 8:19 AM on August 21, 2013
On first listen I thought really really liked this band, but after that first listen it was just sooooo grating, and the lyrics suddenly sounded juvenile, preachy and angsty all at once. I'm sorry I bought the record.
posted by anoirmarie at 8:34 AM on August 21, 2013
posted by anoirmarie at 8:34 AM on August 21, 2013
It reminds me of Enablers, except with the vox done by someone trying a Bobcat Goldthwait impersonation.
posted by FatherDagon at 5:48 PM on August 22, 2013
posted by FatherDagon at 5:48 PM on August 22, 2013
I have a weird perspective on this band. A few of my coworkers are good friends with Dan, the lead vocalist in Listener. They knew him before Listener started, and he occasionally shows up at our office, sometimes with the rest of Listener fresh off a plane. Last year, he came to our company retreat. That's where I first heard (which I only just now confirmed) that he's done competitive arm wrestling.
A few of my coworkers challenged him to arm wrestling and it wasn't even close. I'm not sure he's even stronger than all of them, but he does this thing in arm wrestling where he breathes in during the count-down and then as soon as it's go time he exhales everything and somehow transfers all his energy to his arm.
I haven't listened to much Listener but my impression is he's basically doing the same thing there, only with words and music. I think he's one of those people who has ten times more energy than most people.
posted by scottreynen at 5:54 PM on August 26, 2013
A few of my coworkers challenged him to arm wrestling and it wasn't even close. I'm not sure he's even stronger than all of them, but he does this thing in arm wrestling where he breathes in during the count-down and then as soon as it's go time he exhales everything and somehow transfers all his energy to his arm.
I haven't listened to much Listener but my impression is he's basically doing the same thing there, only with words and music. I think he's one of those people who has ten times more energy than most people.
posted by scottreynen at 5:54 PM on August 26, 2013
« Older This is what happens when you give your own rotten... | STFU, Howard. Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:53 AM on August 21, 2013