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The Dears

post #1 of 8
12/13/08 at 2:13pm
Thread Starter 
They must be one of the greatest bands around - for thirteen years they've recorded great records and played great tours - yet little attention is shone upon them. The Dears are too good for mainstream acceptance, and not trendy enough for the 'scenesters' of Pitchfork and the like. They are the furthest one can be from hipsters. They seemed like rivals with The Arcade Fire when Funeral was released, but I guess No Cities Left is too dense and inaccessible by comparison. And depressing - what a melancholy fucking record.

Any other Dears fans around? They're playing in my city again, but alas, wedged between three or four insufferable acts on the bill (Metric is shite, come on, the new new wave thing was finished years ago...and Tokyo Police Club? Jesus, another Bloc Party-ish also-ran in 2008? And half of Death from Above 1979? And they're still dubbing this cutting-edge music? Christ...time for a Godspeed! reunion after all).
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post #2 of 8
12/13/08 at 2:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreary louse View Post
not trendy enough for the 'scenesters' of Pitchfork and the like.
Quote:
(Metric is shite, come on, the new new wave thing was finished years ago...and Tokyo Police Club? Jesus, another Bloc Party-ish also-ran in 2008? And half of Death from Above 1979? And they're still dubbing this cutting-edge music? Christ...time for a Godspeed! reunion after all).
Made me laugh.

But no, never heard of them. I'll check 'em out.
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post #3 of 8
6/8/09 at 1:33pm
Thread Starter 
I think this band imploded when I saw them last weekend. They gave it their all, but alas, to only about fifty people in a four hundred-seat venue. Instead of an encore, vocalist Murray Lightburn gave a terrible comedy routine for about twenty minutes, before they played a couple songs and said we wouldn't hear from them again in years.
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post #4 of 8
6/8/09 at 8:30pm
Thread Starter 
..............See! No one cares about The Dears!
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post #5 of 8
6/8/09 at 8:53pm
Why should I care about them? You've told me nothing about them other than they are apparently terrible live. You can't even describe what they sound like. Your first post is nothing but rips on easy targets like Pitchfork and other bands.

They sound like Arcade Fire but they're not accessible. They're dense and depressing. They aren't for "scenesters" or "hipsters." None of this gives me any reason as to why I should give a flying fuck about this band.

Also, bad form in this thread in general. 60% of the posts are yours. There are five posts.
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post #6 of 8
6/8/09 at 8:53pm
The Death of All Romance is one of my favourite modern duets, but I'm not smart enough for the band and find their albums to be a bit too much of a drag.

I think I was dissapointed by the fact that aside from that song the band has a sole vocalist, and the interplay between the singers is what got me interested in the band in the first place.
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post #7 of 8
6/9/09 at 8:48am
The two EPs (No Cities Left and Protest) and the album Gang of Losers are among my most listened-to collections on my iPhone. Missiles, the latest album, is almost unrepentantly miserable, yet is worth a listen for tracks like the pretty awesome Saviour and Dream Job.

Its a shame they're falling apart, cos until this most recent outing, they've been consistently interesting, kind of like a Canadian Blur.

For anyone trying to get into them, try Gang of Losers out - its a fast-paced album with some great tunes and some heart-on-your-sleeve lyrics throughout. If you like that, give the EPs a go. They're a bit more experimental but tracks like Warm and Sunny Days, Summer of Protest, No Hope Before Destruction and We Can Have It are must-haves for me.
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post #8 of 8
6/9/09 at 10:56am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spike Marshall View Post
I think I was dissapointed by the fact that aside from that song the band has a sole vocalist, and the interplay between the singers is what got me interested in the band in the first place.
Missiles has some more dueting and female vocals on it.

Maybe they are just having another line-up change as in the past.

Hm, judging from Parker's post, I am far too negative. They have never disappointed live, until that comedy routine, which came in towards the encore, following that songs that began and ended in fits and starts, Murray Lightburn, the singer, not coming off particularly well to those I came to the show with, though he sang very well. But I couldn't stop myself from trying to depict a disaster!

They have a sort of orchestral~ish pop sound, very melodic with...well...they have a plethora of youtube coverage.
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