Lifter Puller, Rock and Roll!

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I think it's about the insight into the lives of these characters like watching a movie. The lyrics are so vivid and the characterizations pretty complete. I hardly ever have to relate to the lives of people in a movie beyond grandiose themes like love, the pursuit of happiness, sex, death, natural disaster, coming of age, etc. I can still be moved by it because of the way it's developed into a riveting story. And I think CF coulda done a record on Wall St. (the darker side, at least) that would be just as exciting if it was written with the same detail and wit. Waking up with a hand in a tapedeck IS a stupid thing to do, it's absurd and incredibly sad (and moreso due to that word 'tapedeck' for sure) Another instance from Nassau Coliseum:

the girl selling t-shirts was kind of a freaker,
first she gets handcuffed
they started to beat her, i was so angry, you had just left me
they had her pinned down, it was so easy, gotta admit it
i can't forget it, i don't regret it
that i got some kicks in

Can't get beyond the selfishness, and it's just so plainly sad and even universal. The heft of the cruel world is underwhelming and unmoving next to selfish thoughts and personal pain.

― scott m (mcd), Monday, 30 June 2003 14:48 (twenty years ago) link

Christ that song is just so disturbing

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Monday, 30 June 2003 14:56 (twenty years ago) link

I have great news for the world. Lifter Puller is about language.

About language? I dunno. Certainly they use language in a fascinating, complicated, almost singular way, but I wouldn't say they're about it. At least not in the formalist/gestural way the word "about" implies to me.

I think there's really dense, rich thematic stuff going on in LP's ouvre -- stuff about the way subcultures work, about a certain kind of millenial American sadness... Anyone wanna start a thread on thematic strands that run through Craig Finn's work?

― Ess, Monday, 30 June 2003 15:58 (twenty years ago) link

OK, so Slug is credited with vocals on "Math is Murder," but can anyone hear him on that track? Is he just in the background or something? He certainly doesn't rap or contribute lyrics or anything. But how great would a full-on Lifter Puller/Atmosphere collabo be? I say that because both Finn and Slug both have such great eyes for detail and narrative (Atmosphere's "Hair" from God Loves Ugly is case in point), and also because both are so rhytmically inventive and immediate. Either one, at their best ("Secret Santa Cruz" for Lifter Puller and "The Bass and the Movement" for Atmosphere [as far as I'm concerned]) would not sound out of place at all on a dancefloor. And then there's the regional thing, but I don't care about that when it isn't Baltimore. Lots of people have referred to the hip-hop element of what Finn does/how he uses his voice, but I think it's a shame that he hasn't really pulled the trigger on that and gone further with it.

― Tom Breihan (Tom Breihan), Monday, 30 June 2003 17:53 (twenty years ago) link

Fucking great Hold Steady lyric:

"He said, 'My name is Corey - I'm really into hardcore - People call me HARD .... COREY!"

I had to go sit down after hearing that because I was laughing so hard.

― Tom Breihan (Tom Breihan), Monday, 30 June 2003 17:56 (twenty years ago) link

two weeks pass...

lifter puller are the best band i've never heard the mountain goats who i love love them i choose to never hear them so that i never knew what i missed after all these years

― nick georgiou, Thursday, 17 July 2003 18:32 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, you pretty much fucked up.

― scott m (mcd), Thursday, 17 July 2003 18:39 (twenty years ago) link

one month passes...

Just wanted to add, in case one is unaware

http://www.thebrokerdealer.net/

is the still functional website for Craig Finn electronica side-project mentioned above. The site has 4 mp3s available... are they others out there??

There is some other band called broker/dealer out there too now.

if anyone is willing to share a copy of a LP live show, please let me know.. thanks.

― Matt Sab, Tuesday, 26 August 2003 13:21 (twenty years ago) link

Did anyone go to that Hold Steady show at Southpaw on Fri? Review??? I can't believe I missed it, what a line up.

― scott m (mcd), Tuesday, 26 August 2003 15:59 (twenty years ago) link

I listened to that Fiestas Fiascos thing twice and still couldn't see what all the fuss was about ... it was OK, but ...

― brian nemtusak (sanlazaro), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 03:13 (twenty years ago) link

she lifts those lips like a leech up to the Sex On the Beach

― J0hn Darn1elle (J0hn Darn1elle), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 03:17 (twenty years ago) link

listen to it 100 times, duh!!

― Sonny A. (Keiko), Wednesday, 27 August 2003 03:18 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...

I like these guys now.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:29 (eighteen years ago) link

i told you so. didn't i tell you? huh, didn't i? it was only a matter of time...

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:47 (eighteen years ago) link

I like Hold Steady, but I still think Half Dead and Dynamite is the best record Finn ever made.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:48 (eighteen years ago) link

I only kept half of Separation Sunday though. HALF, dammit. And I think I like Lifter Puller more than Hold Steady, though I've just been listening to Soft-Rock and Almost Killed Me with a bunch of other albums on windows media player shuffle recently when I decided that yes, Craig Finn, is a good thing. I haven't heard Fiestas + Fiascos yet, it might SUCK.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Nasseau Collesium is an epic jam for the ages!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Track 15 on disc 1 of Soft-Rock sounds like a GVSB parody, and that's what inspired me to revive this thread.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:51 (eighteen years ago) link

i like the soft rock stuff better than fiestas. but fiestas is choice. i too like lifter puller more than hold steady, but i like hold steady fine. i think i might even like the first hold steady more than the new one. i think i'm in the minority there. and most people like fiestas best, so i'm probably in the minority there too. that first disc of the soft rock thing is just one amazing blast after another. i never get sick of it.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:55 (eighteen years ago) link

what song? it messes me up cuz everyone has the Soft Rock and I have everything seperately....

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:56 (eighteen years ago) link

I think I might like Almost Killed Me more than Separation Sunday too.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:57 (eighteen years ago) link

The GVSB parody is called (checking allmusic...) "The Gin And The Sour Defeat."

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 22:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Get Fiestas, Miccio!

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:14 (eighteen years ago) link

yes, get Fiestas

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:22 (eighteen years ago) link

haha I remember my argument w/Josh on here as being far less civilized than it actually was. points to us, I guess.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:29 (eighteen years ago) link

holy shit I just flipped through the thread and I'm listening to that band The Holy Ghost that Chuck refers to right now! I also burnt that from the station along with the Finnstuff and was thinking about the similarity. The HG are a too ballady but the connection is just.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:32 (eighteen years ago) link

Also, Lifter Puller was a great great great live band. and get Fiestas.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:32 (eighteen years ago) link

the first of the three reunion shows in summer '03 = the best rock show I have ever attended

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:34 (eighteen years ago) link

i don't feel like i've had the time that seperation sunday deserves. it's so dense. i really want to live in it for a while, but something else always comes up.

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:40 (eighteen years ago) link

I liked SS a lot at first but yeah, immersion was key as usual. Though Almost Killed Me didn't require it to the same degree that F+F or SS did, oddly enough. Maybe it's that whole narrative thing. (A Grand Don't Come for Free to thread.)

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:41 (eighteen years ago) link

I just couldn't get into the narrative much. The Catholic/druggie thing just didn't grab me.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:43 (eighteen years ago) link

plus when I sunk too deep into the story the classic rock lifts just felt really gratuitous and distracting.

― miccio (miccio), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:43 (eighteen years ago) link

I like SS a lot, but I got tired of it pretty quickly and I can't imagine getting bored with AKM or FF despite having listened to them a lot more.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:47 (eighteen years ago) link

I dunno if it's the narrative. I feel like the F+F story is consistently engaging and a lot more dense--I'm always noticing new things. I got sick of SS the more I pieced the story together.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:49 (eighteen years ago) link

that's fair, AM; I felt that way at first but it stopped being an issue for me, I guess. the Catholic stuff goes completely over my head most of the time, though. (obviously the Minneapolis stuff doesn't. I wish I could act like that doesn't affect my view of it/them, but it totally does.)

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:50 (eighteen years ago) link

Haha, I find the Minneapolis stuff really exciting and I haven't stepped foot outside of the Mpls airport. City-specific stuff always almost gets me.

― C0L1N B... (C0L1N B...), Wednesday, 6 July 2005 23:57 (eighteen years ago) link

hence my Streets-luv! never left the U.S. much less been to London

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Thursday, 7 July 2005 00:11 (eighteen years ago) link

the acoustic hold steady set was a-mazing...

― phil-two (phil-two), Thursday, 7 July 2005 04:38 (eighteen years ago) link

four months pass...

Fiesta + Fiascos is terrific.

― 'Twan (miccio), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 21:35 (eighteen years ago) link

The funny thing is it might be making me appreciate Separation Sunday even less - need to throw it on again sometime soon.

― 'Twan (miccio), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 21:36 (eighteen years ago) link

LFTR PLLR is better than Hold Steady, no question in my mind. But both are great.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 21:45 (eighteen years ago) link

They're the 2 most under-appreciated bands of all time. but the Hold Steady have stepped up to a whole new universe of wasomeness beyond LFTR PLLR. Why aren't they the most popular band on the planet?

― Amity Wong (noodle vague), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 21:56 (eighteen years ago) link

I too have visited the Minneapolis airport!

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 22:31 (eighteen years ago) link

it's a decent airport. nothin' fancy. my friend manages the chili's on the G gate!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 22:42 (eighteen years ago) link

does kogan like lifter puller?

― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 23:06 (eighteen years ago) link

Kogan wrote about Fiestas and voted for it in Pazz & Jop.

I KNEW you'd like that album, 'Twan, and I'm glad you do.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 23:09 (eighteen years ago) link

Matos,

You don't live here anymore so maybe you've got "perspective", but I just playing the B.S. old skool Mpls fanboy syndrome "oh you should have seen them back when" crap when I think LFTR is better than Hold Steady? cuz I really do.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 23:11 (eighteen years ago) link

whatever lftr pllr record matos played me during emp was absolutely great, but strangely i havent felt the urge to actually get one of the records. i have given up completely on the hold steady.

― dabnis coleman's ghost (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 23:17 (eighteen years ago) link

I don't feel comfortable making that assessment yet, but I do prefer LP overall.

the LP record I played Jess was Fiestas + Fiascos, preceded by "To Live and Die in LBI" and "Nassau Coliseum"

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 23:18 (eighteen years ago) link

i think what i liked better about lifter puller was the more straight-up indie rock sound (one of the basslines reminded me of mogwai!) which seemed to suit finn's delivery better. whereas with the classic rock stuff i am back to "why do you hate rhythm?" etc etc.

― dabnis coleman's ghost (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 6 December 2005 23:19 (eighteen years ago) link

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