Magnetic Manoeuvres ~ Gay Rabbits (mashup of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and The Magnetic Fields)

Well, check out this stroke of brilliance, then! Some clever person has created a mashup of Enola Gay and Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits, and it's truly great. I really think this track deserves to reach more ears. Loving the artwork, too! 😀🐰🐰

Was it your cup of ☕? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments box below. 

The Magnetic Fields: live at the Apollo, London, 31.08.22 (with Darren Hanlon)

Hello readers! It's been a while, yadda yadda yadda, you know the score... 

I would like to share with you some videos that I took on a recent trip up that London. It was my sixth time seeing my all-time faves the Magnetic Fields play live, and my fifth time seeing the wonderful Darren Hanlon. 

I wouldn't consider this a 'proper' review, for I am bad at writing those, but I have to say two things: 

1) That as well as being a top singer-songwriter, Darren Hanlon is also very, very funny and an excellent storyteller. Seriously, if the music biz doesn't work out, Daz should probably consider a career as a stand-up comedian. 

2) As for Mr Merritt and co., they sounded just heavenly. Unbelievably beautiful. Mine was a natural high 🤗 (oh, alright, it might've been the three plastic-beakersful of expensive yet horrible-tasting London wine I'd already drunk). So, to the videos! (Which - disclaimer - may be a little shaky due to the aforementioned London wine.) 

Right Here

Darren ended his set by going off-mic with this cover of one of my favourite songs by the Go-Betweens. 

Born on a Train

Desert Island

Smoke and Mirrors

The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side

Sung by guitarist Anthony Kaczynski. Nice job Anthony!

All the Umbrellas in London 

Before playing this song Stephin teased us, saying that it was embarrassing to play this in London and he wasn't sure if they should. 🥺 (He followed that up by saying that they were playing Paris the following week, where Love Goes Home to Paris in the Spring was also part of their current set!) 

100,000 Fireflies 

Part of their encore. Gave me all the feels, as the youngsters say. 

The full setlist can be found here.  

Should you wish to download mp3 versions of these tracks, I've made them available to download here. Your ears will thank you for it. 🤗

Oh, and I came home with a Magnetic Fields tea towel! What do you think about that? 😁

Favourite Magnetic Fields covers

For many years now, I have collected covers of Magnetic Fields songs - I have nearly 100 mp3s! - and so without further ado, may I present the countdown of my top five. 🎧🎶

To kick things off, at number five it's Nallo and their wonky fuzzpop version of When My Boy Walks down the Street. 

Nallo · 69LS: When My Boy Walks Down The Street

At four, perhaps better known as front woman of 90s indie-pop group Suddenly, Tammy!, Beth Sorrentino and her lovely piano-led rendition of 100,000 Fireflies.

Third, The Shins' summery take on Strange Powers.

At number two, this is Kotomi's (composer and producer Lauren Hillman's) electro-cool reworking of All the Umbrellas in London. 

Finally, my favourite one of all: Tracey Thorn and Jens Lekman's sublime duet on Yeah! Oh, Yeah! 🔥🔥🔥

One thing that struck me whilst compiling this list, is the quality of the songwriting - it's so exceptionally good, that I daresay a Merritt cover would be pretty hard to mess up. 

LD Beghtol has died. 💔

As you [my one reader] may have deduced from the title of this blog, I am a dedicated fan of Stephin Merritt and all he does. I was saddened to hear of the death of Merritt collaborator LD Beghtol: 69 Love Songs vocalist and art designer, writer of the excellent companion book 69 Love Songs, A Field Guide, and a musician in his own right. 

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A post shared by The Magnetic Fields (@themagfields) 

All my little words could never do him justice; I can think of no better tribute than this gorgeous song. 

Rest easy, Uncle LD.