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April 21, 2006

A User's Guide To Bitter Tea

Love 'em or hate 'em (and Stereogum's been on both sides of the fence), we give the Fiery Furances props for crafting some of the most challenging indie music out there.

By now you've heard at least some of Bitter Tea, the Friedbergers' concept album from the perspective of a depressed, young girl. She is "definitely menstrual," Matthew tells AP.

The good news is that this album is the sibs' least "difficult." In fact, you can listen to this track the whole way through without twitching.

The Fiery Furnaces - "Benton Harbor Blues" (MP3 Link Expired)

And Fiery Fanatics take note: the folks at Good Hodgkins love the album so much, they've put together "An exhaustive guide to the proper nouns of Bitter Tea." Nice job, guys.

Posted at 11:04 AM in
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11 Comments

I can safely say I love 'em! Thanks for the Good Hodgkins link, very interesting!

Posted by: James at 04/21/06 12:59 PM | Reply
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I thought the new songs sounded really great in concert the other night.

Posted by: danfun at 04/21/06 1:04 PM | Reply
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I don't know, Bitter Tea is a hell of a lot less accessable than Gallowsbird's Bark or EP!

Posted by: Matthew at 04/21/06 1:30 PM | Reply
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Anybody else think this song is a ripoff of (Pinback side-project) Optiganally Yours' 'Midori to Tree'?

Posted by: ProperVillain at 04/21/06 1:57 PM | Reply
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Is that song a rip on "I Can't Help Myself" by the Four Tops? That has to be what the FF keyboard line in this song is referencing.

Review and pics of their Bowery show @ www.merryswankster.com today.

Posted by: JK at 04/21/06 3:56 PM | Reply
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Hey, I've always loved the Fiery Furnaces. Probably because I avoided "Rehearsing My Choir" like the plague. However, pretty much every other thing they've done has been great (yeah, I adored Blueberry Boat). And hey, if nothing else you can always count on them to be interesting.

Posted by: Jaime at 04/21/06 7:17 PM | Reply
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I probably like Rehearsing My Choir more than just about anyone on earth. Really powerful album. Bitter Tea is probably my 4th favorite FF release.

Posted by: Ryan at 04/21/06 11:18 PM | Reply
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Police Sweater Blood Vow is the coolest song ever.

Posted by: mercator at 04/22/06 12:43 PM | Reply
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the second version of Benton Harbor Blues is the best pop song in ages.

Posted by: Dave at 04/23/06 5:01 AM | Reply
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I have a review of last Wednesday's Bowery Ballroom show posted here:
http://www.bigtakeover.com/reviews/the-fiery-furnaces-bowery-ballroom-new-york-wednesday-april-19-2006

Oh and I'm on a record as a huge fan of The Fiery Furnaces including Rehearsing My Choir though the new one is definitely more immediate and accessible, but not more so than Gallowsbird's Bark or EP. It still flows really well, though.

Posted by: Matt Berlyant at 04/25/06 5:46 PM | Reply
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thank you very much for your help. You guys 11703 rock, thanks again.

Posted by: Tuki Medaber at 10/03/06 8:57 AM | Reply
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