BAND TO RELEASE SILENT RECORD
SINCE BANDS CAN NO LONGER SELL AUDIO, FF DECLINE TO PROVIDE IT.
Because file-sharing, or downloading, or whatever, has notoriously, or supposedly, made the production of the conventional ‘with-audio’ record obsolete, the Fiery Furnaces will release a Silent Record.
The Fiery Furnaces’ next album will consist of instruction, conventional music notation, graphic music notation, reports and illustrations of previous hypothetical performances, reports and illustrations of hypothetical performances previous to the formation of their hypotheses, guidelines for the fabrication of semi-automatic machine rock, memoranda to the nonexistent Central Committee of the Fiery-Furnaces-in-Exile concerning the non-creation of situations, Relevant to Progressive Rock Division, conceptual constellations on a so-to-speak black cloth firmament, and other items that have nothing to do with the price of eggs, or milk, or whatever the proverbial expression ceased to be.
In other words, a Silent Record. You will note that there have been countless Anticipatory Plagiarisms of this endeavor. For instance, more than a millennium of sheet music. We hope to have learned from their numerous mistakes.
Upon release of the record, the band will organize a series of Fan-Band concerts, in which groups of perfectly ordinary Fiery Furnaces’ fans will perform, interpret, contradict, ignore, and so on, the compositions that make up Silent Record. Write to thefieryfurnacesemail@gmail.com to nominate your post office break room, truck stop parking lot, municipal arts center, local tavern, or what-its-name to host one of these ‘happenings’. By ‘happenings’ I mean, what will be in the future, perfectly normal rock shows. And propose yourself for Fan Band participation.
No experience necessary.
July 30th, 2009 at 2:56 am
silent record?? wooohoooow!! aaaaaaaaaaandddd…… i’d like to know who write this!! =)
byebyebyebyebye
July 31st, 2009 at 8:26 am
I really don’t understand.
Of cause people share music over the internet. But that’s old news.
July 31st, 2009 at 4:08 pm
great idea, i’ll probably try to get hold of a copy, a nice little curio.
just one thing tho. I heard about his on an internet music news site, the link on which led me to your internet site. soo yeah, boo internet
July 31st, 2009 at 4:32 pm
This is definitely a good idea.
July 31st, 2009 at 6:36 pm
awesome, we can let the sheet music stores bring in this turd instead of us indie music stores.
July 31st, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Or better yet….
Ditch the label and release your music for free.
Neat idea though. Should be fun.
July 31st, 2009 at 9:57 pm
How much is it?
When is going to be released?
Has it leaked yet?
Can I share it onlne?
July 31st, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Hey. You are infringing John Cage, and I am pretty sure that is making him happy.
Keep up the silence.
I challenge you to do a 3D silent work for our MorrowSound True 3D system and shows.
July 31st, 2009 at 11:30 pm
of course you MUST be joking, why would I buy that?
July 31st, 2009 at 11:52 pm
You should call it “We’re Lazy as Fuck and We Think Our Fans Are Mentally Retarded”
August 1st, 2009 at 12:46 am
I can’t remember who it was, but I’ve heard of another band wanting to release their album as a blank CD that you could theoretically burn with files of their album that you could theoretically download from the internet. The store version would have a CD booklet and cover, and a blank CDR in it…
August 1st, 2009 at 12:48 am
They share your music because its not worth buying. If other bands can make money online, why can’t you?
August 1st, 2009 at 2:38 am
who the hell cares anyway
August 1st, 2009 at 3:24 am
……to be honest:the 3 songs i’ve got of the fiery furnaces were downloaded by ares…. jejjejeje because nobody sells their records here
some people know about their existence and they get them by other ways (i guess) but i live in a small town where the only thing that sounds is reggaeton (or something like that) sooooo i use internet…
August 1st, 2009 at 3:31 am
No offense Marilina, but you do know you can BUY their music on the internet too?
If you want to download illegally, that’s your decision. But not having a way to buying indie CDs near you isn’t a good excuse for doing so when there is Amazon, iTunes, Emusic, etc.
August 1st, 2009 at 5:21 am
This is the coolest idea ever. I really hope it eventuates – it’s going to make the world a more beautiful place.
August 1st, 2009 at 6:42 pm
I’ll buy the record… if you include a cover by Matthew & Eleanor Friedburger.
August 2nd, 2009 at 12:48 am
In this spirit, I plan a series of ff cover shows, or ‘tribute” shows if you please done in a capella at the wild buffalo grill in laurel on monday night karoake night. Much to the chagrin of my fellow barmates i will only sing “benton harbor blues” in different musical genres for about an hour a night…until they kick me out..or my ass.
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:44 am
Hey, I think this is a great concept and has a great message behind it. I hope it plays out as well as it was envisioned. The internet is an amazing tool and surprisingly can be used to find new music and support artists by purchasing their albums no matter where you live! Count me in for a copy and a performance.
August 2nd, 2009 at 1:45 am
This may be the single greatest piece of musical ingenuity in the past, let’s say, 10 years. Or at least since Kid A came out.
August 2nd, 2009 at 3:10 pm
HA. what fun!
I’ll happily pre-cover and interpret your scribblings.
and regarding the preceding comments: your fandom is rich, and wise. and powerful.
thank you, E & M.
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Yes, I understand and want to take part. With a berlin based concert!
August 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Wow, this is amazing, when is it going to be released?
August 3rd, 2009 at 5:11 am
GoodTimes
My above comment was a bit too short for submission so I typed this line.
August 4th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
… a nice sarcastic response to the notion that people are stealing music without paying the artists for their hard work…
with that said, perhaps you’d like to credit John Stump for “Fairie’s Aire and Death Waltz,” the copyrighted image that you’ve displayed at the top of your announcement?
August 4th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Why of all times I was born into The Age Of Absurdities please? When will somebody realise that criminalizing Millions of human beings will lead nowhere? We don’t need one more blindfold protest campaign because of and against sharing files.
Since you are mentioning the history of sheet music, read on!
Think about the following: How did the well-known musicians of the Classical Era sell their music to earn their living? How did Walther von der Vogelweide do? The success of selling “objects” carrying music, or in other words materialized Art, is almost an achievement of Capitalism only (Btw. That fact disposes the character of Art as such). Of course there are more reasons, most importantly the decent aim of just making music accessible across borders (whatever they are/were made of). And understand, selling music that now is nothing more than just “hot air” – electric impulses – that is 0s and 1s only, will never ever succeed, because you are still trying to sell the object! The object got dematerialized, inexchangeable (Right, Marx). Nobody will pay you for that. Let go! It’s over!
Somehow I sense you know everything I said already. At least I hope so. Otherwise … this would make the Silent Record just one more feeble marketing fooling thing! Which is smelly, dont you think?
Well well well, getting fans involved with the music this way you are trying should be an exciting experiment and will most likely work!
Best, Nando.
ps
Being a record maniac and an admirer of your music I am hoping to find a proper new Album materialized in my favourite record store or at a merch booth at future concerts of yours.
August 5th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
This is a great idea. I have heard of few plagiarisms of your endeavor but they will be nothing compared to yours. I wonder if this will be as conceptual as Rehearsing My Choir.
August 6th, 2009 at 12:42 am
i myself am an avid reggaeton collector, and i get all of those mp3’s for free (high quality ones at 96kbps), so if Firery Furnishings wants to pull a john cage, whatever, i’m bumpin Tego Calderon!
August 7th, 2009 at 12:19 am
sooooo hungry! :F (??)
i put a mortgage on my lease and went to the police
i bribed my way on the system cause i really really missed him
etc
August 8th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Sounds a bit like the oft-invoked “chance meeting of a sewing machine and an umbrella on a dissecting table.” I’m for it.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:00 am
No matter how false this posting is, I recommend to you Fiery Furnaces out there publishing this that you actually do this. It would be nice, however, if you could record/release it on your own a couple months later as a surprise to us.
August 18th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
i think this is excellent, it is somewhat subvertive but i like it, i don’t play music but would be encouraged to try this fan-band craic!! keep it comin comrades
August 20th, 2009 at 5:54 am
This reads like Pynchon.
August 20th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Combine this with making the August shows health care reform rallies, and I’ve lost interest in seeing FF live. The silent record is a pretentious cry for attention and as far as the rallies go, preaching to the converted is easy and boring. I agree with you! I agree with you too! Yeaaah man. If the band really cared they would hold rallies during the day at places where the close minded might show up and at least hear what they have to say, instead of doing it at their shows.
August 23rd, 2009 at 3:20 am
it’s really amazing how you guys can hold all this bright ideas, sense of humour and wonderful music (and a new album almost every year!!! ) within this general situation. Truly awesome!
September 11th, 2009 at 4:39 am
Man there are a lot of assholes commenting on here aren’t there? I mean, it’s the actual bands site, but people still come by to talk shit like it’s some random music blog.
Anyway, I love this idea. I like when bands try to get the listener (or in this album’s case, reader) involved. Even if it turns out terribly, it makes me feel kind of like I’m part of the band. Reminds me of the Flaming Lips’ album Zaireeka. The album was mostly not interesting, and in reality I haven’t listened to it since a few months after I bought it years ago, but it was sweet while it lasted. And that’s what I’m hoping for with this album.
And ttboi: How many people who are against healthcare reform do you think would enjoy the music of Fiery Furnaces? Realistically, they aren’t exactly an easy listen. So unless their type of music really pulls someone in, most people would flee like a hipster at a Nickelback show.
October 5th, 2009 at 5:27 am
I am not sold on the presented health care reform and I listen to the FF. They are an extremely easy listen. They scratch my itch. There’s a lot of libertarians, small “l” and free-thinkers, small “f” that like weird music. You don’t have to be a Democrat to like the FF. And the silent album is a great protest against theivery of profit. I support profit since it promotes many good things in life. I hope the FF make a billion kagillion dollars.
October 7th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I think it’s a scream that so many of these naysayers fail to see the humour and commradery in a project like this.
If you take yourself too seriously to recognize how inclusive and fun this endeavor could be, then the Fiery Furnaces are not for you. Don’t put your self-righteous, intellectual baggage on them.
A tip of my frilly, feathered hat to you, sir and miss Friedberger! Keep it coming!
October 8th, 2009 at 3:53 am
Now there’s a concept album.
this is as brilliant as it is funny… i hope it really gets done.
and this is way better than what passes as ‘the new internet/music business revolution’ every other month. seriously, this is huge : a ‘new’ thing that’s actually ancient, potentially highly conceptual but just as much a joke. i love it.
and i love how most people commenting just fly by the humour of it all, explaining earnestly how the internet isn’t all that bad… very touching, when you think about it.
granted, of course i’d like to hear the “real” album, but it would blow the whole thing to a mere gimmick, if indeed there was one. At the very least it should be kept secretly in a vault for years. YEARS, not months.
Count us in for our version of it if we can get to it! (www.ferdydurke.net, which i guess is a bit of a shameless plug, in a way, but i don’t know if the website will be posted. anyway we’re not a band, just music-lovers who don’t sell our music, so don’t bother if you’re not curious)
December 28th, 2009 at 1:34 am
Went through your post and thought hey, someone was really good in debate classes.