Matthew Friedberger (born October 21, 1972 in Oak Park, Illinois, United States) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work in the indie rock duo The Fiery Furnaces with his sister Eleanor Friedberger.
Matthew Friedberger (born October 21, 1972 in Oak Park, Illinois, United States) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work in the indie rock duo The Fiery Furnaces with his sister Eleanor Friedberger.
Matthew and Eleanor grew up singing with their grandmother Olga Sarantos and family in a Greek Orthodox Church. Details of events in Sarantos' life are depicted on their Rehearsing My Choir album. Matthew has been a vegetarian since childhood. [1]
The first song Matt ever wrote was in fourth grade. He was assigned to make a weather barometer for class but didn't feel like doing that, so instead he convinced his teacher to let him write a song on the piano about weather. The song was titled "Cumulous Nimbus Cloud" and was what Matt describes as "mostly pounding on the piano". [2]
Before starting The Fiery Furnaces, Matthew Friedberger played in bands including Corndolly, Liquorette, The Mezzanines and The Grand Vizars. At the age of 17, Matthew moved to Germany only to return shortly thereafter. He attended the University of Illinois for a while and continued to live there, writing comic books, until the age of 26 when he moved back home.
It was after moving home that he encouraged Eleanor to start singing. The two wrote the song "Duffer St. George" (named after a store in London) one night while discussing a recent trip Eleanor had taken to England and The Fiery Furnaces began. [3] In the band, he contributed the majority of the instrumentation, wrote most of the songs and lyrics, and occasionally sang, while Eleanor did most of the vocals and wrote some lyrics. The band went on to release seven studio albums and one live album before going on an extended hiatus in 2011.
Aside from his work with The Fiery Furnaces, Friedberger released a two-disc solo album, titled Winter Women and Holy Ghost Language School by 859 Recordings in August 2006. He dedicated the album to his sister, saying later in an interview, "we dedicated all [the Fiery Furnaces] records to our parents, so I thought it was appropriate that this record be dedicated to Eleanor". [4] In November 2010, Friedberger revealed that he was to release eight new albums in 2011 in a vinyl-only subscription series called Solos . The first six albums were set to ship every two months in 2011 and featured Friedberger on vocals accompanied by a single instrument, while the last two were bonus albums that shipped with the final installment and featured multiple instruments. [5]
In July 2012, Thrill Jockey announced that Friedberger would be releasing yet another album on October 30, 2012 entitled Matricidal Sons of Bitches . [6] The album is composed of 45 largely instrumental tracks, organized into four suites: "Ladies In Waiting- Waiting Forever", "Brand New Mothers- Trying It Out", "Expectant Fathers- In For a Surprise" and "Dying On The Sixth Side". In June 2016, Matthew Friedberger teamed up with Sebadoh’s Bob D'Amico releasing, under the stage name Saqqara Mastabas, the album Libras.
Jason Loewenstein is an American alternative rock singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and a member of the indie-rock bands Sebadoh, The Fiery Furnaces, and Circle of Buzzards. He grew up in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he attended Northampton High School, and now resides in Brooklyn, New York.
The Fiery Furnaces are an American indie rock band, formed in 2000 in Brooklyn, New York. The band's primary members are Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger. The siblings are originally from Oak Park, Illinois, a near-western suburb of Chicago. They are known for their ambitious, highly conceptual releases, which have frequently divided critical opinion.
Gallowsbird's Bark is the debut studio album by The Fiery Furnaces released by Rough Trade Records in 2003.
Blueberry Boat is the second album by American indie rock band The Fiery Furnaces. It was released on July 13, 2004, just over ten months following their debut album, Gallowsbird's Bark. Blueberry Boat polarized music critics due to its long, complex songs and esoteric lyrics.
Eleanor Friedberger is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She is best known as one half of the indie rock duo The Fiery Furnaces, alongside her older brother Matthew Friedberger. In the band she contributes the majority of the vocals both on record and during their live performances.
Rehearsing My Choir is the fourth full-length album by The Fiery Furnaces and was released in 2005. It is a concept album featuring Olga Sarantos, grandmother of the band's Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger, narrating stories relating to her life. Though the instrumentation is as complex as on the band's previous releases, the vocals mostly take the form of spoken word. At points Eleanor Friedberger speaks or sings words corresponding to the character of a younger Olga Sarantos, the two engaging in dialogue. This aspect has made many draw relations between the album and a radio play. Olga Sarantos died on December 31, 2007.
Winter Women and Holy Ghost Language School are two albums by Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces recorded, unlike The Fiery Furnaces records, without his sister Eleanor Friedberger. Though two separate albums, they were released together as a double album by 859 Recordings in August 2006. It was rereleased in October 2009 on Thrill Jockey Records.
Scott Jacobson is an American comedy writer and winner of four Emmys for contributions to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and two Emmys for contributions to Bob's Burgers. He is currently a writer on Fox's animated show Bob's Burgers and has also written for The Academy Awards, Robert Smigel's TV Funhouse cartoons, and the Adult Swim show Squidbillies. He grew up in North Carolina, where he attended the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Widow City is the sixth full-length album by The Fiery Furnaces. It was released in the UK on October 8, 2007, and in the US on October 9 on Chicago-based label Thrill Jockey. The album art features Eleanor Friedberger on the front and Matthew Friedberger on the back.
Remember is the first live album from indie rock band The Fiery Furnaces, released on August 19, 2008. The album includes various live performances of songs from their first six studio albums, recorded between 2005 and the tour for their 2007 album, Widow City. Some longer songs, such as "Blueberry Boat" and "Quay Cur", have multiple cuts in the track from various performances. Other songs, such as the tracks from the Bitter Tea medley, were recorded live in the recording studio.
I'm Going Away is The Fiery Furnaces' eighth album. It was released, on CD and LP, on July 21, 2009 in the US and August 24, 2009 in the UK.
Dustin Wong is an American guitarist formerly active in the art-rock band Ponytail and a former member of the experimental guitar duo, Ecstatic Sunshine.
Take Me Round Again is The Fiery Furnaces' ninth album. It was first released, in MP3 format, through Thrill Jockey Records, in November 2009. The album is being described as "The Friedbergers cover the Friedbergers," in reference to core members and siblings, Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger.
Last Summer is the first solo album released by American indie pop musician Eleanor Friedberger, most notable for being the vocalist in the band The Fiery Furnaces with her brother Matthew Friedberger. The album was released on 12 July 2011 on the Merge Records record label.
Personal Record is the second solo album released by American indie pop musician Eleanor Friedberger, most notable for being vocalist in the band The Fiery Furnaces with her brother Matthew Friedberger. The album was released on 4 June 2013 on the Merge Records label. The album was co-written by Friedberger and folk singer and novelist John Wesley Harding.
Solos is a vinyl-only boxset of six albums by Chicago-based musician Matthew Friedberger of The Fiery Furnaces. On each of the six records, Matthew only plays one instrument, hence the name Solos. The boxset was released by Thrill Jockey records as a subscription series in 2011, with two bonus albums for subscribers, although small quantities of each album were released individually.
New View is the third studio album by American indie rock musician Eleanor Friedberger, released on January 22, 2016 on Frenchkiss Records. It was Friedberger’s first release on the label, and was also regarded as a departure for her, with a more minimalistic and folk-influenced sound.
David Brewis is an English singer, songwriter and musician. With his brother Peter Brewis, he formed Field Music, a rock band based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in 2004.
Rebound is the fourth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Eleanor Friedberger. It was released on May 4, 2018, by Frenchkiss Records. Friedberger had been inspired to write the album following a 2017 trip to Athens, Greece, where she visited a nightclub called Rebound. The album marked a stylistic departure for Friedberger, with synthesizers and drum machines replacing the live bands on her previous albums. Two singles — lead single "In Between Stars" and "Everything" — were released prior to the album, in addition to one promotional song, "Make Me a Song."
"My Mistakes" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Eleanor Friedberger. Released in 2011, it marked Friedberger's debut solo single, following her work as one-half of the musical duo The Fiery Furnaces. It served as the lead single and opening track from her first studio album, Last Summer. The song's lyrics move back and forth in time, as Friedberger reflects on emotional and physical pains past and present, while the production features a two-chord guitar, keyboards, and a saxophone solo.
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