Misery Is a Butterfly

1. Elephant Woman

2. Messenger

3. Melody

4. Doll Is Mine

5. Misery Is a Butterfly

6. Falling Man

7. Anticipation

8. Maddening Cloud

9. Magic Mountain

10. Pink Love

11. Equus

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The band's gently mournful economy of style is adorned by a cinematic breadth of instrumentation and by arrangements of rich depth. "Misery..." is a creative leap forward from their last album, "Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons".

Misery Is a Butterfly,Blonde Redhead,4ad / Ada,Experimental Rock,Indie Rock,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop

Misery Is a Butterfly

Average customer rating:

Swirling Sounds in a Hurricane of Noise with Blonde Redhead's Best Work to date
Someone Please tell Amedeo not to sing!
"Misery" is a post rock gem.
Better Every Time.
it's a good one

Misery Is a Butterfly
Blonde Redhead
Manufacturer: 4ad / Ada
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Blonde Redhead
Pocket Symphony
La Mia Vita Violenta
The Reminder
We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

ASIN: B0001EFUJ6
Release Date: 2004-03-23

Tracks:

Elephant Woman
Messenger
Melody
Doll Is Mine
Misery Is a Butterfly
Falling Man
Anticipation
Maddening Cloud
Magic Mountain
Pink Love
Equus

Album Description

The band's gently mournful economy of style is adorned by a cinematic breadth of instrumentation and by arrangements of rich depth. "Misery..." is a creative leap forward from their last album, "Melody Of Certain Damaged Lemons".

Customer Reviews:

Swirling Sounds in a Hurricane of Noise with Blonde Redhead's Best Work to date.......2007-06-21

Blonde Redhead is a name Kazu Makino, Maki Takahashi and Italian twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace came up with supporting New York No wave bands.
Blonde Redhead uses alternative tunings and wall-wall guitar blasts much to the tune of Sonic Youth, but with this release Bonde Redhead has created a sound that is all their own. You won't hear these mix of keyboards, swirling guitars, and precise drumming anywhere else. Especially adding Kazu's and Amadeo's fractured spectral harmonies. Kazu's vocals takes you on a journey with her high soprano and desperte shrieks. Pure glorious beauty.
Amadeo Pace's voice balances out 'Misery Is A Butterfly' as a noble tenor, adding nice variety. I don't mind it as much when he sings with Kazu, but I don't care as much when he sings songs on his own. The 10th track "Pink Love" is a Wonderful song and a Good balance of both singers' voices.
'Misery Is A Butterfly' is Blonde Redhead's fifth album and their first on label 4AD released in 2004.
It took longer for this band to put this album together(Kazu had a accident) - but what I have heard from BR - this is their Best work to date, even compared to their newest release in 2007 "23"-
This one here is full of charm with it's wonderful strings, gorgeous instrumental flourishes and keyboards.
Blonde Redhead has found their true sound with 'Misery Is A Butterfly' - Darkly romantic and atmospheric, a kind of sadness in some ways.
If you are new to Blonde Redhead I suggest getting this one first. It is better then earlier 90s releases of theirs.
-Favorite track- the closer "Equus" - A burst of joyful disstressed energy from Kazu. Simply Brilliant.

Someone Please tell Amedeo not to sing!.......2007-03-30

This could have been an absolutely AMAZING album. Unfortunately, it is
not. Blonde redhead is one of those bands where the vocal duties are shared. In this case, it is between Amedeo Pace (voice,words, guitar, baritone guitar) and Kazu Makino (voice, words, clavinet, guitar). Each of these individuals have very unique voices and a tendency for atonal, off-key lamenting. Kazu voice is unique and interesting in a way that seems that transcend its inherent limitations. Amedeo's voice, on the other hand, is just plain awful. It sounds like some random idiot singing in the shower- the voice of someone who thinks they can sing but cannot. It is nasaly, whiny, completely off-key (flat) and utterly irritating. If anyone thinks differently, they have let too many positive reveiws skew their perception of his flawed singing. This is a shame because this completely obliterates the otherwise fantastic instrumentation on the songs in which he sings. It is like listening to a beautiful melody with the teakettle whisting in the foreground - it isn't cool, artsy, or edgy...it is just ridiculously annoying. It almost sounds as though he is deliberately trying to sound as bad as possible. Contrary to what many of you hipsters may think, it is not cool, sexy, avant-garde, mysterious, or in any way interesting to sing like a tone-deaf wounded animal.

Let's review:
The instrumentation- very complex and beautiful.
Kazu's vocals- unique and somewhat atonal but very ethereal and complimentary to the instrumentation.
Amedeo's vocals- unique... as in uniquely bad. His voice greatly detracts from what would otherwise be a truly amazing record.

I truly hope that someone will eventually tell Amedeo that he cannot sing and that his vocals DESROY otherwise beautiful songs. Please let Kazu handle all of the vocal duties from now on. It is the attributes of her voice and the instrumentation that sell records.

"Misery" is a post rock gem........2006-11-21

I first heard "Elephant Woman" on the film "Hard Candy." The melody and dreamy voice haunted me for days. I decided to pick up this album for that song alone. I am so glad that I did that for the rest of "Misery" is just as superlative. BR sounds like Sonic Youth doing Trip-Hop.

Better Every Time........2006-09-01

As I've been buying Blonde Redhead records since their self-titled LP came out, I almost negected to listen to "Misery is a Butterfly" out of pretentious, pre-emptive boredom.

I have to admit: This is an incredible record. The first time I heard it, I was turned off by how massive and polished it sounded compared to their prior records. As a big fan of "Fake Can Be Just As Good" this is not what I ussually look for in a Blonde Redhead Album. This is a massive, solid and majestic record that easily creates its own universe.

One of the concerns that I've heard is that each song captures a particular mood so perfectly, that after a while, all of the songs can begin to meld, and the whole album may begin to feel like one really long song.

Don't worry though, whenever you're in the mood to listen to this record, it will probably be because of it's abillity to maintain a dark, dreamy and romanticzed vibe for 40 minutes straight; not in spite of it.

"Misery", like "Damaged Lemons" before it, finds the band becoming more and more interested in straighter pop, more traditional songwriting, and smoother arrangements. In this vein, "Misery is a Butterfly" is a much greater success.

I don't know what misguided A&R stooge picked "Equus" as a single. Any other song would have provided a more honest glimpse of what the record is all about. It is the one occasion on "Misery" where the band seems insincere. It appears that they made a misguided effort to be "current" and conform to the pseudo-'hipster' conventions that have been established by artists that they've influenced themselves.

Although they're plauged by some small degree of inconsistency, Blonde Redhead are sure to continue releasing some of the most timeless music available today.

it's a good one.......2006-07-29

Do you really need another person to tell you how great this album is? Probably not. You should definitely pick this up. The songs have plenty of minor key goodness, with cool beats,and; this one is a big selling point for me, they don't sound like anyone else. The only reason this fell short of a 5 is that a couple of songs with the guy singing are stinkers, but this definitely does not detract too much from the overall worth of the album.

If you are into female vocally type acts (there's two singers here, but the girl is better), this will be a refreshing change, and you'll probably like it alot.