How did you come to Love Owen's music?

[ploks]

Nov 17, 2010 23:03:09 GMT -5 Ren said:

December, 2005: "If there is more to music than Christian pop, is there more to life than Christian beliefs?" Found this to be true. Became an atheist. Got into music school.

This might be the best effect Owen have had on people. Helping people becoming musicians and atheists <3

[names]

Somewhere, Sufjan Stevens just shuddered.

[ben]

Esther your post has just made my day so thank you for that

[manus21]

hm, well, I read about Owen/Final Fantasy on a Tori Amos message board...but didn't really care. It was around the time "...has a good home" was released and for some reason I thought that he makes music that I don't like, so I didn't check it out.
A few months later a local record shop had a big sale on CDs and I went there...and found "...has a good home". I remembered the thread on the message board and thought "well, it's not too expensive, so let's give it a try...".
I went home, turned on my cd player and fell in love immediately. Later I found out that he also played the violin for the Hidden Cameras (I love them) and Arcade Fire (love them too)...

[lise]

Summer 2008, my sister recommended me to listen to Beirut. I loved it and bought the album. At the time I was so bored with my phd dissertation, that I spent hours googling anything I could think of (if you ever have to be efficient at writing down report/dissertation w/o any clear due date, you might want to do that away from Internet). Googling Beirut has led me to the Blogotheque and their CAE, where I probably first seen the name Final Fantasy. Since I really enjoyed Cliquot I checked who was singing. Two mentions of FF within a few weeks were enough to make check it out on deezer and shortly afterwards order He Poos Clouds. (oh and obviously I kept on googling, checking music websites and within months my music culture and ipod collection has doubled).

[emyli]

I guess I got intrigued when a friend of mine told me about how she saw him at that show where he ended up playing a set un-amplified in a parking garage. I kept hearing the name, and eventually I caved and downloaded some stuff. Glad I did, too, because a few months later he came through Portland with the Mountain Goats. I was in a bit of a crisis state, really doubting the value of the composition degree I was working so hard for. The show just affirmed all my goals. Even remembering last year is a little tough now, it was really soul crushing to be in music school without being a real music student, since I hadn't auditioned. But I worked my ass off and learned how to sing classically in a year, and now I'm in, for real, and it is so amazing. I kind of have Owen to thank for that, because there were times I was tempted to quit and go into science or something.

[An Amateur]

Assuming that it is love, and not some prolonged adolescent crush, that I feel for Owen Pallet's work, then I suppose I could share how I came to feel the way I do about it.

Like all the music I listened to before I turned 15, I was introduced to him by my brother. I just remember coming home after school one day and finding a folder on our computer titled "Final Fantasy". I was a bit disappointed that it was not Nobuo Uematsu, but the songs were catchy, and I appreciated the epicurean lyrics. But I was still far from the "love" you have all described.

About a year later my brother sent me a link that was floating around of the first song off of He Poos Clouds, and it piqued my interest. By the second song I was obsessed. But obsession is still not love, mind you, as my heart had one last barrier to be broken.

In February of 2007, I saw him perform live for the first time at the Tranzac, and it was the closest thing to a religious experience this atheist has ever come. During each song it seemed like the whole crowd was in a trance; nobody moved, nobody spoke, nobody high-fived, they just stared in awe. Until then I never knew music could actually do that to a person. It was no longer this trivial-but-fun thing; it seemed important somehow. When it was over, I didn't know what to do with myself. I knew I could go home and listen to the album, or download a couple bootlegs, but it could never compare. With the exception of BRAIDS, I don't think any other performance I've seen has come close to that, but alas I don't get out too much.

So if it is love and not limerence that I've been experiencing for the past 4 years, then the Tranzac show was likely the catalyst. It really saddens me to see that place hitting hard times.

[ben]

Nov 18, 2010 18:52:46 GMT -5 An Amateur said:

limerence

Kudos for the vocab

[msaramago]

Well... A friend of mine introduced me to Beirut in April 2008, which i quickly came to love. I heard Cliquot once, and I remember thinking that it didn't sound like Zack, but that the guy had an interesting voice.

Anyway, months passed by, and I decided to use Scrobbler to listen to music while studying, back in the day when in was free, and I turned on Radio Beirut. I was listening to several artists, like Joanna Newsom, Arcade Fire, Devendra, etc. and then This Lamb Sells Condos starts playing. I looked at the artist, saw Final Fantasy and though "Well, this is interesting." and kept on studying.

Later, "The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead" came on, and I immediatly stopped studying. I was officially in love. This was February 2009. I bought the albums and "Many Lives" and I listened nonstop, until Spectrum, 14th Century, Plays to Please and Heartland came to further strengthen my admiration for Owen's work.

Then, March 2010 came, and with it a concert in my hometown. Unfortunately, the concert sold out before I could buy the tickets, but in what must have been a miracle, Owen scheduled a 2nd concert on the day after. I got the tickets for that one, and *that* was when I knew that this was going to be my favourite artist for the rest of my life. I know that tastes change, but facts do not, and the fact is that this man is a genius. And for that, I'll always admire him, because his music is a true work of art

Epilogue - in December 2010, I watched two more concerts, and I loved every second of them!

[4ground]

Oh. I wish I remembered. I just know that I started out with his cover of Peach Plum Pear.

And I'm not even a Joanna Newsom fan.

[captaintomski]

I was a big Arcade Fire fan quite a while before I discovered Owen, while watching one of their performances on TV with my friend I was all like "wow, the violinist guy is hot" to which she replied "oh that's owen pallett, he has some crazy solo project..."
and thus it began, my love of Final Fantasy/Owen Pallett increased and snowballed untill it eventually surpassed my love of Arcade Fire (although I still love them too!)

(hello, by the way, first post blah blah blah, how do you do?)

[blandine]

Lots of atheists here - boy, you guys are courageous people.

Back in the time Pandora worked in Brazil (now they only work in the U.S., I guess), for some weird reason I typed Final Fantasy and it asked me back - the song, or the artist? I was a bit puzzled at first, clicked the artist, went instantly 'wow'.

Then I got He Poos Clouds and it was the first time I admired an entire CD from head to toe. Come to think of it, as a musician I never had full admiration for another before I got in contact with Owen Pallett's music. I feel like those jazz artists listening to this or that vinyl and quitting music for twenty years because they'd never surpass that guy.

I think I mentioned this story already here in the forum, and I think it was also the case with someone else (don't know about Pandora, I think it was the An Amateur story about looking for Nobuo Uematsu music and running into Owen). I just have to get past this Pretty Girl phase.

(welcome, Tomski Link)

[Cat]

Well... one day (it must have been September 2009) i just decided i wanted to try and find another band/musician i really loved. I didn't really know where to start so i was searching the internet and itunes for ages and kind of getting nowhere. Then after a while i noticed that just about every Patrick Wolf (who is my favourite musician) album on itunes had "listeners also bought" Final Fantasy. So i listened to some 30 second clips from He Poos Clouds on itunes and i immediately fell in love with Many Lives -> 49 MP.
Over the next month or so i got to know Owen's other songs through youtube and the 30 second clips on itunes (and fell in love with Song Song Song, This Is The Dream Of Win & Regine and Do You Love). Then on my birthday i got an itunes card so i bought both Owen's albums as a birthday present to myself! (The CDs are so hard to get hold of in shops here (the UK), i got majorly overexcited when i saw He Poos Clouds in a shop a few months ago and very nearly spent £11 on it even though i already had it on my ipod!!!) And now i am completely in love with all Owen's songs, he is my favourite musician (except for Patrick Wolf). He is so talented and so so unique, which is what i look for in music. ;D

Nobody here has heard of Owen though, i've never once met anyone who knows who he is (except people i've told about him!). I found out that he came to Glasgow (i live just outside Glasgow) THE MONTH BEFORE I HEARD OF HIM, how typical is that!!!!!! I am so so so desperate to see him, but he doesn't seem to be coming to Scotland (or anywhere in the UK) anytime soon.

Sorry if i went on for too long there!

[caprichorn]

A few years ago I had a huge playlist to play overnight while I had a wicked fever. Anyways, I woke up at an odd hour in a strange delirium to Owen's remix of Your Ex-Love is Dead by Stars. I had to listen to more of his work and well, days and many hours on youtube later I instantly became a devoted fan.

I waited 4 hours at the Jazz Festival in Ottawa on Canada Day to watch him perform. First time seeing him live and meeting him afterwards!

[rubyyy]

hello am new to the boards, but not to Owen's music. i first discovered him back in 2006, when i happened to stumble upon a video of his live cover of Bloc Party's 'This Modern Love' - and was instantly blown away. (in fact, i actually like his cover more than the original!) i checked out his other songs soon after, and the rest, they say, is history.

i will be watching him in Singapore tomorrow! couldn't be more excited i hope to meet him too! and i hope he decides to play This Modern Love.. though i hear he doesn't play many of his past covers anymore.