DISCLAIMER: I stole this write-up from Reddit. This is the post that introduced me to Jellyfish, and they're now one of my favorite bands of all time.
> First, a disclaimer: I have no connection to Jellyfish or any of the folks associated with them - I'm just a fan who discovered their music a couple years ago and was astonished that they aren't more widely known.
> Wikipedia has the whole story, but here's the TL;DR: Jellyfish formed in San Francisco in 1989, released two albums of gorgeous and intricately-produced music (generally lumped into the "power pop" genre), and broke apart in 1994. There were a few people who cycled through the band during its brief lifetime, but the two principal creative forces driving the group and their sound were Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and Andy Sturmer.
> Despite being driving by a pair of legitimate creative/musical geniuses, Jellyfish had some absolutely terrible luck, which almost certainly contributed to their lack of commercial success. Two serious problems in particular stand out to me:
>1. Their 'visual style' heavily borrowed from San Francisco's 1960's hippie culture (on-stage look, album art and music videos), and was just hopelessly dated and silly by the early 1990's. Almost all their videos and live concerts display this style, and it's really at odds with their sound Their sound (both recorded and live) was gorgeous, using complex vocal harmonies and intricate multi-layered instrumentation (note the repeated and enchanting use of harpsichord in several of the tracks I link below)... all of which was completely at odds with the rapid swing into the Grunge Era they were musically competing against in the early '90s
> 2. Jellyfish only released two full albums (not counting some demo tapes and a few live bootlegs): Bellybutton and Spilt Milk. Both albums are absolutely crammed with tracks that evoke (without entirely ripping off) many familiar artists and bands, ranging from The Beatles, Badfinger, Cheap Trick, Queen, The Beach Boys, etc. - basically any major group that incorporated complex harmonies and arrangements within the rock/pop genres. Put another way: if you like any songs from any of the groups I just listed off, you're almost sure to find at least a couple songs from Jellyfish that you'll adore.
I love Spilt Milk. I remember the first time listening to it and being blown away. Andy is a genius songwriter.
I really should get around to listening to Bellybutton.
Jason Walker
grorious second bestu power pop desu senpai
In my opinion, Jellyfish is like Queen, but better and from the 90s and none of them died of AIDS
Bentley Cook
What do y'all think of Teenage Fanclub?
Christopher Harris
Spilt Milk is also an excellent example of how to use the dynamic range of a CD to its full extent.
Case in point: that moment in All Is Forgiven when the cacophony slams to a halt and you hear this tiiiny, super quiet quote of Goodnight before the song comes roaring back. So powerful, and the medium done right.
Luke Roberts
>a good post on /r/music wew lad that's a first
Gavin James
Is there any power pop as good as Cheap Trick, Sup Forums?
Chase Bailey
That was intentional? It was so abrupt and unexpected that I always thought it was a glitch.
Love Teenage Fanclub. Bandwagonesque and Grand Prix are my favorites.
Luke Wilson
Hands down my favorite power-pop album. Catchy as fuck from start to finish.
Andrew Flores
Please don't ruin Jellyfish Reddit, they've been my favorites since 2010
Jace Jones
Speaking of Jellyfish, anyone remember Andy Sturmer's spinoff band Puffy Amiyumi? And how they had one of CN's last watchable shows: youtube.com/watch?v=bfpBn3VqHLg
I'm listening to the whole album right now. My goodness, this is some amazing material. Thanks, user.
I got it from a local Hollywood Video store when I was around 6 or 7 years old. The disc is over 10 years old. Time flies. ;_;
Carson Lopez
Wait... you're only 16 or 17, by my calculations.
MOOOODDDSSS
Tyler Ross
As a massive Jellyfish fan for several years, it warms my heart to see a thread for them here on Sup Forums. They're my favorite band, and I've obsessed over them to the point of seeking out anything else any of the band members have done.
As already mentioned, Jason Falkner's solo work is great. He was also in a short-lived band called The Grays that only released one album and was a member of The Three O'Clock for their final album.
Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (the keyboardist) also has a couple of really good solo albums and has been a member of TV Eyes with Jason Falkner, a member of The Moog Cookbook, and releases remixes under the alias Malibu.
Andy Sturmer stays out of the limelight but there's a little bit of solo material of him out there and he was, for a time, the godfather of and a major songwriter for Japanese pop duo PUFFY. Nowadays you'll mostly see his work as themes for children's television shows.
By the way, Andy also collaborated with Bleu on Bleu's ELO tribute project, L.E.O. - Alpacas Orgling. He only appears on one song, Goodbye Innocence.
>many familiar artists and bands, ranging from The Beatles, Badfinger, Cheap Trick, Queen, The Beach Boys please insert XTC into this copypasta. as a big fan of both bands it's glaringly obvious that Jellyfish were massive XTC fans
Hell, the entire reason why Andy and Roger hired Jason was because he was the only guitarist that listed XTC as an influence in his personal ad.
Camden Peterson
Well, I just finished Presents Author Unknown. That was genius all the way through. I'm still in shock by how good it was. I'm going to check out a bunch of Power Pop now.
B-b-but, I'm 18. ;_;
Julian Cox
Im the Jason Falkner poster, you also might like Ariel Pink, he's the weirder power pop cousin of these bands, and he's kinda subtly mocking the kind of music he makes (60s to 80s pop), where Jellyfish and Falkner were genuine. his lo fi stuff sounds like trash on the first couple of listen but is really good.
This higher fi album (Before Today) is the easier to get into, (the first track isn't that good)
Great to see a Jellyfish thread. I'm a huge fan, after being introduced to them around 10 years ago in the UK.
You may also like The Wondermints. They are probably most famous for helping Brian with Pet Sounds and SMiLE tours (and album), but Bali and Wonderful World of are great power pop albums.
Jonathan King
I'm familiar with Ariel Pink/Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, but I've only listened to Pom Pom. I never got around to listening to the earlier, more acclaimed material. I'll definitely give the links you posted a listen and also Before Today and House Arrest + Lover Boy later. Thanks for the suggestions.
Ryan Bell
Jason Falkner also produced an R Stevie Moore album
R Stevie Moore is an old home recorder and Ariel Pink was a huge fan and later friend of his, I think R Stevie has thousands of songs so I don't know to tell you where to start, but here's a song I like
Pom Pom veers a little too much into parodies for me, and Ariel let an old record producer that he was a fan of write the lyrics for a couple of the songs and they were a bit more cringey/silly than normal
Samuel Morris
Wew lads, I'm on a musical high right now. My goodness, I just finished Cheap Trick's self-titled and it was pretty good. I also listened to Bellybutton (for the first time) after listening to the Jason Falkner album. I prefer Spilt Milk, but it was still pretty good.
I'm listening to Before Today right now and I'm only on the third track and really enjoy it. I'm familiar with "Round and Round", which I know i already enjoy, so I'm pretty sure I'm going to quite like this album.
I'm familiar with Guided By Voices, but I've only listened to Bee Thousand. For some reason, I couldn't quite get into it even though I'm usually a sucker for Lo-fi Indie. I'll probably give it another listen (as well as check out Alien Lanes and Under the Bushes Under the Stars). I'll also check out R. Stevie Moore. I suppose I'll start with either Delicate Tension or Glad Music. Again, thanks for all the recs, user. :^)
John Torres
Socrates Pathos and Plato is incredible!
David Anderson
love jellyfish and that jason falkner album is an old favourite too
never seen it posted on Sup Forums before and rarely see jellyfish discussion either!
Christian Butler
>tfw just listened to that Jason Falkner for the first time about six hours ago >tfw on my fourth listen of the album already
