I go on about Merritt of course because he writes all the material but there is a steady line-up for the Magnetic Fields, consisting of Sam Davol, John Woo (not that one) and Claudia Gonson. Merritt is also a master of aliases, working under the pseudonyms Future Bible Heroes, the 6ths and the Gothic Archies as well as just plain old Stephin Merritt (for his film scores).

The following short essay sums up Stephin Merritt very well: http://www.rustyspell.com/merritt/merrittarticle.html

• The official site for Stephin Merritt http://www.houseoftomorrow.com/
• The (not very useful) artist page for the current record label http://www.nonesuch.com/Hi_Band/index_frameset2.htm
• This is a fan-site with a very camp front-page http://stephinsongs.wiw.org/
• Register yourself as a Magnetic Fields fan here http://www.rustyspell.com/merritt/fanlist.html - I'm number 69 on the list
• You can get all The Magnetic Fields' album front and back covers here, for all you naughty downloaders out there http://www.iheartny.com/yourenotthere/themagneticfields.html
• The web-site for the Future Bible Heroes project (this is one of those confusing, mess with your head style sites) http://www.futurebibleheroes.com/
• A fantastically obsessive attempt at an analysis of all 69 of the 69 Love Songs http://69lovesongs.info/wiki/

• A fans forum for all things Stephin Merritt http://www.bowlie.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=34
• Mr Merritt featured on the 'Am I Annoying' site (you get to vote on this question). Slightly worrying are the connotations of his inclusion in the annoying sub-collection of 'Allegedly Gay Men' (because that would automatically make him annoying... obviously) http://www.amiannoying.com/(isap3e45uwod3rjvkkxxcgvg)/view.aspx?id=11309

All the Umbrellas in London

Smoke and Mirrors

The Dreaming Moon

Why I Cry

Come Back From San Francisco

Born on a Train

Fear of Trains

Lonely Highway

When the Open Road is Closing In

2) Naughty downloads again (more up to date so these links should work):

Papa Was a Rodeo

3) Download mp3s of the KVRX gig (03/08/1998) and read my humorous usage of 'Ducky' in the comments bit. There are 4 songs to download:

I Don't Believe You

Smoke and Mirrors

All the Umbrellas in London

Aging Spinsters

4) You can listen to a KCRW broadcast from 13/06/2000 on Realplayer here. It contains a live performance and interview.

4) You can listen to a stream of the track 'Long Vermont Roads' from the Merge (record label) website.

6) Watch the video of 'With Whom to Dance' (Although you do have to listen to rather annoying skit from Sean Paul before you can see the video for some bizarre reason).

7) Listen to the Realplayer stream of The Magnetic Fields in concert in Toronto (July 2004)

8) Not really the magnetic Fields but... here is a cover of 'The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side' by the Norwegian group 'Kings of Convenience'. The singer, Erlend Oye, doesn't sing all the lyrics to the song but it is a nice cover.

9) Another cover version well worth listening to is Arcade Fire's version of 'Born on a Train' from their KCRW session (January 2005).

10) Listen to Stephin as the guest DJ on WMFU radio from back in 2000 (Real Player needed).