Drowned In Sound |  |
- No Surprises: Radiohead to carry on releasing albums after all
- Ice! Sea! Dead People!, Piney Gir, Mr David Viner and more for Tom Robinson's Riverside Festival
- Spotifriday #19: This Week on DiS as a playlist
- Various - Warp20 (Chosen)
- Various - Warp20 (Recreated)
- Hefner - We Love the City (reissue)
- Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy
- Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows
- Fanfarlo and First Aid Kit Tour Blog Part II
- Under the 'hood: Tinchy Stryder talks on computer games, backing Lily Allen and digging Green Day
| No Surprises: Radiohead to carry on releasing albums after all Posted: 09 Oct 2009 06:08 AM PDT  Back in August, Yorke was quoted as saying:
Now guitarist Ed O'Brien has spoken on the issue, in an interview with NME, claiming the band, and Yorke were misquoted. He said:
So, there it is. In plain English. Proof. He also added that the band are to return to the studio in the winter to start recording.
Should be nice and dreary then. O'Brien also spoke up for his love of vinyl and his 'like' of CDs, something seemingly in contrast with Yorke, who seems to be much happier to release everything digitally these days.
Fair play. We're sure things will change by this time next week though, by which time there'll probably be some more bizarro collaborations, though it'll take some beating to overcome Yorke vs. Flea. |
| Ice! Sea! Dead People!, Piney Gir, Mr David Viner and more for Tom Robinson's Riverside Festival Posted: 09 Oct 2009 04:17 AM PDT  The bill for the festival, which takes place from October 20 - November 1 in Hammersmith, London, currently looks like this (capitals for extra emphasis): A.P.A.T.T. , ALICE GUN, ATLUM SCHEMA, DAVID CRONENBERG'S WIFE, DEXTER BENTLEY, DR MEAKER, EZRA BANG & HOT MACHINE, FANGS, FICTION, FIGHTING FICTION, FILTHY PEDRO, GABBY YOUNG, GOLD SOUNDS, GRASSCUT, HOODLUMS, ICE, SEA, DEAD PEOPLE, JUICE ALEEM, KILL IT KID, KING CHARLES, KINKAJOU, LANTERNS ON THE LAKE, THE LAUREL COLLECTIVE, LETS TEA PARTY, LISBEE STAINTON, LUCY'S DIARY, MALCOLM KAKSOIS, MILK KAN, MISHAPED PEARLS, THE MORES, Mr.DAVID VINER, Mr.B THE GENTLEMAN RHYMER, NEPHU HUZZBAND, THE OCTOBER GAME, PHANTOM LIMB, PINEY GIR, REVERE, ROB MARR, RUSSELL JOSLIN, SERGEANT BUZFUZ, THE SISTERS OF TRANSISTORS, STUART SILVER, TAPE THE RADIO, THE VICTORIAN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN'S CLUB, WITH LOVE FROM HUMANS. Fit to burst! The Riverside Festival features thirteen shows, all with a different theme or outlook, with the full line-up and details of shows listed below. All of the bands playing have been played by Tom on his show and have equal billing. October 20 - A PRIMAL SCREAM: Angular noise with a twinkle in its eye: Ice! Sea! Dead People! Fangs and Nephu Huzzband. October 21 - BLANG RECORDS NIGHT: Joe Murphy presents Sergeant Buzfuz, David Cronenberg's Wife, Milk Kan, Malcolm Kaksois, Kinkajou, Lucy's Diary, Dexter Bentley and Filthy Pedro. October 22 - AVON CALLING: Bands from Bath and Bristol including With Love From Humans, Fighting Fiction and Let's Tea Party. October 23 - EXPLORERS NIGHT: A wander along pop music's wilder shores featuring Fiction, Grasscut, and a.P.a.t.T. October 24 - SONGWRITERS NIGHT: powerful, emotional. Including Altum Schema, Lanterns On The Lake and The October Game. October 25 - VOCALISTS NIGHT: fine bands with gobsmacking singers with Mishaped Pearls, Phantom Limb and Kill It Kid. October 27 - A GENTLEMEN'S NIGHT OUT: wild, weird and wonderful, featuring Mr B. The Gentleman Rhymer, King Charles and The Victorian English Gentlemens Club. October 28 - AMBIGUOUS RECORDS NIGHT: Al Mobbs presents Rob Marr, Alice Gun, The Mores, Mr. David Viner, Stuart Silver and Gold Sounds. October 29 - ACOUSTIC NIGHT: Three outstanding writers and guitarists with Russell Joslin, Lisbee Stainton and Piney Gir. October 30 - INDEPENDENTS DAY: Bristol beats, searing indie and insane retro electro including Tape The Radio, Dr Meaker and The Sisters Of Transistors. October 31 - HALLOWEEN SPECIAL: a night of flamethrower rap, rock and rhetoric with Ezra Bang & Hot Machine, Juice Aleem and The Laurel Collective. November 1 - GRAND FINALE: ambitious songs with wide horizons featuring Gabby Young, Hoodlums and Revere. Click here for the official website, complete with links to nearly all of the performer's songs for your listening pleasure. And/or click here for BBC 6Music's Fresh On The Net. Tom himself says:
Tickets for all shows are a snip at £6. Booking information is available here. |
| Spotifriday #19: This Week on DiS as a playlist Posted: 09 Oct 2009 02:52 AM PDT  1.The Mountain Goats - 'Psalms 40:2'Yet again we start a Spotifriday playlist with a band who needs little or no introduction. It's the bloody Mountain Goats, who earlier this week released their NINE HUNDREDTH studio album, The Life of the World to Come, which we gave 8/10. 2.Wild Beasts - 'All The King's Men'It's been around for a while, but the greatest four things to have out of Kendal EVER released 'All The King's Men' on Monday, perhaps the most singley single cut on Two Dancers yet one which, unsurprisingly, still abounds with oddness and some degree of mysticism. 3.Vampire Weekend - 'Mansard Roof'Did Vampire Weekend's recent advertising campaign for their new album, Contra, annoy you deeply? Me too. Still, the anticipation of that album has somewhat quashed this feeling significantly. As did the new track they released into the public domain t'other day. It's called 'Horchata', a word I now know the meaning of. 4.Edwyn Collins - 'A Girl Like You'In a slightly bizarre twist of events, Scottish singer-bloke Edwyn Collins was prohibited from uploading his own song onto MySpace. Odd indeed. Funnily enough, it was this very song, which is on Spotify, fortunately for us. Massively overplayed, yes. Brilliant? Still. 5.Idlewild - 'A Film For The Future'Can anyone remember a time when Idlewild weren't around? They are the definition of British indie-stalwarts. This week they released Post Electric Blues. We're not sure if the blues are post or the electric is, but we said it was "a testament to Idlewild's stylistic and thematic consistency, while standing head and shoulders above the two albums which preceded it, if not quite equalling their career highs." The rawness overfloweth in this track, taken from their rough-around-the-edges debut Hope Is Important. 6.No Age - 'Sun Spots'A double bubble of No Age fantasticness this week, with their Losing Feeling EP being released and reviewed, as well as an interview with the duo. This one's short, sweet, moderately dreamy and fairly fuzzy. As if you expected anything less! 7.Pavement - 'Shady Lane'HONESTLY GUYS. How much longer can this Pavement FRENZY go on for? At least a little while yet, I'd imagine. The news this week is that they'll be headlining and curating one of the May ATP weekends next year. Next week, who knows? Maybe they'll announce they're playing my living room. That would be FRIGGIN' AWESOME. 8.Biffy Clyro - 'Saturday Superhouse'We got ourselves a first listen to Scottish powerhouse that is Biffy Clyro's new record, Only Revolutions, the follow-up to 2007's Puzzle, from which this track is taken. The only real reason why this has been chosen, however, is for the line "I can see a darkness/ you see the blinding light/Will Oldham's in the corner/moaning 'won't you write your own lines'". 9.Adam Green - 'Party Line'The Greenster gave us a tasty teaser from his new album, Minor, which is on the way in early 2010. The track was alright, I guess. Nowt astounding, though. This particular choice is our nod to the Conservative Party Conference this week, where David Cameron outlined his plans to charge drug dealers more for heating their homes, and rightly so. If DC was a singer I'm nigh-on certain he'd sound like Adam Green. 10.The Twilight Sad - 'Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did''What in the Jim James is this guy on about?' might be one of the questions you ask yourself when first listening to The Twilight Sad but, with time, you may very well ask yourself 'why didn't I listen to this band sooner?'. If there's a future to be had in Scottish and indeed British music, The Twilight Sad may be very close to the centre of it. We reviewed their new record this week, giving it 7/10. 11.Why? - 'Even The Good Wood Gone'Why?'s Eskimo Snow was never going to be quite as good as Alopecia, was it? That is as maybe, but it's a damned fine effort nonetheless, with more emphasis on straight-up conventional songwriting than anything else. Arguably the album's finest piece, 'Even The Good Wood Gone' makes the most of dynamics and changes in tone as well as the oh-so-tuneful voice of Yoni Wolf. 12.Everything Everything - 'Sufragette Suffragette'"Who's gonna to sit on your face when I'm gone" is pretty much all that needs to be said about Everything Everything. Oh, and their current single, 'My Keys, Your Boyfriend' did indeed get our coveted Single Of The Week award, reviewed, as ever, by Wendy Roby. 13.Califone - 'Funeral Singers'This slow-burner of a sauntering lo-fi-folk number appears on cross-genre Califone's newest long player, All My Friends Are Funeral Singers which is, apparently, a soundtrack/score for a film of the same name. You could do a lot worse than listen to the (sort-of) title track. 14.Massive Attack - 'Unfinished Sympathy'I know, I know. There are better and less overplayed tracks to stick on but it just feels right, and at home here. Splitting The Atom got a less than positive review so possibly just best to relive the glory days for the time being then, yeah? Yeah. 15.Kippi Kaninus - 'Purer, Softer, Deeper'And the prize for "hadn't ever heard this fellow before about thirty minutes ago but shiiiiiiiiiit, this is quite good, ennit?" this week goes to Kippi Kaninus, whose record we studied and marked this week. This one doesn't quite step into electrowank territory, but sounds like a futuristic Four Tet, samples gathered from a variety of broken urban archives in the decaying land of the 24th century. If you want. 16.Animal Collective - 'My Girls'Several months after MPP's release and I still am unaware as to what adobe slabs are. I've asked dearest mother and she's unsure. Probably should ask pops. Anyway, Animal Collective are re-releasing Campfire Songs on Paw Tracks as it's out of print on the original label. There are also rumours of a possible record out in December. 'CITING! 17.Hefner - 'Orange Ball Of Hate'One of the most loved British indie bands of the last ten years is what this lot are. Darren Hayman for Prime Minister, or something. Their third full-length album We Love The City was re-issued this week. Though the recent compilation Catfight is the only one available to us, it's still full of the self-deprecating yet painfully aware tunes penned by Hayman and co. 'Orange Ball Of Hate' represents the closing of the circle, as it's a cover of The Mountain Goats. Click here for this week's Spotifriday playlist, or post your playlists below. Share and we can all join in on the fun! |
| Posted: 09 Oct 2009 06:09 AM PDT  With that in mind, it's a pleasure to welcome the 24 tracks that comprise Warp20 (Chosen). Split across two discs, Disc 1 features 10 songs as selected by fans on Warp20.net, whereas Disc 2 is filled with 14 of Steve Beckett's personal favourites. With over 60 artists and thousands of records to choose from, neither task can have been easy, with both discs unlikely to comprehensively represent the label. Somewhat predictably, Disc 1 opens with the Brit-nominated, psycho-funk of Aphex Twin's 'Windowlicker', and also includes cuts from similarly big name Warp artists. Squarepusher's 2-step garage parody 'My Red Hot Car' runs nicely into Boards of Canada's multicoloured trip to 'Roygbiv', before the tenacious, syncopated stomping of Battles' 'Atlas' enters the fray with signature pitch shifted vocals that berate any listeners in search of rational sounds. With Disc 1's tendency to favour later Warp releases, it's good to see LFO's 1991 club smash 'LFO' (Leeds Warehouse Mix) make an appearance. Available on previous compilation 10+2, the voters of Warp20 clearly believe that LFO's impact on dance music cannot be overstated. Similarly, Luke Vibert's 2003 classic 'I Love Acid' is here for old skool type delights. For cerebral listeners and purveyors of 'Intelligent Dance Music', Autechre's mechanical 'Gantz Grant' should entrance, but the sweetly arpeggiated guitars of Plaid's 'Eyen' and the soaring key changes of Clark's 'Herzog' generate less challenging, yet equally sonically fulfilling rewards. Over to Disc 2, where time spent with Steve Beckett as selector yields more exciting and lesser-heard tracks. The most intriguing opportunity offered by this disc is hearing which sounds turn Beckett's ear. Much like the output of R&S records, the music here bears a communal, nascent feel. Whether you use the uplifting, chemical drive of Grizzly Bear, Black Dog Productions or Seefeel to get you there, the outcomes are frequently euphoric. The incongruous, gangbanging beats of Flying Lotus ('GNG BNG') and the complex, deconstructed circuit-smashing doled out on Aphex Twin's 'Bucephalus Bouncing Ball' are of particular note. It's possible to argue in favour of a greater variety of artists on Chosen, but then arguing about what should and shouldn't make it on to compilations is about as useful as putting clogs on a duck. Beckett has selected songs he has a personal affection for, regardless of whether the artist appears on Disc 1 or not; and that honesty and integrity is part of what makes Disc 2 (and Warp Records, for that matter) so entirely engrossing and enjoyable. Chosen is not just another bookmark in Warp's history: it's the brief guide bought by the student that's not been paying attention in class. Get listening. |
| Posted: 09 Oct 2009 05:35 AM PDT  A double disc affair, it fits logically enough into the drool-worthy Warp20 Box Set, where it nestles in order of billing between the big-hitting 'greatest hits' of Chosen and the unavailable elsewhere Unheard (a triple 10-inch set of unreleased material by Boards of Canada, Autechre, Broadcast et al). But what of Recreated's life outside the box? It would be second guessing the essentially free spirit of Warp to suggest this set is aimed at anyone in particular, as opposed to being a slightly loopy exercise in making something genuinely special for the Sheffield label's anniversary. Certainly there's no suggestion any of the original songs need this treatment; for all its synonymity with early Nineties techno, Warp has as well-dated a back catalogue as any label you'd care to name. Thing begin in cheerfully iconoclastic form, not with a glitch, but with a holler, as raggedy Canadian indie folkers Born Ruffians condense Aphex Twin's 'Milkman' and 'To Cure a Weakling Child' into a sort of lusty Appalachian drinking song, the line about "the milkman's wife's tits" repeatedly despatched with harmonied aplomb. It's ridiculous, in a good natured way, and stands in giggling contrast to Leila's later take on 'Vordhosbn', a sombrely impressive piece of piano baroqery. They're both pretty damn entertaining, and undeniably ballsy. As you'd perhaps expect from a compilation possessed of a certain gall, the most dramatic reconstructions tend to be the more worthwhile. Bibio's transcription of Boards of Canada's fragmentary 'Kaini Industries' onto 'real' instruments turns it into a stirring, anthemic little motif; Mark Pritchard offers a lushly pastoral take on Balil's obscurish early techno nugget '3/4 Heart'; it's not especially easy to work out what bearing Diamond Wrist Watches' 'Fool In Rain' may have on Pivot's original, but it's incredibly pretty, a glowing ambient-folk shuffle, delicate and precious as a midnight kiss. Closing the second disk, Seefeel show there's no internal snobbery at Warp, gamely recognising the melodic merits of Maximo Park's 'Acrobat' and rendering it as a small, warm thing, crackling away cosily. Elsewhere there are a couple of misfires – Mira Calix and Oliver Coates' austere string take on 'In A Beautiful Place Out in the Country' makes you yearn for the original's textural richness, Jimi Tenor and John Callaghan's contributions verge on irritating novelty – but if anything, Recreated rather suffers from a surfeit of respect. Though described as a set of covers, that often just means 'remixes', and fairly faithful ones at that: Luke Vibert's 'LFO', Autechre's 'What Is House (LFO Remix)', Rustie's spooking up of Elecktroids 'Midnight Drive' and Pivot's electrification of Grizzy Bear's Colorado; none of them serve to add much. For a label whose artists have tended to flirt with the borderline psychotic end of the nerd spectrum, you'd think they could have been a bit bolder, disastrous as the results may have been. Clark is the only one to really do something nasty, catapulting Milanese's 'So Malleable' forward to near gabba velocity, filling the minute and a half of running time saved with a desolate electronic scream, like the song's avenging ghost. You can't really grumble at the lack of consitency: Recreated was setting itself up as rather hubristic from the off, and one wonders whether the numerous high profile absentees (Aphex, Squarepusher, Broadcast, Boards of Canada, Flying Lotus, Grizzly Bear, Battles, Gang Gang Dance) were all too busy, or if a few were simply daunted by the task. This set was never going to match Chosen pound for pound, but even so, there's enough class brought to bear to stop it being a simple curio. If Warp artists are the only people crazy enough to cover Warp artists, they're also the only ones who could do so even half this convincingly. |
| Hefner - We Love the City (reissue) Posted: 09 Oct 2009 01:39 AM PDT  At the time We Love The City first arrived back in 2000, they were probably still unaware of a self-appointed future as the 'Britain's Largest Small Band'. Singer-songwriter Darren Hayman had strung together 12 more earnest lyrics about the trouble with loving in London in your late twenties, and the band had honed twelve more tunes to take into the Roundhouse Studios, where they would lay down their third album. "This is sixth form poetry, not Keats or Yeats" sings Hayman on the record's eponymous opener. He may be right but, like all great pop music, it hits the right at the heart as much as the head. The result of those sessions were 12 lovely little songs, running the gamut from bedroom soul to barroom singalong. The title track outlines the typical love-hate relationship city-dwellers have with their surrounds as it builds to an unexpectedly stratospheric coda. 'The Greedy Ugly People' defines the arrogant exclusiveness of love to a wonderfully evocative steel guitar line. 'Good Fruit' shows Hayman's ugly, desperate nasal whine to be the perfect vehicle to articulate the pains of lost love. 'Painting and Kissing' is an occasionally hilarious tale of un unexpected affair: "She took me down to her basement, she showed me all of her paintings/She sure couldn't paint". 'Don't Go' is a raggedly beautiful piece of seduction. Admittedly 'The Day That Thatcher Dies' - with its children's choir and relentlessly catchy chorus - confirms them to have been around a decade too late for their own good. Nonetheless, it, like 'The Greater London Radio' and 'She Can't Sleep No More' show the band's ambition and range. A decade on, after an electro offshoot, a series of solo records and a fallout with Too Pure that prevented him releasing anything for a couple of years, the copyright on Hefner's back catalogue has reverted to Hayman and he's set about reissuing their albums with oodles of extras. As the band always set about recording pretty much as live, the full demos included here add little to the final tracks. The remixes featured (by half-remembered names like Baxendale and Wisdom Of Harry) are equally dispensable. The handful of Hefner originals – b-sides and EP tracks – are, however, routinely excellent. Amongst them 'Christian Girls', an oft-recorded early song taken in this version from the Boxing Hefner compilation, is one of Hayman's best: a sprightly paean to the purity of love. We Love The City isn't Hayman's masterpiece – that was previous LP The Fidelity Wars. Still, it's a high watermark in the career of an underappreciated talent. |
| Posted: 09 Oct 2009 01:36 AM PDT  It's immediately apparent after one listen to Childish Prodigy that this is a more mature work than Vile's previous two efforts. Production values have been raised, the tendency to meander off into subtle abstractions (See: 'White Riffs' and 'Doctor Orgatron' from God is Saying This to You…) has been quashed, and the endearing tinpot beats and gruel-like production values of 'Breathin' Out' from Constant Hitmaker have been thoroughly cleansed. In short, the trad-rock influences (Stones, Springsteen, Rundgren) that previously lurked in the background have now been shoved to the fore, and the hazy dream-pop infused Ariel Pink-isms of yore have mostly been placed on hold. Vile's band, the Violators, bring a truckload of heft to these songs when they appear, beginning with the meaty 'Hunchback'. The fuzzed out musical backing is ripped straight from Neil Young's Ragged Glory, while Vile's hoarse rasp is noticeably more strident and Mick Jagger-like than the softened tones of his solo excursions. It's unremarkable rock fodder, aimed squarely at soused audiences who demand nothing more from music than the chance to pump a fist in the air and break a glass in your face. It wouldn't sound out of place on Primal Scream's stale southern boogie misfire, Give Out But Don't Give Up, but thankfully things quickly improve from there. Stylistically, Vile may be all over the map on Childish Prodigy, but it's when he stops trying to cover a tremendous swathe of ground that he delivers the goods. He shines when he quashes the urge to rock out, returning to the delicate primitivism of Constant Hitmaker on the loop-heavy 'Blackberry Song' and really excelling on one of the most beautifully dejected songs he's recorded to date in 'He's Alright' — even if his voice does momentarily parallel the Mancunian twang of Ian Brown. 'Amplifier' is the sound of a relationship fracturing into millions of tiny pieces, topped off perfectly by an unexpected trumpet solo. Vile has a great talent for capturing those moments when your heart sinks into your shoes, and a few tracks here mirror the crestfallen Lee Ranaldo songs ('Mote', 'Wish Fulfillment') that add a welcome dab of melancholy to Sonic Youth albums. So that's the Kurt Vile of Childish Prodigy: a man without a singular aesthetic to call home, and no doubt perfectly happy to continue that way. It can seem unfocussed on occasion, but that rush to cram in influences from disparate sources settles into a pleasing hodge-podge in the second half of this album, especially when Vile tempers the urge to bellow like he's spent the morning working his way through several packets of cheap cigarettes. The diversions into little sketches of songs, like the ambient instrumental 'Prom King' from God is Saying This to You…, are sadly no more, but the overall influence of that sound is still keenly felt on a pleasing span of material here. Now someone just needs to convince Vile that he's not Joe Cocker's progeny, and his next album should be worth the (probably very short) wait. |
| Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows Posted: 09 Oct 2009 01:34 AM PDT  This is the background against which their second album, As Seen Through Windows finally lands in the UK (even though it's been out over the pond for yonks). Fans will not be disappointed – opener 'Stripes' picks up where first set Recording an Album the Colour of Light leaves off: lush soundscapes driven by haunting horns and screeching violins. That's not to say that the band have been resting on their laurels, though. While this isn't a vast departure from their previous work, it's certainly an evolution and a significant step forward. Especially notable is a sparsely-used but effective electronic element to their sound, crashing into second track 'Elephants', and kicking off the initially-faithful cover of Aphex Twin's 'Bucephalus Bouncing Ball' (I say initially, because it soon mutates into something much more interesting...) Actually, it's 'Elephants' which showcases the real strength of this album: it's like the soundtrack to the greatest film never made. Close your eyes, and you can practically see elephants marching across the savannah, only to be assaulted by poachers and a lone survivor limp away, lamenting its fallen comrades. It just begs for images to be put with the sounds. 'The Gaze', too,has a similar effect, immediately calling to mind a chase scene from a cop show with pretensions to high drama. In fact, there's not a duff moment throughout the entire album. 'Icicles - Bicycles' and 'Water – Lights - Shifts' showcase a more minimalist approach, whereas 'As Seen Through Windows' is a superlative example of building tension'. It's album closer 'Air Lines – Land Lines' which turns this from a great piece of work into a superb one, though. After five minutes of understated,repeating violin motifs which echo opener 'Stripes', the song explodes into a joyous, triumphant and soaring symphony which calls to mind hawks soaring through mountain valleys. Indeed, if you were to choose one word to describe this album, 'soaring' would be it. As Seen Through Windows is both a progression and an evolution from the band's previous work, and it would be criminal to overlook them this time. |
| Fanfarlo and First Aid Kit Tour Blog Part II Posted: 09 Oct 2009 02:19 AM PDT  First Aid KitDear all at Drowned in Sound, After a lovely show we had a lovely day off in Glasgow - it was our first time and we thought the city was just amazingly beautiful. After getting lots of tips on things to do from two really nice girls at the show the day before we went to a great Indian resturant by Hill Head. After that we walked to the Kevingrove musuem which was very close by, since we had a lot of people recommending us to go there the night before. It was a great museum, our favourite thing there was this old machine which reminded us of a cupboard but it was really a "music machine". It played songs from Wizard of Oz and we stood there singing along, even though we haven't seen that movie in ages we still remembered the lyrics to the songs, and it stil remains one of our absolute favourite movies. We remember singing 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' as kids in our garden. Sweet memories. We then walked the streets of Glasgow and ate some really disgusting China bufée. We felt real sick the rest of the evening. Too much of the good is not always good...Then we went to our hotel and watched Pointless and The Weakest Link on TV. Why don't we have those shows in Sweden? Visiting Middlesbrough was rather special for us since our dear mother spent five years of her childhood there. Telling this to the audience, no one really seemed to believe us. The show was Westgarth Social Club was really good and we met a lot of really great people there. The next day we went for a stroll in around the town and we came upon a really lovely little vintage shop where we found this amazing dress.
Later we drove to Church Lane to look at the house where our mother lived. It was a really beautiful house and we took some photos to show her when we got home!
We continued our travels to Nottingham, playing at a place called Bodega. We had a lovely time, the audience was so nice and supportive. A special shout out goes to the girl from Australia who kept singing along to the songs. That warmed our hearts. We didn't have a lot of time to see Nottingham though which was a real shame... Love, Klara & Johanna Fanfarloby Simon The last few days have gone by in flash; there's something about being on tour that seems to compress time to a blurry stream of smelly empty venues, hanging around biting your nails waiting for the show, then having the most amazing time ever for an hour and before you know it having breakfast in the van on the way to the next town. On Friday we went to Middlesbrough to play for this lovely promoter called Andy who's been e-mailing us for about two years, trying to get us to come and play. After soundcheck he comes running with a jar of peanut butter saying it was on the rider and apologising he had forgotten to get it. Lucky for him - needless to say, no peanut butter would have been an absolute deal breaker. Nottingham and Oxford were both two really good nights, those places are more fun to play every time we come back. The Jericho Tavern in Oxford claims to be the venue where Radiohead and Supergrass where discovered, so the venue tastefully has the bands' faces painted on the walls. Yesterday was stupidly busy with an acoustic session live on air for Cerys Matthews, a photo shoot for Spin magazine and then of course playing the biggest show of the tour at Bush Hall in London. Before the session we realised that 'The Walls Are Coming Down' is on their A-list so really, we should play it... except we've never played it acoustically before. So we rock up at the BBC Western House with our instruments and spend up to the last second before we're on air rehearsing the song, trying to work out a keyboard part that will also cover what the violin and glock are supposed to be doing. As we're on and Amos is clicking us in I'm bracing myself for catastrophic failure but in the end our remarkable professionalism saves the day yet again. The Bush Hall show was sold out weeks ago and we knew a couple of big wigs were coming down, so the pressure was on. Of course we managed to play the most shambolic show of the tour, with me not only managing to unplug Bobby's pedal board during Finish Line, but also dancing around and activating some sort of extreme metal circuit deep within the belly of the pedal beast, turning my relatively restrained jangles into a terrifying blast of distortion and feedback. Despite me panicking, I think the crowd might have thought it was actually great, so maybe it's the way forward. From now on it's all screaming guitars in Fanfarlo. |
| Under the 'hood: Tinchy Stryder talks on computer games, backing Lily Allen and digging Green Day Posted: 09 Oct 2009 12:53 AM PDT  Following up the success of 'Number 1' and 'Never Leave You', featuring N-Dubz and Amelle 'second generation Sugababe' Berrabah respectively, with number two album Catch 22, Tinchy also features on the upcoming War Child charity single 'I've Got Soul', out October 19. But all that seems standard compared to the location we track down Tinchy for a whistle-stop chat about his newfound fame, backing Lily Allen's anti-piracy witterings and love for Green Day: taking time out from videogame Need For Speed SHIFT's UK Championships at the adventure world that is Thorpe Park...
Tinchy Stryder:Yeah. I've been on some rides while I've been here so it's been cool. I went on Stealth and the Saw. I'm not sure what was the best one. I ain't been to Thorpe Park for ages man, since I was much younger. It feels much smaller now. When I was younger I thought this was the biggest place ever. I'm enjoying it. DiS: Are you a big videogames fan? Your moniker was partly derived from the late '80s game Strider, right? TS: Yeah. I wasn't actually a fan of that game. I just remembered the name of the game. I wouldn't say that driving games are my main thing but I like them, man. The main thing I like doing is playing football. DiS: Now you're rolling in famous circles, do you have any Premier League footballer mates? TS: Nah, I ain't got no footballer mates. I met Rio Ferdinand a little while ago though. He was a cool guy. I did a little something with him for his magazine. He's a fan of my music as well. DiS: You've thrown your weight behind Lily Allen's anti-digital music piracy movement. What's your take on the whole argument? TS: Yeah. Obviously that came about because of people saying it's cool that they're at a stage in their careers where they've done everything and they don't need it, whereas a lot of people haven't got that. It's peoples' lives and jobs, so all them illegal downloads aren't helping. At the same time it's a promotional tool for some people, that's how you get your music out there and get people hearing you, but I think it's wrong overall. She made a good point and that's why I was behind her because definitely it does slowly, slowly kill things, man. DiS: You mentioned on your blog you'd like to collaborate with Ms Allen. Is that something that might happen in the future? TS: Yeah, maybe one day, because I like her. I like her style, it's got a raw edge to it from the first time I ever heard it. I met her a little while ago at a festival. She's a cool girl, man. She uses the same slang and that. When you meet someone you relate to like that it's cool, so maybe one day. DiS: Last year you appeared on Gang Gang Dance album Saint Dymphna. Do you have any ambitions to collaborate with any other indie or rock bands? TS: You know what, that ain't really my thing. I wouldn't say I'm really into rock. But I've been listening to '21 Guns' and 'Know Your Enemy' by Green Day a lot recently. I kept hearing them when I was on holiday and I liked it, so I like Green Day. Yeah man, I'd like to work with them. DiS: Your next single is 'You're Not Alone', which samples Olive. Dizzee Rascal's next single, 'Dirtee Cash', samples The Adventures Of Stevie V. Should we prepare for a winter of grime stars half-inching 1990s dance hits? TS: Ha ha! It's a coincidence because he obviously didn't know I was doing that, but when you're in the studio you've got to experiment with things; the ones that come out the best we try and put out. DiS: Is there a healthy competitiveness between you and Dizzee, being arguably the two biggest emcees in the country? TS: Yeah, definitely. He's someone I respect and look up to musically for what he's done and what he's achieved. He thinks out of the box every time, so you got to respect that. DiS: And how are you dealing with your recent rise in fame, and the resultant press attention? TS: To be honest I'm just taking it in my stride. That's all I can do. I think it can stress some people and turn people crazy, so I'm just taking it in my stride. |
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