Alexander Laurence's Blog, page 2608
July 8, 2013
Quasi Announce Double Album
Quasi Announce Double Album Premiere "You Can But You Got To Go" Track On Pitchfork, Release Trailer Video 'Mole City' Out October 1st On Kill Rock Stars 
Pre-order 'Mole City' Here!
'Mole City' Track Listing: 1. *
2. You Can Stay But You Got To Go
3. See You On Mars
4. Blasted
5. Chrome Duck
6. Chumps Of Chance
7. Fat Fanny Land
8. Nostalgia Kills
9. R.I.P
10. Headshrinker
11. Bedbug Town
12. The Goat
13. Geraldine
14. Loopy
15. Double Deuce
16. Gnot
17. Dust Of The Sun
18. Mole City
19. An Ice Cube In The Sun
20. One And Done
21. The Dying Man
22. Clap Trap
23. New Western Way
24. Beyond The Return Of The Sun Of Nowhere Praise For Quasi: "Quasi's songs teeter between optimism and despair, fantastical journeys and harsh realism; this is a pop band for people who like their pop throttled" -- NPR "Weiss is a remarkable, unpredictable drummer, and the pair play perfectly together, having reached the point at which improvisation becomes the result of an intuitive locking of creative minds." --Pitchfork "Quasi career emotively between Hammond wig-outs, naked piano chords and subversive guitar pop ditties, buoyed by the vicious drumming of Weis" -- NME "It’s an old trick: happy music, sad words. But Quasi has elevated the strategy to an art form, and it’s nearly impossible to resist the sugar rush of the band’s sound in collision with Coomes’ black musings" -- Dusted Magazine "Coomes has his own way of sculpting a quirky pop song that makes one ask themselves if they've ever seen Michael Stipe and Jeff Mangum in the same room at the same time, pulling Athens, Georgia's mainstream and cult-stream songwriting gods into the dreary Northwestern drizzle dregs." --Daytrotter
Listen To "You Can Stay But You Got To Go" On Pitchfork! “This one’s for all the misfits of the world. The square pegs, the don’t fit ins, the out of steps, the misunderstood, the heads in the clouds. And this also goes out to all the also rans out there, the could’ve beens, the would have beens, the left behind, the out of times, the lost in the crowd.” – “An Ice Cube in the Sun,” Quasi.
Mole Cityis not in the tradition or deviating from the tradition – it is the tradition. After 2 decades of launching drums, guitars and pianos through the shifting interzones between harmony and chaos (moonlighting along the way with the likes of Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag, Elliott Smith, Built to Spill and a long list of others), Quasi are a genre of their own - they write songs in the style of Quasi, and Mole City is the Quasi Song Book: Parlor Sing-alongs for the Last Century.
Now in their 20th year as a band, and a two-piece once again, Sam Coomes and Janet Weis hand-deliver the double album/Liberation Cookbook/Encyclopedia of Kicking Ass, Mole City, to those of us who still care about well-built, homemade objects crafted with integrity, spirit, fire, and skill. In other words, those of us who don’t fit into a world where the empty noise of crass capitalism, slick branding, and high profile hot pants have drowned out nearly all other concerns. Mole City, their ninth album, is a set of anthems for the refuseniks, Molotov tossers, pacifist soldiers and bug-eyed freaks, and Quasi is the band playing as the Titanic of what was once Independent Music goes down.
Quasi would actually fit in just fine if every other band had such technical control and ability that they could express each passing thought and literally converse through their instruments, could write meaningful, memorable songs, could sing with heart and humanity, could maintain a musical relationship for nearly a quarter century, could disregard the consumer-tested research and American Idolatry, and was brave enough to strip back their production budget and advance to zero, ditch the engineers, producers and side players, and head underground into their basement alone to record and mix over an hour of new music from scratch.
And Mole Citywould sound like everything else out there if all the other records peeled off their absurd costume jewelry and piped pleather jumpsuits, climbed into the sweat-lodge, confessed their sins of avarice and pride, renounced all earthly possessions and ties, then kicked out the fucking jams. This is the music at an agnostic afterlife juke joint where lysergic teardrops are cried into sweating mugs of high octane hellfire, the bartender can see clear through to your every thought, fear and desire, the upright player’s head is locked into a guillotine, and the guys next to you are whispering conspiratorially about how to fix their time machine. Shakin’ blues, precision freak-outs, air-guitar-worthy riffs, heavy round droplets of time, fuzz everything, wah wahs, ya yas, ooh ahs, grunts, shuffle struts and chiming minor seventh chords - this is rock n roll.
Quasi
Quasi Facebook
Kill Rock Stars
Pre-order 'Mole City' Here!
'Mole City' Track Listing: 1. *
2. You Can Stay But You Got To Go
3. See You On Mars
4. Blasted
5. Chrome Duck
6. Chumps Of Chance
7. Fat Fanny Land
8. Nostalgia Kills
9. R.I.P
10. Headshrinker
11. Bedbug Town
12. The Goat
13. Geraldine
14. Loopy
15. Double Deuce
16. Gnot
17. Dust Of The Sun
18. Mole City
19. An Ice Cube In The Sun
20. One And Done
21. The Dying Man
22. Clap Trap
23. New Western Way
24. Beyond The Return Of The Sun Of Nowhere Praise For Quasi: "Quasi's songs teeter between optimism and despair, fantastical journeys and harsh realism; this is a pop band for people who like their pop throttled" -- NPR "Weiss is a remarkable, unpredictable drummer, and the pair play perfectly together, having reached the point at which improvisation becomes the result of an intuitive locking of creative minds." --Pitchfork "Quasi career emotively between Hammond wig-outs, naked piano chords and subversive guitar pop ditties, buoyed by the vicious drumming of Weis" -- NME "It’s an old trick: happy music, sad words. But Quasi has elevated the strategy to an art form, and it’s nearly impossible to resist the sugar rush of the band’s sound in collision with Coomes’ black musings" -- Dusted Magazine "Coomes has his own way of sculpting a quirky pop song that makes one ask themselves if they've ever seen Michael Stipe and Jeff Mangum in the same room at the same time, pulling Athens, Georgia's mainstream and cult-stream songwriting gods into the dreary Northwestern drizzle dregs." --Daytrotter
Listen To "You Can Stay But You Got To Go" On Pitchfork! “This one’s for all the misfits of the world. The square pegs, the don’t fit ins, the out of steps, the misunderstood, the heads in the clouds. And this also goes out to all the also rans out there, the could’ve beens, the would have beens, the left behind, the out of times, the lost in the crowd.” – “An Ice Cube in the Sun,” Quasi.
Mole Cityis not in the tradition or deviating from the tradition – it is the tradition. After 2 decades of launching drums, guitars and pianos through the shifting interzones between harmony and chaos (moonlighting along the way with the likes of Sleater-Kinney, Wild Flag, Elliott Smith, Built to Spill and a long list of others), Quasi are a genre of their own - they write songs in the style of Quasi, and Mole City is the Quasi Song Book: Parlor Sing-alongs for the Last Century.
Now in their 20th year as a band, and a two-piece once again, Sam Coomes and Janet Weis hand-deliver the double album/Liberation Cookbook/Encyclopedia of Kicking Ass, Mole City, to those of us who still care about well-built, homemade objects crafted with integrity, spirit, fire, and skill. In other words, those of us who don’t fit into a world where the empty noise of crass capitalism, slick branding, and high profile hot pants have drowned out nearly all other concerns. Mole City, their ninth album, is a set of anthems for the refuseniks, Molotov tossers, pacifist soldiers and bug-eyed freaks, and Quasi is the band playing as the Titanic of what was once Independent Music goes down.
Quasi would actually fit in just fine if every other band had such technical control and ability that they could express each passing thought and literally converse through their instruments, could write meaningful, memorable songs, could sing with heart and humanity, could maintain a musical relationship for nearly a quarter century, could disregard the consumer-tested research and American Idolatry, and was brave enough to strip back their production budget and advance to zero, ditch the engineers, producers and side players, and head underground into their basement alone to record and mix over an hour of new music from scratch.
And Mole Citywould sound like everything else out there if all the other records peeled off their absurd costume jewelry and piped pleather jumpsuits, climbed into the sweat-lodge, confessed their sins of avarice and pride, renounced all earthly possessions and ties, then kicked out the fucking jams. This is the music at an agnostic afterlife juke joint where lysergic teardrops are cried into sweating mugs of high octane hellfire, the bartender can see clear through to your every thought, fear and desire, the upright player’s head is locked into a guillotine, and the guys next to you are whispering conspiratorially about how to fix their time machine. Shakin’ blues, precision freak-outs, air-guitar-worthy riffs, heavy round droplets of time, fuzz everything, wah wahs, ya yas, ooh ahs, grunts, shuffle struts and chiming minor seventh chords - this is rock n roll.
Quasi
Quasi Facebook
Kill Rock Stars
EELS "Kinda Fuzzy" video
EELS LEADER IS AN ALCOHOLIC CLOWN IN NEW "KINDA FUZZY" VIDEO
New Album ‘Wonderful, Glorious’ Out Now
July 8, 2013 - EELS are releasing a new video for "Kinda Fuzzy" from their latest album, WONDERFUL, GLORIOUS, which is out now on E Works/Vagrant Records.
Directed by Jessica Hundley, the video features EELS leader Mark Oliver Everett, a.k.a. E, as an alcoholic clown hosting a children's TV show. Watch it now here: http://www.vevo.com/watch/eels/kinda-fuzzy/GB77G0800120
“Kinda Fuzzy” is the third video - following clips for “New Alphabet” and “Peach Blossom” - from the critically acclaimed Wonderful, Glorious.
After a hugely successful 54 show tour of North America and Europe this spring, EELS are embarking on a tour of European festivals and headline shows that begin August 14th. For all current dates, please visit http://eelstheband.com/tourdates/index.php
"One of the warmest, wittiest records you'll hear all year"
"EELS at their most visceral"
8/10
- NME
"Buzzing with renewed vigor"
- Magnet
"Ambitious and diverse"
- USA Today
"Piled with energy"
- Billboard
"EELS' 10th album is a burst of raw sunshine"
- LA Weekly
"EELS' 'Wonderful, Glorious' fits its title"
- The Boston Globe
The Greatest Bad Movies of All Time
The Greatest Bad Movies of All Time
Phil Hall's New Book from BearManor Media
ALBANY, GA. - BearManor Media announces the release ofThe Greatest Bad Movies of All Time, the latest book by noted film writer Phil Hall. This new celebration of cinematic inanity will be available beginning August 12 for a suggested retail price of $21.95.
These are the films that inspire wonder - you are left wondering how seemingly intelligent people could gather together and spend money to create such bizarre productions. From A-list atrocities to Grade-Z zaniness, 100 of the most wonderfully warped anti-classics have been gathered together for this celebration of cinematic kookiness.
Relive the jaw-dropping spectacle of John Wayne as Genghis Khan, Halle Berry as Catwoman, Jack Palance as Fidel Castro, and Jerry Lewis as a Gore Vidal-inspired extra-terrestrial. Sing along with a naked Anthony Newley, tap your toes to a "Pennsylvania Polka" dance number in the middle of an unauthorized remake of A Streetcar Named Desire, watch a suicidal Elizabeth Taylor run amok in Rome and appreciate Coleridge's poetry with topless women.
Hook up with Edward D. Wood Jr., Phil Tucker, Tommy Wiseau and their peers in the so-bad-they're-good genre, and marvel at how cinema royalty including Stanley Kubrick, George Cukor, Michelangelo Antonioni and Clint Eastwood could conceive celluloid debacles of an unprecedented scale. When it comes to shock and awe, nothing compares toThe Greatest Bad Movies of All Time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Phil Hall is a contributing editor for the influential online site Film Threat, where he is best known for his long-running weekly column The Bootleg Files. His previous books include: The Encyclopedia of Underground Movies (2004), Independent Film Distribution (2006) and The History of Independent Cinema (2009). His film writing has also been published by the New York Times, New York Daily News, Wired and American Movie Classics Magazine.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: Founded in 2001, BearManor Media is an independent book publisher specializing in titles related to all aspects of the entertainment world. For more information, visit the company online at www.bearmanormedia.com.
The Greatest Bad Movies of All Time by Phil Hall258 pages, $21.95ISBN 978-1-59393-731-7
ALBANY, GA. - BearManor Media announces the release ofThe Greatest Bad Movies of All Time, the latest book by noted film writer Phil Hall. This new celebration of cinematic inanity will be available beginning August 12 for a suggested retail price of $21.95.These are the films that inspire wonder - you are left wondering how seemingly intelligent people could gather together and spend money to create such bizarre productions. From A-list atrocities to Grade-Z zaniness, 100 of the most wonderfully warped anti-classics have been gathered together for this celebration of cinematic kookiness.
Relive the jaw-dropping spectacle of John Wayne as Genghis Khan, Halle Berry as Catwoman, Jack Palance as Fidel Castro, and Jerry Lewis as a Gore Vidal-inspired extra-terrestrial. Sing along with a naked Anthony Newley, tap your toes to a "Pennsylvania Polka" dance number in the middle of an unauthorized remake of A Streetcar Named Desire, watch a suicidal Elizabeth Taylor run amok in Rome and appreciate Coleridge's poetry with topless women.
Hook up with Edward D. Wood Jr., Phil Tucker, Tommy Wiseau and their peers in the so-bad-they're-good genre, and marvel at how cinema royalty including Stanley Kubrick, George Cukor, Michelangelo Antonioni and Clint Eastwood could conceive celluloid debacles of an unprecedented scale. When it comes to shock and awe, nothing compares toThe Greatest Bad Movies of All Time.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Phil Hall is a contributing editor for the influential online site Film Threat, where he is best known for his long-running weekly column The Bootleg Files. His previous books include: The Encyclopedia of Underground Movies (2004), Independent Film Distribution (2006) and The History of Independent Cinema (2009). His film writing has also been published by the New York Times, New York Daily News, Wired and American Movie Classics Magazine.
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: Founded in 2001, BearManor Media is an independent book publisher specializing in titles related to all aspects of the entertainment world. For more information, visit the company online at www.bearmanormedia.com.
The Greatest Bad Movies of All Time by Phil Hall258 pages, $21.95ISBN 978-1-59393-731-7
LOVE INKS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM & PREMIERE SINGLE
LOVE INKS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM, GENERATION CLUBTO BE RELEASED SEPTEMBER 24
MTVU PREMIERES FIRST SINGLE, "SOLAR DIARY"
"Love Inks wrote their names across our hearts" - NME
"At once frisky and worn down, Sherry LeBlanc's delicate, unadorned moan gives her Austin dream-pop trio a summer mixtape contender" - SPIN
"Consider us wooed" - Paper Magazine
Austin, TX trio Love Inks is excited to premiere their stunning first single "Solar Diary" on mtvU, a new track from their upcoming album Generation Club, out September 24. Listen here: http://www.mtvu.com/music/blissful-new-song-from-austins-love-inks/
Generation Clubis a mesmerizing collection of tracks which blend dream-like synth and brooding undertones, inviting the listener into a dark and hazy realm. As with all of their recordings, Generation Club was recorded on a half-inch tape machine, by the band in their hometown of Austin.
"We started planning the record on our first European tour," says lead singer Sherry LeBlanc. "The tour began and ended in Berlin, so that city holds our first and last impression of the whole experience. Once we got home to write, there were subconscious ideas and moods that came from either the places we saw, things we read or the music we were listening to. It was different for everyone, but Berlin was definitely the framework."
Love Inks is looking forward to a US tour this fall, followed by a string of European dates at the end of 2013. Tour dates to be announced shortly.
Watch a teaser video for Generation Club HERE.
http://loveinks.com/https://www.facebook.com/loveinkshttps://twitter.com/loveinkslovehttp://bighassle.com/publicity/love-inks
GARY CLARK JR. TO HEADLINE LEGENDARY APOLLO THEATER
GARY CLARK JR. TO HEADLINE LEGENDARY APOLLO THEATER IN HARLEM ON NOVEMBER 14
NYC'S TERMINAL 5 SHOW IS COMPLETELY SOLD OUT
July 8th, 2013 - (Burbank, CA) - Singer, songwriter and guitarist extraordinaireGary Clark Jr. will headline the legendary
Apollo Theater
in Harlem on Nov 14th. Clark's show at Terminal 5, set for Nov 16th, has completely sold out. Every other date on his recently-announced national tour, including the Sep 26th opening night at The Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles will follow suit.
Considered the bastion of African-American culture and achievement, The Apollo is famous for launching the careers of everyone from Ella Fitzgerald, to James Brown & The Famous Flames, to The Jackson 5, to Stevie Wonder, to Lauryn Hill. Now it will host Clark, who has enjoyed an amazing upward trajectory with a series of incendiary live performances, proving he is one of the most exciting artists to hit the scene in recent years. Click here to view a solo performance of "Next Door Neighbor Blues" from the U.K.
The opportunity to perform at The Apollo is an esteemed privilege that comes with unqualified sense of occasion for Clark who first performed at the landmark theater on Feb 24, 2012, for the late Hubert Sumlin's Memorial Concert. On that evening, Clark played alongside Keith Richards, James Cotton, Eric Clapton and others to honor the memory of one of his heroes. Click here to view a live version of the new single, "When My Train Pulls In" live from The Warner Sound.
Over the past couple of years Clark has toured the globe and performed and/or recorded with a wealth of genre-spanning Americans icons that include BB King, Buddy Guy, Booker T. Jones, Alicia Keys, The Dream, The Roots and many others. As part of a rich musical heritage Clark represents the New Breed of torch-bearers that will bring the past into the future of classic, American music forms just as those who have inspired him, all of whom have performed at one time or another on the stage of The Apollo Theater.
Pre-sale tickets via Artist Arena, Live Nation and Citi will be made available to members beginning today at 10 am on July 9th, and continue through Thursday July 11th, at 10 pm. Tickets then go on sale to the general public on Friday July 12th, at noon.
Please visit http://www.garyclarkjr.com/ for all of Clark's upcoming tour dates. More news to be revealed soon.
NYC'S TERMINAL 5 SHOW IS COMPLETELY SOLD OUT
July 8th, 2013 - (Burbank, CA) - Singer, songwriter and guitarist extraordinaireGary Clark Jr. will headline the legendary
Apollo Theater
in Harlem on Nov 14th. Clark's show at Terminal 5, set for Nov 16th, has completely sold out. Every other date on his recently-announced national tour, including the Sep 26th opening night at The Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles will follow suit.Considered the bastion of African-American culture and achievement, The Apollo is famous for launching the careers of everyone from Ella Fitzgerald, to James Brown & The Famous Flames, to The Jackson 5, to Stevie Wonder, to Lauryn Hill. Now it will host Clark, who has enjoyed an amazing upward trajectory with a series of incendiary live performances, proving he is one of the most exciting artists to hit the scene in recent years. Click here to view a solo performance of "Next Door Neighbor Blues" from the U.K.
The opportunity to perform at The Apollo is an esteemed privilege that comes with unqualified sense of occasion for Clark who first performed at the landmark theater on Feb 24, 2012, for the late Hubert Sumlin's Memorial Concert. On that evening, Clark played alongside Keith Richards, James Cotton, Eric Clapton and others to honor the memory of one of his heroes. Click here to view a live version of the new single, "When My Train Pulls In" live from The Warner Sound.
Over the past couple of years Clark has toured the globe and performed and/or recorded with a wealth of genre-spanning Americans icons that include BB King, Buddy Guy, Booker T. Jones, Alicia Keys, The Dream, The Roots and many others. As part of a rich musical heritage Clark represents the New Breed of torch-bearers that will bring the past into the future of classic, American music forms just as those who have inspired him, all of whom have performed at one time or another on the stage of The Apollo Theater.
Pre-sale tickets via Artist Arena, Live Nation and Citi will be made available to members beginning today at 10 am on July 9th, and continue through Thursday July 11th, at 10 pm. Tickets then go on sale to the general public on Friday July 12th, at noon.
Please visit http://www.garyclarkjr.com/ for all of Clark's upcoming tour dates. More news to be revealed soon.
Ceremony touring this August
CEREMONY TOURING THIS AUGUST
ED SCHRADER'S MUSIC BEAT OPENING
Ronhert Park's Ceremony are hitting the road for a short East Coast jaunt this summer with Ed Schrader's Music Beat & Give. Ceremony's live show is a force to be reckoned with. If you haven't experienced their assault on pop conventions, then don't sleep and open your head to the power of Ceremony. This will rule.
Tour Dates
8/01 @ Churchills - Miami, FL !
8/02 @ Will's Pub - Orlando FL !
8/03 @ Atticus - Jacksonville, FL !
8/4 @ Drunken Unicorn - Atlanta, GA !
8/06 @ Russian Recording - Bloomington, IN !
8/7 @ Beat Kitchen - Chicago, IL !
8/10 @ Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA (Ceremony Only)
8/12 @ Rock & Roll Hotel - Washington DC !
8/13 @ Ottobar - Baltimore, MD !
8/14 @ Asbury Lanes - Asbury Park, NJ !
8/15 @ The Sinclair - Cambridge, MA !
8/16 @ El n' Gee - New London, CT !
8/17 @ 285 Kent - Brooklyn, NY !
! = w/ Ed Schrader's Music Beat & Give
CEREMONY ONLINE
ED SCHRADER'S MUSIC BEAT OPENING
Ronhert Park's Ceremony are hitting the road for a short East Coast jaunt this summer with Ed Schrader's Music Beat & Give. Ceremony's live show is a force to be reckoned with. If you haven't experienced their assault on pop conventions, then don't sleep and open your head to the power of Ceremony. This will rule.
Tour Dates
8/01 @ Churchills - Miami, FL !8/02 @ Will's Pub - Orlando FL !
8/03 @ Atticus - Jacksonville, FL !
8/4 @ Drunken Unicorn - Atlanta, GA !
8/06 @ Russian Recording - Bloomington, IN !
8/7 @ Beat Kitchen - Chicago, IL !
8/10 @ Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA (Ceremony Only)
8/12 @ Rock & Roll Hotel - Washington DC !
8/13 @ Ottobar - Baltimore, MD !
8/14 @ Asbury Lanes - Asbury Park, NJ !
8/15 @ The Sinclair - Cambridge, MA !
8/16 @ El n' Gee - New London, CT !
8/17 @ 285 Kent - Brooklyn, NY !
! = w/ Ed Schrader's Music Beat & Give
CEREMONY ONLINE
July 3, 2013
Gliss @ The Bootleg July 6th
GLISS plays on Saturday, July 6th 2013, at the Bootleg Theater. w/ The Warlocks
Photo: Angel Ceballos
The Knife "Raging Lung"
The Knife & Sorklubben Present… Shaking The Habitual Show Live Video “Raging Lung” Announced as Next Single
The Knife announce new single “Raging Lung” and have released a Shaking The Habitual Show live video set to the track. The video, self directed by Sorklubben (The Knife performance collective), is the first officially released footage of the Shaking The Habitual Show, and contains a montage of live footage filmed at The Knife's headline show at Hangaren Subtopia in Stockholm in May 2013. The team behind the show, also known as Sorkklubben, is a temporary and expanding community that grows and jiggles. Together they made a performance based on collective joy, effort and sweat.
Watch
the video and read more about the collective on
www.theknife.net
The Knife recently announced they will be part of this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival in Paris on October 31st. Stay tuned for more show dates. The Knife: Website | Facebook | Twitter Mute:
Website
|
Facebook
|
Twitter
July 2, 2013
Out Today: UK's The Leisure Society Album Alone Aboard The Ark
Out Today: UK's The Leisure Society Album Alone Aboard The Ark via Full Time Hobby
(on iTunes HERE -) Listen: New York Times Album Stream HERE
See video: "Fight For Everyone" HERE
Interactive video game HERE
KCRW's Song of The Day "A Softer Voice Takes Longer Hearing" download HERE
Listen / share track: “The Sober Scent Of Paper” HERE
As a fan of UK's The Leisure Society, Ray Davies' of The Kinks invited the band to record their album at his Konk Studios....gives us an idea of the band's expansive electro-pop sound." - KCRW
"Unflinching clarity and a sense of longing...a uniquely British take on Americana; almost as if Scott Walker or Nick Drake had 'gone country', making music for coalminers rather than cowboys." - The Independent On Sunday
"Fragile, beautifully orchestrated and restrained." - The Guardian
Double Ivor Novello nominees The Leisure Society are to release a brand new album, Alone Aboard The Ark, physically on July 2nd through Full Time Hobby. The new LP - recorded at Kinks frontman Ray Davies‘ Konk Studios - is the follow up to 2011’s lauded Into The Murky Water , which the band toured in ever distinctive fashion, including a date at the London Barbican backed by the 40-piece Heritage Orchestra. The band is planning to make the trip for the first time across the pond to play in America later this year.
Fittingly, Alone Aboard The Ark sees the band expanding their arcadian, Baroque pop sound with a more diverse array of sounds and inventive orchestration. Following a summer of rehearsals beside the River Ouse in Befordshire, The Leisure Society decamped to Konk Studios to begin recording the tracks that would become Alone Aboard The Ark . Having declared himself a fan of The Leisure Society, Kinks frontman Ray Davies (owner of Konk) originally sought out the band to help him arrange and record his new solo material, and also included the band in his curation of 2011’s Meltdown Festival on the South Bank.
The genesis of The Leisure Society spans back to the friendship made by Nick Hemming and Christian Hardy in their hometown of Burton on Trent. When the pair relocated to London they fell in with the Brighton-based Wilkommen Collective, and with Helen Whitaker, Mike Siddell and Sebastian Hankins, came to form The Leisure Society. The single 'The Last of The Melting Snow' from their debut LP The Sleeper was nonimated for a 2009 Ivor Novello (alongside heavyweights such as Elbow & The Last Shadow Puppets), and the band joined an incredibly select group when a year later, 'Save It For Someone Who Cares' was also nominated for an Ivor.
Lyrically, Alone Aboard The Ark is an album informed by a palette as eclectic as it's musical flesh. Album standout “The Sober Scent of Paper“is a hair-raising, elegiac waltz informed somewhat unconsciously by the demise of Sylvia Plath: “When I began writing“ says Nick “I didn’t know what it was going to be about. For some reason, the first line “Chains dredge the great lake around you / Pull you along by the knots in your hair“ made me think of her. I guess it’s quite a dark desolate image“. Yet there's light to this shade, with “Tearing The Arches Down“ marrying a wryly observed narrative “The boy with the bloodshot eyes / A legend in your lunchtime“ to an ebullient chant.
Having recorded both The Sleeper and 2011's follow-up Into The Murky Water in home studios, the range of technology both old and new at the band's disposal at Konk proved to be the perfect foil for The Leisure Society's ambitious designs. Alone Aboard The Ark was recorded on a 2“ tape machine and a 1970s mixing desk, and the value of recording live, coupled with the band's minimal approach to arrangement, is borne out across the album. Nick Etwell’s (trumpeter to Mumford & Sons) brass lines permeate “One Man and His Fug“, whilst the electric guitar lines heard on “The Last in A Long Line“ were the product of Christian and Mike‘s two Gretches recorded playing at opposite ends of the studio. Even the piano part for “We Go Together“underwent a nocturnal reinvention when Christian had 'a moment of inspiration, whilst deeply drunk at midnight listening to the playback“.
photo credit: Paul Heartfield
The Leisure Society - Alone Aboard The Ark - (out physically on 7/2 in North-America):
1. Another Sunday Psalm
2. A Softer Voice Takes Longer Hearing
3. Fight For Everyone
4. Tearing The Arches Down
5. The Sober Scent Of Paper
6. All I Have Seen
7. Everyone Understands
8. Life Is A Cabriolet
9. One Man And His Fug
10. Forever Shall We Wait
11. We Go Together
12. The Last In A Long Line
http://www.theleisuresociety.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/theleisuresociety
https://twitter.com/leisuresociety
https://soundcloud.com/the-leisure-society
http://www.fulltimehobby.co.uk/
(on iTunes HERE -) Listen: New York Times Album Stream HERE
See video: "Fight For Everyone" HERE
Interactive video game HERE
KCRW's Song of The Day "A Softer Voice Takes Longer Hearing" download HERE
Listen / share track: “The Sober Scent Of Paper” HERE
As a fan of UK's The Leisure Society, Ray Davies' of The Kinks invited the band to record their album at his Konk Studios....gives us an idea of the band's expansive electro-pop sound." - KCRW
"Unflinching clarity and a sense of longing...a uniquely British take on Americana; almost as if Scott Walker or Nick Drake had 'gone country', making music for coalminers rather than cowboys." - The Independent On Sunday
"Fragile, beautifully orchestrated and restrained." - The Guardian
Double Ivor Novello nominees The Leisure Society are to release a brand new album, Alone Aboard The Ark, physically on July 2nd through Full Time Hobby. The new LP - recorded at Kinks frontman Ray Davies‘ Konk Studios - is the follow up to 2011’s lauded Into The Murky Water , which the band toured in ever distinctive fashion, including a date at the London Barbican backed by the 40-piece Heritage Orchestra. The band is planning to make the trip for the first time across the pond to play in America later this year.
Fittingly, Alone Aboard The Ark sees the band expanding their arcadian, Baroque pop sound with a more diverse array of sounds and inventive orchestration. Following a summer of rehearsals beside the River Ouse in Befordshire, The Leisure Society decamped to Konk Studios to begin recording the tracks that would become Alone Aboard The Ark . Having declared himself a fan of The Leisure Society, Kinks frontman Ray Davies (owner of Konk) originally sought out the band to help him arrange and record his new solo material, and also included the band in his curation of 2011’s Meltdown Festival on the South Bank.
The genesis of The Leisure Society spans back to the friendship made by Nick Hemming and Christian Hardy in their hometown of Burton on Trent. When the pair relocated to London they fell in with the Brighton-based Wilkommen Collective, and with Helen Whitaker, Mike Siddell and Sebastian Hankins, came to form The Leisure Society. The single 'The Last of The Melting Snow' from their debut LP The Sleeper was nonimated for a 2009 Ivor Novello (alongside heavyweights such as Elbow & The Last Shadow Puppets), and the band joined an incredibly select group when a year later, 'Save It For Someone Who Cares' was also nominated for an Ivor.
Lyrically, Alone Aboard The Ark is an album informed by a palette as eclectic as it's musical flesh. Album standout “The Sober Scent of Paper“is a hair-raising, elegiac waltz informed somewhat unconsciously by the demise of Sylvia Plath: “When I began writing“ says Nick “I didn’t know what it was going to be about. For some reason, the first line “Chains dredge the great lake around you / Pull you along by the knots in your hair“ made me think of her. I guess it’s quite a dark desolate image“. Yet there's light to this shade, with “Tearing The Arches Down“ marrying a wryly observed narrative “The boy with the bloodshot eyes / A legend in your lunchtime“ to an ebullient chant.
Having recorded both The Sleeper and 2011's follow-up Into The Murky Water in home studios, the range of technology both old and new at the band's disposal at Konk proved to be the perfect foil for The Leisure Society's ambitious designs. Alone Aboard The Ark was recorded on a 2“ tape machine and a 1970s mixing desk, and the value of recording live, coupled with the band's minimal approach to arrangement, is borne out across the album. Nick Etwell’s (trumpeter to Mumford & Sons) brass lines permeate “One Man and His Fug“, whilst the electric guitar lines heard on “The Last in A Long Line“ were the product of Christian and Mike‘s two Gretches recorded playing at opposite ends of the studio. Even the piano part for “We Go Together“underwent a nocturnal reinvention when Christian had 'a moment of inspiration, whilst deeply drunk at midnight listening to the playback“.
photo credit: Paul Heartfield
The Leisure Society - Alone Aboard The Ark - (out physically on 7/2 in North-America):
1. Another Sunday Psalm
2. A Softer Voice Takes Longer Hearing
3. Fight For Everyone
4. Tearing The Arches Down
5. The Sober Scent Of Paper
6. All I Have Seen
7. Everyone Understands
8. Life Is A Cabriolet
9. One Man And His Fug
10. Forever Shall We Wait
11. We Go Together
12. The Last In A Long Line
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