No new review this week, but there will be more than one review next week (and keeping my fingers crossed over a few other things) … but of course I cannot let a Tuesday go by without posting something.
I have been e-mailing back and forth with a friend (we shall call him Candyman) about music; he has an extensive knowledge of music, especially (popular and obscure) new wave – he is keeping me on my toes! So, I thought that I would do something a bit different with this video post: split it between new videos and older ones.
First, the new videos, here is Orphan Boy’s new video for “Some Frontiers.” Here are some links if you missed the review of their album “Passion, Pain & Loyalty” (link) and a recent interview (link).
Orphan Boy’s “Some Frontier” from their YouTube Channel: oprhanboyuk.
Surfing around, I came across Maria Rodés – what an amazing voice! I think I am going to have to run out this weekend and buy her album.
Maria Rodés’ “Desorden” from the bcoredisc YouTube Channel.
The last two new videos are from veteran Bjork (one of those artists who always makes me scratch my head) and newcomers Dinosaur Pile-Up, which are further evidence that the 90s are definitely seeping back.
Bjork’s “The Comet Song” from her YouTube Channel: bjorkdotcom.
Dinosaur Pile-Up’s “Mona Lisa” from their YouTube Channel: dinosaurpileup.
Now for the old videos, and I have to state again, there are so many great songs that are just not officially available by so many bands, some that I have not thought about in years till this week, that should not be forgotten: Celebrate the Nun, Dalek I Love You, The Lotus Eaters, and Sigue Sigue Sputnik to mention a few (and let’s not forget Ministry’s first album!). Unfortunately, their videos are not officially available for embeds … I have alluded to this in the past, perhaps it is time to reach out to these artists and labels to place their music out there officially …
But reconnecting with my friend, Candyman, has really got me thinking of older music, more obscure music, and the avant-garde. Though these videos below do not reflect that (to my frustration!), they are four great songs from the 80s … Enjoy!
The Psychedelic Furs’ “Heartbreak Beat” from the PsychedelicFursVEVO YouTube Channel.
Orchestral Manouvers In the Dark’s “If You Leave” from their MySpace Videos page.
If You Leave
OMD | MySpace Video
The Cure’s “Primary” from TheCureVEVO YouTube Channel.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s “Warriors of the Wasteland” from the zttrecords YouTube Channel.
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Showing posts with label Orphan Boy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Orphan Boy. Show all posts
05 October 2010
28 September 2010
Orphan Boy Answers 5
Hands down, the biggest surprise this past summer was Orphan Boy’s “Passion, Pain & Loyalty” (link to review). Rubbing elbows with everything from Madchester to shoegaze, this is a band that may know the past really well, may know all the trends out there at the moment, but are not content with simply rehashing or reproducing some one else’s sound. What I like the most, especially about the final track, is that they hit on something that Bowie did: how to balance the experimentally inaccessible with the accessible. I knew I had to ply the band with a few questions, so I would like to personally thank Robert Cross for taking the time to Answer 5.
1. Who are your musical and non-musical influences?
When I was growing up, my top five bands were The Clash, The Pixies, The Stone Roses, Radiohead and Pink Floyd, in that order. Then you start to veer off a bit: Tom Waits, DJ Shadow, I Am Kloot, Billy Bragg, Dexys, Pulp. Then you start meeting loads of great unsigned bands on your quest: Nacional, Frazer King, The Whiskycats, The Heartbreaks, Richard Dutton, The Dandilions. Then you get a bit disillusioned with music and start drifting into other areas: five-a-side football, Charles Bukowski, Chekhov’s short stories, wildlife documentaries, Grand Theft Auto. That kind of thing.
2. "Passion, Pain & Loyalty" is definitely different from your debut, "Shop Local." How did you approach composing and recording your sophomore effort, and were you consciously trying to go in a new direction?
With the first album, we wanted it to sound urgent and unpredictable. We banned choruses. After that we took a step back, started using keyboards, trying out dance beats, using simpler structures and arrangements, thinking more about melody, writing more reflective and personal lyrics. The result is a more accessible, assured and evocative record, I think. But we love both of them just the same.
3. I find it interesting how the press typically wants to place a band as part of a city's scene, whether London or Manchester, Los Angeles or New York. But the reality is that most of these bands come from elsewhere. I am more interested in knowing what parts of Cleethorpes still seep in and/or have formed your music.
You make a good point there. Manchester-based musicians have suffered because of the city’s strong heritage, much the same way that Liverpool-based musicians have. People (or, more accurately, industry people) can’t seem to make sense of anything from Manchester that doesn’t sound like a ‘Manchester band.’ And so there is a lot of great music from the city that has been ignored by the mainstream because they couldn’t put a label on it. Thankfully this seems to be changing slightly, with the new wave of Manchester bands, which don’t sound like Oasis, New Order, etc, but are still getting recognition. Like you say though, many of them are not Mancunian, and people are saying they should not be included because of this. Which is untrue and unfair. It’s hard enough for a small-town band to move to a big city and fight to win exposure, only to be denied that exposure because they are not native to that city. It’s a no win situation for these bands. From our point of view, no one was ever going to pay much attention to the Cleethorpes scene, were they? But that’s a shame because there are some great bands in Cleethorpes. And yes Cleethorpes does play a big part in our lyrics these days. I figured that tons of people had written about life in the city and yet you rarely hear anyone singing about deserted docks with cobbled streets and one-armed bandits.
4. After listening to "Popsong," I really want to hear your take on the music industry.
My take on it is far worse than anything described in “Popsong.” From what I can gather, for the last five years the major labels (in Britain, at least) have wasted all of their money on, and forced upon the public, endless amounts of safe, soulless guitar music. And now no one is getting signed and the labels are claiming that people aren’t buying records and that guitar music is not fashionable – it’s no fucking wonder after five years of the Kooks, Kaiser Chiefs and Kasabian. The mainstream press is looking to the big labels (who bankroll the mags through advertising) for the next Strokes and who’ve they come up with? The Drums? Aren’t they just The Strokes but ten years too late? So mags like “The NME” are re-trawling through past glories, digging up the ghost of Oasis, The Libertines and (in a recent issue) Jimi Hendrix for their cover stars. The mainstream is dead on its arse. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t great bands out there. I’ve heard them with my own ears, just by getting around a few gigs and using the Internet. Writing good music is not hard. All you need is a soul and a crap job. We’ve written two great albums on our dinner-breaks while the pop-stars can barely string an idea together. But the A&R people are not looking for that, they’re looking for radio-friendly production with catchy choruses; they’re looking for mad haircuts and zany costumes; they’re looking for a scene, a soap opera. They think this is what people get excited about. They think this is what captures the imagination. It’s not. When we play gigs in Manchester or Cleethorpes, our mad little fanbase (full of random waifs and strays from all corners of society) goes nuts; they throw themselves around the stage and sing every word back at us. They don’t get this excited because we look cool, because we don’t look cool. We look like what we are, which is a bunch of scruffy Northern chancers. But we got songs. And after all the hype dies down, that’s all people really take to their hearts. The A&R men don’t know this because they’ve not grown up listening to records, they’ve not lived their young lives by the beats and the tunes and the sounds of great music. They’re money men. Twats from business school, talking about demographics and market patterns and synchronisation. They follow each other around like well-dressed fools, desperately trying to figure out whom the hip band is that everyone wants to see; all the A&R men cramming into one venue, all trying to outbid each other for some doomed buzz band. They know fuck all. They’re finished. Viva la revolution. The cabbages are coming now, the Earth exhales...So that’s my take on it all. Would we take a publishing deal with Sony if they offered us a shitload of money? Yeah, probably. I got bills to pay.
5. I am very intrigued by the imagery bands employ; so on that note, what message are you trying to convey with the cover of "Passion, Pain & Loyalty"?
There was the donkey photo, which just kind of looked right. And then there was another photo which suggested more of a story and had a lot more happening, with the three of us as hitch-hikers. In the end we went with the donkey photo because it just looked more striking. I voted for the other cover actually but lost out. In the end I think the donkey photo works best, especially with the way our art guy (Keef Finnegan) has played around with the colours and tones. There is the strong Cleethorpes connection made by this cover, which is reflected in some of the lyrics. And purple and sepia, who’d have thought it? Together at last.
Keep up with Orphan Boy at their homepage, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.
Here is their video for “Popsong” from their YouTube Channel: orphanboyuk.
Read more ...
(Orphan Boy / Photographer: Roger Sargent)
1. Who are your musical and non-musical influences?
When I was growing up, my top five bands were The Clash, The Pixies, The Stone Roses, Radiohead and Pink Floyd, in that order. Then you start to veer off a bit: Tom Waits, DJ Shadow, I Am Kloot, Billy Bragg, Dexys, Pulp. Then you start meeting loads of great unsigned bands on your quest: Nacional, Frazer King, The Whiskycats, The Heartbreaks, Richard Dutton, The Dandilions. Then you get a bit disillusioned with music and start drifting into other areas: five-a-side football, Charles Bukowski, Chekhov’s short stories, wildlife documentaries, Grand Theft Auto. That kind of thing.
2. "Passion, Pain & Loyalty" is definitely different from your debut, "Shop Local." How did you approach composing and recording your sophomore effort, and were you consciously trying to go in a new direction?
With the first album, we wanted it to sound urgent and unpredictable. We banned choruses. After that we took a step back, started using keyboards, trying out dance beats, using simpler structures and arrangements, thinking more about melody, writing more reflective and personal lyrics. The result is a more accessible, assured and evocative record, I think. But we love both of them just the same.
3. I find it interesting how the press typically wants to place a band as part of a city's scene, whether London or Manchester, Los Angeles or New York. But the reality is that most of these bands come from elsewhere. I am more interested in knowing what parts of Cleethorpes still seep in and/or have formed your music.
You make a good point there. Manchester-based musicians have suffered because of the city’s strong heritage, much the same way that Liverpool-based musicians have. People (or, more accurately, industry people) can’t seem to make sense of anything from Manchester that doesn’t sound like a ‘Manchester band.’ And so there is a lot of great music from the city that has been ignored by the mainstream because they couldn’t put a label on it. Thankfully this seems to be changing slightly, with the new wave of Manchester bands, which don’t sound like Oasis, New Order, etc, but are still getting recognition. Like you say though, many of them are not Mancunian, and people are saying they should not be included because of this. Which is untrue and unfair. It’s hard enough for a small-town band to move to a big city and fight to win exposure, only to be denied that exposure because they are not native to that city. It’s a no win situation for these bands. From our point of view, no one was ever going to pay much attention to the Cleethorpes scene, were they? But that’s a shame because there are some great bands in Cleethorpes. And yes Cleethorpes does play a big part in our lyrics these days. I figured that tons of people had written about life in the city and yet you rarely hear anyone singing about deserted docks with cobbled streets and one-armed bandits.
(Orphan Boy / Photographer: Roger Sargent)
4. After listening to "Popsong," I really want to hear your take on the music industry.
My take on it is far worse than anything described in “Popsong.” From what I can gather, for the last five years the major labels (in Britain, at least) have wasted all of their money on, and forced upon the public, endless amounts of safe, soulless guitar music. And now no one is getting signed and the labels are claiming that people aren’t buying records and that guitar music is not fashionable – it’s no fucking wonder after five years of the Kooks, Kaiser Chiefs and Kasabian. The mainstream press is looking to the big labels (who bankroll the mags through advertising) for the next Strokes and who’ve they come up with? The Drums? Aren’t they just The Strokes but ten years too late? So mags like “The NME” are re-trawling through past glories, digging up the ghost of Oasis, The Libertines and (in a recent issue) Jimi Hendrix for their cover stars. The mainstream is dead on its arse. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t great bands out there. I’ve heard them with my own ears, just by getting around a few gigs and using the Internet. Writing good music is not hard. All you need is a soul and a crap job. We’ve written two great albums on our dinner-breaks while the pop-stars can barely string an idea together. But the A&R people are not looking for that, they’re looking for radio-friendly production with catchy choruses; they’re looking for mad haircuts and zany costumes; they’re looking for a scene, a soap opera. They think this is what people get excited about. They think this is what captures the imagination. It’s not. When we play gigs in Manchester or Cleethorpes, our mad little fanbase (full of random waifs and strays from all corners of society) goes nuts; they throw themselves around the stage and sing every word back at us. They don’t get this excited because we look cool, because we don’t look cool. We look like what we are, which is a bunch of scruffy Northern chancers. But we got songs. And after all the hype dies down, that’s all people really take to their hearts. The A&R men don’t know this because they’ve not grown up listening to records, they’ve not lived their young lives by the beats and the tunes and the sounds of great music. They’re money men. Twats from business school, talking about demographics and market patterns and synchronisation. They follow each other around like well-dressed fools, desperately trying to figure out whom the hip band is that everyone wants to see; all the A&R men cramming into one venue, all trying to outbid each other for some doomed buzz band. They know fuck all. They’re finished. Viva la revolution. The cabbages are coming now, the Earth exhales...So that’s my take on it all. Would we take a publishing deal with Sony if they offered us a shitload of money? Yeah, probably. I got bills to pay.
5. I am very intrigued by the imagery bands employ; so on that note, what message are you trying to convey with the cover of "Passion, Pain & Loyalty"?
There was the donkey photo, which just kind of looked right. And then there was another photo which suggested more of a story and had a lot more happening, with the three of us as hitch-hikers. In the end we went with the donkey photo because it just looked more striking. I voted for the other cover actually but lost out. In the end I think the donkey photo works best, especially with the way our art guy (Keef Finnegan) has played around with the colours and tones. There is the strong Cleethorpes connection made by this cover, which is reflected in some of the lyrics. And purple and sepia, who’d have thought it? Together at last.
Keep up with Orphan Boy at their homepage, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.
Here is their video for “Popsong” from their YouTube Channel: orphanboyuk.
Read more ...
30 August 2010
Orphan Boy: "Passion, Pain & Loyalty"
I’ve heard some of the banter over Orphan Boy (a trio composed of Rob Cross, Chris Day, and Paul Smith); as I am usually not moved to go and listen to music just because I heard some drunk at a bar drop a name or two, I did not cross bath with Orphan Boy again till the other day. I started listening to “Passion, Pain, & Loyalty” (2 August 2010) this weekend; on my ride home from a night of debauchery, I blasted the album and two things came to mind right away. The first was this sounds dated, but not at all 80s. The second was this sounds dated, are the 90s slowly coming back? I do not state any of this as a criticism; on the contrary, I believe that the band wanted the album to sound this way, capturing a mood and feel of yesteryear. Orphan Boy stands as one of those bands rejecting the 80s influenced crazed of the moment (for the most part), which I imagine would bring them the ire of some, but it is a welcomed change of pace, especially when speeding along Route 3 in New Jersey.
The album kicks off with “Letter For Annie”; the track has a long, drawn out introduction that would make the likes of Ride jealous. “I wrote you a letter, cos you’re not listening anymore,” sings Rob Cross, and later sings, “You wallow in romance, while the ones that love you grieve.” A “letter” but it is in a song, though the person is “not listening” anymore – cheeky irony! This is one of these weighty “showgazy” song, almost drowning in its own undertow, laced with a thriving bass and dirgeful guitar. When the beat finally drops, you are no longer floating on air; you are dropping fast, crashing towards the ground. “Pop Song” follows, and I like the way the guitar is crisp, almost jangly, while everything else is muttered and affected. Then comes “Harbour Lights.” Opening with vocal effects, including backmasking, you may think it is going to be a harrowing number, but when the beat drops, the rhythm section really carries the song into a feel-good post-punk influenced number. But it is not the post-punk of the early 80s, but rather the threads found in the late 80s and 90s in shoegaze.
The piano in “1989” is almost ironic – considering all of the 80s nostagia lately, you would think that at song named “1989” would use more synthetic sounds. Again, the song is very muttered, very “shoegazy,” and though it has a piano, I would not call this piano pop/rock at all. Instead the piano functions much the same way as an arppeggiated rhythm guitar would. This is followed by “Anderson Shelter Blues,” aptly starting with a harmonica, narrates the story of trying to survive during war. Anderson shelters were designed to be a small wartime shelter for families, and were even supplied for free to lower income families in the UK before the outbreak of World War II. “I remember it well, I was ten years old, the sky was filled with mustard smoke; in the wine cellar all spirits broke… I wasn’t quite sure what was happening, or why the gunfire rattled and fell…” Without being preachy, the lyrics concentrate on the people’s reactions to war, while the music allows the listener to ponder, contemplate the issue.
The highest compliment I could give to this album is the final track, “A180.” The song is musically dramatic and visceral; lyrically the song is resigned to reality (“We gave our minds to this, they explained, we cannot win. There’s footsteps in the footnotes boy, and all your failures keep you thin.”) Slow, harrowing, with a piercing lead guitar arrangement, I would imagine that if a young David Bowie were writing now, this is the song he would write. And that statement, my friends, says it all.
Now I ask a favor: what ever you do, do not call Orphan Boy Madchester or shoegaze. They are neither. “Passion, Pain, & Loyalty” (great descriptors of qualities of life) exists in a niche that may graze elbows with these genres, but comfortable fits in none. This is a band that is continuing to grow and wet their feet in new musical terrains, slowly maturing their musical style while not clinging to one musical reference or genre. If any one album has taken me by surprise this summer, this is it.
Track Listing:
1. Letter For Annie
2. Pop Song
3. Harbour Lights
4. Remember
5. Some Frontier
6. 1989
7. Anderson Shelter Blues
8. The Promise
9. Untitled #9
10. A180 Song
Keep up with Orphan Boy at their homepage, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.
Here is their video for “Pop Song” from their YouTube Channel: orphanboyuk.
Read more ...
The album kicks off with “Letter For Annie”; the track has a long, drawn out introduction that would make the likes of Ride jealous. “I wrote you a letter, cos you’re not listening anymore,” sings Rob Cross, and later sings, “You wallow in romance, while the ones that love you grieve.” A “letter” but it is in a song, though the person is “not listening” anymore – cheeky irony! This is one of these weighty “showgazy” song, almost drowning in its own undertow, laced with a thriving bass and dirgeful guitar. When the beat finally drops, you are no longer floating on air; you are dropping fast, crashing towards the ground. “Pop Song” follows, and I like the way the guitar is crisp, almost jangly, while everything else is muttered and affected. Then comes “Harbour Lights.” Opening with vocal effects, including backmasking, you may think it is going to be a harrowing number, but when the beat drops, the rhythm section really carries the song into a feel-good post-punk influenced number. But it is not the post-punk of the early 80s, but rather the threads found in the late 80s and 90s in shoegaze.
The piano in “1989” is almost ironic – considering all of the 80s nostagia lately, you would think that at song named “1989” would use more synthetic sounds. Again, the song is very muttered, very “shoegazy,” and though it has a piano, I would not call this piano pop/rock at all. Instead the piano functions much the same way as an arppeggiated rhythm guitar would. This is followed by “Anderson Shelter Blues,” aptly starting with a harmonica, narrates the story of trying to survive during war. Anderson shelters were designed to be a small wartime shelter for families, and were even supplied for free to lower income families in the UK before the outbreak of World War II. “I remember it well, I was ten years old, the sky was filled with mustard smoke; in the wine cellar all spirits broke… I wasn’t quite sure what was happening, or why the gunfire rattled and fell…” Without being preachy, the lyrics concentrate on the people’s reactions to war, while the music allows the listener to ponder, contemplate the issue.
The highest compliment I could give to this album is the final track, “A180.” The song is musically dramatic and visceral; lyrically the song is resigned to reality (“We gave our minds to this, they explained, we cannot win. There’s footsteps in the footnotes boy, and all your failures keep you thin.”) Slow, harrowing, with a piercing lead guitar arrangement, I would imagine that if a young David Bowie were writing now, this is the song he would write. And that statement, my friends, says it all.
Now I ask a favor: what ever you do, do not call Orphan Boy Madchester or shoegaze. They are neither. “Passion, Pain, & Loyalty” (great descriptors of qualities of life) exists in a niche that may graze elbows with these genres, but comfortable fits in none. This is a band that is continuing to grow and wet their feet in new musical terrains, slowly maturing their musical style while not clinging to one musical reference or genre. If any one album has taken me by surprise this summer, this is it.
Track Listing:
1. Letter For Annie
2. Pop Song
3. Harbour Lights
4. Remember
5. Some Frontier
6. 1989
7. Anderson Shelter Blues
8. The Promise
9. Untitled #9
10. A180 Song
Keep up with Orphan Boy at their homepage, MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter.
Here is their video for “Pop Song” from their YouTube Channel: orphanboyuk.
Read more ...
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