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Love Kraft, Super Furry Animals

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E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
Yeah, the best band in the world are releasing an album in August and touring in September.

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS have announced a full UK and Irish tour in support of new album ’LOVE KRAFT’.

The band follow up a host of summer festival appearances with a jaunt shortly after ’Love Kraft’’s August 22 release date.

The tour calls at:

* Norwich UEA (September 14)
* Manchester Academy (15)
* Glasgow Barrowlands (16)
* Leeds University (17)
* Reading Hexagon (19)
* Birmingham Academy (20)
* Nottingham Rock City (21)
* London Brixton Academy (22)
* Liverpool University (23)
* Douglas Villa Marina (26)
* Dublin Olympia (27)

Tickets go onsale on Monday (June 6) - to get them after that, go to NME Tickets or call them on 0870 1 663 663.

The band are confirmed for a host of festival slots, including T In The Park (July 9), Oxegen (July 10), V Festival (August 20/21) and Isle Of Wight Bestival (September 11). They also play a sold-out, one-off outdoor London show at Somerset House on July 8.
Click to expand...




SUPER FURRY ANIMALS have revealed that their infamous onstage yetis will be replaced this year by something 'so new it doesn't even have a name'.

The band are currently on a stripped-down tour of small towns in advance of their new album 'Love Kraft', due in August.

On shows for their 'Phantom Power' tours, the band � who once drove an armoured tank through a Reading crowd � would come onstage at the end dressed as yetis, before those super furry animals were massacred onstage at London Hammersmith Apollo in April last year. They were �resurrected� later that year for festivals.

But on tour in Wrexham this week, singer Gruff Rhys told NME.COM that by the end of the year, their show would be back to full extravagance: "We're building up; it's gonna get mental in the next few months. We're gonna be adding elements to the show. We have people behind the scenes working on new technology."

Rumours have been circulating that the band's new costumes will be robots, which Gruff admitted was close to the mark: "There is gonna be something but it's gonna be post-robots. It's very futuristic, whereas the robot is history. The thing is, this thing is so new it doesn't even have a name."

The band have been playing new songs from 'Love Kraft' on their tour, including the first single 'Laser Beam', out August 1, alongside 'Atomik Lust', �Zoom!�, �Ohio Heat�, �Frequency�, 'The Horn' and 'Cloudberries'.

Of the album, Gruff said: "What I'm hoping is there's talk of a heatwave hitting on August 12, and the album's coming out on the 15th. We recorded it in intense heat, and mixed it, in Catalonia and Brazil. So because we're not used to the heat, we ended up making a really slow album that's really dense, really hazy. Not that you should make your record weather-dependent, but we think August is the month to release it."

Gruff also admitted that the album title was partially inspired by the early science-fiction writer HP Lovecraft, whose work has also been a major influence on The Coral: "It could be about that, but there's many aspects to the title," he said. "It could be like Kraftwerk. Or the love of our craft. Or a vehicle like a hovercraft. It was almost 'Kraft Love', but it ended up being 'Love Kraft'."
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Video of new song, "Frequency": http://s18.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=28JKPDPO3MNLL29FX0P0F5GK75

Perhaps the most impressive song on the new album is Zoom (aka Horse). The song opens with vibraphonic keyboards and a persistent beat of a hi-hat. Before long, strange lyrics come in about the Virgin Mary crying a food of blood and being sent to the eye-doctor. Then the chorus repeats: I can't get enough of this, kiss me with apoca-lips. About two thirds of the way through, an ominous Ennio Morricone-esque choir takes over, chanting, followed by guitar solos and strings, and then more choir, until finally devolving into a mini jam session. It's the most epic, mind-blowing song you'll likely hear this year.
Click to expand...

Here's the early version of "Zoom" they recorded on John Peel's show over three years ago. Obviously it's a very early work in progress, but I've heard from people who saw the band play a couple weeks ago that the final version blows the old one away in almost every regard: http://s33.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=1HTD21YXCSA6439GPOGPHZGMO7

I realize no one cares, but I see jerks like eminem promoting the shitty music they listen to almost daily so I figure I'm allowed to make a thread every once in a while.
 
E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
And a tracklist to round things off:

1. Zoom!
2. Atomik Lust
3. The Horn
4. Ohio Heat
5. Walk You Home
6. Laser Beam
7. Frequency
8. Oi Frango
9. Psyclone!
10. Back On A Roll
11. Cloudberries
12. Cabin Fever
 
Q

Quadrophenic

Member
i just bought Guerilla used this past weekend. Pretty good, though I think I like Radiator more.

Looking forward to this new album as well. Do SFA ever tour the US?

edit thanks for the video
 
E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
Yes, they do. I hear a tour's planned for late October/early November.

The reason for their last tour, which was a mini tour of sorts, was to practice the new material in front of small audiences. The real shit starts in September.

Are Radiator and Guerrilla the only albums you've heard? RAtW and Mwng are pretty essential. Guerrilla will grow on you. It's their most difficult album.
 
O

Outdoor Miner

Member
God I can't wait, just a few more months. I'm definitely looking for something to blow my socks off, and a new SFA usually obliges in that regard.

The question is whether I can hold off not getting an "advance". I probably can, considering the the advance I got of Phantom Power was mucho shit in sound quality.
 
E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
I hear the promos that were sent out have this copy protection that makes it impossible to play the album on a computer. They're also individually numbered or something.

I think I can wait. I heard the new album was coming way back in '04, and back then it was slated for March '05.

We're almost there.
 
Q

Quadrophenic

Member
I own Radiator, Guerilla, and Phantom Power. I'll pick up the other two you mentioned sometime soon. Tohugh I do have a pretty long list of other cds i also have to pick up...
 
M

Mifune

Mehmber
Sounds like kicking things off with Zoom is a ballsy move, if it's as insanely awesome as it sounds from that description. Where can the album possibly go from there?

Oh, and even with the crappy audio quality, I can tell that Frequency song is beautiful. Thanks for the link!
 
E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
I see what you're doing, Raoul. Ain't gonna work w/ me.

The band doesn't think they're anything. They're nice guys from the shittiest part of the UK who happen to make great music completely absent of pretense. They'd probably hate to know someone like me loves them.
 
F

Flynn

Member
enjoy bell woods said:
I see what you're doing, Raoul. Ain't gonna work w/ me.

The band doesn't think they're anything. They're nice guys from the shittiest part of the UK who happen to make great music completely absent of pretense. They'd probably hate to know someone like me loves them.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up on this record, but the thread won't be comeplete until you make an offhanded dig against The Mars Volta.
 
L

Lambtron

Unconfirmed Member
I plan on picking up Mwng in yr honor next time I'm at my record shop. I'm sure I'll pick up the rest of the reissues eventually, but I've wanted to hear Mwng ever since I first picked up RAtW.
 
S

Star Power

Member
Due to your constant flogging, I think I'll give them another chance. Which album should I get first (besides Phantom Planet)/Which are their strongest songs?
 
E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
Mwng or Guerrilla, because it seems like you'd prefer something that's really different.

Personal favorites, though - in order: Guerrilla, Rings Around the World, Mwng, Phantom Power, Radiator (fan favorite; everyone loves it)...

Guerrilla is like totally off the wall, bonkers shit. It's got disposable bubblegum pop, dub, vocoder-electronic-calypso reggae, punk, whatever. It's all there.

Rings, I suppose, is the accessible Guerrilla. But if you're totally hardcore, you'll check Guerrilla out.

Mwng is entirely in Welsh. 10 songs, or 15(16? I forget) if you find the American version. Sort of lo-fi, stripped-down production. Some really rootsy stuff; some really crazy, experimental, trademark SFA stuff without all the electronic wankery. Really cool, too.

Phantom Power is the album the SFA fans are most divided on. Unlike the others, it's pretty mellow. It rewarded repeat listens in my case, but some people just don't care for it.
 
F

Ford Prefect

GAAAAAAAAY
I'd advise anybody wanting to check out the band to NOT buy the singles compilation, Songbook Vol. 1. The tracklist was obviously organized randomly (or at least sounds a lot like it) and it unfortunately doesn't work well at all. I purchased it when I was halfway through their catalogue (chronologically), and was unimpressed. You definitely need to check them out within the context of a regular album.

I would suggest Radiator or Rings Around the World to begin with. They are both pop masterpieces.
 
E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
Super Furry Animals have always been such champion stoners that it stood to reason that their stoner-rock phase would be champion. Yes, You read that right. Despite a 12 year history as eternal bridesmaids to a conveyer belt of lesser visionaries, their last album, 'PHANTOM POWER', ended up being their most commercially successful to date. The upshot is that they were allowed to go and make their new one, 'LOVEKRAFT', in Brazil, where frontman Gruff Rhys says the intense heat landed them with a record that was "DENSE".

This tour, then, is to road test the new stuff- eight new songs and no yetis. Theres talk of robot like creations ("somethings so new that it doesnt have a name, because they're going to be futuristic and robots are history, innit," Gruff will tell us later) for the autumn tours, but for now the sole concession to pantomime is a curious alien crash helmet worn by Gruff for the lush, opening 'SLOW LIFE'. But in doing something thats more conservative on the surface, we're reminded just how daring and inventive the Furries really are.
Because while 'LOVEKRAFT' is certainly not a techno record, it's their most mashed work to date; its like 'WHITE ALBUM'- era Beatles playing in an underground chamber and offset tonight with smacky rave visuals to fry the brain.

Theres still range, of course, and to prove it vocals are shared, with Bunf taking the lead on the sea shanty 'THE HORN' and Daf on the cushion-soft 'ATOMIK LUST', both a swashbuckling world away from the opiated sludge-rock of 'ZOOM!' or the pretty 'FREQUENCY'. The back catalogue stuff, meanwhile, is specially selected to fit the earthtones of the new songs, so we get nice ethereal standards like 'HELLO SUNSHINE', 'SOMETHING 4 FOR THE WEEKEND' and 'ICE HOCKEY HAIR', which over the years have blossomed and become a peak in a setlist thats full of them. Doing away with the gimmickry has only served to prove what a truly inventive and- though we might want to whisper this- mature band the Super Furry Animals have become. Well at least until those futuristic robots arrive at least."
 
M

Manics

Banned
Ford Prefect said:
"DENSE."
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:lol Sorry I couldn't resist. It's an inside joke that only I get. When U2 was recording Achtung Baby, Bono had an interview where he said they were trying to record a "dense" record and then rumours started to swirl that they were doing a "dance" record.
 
E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
omigod, if the tracks I've heard are any indication of the quality of the rest of the album - and I've already heard like three more gorgeous live tracks that haven't actually leaked - this is going to be SFA's best album ever. It's GORGEOUS. Brilliant.

I'm going to cry. I wish I were kidding.
 
M

Musashi Wins!

FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
I bought Songbook based on GAF hype and other good notes....I'm feeling a bit of buyer's remorse. I keep thinking, "these guys sort of remind me of Blur...or Ween" and ultimately wishing I had bought one of their albums instead :(
 
S

smirkrevenge

Member
this man speaks the truth.

album of the year already, and i haven't even heard the other tracks. the other tracks will have to be sung by the chipmunks for it to even be out of the running.
 
M

Manics

Banned
enjoy bell woods said:
.

I'm going to cry. I wish I were kidding.
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Let it out man, let it out. I'll lend my shoulder for you to cry on. You do realize that if this is their peak, it's all downhill from here. You'll never reach these heights again.
 
E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
I actually deleted the songs because I know I'm going to listen to the album a million times, which means I'll listen to these songs a million times and ruin the album experience.
 
F

Ford Prefect

GAAAAAAAAY
Bell says this the best SFA album ever. I myself am waiting for the official release, but I'm having a hard time doing so what with all the praise it's getting.
 
K

KingGondo

Banned
Musashi Wins! said:
I bought Songbook based on GAF hype and other good notes....I'm feeling a bit of buyer's remorse. I keep thinking, "these guys sort of remind me of Blur...or Ween" and ultimately wishing I had bought one of their albums instead :(
Click to expand...

Except they share nothing but (kinda) nationality with Blur or Ween. SFA give me much more of a Beach Boys-esque, melodic vibe than either of those bands, and trust me--Songbook is only a quick survey. All of their albums are worth listening to, to take in as an experience--especially Guerrilla, and their last three (including Love Kraft, if the hype is any indication).
 
V

Varian

Member
Any news on this? I downloaded some trax but have no idea what format they are.

SFA had me at "Guerrilla". I still think that's their best album. Gruff & Co are at least as good of tunesmiths as Brian Wilson or Paul McCartney.

Also, what happened to Bell?
 
V

Varian

Member
Just listened to the whole album.

At first blush I like it a lot better than Phantom Power or RATW. It has a different vibe as usual. I can't say which album is best, since they were perfect already by Radiator.

Musically I can pick out certain production techniques borrowed from other bands. The production on "Ohio Heat" is similar to the Shins'. Some of the instruments on "Cloudberries" remind me of the Boo Radleys.

I won't compare song melodies or speculate what influenced Gruff's songwriting; he is too unique and distinct for that. But there's R&B, 60s pop, country-rock, prog rock, etc.

Lyrically the songs are beautiful. Particularly Ohio Heat's refrain:

"Ohio Heat,
Sweet as sugar from a bee(t),
Sweet as foxes in the street,
Evolution seemed complete!"

I noticed Cian has vocals on the song "The Horn". Has he sang on any others before this besides his techno tracks?

Also, the cover art is gorgeous. I assume it's their version of Brazil.

10/10
 
M

Mifune

Mehmber
I heard Zoom! on the radio this morning. Great song. The apparently SFA-savvy DJ led into it with The Beach Boys' "Feel Flows."

Is the domestic release of Love Kraft going to have a bonus disc? If not, I might just have to pick up the import. Mid-September is a long long way away.
 
E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
It's pretty fantastic, but I'm going to hold out on calling it their best album for now. I said that it was elsewhere, but there are a couple of lame tracks (Oi Frango! is a total waste of space).

The album's been purged from my HD, and I'm waiting to listen again once it actually releases.

If anyone reading this likes, you know, like Love's Forever Changes or Pet Sounds or Surf's Up, this album is for you. It's pretty phenomenal, and it sounds a lot like the band's influences. There's a lot of that trademark SFA charm subtly underlying most of the songs, tool.

That's not Cian on "The Horn"; it's Bunf. Cian does vocals on "Cabin Fever" and "Walk You Home". Daf does vocals on "Atomik Lust", which is probably my favorite song of the year.
 
E

enjoy bell woods

Banned
And that DJ who followed "Zoom!" up with "Feel Flows" is a genius. "Atomik Lust" owes a lot to it.

Extra info: 9 Songs has come or is coming out in the US.

9songs4ja.jpg


I haven't heard many good things about it, but hey, it features real sex, Super Furry Animals, Primal Scream, and more! I mean, I can't fucking pass that up. No way. Oh, and the lead actress is pretty hot. I'd totally pay to watch a hot girl watch SFA perform "Slow Life".
 
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