8. 2. UNIVERS SAFFF The Montgolfier Brothers & At Swim two Birds MP3, Devastations
DISCOGRAPHIE in Magic.crpm
The World is flat
Seventeen Stars
All my bad Thoughts
"Après trois ans d'absence, revoici sur la pointe des pieds le tandem formé par Roger Quigley et Mark Tranmer, sous leur nom de scène The Montgolfier Brothers. Basés depuis toujours à Manchester, ces fins observateurs n'ont pas leur pareil pour chroniquer d'une plume poétique les allées et venues des amis, amours éloignées et autres connaissances, tous acteurs de leur ville au décor changeant. Comme bien des Mancuniens, ils expriment leur attachement à cette cité du Nord de l'Angleterre où, un peu comme à Lille, la chaleur humaine remplace généreusement une météo souvent cruelle et où, quand on vous parle, c'est droit dans les yeux. Discrètement influencés par leurs compatriotes minimalistes Gavin Bryars, Vini Reilly ou encore Michael Nyman, les pianos, guitares et vocaux partagés dialoguent, s'entrecroisent et s'entrelacent pour tisser un canevas mélodique évocateur. Écouter All My Bad Thoughts, c'est comme déambuler dans les très belles toiles aux tons gris du peintre et dessinateur L.S. Lowry (1887-1976). Mancunien lui aussi, son oeuvre (hélas trop souvent qualifiée de naïve et donc survolée) décrira invariablement la vie simple des gens ordinaires de la banlieusarde Salford. Les anglophiles profiteront d'une lecture plus détaillée, chaque chanson venant comme une nouvelle "entrée" dans les journaux intimes de Quigley, Tranmer et de cette pluie fine, imperturbable qui transperce même les cordes et cuivres samplés qui n'apparaissent qu'en baisser de rideau... Ah, misère de misère, cette petite merveille d'éventuel disque de chevet hivernal n'est disponible qu'en import. Voilà bien la preuve que les plus belles choses se sont toujours méritées." MARC GOURDON
| Lyrics to Inches Away | Lyrics to I Couldn't Sleep Either | Lyrics to Between Two Points |
| inches away & not knowing, the space we share keeps us both apart. we¹ll waste our whole lives, just missing each other. inches away from never being lonely, needing to belong, to something or someone, inches away from waking beside you, time to re-dress you, undress you, inches away from learning to master inches away from, watching you leave me, | i will let down friends & i we will let down family just to please you, i can hear..... all the promises made. but it doesn't take long before, i get in your way, have you out-grown us, or did you just forget to say: you've changed.... am i still the same? by only remembering: for no ryme or reason, enjoy all the parties, | Broke an early promise But trust an unknown Fell headlong into the arms (Of the first, that stood me?) Unsteady to steady hard Stop hoping, it's an early age Just let them walk all over you, And you can see in the way they look at you When sky begins to fall... And you can see in the way they look at you Just let them walk all over you, |
At Swim two Birds
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BIOGRAPHIE, http://www.nme.com/artists/at-swim-two-birds
"B. Roger Quigley, 17 March 1969, Salford, Manchester, England. At Swim Two Birds is the creation of Quigley, one half of cult UK indie duo the Montgolfier Brothers. Taking his curious new alter ego from the acclaimed Flann O'Brien novel (in which the narrator drinks too much and invents stories about hilarious and unlikely characters) and naming his album after the tip of the Inishowen Peninsula in the north-west corner of Ireland (where his family are from), the Manchester-based singer-songwriter creates subtle and beguiling music that documents a relationship far beyond repair. At Swim Two Birds may have precedents in artists such as Jim O'Rourke, the Durutti Column, babybird and even, at points, Coldplay, but there is an incisiveness to Quigley's words and music that makes revisiting familiar themes and motifs seem genuinely special.
At Swim Two Birds' 2003 debut, Quigley's Point, was released via Vespertine & Son, a reincarnation of Vespertine (a label funded by fortuitously placed bets on the horses). As if to accentuate the sombre mood of their inaugural release, the Vespertine & Son logo is a small, hand-drawn coffin. Prior to At Swim Two Birds, Quigley released music under permutations of his own name, issuing two EPs - A Kind Of Loving and Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year - via Vespertine and an album, 1969 Till God Knows When, via French label Tours. He also, notably, re-scored Brazilian songwriter Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Dindi" for birdsong, dripping water and pitch-shifted voice on the album A Tribute To Antonio Carlos Jobim."
THE DEVASTATIONS
London, Melbourne
Minimaliste / Ambiance / Funk
Conrad Standish - Vocals, Bass Guitar; Tom Carlyon - Guitar, Vocals; Hugo Cran - Drums, Percussion
http://www.myspace.com/devastations
http://www.devastations.net
ABOUT, site officiel ARTICLE, Toasting the Immoralistsa writer and band friend who operates the Brassland music label.
Tom Carlyon, Hugo Cran, and Conrad Standish formed Devastations in Melbourne, Australia in 2002, but left the continent several years back, and currently reside in whichever European city will host them - mostly Berlin or, when they can't avoid it, London city proper. ("L'Undone" as they say in their own unique coinage.) But more on that later...
The group has released two previous records, each weighing in at a well-balanced ten tracks. 2003's self-titled debut won them a following in Europe, and that's where they created 2005's Coal, an album that raised their profile considerably both home and abroad. Nominated for the Australian Music Prize (AMP), it put them in contention with esteemed countrymen like the Go-Betweens, the Drones, Ben Lee, and Wolfmother. The record went on to receive praise in such antipodal press outlets as Uncut (four stars), Pitchfork (7.5 rating), and Q Magazine ("cultdom seems assured; more may follow"). Magnet called it "one of 2006's most dramatic dark turns," naming the group to the class of 2007 in their annual "Who's next" round-up. Meanwhile, the band mounted their first major tours of the United States and Europe, capping off a year of non-stop activity with a triumphant appearance this April at the Dirty Three-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival in England.
Finally, Coal earned the musicians a place at Beggars Banquet. Yes, U-the first album recorded for the label-marks a striking evolution. Previous records have been praised for their gothic detailing and subtle use of instrumental coloration (harmonium, Optigan, rhythm box, keyboards, strings, et. al). Devastations earned a reputation as well-refined miserablists and classic-minded balladeers, specialists in the sub-genre known as orch-pop. This was a mixed blessing. Unlike the artists to whom they were compared, Devastations' songs were not intended as weepers, and their arrangements did not fill up every nook and cranny with suffocating detail. Rather, they were particularly notable for their use of space and careful construction. The noir moods did not seem like a plea for sympathy, or an indicator of depression, but a glimmer of how one might find salvation.
But enough about the past...
The band that greets us on Yes, U have sloughed off their previous history, and landed upon a path to the future. Recorded in Berlin with Jeremy Glover and mixed in New York City with Chris Coady (Blonde Redhead, TV on the Radio), it still hints at spiritual predecessors like Serge Gainsbourg and the Velvet Underground-urbane artists who reveled in the life of the metropolis, with all its glamorous, grimy, and sensuous details. But it also brings to mind thornier cosmopolitans such as Suicide, Scott Walker, and Yoko Ono -deep thinkers all, each noted for creating treacherous sonic environments and tangible, physical sounds.
Please, though, do not confuse Devastations for a trio of unreconstructed avant-gardists. Yes, U doles out two spoonfuls of sugar for every dose of medicine. If the band's iPods are to be trusted, their third album also marks the emergence of a counter-sensibility inspired by Grace Jones, Italo-Disco pioneer Giorgio Moroder, and some of his more obscure followers. (It also points to the input of associate band members, Andrea Lee and HTRK's Nigel Yang. Both contributed all manner of sounds to the album- and Nigel was part of Devastations' touring unit while this album was being conceived.) The sound is sexual, but not as we've come to think of the word-an immodest thing beholden to the corporeal self. Yes, U is more fragile than that. It's sex as a way of being, a state of grace. Electrified rhythms beat out a bit slower than the human heart, as if the whole point were to remind you that you still had one. The songs are muggy with sweat. At heart, Yes, U is a fashionable discotheque festooned with enough ideas to kindle the fires of the mind.
Once again, Devastations are notable for the strong presence of not one but two main songwriters, Tom Carlyon (guitar, vocals), and Conrad Standish (bass, vocals). Here Conrad and Tom each get their own anthem in a pair of songs-"Rosa" & "The Pest" - which make up the album's emotional core.
"Rosa," sung by Conrad, stands out for it's lovely vocal details: the way he sucks at his teeth in the middle of the verse, the blood curdling scream right before the chorus explodes. These are moments so stark, so full of intention, they sound like Joseph Conrad's proverbial "horror" caught on audiotape. (Listen in at 2 minutes, 39 seconds to be precise.) Tom's showcase, "The Pest," is architecturally spare yet dense in emotion, the sonic equivalent of dark matter: woozy rhythms and throbbing bass are punctuated by his wending, sclerotic guitar lines.
There are other emotions on display - the cinematic moods of "As Sparks Fly Upward" conjure Mediterranean vacations and wide open spaces; "Mistakes" is an unexpected pop song matching a funk vamp to Tom's squalling guitars; "Face of Love" is a high stakes ballad with a "sha-la-la" chorus that'd do Phil Spector proud. The album closes with an instrumental, "Misericordia," whose muzzy synths bring to mind the outsized drama of Italian soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone.
Occasionally some words stick out and make you do a double take. "I'm so interested in life," sings Tom with a languidity that belies the lyric. Would anyone seriously consider the alternative? Are Devastations immoralists? Well, yes, this is music to go out to. It might inspire you to do bad things. But you will be held responsible on the morning after.
Too many songs have been written about breaking free into city life, about discovering the open road. Sure, Yes, U brings to mind the alluring vacuity of glamour, the pain of withdrawn affections, and the sound of absence. But Devastations are as much about the departure as they are about The Return. Perhaps Yes, U is what happens in between...
Raise a glass with them, to the redemptive power of love...
ARTICLE, site officiel: Back from the dead? 27 November 08
So, Devastations now have a couple of things to announce, after what has been a lengthy, and not entirely undeserved break...
First off, we are very excited to be returning to Melbourne to play our ONLY AUSTRALIAN SHOW at the East Brunswick Club on Friday Feb 6, 2009. One night only. Never to be repeated. In the round. Special guests to be announced very soon.
Secondly, we are pleased to announce that we have a collaboration with Blonde Redhead coming out on 4AD early next year, as part of the ‘Dark Was The Night' AIDS benefit CD, curated by Bryce and Aaron from the National. It's a track entitled ‘When The Road Runs Out', with a beautiful vocal by Kazu.
Thirdly, on the subject of benefit CD's - our version of ‘All Cats Are Grey', by the Cure, is now available worldwide on ‘Perfect As Cats - A Tribute To The Cure'. Out now on Manimal Vinyl. This also features the Dandy Warhols, Jesu, Bat For Lashes, Indian Jewelry and a bunch more. All proceeds go to the Invisible Children charity, set up to help children in Uganda who have had their lives decimated by war.
And lastly, Conrad has contributed a track to the Alan Vega (Suicide) 70th Birthday 10" series, out right now on Blast First Petite. The track is a re-working of ‘Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne' off the 2nd Suicide record, and features some lovely dubbed out synth from Benjamin John Power, of Fuck Buttons.
So, that is all for now... More news as it comes to hand...
Hope this finds you well.
à venir ...
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