New SFA Record in March/April!!!!!

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Songbook defines "untouchable." One of the best two or three contemporary singles comps in the world. Unreal stuff, on there.
 
GAF: What'd you think of Songbook?

And has anybody ever heard any Ffa Coffi Pawb? It was Gruff and Daf's band, pre-SFA. One of the dudes from Gorky's Zygotic Mynci was also in it, I believe. Very good stuff, if you ask me. The music is great, and, as an added bonus, I find myself fascinated, listening to Gruff develop as a songwriter. So much of what would eventually be instantly recognizable as SFA gets worked out, on their records, and yet so much is also cast aside. The screeching power tools of "Valium" (one of FCP's catchiest songs), for example, never quite made it into the SFA world.

It's all crazily early '90s, but still awesome. Helps me remember than SFA needs to start recording more songs in Welsh, again, too! The two on this new record seems like a good re-start, to me. Here's hoping for Mwng II: Drygioni's Revenge, at some point in the future.

Also, "Hit & Run" may be my new favorite Furrytrack. Amazing song.
 
If you shout... said:
GAF: What'd you think of Songbook?
Click to expand...

Honestly? I haven't made it through the whole thing yet because the first four tracks are so good that I just want to keep listening to them over and over without moving on. Seriously. Something 4 The Weekend, It's Not The End Of The World?, Northern Lites, and Juxtapozed With U are so fucking fun and infectious and...I love them. Great pop songs. Especially Something 4 The Weekend. I swear, before buying this thing I'd never heard a note of SFA's music and I was pretty much sold on the band after the opening verse of Something 4 The Weekend...

First time, I did it for the hell of it
Stuck it on the back of my tongue and then swallowed it
Second time, things are getting easier
Blow me down, this wind's getting breezier
Third time lucky, maybe feeling fuzzy...

And the chorus is perfect, too. I haven't yet cracked track 5 - "Slow Life", but I love track 6 - "Fire In My Heart." And that's about as far as I've progressed because, like I said, I kept wanting to go back and hear Something 4 The Weekend. So I think the compilation is doing the trick. I'll report back when I actually get through the whole album.
 
Guerrilla is growing on me like a yeast infection on Lance's mom. With two SFA albums left unheard (Love Kraft and Hey Venus) I considered this one my least favorite, but now I'm certain that it's superior to Fuzzy Logic and probably Phantom Power (which starts and ends incredibly well but simply isn't dynamic enough to hold my attention very closely throughout).

I still think that Guerrilla is a little heavy on the sonic experiments and too light on the irresistible, edgy pop that made me fall in love with Radiator and Rings Around The World, but it's pretty damn impressive as a whole. And the production is simply mindblowing. Wherever I Lay My Phone's bass line is worth the price of admission alone, and Fire In My Heart is proof that classic love songs are still being written.
 
Speaking of "Something 4 the Weekend"...

Laz, have you ever heard "Something FOR the Weekend," from the UK pressings of Fwzzy Logic? It's never been released, in the States. About 30 seconds shorter, and a lot closer to "God! Show Me Magic!" than "If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You," unlike the US album/all single versions. I'll throw you a link, if need be, when I have access to my HD.

Actually, the Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (In Space) and Moog Droog EPs also have different cuts/edits/mixes of other early, usually Welsh-language tracks. Most notable, though, is Moog Droog's Ankst-y, still-in-English "God! Show Me Magic!" That version (a completely different take than the one you know) is as raw as a just-butchered cow. Very interesting listens, all of the above.
 
Here's an incredible show played at Cardiff University, in December of 1999. A wonderful, Welsh audience, for this one. I believe that it's a New Year's Eve show, but I could be wrong. At any rate, PLEASE at least listen to "Fire In My Heart," which at one point sees the audience singing an entire verse by itself! Beautiful.

http://www.media fire.com/download.php?zj03nt1mt2j

Enjoy! That's an order!
 
Comes out in just a few days, kids! In anticipation, a vintage performance of the Fuzzy Logic classic, "Fuzzy Birds."

YouTube - Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Birds (V96)


[Bunf has a hamster: Stavros. I had a dream in which Bunf wired up Stavros' wheel to a dynamo system producing electricity for his house. This is their story:]

[Bunf:]
Hamster, turning 'round in your wheel
I've got something to tell you
I can harness your feel
Dynamo for electricity
You empower my feelings
Give me light for me to see

[Stavros:]
So won't you give me some food?
I really need to get some energy in me
Give me some
I really need to get some energy in me
Give me some
The world is turning, kicking, screaming 'round my little head
To spread it on my bread
Don't you know that I spread it on my bread?

[Bunf:]
Rest yourself you've been long on your feet
If I buy you a matchbox
Will you keep it all neat?
Radiate, you're no flash in the pan
You're the battery incarnate
I'm an innocent man

[Stavros:]
So won't you give me some food?
I really need to get some energy in me
Give me some
I really need to get some energy in me
Give me some
The world is turning, kicking, screaming 'round my little head
To spread it on my bread
Don't you know that I spread it on my bread?
 
Laz, at least YOU must watch this. Absolutely wonderful, especially the whole "Festyval Wynds" thing. Jesus, I am sad that there's not going to be a tour for at least the foreseeable future. Sigh.

Pitchfork: TV
 
So, this can't be right, can it? Nobody has anything to say about the record? Been out for over a week, in the UK, and already for several days, in North America.

Time to weigh in, kids. The record is magic. A damn shame about the liners not coming with lyrics, though. For shame, SFA!
 
^^^ Agreed.

I was pretty wowed by the first listen, but have had trouble getting into most of it. I'm waiting to get a physical copy so I've only played it a few times.

I appreciate the craziness, but to me the songs just aren't there, and to me their best albums have both elements.
 
It's definitely closer to Guerrilla than Rings Around The World. There's a lot of seemingly purposeless experimentation and fucking around that you wouldn't see on, say, Phantom Power. But the (great) upside to that is that the band sounds vital and, well, fun again. I wouldn't sacrifice that for anything. Plus, Inaugural Trams is one of the catchiest, most vibrant tracks the SFA has written in ages.
 
Got this in my inbox, a few days ago. Forgot to share:

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS TAKE THE 'MOUNTAIN' TO YOU

Here at Super Furry HQ, we've just finished up the new video for "Mt." from Dark Days/Light Years. This time, instead of offering the WORLD PREMIERE of the video to one of our usual TV, web or blog outlets, we want YOU to premiere the new video for "Mt" on YOUR website/blog/Facebook/MySpace/YouTube channel (or any other platform of your choice).

In 150 words or less tell us why you are the world's most rabidly committed SFA fan, and include a picture to help make your case. The most convincing entry wins, and Rough Trade and the Super Furries will use our well defined promo-muscle to bring the eyes of the World Wide Web to your Furry den for the video's premiere - next Friday, June 26th.

To enter, please send your words and pictures here: competitions@roughtraderecords.com with the subject 'Take The Mountain To Me!'

All entries due by Wednesday June 24th, 4PM UK time.

And here's the single edit. Just click on the band's name, and it plays. Apparently it was "a big, scary mountain," as opposed to "a big fucking mountain." Good old SFA...

Bands playing at Sundae on the common
 
So, laz and others--I'm really curious what people think about this record, a few months on. Has time helped or hurt it or made no difference at all? I'm still absurdly high on it, and am willing to give it a spot on Mount SFA OK alongside the other untouchable-for-me records: Fuzzy Logic, Radiator, Guerrilla, Mwng, Rings Around the Motherfucking World, and Hey Venus!...not to mention the just-as-stunning Yr Atal Genhedlaeth. I really cannot believe how consistent this album is, and how front-to-back enjoyable it is. I still remember, during the webcast concert take on "Helium Hearts," looking over at my friend, another SFA freak, and stammering, "I just cannot believe that they did it again..." He nodded confusedly, also shocked, and we went on listening/watching.

I just can't believe how awesome this band continues to be, and how they always find a way to release the exact record that I want or need. Awesome stuff.

Also, has anybody listened to Daf's side project with Rhys Ifans, The Peth? Here's one killer track of several, called "Let's Go Fucking Mental":

YouTube - Peth Cwmparc - Lets Go F#cking Mental
 
Four months on...fantastic headphone record, good times to the last note. I still think it lacks a huge standout track on the level of Demons, Fire In My Heart, Juxtaposed, or Slow Life (though Inaugural Trams, Cardiff In The Sun and Helium Hearts all come pretty close), and the album runs a bit long, but it's SFA. What more than I say? It'll end up in my top 10 for the year pretty much by default.

I've also finally gotten around to hearing all of the LPs in full. I would rank/rate them as follows:

1. Radiator (A)
2. Rings Around The World (A-)
3. Dark Days/Light Years (A-)
4. Guerrilla (B+)
5. Mwng (B+)
6. Fuzzy Logic (B)
7. Hey Venus! (B)
8. Phantom Power (B)
9. Love Kraft (B-)

So yes, as far as I'm concerned, DD/LY is a return to form. It's exactly what I fell in love with the band for in the first place. Catchy, beautiful madness.
 
I'm surprised both of you rank Fuzzy Logic higher than the two mid 00's albums.

No fucking way.

And Radiator as the best??

Of course, I understand LM that you've given them all relatively high ratings. But Love Kraft was one of my favorite albums from that year, and it may be my second favorite SFA album.
 
It's really splitting hairs, for me. Honestly, I'd give each record at LEAST a 7.5/10, and most of them I'd rate even stupidly higher. My only problem with Phantom Power and Love Kraft is that I think the sum is less than the parts. One song at a time, they're fucking genius; but when I go from start to finish, I always feel that they slightly overstay their welcomes. Also, I think that Phantom Power is a bit dodgy, both lyrically and ideologically, but whatever. Not everybody can be as eloquent as the outrageous standards I have, all the time. C'est la vie.

What about Dark Days, then, laz?
 
God, parts of Phantom Power are boring. As I said earlier in the thread, the bookends of the album are amazing, but so much of it feels tepid and complacent to me. Plus, I hate the political overtones of the record. They feel so at odds with its overall sound. That said, there are some extraordinarily beautiful moments scattered throughout. I have very little positive to say about Love Kraft, at least positive comments unique to that record. It was a detour, but not a particularly interesting one. The songs just aren't there. Hey Venus is a lot of fun, but too slight to be ranked in the upper half of the band's discography. Perhaps great for what it is, but compared to Radiator and Guerilla? Back of the line.

And Radiator is absolutely everything I love about the band in 47 minutes. As far as I'm concerned, it's untouchable. One of the best albums of the 90s.
 
If they can make a political song like Liberty Belle that catchy, I don't care what it's about.

I've refrained from listening to Dark Days again until I can get the physical CD. And the used ones are still a bit too expensive.
 
Well, I must say that I'm pretty damned disappointed at the lack of even an "Honorable Mention" placement, on the Pitchfork 2009 list. That really stings.
 
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