Franz Ferdinand Ft. Marion Cotillard - 'The Eyes of Mars'

Who knew that 2010 would already have two great songs featuring French actresses on them?

Following on from Charlotte Gainsbourg's immaculate new album 'IRM' is this collaboration between Glasgow arch dukes Franz Ferdinand and Edith Piaf herself- Marion Cotillard. A mournful, piano led ballad 'The Eyes...' is a step away from the groove laden last FF album 'Tonight...', adopting instead a much more sombre tone.

MP3: Franz Ferdinand Ft. Marion Cotillard - 'The Eyes of Mars'

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Franz Ferdinand- 'Blood'

Franz Ferdinand established themselves with a manifesto aiming to ‘make girls dance’ so it makes sense that after three studio albums they have ventured into the murkier corners of club culture with ‘Blood’, a dub reworking of their most recent album ‘Tonight: Franz Ferdinand’. ‘Blood’ is a dark and at times confusing album full of intrigue and also inanity. ‘Tonight:’ only came out in January so to confuse fans with slightly different versions of tracks such as ‘Ulysses’ and ‘Twighlight Omens’ seems an odd choice. Having said that producer Dan Carey provides a fine mix accentuated by the likes of Philipp Plessmann and Raf Daddy with ‘Can’t Stop Feeling’ morphing into the 6 minute speaker shaking throb of ‘Die On The Floor’. Limited to 500 copies however this will become a fan boy essential and provide ample fodder for late night mix tapes and DJ sets.

7/10

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2009's Quarterly Review: January- March

2009 has been around for three months now so it's about time for a review of the first quarter of the year. For a Spotify playlist of all the music mentioned here please click this link. Let's start with the established acts-

Big Hitters

Franz Ferdinand revealed their dance floor inspired third album 'Tonight:' in January to mixed reaction. Personally I like it, it's classic arch posing and enticing lyrics combine well with the sleek, syncopated beats to make a great, contemporary disco record. It seems Franz Ferdinand have reached a glass ceiling in their career however (appearing on Ant'n'Decs TV show, Ipod adverts) which is perhaps a sign 'Tonight:' has not reached it's desired sales targets. I would hate to see a clever and evocative rock band slip down this trite and degrading ladder. Lily Allen released her second album 'It's Not Me, It's You' in February. For all the talk of her big mouth and paparazzi hounded ways Allen is a pretty good pop star, she flits between genres and styles with a confidence which belies her experience. 'The Fear' is a great electro-pop song whilst 'It's Not You' takes country'n'Western and drags it into the modern day with a bang. She'll never be great but Lily Allen is worth a million Lady GaGa's. Finally White Lies; odd that a debut album should rank alongside Franz and Allen but 'To Lose My Life' hit number one when it was released and has seen the ex-Fear Of Flying boys fast-tracked to stardom. I slated it at the time and the lyrics still make me cringe but I think by the time festival season comes around White Lies will be one of the success stories.

Returns/ Side Projects

The Rakes gave a pleasant surprise with their fine third effort 'Klang!' in March. Whilst not quite the itchy frustration of their debut 'Capture/ Release' it holds a raft of potential singles and is nearly enough to erase all memories of their woeful second effort. Similarly, Morrissey released 'Years Of Refusal' a striking and punchy collection of songs far removed from the wet Morriconi produced 'Ringleader Of The Tormentors'. Taking the melodic wonder of The Sleepy Jackson and marrying it with the beats of Pnau was always going to make for interesting listening, the fact it has brought the high-concept magic of Empire Of The Sun could enrapture even the most open of minds. A truly other worldly but effortlessly commercial album of mystic Elton John style pop anthems their 'Walking On A Dream' is almost as impressive as the pairs outfits. Speaking of collaborations N.A.S.A and the Dark Was The Night compilation rounded up pretty much every influential musician around from Karen O, David Byrne and MIA (With N.A.S.A) to Feist, The National and Yesayer (From Dark Was The Night). Both albums are patchy but when they're good they are very good. Finally, Fever Ray, a.k.a Karin Dreijjer of The Knife unleashed the epic and gloomy self titled album that could well sweep the board in album of the year polls.

New Kids

Blog bitches Telepathe and Wavves both released uber-fashionable and occasionally brilliant records in 'Dance Mother' and 'Wavves' respectively. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart released an astoundingly wonderful self-titled album which brims with romantic possibility and child like wonder. Crystal Stilts are doing a similarly interesting C86 thing on 'Alight Of The Night' but don't have the same pretty qualities as their Brooklyn counterparts The Pains Of.... just yet. The Joy Formidable's free mini-album 'A Balloon Called Moaning' contains as many epic moments as White Lies but has presumably sold a millionth as many copies: no justice. Awesome Pals Sky Larkin, Copy Haho and Favours For Sailors all released brilliant first efforts with a special mention going to Sky Larkin's Golden Spike album which is a strong contender for my favourite of the year so far. Elsewhere, Titus Andronicus and Grammatics both made striking and brave first efforts that whilst not stuck on repeat here have to be recommended and admired.

So with three months down and nine to go my album of the year list currently sits like this-

1. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart- 'S/T'
   
2. Franz Ferdinand- 'Tonight:'
   
3. Sky Larkin- 'The Golden Spike.
   

However having already heard much of April and May's treats this will be all change by the next quarterly review. New records from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Horors, The Maccabees, Metric, Dananananaykroyd, Bat For Lashes and Golden Silvers are all due and sounding fantastic with three in particualr being stellar. Maximo Park, Gallows, Passion Pit and Jarvis Cocker are all due to release in May and then June is ram-packed with albums from (deep breath) Florence and The Machine, Little Boots, The Dead Weather, Jamie T, Jack Penate, Patrick Wolf and Regina Spektor.

It must be said, 2009 is shaping up very nicely indeed.

To see the best singles of the first 3 months click here

To get a comprehensive Spotify playlist of this first three months then click here.

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Franz Ferdinand- No You Girls

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War Child: Heroes

Originally for Drowned In Sound

It’s a common held theory that you can’t criticise a charity record. The phrase ‘but it’s for a good cause’ is often used as a defence against a half thought out album compiled with little care for the listener and leaving said punter out of pocket and with eleven more tracks to skip on their Ipod. 2009 has seen the bar well and truly set though with the release of ‘Dark Was The Night’, the National compiled album in aid of the Red Hot Organisation. That album features Feist, Ben Gibbard, Arcade Fire, David Byrne and Sufjan Stevens amongst many others so now a charity record has to really stand out or why should we not just donate via direct debit right?

It has to be said ‘Heroes’ is not, nor is it trying to be as credible as ‘Dark Was The Night’ but it does have some Drowned In Sound friendly names involved. The basic premise is that an established act picks their favourite current band to cover one of their old tracks, hence the name ‘Heroes’. This sees the likes of The Clash, David Bowie, The Ramones and Bob Dylan rubbing shoulders with TV On The Radio, The Hold Steady, Beck and Hot Chip.

TV on the Radio’s version of ‘Heroes’ by David Bowie is as impressive as you would imagine, Tunde Adebimpe’s vocals encapsulate the spirit of Bowie but retain the distinct and idiosyncratic TVOTR sound. A typically spacey and expansive production job from Dave Sitek adds to an already impressive job. Similarly notable is Hot Chip’s take on ‘Transmission’ by Joy Division. They take the morose classic and turn it into a typically asymmetrical and woozy electro pop ditty, most notable for how Alexei Taylor’s angelic vocals are juxtaposed against himself with his voice streamed through a vocoder at various points on the record. It’s an effective method and you wouldn’t be surprised to hear it used on the next Hot Chip album. ‘Transmission’ is the least faithful to the original recording on the compilation and the most innovative with it. Elsewhere on the positive side Lily Allen turns The Clash’s ‘Straight To Hell’ into a stoner lullaby nicely accompanied by Mick Jones on backing vocals whilst Beck turns in an exemplary version of Bob Dylan’s ‘Leopard-Skin Pil-Box Hat’.

Obviously The Kooks covering ‘Victoria’ by The Kinks is as teeth grindingly Radio 1 Live Lounge as you would expect and Estelle’s version of the Stevie Wonder favourite ‘Superstition’ is as karaoke as it comes. The same can be said for The Hold Steady covering Bruce Springsteen, rumours the organisers chose ‘Atlantic City’ over Gene’s version of a Smiths song are as yet unconfirmed. As the album end with disco floor fillers by The Ramones and Blondie by way of Yeah Yeah Yeah’s and Franz Ferdinand respectively you know you have had a fun if not entirely unforgettable experience.

Overall ‘War Child: Heroes’ is a success and whilst it may lack the credibility and tunes of ‘Dark Was The Night’ it is as they say all for a good cause.

7/10

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Boring By The Sea- January Highlights

• Interview with Bob Hardy of Franz Ferdinand + 'Tonight:' Reviewed

• 10 Of The Best Lines from the new Morrissey album

• Brand New Jamie T- 'Fire Fire'

• Skins interview

• Titus Andronicus- 'The Airing Of Grievances'

• Introducing... Wavves

In other news the world went mental for Twitter (twitter.com/boringbythesea) and I think it might have snowed a bit. Nobody mentioned it though.

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For The Record: January

The best releases from January.

Albums:
Franz Ferdinand- Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. (Album of the month)
Telepathe- Dance Mother.
Bon Iver- Blood Bank EP.
Titus Andronicus- The Airing Of Grievances.

Download these

Franz Ferdinand- 'Lucid Dreams'
Telepathe- 'So Fine'
Titus Andronicus- 'Titus Andronicus'

Tracks:
Jamie T- Fire Fire. (Track of the month)
Pulled Apart By Horses - I Punched A Lion In The Throat.
Bear Hands- What A Drag
Franz Ferdinand- Ulysses.
Lily Allen- The Fear.

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Words with... Franz Ferdinand

Originally on Gigwise

We did a David Bowie cover for Radio 1 with Girls Aloud and Brian Higgins and it went really well so we went down to his studio to do some work with Xenomania. It never really got going with them though to be honest, in the end we didn’t record anything with them.” Bob Hardy is talking about the recording process of his band Franz Ferdinand’s new album titled ‘Tonight: Franz Ferdinand’ and it’s much talked about waiting time and various false starts. Chief amongst the publicised experiments was the work with Xenomania, better known as the brains behind the acts such as Girls Aloud and Gabriella Cilmi. “The way Xenomania work is that there is a group of them and one of them will do the melodies and one will do the lyrics and then someone on beats and keyboards so it’s very similar to how we work. In a way they’re a band on their own and we didn’t need their expertise as we have our own.”

That is under no doubt as the band have emerged from a three and a half year break with a new album and a fantastic return to form. Following the breakthrough hit of the bands self titled debut album in 2004 Franz Ferdinand came back immediately in 2006 with ‘You Could Have It So Much Better’ and the rush showed in the albums quality. The band have gone on record as saying that the second album is not their finest work and that they would be taking their time with album number three. “We finished touring the second album in September 2006 and decided to have a break from each other because by that point we’d been together in one way or another since 2003, so we had been in this bubble for three years and needed a few months off. Then in about February 2007 we got back together and started writing and recording. We finished up in September 2008, a year and a half later, which is about the same gestation period of the first album.”

Following the time spent with Xenomania Franz Ferdinand hooked up with Dan Carey (Hot Chip, CSS) and began the ‘Tonight:’ sessions. “Dan left us on our own a lot and he fitted into the band dynamic really well. The songs were already written by the time we started with him, he was much more focused on the sonics of the album than shaping and moulding it.”

‘Tonight:’ sees Franz Ferdinand moving into a much more dance and electronic inspired environment, the band have always made music to dance to but never before has it been so ostensibly geared towards dance music in inverted commas. Bob says, “The second record was a rock record really, very loud and fast and we didn’t want that again. So things slowed down and became more syncopated and dancier . it was the direction we wanted to move in and I feel proud of the album that we have made.” Is there a song you are particularly keen on? “I really enjoy ‘Lucid Dreams’ that’s sort of an epic eight minute long track with an electronic decoda running through it. “

‘Lucid Dreams’ for those who are yet to hear it is a fantastic piece of music and undisputedly the most attention grabbing song on the new album. It was originally released on the Fifa 2008 video game as a three minute pop song but was warped and mutated in the recording studio into a DFA aping techno monster. For those sue to see Franz Ferdinand touring in March it’s sure to be a set highlight, “We’ve played it live in it’s original three minute form at Latitude last year. It’s something we’re working on at the moment, trying to work out a way to realise the potential of that song on stage.” Has the band had much chance to get on the road and test out the new songs? “We did a tour of the Australia, the States and Canada before Christmas and played some dates in Europe over New Year. We’ve been playing about six or seven of the new songs next to the older material. The crowd seem to like them and they are fitting into the set well so that’s good. There are videos on Youtube and people have been leaving really nice comments on there. So it’s been good so far.” Franz Ferdinand are set to embark on a headline tour of the UK in March but what are their plans for the rest of the year? It’s pretty much touring full on for the rest of the year.” And festivals? “Well I think Bennicassim has been confirmed and there will be more in Europe and the UK hopefully.” And the rumour that you are headlining Glastonbury’s Other Stage? “Well they are just rumours, nothing is confirmed.”

Early reviews of ‘Tonight’ have been a mixed bag with praise heavy 8/10’s mixing with indifferent and bored 3’s and 6’s, how do these reviews affect the band members? “I don’t really read the reviews to be honest. I see some of them and people tell me the marks from other places but I don’t seek them out. It doesn’t matter really, we’ve made the album we want and one that we are proud of and that’s all that matters. We’re confident in the record so that’s all that matters.”Perhaps some of the less favourable feedback has been in backlash to the supposed ‘death of indie’ that every bore with a keyboard has been talking about in January, “Yeah well it does look like things are coming to an end, or the end of a cycle should I say. These things move and change all the time and it wasn’t that long ago that nobody was listening to indie bands at all. I don’t think we’ve ever fitted into a genre or a group particularly but it will be interesting to see how things turn out this year. I like bands like The National and Of Montreal, they keep me sane when we’re on tour and they’re bands who aren’t affected by trends or fashion. Despite disappointing sales for big third albums last year (Razorlight, Kaiser Chiefs) and this supposed drop off in guitar bands popularity Franz Ferdinand have made a bold and proud album which should see them take more than a few people out this year.

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Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

Originally published on Gigwise

Three and a half years after their second album Franz Ferdinand return to the music scene. The question is have we missed them? Or even noticed they had gone?

As with all major releases the gossip, hype and rumour mill have been in overdrive regarding ‘Tonight:’ First of all was Xenomania’s involvement in the project. Many saw Brian Higgins glossy pop production as a perfect accompaniment to Franz Ferdinand’s glam choruses and rapidly salivated at the prospect of the collaboration. Second was the talk of the Afro-Beat direction. During a 2008 interview at the height of Vampire Weekends success Alex Kapranos spoke of a desire to take the third album in a similar direction and followed this claim up by taking part in Damon Albarn’s African Express showcase in Liverpool. Finally the rumour that Franz had ditched the guitars altogether in favour of synthesizers in order to make a record entirely different from anything they had made before.

Now Tonight: Franz Ferdinand has materialised we can see how much of these whispers made it onto the record. First of all it was well documented that the sessions with Xenomania did not achieve the desired results and all the recordings were subsequently ditched. What those tracks sound like will no doubt be one of music’s great mysteries. The Afro-Beat rumours are also a fallacy with little to no hints of anything outside of Berlin influencing the album. Guitars however do play a much smaller role in this record than either of the two previous Franz albums creating a new and exciting dynamic for the listener and for when the band play the album live.

Alex Kapranos described 2005’s ‘You Could Have It So Much Better’ as like ‘a teenager having sex’ i.e. too fast and rushed. The bpm on ‘Tonight:’ has certainly been lowered down from a rapid thrashing to a slinky groove creating a more streamlined and cohesive listen than ‘You Could Have It So Much Better’ which at times sounded like a mad man trying to knock down the asylum door. ‘Ulysses’, the first single from the album, is a good indicator of the new direction Franz Ferdinand are heading in with its chanting chorus and walls of buzzing electric feedback. Franz Ferdinand’s albums have always sounded like a collection of singles and ‘Tonight:’ is no different with a succession of dance floor friendly classic pop songs. For example, ‘Bite Hard’ and ‘Turn It On’ are as memorable as say ‘Dark Of The Matinee’ or ‘Michael’ and ‘Twighlight Omens’ and ‘What She Came For’ set to fit firmly in Franz Fans hearts. The change in sound is not a reinvention or a rapid shift as much as it’s a natural progression of the bands sound. To these ears Franz Ferdinand have always had more than one eye on the dance floor and Alex Kapranos even said when the band first formed that their manifesto was to ‘make pretty girls dance’. This desire will certainly reach full fruition with songs like ‘Can’t Stop Feeling’ and the magnificent album highlight ‘Lucid Dreams’- a Kraftwerk inspired techno breakdown that transports the listener to another realm.

Critics may decry a lack of anything as immediate as ‘Take Me Out’ or ‘Do You Wanna’ but the songs on ‘Tonight:’ are more akin to earlier Franz off cuts such as ‘L.Wells’ and ‘Bang Bang’ aided by a bigger, more accomplished sound. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is the sound of an assured and timeless band and looks set to soundtrack many a great night.

9/10

'Ulysses'

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