What do you get when you put Marion Cotillard and Franz Ferdinand together? Lady Dior.
Since Marion Cotillard was selected as the new face of Lady Dior, there have been plenty of print ads by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. The latest addition to the campaign is an original song by Marion and Franz and a rockin' music video by Jonas Akerlund. Some of Jonas Akerlund previous works include Lady Gaga's Paparazzi video (featuring fellow Swede Alexander Skarsgard, who is ridiculously good looking) and Madonna's Ray of Light Video.
The Cribs have a new album out Sept 7th, called Ignore the Ignorant. And it's their first as a four piece with Johnny Marr (of the Smiths and Modest Mouse fame). How did that happen?!
These guys have friends in high places. I mean, the last one was produced by Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand after Franz crashed their recording sessions with Nardwuar the Human Serviette. It's true.
And this new one is produced by Nick Launay (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arcade Fire and Nick Cave).
Here's the setlist:
1. 'We Were Aborted' 2. 'Cheat On Me' 3. 'We Share The Same Skies' 4. 'City Of Bugs' 5. 'Hari Kari' 6. 'Last Year's Snow' 7. 'Emasculate Me' 8. 'Ignore The Ignorant' 9. 'Save Your Secrets' 10. 'Nothing' 11. 'Victim Of Mass Production' 12. 'Stick To Yr Guns'
I got down to Toronto's Union Station in the late afternoon yesterday, and trekked the rest of the way to the Kool Haus, where Franz Ferdinand would play a sold-out show after the sun set. The area reeked of compost and industrialization, but it was bright and warm. Pleasant weather for the dedicated fans that had been waiting in this line since AM hours. Those that showed up before 4 PM were lucky enough to have a chat with the band when they arrived. A friend of mine received a paper fry cook hat from some diner in the States as a gift from Paul, the Ferdinand drummer. He's trying to find the best burger in North America, you know?
By the time doors opened, the line had begun to curls its way around the parking lot toward the back of the building. We got in, and then we waited. Again. Track after track of techno beat was played as the stage crew prepared the equipment. Every time the beat dissipated, half the audience would gasp at the thought of it finally starting. When the beat started up again, we'd all let out a communal groan. This went on for just over an hour, then the Born Ruffians took the stage.
Now to be fair, the Born Ruffians played a pretty good set. Their singer-guitarist, Luke LaLonde, has a certain pleasant aura to him. He looks to the audience with a typical rocker's sort of gaze, but when you catch him glancing over and nodding to his band-mates, you can tell by his boyish smile that he's truly enjoying himself. Musically, the four-piece are definitely not afraid of their shout-along "oh-oh-oh"s, and that's always fun. But maybe it was that I was unfamiliar with their tunes, or the eclectic nature of their sounds, 'cause I had some trouble telling when one song ended and the next began. The Born Ruffians really did deserve more credit than the crowd was willing to give them though. After what felt like a ridiculously long wait time, (about two months of the tickets selling out, hours in line for those who were in the front, and a painful dance-soundtrack stage set-up session), we were all just waiting for the Franz to take the stage. And maybe that's how it's been throughout their tour with Franz so far. They did say that they recently started playing the final song of their set with Paul the Ferdinand drummer.
They Ruffians finished and the crowd grew restless again as new wait-for-us-to-set-up-again music started up. A weak chant of "we want Franz" started and moved across the audience, but died quickly as it had absolutely no effect. So again we waited, and just after ten the magic began. The stage went red under the lights as Franz Ferdinand finally took to the stage.
Alex, Paul and Bob walk to their positions. Nick hobbles. The poor guy has still got his foot in a cast. He raises his crutches to the audience and the applause is deafening. "Your foot's still fucked up!" is the only explanation we receive from our favourite frontman after a standard-setting performance of their latest single, No You Girls. The energy in the band and in the audience is fantastic! The bar is raised high for the songs to come, and still they never disappoint. In fact, half-way into the second song, there's already a pseudo mosh pit forming. I spent the rest of the performance being grinded into the barrier (I'll hand it to whoever was behind me, you were very rhythmic) and absorbing other people's sweat. Alex thanks us for our enthusiasm.
The set was comprised of jumps, kicks, jump-kicks and mostly songs from the third album Tonight, naturally. Live Alone is probably my favourite of that bunch, and it was great to see it live. The blitzkrieg finale to What She Came For spurred an insane riot about the crowd, and I've got the bruises to prove. But of course, they did indulge us a bit with the crowd pleasers- Michael, Shopping For Blood, Outsiders, Take Me Out.
And despite this, some girls decided to write up their own set list to toss on stage. Alex looks it over, reciting his favourite bits back to us. It includes the entirety of all three albums, and a special request for their bassist to rap the opening theme to Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. "Aw c'mon, Bob!" Nick encourages. "One line! Just one line!" Alex insists. He turns to the audience. "Would you like to hear one line?" "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! BOB BOB BOB BOB BOB BOB BOB..." Bob refuses. This might get uncomfortable. "You're all too mean," Nick tells us. "Shame on you." They turn to Paul. Maybe he'll do it. "Eh, I don't know any of it. No, no. Alas..." The show continues.
It was intense. By then time the boys returned for their encore, Alex had a bag of ice with which to ease his wrist. No one seemed to question it. He even attempted to crowd surf during This Fire. I think that was a poor idea on his part since the people in the front couple rows were mostly girls of petite stature that didn't quite have the strength to support him.
The band gave a final shout out to Toronto, and the show ended at about midnight. They gave a few waves and the stage was empty again. The sore and aching audience inched out of the sweaty humid building and were reminded of what fresh air felt like. That was quite possibly the best show I've seen.
And since I feel like I've written and posted about Franz SO many times before, I feel it'd be wrong of me to give you more tracks. What I WILL do is give you, quite literally the audio rips from my videos, posted up above. Have fun with the off-key singing audience. Ha, is that better or worse than actually giving you the album tracks?
Well, what can I say? It was only a matter of time before Franz Ferdinand did a Britney Spears cover. They actually bridge into one of their crowd favourites, Shopping for Blood after the midpoint of the song, which is surprisingly fitting.
Hear the entire interview and performance at BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge. There's a good 20 minutes worth of material on that link. Nick proves his abilities as a talented mathematician. Alex tells an adorable childhood story about Doctor Who and mittens. The band conquers a Fear Dragon, then perform No You Girls and of course, the highlight of the day, their cover of Britney Spears' Womanizer.
"You can listen to it quiet, but it sounds better loud. You can listen to during the daytime, but it sounds better at night time," quoth Alex Kapranos, Franz Ferdinand front man. But Bob the bassist would like to remind you that through the wonders of the interweb, you can buy it day or night, 24/7.
Yesterday, when Franz Ferdinand's new album dropped, I went specifically out of my way to get it, first thing in the morning. I waited three years for this album, and the wait was finally over.
I was simply giddy when I found it on the new releases shelf (but for some odd reason, all of the cases had minor cracks in the same spot on every case. I stood at that shelf picking up different cases of the same CD and inspecting them for damage for about five minutes. The people at the counter must have thought I was crazy). I got home, locked myself in my room and threw it on repeat for the rest of the day. Would've written this up yesterday, but I was still too giddy.
If you're still reading this, then I'm going to assume that you've already heard a little bit about this album. You know that it's much more of a dance oriented record, than a guitar-driven rock record like their last record, You Could Have It So Much Better. You know that it's an album to "fling yourself around your room to as you psyche yourself for a night of hedonism, for the dance-floor, flirtation, for your desolate heart-stop, for losing it and loving losing it, for the chemical surge in your bloodstream. Its for that lonely hour gently rocking yourself waiting for dawn and it all to be even again". Damn that swaggering singer, Kapranos, has a way with words!
And indeed, as soon as you push that little triangular play button, you're going to get pretty psyched. As I'm listening to it in my seat, typing this thing out, I'm psyched and doing a little swivel chair dance to the beat of one of my favourites from the album, Live Alone one of the more tragic tracks on this one. And yet it still manages to get away with a playful lyric about slipping in a casual "man", in a sentence so that a NYC taxi driver would think that "he's alright" and want to have a drink with him.
What She Came For has got the best shout-it-out chorus line, and I can't wait to see that one live. Lucid Dreams has undergone a major transformation since its release a few months ago. It's like a dance remix of the original track. I've yet to grow much attachment to the new version though. Dream Again would be the Tonight equivilent of YCHISMB's Fade Together, or their debut album's 40ft. You know, the quiet brooding track that now seems a necissity in every Franz record. No You Girls and Katherine Kiss Me are like a pair of doppelgangers. In restrospect, they really are the same song. The same song with the same story and interchangeable lyrics, but under very different circumstances. No You Girls is the rockin' life of the party. Katherine Kiss Me would be the spoft-spoken acoustic response to it. They're each good in their own right. I could go on about every other track that I haven't yet mentioned, but what I think says the most about the band and their new sound is the revamp of Can't Stop the Feeling. This song has been with the Franz for a while now. It was a demo that they released waaaay back in 2003. It was an indie keyboard-guitar collaboration that complimented their first album very well. Comparing that to the new dancey, sleekly produced version is a pretty good metaphor to describe the band's evolutionary process.
Franz Ferdinand - Can't Stop Feeling (2003 Demo) (mp3) Franz Ferdinand - Can't Stop Feeling (Tonight, album version) (mp3)(Amazon)(iTunes)
[EDIT: Mp3s taken down upon request]
It's also a pretty good metaphor about how I'm going to rate Tonight as a whole. I liked it a whole fuckin' lot. Really! It was a much needed breather from the frenzied YCHISMB sound. It definitely rates higher on my scales than their sophmore, but will it achieve the same affection I hold for their self-titled debut? I mean, that's some serious competition! For now, I'll probably have to say no. Franz Ferdinand's Franz Ferdinand was too much of a masterpiece, and I'm not sure if anything will knock that off my top spot at this point. But there's still time for many more listens.
Go buy the album and decide for yourself already. It's worth the price, and it was definitely worth the three years of waiting.
That's what I've had to say about Tonight. This is what the band had to say about it. Among other things. Good fun to watch if you have the time. Those boys are awful charming.
Currently, I'm in Melbourne, Australia which means that my posts have been far inbetween. I'm super excited about tonight cause I'm going to see Franz Ferdinand at the Palace in Melbourne! Yay! I'm still a little bitter from not being able to get tickets to the intimate show at Lee's Palace in Toronto last month. I can't believe the Toronto show was sold out in less than two minutes. Oh well. It show should be awesome tonight. I'm going to dance like there's nobody watching. Which is accurate because no one from back home will be able to report on my horrible dancing. Unless it somehow shows up on Youtube.
And also coincidentally, my favourite discovery of 2008, Cut Copy hails from Melbourne as well. It's got all the right influences in all the right places. In Ghost Colours has been on constant repeat ever since I got the album. And they'll be playing a show at Circa in Toronto in March 20, 2009.
NME has confirmed two important things for me just now.
One:
"Blur are certainly going to rehearse and see if we're into it," quoth Damon Albarn.
Happy times!
He says that all of the band's members, including Graham Coxon, will be working together in the coming year. Albarn then sat down among the performers at a BBC Radio Theatre rendition of Monkey: Journey to the West in London.
Paul Thomsom, Ferdinand drummer, told NME: "We shot it just after midnight behind the Barrowlands Ballroom in Glasgow. We wanted to get a Weegee vibe – that famous New York crime scene photographer from the '40s and '50s."
Read more, here, or pick up the latest issue of NME for a full interview with the band.
Sometimes I feel very unaccomplished when I look at what others have achieved in their lifetimes.
I mean, the Radical Sons have already been signed to RCRD LBL and most of their members are still in high school. I looked them up over mySpace and read over their profile briefly before their tracks started to autoplay.
"The four future members of The Radical Sons met while loitering and skateboarding around the St. Louis Delmar Street Loop. "
Already I was biased. "Loitering skateboarding teens?... Probably another set of whiny emo kids."
They've got that gritty sort of garage rock feel going on. No doubt the upcoming EP they're releasing will sound a little more cleaned up, like the tracks that are up on their mySpace.
I've got a good feeling about them. Considering how young they are, they've got a pretty sophisticated style, and they've got ample time for improvement. I just know that a few years from now, when they're being interviewed about their sophomore album, they'll look back on Jungle and Brother Speed, and they'll laugh reminiscently at their past efforts. Then they'll exchange friendly banter with the journalist, telling him that those tracks were nothing compared to what they've been working on more recently. That's how I picture it anyway. I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye out for the Radical Sons in the future.
More currently though, the Radical Sons will be opening for... Little Joy, who are playing in St. Louis, Missouri this Wednesday November 12th. Their debut self-titled album just dropped last week. Little Joy - The Next Time Around (mp3)(buy)
Little Joy made to main points to me: 1) They're another rebuttal against that "the drummer's making a solo effort ha ha ha" cliche. 2) Statistically speaking, the members of the Strokes must have so much talent that there should be city-wide power shortages when they're within the same vicinity. However, this isn't happening because they won't be near each other for while and their fourth album won't be out til late 2009, and still likely to be postponed. =(
Good on you though, Fabrizio Moretti.
Ironically, the show I mentioned earlier is 21+, so really the Radical Sons aren't really of age to play it. Speaking of age restrictions though... Franz Ferdinand is playing a show at Lee's Palace in Toronto on December the 4th and IT'S NOT ALL AGES.
Damn alcohol. I'm one year away from legal drinking age, and it's torture. Not because I wanna drink. But because I'm missing out on shows like, the Franz'. Although I guess I should congratulate the Young Lords for having their track, Rodeo Songs highlighted in that Guinness ad you just saw.
Every music fan, no matter how intellectually capable or musically analytical, is allowed to have one unhealthy band obsession. It's the one that you've google searched, wikipedia'd and mySpace'd one too many times. You know all their lyrics, maybe even all of the b-sides. If they made a trivia game about the band, you'd buy it, then complain and return it because it wasn't challenging enough. Don't try to deny it. Everyone has that one band that makes them melt. This is mine:
BEST PICTURE EVER!
Franz Ferdinand. They're like the guy or the girl that you think is trying to lead you on, and the temptation almost unbearable, and you just don't quite know why. There's something about the way they talk, the way they write their songs, or the way their eyebrows dance when they sing. The relationship becomes almost abusive when you know you're being lead on, but you just don't care... They've been teasing their fans for months now in preparation for the third album. In August of last year, the content of their official site was replaced with black background and the words:
Promises of new tracks were kept, and a number of them are available through YouTube with debatable audio and visual quality. They had only been leaked through live performances. Then of course, being the teases that they are, they released some short... well, teasers for their upcoming album.
First with "Flight of the Galvatron". Intense stuff!
Then with something called "The Tradition".
And finally, a clip called "Under the Stage".
The website has been restored. It now has a new look, and is unsurprisingly reminiscent of their usual style and font. It's also got a frequently updated band diary that allows you to get a glimpse inside those intriguing minds they have, a neat music sampler filled mostly with what appears to be instrumental clips from their new songs. Most intriguing however, is the new song, "Lucid Dreams". It was made available to fans yesterday on their site, but the corresponding diary entry insists that "it's not a single".
Franz Ferdinand - Lucid Dreams (mp3)
I bet marketing people are really good at leading people on in everyday life too.
So I think I've found my new television obsession! Jpod, the new CBC series based on the book of the same name by Vancouver-ite Douglas Coupland. He's been one of my favourite authors ever since I read "Shampoo Planet" back in grade 10, no matter how satirically grim he gets. Even my email address and obsessions with hippies and rugged city boys probably began there. Aside from all the preconceived notions, the show is actually quite good. It's got the post-modern quirkiness, Canadians and its a funny black comedy. And it's on Tuesday nights at 9pm, the same time as another favourite show, "House". Oh what to do?
Where have I seen the actor who plays Ethan before? He looks so familiar...
Moving aside, ImpressionableYouth introduced me to a Franz Ferdinand song "no", recorded as a musical interpretation of a poem, using the lyrics of David Shirgley. It's from Shirgley's 2005 book "Worried Noodles". The song is actually quite horrible, but somehow entertaining. Franz makes pretty good covers. Here's three more.
I have a good feeling about 2008. Don't know why and don't know how but it's going to be a good one. Even in terms of music, I know it's going to be good. You know why? Here is an example:
Franz Ferdinand will be releasing a new album, which means that they'll be touring again which means that they'll be coming back to Toronto again, which means that we may possibly get tickets to the show this time, which means that we may get to see them live. You see? (Impressionable Youth: HELL YEAH!) Franz Ferdinand - What You Waiting For (Gwen Stefani Cover) (mp3)
What else? So maybe that's looking too far into the crystal ball, but I'm excited about about a couple of new releases.
The Duke Spirit will be releasing "Neptune" in February. I'm excited. It's got a Spiritualized, Mercury Rev, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club type of Anglophile rock sound. The Duke Spirit - Lassoo (mp3)
The Raveonettes "Lust Lust Lust" should be out soon. It's been delayed since last November due to record label changes and from what I've heard it sounds pretty good. Sweet vocals and a Phil Spector wall of sound. The Raveonettes - Hallucinations(mp3)
The Blakes has a new self titled album out, which has the kind of swagger of indie rock boys who don't really care (but they secretly do). The Blakes - Don't Bother Me (mp3)
The following are all-ages unless otherwise specified. This list is SUBJECT TO CHANGE. I'll try my best to keep this up-to-date but ALWAYS double check official sources before you go.
I hope that sharing a few of your songs is alright by you. If not, please let me know as I will immediately remove your material upon request. We're still good though, right?
Greetings few, but well-loved readers. Please enjoy your stay but remember, the mp3s are for sampling and will only be available for a short time. If you find something you like, support the artist. Buying the record and going to shows makes everyone happy.
Music submission? Important feedback? Questions or comments? Complaint? We're more than happy to hear it: impressionableyouth@gmail.com
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