SUPER FURRY ANIMALS

Cian Ciaran, the keyboard player, just released his album this past Monday. As a long-time fan, I am pleased and even a little bit shocked at how good it is. The LP is just as good as Gruff's solo efforts.

Here is the Spotify link: http://open.spotify.com/album/0br5g7CaWyvJnLZUsrdTmg

revisiting this after not listening to it since release: https://soundcloud.com/acid-casuals/alto-due-pugnali-e-mezzo

damn good track.

Surprisingly, Bunf seems to be the one with the freshest sounding side project: https://soundcloud.com/the-pale-blue-dots

https://soundcloud.com/the-pale-blue-dots/aquarium

Loving this stuff.

They've reunited...

Super Furry Animals may currently be on an extended hiatus, but the Welsh psych rock icons are aiming to be top of the hops with the launch of their own beer.

Produced in conjunction with the Celt Experience Brewery, members of the band will be stirring up a storm when their new beer – named Fuzzy (after their debut album Fuzzy Logic) is unveiled at a special event next month.

Those who love their beers can taste the new brew at the one-night only Fire Festival on Saturday, February 1. Billed as ‘a celebration of innovative craft beer, art and smokey food’, it will be held to celebrate the Celtic Experience’s new village development at its brewery on the Pontygwindy Estate in Caerphilly.

The Festival will include free samples of the brewery’s acclaimed craft beers and a live performance from the Super Furry Animals – a live brewing performance that is.

Gruff, Guto, Cian, Daf and Bunf – who have been pursuing their own projects since they released their last album Dark Days/Light Years in 2009, will put the finishing touches to their own collaborative beer, which will be available in pubs around Wales and chosen outlets in London in March.

Fuzzy Beer, follows the launch of Goldie Lookin’ Ale – a collaborative beer between Welsh rappers Goldie Lookin’ Chain and Newport-based Tiny Rebel Brewery last year.

“We’re making it with our own specially formulated recipe, although I can’t tell you what that is,” laughs Furries keyboard maestro Cian Ciaran.

“Me and Daf (SFA drummer Dafydd Ieuan) met Tom who owns the brewery last year and we all thought it would be a good idea to make our own Furry brew.”

Although the band won’t be playing live, several members of the group will DJ on the night.

to brew a beer. :\

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/welsh-rock-icons-super-furry-6530196

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHV_6H2hQnM

American Interior is to come in four formats – a 13-song album, to be released on 5 May, which will be Rhys's fourth solo album; a book, described as "a psychedelic historical travelogue in which Gruff traces Evans' incredible journey from North Wales to new Spain, alongside the tale of his own strange American road trip following in Evans's footsteps", which will be published in late May; a film directed by Dylan Goch, documenting Rhys's 2012 tour; and an app consisting of 100 entries telling Evans's story.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jan/29/gruff-rhys-new-album-film-book-app

Loving the new Pale Blue Dots song:

https://soundcloud.com/the-pale-blue-dots/slow-reaction

Also got a new Gulp song this past week:

https://soundcloud.com/sonic-cathedral/gulp-seasoned-sun

Not been a bad year for SFA, if you're not looking for an actual SFA album.

Shocked, but not displeased, a publisher picked this up:

Rawlins, formerly digital editor of Artrocker, will document the story of the Welsh rock band's rise to iconic status.

The book, acquired by publishers The Friday Project, will tell the story of the band's time signed to Creation Records.

It will also cover their lavish marketing campaigns, which included equipping an army tank with a techno sound system and making plans to convert an aircraft carrier into a nightclub.

Lead singer Gruff Rhys said of the book: "Revolutionary, crazed and beautiful musical events and conversations that originally happened through the medium of a cracked youthful version of the Welsh language in the mid-nineties are presented here for the first time in quality English.

http://www.digitalspy.com/music/news/a577691/super-furry-animals-biography-for-release-in-2015.html#~oHu8lpFCxBKD8T

Also, new song by The Earth. It's really good:

https://soundcloud.com/strangetown-records/3-baby-bones

I had a feeling Ric would get something like this put out eventually, and given his passion and enthusiasm for the band it should be at the very least pretty good. Why he hasn't gone the whole hog and covered their Epic Records/Rough Trade years too is a huge mystery, though.

Vol 2

I just feel like there's, max, a dozen people out there that want to read this story. I'm not complaining, though. I've wanted an SFA book for years.

Gruff's book doesn't count.

Even though I care the least I probably ever have about this band right now, I'll definitely be still giving this book a read. Partly because I enjoy reading books of this ilk, and partly because I'm interested to see how much depth the book actually goes into. Hopefully I'll learn something new from it, or it'll give me a new perspective on albums and tracks I've played to death in the past. It'll be interesting to see how much it sells, too... I can't help but feel that the perfect time to do something like this would have been around the time of Songbook, and covering the years 1994-2004.

It would be annoying to put out the biography and then for them to reform five minutes later

Well, they're technically not broken up... And it seems likely they'll get together sooner than later. So that'll probably happen.

I wouldn't be fazed if they never got back together again to make music, and I wouldn't feel much of a loss either. At one point the thought of SFA splitting up would have been incredibly depressing, but I'm really unsure if they've got anything more to give.

I don't think they'll ever release an epic album that changes the world, but I think those days are behind any band any of us knows about. Hopefully their time apart has taught them some new tricks. I think it has, but I know you're not really fond of anything they've done since DD/LY.

The Friday Project picked up the last two Kristin Hersh album/books, it's not that much of a stretch for them

I guess you're right, 'cause I have no idea who that is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guYOL2FLpCA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcgMiyv05Tc

Gulp's Vast Space is currently streaming: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2014/07/super_furry_ani_13.html

I meant Season Sun, the name of their album. Oops.

Gulp is officially out. You can listen on Spotify

Got to see Gruff in Manchester a couple weeks ago. It was one of the best live performances I've ever been to, and he was all on his own. The show was equal parts lecture and music performance. I never realized how naturally charming and funny he is.

In other news: https://soundcloud.com/strangetown-records/sets/the-earth-keltic-voodoo-boogaloo

The Earth's second LP is streaming. The Earth is Daf's band. Someone from Catatonia is also in the band. I know people around here hate Catatonia. The Earth's front woman also sings for the band Slowly Rolling Camera. I think this is a pretty decent record. It's a lot better than the first one.

https://soundcloud.com/strangetown-records/sets/the-pale-blue-dots-lots-of/s-eSrBc

Bunf's new album is streaming.

The Pale Blue Dots' new album is no longer streaming, but some new tracks available for stream. The album comes out next Monday (digital only). The Pale Blue Dots are also in session on Marc Riley tonight:

https://soundcloud.com/strangetown-records/reach-for-the-keys

https://soundcloud.com/strangetown-records/devastation

https://soundcloud.com/strangetown-records/slow-reaction

Some words from a website called Clash Music:

http://www.clashmusic.com/news/track-of-the-day-2110-the-pale-blue-dots

The ongoing hiatus of Super Furry Animals has dulled one of the most potent psych-pop voices around.

Thankfully, it has allowed the various members of the Welsh ensemble to engage in all manner of weird and wonderful projects.

Huw 'Bunf' Bunford is the band's lead guitarist, but recently struck up a friendship with composer Richard Chester.

Swapping ideas, the pair quickly descended into the studio to lay down some of fragments on tap. Piecing the whole thing together, The Pale Blue Dots were born.

Matching psychedelic flourishes against sweeping arrangements, a Bowie strut with lush harmonies, the project's debut album 'Lots Of Dots' is forthcoming.

Bunf says: "This is our Jekyll and Hyde moment. We love pop music, but we also like to lie down, listen to something, and not have to get up to press 'next track' for at least half an hour. The album definitely has a number of songs that could find themselves on the radio, but over the coming months we’re looking to take people on a journey into sound. By distributing found sounds online, and forming new compositions using archive material, The Pale Blue Dots is going to set out to demonstrate the pure pleasure in just listening."

Also, a new Cian Ciaran single came out a couple weeks ago:

https://soundcloud.com/strangetown-records/sets/ciaran-wilding

The first track is a cover of a song by an artist I'd never heard of before. The second track features that artist's vocals. I actually kind of prefer the second track

I get the feeling no one around here cares about this stuff, but I hope someone out there might. I still see the odd "SFA ARE THE BEST BAND EVER" on the internet, so I hope this news reaches someone.

Not bad tunes in the Love Kraft vein, but pretty inessential. Damn, I miss this band.

Don't think it's happening until Gruff stops making his own albums. Everyone else in the band is recording and producing their albums together.

Hi! I'm a lurker and a regular visitor to ilxor and this thread in particular. Super Furry Animals were and still are one of my favourite bands ever since I heard Mark Radcliffe play Hometown Unicorn on his late night BBC Radio One show. I can remembering him marvelling at the guitar solo on the song.

I've really enjoyed watching Gruff's solo shows since his first solo record, he's become a really engaging and entertaining performer. I wonder if the band got back together again would the live shows be a lot more interesting than they used to be. I can remember a show on the Phantom Power tour being a bit hard going with too many slow and midpaced songs all in a row.

I'm looking forward to hearing Bunf's record and am hoping that it gets released on vinyl or at least CD, the clips I've heard sound great. From that Clash interview it sounds like they're trying to do something interesting.

ha! i was just subjecting my coworkers to Love Kraft and Hey Venus yesterday!

Calimero, I agree that Gruff's solo show is a lot better than many of the SFA shows I've been to. Two of his shows were some of the most memorable I've ever been to. The first one was a Candylion show that also featured Tony Da Gatorra. He also had some other guys on stage with him. I'm not sure who they were.

The second one was his totally solo American Interior show. My wife, who has almost zero interest in Gruff or SFA, enjoyed the American Interior show as much as I did. He really refined his act for general consumption. I wish I'd seen him with Y Niwl and Kliph Scurlock backing him, but I still loved it.

SFA are very stationary and ehearsed and also rely a lot on backing tracks. That's been my issue with their shows in the past. I've still seen a couple really memorable shows. The one where they wore those fiber optic boiler suits was awesome.

I also saw Gruff on the recent American Interior tour in a church, there was a drum kit and amps behind him which made me think Kliph and Y Niwl would join him at one point. It turned out the gear was for the church band! Despite this disappointment it was a great show, the songs sounded fine without a band, and Gruff was an entertaining and interesting storyteller.

I didn't really appreciate Yr Atal Genhedlaeth until I saw Gruff play a gig for it a few months later and then saw how he builds up the title track. It was interesting to see him play it again, and slightly differently, on this recent tour.

Like your wife, my partner had zero interest in the band, but now loves him after seeing a few of his gigs, the two films and an American Interior q&a. I don't think that would have happened if I'd taken her to a few regular SFA shows!

Gulp and The Earth recently played my town but I will was too lazy to see them, has anyone here seen either of the two bands live?

I have not seen either band. I hear Gulp is pretty good live. There are a couple nice videos online. I'm sure it's a lot more stationary than a Gruff show. I don't know much about The Earth, but I will say I really enjoyed their new album (I said that already, I think). It sounds much fuller and more varied than their first LP. I know it's not an essential release, and the vocals aren't going to pull in a lot of SFA fans, but I recommend it.

Strangetown, the record label that's put out all this other stuff, just sent .wavs of the new Pale Blue Dots album. It's unfortunately extremely short (under half an hour), but I love the whole thing. I never knew how much Bunf contributed to the band's sound. I always kind of at Gruff and Cian as the holy alliance. Honestly, The Pale Blue Dots' album comes closest to capturing the sound I fell in love with so many years ago. I understand that they are going to record more songs in the studio, so I guess Lots of Dots is more of an EP than an LP. There is an odd dance-y track with Bunf on lead vocals at the end of the album that I did not expect to like, but I can't get it out of my head.

I guess I have to give Richard Chester some credit, too. There are some great strings on the album.

I always kind of viewed*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y22dwqhMXSU

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p029nbdr

The Pale Blue Dots sounded kind of rough on their first outing, but they'd only rehearsed the night before. I enjoyed Daf coming in with his "Ice Hockey Hair" drums every couple minutes.

Yeah, I've had a similar new found appreciation for Bunf's contribution to the band. These days I'm able to recognise his voice more easily!

I never realized how prominent Cian's voice is on certain songs. Take for instance "Chewing Chewing Gum." It's almost his first lead vocal.

The Pale Blue Dots' album is streaming again (it's officially out today):

https://soundcloud.com/strangetown-records/sets/the-pale-blue-dots-lots-of

I stole a fuse from their tank at Phoenix Festival 1996. Not many bands you can say that about tbh,

Can we just say they've split up now yet?

If gruff embarks on another multimedia extravagnza, sure. All the rest of them are recording, producing and releasing their music together.

Can we just say they've split up now yet?

― PaulTMA, Tuesday, November 4, 2014 12:46 AM (21 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

In my mind, they pretty much have.

I'm still in denial. If they announced it, it would feel like when Supergrass split up. A band that always seemed to be there putting out good to great albums every couple of years. Both bands that make me incredibly nostalgic.

If they were split it up, wouldn't they just say they're split up? Gruff keeps insisting there'll be a 10th album.

From what it sounds like, it doesn't seem like any of the band members have or are aware of any concrete plans for Super Furry Animals, and none of them seem particularly enthusiastic about it either, which makes me feel that the ship as sailed. I can't help but get the impression that there's a gulf between Gruff and the rest of the band, too. If they have split up and they're keeping quiet about it, then that's somewhat of a shrewd move, really. People will be more accepting of/tolerate even the shittiest of solo products if they feel a new Super Furry Animals album is eventually going to happen: like "hmm, yeah, okay this Neon Neon/Cian/Earth/Pale Blue Dots album is a bit shit, but that's okay, they'll get around to giving us the real stuff soon". Remember also that Blur never actually announced that they'd "split up" either following Think Tank, but they may as well have done for all that's happened since.

I'm still in denial. If they announced it, it would feel like when Supergrass split up. A band that always seemed to be there putting out good to great albums every couple of years. Both bands that make me incredibly nostalgic.

― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, November 4, 2014 10:50 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

When Supergrass split up, my overall feeling was one of unrealised potential. As good as records like In It For The Money and Road To Rouen are, I still think they had a lot more ground to cover and a lot left to explore as a unit. The album they were working on when they split, Release The Drones sounded very promising.

By comparison, I think the Super Furry Animals have explored every avenue they possibly can together. I honestly don't see where else they could possibly go from here. It would be a good time to leave it, I think. They've already released 10 records if you count Out Spaced as a "proper" album, anyway.

Gruff's certainly drawn more attention to himself, with his most critically-acclaimed album and a fantastic stage show. The rest of the guys clearly have their work set out for them. we'll agree to disagree on the quality of the other side projects, though I've never been a neon neon fan.

Can't say much about Supergrass. I always found them pretty slight. "Alright" is a nice song and their self-titled album seemed to draw more flack than it deserved. I kind of left them behind. I know most that read this thread probably rate SFA similarly, but that's life.

Griff's just announced another American Interior UK tour, this time it's with Kliph and Y Niwl as his backing band:http://www.gruffrhys.com/gruff-rhys’-uk-tour-2015-with-full-band/

Excuse the misspelling of Griff's name and the dodgy URL in that last post...

Damn autocorrect on my smartphone did it again!

It's how you pronounce it anyway

Professor Gruff

Kliph's drumming on American Interior is pretty great. It'll be a good show. I've loved what Y Niwl and Gruff have done together. Live, they're a more dynamic backing band than SFA (I hate to admit it). The songs aren't as good, but that's a different story.

Can't help but feel Kliph's powerhouse drumming talents are wasted drumming for Gruff. I would have thought he would have been more at home in something a bit more Zeppelin-like than backing Gruff's light folk ditties.

http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2014/american-interior/

The film is now streaming for American audiences. I haven't seen it yet. Can't wait to watch it later.

Can't help but feel Kliph's powerhouse drumming talents are wasted drumming for Gruff. I would have thought he would have been more at home in something a bit more Zeppelin-like than backing Gruff's light folk ditties.

I think it complements the songs nicely. I don't usually focus on the drumming on these solo endeavors, so it's a nice addition. It's insane Kliph has managed to drum for two of his idols (well, one former).

I can't imagine what a relief it must be to tour w/ Gruff after a stint in the Flips, regardless of musical suitability

I just watched the film since they're taking the stream down tomorrow. It's extremely entertaining and a superior film to Separado. Gruff has really become a great entertainer and he presents the tale perfectly. There are a couple weird interviews with fawning fans who kind of fetishize Wales . Not sure if that's supposed to be flattering, but I really enjoyed it otherwise. The film stream seems to work internationally, btw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHtTFwp2UFQ

Gruff Rhys is best known as the frontman of the Welsh psych-rock band Super Furry Animals, but this time of year I tend to remember him as the songwriter behind some of the most disturbing Christmas songs ever written. Rhys has been performing solo for quite awhile, and back in 2011 he released the Atheist XMAS EP, a collection of delightfully morbid Christmas songs — “Slashed Wrists This Christmas” is a personal favorite. This time around, Rhys is moving in a less seasonal direction, though his new track “Set Fire To The Stars” embodies some of the same darkness. The track will be featured in the forthcoming biopic Set Fire To The Stars about the life and work of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, starring Elijah Wood. The title of the film and the track is lifted from Thomas’ poem “Love In The Asylum.” Rhys also wrote the movie’s jazzy score and recorded it with a band including Portishead collaborator Jim Barr.

Went to his solo American Interior show last night in Cardiff. Fantastic performance from Gruff and the songs sounded great acoustically. He was also extremely funny when relating the story of John Evans' journey.

http://diymag.com/2015/01/05/gruff-rhys-co...se-married-2-me

The year’s barely begun, but Welsh hero Gruff Rhys already has his heart set on one specific occasion: Valentine’s Day.

A new release, ‘Married 2 Me’, is scheduled for 14th February this year. It sees Gruff collaborating with Super Furry Animals bandmate Dafydd Ieuan in a track with The Earth, featuring Dionne Bennett on vocals.

It’s the first time Gruff and Ieuan have put their name to a release since 2010’s Super Furries number ‘Dark Deays / Light Years’.

‘Married 2 Me’ is a digital release only, out via Strangetown Records.

Last year saw Gruff Rhys releasing his latest solo album ‘American Interior’.

Seems fairly significant considering Gruff has not collaborated with anyone from SFA since DD/LY came out.

Here's the track:

http://soundcloud.com/strangetown-records/the-earth-married-2-me

This surfaced on their Facebook today:

http://i.imgur.com/iFNilUK.jpg

And everyone is now abuzz with speculation.

ain't that old, though? Looks 'Rings' era.

Looks like a mixture of DD/LY, RAtW and Fuzzy Logic. Could be a tour poster or something less exciting like promotional material for their biography.

I can't believe people are getting such a hard-on over this.

Just realised that Love Kraft is going to be 10 this year. Fuck!

If they were about to bring out a new album I would be very exited.

Any news is good news.

That Gruff was just in the studio with Daf is a nice sign there's no bad blood.

Love Kraft full album tour plz

Can't see that happening. Isn't the biography out next month or something?

It's some new Pete Fowler art.

Ric Rawlins (author of biog) has just posted "if it's about that (the book) it's news to me!"

It does have elements from at least three of their eras (I see Fuzzy Logic, RAtW and DD/LY), so it could possibly be some sort of greatest hits artwork. Still hopeful it means a new album.

It's going to take a lot more than this to convince me that there's a new SFA album on the way, I'm afraid. In fact, the only thing that will convince me is if they actually come out an announce it. Speculation over a Facebook image is just lunacy, really.

Any news is good news.

That Gruff was just in the studio with Daf is a nice sign there's no bad blood.

― afriendlypioneer, Thursday, January 15, 2015 7:46 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought the "bad blood" was between the members of the band who aren't Gruff and their former manager?

If they were about to bring out a new album I would be very exited.

― Kitchen Person, Thursday, January 15, 2015 7:42 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'd be curious enough to give it a listen at the very least if they choose to release something. If I'm to be honest, though, I'm not exactly desperate for a new SFA album. I've kinda got used to them being inactive, truth be told.

The font reminds me of Love Kraft as much as Fuzzy Logic.

It sucks they don't get along with Gruff's management because Turnstile has done a great job promoting Gruff's albums.

I was kind of hoping they'd handle an inevitable SFA release.

Yeah... I mean even just casually observing, I can tell that albums like Hotel Shampoo and especially American Interior have been receiving more promotion than Dark Days/Light Years ever got. In fact, I'd say that the way that American Interior was promoted at least almost resembled how SFA albums used to be handled.

Another new image uploaded five minutes ago.

I believe that one comes from the biography.

Yup!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xRCPwrkeL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Love Kraft tour confirmed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XME_p9oN9zk&feature=youtu.be

Thought as much.

That YouTube toolbar had me wondering "What's a Frook?"

They also just dropped this on their Facebook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtBqAFiRGpw

Which is Cian's new band.

Pretty clever of them to use a new SFA image to promote other projects.

Well, it would certainly would be a way of grabbing attention when everyone but the seriously dedicated/obsessed has fallen asleep over an ever-increasing pile of substandard solo ventures.

I saw the Gulp LP on a few year end lists, even heard a song on a show the other day. The other guys haven't done too well, Gruff aside. I still think Cian's first was pretty good, but obviously I'd take an SFA album over all this stuff.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jan/24/howard-marks-inoperable-cancer-mr-nice

Howard Marks, the notorious former dope smuggler known as Mr Nice, has told the Observer he has been diagnosed with inoperable bowel cancer.

“I’ve come to terms with it in my own way – which for me was about learning how to cry,” Marks, 69, said this weekend. “It’s impossible to regret any part of my life when I feel happy and I am happy now, so I don’t have any regrets and have not had any for a very long time.”

Marks, a long-time campaigner for the legalisation of cannabis, has already received messages of support from his wide-ranging group of friends. Artist Tracey Emin, the journalist Peter Hitchens, Sir Richard Branson, broadcaster Zoe Ball and DJ husband Norman Cook have all sent best wishes this weekend. Hitchens has praised Marks as a “principled defender of free speech” despite taking an opposing side on the legalisation debate. Cook and Ball have described him has “a ray of sunshine in our lives”.

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/B8L-8VECQAARrM5.jpg

Ric, the author of the band bio, doing a Q&A on Reddit:

http://redd.it/2uywi6

I've read half of the biography, which is now available through Amazon (ebook only). It is a nice, brisk read. I think Ric hits all the high points and corrects/confirms stories about the band's early days. For instance, Bunf and Gruff really did meet on the roof of a train. SFA did start out as more of a rave collective than a rock 'n roll band. There's also an anecdote about how their name came about; I'm skeptical that it's true, since I've heard at least three other stories. It's also interesting to read about Rhys Ifans's days with the band. He was kind of their mascot in the beginning. I never liked him much, to be honest.

The Howard Marks event has an amazing cast list now: John Cooper Clarke, Cerys Mathews, Gruff Rhys, Alabama 3, Don Letts as well now.

the whole of Sfa will be there, aside from Guto. I'd expect some kind of sfa set if it weren't for that. Of course they'd be extremely out of practice. There's some good stuff on the band's relationship with Howard Marks on the new biography.

So the book came out today.

It also got a 3/10 from the NME.

http://www.nme.com/reviews/super-furry-animals/15939?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=superfurries

I don't think it's bad at all. It isn't definitive and I would've loved to have read more about their songwriting and production process, but I don't know there's anyone out there that's interested in telling that story.

I bought it as an ebook but haven't finished it. There is something very flat about the writing style which deadens the interest for me.

In case interested, apprently SFA & Rhys Ifans are playing from 11.30 - 12.30 on the 27th.

From what I understood, SFA can't play because Guto is currently touring with H. Hawkline. All the associated acts are playing, however. Maybe I'm out of the loop, though. I'm sure it wouldn't be terribly hard to get Guto there.

Hmm...I just saw what you're talking about. I wonder if it could be. How I wish I could go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLSOz5cI1H0

Well interestingly enough, someone uncovered that they're listed as an artist on Domino. The author of the bio also hinted at more SFA activity this year, though he excluded a reunion. My guess: reissues or a film.

They're definitely getting at something...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-n6yNQUsAAlf8S.jpg

someone just posted this on another forum:
http://www.dominorecordco.com/artists/super-furry-animals/

I was thinking it seems a little soon for reissues, but I guess that nice batch of 2-disc reissues was a decade ago now. I could do with nice reissues of the last four albums though.

did those reissue just get released with no fanfare, reviews etc? don't remember hearing anything about them at the time

I think they were only American reissues, since we never got some of those early albums as non-imports. I remember, at the very least, Pitchfork doing some reviews at the time. They all came out in a fairly short span in like 2005-2006.

Here's the Pitchfork review from June of 2005:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/11835-fuzzy-logic-radiator-out-spaced-guerilla-mwng/

yeah reissues would be cool

Sony released the two discs in the U.S.

Research and sleuthing has led some people to find Domino has SFA listed as a current act, so I'm hopeful.

Vinyl reissues would be nice. I'm still missing Out Spaced and Rings but I refuse to pay upwards of $100 for them.

didn't some of them have "secret singles" stashed in the gatefold?

Yeah, they are v.pricey. I have "Guerilla" on constant "tell me" on various sites, but it's always £60 or more.

I believe RAtW has a 7" hidden within. If I'm not mistaken, it's an endless loop of something or other.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjTmULgPUPY

Announcement 10am (UK) tomorrow

Would love the announcement to be a new album but I think I'd rather have vinyl reissues of their albums instead. Have been looking for them over the last couple of years and haven't seen them ever come up for reasonable prices.

The wheeling out of the old logo etc suggests reissues to me.

If reissues, I hope for no play from center outward stuff bc replacement stylus is expensive.

Radiator gig/tour? Just playing a festival? Would prefer a new album recorded in secret, as is all the rage these days

didn't some of them have "secret singles" stashed in the gatefold?

― Mark G, Wednesday, February 25, 2015 1:58 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Rings Around The World does, it has a white label 7" which plays on a loop. Third side ('Miniature', 'No Sympathy', 'Juxtapozed With U') plays from the label outwards.

Phantom Power is a double vinyl album that only has three sides; the fourth side has no music on it and is unplayable (it does have a pretty neat etching of the cover art on it, though). Mwng is on white vinyl, Dark Days/Light Years is a double album that (if I remember correctly, because I've very rarely played these albums on vinyl) plays at 45rpm.

Radiator and Guerrilla are both double albums (on vinyl) and Guerrilla has a "pop up" gatefold. Love Kraft is a double too and its nice to have the enlarged artwork. Nothing spectacular about Hey Venus! on vinyl, except for that its short length actually suits the vinyl format.

So the book came out today.

It also got a 3/10 from the NME.

― afriendlypioneer, Thursday, February 19, 2015 9:23 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I haven't read it in full yet. I don't really wanna criticise it too harshly, because it's great that there's at least a book out there on this band, but I definitely think it's not the book that could have been written.

As for the speculation over whether there's going to be a new SFA album, I've said this before and I'll say it again: the only way that I'm ever going to be convinced that a new SFA album is on its way is if they actually come out and say "we have a new album coming out". All of these videos they're posting could mean anything, really. It's the 20th anniversary of their first EP this year, come to think of it. 10 years since Love Kraft later in the year.

They're announcing it tomorrow at 10AM

Adam Walton @adamwalton · 4h 4 hours ago
Very excited about the riddle that will be solved tomorrow. Few things are worth waiting years for, but this will deffo be one of them.

It must be a tour or a new album. What else could it be?

Well, holy shit have I just made an interesting discovery! I've suddenly went from being incredibly skeptical to actually thinking there may be a new tour or album on the way(!)

It must be a tour or a new album. What else could it be?

― Kitchen Person, Friday, February 27, 2015 3:46 AM (50 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Hmm. Well if it's not an SFA tour, an SFA gig, or a new SFA album, all of which I'm beginning to think it possibly could be, then what else could possibly involve all of the members of SFA but not be SFA, which it could also be?

I'm gonna laugh if they all turn up at the press conference, Gruff says "we're breaking up" and they all just walk off in unison.

I'm gonna laugh if they all turn up at the press conference, Gruff says "we're breaking up" and they all just walk off in unison.

― Simon H., Friday, February 27, 2015 5:04 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I guess this is also a possibility! But no, I really do think something is genuinely happening... can't wait to see exactly what it is, though!

I mean there must be a reason why the official site has suddenly had a change in layout after having that Hey Venus! type of layout for the last few years, right? :P

http://www.superfurry.com/

and seasoned SFA fans will know that they don't usually put an effort into doing such things unless something is going on!

Didn't DD/LY get announced right before it came out?

They announced they were working on Dark Days/Light Years at the very end of January '09, which was when they revealed the initial tracklisting, then they had short films on the website with footage of them working on the album for a few days, then they did that webcast playing the album live in full on March 16th '09, and released the album pretty much straight away after the webcast was finished.

It doesn't appear we've ever done a proper SFA album poll. Can this be?

From what I've heard it appears to be a new album/tour.

A reissue announcement is going to be a massive damp squib at this point.

Guy who loved Fuzzy Logic listens to Radiator for the first time:

http://ramalbumclub.com/post/111971027654/week-7-bonus-radiator-by-super-furry-animals

It doesn't appear we've ever done a proper SFA album poll. Can this be?

― Simon H., Friday, February 27, 2015 8:25 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Super Furriest album poll

A reissue announcement is going to be a massive damp squib at this point.

― groovypanda, Friday, February 27, 2015 8:30 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, you're telling me, especially since for the first time in ages I'm actually genuinely believing that something is going to happen!

‏@BethanElfyn 2m
10am announcement on #SFA2015 @superfurry - watch the skies!

Only an hour to go before we find out what the hell this is all about...

...anyone excited? I honestly, genuinely never thought I would be, yet here I am waiting in anticipation. Christ!

I'm in Cardiff so will be looking out the window for any Aphex style shenanigans

Just noticed this video so I expect that explains the "watch the skies" comment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmsMd_JqINU

Hang on, doesn't that mean "the bear wakes up from hibernation" or something?

Where is that? Do you recognise that park?

xpost

Where's this announcement meant to be being made, anyway? Social media? On the radio? Their website?

Hmm. There only seems to be Cian and Daf in that video, no sign of the rest of the band... although I assume that that's deliberate.

My Welsh is somewhat rusty but yes, trwmgwsg is "deep sleep", deffro "wake" and "arth" bear.

That's the Radiator bear in the video isn't it?

http://www.oocities.org/wbwlist/images/2bears.JPG

@jonmccue 1m1 minute ago

Finally I can let you all know the great news:
Super Furry Animals
plus support
O2 Academy Glasgow
Tuesday 5th May 2015
7pm

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/super-furry-animals-return-new-8732401

Reissue and tour then

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA10H7y6O3g

1st May - Cardiff University Great Hall
2nd May - Cardiff University Great Hall
5th May - Glasgow O2 Academy
6th May - Manchester Albert Hall
8th May - London O2 Academy Brixton

...

Well, colour me underwhelmed.

Yeah, although I'm not complaining about getting to see them live again.

And I guess if they're all back together they could decide to do some new stuff.

Well, I guess it's good news that they're going out and playing some shows, and it's great that they've chosen Mwng to reissue (it's their most overlooked album of their classic 1994-2004 period), but I'd be lying if I said that this was the news I was holding out for!

Yeah, my theory is that this is either a reboot and they're doing new stuff after the tour

Or, that it's a final goodbye.

Basically, not going back to indefinate hiaitus a'la Blur, or some such.

I guess it depends on whether you're a glass half-empty or half-full kinda person but I dunno, I don't think the band would have done this if they weren't into it. My guess is that they're having this tour to set the wheels back in motion and get used to playing together again and shake the rust off a bit. Really strange to have both Blur and Super Furry Animals back, like.

Ad I guess it depends on which half of my message you decide was my view.

I'm assuming they are on the 'newness' rather than the blueness..

Yeah, that's what I'm assuming too... hopefully when they do get back around to making their tenth album (which looks more likely now that it has been for years), then they'll be refreshed and hopefully make an album that stands up to their best work. I'm curious to see what their live shows are going to be like after not playing together for a while, I'm hoping a renewed enthusiasm will show in their performances!

http://www.nme.com/news/super-furry-animals/83168

Interesting that they're going for the "different set every night" approach, usually setlists on their tours in the past have been quite static with only the occasional variation. Looks like they're going to be throwing in a fair bit of Mwng too, which is great because there's more than a few tracks they haven't played much live since the album came out. They might dust off 'Gwreiddiau Dwfn/Mawrth Oer Ar Y Blaned Neifion' as a closer, which would be great to see.

According to someone on the list, the new Mwng reissue is copyrighted by Das Koolies according to Spotify.

http://www.endole.co.uk/company/09377942/das-koolies-limited

Das Koolies was supposed to be an SFA spin-off that was recorded around the same time as Guerrilla... I guess they're buying back their music under an ew name?

I like the idea of a "ew name"

I don't think it's got anything to do with buying back their music, as (as far as I'm aware) SFA already own the rights to Mwng. You'll find that a lot of bands set themselves up as limited companies for recording and touring purposes for financial reasons. It's very common.

Because being in a band is essentially a form of self-employment, and even bands have gotta pay income tax!

That makes sense. I think its interesting they chose to revive the name.

It's just a way for bands to manage their income/finances/accounts/tax etc., that's all. Pure music business finance stuff, really, and very common. More often than not bands tend to have various other people like accountants/tax advisers/financial advisers involved, for obvious reasons. A limited company can be set up with any name you like, within reason (there's various words you're not allowed to use; offensive names are an obvious no-no, but there's various other words you can't use).

Y'see, here in the UK when you're employed by someone, income tax and National Insurance deductions are normally sorted out for you. They come out of your pay packet seemingly automatically (even though someone has undoubtedly spent time calculating it for you). In a role where you're essentially your own boss, you either have to sort this out yourself or hire an accountant that will do this on your behalf. If you set yourself up as a limited company, all accounting records must be kept and all returns must be filed by a certain time. Not keeping accounting records can land you with a fine of £3,000 and not sending your returns on time can lead to (at best) your company being closed down or (at worst) prosecution. So it's really no surprise to find that many people who do set up limited companies have people that know what they're doing, and more than likely get paid a handsome amount for doing it!

But yeah, the resurrection of the Das Koolies name is very interesting. I do hope in the future they do something with that project. It would have to be something completely different from SFA though, else it may as well just out under the SFA banner.

Was that the project that had an hour long song which Gruff described as "terrible"? I can't remember the exact quote but I LOL'd when I read it the first time.

Yeah, Steelwerks In Stone!

They played a fine gig at the Royal Festival Hall in the mid 2000s that was quite a relaxed and Mwng heavy set, if memory serves.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/super-furry-animals-s4c-documentary-8739590?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

I have no doubt they're in it for at least another album.

Then Gruff brings me back to reality:

Speaking to NME, in an interview in this week's issue (available on newsstands now and digitally, frontman Gruff Rhys (pictured right) is non-committal over the long term future of the band, stating: "It's all been a bit last minute so these gigs we've got booked are all we're doing for now that we know. Everyone's busy with other stuff. We all have very different lives and it would be difficult to recreate the intensity without being in the studio for 12 months at a time."

However, guitarist Huw Bunford is more optimistic, saying, "These gigs will remind people of what we're all about. Doing another album? I would personally love to. But we'll just have tio wait and see."
Read more at http://www.nme.com/news/super-furry-animals/83267?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=superfurrys#byDW772Dq0FD6lCZ.99

The group will reissue their fourth studio album, ‘Mwng' as a two-disc and triple-vinyl package to mark its 15th anniversary on May 1. The new edition will contain five tracks previously released on the US version of 'Mwng' under the name 'Mwng Bach', as well as a previously unreleased John Peel session and a full live show recorded at ATP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oByYOPg3LXs

6 December 2015-3 January 2016
SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff
THE INSATIABLE, INFLATABLE CANDYLION
“A long time ago, In the Kingdom of Candy, a lion once roamed the streets...
Howled on the hour, whined on the minute, roared every second day of the year.”
An immersive, festive treat from the creative minds behind the genre-bending Praxis Makes Perfect: Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, writer Tim Price and director Wils Wilson team up to create a show like no other - a theatre gig for audiences of all ages, inspired by the seminal album Candylion.
Featuring inflatable fat cats, a dalmation on drums, pink candyfloss, blue audience members, a penniless penguin, and all led by Gruff Rhys himself - this is a festive show you’ll be singing about for years to come!
Tim Price also wrote the award-winning The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning, which was performed by NTW in schools in Pembrokeshire, Cardiff and Flintshire in April 2012, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2013.

Well, the band have added dates since the dates are selling out, so that's a good sign. On the other hand, Gruff seems to be addicted to making stuff without them.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/listen-exclusively-first-single-new-8789392

Super Furry Animals' synth wizard Cian Ciarán has always made his voice heard.

As a campaigning musician and an impassioned activist he is a rarity in a world where pop and politics invariably make for uneasy bedfellows.

This week may be all about the return of the Furries after a six-year hiatus but there’s no let-up for the musician with a social conscience. Ciarán has recorded a protest album alongside former Beta Band frontman Steve Mason, and poets Stephen Burke-Morrison...

I'm pretty convinced SFA's live shows are going to be a mess. There's no way they're getting enough rehearsal time together.

Ah right, so they're using the "return of SFA" thing to boost interest in their solo careers. Smart.

I'm pretty clearly a fanboy, but I don't think they have it in them to pull off "playing every song in their catalog" while limiting themselves to two months of rehearsal while they work on countless projects. There must've been a reason they stuck to pretty static setlisst in the past.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Guitar-Owned-By-Super-Furry-Animals-Gruff-Rhys-/271794243472?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f48330790

Honestly surprised that's going for more than the dollar it was at yesterday.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/09/pop-political-british-musicians-paloma-faith

Cian wrote a bit of a manifesto that got published by The Guardian. Surprised by the number of comments it's received; they're mostly negative.

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/zefurwolves?referrer=artist181150&utm_campaign=project10983&utm_medium=activity

Pledge Music for the Zefur Wolves album. Really expensive vinyl.

Meh.

Headlining Green Man on the Saturday night

http://www.greenman.net/line-up/2015/

I'm going to really try to go to that. I'm excited that they're playing something in August. It gives me hope they're planning on staying together for a while. We'll see if they make it out of the summer. Zefur Wolves are also playing. I hear Gulp might as well. It'll be a great weekend.

I found a Zefur Wolves LP review: http://www.apessimistisneverdisappointed.com/2015/03/cian-ciarans-back-with-zefur-wolves-my.html

Sounds pretty good.

There's a Zefur Wolves track here. Not feeling it, although there are a few nice moments. http://www.gigslutz.co.uk/exclusive-zefur-wolves-premier-new-track-wake-gigslutz/

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/super-furry-animals-gruff-rhys-the-journey-through-a-distorted-vision-of-reality-10125805.html

turrican's earlier thoughts were a good read on the state of the band. when consider dark days/light years' songwriting and recording process took place during the hey venus! sessions, it's easy to see the band might've been running out of steam quite some time ago. i suppose gruff might've been deflecting since the concert reunion had not been announced yet, but i'm not so sure that the tour is anything more than a quick cash grab. they all seem pretty serious about their individual careers. if a tenth sfa album were to be as bad as the new blur album's sounding like it might be, then i guess it's for the best..

on another note, i listened to hey venus! last night and enjoyed it a lot more than I did when it came out. sounded pretty nice on good headphones, too.

when considering*

There's a fairly decent new interview in the NME. It's got a bit of positive information, such as the band's plans to release another b-sides compilation as well as floating the idea of reissuing more albums with Kliph Scurlock's help. The band still seems hesitant to comment on a new album, although I get the feeling they're open to the idea. They just haven't had enough time together to come up with ideas and recreate the environment they like to have when they record an LP.

Cian says they want their shows this year to be extremely loud and bass-heavy. They also mention songs like "Arnofio/Glo in the Dark," "Mountain People" and "Citizen's Band" being on the short list of songs to add to their setlist. All in all, it sounds like a promising direction for a band that seemed finished.

I don't see the point in reissuing the albums again, but a new B-sides compilation seems like a good idea.

I'm still hoping they plan to reissue all their albums on vinyl.

http://i.imgur.com/Dq5hiAU.png

I'm still hoping they plan to reissue all their albums on vinyl.

― Kitchen Person, Thursday, April 16, 2015 2:59 PM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm guessing those who don't want the value of their existing vinyl to go down would think otherwise!

I'm sure they wouldn't but it would make me happier than getting a new album. I started looking for their stuff on vinyl a couple of years ago. Had to stop in the end as it got depressing seeing copies of Radiator go for £80 every single time.

Oh, there's also a "behind the scenes" documentary about the summer tour on S4C on the 24th:

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/sneak-peek-super-furry-animals-9052717

The SFA tour marks 20 years since they signed with the iconic indie record label Creation Records, a move which led to the band’s international success.

With some rare archive footage and classic Furry performances, the documentary will celebrate the extraordinary story of the group that has had more than twenty top 40 hits and a string of highly acclaimed, top 10 albums.

The documentary includes interviews, archive pictures, home-movie footage from the band’s personal collections and live performances from Glastonbury Festival, Top of the Pops and Later with Jools Holland.

Y'know, a lot of this stuff (reissues, a short tour, B-sides compilation) could easily be construed as being a mopping up exercise rather than any kind of continuation or new beginning.

You're totally right, and if that's the case, I think it's great fan service and pretty kind of them to at least wrap things up. I'm hopeful they'll record another album, but clearly their hesitation to do even that doesn't bode too well for things ever being like they were.

Then again, 4/5ths of the band could probably use easy money. Maybe it's just kind of Gruff.

they probably don't want to announce their intention to record an album yet to create anticipation and probably as the time to actually start work on it is many months away

This Zefur Wolves track is really rad. It's a shame it's not even two minutes long. Probably the grooviest, most SFA-sounding thing I've heard since DD/LY.

https://open.spotify.com/track/0fJpmhnswgTACvqqUOy8mg

Not sure what I'd like to see on another b-side compilation. The songs that make Out Spaced special for me are the psychedelic, stoned-out Welsh songs. "Pam V", "Dim Bendith," "Focus Pocus/Debiel" "Arnofio/Glo in the Dark" and "blerwytirhwng?" are some of my all-time favorite SFA songs. I wish they'd been able to further explore that territory.

You're totally right, and if that's the case, I think it's great fan service and pretty kind of them to at least wrap things up. I'm hopeful they'll record another album, but clearly their hesitation to do even that doesn't bode too well for things ever being like they were.

― afriendlypioneer, Thursday, April 16, 2015 11:04 PM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah. I mean, even if they do eventually get around to making their 10th album, I definitely think it's fair to say that the days of SFA putting out a record every couple of years are long gone now. If they choose to record new material, I suspect it'll be on a "whenever we feel like it" basis, and if they don't choose to record new material, then I suppose they can get away with getting the most out of the wealth of stuff they've already put out and stuff that's apparently in the vaults.

Not sure what I'd like to see on another b-side compilation. The songs that make Out Spaced special for me are the psychedelic, stoned-out Welsh songs. "Pam V", "Dim Bendith," "Focus Pocus/Debiel" "Arnofio/Glo in the Dark" and "blerwytirhwng?" are some of my all-time favorite SFA songs. I wish they'd been able to further explore that territory.

― afriendlypioneer, Thursday, April 16, 2015 11:40 PM (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I'm interested to see what their choices would be for a second B-sides compilation, too. They might do the opposite of Out Spaced and put the more shorter/poppier B-sides on there. Although, it's also possible they could go the "completist" route.

They just added a gig. Less than two weeks from now, at the Gloucester Guildhall. It looks tiny.

http://www.gigsandtours.com/tour/super-furry-animals

The SFA documentary is on at 9:30 on Friday. They're also showing the SFA Classical Album documentary afterwards. I'd completely forgotten about that one. From what I remember, many of the songs they were working on ended up on DD/LY or Gruff's Hotel Shampoo.

Can someone please "tape" this for the benefit of those of us who aren't in the UK?

S4C! That took some searching for on the TiVo !

Hopefully there'll be English subtitles for non-Welsh speakers.

There is, apparently

https://instagram.com/p/1wbYS8y9o1/

That got me excited for some reason, but then I realized Daf has his own band and is also a pretty prolific session drummer. I still somehow hope it means they're secretly laying it down in the studio.

Only an hour to go. Hope there's some interesting stuff in there.

On 856 is the S4C AD channel, i.e. With audio descriptions.

So was the documentary any good, then? Ended up not watching it.

I couldn't get English subtitles, so I turned it off after a few minutes. It's completely narrated in Welsh.

It's here now, with subtitles: http://www.s4c.cymru/clic/c_level2.shtml?programme_id=527263044

I'll be watching soon.

I'm American, so I used a program called iPlayer Automator and downloaded the file directly from the BBC website. It showed up in iTunes with subtitles and English captions. I didn't have to set up a proxy or VPN to get it.

So, IMHO, it was really well done and I loved seeing some of the early footage i'd never seen before as well as some rare cancert footage. I could've watched a couple more hours of footage, but I really have no complaints.

Just watched the documentary and thought that, on the whole, it was very good and far more preferable (to me) than the book that came out recently. Plenty of early footage that I hadn't seen before. Some of the Rings Around The World/Phantom Power era stuff clearly came from the American Sasquatch documentary, but even then there were a couple of things in there that was new to me. I don't recall seeing the scene where they throw the TV out of the hotel window on American Sasquatch, for example. There must be more footage that didn't make the cut for American Sasquatch, surely. I did wish they'd spent as much time on the post-Phantom Power years as they had with the first six albums - the part where Gruff is playing the solo in the studio to 'Into The Night' I don't recall seeing before, which suggests to me there's more footage of the Hey Venus! sessions out there - but I guess if they'd went into further detail the documentary would have ended up at least an extra hour longer. The Dark Days/Light Years period just seemed skimmed over, and nothing on Das Koolies or the aborted "classical" project?

During the part where they mentioned they were in rehearsals for the tour, I noticed 'Patience' written on one of the lists. Wonder if they're thinking about playing it? Would be an odd choice!

I did see the doc, great to see the fa coffi pawb stuff, actually that was 'just' early SFA in style..

Wasn't the following show the 'aborted classical project', or something else? Not watched it yet..

Yeah, the following show was a documentary on the aborted "classical" project, but that was put together/first originally shown years ago. Just seems a bit bizarre to me that they didn't even mention it (or Das Koolies) in the new doc. Thinking about it, 2006 was probably one of the busiest years for the band, individually and collectively: Omni was released, Candylion was recorded, Neon Neon formed/work started on Stainless Style, The Peth had formed and were working on material, the aborted "classical" project was started that year, Super Furry Animals played various shows throughout the year, and work may have even begun on Hey Venus!. There's a scene in the documentary for the aborted "classical" project where they're in a studio, and on the wall is a list of songs that made it onto Dark Days/Light Years, even. So much stuff... doesn't surprise me that they ended up slowing down!

Actually, this NME news item (dated December 6th 2006) mentions that the band are at the mixing stage for (what was eventually titled) Hey Venus! so yeah, they'd pretty much started and almost finished Hey Venus! that year too. I don't know if this refers to the first mix (by Newfeld) which was mostly scrapped, or the second mix (by Chris Shaw) which was put out as the released version.

I actually find myself wanting to check out the pre-SFA bands after watching the doc. I've heard almost everything by Ffa Coffi Pawb, but have not listened to U Thant or managed to track down the WWZZ release. U Thant sounded all right based on the small amount of footage.

Ric mentions that Cian and Bunf toured France together with a guitar and some sequencers. I'd love to hear what that sounded like. I know this stuff must exist in some form. There really should be a wealth of unreleased material out there. I didn't realize they didn't use Newstead's mix. I'm not a big fan of the production on that album. It sounds kind of flat to me. I recall hearing that "baby ate my eightball" was originally quite heavy.

Like I said above, it seems like they didn't really have any new ideas after 2007 since DD/LY was mostly made up of songs that had already been floating around. I know that's not usual--for a band to carry a song or idea for a while before they record it. I wonder if they left anything off DD/LY.

That's not unusual, rather.

I'm excited to see how the shows go. They were a pretty inconsistent live act and Gruff's solo show has become extremely good in recent years. There's a setlist near the end of the documentary that didn't seem wildly different from the setlist they'd used in their last years together. I hope they end up taking some risks.

There's camcorder footage on Youtube of U Thant on a European tour in 1991. I don't think Bunf was in the band at the time, so he's not on there. Guto is, though.

As I understand it, they recorded Hey Venus! with Dave Newfeld and he also did mixes of all the tracks on the album, but for some reason or other the band chose not to use his original mixes and instead opted to get Chris Shaw (who worked on Guerrilla, Rings Around The World and Dark Days/Light Years) to mix the tracks instead. Only one Dave Newfeld mix made it to the album, which was 'Suckers!', the rest are Chris Shaw mixes of Dave Newfeld recordings. The intro to 'Crazy Naked Girls' on Dark Days/Light Years was actually recorded during the Hey Venus! sessions.

There's a bit of footage of Bunf in old bands on YouTube.

Anyway, on to some more rumor mill type stuff:

http://bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05sdh9s

Lauren welcomes Wales' finest hirsute beings Super Furry Animals in session. After an impressive nine album span, SFA leader Gruff Rhys decided to go it alone, it seems he had many projects in his head to unleash on the world. Not least bringing the story of the Welsh explorer John Evans to light in last year's American Interior multimedia outpouring. But luckily for us, the SFAs are back with brand new material and a live session. Hold on to your hats, this could get strange.

Do you think they're just mistaken on the last part?

Yes. Although stranger things have happened.

They're on stage in about 15 minutes in Gloucester. Can't wait to see what they play!

A kind fellow by the name ianjwills on Twitter promises to live Tweet the set.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CDrePStWgAAbBQp.jpg:large

Jesus christ, that picture!

The set looks pretty great right now. They're wearing suits that recall their Love Kraft outfits. They even have a horn section tonight.

Setlist looks pretty predictable to me, bar 'Y Gwyneb Iau' which hasn't been aired live often.

Ooh, and 'Pan Ddaw'r Wawr', which hasn't been played live since the Mwng tour. Makes sense that they're playing a lot of Mwng, though.

They're now playing "Arnofio/Glo in the Dark"! One of my all-time favorites.

Yeah, that's the biggest surprise of the set so far, and very welcome after the preceding four or five songs.

'Gwreiddiau Dwfn'(!)

I wonder if they're going to completely skip Hey Venus! and DD/LY. I know they're not done because they haven't played The Man Don't Give a Fuck. Then again, the one you just posted has been used as a closer before...

'Slow Life' now, this must be the beginning of the encore.

xpost:

Yeah, I've just noticed that they haven't played anything from Hey Venus! and Dark Days/Light Years yet, but they also haven't played some others like 'Juxtapozed With U' or 'Golden Retriever' yet.

Ah, and there it is!

I wonder if they're going to completely skip Hey Venus! and DD/LY.

Yup, it would seem like this was the case. Tonight's setlist in full:

1. (A) Touch Sensitive
2. (Drawing) Rings Around The World
3. Do Or Die
4. God! Show Me Magic
5. Bad Behaviour
6. Demons
7. Northern Lites
8. Ymaelodi A'r Ymylon
9. Y Gwyneb Iau
10. Nythod Cacwn
11. Pan Ddaw'r Wawr
12. Bleed Forever
13. Run! Christian, Run!
14. Hello Sunshine
15. Hometown Unicorn
16. Zoom!
17. Arnofio/Glo In The Dark
18. Ice Hockey Hair
19. Gwreiddiau Dwfn/Mawrth Oer Ar Y Blaned Neifion
20. Slow Life
21. Golden Retriever
22. Receptacle For The Respectable
23. Fire In My Heart
24. Mountain People
25. The Man Don't Give A Fuck

Not the most surprising setlist, but there were still some surprises and the live horn arrangements must have been a nice surprise. 25 songs is really long, especially for a band that hasn't played together in a while. I guess we now know how they feel about their last two albums, unless songs make an appearance at another date. I think they might swap in a few different songs depending on the night.

Yeah, it was particularly good to see 'Y Gwyneb Iau', 'Pan Ddaw'r Wawr', 'Arnofio/Glo In The Dark' and 'Gwreiddiau Dwfn/Mawrth Oer Ar Y Blaned Neifion' being played. Other than that, some not particularly surprising selections: it wouldn't be an SFA gig without them playing 'Slow Life' at this stage as it's probably their defining song overall along with 'Ice Hockey Hair', which is also one of their best ever songs. 'Receptacle For The Respectable' is always a welcome addition to any SFA set, and it's good to see 'Mountain People' got an airing. On the other hand, 'The Man Don't Give A Fuck', while it can be a great live track (particularly in its extended form) has always been an extremely overrated and often incredibly misinterpreted song.

Criticisms? I'm not keen on the new stage outfits they're wearing - they look as if they're about to do some DIY... and that run of songs: 'Bleed Forever', 'Run! Christian, Run!', 'Hello Sunshine', 'Hometown Unicorn' and 'Zoom!' (with the exception of 'Hometown Unicorn') looks like a very long "time to go for a piss" moment.

I've always enjoyed "Zoom!" in their sets. I think they play it well live. It's got a nice prog rock edge that gets your blood running a little. I think they have some sort of new lighting gimmick that's meant to play into their suits. Gruff mentioned something about visuals that feed back into themselves. Having not been there, I wouldn't know. I'm surprised the yetis made a comeback. They supposedly chopped them up or doused them in gasoline and set them alight, depending on the story.

It's also kind of funny that they seem to be branding their new web presence with all their names, like we need to remember it's not just Gruff. yet they only played Gruff's songs. Anyway, not surprising. Might as well play the hits after being gone for six years.

The thing about the slow numbers like 'Zoom!' and 'Run! Christian, Run!' is that I like 'em just fine on record, and get a lot out of 'em when I'm listening to 'em at home, but during live shows I enjoy the uptempo numbers a lot more.

The BBC 6music session with Lauren Laverne was basically four of the Mwng songs they've been playing: 'Ymaelodi A'r Ymylon', 'Pan Ddaw'r Wawr', 'Y Gwyneb Iau' and 'Nythod Cacwn', so I guess those four are going to be mainstays in the set.

I haven't had a chance to listen to the radio session yet. I saw a pretty low quality recording of the last part of their set and I have to say the addition of a horn section really livens up their performance. I was always a bit disappointed by their reliance on Cian's laptop and backing tracks. I understand why it wasn't feasible to tour the world with horn players, etc., but they were missed.

This interview is pretty good:

http://thequietus.com/articles/17781-super-furry-animals-interview

You mentioned earlier that there's a bit of a backlog of songs from that period. Do you have Prince-style vault of unreleased material that you're sitting on?

GR: We've got a load of stuff. There's definitely unreleased songs, unreleased experimental albums.

HB: There's the (Princess) Diana song.

GR: Yeah, there are songs that are so outrageous they'd be career suicide. There's albums we've lost, but they weren't particularly good. Just a lost album, not a great lost album. What was it, Steelworks In Stone?

HB: That's right. When we were recording Guerrilla, it was such an overly ostentatious studio, ironically called The Real World. You had so much room. [keyboard/electronics man] Cian started getting bored, I think. There was a lot of waiting around and dissecting, so we ended up starting a parallel band called Das Koolies. We all took on different characters. I think the Stereophonics were next door and they came in to see what we were doing, so we exposed them to Das Koolies. Their late drummer, he was quite taken aback. He said to concentrate on what we were doing.

GR: We took his advice. That was the year before Mwng. We wanted to retreat from polished pop, I think.

HB: We hired some steel drums for one little bit in a song, so we felt like we wanted to use them. They were one of the main instruments in Das Koolies. That and the Taurus bass.

GR: Are you familiar with the Moog Taurus? It's a synthesiser you play with your feet. It makes some howling noises.

HB: Those two instruments were very much the meat and potatoes of Das Koolies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2rRuKZpdvE

Excellent version of 'Gwreiddau Dwfn/Mawrth Oer Ar Y Blaned Neifion'!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXPDyVv_KaI

It's great to see they still have "it." That's one of the better performances they've done in years.

Maybe time apart and purging all these new song ideas led to something. They still have quite a few shows to run through before I make any proclamations.

In other news, Gruff says that they're putting alternate mixes of Mwng tracks on the CD reissue.

The break seems to have done them some good, they sound far more with it in these clips than they do on the 2009-era footage.

and that's even with "first night problems" (ballsing up the intro to 'The Man Don't Give A Fuck', for example)

After the sell-out success of the first two SFA parties, the Furries return to Corsica Studios to throw another all-night warehouse bash, straight after their second show at O2 Academy Brixton!

Featuring DJ sets from:
Super Furry Animals inc Gruff Rhys, Acid Casuals, Cherrystones (Whatever We Want, Poptones), Andy Votel (Twisted Nerve, B Music, Finders Keepers), Pete Fowler (Monsterism) + many more!

The event will feature everything from deep-fried acid-folk to fuzzy psych and freakout madness, plus a dedicated SFA rave tank will feature in the second room - catering for all those techno music needs.

Add to the mix a selection of mind-bending visuals, B-Movie trailers, kaleidoscopic light shows and (believe it or not) a Kool-Aid bar, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this was some Merry Pranksters' gathering in Haight-Ashbury at the tail end of the sixties, not 21st century Elephant & Castle!

The last two warehouse parties sold out in mega quick time, so what are you waiting for? Get tickets now!

It's going to be interesting to see what else they play live over the next week or so, they've never been ones for changing their set up dramatically every night.

I'm expecting 'Juxtapozed With U' and 'Calimero' to be two of the "subs" they didn't play at Gloucester Guildhall.

Might be a bit obvious, but perhaps "Cardiff in the Sun" this weekend? I don't believe they'll completely ignore their last two LPs.

Yeah, I guess that would fit. I don't believe they'd completely ignore their last two albums either: 'Run-Away', 'Show Your Hand', 'The Gift That Keeps Giving', 'Into The Night', 'Baby Ate My Eightball', 'The Very Best Of Neil Diamond, 'White Socks/Flip Flops', 'Helium Hearts' and 'Pric' all deserve to be aired at some point or another. However, if they do end up ignoring their last two LPs like at the Guildhall gig, or even don't play anything at all from Love Kraft (I hope they avoid playing 'Frequency' in particular, as I've come to the conclusion recently that I hate it), then that's no problem. The amount of different, killer setlists they could put together with the 1994-2004 stuff is incredible. It would be a shame, though, if they didn't sneak in the occasional track from Hey Venus! or Dark Days/Light Years, but they'd have to be the better songs (and I speak as someone who likes Hey Venus! a lot) and not absolute shite like, for example, 'Moped Eyes' or 'Mt.'

I like most of those songs!

Anyway, there's a pair of pretty encouraging interviews out today:

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/super-fired-super-furry-animals-9154558

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/sneak-peek-super-furry-animals-9052717

It seems like Ric's book jolted them into action, which makes sense. That's pretty awesome.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/return-super-furry-animals-its-9161677

Wrong Wales Online link.

Well, at least something positive came out of the book release, because I can comfortably say that the book itself isn't all that great and is far from the book that could and should have been written about this band. Thank fuck I wasn't the only one to notice.

It's funny to imagine Bunf watching himself on YouTube. It's almost like you're covering your own music. I also like that the bit about how it's the most they've ever rehearsed for a show.

I agree the book wasn't the best ever. I would've liked a bit more fact and maybe a little more insight into their sales "decline" that began with Love Kraft.

He wouldn't be the only musician to confess to watching old live shows on Youtube to remember how to play certain tracks. I think that Blur have copped to this, too!

I agreed with all the reviews that called the book a missed opportunity, really. The kind of book that I would have liked to have seen for this band would have been incredibly detailed, not just the events that led up to their formation or throughout their career, but information about song inspirations, references in the lyrics, the recording process, a timeline of events such as when things were written/recorded/mixed etc. I would have also liked to have seen something which examined SFA as a collaborative, musical unit.

Instead what we got was a pamphlet that was written from the viewpoint of "OH LOL! SFA R SOOO WACKYYYYYY! THEY BOUGHT A TANK!!!11!!!!1" ... Sure, stuff like the tank, the inflatable bears, yetis and all that kind of stuff is part of the SFA story, but ultimately it's the music that is the most important thing and I have a hatred of anything that emphasises the gimmicks and stunts over the music.

Anyway, the first night of the tour proper is happening right this very moment... can't wait to see what the setlist is like.

Looks nearly identical except they swapped the order of some songs:

https://twitter.com/asoundreaction/status/594277998234316801

Maybe they...don't like Dark Days/Light Years? :'(

Obviously the majority of the people buying tickets aren't there to hear "Inconvenience."

I kind of think "Golden Retriever" could be swapped out for something better. I've never found that one of their better songs.

Looks nearly identical except they swapped the order of some songs

Not even that - the setlist is exactly the same!

My guess (based on what I've seen of SFA setlists in the past) is that they're not going to deviate from this setlist too much. They're playing gigs in Cardiff on the 2nd and 3rd as well, and I don't think they'd keep the same set for all three Cardiff dates. My guess is that at the very least they'll swap the order of the songs, or they might replace one or two songs with something like 'Juxtapozed With U' or something along those lines.

Or 'The International Language Of Screaming', that's a possible sub.

It'll be very interesting if they get through the whole of this small tour without playing 'Run-Away' or 'The Very Best Of Neil Diamond'.

"Battersea Odyssey" with the live horns would probably be incredible. At least for me. I really grew to like that song.

I had a listen to all their albums in release order yesterday after not listening to some of them for years. The "golden era" run of albums from Fuzzy Logic up until and including Phantom Power still sound as great as ever to me and listening to 'em back-to-back reminded me why I liked this band so much in the first place. I've always thought that that run of albums was an incredibly great run, but coming back to them with fresh ears made me realise just how great they were. Love Kraft sounded incredible, probably the best sounding/produced album of them all, but found myself surprised at how some of the songs didn't really do it for me anymore. Hey Venus! was better than I remember it being, although not quite up to the standard of the first six albums. Dark Days/Light Years I think starts off a bit shaky, but comes into its own on the second half of the album. 'White Socks/Flip Flops' has lost none of its power for me, and I still consider it to be one of the best tracks they put out post-Phantom Power.

On the whole though, I was left with the impression that 'Slow Life' is the ultimate SFA song, their absolute peak and the track that it was all leading up to. Everything after that was a nice addition to the catalogue, with some underrated work in there, but definitely a bit of a climbdown. If they manage to come up with a track as good as 'Slow Life' ever again, remains to be seen - personally, I doubt it - but for me, it stands proud as the ultimate blend of everything that SFA were going for.

yeah, it holds the lot, but I'd have 'Ice Hockey Hair' alongside it.

"Slow Life" is a monster.

I think it was a once-in-a-career type of song. I wonder if Cian is even writing electronic music anymore.

'Ice Hockey Hair' most definitely up there in terms of SFA career highlights. All-time Top 3 songs for me:

1. Slow Life
2. Ice Hockey Hair
3. Some Things Come From Nothing

Oh yeah, minor setlist changes on the second Cardiff date. Setlist essentially the same as the first except the order of the songs shuffled slightly, with 'Bad Behaviour' and 'Bleed Forever' being dropped for 'If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You' and 'Juxtapozed With U'.

Pretty good prediction on "Juxtaposed." That's been a setlist mainstay for over a decade. They played "IF You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" at the last gig I went to (Hey Venus! tour). They were also starting to play ""Blerwytirhwng" around that time. That's one I would've loved to have experienced live. I'm so glad they uncovered "Arnofio/Glo in the Dark." Those spacey Welsh b-sides that ended up on Out Spaced are some of my favorite SFA tunes. I wish they'd traveled further in that direction instead of going towards glossier production and more anthemic songs.

Obviously I love both sides of the band, but I feel those Out Spaced tracks really took the band in a unique direction: the synths, the guitar riffs, and vocal layering in a song like "Pam V' really do it for me.

Hey Venus! b-side "That's What I'm Talking About" and "Cardiff in the Sun" somewhat revisit that territory.

There's a few other B-sides that could fit that mould. 'This, That and The Other' tends to get overlooked quite a bit.

Something for the Weekend and International Language were the new ones tonight.

Right, so they kept 'Juxtapozed With U' and dropped 'God! Show Me Magic' and 'If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You'. Yeah, I guess the way they're approaching this tour is a mostly static setlist, but with the occasional change in places where they're playing more than one gig. I'm unsure how many songs they've rehearsed for this tour, but suspect it's not many. It's possible they might do 'Calimero' at some point, but struggling to think of any other potential songs they may have rehearsed up. I suspect if there was nothing from Hey Venus! or Dark Days/Light Years played in Cardiff, then it's pretty much going to be that way for the rest of the tour.

Had a listen to Out Spaced on headphones last night before I went to sleep and was really impressed this time around at just how well the tracks they chose for it fit together, which is no mean feat considering the tracks on the album were recorded over a period of four years and weren't recorded with the idea of a B-sides album in mind. I guess having the same producer (Gorwel Owen) on all of the tracks helped the compilation inadvertently have a cohesive sound. In particular, I love the segues: it's now difficult for me to imagine the recorded version of 'The Man Don't Give A Fuck' not flowing effortlessly into 'Dim Brys Dim Chwys' - even though they were recorded a couple of years apart it feels like that segue was, weirdly, always meant to be. I love the way they extended the endings to 'Fix Idris' and 'Blerwytirhwng?' specifically for Out Spaced, too.

Oh yeah, here's a bit of crazy SFA trivia: the versions of 'Focus Pocus/Debiel' on Out Spaced and Moog Droog are different in a non-obvious way. Not only are the drumstick clicks edited out on the Out Spaced version, but the gap between the two parts is slightly longer. I don't know why this is the case, but it's proof (alongside the extended endings) that some studio tinkering went down when compiling Out Spaced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Ry8TLGDts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyocFTk2iGI

Further to my post above about listening to SFA's back catalogue with a fresh pair of ears, I decided to spend a little more time with the post-Phantom Power albums last night and... I'm incredibly surprised to be saying this, but I seem to have changed my mind on Love Kraft completely! While I still think it's got some incredible production work on it, and it sounds great, my view on it nowadays seems to be that it's an excellently produced album of mostly shitty songs. I came away from last nights listening session pretty much deciding, even though I love the production work on it, that it's their weakest album. Hey Venus!, and now Dark Days/Light Years are both sounding pretty good to me right now, however I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't a couple of moments on both of those records that I disliked. I certainly don't consider any of these albums to be anywhere near as good as their "classic" run of 1994-2004. Maybe those solo projects affected the quality control of the "main" band... I don't know.

Love Kraft

Good-to-great:
'Zoom!', 'Atomik Lust', 'Ohio Heat', 'Cloudberries', 'Cabin Fever'.

Absolute shite:
'The Horn' - Bunf's strained vocal sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me now, and the song feels underwritten, in particular the middle 8. Shite!

'Walk You Home' - A confused mess of a song, almost completely hookless, the outro in particular feels melodically bland. Shite!

'Lazer Beam' - Their worst ever single. There's a reason why the band choose 'Zoom!' to play live to represent Love Kraft and not the sole single from the album, and that reason is that 'Lazer Beam' is absolute fucking shite. The lyrics in the second verse must be some of the laziest lyrics Gruff has ever written, come to think of it.

'Frequency' - A fan favourite, but it's totally confusing to see why. Yeah, it's SFA in ballad mode, but it's a fucking weak ballad, and if you don't think it's a weak ballad then do me a favour. Listen to 'Demons', and then listen to 'Frequency' - I rest my case. Shite!

'Oi Frango' - Completely pointless romp through an obvious chord progression with some synth effects and Portuguese words grafted on to try to make it sound interesting. It's not interesting, it's shite.

'Psyclone!' - Takes an idea from Gruff's solo track 'Ni Yw Y Byd' (basically one melodic theme repeated across several key changes) and marries it to the drumbeat from Queen's 'We Will Rock You'. Thing is, though, the melodic theme chosen isn't actually all that great, and the lyrics in particular fucking suck. I've decided I never want anyone to ever catch me listening to a song that features the lyric "take the turbulence and twinkle your toes... OH! OH!" - very cringeworthy. Shite!

'Back On A Roll' - I actually used to really like this one, but now it grates on me in the worst way possible. Bunf sounds incredibly strained when hitting the high notes on this (he seems to have refrained from doing this in songs he's sung for the band after this album) and it's lyrically not up to the standard you'd expect from an SFA track. Performance wise, it has the feel of a band trying to nail an upbeat track when they're perhaps not in the mood to do so, and the result feels like a kind of "laboured fun".

Hey Venus!

Mostly good, aside from 'Suckers!' which is a very pedestrian power ballad which Gruff himself quite rightly hates, and 'Battersea Odyssey' which starts off well with that great guitar intro but descends into a tedious stompalong. Personally, I would have had 'These Bones' on the album instead, which is ace and deserves to be heard by more people. Here's hoping that it's a contender for a future B-sides compilation.

Dark Days/Light Years

Good-to-great:
'Crazy Naked Girls', 'Cardiff In The Sun', 'The Very Best Of Neil Diamond', 'Helium Hearts', 'White Socks/Flip Flops', 'Pric'

Tolerable-but-meh:
'Inaugural Trams', 'Inconvenience', 'Where Do You Wanna Go?', 'Lliwiau Llachar'

Absolute shite:
'Mt.' - Why the band felt like this track in particular was worthy of representing the album is a complete mystery. They were obviously banking on radio play, why else make a censored version of the track? It's yet another SFA shuffly glam stomp, and one may well ask themselves "does anyone need another SFA glam stomp, especially one as weak as this!?"

'Moped Eyes' - A tarted-up joke song and nothing more. Thought it was crap in its early form and still think it's crap.

ranking:
Radiator
Phantom Power
Rings Around The World
Mwng
Guerrilla
Fuzzy Logic
Hey Venus!
Dark Days/Light Years
Love Kraft

SFA 1994-2004 = Classic. One of the best bands of that period.
SFA 2005-2009 = Patchy. Some underrated work, but definitely not the force they once were.

It'll be interesting to see what happens next.

Interview with Gruff on DiS today although he doesn't really say much about "the future"

http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4148963-vote-furry--gruff-rhys-on-politics-mwng-and-the-future

I love "Moped Eyes." Don't know why. It seems like the exact kind of SFA song I'd hate. I dig the little stabs of guitar and bassline, I guess.

I got the Mwng reissue the other day and quickly downloaded it as well so I could listen to the alternate takes/mix of the album. It's not drastically different, but there are subtle differences, like the background vocals on "Dacw Hi" being out of sync and more pronounced. Well worth seeking out if you're a completist.

I haven't even bought the Mwng reissue and I'm not particularly interested in hearing alternate takes/mixes of the Mwng sessions, either. I'm perfectly happy with the original Placid Casual release that I've owned for the last 15 years, and it's not like they've remastered it or anything, so I don't really see the point. It's good that it's out there again on vinyl, though, because original copies are so expensive. I can't see the value of the original vinyl going down because the original was self-released, and this new edition isn't.

The vocal on 'Moped Eyes' during the verses in particular gets on my wick. Yeah, I get that Gruff's going for some kind of drugged out Sly Stone circa 1971 delivery, but it would have helped if he'd written a decent vocal melody to go with it. It doesn't hold up for me as a song at all, musically or lyrically, and it wouldn't have made the grade as a B-side "back in the day", let alone an album track.

Fair enough. I own the original Placid Casual CD as well as the American reissue that came with Mwng Bach. I only recently started, selectively, purchasing vinyls, so I figured it'd look nice in my collection. The bonuses definitely reeled me in. I still think the alternates are worth listening to if you somehow stumble across them online.

My ranking would be similar to yours Turrican but Rings has always been my least favourite. It's way too much style over substance apart from a few stand outs (Run Christian Run, Juxtapozed, Sidewalk Serfer Girl)

Radiator
Phantom Power
Mwng
Guerrilla
Fuzzy Logic
Dark Days/Light Years
Hey Venus!
Love Kraft
Rings Around The World

Interesting to see how you rate Love Kraft.

I'd agree that Zoom!, Atomik Lust, Ohio Heat, Cloudberries and Cabin Fever are all great but I'd also put Walk You Home and Frequency in there too.

Oi Frango and Back on a Roll are decent but do feel like filler.

The Horn, Psyclone and Lazer Beam are all terrible songs. Completely agree that Lazer Beam is their worst single ever.

I prefer "The Horn" to "Back on a Roll." I used to really hate Bunf's songs, but I came to appreciate him somewhat. "Sex, War and Robots" is a great song and one he hasn't really matched since. I'm not actually sure that he can sing, but he sure does try.

Cian's backing vocals stand out more to me than Bunf's when I play back most of their albums. He's all over Radiator, for instance.

Sex, War and Robots would make my top ten SFA songs. It's a gorgeous song.

Ah, I love every song on Rings Around The World so I'm not entirely too sure what you mean by the "style over substance" thing. The big, expensive, ambitious production was kinda the point of the record, although I'd like to think that they had the material to back it up. Unlike, for instance, Love Kraft where they got the production spot on but clearly didn't have the material to back it up.

If I recall, the main problem that fans had at the time with Rings Around The World was track sequencing related... from 'Alternate Route To Vulcan Street' up to '(A) Touch Sensitive' featured all the immediate songs, but then they sequenced all the "slow burners" on the second half of the record from 'Shoot Doris Day' up to 'Fragile Happiness' (with the exception of 'Juxtapozed With U', of course)

I remember one or two folks being disgruntled with 'No Sympathy' at the time, saying that it played like a less good 'Mountain People' (standard song turns into techno freakout), and I still come across folks who dislike 'Run! Christian, Run!' and 'Presidential Suite'. I like all of 'em on that record, though, and you must listen to the record in 5.1 if you can, because the band made the record with surround sound in mind and it's therefore considered to be the primary version.

If there's a track or two you don't like on RAtW, a few of the b-sides should make up for it. They're some of the strongest songs the band has recorded. I don't have a problem with RAtW anyway; it's the album that sold me on the band and began my obsession. I purchased Guerrilla and found it a bit inaccessible, but I couldn't stop playing RaTW for the longest time. Its impact has dulled somewhat over the years, but I'll always remember it fondly.

Interesting to see how you rate Love Kraft.

― Kitchen Person, Wednesday, May 6, 2015 2:11 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

My opinion of the record has changed quite a lot over the years, actually. When the first leaks came through, I'll admit I wasn't quite sure of what I was hearing, had serious doubts and thought to myself "oh god, I hope that this record isn't going to turn out to be shit", as one does when the preceding six albums were so good. Then the record came out, and I didn't find it too bad and actually sensed it might be a bit of a grower. A lot of SFA fans were down on the record at the time, if I recall. I went through a period of liking the record and saying to other folks to give it time and not dismiss it right away, just in case it grew on 'em.

However, with 10 years of distance from the albums release, and especially after not hearing it for a long while, I put it on the other day in the middle of an SFA listening session where everything from Fuzzy Logic up to Phantom Power sounded as great as ever, only to put on Love Kraft, get three tracks in and think "hmm... this isn't sounding too good" ... and then slap bang in the middle of that run of tracks from 'Walk You Home' to 'Back On A Roll', I start thinking "hang on, I'm not really enjoying this... this isn't doing anything for me..." followed by a realisation of "oh my god, this album is actually fucking wank!"

Like I say, it's produced really well, and it works on an "ear candy" level for headphone listening and those who like burrowing deep into layered productions. As a collection of songs though, yeah, it's atrocious, and I can see why SFA lost listeners with it.

I can never remember half of the songs on Rings. A lot of them just seem to blend into each other. You know how you said Frequency wasn't a great ballad and especially played next to Demons, that's exactly how I feel about Shoot Doris Day and Presidential Suite. I know big production is supposed to be what Rings is all about but the songwriting doesn't seem anyway near as strong as Phantom Power which did that idea a whole lot better.

Juxtapozed is a great single but I always hated the other two singles. The title track is one of their least inspiring tunes, it just goes nowhere. Always frustrates me they insist on playing it live. It's Not the End of the World is too similar to Forever by The Beach Boys and again compared to all their other earlier ballads just seems so bland and kind of hollow.

I definitely wouldn't lose any sleep if they retired "Drawing Rings Around the World" or "Golden Retriever" from their live sets.

I'm a massive High Llamas fan, which I've mentioned before, so I kind of feel at home among the sweeping arrangements that took over from RaTW to Love Kraft. That's another element that doesn't bother me as much as it bothers others.

I need to stop capitalizing the wrong letters in RAtW.

Yeah, I feel the same about Golden Retriever. I don't dislike it as much as Rings but it's probably my least favourite song on Phantom Power.

I disagree that Bunf hasn't topped 'Sex, War & Robots', I think 'These Bones' and 'White Socks/Flip Flops' are of equal quality to that song, if not better. It just seems to me that he went off the boil a little bit around the time of Love Kraft. There were some fine B-sides during the Rings Around The World era: 'Edam Anchorman/All The Shit U Do' (I see them as being one song) and 'Tradewinds' being two very fine songs indeed, and 'The Roman Road' and 'Patience' aren't too far behind. All of those could hav easily made the album itself. On the other hand, 'Gypsy Space Muffin' is a very weak Bunf composition that's probably even worse than his songs on Love Kraft, and 'Happiness Is A Worn Pun' takes the riff of 'The Teacher' and does nothing exciting with it.

'It's Not The End Of The World?' and 'Shoot Doris Day' both touch me in a way that 'Frequency' never will, and 'Frequency' doesn't have a moment in it that even touches the part in 'Presidential Suite' where it goes "You know that when we met there were fireworks in the sky..." etc.

'(Drawing) Rings Around The World', although played to death live, is a great live song, although I wouldn't mind them dropping 'Golden Retriever' every so often. I think those tracks are great, though.

It's heartening to see there's still so many wildly diverse opinions about this band and their albums. That's one thing that has remained consistent.

On the subject of those Bunf songs, I like, even love, both, but "Sex, War and Robots" remains his only song that has an emotional core. I actually really enjoyed The Pale Blue Dots' LP as well, so he's definitely grown on me (I know you thought it sounded like out of tune warbling).

Yeah, you're pretty OTM about 'Sex, War & Robots' being his most emotional song. The thing with Bunf is I like him when he sings in his natural register, like on that song and 'White Socks/Flip Flops', his high register works well for backing vocals but not so well for lead. When he strains to reach those high notes on 'The Horn' and 'Back On A Roll', it's fucking painful. I often wonder why Mario Caldato Jr. didn't say "hang on, Bunf, I think we should change the key on this song to suit your natural range".

I didn't like The Pale Blue Dots' LP, no. I thought Cian's first album was a bit dull, and his second album had some good moments on it. The second Neon Neon album was (IMHO) terrible, and American Interior had some good stuff and some okay-but-not-spectacular stuff. I streamed those albums, but haven't bought any of that stuff, likewise Gulp or The Earth. Last SFA (or related) thing I bought was Hotel Shampoo, come to think of it. I'm just not really as interested in the side/solo stuff as I was with SFA themselves during their "golden years".

Very minor setlist change at the Manchester gig, they played 'Drygioni'.

I'm actually surprised you like "Crazy Naked Girls." I think it could use another verse or two. "Mt." is not my favorite, and I'm surprised Cian couldn't come up with a more interesting song structure considering everything else he's written for the band.

Neon Neon is one of my least favorite side projects. Gruff the clearly SFA's most talented songwriter and vocalist (that goes without saying), but he can go definitely go overboard with his ridiculous ideas when he isn't careful. That instinct has always been there and he can sometimes reign it in and make some really memorable music. Worst of all, though, Praxis Makes Perfect is just kind of boring. I understand the live show was fantastic, but that doesn't really matter when all I've got is a CD with 30 minutes of uninspired synth pop.

"Hoops With Fidel" is also one of the most annoying things he's ever written. More annoying than "Lazer Beam," even.

'Crazy Naked Girls' and 'Cardiff In The Sun' were two tracks I wasn't sure about at first, but they seem to have grown on me. I don't know about another verse or two, but perhaps it could have been one false ending less - they really hammer that riff into the ground. 'Cardiff In The Sun', weirdly, came into its own for me when I listened to outside of the context of the album fairly recently.

'The Very Best Of Neil Diamond, 'Helium Hearts' and 'White Socks/Flip Flops' I think would have made much better "singles" than 'Mt.' and 'Inaugural Trams', and 'Pric' is a great closer.

I thought Stainless Style was fantastic, but in hindsight they really should have left the Neon Neon project after that album because it would have been a neat one-off. Praxis Makes Perfect was definitely nowhere near as good!

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/may/06/vote-indie-general-election-song-dont-give-it-away-politics-swing

Cian and Steve Mason.

Makes sense, they've both released "political" albums over the last few years.

A bit heavy handed for my taste, but I am a Steve Mason fan as well so I figured I'd share.

Someone deep within the crowd reports that they played "Neo Consumer" tonight.

'Neo Consumer', eh? I guess it wouldn't have taken 'em very long to get that one rehearsed up, but I'm genuinely surprised that they've thrown that one in!

Well they technically played something that was going to be on DD/LY last night... "Earth." That might've taken less practice than "Neo Consumer."

I'd forgotten about 'Earth', always felt that it was a bit of a pointless joke track.

Yeah, I agree. There is a pretty nice version of it Gruff and Bunf performed for a small audience. I always enjoyed their renditions of SFA songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5okLQAYqlo

That really impressed me. Cian does seem to hit a couple wrong notes on his piano (maybe it's just the recording?), but I think the outro is phenomenal.

Christ, that was good! All of the footage that I've seen of the bands gigs this year have shown a band that seemed to have regained something which seemed to be absent in the gigs from 2007-2009. I think I've said this before, but, I guess with the benefit of hindsight, the band were exhausted and just needed to take a break. I know that there's a lot in these shows that was in previous shows (the yeti's and suchlike) and that it's quite a "nostalgic" setlist, but the break seems to have done them a hell of a lot of good as a live unit.

You are on the money.

They seem to have taken this "reformation" a lot more seriously than I anticipated as well. Even though they are relying on old standards, reworking the outro to "Mountain People" or having the whole crew, horns and all, on stage shows they weren't in it just for the money. In a sense, they may have purged themselves of their excesses during the hiatus, which makes me very excited about new music. I don't think you can quite count them out yet.

I have also heard from very reliable sources that they were pretty much thrilled to be together again during rehearsals and back stage.

Yeah, it sounds like they're enjoying playing together again and enjoying each others company. It's fair to say that at this stage, after several years of solo/side projects that I haven't really enjoyed, and after a good five years or so of thinking that this band were dead and buried, that I'm more optimistic of the future of the band and a new SFA album than I have been for a long time. I'm beginning to find myself thinking that a 10th SFA would be a great idea after all, as long as they take their time over it and don't fuck it up.

I was pretty surprised to hear the extended version of Mountain People, back when I used to see them a lot they would sometimes swop that out with MDGAF for the techno blowout finale.

I was at the first Brixton night and there was a natural moment of ovation during a pause in Hello Sunshine (before 'I'm a minger...') they seemed genuinely touched.

Last time I saw them play it, they didn't play any kind of extended ending or anything like that. It felt a bit weird!

This evening I realised it had been a while since I listened to the surround sound mixes of the Sony albums, so I dug out the Rings Around The World DVD and was just blown away all over again by the ambition and excess of it all. First of all, there's the 5.1 mix of the album itself (the band consider it to be the primary mix) which is just excellent - the way that the drums pan around you in 'Alternate Route To Vulcan Street', or the way the ending to 'Receptacle For The Respectable' circles around you, and some great use of the subwoofer channel on '(A) Touch Sensitive'. There's a few details here and there which seem to be absent or mixed out of the stereo version, such as the siren when Gruff sings "abandon ship" on 'Alternate Route To Vulcan Street', or the way the guitars carry on for a little longer into the outro of '(Drawing) Rings Around The World'. I truly feel that if you haven't heard Rings Around The World in 5.1, then you haven't truly heard it. Then, there's the other stuff: videos for every track, including most (but not all) of the B-sides (the videos for the singles on the DVD album are different to the ones they used to promote the singles, as found on the Songbook DVD, too), remixes, plenty of photos capturing the band during the making of the album both in the recording studio or just generally hanging about, little incidental pieces of music (that you can't find elsewhere) on the numerous menus, shots of the 5.1 graph in action showing where the signals are going to the various channels. It's all such a well put together package, and the entire project must have cost them an absolute fortune in total (sometimes I wonder just how much) - not just for the DVD and its contents, but for the additional videos they made to promote the singles, the CD album, the vinyl album (one side plays inside out and there's a hidden piece of vinyl in the sleeve), the long tour they went on playing gigs in surround sound, and the album had its own web address (www.ringsaroundtheworld.co.uk) with more additional stuff on there. I think people sometimes forget just how ambitious this era of the band was, I certainly know that I had!

The Phantom Power DVD isn't as ambitious or overloaded with stuff as the Rings Around The World DVD (the Fowler-created "wallpaper" that plays throughout the album isn't quite as exciting as having a video for each track, although it's pleasant to look at, and to be fair does have more stuff happening during the 'Father Father' tracks), but the surround sound mix is (once more) excellent, and is well worth hearing. I have no problems with the stereo mix of Phantom Power at all, but those seeking a more livelier mix should check out the surround sound version. 'Slow Life' is particular is a treat in 5.1 - it would be a treat even in mono, but the 5.1 is definitely an experience. There are extras on the DVD, although if you've got the Phantom Phorce remix album, that takes care of the remixes and the "producers commentary" gags (which is one of the bands crew members pretending to be a producer called Kurt Stern). There's also small videos that precede each track, if you choose to listen to each track individually.

As for Love Kraft, from what I remember this is the best surround mix of all of them, but sadly the 5.1 surround sound version of this album is only available on the limited edition hybrid SACD, and I no longer have the means to listen to SACD's so was therefore unable to enjoy this album in what I'd call its best version. As you'd imagine, tracks like 'Lazer Beam' breathe just that little bit more when it doesn't have to contain all of its information in two channels.

Would love to hear RATW in surround, I've always been under the impression that the whole mix of 'Alternate Route...' panned around slowly.

Listening to the surround sound mixes of Rings Around The World and Phantom Power, and taking in the DVD's after a long time, has reminded me of just how much I loved the ambition and excess of SFA during this period. I remember being a bit disappointed when they didn't bring out a Love Kraft DVD, because I imagine that the band could have commissioned some great visuals to go with the tracks, and I feel it's a shame that they just threw the 5.1 mix out there on a hybrid SACD, a format which admittedly didn't really take off as well as it could have done. Not only that, but you wouldn't be able to tell if it was an SACD or not if it hadn't been for a tiny sticker on the packaging and the 5.1 mixing credits in the booklet! Having said that, the Love Kraft shows were definitely well put together and presented.

It's hard not to feel that they "lost" a little something during the Rough Trade years, as good as some of the music on Hey Venus! and Dark Days/Light Years is, and I think the presentation of the band during this time had a lot to do with it. The stage sets became much more "basic", they stopped doing DVDs and surround sound mixes, they seemed to have given up on their web presence and the albums began to feel less like events and far more low-key - even Mwng had its own dedicated website with lyric translations and track-by-track commentary! - and also there was the decision to stop using Pete Fowler exclusively and bring in Keiichi Tanaami for the album artwork, which in hindsight probably wasn't the best decision - it messed up the continuity built up from the sleeves dating back to the Radiator era, and the end results were (it's fair to say) a bit divisive. I can only speak for myself, but these sleeves didn't feel recognisably "SFA" to me. Sure, during the Dark Days/Light Years era they put up loads of footage of the recording process on their website, made a little documentary for the album and played an "online gig" prior to the release of the album, but all of this footage is now lost to the mists of time - bar the documentary, which seems to be up on Youtube - the SFA of 2001-2003 would have bundled this all up into a DVD with assorted extras and a 5.1 mix and would have went on a mammoth tour with an elaborate stage set.

One of the things I'm loving about the footage of the gigs they played this year is that it seems to me that they have this regained desire to present themselves as a band in the way they once did. Of course, when it comes to the crunch, it's all about the music, but the way the band presented themselves was a part of their overall identity.

Would love to hear RATW in surround, I've always been under the impression that the whole mix of 'Alternate Route...' panned around slowly.

― MaresNest, Wednesday, May 13, 2015 9:35 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

If you can ever find a way of doing so, do it without hesitation. You know how John Lennon once said "you haven't heard Sgt. Pepper's... until you've heard it in mono"? That's exactly how I feel about the 5.1 version of Rings Around The World.

There's a great interview with Cian about the recording of the album here

They're coming to America!

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/4knots-super-furry-animals.jpg

_Would love to hear RATW in surround, I've always been under the impression that the whole mix of 'Alternate Route...' panned around slowly.

― MaresNest, Wednesday, May 13, 2015 9:35 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink_

If you can ever find a way of doing so, do it without hesitation. You know how John Lennon once said "you haven't heard /Sgt. Pepper's.../ until you've heard it in mono"? That's /exactly/ how I feel about the 5.1 version of /Rings Around The World/.

There's a great interview with Cian about the recording of the album here🔗

This is a great piece. Just ordered the DVD on Amazon – the shipping cost more than the disc.

Feel pretty bad I still haven't heard 5.1 mixes of RAtW-Love Kraft. That interview makes it sound like I'm really missing out on half of what the band hoped to deliver.

I finally got ahold of Ffa Coffi Pawb's Clymhalio (digital, of course). It's interesting to hear Gruff's evolution from a fairly tuneless and stoned kid that mumbles his lyrics to the colorful, psychedelic pop musician that he became.

They've got an American West Coast tour in February 2016 and a support slot with Noel Gallagher April 2016. I think something must be cooking.

Also:

http://i.imgur.com/O85haaA.png

:)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-xM202ZpI4&app=desktop

Still waiting on SF dates here...

http://www.groundcontroltouring.com/tours/super-furry-animals

Wait no more

*Burns voice* Excellent.

If they'd just booked the American tour and only the American tour, I wouldn't have batted much of an eyelid to be honest. I would have pretty much have seen that as them treating their American fans to a series of shows in the same way they did with their UK fans this year. However, it's the fact that they've been booked as a support act for Noel Gallagher that's intriguing me... clearly the band really don't need to do that, as they're quite able to sell tickets for shows in their own right as demonstrated by the turn-outs of their initial reformation tour. So, why are they doing it? Either putting on another series of headline shows is too expensive for them (I'm assuming that because they're going to be a support act, they won't be using the lasers and all that stuff) or... they're wanting to play live to people to aren't usually a part of SFA's core audience, and one can't help but wonder why they'd bother doing that unless it was some kind of attempt to raise awareness/lay the groundwork for a future product. In any case, why Noel Gallagher's audience!?

I really hope that they're able and willing to tour a few more major US markets, next year. Not too excited about possibly having to travel to the west coast to see them, though it could be worse.

Along with that, Bunf recently moved back to Cardiff. They could always keep costs down and record at Cian's studio.

It's means they're going to split up, as predicted upthread

Well, if they do split up after these 2016 shows, then fair enough. If they do make a new record, then it had better be the best record they feel they can possibly make, else they shouldn't bother - it would be a shame if they came out with a half-arsed concoction of bullshit after so much time away. However, as I've said before, I won't be truly convinced there's a new record on the way until they actually announce they have one coming out - but it is making me wonder just why they're doing these Noel Gallagher support slots. It could be, for some reason, that they want to play to an audience that's not necessarily an SFA audience, or it could be that they just want to earn some money. Or both. I imagine a ticket for a Noel Gallagher show would be quite pricey, but in any case there's no way on Earth that I would pay money to buy a ticket for a Noel Gallagher show - SFA supporting or not.

They were originally taking a break once the UK Mwng reunion tours ended. Then they booked the People's Assembly gig. Then they opened at the Wales vs. Angorra match. Then they announced they were opening for Noel Gallagher. Now they're touring the American West coast. They either really need the money or they're getting the feeling back. I think it's the latter, personally. Gruff seems busy enough on his own. The other guys are busy, but I think they're all just waiting for Gruff.

None of that means they've got another great album in them. I'm equally skeptical.

One positive thing about this thread being bumped is that it's got me listening to Rings Around The World for the first time in months, so there's that!

so excited to get tickets for the roxy show in LA. they were also like $150 cheaper than blur at the bowl.

A tour of the West Coast is not much of a money spinner. And Gruff on his own is no draw outside theUK. They're just finding their feet again. New album by summer I predict. I'm just stoked that they are coming to my town.

Just bought tix for the Vancouver show. Stoked! Have never seen them live, as they've been on hiatus for most of my fandom.

Saw them at the Starfish Room in Vancouver a ling tine ago. Gonna get tix asap fo this this one.

Apolgs for spelling. Drunk/ancient phone

NO FORGIVENESS. I HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR THEE

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS GIVING AGAIN. I stand by my opinion that's a top tier SFA tune. So sublime.

I'm still pretty much standing by my ranking from a few months ago:

Radiator > Phantom Power > Rings Around The World > Mwng > Guerrilla > Fuzzy Logic > Hey Venus! > Dark Days/Light Years > Love Kraft.

I totally love DD/LY. I love its krautiness. Usually skip the first 2 tracks & thereafter it's a seamless ride.

I love Crazy Naked Girls and never skip it, but I wish Gruff's verses went on a bit longer. The guitar fuckery does get a bit overwhelming by the end. That's probably the most guitar fuckery the band's ever done. They've never been big on big riffs and solos.

Mt. is easy to skip, but Cian's easily the second best songwriter in the band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMT4Af7MayI

Dark Days/Light Years is undoubtedly backloaded. I'd say 'Crazy Naked Girls', 'Cardiff In The Sun', 'The Very Best of Neil Diamond', 'Helium Hearts', 'White Socks/Flip Flops' and 'Pric' are my keepers from the record. The rest of the album isn't up to snuff, IMO: 'Where Do You Wanna Go?/Lliwiau Llachar' and 'Inconvenience' are SFA-by-numbers, I find 'Inaugural Trams' to be a bit meh, and 'Mt.' and 'Moped Eyes' are two of the biggest pieces of garbage in the entire SFA discography.

I mean, christ, listen to Dark Days/Light Years with Guerrilla or Rings Around The World and the difference in quality speaks for itself, really.

*back-to-back with

I still find Cian's Outside In to be a total snooze, fwiw.

Lazer Beam and Back on a Roll take the title for me.

Yup: 'Lazer Beam' and 'Back on a Roll' are also garbage, as are 'The Horn', 'Walk You Home', 'Oi Frango', 'Psyclone!' and 'Frequency'. I used to like 'Back on a Roll' but now it grates on me a hell of a lot, and 'Frequency' is down there as one of their weaker balads. The rest are just pointless, IMO.

*ballads, rather.

'Frequency' was one of those SFA tracks that became a fan favourite not long after it came out, and is still held up by the hardcore as being one of the highlights of the album, which completely mystifies me. It's no 'Demons' or 'Cryndod Yn Dy Lais', that's for sure.

Their quality control went out the window once the other guys started writing songs, but I don't think Gruff is anywhere near as strong as he used to be. He's as prolific as ever, but he really hasn't written any new classics to the standard of the aforementioned ballads at the end of your post.

The American Interior show and film were a lot better than the actual album. They were really good, at that.

Hmm. Y'know, I'm not sure it's as simple as that because let's not forget the Cian-authored electro-driven stuff on earlier albums like 'Some Things Come From Nothing' and '(A) Touch Sensitive', and Bunf's 'Sex, War & Robots' on Phantom Power is one of his finest, I think, not to mention tracks like 'Cabin Fever' and 'White Socks/Flip Flops' are highlights of their post-Songbook albums.

Personally, I think that their quality control went out of the window because they started making terrible decisions as to which songs they should include and leave off their albums, coupled with the fact that members of the band (particularly Gruff and Cian) had started solo careers/side projects and so great songs that could have ended up on SFA albums went elsewhere. There were so many projects being worked on in 2006 alone that I'm honestly surprised many of them ended up being completed. I just think they were doing too much, spreading their talents too thinly and took their eye off the ball, really. Although, it could be argued that they were getting bored of the SFA thing anyway.

Also, now that it's been 10 years since the album came out, I think it's fair to say that Love Kraft was an extremely bad move for them and totally the wrong type of album for them to put out at that time. Yes, it's brilliantly produced and the 5.1 mix sounds excellent, and tracks like 'Zoom!' and 'Cabin Fever' are up there with their very best songs, and it enabled to band to go on holiday and sun it up in Spain and Brazil while they were making it, but it was also a record that was a crushing disappointment for many and it was also the point where a lot of people got off the bus, and to this day and I can't think of another SFA record that generated such a negative reaction from fans upon release. The band had always been a large cult band, but I think Love Kraft pushed them further into the margins with only the seriously dedicated continuing to follow them. Everyone else either started following Gruff's solo career, or finished with the band altogether and found some other band to get passionate about.

I now look back on Love Kraft as SFA's big mistake, and perhaps they should have went on hiatus after the Songbook compilation came out, because it was around that time that solo projects started happening. The highlights of Love Kraft - 'Zoom', 'Atomik Lust', 'Cloudberries', 'Cabin Fever' - would have made a great little stopgap EP.

I love almost everything on Love Kraft idk (I could do without "Back on a Roll")

I've always liked The Horn.

I've come to seriously dislike 'The Horn', it feels a bit underwritten and throwaway to me and it's the kind of track that I suspect wouldn't have even made it as a B-side during their Creation period. I find Bunf's vocal on this (and indeed 'Back on a Roll') near-unlistenable these days, which is strange because I think his singing on 'Sex, War & Robots', 'These Bones' and 'White Socks/Flip Flops' is just fine. He's at his best when he doesn't try and reach for those high notes, I guess. Bunf was capable of much, much, much better stuff than his contributions to Love Kraft.

More dates:

http://www.groundcontroltouring.com/tours/super-furry-animals

05/03/2016
Cambridge, MA / The Sinclair
Buy Tickets
05/05/2016
New York, NY / Webster Hall
Buy Tickets
05/06/2016
Washington, DC / 9:30 Club
Buy Tickets
05/07/2016
Philadelphia, PA / Union Transfer

I like those dates even more than I like "The Horn." And I really fucking like "The Horn."

Turrican, your posts sent me back to Love Kraft and my extensive post on it in the poll of that album. Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft poll

In retrospect, this wasn't an album they made for their fans. I disagree about "The Horn"—it's one of several tracks here that feels specifically designed to bring us back to the light side of the moon—tho you're right in that, in retrospect, this record pretty much killed whatever momentum their career had.

Still, I'm hesitant to call Love Kraft a mistake for two reasons. First, I'm not sure it mattered that much in the grand scheme of things. Where could they have gone instead? They obviously were running out of gas in the years after this.

More importantly, it may be the record I return to by SFA the most. Is it their best? Probably not – it's too schizophrenic in places, too swampy and too dependent on the solace of headphones to really appreciate on any kind of a regular basis. But it's probably the record by them that rewards the most re-listening – not only for the sound and production (which is amazing) but also the little melodic flourishes, odd meters that pop up for a few bars here and there, and some of their richest lyrics. Some of these songs are fascinating little miniatures. Others are so dense or structurally complex that it takes multiple listens to figure out what the hell is even happening.

Given how much their last two records felt like a band running on fumes—and how much time has passed since those records—I'm fascinated to know what they might come up with next.

Naive Teen,

I agree with a lot of what you've said. There are a couple clear misfires on the album, particularly the single, but I find a lot to like when I revisit it. I really disliked the album when it came out, too. Hey Venus! is their low point for me, and I think that's the one where they decided to soak up too much sun and record some pretty lazy songs. Rough Trade, their new label at the time, also ordered them to make a record like Fuzzy Logic. It really didn't end up sounding anything like that. That said, I have a lot of time for a song like 'The Gift That Keeps Giving' and consider it one of the best songs in their discography.

Dark Days/Light Years was also mainly written around the Hey Venus! sessions. I think it's a lot better, but they clearly needed the break. I rate some of their solo releases since the hiatus pretty highly, so I think we'll hear some interesting music from them again. Baby Queens, Cian's girl group, have a really interesting sound, for instance.

Oh yeah, it's clear that they didn't make Love Kraft for anyone but themselves, but I guess that they were hoping to bring their fans along with them rather than alienate quite a number of them, which is what ended up happening. I certainly don't think the record brought in many new fans for them, while they'd successfully been building their fanbase and bringing their fans with them for the previous 6 albums. Like I say, they really should have gone on hiatus in 2004 around the time of Songbook, it would have been the perfect time to do so. Production-wise Love Kraft is great, but the songwriting itself isn't really up there with their best aside from maybe 3 or 4 songs. I think most of their solo work since Dark Days/Light Years have been incredibly patchy.

Has, rather.

https://www.instagram.com/p/-C32XGR5VP/

Any idea what the track behind 'Cabin Fever' is? :Q

To my eyes it says 'Humming Reprise.'

Would love to know what 'Ya Hey' is.

my guess is "Humming Reprise" refers to the instrumental ending of "Cabin Fever" that comes after a few seconds' silence

Yes, it says 'Humming Reprise' and it's probably not the piano coda to 'Cabin Fever' as 'Cabin Fever' is listed as having the same running time as it does on the album itself. One of the working titles for 'Cloudberries' was 'Hummingbirds', which makes me think that it could possibly be some kind of 'Cloudberries' reprise. 'Cloudberries' is listed as having, again, the same running time as it does on the album itself, so it's not part of 'Cloudberries' that's been chopped out and listed as its own track. Of course, it may just be a whole new piece of music that was dropped from the album at the last minute.

You can see on the Phantom Power box that they messed around with the placements of the 'Father Father' interludes.

The Love Kraft master in the photo has a different running order:

1. Zoom!
2. Atomik Lust
3. The Horn
4. Lazer Beam
5. Walk You Home
6. Frequency
7. Psyclone!
8. Oi Frango
9. Back on a Roll
10. Ohio Heat
11. Cloudberries
12. Cabin Fever
13. Humming Reprise

The tape dated 7th Sept 1998 is clearly from the Guerrilla sessions, it's named RW Session Mixes #1, RW meaning Real World Studios where the album was record. 'Y Teimlad' is the recording that went onto Mwng, but it was recorded at the Guerrilla sessions. #9 is 'DX', which I would assume is 'DX Heaven' ... I have no fucking idea what 'Ya-Hey!' could possibly be. It's either a working title for one of the Guerrilla tracks (or B-sides) or something that didn't get released.

There is an old Phantom Power floating around the net that contains an additional "father father." I had it and lost it. I assume it's an old master, as the undefeated sounds, from what I remember, a bit lazier, with more a reggae-styled rhythm section.

xpost:

*record=recorded.

Yeah, I remember the early leak of Phantom Power having a few differences to the final release. I haven't heard it for years, though.

One of the DAT's is labelled SFA - "Sympathy" Tracks which certainly must have something to do with 'No Sympathy'

This is starting soon. Anyone able to make it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0nhQ7637_Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R_6YB53Wp0

Love Kraft still their best album

https://twitter.com/BBCWalesNews/status/679193519450263552

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/the-insatiable-inflatable-candylion-sse-swalec-stadium-theatre-review-delightful-music-but-energy-a6780371.html

Only the imagination of Gruff Rhys could have come up with this singular show. He expands his 2007 album Candylion into a psychedelic fable - for all the family! Billed by National Theatre Wales as a “theatre gig”, live music propels the story, with the audience standing or moving about the space.

We’re in Pixel Valley, where hybrid creatures – Candylion, Polarpear, Meringueutan – happily gather pixel fruit. But after the Candylion swallows some negative vibes, she begins to grow – and get nasty. The pink creature (played with winning childish stroppiness by Remy Beasley) turns into a tyrannical “Turbo Capitalist”, forcing the others to work in her candy factory. Only Caruin – a carnation penguin, obviously! – resists. After an epic journey to the land of the Cone People, he returns to persuade Candylion – swollen into an enormous, inflatable set of jaws – that it’s better to share.

The word ‘surreal’ is liberally used today – but Candylion really, genuinely is. It’s delightful – and should delight kids.

Rhys came up with the show after noticing children were coming to the Candylion album tour, clearly responding to the twee plinky-plonk or gently driving rhythms of his songs. Still, I’ll have to take his word for it – I see one of the ‘after-dark’ shows, with an adult audience; we get an extra “theatrical encore”, his 20-minute song ‘Skylon’, guest starring Charlotte Church no less.

But the play’s main, archly anti-capitalist allegory certainly works for adults; indeed, there are elements that are really more for groovy parents than kids. But the underlying story and message – be inclusive; don’t be greedy – is definitely child-friendly.

They even find some cute ways to explain economic principles: if the irony of a dance number about the “trickle down” effect flies over little heads, the concept is then explained, revealing with childish simplicity the injustice of the theory. “I have the jar – and you have the drips”, says Candylion. “Can’t we just share what’s in the jar?” questions Caruin. Get ‘em young, Gruff!

READ MORE
BBC Christmas album features Gruff Rhys song about suicide
Prince of Wales: Gruff Rhys on his rock odyssey, and the trouble with
Gruff Rhys: American Interior, Soho Theatre, review - 'An
The music is a delight – as a high-concept gig, The Insatiable, Inflatable Candylion is a roaring success. Rhys narrates in his inimitably zoned-out, meandering style, and leads a super-group featuring Sweet Baboo, Lisa Jen Brown from 9Bach, and Kliph Scurlock from the Flaming Lips. He even conducts a conga round the venue in a tiny wooden car.

But that moment aside, the hangar-like space doesn’t do them any favours. It felt under-filled, the 360-degree staging over-stretching the core cast of six – and the budget. It might have worked if they could bring on a big chorus; instead, the energy too often dissipated, sliding from anarchic into shambling.

Not that there isn’t a coherent vision here: the hybrids’ costumes are fab, and Wils Wilson’s production is clever in its use of bubblegum cartoon stylings – we enjoy the sugar rush, while also recognising that this shiny, pester-power pink is its own capitalist coating. But while Candylion may have an easy-to-swallow message, delivered in Rhys’ deliriously odd signature style, when the sugar-high wears off you’re left hungry for something a bit more substantial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9247t3mtYk

SFA's 20th birthday celebration turns 21 on the Left Coast! New Super Furry Animals tour alert! Super Furry Animals's momentous 20th birthday celebrations of 2015 become 21 this year as we embark on some adventures that passed us by last year. Starting next week - (Feb 4th 2016) the furious Furry will be hitting North America's West Coast, starting in Vancouver and visiting Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, San Jose, and ending with 2 dates at LA's famed Metal hang out - The Roxy Theatre. Some East coast shows are happening in May following a slot at Austin's Levitation festival - look out New York, Washington DC, Philadelphia and Boston. We'll warm up for these May shows by embarking on an enormo-dome tour with Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds in April - pay attention Glasgow, Aberdeen, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham. More festivals and announcements to be expected for the Summer - starting at The Manic Street Preachers's Liberty stadium show on May 28th in Abertawe. Full list of February shows here: Vancouver Imperial Feb 4th Portland Crystal Ballroom Feb 5th Seattle Neptune Theater Feb 6th San Francisco Great American Music Hall Feb 9th San Jose Ritz Theatre Feb 10th Los Angeles Roxy Theater Feb 11th Los Angeles Roxy Theater Feb 12th Our pals and confidants Dead Meadow join us for all West Coast shows apart from Portland and San Francisco. Tickets available from all the usual spots for all shows - apart from 1st LA show which has sold out. @superfurryanimals @gutopryce @gary.aspden

---
What's left to announce?

Interactive CD-ROM?

Saw them last night in Vancouver. Set started out a bit rocky, but after 3 or 4 songs they warmed right up & sounded great. Not exactly the most dynamic performers, but the psychedelic looping film projections made up for it somewhat.

They are generally pretty stiff live unless they're doing the rehearsed bits like the yeti outro.

Gruff is much more entertaining when he's alone for some reason.

I dunno. I thought they were fantastic on the RAtW tour.

I'd never heard this before:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNurmiAGjYU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNurmiAGjYU

Danger Mouse really should produce the inevitable tenth SFA album. He expressed a desire to do so in the past.

Oops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDRQ2ObNhSI

This is the documentary that aired on S4C last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWmMSzI3hWQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur7_jT-obmc

Not his most sonically exciting composition, but I like the message and I'm amazed it's been trending for hours on Twitter.

http://i.imgur.com/ENDKK90l.jpg

Tweeted by his label earlier today.

Maybe Q got some bad information, but it sounds like he said something about 'new SFA songs' based on the headline.

Gruff is always pretty poor at describing his songs, but here it is:

"Imminently, there are more soundtracks, solo material and SFA's Euro 2016 song for Wales, the not-so-profoundly titled Bing Bong which Rhys describes as a 'six-and-a-half-minute demented disco idiot track, in the Welsh language."

I booked a trip to Philadelphia, next week, to catch a show. Was researching also hitting up the Boston show, and found this notice for all upcoming dates (including the Philadelphia one around which I planned my trip):

Please Note: This event has moved from Tuesday, 5/3/16 to Sunday, 7/24/16.

Re: Philadelphia...

Super Furry Animals' tour plans have changed. The new date for their Philadelphia show will be July 22nd. All tickets for the May 7th date will be honored.

Anybody have any information? Does this have something to do with Levitation being canceled? What the fuck.

Huh I had tickets for next Fri night in DC and now the show has disappeared from the 930 calendar. Never got any email or nothing wtf

Looks like DC is now June 5

Unbelievable.

anyone have link to new dates?

https://twitter.com/superfurry/status/726349510436347905

That's really terrible. I wonder why they only just announced it. The venues were all ahead of the announcement.

At least they're releasing a new song.

Oh great, a football song. Quality control, once a great feature 'o' this band, has clearly gone right out 'o' the window at this stage.

great title, too. :)

If you're 5.

https://twitter.com/superfurry/status/653000547222593536

They used a bingbong hashtag back in October. Must be some kind of hilarious inside joke.

"hilarious"

That this once-great band that once put out a run 'o' seriously great records from 1997-2003, including the 5.1 extravaganza 'o' Rings Around The World, R now reduced 2 putting out football songs entitled 'Bing Bong' ... Yeah, that's totally hilarious.

Cmon, I know it isn't funny.

I'll wait to hear it, though "idiot disco" makes me think of a cross between •Lazer beam" and "Psyclone!"

https://instagram.com/p/BEyNef0uJz0/

BING BONG

That this once-great band that once put out a run 'o' seriously great records from 1997-2003, including the 5.1 extravaganza 'o' Rings Around The World, R now reduced 2 putting out football songs entitled 'Bing Bong' ... Yeah, that's totally hilarious.

IIRC Cian said they'd definitely record a song if that happened, so he's just keeping his promise.

It's kinda amazing how this band didn't really have a slow decline, just 2 distinct periods where they were excellent and then suddenly not so, with Songbook being the divider.

I would suggest most bands of their caliber from the 90s dropped off equally. Don't much care for blur's think tank and I thought the new one was completely terrible. Supergrass fell off hard.

Hell, all bands do. No one seems to get better with age.

Except Paul McCartney obviously

Yeah,but Wings have done nowt since he left them.

thankx 4 the reminders of what sux

Dark Days/Light Years - does not suck

RYM has DD/LY down as SFA's lowest rated LP.

On the other hand it's hangin' with their 2000-2003 albums on Metacritic.

So, the critics enjoyed it on their initial listens, but people disagreed with that initial assessment over time. Which is understandable, because it doesn't come remotely close to their 1994-2003 work.

I dunno - the only SFA record I can't get into is LoveKraft, and even that album I quite dig about 1/2 of. Still spinning the last 2 on a regular basis, and I rate both of them higher than Mwng and Guerilla.

Apparently 'Bing Bong' is out tomorrow.

Can't wait for Turrican to dismiss it. :)

I thought it was out next Friday?

Misread the tea leaves. Out the 15th. They're really hyping it up. Feels like an album is on the horizon.

Starting to feel skeptical about a new album again:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/events/ewd8gw

Cian Ciarán Presents: Rhys & Meinir
For 20 years and counting a member of Super Furry Animals, Cian Ciarán comes together with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales to tell a traditional Welsh fable in music. The world premiere performance of a work that has been almost two-decades in development, Cian Ciarán’s first orchestral piece Rhys & Meinir promises a rare, aural experience that encapsulates the drama of ancient Welsh folklore, the envisioned splendour of rural Wales and the innate, musical curiosity of the intrepid composer.
Rhys and Meinir found love in the village of Nant Gwrtheyrn, North Wales and their childhood romance blossomed for all to see. On the day of their marriage, Meinir is nowhere to be found and the mystery leads Rhys into months of despair. When finally a thunder strike reveals Meinir’s final hiding place, Rhys is unable to live a second longer.

Out in two days.

http://i.imgur.com/6yf5Z4p.jpg

They're releasing it on Strangetown, so they're self-releasing it.

will be interesting to read about how bad this is over every alternate post for the remainder of the thread

You never told me which Gorky's cover you did. I'm curious. :)

It's up on Amazon

On Spotify as well if you're in the uK.

I'm not.

Oh, I thought you meant the Gorky's cover was on spotify

Nah. That's on bandcamp for free.

Well, this sounds exactly like you'd expect it to based on the name.

I don't know.

At least it's like a special occasion single.

It doesn't sound like anything else they've done at least.

Well, it's better than the Manics one at least

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqXpWvEW3ZU

this might be predictable, but I think...I think that I love it. Guto drives it home.

Finally got around to listening to it. On the plus side, the production is great... really full sounding and full of neat production touches. On the flip side, the song is terrible and has quite possibly the most irritating chorus to ever grace an SFA song. I can see why it stayed in the vaults.

I like this NME review:

http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/super-furry-animals-have-terrible-timing-but-their-comeback-single-is-brilliant?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

The Krautrock-influenced track begins with vocodered vocals, a ticking beat and pulsating bass, an update of the beatier side of the Furries’ work that, you feel, shows they had more in league with the likes of LCD Soundsystem than they were given credit for. It’s a bonkers track, of course, which is absolutely apt for a band that always had a strong sense of the surreal and – crucially – it taps into an ineffable something that frontman Gruff Rhys is incapable of connecting with in his varied solo work.

Pure fun. I'm going to go insane if I don't get the 'bings' and 'bongs' out of my head by Monday though.

At least one thing that came out of this was that it got me listening to American Interior again. While I found it as patchy as ever and still the weakest of all Gruff's solo albums, 'The Last Conquistador' really caught my ear this time around. "What a lovely song with a beautiful chorus," I thought to myself while the track was playing. "Shame the dumb and rough production doesn't bring the best out of it. Maybe if he'd done something like this with SFA and given it an on-point production job, instead of SFA giving the production works to slight tracks like 'Lazer Beam', 'Moped Eyes' and 'Bing Bong', they might be onto something."

Then I realised I had, in fact, described their work from 1997-2003. Yes, I know 'Bing Bong' has been around since the tail-end of Phantom Power going into Songbook, but if they'd released it at the time then, christ, say hello to B-side status.

All I can say is thank christ my expectations for this lowered as much as possible during their hiatus, because if they had been through the roof I'd be even less impressed than I am now!

I can only imagine how the hardcore must have dealt with this though, working themselves up into a frenzy over the last seven years for this. This piece of novelty fluff must seem like the best thing ever... for now. I can only liken the hype, build, reveal and fan reaction to settling down with a skin flick, only to find someone has taped a documentary about Thatcher over the end, but still carrying on regardless.

An album could be good, though, if they write some decent songs.

I think it's the perfect antidote to the po-faced social media theatrics bands like Radioheaf engage in these days to promote their "serious," big event albums.

You have a band that's been split up for seven years, their longest break ever, and they're here to sing a song called "Bing Bong" with a ridiculous, possibly annoying, chorus over a disco bassline. Gruff even called the song "idiot disco" in a recent interview. They're just having a laugh. Maybe it's time to take a chill pill, relax and Bing along to the Bong?

An even better idea would be to listen to something else, in all honesty.

Are we really going to kill them for a single track? Or do we just want to kill them for the sake of it?

There's a lot of it about.

Actually, it's neither. After the substandard Dark Days/Light Years and a seven year hiatus filled with solo projects that range from the passable (American Interior) to the awful (Praxis Makes Perfect, Pale Blue Dots), I was beginning to think that maybe their best work was behind them, but given that we've mostly had solo releases for the last seven years, I was still holding out to see whether a new SFA track would be any good, as they've always been stronger collectively than individually.

What they've delivered after their long lay-off is without a doubt to me one of their worst ever singles, down at the bottom of the pile with 'Lazer Beam', 'Inaugural Trams', 'Mt.' etc.

SFA at their peak were capable of creating songs that, when you scratched below the sometimes cartoony surface, actually had some meaning. Now we've got songs about chins, one-idea songs about nothing ('Moped Eyes') and novelty songs that have choruses that go "BING BONG BING BONG BING BONG BING BING BING BONG BING BONG BING BONG", which is so utterly irritating and stupid (in a bad way) that it made for a very trying experience, and has left me even less convinced than I was before that this band have anything left to give. I'm convinced they're spent and their best work is behind them. I'm sure an album could be good if they write some decent songs, but based on recent form I'm not optimistic at all. Their classic work has held up astoundingly well, though, and I'll always have time for those records.

At this point, though, it's goodnight from me - this is where it ends.

Turrican, I get why you might feel a little betrayed but I think AFP is right. Right down to the title, this is like McCartney's "Bip Bop" but with a better groove – a willfully silly, stupid bit of unpretentious fun that is perhaps notable for stupidity.

I will bet money that both you will give this next record a chance (assuming there is one?) and that you will find more to like about it than this. You can't quit the Furries!

(even if they may be trying to make you)

Eh, if this was some kind of knee-jerk/rash decision I'd probably agree with you, but to be really honest my enthusiasm for this band has been cooling a fair bit for a number of years now. It's not like I've suddenly decided to no longer follow this band overnight, it's definitely been more of a gradual thing and this was just the clincher, as it were, the moment of ultimate confirmation to myself that I'm done. It's not a big deal - I'm sure they'll always be making music for those that want to hear it, and I still have the old records if I want to reminisce which still remain remarkably as potent as ever, not to mention there's like a zillion other bands out there, so it's not like I'm going to be stuck for something to listen to. It's not the first time I've reached this point with a band, and it certainly won't be the last, although in this case it's kinda notable because I was a massive fan of this band for near enough a couple of decades, rather than like with a lot of bands where I lose interest after a couple of records. But yeah - finally, definitively, conclusively - I'm done. I'm out.

He's got off the bus, you guys.

turrican really wants me to feel dumb for genuinely thinking Dark Days/Light Years is a good album. I'll concede Hey Venus! isn't the world's most essential album, though I think it's enjoyable, but man, I really like DD/LY. I still listen to it. I think 'Moped Eyes' is a great jam and I love 'Inaugural Trams.'

Come to think of it, the new song does kind of sound a bit like 'Inaugural Trams.'

yeah, I also think DD/LY is way better than the two albums preceding it. Second half of that album is up there with the best things SFA have done.

Dark Days / Light Years was, to my ears, a bona fide return to form, the first SFA album I really enjoyed since Guerila, probably.

SFA have never even come close to making a bad album.

Yeah, I like Dark Days/Light Years too. I think it's way more consistent than the three albums that came before it.

Eh, if you guys enjoy Dark Days/Light Years then fair enough. Indulge yourselves, fill your boots, enjoy away, and certainly don't feel dumb for listening to a record you clearly get a lot of pleasure out of. Same applies to the solo work they've put out during their hiatus. It's already been more than well documented what I think about all that stuff, so I'm not going to (and can't be bothered to) repeat my thoughts on it for the umpteenth time - that would just be utterly boring for everyone, and I can't summon up the enthusiasm to have a debate on the record either way at this stage. It just doesn't matter to me anymore. Like I said, I'm sure they'll still be making music for those that want to hear it. If you're one of those people, then great. I'm not.

I think I could make a pretty decent mix of the best stuff on all the solo/side albums. Just sayin'.

I haven't listened to all their solo projects but I've really enjoyed the last three Gruff albums, especially Candylion. Love the first Neon Neon album too.

It's already been more than well documented what I think about all that stuff, so I'm not going to (and can't be bothered to) repeat my thoughts on it for the umpteenth time - that would just be utterly boring for everyone

― Turrican

Any chance you can apply this to your thoughts on The 1975 too?

Gulp's Season Sun is probably the most successful of the non-Gruff side/solo material in the sense that you probably don't need to like SFA to enjoy the albuml. They're Guto's band, with his wife on synth and vocals. I think he might actually sing vocals on one song, a duet, which is interesting since he's the only SFA that doesn't sing.. Album is on Spotify.

x-post to KP:

Don't be stupid! :D