New Super Furry Animals album produced by Broken Social Scene producer

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM

Digital release 16th March on the band's own website - www.superfurry.com, physical release 13th April on Rough Trade Records, 21st April for U.S. release.

Super Furry Animals are currently hard at work on their 9th studio album in Cardiff.. Since 2007's 'Hey Venus' the band have been keeping busy with their various side projects including Daf and Guto's acclaimed work as part of The Peth with Rhys Ifans, Cian's forthcoming Acid Casuals release and Som Bom techno nights in London and of course Gruff's Mercury nominated work with Neon Neon.

Currently with a tracklisting but without a title the band promise;
"Musically it's based around riffs and grooves we've been playing
around with over the last few years. We have enough now for a whole album so even though it's still very melodic we thought we could leave off the acoustic ballads for the time being."

"It's recognisable as a melodic SFA record, but is very focused musically as a cohesive album. And no country rock as Daf has developed a pedal steel phobia. Which has confined the great Nashvillian instrument along with the Saxophone to the banned instrument directive of the SFA board. there's only one slow number which isn't slow at all."

Longtime cohorts Pete Fowler will combine with legendary Japanese artist Tanaami for the album artwork, which is sure to result in a feast for the eyes.
The album is due for digital release on the 16th March via the bands own website (www.superfurry.com), the physical following on the 13th of April on Rough Trade Records.
Super Furry Animals have some more tricks up their sleeve which we will be announcing a little closer to the release date - watch this space for more information!

Working Title Tracklisting

1.'The very best of Neil Diamond'
2. White socks/Flip Flops.
3. Inaugural Trams.
4. Sounds Familiar.
5. Cardiff in the sun.
6. Where do you wanna go?
7. LLiwiau LLachar.
8. Mountain.
9. Moped eyes.
10. Inconvenience.
11. Crazy Naked Girls.
12. Earth.
13. Prick.

They should probably start thinking of an album title soon.

Hmm, I've listened to Lovekraft and Hey Venus maybe 3 times each since they came out, despite initially thinking they were great. I'm not overly excited about a new one.

LoveKraft, twice.

Hey Venus, twice.

Have to say, though, loving those titles!

Never really bothered with the last two, and had kind of relegated them to a band I used to really love, but grew out of it. Have to say, for some reason, I am intrigued by this one.

"It's recognisable as a melodic SFA record, but is very focused musically as a cohesive album.

In other words, yet another dose of the same great stuff they've done since the beginning without a lot of changes. ;)

their 9th studio album

This is the part knocking me for a loop.

1 'The Very Best of Neil Diamond'
"It's about all these houses being destroyed by jets etc. Someone put a Neil Diamond tape on before hand, and you can still hear it playing through the rubble."
02 White Socks/Flip Flops
"It's a song by Bunf [Huw Bunford, guitarist] concerning the type of footwear one needs to write a good novel."
03 Inaugural Trams
"A celebratory anthem regarding the opening of a new tram line in a fictitious utopian mainland Europe town. Featuring a rap in German by a special guest."
04 Sounds Familiar
"It does. But not in the way you think!"
05 Cardiff in the Sun
"Doesn't happen often, would probably sound like this."
06 Where Do You Wanna Go?
07 LLiwiau LLachar
"These are twin songs. If they were cities they would probably be Minneapolis and St. Paul. Lliwiau Llachar means Intensely Bright Colours. With all the synth arpeggios and Daf going nuts on drums it's like the Who or something, would be great theme music for 'CSI Cardiff'."
08 Mountain
"A euphoric glam rock stomp by Cian [Ciaran, keyboardist] that sounds as big as the title, and concerns people turning molehills into extreme sport venues."
09 Moped Eyes
"We've been playing this song live for a couple of years, it's been called 'Hot Clubs' and 'Hot Nuts' in the past. You can see a crude early version on YouTube."
10 Inconvenience
"We've been playing around with this heavy guitar riff for a few years now. It's so heavy it features both Guto [Pryce, bassist] and Bunf on two duelling bass guitars."
11 Crazy Naked Girls
"Bunf wrote this tribute to a Cardiff bar he used to drink in before re-development. It's now a block of unsold 'luxury' flats. It's a song in three parts."
12 Earth
"Anyone who attended a SFA gig on the Hey Venus! tour would know this song. It features very distinct audience participation. You can see numerous versions of it performed from Tokyo to California and beyond on YouTube ."
13 Prick
"This song is built on Cian's Moog groove and builds and builds into a great big house or castle of noise."

Am I right in thinking "It's a song by Bunf" hasn't been a sign of quality in the past? Apart from that, I want to hear these based on Gruff's descriptions, which is a start.

"Anyone who attended a SFA gig on the Hey Venus! tour would know this song. It features very distinct audience participation. You can see numerous versions of it performed from Tokyo to California and beyond on YouTube ."

Yeah, I remember there being very distinct audience participation, but I can't remember anything about what it involved or sounded like.

Battersea Odyssey is my favorite track on Hey Venus!, so I kind of like Bunf...

Sounds like a lot of great bands will release albums in 2009. Plus January, which is usually a slow month music-wise, has already given us a number of great albums. Seems to me that 2009 may be the best year for music in a while, and perhaps the best music year ending with 9 since 1979.

Oh, Geir. 1989 was fantastic, though you'll never be able to see it.

I'm hecka looking forward to a new SFA album. I really liked their last two - so what if they're not up to the stellar standard set by Rings? It might not be outta the ballpark, but I can get to second base with any SFA album anytime. Second base ain't a bad hit.

1989 was fantastic

If you are into hip-hop, dance, hair metal and/or American alternative rock with extremely tiny production budgets, then I guess so. I am not. :)

Don't forget British guitar-pop (usually) with tiny production budgets. Yummy!

Please don't get me started on Hey Venus again. Hopefully they've pulled out a few more stops this time around.

HV rocked.

Yeah I've been really digging Hey Venus! recently- it's a much tighter collection of songs than Love Kraft. I thought I was kind of over SFA for a while there but HV has brought me back into the fold- I'm looking forward to this new one.

I'm just thrilled they're throwing out the ballads for once. I think they're amazing at that stuff, but I'm glad to see they're leaving their comfort zone after three or four albums of mostly slower material.

SFA NEW ALBUM FILMS

Super Furry Animals are never ones to stay still creatively, and with their forthcoming (currently untitled) 9th studio album they have decided to document the process on 4 individual hand held cameras. But this will be no ordinary 'the making of the album' story; it's a series of Warhol like observations, of a band putting the finishing touches to songs, a celebration of the banal nature of the mixing process. Whole chunks of time seem to vanish at twice the speed over a slow game of darts or the making of a cup of tea as a song is played on repeat 26 times on the mixing console.
Inspired by Mike Figgis's ground breaking film 'Time Code' the episodes will be released in 21 individual episodes starting on the 23rd February, 8p.m.GMT through this site.

'Ah! Greetings friends, join us for the next few weeks as we finish up our new album for your ears. We have borrowed 4 video cameras from friends and family and we will document events as they unfold, hopefully with as little drama as possible.' The Film Council of SFA.

http://www.superfurry.com/

i will forever love this band, even if i haven't been into the last two albums quite as much. i'm liking what they are up to and can't fucking wait for some new SFA!

Has anyone heard Inaugural Trams yet? There's an mp3 of it out and abouts but you can also hear it on the BBC iPlayer at the 1h 51m mark here

Took a couple of listens but I'm really liking it although I'm definitely an SFA fanboy

heh, M****** T*****, how are you?

Really like Inaugural Trams, it's definitely more like something off Guerrilla than the last 3 albums.

Would it be worth starting a new thread seeing as it now has a title (Dark Days/Light Years), isn't (as far as I know) produced by Broken Scene's producer (yeah I know I bumped this one in the first place), and there's a gigcast on Monday 16th March with mp3s onsale from 8pm GMT. Also half the discussion on this is on the Hey Venus thread.

Anyway, reading through Gruff's descriptions of these songs and imagining him saying them and I'm actually pretty excited about this one. I'm annoyed that I'm busy on Monday night though.

anyone catch the broadcast tonight? quality. a rougher version of 'hey venus' with slabs of 'guerrilla' layered in. first track, last track are blinders.

chris shaw on production (did guerrilla). it'll make sense when/if you hear it. i'll go to bed now...

http://superfurryanimals.sandbag.uk.com/Content/Cover.gif

this has leaked and supposedly they are back, i fucking hope so.

Amazon has this as the LP cover so i'm unsure which one is real or they both are:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1a/Lightyears.jpg

You can buy the new album immediately from 8pm UK time on March 16 from this site on MP3 download...there will also be options to pre-order it on CD and Vinyl LP, which will be available from April 13, UK, April 21, US.

WHERE IS THE OPTION TO PRE-ORDER AN LP? ME WANT MP3 NOW.

they have changed things up a bit, here is the new order of the songs:

1. Crazy Naked Girls
2. Mt
3. Moped Eyes
4. Inagural Trams
5. Inconvenience
6. Cardiff In The Sun
7. The Very Best Of Neil Diamond
8. Helium Hearts
9. White Socks/Flip Flops
10. Where Do You Wanna Go?
11. Lliwiau Llachar
12. Pric

according to my download the album artwork is the second cover (or bigger picture) not a fan.

this is really different stuff for SFA but i think will keep my interest...only on the second song.

anyone need this let me know through this sites email (320).

Absolutely floored after one listen. This might be the greatest thing these guys have done.

apparently there's different art for every format

BAH fuck a ilxor mail function!

sorry for my bad English tonight, need to add a "if" and "it." to above sentences. too much going on, car was towed and alcohol are mainly at fault.

"Where do You Wanna" go into that Welsh track... OMG

Yeah, mailbox is being a bit lame

Hopefully Bee could "shakesomeaction" towards a certain gmail account - that'd be rad

i too am "floored" after one listen, will like this more than the last two albums.

Nvm, found a MU of it.

"Hopefully Bee could "shakesomeaction" towards a certain gmail account - that'd be rad"

done, but the ilx mailbox function works fine.

...

ilx mailbox isn't working for me either

deon sf AT G ... com

mail

I'm on my second listen now...it's strikingly different from Venus - it has the scope of, say, Love Kraft but with the eclecticism and humor of Guerilla, and it's more muscular than any of their previous output.

guys you know you "shakesomeaction" towards the SFA website and buy this album? this is not a leak.

After two full listens... this is just a brilliant accomplishment for them, especially when people started getting so down and out on their last few. Really came out of nowhere.

Yeah, I love this. I even like Bunf's track (White Socks/Flip Flops is him, right?).

Loving this.

TO THE SFA WEBSITE

I didn't think I could get excited about a SFA album these days, but this thread is doing just that ... the "Guerrilla" comparisons do help, since that's my favourite SFA album.

This is poppy, like Hey Venus, but it's also way more... stretched out, and groovy, and... not experimental, but, playful. Guerilla is also my favourite SFA record, and this is definitely hitting buttons much, much better than anything after Mwyng.

After Mwyng, it seemed like their songs slowed down and their melodies got really unmemorable and ponderous and slow, and that any sonic trickery or musical alchemy they configured around that just moved like molasses too, to me. This gets it all back. Bit of Kraut, bit of psyche, bit of pop.

You're wrong (altho Mwng is amazing and brilliant and A+) but this is certainly good stuff.

However, it takes its time warming up! I'm not a particular fan of any of the first three tracks (yet). After "Inaugural Trams" (inclusive) it's groovy all the way! Haven't heard the last two yet tho...

OK, not wrong, but I don't agree, esp about RATW *flogs the dead horse*

Well, you're right in that some of the songs became more measured, more 'long-winded', more subtly and grandly executed, but I think that really suited them, especially with things like "(Drawing) Rings Around The World" to keep it snappy in between

Hmm. Good stuff, aside from having the most irritating final 4 minutes of any album ever. Worse than a secret track. Sort it out lads.

How is the last four minutes anything buy lovely? Dolt! Also, opening song = wickedness fun.

OK, on second listen, both the opening track and especially "Moped Eyes" have come through, leaving only "Mt" as a low-point. And now "Inaugural Trams" is busy being single of the year in my headspace. TRAMS!

Of course, there's an obvious best track here. You have one (1) guess as to what I'm thinking of. Clue: it is quite long.

Is it about Cardiff?

might just be ;-)

I can't get over how much like Steely Dan White Socks/Flip Flops sounds.

Hopefully I'll actually be able to appreciate the last 4 minutes of Pric properly, now that I'm not going to be waiting for the "main song" to burst back in at some point.

I think my favourite SFA tune is Some Things Come From Nothing. Hence I am absolutely delighted with the little bits of kraut groove delicately run through this. Pric is lovely.

Am currently listening to Pric, and it's really really nice, aye. Jury's out on the ambient outro (mostly because I haven't quite gotten to it again).

Yeah ok, now I actually turned the volume up a bit, it is rather pretty. Very good album!

Pretty much better than anything I heard last year, except maybe Rook or Polar Bear or Notwist.

^^^none of which I've heard yet.

To Spotify!! :-P

White Socks/Flip Flops is the best song by like a million miles

Yeah, funny how Gruff's songs don't totally dominate like you'd expect them to. "Trams" I like but I can't help thinking it sounds like a tame attempt at revisiting the vibe of "(Drawing) Rings Around the World", their last "hit". Dammit, I could quibble all day long but I'm also really, really digging this (which might be a bad sign, actually - All the SFA albums I liked best off the top have gone down in my estimation and the others I've warmed up to, esp. RATW, which sounded like RATWTF!? to me on first few listens and is now firmly my fave).

Loving the Krautisch grooves here - it's all very now.

Hmph:
There will be a double vinyl including CD format along with the standard CD, Vinyl and I Tunes editions which will be out April 13.

I wasn't fussed about normal vinyl but double vinyl including CD I probably would've bought if I'd known it was coming. I would have to have waited for the mp3s though (or got them elsewhere) which I doubt I could do. Only got as far Neil Diamond so far, but I like it, without anything in particular jumping out at me, except Trams!. I needn't have worried about this record.

Revisiting Phantom Power and actually really enjoying it.

Phantom Power is nice and all, but aside from early highlights "Hello Sunshine" and "The Piccolo Snare" only REALLY picks up from "Cityscape Skybaby" onwards, imo. It's more a Scik Mouthy record than RATW, for sure, mellow and sonorous rather than wired, extravagant and ready for anything. :-P

"Crazy Naked Girls" gets better every time I hear it. It's almost early-Boredoms-esque in its "rip it up and start again CRAZY NAKED GIIIIRRRRRLS CRA-ZY NA-KED GIRLS" lunatic intensity, and its gradual build into psych-fried madness.

I'd say Out Of Control is where PP gets going.

My issue with RATW has always been that it's really BORING, not wired and ready for anything! I like SFA when they do glorious indie-techno oddpop. I need to revisit it.

RATW has Run, Christian Run on it, which is the most boringest SFA song ever.

Well, it's both wired AND measured...the main reason all the schizo style-changes work is that they're fully integrated into the songwriting. Quite a few of the songs are more poised within one lush strings-and-all style, such as Shoot Doris Day or Presidential Suite...these songs work really nicely within the album's context, as tuneful momentum-retainers. As a complete work, the album's both spectacularly kaleidoscopic and sublimely considered. The narrative is both funny and deeply affective. I'm rambling.

Just take a song like "Alternate Route To Vulcan Street"...it may sound boring the first few listens, but there's so much going on in the fine print. Like I say, sublime. That song's almost the key to enjoying the album. It's like an ornate SFA ballad...but somehow slightly warped by the undercurrent fizzle of semi-latent technological monstrosity.

omg j.o.n.a. you did not just say that.....it's (ironically) hymnal, melancholy, powerful, and eventually heart-rending....it just takes its time to unfold!

I so did! It is all those things, but they insisted on playing it live for ages and it is just boring and goes on for ages live. Sorry!

This thread is confusing my memories, for ages I thought Phantom Power was my favourite SFA album, then yesterday I was convinced it was Guerilla, but now I really want to hear RATW again - your post sums it really well, like.

Is this actually as good as you're all saying it is? I've found pretty much everything since 2001 to be pleasant but way below their 90s standard.

It's pretty damn good, although not quite as snappy and upfront as their 90's work (if that's what you're after)...there are a few shorter songs towards the end of the album which fulfil the "popblast" quotient, I guess, and fulfil it very nicely. "Cardiff In The Sun" is the epic bummer blissout they've been threatening to make since, uh, "Run! Christian, Run!", lolz. But probably better. The guitar lick in the second half is pure psych love. Most of the rest of the tracks are really good too! Especially "Inaugural Trams" which is ultra-bouncy Kraut-pop (both in terms of groove AND the fact the tune wouldn't seem out of place in some Bavarian beer-hall, in a good way), somehow saddled with gorgeous droning guitars and vocodered shouts of "Trams!".

I've been totally starved of new music this year so I'm probably in danger of going on about this too much, but I'd be happy to do a track-by-track rundown...

I'd be happy for you not to.

Hahaha @ you too.

This is their grooviest, psychedelic-est pop record for ages. Less pop than Hey Venus! but ironically more fun.

Presidential Suite is the problem with RATW. It's four days long and fucking dull. Run Christian Run is then more of the same. Thanks for that. The rest of the album's actually pretty awesome, although I do think Juxtaposed With U is one of their weakest singles.

let me just make it abundantly clear that imo "Presidential Suite" is the worst of a truly great lot

JWU has one of the greatest videos ever so is absolved of being a tiny bit smoove. Agreed that the album's pinnacle is the first-half run (and No Sympathy), but I'm also a stan for those last 2 tracks

Would I like Candylion?

I've only listened to the final track, drawn like a moth to the 14-minute running time. Based on that, it's worth a listen!

I like Presidential Suite.

Shoot Doris Day is the really dull one on that album.

I've only listened to the final track, drawn like a moth to the 14-minute running time. Based on that, it's worth a listen!
The rest of it's not dissimilar, albeit a lot shorter. Mostly just acoustic guitar, simple drums. I forget how much I like it actually. Now that the feeling is gone could be a lost 90s SFA b-side (a good thing!)

The last track on RATW is great, just for the Will Smith line.

Cardiff In The Sun is the most blissful, gorgeous, dreamy thing they've done since Some Things Come From Nothing. As STCFN is my favourite SFA song ever, that's high praise.

Rings Around the World is brilliant, but then I am a huge sucker for their otherworldly ballads, IE "Alternate Route to Vulcan Street," "Sex War and Robots," and "Carbon Dating." Hence I am taking a little while to warm up to this one.

The run from "Cardiff" to "White Socks" is definitely great though.

"Juxtapozed" is SFA's tribute to Hot Chocolate -- "And You Win Again" in particular. One of their best singles.

I'm wondering if the excitement over this album is partially due with the godawful dirgey meme that global indie has taken on recently (like it sorta did with "post rock" a decade ago but far more annoying and insufferable and way too calculatingly "saddoe") and this just happens to really stand out amongst it all. I haven't heard it yet, but since barely anyone was that excited about Guerrilla when it first came out, and now we're super excited about an album from said band that sorta sounds like it.. well, what the fuck happened?

I look forward to buying this on release day in the Yoo Ess.

OK, what happened is: the SFA PR pushed in right after Guerrilla. duh. Still, as an SFA fan, the continuing antsyness about the band is cuet and kinda funny.

But they're the best ELO we have right now. And every generation needs a Jeff Lynne somewhere.

Had "Cardiff In The Sun" lodged firmly in the head as I wandered around, er, London in the sun just now. I think the genuinely amazing weather we're having atm is directly linked to the release of this album. Like, srsly.

The run from "Cardiff" to "White Socks" is definitely great though.

yesss

that said I don't think this is considerably better or worse than any other SFA album. they all sound the same and mostly good to me.

like if you scrambled every song they every did and gave them to someone who'd never heard SFA before, pretty sure they wouldn't be able to guess which songs went in which album.

Yeah, I think I'd have problems identifying the proper albums for songs from an artist I've never heard before. But I think I see your point.

the production is key: the twiddly bits a la guerrilla, but also a great balance and sound in the bass and drums together when guto and daf get groovin.

and the ambient ending is the perfect answer to the rumours that this was going to be the great lost instrumental album. just when you thought they'd go techno wigout at the end it's all turned on its head.

and (last and) crazy naked girls sounds like a new slow life, the angular drumming, the processed sounds and then the zep style riffing.

my guess is they had BIG fun making this, whereas in love kraft (much as i like it in parts) there's the sound of the effort going into getting the right sounds out.

Would I like Candylion?

― Sickamous Mouthall

Ehrm, what are we, psychic? On Xgau's scale I give Candylion a scissors ("Skylon") and Yr Atal Genhedlaeth an A. YMMV.

If the idea of drum machines + acoustic guitars + Rhys singing kinda-melancholic tunes about sweets and violence + big fluffy Sean O'Hagan orchestrations, then you'll love Candylion for sure.

I'd say Yr Atal Genhedlaeth is probably Gruff's tightest set of songs ever. He fucking ROCKED when he played both his LPs live in the UK. He had a full band, and they just tore the shit out of all his songs--especially Skylon. Better than any SFA performance I've ever seen.

What are the best post-Out Spaced SFA b-sides? Are they collected anywhere?

Also, any good remixes of SFA tunes by people? They did a remix album of Phantom Power, right?

I think I stopped buying the singles around RATW-era, because I felt there was a big drop in quality with the b-sides on the Guerrilla singles (although I remember the ones on Northern Lites being ok), which is probably a bit harsh as the b-sides up to that point were really fucking good - most of the ones that aren't on Out Spaced are worth tracking down (erm, I'm saying this despite having not listened to them in about 7 years - looking up track titles suggest Lazy Life and Death by Melody might not be the lost classics I think they are, but are still pretty good and could maybe fit on Fuzzy Logic).

I listened to the Phantom Power remix once I think, don't remember anything standing out as being 'better than', or even, 'worth listening to instead of' the album tracks. Remixes of original Man Don't Give a Fuck (Darren Price - in my head I thought it was Darren Emerson and I never had the 12" 'cos HMV in Chester fucked my reservation up. Still hurts-, Howard Marks(!) and Wishmountain I don't remember being anything spectacular either.

I'll have to revisit them.

This new album is great, take back any negativity I may have expressed earlier.

Phantom Power has some really good b-sides, esp. "Summer Snow" and the epic instrumental "Cowbird." Since then it's been a dry spell.

The Danger Mouse remix of "Lazer Beam" is really, really good.

And if you like "Cardiff in the Sun," find the b-side "That's What I'm Talking About." It's got a very dreamy synth part that persists through the entire song.

'the matter of time' on 'fire in my heart' is wondrous...

'edam anchorman'/'all the shit u do' is a great segue (on 'rings around the world')

and 'tradewinds' on 'juxtaposed'

i'm enjoying the 70s flavourings on the album that aren't krautrock: the glitter band stomp to close 'mountain', there's a lift of a 'forever autumn' line at 1.35 into white socks/flip flops, and the crazy horses-esque backing vocals on the chorus of 'inconvenience'.

and helium heart is beautiful

I knew that bit in White Socks/Flip Flops was reminding me of something specific + proggy! I thought Camel but you are correct.

switch it off and start again

hmmm...this record is as dull as the last couple. i guess they're just getting old.

Absolutely disagree massively. Firstly, cos Hey Venus! was a good pop record and a definite improvement after Love Kraft, but mainly because this is wicked, the most fun I've had with a record in ages.

Just giving it my first proper listen through my AKGs. Fucking awesome. As you'd expect.

And Louis, the ambient fade-out is lovely on headphones.

Aside from That's What I'm Talking About, none of these b-sides mentioned above are on iTunes or the Amazon store; could anyone hook me up? sickmouthy at gmail dot com

Found The Matter Of Time now. Wanna hear Cowbird! Doesn't appear to exist online.

Two songs in, and yikes. Has all that acid finally taken its toll?

"I was a-looking for a mountain.
There was the mountain.
It was a big fucking mountain.
So I climbed the mountain."

I can't believe somebody would actually write lyrics that banal.

(Unless of course it's meant to be a parody of Donovan's "First There Is a Mountain" in which case all is forgiven.)

That's comfortably the worst song on the album, but the lyrics aren't the problem at all afaic

Please to count me in
So happy about this disc
All cylinders GO

Can't believe people were bad-mouthing RAtW earlier, perhaps my favorite SFA album. Though Phanton Power does have one of my favorite tracks, the epic "Slow Life," I prefer the ELO ornateness of RatW. *sigh* Too many acronyms to use when discussing SFA.

^^^OTM

Love me some SFA, but all records post-Mwng sort of blend together for me. Not in a bad way at all, but it fails to prompt an urgency to check out this new one, when everything since Phantom Power has been hailed as some sort of next-level SFA and then just sounded exactly the same as what came before it. I acknowledge the greatness of Rings, but I'm a Guerilla man myself. I do also agree, though, that the high points of PP are among their career best.

I think the problem, such as it is, is that they're almost too consistent, and hence after the first three records, unless you pay VERY close attention, things can just blur into a morass of really-good-ness, making it easy to lose track of what you like about them, and take them for granted.

Astutely summarized. And, while I appreciate the consistency their latter-day career, I'll always miss the madcap unpredictability they had at first. There was a period, right at the transition of the decade, where SFA were unquestionably my favorite band. Shortly after the release of Guerilla, I interviewed Bumf for a feature in my college newspaper, and he was talking about how the next SFA projects were going to be a Welsh-language folk album and another full-length of instrumental hip-hop. Well, the latter never materialized, but then they went driving in armored tanks and such and, in general, seemed to promise nothing beyond lunatic experimentation. Then they settled for a string of very-good to classic pop records instead. Underwhelming but, at the same time, hard to fault.

It's quite a problem to have, isn't it? Being consistently so "really good" that people argue over which album's best...

Has there been an SFA albums poll? If not, I'm sensing one coming up..

Pretty impressive batting average on Pitchfork:

Fuzzy Logic - 8.4
Radiator - 8.7
Out Spaced - 8.0
Guerrilla - 9.5
Mwng - 7.9
Rings Around The World - 8.9
Phantom Power - 8.9
Love Kraft - 8.5
Hey Venus - 7.8

What does Louis think of Hey Venus these days?

I'm not feeling this - Inaugural Trams is great but on the record as a whole they just sound so old and tired. It's partly the way Gruff's voice has changed over the years but it just adds this feeling of lethargy to everything they do. I miss the exuberance of the first three albums.

Off-topic, sort of, but: I've got Guerrilla and Songbook, Vol. I (a singles collection). Do I need the other stuff? Put differently, are the albums worthwhile or are they mostly notable for their singles?

in short: yes, without question. Start with Fuzzy Logic and proceed thusly. If you like what you already have, a career-long chronological discovery process would be a very rewarding endeavor indeed.

I'm sold. Looks like eMusic only has Mwng forward. Bah. iTunes is moving to that new pricing system soon. I'll grab the others there.

helium heart...

Finally I'm getting this album. The first few listens it was a disappointment, and I had to listen the new Doves album to appreciate this. Not the best SFA album, but still, head and shoulders above the rest.
I didn't like "Moped Eyes" until now, but suddenly it seems like a Talking Heads song from their Speaking In Tongues-era. Is it an overstatement?

I can hear that a bit. CD arrived in the post today - disappointingly no lyrics so I can't work out what the German rap is. Maybe seeing the lyrics to Mountain typed out made them ashamed.

Official release date for the U.S. CD is May 26, 2009. According to an Amazon email i just received.

YEAH!

My favorite new release of the year, I think. Can't stop playing The Very Best of Neil Diamond. Trippy.

"Pric" rips off the Ghostbusters theme: discuss

whoa how did I remember the GB bassline so wrong...I think Pric's bassline is so good that I just assumed it had to be the GB one too

the last album never came out in the U.S. Amazon lied to me. :-(

Yeah, it seems like this will never get a U.S. release. :(

The new album isn't available in the U.S. market? I don't understand; it's for sale in the U.S. on eMusic and rated on METACRITIC, but it isn't commercially available in physical form?

Hmm, didn't know it was on eMusic. It is on iTunes, but I've been holding out for a physical release. Metacritic does occasionally rate import stuff, especially if the band has a decent buzz/following. The price for the import has come down closer to reasonable on Amazon, but yeah, still an "import".

Dark Days/Light Years on eMusic (U.S. market).

FWIW.

I've been listening to DD/LY all year off & on, and I think it's the best since probably RATW or, for sure, since Phantom Power. I usually skip the first 2 songs, but the rest of the record is a ride.

At least two great songs: Inaugural Trams and The Very Best Of Neil Diamond.

So good I often forget to listen to the rest of the disc.

I think Dark Days/Light Years might be the best record they've put out this decade. I'm surprised Rings is the one that's featuring in the end of the decade lists I found that one really disappointing when it came out, it always felt really over produced and a bit forgettable.

I think this year SFA managed to do what The Flaming Lips also did which was to really get me interested in them again. They are both albums that felt like a bunch of ideas that kind of fell into place and sound great as a whole. I wasn't that excited for either of their new releases despite being a massive fan but they are both up there for my albums of the year.

I completely agree that Inaugural Trams and The Very Best Of Neil Diamond are the two best songs.

It's their best since RATW but seeing as RATW is nailed-on to finish inside my decade top 3 of albums by anyone, I'm not going to give it any more than that. The opening track is ace IMO, but the second track is possibly the most wretched thing they've ever put their name to. Fortunately it really is all great aside from that. Best track is Cardiff In The Sun which is mighty, also Inaugural Trams and the aforementioned Crazy Naked Girls. I also reckon the closing third is really strong.

How the fuck did 'Mt' pass the quality filter, though?

^ My guess: there were some drugs involved.

Also, the lyrics to "inconvenience" are awful, but it works so well in the sequence of the album that I don't mind as much.

Me too re: RATW.

Mt. is great...

I think Mt. is OK. White Socks/Flip Flops might be the best non-Gruff song they've done, I really love that one.

Songbook Volume 2 is going to contain some of SFA's worst songs! Alas.

Actually, here's a proposed post-SB1 compilation:

Zoom!
Atomik Lust
Inaugural Trams
Neo-Consumer
Cardiff In The Sun
Crazy Naked Girls
Psyclone!
Suckers
Helium Hearts
White Socks/Flip Flops
That's What I'm Talking About
Cabin Fever

I think DD/LY might actually be my least fave of the 00s SFA records - I appreciate that it's a fairly ballsy record that broadens their sound, and it's head and shoulders above most things, but it doesn't really hit on my SFA pleasure center so much.

love kraft has some stellar moments; they are helpfully indexed in my above list :p

oh wait shit i forgot lazer beam SHIT i need to switch it off and start again

Super Furry Animals weren't on my radar screen a few years ago. Now I can't imagine disliking a record of theirs.

Zoom!
Atomik Lust
Inaugural Trams
Neo-Consumer
Cardiff In The Sun
Crazy Naked Girls
Lazer Beam
Psyclone!
Suckers
Helium Hearts
White Socks/Flip Flops
That's What I'm Talking About
Cabin Fever

I was a Love Kraft booster at the time of its release, but I don't go back to it much these days. It's very well-crafted, but I think it's a little less interesting than their other albums.

^ Word. It just kind of choogles along. It's good background music, but "doesn't really hit on my SFA pleasure center so much" as it might. I like Hey Venus! more than a lot of ilxors do, but I've had DD/LY on rotation - I think it's my fave album of the year.

Love Kraft seems either over or underrated. I'm not sure where it sits with me. Somedays the great tracks really astound me.

for me, RATW > LK > HV > DDLY, though I at least like tham all.

Frequency is my fave off Love Kraft, so so beautiful and truly psychedelic...

I have to go with either Walk You Home or Atomik Lust. Really, if you go back, the non-Gruff tracks aren't as bad as people say. In fact, they're great.

haha i stuck walk you home on just now and i genuinely can't remember having heard it...i think the problem is that it follows 'ohio heat' which is so bad i feel the need to skip two songs

also it seems quite unremarkable but maybe that's just me

The hell? The only genuinely bad song on that entire album, as far as I'm concerned, is Back on a Roll. And it's extra bad because I think Bunf's songs are actually usually pretty damned awesome.

My only problem with SFA as of now is the "Back On a Roll"/"Inconvenience" type tracks they put on their albums. They're so much more creative than that. I don't understand the need for that strange midtempo '70s rock stuff. There's a couple b-sides from the Hey Venus! sessions that blow tracks like those away.

And this thread confirms what I always say: no one can agree on the band's best or worst material. I've seen plenty of people say they adore "Mt." Now I'm seeing that it's someone's least favorite track by a long shot on the album... craziness. People have different opinions. I know. It just seems like SFA always gets the least consensus.

Love Kraft was amazing and I didn't understand people who didn't rate it, though I thought this year's release underwhelming, so...the lack of agreement continues.

Fantastic band. Loved Love Kraft, and loved Hey Venus! as well. Dark Days/Light Years might just be my least favourite Super Furry Animals album alongside Fuzzy Logic, though.

i actually spent all day listening to them and i am thinking all you really need is 'radiator' and 'guerilla' and probably the ice hockey hair single. they had an amazing stretch that sorta stretched into parts of ratw, but fell off the table pretty quick. they moved into the beardy territory and yet they aren't like gorky's, when gorky's aren't weird they are beautiful but sfa are just dull if they aren't weird and when they started letting other band members write songs that was also a problem. democracy is bad.

I disagree completely with everything you've said!

Especially since Phantom Power and Love Kraft are two of my favourite albums that they've ever done. Nothing wrong with 'Chewing Chewing Gum', 'Sex, War & Robots', 'Atomik Lust', 'The Horn', 'Cabin Fever', 'Carbon Dating', 'White Socks/Flip Flops', 'Crazy Naked Girls' and 'Pric', either.

Fair enough if you find them dull. I don't.