Cardiacs: Classic or Dud?

There's a Rock Sounds mention this week (thanks to Sean Organ), and a couple or articles in The Organ 'zine - www.organart.com

Always check out WWW.CARDIACS.COM for info!

I've had the Greatest Hits on constant play since I got it. What an album! I've only had Guns, Sing to God and the Sampler up till now, so most of the old stuff is new to me. Affectionate Friends ain't bad either.

xini

BTW if you get the chance go see Bill Drake, he has an album forthcoming, and there's a CD-single out produced by Tim Smith (Cardiacs).

A fan!

Result!

DL... If you've just heard 'Guns', wait till you hear 'A Little Man And A House And The Whole World Window'... give us an email if you have difficulty getting stuff.

08/12/04: London - Astoria
09/12/04: Manchester - MDH (Uni)
10/12/04: Glasgow - Garage
11/12/04: Sheffield - Leadmill
13/12/04: Cambridge - Junction
14/12/04: Bristol - Anson Rooms
15/12/04: Wolverhampton - Wulfrun Hall

Did anyone see them at the Astoria on 12th Nov? What happened?

Say WHAT? What a fuckin' double-bill!!!!!

I expect indifference followed by swift irritation followed speedily by violence.

For you lucky bastards that live in London, Cardiacs will be playing TWO SPECIAL SECRET CONCERTS at The Bull and Gate in Kentish Town, London on the 21st and 22nd of December.

Take some time to appreciate the lyrical genius of the man... A song about an insect landing on a TV screen and falling in love with Lassie (who was a he-dog). A song about when you used to play with your food on the plate because it was too scary. All with random letters inserted into words ("indside") and resurrection of beautiful archaic terms like "phiz" and "foundling". And utterly no respect for the rules of metre. You could write a doctoral thesis on it.

It shouldn't be about whether you boo or hurrah Cardiacs, by the way. Just take it as a fact that Cardiacs are a truly independent musical/lyrical universe in itself. For that is undeniable fact.

Let's fly hawks around your house :-)

The Astoria gig last December was, I think, my 20th and I’m looking forward to the next 20. A new album would be nice though – Guns was SEVEN years ago! And I wonder when these promised DVDs will come out…?

One more thing - my girlfriend’s sister is one of the uninitiated and wants to hear what Cardiacs sound like – is there one song I could play her which will get them across? I was thinking ‘Fiery Gun Hand’.

Tim Smith is on tour supporting Ginger And The Sonic Circus at the moment. I was dead keen to go to the london date, except tickets are something like £15 plus booking fee and considering I have no interest in seeing the headline act, it would be a bit of a waste of money. Sigh.

Seven years is just silly. I wonder how many times they've recorded/scrapped the new album now? I imagine it's like Lee Mavers and The La's - they just keep redoing it over and over again and are never satisfied with the result.

The singing issue is a tough one, Jon probably the best suited. I'd like to hear Sharon, Craig, Bill, Richard L, Jon or maybe even Bic, but as glorious as the gigs were and it was amazing to see people like Cawthra, the singing was often not great. Kav co-wrote a fair chunk of the record so he might be on it.

Never listened to Cardiacs til this past week. Not what I would have guessed somehow, it’s sorta like giant on-stage choral musical theater feeling. My 20yr old heard a little HBEB w me and said “it’s a lot of things but it’s a bit like oingo boingo.” i’m sure i looked confused, but after considering it— yeah.

Adjacent, but still worth posting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx1H9w4nUqY

aaaaaaahhhhhh so so good. YOUR MOVE CRAIG

literally the two faces of 'how to make breakup music' - craig going full 'the sea shall claim the land' mope-out, and then this, lol

both of these songs are great. is this the "solo album" spoken about here is that something different (always kind of hard to acertain the extent of james larcombe's role in the tonne of bands he's involved in - seems more as a player and arranger or other people's material?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcJgpWF_Bh8

i'm a bit parasocially sad if i'm understanding the context correctly though :(

You managed to not pick that up from Ark, the album with the most just-divorced energy maybe ever, lol

i've love his music but i must admit it's not really something where i pay any attention to the words as anything more than a mood... i just assume he's always extolling the virtues of some kind of antediluvian Angleterre landscape or that it's a setting of a romantic poet doing the same thing :)

*looks at the song titles and listens to the first 20 seconds and Ark* oh...

You can sort of understand the whole thing from comparing that album to this new song, as I say. Or at least, you can damn well tell who required it be the case

Anyway, this is a really lovely interview, thanks!

I was asking James about the record yesterday and it was apparently made quite a while back, so much so that he had completely forgotten that he sung on the b-side.

Apparently there's an NSRO coming soon too. Hopefully Craig's got a bit of his pep back (mind you, I A Moon was quite a downbeat album and that worked out pretty well)

I think he's pretty consistent, the guitar instrumentals record and all the little things EPs and whatnot, that he was making and releasing post-lockdown have been great, still listen to Ark all the time.

Oh, quite a lot of his moon stuff was amazing yeah

I just mean I hope he's a bit happier!

I was completely unaware of The Cardiacs, despite having worked in a record shop and being involved in college radio (US) in the late 80s and early 90s. Yesterday I was idly following this thread, and then noticed that the friend of my 20 year old son was wearing a Cardiacs t-shirt. He (age 20 also) described them as “sort of prog punk”.

this Kugelshrieber album is even better than i thought it would be. just non-stop hits; had to play all over again after my first listen.

https://kugelschreiber.bandcamp.com/album/cheerleaders

closest comparision would be Shrubbies obviously, but it also reminds me a little of some of what Rob Crow does with some of the kind of terse, clipped riffs and the staggered harmonies? but yeah super poppy and fun but still slightly twisty and crooked. love how it was clearly written as bass/voice first and foremost.

oh fuck I've forgotten to listen to this! here goes. take the stage sharron...

oh my, this closing track!