Franz Ferdinand

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Where can I find the s/t to, uh, download? If it's any good, I WILL buy it, naturally.

― JesusMaryChain, Thursday, 12 February 2004 01:25 (twenty-two years ago)

at your favourite local P2P

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 12 February 2004 01:30 (twenty-two years ago)

You can get their best song, "Take Me Out," here:
(excuse the ridiculously long link)

http://www.mp3raid.com/search/dload/BBC%20Radio%201%20-%20-%20Franz%20Ferdinand%20-%20%60Take%20Me%20Out%60/http:,,,,www.bbc.co.uk,,2281adio1,,media,,g2,,a2281tists,,f2281anzfe2281dinand,,take_me_out.2281am/

― Ben Boyer (Ben Boyer), Thursday, 12 February 2004 01:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Okay, forget that BBC link! It'll crash your business. So much for trying to offer a legal alternative!

In other words, what The Surface Noise said.

― Ben Boyer (Ben Boyer), Thursday, 12 February 2004 02:01 (twenty-two years ago)

two months pass...

Buggered if I'm starting a new thread just to ask this - anybody going to see FF with Zongamin tonight at the Astoria? It seems there's a FAP of sorts happening for different reasons at The Champion from about 6.30pm, should anyone be around...

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Thursday, 6 May 2004 14:20 (twenty-one years ago)

anyone want to buy their darts of pleasure EP for a lot of money, yet?

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 6 May 2004 14:32 (twenty-one years ago)

no, it's still in print innit

― the 'surface' 'noise' (electricsound), Thursday, 6 May 2004 21:45 (twenty-one years ago)

That single's kinda catchy, but really, what a crap band.

― Sasha (sgh), Friday, 7 May 2004 00:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I downloaded that single a while ago, listened to it and decided the album wasn't even worth downloading.

Seriously...if that's the best song on the album I shudder to think. I mean, its good, but its also so unexceptional.

― djdee2005, Friday, 7 May 2004 00:53 (twenty-one years ago)

God, I love ILM.

I went along to see FF with a friend. I still wasn't convinced they deserved even half the hype. I'm so tired of this sort of trendy, half-assed shit. There's nothing imaginative, innovative, or inspired about this band.

― bimble (bimble), Friday, 7 May 2004 03:35 (twenty-one years ago)

i liked the idea of them for about 5 minutes because i have a soft spot for references to history in band names/album titles/lyrics/anything. nothing too fantastic about the music.

― tom cleveland (tom cleveland), Friday, 7 May 2004 03:51 (twenty-one years ago)

they should have stayed signed to slampt

― the 'surface' 'noise' (electricsound), Friday, 7 May 2004 03:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Are my yummy fur records worth money now?

― hmmm (hmmm), Friday, 7 May 2004 07:45 (twenty-one years ago)

More importantly can I get good money for my Josef K?

― Chewshabadoo (Chewshabadoo), Friday, 7 May 2004 09:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Are my yummy fur records worth money now?

Not yet. Nearly though!

Someone tried to convince me that one of FF used to be in Urusei Yatsura. Is this true? I couldn't back up my argument.

So I really don't understand all the hate Franz Ferdinand get round here. There's nothing complicated about it - oh, hold on, maybe *that's* the problem - they're equal parts Blondie, Abba, Sparks and, yes, a teensy bit Strokesy, with cleverby lyrics and very nice shirts. I bloody loved 'em last night and, like it or not, they'll be hyowge by the end of the year.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 7 May 2004 09:42 (twenty-one years ago)

None of Franz Ferdinand were in Urusei Yatsura. They have a new band, though I forget what they are called.

Sons & Daughters, currently on tour with Franz, are far superior.

― ___ (___), Friday, 7 May 2004 10:46 (twenty-one years ago)

haha esoj they were signed to slampt? i didnt even know they were still going.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Friday, 7 May 2004 10:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Someone tried to convince me that one of FF used to be in Urusei Yatsura. Is this true?

Sort of. I think Alex did some recording with early Urusei Yatsura. He seems to have been in every band from Glasgow during the 90s. There was an article on some website tracing all the bands that he was involved in.

― jellybean (jellybean), Friday, 7 May 2004 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.geocities.com/themindsconstruction/franzferdinand.html

This is the website I was thinking about.

― jellybean (jellybean), Friday, 7 May 2004 17:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I have to admit that "Take Me Out" has grown on me in a big way.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 7 May 2004 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

i loved "take me out" right from the start and couldn't wait to get the full lp despite all i've read here on ilm. having listened to the cd quite a bit i've totally fallen for it. i don't care who they're ripping off or who they're aspiring to be.

are most of the non-fans from the uk where the band has been receiving so much hype?

― metfigga (metfigga), Friday, 7 May 2004 18:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I heard that one song from the BBC link. Is that what they are, a kind of dancey Liars type band? I dont think I get it.

― David Allen (David Allen), Friday, 7 May 2004 18:12 (twenty-one years ago)

everyone (save the ginger one) from urusei yatsura are in a band called project A-KO. this is something someone told me.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 7 May 2004 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Reveal your sources and you might get taken a bit more seriously round these parts. Think on.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 7 May 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

'take me out' is such an uplifting song. it puts me into a good mood

― CAss (CAss), Friday, 7 May 2004 22:09 (twenty-one years ago)

The video for "Matinee" makes me hate them even more. They smirk far too much for any one band.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 7 May 2004 22:12 (twenty-one years ago)

my source is ally cook. I apologise.

― RJG (RJG), Friday, 7 May 2004 22:16 (twenty-one years ago)

well FF were never on slampt (i was being facetious) but the karelia and yummy fur were! he missed out.

― the 'surface' 'noise' (electricsound), Saturday, 8 May 2004 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

GOD HELP ME I AM LISTENING TO FRANZ FERDINAND AND NOT NOT ENJOYING IT

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 13:18 (twenty-one years ago)

There's nothing imaginative, innovative, or inspired about this band.

I agree with this, yet still my non-enjoyment is non-existent.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

those headman mixes of Dark Of The Matinee are so f'in good

yeah, i was pretty indifferent to FF at first, probably aggravated by the hype machine. but the songs keep popping up in my head and finding a way of sticking. they're still none too original, but they do it well.

― rentboy (rentboy), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 13:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I mean, I'm not exactly having like a "YES! kickass!" response to this or anything, but their music bothers me less than The Strokes. They sound like they drink a lot of coffee, which I like.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

the scissor sisters cover of "take me out" is on radio 6 every day.. it is SUCH a pisstake. starts out like barry manilow, moves to country honk, and ends in the same irritating falsetto all their other songs do.

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 13:26 (twenty-one years ago)

how transgressive

― alfalfa romeo (natepatrin), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 13:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I think the Barry Manilowness if FF's guy's voice is precisely the factor that, for me, pushes them past the boring/annoying boundary into the realms of somewhat endearingly good, although just short of the border of the province of kickass.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 13:33 (twenty-one years ago)

i contend that they are the herman's hermits of our time

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 13:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm convinced that Franz Ferdinand are Scissor Sisters with skinny ties

― Kaiser of Köln (Kaiser of Köln), Wednesday, 13 October 2004 13:36 (twenty-one years ago)

They're probably the only band I can think of where I can only claim to truly love part of one song: the end of Darts Of Pleasure is wonderful. Everything else...well, I don't turn it off when it comes up on shuffle. If I had fewer records, I'd probably like them a lot more.

― dlp9001, Wednesday, 13 October 2004 15:58 (twenty-one years ago)

eleven months pass...

Last night on R2 I heard 'Eleanor Put Your Boots On'. I am slightly divided on it. It is quite charming, not harsh as they seem often to be; it has even a slight Beatles quality.

Yet they seem to misjudge the NYC reference-schtick, overegging it with unsubtlety - mentioning 'the Brooklyn dirt' is one thing, but then going on about Coney Island and the Statue of Liberty? An old problem of cultural distance and reference here; but with their age and experience they should really not have fallen into it.

For some reason, possibly different, it also reminded me of an old JtN song, 'Queen of 5th Avenue'!

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 12:58 (twenty years ago)

So far, my favorite track on the new album is "Walk Away," which swipes its pretty melody from "The Model" by Kraftwerk. But I don't like it *that* much. I also don't like it much more than the other tracks on the album. All of which seem, er, okay so far. And none of which I can imagine going out of my way again to hear, though that might change if a couple become actual hits or something, who knows? (Basically, though, I'm realizing I kinda don't like their singing.)

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:07 (twenty years ago)

The thing with the Franz is that their songs rarely ever just comes along and blows me away, until three months later and suddenly it's like "Hey, I really kinda like this even though it sounds like everything else they've done". "Do You Want To?" remains their only song I ever liked instantly, the rest have usually been met with a resounding "MEHHHH". and yep, all criticism of them is mostly accurate - derivative, unimaginative, annoyingly too clever wink wink etc - but yet somehow, whenever any of the songs become singles and I start hearing them more often, they just creep into my head and won't leave and suddenly I find myself tapping my feet and singing along completely against my will.

I totally wrote them off when they first came out but these days, they're very close to being my new favourite band. But I personally don't like the new slower tracks, my favourite track so far is probably "The Fallen". I think it's the woo-hoos.

― Roz (Roz), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:37 (twenty years ago)

"Walk Away" is incredible. They just shot a video for it.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

Sometimes I feel like the only person on Earth who doesn't like these guys.

― marc h. (marc h.), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:17 (twenty years ago)

Spencer, could you maybe explain what's "incredible" about it, then? Because I kind of want to like it more than I do. But all I'm getting now is "another okay FF track, wow cool that they took that Kraftwerk melody but mainly it just makes me want to go listen to the Kraftwerk song instead." Then again, FF songs never hit me immediately either; on the first album, only "The Dark of the Matinee" did. They still hit me as an okay new wave band; I've got nothing against them. They have no songs I *hate*. But I swear I've heard hundreds of better new wave bands over the years, and I'm stumped about why people think these guys are so special.

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:19 (twenty years ago)

Thanks for not leaving me alone on this barren planet, xhuxk!

― marc h. (marc h.), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

"Sometimes I feel like the only person on Earth who doesn't like these guys."

Hum, I 'm there too. And I dislike them even a bit more since I have read an interview of Kapranos saying they have been heavily influenced by Joe Meek for the production of this record...
Joe Meek + crunk + british indie rock sounds like the best thing ever, but I just can't hear it in this record.

― snowballing (snowballing), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:24 (twenty years ago)

Chuck, it reminds me of Pulp. I don't really get the Kraftwerk thing you're talking about.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

So, does no-one agree, about the Put Your Boots On, track?

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

a slight Beatles quality

Jeez, you think?! It's as straight a McCartney homage as you can possibly imagine (down to the Live and Let Die-like break).

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 19:31 (twenty years ago)

I didn't notice that. I have only heard it once. I like McCartney, but did not realize this was such a homage.

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

Their song construction doesn't remind me of a lot of other new-wave bands' (but then, I don't listen to many new-wave bands anymore, so I can't say what the trend in waves is).

For instance, the new album's first track (at least on the press copy), "The Fallen," starts with a vintage 1966 garage-rock riff, sounding as if they're the Strangeloves having just heard "Smokestack Lightning" for the very first time and walking into their first recording session and slicing away at it. So, Franz Ferdinand work this riff for 20 seconds and then abandon it and play nothing else like it not only for the rest of the song but for the rest of the album. And the sorrowful Kinks-like melody that starts "Take Me Out" (and is abandoned 45 seconds in) isn't unique among new wavers for sounding like the Kinks but for being good enough to have been an actual Kinks melody back when the Kinks wrote the best melodies in the world. And Franz Ferdinand have got a few more Kinks-quality tune shards scattered through their oeuvre, which is several more than anyone else these days. I do wish they wouldn't make everything sound frazzled and jittery (but then their frazzled jitters have a lot more life than, say, Gang of 4's, which always sounded as if the band were wearing cement overshoes); the "energy" gets in the way of the beautiful riff in "Auf Asche," but the riff itself is worthy of Jon St. James and Stacey Q, again not something I'm used to in the new wave.

I wouldn't say I've got a complete bead on what these fellows are up to, with their stapled together song forms and their frenetic spazzdom. So, it doesn't sound "oh, I've heard this all before" to me.

― Frank Kogan (Frank Kogan), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 21:29 (twenty years ago)

DEFINITELY a garage-punk vibe going on with Franz - among with much else. Perhaps this has filtered down from the Hives, who I suspect they've thought about in terms of presentation.

I don't see so much of GO4 or Orange Juice as everyone else seems to, there's a rocking 'mach shau' vibe which was definitely absent from those uptight, ironic post-punkers.

― Soukesian, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 21:45 (twenty years ago)

Gang of Four were ironic? They seem overly sincere to me, if anything...but I dunnno even what "ironic" really means anymore, in conventional usage of the term.*

*but i know what it means in the real, dictionary way! I NEVER Forgot that scene in Reality Bites where Winona getz BUSTED! I vowed to never let that happen to me.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 21:58 (twenty years ago)

Thanks, Frank, that was helpful; time will tell whether it helps sway me toward FF though. (Though garage punk has been part of new wave ever since, well, the Cars and Kings and Romantics and B-52s and Blondie and Pearl Harbor and the Explosions {and Hounds and and Streetheart and Foreigner and Ratt and Santa Esmeralda, okay never mind}. Haven't given much thought to how common it is among the newer new wavers, but then I don't always know where they draw the line; most indie-ish bands I've liked over the past few years have *some* garage punk in them, and my favorites have a lot. But right, not many of them have any Stacey Q in them. Though in Franz, I hear a lot more Duran Duran I think.) (And mix-and-match in general seems like the order of the day too; not sure how it'd make Franz Ferdinand unique now that almost *no* rock bands are purists -- certainly not the White Stripes or the Strokes, in any well I can tell. Still, I'll listen more, I promise.)

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 22:07 (twenty years ago)

(Also, not sure that anybody SAID mix-and-match would make FF unique; Frank says Kinks and Stacey Q melodies are what make them unique, which might be true. My point is just that pastiche-including-garage is part of what MAKES them new wave, in my mind. That and smug, mannered singing that often makes me cringe, though that could change.)

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 22:12 (twenty years ago)

I downloaded that single a while ago, listened to it and decided the album wasn't even worth downloading.
Seriously...if that's the best song on the album I shudder to think. I mean, its good, but its also so unexceptional.

-- djdee2005 (esli...), May 6th, 2004.

Me OTM.

― deej.. (deej..), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 22:16 (twenty years ago)

"But right, not many of them have any Stacey Q in them..."

What about Annie?

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 22:18 (twenty years ago)

Ha ha, Frank thinks Annie has more Stacey Q in her than I do, too. (Though I do like her; just not a fraction as much as I like Stacey Q.) (Not sure I consider Annie new wave though.) (Though Stacey had new wave connections of her own, as I recall.)

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 22:27 (twenty years ago)

Haven't heard the new album, but I think the first album has a lot of Swell Maps in it. People make Gang of Four comparisons because of the beats, but the songs sound more like Swell Maps w/ disco hi-hats.

Not quite as ferocious as Swell Maps, of course.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 22:33 (twenty years ago)

I had no idea that anybody ever considered Swell Maps "ferocious," Tim. (I like them, too; I've got three CDs worth on my shelf. But I always thought of them as fairly introverted, and muffled. Actually, they're who Pavement reminded me of on their first few EPs--which I'm still convinced are the best records Pavement ever made.)

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 22:57 (twenty years ago)

Small guitar amps, but tunes like "Read About Seymour" are pretty slamming. Franz totally sound like "Read About Seymour."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 23:14 (twenty years ago)

"Not quite as ferocious as Swell Maps, of course"

not quite good as Swell Maps, I should add :)

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 07:02 (twenty years ago)

I hate the way FF are like the Guardian's pet indie band. I think they have featured in every issue ssince the relaunch. Even if it's just a picture to accompany a piece on eg the state of the record industry.

― bham, Wednesday, 12 October 2005 08:00 (twenty years ago)

"not quite good as Swell Maps, I should add"

Maybe if you're talking about overall aesthetic vision. But as far as songcraftmanship and playing abilities go, they ARE as good.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 14:24 (twenty years ago)

I do not hate Franz Ferdinand: they have good songs and I'm sure they're an excellent live band. I just prefer the way Swell Maps somewhat worked in a void, shaping their own brand of kraut-punk, while FF seem to me a little bit calculated. There's nothing wrong with it, obviously, I just think that current post punk bands lack the naivete, the freshness and even the comical pretentiousness of the original thing.

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Wednesday, 12 October 2005 15:26 (twenty years ago)

three years pass...

― If You Don't Love the Preachers Fuck You (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 22 March 2009 10:12 (seventeen years ago)

four years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIR5vBiC3ig

awesomely NSFW

― Cap'n Save-a-Co. (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 14 September 2013 14:21 (twelve years ago)

three years pass...

looks who's back
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DAMSo-UUQAAWNFr.jpg:large

― PaulTMA, Friday, 19 May 2017 13:44 (eight years ago)

paul thomson on the verge of going full pauline mccafferty there

― Drive Your Lover Wild In Bed By Cosplaying As Jeff Lynne (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:03 (eight years ago)

didn't realize their line-up had changed - guitarist left and they got a new guitarist, they also added a keyboard player - and was very confused by that picture

― -_- (jim in vancouver), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:08 (eight years ago)

think paul is getting a bit too close to tim burgess hair there tbh

― -_- (jim in vancouver), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:11 (eight years ago)

Kapranos looks like Dave Mustaine. That is one weird photo.

― grawlix (unperson), Friday, 19 May 2017 17:26 (eight years ago)

Now way am I buying that Kapranos is only 27 years old

― PaulTMA, Friday, 19 May 2017 18:06 (eight years ago)

Born: March 20, 1972 (age 45)

― kurt schwitterz, Friday, 19 May 2017 19:20 (eight years ago)

the joke is that when they were emerging in 2004 his age was - i suppose intentionally and possibly out of vanity - given as 27 when he was in fact in his early 30s at the time.

― -_- (jim in vancouver), Friday, 19 May 2017 19:24 (eight years ago)

paul thomson on the verge of going full pauline mccafferty there

internet win of 2017.

― stirmonster, Saturday, 20 May 2017 03:22 (eight years ago)

they're playing northampton (ma) in two weeks and i really want to go

― maura, Sunday, 21 May 2017 09:56 (eight years ago)

lol uh is their new guitarist my buddy donald?? he did not tell me about this development

― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 21 May 2017 10:11 (eight years ago)

Reminds me of that photo shoot Suede did in a public toilet in 1995

― PaulTMA, Sunday, 21 May 2017 12:50 (eight years ago)

four years pass...

New track:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcFWjCYwBW4

Pretty fun! The B-side is getting WAY more plays on Spotify though.

― DJI, Thursday, 27 January 2022 18:09 (four years ago)

Good track! Video reminiscent of low budget OK Go.

― theo, Thursday, 27 January 2022 18:15 (four years ago)

New episode of Song Exploder is about Take Me Out

https://songexploder.net/

― piscesx, Friday, 28 January 2022 05:05 (four years ago)

one month passes...

We've reached the "Best Of Album" phase of Franz Ferdinand's career today...

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Friday, 11 March 2022 17:52 (four years ago)

I liked their first and third albums a lot; will listen to the best-of to see what I missed otherwise.

― but also fuck you (unperson), Friday, 11 March 2022 17:59 (four years ago)

Still love that debut, and I remember loving at least half of the second one quite a bit. (Sadly the best song on it, "Eleanor Put Your Boots On," doesn't appear to be on the compilation. It sounds like a great, lost Ray Davies/Kinks track from the late '60s.)

― birdistheword, Friday, 11 March 2022 19:28 (four years ago)

i played the FF vs Mclaren bootleg last weekend at local DJ thing, and yeah, it still hits the spot.

― mark e, Friday, 11 March 2022 21:04 (four years ago)

xp I didn't realize it was re-recorded later on for its single release.

Don't like it, prefer the original album version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eZAtgIqeY8

― birdistheword, Sunday, 13 March 2022 18:13 (four years ago)

eight months pass...

debut ruled then, rules now, fyiyd

― G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Wednesday, 23 November 2022 20:32 (three years ago)

music post

― G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Wednesday, 23 November 2022 20:32 (three years ago)

two years pass...

Some decent tracks on the new album

― groovypanda, Friday, 10 January 2025 10:20 (one year ago)

They did quite a nice acoustic 'lounge concert' for Radio Eins in Berlin last month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3oAXrzBVFw

― Wry & Slobby (Portsmouth Bubblejet), Friday, 10 January 2025 15:33 (one year ago)

Some decent tracks, but some pretty bad ones too, imo. Rather have another FFS record tbh.

― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 10 January 2025 17:06 (one year ago)

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