why is the new montgolfier brothers album so beautiful?

song titles are:

1. 255 Newbury

2. The understudy

3. Selfish

4. The World is Flat (chorus (the world is flat and I still love you)

5. The second takes forever

6. Swings and roundabouts

7. Dream in Organza

8. I couldnt sleep either

9. Think once more

10. Inches away.

It's strange, the voice is huskier, rougher than the first, the instrumentals are more forceful and cinematic. The stories are more Mike Leigh - touching, heartbreaking, simple loves, simple times.

It's more Momus/Pulp/Gnac. But definitely Montgolfiers.

It's an english version of American Beauty written by Mike Leigh. It strangely enough has that same feel like Thomas Newman's score to that movie. The lyrical preoccuptions are about settling down and what happens - the boredom, the pain boredom of love dissolving, the sadness of that, beautiful.

that's track 3 selfish and then goes off into this coda which sort of sounds like the love theme between donald sutherland/julie christie movie, don't look now.

some more lyrics from of selfish. it's a briliant track, alex.

i have no hidden agenda. apparently that is settling in the music industry.

but the world is flat is beautiful some lyrics:

i';ve got my point of view, the world is flat, and i still have a chance with you, god is good and life is fair and heaven is waitng and i'll meet you there......

it's so sad, alex, the narrartive is a relationship from the beginning....

"i'll be the apple of your parents eyes....."

"there is no relationship as strong as ours, we will share in half of our problems, talk our worries through, there will be no secrets i hold back from you and we can only get stronger"

and then it carries through with a heartbreakign narrative that love sometimes just fails.

"you know i will love you until the day i die, i've got my reasons and please don't ask me why".....

it's so beautiful. it's like watching perfect love die.

I quite liked the first Montgolfier Brothers album.

thanks, re: compliment on the sage francis review. that was a difficult review to write. i had to learn the whole anti-con collective thing/hip hop/etc. before i tackled it. sage emailed me and said THANK YOU!

i saw gareth at the show!

ummm...what else?

i have to work now. i dig my beachwood sparks review more in this issue just cause it's on the same page as the pattern.

mark tranmer - don’t go in a studio
roger quigley - would we agree with that?
mark: that the production’s fabulous? no.
roger: i don’t think we would. it’s unusual.

cf: i’m a lousy rock critic, what do i know?

roger: you should pitch that question to richard, vespertine man. he was the main man in the studio wasn’t he?
mark: yeah. we were in the background having arm wrestles but he was at the front.
roger: the four words he said aloud were "turn up the vocals" that was it really.

cf: typical record label guy.

roger: mark always describes it as karaoke basically. he was off in his flat in southampton. recorded and finished the album, stereo mix, sent it to me, i went down two floors down in the high-rise i love in, to dave’s, and recorded vocals right over the top. there was very little to actually to play with dynamically. whereas on this one (their unreleased second lp) because we’ve had an advance and everything, we’ve got identical set-ups. we’ve got a lot more we can play around with, it will end up sounding, hopefully, better. it was sound more produced.

cf: poptones making all their artists having a uniform sleeve takes some personality away from the bands. i prefer the vespertine cover. then again, it makes things easier for the label. did they consult you on that?

roger: they gave us a version, and they said "how about that?" and we said "that’s fine". and they gave us another one and we said we prefer the other one. i know what you mean, obviously it’s easier for them. it makes things cheaper, we’re both big fans of the bloke who actually does it, mike alway.

cf: i think it implies something about your music that it isn’t.

roger: i quite liked it cause it reminded me of jacques tati films.

cf: do you have a record coming out in the u.s.?

mark: at the moment we’ve got darla distributing it on the west coast and parasol distributing it on the east coast. and they’re just taking large quantities of the record, dealing with it like that, we haven’t actually licensed it. when we were talking to alan mcgee to start with, he was saying someone might want to license it but no one’s actually asked us.

cf: that’s shocking!

mark: darla offered us a deal to something. they’ve shown an interest in gnac (mark’s solo project) records as well. that’s the only one really. i know lots of other labels like merge. i can’t really think of what they are.

cf: how many records does gnac have?

mark: three albums.

cf: roger, do you have other projects?

roger: yeah, but not of late. the quigley album was released on the acetone french label. it’s shockingly produced. pitch that against mark’s recordings of the same time. mark’s the master of the midi and the recording side of things, mine was slapdash. get it down, send it off. recently i play drums for another band. they were called speedway, but then we found out that cosmic rough riders’ best friends have a band called speedway. there’s also a boys band called speedway. so now they’re called lovewood. i’ve got a few other little projects. me and my friend dave have a project called dry riser. i’ve got another one called death quigley. he’s going to be killed off in a bizarre gardening accident. that’s going to be very shoegazey.

cf: i was googling you, and all of your press is foreign, from spain or france have you been touring abroad?

mark: yeah. we get asked to play in spain and france more than we do here, and japan.

cf: where are you most famous.

mark: apparently we are poptones’ biggest greek sellers.

cf: how wonderful.

mark: we’ve never actually been to greece. i like greek food and i like some bazouki music. i do algebra, so that’s quite greek.

roger: it’s nice getting invited to play festivals across the world.

cf: you’re playing the benno festival in sweden.

mark: oh i didn’t know it was benno. i’m happy about that.

roger: we’re going to play in italy because this single mum with two kids got in contact with us cause she really liked the album. she works in the arts. she’s got a friend who finances gigs, and we’re going to play on a wood stage surrounded by olive trees on the beach in ravina. it sounds like it’s going to be an audience of about 17 people, but she’s going to fund it.

cf: what’s the best fan gift you’ve gotten?

mark: photos from keiko.

roger: photos from fans we met. we get records. we’re not at that stage. i don’t think we ever will be at that stage.

cf: that’s okay. you can walk around manchester without being mobbed.

roger: absolutely.

cf: your website reveals your love of brazilian and french music. do you like any new artists from those places?

mark: that’s a good question. i got into this brazilian guitarist called baden powell…

cf: i saw him play at the blue note.

mark: oh you’ve seen him! i’m jealous now, envious. he’s amazing, isn’t he? i got into him when i was about eight; my dad was into him. we used to listen to him on the car stereo. i’m aware of people like jobim. i don’t know many contemporary brazilian artists, so if you’ve got any recommendations…

cf: there’s a guy in new york called vinicius cantuaria. it would be great if you guys could play with him.

mark: i love bossa nova stuff. sometimes it can get too surgery and horrible like any music. but if you find the right thing it’s amazing. baden powell got pneumonia and died quite quickly last september. someone was recommending claudine longet to me yesterday, she does a lot of brazilian covers.

cf: i think she does a lot of covers period. are you addicted to anything?

mark: coffee. i thought i was addicted to museli.

roger: cigarettes.

cf: what’s your day job?

mark: i’m a lecturer in statistics and maths at the university of manchester. cool, isn’t it? what’s the chickfactor on that? minus 27?

cf: what’s in your fridge?

mark: some lemongrass, but i can’t work out if it’s mine or my flatmate’s - it looks like it’s gone off. a piece of ginger root, can of muji oolong tea. and five pints of milk, semi-skimmed.

roger: milk. cheap bread. red wine. mold. not a lot. nothing with muji written on it, i know that.

cf: i love muji.

mark: i recommend their tea. my flatmate is really into cooking things that stink.

cf: i noticed you’ve done some tv music. are there are programs you’d like to see your music used for?

mark: documentaries are good.

roger: the world at war. if jacques tati was still alive…

mark: bunuel if he was still alive. some murder mystery with diana rigg in it. i see her as the detective having a dinner party, someone getting bumped off.

roger: there’s going to be an instrumental on the album, it’s probably going to be the title track, which would work beautifully in a chase scene.

mark: if they’re on horses, not sure about motorbikes.

roger: quite a comic chase.

cf: you guys do instrumentals very well. you both write them too.

mark: yeah. our guitarist think that roger’s written the same one three times.

roger: five times. he thinks it’s the same one.

mark: we’ve got six songs on the album that are tare the obvious collaboration between the music and the vocals. then of the other four, we just took two each and that’s the personal thing, doing your own instrumental.

cf: where do you write?

mark: just in my bedroom. it’s always seem to be not on the ground floor.

cf: then you’re an appropriately named band, unlike most bands.

mark: what? full of hot air? absolutely.

cf: what’s alan mcgee like?

roger: what we k now of him, which is not a lot. we have not spent many hours with him, extremely intense, apparently genuine but again very difficult to say, and genuinely, well, he just wants you to feel wanted. i didn’t expect that. he seems to be positive about everything he says. even if we get negative press he sort of diverts it away from us and takes it on himself. so far, so good.

cf: did he wine and dine you?

mark: no, he did have lunch with us, but it was just like sitting here talking to you. it really was. when we first met him, my ankles were going a bit. but once it got past that initial bit, it was fine. i like spending time with him, you kind of feel like you’ve got to get your five minutes in while you’re talking to him, then he’s be off somewhere else. to his enormous credit, i don’t know how many different projects he must have…

roger: we don’t know if he sleeps.

mark: … he seems able to remember what was going on quite well. he used to ring us up a lot, but now he does email. i like him. he’ll tell you what he thinks, he’s not a yes man in any way. he’s not going to say you’re going to be the biggest band in the world; he’s going to say "you’re not going to be the biggest band in the world."

roger: he has said that, quite literally.

mark: which might surprise you, gail.

cf: you seem okay with that, are there any good smiths-related folktales around manchester?

roger: not really. i was just reading that interview david was doing with vini reilly about morrissey. morrissey was a bit of a loner till they hit it big.

mark: you saw johnny marr buying a sandwich.

roger: i did. couldn’t tell you what sort of sandwich it was but it was definitely him. he looked like the bastard son of liam and noel. very strange.

cf: what kind of musical backgrounds do you guys have?

roger: i had violin lessons for about three weeks.

mark: i had three guitar lessons and two piano lessons. self-taught.

cf: were your families musical?

mark: a little bit. my mom and dad both read music and play the piano and my dad did a bit of classical guitar. they can do it all theoretically, i do it all by ear. i do it from memory. i like of like the classical styling. i’ve got the old fingernail.

cf: those are good for spanish guitar.

mark: it’s a real bugger to keep clean.

cf: what men’s fashion accessory would you like to see revived?

roger: a cravat. when we went to japan, i was amazed at how many ties and cravats we saw. and hat. sock suspenders.

mark: a cravat and a hat.

cf: what was your first concert?

mark: everything but the girl, sheffield university. 1983? ’84?

roger: either altered images or the stranglers. both with my sister. there was a competition on local tv to design the costume for clare grogan from alter images and (my sister) won. the prize was, they were going to make the outfit, she was going to wear it on the night, and you’d get front-row seats. it transpired that we got seats right at the back, and no costume was made and it was a crap gig. so i’ll put the stranglers.

cf: what do you read?

mark: i’ve just read haruki murakumi’s new book, sputnik sweetheart, fantastic. i recommend it. i love his stuff.

roger: i don’t read that much but when i do it’s strange fiction, a bit of agatha christie, listings magazines.

cf: what’s the worst job you’ve had?

mark: i was scared of dogs when i was little so as a version of therapy i got a job in a kennel and i had to take four dogs for a walk. i swear it contributed to the length of my arms. i had to walk them around in a field while they went for a crap. then clean out the kennels. and put food in the bowls. i think that was my least favourite job.

roger: i was a glass collector at hacienda. but the boss there gave me a bin bag of about 60 agatha christie books - that’s where i got them all.

cf: was it kind of fun working there?

roger: no. not on that end of it. i thin it was during that period when it was still quite a happy-happy place to be. to go to as a club, not to actually work there,. on really hot nights, they’d make me and my friend go up to the glass roof and slide panes of glass off so the heat would go through, we would clamber across this glass roof, while the other one held your arm. if there were no glasses to be collected, they’d make us go outside and sweep around the building. one new year’s eve party, a huge night, i it was like 30 quid to get in, and half eleven, they took all the till taking and put them in the back, safe ground, it must have been 20 grand. fireworks went off at midnight, and a spark lit and burned all the takings of the night.

cf: have you heard about the file, 24 hour party people?

roger: yeah.

cf: are you going to be extras in the film?

roger: no.

cf: who would you want to play in the film? ian curtis?

mark: we don’t really look like anyone.

roger: i’ll be the hacienda glass collector.

Starring: FUTURE BIBLE HEROES (featuring Stephin Merritt and Claudia Gonson from the Magnetic Fields), CAMERA OBSCURA, THE MONTGOLFIER BROTHERS, THE CLIENTELE, THE WOULD-BE-GOODS, A GIRL CALLED EDDY, THE PINES, PIPAS

new york magazine *chickfactor* will celebrate its 10-year anniversary with two evenings of stellar pop music at london's bush hall september 28-29. acts scheduled to appear are....

Saturday, Sept 28

Camera Obscura

The Montgolfier Brothers

The Would-Be-Goods

The Pines

Sunday, Sept 29

Future Bible Heroes

The Clientele

A Girl Called Eddy

Pipas

doors 715; start time 730; 10 pounds per nite; 17 pounds for both
http://www.bushhallmusic.co.uk/

Thank you doomie for the hint.

Corporation Pop presents

TRANSFIGURATION
THE ALPHA TAPES - LIVE
+
GEORGE
THE MAGIC LANTERN - new album
+
gnac
selected instrumentals

"a night of hidden gems and secret soundtracks"

The King's Arms
Bloom St., (Just off Chapel St.)
Salford
M3
UK
(Newly Refurbished Upstairs Room)

8pm, Saturday 2nd August, 2003

£2.50

www.corporationpop.com


Additional information :

Transfiguration will be playing music from their soundtrack inspired album The Alpha Tapes. Guest Vocalist Roger Quigley (The Montgolfier Brothers), will be on hand to reprise his vocal performances on the album. Some tracks getting an outing for the first time here.

George will be playing their unique blend of percussion trolley melancholia and electronic joy from their new album The Magic Lantern, forthcoming on Pickled Egg Records.

GNAC will be performing a selection of instrumentals taken from the extensive GNAC album back catalogue. GNAC is the solo project of Mark Tranmer (The Montgolfier Brothers).


The King's Arms is a fine Salford boozer, just 5 minutes walk from Deansgate in Manchester city centre, with a newly refurbished upstairs room. Some of you may remember it from last year's In the City.

That's confuzzled me.

the dude is writing about his own divorce. there's no fantasy involved. your interpretation baffles me.

I used to do that at one time I guess but then you've got to stop hating on fans etc.

I did learn one other thing - what the name of the Management Company is. That review was drivel!

i also did a review of this absolutely fabulous album last year. for those who are interested. it's here.

personally insulting to its creators
Likewise Jim, where are the personal insults?

let's mention the coldplay 'bedwetter's comment'
Which didn't get mentioned. But it strikes me as rather self-defeating for McGee to decry Coldplay as bedwetters and then release this.

context of your hatred
I don't hate it, or I wouldn't have given it nearly 6/10, I just think it's a bit rubbish and pointless.

The reviewer ends the review with a quote, seemingly taken at random from a child's movie from the eighties or a discarded Abba song
Actually taken from a Boo Radleys song, the significance of which I'll leave for you to figure out, Sonny.

and Poptones is connected to Telstar, which is a BMG company. not EMI.
That may be so Jim but it says EMI on the sleeve of the copy I have.

laughably excessive vitriol
That really wasn't vitriol at all. It was saying something is 'vaguelly rubbish'. My whole point is that The World Is Flat didn't inspire any passion in me in either direction.

I used to do that at one time I guess but then you've got to stop hating on fans etc.
Julio I like you but you hate on everyone.

you've insulted people who *do* like it as well. maybe you'd like to think about that for a moment
Anyone who takes a record review, especially one not written about them, to heart needs to think about priorities for a few moments.

OK so my review sucked and was pointless, I recognise that and I'm OK with it, but there actually is some reasoned thought, description and criticism in the 3rd & 4th paras.

This is yet another example of why you should never upset the schmindies, because they get upset terribly easily.

the review's rubbish, certainly, but you know now pitchfork are giving all the indiepop records 8.7s and 9.1s I guess there's a gap in the market for this sort of thing.

blimey jerry, glad you weren't my tutor! ;-)

The difference between the albums, for me, at least Gareth, is that the first does have a strange musical quality but the partnership is stronger on the second one and possesses a stronger narrative quality on a whole. I will have to give it more thought, Gareth, as I find the differences indefinable at this moment and I have to start writing my book outline for some publishers.

Schimdies? You are the one who wrote the rubbish review. If your aim was to upset the schimdies (which was obvious) just admit that was your intentions because clearly it was not on the music.

You see I just find the idea of this abhorrent.

'pogo'/doomie it probably is the subject matter being a bit more harrowing. still remember some gorgeous melodies on it, tho'.

or what if a record you thought laughable and trite, turned out to have been the inner soundtrack to terrible times for the protagonist. would it change how you thought about it?

i only like trite music, so my opinion is of no consequence here. for me, only the trite conveys pathos, but for those who look for depth and meaning in their music, how would the above set of circumstances change things for you?

Gareth OTM about emotional wreckage and music-making. Cheap (OK £9.99 from Select-A-Disc) holidays in other people's misery, nein danke.

Anyways, I have to go!!!!! I'm procrastinating. I've got shitloads of writing to do.

More later.

concerning the world is flat i didn't think of it being autobiographical in the beginning. at least this wasn't important for me to love the record. the revelation that it was didn't diminish my appreciation for the record in any way ;-)

not true at all.

"Between Two Points" covered on the new David Gilmour album.

Released as a "single" yesterday. It's, um, not really for me but I enjoyed reading that Gilmour had presumed it was a "hit" and loads of people knew it.

Includes a guitar solo.