mankf

Furtives Furies by Margo (pan007cd)

‘Furtives Furies’ is the new long awaited album by French favorite Margo after their worldwide acclaimed debut The Catnap.

From art school final project to releasing a first album, MARGO quickly became aware of what was interesting them: composing music not because it is one of their compulsory courses but playing music because it is a need.

From their academic background, MARGO have kept the idea to merge music with video/fashion/art installation/architecture... but MARGO is not just a vague concept, it is a true musical project that shows its ambitions on stage. The visual aspects meet the musical ones to give birth to a plastic and sonorous coherence. Melanie, the singer, is also a fashion designer and designed her own stage outfit.

MARGO has developed a poetic music, where loops and sounds are created from both instruments and machines. The band could be described as the convergence between 80's influences (The Cure, Young Marble Giants, Joy Division, Taxi Girl), a more intimate electronica scene (To Rococo Rot, Global Goon, Add N to (X)...) and a certain idea of Chanson Francaise (Francoise Hardy, Jane Birkin, Lio....) with warm and delicate electronic organic glitchy-pop sounds. Schneider TM and Barbara Morgenstern are two of the many fans of the band…

After their first acclaimed album, The Catnap, released in March 2002 in Europe and Japan (then in 2003 in North America and in the UK), after a EP and 'The Catnap Remixed' (with Broker/Dealer, Schneider Tm, Styrofoam, Mils, Wasteland, Tomas Jirku...) and a few compilations (Gooom Tracks Vol.02, Electronische Musik on Traum, Tribute to The Thugs, Schneider TM: Reconfigures), the new album of MARGO, entitled 'Furtives Furies' is finally ready and scheduled for release on April 21 2005 on Peter, I'm Flying!

MARGO are Jean-Francois, Melanie and Florent from Playdoh.

- The New York Times said: “It takes true conviction to make music that stays so modest”
- They have been remixed by Schneider Tm, Styrofoam, Broker/Dealer, Wasteland, Tomas Jirku…
- Margo can count folks like Schneider Tm, Piano Magic, Lali Puna amongst their fans.
- They are the loveliest French trio since Jean-Luc Godard’s film ‘Bande a Part’ (1964).
- Their first record ‘The Catnap’ has been acclaimed worldwide.
- Margo has toured already all around France, but also in Brussels, Berlin, Vienna, London and in the UK.
- They love their cat.

What they have said about MARGO:
Time Out London (November 2003): (…) delicate glitchy electro (…)
The Observer (October 2003): (…) One Dove meets St Etienne in a sunny Parisian park (…)
The New York Times (27/07/03) by Jon Pareles: It takes true conviction to make music that stays so modest.
Logo Magazine (October 2003): Their reputation precedes them, and the reason is simply that they have already carved a niche for themselves (…)
The Wire (October 2003): … Margo heavily layer tiny dots of sound (…) at once intricate and imprecise, these sounds are like droplets of wax, newly melted and quivering with energy…
http://www.milkfactory.com: Francoise Hardy meets To Rococo Rot…

The Neutrinos

you can also buy "sick love" from sonomu, go to the wet nurse shop in the sonomu marketplace.

Shapes Yellow by Various Artists (truzeb002)

Brighton based Tru-thoughts and its sister label Zebra Traffic have teamed up for this compilation of various dance and hip-hop grooves. Label favourites such as Quantic, Alice Russell and TM Juke appear along side lesser-knowns with a mish-mash of previously released tunes and new remixes of existing material.

It could be that compilations don’t suit a label that has such a strong tradition of great artist albums (Bonobo’s Animal Magic being one of the most beguiling down tempo albums of recent years). It could be that the mention of ‘library style grooves’ in the press release that accompanied the CD kept subconsciously suggesting that that was all I was hearing when listening to it. It could be that the usually midas-like touch of the label’s A&R department has momentarily deserted them. Or it could be that this is compilation really is a lazy marketing exercise designed to woo the TV and advertising execs who trawl CDs of library music looking for cool but unobtrusive sounds to fill a 30 second slot with. Either way listening to this album is a rather deflating experience - much of it is pleasing but instantly forgettable and its hard to discern any direction in the programming of the compilation.

That’s not to say there aren’t moments of higher quality: Alice Russell’s vocals, which grace TM Juke’s Playground Games, are always worth taking the time to listen to, Mr Thing turns in a tidy remix of Life’s Rock It Right, Quantic’s remix of his own Mishaps Happening raises a smile and Flevans’ groove-and-horn laden Out To Lunch should raise a trouser leg or two on most dance floors. Given these occasional highlights it’s probably worth the £4.50 being asked for this CD if you’re a fan of these labels, but you should be prepared to be busy with the skip button on your CD player.

Not an album that leaves me completely cold then, its just that such a lukewarm offering from a label that has done so much before can only be a disappointment.

[review by Jez Wells]

S/T at The Drones Club

The next Drones Club will take place on Saturday 8 January 2005, at The Eye,
79-81 Stoke Newington High Street, London N16. 8pm - late, £5 on the door.

Full line up for the night will include:

        Zali plays Raga Jalfrezi (http://www.iotacism.com), in which Mr Krishna
(Platform Five(5), The Benelux, Entropy Circus, Stella Maris Drone Orchestra,
Moonmoths) does the drone raga thing.

        Naked Goat, local cabaret carnivalistas surprise and delight with
their very alternative take on standards and original music alike.

        Plus very special guest headliners S/T (http://www.get-happy-records.com)
from Germany will be making their UK debut live onstage for a lengthy
psychedelic freak out set, making for an event not to be missed and soon to
be legendary.

DJs for the night will be Leo Avanti and Tango-Mango from the Kosmische Club
(http://www.kosmische.org) and Resonance FM (http://www.resonancefm.com), with
venue-altering psychedelic visuals from Lightning Rod.

dronesclub@freq.org.uk or http://www.freq.org.uk for more information.

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