Golden times for Valentinos

“Children of the Sun, see your time has just begun, searching for your wares through adventures of the city of gold.”

These were the lyrics to an eighties, retro cartoon from our collective childhoods that one Sydney indie five-piece, Lost Valentinos have proverbially run away with, creating a whole new musical genre - Conquistadisco.

Their forthcoming debut album borrows part of the cult animation’s title: Cities of Goldfrom Mysterious Cities of Gold as according to Nik Yiannikas, front man for the band, the lead character Esteban’s exploration for lost treasure, together with his South American comrades is a somewhat fitting metaphor for his band, Lost Valentinos.

“It’s a good name for the album not just cause of the cartoon but because it suits it in a lot of ways, we’re definitely big fans of that cartoon and we were watching a lot of it at the time which kind of sort of inspired a lot of the songs that are on the album.

“So we thought it was an appropriate name.”

Now, Lost Valentinos, they began their career as The Valentinos almost ten years ago. Yiannikas a constant member since the band’s humble origins considers that their album debut is the culmination of things falling into line for the band and perhaps some long overdue strategic direction emerging.

“In the beginning there wasn’t a lot of continuity in the line-up and we had no goals when we first started cause we weren’t expecting anything to happen you know,” says Yiannikas.

“But now you know the songs that we just put out recently and the songs that are on the album are the result of a more focused effort I guess, over a long period time after we’ve learnt from our mistakes and that kind of thing,” he continues.

A recent tour of Europe and the UK under their belts enabled the lads (like their cartoon friends) to travel. Highlights according to Yiannikas so far have been playing to packed clubs in London and the two and half thousand fans that saw their set in renowned venue Razzamataz in Barcelona. Mistakes seem few and far between and as the European summer hits full tilt the band have the added luxury of being accepted by the punters overseas.

“They are starting to catch on our single came out there like two weeks ago (Midnights) and they’ve been playing it on BBC 1, umm we got a write up in The Guardian the other day as their new band of the day, yeah they’re finding it really good, which is good.”

Perhaps the UK fans are lapping up what’s currently being fed to them by Lost Valentinos because of the uncanny similarity Yiannikas vocals (demonstrated on Midnights) resemble to that of revered British music legend, Ian Brown of The Stone Roses.

“I don’t think it was intentional, he says indignantly.

“I mean I’m not surprised, I was listening to a lot of Stone Roses at the time, I guess I was influenced definitely, and there are people who would say they are one of my fave bands.”

He’s not unashamed of the comparison being drawn either.

“It’s funny you should say that, I read a review the other day, Stone Roses produced by Quincy Jones.

I’ll take that one,” he says laughing at the compliment.

Back on home turf, Nik discusses their upcoming Australian tour with a relaxed tone. He’s already admitted that he’s stopped listening to the album for fear it might get a bit annoying for him when he’s actually playing it live daily.

Does he see the prospect of splitting his time between Europe and Australia as a problem?

“I’m happy to go where the music takes me to tell the truth; just playing to people who want to hear our music, you know is an awesome privilege.”

As the boys prepare for a national tour which kicked off with a performance last month at Splendour in the Grass (Nik’s all-time favourite Australian music festival) like Esteban of the cartoon world, Mysterious Cities of Gold Nik has his sights set firmly on conquering the search for treasure, indicating a debut album as long as theirs in the making, is like having a baby.

“It’s not just a bunch of songs that we recorded it’s kind of like our whole life up to this point.”

Ruth Bailey

Posted: August 31st, 2009 under Australian Interview, INTERVIEWS.
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Steel yourself

Ruth Bailey

Posted: March 22nd, 2009 under FESTIVALS, INTERVIEWS.
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Frequently seen kids

Unashamedly it’s the allure of the Australian sun that provides the drawcard for Manchurian Peter Turner. He makes up one fifth of the UK’s most recent overnight success story Elbow, and along with his fellow band members who’ve been basking in glory they’ll be heading here in March just in time to take reigns on the V Festival taking place nationally.

An overnight success story 18 years in the making is the headline to accompany this band’s tale and Peter has no qualms himself in confirming this fact.

“The Mercury was the big thing, I think it changed a lot of things for us overnight, I mean it kind of put us up there in the mainstream a lot more really.”

Winners of the reputable Mercury Music Prize late last year for their album The Seldom Seen Kid and has literally bought Elbow back from the ‘wilderness’ of music making they had been wandering in.

“It was hard this one cos we were in-between record labels, we didn’t think V2 promoted ‘Leaders’ very well and we didn’t want to write another album, spend ages on it, for it not to be promoted and not to sell that many copies.,” recalls Peter.

This year’s Mercury Prize awarded for their most recent long player recorded this time through label Fiction has proven a different story though. It delivers a mix of their signature, melancholic instrumentation embedded by earnest and at times sombre lyrical motifs.

A clear favourite this year for judges who were choosing from an array of bands including acts such as Last Shadow Puppets, Laura Marling, Estelle and Neon Neon and the success story doesn’t end there just yet for the five-piece who came together in rehearsals back in sixth form ( equivalent of year 12 in Australia). They’ve also received recent nominations for three of the prestigious Brit Awards, including: Best National Release.

The album has been around just on a year now but it’s still the carrot the band uses to build their fanbase. Peter considers their swell in crowd numbers an opportunity to educate listeners in their back catalogue. However he remains realistic about the effects of acclaim on bands.

“The thing that I think we’ve all sort of thought recently, we’ve always of our four albums always had the critics really on our side, I think now we’re sort of fair game and there will probably be a bit of a comedown now from you know, critical acclaim.” He says matter-of-factly.

‘Grounds for Divorce’

If you thought the band might be quaking in fear at producing a follow up to their award winning album, Peter thinks it’s likely to be the impetus the band need to retain their status as one of the UK’s most favoured acts.

“We certainly won’t put anything out that we feel isn’t up to the standard and better of previous albums which for us is now four albums.

“The next album we really want to write something that’s a bit better for us, it’s just like a bit of a challenge really.”

Another challenge for the five-piece made up of Guy Garvey (lead vocals) brothers Mark and Craig Potter as well as Richard Jupp could be their ability to remain passionate after so long together. Touring, some band members now with family, the dynamics of the band one would imagine aren’t the same as their fledgling rock and roll years.

However give the band some alone time, off the coast of Scotland on an island to record their upcoming album which is what is ahead for them shortly and Peter knows exactly what he’s in for.

“You know we’ve not really sat down the five of us and talked about the fun things that have happened, so it’s the five of us hanging out, just having fun, eating and drinking - just hanging out.

Embarking again shortly on a British tour and then of course travailing seas to head to our shores, Peter’s mindful of the fact the band remain as tight as they were back in their initial performances.

“There is no hierarchy or anything like that, it’s just a good bunch of mates all going out doing shows and then having fun, you know drinking, meeting people, we’re actually really good friends,” he says.

Catch Elbow when they perform at V Festival nationally. Visit: www.vfestival.com.au for ticket and event details.

Also see them when they perform in sideshows just announced:
Brisbane: The Tivoli March 31. Tickets available through Ticketek
Sydney: The Metro April 1. Tickets available through Box office and Ticketek
Melbourne: The Corner Hotel April 2. Tickets available through www.cornerhotel.com.au.

Ruth Bailey

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Posted: March 22nd, 2009 under INTERVIEWS, international.
Comments: 14

Irish eyes are smiling

Travelling is commonplace for seasoned musician /performer, Roisin Murphy. She’s developed into a deft solo artist since her split with boyfriend and collaborator Mark Brydon. Together they made up the hugely successful trip-hop dance outfit Moloko who crafted the catchy ‘Sing It back’ and ‘The Time is Now’ dance-floor hits.

So successful has her sophomore album release – Overpowered - been (following on from Ruby Blue a sexy, disco- pop, velveteen offering) she’s wanted on the bill of every major festival in Europe until August. That is of course, notwithstanding her latest frolic in Oz for the V Festival tour circuit and her own individual side shows to supplement her time here.

In fact she’s much more accustomed now to clicking her high-fashion heels and finding herself in a different country each week.

“They can be very surprising things festivals some of the festivals, we played as Moloko were pivotal in breaking into certain countries and you don’t even know you’re doing it,” she said. “You land somewhere go on and do the gig and at the end of it you’ve had such an amazing response it really can change things for you.”

Chatting to Roisin, it’s easy to get a sense of her approach to life. She gives the impression she’s laid back and bothered by, not much at all really. She calmly stopped the interview a few minutes into it where I was only to hear on the other end of the receiver clip- clopping through her apartment. I find out later she was off to the bathroom only to return to say she probably couldn’t go while she was speaking on the phone. Moving on from that ‘wee’ drama, she qualifies her desire to come to Australia with solid reflection on the good time she’s had here previously.

“I’m looking forward to coming over because of the sense of freedom sense of being whoever you want to be. There’s a sense of ‘no judgement’ sense of frontier of the world in a way, just like you can always have such a good craic [good time],” she said jovially.

Truth be told, Australia would be one of Roisin’s preferred places to live if only it wasn’t so far from the rest of the Murphy clan. An independent woman from a young age, she’s self assured and her Irish humour must surely have assisted propel her from the party districts of Sheffield to the seductive disco halls she frequents globally, but that is what she considers to have been the time in her life where she really learned a lot about the music she wanted to be making.

“I’ve probably learned more about music through that scene than I have through musicians though, I still learn through musicians but particularly in understanding lineage of music – dance (house) music has taught me a lot,” she said. Understanding the lineage of music has no doubt come in handy when penning the latest tracks to make up the Overpowered release. One in particular is a favourite to perform at the moment being Let me know.

“Let me know – is amazing because now we’ve fused it with the sample that it’s cut from which is Dtrain’s ‘Keep on’, so when I’m performing it we’ve have the first sample of Dtrain then – Let me know on top of that. It’s very emotional because kids who are 14 or 15 are coming along now who haven’t a clue who Dtrain are and then I’ve got the 30, 35 year olds who do and they recognise it and get into it,” she said.

As well as the emotion of the crowd, Roisin draws on her reserves of energy to perform. Not to mention doing a hell of a lot of remembering (loose choreography, reams of lyrics and lighting changes) all of which demands a levels of dexterity and poise and for her to be in a place in her head where it’s all just happening without her thinking heavily about it. “I mean I had an eye injury recently and I could have – kicked myself which would have been terrible cos I would have an eye injury as well as a kicking injury but it showed me that you have to be spatially aware,” she said wryly.

“Some people ask me if it’s an ego trip too and to be honest with you, you haven’t even got time to think about your ego you’re more a vessel for all this information and feeling it’s just an utter sense of rightness. This is you at your purest form in your most right place, I’m not the fittest person in the world it’s a lot about stamina too when you’ve got the stamina to keep going that helps,” she added. While she hopes to bring some of that ‘rightness’ to her performances during her time in Oz she’s also just looking forward to the opportunity to be with the band touring.

“ I just love the aspect of rolling into a town, kind of like when you’re child and when you’re always with the gang’ and you just roll in and think ‘we come here’ and then we change the atmosphere, and just go around as if we run the place,” she say’s jokingly. With the unrelenting festival schedule ramping up post Australia Roisin will be off with the band to Russia, Luxembourg and Holland she looks forward to each unique experience that will befall her.

“Festivals are all different in themselves you can be playing inside a massive aircraft hanger next you can be outside in a field god knows where and then you might be the next night in a fort in eastern Europe all very different from each other, but that’s really good for the band good for the group mentality to push em,” she said.

“It pushes us to the limits of what we can do by landing somewhere different and having to adapt, that really pushes us and that’s healthy for the band.”

Catch Roisin Murphy when she performs at the remaining V Festivals in Melbourne and Perth; or for a more intimate encounter get along to one of her solo performances for the following dates:

April 1 – The Tivoli, Brisbane
April 2 – The Metro, Sydney
April 4 - Billboard, Melbourne

Ruth Bailey

Posted: March 15th, 2009 under FESTIVALS, INTERVIEWS, international.
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French fancy

Making their way to Australia in February as part of the Good Vibrations line-up is French outfit Yelle. With just the right recipe of Frou Frou, fun, and pop sensibility they’re bound to give audiences a wow of a time. The Blurb caught up with Frontwoman Julie Budet and asked her what makes ‘Yelle’ yell.

For those of us who don’t know Yelle – can you give a sentence about what makes you tick?

I would say that the word FUN is the best answer. People who like us tell us that our music is fresh like lemon, our style too, the videos, the “new generation” communication via myspace and stuff… and our live show, which is a lot of fun too, for us at least!

And your essence?

Being spontaneous and sincere. I mean, our music is a mix of a lot of influences, so many, from the past, from now, and it’s not easy to classify us in a precise style so the best thing we have to do is just doing it with energy and love. Cause we love music, and people. I am not sure to answer very well by the way, i have to improve my english…

You started your myspace in 2005 and you were approached by a label shortly after that, can you describe that journey or transition from an artist to a worldwide phenonemen?

True. We have been contacted by a label very soon in our “career”. But that contact is not the reason of our album. It’s helped about promotion etc, but we would have done the same music, even as totally indie. About the story, yes, it was crazy! Just a few days after we uploaded the first song on our myspace, life changed! Lots of crazy messages, that contact with Source (the label)… yes it has motivated us a lot, for sure! A big door was opening, and in 2005, Myspace was so unknown in France!

Watch the clip for “JE VEUX TE VOIR”

Yelle.htmYour songs are fantastic ditties behind great euro- electro beats. These we ‘re guessing are about love, life and boys, what are they are about and how do you go about writing a track like “Je Veux Te Voir” or “A cause des Garcon”?

The songs are written by GrandMarnier (myspace.com/gdmarnier) and me. The lyrics are very important for us. They seem very light, and they are, but it’s all about fantasy. Playing with words about the real life of a 22 years old girl, sex, friends, sport, boys, girls, death too… It’s always written in a funny way. Our songs are always written very quickly, with a lot of spontaneity, GrandMarnier do the main work, and then we ping-pong, to improve them a bit and go, we record it.

What is your key for attracting universal appeal as you seem to have tapped into it quite nicely?

Oh thank you! I do think doing happy live shows, being cool and friendly are ones of the reasons… i guess. And i am always nice with the journalists so they spread the word ahahah!
It’s natural, i am like that, thanks to my parents.

Can you describe your feelings when you’re performing on stage?

On stage… i am feeling super good. Like when the bell rings at school and you are free for one hour. I love playing with GrandMarnier and Tepr, we give a lot of energy and people feel it, so they answer, and we give more, etc, etc. When we don’t tour, i miss it a lot. I am scared about that non-touring period which is coming.

What’s your favourite thing about travelling and visiting the cities that you have so far?

We love traveling. We are just back from a one-shot show, in Miami, for Art Basel. We are tired, but we love it so much. Discovering cities, countries, people, food, culture… it’s so essential. We learn a lot. And we try to organise the tour to have time to visit. For example, about that last one month US tour, we ask to travel with a van, all arround the states. It was so wonderful, so much better than staying in airports for hours…

You are noted as liking Australian fashion labels – ‘Ksubi’ and ‘Sass  and Bide’ come to mind, when you visit a country do you specifically go in hunt of cool labels? What’s going to be on your itinerary fashion wise while you’re visiting Oz?

I am not really hunting fashion. I love it, but i am not a big digger. I love when brands love our music too, and suggest us some stuff, like Ksubi, so sync-spirit! I hope to meet them again on the next Australian shows. But i don’t know what else yet.

How much do you think fashion and music are aligned at the moment and why is this so do you think?

Today music is not only music. The record is no more here so people need more, need to see things. That’s why merchandising is going so good, that live shows are doing well too, and why people are sensitive to the style, the videos, the graphic stuff arround a band. And this is also a “new generation” thing. We grew up in a “logo-childness”, lots of brands, lots of cool tv shows (Saved by the Bell and The Fresh Prince means A LOT for us). So for us, it’s just natural to love clothes, graphism, and stuff from that skate generation. Ok, i am far from your question now! Sorry, so, yes, it’s the same about fashion, for us. It’s our lifestyle, a package, not only music, not only fashion, ALL!

Yelle tour in February as part of the Good Vibrations Festival line-up. Visit www.goodvibrationsfestival.com.au for ticket and event information in your state.

Ruth Bailey

 

Posted: March 15th, 2009 under FESTIVALS, INTERVIEWS, international.
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World travellers

It’s a little unusual: a musical performance duo who live continents apart but who insist on playing live together, however that’s just how life is at the moment for Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello who as Swedish stable-mates (since school) have developed alongside each other in the progressive house music mixing business. Making up one half of the world renowned ‘Swedish House Mafia Collective’ with whom other house lynchpins Axel and Eric Prydz keep them company, the pair will tour their way around these parts when they feature on the bill of Future Entertainment’s, Future Music Festival.

For Sebastian, obviously bleary eyed while chatting via telephone to me from his home in Sweden (a reckless night of debauchery preceeded our phone call; the Bloody Beetroots were in town) this fun-loving party boy is the first to admit his current working relationship with Angello is far from ideal.

‘I mean at the moment Steve is living in Los Angeles and I live in Sweden so it’s a bit difficult for us to work together, as soon as we get together like for this tour we’re sure to make something between the gigs.”

Ingrosso is high spirited and convincing in his love and desire to visit Australia again. Returning after just over a year since their last visit fans will be treated to sets that are unrivalled by those previously seen in other countries.

“It’s going to be better in Australia.” He says emphatically.

“We love it there, we love the people, cos they are so nice, the food is so nice, everything is just perfect there.”

Just how much preparation will have gone into the sets they prepare for the Future Music round of shows is not an issue for Ingrosso, his confidence, which borders on slight arrogance will carry him through regardless.

“When we play festivals like this it’s a huge crowd, we prepare a little bit, you know we prepare a few bootlegs, some special tracks to shock the crowd. “

Sebastian Ingrosso on his own is an accomplished producer, owner to his own label: ‘Refune’ for over six years. Making music since the age of 16 the integrity he applies to his craft is incontestable the world over. He’s not one to listen to criticism should it fall in his path and remains self assured that what he does is pretty damn good.

“You always make music and you will always have people who will hate it and people who will love it. I think I know what I’m doing.

“I don’t make singles featuring whoever, I mean I make dance music and I wanna make people dance and if I make myself wanna dance and my ass is shaking then I am quite satisfied,” he says matter-of-factly.

When he’s not scouting for new talent in the clubs of Sweden (a small but fertile scene he assures) you can find Ingrosso occupying himself with other people’s music. Remixing a long repoirtoire of artists at the moment he finds himself trying to finish the remixed version of Tiga’s Mind Dimension.

However his most prominent and passionate project of the moment involves of course playing partner Angello and some old friends in music mixing, Bloodshy and Avant who are known for their remixing of Britney and Madonna, much more commercialised music tastes from what one can gather. The collaboration goes under the name of ‘We Music Murder’ has been borne in the past two years of friendly banter.

“It’s very very strange it can be played on radio but still at home or in concert it’s very very different but, he adds, cool!”

For Ingrosso the desire to continue on this music-making journey is in no fear of ending, he maintains he and Angello will continue their chosen career because it’s fun.

“I mean we want to have to fun, of course you know it’s our job, I mean to make music and play it for a big crowd that’s the best feeling ever so you need to keep making music.”

Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angelo will take the stage nationally for Future Music Festival this month, visitwww.futureentertainment.com.au

Ruth Bailey

Posted: March 15th, 2009 under FESTIVALS, INTERVIEWS, international.
Comments: 1