By Bro. Jo Stern, on March 3rd, 2009
 As Kilgore has splattered below, things are progressing nicely in Foilface world and in a few months time we should have a few EPs finished off.
Another tune was gently wafted out on Saturday and the current lack of a name for the track (I remember it as ‘Sour City Gin Song’ – but only because they’re the first words sung) has got me to wondering about the naming of songs, EPs and album titles as a whole.
Probably my favourite album of all time, Love – Forever Changes, benefits from not only having great tunes but top song titles (The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This, A House Is Not a Motel, Andmoreagain etc) and a great, mystical, late-60′s sounding album title too. In my world (and in Google world too, I guess) a great title is a definite bonus.
For instance, I first listened to Gorky’s Zygotic Mynki, not because someone had recommended them to me or because I’d stumbled across their sound in a record shop. No – they had a funny name and seemed worth a punt. I’d have discovered them at some point, but their name speeded up the process. And if this seems fickle I don’t care, because it doesn’t end there.
I first heard New York art-rockers, Liars after listening to one of their albums purely because it had a great name. The album in question was, ‘They Threw Us All In A Trench And Stuck A Monument On Top’ – it’s a great album. The verbosity of their song and album titles (also see – They Were Wrong, So We Drowned and The Other Side of Mount Heart Attack) may not be intentionally designed to pull people in (is that naive?) but that’s what happened with me.
Earlier, I briefly leafed through some of the albums and EPs I have on itunes and this love of EP and album titles had me relistening to treats by Gorky’s Zygotic Mynki (Ambler Gambler EP), Why? (Elephant Eyelash), Edan (Beauty & the Beat), Stereolab (Emperor Tomato Ketchup), Pavement (Slanted & Enchanted) and Neon Neon (Stainless Style). My conclusion is that I seem to be drawn to inventive rhyming (see GZM and Pavement), quality puns (see Neon Neon and Edan) and the surreal (see Why? and Stereolab). Is it a coincidence that I also love their music?
The answer is probably a rather drab, ‘a bit, yes – but not entirely’. I know that’s a bit vague (defining why we love the bands we listen to is, a lot of the time) but in a world dominated by Google search engines, fast cut MTV videos, soundbites, tag lines and catchphrases, good titles (and as an extra bonus, ‘appropriate’ ones – ‘Slanted & Enchanted’ for instance pretty much sums up the whole Pavement sound in three words) certainly count a lot more than they used to.
So, musicians, artists and bands take note – words mean more than ever.
Which leads me onto the probable title for the first Foilface EP, namely, Traumatised Yacht Owners. Is it a good title?
To me, it conjures up amusing credit crunch images and the tears of the super wealthy blubbering their dreams away. It sounds like the cackle of slackers who may be about to have their day. I like it at the moment anyway, and it seems to fit.
By Bro. Jo Stern, on March 1st, 2009
 Another triumph at the bunker last night as one more delicious foilface song was burped into life. Things are shaping up nicely now and we’ve developed a bit of a rhythm in terms of writing and recording, what we really need to do now is start mixing and mastering these nuggets of insanity so they can be stuffed into a release-able format or two. To that end we’ve set a date of the first weekend in April for mixing the first EP, the idea being we mix the whole EP in one sitting.
The title of the first magical extended player is Traumatised Yacht Owner and I’m confident it’ll be done and ready for free mp3 download from the foilface website from mid April. Tell your friends, your Dog, your mistress and yourself to be around for the release of this sidestep from banality, being the only member of the Golf Society without a copy on your iPod touch is simply too much of a risk and if you do find yourself in such a career threatening position, well, you can’t say you weren’t warned. Good day.
By Bro. Jo Stern, on February 19th, 2009
 Ever wondered how long it’ll be until forests start having CCTV cameras on the boughs of their trees? Do you long for a song that brings together witches, eagles and vicars and asks them to gently gurgle harmonic sounds together? Then ‘Happy Apocalypso’ to you! For Foilface have the very remedy to cure your ailments.
‘Cameras‘, is one of a batch of currently downloadable Foilface tracks available for free.
Think Smog mud wrestling Devendra Banhart in a hot tub owned by Dave Gilmour and your nine twelfths of the way there.
To find out what’s next and hear about further downloadable tunes from the Foilface collective sign up to the free music mailing list.
By Bro. Jo Stern, on February 17th, 2009
 Is your brain lost in memories? Are you lonely like the vulture? Do you enjoy a cheeky blub every now and again (when no-one’s looking, of course)? Then (amongst other things) Foilface have conjured up a nice weepy little wonk-ballad for you in the shape of, ‘Sad House’.
Download the free mp3. It’s ready and waiting for your listening pleasure.
If Kate Bush were a fat Northern slacker with a penchant for fruit beers and sobbing she/he would happily put their name to this new blast of sad music. Plus it’s free so there’s nothing to lose. Have some lovely new manchester music on us.
It may need one final mix (maybe not – tell us what you think) but it balances quite nicely alongside some of the more joyously rabid tunes currently in the bag.
Go get some…
By Bro. Jo Stern, on February 15th, 2009
 Last night heralded another highly successful Foilface night down the studio. We are now two tunes to the greater and things are progressing nicely.
The first of our new (as yet unfinished) tunes is, ‘Pill Drink’. A delighful ode to drinks that accompany the taking of medicine. In many ways it’s the ballad of a disillusioned joe (‘no-one famous ever came from Milton Keynes… no good stories ever came from Stoke-on-Trent and no-one erotic ever came from East Kilbride’). Which begs the question – Is it a slacker rock mockery of the UK’s provincial towns? Answer – No, it’s a rambling stare at 21st century consumerism as it thrashes about burning on the floor, crying for help and spitting at unhelpful strangers as it draws it’s final breaths. Kind of.
The second tune (told you we’re prolific!) is (probably) called, ‘Last Bastions’. It’s another Foilface ‘wonky ballad’ and I like to think it’s an intergalactic love song involving space ravens (even though it’s not really). I say the words ballad and love song with gritted teeth as they instantly make me think of Celine Dion, Enrique Inglesias, Mariah Carey and all those other plastic-faced, doggerel wafting clowns. Either way it’s an ode to something beautiful and seemingly lost and it builds into a meaty mini-prog beast of a tune come the second half. Think Kings of Convenience meets early-Genesis and your three eighths of the way there.
Anyway, we’ve got lots of tunes in various stages of completion (plus some free ones available to download on this site) at the moment and the next task is mixing them and deciding on how we present things. A batch of 5-track EPs seems like a good idea. We’ll keep you posted. In the meantime remember ‘ music matters‘…
By Bro. Jo Stern, on February 13th, 2009
 Okay, just for a minute I need to stop banging on about the amazing, awesome free MP3 downloads of new recent music by Foilface. Did we mention Foilface?
This week, I have mostly been listening to some sonic mind treats in the form of Tokyo2005‘s new free uk music downloads. If you don’t listen to anything else this week, then definitely listen to these fine new UK sounds. Tokyo2005 is the sort of emotionally engaging music that will lift your soul and make you think you can do stuff that you clearly can’t, but will enjoy believing that you can for a few dreamy moments of ‘mind MTV’.
There.
So anyway, there’s this ace new Manchester band called Foilface, right, and…
By Bro. Jo Stern, on February 7th, 2009
 Should albums tell stories? Or is it enough to just bang together a dozen great tunes and line them up so they sound good together? Should albums have a concept behind them or just act as a showcase?
I guess the obvious answers are no, probably and either, but it’s worth a thought. Concept albums like The Wall, Quadrophenia, Ege Bamyasi, Ok Computer and Sgt Pepper’s sound much better when listened to as a whole and don’t really lend themselves well to the ipod shuffle. That in itself is a great argument for concept albums. In this day and age if the album is to survive as a workable format, surely a rise in concept albums is due.
Personally I (and Foilface) much prefer a bit of occasional indulgence over play it safe ‘meat and two veg’ pub-rock. And for me there’s too few albums containing song-cycles and multi-song plots and stories. Maybe bands are just scared. You only have to look at the state of Brian Wilson to see what creating albums like ‘Smile’ can do to a man.
I still find it baffling that post-Ok Computer the concept album still hasn’t really taken off (excluding the odd belting exception like the Liars’ ‘They Were Wrong So We Drowned’ and Neon Neon’s ‘Stainless Style’).
Whether or not the forthcoming Foilface album is a concept album remains to be seen. It could easily be an exploration of mankind’s battle with medieval nightmares, vampires, human heartbreak and the questionable optimism of 21st Century Western society. Or it could just as easily be about slags, whisky, street-fighting and monkeys.
I just want a world packed with great concept albums (however loosely that term is applied – a concept needn’t be strict – after all Sgt Pepper’s is just costumes and a title track when all is said and done isn’t it?). Failing that, just a bit more originality would be nice (are you listening Blunt, Ronson, Borrell, et al?). Music packed with ideas and stories, hot new music, melodies that sizzle the ears and bake the soul. It’s what we all want, isn’t it? (Answer – ‘Yes’).
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As Kilgore has splattered below, things are progressing nicely in Foilface world and in a few months time we should have a few EPs finished off.
