Filed under: News , Exclusive , New Releases There's no way to mistake the excitement in Greg Jarvis ' voice when the Flowers of Hell frontman talks about his band's travel plans next summer. "The plan is to record in the Congo with this great orchestra we found out there," Jarvis tells Spinner. "It's this 100-piece African orchestra with this 100-piece African choir -- while they don't play with German precision, they play with African soul, and so they're [...]
Filed under: News , Exclusive , New Releases As the founder of Toronto/London space rock outfit the Flowers of Hell, Greg Jarvis knows his band won't saturate radio airwaves anytime soon. But with experimental groups like Mogwa i and Explosions In the Sky making a living by pushing rock's boundaries, that might actually be a good thing. "One of the unique things about music is that it's one of the few art forms that enfolds [...]
Nothing wrong with ambition, but it can be a dangerous thing. Flowers Of Hell describe themselves as a "trans-Atlantic space rock orchestra" and on last year's album Come Hell Or High Water pretty much fulfilled such a highfalutin brief. Leader Greg Jarvis has over the years employed members of Broken Social Scene, the Patti Smith Group, Spiritualized, Spacemen 3, British Sea Power, the Earlies and Guided By Voices, funnelled towards a sonically expansive suite of orchestral post-rock with a leaning towards shoegaze, like Ladies And Gentlemen...-era Spiritualized reinterpreting Stravinsky with purpose. Even by those [...]
Although I can be quite the crank when hungover, inside I am just another lonely soul on the lookout for something to soundtrack my elongated stares on the desolate prairie outside. Sigur Ros or Explosions In The Sky normally fill the gap but today as brain outbeats racing heart Flowers of Hell took on the onerous task of providing solace pre the inevitable delirium tremens action tonight. Can't believe I've missed Flowers of Hell up to this point given their cinematic range and the hugely impressive list of collaborators (Spiritualized, Spacemen 3, British Sea Power…). The band is led by [...]
It's hard to put emotional experiences you take from O into words for countless reasons. First, the new record from classical, orchestral shoegazers Flowers of Hell is a single track that spans 45-minutes. There is nary a word, and Greg Jarvis purposely wrote the piece as an absolute. There is no story, no imagery and no references to anything outside of the music. Oh, and Greg's neurological condition - he's a timbre-to-shape synaesthette - means that each note he hears appears as a shape and is by nature, a very solitary, personal experience. [...]
Probably some of the best news I've heard all day. The amazing space-rock-psych orchestra The Flowers of Hell have announced details of their third album. Called O , it'll be released via Optical Sounds on 15th November, coming on double-sided CD / DVD with a regular stereo mix on the CD, plus 5.1 surround sound on the DVD, with a live concert film and various other goodies. The album itself is one, 45 minute neo-classical instrumental track that was largely improvised. It does have a lot to live up to though, [...]
Keyboard Choir | Photo credit: Daniel Paxton Realisations on the Sunday of Truck 2010 – 15 year-old girls were one of the biggest demographics at the festival for some reason, being asked by 17 year-old lads to buy booze from the bars for them makes me feel old, and waking up in a tent is as horrible as ever, starting my day with fitful stop-start sleep which would have made me madder than a sackful of angry badgers if it wasn't for my sunny disposition and having been at such a serene festival. [...]
Mr abb is right, this has been tougher than usual. I'm pleased we worked it out and even more pleased we've hit on a top four after extended negotiations more convoluted than the US healthcare wrangles and Copenhagen put together. Finally we can walk out to the armoured car in our blue UN flak jackets, shake hands, and pronounce the Big Four. A roadmap to tinnitus, essentially. But before that, my other top records, following angrybonbon's tremendous ten... 1 - Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Twice Born Men I promised a [...]
. MLD Radio Podcast 11 (1hr06m) - Subscribe itunes Tracklist: Bersarin Quartett - " St.Petersburg " (with a little bit of Jim Morrison) ( Myspace / Buy ) Pilooski - " Love Is Wet " ( Myspace / PilooskiEdits / Facebook ) Desire - " Under Your Spell " - ( Myspace / Blog ) The XX - " VCR " - ( Myspace / Website ) [...]
September 5th, 1968. Spain: Traffic jams built up in Madrid as thousands of Spaniards got out of their cars to stare at the night sky, where for sixty-five minutes a pyramid shaped object glowed. An air force jet reached a height of 9½ miles; the pilot reported the object was far above him. Radar screens showed the object to be 18 miles high. May 19th, 1957. Victoria, Australia: A large silvery object about 8 miles high [...]
There are some projects that are simply larger in scope than most non-creative people can process. Knowing an artist can pen an album so focused in scope and so precise that it takes over a year to fine tune, 16+ members and multiple recording studios just "get it right" is mind-boggling, especially in an age where quality is often overlooked for quantity and immediate accessibility. But for Greg Jarvis and the talented musicians that make up The Flowers of Hell , music is more than just chords and vocals. It's more than a way to [...]
After raving about this album a while back it's time for a slight return; download-only label Fat Ghost has released a nearly-ten-minute version of the track 'White Out' from Come Hell Or High Water . The extra six-plus minutes allow Greg Jarvis' space-rock collective to really achieve lift-off. Regular readers (hello Bon) will know of my long-standing thing for Hawkwind, and I hope I am paying the Flowers a compliment when I say that there's a moment in this version which really reminds me of 'Space Is Deep' from that band's 1972 classic Doremi [...]
According to their online bio - Flowers of Hell are a trans-Atlantic rock orchestra made up of 16 or so experimental independent musicians consisting of members based in Toronto and London. There's something about the word trans-Atlantic that makes it all the more intriguing (not that the name 'Flowers of Hell' isn't intriguing enough). Trans-Atlantic, oddly makes me think about the word inter-galactic - they're in the same word family, right? Hyphenated location terms aside - interstingly, one way that you can describe music by the band is it's space-age, symphonic space rock . If this genre's [...]
Flowers of Hell - Come Hell or High Water Flowers of Hell are an interesting big band that come out of Canada. In an age of minimalistic music, it's refreshing to have the chance to review a band that has gone big. I wish I could call it big band, because it doesn't quite strike me as large enough to be orchestral. An orchestra usually has 100 or so members. But calling it big band suggests that it might be jazz, which it clearly is not. Throwing a blanket definition on the group isn't so [...]
The boosters are swaying...you think it's this music?- new co-worker . ...more incredible music from Greg Jarvis and The Flowers of Hell, and part of the recent Fat Ghost Singles Club . Quite possibly photo-shooting at a Space Center near you! mp3: White Out (Long Version) The Flowers of Hell on MySpace • buy [...]
Working very slowly through our mailbag, we finally get around to the Flowers of Hell, who describe themselves as 'a 16 piece trans-Atlantic space rock orchestra' based in Toronto and London. All of this sounds very good to me – we like enormous bands, we like music put together by people in different parts of the world (well, it worked for the Earlies) and my god we love anything within sniffing distance of space rock. Plus they're made up of or have worked with some great people – Abi Fry, who plays with British Sea Power and Bat For Lashes, [...]
Ok, so I don't love the band name, but I do really like the album from Flowers of Hell, "Come Hell of Highwater." Flowers of Hell is a 16-piece "orchestra" (not your standard orchestra mind you) half based in London and half based in Toronto. As for the album, there were a lot more than 16 people involved: it was recorded with 30 musicians all over the world.The music is entirely instrumental.
Big day at the blog office. We've heard two amazing records just today, which is amazing considering that all three of us are total haters - the new Lotus Plaza, and this mysterious offering from a massive cluster of trans-Atlantic musicians called Flowers of Hell . I don't care if no one told these guys that it's not the late '90s anymore and post rock is no longer en vogue and/or what the kids are listening to these days. Fuck the kids. The Flowers of Hell's Come Hell or High Water is one of the [...]
Flowers Of Hell is a 16-piece band based out of Toronto and London. They will be releasing their album, Come Hell Or High Water on April 6th. Bluemschen by Flowers Of Hell from Come Hell Or High Water White Out by Flowers Of Hell from Come Hell Or High Water Kingsbury from Florida have shared the stage with the likes of Matt Pond PA, The Honorary Title, and French Kicks just to name a [...]
There's nothing like orchestral space rock. At work, it makes the machines come alive-spaceships do have a soul, you know-and it can take you places that aren't even limited by your mind. My latest email musical blessing comes courtesy of The Flowers of Hell, a 16 piece trans-Atlantic space rock orchestra based in London and Toronto. Greg Jarvis started it as a studio project, assembling pieces from Spacemen 3/Spiritualized, the Patti Smith Group, Broken Social Scene, British Sea Power & plenty of others. Flowers Of Hell has melded more than 30 musicians via sofa surfing and the collective gifts of [...]
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Some House Bangers for the Week.. (2/15)
