I finally was able to get in touch with one of my favorite artists, XTC's Andy Partridge and get to him some questions that I have been itching to ask for a while now. We talk about his own label Ape House and was there another Dukes of The Stratosphere album in the works? Click on our artist interviews section to find out or view the Andy Partridge interview here . power pop reviews, power pop and rock and roll opinions. Power pop and even more power pop and rock and roll.
Ex-Cleaners from Venus front man teams up with XTC's Andy Partridge for an insight into 1990s England.
Jen Olive decided to heed some advice from a friend. Sure...why not send a few of her left-of-center, alt-folk/pop songs to someone who might appreciate them...say Andy Partridge, founder of acclaimed British uber-cult band XTC and new music aficionado? So she did. Intrigued, Partridge decided to do more than listen. Over many months and without actually meeting face to face, the two corresponded and collaborated: she sent him basic demos, he "enhanced" the production with his own instrumentation and mixes and, track by track, week by week, the astonishing Warm Robot was created. Music completed, [...]
I just love the melodic craftsmanship of Ireland's Pugwash , who will be releasing a new album, 11 Modern Antiquites , this May on Andy Partridge's Ape House label. Check out the video for "At The Sea,"where the band are joined by Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy (who has a side project with Pugwash's leader Thomas Walsh, The Duckworth Lewis Method.) Also, take in a conversation between Thomas and Andy which ran in the most recent issue of Ghettoblaster. Check out the interview after the vid. At The Sea [...]
After sampling the Irish retro/classic pop rockers Pugwash , you can understand why they gave their last album the title Eleven Modern Antiquities . Led by the enormously talented, slightly pudgy songwriter Thomas Walsh, The Pugs, as they are fondly known, clean out the 60's and 70's musical kitchen cupboard of every deliciously memorable hook, line and synced -up harmony and toss the whole lot into a giant gooey and bubbly stew. Ornate Beach Boy harmonies, dense ELO synthed keyboard production, jangling [...]
Marius Hansen Last July , I was introduced to Spanish site Buffet Libre on account of their releasing a massive compilation of covers - mainly of '80s pop tunes - by a slew of artists I'd mostly never heard of, but also the likes of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin and Electric Soft Parade . That was only the first salvo, however, and they've rung in the new year with part the second - another massive batch of covers, this one featuring the likes of Headlights , [...]
Andy Partridge : It's Snowing Angels [ purchase ] Ever since XTC broke up, founding member, guitarist and chief songwriter, Andy Partridge , has been been at work of a series of albums titled Fuzzy Warbles. There's eight individual volumes, It's Snowing Angels is from the first one, which was released in 2002. If you're a fan of melodic Pop, a la The Beatles, you'll truly enjoy today's selection. Now, maybe if we all click our heels together three times and say, "There's no band like [...]
So, this is really exciting for all you XTC fans out there; Over at their myspace/fan site , there is a weekly feature where they'll post up an XTC song and Andy Partridge will discuss it. I'm not talking about a quick paragraph or two. No, these are multi-page conversations covering seemingly every possible angle and tidbit. Hours, if not days and weeks, of fun to be had if you're into XTC. Andy Partridge - I Wonder Why The Wonderfalls The song featured this week is "I [...]
I'll be honest with you, the song below isn't my favorite this week. But I'm posting it today because the album it comes from is called " Picking Daises ". Which reminds me of the TV Pushing Daises , which is on tonight. Long story short, The Duchess and I LOVE the show but fear it is too "out there" for network TV. The folks who produce this show also did a short-lived show on Fox (that The Duchess and I LOVED) called Wonderfalls . By posting the song(s) below, I hope it may [...]
In honor of "Labor" day, here is a mix I made back in the fall of '05. The Duchess and I were talking a Lamaze class. Our teacher encourage us to make a mix of soothing music for the delivery. The Duchess wondered why we couldn't have a mix of up tempo songs. Songs to keep the energy up. To keep the breathing rhythmic. To keep her in a good mood. Instead of moody, slow songs that would only annoy her. So I made this batch of rocking songs. Of course, Duke Jr. was a [...]
Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears Genre: Psychedelic / Pop / Indie From: United States Bryan Scary's kaleidoscopic pop-art confection harkens back to the days of Sgt. Pepper and its brethren, combining 60's psychedelia, glam rock, chamber pop, and musical theatre and a gloriously eccentric imagination. Recorded by Bryan Scary alone in his Brooklyn apartment,debut album " The Shredding Tears " will leave you incapable of ever calling another record "the [...]
For those of you who are proud owners of a Nintendo Wii console, you know there's a certain joy in creating the little avatars that you use in some of the games called Miis. Since the launch of the Wii, these Miis have taken off and now their are websites soley dedicated to creating and sharing your Miis ( Mii Plaza is my favorite). As I was searching through Mii Plaza the other day, I found two interesting entries in the music category - Viva Voce and Inara George (both created by an "artist" by the name [...]
Went to check our Emerson's assertion in the comments a few posts ago, and here's the news : Partridge says, "At the moment, XTC is well and truly in the fridge. Purely, really, for the reason that [partner] Colin [Moulding] doesn't want to write anymore. He's either taking a break, or that break could become permanently in place. He told me some months back that he's not interested in music anymore, and doesn't want to write, and basically said, 'Our paths will cross again or they'll be involved in some way.' And then he proceeded to move [...]
Don't miss the Lucinda Williams giveaway in progress right now at the brand new Fingertips Contests page: I've got two copies of the newly re-released, two-disc Car Wheels On A Gravel Road to give away for nothing at all but the time it takes to send an email. Two winners will be selected at random; deadline for entry is December 24. Details here . And no you didn't imagine it--there was no podcast uploaded for the week of Dec. 3-9. Turned out to be one of those weeks. The Fingertips podcast will return by week's [...]
Cincinnati 13, Baltimore 7 Houshamazilli ("Championship!" - Sorry, that just doesn't get old for me.) came up big on a 40-yard flea flicker trick play and helped get the Bengals back into their divisional playoff mix. The Bengals O did just enough against the tough Baltimore D and the Bengals defense has also been pretty great of late. They've allowed only seven points in their last two games. Baltimore better be able to generate more offense against teams like the Bengals, Chargers & Colts or they won't make it far in [...]
Pacific - 808 State A Day In The Life - Wes Montgomery La La Means I Love You - The Delfonics My Train Is Coming - Andy Partridge Oregon Girl - Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin Plastic - Hot Chip [...]
There's no making sense of XTC's recent output, so don't even try. After going on strike against their label for seven years following 1992's Nonsuch , they released two albums in Apple Venus and Wasp Star , albums of demos for those two albums ( Homespun and Homegrown ) and then a box set collecting those four records plus a couple new songs ( Apple Box ). Also released over the past seven years was a career-spanning box set ( Coat Of Many Cupboards ) as well as a series [...]
Today we're giving away Andy Partridge's new Fuzzy Warbles boxed set. The 9 CD collection, available via the XTC frontman's Ape label, is cleverly packaged like a children's stamp album. And it comes with stickers. (How Beck!) More deets via...
Albert Hammond, Jr. Yes, this surprised me, too. More tomorrow. Yours to Keep - In Transit mp3 Andy Partridge Stratosphearically well-known; guaranteed ecstasy. Fuzzy Warbles, Vol. 7 - Sonic Boom mp3
Andy Partridge released a box set of his Fuzzy Warbles albums in the US last week. All eight of the Fuzzy Warbles discs are included in the Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album , as is a special bonus disc, Hinges, of outtakes available only with the box set. For someone like me, who has a handful of the import versions of these discs, this collection is a great way to pick up the rest of the collection by one of my favorite songwriters. The winner will receive this marvelously packaged box set, which contains: [...]
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Listen: Quakers (Geoff Barrow of Portishead) – “Fitta Happier” (ft. Guilty Simpson and M.E.D.)
