Wednesday 16 February 2011

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Oh man, long absence! At this rate this is turning into a 6-monthly digest - and after a flurry of activity from Gruff as well.

Anyway, this is all old news BUT you get all the information in one handy bite-sized out-of-date post.

Hotel Shampoo
The album has now been officially released, so make sure you spend your hard-earned cash on some shampoo-related goodies here. If you're the kind who likes to try before they buy (kinda takes the fun out of it but hey) you can stream the album for free from Gruff's website.

The album was launched by Gruff taking over a Blackpool hotel on February 13th. Obviously. I've linked to that just to show you what you missed. You banana.

Next single from the album is 'Sensations in the Dark' which has a, er, slightly more... freeform video than 'Shark Ridden Waters'. BUT it does have multiple Gruff Rhys'. One in a pork pie hat, playing a trumpet. Always a bonus.

WATCH!



Then watch Gruff explain how he wrote 'Sensations in the Dark' on The Guardian website which also has a rather fabulous interview with him. Someone in the comments remarked that Gruff is 'like Columbo with a keyboard and a guitar'. Made me laugh...

And, lo-and-behold, a tour!
17 Feb, St Phillips, Manchester
18 Feb, The Kazimier, Liverpool
19 Feb, St Paul's Church, Cambridge
20 Feb, Arts Centre, Norwich
21 Feb, Glee Club, Nottingham
22 Feb, Cadogan Hall, London
25 Feb, Palace Theatre, Bridport
26 Feb, St Georges Church, Brighton
27 Feb, Glee Club, Birmingham
28 Feb, St Georges Hall, Bristol
04 Mar, Paris Le Cafe de La Danse
05 Mar, Vevey Rocking Chair
06 Mar, Vienna Flex
08 Mar, Frankfurt Brotfabrik
09 Mar, Schorndorf Manufaktur
10 Mar, Brussels Rotonde Botanique
11 Mar, Amsterdam Paradiso
12 Mar, Rotterdam De Unie
14 Mar, Cologne Gebaude 9
15 Mar, 20359 Hamburg Imperial Theater Hamburg
17 Mar, Copenhagen Loppen
18 Mar, Stockholm Strand Club
19 Mar, Malmo Debaser Malmo
26 Apr, Tokyo, Japan, Club Quattro
27 Apr, Osaka, Japan, Club Quattro


Pity he hasn't made it back over to the USA after having to cancel his LA show. I know a few people who would adore it if Gruff did a proper tour over there.

All that typing! I'm gonna go have a lie down.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Huw Roberts' YouTube

You wait ages for a post...

Remember I recommended keeping an eye on Huw Roberts' YouTube channel?

Well you should have a look now! Scroll down to 'recent activity' and there is a plethora of new vids, including Later appearances, a DD/LY doc and, my particular favourite, an old Poptastic documentary from 1997. Part 1, with English subtitles, is below but keep tabs on his YouTube channel as he is going to upload parts 2-8 (eek!) soon.

Hotel Shampoo (and 'Separado!')

Always the way, when I can't get to a computer there is bucket-loads of news. All Gruff related at the moment...

New album/single/video/mini tour/art installation



Phew! Gruff's new album, Hotel Shampoo, is out February 14, 2011 on Turnstile. He did a sneaky little art installation in Chapter (check out the video above) to promote it.

Track listing
Shark Ridden Waters
Honey All Over
Sensations In The Dark
Vitamin K
Take A Sentence
Conservation Conversation
Sophie Softly
Christopher Columbus
Space Dust #2
At The Heart Of Love
Patterns Of Power
If We Were Words (We Would Rhyme)
Rubble Rubble

Check out his website, Gruffington Post for artwork and news as it happens. Also recommend following Gruff and his label Turnstile on Twitter.

The first single from the album is 'Shark Ridden Waters' which you can order on vinyl here and which has a swanky video. Where Gruff looks like Mr E stealing my fantasy car (sounds like a dream I once had).



There'll be a mini-tour to preview the album (list below from http://www.turnstilemusic.net/) but I'm hoping that he'll tour fully next year as I can't make any of these. Mostly because they're not in this country... Some/most are probably sold out by now. Whatever, I don't care. I'm not bitter.

Wed, 10th Nov Teater Grob , Copenhagen
Sat, 13th Nov Town Hall Theatre, Galway 0035 3915 86540
Sun, 14th Nov The Empire, Belfast 02890 323 744
Mon, 15th Nov Sugar Club, Dublin 08187 193 00
Mon, 22nd Nov Whitworth Gallery, Manchester 01618 321 111
Tue, 23rd Nov Vic Bar, Art School, Glasgow 08448 472 487
Fri, 26th Nov Toynbee Studios, London 08444 771 000
Mon, 29th Nov Point Ephemere, Paris free
Tue, 30th Nov Bitterzoet, Amsterdam 0031 2042 12318
Wed, 1 Dec September Gallery, Berlin 0049 3061 101313


I'm wondering, though, if this is the soundtrack to 'Separado!' that he was talking about...?

Seperado!
Talking of Seperado, the DVD is released, er, yesterday! Order now!

Saturday 17 July 2010

Separado screenings

Look! Some screenings!

Separado screenings

There is even one very near me. How nice! In a great cinema to boot. I will go in tomorrow to see if I can book tickets.

It would be too much to ask for Gruff to do a spontaneous gig and/or Q&A at Norwich Cinema City too... but a gal can dream.

Check it out.

Wednesday 14 July 2010

Separado galore

Courtesy of the nice people at Soda Pictures, here is the official poster for 'Separado!'. Is that typography cool or what?



There are, apparently, more screenings to be announced, but at the moment these are the confirmed screenings;

30/07 - 2 week run. Q&A date to be confirmed.
Chapter
Cardiff

01/08 - with a live performance from Gruff and Tony
BFI
London

02/08 - with Q&A
Curzon Soho (booking details don't appear to be on their site yet)
London

Ak! If only I knew about the BFI screening (the day after Field Day) before I booked travel and the hotel...

The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness
Oh, yeah... 'In a House With No Mirrors (You'll Never Get Old)' is now available for free download from Turnstile. Woop!

Thursday 8 July 2010

Separado! + The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness

Long time since I last posted; just down to sheer laziness, unfortunately. None of this will be news to anyone but I'm losing track, again, of dates and links etc. so thought it would be best to bring them all into one place...

Separado!
In that last post I lied, that wasn't the 'Separado!' trailer, merely the opening titles of 'Separado!'. This is the trailer, complete with cheesy American voice-over. I like!

Official 'Separado!' trailer

There have been a few reviews knocking around. Some good, some not-so-good. Apparently both Total Film and Sight and Sound have been quite positive (although their reviews don't appear to be online yet), as they seem to appreciate the inherent surreal qualities of the film.

'Separado!' is being distributed UK-wide by Soda Pictures and the official general release date is 30 July (info thanks to @DanLThomas on Twitter). I doubt it will be released absolutely everywhere in the UK but it should be coming to a major city near you!

The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness

Tony Da Gatorra vs Gruff Rhys! on Twitpic

Something that I haven't even mentioned on here is Gruff's new album with Brazilian musician Tony Da Gatorra (remember him from TrocaBrahma 2007?). It is, rather brilliantly, called 'The Terror of Cosmic Loneliness', is released at the end of July, has a stunning psychedelic cover and you can view the first video on Turnstile's website! Check it out;

Tony Da Gatorra vs Gruff Rhys - In a House With No Mirrors (You'll Never Get Old)

You can also pre-order the album and get a limited edition t-shirt for £20 (Offer ends 12 July)

To promote the album there will be a couple of Tony Da Gatorra Vs Gruff Rhys live dates;

28/07
Clwb Ifor Bach
Cardiff

29/07
Clwb Ifor Bach SOLD OUT
Cardiff

30/07
Camp Bestival
Dorset

31/07
Field Day Festival
London

I will be attending Field Day as it's cheap, closer to me and there are a plethora of great bands. Including, announced after I bought the tickets, Cate Le Bon. Gruff Rhys and Cate Le Bon in one day can't be bad! I will, of course, take as many photos as possible and will post them on here in early August (but don't hold your breath).

The album is reportedly a lot more experimental and a lot less melodic than what we're used to from Gruff. Which could be a good or a bad thing depending on your perspective. I do have a soft-spot for quite experimental music so I'm very much looking forward to this. Others are not. Ah, well.

The Gruffington Post
I'd keep an eye on www.gruffrhys.com. It's changed back to promoting TTOCL but a while ago they had a test site which looked like it could be quite cool. I'm guessing that will go live soon, so keep checking back.

Monday 8 March 2010

Separado! Trailer

Bit of Twitter searching - always recommended - and I found this!

Separado! from Bait on Vimeo.



Looks fabulous. But, y'know, I'm not really sure why the Separado website has a mailing list as they don't seem to tell us anything. I have to do all the bloody searching myself... The other week I just stumbled across someone on Twitter talking about the Flatpack festival and they mentioned in passing that Separado would be screened in Birmingham for the Festival. (I'm sure there's a showing in Toronto as well...)

I'm contemplating going to Birmingham to see that. Aw, man, I really wish I knew if it was going to be screened elsewhere! I did ask Picturehouse cinemas if they were likely to show it anywhere and they said they'd keep an eye and an ear out and let me know if they heard anything. Nothing so far.

The lack of news is frustrating. But that always seems to be the way with the Furries...