Gruff Rhys - Candylion

The new album is his best one since Hotel Shampoo, but the highlights of American Interior are stronger than anything on Babelsberg. It's okay - listenable, but good rather than great, and not quite up there with his best stuff.

'Negative Vibes' sounds like an exercise in trying to write a song for Coldplay, but getting it slightly wrong.

While it doesn't sound like Coldplay on a superficial level, the vocal melody and chord progression - particularly on the chorus - are very Chris Martin-like. This, combined with music that's stylistically in Mojo Magazine dadmusic territory, are alarming developments. It's probably his straightest, most quirk-free record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGRK6ZB7VQg

Another one-off song. Not an album cut. Just came out for NHS's 70th.

^^rad

He wrote a nice editorial that accompanied the release of the song/video:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jul/05/gruff-rhys-song-for-nhs-no-profit-in-pain

New one should be good:

Pang! Developed unexpectedly over about 18 months. A solo album of songs by Gruff Rhys. Produced and mixed by South African electronic artist Muzi.
Gruff Rhys on Pang!:
I met the producer Muzi during the recording of the Africa Express track Vessels in Johannesburg in early 2018.
Combining the cut up guitar of South African guitar legend Phuzekhemisi and his own beats, I got to spend a memorable time with members of BCUC figuring out some melodies and lyrics for Muzi to record over his beats. Occasionally things were going so well that he would burst away from his computer screen, out of the door and embark on a celebratory lap of the weird Motel compound we were recording in. The pace was fast and it was one of the most joyful recording experiences I’ve ever had – in my experience if you’re having fun in the studio it’s usually a very good signifier for the health and rigour of the music – even with emotionally heavy songs. Pang!
A few months later I was involved in a recording project where I live in Cardiff, Wales for a video installation which involved incredible dancers from the cities’ Butetown Carnival and local musicians such as the Balafon player N’famady Kouyaté. They needed to dance to my track so I sent it on a whim to Muzi to remix. He sent back the finished track, (a Welsh Language song called Bae Bae Bae – English for Bay, Bay, Bay ) as if from a distant future. I was astounded by the song’s transformation – I suggested we make a whole album. Muzi responded that he would be interested as long as all the songs were in Welsh. Pang!
I continued to record songs in Cardiff at producer and percussionist Kris Jenkins’s Studio, Wings for Jesus and invited N’famady back with his Balafon along with Cardiff based American drumming legend Kliph Scurlock and the brass player Gavin Fitzjohn. Over a few months we gradually cut an album by stealth during my kids school hours and sent the results to Muzi. Pang!
I felt I had somehow found a way of combining my clumsy trad Spanish guitar songwriting with something resembling progress or even experimentation. I love pop music and a good tune – but I’m also drawn to the repetitive and dissonant. A cook friend pointed out that it’s all about Sweet and Sour. Continually trying to figure out how to bridge that canyon keeps us going. Pang!
In between these occasional recording sessions I had embarked on an American tour, the highlight of which was a tourist visit to Prince’s old studio and home, Paisley Park. It turned into a pilgrimage for me – with my fellow musicians I listened to Prince’s back catalogue on Kliph’s hi-res player the entire way from the East Coast to Minneapolis. It seemed to wake me out of the bad funk of a decade of dour ballads. (I stand by the ballads – but sometimes need a holiday). Pang!
Visiting the gloss of Prince’s democratic music palace confirmed in me that my move into day-glo processed pop with this record was justified and in particular, albums like Around the World in a Day (and in particular the title track) became a reference point for attempting to make psychedelically joyful, internationalist and deeply personal digital pop music. Staring at Prince’s ashes in a Perspex box perched next to a cage of live doves on a cloudy blue sky mural backdrop was an unexpected and moving moment. Pang!
Muzi was touring in Europe last March (2019) and came to Cardiff to sift through the tracks with his producer hat on and we mixed an early version of the album and even did a bit of sight-seeing. Sometimes like on Eli Haul he would leave songs alone – often simplifying them further. On occasion he would jump to the mic and join in with some vocals. Some songs he would take a loop of a particularly interesting section, build a beat and rework the song from scratch and by the song Ôl Bys / Nodau Clust – which we mixed by coincidence following a conversation about Daft Punk and industrial music, Muzi completely takes over, scrapping my bad bossa guitars, only retaining the original’s vocals. In that sense it’s a kind of remix album where adventure is favoured over predictability and where the radical remixes are the finished articles. Pang!
By the way the lyrics deal with the negative pangs amongst the joy of daily life (Pang!) radioactivity in Cardiff bay,(Bae Bae Bae) , digital community happenings (Digidigol), the snail’s pace of inspiration (Ara Deg), Sun Screen abstraction (Eli Haul), navigating the fog of lies that is mass media misinformation – in a car (Niwl o Anwiredd), life in a storm (Taranau Mai), surveillance culture head-fucks (Ôl Bys/ Nodau Clust) and that my mouth is a house for my teeth (Anedd i’m Danedd). Pang!
Muzi returned to Johannesburg and stayed up for a couple of days and nights giving the album a final sheen and here it is. A short sharp album, a pang of positivity that jolted me personally out of the omni-present political gloom and out of my musical coma. Pang!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM7JUbbKe-4

Really hoping they announce the Guerilla reissue soon.

They’re definitely working on it...

https://www.instagram.com/p/ByIQCBLD9kr/?igshid=1km43p107vrzu

I heard through the grapevine they got massively fucked by Pledge Music on the BBC set so I wonder how they’re going to handle this reissue.

i just want SFA albums on Spotify so i can do the artist poll already.

are SFA not on spotify in the US? all their albums are here except for Love Kraft

i like the new Gruff track, never really listened to much of his solo work but this one has quite a nice sound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qYSfaNJVic

US Spotify only has Fuzzy Logic then jumps to Mwng to Hey Venus!

I don't think you'll hear or see anything new on Spotify until the next reissue, which will be Guerrilla. Could've sworn Radiator was on there, though.

SFA discussion sans Turrican should be interesting

He's... gone?

Anyway, I'm really pleased with how these new songs sound and I'm glad he went for something new. He's also on four tracks on the new Africa Express album that's out on Friday. Looking forward to listening to that as well.

He's in a time out because of Radiohead, lol. He'll be back.

I've known him for a long time.

He's an emotional individual.

oh this is so good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEwPfg5eVnY

Oh man, this one is wonderful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieWdmqTXtkI

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/my-culture-fix-gruff-rhys-kdxgpktjf?shareToken=2288bb30a86ce63fada94af401916a8b

I liked this. Always good to see recommendations from Gruff.

Another pretty good album by Gruff.

The last one was also really good.

Seems he's found his sound.

Re-visiting the older albums. Candylion was pretty good too, wasn't it?

Gruff Rhys is playing in town in about 10 days. I think I need to go to this.

Saw SFA once in San Francisco at the Bottom of the Hill. Guerrilla tour.

I was living in San Francisco at that time. I remember they closed with "The Man Don't Give a Fuck," my mind was blown. They turned into my favorite band at that time.

Oops missed this thread. I like his new tuneful pop-rock album Sadness Sets Me Free. I saw SFA once in Baltimore. Gruff is in DC tonight

Not sure if that meant you are in DC? If you go please give a review of the show, can really cement my choice.

Yes saw him and his band do a strong hour and half Washington DC gig tonight. Lots of songs from new album and they seemed more energetic and faster tempoed live. A bit more psychedelic tinges too. He had a nice falsetto on a few songs. The keyboardist was really good. The bassist switched between acoustic bass and electric bass. At times his goofy sense of humor was on display. He held up signs with messages for the audience— “wild abandon “ and many others. They had moving company like shirts on but he said they were lugging emotional baggage. He stopped a song or 2 and started chatting about something and then resumed the songs. Thankfully he didn’t overdo these things. Much of the time he seemed to be deeply concentrating on his singing and guitar playing.

I don’t know his whole catalogue that well but I think the setlist was similar to what he played in the March 5 Paris show listed on setlist

https://www.setlist.fm/setlists/gruff-rhys-53d6ef51.html

I think SFA’s got way better songs, but Gruff’s a way better performer with his solo material than he was with SFA. SFA generally disappointed me as a live band.

I scored tickets for $5

Wow! Enjoy the show