SUPER FURRY ANIMALS

Things afoot at Pledge Music it appears

https://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/space-monkeys-new-album/updates/103268

https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/8494827/pledgemusic-crowdfunding-owes-artists-thousands-late-payments

Dark Days/Light Years officially came out 10 years ago on Saturday.

:(

I guess this means it's 16 years since their last truly great record!

The further away we get from their last record, the more I'm convinced that it was the best time for them to stop.

They must've felt the same way!

It's just weird to think it's been so long. They released on such a regular scheduled for 13 years.

It felt weird when they didn't put out a new album in 2011, which they probably would have done if they hadn't made the decision to stop. It doesn't feel weird to me now - after ten years I've got used to it.

Still, ten albums (Out Spaced included) is enough.

I don’t really disagree. Moved on, myself, though I’d still listen to a new album if it ever came out. Burned out on pretty much all they’ve done at this point and have very minimal interest in any further reissues. Still blew my mind it’s been a decade since their last. That was my final year of college and feels not so long ago...

New Zefur Wolves is a really big improvement over the first album.

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

Good use of fuzz and feedback throughout. Some nice songwriting as well.

When Creation Records signed Super Furry Animals, Gruff Rhys hand wrote me a list of every song he'd written up to that point ... pic.twitter.com/y9KYB73uix

— Andy Saunders (@mrasaunders) March 30, 2019

Never would've suspected 'Lazer Beam' was written pre-Fuzzy Logic.

Perhaps a 'single pulled out of the bag'

If indeed it is the same 'Lazer Beam' and not a different song with the same title. I'm very skeptical as 'Lazer Beam' is heavily based on a Cian demo that came later.

I'm most surprised to see 'Missunderstanding (sic)' on there.

I’ve heard fairly substantiated rumblings they’re working on a new album, but that Gruff is either not involved at all or featured in a diminished capacity. Not exactly what I would’ve dreamed of, but we shall see...

I guess I got off the bus at the right time, then!

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

Ail-rhyddhad Guerrilla i ddathlu ei ugain-mlwyddiant. Wedi'w ail-fastro o'r tapiau gwreiddiol. Ar gael i'w rhag-archebu rwan: https://t.co/Dw8ZUkKgEO

The 20th anniversary edition of Guerrilla. Remastered from the original tapes available to pre-order now: https://t.co/Dw8ZUkKgEO pic.twitter.com/QXHzKGiCSm

— super furry animals (@superfurry) September 10, 2019

*loads of incoherent sweary babble; you know the drill*

https://images.backstreetmerch.com/images/products/bands/clothing/sfa/bsi_sfa87.png

I've made my peace. That is dope.

Not at that undope price.

Excited to get the Guerilla vinyl reissue. Just waiting on Phantom Power and that's the five of their albums I love done.

Some nice looking shirts there (and that hat is great too), but yeah those prices are a bit much.

I hope they do In Space at some point. I just need In Space and Rings.

I never clicked with Guerrilla; maybe I’ll take this lil “event” as an opportunity to revisit.

Gruff's new album is really good.

Really? Every one of his solo records since the stellar Yr Atal Genhedlaith has been 1-2 great songs and a bunch of really boring junk to me. And I’m a fanboy/Stan.

9 tracks, about 29 minutes long. Not enough time to annoy.

Though I would say he’s had a respectable solo career so far, the highlights of which are mostly the live performances and the fantastic documentary films. I really enjoyed Babelsberg as well.

But this is an entirely Welsh, snappy record with really interesting production by Muzi.

I’ll pang it up!

Wish all his catalog was on Spotify so I could make a great “best-of” playlist.

Where are you based? I see all his LPs on the USA Spotify.

Canada. We’re missing at least Hotel Shampoo.

Dyfal donc a lanlwythir yr ôl-gatalog...

For Guerrilla's 20th anniversary re-issue, we've uploaded the video for "Do Or Die" in vibrant hi-definition with the newly re-mastered audio to our YouTube channel.

Pre-order Guerrilla: https://t.co/Dw8ZUksFNghttps://t.co/9GBNOGPg3Y

— super furry animals (@superfurry) October 22, 2019

Woah, they recorded a demo for Love Lraft's 'Frequency' during the Guerrilla sessions:

Of these, the triumphant and dense "The Citizen's Band" (originally a hidden track before"Check It Out") is among the most wonderfully tight, blissful, and catchy. Elsewhere, the urgent acoustic number "Hand in Hand" (which would eventually become "Frequency" on Love Kraft) is engrossing. "Y Teimland" packs Paul McCartney-esque piano-based poppiness. "John Spex" is a full-blown electronic jam that's downright hypnotic, if a bit repetitious. Whether it's new material or alternate versions of Guerrilla staples, these add-ons are very cool.

I don't see "Citizens Band" anywhere here

I'm guessing it's still a negative track?

A rewindie...

Though I'm not sure how that works out with the vinyl. Probably just gonna tack it onto that extra b-sides set.

Pretty excited to hear the demos this time. 'Wherever I Lay My Phone" should be interesting.

Guerrilla is probably my favorite album of all time, so I was going to like the reissue anyway, but I think they did a bang-up job on this one. It sounds phenomenal. It’s also got an 11-minute mix of “Somer Things Come from Nothing,” which is a song that I could probably listen to an hour-long mix of. Superb.

The Vinyl doesn't have any extra tracks, though?

Digital/CD.

I don't fuck with vinyl too much anymore, unfortunately.

Citizen's Band follows the main album on Spotify

Citizen's Band is on Side A of the vinyl.

Ar gael i ffrydio yng ngogledd America am y tro cyntaf. 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇸

Now available to stream for the first time in North America. 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇸https://t.co/pWAFHBxgfM

— super furry animals (@superfurry) November 4, 2019

Guerrilla now on North American Spotify. Sadly lacks the extended Some Things.

Listened to the remaster. It's my first time hearing Guerrila in maybe 10 years, and first time ever hearing the b-sides. It's a shame "Citizen's Band" and some of the b-sides aren't on the album proper over, say, "Nightvision", "The Teacher", or "The Door...". Guerrilla is still my least favorite of the early albums by quite a bit, but now I realize it's mostly a matter of what they selected

Turrican came to me in a dream to tell me he'd gotten off the bus

Have you seen him,
Mr Turrican-thread-wrecker?
I'm his bodyguard and protector
Don't remember where I lost him
When did he get off the bus?

'Night Vision' and 'The Teacher' are two of my favs. The latter is a bit light weight, but it's Gruff's ode to Bunf and I love Bunf.

Had a flashback of the Barrowlands 1999 gig after SFA posted the tour poster on IG the other day - I remember both songs being played live, for the only time I can remember. Also only time I can remember seeing an eccied guy dry-humping his friend in time to the outro of Mountain People

Well this was certainly a surprise:

29/01/2020@DasKoolies https://t.co/41rHCzF6Vc pic.twitter.com/Hem4AlGESl

— Shaun Gordon (@slipp3000) January 27, 2020

I presume this means they're back... under a different name.

If you don't recall:

HB: That's right. When we were recording Guerrilla, it was such an overly ostentatious studio, ironically called The Real World. You had so much room. [keyboard/electronics man] Cian started getting bored, I think. There was a lot of waiting around and dissecting, so we ended up starting a parallel band called Das Koolies. We all took on different characters. I think the Stereophonics were next door and they came in to see what we were doing, so we exposed them to Das Koolies. Their late drummer, he was quite taken aback. He said to concentrate on what we were doing.

It's a shame "Citizen's Band" and some of the b-sides aren't on the album proper over, say, "Nightvision", "The Teacher", or "The Door...". Guerrilla is still my least favorite of the early albums by quite a bit, but now I realize it's mostly a matter of what they selected
― Vinnie, Thursday, November 7, 2019 7:15 PM (two months ago)

Completely disagree.

There was actually an interview in the press cycle for 'Guerilla' where they talked about sequencing the album and how the moment they elected to cut 'The Matter of Time' in favor of the 'The Teacher' was a point of no return. 
The initial songs on Guerilla are something like the establishing scenes in Gremlins 2, before the picture descends into plotless anarchy and exaggerated Tex Avery gags take over. The  just exists in its own cartoon universe where the laws of fixed identity don't apply. It's a totally unique entry in alternative rock and its only real companion pieces are by Yann Tomita and Daphne and Celeste. 

The period leading up to the release of 'Guerilla' was easily the most exciting time to be a SFA fan and I've coveted these demos and outtakes ever since. But the biggest surprise turned out to be the level of inspiration in the oldest demo for 'Colorblind'. Before it was fleshed out into a full song and given a plodding classic rock arrangement, 'Colorblind' was a mission statement that encapsulated the over-the-top zaniness of Guerilla and had the potential to be one of its central tracks. I can almost hear Joe Dante's gremlins on vocals. 

'Fire in My Heart' is the only real dud. It's too earnest and too obvious at the same time. I think Gruff probably intended it to be the token country number per his "jukebox" concept, but that intention was lost in the band's interpretation of the song. 
Just like 'Mario Man' subtly foreshadowed the turn they would take on 'Radiator', 'Citizens Band' is unfortunately the track that resonates with the RATW-Love Kraft period of SFA. I enjoyed it very much, but never would have believed that it pointed out the direction of their future. When Gruff said 'Guerilla' was going to be both the most experimental thing they'd done and also the most pop, you thought they'd continue along vaguely those lines rather than go on to make records that Mojo magazine readers would salivate over. 

It's only through the lens of their Epic albums that Guerilla feels like an outlier in their catalog, or whatever Stereogum wrote. At the time it was almost the culmination of everything they'd promised, though its goofiness came as a surprise. No matter; 'Guerilla' will go down as the time the Super Furry Animals' antics got the better of them and they couldn't hold a record together. They would never be that cool again. 

Put 'Matter of Time' on the album and take 'The Teacher' off, and all this is negated. 

Re: the talk upthread about whether they should have packed it in sooner, I can live without everything they did after Mwng. Not that they've ever made a bad record by any means, but Rings established a stylistic continuity coupled with a rounding off of their edges that characterizes all 3 Epic albums, and that their third act never redeemed. There are some excellent bits of music on all of their albums but that was the last thing I would ever want or expect from SFA and I'm baffled that nobody else seems to think so. All lack the urgency of their late '90s material and 'Love Kraft' seemed like a natural place to stop.

Kinda hoping this Das Koolies record is more outtakes from Guerilla rather than a new project with Gruff absent or involved a diminished capacity,  which is probably what it is.