Next single 'Sitting And Reading' available digitally on July 26th!!!
New album 'Liquorice' out now!!!
Buy it from all good independent shops, www.amazon.co.uk, www.hmv.com, www.play.com or straight from us. Also available digitally on www.groundlift.org, iTunes and all the usual places.
www.youtube.com/frenchforcartridge
www.myspace.com/frenchforcartridge
www.twitter.com/dinnerwithdaisy
UPCOMING GIGS:
Sep 2nd - Zenith Bar, London
Sep 19th - Dinner With Daisy Club Night @ Jamboree, London
www.dinnerwithdaisy.com
17 July 2010
The Luxembourgish album release party was just as fun as we thought it would be!
Around 400 people came to celebrate with us at the legendary Atelier and fun was had by one and all! We were told in advance that the clued-in continental crowds demand longer sets than the quick bursts of energy that London-venues prefer, so we enjoyed playing pretty much all the songs we know...as well as a rather unusual interpretation of the Marseillaise in honour of the French national day and a new, very creative cover of an old Counting Crows favourite. Yes, Counting Crows - you heard right. Perhaps we'll play it at our next UK gig too.
You can have a look at some photos from the night over here.
The days before saw some frenetic media activity with Catherine pretty much taking over the Luxembourg media it seems. Have a look at her on national direct TV here - Catherine is on about halfway through. There were also a couple of interviews on RTL radio, Eldoradio, 100.7 as well as Tageblatt, Luxembourg Wort, L'Essentiel etc - all of which probably are available somewhere on the net if you have a look. Here's one of them.
If you didn't get your hands on the new album at the party, you can get your copy at CD Buttek beim Palais, Sound on Grand Rue or the usual internet outlets. To buy one of the lovely T-shirts click yourself over here.
Hopefully see you in Luxembourg again soon!
07 July 2010
Our next single, 'Sitting And Reading', will be out on July 26th and available digitally on iTunes, Amazon and all other places around the world that have mp3s on the menu!
Our very special French version of a very special French song is yet to receive its legal permission to be released, so instead we've got an equally special une cartouche remix as the B-side! That's right, une cartouche is French for cartridge and is the name of our experimental side project. So, we've taken the little avant-pop gem that is "Sitting And Reading" and transformed it into avant-avant, if you like. It's quite fun though!
And if you're living in Luxembourg or environs, don't forget the record release party on July 14th at the Atelier! It's gonna be a very fun night, so tell all your friends and make sure to reserve your free tickets at www.frenchforcartridge.com/event
Also look out for us on TV, radio and a couple newspapers in the days leading up to the party...We'll update www.twitter.com/dinnerwithdaisy with all the latest details as we get them.
23 June 2010
The gig at London Festival of Architecture has been confirmed and will take place on Bromley-by-Bow High St as part of Walk The Line - for more info on this great project have a look at www.walktheline.at.
We're playing at 5 o'clock, which kind of clashes with the football...but if you need a musical alternative or some post-game fun, this should be a really fun one and a bit different from our usual sets. We'll be performing as a duo, but have managed to cram in quite a few instruments as well as a couple of toys into the set! Well worth catching.
And in other news, we're very excited to return to Luxembourg for a gig at the legendary Atelier! This will be a free party to celebrate the release of 'Liquorice', but you need to reserve a ticket over here. It's going to be a great night! Details of DJs and other bands to follow!
16 June 2010
Last week was great! The gig supporting Stereo Total was so much fun and they turned out to be a very nice and polite couple - we like that. We had Henri's brother Anssi on bass with us for this one and a bit of extra low end never hurt anyone.
Our next gig will be on June 27th at London Festival of Architecture in Bow somewhere. It all still depends on some local council licence, but it should be a fun one so stick it in your diary - we'll keep you posted.
09 June 2010
Tomorrow we'll take to the stage supporting one of our favourite bands, Stereo Total, at 93 Feet East - can't wait!! Hope to see lots of you people there! More info at www.birdonthewire.net
And on Sunday we'll be screening all the 'Liquorice' videos at the Dinner With Daisy Club Night. Henri's other band Icons of Elegance will also be playing and one of Catherine's pieces for solo baritone and 6 transistor radios will be premiered amongst other equally brilliant stuff. I wouldn't miss that one either. www.dinnerwithdaisy.com for all the details.
In other good news, we're not pretentious art school drone or at least that's what the nice chap at www.playingoutloud.co.uk thinks!
"They have taken a batch of simple pop songs and slightly distorted them into the kind of left field sound that will no doubt preclude them from the mainstream but see them lauded as cult heroes of the indie scene."
Sounds good to us.
26 May 2010
The public has spoken. The overwhelming majority thought we should put out 'Sitting And Reading' as our next single, so 'Sitting And Reading' it is! This was our favourite too, but your help made it a lot easier...
The video for 'A Hundred And One', directed by Dorna Aslanzadeh, was screened at Bray Music Video Festival in Ireland last week and seems to be getting loads of hits on our youtube-channel as well. It's a brilliant video - you should take a look!
19 May 2010
We've got a digital single coming out soon, but there's two small issues. One is we've made a rather brilliant cover version of a French rapper to go as a virtual B-side with it, but it turns out we were a bit too creative and it now counts as an adaption rather than a cover...and adaptations need special permission, which we are currently waiting for.
Our second issue is we can't quite decide what should be the A-side! If you've got any suggestions we'd very much appreciate your input. If you don't own the album yet you can get hold of it in all the usual places or have a listen to it for free on Spotify. There's also some brilliant videos to watch over on www.youtube.com/frenchforcartridge. Email us your suggestions to info (at) frenchforcartridge (dot) com and you'll also have a chance to win a copy of the very limited vinyl edition of "Liquorice" that's coming out later in summer. We did the cutting for that last week and are just about to send it all of to the press - very exciting!
Tickets are going fast for our gig supporting Stereo Total in June - make sure you get yours in time from www.wegottickets.com or www.ticketweb.co.uk. Also on the bill are The Notes, so it should be a good night all in all.
12 May 2010
Mr Stephen McLeod of www.artrocker.com has some very nice things to say about Liquorice:
"This is a delightful oddity of an album, with all the integrity of an indie heavyweight, but all the jovial frivolity of a European circus. They’re not trying too hard to be ‘weird’, or to bother fitting into any particular style or direction, which is refreshing. A casual meander into the world of sound. Brilliant."
And along the same lines we find Ms Emma Gould of www.roomthirteen.com:
" A very sweet record as the title and cover would suggest; twee indie sits comfortably next to a theatricality that brings to mind comparisons to Regina Spektor and The Dresden Dolls and makes things quite interesting."
Quite right. Read the reviews in full on respective websites.
The first Dinner With Daisy Club Night was a success! We were entertained and captivated by some great people and the settings of Jamboree were perfect for it. The next one is on June 13th and will feature our label mates Icons of Elegance, KawaKawa and a French For Cartridge TV set (we'll be screening all our videos from the new album - that is the correct word, no?) plus lots of other fantastic stuff, we'll keep you posted.
05 May 2010
We're featured on this month's Eppy Gibbon Podcast, where our new album is decribed as "bristling with energy, invention and melody." OK then! Lots of other eclectic and rather brilliant music on this podcast as always - find it at www.epilepticgibbon.co.uk
And if you're fluent in Spanish or just like really good music - head over to http://cieloliquido.canalextremadura.es for the Cielo Liquido-show. Another quality radio program we've been played on at a number of occasions this spring. Gracias.
Don't forget the show this Sunday at the Dinner With Daisy Club Night and grab those tickets for the Stereo Total gig in June while there still are some left!! All the info you need is in the previous two posts.
28 April 2010
Unfortunately, the night we were due to play in Oxford next month has been cancelled - booh! But we're told there will be a rescheduled date very soon - yay!
However, the first instalment of the Dinner With Daisy Club Night on May 9th is still very much going ahead! Read more about it in the previous post and come along for a relaxing way to end the weekend with yours truly and lots of other great stuff.
Also very much happening is our June 10th gig supporting Stereo Total. This is one of our favourite bands and a gig you really shouldn't miss - get advance tickets from www.wegottickets.com or www.ticketweb.co.uk before they sell out.
31 March 2010
We had a great time playing to lots of new faces last Saturday - thank you to God Don't Like It for having us there!
Our next gig will be on 9 May when we headline the Dinner With Daisy Club Night and this promises to be a really fun night mixing up different styles and mediums - sort of like a continuation of the pop-up shop we had last month at Speedie's. You should stick it in your diary now already, we think.
Here's what it says about it all on www.dinnerwithdaisy.com:
Dinner With Daisy Records is proud to present its first label night at Jamboree in Cable Street Studios!
As a label that serves as an umbrella for various art forms it’s only fitting that you’ll get a varied and fun programme of events! This first instalment is based around solo performances – we have the vocal wizardry of beat-boxer Deej Walde, a solo set from Huw Stephens-favourite Dimbleby & Capper and a one-woman-play by actress Sibylla Meienberg. To top it all off, we’ll serve a full band set by label founders and art-pop deviants French For Cartridge as well as an Icons of Elegance DJ set. House of Boing will provide the suitably fashionable dresses for the evening!
24 March 2010
We’re back on stage this Saturday courtesy of über-cool club night God Don’t Like It on March 27th. We’ll be supporting the rather marvellous Meursault and Magic Lantern. It’s a Saturday night and we’re on first, so all you people with real jobs needn’t worry this time! It all takes place downstairs at The Slaughtered Lamb, which is a great pub in Clerkenwell that serves very decent food upstairs and is generally clean and nice. More info at www.theslaughteredlambpub.com and www.goddontlikeit.com Hope you can make it!
There’s some other stuff to look forward to in the next few months as well. First of all there’ll be another digital single with some extra stuff attached to it and later in spring a very limited vinyl edition of the album. We’ll also be launching a Dinner With Daisy Records club night in May as a sort of continuation of the things that went on at the pop-up shop last month – music, art, theatre all wrapped in one, maybe even some liquorice...Finally, on June 10th we’ll be supporting Stereo Total, which we’re well excited about!! They’re the best multi-lingual husband/wife duo/band ever!
10 March 2010
"This band is truly something unique", says another nice reviewer about Liquorice on www.callupontheauthor.com
We've compiled some of the reviews for Oooh!/Picture Negative in one place here, if you fancy a look - many nice words that make us blush.
And if you need a new T-shirt you should definitely head over to www.totomerch.com/shop/french_for_cartridge to get your hands on some very cool French For Cartridge designs made by Stephanie Pau - they come in many, many colours, collect them all!!
3 March 2010
The rest of the album videos are now up on www.youtube.com/frenchforcartridge. Have a look at some great moving pictures made by Riccardo Arena, Ebba Erikzon, Dorna Aslanzadeh, Francisca Bancalari, Ellan Parry & James Burton, Alexia Anastasiadis, Damien Beaton, Christina Zaris and French For Cartridge for each of the album tracks. Let us know what you think!
22 February 2010
Some very talented people have made videos for each of the tracks on 'Liquorice' and you can now head over to our YouTube-channel on www.youtube.com/frenchforcartridge to watch the first five! The other half will be up next week, so don't miss them.
We've also added some more pictures to the pop-up shop diary below here for those of you who missed all the fun!
And there's another very nice 4/5 review on www.godisinthetvzine.co.uk saying that "Liquorice is an early contender for sleeper hit of the year, fusing together mischief and inventiveness. The album branches out beyond the usual constrained art pop boundaries, flying out of the common room and landing smack bang into the exhibit hall." Yay!
20 February 2010
The first reviews of 'Liquorice' have started to drop in and they are all good!!!
www.loudhorizon.com gives it 8.5/10 and enjoys how things "seem to collide in a glorious cacophony of discordant noise...all the toys in the cupboard have come to life and are engaging a celebratory dance."
The reviewer at www.contactmusic.com on the other hand falls for the melodies rather than the noise. He explains how he thinks the more experimental bits "may grab the attention and draw a new audience but its the quality of their more conventional songs that will give them longevity." Nice.
And finally, we quite like it how the guy at www.subba-cultcha.com thinks we are "a mental band who hop, skip and jump between styles like an Olympian jack of all trades hopped off his tits on ecstacy and ‘Ludes", but still can't help recommending us "mental little buggers" to his mates.
FRENCH FOR CARTRIDGE POP-UP SHOP
February 8th - 14th
Celebrating the release of "Liquorice" with a week of exclusive art and live performances at Speedie's, 81 Redchruch St, London E2 7DJ
Open every day 11AM-7PM
Feb 8th
Opening of shop and release of "Liquorice" 11AM
An acoustic set by French For Cartridge feat. DJ Walde (beat-box) 6PM
Feb 9th
Angharad Davies and Tim Parkinson (www.angharaddavies.com www.untitledwebsite.com) 1PM
Feb 10th
KawaKawa (www.myspace.com/kawakawamusic)1PM
KawaKawa + Icons of Elegance (www.iconsofelegance.com) 6PM
Feb 11th
John Cage's 'Cartridge Music' performed by French For Cartridge + guests
Feb 12th
Writer Alexia Anastasiadis (www.alexiaanastasiadis.co.uk) 6PM
------ Record release party Feb 12th 7.30PM - 00.30AM French For Cartridge (full set) with KawaKawa in support plus DJs ------
Feb 13th
Virtuoso recorder duo Saltarello (www.saltarello.co.uk) 3PM
Feb 14th
Actress Sibylla Meienberg performs 'A Love Story' 3PM
Ansuman Biswas (www.ansuman.com) 4.30PM
une cartouche perform graphic scores from 'Carrigal' (a collaborative one-off book featuring graphic scores and art based on the Carrigal farm in Ireland made by Harald Turek, Triona Ryan and une cartouche.) 6PM
Closing ceremony 7PM
All week - sound installation by Mika Sellens (www.mikasellens.com)
Throughout the week you'll also be able to watch specially-made videos for each song off the album, buy exclusive artwork, enjoy liquorice-tea, take part in a liquorice monkey-making competition and lots of other fun stuff - pop by at any time even if you can't make it for a performance!
www.speediesvintage.blogspot.com
Pop-up shop – Day 7
I still have not managed to stop eating liquorice as we set up for the last day at Speedie's. We've decided to go out with a bang and have lots of different stuff coming up today for the hordes of Sunday-market tourists and local hipsters alike. We make some new friends and some curious audience members keep staying longer and longer as the day progresses. The liquorice-monkey competition gets quite a few last minute entries.
As it is Valentine's Day we get to enjoy Sibylla Meienberg's one-man-play "A Love Story" - a series of monologues in English and German centred around today's theme. Great stuff.
And Ansuman Biswas never disappoints! This fantastic performance artist/musician keeps us captivated with a mixture of percussion, flute, bells and singing.
Today we also have 'Carrigal' on display. This is a one-off book made by Harald Turek, Triona Ryan and Catherine Kontz featuring photographs, maps, graphic scores and a 7" vinyl all inspired by the Carrigal farm in Ireland. As we listen to the strangely rhythmic and musical collage made from recordings of milking machines, the sounds seamlessly float into une cartouche performing some of the graphic scores in the book.
This is the last performance of the week! But those in the audience that stay behind still vote for the winner of the liquorice-monkey making competition. It's a close call with only one vote deciding the winner, but in the end one of the amateur contestants edge ahead of the professional entry we were pretty sure all week would win.
As the winner is announced and the shop is closed, the evening ends with a small impromptu party with some bubbles served in our nice Dinner With Daisy paper cups.
It's been such a great week!! A big thank you to Speedie for having us in his shop and to all the performers, audience members and curious passers-by we've had the privilige to spend time with! Look out for a continuation of all the events in form of a Dinner With Daisy club night later in the year...
Pop-up shop – Day 6
It is a rather sleepy, but happy French For Cartridge that make their way to Speedie's for another day of pop-up shopness! The 7" singles are flying off the shelf today and we have to go and get some more. Saltarello turn up and entertain us with their recorders with music ranging from medieval dances to modern dissonant pieces - very nice!
Speedie's assistant Anneka does not utter a word the whole day because she is upset the week is drawing to a close.
Pop-up shop – Day 5
Tonight is the actual release party! Spend most of the day driving back and forth with equipment and furniture, emptying the store a little bit to make room for the fun. Alexia Anastasiadis reads her captivating poetry/storytelling around 6 o'clock - it's so good she has to do it twice.
By 9 o'clock the store is rammed with people and KawaKawa plays a blindingly good set! More people arrive and French For Cartridge play an, I'd like to think, equally blinding set! People seem to love it, we enjoy playing, we sell lots of copies of the fresh album, we party and it does really feel like the record is now finally finished and out there! What a great night!! Thanks to all of you familiar and new faces alike for joining in and helping us to celebrate this!
Now a short nap before we continue tomorrow.
Pop-up shop – Day 4
Today is so much fun!! Ever since forming the band we've wanted to perform the John Cage piece we've taken our name from. Today we finally get to perform Cartridge Music and it turns out it was a fitting choice to draw inspiration from - it's experimental and a lot of fun at the same time!!
The score takes ages to decipher, but we manage to sort it out. Lots of dots and lines, but they all serve a purpose.
The piece involves a lot of running around, moving furniture and fighting over who plays which cartridge. Speedie's is perfect for this, wtih four record players from different decades scattered around the shop. I especially like the portable one with matching yellow speakers, but the instruments of the day are definitely the hoover and the bar stool that we miced up for this. Nothing beats the sound of an old hoover.
A big thank you to Speedie and James Bull for helping us perform this!
The liquorice-monkey competition also gets lots of new entries today. Nothing should of course be said before the judges have had their final say, but there is one clear front-runner at the moment for the winner of the grand prize which is a dinner with Daisy.
Tomorrow is the big party with a full French For Cartridge set as well as KawaKawa supporting - very much looking forward to that!!
Pop-up shop – Day 3
Manage to stay away from the liquorcie for about half an hour. Hope there's some left for everyone coming at the weekend.
Today is reserved for the other artists on Dinner With Daisy Records - KawaKawa and Icons of Elegance. And boy are they good! KawaKawa treats us to a lunchtime set of his beautiful melodic songs with a slight gospel/old-timey yet modern feel and Catherine and Henri join in on cello, organetta and backing vocals.
In the evening there's more KawaKawa plus we have the rare privilege of seeing some Icons of Elegance tunes perfromed live in the UK! One brother is missing, but nevertheless it's great. Inbetween sets Henri's organetta seems to be very popular with Speedie's customers, but it is of course not for sale!
All the events are fantastic, but as you may have gathered there's also lots of other things going on at the store all week. Catherine and Speedie's helper Cyril find Mika Sellens' sound installation particularly enjoyable today.
Right, getting ready for tomorrow already - ever since forming the band we've wanted to perform John Cage's Cartridge Music and we can't wait to finally get to do it.
Pop-up shop – Day 2
Starting to show signs of a liquorice addiction.
Highlight of the day is Tim Parkinson and Angharad Davies improvising with various objects and instruments scattered around the store creating a fantastic world of sound that should never go away. This is preceeded by Tim's equally mesmerizing piece for melodica, chopping boards and cork.
You can tell Speedie's assistant Anneka is also really getting into it. In the background you can see the Dinner With Daisy TV showing all the "Liquorice" videos.
And here's a nice review about last night's performance on www.history-is-made-at-night.blogspot.com/2010/02/french-for-cartridge.html
Pop-up shop – Day 1
After some frantic last minute arranging the pop-up shop opens its doors to its first customer just after eleven o’clock! As it goes the person in question is a theatre designer and has a good eye for visual details, so we get a last polish of it all on top of our first sale – yay! Everything seems to be in place and all the liquorice is very popular at least with the Nordic section of the band…
DJ Walde joins us for an ‘acoustic’ set at 6 o’clock. It's good fun to play the new songs a bit differently with DJ’s beat-boxing and general vocal wizardry sounding great. Speedie’s assistant Tanja joins in on some percussion…We’ll try and post some of it on Youtube soon.
08 February 2010
“Liquorice” is officially out today!!
You can buy it from all good record shops as well as www.hmv.com, www.amazon.co.uk and www.play.com etc. It’s of course also available on iTunes and all the usual digital download sites, but if you’re digitally inclined you should consider heading over to www.groundlift.org where you’ll get it for slightly cheaper and in 16-bit CD quality with a digital booklet beautifully designed by Damien Beaton.
We’ve been overwhelmed by all the great reviews for the 7” that was released late last year – 4 stars in Artrocker, some very nice words in The Wire, Organ-recommended and appearances in numerous other blogs and magazines. If you agree with all these people, we think you’ll like the album too! It’s a 10-song-strong collection of beautiful and fun tunes that should hopefully keep you surprised all the way through. Recorded in Finland and the UK, we worked very hard on this for most of last year and the icing on the cake was the fantastic mix made by S. Husky Hoskulds, which added another creative layer! Can’t wait for all of you to finally get to hear it!
Now, as you may already know, to celebrate all of this we’re opening a French For Cartridge pop-up shop TODAY at Speedie’s on Redchurch St in Shoreditch, London!! Later on tonight, Feb 8th, we’ll play a short acoustic set together with DJ Walde on beat-box at 6 o’clock, which promises to be a bit different from our usual sets. And on Friday Feb 12th you can see a full electric set in all its French For Cartridge glory when there’s a big release party 7.30 ‘til late! We’re on at 10, KawaKawa is supporting at 9 - it’s free and the drinks will be cheap, so do come along!
BUT there’s plenty of other events happening all week as well with lots of talented friends and artists doing their thing! And you get a chance to enjoy specially made videos for each of the album tracks, buy exclusive artwork and T-shirts, take part in a liquorice-monkey making competition and loads of other fun stuff. Have a look at the full programme above here. All events are free and we’re there every day from 11AM-7PM, so you can pop by anytime you like for a cup of liquorice tea with us.
If you’re not living in London, you can follow each day’s events on our online diary and we’ll also be posting footage from all the different performances on Youtube.
1 February 2010
The new French For Cartridge album, ‘Liquorice’, will be released next Monday 8th February!
To celebrate this Dinner With Daisy Records presents the FRENCH FOR CARTRIDGE POP-UP SHOP at Speedie’s, London, 8th-14th February 2010.
Open 11AM-7PM every day with performances by French For Cartridge feat. beat-boxer DJ Walde (8th), Angharad Davies and Tim Parkinson (9th), Icons of Elegance and KawaKawa (10th), a performance of John Cage’s ‘Cartridge Music’ by French For Cartridge and guests (11th), Alexia Anastasiadis and a special late-night release gig and party with French For Cartridge and support by KawaKawa (12th), avant-recorder duo Saltarello (13th), Sibylla Meienberg’s ‘A Love Story’, Ansuman Biswas and une cartouche playing graphic scores from the ‘Carrigal’ project (14th).
Plus video installations, a sound installation by Mika Sellens, exclusive artwork, T-shirts, complimentary liquorice tea and a ‘liquorice-monkey’ competition.
It’s going to be a fun week! All the details you need are above here – hope you can join us at some point either for an event or just to say hi!
16 January 2010
Happy New Year!!
We’re back on stage on January 18th when we will perform at The Pleasance Theatre in Islington. Part of an evening of new work from the Release The Hounds-theatre company, it will feature a live score by une cartouche (the more experimental side of what we do) as well as a full French For Cartridge band set. It should be a really fun night and will only cost you £3, so do come along! More info over at www.pleasance.co.uk
February 8th-14th will see us celebrate the release of our new album, "Liquorice", with a pop-up shop at Speedie's Vintage that will feature lots of exciting stuff - special performances from us and various talented friends scattered around the week, exclusive artwork, videos for all album tracks, T-shirts etc etc. And a proper release party on February 12th - stick it in your diary now! The full program will be announced soon on here.
Finally, the 7" with Oooh! and Picture Negative has been out there now for a while and keeps getting loads of great reviews on blogs and in magazines alike - we'll try and get them all up on our website as well. If you haven't gotten yourself a copy yet you can buy it from www.roughtrade.com, www.puregroove.com and all the usual good indie shops or download from iTunes. It's quite good.
07 December 2009
Our double A-side 7" "Oooh!/Picture Negative" gets its official release today!! It's been getting loads of great reviews and we're quite excited that you can now go to an actual record shop and buy it from a real person over the counter! Or from iTunes if you prefer that.
You can of course also buy it straight from us or follow these links below here and get it delivered straight to your front door. Each 7" comes beautifully packaged and also includes a download voucher for both songs as well as an extra track that won't be on the forthcoming album. It'll cost you £3.50 and be worth every penny.
www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=320625
www.puregroove.co.uk/itemview.aspx?item=1160
www.banquetrecords.com/DWDFFC091
Now if you order it straight away you'll probably get it tomorrow or the day after, which means you have a couple of days to learn the lyrics by heart and come and join us on Thursday December 10th when we're playing at Rhythm Factory in Whitechapel, London. We're on at 9.45, it costs £5 to get in and all the other bands have been described as sounding like Deerhoof so it should be a fun night if that's true! This is our last gig before Christmas, so do make the most of it! Rhythm Factory is easily found right inbetween Aldgate East and Whitcehapel tube stations on 16-18 Whitechapel Rd or a short walk from Aldgate and Liverpool St. www.rhythmfactory.co.uk
We'll start the New Year with a bang supporting the fantastic GaBLé at Old Queen's Head on January 6th - tickets are selling fast for this one so it's best to buy in advance from www.bloodyawfulpoetry.com ! After that there will be slightly different sorts of gigs around the release of "Liquorice" on February 8th, but more on that later...
26 November 2009
Thank you so much to everyone who came to Club Fandango last night, we had such a great time! Hope you enjoyed the dancing penguins too.
We've just gotten the master of the forthcoming album. As you may know, it's called Liquorice and will be out February 8th on Dinner With Daisy Records. As a taster from the album we'll put up a few songs from it over on www.myspace.com/frenchforcartridge over the next few months. We thought we'd start with A Hundred And One and TV Dinner as the demo versions of these have been up for a while and some of you may be interested in seeing how the songs have evolved!
A Hundred And One is pretty much the same track with some added drums and bass by Anssi Vaxby and Harri Ala-Kojola and a great mix by Husky Hoskulds, whereas TV Dinner has been completely re-recorded, but still retains a lot of the same ideas and energy!
Incidentally, these two songs are available on Pink, Yellow, Red and Green, a digital EP exclusively available on www.groundlift.org. Groundlift is a new web label/artist community that we're very honoured to be part of. Lots of great stuff on there including Henris and his brother Anssis band, Icons of Elegance, and people such as Matt Chamberlain, Roger Manning Jr. & Brian Reitzell, Daniel Carson etc etc. All the downloads are 16-bit CD quality and cheaper than iTunes so if you prefer you're music digitally that's a great place to start.
The other two tracks on the EP are Oooh! and Picture Negative, which of course are the two single tracks released on 7inch on December 7th. If you'd like to get your hands on one of these, you can pre-order it for £3.50 from www.roughtrade.com right now!
Our next gig is on December 10th at the Rhythm Factory in Whitechapel - hope to see you there if you're around!
23 November 2009
Quite a few blogs have popped up with reviews of the single and it definitely seems we have the fish people on our side!
Here is what The Devil Has The Best Tuna has to say about us:
Une Cartouche Is...
London's genre defying, style blending, art-pop geniuses (or should that be genii?) Cartridge changed their name to the very similar if slightly longer French For Cartridge. While they've been busy changing their name they've thankfully not tinkered around with their incomparable sound.
If you check your dictionary (do people still have dictionaries in these days of the internet and smart phones??) for the definition of unique you'll find a picture of French For Cartridge. If you don't then you need a new dictionary.
The duo's new single 'Oooh!' has more originality than a Salvidor Dali retrospective, a Terry Gilliam box set and a Yoko Ono happening. If you don't check it out today your ears will never forgive you!
French for Cartridge herald the changing of the avant-garde.
http://besttuna.blogspot.com/2009/11/une-cartouche-is.html
We're blushing! And furthermore we are tune of the day over on www.tunatheday.com
Today's TunA is a weird and wonderful piece of discordant art-pop/jazz that could easily have fallen from the pen of Bjork, Regina Spektor or Mariah Carey (probably not the last one).
That's it! Don't forget the Club Fandango gig on Wednesday Nov 25th if you're around!
18 November 2009
The official release of Oooh!/Picture Negative - the first single from our forthcoming new album Liquorice on Dinner With Daisy Records - getting closer! On December 7th you will be able to get this rather nice and beautifully packaged double A-sided piece of black vinyl from all quality record shops. But you can already pre-order it from Rough Trade by following this link: http://www.roughtrade.com/site/shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=320625
It’s well worth its price tag of £3.50 and maybe you’ll find some other goodies in their shop…you’ll of course receive a download voucher of both songs plus an exclusive extra track unlikely to be available anywhere else. We know you’re tempted – just click, click away!
Or perhaps you prefer buying it in person at one of our upcoming gigs? At the same time you’ll get to see the little penguin do its dance on the auto-harp and other fun party tricks accompanied by our music!?
Wednesday November 25th sees us headline Club Fandango at Camden Head, 100 Camden High Street (2 minutes from Camden Town tube). We’re on at 10pm and entrance is a feeble £4 if you download a flyer from www.clubfandango.co.uk - otherwise £5.
Thursday December 10th we can be found at Rhythm Factory over in Whitechapel, 16-18 Whitechapel Rd (a few hundred meters from either Aldgate East or Whitechapel tube) and again it’s only a fiver to get in.
These will probably be our last gigs before the album release in February, around which time there will be slightly different kind of things happening live-wise, so do make the most of it and come along!!!
Finally, here’s what Byron Coley writes about us in the latest issue of The Wire:
London art pop duo with a sound that's somewhere between Japanese twinkle-core and David Vorhaus on one side, and is wedged between The Left Banke and music for Disney films on the flip. Pretty damn progressive! In an arch sort of way.
Nice!
08 October 2009
You've been able to get our new single "Oooh!/Picture Negative" straight from us for a little while, but it will now get its official release on November 30th through Dinner With Daisy Records! That's when you'll be able to go to nice record shops and buy it from real persons with real smiles or if you prefer downloads from iTunes for an automated shopping experience.
To coincide there are a few gigs coming up in London - it would be lovely to see some of you there! We've got lots of new songs and we'll play some old favourites for you too. Check out the dates and links above for more information.
Hopefully see you soon!
09 September 2009
Oooh! got its first UK radioplay on the brilliant Organ radio show on Resonance FM last Sunday. Apparently also where the fresh Mercury Prize winner got her first plays so you never know...Either way, Organ always play and support good new music, so make sure to check them out on www.organart.net
You might also have heard us on The Svelte Selection and The Epileptic Gibbon, two great internet shows and podcasts which are definitely worth a listen:
http://www.last.fm/user/thesvelteone/journal
http://www.epilepticgibbon.wordpress.com/
Over in Luxembourg we’ve been playlisted on DNR and played by Tribute To Malkmus on Radio Ara. Both stations also had us over for a chat when we played there a couple of months ago as did the venerable RTL! We’ve put some pictures from the festival on our myspace for you to have a look at.
And in case you’re wondering what it all sounds like, here is what Artrocker has to say about the single:
“French For Cartridge’s recently released double A-side 7"/download EP with Oooh! and Picture Negative is a bizarre mix of piano, dreamy guitar twiddlings and almost sounds like Mary Poppins on an acid trip.
‘Oooh!’ starts off with an almost cringe-worthy dark ‘Oooh!’ none the less, which seems a bit forced, but quickly makes up for it with its jaunty carnival like bounce. I feel like I’m always comparing bands with female vocalists to Deerhoof, but it’s not a bad thing, and in this case is definitely true - on this track at least.
‘Picture Negative’ is probably my preferred one out of the two tracks, but only just. Henri’s vocals lightly introducing the sounds to our ears, and then when the main melody kicks in, we have a definite resemblance to the Magic Numbers - if they were a bit more obscure and less smiley. (Who said anything about crash diets?!)
This band are fair-ground, and probably what Alice would have as a soundtrack if she fell down the rabbit hole in 2009, and was confronted with scary bobbing sunflowers.
Check out the band’s Myspace here - and order the EP there. Tell them to hurry up and release a second album whilst you’re there. I want more.”
- Stephen McLeod –
www.artrocker.com
Actually we think that’s a very good idea – why don’t you click on this link and buy yourself a copy for £3.50 + postage: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=7240622
26 June 2009
So, we've sent off the 7" to be pressed and should have it ready for you sometime mid-July. But if you can't wait, you can pre-order it already now over on www.myspace.com/frenchforcartridge. Not only will we be extremely grateful for your interest and support, but we'll also send you high quality mp3s plus an extra track so you can enjoy it all straight away! The bonus freebie is unlikely to be available anywhere else, so make the most of it!
The A-side, Oooh!, has already been up for a while and we've also added Picture Negative to our player in case you want to have a listen before you buy. And if vinyl isn't your thing, it's available on iTunes as well!
5 June 2009
We had a great time at the Foundry playing some new songs for old friends and new faces alike! Literally falling off tables while doing so...
And now, finally, we have the great pleasure to announce that we’ve finished the first single from the new album! It will be out on vinyl and download later in summer on Dinner With Daisy Records, but you can already hear the A-side on www.myspace.com/frenchforcartridge. It’s called Oooh! and is a suitably jolly piece of music with lots of fun things going on! An action-packed 2 minutes and 12 seconds is what is on offer.
We’re very lucky to have worked with Icelandic sound wizard S. Husky Hoskulds, who has sprinkled some of his magic on the mixes just like he’s done on albums by Tom Waits, Mike Patton, Joe Henry and My Brightest Diamond before us! So far he has done all the work over in LA while we’ve been stuck in the fog in London, but we’re hoping a trip to Iceland is imminent for the rest of the tracks!
The single will be a double-A side, with Picture Negative as the other song - we’ll let you know when that’s up on myspace, but in the meantime have a listen to Oooh! and let us know what you think!
And remember:
“Pink, yellow, red and green!”
25 May 2009
Here are more details for the June gigs:
On June 3rd we’re back with Kabarett Spielraum for another night of art and music at The Foundry in Old Street, London. We’re promised poetry, comedy and strangely incidental noises from Robin Ince, Transfere Project and Grassy Noel as well as our apparently perfect pop! It should be good fun and it’s all absolutely free – don’t miss it!
If you haven’t been to The Foundry before it’s probably worth just for that. Plus you’ll get a chance to hear our forthcoming single live for the first time, while it’s being mixed somewhere in sunny California! We’re on last so probably 9.30/10 o’clock, but get there early for all the other stuff. Oh, and there’s lots of different art exhibitions opening at The Foundry at the same time and DJs Debs Elemental and Spike Spiegel are playing the hits. More info at www.myspace.com/ks23
Unfortunately the gig with Morton Valence on June 4th at the Islington Academy has been postponed, but if you’re one of our Luxembourgish fans you should head to the Rock-A-Field festival on June 28th, when we’ll share the stage with Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand, The Ting Tings and Minipli among others. We’re very much looking forward to that! More info over at www.atelier.lu/raf/
June 3rd – doors 7.30 – Free entry
The Foundry
86 Great Eastern Street
Shoreditch
Tube: Old St/Liverpool St
June 28th – 47€
Rock-A-Field
Roeser
Luxembourg
21 April 2009
Those of you that can’t make it to the Rock-A-Field festival in Luxembourg on June 28th can catch us in London at two gigs earlier in the month instead. On June 3rd we’re back with Kabarett Spielraum at The Foundy in Old Street for some art and music for free! And the next day we’ll be joining the fantastic Morton Valence for Bob and Veronica’s Book Club at Islington Bar Academy – come to one or come to both! We’ll post more details a bit closer to the date.
We’re just back from Finland where we spent a week in the studio recording our new album – we had a great time and can’t wait for you to hear it! There are a couple of rough mixes over on www.myspace.com/frenchforcartridge and the first single should hopefully be out sometime in summer – yay!
24 March 2009
Thanks to everyone who came to The Macbeth a couple of weeks ago - we had a great time and it was lovely to play some new songs and hear all your reactions to it! Look out for some more live gigs in May/June – April will be spent in Finland recording our new album! If you can’t wait, there are a couple of new demos over at www.myspace.com/frenchforcartridge to tie you over till you get the real thing.
We’re also very excited to play the Rock-A-Field festival in Luxemburg on June 28th, sharing the bill with Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand, The Ting Tings and Minipli among others! If you live in Luxemburg or somewhere around, it’ll be well worth the trip. More info over at www.atelier.lu/raf/
19 February 2009
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? A bit too long, but we haven’t exactly been lazy, don’t you worry! And now we’re back with new tricks, new songs and a slightly modified new name!
We’ll be playing at The Macbeth in Hoxton on March 3rd. It’s a night organised by Goodbye Faithful Kingdom! and features the rather excellent line-up of us, Piney Gir & The Age of Reason and The Monroe Transfer. We’re on around 8.30/9 o’clock and it’ll only cost you £5 to get in – there’s more details below if you need them.
We had a few duo gigs in Bristol and London last year, but this time we’ll bring a drummer along. There will be some old favourites, but plenty of new material as well, so we do hope you can make it down and cheer us on!!
We’re also very excited to have finished recording the demos for a new album and have booked a fancy studio in April for the real thing, so you can expect some new additions to you record collection soon. In the meantime we’ve put up a few of the demos on our myspace for you to hear – hope you like them!
As you might know, Tom and Dave left us a while back – for some quality music check out Royal Treatment Plant and Outhouse, which is what they’re up to now!
Oh, and the name? French For Cartridge. We’re the band that takes its name from its side project (‘une cartouche’ - which is French for cartridge, you see) which in turn took its name from what the band used to be called!
March 3rd @ The Macbeth
70 Hoxton Street
Shoreditch
Closest tube: Old Street/Liverpool Street
www.wegottickets.co.uk/event/44126