REVIEWS & NEWS

UPCOMING GIGS:

To book us contact info@dinnerwithdaisy.com

THE NEWS: 

12 January 2012

One of our first supporters way back when was Neil Jenkins on the ever excellent Dandelion Radio and it's good to see him back on air again! Check out his show this month for plenty of good stuff including a feature on our "Liquorice".

And speaking of way back when, it was good to see the svelte one play "Laundry Lullaby" from way back when last month! Check out her fantastic show and blog.


23 December 2011

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

2011 was a great year for us with lots of fun - we're looking forward to 2012 and the new album!


09 November 2011

Don't forget the gig this coming Sunday at the last Dinner With Daisy label night of the year! This will be our last live appearance for a little while - lots of other things to do such as finishing the new album....which is coming along very nice, by the way! We're hoping to finish our bit of it all before Christmas and then it's off to mixing, mastering, cover designing and all those things, so it will be some time before you'll have it in your hands. But it will be worth the wait!

In other news, be sure to check out Neil Jenkins' show on Dandelion Radio this month for some French For Cartridge goodness and lots of other goodness as always from these fantastic supporters of new music. While you have a listen and enjoy it all, take a look at these photos by Peter Fath that we found online, taken at the gig with Morcheeba last July in Luxembourg.

And while you're at it, why don't you have a listen to Epileptic Gibbon going through his favourite albums of last year with our "Liquorice" almost at the top!


20 October 2011

We've got one more gig coming up before the end of the year at the next Dinner With Daisy label night at Jamboree in London. It will be a short, fairly informal, super acoustic affair whilst doors open, so head down early for something quite special! As usual there's lots of other good stuff later on as well, check it out on www.dinnerwithdaisy.com


05 October 2011

Summer was great!

We had lots of fun playing our new songs, supporting Morcheeba and writing even more new tunes! Last weekend, when most of London was out enjoying the strangely hot October weather, we ventured to Fish Factory Studios and recorded the basic tracks for what will become our next album. It's sounding pretty good...watch this space!


13 July 2011

We survived the slightly daunting task of playing the new songs for an audience for the first time! Thank you to everyone who came down to the gig last Sunday - hope you enjoyed the new tunes. Do let us know what you thought of them!

So, this coming Monday you'll find us in Luxembourg supporting Morcheeba at Rockhal and then we're off on a little holiday. That means a break in these weekly posts, but you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter, which is where we'll keep you updated on anything particular that might come up.

Have a good summer!!


06 July 2011

Yesterday we visited the studio where we'll record our next album. It's located in an old fish factory and its walls are lined with pump organs, honky tonk pianos, vibraphones and numerous old synths, so we're expecting to have lots of fun there!

That will be in September some time, but first there's the gig this Sunday. The line-up is both great and varied as usual on these Dinner With Daisy soirees - have a look for yourself and get your tickets in advance from WeGotTickets. Hope to see you there!


29 June 2011

The secret music hall gig last Sunday was great fun!! We played a small acoustic-ish set amidst all sorts of weird memorabilia and a wonderful audience - thanks to everyone who came!

Our summer holiday is just around the corner, but we still have a few more gigs coming up that should be pretty special! And then it's soon off to the studio for our next album - we can't wait! The new songs are coming along very nicely and answer to names like 'Good Citizen', 'The Puddle', 'I'm the Next Addict', 'Old Books', 'Boxes', 'Spider Song', 'Under A Parasol' and 'Henri's New One'. Come to the Dinner With Daisy Club Night on July 10th, if you'd like to hear some of them live!


22 June 2011

Very exciting news for our fans in Luxembourg and the Grande Region!

After last year's super party at den Atelier, we are now back in Luxembourg on July 18th and this time we'll be at the Rockhal supporting Morcheeba! Hope we can see lots of you people again. Best to get your tickets in advance from www.rockhal.lu.

If you can't make it to Luxembourg, don't forget we have a few very special gigs coming up in London as well over the next few weeks - read all about it in post below. Would be lovely to see you!


08 June 2011

Our occasional series of gigs in unusual places continues this month with an abandoned music hall, sort of. We have a secret gig in New Cross on June 26th. We'll be playing a short acoustic set and will be joined by our label mates KawaKawa amongst other things - if you'd like to attend, send us an email to info (at) frenchforcartridge (dot) com and we'll tell you more about it!

And a few weeks later it's time for the next Dinner With Daisy Club Night - have a look over on www.dinnerwithdaisy.com where all the details are now up. It's going to be great!


01 June 2011

Pick up the latest issue of The Tour Times - available for free from record shops, venues and the like around London - for an interview with Catherine discussing albums that have influenced us, recently read books, films and hat designers amongst other things! You can also read the article over here.


25 May 2011

A while back Stephen from Unexpected Bowtie got in touch and asked us to take part in a pretty cool collaborative project, where bands provide him with samples, sounds or song structures and he puts it all together, treating them in a way he finds suitable.

We put on our weirdo-riff hat and sent something nicely twisted off to him and are now waiting for the results! Some quite exciting other names involved as well - have a look here.


18 May 2011

You might be wondering what the new songs we talked about a while back actually sound like? In that case, you're in for a real treat on July 10th when we'll preview some of the new material live for the first time! Yep, we'll skip the hits and play only new songs! The venue is Jamboree in east London and the occassion is the next Dinner With Daisy Club Night. More details about what else is on offer will be up soon, but stick it in your diary already now.


11 May 2011

You missed us, didn't you? Well, we're back and so are these weekly updates!

We were away, but still managed to get a few things done here and there. One of which was a GroundLift video collaboration between S. Husky Hoskulds and various members of this fantastic creative community. If you're in LA, you've still got time to head over to LACDA, where you can see the video installations together with Husky's photo exhibition - it's up for another few days, hurry up! The rest of us can head over to www.groundlift.org for one of the videos with music by Lisa Coleman, Patrcik Warren, Machines for Friends, Danny Frankel and French For Cartridge. Keep going back as there's more to come!


30 March 2011

A few more days left of the super sale over at our shop - make sure you profit while stocks last!! Guys seem to like the 'What's French For Cartridge?' T-shirt a lot whereas girls tend to go for the pretty pink and light blue ones and then there's of course the fantastic gatefold vinyl designed by Damien Beaton. All selling 2 for 1!

We'll be on the travelling foot, so these weekly updates will be back in a few weeks!


23 March 2011

We have a sale over at our shop!

Until the end of the month we are offering 2 for 1 on everything in stock! Yes, unbelievable, isn't it? So, if you buy the beautiful gatefold vinyl, you can have a soft cotton T-shirt for free. Or if you buy a CD, you can have a free tote bag to put it in. Or...well, I'm sure get the point. So, head over to our musical supermarket and buy yourself what you are missing! But hurry up, it's only until March 31st and a lot of the T-shirts have already sold out!


16 March 2011

We've made a new video for "Little People" using footage from the September Dinner With Daisy Club Night with amazing House of Boing costumes and dancers. Crazy stuff! This is what you miss if you don't turn up to these occasional Sunday soirees in east London.

You can find the video over on YouTube and right here on the Watch-page.


09 March 2011

Hope you are finding delight in all the wondrous words on A on the "A Hundred And One" freebie single and perhaps also enjoying a dance or two with the liquorice monkey to the tune of the album?! Meanwhile, those of you longing for new material might be interested in knowing that we're off to the rehearsal room in a couple of days to work on some new songs. In the current batch we have "Hot Air Balloon" that we've already debuted live and also completely fresh ones going by the names of "I'm The Next Addict", "The Puddle" and "Good Citizen". Funfun!

And still more reviews coming in - we've once again brought joy to the folks over at JoyZine, who in very pretty words compare us to snowflakes and ethereal snowdrifts. Catch of the day last week on TunAtheDay was also "A Hundred And One" and judging by the chat on the forum afterwards people liked it!


02 March 2011

Some more reviews for "A Hundred And One" have come in!

Who's Jack like the silky tones and the ever soft voice of the lead singer and over on Pigeons and Planes we get the thumbs up for being weird and lovely! We would settle with just being called either, but both sure makes us happy. Also make sure to check out Vivian Schwarz who's been enjoying listening to French For Cartridge whilst working on her fantastic children's books over in Schwarzville.

For those of you who missed it, the video for "TV Dinner" is now back up on YouTube and our own Watch-page. It's directed by Francisca Bancalari, it features lots of peas and it's brilliant!


16 February 2011

There's been lots of nice reviews and mentions of "A Hundred And One" in the last few days on various blogs etc.

If you were in the Edinburgh area or on the internet you could hear us on LeithFM and their absolutely brilliant Art School Dancing show. The show airs every Monday night and there's always loads of great new and underground music from the past, present and future. Check it out.

The ever brilliant Artrocker.com once again says very nice things about us and we also caught the eye of one of our favourite blogs, The Devil Has The Best Tuna. Although he doesn't seem to appreciate the underarm hair in the video?

Last but not least there is a slightly longer review on LosingToday. They talk about "noir kissed chamber pop" and "Liquorice" being "an absolute gem of an album." We do agree, but we still blush.


09 February 2011

"A Hundred And One" is now out!! Treat yourself to a free download by following the link on the front page - enjoy!


02 February 2011

The last single taken off "Liquorice" is called "A Hundred And One" and will be available as a free download exclusively from our website from February 7th!!

We believe this song has quite a lot going for it - it has a suitably static yet hummable tune, Dorna Aslanzadeh has made an eerily beautiful, award winning video for it AND it's a perfect way of learning more words starting on A. Have a listen, have a look and have one on us from next Monday onwards!


25 January 2011

We have a new single coming out! It will be released as a free download from our website on February 7th and it's a good one! Come back next week when we'll reveal which of the tracks from "Liquorice" it is.

Are you planning on coming down to the Dinner With Daisy Club Night on February 6th and enjoy our impeccable DJing? If you buy your tickets in advance from WeGotTickets, you get a free label sampler mini-CD on the night. Read more about what's on below here.


19 January 2011

Our label night, The Dinner With Daisy Club Night, has reached its fifth instalment!

There's lots of good stuff coming up on February 6th - amongst other things Henri will be performing some of Michael Parsons' guitar music, French For Cartridge will be DJing and Dorna Aslanzadeh who made the fantastic video for our next single will screen one of her short films. Have a look over on www.dinnerwithdaisy.com for full details on who else is performing and where and when.


12 January 2011

Welcome to the New Year!

Have a look at the latest issue of joyzine.org for another good review of "Liquorice" - apparently we helped restore this man's faith in music. Nice! News about our next single release coming soon.


18 December 2010

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

We'd like to say thank you to everyone who has supported us this past year - it's been great fun!!

So much has happened...we released "Liquorice", we had our own little pop-up shop and mini-festival, there was a TV Dinner on national radio, there were gigs in the theatre and on the street, there were lots of very nice words written by some very eminent people, we played with some of our favourite bands and met many lovely new friends - thank you!

Now we're going to have a little rest and be back with new tricks in the new year!


15 December 2010

We've updated the WATCH-page with lots and lots of promo and live pictures as well as most of the Liquorice-videos!! Have a look and keep checking back for more stuff to look at soon.


08 December 2010

A big thank you to Howard at The Local and the lovely chaps of Seeland for a great night at The Slaughtered Lamb last week - hot air balloons and a-ha moments made for plenty of merriment despite the winter weather! Those of you who missed it can tune in to RTL Kultur on Luxembourgish TV and worldwide computer screens on Saturday 18th at 19.00 CET when footage from the night will be screened together with an interview with Catherine.

London Gigs has quickly become the best place to find out what's going on in London in terms of slightly leftfield and just plain good music every night. On Saturday 18th - that's the same night Catherine is on TV - they'll be hosting a party in London and are putting together a compilation CD with the best of 2010 to mark the occassion. We're on it. We're chuffed. Find out more about the party here.


01 December 2010

Our Luxembourgish fans should tune into RTL Tele next Wednesday evening when there will be a short feature on Catherine and her life as a composer and musician in London! We'll try and find out exact times etc and keep you posted.

And those of you who'd like to get a quick glimpse of yourselves onto tape and into said TV program, should come to The Slaughtered Lamb in London tomorrow when some of our gig supporting Seeland will be filmed for it. Should be a very fun night anyway! There will be some tickets on the door, but they're cheaper in advance - just follow the links in our earlier post.


22 November 2010

If you tuned in to BBC 6music last night while cooking dinner, you will have heard our track "TV Dinner" on Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone! You can have a listen to the show on the BBC iPlayer for a week and also be treated to a Lee Hazlewood-version of one of Henri's favourite Swedish folk songs - rather appropriately played just before us.

We hope you're going to make your way down to The Slaughtered Lamb next Thursday, December 2nd, when we'll support Seeland. Have a look here to find out what "TV Dinner" sounds like live and also for a peek of the amazing House of Boing fashion dancers at the September Dinner With Daisy Club Night! There won't be any dancers at The Slaughtered Lamb, but we'll make sure to play the song extra nicely for you.


17 November 2010

Somehow we missed this going up, but you can now head over to WithGuitars and have a look at what records we were playing whilst making "Liquorice" about a year ago. It's a desert island discs type of thing and I guess if you put all of these together and shake a bit, it will come out sounding like us! Yeah?

And don't forget to come to our rock show on December 2nd, when we're supporting the amazing Seeland at The Slaughtered Lamb in London. Hearfelt from Norway have now also been added to the bill. You're coming, yeah? Yeah! Tickets are available in advance from here or here or here.


10 November 2010

The une cartouche gig last Sunday together with Roby Glod reinterpretating French For Cartridge songs was amazing! A true one-off, but luckily it all went on tape for those of you who missed it...some mesmerised people both in the audience and on stage.

Our next gig on the other hand will be a proper big rock show on December 2nd! We're very excited that the excellent people at The Local have asked us to support Seeland at The Slaughtered Lamb in London. Part of the Birmingham leftfield indie royalty featuring members of Broadcast and Plone and associated with Stereolab and other such great things, this is a great band and it will be great to share the stage with them. Tickets are not very expensive, so please come along and support us supporting them and we can all support each other!

Seriously, it will be a fun night. £7.50 in advance from here or here or here.


03 November 2010

You can now become a fan of French For Cartridge also on Facebook - please do!

And don't forget the Dinner With Daisy Club Night this coming Sunday, Nov 7th. There's lots of great music, theatre and video art on offer and of course you'll get a very rare chance to see une cartouche reinterpreting French For Cartridge songs! For more info have a look over at www.dinnerwithdaisy.com


27 October 2010

If you've been to one of our gigs recently, you will have seen Akinori Fujimoto playing the drums with us - check out what else he is up to on www.drumandflute.com

I think it's safe to say summer is pretty much over, so now is your last chance to get yourself a French For Cartridge summer edition T-shirt! There's also plenty of other stylish stuff to wear in our merch shop - do visit and take a look.


20 October 2010

The very nice folks over at Call Upon The Author got Catherine to reveal a few secrets in a recent interview!


13 October 2010

Do you remember the remix on the B-side of "Sitting And Reading" that came out last summer?

Well, now you'll have the chance to see it take place live, when une cartouche - our more experimental selves - will perform a few very special versions of French For Cartridge songs at the next Dinner With Daisy Club Night on November 7th. We'll be joined by Roby Glod and there's also lots of other great acts programmed for the night - it will be well worth the trek!

Here's what it says over on www.dinnerwithdaisy.com:

"We have reached the fourth and final Dinner With Daisy Club Night of the year and have once again cooked up a suitably grand evening of music, art and theatre to end your weekend in style and make the beginning of your week just a little bit easier!

This time it’s all about rhythm and wind instruments, well at least mostly: we’re very happy to have Chick Budo and their double-sax-pronged punk-funk machine with us; and from Luxembourg via Strasbourg, saxophonist Roby Glod will join une cartouche for a set of free improvisation as well as a few French For Cartridge songs as you have not heard them before; beatbox and vocal wizard Rogue Swan will present his new song based project; Ranko Andjelic will show his work mixing video animation and home-made electronica; and Keiko Sumida will stage her theatre piece “What comes out of women?” Finally, Icons of Elegance has prepared some suitably relaxed Sunday-tunes to spin for your enjoyment – all in the surroundings of our favourite east London establishment Jamboree, who now also serve delicious tapas in case you’re hungry.

In order to get everyone early to bed on a Sunday night, doors are at 6.30 and the music starts at 7 with the last live act on stage at 9 – DJs until 11 for those who want to carry on. Entry £5."

www.myspace.com/jamboreemembersclub


06 October 2010

While we wait for the footage from the last Dinner With Daisy night with all the House of Boing dresses and dancers to be edited, we've uploaded a clip from the Atelier gig onto our YouTube-page.

The song in question, 'Mesmerised', is the first one Catherine ever wrote! You can find the original on 'Cases' - here it is in a suitably frenetic encore-mode version. Look out for Henri trying his best to sound like Eric Clapton towards the end.


29 September 2010

There's been lots of very nice things said about 'Liquorice' both leading up to the CD release last winter and now when the album is coming out on vinyl. We've gathered all the reviews in our appropriately named Reviews-section - hope you agree with all these nice people!

You probably know by now where to get yourself a copy of 'Liquorice', if you haven't done so already. If not, we do recommend you consume one in your favourite format - we'd like to think you will like it! Buying it straight from us will probably make us happiest, if you know what I mean, but we also usually buy records ourselves from established merchants like Norman Records and Rough Trade or any of the ones you'll find links to on our Shop-page.


22 September 2010

If you live in Wales, grab yourself a copy of the latest Plugged In issue for a very fine review of 'Liquorice'. And there's also a mighty fine one over at www.shout4music.com. Henri isn't quite sure about the David Bowie comparisons, but Catherine doesn't mind being called "the album's trump-card."

Oh, the Dinner With Daisy label night last Sunday was absolutely brilliant! We had 3 dancers with us on stage doing all sorts of crazy stuff dressed in fantastic dresses made by House of Boing. We wish we could always have them with us...Everything was filmed, so hopefully we can put some footage up soon.

In the meantime, you can head over here, to have a look at us performing John Cage's 'Cartridge Music' with a couple of friends at our pop up-shop last February. As you might know, this is the piece we originally took our name from - good stuff.


15 September 2010

'Liquorice' is now out on vinyl!!

It's big and beautiful with Damien Beaton's exquisite design extended over one of those sleeves that open up like a book - gatefold I believe you call it. We're talking about a very limited edition, so it's best to hurry up if you want a copy - you can get them from HMV, Amazon, Norman Records, Rough Trade etc and also straight from us. If you insist on CDs, you can get these from the same places or download it from iTunes, emusic and whatnot.

To celebrate all of this, we have a rather special evening planned for you all this Sunday, September 19th at Jamboree in London. It's the third of our Dinner With Daisy label nights and it looks like it will be the biggest and most beautiful yet. A bit like the vinyl. It's London Fashion Week and we have teamed up with House of Boing, who will show her dresses and creations to the tune of French For Cartridge. If you've been to some of our gigs, you might have caught Catherine in one of these fantastically extravagant dresses before - well worth seeing many more of them presented like this. There's a rumour Henri will wear a hat. Also on the program is video art from Ryuta Suzuki and Ebba Erikzon, a live theatre installation by Tiffany Charrington and a set from punk accordionist and songstress Greta Lange. It's pretty cheap to get in and it all kicks off and ends suitably early for a Sunday night. All the details and instructions how to get there are on www.dinnerwithdaisy.com

Hope you can all come and celebrate with us!


01 September 2010

There's been some more reviews leading up to the vinyl release of 'Liquorice'. Below is a particularly nice 9/10 review courtesy of Loud Horizon - we quite enjoyed reading this one, especially the part describing our music as 'chic'.

If you'd like to find out what else has been going on over the summer holidays, please scroll down to the previous post for an update.


Hitting on a unique and instantly identifiable sound must be pretty difficult these days, but FRENCH FOR CARTRIDGE (Catherine Kontz and Henri Vaxby) have certainly managed it with this, their debut album. Originally from Luxembourg and Scandinavia respectively, the duo met whilst studying at Goldsmiths in New Cross, London and have garnered rave reviews for both their earlier, 2006 album ‘Cases’ and also projects and work in their own names. 

‘Liquorice,’ is a collection of ten quirky and light songs spanning thirty-three minutes. Opening track is the former single release ‘Ooooh!’ – a song that gently, but forcibly throws both light and dark at the listener. One moment it’s all comforting and jolly with Catherine’s dulcet tones caressing and reassuring, and then come the threatening and rather menacing contrast of the link to the chorus, which in itself, with its simple ‘Pink, Yellow, Red and Green’ lyrics is slightly manic. 

‘Loosening The Structures’ is like a warm, summery breeze with Henri taking on the lead vocal and Catherine providing a softly, almost whispered backing. But as with most of the album, it’s not just as straightforward as that and there is some lovely, banging, and discordant piano thrown in for good measure. 

‘Twice As Nice’ has a gloriously ominous opening and again seems play light against dark with the soft vocal delivery vying with the more threatening instrumental interventions. ‘A Hundred And One,’ is undeniably a quite beautiful and moody song, but maybe lacking the spark and surprise element to be found on the rest of the album. 

‘TV Dinner’ is probably my favourite. It’s quite brilliant in the manner of which it incorporates so many different styles, tempos and riffs within one song. There are lots of little ‘surprises’ encountered throughout its four and a half minutes and the mental, discordant piano playing over the top of the feverishly thumped drums is quite exquisite – in a noisy, brash sort of way.

‘Sitting And Reading’ sounds like some clockwork toy soldiers and cute little china dolls, clad in frilly, lace dresses but with psychopathic eyes have come alive in the dead of night and are having a ball at the toy funfair! 

‘Picture Negative’ was the B-side to the earlier single release of ‘Ooooh!’ and relaxes the listener after the manic style of the previous track. It has a sort of film-score feel about it, with lovely little harmonies. The following ‘Two Feet In The Water,’ however, is the only disappointment for me on the album. Many would say it’s ‘beautiful’ and ‘atmospheric’ but of course I don’t ‘do’ that kind of music, and so would term it more of a ‘dirge’ and boring.’ Still – you can’t have it all, can you?

‘Little People’ sounds as you’d expect with that name. It’s chirpy, and bouncy with a nice little ‘zip’ of a guitar hook, while the final track, ‘Silhouettes,’ builds into something almost anthemic with it’s deep, heavy riff in the chorus and soft, melodic harmonies. If Coldplay were ‘cool’ then they may sound like this! 

This album has previously been released on CD and digital formats and now celebrates its vinyl release. It’s probably one of the most ‘chic’ albums you’ll hear this year, and would be a wonderful addition to anyone’s vinyl collection. 

(9/10) 

Colin Jackson
http://loudhorizon.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/240/


18 August 2010

There's been slightly less updates on here over the summer holidays, so we thought we'd put up a copy of our latest newsletter and let you know what's going on!

If you'd like to receive our monthly musings in the future, just send us an email to info [at] frenchforcartridge.com



Hello - we have some news for you. 

WE HAVE SINGLE

We have a new digital single out now and available on iTunes, Amazon, Tesco and all the other usual places! As wished for by you, our dear fans, it's 'Sitting And Reading' and it's backed by an 'une cartouche'-remix of the same track. What we've done is taken this little avant-pop gem and made it avant-avant if you like. It's quite fun. Our business savvy label bosses have not made it available on Spotify, so you'll have to pay the hefty price of 79p to get your hands on it - hope you think it's worth it. 

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/sitting-and-reading/id380440965?uo=4

WE HAVE VINYL

We also have a vinyl edition of our latest album, 'Liquorice', hitting the shelves on August 30th! You are probably fully aware that music always sounds best on vinyl and the gatefold sleeve designed by Damien Beaton is also a real beauty. This one is strictly limited to 300 copies, so run over to your favourite record shop on the day or pre-order it straight away.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Liquorice-VINYL-French-Cartridge/dp/B003UW1R0C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1281781584&sr=1-2

WE HAVE GIG

As you might know, we recently played a gig in Luxembourg which was great fun. A proper rock show it was. Lots of people, great sound, a psychedelic light show and all that. And we got to play for a lot longer than the 24 1/2 minute gigs we're used to playing in London...

Anyway, this meant we could dig out some old favourites, a nice cover version and lots of calmer tracks. We enjoyed playing these so much, so we thought that if you come to Zentih Bar in Islington, London on September 2nd, we'll play you a slightly different set than usual with more of these songs and perhaps a completely new tune. All the details will be up on the venue website. 

www.zenithbar.co.uk

WE HAVE FASHION SHOW

A few weeks later on September 19th it's time for the next Dinner With Daisy Club Night, which this time is organised together with our favourite fashion designers House of Boing. You might have seen Catherine wear one of these dresses before, but now it's time for a full fashion extravaganza to coincide with London Fashion Week. This will be great, so stick it in your diary now already! We'll keep you posted on more details and they will also soon be up on the label site. 

www.dinnerwithdaisy.com

WE HAVE LOVE

Thank you for reading - we have lots of love for you.

H & C xx


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 Architecture Festival 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

www.normanrecords.com

 

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

26 June 2008

Too much football and tennis on TV! Won’t keep you long, just wanted to let you know that we’re keeping ourselves busy with new songs and new demos for our next album. A bit more pre-production to be done in August and then we’ll head into the studio! It’s sounding rather brilliant!

20 April 2008

Very excited about two great gigs that we’ve got lined up in the next few weeks! First we’ll be in Bristol where you can see us at the TinyRadio night at the Blue Lagoon on Tuesday April 29th and a few days later on May 1st you should head down to New X in London where we’ll play the brilliant Big in Japan night at the Amersham Arms.

These gigs will be the first outing for our new duo line-up with lots of drums and analog synths and things being thrown around the stage – it’s sounding pretty good we think! Also on the cards are some new songs so there’s plenty of reason to try and make it to one or the other! And you needn’t worry, there will be full band gigs later in the year as well!

18 February 2008

It’s been quiet over here, but we’re not being lazy! We’re working on new material which you’ll get a chance to hear live sometime soon – in the meantime head over to our myspace to listen to some of the tracks we did for Dandelion Radio in September. These should give you an idea of what to expect! Hope you enjoy them!

5 September 2007

Hope you all had a great summer!!

We've recorded a session for Neil Jenkins' show on Dandelion radio, the John Peel inspired internet station. The show is aired all through September at different times each day so you can catch it when it best suits you. To find out when it's on and to have a listen just log onto www.dandelionradio.com.

Songs include something old, something new, something borrowed and, hmm, a surprise. We don't do blue...

Let us know what you think!

18 February 2007

We've been nominated for an Indy Award! It seems to be a very decent competition - it's the live performances they reward and we've been nominated for our Kabarett Spielraum/Luminaire gigs. So if you were at one of these fabulous nights or if you just like to support our independent spirit, then do vote for us here at http://www.indyawards.co.uk/site/london_bands/vote.php?bandid=186&bandname=Cartridge before April 2nd. We'll buy you a drink.

10 February 2007

Our e-mail has been down without us realising it, so if we didn't reply that'll be why! It should all work now, so just send it all again or message us on myspace or something.

So, a year where we finally got our debut album out there, were called things like album of the month in Organ, got played on Radio 1 and played lots of good gigs in places where people were real nice, ended with us being voted into the Peel Festive Fifty - nice! We were in pretty good company we thought, you can read the whole list over at www.dandelionradio.co.uk .

On that note we wish you all a happy new year! We've started recording some new stuff and we'll be back with some more gigs as soon as we learn the lyrics - in the meantime you can still buy 'Cases' here on our page or at Rough Trade in Notting Hill who still have a few copies left!
 
25 November 2006

You can now download the whole of 'Cases' from the lovely guys at www.northernstarrecords.co.uk for £6.99. They've got plenty of other great stuff too, so check it out. If you need a taster, 'Fooling Around' is still going for free on www.myspace.com/cartridge.

27 October 2006

The Luminaire was good fun! A nice guy called Andy Willis took some photos of us which you can find at www.flickr.com/photos/urbanwhaleshark/sets/72157594328189350/

'Cases' is back in stock at Rough Trade, but you can now also get it right here for the same price and we'll send it to your for free. We might even write a personalized greeting for you! You know you want it.

We're on Dandelion Radio this month on Neil's show. It's a great radiostation with nice people playing good music - check it out on www.dandelionradio.co.uk We've been asked to do a session for them as well, but more about that later!

08 September 2006

So, an eventful summer is nearly over. We had a blast at the festival in Cornwall despite several broken strings and general mayhem, there's been more good reviews and radioplay, we've heard rumours we're on some other über-cool podcast for people in the know and Rough Trade sold-out of 'Cases' - nice!

There's a few gigs worth catching in October if you haven't seen us for a while - by all means come to all of them, but we'd especially recommend the one at The Luminaire on October 12th. It's our favourite club night Kabarett Spielraum's 2nd Birthday Bash and as it happens to be John Peel Day it's been renamed Spiel for Peel for the occassion! It's a great line-up and you can find more details, the address etc on www.theluminaire.co.uk

If you don't like going out on Thursdays, catch us the Saturday before, October 7th, at The Face Club - Archway Tavern, 1 Archway Close, off Archway Rd (closest tube would be Archway)!

Be nice to each other!

28 June 2006

On the back of our appearance on Rob Da Bank's Radio 1 show (www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/onemusic/rob/) we've been picked up by a few more radio/internet stations from London to New Jersey! Check us out this week on www.live365.com/stations/323450 and www.pulserated.com to enjoy "Fooling Around" and "Ending". Pulserated also did a nice little feature on us - you'll find it in the news archive on the same page.
 
And the great reviews keep coming - you'll find the latest ones at www.progressiveears.com and at www.bubblejam.net/ears/new_releases/rock_and_indie Have a look at the review page on this site as well to read some of the older ones.
 
Know all the lyrics by heart and want to sing along to them live? We're playing again on July 12th at the Lark in the Park, 60 Copenhagen St, Islington (Angel/King's Cross tube). Yes, it's a Wednesday night, but we're on already at 8pm so there's time to get an early night!
 
Don't forget you can buy 'Cases' at www.roughtrade.com

26 May 2006
 
Make sure to check us out on Radio 1 next week when Rob Da Bank will be playing us on his show, Thursday June 1st, 11-1am! The show will also be available online to listen to for 7 days after the broadcast and one of our tracks will be included in Radio 1's Best of Unsigned Podcast on www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/onemusic Woohey!
 
Another great show that's been playing us quite a lot lately is the Organ Show on Resonance FM (www.resonancefm.com ) - it's on every Sunday evening and full of good music so check it out! We're also Album of the Week on their website www.organart.com where they call us "one of the most intriguingly interesting of new London based bands out there right now" and lots of other very, very nice things!
 
Don't forget, we're playing live again this Bank Holiday Monday, May 29th, at 93 Feet East on Brick Lane. The gig's free and we're on around 9pm so hopefully see a lot of you people down there!
 
And now go get yourself a copy of our album, 'Cases', from www.roughtrade.com

18 April 2006

We're quite excited. We just got 'Cases' back from the press and it looks great! You'll be able to buy the CD at gigs and all sorts of places soon, but if you can't wait go to www.roughtrade.com or one of their shops and get your copy now! They say some really nice words about us too. If you're in New Cross get it from Morph's Music.

More nice things said about us can be found on www.organart.com where our 3-tracker is demo of the week. The review is also in the paper version of Organ's April issue and you can find it at all good venues and records shops around the country. "A different band, a band with personality, a band who don't want to sound like a low-rent version of their record-collection, different breathing patterns." Nice.

The Kabarett Spielraum gig was brilliant fun and we've been asked back for their birthday bash in June, which we're looking forward to a lot! Norwich was great too - hooray for Club Hungry Audio! Oh yeah, check out www.flatfourradio.co.uk - it's a great indie/experimental station playing us on their Ock-show right now.

02 April 2006

We're supporting Data Panik (ex-Bis) on April 6th at The Luminaire in Kilburn, London. It's a night run by Kabarett Spielraum - a great underground cabaret combining art rock and punk funk with a healthy dose of 1920s decadent Kurt Weill nostalgia. It should be perfect for us. Tickets are cheaper if you buy them in advance from www.wegottickets.com/event/9456 and you'll be guaranteed to get in!

Two days later we're off to Norwich where we're playing Club Hungry Audio at The Alibi. It's a cosy night of good music run by the lovely people at Hungry Audio Records - check them out on www.hungryaudio.co.uk

02 March 2006

It was great to see so many people at O'Reilly's a couple of weeks ago - it was a fantastic night! If you missed it, come down to The Pleasure Unit Bar on March 23rd. It's a nice little place on Bethnal Green Rd, just a short walk from Bethnal Green tube. It's £5 to get in and we're on at 10pm so all you late-workers will still make it!

02 February 2006

Friday Feb 17th is the night to be Upstairs at O’Reilly’s, 289-291 Kentish Town Rd, London – that’s when we’ll be playing together with the fantastic Royal Treatment Plant on a night featuring hiphop poets, great DJs and even better bands! We’re working on some new songs and should have one or two ready for you by then. See you there! 

10 January 2006

Our first gig of the year will be @ Spitz on January 16th. We're headlining and we will be on stage around 22.00. We are also playing the following Monday, January 23rd. This time it's @ 93FeetEast in Brick Lane. We're opening this night and will be on stage around 8.30. Both gigs are free entry and you'll find more info at www.spitz.co.uk and www.93feeteast.co.uk.

Also a very big thank you to everyone who has been voting for us on www.pulserated.com. We're number 3 in their charts this week with Fooling Around! :-)

And check out the many nice words they wrote about us on www.manchestermusic.co.uk where our little pop-experiments made it to demo of the week. Here's a little taster:

"Possibly the product of years spent studying the world's entire musical output Cartridge produce bizarre masterful music that positively defies categorisation.... Boldly different and cogent, Cartridge prove that originality doesn't have to come at the expense of a tune. Genius." (DH - manchestermusic.co.uk)

December 05/January 06

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Welcome to the new Cartridge website – hope you like it! This is where you’ll find out a little bit about us and what we’re up to. A big thank you to The Lunatic Lemontree in Glasgow who’ve put it all together.

We had a few fun gigs in October/November and are itching to get back out there. Dave’s in Gambia working with some fantastic percussionists, but the rest of us have been busy writing new songs, working on the artwork for the record and booking more gigs. There’s a few dates lined up in London as well as elsewhere in England and we’ll put them up here as soon as they get confirmed. Keep warm – it’s cold out there!


THE REVIEWS: 
 

Some very nice reviews of 'Liquorice':

www.shout4music.com
14 September 2010
By Rolan McIntyre

Art-pop duo French For Cartridge deliver a debut album as colourful, quirky and odd-tasting as the confectionery it’s named after in ‘Liquorice’. Proceedings kick off with the jaunty lead single ‘Oooh!’, a bizarre mixture of polka, nursery rhyme and torch song that traverses multiple styles despite barely scraping the 2 minute mark. ‘Loosening The Structures’ is a mellow slice of jangly dream-pop bringing to mind Belle And Sebastian, with Henri Vaxby’s vocals particularly aping David Bowie. However, it’s co-vocalist Catherine Kontz that proves the album’s trump-card: her soothing, slightly-accented tones call to mind Bjork, elevating ‘A Hundred And One’ (in which all lyrical content is made up of words beginning with ‘A’, and the chorus is the word ‘alphabet’ steadily repeated) from a potentially-failed art-house experiment to a strangely ominous-sounding success. ‘Picture Negative’ is a laconic indie-rock groove which provides another anchor of traditional song structure amongst the frenetic experimentation, the heartfelt lyrics seeming strangely ordinary in comparison to the too-kooky-for-comfort ‘Little People’. As the chiming, almost-shoegaze ‘Silhouette’ wraps things up, you realise there are a couple of treats in this bag of Allsorts, provided you acquire the taste.

7/10



Plugged In Magazine
September 2010
By Rhys Taylor

This follow-up to the critically acclaimed 2006 album Cases is a compilation of experimentation and innovativeness, pushing the boundaries of typical ‘pop’ music. A number of the tracks on the album are complicated, yet laid back and casual, using a number of different instruments and themes, allowing the audience to familiarise and connect with their music from the very beginning. Both male and female vocals were used throughout the album creating a whole load of harmonies, sitting together throughout all 10 tracks of the album. Although Liquorice isn’t something I would normally have chosen, it gave me an insight into the different types of experimental music out there today. Saying that, I do have two favourite tracks — Two Feet In The Water and Loosening The Structures, which I believe are the album’s best material simply because of the appeal in the simplicity of the tracks. The different material that Catherine Kontz and Henri Vaxby produce is a perfect example of the wide variety of music that’s out there today, and I enjoyed the inventiveness of French For Cartridge. I’d definitely recommend this album to anyone who’s looking for something new.



www.loudhorizon.com
26 August 2010
By Colin Jackson

Hitting on a unique and instantly identifiable sound must be pretty difficult these days, but FRENCH FOR CARTRIDGE (Catherine Kontz and Henri Vaxby) have certainly managed it with this, their debut album. Originally from Luxembourg and Scandinavia respectively, the duo met whilst studying at Goldsmiths in New Cross, London and have garnered rave reviews for both their earlier, 2006 album ‘Cases’ and also projects and work in their own names.

‘Liquorice,’ is a collection of ten quirky and light songs spanning thirty-three minutes. Opening track is the former single release ‘Ooooh!’ – a song that gently, but forcibly throws both light and dark at the listener. One moment it’s all comforting and jolly with Catherine’s dulcet tones caressing and reassuring, and then come the threatening and rather menacing contrast of the link to the chorus, which in itself, with its simple ‘Pink, Yellow, Red and Green’ lyrics is slightly manic.

‘Loosening The Structures’ is like a warm, summery breeze with Henri taking on the lead vocal and Catherine providing a softly, almost whispered backing. But as with most of the album, it’s not just as straightforward as that and there is some lovely, banging, and discordant piano thrown in for good measure.

‘Twice As Nice’ has a gloriously ominous opening and again seems play light against dark with the soft vocal delivery vying with the more threatening instrumental interventions. ‘A Hundred And One,’ is undeniably a quite beautiful and moody song, but maybe lacking the spark and surprise element to be found on the rest of the album.

‘TV Dinner’ is probably my favourite. It’s quite brilliant in the manner of which it incorporates so many different styles, tempos and riffs within one song. There are lots of little ‘surprises’ encountered throughout its four and a half minutes and the mental, discordant piano playing over the top of the feverishly thumped drums is quite exquisite – in a noisy, brash sort of way.

‘Sitting And Reading’ sounds like some clockwork toy soldiers and cute little china dolls, clad in frilly, lace dresses but with psychopathic eyes have come alive in the dead of night and are having a ball at the toy funfair!

‘Picture Negative’ was the B-side to the earlier single release of ‘Ooooh!’ and relaxes the listener after the manic style of the previous track. It has a sort of film-score feel about it, with lovely little harmonies. The following ‘Two Feet In The Water,’ however, is the only disappointment for me on the album. Many would say it’s ‘beautiful’ and ‘atmospheric’ but of course I don’t ‘do’ that kind of music, and so would term it more of a ‘dirge’ and boring.’ Still – you can’t have it all, can you?

‘Little People’ sounds as you’d expect with that name. It’s chirpy, and bouncy with a nice little ‘zip’ of a guitar hook, while the final track, ‘Silhouettes,’ builds into something almost anthemic with it’s deep, heavy riff in the chorus and soft, melodic harmonies. If Coldplay were ‘cool’ then they may sound like this!

This album has previously been released on CD and digital formats and now celebrates its vinyl release. It’s probably one of the most ‘chic’ albums you’ll hear this year, and would be a wonderful addition to anyone’s vinyl collection.

(9/10)



www.playingoutloud.co.uk
June 2010
By Angry Badger Jules

When faced with sound bites describing their sound as ‘Atonal’, ‘Jerky’, ‘Arch’ and indeed announcing they formed whilst at legendary London art college ‘Goldsmiths’ (attended by Graham Coxon, Damien Hirst etc) there is a fear that this could be a wilfully self indulgent experiment in noise bending. However this is not the case, angular pop is the outcome but the result is far from the inaccessible, pretentious art school drone I was half expecting.

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.

I think it is also pertinent to point out that for every avant garde moment like ‘Twice As Nice’ or the pop/rock/electro splicing on display in ‘TV Dinner’ there are more simple moments and these are probably the more interesting tunes.

‘Loosening The Structures’ with a distinctly Pavement vibe, full of lush harmonies and a genuine air of cool or the final wistful track ‘Silhouettes’ are the fusion of the idiosyncratic ideas with pop tunes and are the highlights of the album.

Akin to the kind of off-beat tunes the likes of Devo and Primus mined so successfully, French For Cartridge are the proof that experimental doesn’t have to be a frightening



www.artocker.com
May 2010
By Stephen McLeod

A fair while ago we had a preview of some indie-upstarts French For Cartridge, and they’ve followed up the single release with a full-blown album. It’s been sitting in my to-do pile for far longer than it should have been.

I never did like liquorice, unless it was cherry flavoured. I like this though.

Since I was familiar with the opener ‘oooh!’, I skipped forward to track 2 - ‘Loosening the Structures’, and was greeted with a charming guitar-led song that wouldn’t have been out of place on the About a Boy soundtrack.. Not that it’s a Badly Drawn Boy ripoff though; the clever combination of the darker bassier sounds with the upbeat feel harks back to the lighter moments on the Smashing Pumpkins’ mighty Gish.

…and is that some political statements in amonst it all I hear, with lines like ‘It’s your patriotic duty to spend?’

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.

Catch them on June the 10th supporting Stereo Total at 93 Feet East in London, and for those of you into vinyl, there’ll be a lovely release of Liquorice coming up in June/July time.



www.callupontheauthor.com
9 March 2010
By Eddy Bailey

This band is truly something unique. And with the two minds that make up the group, Catherine Kontz and Henri Vaxby hailing from Luxembourg and Scandinavia respectively, it might not come as much of a surprise that the mixing of cultures would produce something so different.

The use of instrumentation on the album borders genius, mixing your usual instrumentation with more exotic means to create some wonderful sounds that aren’t heard in your run of the mill pop nuggets.

Depending on your opinion, the lyrics are either another stroke of crazy inventiveness from French For Cartridge or irrelevant nonsense. For me, lyrics have always been a big part of any record but on this album the rulebook is thrown out the window. For example, one of the songs takes its lyrics entirely from a TV guide. At least it shows some originality, and the music business could certainly do with bands who take risks, even if it means some of the songs essentially have nothing to say.

Whether you end up loving it or hating it, this is an album that must be heard once purely to experience it. While it is experimental in almost every sense, there is still a strong sense for a good pop melody throughout their songs that will lodge themselves in your head and refuse to move. While this particular brand of liquorice may be too sweet for some, give it a taste and you may just fall in love with it.



www.godisinthetvzine.com
22 February 2010
By Richard Wink

After wasting twenty minutes of my life on chatroulette.com I wondered just what my life had become. Here I am, a hack, a pseudo-journalist that secretly harbours a desire to write for the NME, stuck in a pathetic vortex with the light quickly fading on my ‘career’ aspirations. I have to face facts that it is wrong to procrastinate at this moment in time where every minute counts. Despite this I merrily clicked though the link a friend sent me to witness nothing but ugly bored teenagers sitting on their beds and a variety of men masturbating at their webcams. Now I must summon the strength to sit through French for Cartridge’s latest release Licquorice.

Yet another art pop duo – Goldsmith College alumni Catherine Kontz and Henri Vaxby batter us with candy canes on opener ‘Oooh!’, a maddening blur of Dresden Doll like Vaudeville shenanigans that juts and jerks along a curious pantomime rhythm. Then we head to lo-fi land on ‘Loosening The Structures’ which sees Henri offering Graham Coxon-like contemplation. There is a glorious drizzling doddle of raindrop keys that straddle the track like an ant on a wildebeest, as the guitar strings are haphazardly hacked at in the final third.

Kontz’s voice is childlike in tone, and fits well with the wonderment and enthusiasm on display. See this is not art pop in the po-faced ironic sense. When things get serious on ‘A Hundred And One’ we are still in a land of make believe, acting more as a pause of thought the song pairs well with ‘TV Dinner’ which again sees Kontz adopting the voice of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s Alice as she sings to herself in front of the warped mirrored piano.

Yep it’s all nice; bitter cupcakes, sour rainbows and antiquated French bon bons. Kontz provides the naïve optimism; Vaxby produces the self-inflicted tension and trepidation. Sunshine flickers through the grey clouds on ‘Little People’ and the thoroughly delightful ‘Silhouettes’ that sees Vaxby acquire the services of the tailor who kits out the thin white duke for one song only.

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.

4/5



www.roomthirteen.com
6 May 2010
By Emma Gould

“Liquorice” is 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. Generally there are two strains here; the songs with male vocals, and the songs with female vocals and while the former have a slightly quirky edge (jagged riffs and off kilter piano chords) the later are much more playful, although these two very distinct personalities are very obvious the album still manages to be cohesive and flows very well.

Both vocalists have breathy tones, (there are plenty of oohs and aahs) but without the moments of slightly heavier sometimes jagged guitars and a mix of interesting backing instruments catching you off guard it would be almost unrelentingly cute and saccharine, luckily this never quite happens and the line isn’t crossed because you always feel there is something darker at work behind the scenes.

This may be quite an experimental sounding record but there are some solid tunes here, not quite catchy, get up and dance tunes, but nevertheless they’re quite memorable, especially those with a more theatrical edge (the more straightforwardly indie make less of an impact and can occasionally drag).

Overall a sometimes interesting record of sweet indie tunes with a quirky art-pop twang, not too taxing or experimental that it will put off those of a more sensitive nature and a few nice melodic moments.



Loudhorizon.com
05 February 2010
By Colin Jackson

Originally from Luxembourg and Scandinavia respectively, Catherine Kontz and Henri Vaxby are now London based. With rave reviews tucked away for their debut album - released under their former name of Cartridge - they resurface with a new long-player and two additional words to their name, having adopted FRENCH FOR CARTRIDGE from a side-project called Une Cartouche - which you would be correct in surmising is French ... for cartridge.

With that kind of lateral thinking, it is no real surprise to learn that this ten-track album is full of varied, creative, slightly 'off the wall' unique and quirky sounds.

Opening with the dark and dramatic 'Oooh!' (released as a single towards the end of 2009 and reviewed elsewhere on this site) the marker and standard is set early. Catherine's vocals are almost childlike, but are set against the threatening music with eerie choruses and chilling piano lines.

By way of contrast, 'Loosening The Structures' has a relaxed feel with Henri adopting the lead vocalist role this time. When Catherine joins in for the choruses, there are echoes of early Prefab Sprout in the hushed harmonies, but with added quirkiness by way of discordant piano lurking towards the back.

'Twice As Nice' takes the form of a sort of Sixties inspired psychedelic folk ballad with a whining violin providing the pathos. However, as nothing is quite as it would seem on this album, there are momentary injections of pace and volume, just to ensure the listener keeps their wits about them. Following track 'A Hundred And One' is very atmospheric as it also visits a sort of dark place. It does drone on a little and perhaps lacks the spark and excitement of the other songs.

Take 'TV Dinner' for instance. Its more conventional rocking opening belies what is to follow. Great use is again made of the piano to create a rather sinister atmosphere and the drama is provided by a thumping bass line that runs through most of the song. The pace and volume drop in places to allow Catherine's vocals more prominence, before the song breaks off into what can best be described as a free-style jazz session with only the bass line remaining constant whilst the piano and everything else seem to collide in a glorious cacophony of discordant noise.

'Sitting And Reading' has the waltzy feel of the fairground but as it progresses and the vocals seem increasingly manic, it becomes as if all the toys in the cupboard have come to life and are engaging a celebratory dance. Spooky!

'Picture Negative' was the B-side to the last single. Again, a more relaxed feel is evidenced, but with a really pleasant and catchy chorus. 'Two Feet In The Water' is relaxed to the point of being barely alive, though. Possibly a great Soundtrack song, it needs some imagery to maintain the listener's attention - well, THIS listener, at least. It's a bit of a dirge, I'm afraid.

'Little People' lightens the mood a bit with its bouncy refrain and dulcet, hushed vocals leading to an instrumental breakdown with a sort of samba rhythm. Final track 'Silhouettes' builds, rises and falls and takes a few listens to fully appreciate. The slow pace, especially at the start, is worth a bit of patience as it grows almost imperceptibly into a song of anthemic proportions with, dare I say it the feel of Coldplay and Oasis at various points in the chorus.

8.5/10



Contactmusic.com
February 2010
By Andrew Lockwood

Une Cartouche, which is French for cartridge, is the 'side project' from which this band takes its name. Formed by two students of Goldsmith College London, Catherine Hentz and Henri Vaxby, their aim has been to put together atonal pop music. Their quite unique musical format is somewhat genre defying, has been described as Avant-Garde and has unsurprisingly attracted the alternative arty set, keen as they are to soak up some of the bands more off beat and experimental compositions. You could say it's a kind of musical performance art. 'Liquorice' is the follow up to the critically acclaimed 2006 album 'Cases' and has been mixed and mastered by S Husky Hoskuids, formally working partner of Tom Waits and My Brightest Diamond amongst others.

'Liquorice', the album, contains new material as well as alternative versions of a couple of French For Cartridge's back catalogue, namely 'One Hundred And One' and 'TV Dinner'. The latter has been completely reworked and is one of the highlights among the many on the album. The song starts off with a Sex Pistols do 'C'mon Everybody' guitar break which then collapses into a fragile, near theatrical, tense vocal. Two thirds of the way through the song changes again and turns all comic book on us, here the composition could easily pass for a chase scene from an old Batman caper (You'll have to add your own POW!), only to change direction right back at the end and revert to Catherine's very youthful, highly pitched, tight vocal.

Throughout the album there is plenty of inventiveness and experimentation. However, for all French For Cartridges best efforts, to push the boundaries and challenge the notion of more formulaic 'pop', where 'Liquorice' works best is through the delivery of their more conventional songs. The best tracks on here are not the weird or left of centre but the structured and formed pieces that have been constructed and composed in a more traditional manner. 'Loosening The Structures' is a good example. Henri Vaxby sings a song that could so easily be off a more recent Bowie album, and what's more he even sings it in an uncannily similar way. It has fantastic harmonies and a laid back, casual air of cool all its own. Remove it from its surroundings and it still works wonderfully well. The same can be said of two of the duets on the album 'Two Feet In The Water' and 'Silhouettes'. They are both fantastic, haunting tracks, slower and brooding, full of atmosphere and aching. Catherine and Henri's vocals sit beautifully, yet agonisingly together, sometimes seemingly only just managing to remain paired together within the same song.

Whilst trying to deliver music 'not in any key or format' French For Cartridge have thankfully not kept entirely to the remit and so blessed us with some great songs. 'Oooh', with its splicing of twisted carousel meets Willy Wonka's Oompa Loompa's, may grab the attention and draw a new audience but its the quality of their more conventional songs that will give them longevity. Similarly 'Twice As Nice', another of the albums duets loses some of its appeal because it can't quite decide in which of their directions to go in. Tracks like 'One Hundred And One' and 'Sitting And Reading' have worked much better simply because they have not been over complicated and the song has been allowed to be heard freely.

The album 'Liquorice' is out on 8th February and French For Cartridge will be promoting the event with a week long celebration at Speedies, London E2. There will be exclusive art, available to buy, and live performances, including a full set from French For Cartridge at the official launch party on 12th February. Why not pop along and see some of the specially made videos for each song or just enjoy one of their liquorice teas?



www.subba-cultcha.com
February 2010
By Andi James Chamberlain

Madcap cartoony Eurofolk Pop… Featuring disco beats, clinky piano solos and drumming straight from a wind up monkey.

What to say about an album that features more than just a little bit of Gallic psychosis and a great big heap of Scandinavian eccentricity?

FRENCH FOR CARTRIDGE 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… It’s a frenetic, at times disjointed and thoroughly bonkers listen…

I’m not sure if I liked it, judging on the amount of times I have had to re-write this review… But what I can tell you is that I am more than intrigued enough to warrant future listens and I would definitely pass it on to friends…

Like is a strong word… But I certainly appreciated the mental little buggers.

Recommended if you fancy a challenge.

If you like your pop vanilla and chart-worthy – However – steer clear…

You have been warned.

6/10









And some very nice reviews of 'Oooh!/Picture Negative':


Artrocker Magazine
Jan/Feb 2010
By Mark Wall

Pan-European duo French For Cartridge return with a double aside that finds both Catherine Kontz and Henry Vaxby taking the lead on a side each. The songs are so different they could be a split-single between two separate bands. ‘Oooh’ is a frosty little waltz sprinkled with sugar sweet vocals, while flipside ‘Picture Negative’ is a vulnerable alt-country ode led by a defiant Vaxby, whose heartfelt and downbeat delivery serves to melt the frosty landscapes of the former song.

****



The Wire
December 2009 issue
By Byron Coley

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.



www.artrocker.com
September 2009
By Stephen McLeod

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.



Russell’s Reviews
07 January 2010

Take some modern interpretive dance music, waltz time signatures, Bjork, Willy Wonka and Japanese culture and you’re some way to describing Oooh! To be honest, even then you’re not close, it’s weird and wonderful and unlike anything else I’ve heard for ages. For that alone it should be applauded, but its rather lovely too remarkably. Picture Negative is therefore surprising in its normality, Henry not matching Catherine’s vocals of the previous track. He’s good though, a mellow croon to go with the sparkling Clearlake style tune. It’s well crafted pop, with a little odd quirk, from this European duo.



www.shout4music.com
05 January 2010
By Matt Montagano

Weird does not even cover this one. Described by some as ‘Geisha rock’, this abstract number by French For Cartridge really does make you stop and listen, even if you do have a bemused expression plastered all over your Chevy Chase whilst doing so. ‘Oooh!’ is totally stop-start, jumping from a kind of Russian sounding ballad to a suspense filled ‘chorus’ – if you can call it that. It also has an unusual time signature – where there are 3 beats instead of 4 to every bar throughout this short song. Despite being out there with the fairies, this song is charming, suspense-ridden and mystifying, and it’s this strange appeal that has got me sticking it on repeat (even if it is just a vain attempt to get my head around it). In a nutshell, French for Cartridge have a weird name and suitably weird songs. But it is all strangely compelling and I’m totally drawn in by it. Very nice indeed.



www.loudhorizon.com
December 2009
By Colin Jackson

Dramatic and chilling in equal measure, this double-A-side release from the London based European band FRENCH FOR CARTRIDGE (Catherine is originally from Luxembourg and Henri from Scandanavia) is a welcome diversion from the more conformist trend-following recordings. You'd be hard pushed to try and pigeonhole these two tracks, especially the opener, 'Oooh!'

The rather sinister-sounding simple piano run that greets the listener, and is repeated at various other points is in stark contrast to Catherine's soft, dreamy vocals but combined with the Henri's distant backing the overall effect is nonetheless one of distinct eeriness. The lyrics of "Pink, yellow, red and green" however are not particularly frightening it has to be said, so I'm really not so sure what's going on here. But it sure is inventive and different and for that we should all be very grateful.

Second track 'Picture Negative' has Henri taking the vocal lead. The song lacks the immediate impact of its predecessor but still exhibits a certain charm - especially when the chorus with Catherine's backing vocals give the song a bit more depth. Again though, this is a very original sounding track and the chorus has a lovely languid feel with a nice memorable hook. (There is even a short burst of stylophone that precedes some nice little mid-song effects and for that FRENCH FOR CARTRIDGE deserve extra credit!)

(8/10)



Bent Magazine
December 2009
Editor’s Choice *****

French For Cartridge are a mish-mash band of geniuses with perplexing arrangements and a shimmering art-pop aesthetic. This double A-side release offers two experimental, slightly indulgent but cheerfully glorious songs. ‘Oooh!’ is perhaps more abstract, whilst ‘Picture Negative’ relishes in the aural wonder of words and sounds. These won’t be dancefloor classics, but restaurant muzak fame awaits.



Music-News.com
14 December 2009
By Jordan White

The European duo formerly known as simply 'Cartridge’ are back with a new name and a double A side.

Track 1, 'Oooh!’ is, quite frankly, void of any conventional musical framework. Deliciously weird and haunting yet fairytale like (bonus points for adding the word 'marshmallow’ in to the equation!), this is what you would get if you ate cheese before bed, had a random dream, and tried to portray that dream through the medium of song. Whether or not experimental boundary pushing is your cup of tea, this is one for your catalogue.

Track 2, 'Picture Negative’, is a funky acoustic number with some chilled out vocals from frontman Henri Vaxby. It still retains a certain quirkiness but you could stick this on at a party without getting the reaction 'WTF?!’

4/5



The devil has the best tuna-blog  
21st November 2009

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.



A Tuna A Day-blog
23rd November 2009

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). 

French for Cartridge are a London-based duo and this track is part of a double-A side release (we'll have the other one in the next week or so) which is out Dec 14.

Pure Groove on Oooh!/Picture Negative
December 2009

Odd isn't the word! Geisha rock? A record that doesn't stay in the same place for longer than two seconds, Oooh! is a quirky bugger but B-side Picture Negative is a little more easy to get your head round - it's a real belter - a low slung ballad that's getting regular Pure Groove plays. Both tracks are great and they have found a big fan in Rob Da Bank.



Manchester Music
05 October 2009
By Parker Knoll

An odd style from London’s French For Cartridge, where (on this song) the girl vocals float carefree over bells, piano and merry go round soundtracks, where even a bout of reggae guitar is plumbed in. Odd but infectious.

MMM1/2



The Sunday Experience-blog
27 November 2009

French for Cartridge ‘oooh’ (dinner with daisy). Many many years ago huddled up to a rickety transistor the strange sounds of ‘birthday’ by the Sugarcubes crackled and cooed from out of the ether courtesy of the nightly grooved play list of the late John Peel. It was strange and curious mixing eeriness with enchantment. A few years earlier their had been the quite unmistakably kooky sounds of the Frank Chickens aired by the same much missed platter player. While in recent times the crooked charms of Serafina Steer have on more than one occasion tweaked our radar and sent our senses into pathways veering towards deranged befuddlement. And your point being - you might reasonably ask. Well its simply like this dear hearts - from the moment that ’oooh’ the debut release from French for Cartridge rears into view on to the turntable and out of the speakers an almost instant recall is upon me wherein I’m transported and reliving the same first encounters as way laid me the moment I initially heard the aforementioned trio of cuts. Of course ’oooh’ isn’t really their debut release - well okay arguably it is - a tweaking of the line up and a slight name change later - they were originally known as Cartridge - an ensemble who I deeply suspect may well have featured in these pages at some point or other. Featuring ex members of Luxembourg and Scandinavia (was that the same Luxembourg who spawned the post fall out careers of Melting Ice Caps and Jonny Cola and the A Grades I hear you cry). Anyway enough of that ’oooh’ is delicious, daft and just a tad dippy, crooked time signatures, impromptu melodic meanders delightfully possessed of an abstractly drawn childlike naivety that comes across at any given point both fried and bonkers not to mention ghostly, dreamy, surreal and alarmingly cute - kind of gathering of Brecht and Weill types scoring some tripped out musical odyssey out of the crooked recesses of Lear’s kaleidoscopically creative mind. flip the disc for the autumnal inflections of ’picture negative’ found here offering a wholly differing and delicious kettle of fish, quietly unassuming there’s a gracefully slender majesty at work here that warrants the blossoming of a strangely fuzzy glow upon the listener, a mid west cosiness scratched by a delicately hushed soft psyche top coat much recalling ‘white room’ era Archer Prewitt albeit as though tenderly harnessed by a super chilled ‘durable dream’ era Moviola - class in our books I think you’ll find. Single of the missive.



www.roomthirteen.com
21 December 2009
By Sarah Rayner

Bizarre. Just. Bizarre.

'Oooh' launches full tilt into looming instrumentation straight from the climax of a silent movie with "oooh!" vocals and bullet drums. Then without a breath the track flips to quirky gypsy girl vocals and a vivacious rhythm which reminds me of all the bizarre fun of Gogol Bordello. Majestic waves of voice and glittering cymbal follow, then the sound of a colourful fairground roundabout with civilised waltzing piano. And back to the start again…'Oooh!' takes four or five totally dissimilar sounds tossed together in a bewilderingly fragmented mix. It's creative, quirky and enthralling, but at two minutes it’s too short, and just as you’re starting to enjoy one sound it changes far too soon.

'Picture Negative' is a little more conventional with male vocals floating on a film of curious, off kilter guitar and droplets of piano, which soon layer onto female vocals and piano chords to add richness to the oddly apathetic sound. But this is not an ordinary pop song; an odd hum pervades the second verse, whirring through the already puzzling soundscape, and computerised piano drops an almost random series of notes into a couple of bars.

French for Cartridge make puzzling art-pop. It took me a few listens to make any sense of them, mostly because they seem to throw all the paints at the canvas at once. Their distinct, disquieting, fantastical fairytale creativity would be that much more enjoyable if they stuck to a couple of ideas per track, so the listener can really soak up the bizarre and whimsical world they create.



Manchester Music
07 December 2009
By Emily Slowlie 

London’s unusual French For Cartridge continue to mix up their genres as effectively as the Dulux Colours machine on the B&Q paint counter. There are many combination of shades and textures, but mostly they keep their tunes on the side of forcefully mellow. “Oooh!” is more of a merry-go-round with the vocals of Catherine Kontz dancing with the gently stuttering guitars. The song crescendos like a brass band, refusing to crumble into a rock opus, instead remaining tantalisingly restrained. Henri Vaxby provides the main voice to “Picture Negative” a solid ballad of ebbing, leftfield, accessible acoustica.

MMM1/2



Organ Radio Show/Resonance FM
6 September 2009

Cartridge seem to have evolved, they’re now called French For Cartridge, they’re still as different as ever, still as unique, still as good. This is from their new double a-sided seven inch, cane out in July, only just landed here this week, hence the overdue late late late better late than never first play.



www.subba-cultcha.com
October 2009

Oddly dramatic mix of Baroque pop and reggae shuffle, the eccentricities of Regina Spektor fed through whatever Anthea & Tina were smoking? The smart use of repetition recalls The Fiery Furnaces, Otherworldly doesn’t begin to describe it...











Reviews for 'Cases':


 Unsigned-magazine - August 2006:

Cartridge could well have found what many bands claim to have found but have not: a sound that cannot be pigeonholed. Girly vocals like the pixie-esque Joanna Newsom mould against scratchy, throaty male vocals and crazy piano work, with colourful guitars. There is so much to offer. For many it could be too much to chew, but your ears will thank you if you persist. Genius minds are at work here. 10/10



Spill Issue 25 - July 2006:

Although Cartridge's CD cover shows a pill missing from a drug packet, think dark trips rather than something to take off that nasty summer cold. Once the pan-European four-piece have your speakers under the influence, sounds swell and morph from the paranoid ivory pounding of Dresden Dolls, via the hushed insanity of Bjork, through to swirling Santana-esque psychedelia. Occasionally frustratingly frantic, 'Cases' still produces some real highs (especially the fuzzy 'Boxing Stravinsky'), albeit ones which shouldn't be enjoyed whilst operating machinery.



www.progressiveears.com JUNE 2006:

All bands sound like other bands. It's a simple truth of music. Even bands who claim not to sound like anyone else are usually telling fibs, trying to sound cool, oblivious and isolated from influences and zeitgeist, but really they're just as guilty, if not more so than bands that freely admit their influences or wear them on their sleeves. I often find the 'arch-coolness' of bands who claim not to listen to other people's music frankly nauseating, largely because I don't believe them and partly because I think they're just saying it for the sake of their image rather than them genuinely believing in the principle. I reckon they go home at the end of the day and listen to Duran Duran records like the rest of us.

Now I'm not going to try and tell you that London-based four piece Cartridge are an exception to this rule because they're not. Admittedly their myspace homepage doesn't list any musical influences as such, but I don't think this has been done out of an attempt to be cool. And I am intrigued by the bit of blurb that came with the CD (also on their myspace page), describing them as having honed their Beach Boys-gone-wrong-meets-Mars Volta sonic explorations. But Cartridge don't really sound like the Beach Boys meets the Mars Volta any more than they sound like Norman Wisdom meets Napalm Death (though that I would pay good money to see), it's just a swish turn of phrase that helps give some impression as to just how original, quirky and out there Cartridge sound.

But that's not to say that Cartridge don't have an ear for a good tune because they do. In fact Cases is full of melodies, harmonies and hummable tunes, which you might think would undermine the fact that Cartridge are a kind of experimental avant-rock band, but it doesn't. You see Cartridge are a genuine musical contradiction – a lush pop outfit dancing with arty, jerky left-field rock experimentation, with the end result being a little bit of both, but somehow not quite either.

The mixture of quite noisy rock drums, bass and guitar with frequent wild and inventive use of piano, eccentric but nearly always melodious songwriting, a male vocalist who sounds a little like Badly Drawn Boy, a female vocalist who sounds ever so slightly like Bjork (but not really), all of which is mixed up and thrown liberally around the album, creates a sound that is uniquely Cartridge.

Yes, I can hear the Beach Boys but only in a very loose and rather freaky sense because of the vocal harmonies and because some of the tracks have a bit of surf rock guitar on them (particularly track four, the rather marvelous "Soon").

I can also hear what sounds to me like a pronky Cardiacs/Sleepy People style influence. As I said before, I have no idea about Cartridge's influences, and in a sense they really don't matter, but if you like a bit of pronk rock then you'll surely find a lot to like on Cases.

I'm also occasionally thinking that Cartridge sound a bit like a more stripped down Pure Reason Revolution (maybe it's the Beach Boys link) or Bubblemath (I think it's the jazzy sounds, particularly the piano). Again, I'm not citing these as the band's influences but as my own auditory reference points, but as they're constantly shifting and changing throughout the album it becomes increasingly difficult to pigeonhole Cartridge with every track.

And surely this is the way it should be, particularly on a band's debut: dramatic, original, eclectic, always shifting, and constantly surprising.

The press release calls Cases a collection of hummable, albeit twisted tunes, and it is that but with more besides. A wonderful debut from a band who clearly have tons of talent and a whole lot of potential.

Best tracks: "Fooling Around", "Simple", "Soon", "Laundry Lullaby", "Mesmerized".



www.bubblejam.net/ears/new_releases/rock_and_indie/ JUNE 2006:

Artrock is a term that can be lazily misapplied. But for Cartridge -- a band that came together at an art college and are named after a John Cage composition -- the term is appropriate.
Opening track Fooling Around switches tempo and style with effortless ease -- not unlike the Cardiacs. It's a collage of piano stabs, guitars that alternate between grunge and jazz, male vocals that go from rasped to harmonic and a female vocal filtered through pools of shimmering reverb.

While it may be surreal sounding on the surface, but vocals like "When we set out to make a movie about the guy next door / We didn't know that he was making a show for us to see" provide a menacing counterpoint.

Simple is anything but. Starting slowly and building to an epic crescendo, it evokes some of the melancholy of Radiohead without the whining of Thom Yorke to spoil proceedings. Truly anthemic.

Sweat is a slowly fizzing firework of a ballad. Jangly guitar and a summery sounding female vocal segue into a swell of harmonies and it ends up exploding with a bang.

Mesmerized starts off sounding like a performance from the North Sea Jazz Festival, with smooth-sounding piano and guitars topped with a laconic male vocal. Just as you're getting comfortable, the tempo gets ratcheted up before breaking down to jazz-rock.

Or should I say artrock? For sheer musicianship, this has to be one of the best debuts I've ever heard.



www.organart.com May 2006:
  
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
 
CARTRIDGE – Cases (Cartridge Music) - One of the most intriguingly interesting of new London based bands out there right now (and as we keep on pointing out, we are in a golden age if you're prepared to go mine it for yourself rather than waiting for the establishment media to tell you where it is). A self released debut album and a fine collection of avant-pop treats that don't obviously fit anywhere (good). Easy breezy glowing Pan European jazz pop (with post-rock flavourings) a sound that swings from deliciously flowing, glowing, simple, almost lounge-lizard tinged, clever easy-listening, right over to hard edged new-wave progressive pronk rock. A fine sound that bends like Primus dancing with Bjork and gets all left-field art rock as it drags you in. Oh yes, tango away as you do your laundry lullaby. Sunny day Beach Boys all gone off-hinge...  And now the tango has switched to the Charleston. If it is art-rock then it's Art Nouveau (and there aren't many in that swimming pool). There's all these warm, slightly discordant piano bits and Cartridge are just so so unlike anything else and we're squinting like a coward in a line (or a lion) and she sings so well and so does he. They all flow so so well (however musically awkward they're being). Even when Cartridge are getting really hard-boiled and complex they're still so so easy to listen to (and enjoy). Right now (as I write) it's just a delicate voice and a quiet piano that explodes with graceful sea nymph splendour that can't be put in any box. Ah yes, and such fine detail as well, a unique and recommended album. This is why we do this Organ thing.



www.roughtrade.com April 2006:
  
CASES

This 9 tracker from pan-european group cartridge is great fun. Mixing up a heap of styles (all played with remarkable assurance and chops), there's elements of jerky, spiky u.s. new wave, mars volta's complex chord blasts, bearsuit / melt banana frantic pop, lush harmonies, avant-rock stylings and hummable tunes. Schizophrenic yes, but rewarding, energetic stuff.



Organ Zine Issue 151, April 2006:
  
3-TRACK DEMO
 
Meticulously thinking, smiling, constantly blinking. This one jumped right out, an opening song that stopped everything and demanded complete attention. A different band, a band with personality, a band who don't want to sound like a low-rent version of their record collection, different breathing patterns. There's more to unwrap with every play of their relaxed refined easy on the ear clever bouncy bendy sound. Starts off kind of sounding like a scratchy thin (Southpark theme) Primus for artrock fans until it goes in to slightly operatic/classical lush piano bit and the 60's French pop singer sound of the girl and the deeper voiced boy and a whole movie in one short pop song - meticulously thinking, smiling, constantly blinking, It was the first song that instantly grabbed, but now that we've played endlessly for hours we don't know which of the three is best. Oh and on further investigation there's all kinds of icons of elegance to uncover and other projects and I think we'll be hearing more in future Organs..."



www.manchestermusic.co.uk January 2006:

DEMO OF THE WEEK

The name 'Cartridge' may be rather innocuous but this London quartet is anything but. Possibly the product of years spent studying the world's entire musical output Cartridge produce bizarre masterful music that positively defies categorisation.

Often unnerving and perplexing, Cartridge is a seemingly reckless ride that takes equal influence from rock, classical, latin, jazz and various other styles. Opener 'Fooling Around' occasionally sounds like it was written on another planet and crams in more twists than a David Kronenbourg movie.

Of course such a combination of diverse elements would amount to little if fundaments such as tunes and hooks were ignored. Thankfully such rudiments make up the forefront of Cartridge. Melodies bolstered by huge multi-layered harmonies are distinct as is the dextrous and freewheeling manner in which each instrument is employed. There are plenty of smart riffs, complex rhythms and intriguing textures to absorb without the dreaded descent into muso noodling.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Cartridge however is how firmly focused they remain in light of the deeply ambitious sounds that they create. While it ought to sound like several different songs being playing at once it flows with incredulous ease. It may seem a tad pretentious but maybe that's me nit picking. Boldly different and cogent, Cartridge prove that originality doesn't have to come at the expense of a tune. Genius.



[ back to the homepage ] [ back to top of page ]