THE NEWS:
Upcoming gigs:
October 20th - Monto @ Underbelly, Hoxton Sq
www.themonto.com
November 11th - Bloody Awful Poetry @ The Lock Tavern, Camden
www.bloodyawfulpoetry.com
November 25th - Club Fandango @ The Camden Head, Camden
www.clubfandango.co.uk
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!
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:
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.