2009/01/10

Franz Ferdinand


2009 - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

1 comment:

  1. Franz_Ferdinand-Tonight_Franz_Ferdinand-2009-DV8
    Artist: Franz Ferdinand
    Title: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand
    Label: Domino
    Genre: Indie
    Bitrate: 202kbit av.
    Time: 00:42:38
    Size: 66.27 mb
    Rip Date: 2009-01-10
    Str Date: 2009-01-26

    1. Ulysses 3:11
    2. Turn It On 2:20
    3. No You Girls 3:41
    4. Twilight Omens 2:29
    5. Send Him Away 2:59
    6. Live Alone 3:29
    7. Bite Hard 3:26
    8. What She Came For 3:52
    9. Can't Stop Feeling 3:02
    10. Lucid Dreams 7:56
    11. Dream Again 3:18
    12. Katherine Kiss Me 2:55

    Release Notes:

    Naming themselves after the archduke whose assassination
    sparked the First World War, the band mix grandeur and
    pretension with a shrewd pop touch. Their self-titled debut
    album didn't so much light up the charts as turn the sales
    book into an inferno, while follow-up 'You Could Have It So
    Much Better' came equipped with a stunning arsenal of singles.

    But then the trail goes cold. The band retreat to Glasgow,
    with the Franz Ferdinand citadel surrounded by the cloud of
    rumour as a thousand lesser acts go screaming up the charts
    only to fall back in a blaze of mediocrity.

    Sitting idle since 2005, 'Tonight: Franz Ferdinand' is an
    album long-delayed. Sessions with the slick pop machine
    Xenomania ended badly, forcing the group to spend longer on
    the album than they anticipated. During the prolonged
    downtime, the band began exploring new influences, adding
    electro, Afrobeat and ยต60s garage sounds to the studio
    jukebox.

    Opening track and comeback single 'Ulysses' encapsulates the
    drama of the band's return. Franz Ferdinand emerge from their
    hiatus with a bass-heavy intro, before Alex Kaprano's familiar
    voice hisses and seethes from the speakers. As dancefloor
    friendly as a handshake with Erol Alkan, it name-checks James
    Joyce's groundbreaking novel amid the refrain, 'I found a new
    way'. At times gloriously over the top, it never loses its
    shrewd pop vision ending in a maelstrom of antique synths
    being pushed into the 21st Century.

    This confusing blend of past and present runs through the
    throbbing veins of 'Tonight: Franz Ferdinand'. The gentle
    African skank of 'Send Him Away' rumbles along nicely, almost
    staining the coffee table with its polite Afrobeat mannerisms.
    But suddenly the band erupts into a frenetic Fela Kuti-style
    breakdown - like a circuit pushed to overloading, 'Send Him
    Away' sparks and spasms into life.

    Shimmering disco scenery dominates the landscape of this
    album. Producer Dan Carey recalls the adventurous spirit of
    the Moroder era, as the band battle creaking antique synths to
    find their true voice. 'Twilight Omens' opens with an almost
    Daft Punk-inspired riff, before leaping headlong into groovy
    Roxy Music-style rhythm. This is an album that right from its
    title down to the last notes is bathed in moonlight, its skin
    bleached with the glitter of the disco ball.

    The album's centrepiece is 'Lucid Dreams', possibly the most
    stunning and ambitious recording the band have put their names
    to. The vocals are hidden in the mix, allowing the runaway
    momentum of the song to gallop ahead of Kapranos. A triumph of
    Darey's production skills, 'Lucid Dreams' threatens to spin
    off in almost a dozen different directions, held together by
    the rhythmic gravity of Paul Thomson's insistent drum beats.
    It runs for an epic seven minutes, shattering Franz
    Ferdinand's pop framework into a thousand electronic
    fragments.

    Refining and transcending their familiar pop formula,
    'Tonight: Franz Ferdinand' is the band's most complete work to
    date. Worth the wait, and in all honesty better than we could
    ever have hoped for.

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