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[GIG] Triptych: Skeletons + The Kings Of All Cities + Found @ The Tunnels


Jamie

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Skeletons & The Kings Of All Cities

Brooklyns top-monikered tropical pop lords, Skeletons & the Kings of All Cities anteriorly Skeletons & the Girl-Faced Boys have engendered comparisons to Can, Grandaddy, Sonic Youth, Prince even the sans pareil Boyz II Men.

Initially spawned as a solo act whose cornerstones were collaboration, experimentation and unpredictability founder member (and Shinkoyo records chieftan) Matt Mehlan enlisted an eclectic cast of conspirators to gussy up his autonomous art: classical trombonists, punk-rock drummers and junkyard choirboys to name a few.

Now brandishing a full-time band, whose not inconsiderable number boasts horn-blowers, multiple guitarists and double drummers and having recently issued an excellent debut, Lucas on indie enterprise Ghostly (Dabrye, Matthew Dear) Skeletons... have slayed audiences alongside the likes of TV on the Radio, Animal Collective and Jackie O Motherfucker. You have been warned.

Found

"Like King Creosote holed up in a studio with Brian Eno", raved Word magazine viz Edinburgh pop dissectors Found: a shimmering five-piece whose beach-combing romp across breaks, beats, acid-folk, hip-hop and electronica reflects Beck, Four Tet, The Beta Band.

The gilded abstraction of Ziggy Campbell (lead vocals, guitar), Tommy Perman (bass guitar, synths), Kev Sim (sampler, melodica), Gav Sutherland (keys, backing vocals) and Alan Stockdale (drums, percussion, live visual projection), Found arose in 2005, and have since approached pop as one might a laboratory: their amalgamated dance-folk, their twisting key signatures, their helter-skelter electronica and their meticulous, chromatic rock makes for a heavenly inquisition.

Recently signed to The Fence Collective, Found released their second album, 'This Mess We Keep Reshaping', to great acclaim last year.

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Reviews...

couple of nice album/live reviews on the forthcoming SKELETONS :)

On our last excursion to Good Records, our friend C.J. convinced us to buy Skeletons and The Kings Of All Cities' Lucas by describing it as "Albert Ayler meets Prince." The Skeletons collective (who released Git in 2005) have also drawn comparisons to Can, Sonic Youth, and Boyz II Men (seriously). The LP cover is about the ugliest thing I've ever seen, and it comes pressed on a hideous gray vinyl. All that aside, we've listened to this, the disjointed, beautiful album opener, maybe 100 times over the last couple of days (give or take). It sort of meanders aimlessly along for the first 2 minutes, but all of those seemingly ridiculous comparisons begin to make sense after that. gorillavsbear...

i saw Skeletons for the first time a few weeks ago. Big smiles, big hair, big glasses, big songs. When they began playing, it sounded nothing like the record. Live, Skeletons (4 of them) are the hero of Bonaroo, and then a tropicalia version of the Locust, and then Sun Ra and Orthrelm and Phish and Animal Collective and Tzadik and Ipecac all at once...indyweeklyblogs.com

"Lucas" is a concept album of sorts about a phantasmagorical land ruled by a king who fixes the crooked smiles of his subjects but that's not important right now. What you need to know is that Brooklyn-based Skeletons leader Matt Mehlan and his co-conspirators the Kings of All Cities have assembled a very fine orchestrated left-field technicolour pop album. Instead of losing the run of itself in such an ambitious pursuit (like the sometimes claustrophobically cloying arrangements of Sufjan Stevens) "Lucas" is founded on the infectious Valhallic voodoo grooves of Moondog with traces of Sun Ra's skronk action and captures both the joyous communal campfire vibe of Animal Collective and the kaleidoscopic junkyard aesthetic of Neutral Milk Hotel. The albums centerpiece "Fake Tits" is a widescreen production with wild eyed polyrhythms and features the agreeable sentiments "It's not that hard to disappear, flush your phone down the toilet, find your way out the window, throw your wallet in the river." This album was conceived on a long drive through Midwestern America and upon surrendering to its woozy charms you'll realize that you're definitely not in Kansas anymore junkmedia.

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well the Triptych week is upon us, once again....just how many people are migrating to glasgow for the mighty mighty line up with Mogwai etc?!! ;(:D

im informed there's a drum n bass night in Room 1 after Candy Staton o_O but at least if any random indie types turn up not knowing whats on on sat night, they just might be lured into Room 2, and be pleasantly surprised! :popcorn::)

its the first night of the Skeletons tour, on their first ever visit to the UK....im sure it'll be a good one for them :) im excited anyway!

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great night last night Shaz.

FOUND were on fine form both on stage and on the decks. Skeletons were pleasingly bizzare. Really enjoyed them and they had a couple of beautiful tunes tucked away in their set. Lovely voice sitting somewhere in the Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev territory. far too much hair on the stage though...

:up::up::up:

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found were really good.

smashing stuff, nae sure about the skeletons band, they reminded me of extreme.

the saxaphone bit was cool, if indeed there was a saxaphone bit, i might have made that up.

i have tunnells mouth. i'm sticking to bottled beer next time ahreckons.

also what the fuck was all that about tentpegs?

was that BIZ in strange heckling mode?

(i might have made that up 2)

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found were really good.

smashing stuff, nae sure about the skeletons band, they reminded me of extreme.

the saxaphone bit was cool, if indeed there was a saxaphone bit, i might have made that up.

i have tunnells mouth. i'm sticking to bottled beer next time ahreckons.

also what the fuck was all that about tentpegs?

was that BIZ in strange heckling mode?

(i might have made that up 2)

You're correct on all counts. I think I've encountered Tunnels mouth as well.

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