Late of the Pier Chat, Video and "Choon"
(Photo by Alistair Allan)
I love me my Late of the Pier! I want to swig cheap wine with them and have wanted to for approaching a year now; ever since I stumbled upon a NotGL reader who had "The Bears Are Coming" on their myspace page. That page view opened me up to their Nottingham madness.
It was a bit of a bummer I didn't connect with them while in the UK at the end of 2007, but I'm sure the opportunity will present itself sometime on the near future. It better! I have occasionally emailed with them - first about "The Bears Are Coming" and most recently when I was writing about them for URB Magazine's "Next 100" issue due out in March. I had a bit of info on my hands, but I went straight to the source for a fun exchange. Here's what Late of the Pier had to say:
What is your connection to Metronomy and have you recorded more with Erol than just "The Bears are Coming?"
Hello Nilina, we're with Erol right now, he's recording our album.
We played with Metronomy about a year ago, and became friends. Joe says he's a father, but we just consider him a really cool but slighty unhinged uncle. He's remixed "The Bears..." and it's the best remix I've ever heard.
How long have you been a band and how did you form i.e. were you all friends through school, etc. ? Why did you form?
We grew up in the same village and shared a passion for music and alchemy. Now we're trying to chase a career in both passions. Gold music, or just fools gold music... Either way we're having fun and we no longer live in the village.
Are they kings of the pull quote or are they kings of the pull quote? "Slightly unhinged uncle," "a passion for music and alchemy,"Now we're trying to chase a career in both passions." !!!???!!! Gold I tell you! Gold! I so want to talk to them in-depth as they have interesting things to say and interesting ways of saying it.
Oh wait - I think they're already kings. At least in their brand new video out for "The Bears Are Coming":
Directed by some guy by the name of Saam. Hmm...never heard of him... hahahahaha
Now, let's go back to the bit about the Metronomy remix. I went on a mad search for it, found it and then got hit by what felt like a ton of bricks. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I still can't. It was actually a Metronomy remix. A remix. I've never heard one of those before.
We all know I have an extensive collective of Metronomy tracks, from Britney Spears covers, to "remixes" of Kate Nash, Bright Eyes and the Infadels, but never have one of those remixes every sounded like a remix. Ever. He takes them and make them sound like whole new tracks, like Metronomy tracks just with said bands' vocals. His remix of "The Bears Are Coming" actually sounds like a remix in the casual sense of the word. Not in the Metronomy definition of remix.
Oddness. You can download his "The Bears Are Coming" remix for free at online label RCRD LBL.
And I'm oh so thankful for it because it truly caught me by surprise and made me go through every "remix" I have of his to discern whether this had a occurred before - a remix sounding like a remix as opposed to an entirely new track. That action reintroduced me to his remix of Hot Club de Paris' "Clockwork Toy." In just days it racked up 82 plays in my itunes when previously I'd only gone through the first minute and stopped. That track is sheer brilliance! Thank you Joe Mount for remixing "The Bears Are Coming" to sound like an actual remix and in turn giving your other remixes that had somehow escaped my attention a new lease on life for me! That's clearly the reason you did it, right? hahaha
Here is their original version of "The Bears Are Coming." By original, I mean even pre-Erol production:
"The Bears Are Coming" Late of the Pier MP3
They've got a load of other tracks on their myspazz. So much so that they sent a bulletin around about 'em at the beginning of this month:
Date: Feb 1, 2008 9:22 AM
Subject: new choooooons
Body: well. sort of.
finally put up the single version of The Bears Are Coming, lovingly fondled by our second daddy mr erol alkan.also posted one of the remixes from the mighty Emporer Machine (I love it. I really really really love it.)
along with an amazing remix of Bathroom Gurgle by our favourite BreakBot.
'ave a ganders.also put up a new demo of Heartbeat. we've reworked it slightly for the album. let us know your thoughts on it please.
kissy kissy
x
Vocab of the day:
alchemy -
• the medieval forerunner of chemistry, based on the supposed transformation of matter. It was concerned particularly with attempts to convert base metals into gold or to find a universal elixir.
• figurative a process by which paradoxical results are achieved or incompatible elements combined with no obvious rational explanation
Oh, and is that Final Fantasy I spy? Since when does Owen Pallett have a twin?
Comments