Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion

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Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
M02476nqxa6.jpg
Studio album by
Fight Like Apes
Released Flag of Ireland.svg 26 September 2008
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg 26 January 2009
Flag of Japan.svg 22 April 2009
Recorded2008
Genre Alternative rock, [1] karate rock, [2] [3] punk rock [4]
Length38:35
Label Model Citizen Records
Flag of Japan.svg Sony Music Entertainment Japan [5]
Producer John Goodmanson
Fight Like Apes chronology
David Carradine is a Bounty Hunter Whos Robotic Arm Hates Your Crotch
(2007)		Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion
(2008)		 The Body of Christ and the Legs of Tina Turner
(2010)
Singles from Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Gold Medallion
  1. "Something Global"
    Released: 2008
  2. "Lend Me Your Face"
    Released: 2008
  3. "Jake Summers"
    Released: 19 September 2008
  4. "Tie Me Up with Jackets"
    Released: 2009

Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion is the debut studio album of Fight Like Apes. It was released in Ireland on 26 September 2008, the UK on 26 January 2009 and Japan in April 2009.

Contents

The album charted in the top ten of the Irish Albums Chart upon its release, at #9. It was nominated in the Best Irish Album category at the 2009 Meteor Awards, as well as for the Choice Music Prize in the same year. Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion was named 31st best album of the decade by Phantom FM at the end of 2009. [6]

Recording

The band spent a month in Seattle, Washington, in early 2008, recording tracks for the album, produced by John Goodmanson. [7] [8] [9] The album title was inspired by a 1980s Mr. T cartoon. [10] The episode was called “The Mystery of the Golden Medallion” and followed Mr T as he coached an Olympic gymnastics youth team. [10]

The album was released on 26 September 2008 on Model Citizen Records, [11] [12] [13] selling continually well in Ireland and the UK. [14] It was preceded by the release of the single "Something Global" on 11 July 2008. [7] Fight Like Apes played a sold-out launch show at Whelan's in Dublin, [13] which was broadcast live on Phantom FM on the day of release.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [15]
AltSounds (80%) [16]
BBC (not rated) [17]
CLUAS (not rated) [18]
entertainment.ie Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [19]
RTÉ Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [20]
SputnikmusicStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [21]
Sunday Tribune Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [22]

The Irish Times described the album as an "astonishing debut that encompasses melancholy and whimsy (both lyrically and musically). [23] The Irish Independent , on the other hand, "strongly urge[d] all not to waste their money" on "the woeful debut" of a band with "lots of blogger and media friends, all aurally challenged". [24] These blogger friends responded to the criticism of the band but the band's frontwoman, MayKay, remains unbothered by criticism as long as the album is simply being reviewed. [9] RTÉ also gave the album a lukewarm response. [25] Neil Dunphy, writing in the Sunday Tribune , said producer John Goodmanson had "managed to capture Fight Like Apes' red hot live energy on record". [26]

In the UK press NME awarded the album 7/10 and described it as "Relentlessly pilfering the brightest parts of post-hardcore synthery, cartoon punk and sugar-rush twee, these totally hinge-free magpies have built a nest from shards of Enter Shikari, Test Icicles and Le Tigre and then thrashed the shiny fuck out of it." The album also received 8/10 in Rocksound and "4 flies" in The Fly.

In October 2008, Sony Music Entertainment Japan signed the band for the Asian release of Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion. [27] It was released in Japan in April 2009. [9]

It was released in the UK on 26 January 2009. [28] [29]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Fight Like Apes.

No.TitleLength
1."Something Global"3:50
2."Jake Summers"3:54
3."Tie Me Up with Jackets"2:35
4."Digifucker"3:25
5."Lend Me Your Face"1:54
6."Battlestations"3:53
7."Do You Karate?"2:31
8."Megameanie"0:08
9."I'm Beginning to Think You Prefer Beverly Hills 90210 to Me"3:23
10."Lumpy Dough"3:20
11."Recyclable Ass"2:30
12."Snore Bore Whore"4:37
Total length:38:35
UK (bonus tracks)
No.TitleLength
13."Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues"2:01
14."Knucklehead"1:57
15."Telephone The Real Ham Jackson"6:04
16."Canhead"2:10
17."This Is Like The Time Jody Didn't Know What Cunnilingus Was"1:06
Total length:49:27

Personnel

Chart performance

Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion reached the top five of the Irish Albums Chart, meaning the band became the first alternative act from Ireland to achieve this for several years. [1]

ChartPeak
position
Irish Albums Chart 5

Awards

Choice Music Prize

Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion was nominated for the Choice Music Prize in January 2009. [9] [24] [30] [31] The award was won by Jape for the album Ritual on 4 March 2009. [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38]

YearNominee / workAwardResult
2009Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden MedallionIrish Album of the Year 2008Nominated

Meteor Music Awards

Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion was nominated at the Meteor Music Awards in 2009, in the category of Best Irish Album. [9] [30] [31] [39] [40] [41]

YearNominee / workAwardResult
2009 Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden MedallionBest Irish AlbumNominated

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References

  1. 1 2 "Electric Avenue 2nd Birthday Celebrations". The Munster Express . 31 October 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  2. ↑ "No monkey business with Fight Like Apes". Limerick Independent. 31 October 2007. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  3. ↑ "Manic 'Easter' Monday". The Munster Express . 19 March 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  4. ↑ "OV6 Week 6". Other Voices. 19 March 2008. Archived from the original on 26 March 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  5. ↑ "Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion (Asia Edition)". Sony Music Entertainment Japan. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  6. ↑ "Phantom's fab 50". The Irish Times . 30 October 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2009. The highest placed Irish album was Fight Like Apes' 2008 debut, which came in at number 31. The full list can be seen at www.phantom.ie.
  7. 1 2 "Fight Like Apes Release Date". Sputnikmusic. 26 May 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  8. ↑ "A review of 'Fight Like Apes & The Mystery of the Golden Medallion'". CLUAS. 20 October 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "fighting talk". The Sunday Business Post . 2 February 2009. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  10. 1 2 "Fight Like Apes for Mr T treasure". Birmingham Mail . 21 November 2008. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  11. ↑ "Fight Like Apes announce album details, Dublin gig and free download". Hot Press . 5 August 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  12. ↑ "Fight Like Apes announced gig and album details". Phantom FM. 5 August 2008. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  13. 1 2 "For The Love Of..." RTÉ. 5 August 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2009.[ permanent dead link ]
  14. ↑ "Fight Like Apes". The Munster Express . 5 June 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  15. ↑ Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion at AllMusic
  16. ↑ "Altsounds.com Reviews | Fight Like Apes - Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion [Album]". hangout.altsounds.com. Archived from the original on 31 December 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  17. ↑ "BBC - Music - Review of Fight Like Apes - Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion".
  18. ↑ "CLUAS | Album reviews". Archived from the original on 18 May 2016.
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  22. ↑ "Sunday Tribune".[ permanent dead link ]
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  28. ↑ "Performed with the personality with which it is imbued". BBC. 22 January 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
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  30. 1 2 "Kings and Killers lead the Meteors way". The Irish Times . 29 January 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
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