Floating (Jape song)

Last updated
"Floating"
Single by Jape
from the album The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me
Released2004
Length3:14
Label Trust Me I'm a Thief/V2
Songwriter(s) Richie Egan
Producer(s) David Kitt/Richie Egan
Cover of the 2007 remixes of "Floating". Jape's Floating 2007 remixes cover.jpg
Cover of the 2007 remixes of "Floating".
The award-nominated video for "Floating" sees Richie Egan attacked by fruit and vegetables as he attempts to paint a garden fence. Jape Floating Video Fall on Fruit.jpg
The award-nominated video for "Floating" sees Richie Egan attacked by fruit and vegetables as he attempts to paint a garden fence.

"Floating" is a 2004 single by the Irish band Jape, taken from the second studio album, The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me and described as "Jape's trademark song". [1] Co-produced by David Kitt, [2] the single was the first release from the album and was generally viewed by critics as the standout track on the album. [3] In 2007, it featured on the EP, Jape is Grape, for which a video was made. Brendan Benson of The Raconteurs is a known admirer of the song and has performed a cover version during live shows. [4]

Contents

Reception

"Floating" was a popular single on late night alternative music radio shows in Ireland. [3] The national broadcaster RTÉ described the song as "part drugs story and part love song" and noted its "quirky instrumentation and Gregorian chanting". [3] It described the lyrics as having "a definite feel of amateur philosophy at 5am" but it said that that was "not necessarily a bad thing". [3]

Cover versions

The song was famously overheard being played in Whelan's in Dublin by the musician Brendan Benson who immediately requested a copy of the album. [5] A friend at the venue informed the band of this development following a show at The Bloom Festival [6] during The Rose of Tralee festival in County Kerry. [5] Benson then praised Jape in The Guardian (however, the newspaper spelt it "Jabe" [5] ) and rang the song's writer to inform him he would be covering "Floating" with his band The Raconteurs. [5] Benson did not actually receive permission to cover the track although it has been said that he would have been allowed to had he asked. [7] Jape witnessed the cover live at the Olympia Theatre and was later to describe it as "a great moment". [5] "Floating" is also covered by the Belgian bastard pop duo Soulwax during their DJ sets. [8]

2007 remixes

A remix collection of "Floating" was released as a single on 4 June 2007 through the Marine Parade label of Adam Freeland. [9] There were contributions from Prins Thomas, Alex Metric and Son Green over three formats. [9] The 12" featured an eleven-minute "Prins Thomas Diskomiks" and an "Alex Metric Mix". [9] The original version of "Floating" and a "Son Green Mix" featured on the 7", whilst the download version featured bonus tracks of "Prins Thomas Dub" and "Prins Thomas 0.75 Miks". [9]

Video

"Floating" went on to feature on the EP, Jape is Grape, released on 19 November 2007 on V2 Records. The video was recorded on 2 October 2007 and was directed by M&E and D.A.D.D.Y. [10] The video's storyline involves Richie Egan walking onscreen to finish painting a garden fence. As he completes this task he is hit with a piece of fruit by an unknown assailant. He is then hit with more fruit before gently lifting off the ground as a water melon is hurled in his direction. Despite this an apple hits him in the face and this is followed by a stream of fruit and vegetables including broccoli, pears, a tomato which splashes across his forehead and a shower of grapes which cascade onto him from above as he attempts to defend himself. A coconut hits a bottle and glass of milk which are positioned on a stepladder, sending the contents flying through the air. As the fruit piles up Egan slips and falls exhaustedly onto the ground, with more food landing on top of him and apparently burying him. The fruit and vegetables then rise up to form an anthropomorphistic figure, with Egan's facial features visible beneath. An apple is then hurled at Egan beneath the fruit but it freezes mid-air and Egan rises above it out of the picture as the apple falls to the ground. The video ends with a fruitless Egan walking into shot clutching his paintbrush; he then picks up the fallen apple and takes a bite before returning to complete his painting of the garden fence. [10]

Awards

UK Music Video Awards

"Floating" was nominated for Best Budget Video at the UK Music Video Awards in 2008. [11] Autamata, another Irish band, were also nominated for their video "Need You Sunshine" as were Example’s video for "Me and Mandy", Lise Westzynthius's video for "Childlike Curves" and These New Puritans's video for "Elvis". [11] The awards ceremony took place on 14 October 2008 in the Odeon West End in Leicester Square, London. [11]

YearNominee / workAwardResult
2008"Floating"Best Budget VideoNominated

Related Research Articles

The Raconteurs American rock band

The Raconteurs is an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan, formed in 2005. The band consists of Jack White, Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence, and Patrick Keeler (drums). Lawrence and Keeler were originally members of the Greenhornes, while White and Lawrence went on to become members of the Dead Weather.

Brendan Benson Musical artist

Brendan Benson is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, and drums. He has released seven solo albums and is a member of the band The Raconteurs.

Mick Flannery Irish singer and songwriter

Mick Flannery is an Irish singer and songwriter.

The Blizzards

The Blizzards are an Irish band from Mullingar in County Westmeath. They were formed by Niall Breslin in late 2004, and also feature Dec Murphy (drums), Justin Ryan, Anthony Doran, Louize Carroll (bass) and Aidan Lynch (keyboards). They have achieved multiple platinum record sales and have won numerous awards.

Lisa Hannigan Irish musician

Lisa Margaret Hannigan is an Irish musician, singer, composer, and voice actress. She began her musical career as a member of Damien Rice's band. Since beginning her solo career in 2007 she has released three albums: Sea Sew (2008), Passenger (2011), and At Swim (2016). Hannigan's music has received award nominations both in Ireland and the United States. Hannigan also received attention in North America for her role as Blue Diamond in Steven Universe, an American animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar.

Choice Music Prize Award

The Choice Music Prize, known for sponsorship reasons as the RTÉ Choice Music Prize is an annual music prize awarded to the best album from a band or solo musician who is born in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland or holds an Irish passport. For bands, the majority of members must have been born in the island of Ireland or hold an Irish passport.

Home (Daughtry song) 2007 single by Daughtry

"Home" is a 2007 song by American rock band Daughtry from their self-titled debut album. The song had been climbing up the U.S. charts for a few weeks before the song was announced as the second single from the album. The song was covered by Irish musician Kian Egan that serves as the lead single from his debut album also called Home.

The Coronas

The Coronas are an Irish rock band that originated in Dublin. They release their music by their own independent record label, 3ú Records, and are based between Dublin and London. They have released six studio albums, Heroes or Ghosts (2007), Tony Was an Ex-Con (2009), Closer to You (2011) The Long Way (2014), Trust The Wire (2017) & True Love Waits (2020).

Delorentos Irish alternative rock band

Delorentos are a Dublin-based Irish alternative rock band, formed in 2005. They consist of Rónan Yourell, Kieran McGuinness, Níal Conlan and Ross McCormick. The band's debut album In Love with Detail was critically acclaimed in Ireland, being nominated for the Choice Music Prize and in the Best Irish Album category at the 2007 Meteor Awards, at which Delorentos were also nominated for Best New Irish Band. Two extended plays have also been released; their debut release, titled Leave It On, in October 2005, and the follow-up EP, titled Do You Realise, came out in November 2007. The Delorentos discography consists of a selection of singles which impacted on the Irish Singles Chart, such as "The Rules" in May 2006 and "Stop" in July 2007.

This is a summary of the year 2008 in the Irish music industry.

Jape (band) Irish electronic–rock band

Jape are an Irish electronic–rock band from Dublin. Formed as a side project by Richie Egan whilst part of The Redneck Manifesto, they have released five albums to date; Cosmosphere (2003), The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me (2004), Ritual (2008), Ocean of Frequency (2011), and This Chemical Sea (2015). Jape's wider discography includes the EP, Jape is Grape (2007), as well as a number of singles, including "Floating" and "Phil Lynott". The band have performed at festivals and events such as Glastonbury, Electric Picnic, Lovebox and Hard Working Class Heroes and provided support for The Flaming Lips at Belsonic in Belfast in August 2008.

Fight Like Apes Irish alternative rock band

Fight Like Apes were an Irish alternative rock band formed in Dublin in 2006.

<i>Sea Sew</i> 2008 studio album by Lisa Hannigan

Sea Sew is the debut studio album released by Lisa Hannigan. It was released in Ireland on 12 September 2008, with the lead single, "Lille", made available as a free download on lisahannigan.ie on 25 August.

<i>Ritual</i> (Jape album) 2008 studio album by Jape

Ritual is the third studio album from electronic rock band Jape, released on Co-op Records in 2008. It won the Choice Music Prize for the 2008 Irish Album of the Year in March 2009.

Cosmosphere is the debut studio album of Jape released on the Volta Sounds label in 2003. The album received airplay on national radio on shows such as Donal Dineen's Here Comes the Night on Today FM. Like its successor, The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me, which was released the following year, it contains eight tracks. The album is thirty-three minutes in length. Jape frontman Richie Egan was inspired to write the album in 2003 after he had developed Jape following a week's stay at the family home of Niall Byrne in Avoca, County Wicklow. Byrne is a member of the band The Redneck Manifesto, a band which Egan was and remains part of.

<i>The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me</i> 2004 studio album by Jape

The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me is the second studio album of Jape released by Trust Me I'm a Thief Records in 2004. The album was launched in Dublin's Crawdaddy venue. Like its predecessor, Cosmosphere, which was released the previous year, it contains eight tracks. The album included the single "Floating", a song later covered by Brendan Benson of The Raconteurs and the Belgian bastard pop duo Soulwax during their DJ sets. The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me was followed by the ten-track Choice Music Prize-winning album Ritual which was released in 2008.

Phil Lynott (song) 2008 single by Jape

"Phil Lynott" is a 2008 single by the Irish band Jape, taken from their third studio album, Ritual. Released on 19 December 2008, Jape fans were behind an unsuccessful online petition to establish the song as the Christmas number one in the Irish Singles Chart. "Phil Lynott" was well-received, with critics generally regarding it as one of the finer songs on the Ritual album and the Irish Independent naming it the best Irish song of the year.

<i>Fight Like Apes and the Mystery of the Golden Medallion</i> 2008 studio album by Fight Like Apes

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.

Jeremy Hickey is an Irish multi-instrumentalist and producer from Kilkenny. He has released four albums and one EP. Rarely Seen Above Ground (2007) Organic Sampler (2008) Be It Right Or Wrong (2010)Rotate EP (2013) and Chroma (2020).

<i>White Lies</i> (Mick Flannery album) 2008 studio album by Mick Flannery

White Lies is the second studio album released by Irish singer-songwriter Mick Flannery. The album was released on September 12, 2008. It achieved a top ten position on the Irish Albums Chart and featured prominently on the country's national radio stations.

References

  1. ↑ John Meagher (2008-04-11). "Review of the Week: Republic of Loose * * * *". Irish Independent . Retrieved 2009-08-16.
  2. ↑ "New album plus Irish tour for Jape". RTÉ. 2004-09-01. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Jape - The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me". RTÉ. 2004-12-02. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  4. ↑ Brian Boyd (5 March 2009). "Dublin band Jape wins overall prize at Choice Music awards". The Irish Times . Retrieved 3 March 2010. Egan’s three solo albums have all attracted a good deal of interest from the music industry. A song off his second album, “Floating” was a radio hit and is covered frequently in live appearances by the U.S. band The Raconteurs who are fronted by The White Stripes’ Jack White. Egan hopes the award will help raise his profile in international markets.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "A matter of Choice". The Irish Times . 2009-03-06. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  6. ↑ http://bloomintralee.com Archived 2010-05-10 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "entertainment.ie Interview with Jape". entertainment.ie. 2008-12-11. Archived from the original on 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  8. ↑ "Flaming Lips Support Bill Confirmed". BBC . Retrieved 2008-10-06.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Jape to release 'Floating' remix collection". MUSE.ie. 2007-05-08. Archived from the original on 2007-11-20. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  10. 1 2 "JAPE Floating by DADDY and M&E". Dailymotion. Accessed 8 March 2009.
  11. 1 2 3 "Autamata and Jape up for UK Music Video Awards". Hot Press . 2008-09-29. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.