Love Kraft

Last updated

Love Kraft
SFA-Lovekraft.jpg
Studio album by
Released22 August 2005
StudioMusician studios, Figueres, Spain; Pleasure Foxxx, Cardiff; The Dairy, Brixton; Stir Studios, Cardiff
Genre Indie rock
Length54:20
Label Epic
Producer Mario Caldato Jr, Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals chronology
Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1
(2004)
Love Kraft
(2005)
Hey Venus!
(2007)
Singles from Love Kraft
  1. "Lazer Beam"
    Released: 15 August 2005

Love Kraft is the seventh studio album by Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals, released on 22 August 2005 through Epic Records in the United Kingdom. The album was recorded in Spain with producer Mario Caldato Jr and was something of a departure for the band, with all members contributing songs and lead vocals alongside Gruff Rhys who had been main songwriter for the Super Furries until this point. [1] [2] In selecting tracks for Love Kraft a conscious effort was made by the band not to choose songs on their individual merit but rather to pick those which went well together in order to create as cohesive an album as possible. The album's name was taken from a sex shop, Love Craft, near the Cardiff offices of the Super Furries' management team and is also a nod to American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. [3]

Contents

Critical response was generally positive with some reviews claiming the album was the best of the group's career. However, a few reviewers expressed reservations that Love Kraft was "merely a very good Super Furry Animals effort" and was not as impressive as the band's previous records. [4] The track "Lazer Beam" was released as a single and reached #28 in the UK Singles Chart. [5]

Recording

Love Kraft was recorded in Figueres, a small city in Catalonia, Spain. [1] According to Rhys the band found themselves in the "unusual" position of recording their seventh album together and began to look at groups who had made many records, such as Fleetwood Mac and The Beach Boys. These bands had made "foreign records" ( Tusk and Holland , respectively) so the Super Furries decided to do the same although on "a much tighter budget." [1] [2] Leaving their usual Cardiff studio behind had an effect on the songs according to Rhys:

"It was recorded last June in intense heat. We're not used to heat at all, so it's a very slow album. We call it our sludge-rock album". [1]

The band did a lot of experimenting and arranging in Cardiff before going into the studio, as a result of which Love Kraft was recorded in just three weeks. Drummer Dafydd Ieuan also attributes the album sessions' speedy conclusion to producer Mario Caldato Jr. who was very good at keeping the group together and on the right track. [6]

The album represented a departure from the band's previous working methods: although all five members had always contributed to the development of the songs, Gruff Rhys had been the main songwriter. On Love Kraft this was no longer the case, as Rhys, Huw Bunford, Dafydd Ieuan and Cian Ciaran all contributed songs and lead vocals. [2] The group also abandoned their usual practise of picking songs on their individual merit, instead choosing tracks that would work well together and "create a sound that was as cohesive as possible". [9] Of the "30-40" songs written by band members the group chose "the more introspective ones" which meant that some of Rhys's tracks were left off the album as they were "energetic and poppy" and "didn't really fit in with everybody else's work". [10]

Several 'found sounds' were recorded and used on the album including the buzzing of a Brazilian electrical substation, the sound of pool balls being rubbed against each other and a recording of Huw Bunford jumping into a swimming pool. The latter opens the album, preceding the intro to "Zoom!". [11]

Love Kraft was mixed in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro at the request of Brazilian born Caldato. According to Rhys the band toyed with the idea of using Latin musical elements and had fantasies of "Marcos Valle doing backing vocals, and getting Rogerio Duprat to arrange the strings" but ultimately thought it would be a "bit too embarrassing" and actively tried not to make a "Brazilian sounding" record. [3] [11] This point was echoed by Guto Pryce in an interview with Birmingham's Metro although he conceded that "in Rio music is everywhere. The beats and rhythms are non-stop so that probably seeped into our minds as a subconscious influence." [12]

The album is named after a sex shop, Lovecraft Limited, near the Ankst Management offices on Cowbridge Road, Cardiff and is also a reference to American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. [3] In a 2005 interview with The Daily Telegraph , Gruff Rhys explained that the name also stems from the fact that the record has "a general warm glow of love" and that it was originally conceived as a "love record" before "some of the lyrics went completely off the rails". [3]

Release

Love Kraft was released on CD, SACD, vinyl and as a digital download on 22 August 2005 in the United Kingdom and was the band's last release for Sony's Epic imprint before they moved to independent label Rough Trade. The album reached #19 in the UK Albums Chart. [5] In America the album was released on 13 September 2005 by Beggars Banquet US. "Lazer Beam" was the only track to be released as a single from the album, reaching #28 in the UK Singles Chart. [5]

RegionDateLabelFormatCatalogue
Japan 24 August 2005 [13] Epic Records Japan Compact disc EICP-546
United Kingdom 22 August 2005 [14] Epic Vinyl record 5205011
Compact disc 5205012
Super Audio CD 5205016
Download
United States 13 September 2005 [14] XL Recordings/Beggars Banquet US Vinyl record ?
Compact disc85047
Download

Critical response

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic 77/100 [15]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [4]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [16]
Mojo Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg
NME Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [17]
The Observer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [8]
Pitchfork Media (8.5/10) link
PopMatters Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg link
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg link
Stylus Magazine (C) link

The album received a generally positive reaction from critics. British newspaper The Guardian described Love Kraft as the band's "best album yet" and musicOMH claimed it to be "the greatest realisation of the Super Furry vision to date". [16] [18] Uncut was similarly impressed calling the album "perhaps the defining record of [the band's] career" while Yahoo Music UK thought Love Kraft was "perfect pop". [19] [20]

The NME had reservations however, stating that although the album is "easily as engaging and full of the wild possibilities of pop music as anything else in their peerless canon" it is "not quite up there with Radiator due to its brace of shonky ballad filler ("Cloudberries" and "Cabin Fever")". [17] Writing for Allmusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine was largely impressed with Love Kraft but admitted to being disappointed that it is "merely a very good Super Furry Animals effort, with few surprises outside of its alluring sleek". [4] The band's singer, Gruff Rhys, has described the album as "the most beautiful record we've made ... really orchestral and fairly timeless". [21]

Accolades

PublicationCountryAccoladeYearRank
Iguana Music Spain Best albums 2005 [22] 200562
NME United Kingdom Albums of 2005 [23] 200526
Uncut United KingdomUncut 50 best albums of 2005 [24] 200512
UncutUnited KingdomUncut's 150 greatest albums of the 2000s [25] 2009118
The Village Voice United States Pazz & Jop Albums of 2005 [26] 2005339

Tour

Super Furry Animals performing live at the V Festival, 2005 in support of Love Kraft. Super Furry Animals V Festival 2005 1.jpg
Super Furry Animals performing live at the V Festival, 2005 in support of Love Kraft.

The Super Furry Animals played numerous festivals in Great Britain prior to Love Kraft's release including Scotland's T in the Park, Oxegen, the Secret Garden Party in Cambridge and the V Festival, warming up for these dates with a small show at Barry Memorial Hall on 22 July 2005. [27] A gig at Somerset House in London on 8 July 2005 went ahead despite coming just one day after the 7/7 bombings caused Queens of the Stone Age to cancel their show at the venue. [28]

Following the release of Love Kraft in the United Kingdom the Super Furry Animals played Bestival on the Isle of Wight before embarking on an 11 date tour of the UK and Ireland, beginning at the University of East Anglia in Norwich on 14 September 2005 and ending on 27 September at Dublin's Olympia Theatre venue. [29] A month long tour of Canada and the United States followed, starting on 1 November in Montreal and ending in San Diego on 1 December. [30]

The band experienced a "very different atmosphere" at initial shows on the Love Kraft tour, when they played the "slow" songs from the album. [7] This contributed to their decision to make follow up Hey Venus! a "rowdy pop record". [31]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Super Furry Animals

No.TitleLead vocalsLength
1."Zoom!" Gruff Rhys 6:53
2."Atomik Lust" Dafydd Ieuan 4:53
3."The Horn" Huw Bunford 3:00
4."Ohio Heat"Rhys4:06
5."Walk You Home" Cian Ciaran 4:00
6."Lazer Beam"Rhys4:55
7."Frequency"Rhys4:40
8."Oi Frango" 2:23
9."Psyclone!"Rhys4:20
10."Back on a Roll"Bunford3:46
11."Cloudberries"Rhys5:04
12."Cabin Fever"Ciaran/Ieuan6:20
Japanese CD release bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
13."Sunny Seville"3:26
14."Colonise the Moon"4:34

Personnel

The following people contributed to Love Kraft: [32]

Band

Additional musicians

Recording personnel

Artwork

Album chart positions

ChartPeak
position
Ireland Albums Chart23 [33]
U.S. Top Heatseekers 38 [34]
U.S. Top Independent Albums 47 [35]
UK Albums Chart 19 [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Furry Animals</span> Welsh rock band

Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Guto Pryce, Cian Ciaran, Dafydd Ieuan. An earlier incarnation of the band featured actor Rhys Ifans on lead vocals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gruff Rhys</span> Welsh musician and filmmaker born in 1970

Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, which obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Prize. He won the 2011 Welsh Music Prize for his album Hotel Shampoo, which was followed up by American Interior in 2014, accompanied by a film, a book and a mobile app. His most recent album, Sadness Sets Me Free, was released in 2024. He is considered a figurehead of the era known as Cool Cymru.

<i>Phantom Power</i> (Super Furry Animals album) Album by Super Furry Animals

Phantom Power is the sixth album by Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals, released on 21 July 2003 by Epic Records in the United Kingdom. The record was originally conceived as a ten-song concept album using D-A-D-D-A-D guitar tuning, but the band chose to abandon this idea during recording as they didn't want to constrain themselves. The group did attempt to create a "more coherent" album than their past efforts by choosing songs which worked well together. Phantom Power was recorded at the band's own studio, AV Happenings, in Cardiff with the Super Furries producing and engineering themselves for the first time. The album features a range of musical styles, from country rock to techno, although many of the tracks are based around the acoustic guitar. According to chief songwriter and vocalist Gruff Rhys, the album's lyrics deal with "broken relationships and war".

<i>Fuzzy Logic</i> (Super Furry Animals album) 1996 studio album by Super Furry Animals

Fuzzy Logic is the debut album by the Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals. Recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and released on the Creation label in May 1996, it was positively received by critics, who felt it was an eclectic if inconsistent mix of psychedelic music and glam rock, and was included in Q Magazine's list of recordings of the year. It has retained a modest respect among some critics; it was listed in Q's "Best British Albums Ever" in July 2004, and is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It contains two top 20 hits in "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" and "Something 4 the Weekend"; it also contains the singles "God! Show Me Magic" and "Hometown Unicorn". It reached number 23 in the UK Albums Chart on release. In 2013, NME ranked it at number 245 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

<i>Rings Around the World</i> Album by Super Furry Animals

Rings Around the World is the fifth studio album and the major label debut by Super Furry Animals. Released on 23 July 2001 by Epic Records in the United Kingdom, it was the first album by any artist to be simultaneously released on both audio CD and DVD. The record reached number 3 in the UK Albums Chart and includes the singles "Juxtapozed with U", "(Drawing) Rings Around the World" and "It's Not the End of the World?".

<i>Guerrilla</i> (album) 1999 studio album by Super Furry Animals

Guerrilla is the third studio album by Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals. The record was released on 14 June 1999 by Creation Records and peaked at number 10 in the UK Albums Chart. Guerrilla was conceived as a commercial 'pop' album and was produced by the band themselves, as regular producer Gorwel Owen felt exhausted after a busy schedule working for other bands. Recording took place at Real World Studios, Box, Wiltshire in mid-1998 with the group experimenting with a sampler for the first time and writing a number of songs in the studio. The band tried to create a 45-minute long, immediate sounding record, and therefore chose the upbeat songs from the 25 tracks which were recorded during sessions for the album. Guerrilla was chosen as the album's title as a pun on the group's name.

<i>Phantom Phorce</i> 2004 remix album by Super Furry Animals

Phantom Phorce is a remix album of Super Furry Animals' 2003 record Phantom Power. The remixes had previously appeared on the DVD version of Phantom Power—they were re-released as Phantom Phorce on the band's own Placid Casual label as a way of ensuring the remixers would receive royalties for the tracks. The album features a commentary from the fictional 'Kurt Stern' who appears between songs to discuss the re-recording of Phantom Power under his guidance after being unhappy with the original. First editions of the album came packaged in a case that doubled as a paper model of a video game arcade cabinet, and included a bonus CD; the Slow Life EP. Critical reaction to Phantom Phorce was generally positive.

<i>Radiator</i> (album) 1997 studio album by Super Furry Animals

Radiator is the second studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals. It was released in August 1997 by Creation Records, and later the same year in the United States under Flydaddy Records. It peaked at number eight on the UK Albums Chart. In 2005, it was reissued with a bonus disc of other tracks from the time.

<i>Candylion</i> 2007 studio album by Gruff Rhys

Candylion is the second solo album by Welsh musician and Super Furry Animals front-man Gruff Rhys. It was released on 8 January 2007 through Rough Trade Records and Team Love and peaked at number fifty on the UK Albums Chart. The album includes the singles "Candylion" and "Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru".

<i>Hey Venus!</i> 2007 studio album by Super Furry Animals

Hey Venus! is the eighth album by Welsh band Super Furry Animals. It was released on 27 August 2007 in the United Kingdom. Hey Venus! is the band's first full-length release on current label Rough Trade Records and, at just over 36 minutes, is also their shortest-running studio release. The title is taken from the first line of the song "Into the Night".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fire in My Heart</span> 1999 single by Super Furry Animals

"Fire in My Heart" is the tenth single by Welsh rock band the Super Furry Animals. It was the second single to be taken from the group's 1999 album Guerrilla, and reached number 25 in the UK Singles Chart after its release on 9 August 1999. The track, originally titled "Heartburn", has been described by the band's singer Gruff Rhys as a country and western song with lyrics that offer "soul advice".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juxtapozed with U</span> 2001 single by Super Furry Animals

"Juxtapozed with U" is the thirteenth single by Super Furry Animals. It was the first single to be taken from the Rings Around the World album and reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in July 2001. The song was initially conceived as a duet but, after both Brian Harvey and Bobby Brown turned the band down, lead singer Gruff Rhys sang the entire track, using a vocoder on the verses to imitate another person. Musically "Juxtapozed with U" has echoes of Philadelphia soul and the "plastic soul" of David Bowie's album Young Americans and was inspired by the Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder track "Ebony and Ivory". Rhys has claimed that he sees "Juxtapozed with U" as "fairly subversive" because its polished pop style was in stark contrast to the "macho" guitar music the band felt was prevalent in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">(Drawing) Rings Around the World</span> Single by Super Furry Animals

"(Drawing) Rings Around the World" is a song by Super Furry Animals and was the second single taken from the band's fifth album, Rings Around the World. The track reached number 28 on the UK Singles Chart on release in October 2001. Singer Gruff Rhys has described the song as being about "rings of communication around the world. All the rings of pollution".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It's Not the End of the World?</span> 2002 single by Super Furry Animals

"It's Not the End of the World?" is a song by Welsh band Super Furry Animals. It was the last single to be released from the Rings Around the World album and reached number 30 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in January 2002. Singer Gruff Rhys has variously described the track as being about the extinction of mankind and as "a romantic song about growing old".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Retriever (song)</span> 2003 single by Super Furry Animals

"Golden Retriever" is a song by Super Furry Animals. It was the first single to be issued from the album Phantom Power and reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in July 2003. The song is about the relationship between singer Gruff Rhys's girlfriend's two dogs and was written in the same key, with the same guitar tuning and around the same time as several other songs from Phantom Power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lazer Beam</span> 2005 single by Super Furry Animals

"Lazer Beam" is a single by Super Furry Animals. It was the only single to be released from the Love Kraft album and reached #28 in the UK Singles Chart, and as of 2023, remains their last UK Top 40 hit. The song is "about making your own reality" and tells the story of aliens coming down to earth to shoot humans with laser beams which "make them intelligent rather than being jerks". Some of singer Gruff Rhys's lyrics were lifted from a speech made by Tony Blair at the Labour Party Conference in 2004.

<i>Slow Life</i> 2004 EP by Super Furry Animals

Slow Life is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 2004. The EP was made available as a free download and also saw a limited CD release, bundled with remix album Phantom Phorce. Lead track "Slow Life" appeared on the 2003 album Phantom Power and was originally composed as a purely electronic song by keyboardist Cian Ciaran several years earlier. The band were keen to finish the track and Ciaran encouraged them to jam over his original version—this jam was then edited and made into the finished song. The track "Motherfokker" is a collaboration between the Super Furry Animals and rap group Goldie Lookin Chain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Gift That Keeps Giving</span> 2007 single by Super Furry Animals

"The Gift That Keeps Giving" is a song by Super Furry Animals taken from their 2007 album, Hey Venus!. It was given away as a free download single from the band's official website on Christmas Day 2007.

<i>Dark Days/Light Years</i> 2009 studio album by Super Furry Animals

Dark Days/Light Years, the ninth and most recent studio album by Super Furry Animals, was digitally released at 8pm on 16 March 2009 via the band's website, with a physical release following on the 21st of April on Rough Trade Records. The album's title is taken from a lyric in the song "Moped Eyes".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Furry Animals discography</span> Music discography

The discography of Super Furry Animals, a Welsh indie rock band, consists of nine studio albums, four extended plays, twenty three singles and three video albums. Super Furry Animals were formed in 1993 in Cardiff, Wales by Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Guto Pryce, Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Jinman, Richard (1 July 2005). "'We call it sludge-rock'". The Guardian . Retrieved 7 July 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 Kocan, Alex (c. 2005). "Alex Kocan spoke to Bunf from the Super Furry Animals". LeftLion . Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 4 McLean, Craig (19 August 2005). "Super fuzzy logic". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (c. 2005). "Love Kraft". Allmusic . Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Search Results Singles". everyHit.com. 29 July 2008. Archived from the original on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  6. Spignese, Frank (20 October 2005). "SFA: Less fuzz more logic". The Daily Yomiuri .
  7. 1 2 Hogan, Marc (27 August 2007). "Interview: Super Furry Animals". Pitchfork Media . Retrieved 9 July 2008.[ dead link ]
  8. 1 2 3 Hoskyns, Barney (17 July 2005). "Super Furry Animals, Love Kraft". The Observer . Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  9. Foster, Richard (10 October 2005). "Incendiary interview Super Furry Animals". Incendiary Magazine. Retrieved 4 August 2008.[ permanent dead link ]
  10. Sweeney, Tanya (31 August 2005). "The Sound and the Furry". Hot Press .
  11. 1 2 McNair, James (19 August 2005). "Super Furry Animals: Heavenly creatures". The Independent . Retrieved 4 August 2008.[ dead link ]
  12. Mcbay, Nadine (23 May 2005). "Interview". Metro .
  13. "Love Kraft". MusicBrainz . 2005. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
  14. 1 2 Lundy, Zeth (2005). "Love Kraft". PopMatters . Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  15. "Love Kraft by Super Furry Animals". Metacritic . Retrieved 1 October 2016.
  16. 1 2 Clarke, Betty (19 August 2005). "Super Furry Animals, Love Kraft". The Guardian . Retrieved 29 July 2008.
  17. 1 2 Beaumont, Mark (24 August 2005). "Super Furry Animals: Love Kraft". NME . Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  18. Welsh, David (22 August 2005). "Love Kraft". musicOMH. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  19. "Love Kraft". Uncut . 100: 100. September 2005.
  20. Watson, Ian (4 December 2008). "Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft". Yahoo! . Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  21. Martin, Piers (April 2008). "Album by album: Super Furry Animals". Uncut . 131: 70–72.
  22. "Iguana Music lists from Spain: Best albums 2005". RockListMusic. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  23. "NME 2005 Lists". RockListMusic. Archived from the original on 24 May 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  24. "Uncut albums of the year". RockListMusic. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  25. "Uncut's 150 greatest albums of the decade". Uncut . 150: 41. November 2009.
  26. "Pazz & Jop Albums Of 2005 (Village Voice)". RockListMusic. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  27. "SUPER FURRY ANIMALS TO PLAY ONE-OFF WELSH DATE". NME . 4 June 2005. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  28. "SOMERSET HOUSE SHOWS START AGAIN". NME . 8 July 2005. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  29. "'LOVE' LIVE!". NME . 3 June 2005. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  30. "The Super Furry Animals Love Kraft Live". IGN . 31 October 2005. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  31. "Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals)". Soundscapes. 25 September 2007. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  32. Love Kraft (CD booklet). Super Furry Animals. London: Epic Records. 2005. p. 10.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  33. "Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft". aCharts. 31 July 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
  34. "Top Heatseekers: Love Kraft". Billboard . Retrieved 31 July 2008.[ dead link ]
  35. "Top Independent Albums: Love Kraft". Billboard . Retrieved 31 July 2008.[ dead link ]