| Mapping the Rendezvous | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 28 October 2016 | |||
| Recorded | 2016 | |||
| Genre | Dance-rock | |||
| Length | 41:16 | |||
| Label | Ignition | |||
| Producer | Joe Cross | |||
| Courteeners chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Mapping the Rendezvous | ||||
| ||||
Mapping the Rendezvous is the fifth studio album by British rock band Courteeners, released on 28 October 2016. [1] The album was announced in August while "The 17th" was made available on streaming platforms. [2] In November the band embarked on a UK/European tour in support of the album.
Courteeners released their fourth studio album Concrete Love in August 2014, peaking at number three in the UK Albums Chart. [3] [4] It was promoted with two tours of the United Kingdom, various festivals (including Isle of Wight, Glastonbury, T in the Park), and a one-off show at Heaton Park in Manchester to a crowd of 25,000. [5] Following this, bassist Mark Cupello left the band in December 2015 and was replaced by their previous producer Joe Cross. [6] They spent two weeks in Loch Ness, Scotland at a converted chapel, where they demoed new material. Following a month break, they re-listened to the material, which frontman Liam Fray deemed "good but it wasn’t great". [7]
The songs that would end up on their next album were written in Paris, France, with Fray citing the film Victoria (2015) by Sebastian Schipper as the lyrical inspiration. [8] [9] Cross and Fray had spent six weeks in the city; they set up a tiny studio in the apartment they were staying in. [7] Fray said he admired the romanticism involved with France, where he was an unknown person, allowing him to take his time writing. [10] Cross produced Mapping the Rendezvous with assistance from Patrick Phillips. [11] Sessions were held in Real World Studios in Bath, and unnamed places in Loch Ness and Manchester, concluding in July 2016. [8] [6] Cenzo Townshend mixed the recordings, before the album was mastered by Robin Schmidt. [11]
Mapping the Rendezvous is a dance-rock album; AllMusic reviewer Neil Z. Yeung noted that as with their contemporaries Kaiser Chiefs and Two Door Cinema Club, Courteeners had "evolved from their indie rock early days, favoring melody and pop-leaning numbers that inspire more dancing than rocking out". [12] Fray described it as a party album that also deals with regret. [13] Discussing the album's overall theme, Fray said it was akin to "making bad decisions. Or not thinking too much about the consequences". [8] Describing the influence of Victoria, Fray saw it as "one snapshot of a big night out. It’s romantic, it’s sad, you’re making bad decisions, you regret it in the morning, you do it all again the next night". [14] Alongside to the band, they had a variety of additional musicians contribute to the recordings: Richard McVeigh on trombone, Katherine Curlett on trumpet, Luz Hanks on cello, Emma Richards on viola and Natalie and John Purton on violin. [11]
Mapping the Rendezvous opens with "Lucifer's Dreams", a dance-rock song that evokes the work of Kaiser Chiefs, and is followed by the 1975-lite "Kitchen", a funk rock song that cribs "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" (1977) by Ian Dury. [12] [15] "No One Will Ever Replace Us" deals with falling in love at Glastonbury Festival, as well as the "under-pinning fear about when you’ve got something so good, and you don’t want it to end". [16] With "De La Salle", which was named after a school of the same name and apes the work of Morrissey, Fray contemplates if monks from the 17th century were celebrities in their time. [12] [10] "Tip Toes" is about a person being in love with a best friend from an early age, who would later regret not doing anything about the situation. [7] Sonia de Freitas of Renowned for Sound said "Not for Tomorrow" was "particularly exciting because of the contrasting styles they blend together, and the unexpected rhythmic stabs will get your heart ticking". [17] "The Dilettante" has Fray imagining his life married to a French woman. [10]
"Finest Hour" is a slow-building track, the end of which is reminiscent of "The Universal" (1995) by Blur. [12] The Phoenix-esqie "Modern Love" is the first time Fray had co-written a song with someone, in this case, with Adam Anderson and Theo Hutchcraft of Hurts. [12] [14] Fray and the other members of Courteeners had been friends with the pair for over a decade. [18] Anderson and Hutchcraft had sent a version of the song to Cross, which they were not satisfied with; after Fray heard it, he added guitar parts and altered some of its lyrics. [14] "Most Important" mixes "Lullaby" from their second studio album Falcon (2010) with the drum pattern of "Maps" (2003) by Yeah Yeah Yeahs. [12] The album's closing track "The 17th" had the most direct influence of Victoria, as it comes across as a mix of LCD Soundsystem and Prince. [9] [19] Louder Than War referred to it as a "monstrously huge pop song that wraps itself around a keenly observed lyric about outsider culture and hedonistic escape". [20]
Following recording, the band supported the Stone Roses for a one-off show and appeared at the T in the Park and Reading and Leeds Festivals. On 12 August 2016, Mapping the Rendezvous was announced for release in two months' time; the album's track listing was posted online. [20] "The 17th" was made available for streaming through The Independent 's website that same day, before being released as the album's lead single four days later. [8] [21] "No One Will Ever Replace Us" premiered through NME website on 30 August 2016, before released the album's second single on 12 September 2016. [16] [22] "Kitchen" was released the album's third single on 4 October 2016. [23] Three days later, the music video for "No One Will Ever Replace Us" was posted on YouTube. [24] Mapping the Rendezvous was released on 21 October 2016, through Ignition Records. [20] A deluxe edition was released with a DVD of their 2015 Heaton Park performance. [11]
It was promoted with a UK tour the following month, running into December 2016, with support from Cut Up Kid, Milburn and the View. [25] [26] [27] The music video for "Modern Love" was posted online on 10 April 2017, directed by Joe Connor. [14] "The 17th" was released as a twelve-inch vinyl record for Record Store Day, which featured the album version, a radio edit, an acoustic version and two remixes. [28] "Modern Love" was released as the album's fourth and final single on 26 May 2017. [10] The following day, the band performed at home town show at the Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester to a crowd of 50,000, with support from the Charlatans, Blossoms and Cabbage. [29] [27] All of the tickets sold out after three months, and was preceded by two warm-up shows. [30] An acoustic version of "Modern Love" was released on 28 July 2017. [31] Following this, they appeared at that year's Glastonbury Festival and appeared at the We Are Manchester benefit show, which was held for the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing. [32] [33] In October and November 2017, Fray embarked on a solo acoustic tour of the UK. [34]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 6.1/10 [35] |
| Metacritic | 69/100 [36] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [12] |
| Belfast Telegraph | 8/10 [37] |
| The Independent | [38] |
| NME | [15] |
| Q | [36] |
Mapping the Rendezvous was met with generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, the album received an average score of 69, based on six reviews. [36] AnyDecentMusic? gave it an average score of 6.1, based on five reviews. [35]
Yeung praised the band for melding "sonic touchstones from throughout their catalog" to create "one of their strongest works, as addictive as anything" on Concrete Love and their third studio album Anna (2013). [12] Eamon Sweeney of Hot Press felt they "show the strongest signs yet of blossoming into a band who can be taken as seriously as their illustrious musical forefathers". [9] Belfast Telegraph writer Andrew Carless said that the album retained "all the swagger you would expect from the Manchester four-piece, and is a return to form"; Mark Peters of South China Morning Post said this "kind of rock-star swagger [...] grabs headlines and divides music lovers". [37] [39] The Independent 's Andy Gill took this to be a negative, stating that the band are "still pretty much mired in Mancunian mores on this latest album". [38] NME writer Barry Nicolson felt they "only made half of a very good album", something that has "plagued" the band since their debut studio album St. Jude (2008). [15]
Mapping the Rendezvous peaked at number four in the UK Albums Chart, topping the Scottish Albums Chart. [40] [41] It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry nearly a year after its release, and gold in 2019. [42] "The 17th" peaked at number 17 on the UK Independent Singles Chart and number 38 in Scotland. [43] [44]
Track listing per booklet. [11]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Lucifer's Dreams" | 3:27 |
| 2. | "Kitchen" | 2:55 |
| 3. | "No One Will Ever Replace Us" | 3:54 |
| 4. | "De La Salle" | 4:31 |
| 5. | "Tip Toes" | 3:44 |
| 6. | "Not for Tomorrow" | 3:28 |
| 7. | "Finest Hour" | 3:21 |
| 8. | "The Dilettante" | 3:05 |
| 9. | "Modern Love" | 3:38 |
| 10. | "Most Important" | 3:48 |
| 11. | "The 17th" | 5:25 |
| Total length: | 41:16 | |
Personnel per booklet. [11]
Courteeners
Additional musicians
| Production and design
|
Weekly charts
| Certifications
| |||||||||||||||
Oasis are an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. The group initially consisted of Liam Gallagher, Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs (guitar), Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll (drums), with Liam asking his older brother Noel Gallagher to join as a fifth member a few months later to finalise their formation. Noel became the de facto leader of the group and took over the songwriting duties for the band's first four albums. They are characterised as one of the defining and most globally successful groups of the Britpop genre.
Muse are an English rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994. The band consists of Matt Bellamy, Chris Wolstenholme, and Dominic Howard.
William John Paul Gallagher is an English singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer of the rock band Oasis, which he co-founded in 1991. He fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2010 to 2014, before starting a successful solo career in 2017.
Kasabian are an English rock band formed in Leicester in 1997 by lead vocalist Tom Meighan, guitarist and second vocalist Sergio Pizzorno, guitarist Chris Karloff and bassist Chris Edwards. Drummer Ian Matthews joined in 2004. Karloff left the band in 2006 and founded a new band called Black Onassis. Jay Mehler joined as touring lead guitarist in 2006, leaving for Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye in 2013, to be replaced by Tim Carter, who later became a full-time band member in 2021. Meighan left the band in July 2020, with Pizzorno stepping up as full-time lead vocalist.
Liam Frost is a musician from Manchester, England. He recorded and played with his backing group 'The Slowdown Family' on his debut album Show Me How The Spectres Dance but now performs solo under the name Liam Frost.
Cherry Ghost were an English music group which began in 2006, first as an alias for singer-songwriter Simon Aldred as a solo artist, before morphing into a full band. Their debut album, Thirst for Romance, was released in July 2007 and entered the UK Album Charts at No. 7. It was nominated for an Ivor Novello award as well as winning Aldred an Ivor Novello for best song "People Help the People". A second album, titled Beneath This Burning Shoreline, was released in July 2010 to positive critical acclaim. Aldred, under the moniker Out Cold, released a solo album titled Invasion of Love in September 2013, featuring a markedly synthpop sound. Cherry Ghost released their third and final album Herd Runners in May 2014; Aldred last performed with Cherry Ghost in 2016 on the Marc Riley Show on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Courteeners are an English band formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester, in 2006 by Liam Fray, Michael Campbell, Daniel "Conan" Moores and Mark Cuppello (bass); the last was replaced by the band's producer Joe Cross in 2015. They previously toured with pianist Adam Payne, who has been featured on every album, but in 2019 was replaced with Elina Lin. In December 2012, the band dropped "The" from their name, continuing simply as "Courteeners". In 2024, Cross and Lin became official members of the band.
St. Jude is the debut studio album by English rock band the Courteeners, released on 7 April 2008 by Polydor Records. There is also a special edition album which includes a second disc of acoustic versions of songs which feature on the actual album. Although the album was released to mixed reviews from critics, it has become a somewhat cult success though many fans are more favorable to the versions of songs seen on Here Come the Young Men EP and various other demos. In support of the album the band embarked on a European tour.
Miles Peter Kane is an English singer and musician, best known as a solo artist and the co-frontman of the Last Shadow Puppets. He was also the former frontman of the Rascals, before the band announced their break-up in August 2009.
Liam James Fray is an English musician, singer, songwriter and lyricist, best known as the founder and frontman of Manchester-based indie rock band Courteeners, which was formed in 2006. Fray hails from Middleton, Greater Manchester and he references his hometown in multiple songs.
"Cavorting" is the first single by the Manchester indie rock band the Courteeners. The single was released in the United Kingdom on 6 August 2007 as both a CD single and a 7-inch vinyl. It was the lead single from the band's first album, St. Jude.
Falcon is the second studio album by English rock band the Courteeners. It was released through A&M Records on 22 February 2010. While touring the United States in 2009 as part of promotion for their debut studio album St. Jude (2008), the band wrote new material on their tour bus. In August 2009, the band recorded its follow-up with Ed Buller at ICP studios in Brussels, Belgium. Falcon has an arena and indie rock sound, influenced in part by the work of Elbow, and is slower-paced than their previous album.
Butterfly House is the sixth full-length studio album by English indie rock band The Coral. The album was produced by John Leckie, whose previous collaborators include The Stone Roses and Radiohead. and was recorded at RAK studios in London as well as Rockfield in South Wales. It was released on 12 July 2010 to great critical acclaim. The album was recorded through a two-year span where the band road-tested the material. This is The Coral's first album without Bill Ryder-Jones, who departed in 2008. It peaked at #16 in the UK Album Charts but has since been a consistent seller for Deltasonic Records. The single, "1000 Years", reached #188 on the UK Singles Chart.
Wolf Alice are an English rock band from London, England. Formed in 2010 as an acoustic duo comprising singer Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie, Wolf Alice have also featured bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey since 2012.
Anna is the third studio album by British rock band Courteeners. It was released on 4 February 2013 through V2 Records and Cooperative Music. Following their second studio album Falcon (2010), the band took a break at the end of 2010. They played a few shows in 2011, spending most of the year working on their next album, debuting some new songs in the process. After frontman Liam Fray broke his ankle, he re-listened to the material they had up to that point and felt they could be improved on. Following a meeting with Joseph Cross, he was enlisted to produce the band's next album; sessions were held at 80 Hertz Studios. Anna is an indie pop album that leans more into the electronic elements found on Falcon.
The discography of English rock band Courteeners consists of seven studio albums, four EPs, 19 singles and one DVD album. Several of the band's songs have been featured in adverts and TV shows.
Concrete Love is the fourth studio album by British rock band Courteeners, released on 18 August 2014 via Cooperative Music label. It features the band delve further into a post-punk sound and was inspired by 1980s music. Promoted by two singles, Concrete Love received generally favourable reviews from music critics and reached number three on the UK Albums Chart.
Trampolene are a Welsh alternative rock / indie punk band originally from Swansea. They are Jack Jones, Wayne Thomas and Kyle "Mr" Williams.
Blossoms are an English indie rock band from Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Formed in 2013, the band consists of Tom Ogden, Charlie Salt, Josh Dewhurst, Joe Donovan (drums) and Myles Kellock.
More. Again. Forever. is the sixth studio album by British rock band Courteeners. Following their fifth studio album Mapping the Rendezvous (2016), the band released a reimagined version of their debut studio album St. Jude (2008) and scrapped an album's worth of new material. After a co-writing session with Rich Turvey and a tour of the United Kingdom, frontman Liam Fray wrote the majority of what would appear on their next album in early 2019. Recording for it concluded by April 2019; More. Again. Forever. is a pop and psychedelic album that takes influenced from the work of LCD Soundsystem, as well as a period of addiction and self-improvement that Fray went through.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link){{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)