This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2020) |
This article's lead section may be too long.(February 2022) |
XX Teens | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | London, England |
Genres | |
Years active | 2004–2008 |
Labels | Mute Records, Big Billy Records |
Members | Anthony Silvester Rich Cash William Morrow Rich Nuvo Sebastian Craig Jorgen Raa Sarah Jones Leo Taylor Macks Faulkron Ed Rea Allison |
Website | goonisland.tv |
XX Teens were an English five piece post-punk band, originally formed of graduates from the Byam Shaw School of Art in North London. They began performing as Xerox Teens, but with a growing fan base, an eponymous club night, and airplay from Zane Lowe, Marc Riley, Jon Kennedy and Steve Lamacq, the band came to the attention of the Xerox Corporation. After some discussion they decided to change the name to XX Teens. [1]
They made four videos with the Sheffield filmmaker Simon Green, a creative relationship that has continued with Anthony Silvester writing the soundtrack to the 2012 short film Albatross: A Love Story. [2] Videos for their songs were also created by the artist Juliette Blightman and the BBC New Music Shorts competition winner Kirk Hendry. [3]
The band's live shows included contemporary dancers, a uniformed brass section and special guests. [4] Such performances, combined with their distinctive videos and comically recalcitrant radio and press interviews, [5] were hallmarks of the band's early years and gained them a following in the art world. They collaborated with Cerith Wyn Evans to mark Modern Art Oxford's 40th anniversary, were photographed by Hedi Slimane and performed for Martin Creed at Tate Britain. Other notable performances included the Royal Festival Hall for Jarvis Cocker's Meltdown and a landmark show [6] at Studio Voltaire where they performed with dancing dogs. The show featured Richard Curtis and his dog dancing display team dancing to a special set on the evening of a lunar eclipse. It was broadcast on Resonance 104.4 FM [7] and raised a significant sum towards the upkeep of the radio station. [8]
In 2007, they signed to Mute Records and re-released the underground hit "Darlin'" as a limited edition 12" vinyl. The single had remixes by Andrew Weatherall and Ben Trucker and was listed as one of NME's Tracks of the Year. [9] They recorded the album Welcome to Goon Island at Rockfield Studios in Wales. Silvester and the singer Rich Cash then re-recorded the LP at producer Ross Orton's studio in Sheffield. In the same year, the line-up changed with the bass guitarist Rich Nuvo and the drummer Seb Craig leaving; they were replaced by Jorgen Raa and Macks Faulkron.
Following a succession of singles, including "How to Reduce the Chances of Being a Terror Victim", a satirical recital of Fox News' advice for U.S. citizens, [10] and "The Way We Were", used in an advert for Harley Davidson, [11] the album was released in June 2008 to mixed reviews. [12] A spoken word coda from the political activist Brian Haw concludes the LP with an explanation of the motives behind his long-running peace campaign in Parliament Square.
The band toured with The Kills, Frank Black and The Horrors, amongst others. They appeared on the front cover of Artrocker magazine in May 2007 and again in August 2008. Cerith Wyn Evans, Giles Round, Richard Birkett and Adam Latham designed four separate sleeves for the band's first single; the artwork and design for all subsequent releases was by Latham. Silvester and Cash continue to collaborate but have moved on to new projects, Silvester forming Technology + Teamwork with XX Teens drummer Sarah Jones and Cash forming The Skinjobs with Latham.
Throbbing Gristle were an English music and visual arts group formed in Kingston upon Hull by Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, later joined by Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson and Chris Carter. They are widely regarded as pioneers of industrial music. Evolving from the experimental performance art group COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle made their public debut in October 1976 in the COUM exhibition Prostitution, and released their debut single "United/Zyklon B Zombie" and debut album The Second Annual Report the following year. P-Orridge's lyrics mainly revolved around mysticism, extremist political ideologies, sexuality, dark or underground aspects of society, and idiosyncratic manipulation of language inspired by the techniques of William S. Burroughs.
Turin Brakes are an English band, comprising original duo of Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, and long-term collaborators Rob Allum and Eddie Myer. They had a UK top 5 hit in 2003 with their song "Painkiller ". Since starting out in 1999, the band have sold around one million records worldwide. They are currently signed to Cooking Vinyl.
LCD Soundsystem is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002 by James Murphy, co-founder of DFA Records. The band comprises Murphy, Nancy Whang, Pat Mahoney (drums), Tyler Pope, Al Doyle, Matt Thornley, and Korey Richey. They have been signed to DFA since their inception, and also signed to Columbia Records in 2016.
D.I. is an American punk rock band formed in 1981 in Fullerton, California. It was founded by vocalist and primary songwriter Casey Royer, after previously playing drums in the bands Adolescents and Social Distortion.
"Number 1" is a song by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp from their third studio album, Supernature (2005). Written and produced by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, the song features a synthesiser and bass guitar arrangement and was written about the importance and meaningfulness that somebody shares with another, despite that it might not necessarily last.
"Ride a White Horse" is a song by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp. The song was written by Alison Goldfrapp, Will Gregory and Nick Batt for Goldfrapp's third album Supernature (2005). The song was inspired by the disco era nightclub Studio 54.
David Cunningham is a composer and record producer from Northern Ireland. His first significant success came with The Flying Lizards' single 'Money', an international hit in 1979.
¡Forward, Russia! are an English rock band from Leeds, active between 2004 and 2008, before re-forming in 2013. The band's debut album, Give Me a Wall, was released in 2006. Until 2006, the band only named tracks with numbers, in the order that they were written. The band had used faux Cyrillic, with its name occasionally typeset as ¡FФЯWДЯD, RUSSIД!. The band went on hiatus after the release of their second album, Life Processes, in 2008. They re-formed in 2013 for a show at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds in November 2013 for its 10th anniversary, and then played the Live at Leeds Festival at Leeds Town Hall in 2014.
Wild Beasts were an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in Kendal. They released their first single, "Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants", on Bad Sneakers Records in November 2006, and subsequently signed to Domino Records. They have released five acclaimed albums, Limbo, Panto in 2008, Two Dancers in 2009, Smother in 2011, Present Tense in 2014 and Boy King in 2016. Two Dancers was nominated for the Mercury Prize.
Cerith Wyn Evans is a Welsh conceptual artist, sculptor and film-maker. In 2018 he won the £30,000 Hepworth Prize for Sculpture.
"Men's Needs" was released in May 2007 as the first single taken from the third studio album by British indie rock band The Cribs. The song provided listeners with new material for the first time since December 2005, and later found release on third LP Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever in May 2007. Recorded at the Warehouse Studio in Vancouver, British Columbia with Franz Ferdinand vocalist and guitarist Alex Kapranos, the song received additional treatment at Alchemy, London, United Kingdom.
Josh T. Pearson is an American musician from Texas, United States. He is known for his work with the band Lift to Experience and his subsequent solo career.
Ralfe Band is the work of English songwriter Oly Ralfe.
No Age is an American noise rock duo consisting of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt. The band is based in Los Angeles, California, and was signed to Sub Pop records from 2008 to 2013. No Age's fourth studio album, Snares Like a Haircut, was released by Drag City on January 26, 2018. Drag City also released Goons Be Gone, their fifth studio album, on June 5, 2020, and their sixth studio album People Helping People in 2022.
Florian Hecker is a German sound and visual artist. Born in 1975 in Augsburg, Germany and raised in Kissing, Germany Hecker studied Computational Linguistics and Psycholinguistics at Ludwig Maximilian Universität, Munich and Fine Arts at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna, where he received his diploma in 2003. He lives and works in Vienna and Kissing, Germany.
Welcome To Goon Island is the first album by XX Teens, released by Mute Records. It had been set for a mainstream release on 28 July 2008 but was made available from selected independent record shops four weeks before that date. Each of those stores gave away free posters of the album.
The xx are an English indie rock band from Wandsworth, London, formed in 2005. The band consists of Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx, and formerly Baria Qureshi. They are known for their distinct and minimalist sound that blends indie rock, indie electronic, indie pop, dream pop and electro-rock and the dual vocalist setup of both Madley Croft and Sim. Their music employs soft, echoed guitar, prominent bass, light electronic beats and ambient soundscape backgrounds.
Chakk were an industrial funk band from Sheffield, who existed from 1981 until 1987. Members were Alan Cross, Mark Brydon, Dee Boyle, Sim Lister, Jake Harries and Jon Stuart. The band never achieved commercial success, but have been noted for their wide influence on later British dance music, particularly via Fon Studios. Mark Brydon later went on to form and achieved success with Moloko.
Reverend and the Makers are an English rock band from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. The band is fronted by Jon McClure, nicknamed "The Reverend". Their debut album, The State of Things (2007), helped them gain success in Britain and spawned the UK top 10 single "Heavyweight Champion of the World". The band released their second album, A French Kiss in the Chaos (2009), which led to them being invited to support Oasis on their final tour, playing venues such as Wembley Stadium. The band's third studio album, @Reverend_Makers, was released in 2012, their fourth studio album, ThirtyTwo, was released in 2014 which had more electronic and dance music influences. These were followed by Mirrors in 2015 and The Death of a King in 2017 which showcased a hard rock and folk influenced sound. Their seventh album, the soul and R&B inflected Heatwave in the Cold North was released in 2023 and became the band's first Top 10 album in the UK in 16 years.
David Wrench is a Welsh musician, songwriter, producer and mixer based in London. His work has been nominated for Grammys, Brit Awards and shortlisted for numerous Mercury Prize nominations including the 2017 winning album Process by Sampha. and Arlo Parks 2021 'Collapsed in Sunbeams’. Wrench has been the recipient of the BBC Radio Cymru C2 Producer of the Year award five times in six years between 2007 and 2012 and has received Music Producer Guild Awards (MPGs) including Mix Engineer of the Year 2016 and 2019. Credits include, David Byrne, Frank Ocean, Caribou, Goldfrapp, Erasure, The xx, Sampha, Jamie xx, Jungle, FKA Twigs, Glass Animals, Alma, Hot Chip, Marika Hackman, Honne, Jack Garratt, Manic Street Preachers, Villagers, Courtney Barnett, Austra, Tourist, Richard Russell, Let's Eat Grandma, Young Fathers, Georgia, Bat For Lashes and Race Horses.