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New band of the week - Movie (No 1) New band of the week - Movie (No 1)
(5 months later)
Hometown: South London.Hometown: South London.
The lineup: Theo Spark (vocals, guitar), Jamie Stiby Harris (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Ollie Tobin (bass).The lineup: Theo Spark (vocals, guitar), Jamie Stiby Harris (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Ollie Tobin (bass).
The background: For this, the inaugural New Band of the Week, we thought it might be nice to pick someone who, as many are doing at the moment, cast back to 1994. Not to Cast, no - to Blur. But Blur as they moved out of their baggy phase, and their shoegazing phase and their mod phase, and alighted upon their electro-pop phase, which lasted for the duration of the Girls & Boys single and some of the Parklife and Great Escape albums. The Blur in love with Bowie, with white funk and disco, i.e. all the stuff that it is assumed was ignored by the Britpop brigade but actually wasn't if you paid any attention to Blur, Elastica, even some of Menswear's stuff.The background: For this, the inaugural New Band of the Week, we thought it might be nice to pick someone who, as many are doing at the moment, cast back to 1994. Not to Cast, no - to Blur. But Blur as they moved out of their baggy phase, and their shoegazing phase and their mod phase, and alighted upon their electro-pop phase, which lasted for the duration of the Girls & Boys single and some of the Parklife and Great Escape albums. The Blur in love with Bowie, with white funk and disco, i.e. all the stuff that it is assumed was ignored by the Britpop brigade but actually wasn't if you paid any attention to Blur, Elastica, even some of Menswear's stuff.
They're called Movie but they're not one of those groups peddling "music for soundtracks for films that don't yet exist", that old chestnut. Meandering cinematic atmospherica this is not. Instead they specialise in short, sharp, smart groove-pop and lite-funk with snappy melodies and lyrics that demand your attention and maybe even raise the odd smile. They're three 22-year-olds from South London who went to art school - Goldsmiths, we're guessing, and what are the chances they put it first on their UCAS forms because Messrs Albarn, Coxon and James attended that very same seat of learning in leafy New Cross? Apparently, in between lectures they did stints as private tutors and "in male escort agencies", which is commendable, and possibly accounts for their askew worldview. Although note that it doesn't say "as male escorts". Perhaps they just did the filing.They're called Movie but they're not one of those groups peddling "music for soundtracks for films that don't yet exist", that old chestnut. Meandering cinematic atmospherica this is not. Instead they specialise in short, sharp, smart groove-pop and lite-funk with snappy melodies and lyrics that demand your attention and maybe even raise the odd smile. They're three 22-year-olds from South London who went to art school - Goldsmiths, we're guessing, and what are the chances they put it first on their UCAS forms because Messrs Albarn, Coxon and James attended that very same seat of learning in leafy New Cross? Apparently, in between lectures they did stints as private tutors and "in male escort agencies", which is commendable, and possibly accounts for their askew worldview. Although note that it doesn't say "as male escorts". Perhaps they just did the filing.
Reading on mobile? Click here to listenReading on mobile? Click here to listen
For quirky insights, try Movie. On their debut single, Ads, they express their dismay at the way advertising creates delusions of adequacy. Hardly original but the fact that it happens over a brisk-paced beat reminiscent of Girls & Boys as well as long-lost but much-missed eccentric noughties Britdance band Clor suddenly makes it seem profound and compelling, in that order. Okay, that's overselling it a bit - this advertising lark is infectious - but it's certainly superficially charming and irresistibly rhythmic. Mr Fist, the B-side, is just as jaunty, with laconic vocals that offset the pop juiciness of the music with a nice dryness. "I'm just a fake Liberace in a coupe," announces Korean wunderkind Theo Spark, rhyming the latter car body style with "toupee", taking a potshot at a charmless man - Blur may sue. Nile Rodgers won't, he's more generous, but he will be impressed by the guitar playing, which employs the technique that the Chic legend has termed "chucking". It's well "chucky". It gives good chuck. You can easily dance to it, even if the lyric is somewhat less conducive to seduction than, say, I Want Your Love. We've heard a further track, titled Baby, and it's slower, more reflective, like something from side two of a Japan or Ultravox or Blancmange album from 1982. It's just a demo but it evinces a keen sense of melody, and a determination to contain different sections within a single song. Some critics are proclaiming them the saviours of indie; others suggest they are ushering in a bold new era. We just like the tunes and the words and the band as a whole, even if they are a bugger to Google.For quirky insights, try Movie. On their debut single, Ads, they express their dismay at the way advertising creates delusions of adequacy. Hardly original but the fact that it happens over a brisk-paced beat reminiscent of Girls & Boys as well as long-lost but much-missed eccentric noughties Britdance band Clor suddenly makes it seem profound and compelling, in that order. Okay, that's overselling it a bit - this advertising lark is infectious - but it's certainly superficially charming and irresistibly rhythmic. Mr Fist, the B-side, is just as jaunty, with laconic vocals that offset the pop juiciness of the music with a nice dryness. "I'm just a fake Liberace in a coupe," announces Korean wunderkind Theo Spark, rhyming the latter car body style with "toupee", taking a potshot at a charmless man - Blur may sue. Nile Rodgers won't, he's more generous, but he will be impressed by the guitar playing, which employs the technique that the Chic legend has termed "chucking". It's well "chucky". It gives good chuck. You can easily dance to it, even if the lyric is somewhat less conducive to seduction than, say, I Want Your Love. We've heard a further track, titled Baby, and it's slower, more reflective, like something from side two of a Japan or Ultravox or Blancmange album from 1982. It's just a demo but it evinces a keen sense of melody, and a determination to contain different sections within a single song. Some critics are proclaiming them the saviours of indie; others suggest they are ushering in a bold new era. We just like the tunes and the words and the band as a whole, even if they are a bugger to Google.
The buzz: "Movie are here to save indie, all Bowie guitars and Blur-like melodic lilts" - Noisey.The buzz: "Movie are here to save indie, all Bowie guitars and Blur-like melodic lilts" - Noisey.
The truth: Step this way for intelligent, although not necessarily cinematic, indie-funk.Most likely to: Knock you out. The truth: Step this way for intelligent, although not necessarily cinematic, indie-funk. Most likely to: Knock you out.
Least likely to: Advertise boxing gloves.Least likely to: Advertise boxing gloves.
What to buy: Ads/Mr Fist is released by Skelly on June 9.What to buy: Ads/Mr Fist is released by Skelly on June 9.
File next to: Pool, Flyte, Stats, Clor.File next to: Pool, Flyte, Stats, Clor.
Links: skeletory.com.Links: skeletory.com.
Ones to watch: Tirzah, Shift K3y, Soak, Kiesza, Raury.Ones to watch: Tirzah, Shift K3y, Soak, Kiesza, Raury.