EZRA FURMAN / CLWB IFOR BACH, CARDIFF

Event information

Fizzi presents
Ezra Furman & The Boy-Friends (USA)
plus special guests
Stalin's Street Party
Simon Love (The Loves)
Tender Prey
Thursday 4th September 2014
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff
7:30pm / 16+
£8adv from
www.clwb.net
Spillers Records
www.SeeTickets.com
www.WeGotTickets.com
www.TICKETLINEUK.com

www.ezrafurman.com

The Guardian - 'A great rock'n'roll record - *****'
www.theguardian.com/music/2013/dec/05/ezra-furman-day-dog-review
NME Magazine - 'An unexpected gem - 8/10'
www.nme.com/reviews/various-artists/14927
The Line Of Best Fit - '...Day of the Dog is a killer record - 7.5/10'
www.thelineofbestfit.com/reviews/albums/ezra-furman-day-of-the-dog-138576

EZRA FURMAN

Day of the Dog saw Ezra Furman progress from the dark chamber-pop and gorgeous balladry of his solo debut and emerging as a stylish, technicolor, pulse-quickening rock provocateur conjuring an intriguing selection of iconic vintage styles. With early singles My Zero and Tell 'em All to go to Hell all being playlisted on BBC 6Music, and with a five star Guardian review under his belt, Furman returns to the U.K off the back of a sold-out tour to play a string of festivals over the summer including Dot to Dot, End of the Road & Bestival. After selling out two dates at the 100 Club in London Ezra will be performing a small number of UK headline shows including his biggest headline to date at London Scala.

Day of the Dog was recorded with the members of his regular touring band The Boy-Friends: Sam Durkes - drums, percussion; Ben Joseph - piano, miscellaneous; Jorgen Jorgensen - bass, miscellaneous; Tim Sandusky - saxophone. Furman supplied vocals, guitar, miscellaneous. Throughout the album, there is a sense of bold ambition and grand artistry in the tradition of songwriting giants of the past, but set apart by an undercurrent of deranged, ragged glory.

Songs like My Zero and Been So Strange take the broad-stroke tunefulness 80's heartland rock, strip off the gloss, deconstruct it, and reassemble it along unsettling and far more potent lines. Tell 'Em All to Go to Hell, Anything Can Happen and And Maybe God is a Train, affect a lurid 70s glam stance - jittery drumming driving glitter-and-dirt smeared guitar, strategically gilded with leering sax lines. Meanwhile, the title track evokes the shock therapy of John Lennon's initial harrowing post-Beatles albums - stark piano chords reverberating over massive but minimalist drums. Through it all, Ezra sings in a uniquely stylized yet powerful voice that alternates between odd, tremulous beauty and startling, guttural viscerality.

He formed his first band, Ezra Furman & the Harpoons, in 2006 while attending Tufts University. His lead singing and songwriting connected with listeners like a left hook to the jaw, a mix of stinging garage-rock and stripped-down acoustic numbers. He would write and record a total of four albums with this combo: Banging Down the Doors (2007), Inside the Human Body (2008), Moon Face (2009) and Mysterious Power (2011). Furman and the band toured extensively during this period, winning a cult of hardcore fans across the U.S. as well as in Europe.

Ultimately, Ezra parted ways with that band, returned home to Chicago, holed up in an attic recording studio and wrote and recorded the cycle of ten songs, each assigned to particular months of the year, he titled The Year Of No Returning. His aim was the self-professed lofty goal of real protest. Initially self-released, The Year Of No Returning was picked up by Bar/None and released for the first time on CD in the Summer of 2013, in conjunction with a full band tour of the East Coast and MidWest.

For Day of the Dog it's all about the rock 'n' roll with some punk panache thrown in. Ezra once again has re-invented himself , this time as an angry young man ready to throw himself on the pyre in search of the redemption that will follow.
www.ezrafurman.com

STALIN'S STREET PARTY
One of the quirkiest, weirdest and most eclectic records we've stumbled across in a long time. These boys incorporate elements of disco, hip-hop, blues, funk, ragga, rock (we could go on) and piece it all together in a live show that you need to see as all percussion is played live on a beat pad. SSP's brand of prog-disco is certain to win them fans all over the place.'

- The Dead Record

'Suited and booted funk, soul and pop tossed off the top of a tower block and bundled into the boot of a vintage Jaguar, like Get Carter remade for a new generation. As impressive a debut as I've heard for some time.'

- Dave Owens, Media Wales
WWW.SOUNDCLOUD.COM/STALINSSTREETPARTY

SIMON LOVE
Former/Founding member of The Loves. Simon has a new album scheduled for release later this year.
http://simonlove.bandcamp.com/

TENDER PREY
Tender Prey, aka Laura Bryon, is a Cardiff based musician who mixes garage blues, 70's girl group clangs and lo-fi grooves, to create pocket melodies to dance, drink and wrestle to. She is self releasing her debut EP The Tequila Worm EP via bandcamp this June to celebrate her forthcoming support shows with Cate Le Bon, and has already garnered 6 music radio play and a Marc Riley session.Tender Prey's inaugural album Organ Calzone, which was recorded by Steve Black (Sweet Baboo) and features Emma Daman Thomas from Islet on drums will be released on Bird Records/Finders Keepers in the Autumn.
https://soundcloud.com/tenderpreymusic

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