Lol with a fan at the opening reception of Lethal Amount's 'Without Sympathy: The Visceral Journey of Al Jourgensen' last night in L.A. (Thanks @thequeenofsiam)
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Lol at the 'Without Sympathy' exhibit
Lol with a fan at the opening reception of Lethal Amount's 'Without Sympathy: The Visceral Journey of Al Jourgensen' last night in L.A. (Thanks @thequeenofsiam)
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Cure in The New Yorker
From The New Yorker (Thanks Perfect.Murder):
Frank Ocean, the Cure, and Boys Who Do Cry
By Anwen Crawford
Last week, the L.A.-based rapper and songwriter Frank Ocean announced online a new project called “Boys Don’t Cry.” It could be a magazine, or an album, or possibly both. If the title sounds familiar, that might be because it’s the name of a song and a compilation album by the Cure. “Boys Don’t Cry” is also the name of a 1999 film, starring Hilary Swank, about a young transgender man. The film is named after the Cure’s song, and features a version of it. The Cure, not so much a band as a sensibility, seem inconspicuous until you start looking for them, when they become ubiquitous.
Next year, the Cure will turn forty years old. They have released thirteen studio albums and may yet release another; though the quality of their work has dimmed in recent years, their legacy is intact. The Cure has outlived post-punk, new wave, goth, grunge, rave, and many genres in between. They are their own genre: melodic, melancholic, and just a little bit whimsical. They have never been cool, not even as the youthful trio who released a seven-inch single, their second, called “Boys Don’t Cry,” in 1979. Right from the start, the British music press treated the Cure as something of an embarrassment—they were not as political as the Clash, too nice to be the Jam, and their moody despondency did not have the same touch of authentic despair as Joy Division, whose lead singer, Ian Curtis, committed suicide in 1980. Despite critical mockery, the Cure has been commercially successful and intensely adored. The devotion they attract has made them easy to dismiss as the quintessential band of adolescent woe, Pied Pipers for the world’s ever-replenishing supply of tearful suburban teen-agers. I want to say that their best songs are their most heartfelt ones, but their worst songs are that, too, while some of their most perfect songs—like “Boys Don’t Cry,” or “The Love Cats,” or “Friday I’m In Love”—are absolutely throwaway.
The band’s founding member, Robert Smith, is instantly recognizable: black eyeliner, a smudge of bright red lipstick, a nest of wildly backcombed black hair. He is almost cartoonish in appearance, and once made a cameo appearance on “South Park.” Heavy makeup and teased hair were not unusual style choices for a male pop star in the nineteen-eighties, but Smith never deviated from his look, not even as the eighties rolled into the nineties, nor when the nineties gave way to the new millennium. As a young man, he was pretty but not properly androgynous like his contemporary Boy George was; you would be hard pressed to call Smith sexy. With their songs about primary emotions like love and sadness, the Cure are in many ways a boy band. They are very easy to become infatuated with, but they are safe, and safety is a great part of their appeal. Even at their most funereal—and they once wrote a song called “The Funeral Party”—the Cure make comfort music. Compared with the volatility of punk, or the bombast of Meatloaf and Led Zeppelin, who both placed high on the charts in 1979, the Cure were subdued—they took the heat out of playing guitar. “Boys Don’t Cry” arrived in the wake of punk, but it wasn’t about anger; it was about love. It’s a simple song about a broken heart, and it sounds like a summer’s day—a summer’s day that threatens to dissolve into rain.
Frank Ocean, the Cure, and Boys Who Do Cry
By Anwen Crawford
Last week, the L.A.-based rapper and songwriter Frank Ocean announced online a new project called “Boys Don’t Cry.” It could be a magazine, or an album, or possibly both. If the title sounds familiar, that might be because it’s the name of a song and a compilation album by the Cure. “Boys Don’t Cry” is also the name of a 1999 film, starring Hilary Swank, about a young transgender man. The film is named after the Cure’s song, and features a version of it. The Cure, not so much a band as a sensibility, seem inconspicuous until you start looking for them, when they become ubiquitous.
Next year, the Cure will turn forty years old. They have released thirteen studio albums and may yet release another; though the quality of their work has dimmed in recent years, their legacy is intact. The Cure has outlived post-punk, new wave, goth, grunge, rave, and many genres in between. They are their own genre: melodic, melancholic, and just a little bit whimsical. They have never been cool, not even as the youthful trio who released a seven-inch single, their second, called “Boys Don’t Cry,” in 1979. Right from the start, the British music press treated the Cure as something of an embarrassment—they were not as political as the Clash, too nice to be the Jam, and their moody despondency did not have the same touch of authentic despair as Joy Division, whose lead singer, Ian Curtis, committed suicide in 1980. Despite critical mockery, the Cure has been commercially successful and intensely adored. The devotion they attract has made them easy to dismiss as the quintessential band of adolescent woe, Pied Pipers for the world’s ever-replenishing supply of tearful suburban teen-agers. I want to say that their best songs are their most heartfelt ones, but their worst songs are that, too, while some of their most perfect songs—like “Boys Don’t Cry,” or “The Love Cats,” or “Friday I’m In Love”—are absolutely throwaway.
The band’s founding member, Robert Smith, is instantly recognizable: black eyeliner, a smudge of bright red lipstick, a nest of wildly backcombed black hair. He is almost cartoonish in appearance, and once made a cameo appearance on “South Park.” Heavy makeup and teased hair were not unusual style choices for a male pop star in the nineteen-eighties, but Smith never deviated from his look, not even as the eighties rolled into the nineties, nor when the nineties gave way to the new millennium. As a young man, he was pretty but not properly androgynous like his contemporary Boy George was; you would be hard pressed to call Smith sexy. With their songs about primary emotions like love and sadness, the Cure are in many ways a boy band. They are very easy to become infatuated with, but they are safe, and safety is a great part of their appeal. Even at their most funereal—and they once wrote a song called “The Funeral Party”—the Cure make comfort music. Compared with the volatility of punk, or the bombast of Meatloaf and Led Zeppelin, who both placed high on the charts in 1979, the Cure were subdued—they took the heat out of playing guitar. “Boys Don’t Cry” arrived in the wake of punk, but it wasn’t about anger; it was about love. It’s a simple song about a broken heart, and it sounds like a summer’s day—a summer’s day that threatens to dissolve into rain.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Kiss it all goodbye!
"To wake up with a smile without a doubt, to burst grin giggle bliss skip jump sing and shout. Let's get happy." pic.twitter.com/Ch5Z5o2yU6
— Amazon Music (@amazonmusic) April 15, 2015Reminder: It's never too let to get up and GO! :)
Nice to see this just pop up out of the blue on Twitter. Thanks, Amazon Music.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Video for Love Amongst Ruin's 'Lose Your Way'
Video just released for 'Lose Your Way' from Love Amongst Ruin, Perry's new band. Perry's on bass. (via Team Rock)
Monday, April 13, 2015
5 Cure songs in SUE's Top 100 Songs of 1981
The Cure placed 5 songs in the Slicing Up Eyeballs Top 100 Songs of 1981 poll. 'Primary' is #7, 'Charlotte Sometimes' is #17, 'All Cats Are Grey' is #50, 'Faith' is #67, 'Funeral Party' is #94.
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Ben Gibbard talks about 'Disintegration'
Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service) talking to Buzzfeed:
"One of my favorite records ever was The Cure’s Disintegration, and I listened to it last week like it was a brand-new record. I first fell in love with that record when I was 14, and it just immediately transported me to, like, being 14 and all the things I was going through when I was listening to this record: where I was in my life, what my room looked like when we lived in Virginia, all this stuff. So I don’t know what these songs are about in Robert Smith’s life and frankly I don’t really care, because I have my own visual images that’ll always be connected to that record. So I think that’s what it is with people that sing along with our songs too. Not because we’re so special that people would do that, that’s just how it works with music."
(Thanks @colsonslife)
And Ben tells American Songwriter that Robert is one of his favorite songwriters:
"Robert Smith is a writer who made me want to write songs. Listening to The Cure at 13-14 years old, as an open-hearted, emotional teenager resonated with me in a really profound way. I was walking down to my studio today and put on Disintegration. I’ve been listening to Disintegration for 25 years, maybe even more than that, and I still put it on and get taken with it. The lyrics are heavy and very dark and emotional. It’s very much of him, and nobody can do that kind of lyric writing the way he can. So I love Robert Smith."
And more love for 'Disintegration' in this new review from XS Noize. (Thanks to Marina from TheCure Comunidad Argentina)
Update (04/08/15): Ben just keeps on praising The Cure. This from Esquire:
"From the time I started listening to my own music—there's that period when you're an adolescent and early teen and you start to discover music on you own, whether it's from the radio or MTV—I immediately had this connection with the Cure. I know that's the same for Nick [Harmer] and Jason [McGerr], and I don't know if I can speak for Chris anymore, but I'll say Chris as well. Disintegration was the record that came out when I was 12 or 13, and as a young, very emotional preteen—my dad was in the Navy and we moved a lot—that record and songs like 'Pictures of You,' they really struck a chord with me. I just felt so connected to that music from such an early age. They're a band that as you grow older you might be embarrassed to admit you liked at one point or you have to say you liked them with a kind of smirk, as if certain bands are stepping stones to other bands. But that has value. I'm sure we're that band for some people. But for me the Cure are a band that I still listen to very often and there are still things in their music I have yet to discover. I'm still learning whenever I listen to them. They're still a huge influence on me."
(Thanks John P.)
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Billy Corgan remembers his 1st Robert meeting
Original story (04/10/12): From KROQ: "Another moment from the past that Corgan remembers in great detail is when he first met Robert Smith backstage at a Cure concert in Tinley Park. “Robert tried to make out with me that night. And that’s not a joke,” Corgan said. “It was the first time I ever met Robert Smith and he tried to make out with me. I said I only like girls and he said, ‘That’s okay, I’m a girl’ and then he threw up practically all over my shoes. That’s a true story.” “So many stories. So little time,” the singer joked." (Thanks @HaloCure13)
Is this CoF or TMZ? : P Would really like to hear Robert's version of this story.
Update (04/07/15): And Billy is telling this story again. This time on That Metal Show, and Alternative Nation has the details:
"Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan discussed his weird meeting with The Cure frontman Robert Smith in a new episode of That Metal Show.
“The first time I met Robert Smith of The Cure, he was inebriated. He asked me to kiss him, and I said, ‘I don’t want to kiss you.’ He said, ‘Why not?’ I said, ‘Because you’re a man.’ He said, ‘That’s alright, I’m not a man.’ Then he threw up on my shoes."
(Thanks to Marina from TheCure Comunidad Argentina)
Is this CoF or TMZ? : P Would really like to hear Robert's version of this story.
Update (04/07/15): And Billy is telling this story again. This time on That Metal Show, and Alternative Nation has the details:
"Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan discussed his weird meeting with The Cure frontman Robert Smith in a new episode of That Metal Show.
“The first time I met Robert Smith of The Cure, he was inebriated. He asked me to kiss him, and I said, ‘I don’t want to kiss you.’ He said, ‘Why not?’ I said, ‘Because you’re a man.’ He said, ‘That’s alright, I’m not a man.’ Then he threw up on my shoes."
(Thanks to Marina from TheCure Comunidad Argentina)
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
New version of 'Please' out March 30th
Update (03/31/15): You can stream the album at The Line of Best Fit.
Update (03/10/15): Listen to the new version of 'Please' on the BBC Pete Tong show here. It starts at 2:07:30.(Thanks James and HolyItsaRaccoon)
"Premonition and Pitchfork have announced that Paul Hartnoll's new album, "8:58", to be released on March 30th, will feature Robert Smith. That album will include a reworking of the song "Please" that had already been released in 2007. It will also include a studio version of the cover version of A Forest by The Unthanks that you mentioned on CoF on Dec 20, 2013. Full track list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
From the Biography section on the '8:58' website:
"Elsewhere there are intriguing, twilit collaborations with Northumbrian folk clan The Unthanks, sepulchral singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt, folk singer Lisa Knapp, and Robert Smith of The Cure — the latter on a newly-rediscovered and superior version of Paul’s 2007 single ‘Please’.
“There are plenty of beats,” he adds, “But I wanted to exercise my more compositional side too, and bring in a witchy, ‘Wicker Man’ aspect.”
Key to the latter — and echoing Paul’s collaboration with Robert Smith — is The Unthanks’ astonishing ensemble performance on a cover of ‘A Forest’, one of Paul’s all-time favourite songs from the early days of The Cure. He’d always wanted to work with The Unthanks. “When listening to their song ‘I Wish’, was struck with the idea that ‘A Forest’ would suit The Unthanks’ unnerving pastoral-gothic voices if slowed down.” Paul thought of funeral marches and Kraftwerk’s ‘Looking Glass’, and techno’s hidden pagan undertow. After all, why do both ravers and Morrismen wave sticks in the air and dance in the summertime...?
After building the track he traveled up to record their voices among the unique acoustics of The Unthanks’ “folk barn” near Newcastle, just before Christmas 2013. “Big stone house in the middle of nowhere, pot of tea with a proper tea cosy, lovely warm welcome... it was everything I could have wished for,” he remembers. “They sat on the floor and sang the song for me in really low voices — I was nearly in tears. And the studio was like a Victorian museum of musical curiosities with weird instruments on display and bunting everywhere. I loved every moment of it.” (Thanks Barry)
Update (03/10/15): Listen to the new version of 'Please' on the BBC Pete Tong show here. It starts at 2:07:30.(Thanks James and HolyItsaRaccoon)
"Premonition and Pitchfork have announced that Paul Hartnoll's new album, "8:58", to be released on March 30th, will feature Robert Smith. That album will include a reworking of the song "Please" that had already been released in 2007. It will also include a studio version of the cover version of A Forest by The Unthanks that you mentioned on CoF on Dec 20, 2013. Full track list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
From the Biography section on the '8:58' website:
"Elsewhere there are intriguing, twilit collaborations with Northumbrian folk clan The Unthanks, sepulchral singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt, folk singer Lisa Knapp, and Robert Smith of The Cure — the latter on a newly-rediscovered and superior version of Paul’s 2007 single ‘Please’.
“There are plenty of beats,” he adds, “But I wanted to exercise my more compositional side too, and bring in a witchy, ‘Wicker Man’ aspect.”
Key to the latter — and echoing Paul’s collaboration with Robert Smith — is The Unthanks’ astonishing ensemble performance on a cover of ‘A Forest’, one of Paul’s all-time favourite songs from the early days of The Cure. He’d always wanted to work with The Unthanks. “When listening to their song ‘I Wish’, was struck with the idea that ‘A Forest’ would suit The Unthanks’ unnerving pastoral-gothic voices if slowed down.” Paul thought of funeral marches and Kraftwerk’s ‘Looking Glass’, and techno’s hidden pagan undertow. After all, why do both ravers and Morrismen wave sticks in the air and dance in the summertime...?
After building the track he traveled up to record their voices among the unique acoustics of The Unthanks’ “folk barn” near Newcastle, just before Christmas 2013. “Big stone house in the middle of nowhere, pot of tea with a proper tea cosy, lovely warm welcome... it was everything I could have wished for,” he remembers. “They sat on the floor and sang the song for me in really low voices — I was nearly in tears. And the studio was like a Victorian museum of musical curiosities with weird instruments on display and bunting everywhere. I loved every moment of it.” (Thanks Barry)
Robert's jukebox mix CD at Das Gift
In a Bar owned by People from Mogwai in Berlin. Brilliant jukebox with cds made from people they know. Pretty amazing pic.twitter.com/w9FMp8eQOq
— Colm McCrory (@maccatori) March 29, 2015
Some more info about it here and here.
Ryan Adams unleashes some "Cure vibes"
Ryan Adams talking about one of the b-sides on his new single 'Blue Light':
"I Lost My Mind is me on everything I think- a riff from a batch of good ones… the basic guitar part had been a riff for a long time that I was carving out on my Stratocaster, the old one, every time I picked up the guitar and I just decided to unleash some Cure vibes in the studio one night… Well it turns out CREED ain’t the only band me and Charlie have in common from back in the day… we also have The Cure ( esp Disintegration )… Guess that was both out real high school shit I (among other actual record store snob respected bands… dont get me started people )" (Thanks Brad)
'A Forest' and The Cure's quirky humor
An article at Spiegel Online about 'A Forest' and The Cure's quirky humor. (Thanks @godwinafaith)
Monday, March 23, 2015
Vince Clarke: "We wanted to be The Cure"
I don't think I ever posted this. Electronic Sound interview with Vince Clarke from Dec. 2013. (Thanks @bratmix)
There's no other Cure mention besides that brief one at the beginning, it's just nice to hear Vince say that. Also, a very good interview if you like Vince/Depeche Mode.
Friday, March 20, 2015
Interview & live clips from the Dream Tour
Interview with Robert, and performances of 'Fascination Street' & 'Want', from the Dream Tour stop at Livid Festival in Brisbane on Oct. 21st, 2000.
"It's become pretty common knowledge, really, that this is the last big tour we'll ever do."
Hahahahahahaha! Yeah, we had heard that one a few times before, Robert. :)
(Thanks to Marina from TheCure Comunidad Argentina)
Pearl's art exhibit extended 4 more days
Pearl's exhibit has been extended. Will now close on March 23rd, not the 19th.
Update (03/20/15):
Note: Pearl will not be at the closing reception.
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Cure Tribute in The Netherlands March 20th
Highly recommended Cure tributeshow by members of the famous Dutch band Bettie Serveert and Prof Nomad! @CraigatCoF http://t.co/jK6LHiVR6K
— Peter van Leeuwen (@Pjotrke) March 18, 2015
Jason in the April issue of Rhythm magazine
Great interview in this months @RhythmMagazine with The Cure's Jason Cooper! pic.twitter.com/eqOsSz4Jsn
— Natal Drums (@Nataldrums) March 9, 2015
"The Cure's Jason Cooper talks about his 20 years with one of alternative rock's most influential bands."You can pick up a copy in UK stores or order worldwide here. (Thanks Aaron)
In the interview, Jason says his favorite Cure songs to play live are 'Faith' and 'Same Deep Water As You'. I knew there was a reason I liked him. :) Now if Robert would just let him play them more often. Can't post the whole thing, but here are a few excerpts:
'Friday I'm in Love' shirt from Gianni Bini
That's here in the New Orleans area, but if you like the shirt, might be worth a check of your local Dillard's. Also online.
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Isaac Brock says The Cure have lost something
Isaac Brock from Modest Mouse talking to WSJ Speakeasy:
You guys have been a major label band for longer than you were an indie band at this point.
Look, I’m a huge Cure fan. I love the Cure. The scales being tipped to when they weren’t on a major label compared to when they were seems pretty meaningless. I had the good fortune of having them go before me and seeing their careers, musically at least, lose something. Like a novel written by a dead hand. There’s nothing quite there but it’s sort of still there. Which is why I’m willing to wait eight years before I put out a record. I just won’t do that to people who like my band. I like Modest Mouse. I’m our biggest fan. And enemy. I won’t waste people’s time by putting out a Modest Mouse record just because. That’s fair, right? Did you get to hear the new record?
(Thanks Sofia)
You guys have been a major label band for longer than you were an indie band at this point.
Look, I’m a huge Cure fan. I love the Cure. The scales being tipped to when they weren’t on a major label compared to when they were seems pretty meaningless. I had the good fortune of having them go before me and seeing their careers, musically at least, lose something. Like a novel written by a dead hand. There’s nothing quite there but it’s sort of still there. Which is why I’m willing to wait eight years before I put out a record. I just won’t do that to people who like my band. I like Modest Mouse. I’m our biggest fan. And enemy. I won’t waste people’s time by putting out a Modest Mouse record just because. That’s fair, right? Did you get to hear the new record?
(Thanks Sofia)
Sunday, March 15, 2015
'Play Out' on Vimeo
As far as I know, you can't buy the 'Play Out' video anywhere, and I haven't heard anything about it being released again, so I guess it's okay to post this. Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'll remove it. (Thanks Ema and Sonic More Music)
Well that didn't last long. Here's hoping it's a sign that this will be getting released on DVD/Blu soon.
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