In a new episode of “Crate Digging”, a column of the American music webzine Consequence Of Sound in which artists recommend their personal listening, Conor Curley And Tom Collguitarist and drummer respectively of Fontaines DC have chosen their favorite romantic records, thus celebrating the imminent release of “Romance”, an album that the band will release on August 23rd and which in our area we will listen to shortly on two occasions: Sunday June 23rd in Lido di Camaiore on the occasion of The Prima Estate Festival and Tuesday 25 June in Rome, at the Auditorium Parco della Musica.
Below are the 10 choices of the Irish kids complete with comments for each of them:
Beach House — “Depression Cherry”
Coll:
I chose this album because it has a very personal and romantic meaning for me. These songs are kind of a soundtrack to my personal love story, my romantic times. They are incredibly beautiful songs. They take you to a world so far from reality. And it’s very similar to what it means to be in love. But even in his singing there is a sort of desire, and there is almost a loneliness. It’s just a beautiful record, from start to finish.
The Amazing Snakeheads — “Amphetamine Ballads”
Coll:
It’s like my favorite record right now. The Amazing Snakeheads they are a band from Glasgow; the singer died tragically when he was 31 years old. But the record came out in 2014, and it’s really difficult. It’s a really heavy record. There is a beautiful tune called “Where Is My Knife?” It’s really cool. I feel like that record is about the really raw kind of… It’s not the beautiful side of romance at all.
Billy Bragg — “Talking with the Taxman About Poetry“
Curley:
He’s got one of those everyman voices, you know? Which is so important in that kind of folk genre; imagine that it is not extraterrestrial. He’s on Earth and he’s like everyone else. It’s really strong.
Sultans of Ping FC — “Casual Sex in the Cineplex“
Curley:
Sometimes it’s a bit post-punk. It would be kind of Buzz Cock-y at times. Maybe also The Jam or something like that sometimes. Like “That’s Entertaining” by The Jam – some of the jokes are a little depressing in a funny way. It’s like “That’s Entertainment,” the way you point out these things.
Richard Hawley — “Coles Corner“
Curley:
Richard Hawley is one of the greatest English singer-songwriters from Sheffield. This album is simply beautiful. He comes right from that school of lush strings and crooner vocals. Really just simple love songs.
Headache — “The Head Hurts But the Heart Knows the Truth“
Coll:
This has been a really important record for me lately. You showed it to me in your van as we drove through Stanford Hill in North London and it really impressed me. There’s something so strange about this record. It’s from a boy called Vegyn, who is a producer. The core concept of the record is that he produces the music, but there is an AI voice that reads the poetry over the top. And there’s something so enticing about that. It sounds mental, but it’s a really engaging record. My reading of the concept is that they’re kind of like notes as you’re dying, so you look back on your life. And I feel like his storytelling is so engaging.
Jessica Pratt — “On Your Own Love Again”
Curley:
Is fantastic. Listening to it I get the same feeling I get while listening Richard Hawley. She reflects that time when there was so much beauty in music, and she nails it perfectly. I’m a big, big fan. The whole record is amazing, so simple. If I pick up a nylon string guitar, I’d just love to write you a song that makes me feel the way she makes me feel.
João Gilberto and Stan Getz — “Getz/Gilberto”
Coll:
Stan Getz was an American jazz pianist and João Gilberto is a Brazilian guitarist. I think this record started a whole sort of fusion between jazz and bossa nova. I found it in a record collector’s book, a real coffee table book, and I thought, “That sounds interesting” – and I love it. It’s definitely one of my favorite albums ever. I don’t speak Portuguese, but it sounds really romantic.
Jonathan Richman — “I, Jonathan“
Coll:
Jonathan Richman, I think he’s one of my favorite songwriters ever. There’s something really youthful and innocent about him. I’m a big fan of the Modern Lovers. I think her solo stuff is so honest. “I, Jonathan” as a record seems like a kind of summer romantic album to me.
The Weeknd — “House of Balloons“
Curley:
“House of Balloons”, the first album by The Weekndis actually a great album for us before we became a band. Grian he was really into it at the time… I mean, all those songs were just incredibly dark and brilliant R&B songs, and there was something about it that was inherently romantic, even in the darkness of it. It’s a really good memory for me to think about those times, because we’ve moved so far away from that and that album kind of represents something we were listening to when we started the band.
I think it’s just a fantastic record, really beautiful. Even if you think about him starting and saying, “What will my first impression on the world be?” Or: “What will my first project sound like?” And it’s so over the top and really sexy and stuff.
