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bravecaptain



Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Posts: 859

PostPosted: Sat Jun 12, 2004 10:48    Post subject: Press Release Reply with quote

MARTIN CARR RETURNS WITH NEW ALBUM

‘ALL WATCHED OVER BY MACHINES OF LOVING GRACE’ ON 2ND AUGUST

DOWNLOADABLE EP ‘EATING THE AFTERLIFE’ AVAILABLE FROM JUNE 28TH AT www.bravecaptain.co.uk

WICHITA RECORDINGS & KNOM PRESENTS: MUSIC MACHINES TOUR 2004 with BRAVECAPTAIN-HER SPACE HOLIDAY-WEEVIL


JULY
22nd LEEDS Cockpit (DJs: Hood)
23rd EDINBURGH The Music Box, 55 Groove Street, Edinburgh (DJs: Arab Strap)
24th STOCKTON Georgian Theatre (DJs: J Xaverre)
25th BIRMINGHAM Jug Of Ale (DJs: Pram)
26th CARDIFF Ifor Bach (DJs: Minotaur Shock)
27th SOUTHAMPTONJoiners (DJs: Electric Soft Parade)
28th BRIGHTON Po Na Na (DJs: Electric Soft Parade)
30th CAMBRIDGE APU Su Bar (DJs: Wichita)
31st LONDON Spitz (DJs: Athlete)
AUGUST
29th DUNFERMLINE Epoc (own headline show)
30th EDINBURGH Music Box (own headline show)



www.wichita-recordings.com
www.bravecaptain.co.uk


Downloadable EP: Eating The Afterlife available at www.bravecaptain.co.uk
Release Date: 28th June
Album:All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace (WEBB065CD)
Release Date: 2nd August 2004
Label: Wichita Recordings


BRAVECAPTAIN BIOGRAPHY



As was often repeated in interviews at the time, Martin Carr and his old chum Sice used to rehearse getting on a plane and waving to their fans, just like their beloved Beatles used to. They thought that one day this might happen and to this end, they formed a band called The Boo Radleys - who released their masterpiece Giant Steps in 1993. They boarded several aeroplanes, but even after reaching Number One in the album charts with Wake Up, the Boos found that they didn’t have the kind of fans who turned up at airports to wave goodbye to them. This, of course, didn’t stop them having a go. They waved at air traffic controllers, baggage handlers and baggage cart drivers. And at the end of it all, what did they learn? They learned that once you’ve waved and people wave back, there’s an embarrassing pause neither party knows what to do next. The Boo Radleys split in 1999. Martin began recording under the trading name of bravecaptain - a handle that allows him to shift imperceptibly from band to solo artiste like a restless pop mysteron.

Its fair to say, that since bravecaptain’s inception, there’s been even less danger of people waving at Martin Carr when he gets on the plane. “It’s ok” he says defensively, “I didn’t enjoy sitting in the Top Of The Pops canteen and watching minor members of the EastEnders squirting ketchup into their baps. To be honest, I was thinking of giving it all up anyway.” Instead, he moved to Cardiff. He can’t remember why, but away from London, he hatched a series of increasingly tasty musical eggs. Two albums on Wichita (The Fingertip Saint Sessions I and II) portrayed an artist revelling in the freedom that comes with not having to find roles for fellow band members. He missed his friends, but truth to tell, not the restrictions. 2002’s Advertisements For Myself was an avalanche of lo-fi beat-pop and breakbeat sound collages. At times, Martin’s two creative personas intertwined, negotiating that tricky artistic ha-ha between Lee Mavers and Squarepusher. Some critics raved. But one or two suggested that it didn’t cohere. But for Martin - whose love of The White Album was immortalized in the Boos’ White Noise Revisited - that was the point.

That said, bravecaptain has returned with what - in the old-fashioned sense of the word - you wouldn’t hesitate to term an album. Ten songs. Five and then change sides for the second half. All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace has primarily been made with, well... machines. And yet, paradoxically, it’s his most human sounding album since Giant Steps. And like that album, much of the joy comes from having your expectations disappear before your eyes and replaced by something so very much better. The analogue clank and whirr of Every Word You Sound frames an elegant paean to betrayal. “My oh my oh my, what a world this is.” he intones before desolation gives way to the kind of protracted chamber pop meditation redolent of pastoral 70s pioneers The Third Ear Band. Metamorphic Rocks! evokes the infectious automaton funk that Kraftwerk once specialized in before zeros and ones finally stole their analogue souls. He’s never exactly been a whore to the obvious, but there’s a sureness of touch here that previous bravecaptain releases sometimes lacked. Just as his old band took a couple of albums to find a sound that was uniquely theirs, All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace is an album that could have been made by no-one else. The relentless invention exists not to draw attention to itself, but to serve the music. Flow Machines is a case in point: a boom-thump pop delight which oscillates joyously between Martin’s free-form Dylanising and king-size Bernard Herrman chords.

And whilst bravecaptain don’t sound like The Beach Boys as such, bravecaptain’s best music shares with Brian Wilson that knack of sounding childlike and world-weary at the same time. It’s on Big Black Big Pile and the title track. It’s also on the gorgeous Good Life, on which Martin celebrates the irreducible truths that modern life can’t conspire to change. And it’s all over the Christmassy pop baroque of Bethesda: a slow procession of single piano notes carried in with the tumbleweed before a lone flute cuts through the reverie with chilling clarity. If there’s one criticism to be made of All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace it’s also the best thing about it. As the resolutely upbeat closer Weaponised comes to an abrupt end, your instinct is to check for more. You want more? Well, skip back to track one. Now how long is it since an album made you feel that way?
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Dave w.



Joined: 12 Dec 2002
Posts: 840

PostPosted: Sat Jun 12, 2004 14:04    Post subject: Reply with quote

sounds good.

has the release date been put back a week, then? Rolling Eyes
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Tommy BOO



Joined: 21 Aug 2002
Posts: 3066
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 12, 2004 14:34    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice one Martin.
I found the part about waving at imaginary people very funny.
Looks like you're going to be pretty busy in July but have fun and don't forget us. Rolling Eyes
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"Tommy Boo has played a pivotal role in my life. I've looked up to him since I was a kid and he has inspired every note of music I have ever written. The man is a fucking genius" -BC
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bravecaptain



Joined: 08 Feb 2003
Posts: 859

PostPosted: Sat Jun 12, 2004 19:58    Post subject: Reply with quote

i never wrote it clart, i would've said 'fuck' more.

fuck

mx
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Tommy BOO



Joined: 21 Aug 2002
Posts: 3066
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 12, 2004 20:34    Post subject: Reply with quote

bravecaptain wrote:
i never wrote it clart, i would've said 'fuck' more.

fuck

mx


Oh... Bugger, I should have known!
Now when I think about it, it would have been strange if you had written it actually. Yeah... it's all in third person and everything.

Aren't you watching footie?
Spain V Russia has been very enjoyable so far.

Fuck. x Rolling Eyes
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"Tommy Boo has played a pivotal role in my life. I've looked up to him since I was a kid and he has inspired every note of music I have ever written. The man is a fucking genius" -BC
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John Mc



Joined: 29 Oct 2003
Posts: 1398

PostPosted: Mon Jun 14, 2004 10:54    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is the album going to get released in the US?
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darraghh
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 11:12    Post subject: Reply with quote

wow my appetite is whetted.
fuck
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ciaranm
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2004 16:16    Post subject: Reply with quote

If it lives up to the blurb...I'm sold. Good Man Yerself, Martin!
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