The Black Ghosts-The Black Ghosts-2008-RTB

ARTIST: The Black Ghosts

TITLE: The Black Ghosts

LABEL: IAMSOUND

GENRE: Electronic

BITRATE: 203kbps avg

PLAYTIME: 0h 38m total

RELEASE DATE: 2008-07-08

RIP DATE: 2008-06-19



Track List

----------

1. Some Way Through This 4:02

2. Anyway You Choose To Give It 3:37

3. It's Your Touch 3:55

4. Repetition Kills You 3:43

5. Until It Comes 3:22

6. I Want Nothing 2:47

7. Full Moon 3:51

8. I Don't Know 3:13

9. Something New 2:59

10. Don't Cry 3:40

11. Force 3:27



Release Notes:



The new album from Simian's Simon Lord and The Wiseguys' Theo Keating, recording

together as The Black Ghosts, is an eerily melodramatic affair but some

undeniably ominous credentials back up The Black Ghosts? tales of modern gothic

romance

Theo?s godfather directed Hammer House of Horror movies, which exposed him to

their supernatural charms from a very early age. Simon, too, experienced a

disquieting form of bohemia during his easily-influenced years. His grandmother,

Madeleine Dring, was a music hall satirist and was considered a psychic

Aside from youthful contact with the occult both Theo & Simon?s childhoods were

steeped in music. Theo was a vinyl junky for as long as he could remember, by

the age of 12 he had immersed himself in the world of Hip-Hop and by 16 he was

an accomplished DJ. Meanwhile, Simon?s grandfather was part of the London

Symphony Orchestra's woodwind section. "He played the oboe on the Star Wars

theme" says Simon, "which meant absolutely nothing at the time, and on various

Beatles tracks, including A Day in the Life, which he also just wrote off as

'some rock thing'. Simon's father, however, had a more progressive attitude to

sound, building synthesizers that translated plants? electrical fields into

sound and creating a white noise dream machine for his children

The whole Black Ghosts project has been informed by these experiences "I suppose

we're aiming for that combination of very listenable music with rather

disturbing lyrics," says Theo. "For instance, I was originally inspired not just

by modern producers like Daft Punk and Timbaland, but musicians such as Serge

Gainsbourg and David Axelrod. I'd compose a backing track and Simon put lyrics

to it, or vice versa.

"Theo doesn't come from the sort of muso background that means he's always

getting me to check out his jazz chords," adds Simon. "His experience comes from

DJing, so the music he produces for me to write over has plenty of backbone and

strong hooks. And I was never compromised by having to come up with lines in the

studio with the rest of the band mucking about around me. I got to write the

Black Ghosts LP by myself in a room with only suitably dim lamplight for

company.

Theo adds, "They're slightly psychotic torch songs? love songs, but hardly of

the 'Baby, let's be together' variety. You never get that sense of blind rage

that relationships can so easily produce, for example, in pop songs normally.

Any Way You Choose to Give It, the eponymous LP's dance floor stormer, finds its

protagonist in an unenviable, but familiar position - feeling randy, but racked

with doubt and cynicism. " I challenge you to make the wrong move,? sings Simon,

outraged by the object of his lust's supposed perfection. On Some Way Through

This, The Black Ghosts become tormented by the faulty human instinct to make

mutual happiness as difficult to achieve as possible. While Theo's electronic

orchestra stabs with an assassin's grace, Simon implores the source of his

frustration that he " Will do whatever it takes to put a smile upon your face "

and laments that it's only "If my hands were around your throat would you tell

me what I need to know." During It's Your Touch, a casual cynic tries to reason

out his new found love, only settling for a base, feral attraction as convincing

enough stimulus. "I guess you're wondering what I'm doing for you? And I guess

that I'm wondering quite the same thing?" Simon drawls, exasperated, as Theo's

West Coast folk-rock accompaniment exudes louche indulgence and a dangerous

wistfulness.

Current activity has seen Theo & Simon taking their mercurial two-man decks, FX

and vocal set-up on the road to a rapturous reception during both their

Australian tour and SXSW shows. A Vice US tour is lined up for May and The Black

Ghosts will be playing a host of festival spots including Gatecrasher, Rock Ness

and Glastonbury. Their recent ?Mixtape? compilation, which offered an early

glimpse into their collect