Artist bio

The Welsh quintet Super Furry Animals are one of the most inventive bands of their era, exploring new musical avenues with each release and each passing year. They have drawn inspiration from throughout the history of rock music, to say nothing of their huge electronic influences, and have consistently created compelling albums and songs within each idiom through which they pass.

Having formed from the ashes of a number of bands, including a noise-rock outfit and a techno group, SFA released their first EP, the impossibly-named Lianfairpwllgywgyllgogerchwymdrobwlltysiliogo-ygoyocynygofod (In Space) in 1995. They inked to Creation and kick-started their English-language catalog with Fuzzy Logic in 1996. Its unique punk- and power-pop-influenced tunes floated lysergic patterns and engaging lyrics about off-beat subjects, and the sound was furthered and expanded on the fine sophomore slab Radiator in 1997. 1999's Guerrilla was reportedly recorded only when the sun was shining, at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios, and added a decidedly technological edge to the group's music with an increased focus on electronic rhythms and textures spun together with a sharpened pop hilarity.

But then the group took another turn with its music as its label Creation folded; retreating to the moors of its homeland, the band recorded the Welsh-language Mwng for 6,000 quid in local studios. But hey, lo-fi and less-spoken language doesn't dim the album's appeal. It becomes the highest-selling Welsh-language album of all time, earning them a mention in a Parliament session.

Not to stay pointed in one direction for very long, the group's sixth album Rings Around The World was its slick, produced major-label debut, which sacrificed a tad of the earlier punkish rockula for a perfectly executed widescreen distillation of the group's talents. Eardrum-blazing techno merged with somber acoustic balladry; death-metal codas sat next to five-part pop opuses; sexually charged, thumping instrumentals and gospel-chorused classic rock songs all crashed together in a ponderous, life-affirming stew.

SFA upped the ante once again in 2003, with the space-rock epic "Phantom Power," which took the group's songwriting and arrangement skills to another planet, treating the world to a host of multi-faceted anthems.

They continues to explore the edges of the pop and rock universe, and they put on a great concert. What more could you want?

Albums by this artist

Love Kraft (2005)

Phantom Power (2003)

Rings Around The World (Recommended) (2001)

Mwng (2000)

Guerrilla (1999)

Out Spaced (1998)

Radiator (Recommended) (1997)

Fuzzy Logic (1996)

Concerts

April 24, 2002
Irving Plaza, New York

Interviews

Unleashing Their Power
July 26, 2003

Drawing Rings Around The World
July 28, 2001

Super Furry Animals

Out Spaced

---

» TROY CARPENTER | CO-DIRECTOR

Super Furry Animals Out Spaced Creation, 1998 RiYL: Frank Zappa, Blur, Olivia Tremor Control

Out Spaced is yet another tribute to the amazing career of the Super Furry Animals. Compiling a healthy dollop of the band's rarities and b-sides from 1994-1998, the record is pleasantly structured as an actual album of worthy tunes (rather than a closet-clearing mishmash of low-quality experiments).

A few significant recordings didn't make the cut for Out Spaced, but that's OK because the album is not made for completists. Rather, it affords a fully listenable glimpse into the band's numerous quality EPs and one-off singles, fit together with remarkable flow.

It's a testament to the Furries' unique vision that tracks like the rowdy Christmas single "The Man Don't Give A Fuck" sit comfortably next to the trancey techno piece "Dim Brys Dim Chwys," a rarer track originally found on the Triskadekaphilia compilation. Out Spaced offers a polyglot of harder-to-find tunes for the overseas fans of the Welsh band, from b-sides like the cannabis anthem "Smokin'" and the sleep-deprived rave up "Guacamole" to early furry treats "Blerwytirwhng?" and "Fix Idris" (from confusingly-titled debut EP Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogery-chwyndrobwllantysiliogogogoghynygofod (In Space)).

The album is missing a bit of the intangible cohesiveness of proper SFA albums like 1997's Radiator and 1999's Guerrilla (the latter was reportedly recorded only when the sun was shining), but it nevertheless provides many delicious moments, like when the organ-fueled epic "Pam V" melts exquisitely into a pair of Radiator b-sides.

SFA has put together an extremely interesting career so far (see 2000's Welsh-only Mwng) and the originality and quality of Out Spaced only adds to the mystique. Try rewinding in front of track 1 to find a hidden song!

TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.