EXCLUSIVE Erol Alkan & The Long Blondes
So you’ve already had a few days to freak out over the immaculate freshness that is The Long Blondes’ “Fulwood Babylon” (the b-side to their latest single, “Weekend Without Makeup”) but now I’m gonna do you one better and hook you up with the other two tracks from the Blondes’ sessions with dance producer du jour Erol Alkan. “Platitudes” and “Last Night On Northgate Street”, as their called, don’t come close to matching the perfection of “Fulwood”, but it’s interesting to see what Alkan, in his first time ever producing a band, can do with these tracks. “Platitudes” is a bit more experimental than I’d like my Long Blondes tracks, with intentional feedback consistently popping up throughout, but it’s got that signature Erol Alkan depth and a mediocre Long Blondes’ song is still better than the bulk of material coming out of Sheffield right now (not to knock the vibrant Sheffield music scene, I just don’t think there’s another band there right now operating at the same level that the Blondes are). “Last Night On Northgate Street” is the real keeper of the two, with the same jangly, skittery guitars and compelling narratives - not to mention some more of that great spoken word action - that we’ve come to know and love from the band. All in all, these three tracks get me extremely interested to see what Alkan was given the opportunity to get some more production experience with other bands (the mere thought of a Bloc Party-Erol Alkan collaboration leaves me needing a fresh pair of undies) and this is definitely an impressive start to his fledgling production career.
MP3s:
“Fulwood Babylon” - The Long Blondes ((highly recommended))
“Platitudes” - The Long Blondes
“Last Night On Northgate Street” - The Long Blondes