Spiritualized

Still recording? Mixing? On their holidays? I was at the last gig in Amsterdam but I need my live fix.

I don't think anyone knows and if they do, they probably aren't going to spill any beans. I've been wondering the same thing recently.

wasn't the new record almost finished this time last year? I wonder what changed.

Last time I heard anything was on Instagram and he was in the studio.
There was a nice comment from Bobby G telling him to hurry up.

hurrying up would be good

SHSL came out in April of 2012, so we've passed the 4 year mark. I'm guessing that if we don't hear an announcement by the end of August, the album will wind up being pushed into 2017. This is just speculation of course.

I think it will be 2017. My guess is announcement in Sep/Oct, release early next year. But possibly leaves Autumn/winter for some live shows.

How weird would it be for him to give an indication to his fans of what's going on...

I know, I should know better eh.

Remember Jase talking that it's pointless to put an album out in the ending of the year. It's either right around the corner or indeed 2017. Gigs and touring must be also in his ideas... Globe-trotting, hoping makes lazy, but lets still want the best and see him all around the world.

I agree it would be nice for fans to have a source of current information. Seems very remiss of whoever is managing and/or supporting an active artist, for them not to keep fans engaged in any way.

Presumably whoever is funding the recording of the new album would like folks to go buy it, when it eventually comes out? Maintaining some sort of web/social media presence has never been cheaper or easier, so it seems slightly peculiar there's apparently nothing going on in that vein.

true, surely a social media presence has next to no cost attached.

there is a twitter but it's hardly ever updated

There hasn't been a formal website to the band in years.
Years.
Even when Spiritualized were doing some shows it was never ever publicized.
No joke.
I often think there is no management or representation of J.
Just how it seems.

And I'm not knocking those here who keep this place together and maintain the few of us who show up.
But I do remember whenever there was mention of the official website, that there was word of an overhaul and big things coming.

I can't imagine someone just discovering them and looking for a website and scratching their heads in disbelief.

And I'm not knocking those here who keep this place together and maintain the few of us who show up.
But I do remember whenever there was mention of the official website, that there was word of an overhaul and big things coming.

I can't imagine someone just discovering them and looking for a website and scratching their heads in disbelief.

this is probably the best band website on the web, the only thing missing is band news...!

You're not getting it. Websites are so passe. + travellers like us we're meant to proselytize the Spiritualized path.


That one website that had all the videos n stuff was pretty cool. Was early 00's.. whoever was picking up the tab then.. Whoever designed it did a nice job.

As far as I know Ben Crook did that? At least he did the videos.

What does everyone thing of the new album - Fire?

? (See below tweet just posted)

https://mobile.twitter.com/officialSpzd ... 0655350784

A couple of weeks ago Shaun Keaveny had his own small claims court in which he said that he had seen Jason walking in London (Shaftesbury Avenue?) and he was wearing silver trainers.

See my post in the "Gigs" section...

https://mobile.twitter.com/officialSpzd ... 0784881664

Fortunately the new album is also due next year… twenty years to the day since 'Ladies and gentlemen...'

It's the 20th anniversary of 'Ladies and gentlemen...' next year so we figured we should be playing a celebratory concert to coincide. Fortunately the new album is also due next year… twenty years to the day since 'Ladies and gentlemen...' and so as they don't compete, we decided to run an anniversary show this year and leave some clear space for the new album. I just didn't wanna pass on the opportunity to perform 'Ladies and gentlemen...' live again. It's such a massive and detailed piece of music to play and is still as demanding and relevant to me as it was on its release. In one 70 minute blast it just about covers everything I still find interesting and engaging in music... from free jazz, doo-wop, and soul to rock & roll, gospel, and the blues... All with heavy guns and the Barbican's wide screen stage as the backdrop… It's a real honour to be asked to play it there again.
S P A C E M A N

MODLAB wrote:It's the 20th anniversary of 'Ladies and gentlemen...' next year so we figured we should be playing a celebratory concert to coincide. Fortunately the new album is also due next year… twenty years to the day since 'Ladies and gentlemen...' and so as they don't compete, we decided to run an anniversary show this year and leave some clear space for the new album. I just didn't wanna pass on the opportunity to perform 'Ladies and gentlemen...' live again. It's such a massive and detailed piece of music to play and is still as demanding and relevant to me as it was on its release. In one 70 minute blast it just about covers everything I still find interesting and engaging in music... from free jazz, doo-wop, and soul to rock & roll, gospel, and the blues... All with heavy guns and the Barbican's wide screen stage as the backdrop… It's a real honour to be asked to play it there again.
S P A C E M A N

I'm more stoked about the new album - around June next year then?

I'd love to see another LAG show - especially at the Barbican - but I don't think I can realistically make this...

I wonder if we can consider this an official announcement as to the release date of the new album (June 16, 2017).

TheWarmth wrote:I wonder if we can consider this an official announcement as to the release date of the new album (June 16, 2017).

I've been hoping this to be so, I wonder if there will be any sort of announcement in the next few weeks?

If the new album release was/is planned for June 2017, then surely it must already be finished? For example, the monthly music magazines have long but well known 3+ month lead times on their reviews.

Aside from this site, I'd have no idea where else to look for information about a potential or forthcoming new Spiritualized record. The modern music dissemination models work best when titillating fans with streamable preview track(s) many months before the anticipated finish date. Sub Pop and Caldo Verde (amongst others) do this type of thing really well.

As we savour the delicious potential of the new Spiritualized album, I'm wondering what the cover art will be like?

Personally I haven't liked anything after Amazing Grace. Yet we know Jason is still capable of producing great ideas, such as the unfortunately aborted T-shirt / poster rainbow syringe artwork! that was done but never paid for or used, a few years ago.

I grabbed every screenshot of that great sample image I could, in the highest resolution possible. There was even someone selling unofficial t-shirts with it, for a short period, then they disappeared. I hope that's more like the new album sleeve than the last two Farrow/Spaceman efforts - which are really just some text, their fonts and a few colours

I'll concede that I agree with Jason's opinion that the "Huh?" sleeve worked well when translated from a record cover to an mp3 icon, but unfortunately he forgot to mention it only actually looked good when shrunk down real small. And whilst I bought all the t-shirts related to A&E and SHSL, I don't wear them - not to preserve them like my older valued Spz shirts, but because they are not inspiring designs that reflect the quality of the music they represent.


Anyways, I hate sounding negative - it's not like Jason literally owes me a new record with some decent artwork. Hopefully all this time passing with no new news, reflects the hard work going in to recording and mixing what I sincerely believe will be a great record!

interesting, its a good point. one man's minimalism is another mans laziness. the fact that A&E and SHSL both have very similar artwork makes me see them as a piece even more.

what's this rainbow syringe artwork? don't remember that.

angelsighs wrote:interesting, its a good point. one man's minimalism is another mans laziness. the fact that A&E and SHSL both have very similar artwork makes me see them as a piece even more.

what's this rainbow syringe artwork? don't remember that.

The "rainbow syringe" was commissioned by Jason but never used. It looked really spectacular, compared with the A+E and SHSL art. I guess the latter two can be considered companion pieces - they'd look right at home positioned on a pair of PowerPoint slides, designed by some admin assistant as an MS Office learning exercise, during a two minute break from counting pencils or sorting mail.

I'm not usually one to judge a record by the cover. But with PP, FUI, LAGWAFIS and LICD we got four fantastic sleeve designs, with amazingly original CD boxes - perhaps the best ever seen in that format. The LPs looked really good too, as did the 3 disc version of Amazing Grace.

Since I don't normally buy LPs and share Mark Kozelek's opinion of such plastic indulgences, I shouldn't really care too much that the last two Spiritualized albums were identified by such uninspiring artwork. It worked (as predicted) on iTunes etc, but then so do most blocks of text and colour on sparkling white backgrounds.

What really annoys me is that Farrow has proven his capability in producing some great artwork. LICD had a great limited edition CD, with Mrs F's face transferring well - both when scaled up to the LP sleeve, and down to the icon on your phone. I particularly like taking a decent quality digital version of that image, and tiling it as the background on all of my laptop screens.

However instead of looking back, I prefer to look forwards. If the next Spiritualized album is likely to be the last - I hope it comes packaged in some memorable form, suited to both the physical packaging and virtual identity!

That red and white pill graphic looks really nice, and very Spiritualized

Details on the rainbow design: http://alanhynes.com/blog/unfinished-business-part-1/

Thread just got a whole lot better.

I was at the Wiltern show. It would have been amazing if they sold those posters.

Gotta say I absolutely love Farrow's graphic design work. Clean, clear and so pleasing on the eye.

Edited 2/3/17: to add that I should have mentioned I was talking about the wider portfolio of Farrow's work that was shown in those links, not specifically Spz-related stuff. I can see that would not have come across as originally posted!

I have mixed feelings about Farrow. I think the best three album covers were Ladies and Gents, LGM and Pure Phase. I've been non-plussed by the artwork since.

I think Farrow helped reduce the reduce the perception of spz being a bit - lets say - 'prog rocky' with their cover art for Ladies and Gents, (remember the panning that Pure Phase received)? Was that down to it being judged by its cover?

But beyond that and without the concept of the pill box, really the minimalist thing just gets dull and uninteresting. It is the art of avoiding making a statement.

I like that when Jason and Farrow were interviewed together and Jason was asked to name his favorite cover, and if I recall correctly he chose Pure Phase.

I agree that the rainbow design above should really have been used for something!

I did contact Alan Hynes about maybe using one of his designs for the limited ed forum shirt and he wanted more money than the entire shirt inc screens and printing wound up costing. Just for the right to use the design.
Not sure if he was peeved about Spiritualized not using his design. I would imagine he got paid for his work.
His response was tinged with a little bitterness.

Which is completely fair. The time that goes into designing takes time and i'm sure he spent a good few days on it.

Perhaps. No one else ever wanted that much. Not even close.
Shame as both designs are excellent and now relegated to the design graveyard and of course the internet.

clewsr wrote: I like that when Jason and Farrow were interviewed together and Jason was asked to name his favorite cover, and if I recall correctly he chose Pure Phase.

That's from this interview: https://www.creativereview.co.uk/spirit ... ach-other/

I really like the work with Farrow, each piece of artwork has grown on me over time. The Songs in A&E book packaging was beautiful.

but back to release date... as said above, it should be on a pre release schedule somewhere.....the fact there has been no mention of a release so far makes me wonder whether it will actually appear this side of the Summer?

Are there any hints from Jason's instagram postings?

I know they're similar, but I like the A&E artwork much more than the SHSL effort. I remember when the SHSL art was revealed we were all like "ohh that better not be the real sleeve!!"

for some reason I've also got a feeling that it won't be this side of the summer now.

clewsr wrote:
I like that when Jason and Farrow were interviewed together and Jason was asked to name his favorite cover, and if I recall correctly he chose Pure Phase.

Bluesource designed Purephase.

M

MODLAB wrote:

clewsr wrote:
I like that when Jason and Farrow were interviewed together and Jason was asked to name his favorite cover, and if I recall correctly he chose Pure Phase.

Bluesource designed Purephase.

M

I think him picking Pure Phase was a bit tongue in cheek wasn't it?

Not really when you consider the scope of it.

Any news? Really weird that still no updates.

When SHSL was announced, there were no hints dropped on this forum prior to the official announcement. I think I read about it first on Pitchfork. So, I expect the same will happen this time.

The 20th anniversary of L&G is less than two months away. The release of the new album in conjunction with this anniversary is surely looking unlikely now, no?

Maybe they're planning a surprise release. I just hope J hasn't hit mixing problems or something that might delay the album until next year.

It is June already. Still no news. Really looking forward about it.

It would be good to hear some news!

Huh?

when they played Liverpool Psych Fest TWO YEARS ago, the new album was incoming

you have to learn to wait as a Spiritualized fan!

It was so exciting when they were touring a few years ago with all those new songs. And that Holmeforth gig. It felt for a while like there was some real momentum. Starting to think it will be 2018 before anything happens.

The fact they've announced a couple of minor festival dates this summer, suggests Jason has more availability than last year when they played no gigs at all. That must suggest some change in circumstances?

I think it's a stretch to assume these recently announced gigs are any kind of warm up for some kind of proper tour. However we can take an educated guess that Jason doesn't expect to be as busy this summer, compared with last year.

Of course he may just want to earn some money - but I'd assume this kind of low hanging fruit was on offer last year too, and he had reasons not to take advantage

Overall I suspect it's a good sign, fingers crossed!

The new songs are now years old. Really like a lot of them including A Song and Perfect Miracle. If the production is like the Bridge Song I'll be a happy bunny.

In the same time period since SHSL, Jason previously managed to give us LGM, Pure Phase and Ladies & Gentlemen. prob not a fair comparison as most artists get less prolific as they get older. Plus the industry is very different.

Maybe they'll play the whole of the new album from start to finish in Oslo and Melbourne. Still intrigued by the "World Premiere" tagline for the latter gig...

someone on twitter saying new album out tomorrow (june 16th). ???https://twitter.com/simeon_lewis/status ... 3614740481

That Twitter link isn't working for me. Tried to track it down with no luck. Maybe the post was removed. In any case, I do think it's a possibility that the new album could be out tomorrow, based on what the Spaceman said last year.

weird. it looks like he did delete it.

I'm guessing it's now a bit late for anything to be released today? I'd love a download to be dropped at midnight but I imagine that's wishful thinking. Then again I see on Facebook they've updated their cover photo to read 'ladies and gentlemen' in the last few hours.

who even is Simeon Lewis?

'dropping' an album isn't a very Spiritualized thing to do. its kind of a trend and they don't seem to be the sort of a band who follows trends

that said if they want to release it later on this evening i'm well up for that!

angelsighs wrote:who even is Simeon Lewis?

'dropping' an album isn't a very Spiritualized thing to do. its kind of a trend and they don't seem to be the sort of a band who follows trends

that said if they want to release it later on this evening i'm well up for that!

He appears to be on LinkedIn too, if you look around.


The fact he twatted then deleted, suggests one of two things:

i) he's in the know but accidentally got ahead of himself and was asked to remove his twittery, making his retraction seem significant and potentially indicative - in respect of the release of a new record

ii) he's recently read with enthusiasm one of those interviews widely reported last year, where today's date was specified for the new album release, but after his tweet he realised his twatting was twaddle - hence he un-twitted, perhaps because he felt like a twat following a deluge of enquiries from thirsty twittery Spiritualized fans, thinking he was in the know regarding this much anticipated album release


Wasn't there an early Sorkin-era West Wing episode, where Bartlet gave the staff a pop quiz about words starting with the highly unusual tw construction?

As I recall, Sorkin's script gave a curiously low number of such words, which Toby obviously was able to recite. But as so often with Sorkin's otherwise brilliant writing, he did literally no research. It turns out the OED has such linguistic constructions numbering way into double digits...

Ah yes either of your scenarios could be likely mojo filters.

Arrrgh... well I was half right with the W!

BTW Sorkin is also completely wrong about the punctuation question - I'm guessing he was typing the script and just counted whatever was on the keyboard he was using. Those minor flaws apart, he is a writing genius rivalled on television only by David Simon and David Chase.

Unfortunately whenever I just dip in to a random episode from S1, Mandy is really a jarring and obnoxious character I've normally and thankfully managed to forget about. I wonder if she was cast late to address the male-dominated leads, like Dulé Hill was brought in rather more successfully, to redress the lack of racial variation?

I know Mandy's character was not originally part of the ensemble cast, but came in with the episode where she's advising and sleeping with a Senator called Lloyd Braun, who ends up sacking her just after she dings the suspension on her convertible BMW 3 series ... or am I getting some of those facts mixed up with Seinfeld?

It's more than a little depressing how much I understand that post & how funny I find it.

I have wasted my life.

jack white wrote:It's more than a little depressing how much I understand that post & how funny I find it.

I have wasted my life.

I understand nothing of it as I've never watched the West Wing. But if you're saying that as in "I've watched this too much" then I can sympathise as someone who's really taken by the new series of Twin Peaks ( see Art/Film/Lit etc forum).

I was surprised to even see tweets from the official account for the LAGWAFIS anniversary as it's been quite dormant lately. And yes it's been a long time between the most recent albums, but to be entirely honest, and based on the last two, I'm more looking forward to a storming long gig than I am to a new LP.

Need a spiritualized tour like you wouldn't believe.

jack white wrote:Need a spiritualized tour like you wouldn't believe.

I'll second that brother i definitely need my SPZ fix... Been far too long.... Roundhouse I think......

It's been three and a half years since the Ace Theater shows in L.A.....what the heck?!!!
Time for Jason and Co. to swing back through Southern California - and bring a new album with them while they're at it!!!

Suddenly sorely tempted to head to Oslo for that festival show. But realized I am away on holiday then so it is not possible.

I guess it would wrong to cancel the family holiday??