decisions decisions

so the other day we got sent back what might be the final mixes for a few tracks we recorded a few weeks ago...
naturally, we've now got some stuff to decide on. there's enough recorded for an ep, so that's probably what we're going to do with it all (#frenchgirlsworldexclusive). question is - what are we gonna call the ep?
we tried to have a couple of discussions but nothing came up, so i've decided to take it upon myself to ask you, our loving fans, for some suggestions. 
would you like it to be "jfkep2"??? (fxck you if you actually do)
would you like it to be "EP2", FKA Twigs style??? (although doing this would mean we'd have to acknowledge jfkep as our first ep again, which we're desparate not to do because it sucks ass)
would you like it to be self-titled??? (basically, are you boring?)
would you like it to be called "sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band"??? (pretty sure there are certain legal issues here)
or do you just not care, like you should given all these rubbish choices.

but yeah, if you have any ideas hit us up.

(we will not listen to any ideas you put forward and ben will probably think of something decent anyway)

cool cool, see you later xox


thd

frenchgirls and alt-j : a comparison

so as you should all know (and should all be purchasing your tickets for accordingly), we're playing the big old brude a week on sunday, on 6th december. what we only just found out is that, by an astonishing coincidence, our show is clashing with popular boring experimental indie outfit alt-j, who are playing a (probably boring) homecoming show of sorts at leeds arena (sounds boring, am i right).
for the (boring) people who are considering going to their show instead of ours, we've kindly compiled a brief list of reasons why you should say "fuck you alt-j, i'm going to see frenchgirls".

1. THE VENUE.
i'm not knocking the arena. i've been a couple of times, and it seems like a decent place to play (if you're boring). but ultimately, it's not the brudenell. in the words of deerhunter frontman bradford cox, the brude is "the best venue in europe". and do you really want to argue with indie icon bradford cox? didn't think so. the arena is massive - you might get lost and die! plus, it's so cold and sterile... you're much less likely to see ryan and liza from menace beach walking around. i mean, the arena is sponsored by a bank! the brudenell is sponsored by nobody except good times inc. plus, a beer at the arena is prolly like £5 and you can get red stripe at the brude for half that soooooooooo......

2. THE PRICE
i haven't checked how much alt-j tickets are, but i'm guessing they're gonna be at least £1000. no need to check, really. on the other hand, our gig is just a fiver! at the arena, all that'll get you is a beer, and you won't even be able to get in to buy it because they have big scary security men. even once you're inside the venue, prices are gonna be mad different. i mentioned before the price in beer, and even the merch available at our show is gonna be at least 10 times cheaper than at those critically-acclaimed (boring) scumbags' gig. who wants to spend £20 on a t-shirt anyway? we'll even sign our merch, and i bet those musty fuckers aren't gonna do that for you. they'll be too busy backstage sinking their £5 beers.

3. THE BANDS
in terms of simple maths we win straight off the bat. alt-j only have one support band, the horrors (who are actually pretty good but for the sake of argument let's say they're boring). we've got bloody two mate, and they're both chuffin' brilliant. absent parachute, who you must surely all know and love by now, are the best indie pop outfit in leeds, with tunes as killer as jack nicholson in the shining and jeans at least twice as tight as the marsicans'. whine are equally sick, they've got olivia (ex-member of shell), who makes her return to girls night with a sick new band, a sick new sound and (i think) a sick new haircut. plus there's us, and we're alright. we're not boring, anyway.

4. THE TUNES
alt-j's songs are pretty boring. their best are all on the first album, and the second had like one banger on it. we've been working on an EP (which we'll release at some point prolly) on which every song is a banger, so we're probably the winners. AP also have new songs, and if you heard twice shy on the radio a few months ago you'll already know that it wipes the floor with fucking fitzpleasure. whine only have two songs on soundcloud, but they're called grottie and bae horse so how wrong can you go (plus if you listen to them they're heavy and grungy and fab).

5. ALT-J ARE BORING
alt-j are boring.



so we'll see you at girls night ii, ye?


cheers xox



thd

a blog (in two parts)

ONE

first things first, let's tell you all what we've been doing.
we picked up some posters for GIRLS NIGHT II the other day which we're gonna be plastering all over the globe, so keep your eyes peeled for that. we also got some other posters that we'll be selling as merch at the show, for a probably extremely reasonable price. designed in collaboration with joel dent, we like to think it's a malevich-esque masterpiece of modern art.
we also had a band practice last night, working on a couple of TOP SECRET covers for girls night that you totally aren't allowed to know about (except the langli family, who heard it through their floorboards; and espen's girlfriend who walked in on us practicing it). we will say this - it'll be worth your £5, without a shadow of a doubt.



TWO

been quite busy lately, caught up in the futile struggle of modern life (you know how it is). as such, I've had this piece of poetry by Wystan Auden stuck in my head for a few days, which I thought I'd share on here as it to me sums up the fleetingness of human existence perfectly, and strangely happily. apologies to lit students who will definitely have heard this before.

it was late, late in the evening,
    the lovers they were gone;
the clocks had ceased their chiming,
    and the deep river ran on.

we'll see you next week on "thom remembering that he has to update the band blog once in a while"

peace xox







thd

good friday 20/11/2015

week eight
david bowie
let's dance

thom's personal favourite bowie album (and he's right - it's the best), featuring BXNGER after BXNGER. call us nerds, but the production on this record is some of the best we've ever heard, especially on an album from 1983.
best trax : modern love, let's dance, ricochet

good friday - 13/11/15

week seven
beck
guerolito

wicked cool album compiling remixes of a bunch of songs from guero (which you should also check out). it's some parts crazy, some parts chilled, and all parts sick. also the first song sounds like flylo.

best trax - broken drum [boards of canda remix]; ghost range[e-pro homelife remix]; qué onda guero [islands remix]

good friday - 6/11/15

week six
tUnE-yArDs
w h o k i l l

man, does this have some bangers on it. merryl garbus is one of modern music's most creative minds, and this record epitomises her bonkers rhythm-pop. if you're looking for a female jonathan higgs, you've come to the right place.

best trax - bizness, my country, powa

a month and a day and the gig is ours

it's just over a month until GIRLS NIGHT II, and we're finally sorting ourselves out for it.
we've got the lineup finalised, and it's a cracker - you all know how we feel about Absent Parachute, and trust me, we're just as fond of Whine as well.
we've also finished the poster, which you can see in all it's beauty right next to this text. less aggressive than last year's, but an equally stellar masterpiece.
we also got some actual physical tickets this week, which we're gonna flog for all they're worth so that everybody in leeds comes down to the brudenell and packs it out and it becomes rlly sweaty and hot and uncomfortable xox
and finally, we're having a band practice tonite in which we hope to actually get some new material finished for the event, so it doesn't look like we've been sitting around on our arses all year (perish the thought)

okay that's today's update, another good friday segment is coming tomorrow to this here blog, and i'll see you next time we have something to say.


thd

good friday - 30/10/15

week five
battles
mirrored

it's thom's birthday, and since he can't give himself BIG SHOUTS because he basically writes everything on this bl0g he's gonna give you all a little piece on a rlly good album.

if you've played little big planet you'll already know atlas, but trust, the rest of this record is just as good. quirky, loopy and bouncy. battles are basically a brilliant band and this we like all their albums, so you should check them all out too.

best trax - atlas; layendecker; race : out

here, here, here and here

attempting to write some new tunes for GIRLS NIGHT II in december is starting to lead somewhere...
we spent a while writing a song that ended up being trash, so now we're trying a different tack. we had a little jam on thursday and yesterday thom demoed it (that's an exclusive by the way, the rest of the band don't even know that yet). in his personal opinion, it's gonna be a pretty swell little number.
anyway, fringegirls are excited as always, and once we get this song written (and sort out a few other surprises for the show), everything is gonna be good good good!

you can still get tickets from here, here or here by the way.
and you can still buy treeman from here, if you want

good friday - 23/10/15

week four
flying lotus
pattern + grid world
we love a bit of flylo over here at frxnchgirls, and this EP from 2010 is in our humble opinion his best release. it may only be short but it packs one fuck of a punch. basically you need to hear it.

best trax - physics for everyone; clay; kill your co workers

good friday - 16/10/15

week three
the flaming lips
the terror

a slightly belated good friday this week, but you probably didn't notice anyway.
this is an album that was discovered quite late on by us, but it's nonetheless a very underrated psych record. perfect for those of you who like your psychedelia to be sp00ky.

best trax - look... the sun is rising; butterfly, how long it takes to die; sun blows up today

recording

as if treeman wasn't enough for you (which, by its sales record, seems to be the case), we've been recording again.

here's a short documentary giving you the lowdown on all the exciting things we did yesterday.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO / BUY TREEMAN (IF YOU WANT)

good friday - 9/10/15

week two
jai paul
jai paul
welcome back to good friday, the only music review blog in the country that nobody actually reads (apart from the nme)

this week we've an album which was so exclusive that it was never even officially released. the only version that exists is a low-fi unmastered leaked one, but we still adore it. just listen to str8 outta mumbai and you'll know exactly what we mean. also he samples batman punches and harry potter films which is pretty damn cool.

best trax - str8 outta mumbai; genevieve; BTSTU

when a fire starts to burn

there are three websites you should all be on the lookout on, in preparation for our single dropping on saturday.

first, our bandcamp page, because this is where you'll actually be able to buy the song (you don't have to if you don't want to but, y'know, man's gotta eat) 
https://frenchgirlsssss.bandcamp.com

second is our youtube channel (that's right, we have one), because when treeman is released we're gonna be putting up a lyric vidya there so y'all can actually figure out that the fuck ben is singing about
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh2GaJh8yf_th-RkB8PAh0w

third is our facebook page, because after you've showed all your friends and family our new single and they inevitably love it, as well as buying it so we can get to number one they can give us a cheeky like so we can finally crack that 500 barrier and feel of some worth
https://www.facebook.com/frenchgirlsssss


also on an unrelated note, tomorrow we're gonna post another blog about an album we love, and this week's is a MAJOR goodie. recommended.

okay that's all drive safe xox

saturday

good friday - 1/10/15

week one

lcd soundsystem

sound of silver

week one, and we start with this. in one sentence, it's a super fun bouncy dance-indie record that never once dips in quality.

best trax - all my friends; someone great; watch the tapes

girls night ii

in a shocking turn of events, we've got our second important update in two days! and this one's a biggie.

we're very very happy to announce that GIRLS NIGHT will return on december 6th 2015, at the brudenell social club games room.
we've yet to announce all the support acts, but I will say now that at least one and a third of the bands from last year's event are gonna return.
tickets are £5 (the usual price) from all the usual places: jumbo, crash and online at lunatickets and seetickets (links below), as well as from band members themselves.

we're massively looking forward to it, and expect us to have some special plans in place for our set.

it's gonna be massive xox

jumbo
crash
lunatickets
seetickets

coming

treeman on fire is coming soon
here's a sneaky preview
xox

piece of news 3

also also

we're recording this weekend, should be fun.
luka can dust off his sax again.

thd

piece of news 2

also, we played a show on monday with juan wauters and the orielles at the brudenell games room, and it was really fun. we were alright as per, the orielles were banging as (I assume) per, and juan was as sweet and cool as he was when we last saw him. quite a surreal set, but still an excellent one - we got him to play the same song twice, and got some rad pictures with him afterwards.
plus we nearly missed our set because we were getting pizza, espen forgot to bring a bass strap, jeans AND had to borrow jamie's brother's bass, and never got to play our cover of do0o it by miley cyrus. nonetheless, we had great fun.

we also had a few chats with the people at the brude, about some potential secret things that might happen in a few months... [clue - girls' night 2]

thd