The longest album title ever?
The Band: YOUTHMOVIE SOUNDTRACK STRATEGIES
The Record: Hurrah! Another year. Surely this one will be better than the last: The inexorable march of progress will lead us all to happiness
The Label: Fierce Panda Recordings (Catalogue Number: NONG 36CD)
The Release Date: August 16th 2004
The Truth: YOUTHMOVIE SOUNDTRACK STRATEGIES live in Oxford. They consist of Al English (guitar and electronics), Andrew Mears (vocals and guitars), Stephen Hammond (bass) and Graeme Murray (drums and programming). They make music that is one part poetry, two parts mesmerising and several parts post-math-prog-whatever rock imperfection.
Fierce panda first set frankly disbelieving eyes on YOUTHMOVIE SOUNDTRACK STRATEGIES onstage at Club Fandango in 2003. We were fascinated by the topless quartet’s scant regard for shirts or for the fineries of rock history (nevermind the Dublin Castle¹s thoroughly bruised PA), and subsequent primetime support slots with Trans Am, Death Cab For Cutie, Cursive, Bloc Party and most recently Hope Of The States have not deterred us from their beaten path.
As befits a fresh-faced combo chewing away at the margins of the
leftfield rock graph, YOUTHMOVIE SOUNDTRACK STRATEGIES arrived at Chez Panda via an EP on Quickfix Records and a split 7” with Edmund Fitzgerald on Vacuous Pop. Even as we type they are already planning another autumnal split release, this time with Red Jetson on Drownedinsound Recordings. Patently, these people are not in this for the major label dollar.
What other reason can there be for making an album that consists of four long, long tracks exquisitely composed by the band and lovingly produced by Ant Theakler of Hope Of The States? Let’s face it, the album’s title alone lasts longer than most current day garage rock b-sides manage to.
Final fact: YOUTHMOVE SOUNDTRACK STRATEGIES are surely the angriest band to ever play In The City (in 2003), yet out of this rage comes soaring, searing beauty. Hurrah! is proof positive of that.
To celebrate the release of Hurrah! YOUTHMOVIE SOUNDTRACK STRATEGIES head out on tour with RED JETSON, like this…
AUGUST 2004
Sun 8th – Coventry Jailhouse
Mon 9th – Southampton Joiners
Tues 10th – Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach
Wed 11th – Oxford Wheatsheaf
Fri 13th – Nottingham Junktion7
Sat 14th – Cambridge APU SU
Sun 15th – Stoke Sugarmill
Mon 16th – Leicester Charlotte
Wed 18th – Aberdeen Dr Drakes
Thurs 19th – Newcastle Cumberland Arms
Fri 20th – Manchester Night & Day Club Fandango
Sat 21st – Hull Adelphi
Sun 22nd – Wolverhampton Little Civic
Mon 23rd – NorthamptonSoundhaus
Tues 24th – Camden Dublin Castle Club Fandango