Phantom Phorce
Encyclopedia
Phantom Phorce is a remix album of Super Furry Animals
' 2003 record Phantom Power
. The remixes had previously appeared on the DVD version of Phantom Power—they were re-released as Phantom Phorce on the band's own Placid Casual
label as a way of ensuring the remixers would receive royalties
for the tracks. The album features a commentary from the fictional 'Kurt Stern' who appears between songs to discuss the re-recording of Phantom Power under his guidance after being unhappy with the original. First editions of the album came packaged in a case that doubled as a paper model of a video game arcade cabinet, and included a bonus CD; the Slow Life
EP. Critical reaction to Phantom Phorce was generally positive.
. According to drummer
Dafydd Ieuan
the band didn't have the money to pay the artists involved for these remixes so, in order to provide them with royalties
, promised to release an album featuring the tracks on their own label.
The record features remixes of every track from 2003's Phantom Power
presented in sequence, along with extra versions of "Valet Parking" and "Hello Sunshine
" which appear at the end of the album. The remixes vary from radical reworkings such as Killa Kella's beatbox
treatment of "Golden Retriever
" and Wauvenfold's "unrecognisable" version of "Sex, War and Robots", to the likes of Mario Caldato Jr's take on "Liberty Belle" and High Llamas' "Valet Parking" which are merely "spruced up".
The remixes are interspersed with anecdotes from 'Kurt Stern' (actually the band's road manager
) who supposedly made the decision to make these remixes after being unhappy with the original Phantom Power. According to bassist
Guto Pryce
this "running commentary is tongue in cheek, it's our road manager pretending to be a producer, and he ends up sounding like a... twat!" These anecdotes give the actual release a different tracklisting from that which appears on the back of the album.
EP in packaging which could be folded into the shape of a video game arcade cabinet, or "personal console" as described on the instructions section of the sleeve. The CDs themselves were housed in individual sleeves designed to look like 3.5" floppy disks. Zeth Lundy, reviewing the album for PopMatters
, commented that he constructed the arcade cabinet with "sheer geeky delight" while CokeMachineGlow called the packaging "nostalgic but infuriating". Phantom Phorce was also issued on gold-coloured vinyl
.
Critical reaction to Phantom Phorce was generally positive with Uncut
stating that the album features an "inspired overhaul" of tracks from Phantom Power
, the Western Mail describing the record as a "mind-bending collection that radically re-works each track from the original record to create something entirely different, but equally appealing" and musicOMH calling it "an innovative and thoroughly enjoyable set of remixes". Some reviews pointed out that the album compares favourably with other remix albums with The Guardian
calling Phantom Phorce "stimulating and often rather beautiful, bucking the trend set by most other self-indulgent and pointless remix albums" and the NME
stating that "hearing a rock band get the remix treatment is usually a mildly diverting experience rather than a life-changing one. So it's an extremely pleasant surprise to be faced with a whole album of the buggers ... and be thoroughly entertained." Q
stated that the commentary by 'Kurt Stern' was one of the best features of the album and The Times
expressed surprise that these "'amusing interludes' between tracks are actually funny", however Pitchfork Media
found that 'Stern' "gets in the way more than he helps" and claimed that, by the time the listener had heard the full album he or she would "likely consider redubbing it without ['Stern's'] contributions". Reviewing Phantom Phorce for DiSCORDER magazine, Jordie Yow called it "good, but not exceptional" and claimed that the remixes simply made him want to listen to the original versions of the tracks while website Angry Ape was scathing, calling the album a "bland & uninspiring package to put you off remixes for life" and suggested that it was merely a "cash-in" by the band.
Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...
' 2003 record Phantom Power
Phantom Power (Super Furry Animals album)
Phantom Power is the sixth album by Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals, released on 21 July 2003 by Epic Records in the United Kingdom....
. The remixes had previously appeared on the DVD version of Phantom Power—they were re-released as Phantom Phorce on the band's own Placid Casual
Placid Casual
Placid Casual is the Cardiff based record label set up in 1998 by Super Furry Animals.According to the label's website "Placid Casual retains an amateur status and an a&r policy of blatant nepotism...
label as a way of ensuring the remixers would receive royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
for the tracks. The album features a commentary from the fictional 'Kurt Stern' who appears between songs to discuss the re-recording of Phantom Power under his guidance after being unhappy with the original. First editions of the album came packaged in a case that doubled as a paper model of a video game arcade cabinet, and included a bonus CD; the Slow Life
Slow Life
Slow Life is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 2004. The EP was made available as a free download and also saw a limited CD release, bundled with remix album Phantom Phorce...
EP. Critical reaction to Phantom Phorce was generally positive.
Origins, concept and music
Phantom Phorce features remixes previously available on the DVD version of Phantom PowerPhantom Power (Super Furry Animals album)
Phantom Power is the sixth album by Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals, released on 21 July 2003 by Epic Records in the United Kingdom....
. According to drummer
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Dafydd Ieuan
Dafydd Ieuan
Dafydd Ieuan is the drummer with the band, Super Furry Animals and The Peth. He currently lives in Cardiff with his wife Debbie, and their two children Cai and Lleucu....
the band didn't have the money to pay the artists involved for these remixes so, in order to provide them with royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
, promised to release an album featuring the tracks on their own label.
The record features remixes of every track from 2003's Phantom Power
Phantom Power (Super Furry Animals album)
Phantom Power is the sixth album by Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals, released on 21 July 2003 by Epic Records in the United Kingdom....
presented in sequence, along with extra versions of "Valet Parking" and "Hello Sunshine
Hello Sunshine
"Hello Sunshine" is a song by the Welsh band Super Furry Animals from their album Phantom Power. It was the seventeenth single released by the group and reached number 31 on the UK Singles Chart in October 2003....
" which appear at the end of the album. The remixes vary from radical reworkings such as Killa Kella's beatbox
Beatboxing
Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice. It may also involve singing, vocal imitation of turntablism, and the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments...
treatment of "Golden Retriever
Golden Retriever (song)
"Golden Retriever" is a song by Super Furry Animals. It was the first single to be issued from the album Phantom Power and reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in July 2003...
" and Wauvenfold's "unrecognisable" version of "Sex, War and Robots", to the likes of Mario Caldato Jr's take on "Liberty Belle" and High Llamas' "Valet Parking" which are merely "spruced up".
The remixes are interspersed with anecdotes from 'Kurt Stern' (actually the band's road manager
Road manager
In music industry, a Road Manager is a person who works with small to mid-sized tours...
) who supposedly made the decision to make these remixes after being unhappy with the original Phantom Power. According to bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Guto Pryce
Guto Pryce
Guto Dafydd Pryce is a bass guitar player in the band Super Furry Animals.The name Guto is pronounced in Welsh....
this "running commentary is tongue in cheek, it's our road manager pretending to be a producer, and he ends up sounding like a... twat!" These anecdotes give the actual release a different tracklisting from that which appears on the back of the album.
Release and reception
Initial copies of the album came bundled with the Slow LifeSlow Life
Slow Life is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 2004. The EP was made available as a free download and also saw a limited CD release, bundled with remix album Phantom Phorce...
EP in packaging which could be folded into the shape of a video game arcade cabinet, or "personal console" as described on the instructions section of the sleeve. The CDs themselves were housed in individual sleeves designed to look like 3.5" floppy disks. Zeth Lundy, reviewing the album for PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
, commented that he constructed the arcade cabinet with "sheer geeky delight" while CokeMachineGlow called the packaging "nostalgic but infuriating". Phantom Phorce was also issued on gold-coloured vinyl
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
.
Critical reaction to Phantom Phorce was generally positive with Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
stating that the album features an "inspired overhaul" of tracks from Phantom Power
Phantom Power (Super Furry Animals album)
Phantom Power is the sixth album by Welsh indie rock band Super Furry Animals, released on 21 July 2003 by Epic Records in the United Kingdom....
, the Western Mail describing the record as a "mind-bending collection that radically re-works each track from the original record to create something entirely different, but equally appealing" and musicOMH calling it "an innovative and thoroughly enjoyable set of remixes". Some reviews pointed out that the album compares favourably with other remix albums with The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
calling Phantom Phorce "stimulating and often rather beautiful, bucking the trend set by most other self-indulgent and pointless remix albums" and the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
stating that "hearing a rock band get the remix treatment is usually a mildly diverting experience rather than a life-changing one. So it's an extremely pleasant surprise to be faced with a whole album of the buggers ... and be thoroughly entertained." Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
stated that the commentary by 'Kurt Stern' was one of the best features of the album and The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
expressed surprise that these "'amusing interludes' between tracks are actually funny", however Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
found that 'Stern' "gets in the way more than he helps" and claimed that, by the time the listener had heard the full album he or she would "likely consider redubbing it without ['Stern's'] contributions". Reviewing Phantom Phorce for DiSCORDER magazine, Jordie Yow called it "good, but not exceptional" and claimed that the remixes simply made him want to listen to the original versions of the tracks while website Angry Ape was scathing, calling the album a "bland & uninspiring package to put you off remixes for life" and suggested that it was merely a "cash-in" by the band.
Track listing
Band
- Gruff RhysGruff RhysGruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, performing solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008...
– Lead vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, rhythm guitarRhythm guitarRhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together... - Huw BunfordHuw BunfordHuw "Bunf" Bunford is the guitarist in the rock band, Super Furry Animals.-Biography:...
– Lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, backing vocals - Guto PryceGuto PryceGuto Dafydd Pryce is a bass guitar player in the band Super Furry Animals.The name Guto is pronounced in Welsh....
– Bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Cian CiaranCian CiaranCian Ciaran is the keyboard player in the band, Super Furry Animals.Ciaran is the brother of Dafydd Ieuan . He plays keyboards, electronics and occasional guitar, drums, steel drum and vocals...
– KeyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, backing vocals - Dafydd IeuanDafydd IeuanDafydd Ieuan is the drummer with the band, Super Furry Animals and The Peth. He currently lives in Cardiff with his wife Debbie, and their two children Cai and Lleucu....
– DrumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, backing vocals
Remixers
- WeevilWeevil (band)Weevil were an indietronic duo, consisting of Jonny Pilcher and Tom Betts. They are from Yorkshire, England and were signed by Wichita Recordings....
- Mario Caldato Jr.Mario Caldato Jr.Mario Caldato, Jr. is a Brazilian record producer and studio engineer best known for his work with the Beastie Boys and Tone Loc. Born February 24, 1961 in São Paulo, Brazil, he and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1963...
- Killa KelaKilla KelaKilla Kela is an English beatboxer from West Sussex.-Biography:Kela began beatboxing in his teens with the 360 Physicals crew. He was discovered by DJ Vadim when he sent a tape of his beatboxing to Vadim's now defunct label Jazz Fudge...
- Wauvenfold
- Four TetFour TetKieran Hebden is a post-rock and electronic musician. Hebden first came to prominence as a member of the band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist under the moniker of Four Tet....
- MassimoMassimoMassimo is the name of a Roman princely family of great age; which by its own tradition descends from the ancient Maximi of republican Rome and from Quintus Fabius Maximus , called Cunctator...
- Boom BipBoom BipBryan Charles Hollon, better known as Boom Bip, is an American producer and musician. His music is mostly instrumental, but over the course of his career he has collaborated with several vocalists. He is currently signed to Lex Records, which, until 2005, was a division of Warp Records in the...
- bravecaptainMartin CarrMartin Carr , is a British musician and writer who was the chief songwriter and lead guitarist with the British band, The Boo Radleys.- Life and career :...
- Zan Lyons
- Minotaur ShockMinotaur ShockMinotaur Shock is the nom de plume of David Edwards, a Bristol-based electronica musician. His 2005 album Maritime was his first album released through 4AD Records, having previously released work via Manchester based Melodic....
- High Llamas
- Llwybr LlaethogLlwybr LlaethogLlwybr Llaethog are an experimental Welsh language band that effectively mix such varied musical genres as rap, dub, reggae, hip hop, and punk in their music....
- Sir Doufous Styles
- Force Unknown
- Freiband
Additional musicians
- Jonathan 'Catfish' Thomas – pedal steel guitarPedal steel guitarThe pedal steel guitar is a type of electric guitar that uses a metal bar to "fret" or shorten the length of the strings, rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar. Unlike other types of steel guitar, it also uses pedals and knee levers to affect the pitch, hence the name "pedal"...
on tracks 4, 13 - Kris Jenkins – percusion on tracks 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 13, 14, 15
- Rachel Thomas – backing vocals on tracks 3, 4
- Gary Alsebrook – trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
on tracks 6, 7 - Savio Pacini – tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
on tracks 6, 7 - Rico RodriguezRico RodriguezRico Rodriguez MBE , also known as Reco or El Reco, is a ska and reggae trombonist. He has recorded with many producers, including Karl Pitterson, Prince Buster, and Lloyd 'Matador' Daley...
– trombone on track 13 - Eddie ThorntonEddie ThorntonEdward Thornton , better known as "Tan Tan", is a Jamaican trumpeter whose career began in the 1950s.-Biography:Thornton was born in 1932 and attended the Alpha Boys School. In the 1950s, he played in the Roy Coulton band along with Don Drummond...
– trumpet on track 13 - Ray Carless – saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
on track 13
- Marcus Holdway – celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
on tracks 4, 7, 13, 14 - Sally Herbert – violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
on tracks 4, 7, 14 - Brian G. Wright – violin on tracks 4, 7, 14
- Gill Morley – violin on tracks 4, 7, 14
- Ellen Blair – violin on tracks 4, 7, 14
- Pete FowlerPete FowlerPete Fowler is a Welsh artist best known for his artwork for the Welsh band Super Furry Animals. He is a freelance illustrator and "monster creator" inspired by Japanese art, folklore, myths, psychedelia and super nature...
– Kaoss flangesKaoss PadThe Kaoss Pad is a touchpad MIDI controller, sampler, and effects processor for audio and musical instruments, made by Korg.The Kaoss Pad's touchpad can be used to control its internal effects engine, which can be applied to a line-in signal or to samples recorded from the line-in...
on track 14 - Neil McFarland – Kaoss flanges on track 14