Danny Valentine & the Meditations
London, England, United Kingdom | Established. Jan 01, 2006 | INDIE
Music
Press
Imagination; it takes a bit of that to start a band and write songs but Danny Valentine And The Meditations seem to have been allocated
way more than their fair share, to the point where the world in which they live has almost completely morphed into a fantasy land. Danny
Valentine is a psychotic poet who fronts the band, Jesus Hydes fulfills duties on the drums and K.Goff plays bass, a swirling mass of other musicians come and go from the band, making their musical contributions before running for their sanity we would expect. Their new E.P entitled ‘The Lion, The Fish And The Bear’ is named after the three personalities in the band. “I like poncing about and shouting,” says the Lion (Danny). “I’m really good at lifting stuff,” says the Bear (K.Goff). “I like
hitting things and dancing to Roxy Music,” says the Fish (Jesus). They believe these are all excellent qualities for a surrealist indie pop group - a ponce, a grunt and a glam thug. According to their MySpace the band
live in the 19th Century and have a time machine which allows them to put digital things into the digital realm (us either) but in real life, they live in South London and make excellent pop music with a dark edge, we are not the only ones who think so as well as their first double a side single ‘Architect Of My Love/Killling Floor’ completely sold out.
Just how seriously this lot are taking themselves is up for debate and as always, the line between genius and madness is a thin one indeed, but in the mean time their unique brand of eccentric music is ours to enjoy, from
a safe distance of course - Global net
Danny Valentine & The Meditations – Architect Of My Love
This two-track single may be self-released, but the quality – of both the music and the production – belies its DIY nature. Layered thick with lush yet organic instrumentation, unexpected noises and some sublime backing vocals, the title track is a happy-go-lucky, spritely number about obsessional – and perhaps unrequited – love, its deliberately offhand insincerity set to an infectious and oddly dark melody. The b-side, Killing Floor, is a slightly darker, brooding, moody song – imagine Blur’s Beetlebum slowed down and turned on its back, or even inside out. Again, the depth of instrumentation is impressive and disturbing – and it could serve easily as the soundtrack to a David Lynch dream sequence. Otherwordly, sinister and intelligent, this is a heart-stopping, jaw-dropping triumph of a single - Backlash
Cynical electro rock you can dance to - Moose Factory
Breathtaking Intellectual Pop - Logo Magazine
So right it can't be wrong - BBC 6 Music
A tasty combination of skittering disco beats, squelching electro, and shout-along choruses -- antagonistic and groovy! Recommended if you like: Hercules and Love Affair, Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Spin Magazine
Discography
Architect of My Love / Killing Floor (His Dark Master 2008)
The Lion, the Fish and the Bear EP (His Dark Master 2009)
Shoot Yourself to Freedom, Kid! LP (His Dark Master 2011)
Photos
Bio
Danny Valentine formed the Meditations in 2007. He wanted to make music and performances that captured the spirit of the three biggest influences in his life, Antonin Artuad’s theatre of cruelty, the beauty of fucked up noise and out of control hedonism.
Having been a touring guitar player with a number of underground and not so underground acts – he was described by Mick Jones as the most “intense live player on any stage in England” – he decided the only way he could exorcise the sound and thoughts in his head was to step up to the mic to scream, shout, whisper and howl it out.
He began working with Jesus Hydes, a long standing friend and musical soul mate of ten years, and producer Ian Davenport (awayTEAM, Radiohead, Supergrass, Band of Skulls) in March of that year and together they shaped the Meditations sound – a blend of noise, dub, glitchy electro and existential soul – compared favourably with Hercules & Love Affair and Does It Offend You, Yeah? Although it mixes up a whole heap of different types of trouble – as Danny says:
‘We want to make a beautiful noise. We want to have fun. We want to entertain. These are the three guiding principles we follow when we make our music. We like to draw sounds and influences from everywhere. We find inspiration in films, in cities, in other people and in our selves. We see the world as a cynical place but we look at it in wonder and we want to paint it with the sound we hear when we see the world before us. We love music. We write songs to sing and dance to. Our sound is surreal – it is pop but it finds its roots in every song we’ve ever heard, from 1950s rock’n’roll to 80s hip hop, rave culture and trans-atlantic indie noise. We make records using whatever is to hand, from bar stools to flugel horns.’
In their first session, Danny asked Ian if he should bring anything special down. ‘Bring some girls, man’ was Ian’s response. The three girls he did bring formed the Super Superbs – the female harmony response to Danny’s call. They bring a sense of cheekiness and, oddly, refinement to the weird sense of subversive fun in the Meditations’ music.
The band played live (and Danny sang live) for the first time in a renovated meat market in south London in December 2007. On stage the visual presence of the band was only outclassed by the music itself – Danny is the ring leader, the negative image of the droog, all dressed in black with fuck off boots and top hat. The girls mix red feather boas and glitter to smoothe out the scene.
They released their first single in January 2008, which subsequently sold out of its physical print and received heavy rotation in American indie clubs and plays on KRCW over there and the Beeb over here. Throughout 2008 they toured across the south of England and Wales, honing their live performance – the BBC broadcast part of one exuberant Reading show – and working on their next release. They ran their own club night in Kilburn, too, mixing up West London dub DJs with East London noiseniks.
The lead track from their new EP, “YR JB” has already been aired on BBC 6 music and FXN in the US and has been described by Spin magazine as ‘antagonistic and groovy - a tasty combination of skittering disco beats, squelching electro, and shout-along choruses.’ The EP itself, entitled The Lion, the Fish and the Bear, will be released in April 2009 on His Dark Master.
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