Released 18th May on ‘Don’t Tell Clare’ records
Originally recorded 18 months ago during a disastrous and short lived dalliance with a popular indie label, Das Wanderlust´s eagerly awaited album is finally due for release. After hiccups and let-downs along the way including numerous personnel changes and an almost terminal lack of cash, `Horse For Courses´ will finally land on the shelves this May on the super-DIY Don't Tell Clare imprint. Stop-starts aside, they can now boast having held down a stable line-up for more than a year now (!), a growing European fanbase, and an album some critics are already calling `easily the best debut album we've never heard´.
Das Wanderlust are, Laura Susan Simmons (Vox, Keyboard) Andrew Richard Elliott (Guitars, Misc.) and Wesley John Stephenson (Drums). Originally from Enfield, Laura dropped out of her Fine Art course at Goldsmiths Uni after a minor nervous breakdown, and moved to the hub of nothing-much-at-all that is Teesside. There she met Andy through the tiny Middlesborough music scene, and after wading through seven drummers and several other musicians (see above) they finally took on the talents of local drumming hero Wes - and thus we have the Das Wanderlust of today.
The album itself is an interesting document of the transitionary nature of the band's formative years - up until the arrival of Stephenson in early 2008 - featuring, as it does, two former drummers and one former bassist (two of which recorded their parts after they'd already parted company with the band). Throughout these changes, however, the creative core of Simmons and Elliott has always remained intact, although they must surely be awful people to work with to have endured such problems.
From the wonderfully enchanting/pessimistic opener `Pyramintro´, the whirlwind frenetic pace only lets up for a couple of minutes with `Turn To Grey´, the band's first completely acoustic recording and the album's mid-point. Future single `I Wish I Was A Robot´ is almost derangedly effervescent and seems to constantly threaten to run away with itself, previous single 'Puzzle' nods to the detuned guitars of Sonic Youth, the vocal stylings of Melt Banana's Yasuko O, and a toy instrument marching band, and `Where Nobody Knows Your Name´ is an oestrogen-fuelled ode to the boredom and frustration associated with living somewhere you can't stand, ending with birdsong and a skwiff fanfare.
The overall sound is hard to classify - critics and fans have called them noise pop, art rock, wrong pop, experimental pop, riot grrrl, amongst other things... and whilst each description may have its own merits, it seems rather missing the point that this is the sound of a band just making music exactly how they want to, without worrying about genres, trends, or haircuts. In spirit Das Wanderlust are closest to artists such as Fiery Furnaces, Deerhoof, Melt Banana, The Fall, and anyone else with a general disregard for rigidly adhering to conventional song structure or instruments (the album features bass clarinets, flutes, saxophones, kitchen utensils, field recordings and more). The unwritten rule here is cram as many ideas into as short a space as time as possible, often on top of each other. No chorus is ever repeated a third time, and there are no solos.
Das Wanderlust are DIY in the extreme; everything is done through them and unlike most other bands who have experienced similar levels of moderate success (in indie terms) they have no major label backing and totally self-managed; as in Elliott's words, "Everytime we've tried to go against our DIY roots we get bitten on the arse!"
Championed by the likes of Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens and Marc Riley, `Horses For Courses´ is one of this years most anticipated albums.
Das Wanderlust on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads
Das Wanderlust are, Laura Susan Simmons (Vox, Keyboard) Andrew Richard Elliott (Guitars, Misc.) and Wesley John Stephenson (Drums). Originally from Enfield, Laura dropped out of her Fine Art course at Goldsmiths Uni after a minor nervous breakdown, and moved to the hub of nothing-much-at-all that is Teesside. There she met Andy through the tiny Middlesborough music scene, and after wading through seven drummers and several other musicians (see above) they finally took on the talents of local drumming hero Wes - and thus we have the Das Wanderlust of today.
The album itself is an interesting document of the transitionary nature of the band's formative years - up until the arrival of Stephenson in early 2008 - featuring, as it does, two former drummers and one former bassist (two of which recorded their parts after they'd already parted company with the band). Throughout these changes, however, the creative core of Simmons and Elliott has always remained intact, although they must surely be awful people to work with to have endured such problems.
From the wonderfully enchanting/pessimistic opener `Pyramintro´, the whirlwind frenetic pace only lets up for a couple of minutes with `Turn To Grey´, the band's first completely acoustic recording and the album's mid-point. Future single `I Wish I Was A Robot´ is almost derangedly effervescent and seems to constantly threaten to run away with itself, previous single 'Puzzle' nods to the detuned guitars of Sonic Youth, the vocal stylings of Melt Banana's Yasuko O, and a toy instrument marching band, and `Where Nobody Knows Your Name´ is an oestrogen-fuelled ode to the boredom and frustration associated with living somewhere you can't stand, ending with birdsong and a skwiff fanfare.
The overall sound is hard to classify - critics and fans have called them noise pop, art rock, wrong pop, experimental pop, riot grrrl, amongst other things... and whilst each description may have its own merits, it seems rather missing the point that this is the sound of a band just making music exactly how they want to, without worrying about genres, trends, or haircuts. In spirit Das Wanderlust are closest to artists such as Fiery Furnaces, Deerhoof, Melt Banana, The Fall, and anyone else with a general disregard for rigidly adhering to conventional song structure or instruments (the album features bass clarinets, flutes, saxophones, kitchen utensils, field recordings and more). The unwritten rule here is cram as many ideas into as short a space as time as possible, often on top of each other. No chorus is ever repeated a third time, and there are no solos.
Das Wanderlust are DIY in the extreme; everything is done through them and unlike most other bands who have experienced similar levels of moderate success (in indie terms) they have no major label backing and totally self-managed; as in Elliott's words, "Everytime we've tried to go against our DIY roots we get bitten on the arse!"
Championed by the likes of Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens and Marc Riley, `Horses For Courses´ is one of this years most anticipated albums.
Das Wanderlust on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads
