sophiamusic.net blog

Adam Franklin blogs for Magnet Magazine

2010-07-25T15:39:00.002+02:00

Adam Franklin is currently guest editor at Magnet Magazine.
You can check out his writings on this page:
http://www.magnetmagazine.com/category/guest-editor/
Adams latest blog offers an MP3 of Altai Rockets which is the latest band of fellow Sophia collective member Nick Bergin. Nick toured with Sophia and also released 2 singles on Robin's Flower Shop Recordings when he was in Stingray Firecracker and La Merika.

PS The magazine also published a short Q&A with Adam here:
http://www.magnetmagazine.com/2010/07/19/qa-with-swervedrivers-adam-franklin/

Reissues update 2

2010-02-11T20:25:00.000+01:00

De Nachten arrived yesterday and we're happy to say that they have now all been sent out to those of you still waiting.

Thank you for your patience!

Reissues update!

2010-02-04T15:33:00.000+01:00

Dear De Nachten Shoppers,

Hopefully you are starting to receive your orders by now? I think we got everything out the door on Thursday and Friday so rest assured they are on their way.

But some of you might be saying "Hey, What the... Where's my De Nachten CD?" and rightly so!

Basically we were told that De Nachten would arrive on Tuesday but when they didn't arrive we were told it would be the NEXT Tuesday (which generally seems to mean Thursday...) and so we decided to send everything out minus De Nachten.

We know that most of you would have happily (and I'm sure very patiently!) waited another few days but I just really wanted to get these out to you and since this was the second delay on De Nachten I was becoming a little impatient myself.

I promise the day they arrive here they will be in the post to all of you!

Not that it matters but... I was so happy to actually feel the real-life copies of Fixed Water, Infinite Circle and Collections again. It's been so long since I've had copies of these myself and it really brought back memories.

Fixed Water: The little album that was never supposed to be an album. A new life for me. I honestly never thought that I would do music after The God Machine. And I certainly never felt as though I was a songwriter but after writing So Slow I had to admit that, just maybe, there were things I could say in music that I couldn't say in person. I learned a lot about myself through Fixed Water.

Infinite Circle: Directionless and Reprise. I think I've finally accepted that I'll probably always be directionless. Aren't we all though? Just a little? And again, there's something about Reprise... It just feels so small and lost and vulnerable. Not that I feel lost and small and vulnerable (of course) but there's something in there, maybe a little music-spirit, that's just crying out to be found. I guess that probably sounds stupid, huh?

De Nachten: (OK. I haven't actually seen finished copies yet but when getting all the parts together for the repress...) This album reminds me of my daughter. Even just looking at it reminds me of her. The Sea. What can I say? So hopeful. And protective. And dark. And sad. And the fact that we got the whole audience to sing happy birthday to her still gives me goosebumps...

Collections: Wind In Your Sail... "Someday. Someday we will stop fighting and let each other go..." Do we really want to let each other go? Sometimes I still think it was worth the fight for. I am just a hopeless romantic though.

Oh I guess I got a little side-tracked reminiscing? Sorry.

So to cut another one of my long stories short... Your De Nachten CD's will be on their way shortly!

Take care y'all and hopefully see you soon,

Robin and The Flower Shop Elves

Happy 2010

2010-01-03T20:23:00.005+01:00

Best wishes for 2010 from Sophiamusic.net!

In case you're still suffering from a hangover, head over to the MotorFM.de site for an audio fragment in which Robin Proper-Sheppard gives you some advice on how to conquer all that heavy machinery in your head.
Click HERE.

SOPHIA BACK CATALOGUE REISSUE

2009-12-20T14:48:00.005+01:00

We are incredibly happy to announce that after years and years (and years) of out-of-printedness and, quite frankly, ridiculously high eBay/Amazon prices we have finally gotten the wheels in motion and are in the final production phase of having the first four Sophia albums reissued.

You can pre-order the cd's NOW at The Flower Shop Recordings Online
All reissues are £8.00 / €9.50 plus shipping.
Online orders ship 25.01.2010.
They will arrive in the better indie record shops 22/02/2010.

Check SOPHIAMUSIC.NET for more info.

Sophia on MTV Germany

2009-10-18T18:35:00.007+02:00

A few weeks ago MTV Germany interviewed Robin Proper-Sheppard in Berlin.
The resulting footage is now available for your viewing on this MTV web page .
They also asked Robin to choose five favourite tracks, which resulted in a very eclectic selection. Some explantion and a video of each track are available on the same page.
Sadly, the video's are only available if you are located in Germany, Austria or Switzerland! Ach so!

Mercury Rev man joins Sophia on European tour

2009-10-05T14:12:00.007+02:00

For those of you who are curious about who the new keyboard player is on the current Sophia tour, wonder no more: it's Anthony Molina From Mercury Rev. He had this to say about it on his blog:

"Well after some time now Robin Proper-Sheppard (God Machine, Sophia) and I are collaborating once again. I will be joining his band Sophia on tour throughout Europe this month.

It was back in 1998 when Robin came into the Brooklyn, NY rehearsal space of my band Blanco. With my brother Jason Molina (Longwave) on drums and Phil Schuster on Bass he produced & mixed 3 tracks that would make it on to our self-released Carnival e.p.

On this 16 date Tour of the EU I will be playing piano and guitar joined by Adam Franklin of Swervedriver on guitars as well as a full string quartet."

MotorFm Ohrspiel with Robin Proper-Sheppard

2009-09-27T17:03:00.002+02:00

MotorFM is re-broadcasting their one-hour long 'Ohrspiel' show that was recorded earlier this year. Robin got to select 11 of his favourite songs and dubbed it his 'sadlist'.
The show airs Sunday and Tuesday at 19h00 and Thursday at 00h00.

More info and a link to the live-stream here.

Playlist:
Josh Rouse - Sad Eyes
Hank Williams - Alone And Forsaken
Stina Nordenstam - Winter Killing
Band of Horses - No One’s Gonna Love You
Ryan Adams - Winding Wheel
The National - Slow Show
Astrid Williamson - Run
Kristin Hersh - Your Ghost
Craig Armstrong - Let’s Go Out Tonight
Neil Young - A Man Needs A Maid
Jenny Lewis - Your Are What You Love

Bollnas Wolverines - Blair Hollands

2009-08-11T20:21:00.011+02:00

Time for an update on some of the folks in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen singer Neil G. Henderson recorded a 14 track album with his new outfit Bollnas Wolverines.
The album is called 'Abandoned' and is available for free download at LastFM right about HERE.
This is an interesting excerpt from the release notes: "We're starting off with a rough diamond and over time will polish it. So like software we will have the occasional update. So view this as v1.0. Feel free to offer suggestions for improvements – maybe we're working towards the worlds first open source Album."

1.Bivouac
2.Meat
3.Two
4.At the Pass
5.Someone Else's Swimmer
6.Act of Being Polite
7.Glass Mountain
8.A Silence
9.The Wire Admission
10.Talkbook
11.It's S
12.Strict Time
13.Devoto'd
14.Stop the Music
All songs within the Wolverines camp except 6 by The Residents and 14 by Quentin Crisp.
Bollnas Wolverines are Neil G Henderson and Steve Escott. With additional vocal and graphics by Paul Gosden and Kirsa Wilkenschildt respectively.
All songs written and recorded Jan – May 2009.

And last year Robin Proper-Sheppard assisted Blair Jollands (from The Thin Men and also guitar in Copenhagen) with the recording of a solo acoustic album. The album is being mixed as we speak but you can already check out some of these tracks on Jollands' MySpace. His voice reminds me a bit of Finn Andrews from The Veils.

This Sunday on Radio Bremen

2009-06-25T20:43:00.003+02:00

Robin Proper-Sheppard will be the central guest this Sunday on 'On The Tracks' on Radio Bremen. The two hour show will highlight his career and play songs Robin selected. Check the above link for a livestream between 22:05 and 24:00.

Adam Franklin & Bolts Of Melody

2009-06-21T23:19:00.004+02:00

There's a new interview with Adam Franklin over on www.fogcityjournal.com.
I copy/pasted the part where he talks about Sophia below, but do read the rest of the interview as it's really great.

PS Adam is currently touring the US with his band Bolts Of Melody.

AF: I just got back from doing a ‘Sophia’ tour as well. I don’t know if I mentioned that band the last time. That’s a band I’ve played with on and off for the last twelve years. There was a Swervedriver/Sophia split release. This guy, Robin Proper-Sheppard, who is from San Diego but has lived in London for the last fifteen years, myself and Steve (Steve George) from Swervedriver played very early on in Sophia. But Sophia never plays in the States, does stuff in Europe mainly. It was cool, we used to tour in a bus. A string quartet on stage, about ten people onstage. It was cool.

FCJ: Did you arrange any of the stuff?

AF: No I don’t do any of the writing. I just come in and play Robins stuff. The funny thing with the strings early on when we toured with Sophia a few years ago, no members of the band were smoking Marijuana, but the whole string section was. It was sort of a reversal of what you might expect (laughter). The string section were the stoners (laughter).

Waxing Gibbous

2009-06-02T20:06:00.008+02:00

Mr Malcolm Middleton - member of the Sophia Collective and quite possibly the greatest songwriter North of Sophia - just released a new record called 'Waxing Gibbous'.

I just got my paws on a copy and it's brilliant as usual. Just check out the epic current single "Red Travellin' Socks" and you'll know what I mean.

The CD is packaged in a nice book pack-style and can be purchased on-line at the Full Time Hobby shop - or at any good 'off-line' record shop that somehow seems to survive in your neighbourhood.

Here's the track list:
1. Red Travellin Socks
2. Kiss At The Station
3. Carry Me
4. Zero
5. Stop Doing Be Good
6. Dont Want To Sleep Tonight
7. Shadows
8. Ballad Of Fuck All
9. Box & Knife
10. Made Up Your Mind
11. Subset of The World
12. Love On The Run

And here's a few spots where you can feast yer eyes on some more Malcolmness:
- The Quietus Documentary
- Song, By Toad interview + session
- Off The Beaten Tracks session

Ligament download

2009-05-19T19:52:00.006+02:00

Some blogger uploaded Ligament's "Three Dimensional Pumping Heart" 7 inch, which was released on Robin's Flower Shop Recordings label 15 years ago.
Tim Cedar from Ligament was one of the very first Sophia Collective members and played the drums on the first Sophia album 'Fix Water' (Jeff joined Sophia for 'The Infinite Circle'). Cedar currently sings and plays guitar in Part Chimp. Ok, so much for the history lesson.

Considering that this limited edition 7" has been out of print for many years and that Ligament have split up I think's it's quite alright to check out this download. So don't miss this chance to check out some excellent 90ies indie rock remiscent of Girls Against Boys and Barkmarket.

Free tickets for Brussels gig

2009-05-16T20:50:00.006+02:00

Quick announcement: there's only 2 more days left to go HERE and win free tickets for the Sophia gig at the AB in Brussels on May 23th. so hurry up!

Gig schedule

2009-05-13T09:42:00.011+02:00

The good people at AB know what I want to see.

BTW is Jarvis doing a little Michael Jackson move there? Aw!

(pic by Knotoryous)

Acoustic showcase Brussels 28/04/2009

2009-04-23T11:04:00.007+02:00

Robin Proper-Sheppard will be playing an acoustic showcase at the Café Central in Brussels on Tuesday 28th of April.
The showcase is invitation only!
Tickets will be handed out by radio stations, webzines etcetera.
So keep your eyes peeled for these competitions.

For instance over here at Soundslike.be.
Or here at the Focus Le Vif website.

Adam Franklin - Magnetic Morning - Swervedriver update

2009-02-19T10:52:00.018+01:00

Long time Sophia Collective member Adam Franklin had a very busy year in 2008, finding time not only to tour again with the re-ignited Swervedriver - their first tour for a decade - but also to record two new albums!

Adam Franklin's second solo record 'Spent Bullets' is released March 31st 2009 and will be available through Second Motion Records in the US - buy CD and vinyl here - and through Cargo for the EU. Or download from iTunes.

'Spent Bullets' was partially recorded by Robin Proper-Sheppard and features Jeff Townsin rocking the drums. You can here some sounds here: www.myspace.com/toshackhighway

Magnetic Morning is Adam's collaboration with Sam Fogarino (drummer of Interpol) and the debut album 'AM' is out now on the Friend or Faux label - buy CD or vinyl here and it will also soon be available through Cargo and can be downloaded at iTunes.

Magnetic Morning, which also features Jimmy LaValle of the Album Leaf on keyboards, did their first tour of the US in Oct/Nov of 2008 and will, we hope, be touring Europe later in the year. Listen to some tunes here: www.myspace.com/magneticmorning

Meanwhile the first two Swervedriver albums 'Raise' and 'Mezcal Head' have been remastered and re-issued with bonus tracks and the third album 'Ejector Seat Reservation was re-issued by Sony in the UK. You can buy them here.

And finally, Adam will be stepping out with Sophia again in Europe in the Springtime, proving that there really are no goodbyes.

Sophia album update

2009-01-11T16:27:00.005+01:00

Some news from the studio:

Right now Robin is putting the final touches to 'There Are No Goodbyes' (out 27 April 2009). The title track is a beautiful 6 minute up-tempo track about heartbreak and fucking things up in the vein of the Sophia we've come to know and love on the last few albums.

The rest of the album will be quite different though. One can only guess what the song that Robin mentions here will sound like: "I'm meeting Neil from Dark Captain Light Captain to add bass clarinet to a song that I can only describe as ambient alt-country that could have been on The Cure's 'Seventeen Seconds'."

And Robin added this too:
"Last night we turned 'Something' into a lovely duet (with someone that I know loves me even though I'm jealous and possessive and neurotic, insecure and obsessive... )."

Robin mentioned the 'Something' lyrics before in his blog:
I'm jealous
And possessive
Insecure, neurotic and obsessive...

And I know that I ain't easy but I love you
Oh I love you

And that's gotta mean something
Yeah doesn't that mean something?
Especially these days
When nothing seems to mean anything

New Adam Franklin album with the help of Sophia drummer

2008-08-15T19:02:00.003+02:00

A few words from Adam on the new album:

We've been recording the new 'Adam Franklin' album and loving how it's sounding - it's the best record I've made, and that's regardless of the fact that the latest is always the favourite.

It's not ever so often you find yourself recording two albums back-to-back and the fact that the Bolts of Melody and Magnetic Morning sessions have come straight after stepping off the Swervedriver tour and letting rip on stage for a month has meant that one's "ripping capacities" have been finely tuned!

The Toronto recording session went really well. We tracked all guitars and keys and we got some cracking sounds - there are some fucking heavy guitars on there.

We had already recorded the drums in London before the Swerve tour - Sophia's Robin Proper-Sheppard supervised getting Jeff Townsin's drums down at the Joint in King's Cross. Jeff, who of course played drums in Bolts of Melody on the last tour, was in sterling form as always and nailed 11 songs in 3 days and Robin got it sounding really warm and kinda 'woody' ha ha. It's all about the warmth and the wood!

Charlie Francis and I will mix the album at Charlie's gaffe in Cardiff, South Wales early September and we should have a fully mixed album completed by the time Swervedriver plays its UK shows.

Release date will likely be early in the new year and in the meantime we'll post a little sonic taster or two at the www.myspace.com/toshackhighway and www.adamfranklin.com pages for people to check out.

More Flower Shop releases

2008-08-10T20:44:00.004+02:00

I'd like to share some news I gathered at last month's Sophia gig at the Cactus Festival:
- A date has been set for the release of the SISTER 7". It will be out September first.
- In my previous post I mentioned that SISTER's bass player Steven (who played with Sophia this summer) already played with Sophia in the Summer of 2004. I failed to mention that their guitar player Alan (who also played with Sophia this summer) has also played with Sophia in the past. He was the bass player when they did 'The Infinite Circle' for the Don't Look Back gig in London.
In a previous life Alan used to be a member of the fabulous Sultans Of Ping FC. Their 'Teenage Punks' is one of my favourite singles from the nineties. Check it out here: http://www.myspace.com/thesultansofping and do check out their albums too.
- And there's another Flower Shop Recordings release coming out soon. It will be a 10 inch vinyl mini album from By The Fireside. It will have 6 tracks and is called 'Day of the Burning'. The cd version was released in the UK by Red Deer Club in a 500 copies limited edition.
By The Fireside is the band of Daniel Lea; the very same Daniel Lea who produced the Dark Captain, Light Captain album.

Sister 7" on The Flower Shop Recordings

2008-07-04T22:33:00.008+02:00

If you've checked out the photos from Sophia's gig at the Arti Vive festival you might have noticed two more or less new faces in the band: Alan on guitar and Steve on bass. I say more or less new as Steve already played bass with Sophia during the 2004 People Are Like Seasons festival dates.
Anyways, Alan and Steve also play in a band called SISTER that, in true old-school Sophia Collective style, will be released on Robin's The Flower Shop Recordings. A limited edition etched 7" will be put out September 1st.
In the meanwhile you can get a taste of SISTER right here: http://www.myspace.com/sistermusic

Cactus final line-up (including time schedule)

2008-07-04T20:02:00.002+02:00

Dark Captain Light Captain EP + free MP3

2008-07-04T19:57:00.002+02:00

Some more news for the Dark Captain Light Captain boys:
"Lo Recordings/LOAF is pleased to announce the release of East London six-piece Dark Captain Light Captain’s acclaimed debut, the Circles EP, in the US on July 15. Comprised of Dan Carney (guitar, vocals), Giles Littleford (guitar, vocals), Neil Kleiner (electronics, vocals), Chin Keeler (drums), Laura Copsey (brass, vocals) and Michael Cranny (bass, vocals), Dark Captain Light Captain weave these songs into a haunting web of psychedelia with sweet harmonies, chiming guitars, spaced out brass and touches of electronic deviance. The songs on this EP have been lovingly polished and brought into focus by the team of Robin Proper-Sheppard (The God Machine, Sophia) and Kenny Jones."

Here's a free MP3 from the EP: They Be Underwater

Cactus full Sunday line-up

2008-05-06T16:34:00.005+02:00

The Cactus Festival in Bruges have revealed the full Sunday line-up.
Sophia is the 6th band on the bill. Paul Weller and Bootsy Collins will close the day.

UPDATE: Paul Weller cancelled and has been replaced by Youssou N'Dour.
Rumours that his performance will only last 7 seconds have not yet been confirmed.

All about squirrels and gophers...

2008-04-25T16:54:00.003+02:00

If you've been to the Sophia MySpace in recent times you might have noticed that the squirrels at Hope House (where TWSU was recorded) have joined web 2.0 and set up their own MySpace page! The cheeky chaps even sent me the following message today:

Hello Wouter,

I'm sorry but we, the squirrels of Hope House, don't add bands, humans or wannna-be pornstars to our list.

Sophia being the exception, of course, because Robin fed us, watched us play, and even set us free when we accidentally got stuck stealing food from the gardeners gopher trap.

We like gophers though. It's just that some people think they make a mess. I think Robin likes gophers too. But not as much as squirrels. Once he found a gopher in a trap and set it free as well. But he didn't tell the gardener.

Robin is our friend. And he's not grumpy at all.

We'll happily add our fellow friends of the wilderness as well as our more comfortably domesticated brethren too though so please request away!

Take care!

The SoHH

Dark Captain Light Captain

2008-04-21T21:04:00.005+02:00

In the past few months Robin Proper-Sheppard has been spotted in the studio with Dark Captain Light Captain. He's been feeding them burritos and adding a helping hand in the studio while they record their debut album with Daniel Lea.
Check them out on MySpace right here: www.myspace.com/darkcaptain

Sophia gig broadcast

2008-03-14T15:36:00.002+01:00

PureFM will broadcast last year's Sophia gig at Pukkelpop.
Check out Pure Live this coming Sunday evening.
www.purefm.be

New Lawn album

2008-02-25T11:31:00.005+01:00

Dutch band Lawn are about to release their third album called 'Silver'. Here's a excerpt from the bio:
"With new songs up their sleeve, the band also started thinking about a more solid production. The goal was not to give in on the atmosphere lawn-music seems to create, but to put more emphasis on the songstructures and melodies, letting the best parts stand out. With some advise from Robin Proper-Sheppard (Sophia, God Machine) on the pre-production side, Lawn hit the studio with well-known producers Phil Vinall (dEUS, Placebo, Snow Patrol, Radiohead) and Pieter Kloos (Motorpsycho, 35007) to achieve their new targets."

Back in the olden days Titus and Job (both play guitar in Lawn) were responsible for the very first Sophia site.

More at www.myspace.com/lawnmusic

The Raveonettes vs the Sophia collective

2008-02-21T14:06:00.003+01:00

In an interview for the French magazine 'Elegy' Sune Wagner of The Raveonettes was recently asked about the Stereolab cover they play at their gigs.
This is what Sune said: "We played 'French Disco'. I love that song. I once played in Sophia, the band of Robin Proper-Sheppard, formerly of the God Machine. During that time Mary Hansen of Stereolab let me stay at her place".

So some digging in some archives was done and low and behold some photo's of Sune playing with Sophia were actually dug up. They are from the September 1998 gig at the Botanique in Brussels. Here's one:

You can see more pictures from that gig right here.

(Thank you Jean-Paul for the photos & info).

The Domino State

2008-01-24T21:59:00.001+01:00

The Independent (a UK newspaper) just published a list of 25 indie acts who they think are on course to hit the big-time over the next 12 months. One of them is The Domino State:
"Joining the dots between Joy Division and the best of the Eighties’ shoegazers, London's The Domino State make brooding, intense music that knocks spots off much of the competition. Their slow-growing anthem “What’s The Question” benefits greatly from the simpatico production of The God Machine’s Robin Proper-Sheppard, while “Iron Mask” has distinct shades of classic period Smiths. "
They do get it wrong a bit as it's actually "Iron Mask" which was recorded by Robin. The song was released as a 7" single in 2007 on the Club AC30 label. You can have a listen at 'Iron mask' and buy the 7" on the Domino State MySpace.

Coming up...

2008-01-06T18:34:00.000+01:00

While Sophia are gearing up for 2008 (more info later, be patient) and Adam Franklin has just announced a London gig with the Sophia boys as his backing band, there's even more signs of 2008 action:

Vito have finished writing their second album and are very exited about it. They should record it in the next few months, which - if all goes well - could mean that we will see it released later this year.

Malcolm Middleton will release a mini-album on the 3rd of March. 'Sleight Of Heart' is an acoustic/covers album, comprising 6 new self-penned songs and 3 written by others. He will be playing UK and European dates as well as a tour of Australia.

Tracklisting:
Week Off
Blue Plastic Bags
Total Belief
Just Like Anything (Jackson C. Frank)
Follow Robin Down
Stay (Madonna)
Marguerita Red (King Creosote)
Love Comes In Waves
Hey You
Yes, there's a song there called 'Follow Robin Down' and no I don't have any idea if this Robin is Robin Proper-Sheppard.
A radio session version of 'Blue Plastic Bags' is available for download on Malcspace.

Adam Franklin London gig

2008-01-05T00:10:00.000+01:00

Adam Franklin & Bolts of Melody (this time comprising Jeff Townsin, Will Foster and Matt Round from Sophia) will play The Luminaire in Kilburn, London on Friday February 1st 2008.
Go to: www.theluminaire.co.uk for details.

Class of 2007

2007-11-14T21:49:00.000+01:00

It's that time of the year again where we unleash the music that rocked the Sophiamusic.net headquarters (46th floor, mirrored windows, shag carpet and a monkey at the reception desk) in the past year. As usual presented in alpabetical order.

Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
A much darker and introvert album than their first one, it somehow failed to win over the critics. But what do they know?
www.myspace.com/arcadefireofficial

Future Of The Left - Curses
Mark Foley was right.
There are no bad songs on this record.
'Curses' was without any doubt my favourite record of the past few months. It's hard and it's witty. And it made me rediscover my Mclusky cds again. Must have album!
www.myspace.com/futureoftheleft

Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control
Now listen up: I have no idea why it took the record company this long time to release the album in Belgium. This album is so hot they should put a 'Fire hazard!' sticker on its cover.
www.myspace.com/gossipband

Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future
Rightful winners of the Mercury Music Prize as this was the most exciting album of all the nominees. Rock and dance have been mixed many times before (see UNKLE and LCD elsewhere in this blog post) but none have done it with the pure joy and enthousiasm of Klaxons.
www.myspace.com/klaxons

LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver
Ok, it' not as good as their first album but it's still shit hot.
www.myspace.com/lcdsoundsystem

Malcolm Middleton - A Brighter Beat
I have to thank Robin for insisting on how good Malcolm's music is. 'A Brighter Beat' is so good I instantly bought all his previous albums too. And so should you!
www.myspace.com/malcolmmiddleton

Pinback - Autumn Of The Seraphs
Ugly artwork but beautiful music. What else do you want me to say?
www.myspace.com/pinback

Radiohead - In Rainbows
Best Radiohead album in years. Containing little masterpieces like 'Videotape' or 'Nude'. Only downpoint would be that the (early) live versions of several of these songs were far superior to what finally ended up on the album. A problem that has been around for quite a few Radiohead albums now. (Just compare the album (Amnesiac) version of 'Like Spinning Plates' with the live version on the 'I Might Be Wrong' EP to see what I mean.)
www.myspace.com/radiohead

The Rakes - Ten New Messages
Best Brit Pop album in years. This record was stuck in my car stereo for months.
www.myspace.com/therakes

UNKLE - War Stories
Mo'Wax boss James Lavelle's third album is an epic masterpiece about a breakup. (The album starts with the words "Please forgive me). As usual it features a host of guest musicians of which Gavin Clark's contributions are my personal favourites.
www.myspace.com/unkle

Hot tracks:
Bat For Lashes: What's A Girl To Do
Cold War Kids - Hang me Up to Dry
Hitsville Drunks: Heartbreak Volunteer
LCD Soundsystem - No Love Lost
Millionaire: Deep Fish
Mintzkov: One Equals a Lot
QOTSA: Make It Wit Chu
Robyn: With Every Heartbeat & Who's That Girl
The Cribs feat. Lee Renaldo - Be Safe
The Shins - Phantom Limb
Tim Vanhamel: Until I Find You
Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Sealings

In 3D:
Aereogramme (VK, Brussels)
Future Of The Left (Trix, Antwerp)
Hitsville Drunks (Singer, Rijkevorsel)
Malcolm Middleton (VK, Brussels)
Millionaire (De Nachten, Antwerp)
Nine Inch Nails (AB, Brussel & Pukkelpop, Kiewit)
UNKLE (Pukkelpop, Kiewit)
Radiohead (Pukkelpop, Kiewit)
Sophia (Pukkelpop & Effenaar)
The Hickey Underworld (Magic Places, Antwerp)

Robin records with Black Rust

2007-11-08T14:37:00.000+01:00

Some news about what Robin's been up to in the past few months.
One week after the Sophia gig at Pukkelpop, Robin flew to Hamburg to record the debut album of a German band called Black Rust. The album was later mixed at the London Alchemy Studio by Kenny Jones (who also mixed all the Sophia albums). The album should be out early next year.
The band describe their music as 'acoustic rock'. You can hear some tracks on their MySpace page: myspace.com/somuchweakness

We hope to bring you some more news about what's up in the Sophia camp soonish...
Just keep checking sophiamusic.net

Swervedriver anno 2008

2007-11-08T08:25:00.000+01:00

And some more exciting news from Sophia Collective axeman Adam Franklin:

"So it looks like Swervedriver will hit the road once more. It all happened quite quickly and we met up in a pub in London last month and figured out what we'd like to do, which at this point is just heading out and playing some shows again.

As far as new recordings are concerned, I already have two albums to record next year (a new 'solo' and The Setting Suns debut) and they take priority. Maybe the Swervies can rustle up a new tune or two but really, there's more than enough going on with that back catalogue already.

I gotta say that something that really sparked my interest in this was hearing the live version of Sandblasted that has been posted for some time at swervedriver.com and subsequently at the MySpace page. I'd just never heard it played like that before. I mean, I guess I was there and everything, but it's got this great kinda country style to it that sounds like it might have only happened one night, and it's stuff like that that keeps the whole thing alive to me... not only in the music but the fact that other folks cared enough to record and post these recordings.

In the meantime this 'Bolts of Melody' tour has been going really good and finally it's reached the point where nobody bitches after the shows about the lack of Swervedriver songs! I guess because they've been leaving completely satiated by the set that culminates with the twelve minute C chord that is Ramonesland. Things are nicely in place to build on with another album next year and there's already a great album taking shape I think.."

Adam Franklin tour

2007-10-13T16:07:00.001+02:00

Some Sophia Collective news: Adam Franklin and Jeff Townsin are currently touring in the US and Canada on the back of Adam's solo album 'Bolts of Melody'.
You can still catch them here:
10.13.07 Bluebird, St. Louis (MO)
10.15.07 The Record Bar, Kansas City (MO)
10.16.07 The Waiting Room, Omaha (NE)
10.17.07 400 Bar, Minneapolis (MN)
10.18.07 Empty Bottle, Chicago (IL)
10.19.07 Cactus Club, Milwaukee (WI)
10.20.07 Elbow Room, Ypsilanti (MI)
10.21.07 Andyman's Treehouse, Columbus (OH)
10.22.07 Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland (OH)
10.23.07 Club Café, Pittsburgh (PA)
10.24.07 Mohawk Place, Buffalo (NY)
10.25.07 Drake Hotel, Toronto (ON)
10.26.07 Zaphods, Ottawa (ON)
10.27.07 Le National, Montreal (PQ)

(photo by Taniaion)

Ventura's The Flower Song

2007-09-28T11:59:00.000+02:00

Swiss band Ventura played a cover of The God Machine's 'The Flower Song' at the Lozane's Burning festival in Lausanne, Switzerland on January 13 2007.
They pulled it off really well. If I'm not mistaken the singer even used the same guitar as Robin did back then. See for yourself:

If you want to compare Ventura's cover with the original version of 'The Flower Song' here's your chance:

More about Ventura on their official site: http://www.vntr.net/
or on their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/vntr

The Machines

2007-09-07T10:49:00.000+02:00

Some of you might know that there's several other bands out there that are also called Sophia (ranging from new age, cold wave to Japanese boysband).

Now it seems that even The God Machine is no longer a unique band name. These guys: www.godmachinemusic.com also named their band 'God Machine'.
They certainly got a lot of work to do if they wanna come anywhere near the utter brilliance that was 'our' beloved God Machine.
They can start by ditching the macho rock star pose. ;-)

Pukkelpop trivia

2007-08-22T11:49:00.000+02:00

Pelle from The Hives was a bit confused when he saw backing vocalist Melanie De Biasio leave the Sophia trailer. Check out this MP3.

Local hero Flip Kowlier - who played the Marquee right before Sophia - found the Sophia gig impressive but noticed that Robin played exactly the same guitar as he did. He decided he had to check out if his guitar wasn't gone and jokingly added: "he looks like a thief!".

Another attentive Sophia listener at Pukkelpop was Henry Rollins, who's always interested in learning about new bands for his US radio show.

Adam Franklin + Hopewell US tour

2007-08-07T10:53:00.000+02:00

The joint European tour of Sophia and Malcolm Middleton earlier this year was a damn fine line-up. And now another great joint tour is in the works as Adam Franklin (long-time member of the Sophia collective) and Hopewell are teaming up for some East Coast dates. Hopewell's pretty unknown in Europe but the Russo brothers (ex Mercury Rev) have made some great albums that are definitely worth checking out.

These are the tour dates:
Aug 21 2007 Great Scott Boston MA
Aug 22 2007 Maxwell's Hoboken NJ
Aug 23 2007 Cake Shop New York NY
Aug 24 2007 Johnny Brenda's Philadelphia PA
Aug 25 2007 IOTA Arlington VA

Sophia in 'Simpsons The Movie'!

2007-07-22T00:44:00.000+02:00

With the imminent release of the new Simpsons movie, we can exclusively reveal that Robin Proper-Sheppard has a cameo role in the movie.

Hereby he will join the long list of rock artists like The White Stripes, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth and the Ramones who previously featured in one of the Simpsons episodes.

We are proud to present you with the very first image of how Robin will appear in the movie, wearing his famous all white stage attire.

Bolts Of Melody out now

2007-07-09T18:34:00.000+02:00

Adam Franklin's new album Bolts of Melody (the first one released under his own name) is out now. You can find more info on his site or check out this nifty e-card.

And from a current Sophia Collective member to a former one: James Elkington's band The Zincs also released a new album called Black Pompadourearlier this year. More info on the Zincs site.

Lost in Germany

2007-07-02T13:47:00.000+02:00

You can have a look at the acoustic performance of 'Lost' at last month's Immergut Festival right HERE.
The link will guide you to the videoplayer of Festivalguide.de. Just browse through the available videos and choose 'Sophia - Oh My Love - Immergut'. (Yeah, I know it says 'Oh my Love'. And no it's not 'Oh My Love'. And yes, it's 'Lost'. Blame someone else!)

Pukkelpop line-up (updated)

2007-06-18T16:33:00.000+02:00

The line-up for this year's Pukkelpop festival has been announced.
Sophia will play in the Marquee on Friday the 17th. I've posted the line-up for the Main Stage, Marquee and Dance Hall right here:

Main Stage
The Smashing Pumpkins
Arcade Fire
Chris Cornell
The Hives
Within Temptation
Funeral For A Friend

Marquee
Dinosaur Jr
Sophia
Badly Drawn Boy
The Rifles
Flip Kowlier
The View
Biffy Clyro
Art Brut
Nosfell

Dance Hall
Groove Armada
Laurent Garnier
UNKLE
Cansei De Ser Sexy
Black Strobe
Matthew Dear's Big Hands
Shameboy
Shitdisco

Sophia interview in ModCast

2007-06-17T21:16:00.000+02:00

I only just noticed that there's a 10 minute interview with Robin in the Muziek-O-Droom podcast. The interview was done to promote the Sophia gig at the Muziek-O-Droom in Hasselt (Belgium) earlier this year. Their podcast is called ModCast and you can subscribe HERE.

Immergut details

2007-05-25T13:44:00.000+02:00

The Immergut Festival have just revealed the full running order of the second festival day. This is it:

Saturday, 2 June 2007:
Mainstage
16.10-16.40 Sir Simon Battle
17.30-18.10 Ragazzi
19.10-20.00 Tied and Tickled Trio
20.25-21.10 Kristofer Aström
22.10-23.10 Shout Out Louds
00.15-01.40 Tocotronic

Second stage
15.30-16.00 Lichter
16.50-17.20 Someone still loves you Boris Yeltsin
18.20-19.00 Malajube
21.15-22.00 Virginia Jetzt!
23.15-00.10 Sophia

Aereogramme is no more

2007-05-14T16:06:00.000+02:00

Some very, very sad news:
Aereogramme have decided to split up. They released a great new album (My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go) earlier this year, but the continuous lack of commercial success finally took it’s toll. Aereogramme were one of those bands whose admiration for The God Machine was clearly audible in their music, but they had their own sound.

This is an excerpt from the farewell message posted on their MySpace:
“It is with heavy hearts that we tell you all that Aereogramme have decided to split up. Reasons are multiple and complex. It is however fair to say that the never ending financial struggle coupled with an almost superhuman ability to dodge the zeitgeist have taken their toll, ensuring that we just don't have any fight left in us.
We are immensely proud of the four albums that we made over the past seven years. We hope that they continue to grow in your hearts.
We plan to honor and celebrate the beautiful friendships we have made along the way with some final shows over the summer.
Finally we want to thank you all for listening to our music and coming to our shows over the years. You have given us a glimpse of something truly special.”

Superhero Songwriters

2007-03-25T23:18:00.000+02:00

There's a great interview with Malcolm Middleton at Pennyblackmusic.com.
Sophia gets two mentions in the interview (one about the song 'Superhero Songwriters' and one about touring with Sophia).

Now that we're talking about Malcolm Middleton, I just want to grab the chance to urge you to check out his new album 'A Brighter Beat'. It's bloody brilliant and I'm sure it will appeal to most Sophia fans. Check out some tracks on Malcolms MySpace.

Our superhero songwriters have one more joint UK gig at the Audio in Brighton (March 28).

It's a kind of Magic

2007-03-06T10:52:00.000+01:00

In the current Issue of French music mag Magic, Robin was asked to participate in their monthly "C'est mon choix" (It's my choice) page. The concept of the page is that the artist has to make a number of choices, which is kinda strange as the page also includes a large number of 'normal' questions.
Anyway, this is a short summary:
- All time favourite band: The Cure (question reluctantly answered by Robin)
- All time favourite record: Harvest by Neil Young and Mezzanine by Massive Attack
- First ever gig played: Wabash Hall, San Diego with Society Line (1988)
- Best memory of a gig: The Morlocks at Studio 517, San Diego in 1984; Slint at Pyramid Club, New York in 1989; Jane's Addiction at Subterrania, London in 1990 and Nick Cave & Teh Bad Seeds at Lucerna, Prague in 1993.
- MP3 or Vinyl: both (mp3's are practical but vinyls are such nice objects)
- Sophia or May Queens: Sophia
- UK or USA: UK
- Last record bought: Back in Black by AC/DC & A Brighter Beat by Malcolm Middleton.

If you want more details, you'll have to buy the magazine.

Topsy-turvy

2007-02-08T19:48:00.000+01:00

A message from Malcolm Middleton's site about the upcoming UK tour:

"Amazing UK supports

It's just been confirmed that the supports for my headline UK tour in March will be Sophia and Strike The Colours. Sophia is Robin Proper-Sheppard's band but he'll performing solo here. I've been listening to Robin's music since I was 17 and he was in The God Machine, so it's a bit topsy-turvy that he'll be going on before me but what the hell.

Strike The Colours is Jenny Reeve's new band but she'll also be doing these dates solo. Jenny's been in Arab Strap, Idlewild and The Reindeer Section and is really, really good. She does a lot of singing on my new album and will also be part of my band.

So, aye, get down early and lap them up. So to speak.

Malcolm."

Ticket competition

2007-02-07T21:18:00.000+01:00

You can win tickets for the Sophia gig at Paard Van Troje in Den Haag (NL) on the 3voor12 website.
Go right here.

Adam Franklin's bolts of melody

2007-02-02T09:12:00.000+01:00

Sophia guitarist extraordinaire Adam Franklin will release a new album in the Spring. It’s called ‘Bolts of Melody’ and will be released on the San Diego based Hi-Speed Soul label.
In the past few years Adam has released several albums and EP’s as Toshack Highway (the debut album is still available from Robin’s Flower Shop label), but if I’m not mistaken this is the first album under his own name.
You can get a first taste of the album at the Hi-Speed Soul MySpace site.
In the meanwhile don’t forget to enjoy Adam’s marvellous guitar playing at the current Sophia tour!

Class of 2006

2006-12-23T19:41:00.000+01:00

It's that time of the year again where we unleash the music that rocked the Sophiamusic.net headquarters in the past year. As usual presented in alpabetical order.
And this is also a good moment to update the blog radio, something I hadn't done in over a year. Gulp.
This wasn't the greatest year in rock music, but it sure was a tremendous 'live' year. I really had trouble whittling down all those great gigs to a 10-ish number (I only managed to get it down to 11. All Spinal Tap fans will agree that this is actually one better than 10!).
Head over to the forum to boast about your favourites.

Albums:
Aereogramme - My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go
Japanese import. Official European release isn't until 2007. The 'gramme show a more poppy side on this album.

Daan - The Player
Eurotrash from one of Belgians biggest talents and greatest voices. On this album he examins the borders of good taste.

Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere
'Crazy' probably was this years best single. I know it was a bit of a hype, but who cares, as long as the music's good. And it is.

Goose - Bring It On
Block rocking beats from a rockband.

Morrissey - Ringleader Of The Tormentors
Not his finest album, but hey: it's Morrissey!

My Morning Jacket - Okonokos
A superb double live album.

Serge Gainsbourg - Les 100 Plus Belles Chansons (box set)
Various Artists - Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited
Bow to the master. The box set includes the full 'Histoire De Melody Nelson'. I'm not speaking with you again, if you don't have that album.

Sophia - Technology Won't Save Us
You might have heard of this band before...

Tool - 10.000 Days
See Morrissey. Not their finest album, but hey: it's Tool!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
If 'Crazy' wasn't the single of the year, then YYY's 'Turn into' sure is. This album is a classic.

Honourable mentions for accomplishments in songwriting go to:
Badly Drawn Boy - Nothing's Gonna Change Your Mind
Balthazar - Lorraine
I Love Sarah - De Gokchinees
The Gossip - Standing In The Way Of Control (original and Soulwax remix)
The Hickey Underworld - Mystery Bruise
Vito - Arrested By These Phenomena

And a kiss from the teacher for excellent live performances:
Beck (Pukkelpop)
dEUS (Forest National)
Morrissey (AB)
My Morning Jacket (Pukkelpop)
Pearl Jam (Sportpaleis)
Radiohead (Pukkelpop)
Sophia (Vooruit)
The Hickey Underworld (SOS cafe)
Tool (Forest National)
Ugly Papas (Petrol)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs (Pukkelpop)

Fiction discovers its back catalogue

2006-12-23T19:32:00.000+01:00

In a recent interview for Swiss magazine '20 Minuten Week' Robin was asked about a possible re-release of The God Machine albums:

"Have you ever considered re-releasing old God Machine records? They're being sold on eBay for a shitload of money.
Robin: Yes, I know. The problem is, I don't own the rights. Universal (who own the rights, ed.) recently asked me if I want to re-release them. And I'd love to do this, but they want to add some old shit stuff to it. But instead, they should just give me my music back!"

The God Machine records were originally released on Fiction Records. Fiction was founded in 1978 as a home for The Cure but folded in 2001. All rights were bought by Universal who revived the label in 2004. One of the current Fiction label bosses is Jim Chancellor, brother of Tool bassist Just Chancellor. Both of them are big God Machine fans...

VITO's Other Disturbed Areas

2006-12-15T17:35:00.000+01:00

Christmas is upon us, so VITO have put together a collection of songs that didn't make it onto their debut album 'Make Good Areas Disturbed'. The collection also features remixes of album tracks done by some very good friends of the band. You can dowload the 7 tracks and some artwork to accompany it from the website, should you want to print it out and put it in a case.
VITO will be back next year with a new album.

RTBF news

2006-12-10T13:33:00.000+01:00

Sophia was in the RTBF (television station for the French speaking part of Belgium) news this week. They interviewed Robin and showed some footage from a session he did. You can watch it HERE. (footage probably won't be online for very long!).

Star Club poster

2006-12-01T15:57:00.000+01:00

Just like last time, the Star Club in Dresden made a poster for the Sophia gig. This time the poster is even for sale from the designer's web site. It's quite pricy though!

Badly Drawn Boy has good taste

2006-11-03T15:15:00.000+01:00

Intro Magazine has a review section where they ask musicians and people from the music bizz to comment on a number of new albums.
They probably don't get to hear the full album, so for what it's worth these are the comments that were made about 'Technology Won't Save Us':
http://www.intro.de/pvg/platte/144/650

Technology Won't Save Us

2006-11-02T16:35:00.000+01:00

I suppose you already know the sad story behind the album's first track.
Here's some BBC coverage of the tragedy:
BBC story 1
BBC story 2

Hotel Moskva, Belgrade (Serbia)

2006-10-18T19:46:00.000+02:00

'Twilight At The Hotel Moscow' looks a bit like this...

Interview soundbit

2006-10-10T21:16:00.000+02:00

As Robin is currently doing promotion for the release of 'Technology Won't Save Us', the first interviews are starting to surface. This blog has a small soundbit from an interview where Robin talks about the past year. You can also download it as an MP3 right HERE.

Sophia - Music for Picnics

2006-09-28T11:48:00.000+02:00

When you choose an album title, you want it to be original, right? For instance, naming your new album 'Dark side of the moon' or 'Achtung baby' would be a bit silly, confusing and even worse: pretty pretentious too.

Why am I writing this?
Well, as you might have read on Sophiamusic.net, the initial release of 'Technology Won't Save Us' will have a bonus cd called 'Music For Picnics'. While Googling 'Music for picnics' (to check how fast Google picks up a new news item) I was surprised to find that another album has been released called 'Music for Picnics'. But the real punch line is this: the artist is also called Sophia! What are the bloody chances of that happening?
Check here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sophiatravis1

Cat Power on the up again

2006-09-21T15:00:00.000+02:00

NME just posted a news story today about why Cat Power (aka Chan Marshall) cancelled her tour earlier this year. She still seemed to suffer from the problems that surfaced when she toured extensively in 1998. Sophia and Cat Power toured together for some time in 1998. Her break-down even inspired the first couple of lines of Sophia's 'Desert Song No. 2'.

Download a Hissyfit

2006-09-08T22:39:00.000+02:00

The Hissyfits have made their Flower Shop Recordings EP called 'Can't keep waiting' available for free download at their website: http://www.hissyfits.com/music.htm
The Hissyfits were a three piece girl punk rock band from New York, who split up before the single was released. Singer/guitar player Holly Jacobs was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder after which the band went on an indefinite hiatus. She now has a new band called Luxx*Lisbon.

Ligament reform to join GVSB bill

2006-07-12T18:59:00.000+02:00

Legendary London outfit Ligament are reforming to play as special guests at this Friday's Girls Against Boys show in London. GVSB perform the seminal Venus Luxure No1 Baby LP as part of the Don't Look Back series on Friday 21st July at Koko.

Ligament released several singles and an album on Robin's The Flower Shop Recordings and their drummer (Tim Cedar) was also part of the first Sophia line-up.

On a side note: I'll be in London this weekend. Dunno yet if I'll be able to make it to the gig, but if you see a tall Belgian guy, say hi.

Dour festival revisited / Blunderpop

2006-07-12T18:53:00.000+02:00

This weekend, the little Belgian village of Dour is host to another edition of the infamous Dour Festival. Dour Festival programs a whole bunch of alternative and up-and-coming bands on 6 stages over a period of 4 days. The God Machine played there in 1993 and Sophia in 1997 and 1999.

First time I went to Dour Festival was in 1993 as I wanted to see the then still very unknown Therapy? and The God Machine. The God Machine gig was absolutely legendary. It was the most intense gig I had ever seen. I also met Robin there for the first time, though I doubt it he still remembers. He wanted to go for a quiet stroll around the festivals grounds but was instantly recognised by me and a friend and of course we wanted him to sign our programme, which he kindly did but then hurried back to the backstage area. So we just decided to bother Jimmy Fernandez a bit. :-) (You can see a scan of that programme HERE).

After that brilliant 1993 gig The God Machine had been booked to play Dour again in 1994, but then Jimmy passed away and the God Machine’s gig was cancelled. The very night The God Machine were supposed to have played the festival, me and that same friend went back to the camping site and put ‘Scenes from the second storey’ on the stereo which we had in the camper. We sat through the whole album headbanging to the music in remembrance of Jimmy, last year’s gig and of what could have been that night. I’m pretty sure we must have looked utterly ridiculous, but I still vividly remember those 78 minutes to this day and cherish them deeply.

Why am I writing all this? Well, I just stumbled onto the Blunderpop site, which collects funny rock n’ roll stories. Anyone who’s seen Spinal Tap knows what I mean. The Blunderpop site features a hilarious story which embodies what Dour festival is all about.
Last year Dour had about 128.000 visitors but in the early nineties Dour was still a small festival with only a few thousands spectators and a very hippie feel to it. It was not too organised to say the least and loads of things went wrong. Harmless stuff like timetables constantly being changed , massive fence-hopping, people publicly shagging all over the place, all toilets being filled to the brim after only one day and no one to empty them, to more serious stuff like big fires on the camping ground, firemen getting shot at, a girl getting raped on the camping… Crazy shit.

Anyway you can read the Dour Blunderpop story here:
http://blunderpop.blogspot.com/2006/06/dour-festival-visitors-in-deep-merde.html

I haven’t been to Dour Festival since 1997 so I don’t know how things are right now, but according to these stories, things haven’t changed that much:.
http://www.dourfestival.be/douristes/viewtopic.php?id=66
Its all in Dutch but I can tell you that most of the stories include excrements (I don’t think you want to be the person who was inside the portable chemical toilet that got pushed over), naked people, public sex, throwing stuff at each other and all sorts of combinations of these (let your imagination work). I’m telling you: there is no other festival like Dour festival. Legendary stuff.

Listen to the VITO album

2006-07-12T17:10:00.000+02:00

Flower Shop band VITO have just released their debut album 'Make good areas disturbed'.
If you want to listen to the full album in an excellent audio stream, then check out the VPRO Luisterpaal. It's some sort of online listening post with a bunch of cool music. They put new albums on it several times a week. (You have to click 'Omlaag' to scroll down to check out older albums.)
It's over here:
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/3voor12/luisterpaal/luisterpaalmain.shtml

Vito tour diary and photos.

2006-07-03T14:47:00.000+02:00

The guys from Vito have posted their tour diary (from the recent Sophia/Vito tour) on the Vito website. You can read the diary here: http://www.vitomusic.co.uk/Blog/index.htm

And the photos are online too: http://www.vitomusic.co.uk/Pics/index6.htm

Boys in Hawaii

2006-05-15T13:15:00.000+02:00

If I'd have to make up a profile of the average Sophia fan it would probably be something like this: a 35 year old swinger from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. ;-)
Mind you, he seems to be a helicopter pilot, so we could use him for transportation during the next Sophia tour.

Tour posters

2006-05-15T12:46:00.000+02:00

Although there's an official tour poster for the current tour, some venues produce their own posters. Star Club in Dresden made one for last month's gig.
I also just stumbled across the poster for the gig Sophia did with The Dirty Three at the Barbican in London for the Don't Look Back concert series.
You can check them out on the Sophia page at Gigposters.com.

Pet Shop Fights

2006-05-13T18:03:00.000+02:00

I just read an interesting interview with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe from the Pet Shop Boys about 'You only tell me you love me when you're drunk'.
A song which was covered by Sophia on the Collections:One cd (which you can still buy HERE).
So I thought I'd share:

Where did you get the song title 'You only tell me you love me when you're drunk'? It sounds like a sentence that would pop up during a fight with your partner.
TENNANT: "That's exactly how it happened. We were shouting the meanest insults at each other and suddenly he said thàt. I still remember that in the middle of that fight I thought "I have to remember that!". Songwriters are very chilly about stuff like that. Under any circumstance a part of their brain keeps looking for usable sentences. They screen every conversation, every book, every newspaper article for possible song titles. Even when they're in extreme, complex emotional circumstances."
LOWE: "So did you pause that fight to take notes?"
TENNANT: "Well... euh yes. That's also how I got 'I don't know what you want but I can't give it anymore'. The problem is that my then partner got even more angry when I wrote that down. He felt abused because I immediately misused his frustration to create a new song. I can't say it's very favourable for your relationship."

But your willing to take that risk?
TENNANT: "Yes. When inspiration hits, it hits without consideration, no matter what the consequences."

European arrest warrant

2006-05-08T10:12:00.000+02:00

This is what happens when Sophia and Vito are in Vienna and a fan invites them over for dinner at her home.

She gets brutally murdered, after which Robin poses on her blood splattered sofa.
Or am I reading this photograph all wrong?

More photos HERE.

Sophia in New York...NOT!

2006-05-04T15:46:00.000+02:00

A quote from a message that was posted last month on the Swervedriver forum:

"Some woman called Sophia (of lights) was playing at the Cake Shop tonight in New York. I called to make absolutely sure that it wasn't Sophia/Robin Proper-Sheppard and the guy said that I wasn't the first person calling to ask. He said he is going to try and get them to come over... I am too old to really believe that, but I guess you never know... fingers crossed."

Vienna gig

2006-04-28T20:35:00.000+02:00

Robin took a different approach to the first Vienna gig this week. The audience was asked to pick the songs for the set list. This led to conversations like this one:
"Play some God Machine songs!"
"God Machine? Man, you're 14 years behind."
"Sorry, I was too young back then!"
"Ah well, I'm too old now!"

Mind, I've got a whole collection of this kinda on-stage banter by Robin.
I still have to decide what to do with those quotes, but I guarantee you that it's gonna be funny.

On the road again

2006-04-20T18:17:00.000+02:00

Total tour trivia bonanza:
What should have been a day off after the Italian leg of the tour turned into a bit of a nightmare. On their way to Paris, Sophia & Vito were stopped by the French police because their van was overloaded. They had to pay a hefty fine (apparently more than 700 euro) and they had to find a new and bigger van. And quickly at that! Thank God, Robin speaks French fluently after all his years in Brussels. ;-)

Tour merchandise

2006-04-18T13:12:00.000+02:00

Before you spend your money on overpriced stuff on eBay, here's what you can buy at the current Sophia gigs:
* all the Sophia full CD's (incl. Collections:one)
* Sophia - Are You Happy now 7" vinyl
* Sophia - Desert Song no. 2 10" vinyl
* The May Queens - The May Queens CD (!!)
* Sophia t-shirts
* Vito - Make good areas disturbed CD

Audience contributions

2006-04-11T10:29:00.000+02:00

As usual we will be following the upcoming European tour in our tour section. So please send in your gig review and photo's, links to online reviews or photo's, newspaper scans, set lists, ticket or poster scans, etcetera.
Send all your stuff to wouterberteloot[at]gmail[dot]com

Vito MP3 round-up

2006-03-30T16:37:00.000+02:00

As most of you won't have the chance to hear the Vito album before you see them at the upcoming tour, I thought I'd make a round-up of all the tracks you can find on the internet.

Arrested by these Phenomena
Can be downloaded from the site of producer Charlie Francis.
http://www.charlie-francis.co.uk/Downloads/index.htm

Welcome The Lightning
Rejoice
Can be downloaded from the Vito site.
http://www.vitomusic.co.uk/Music/index.htm

Ultimate Shame
My Tornado Is Resting
These tracks are streamed on Vito's My Space page.
http://www.myspace.com/vitotheband

San Fernando
Streamed as track no. 11 in the Radio.Blog. (Click Pop-up to get the player in a seperate frame and close this blog, so you no longer hear 'Razorblades' from the flash animation below).

Arenberg gig

2006-03-22T17:45:00.000+01:00

I just got the latest programme from the Arenbergschouwburg (Antwerp, Belgium) in my letter box. They saved the back page of the booklet for a quote from Robin.
Sophia and Vito will be playing there on 9.05.2006. There are still tickets available. Update: Show is sold out.

Sophia @ MySpace

2006-03-14T08:22:00.000+01:00

Well, it had to happen someday: Sophia joined MySpace. Check the page here: www.myspace.com/thesophiacollective

And while you’re at it, maybe check out these other Flower Shop Recordings bands too: Vito: www.myspace.com/vitotheband
La Merika: www.myspace.com/lamerika
Gamine: www.myspace.com/gamineuk

Sophia's 'Razorblades' flashed by MaRz

2006-02-16T15:53:00.000+01:00

Vito @ MySpace

2006-02-07T10:22:00.000+01:00

Vito have started a MySpace site right here: www.myspace.com/vitotheband
There's a new track on there called "Rejoice" and the announcement of the release of their debut album 'Make Good Areas Disturbed' on the Flower Shop Recordings this spring.
As mentioned on the main site, Vito will be touring with Sophia in April. The shows will open with a support set from Vito. Following that, the Sophia set will be split into a solo acoustic set and a shorter electric set with Vito as the back-up band.
I've read the Vito bio on their MySpace and I just hope they'll be able to spell the name of their label boss right before the start of the tour. ;-)

Tour

2006-01-26T11:32:00.000+01:00

Robin is currently working on the acoustic tour. As soon as this is finished we will put all the exact dates and venues on the site. Just sit tight and keep an eye on the site.

Verena Knemeyer (Sophia photographer extraordinaire) is organizing a photography and film exhibition in Hamburg and kindly asked me to mention it here. So here we go: they have a movie night 26th of january, a reading the 2nd of february and an acoustic music night with lots of sad music on 17th of february. The photo exhibition runs from the 19th of january till the 18th of february.
All the info you need at www.bilderbazar.de

Best of 2005

2005-12-24T14:19:00.000+01:00

It's that time of the year again. In alphabetical order, these are - in my humble opinion - the best 10 records of 2005. I've put a song from each album in the radio blog.

Arcade Fire - Funeral
'Wake up': even now, when Win Butler screams "I guess we'll just have to adjust" it's still a real hairs on the back of the neck moment. Song of the year?

dEUS - Pocket revolution
Belgium's best export product is back! And it's as brilliant as ever.

Idlewild - Warnings/Promises
As strong as all their other albums. Failed to catch on outside the UK & US. They didn't even tour Europe on the back of this album.

Millionaire - Paradisiac
More Belgian stuff. Produced by Josh Homme. Ex-dEUS and ex-Evil Superstars member Tim Vanhamel releases a bunch of metal weirdness. Are you experienced enough?

Ladytron - Witching hour
This music feels like a warm winterstorm. Children of the electroclash scene.
Their best album so far.

LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem
Discoverd by the boys from Soulwax. The Fall meets dance music meets cowbells.

My Morning Jacket - Z
Americana. Their masterwork. An absolute must have.

Nine Inch Nails - With teeth
Not as blistering as 'Broken' and 'The downward spiral' but still yummy stuff. If you have a chance to see them live, don't hesitate.

Queens Of The Stone Age - Lullabies to paralyze
No comment needed.

White Circle Crime Club - Written in black
Hardcore meets Sonic Youth meets krautrock. Their first release sounded a bit too much like At The Drive-In, but this album is a big step forward.

Runners up: Absynthe Minded - New Day, Admiral Freebee - Songs, Anthony & The Johnsons - I am a bird now, Daan - Cinema, Hopewell - The birds of appetite, M83 - Before the dawn heals us, Morrissey - Live at Earls Court, Stephen Malkmus - Face the truth.

Sharko 2

2005-12-09T14:28:00.000+01:00

Now that we're on the subject of Sharko and late night pub crawls, here's some excerpts from the Sharko diary. They played a gig in London in July 2004 and met up with some guy called Robin. hmmm

Ed and Robin
Robin Propper Sheppard is the nicest guy I met for a long time. He played in this great band called "God Machine", leads now the amazing "Sophia", runs the label "FlowerShop". We met him in the street in London on last Thursday...
-"What are you boys doing here?"
-"We're playing at 12BarClub, Denmark Street"
-"Ok,I'll be there"
François, our Tourmandaddymotherchief, couldn't believe it, he's a huge fan of Sophia.
Robin just came to the show in this tiny Pub, offered us a lot of beers (London is soooo expensive!), brought Teuk and I to the "hypest" private pub of London, introduced us to his friend Ed Harcourt, who was quite drunk. We stayed at this Pub till they kick us out...London, 3 in the morning, everything's closed, except this weird Latin Bar. The tall guard won't let us in, even if Robin is very polite and persuasive with this short brained Muscle guy:
The guard:"Go away motherfuckers, it's a private party.
Robin:"Ok,thank you.Goodnight Sir"
Ed, to the Muscle Guard:"Fuck off you fuckin' bastard! Do you fucking know who I fucking am!I FUCKING HATE YOUR NOTHINGNESS!"
Teuk and I:"RUN!!!!!"
Julien (Drums)

London, 12 Bar Club, Tom, Robin and Ed. (17/07/04)
Denmark Street, 5pm. Salivating in front of all these expensive vintage guitars. Quick soundcheck, the place is so small, so no need to amplify the guitar and bass. Quick meal, noodle take-away. Tom and Mike arrived, two members of Black Nielson. Robin came with the guitarplayer of his band Sophia. 9.30 Sharko on stage. Short set. No Carwas, sorry Tom. We shake hands with the audience. Julien is asked to play drums with Kathy Carr. She plays keyboard and sings about Dick Turpin. Sounds great. Last whisky-coke. Robin knows a bar in the neighbourhood but...you have to be a member and Robin forgot his card. We try anyway. First 'No Way', Robin blablablaBelgiumblabla, still 'No Way', blablaGoodfriendsblabla...'Ok, just for this time'. 'Hey, Julien, do you still have some money?' Robin knows some people here. 'It's Ed' says Julien. 'Who?' 'Ed! Ed Hartcourt!' Man, this Ed, he speaks loud! Last drinks, where to go now...it's raining...another club...no way to get in...fuck you...yeah, fuck you to. 'Hey look, a casino...'. 'Ok, Jul, let's take a cab...15pounds...noway!...10pounds?...Noway!...Ok, 10pounds! Hotel Shakespeare, 4.30. Room 431.
David (Vocals, bass, guitar)

Robin's Sharko remix

2005-12-08T23:03:00.000+01:00

In May 2005 Robin Proper-Sheppard and Kenny Jones went into the studio with SHARKO to rerecord/remix 'Excellent', which is a track from their latest album called 'III'. Sharko is a Belgian band who are sometimes described as a cross between Guided By Voices and The Who.

An MP3 of the track has been exclusively released by Sharko fan site www.kaynoovel.be. You can go to that site to download it or use this direct link (click right to save).

PS For those of you who ignore the Comments on this blog. DO check the comment on this post!

The Zincs on tour (Jan. '06)

2005-11-22T14:41:00.000+01:00

The Zincs, aka James Elkington who's a former member of Sophia, will be doing a European tour in support of Freakwater. The Zincs recently released a new album on Thrill Jockey called Dimmer. The tour will take them to the UK, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria, Serbia and Switzerland. Kazachstan seems to have been overlooked again.
Anyway, check out all the tour dates right here.

Alexperimental

2005-11-02T10:00:00.000+01:00

Some French guy, who writes music under the Alexperimental alias, wrote a new track in which he samples the drum part of Sophia's 'If Only' (a track from The Infinite Circle). He wrote a blog entry about the track right here.
If you want to listen to the track itself, you can check out his radioblog here. It's not bad at all, I must say.

Adam Franklin interview

2005-10-21T13:22:00.000+02:00

On September 12th Adam Franklin (Swervedriver, Sophia) did an interview and performed a small acoustic set for KEXP in Seattle. You can find MP3's of it here.
In the second part of the interview he talks about his very first solo show in 1998. That was the gig at the Vega in Copenhagen where Sune Wagner (Raveonettes, ex-Psyched Up Janet) and Sophia's Robin Proper-Sheppard also played an acoustic set. Apparently they tossed a coin to decide who had to play first.

Interview part 1
99th Dream
The streets that spin off
Interview part 2
Sundown
Song of Solomon
Interview part 3

Keeping it Peel (updated)

2005-10-19T20:09:00.000+02:00

The BBC have set up an extensive site documenting the work of John Peel and all the sessions he recorded. You can check out The God Machine page here. The page also documents the Peel session that TGM recorded on 21/04/1992. They played 4 songs: Commitment, Desert Song, Double Dare and Pictures Of A Bleeding Boy.
You might remember that these renditions of Double Dare and Commitent ended up on different versions of the Home single.

Funnily enough all this info trashes most of the previously available info about the TGM Peel Session. It is usually listed as recorded on 29/05/1992 (which is actually the date on which the session was first broadcast) and has the following track list: I've seen the man, Prostitute, It's all over. There is a radio session floating around with these 3 tracks, but they must be from a different BBC session. I'll give a pint to the person who can name that session. Being from Belgium, that will ofcourse be a pint of Stella.

UPDATE: The pint goes to Jean-Paul who kindly let us know that the session must be a BBC1 Evening Session.

Sophia @ the Barbican

2005-10-16T22:26:00.000+02:00

So far I've received/found 2 reviews of the Sophia gig at the Barbican in London. The first was in Spanish, the second in Italian. It's a strange world indeed, mister.

Radio Blog: fan edition

2005-10-03T20:30:00.000+02:00

A bit later than expected (had to fix the forum first, it had gone totally berserk) but here it is: the Radio Blog Fan Edition. I haven't had the change to listen to the tracks myself, so I'm as curious as you are. I did notice that there's a lot of solo stuff. Is this because of the Sophia influence or is it just a sign of the times? You tell me...

Name:
SONOGRAPH
Tracks:
1. In the 50’s
2. On the road
URL:
www.myspace.com/sonograph
Tag line:
A guitar, a computer, a bleeding boy from CH, directionless...

Name:
ADDENDUM
Tracks:
3. Your mission impossible
4. Possessed
URL:
uk.geocities.com/addendum_music/
Tag line:
Melodic melancholy Northern Ireland band whose intelligent oxymoronic lyrics utter the ineffable!

Name:
CHEMICAL WIRE
Tracks:
5. The doubtful guest
6. Good omens
Tag line:
Solo project from Cardiff, influenced by Sophia (of course), God Machine, Swervedriver, Godspeed, Low, Aphex Twin,…

Name:
CODELESS
Tracks:
7. Let me be
8. Behind a window
URL:
www.codeless.net
Tag line:
northern indie rock from Hamburg, Germany

Name:
BRISTOL SONGS
Tracks:
9. Pale Man
10. They say
URL:
www.bristolsongs.com
Tag line:
bristol songs play Nordic melancholy music.
bristol songs are located in Sarpsborg, Norway.

Name:
DARREN BEGGS
Tracks:
11. You seemed to care
12. She's got history
URL:
www.darrenbeggs.net
Tag line:
a Northern Irish singer-songwriter whose music has a melodic haunting edge. Visit his website to hear more.

All booked up

2005-09-28T15:21:00.000+02:00

The next edition of Hooked Up is a special one as the youngest foals from the Flower Shop stable - La Merika and Vito - will be both be playing live.
So if you're in London, get your chubby ass over there.

Thursday 6th October.
Push Bar, 93 Dean St. London
Tube: Tottenham Crt Rd
Doors open at 8:30pm
Doors closed by Robin (if things go as usual). ;-)

Aereogramme interview MP3

2005-09-20T08:58:00.000+02:00

Just bumped into an MP3 of an Aereogramme interview from their 'Seclusion' promo tour. I think I've plugged the brilliant mini-album 'Seclusion' before.
Aereogramme are the rightful heirs to the God Machine throne, in as much that they're not clones but do their own thing. A lazy journalist could describe their sound as a mix between Mogwai and The God Machine. I'm even more lazy than a lazy journalist so I won't even try to describe it. (just check out this mp3 from their site)
Anyway I'm posting this interview as the God Machine is mentioned several times in it. BTW, Aereogramme are currently recording their third full-length album.

UPDATE: Blimey! I forgot to post the actual link to the interview. Without it this is a pretty pointless blog entry! So here we go: http://www.toazted.com/artistinfo.php?artist=525

Oh and don't forget to send me your MP3's for the Radio Blog fan edition!!

Best guitar lick: I've seen the man

2005-09-14T13:20:00.000+02:00

This article comes from the March 2005 edition of the Guitar Techniques magazine.

FOCUS ON YOU "My Favorite Things"
Andi Allan of MonkeyFX reckons these are the best guitar things ever...

GUITARIST - Christian Hayes (Cardiacs, Levitation, Dark Star)
ALBUM - My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
TRACK - Senseless Things - Too Much Kissing - best pop song ever!
SOLO - Stone Roses - 12 Storey Love Song (John Squire)
LICK - Robin Proper-Sheppard - I've Seen The Man, Scenes From The Second Storey
GUITAR - Ibanez Talman
AMP - Cornell Romany Plus
EFFECT - MonkeyFX - CheekyMonkey
GIG - My Bloody Valentine - Rollercoaster Tour, Brixton Academy (ears still ringing)
ROCK MOMENT - Lights go up for Curve, Brixton Academy (again), Cuckoo tour; Monty hits the bass drum and three people fall over from the impact. Magic!

Radio Blog: fan edition no. 1

2005-09-12T14:51:00.000+02:00

The Radio Blog needs some serious updating. I'd like the next Radio Blog to be one with contributions from Sophia fans. So if you're in a band and you want one of your songs in the next Radio Blog send me an e-mail with:
- one or two mp3's
- band name and song title(s)
- website URL (if you have one, that is)
- a tagline to introduce your band ("Death metal marching band from Swindon, UK. Available for all your weddings and bar mitzvahs")

Send it all to: wouterberteloot [at] gmail [dot] com before the end of the month.

Pukkelpop trivia

2005-08-21T17:03:00.000+02:00

Robin was the last artist to be interviewed in the live Pukkelpop broadcast by Studio Brussel. Strangely enough Robin hung around in their studio when they wheeled in the champagne right after his interview. How odd! ;-)

During the Pukkelpop sound check Robin treated us with a part of a new song he wrote. I only managed to decipher parts of the lyrics but it sounded as great as ever. It lyrics seemed to have a sort of religious them: “I’m glad that you found Jesus” and “God knows…” but I’m pretty sure that as usual there’s gonna be a twist somewhere.
Talking about new songs and the new album: the last hurdle seems to be getting the whole band in the studio at the same time. Once that is accomplished recording can begin.

Robin was recently dubbed “Mr White” by Jonathon Donahue of Mercury Rev fame. Anyone who’s seen the photos from this summer’s gigs, knows why.

Funnily enough when I was typing the Pukkelpop review the song “Fly, Robin, fly” (by Silver Convention) came on the radio! I kid you not.
“Fly, robin fly
Fly, robin fly
Fly, robin fly
Up, up to the sky”

My review and many more will be added to the tour section in the next few days…

Frequenze Disturbate

2005-08-10T13:52:00.000+02:00

Last weekend Sophia played a gig in the beautiful settings of Urbino, Italy. Judging from the reviews I managed to track down, they played in a sort of acoustic setting with just Robin and his guitar, the string section and a double bass. Robin played acoustic versions of 'Bastards' and 'Oh my love' (which was dedicated to Adele Bethel of Sons And Daughters) without any amplification during a power blackout. This was the first time that 'oh my love' was played with just a guitar.
I had hoped for a rendition of 'You only tell me you love me when you're drunk' with Adele, but alas. Maybe at Pukkelpop!

Talking of Pukkelpop, I wonder if someone is currently packing her flaming red wig and maracas...

Anyway there are already some great pics of the Urbino gig in the tour section and I should get some more soon.
BTW, the internet can be a funny thing sometimes. I just came across a 'review' of a 3AM party in an Urbino bar with Robin Proper-Sheppard and the guys Echo and the Bunnymen. Alas no pictures. ;-)

Hooked up #4

2005-08-03T08:55:00.000+02:00

it's that time of month again:
'Hooked Up #4' (La Merika's club night)
This Thursday night, 4th August 2005
93 Dean Street
(Just off Oxford St, opposite Tesco)
Soho, London
8:30pm - 1am

DJ's from La Merika, Robin Proper-Sheppard (The God Machine/Sophia) and other special guest DJ's will be playing records from the Stooges/Brian Jonestown Massacre/The Duke Spirit/Jesus and Marychain/BRMC/Dylan/Smashing Pumpkins/Joy Division/Echo and the Bunnymen/swervedriver depending on who's djing at the time!

The new La Merika single 'Go Let the Shadows Die/Hooked Up' will be played in it's entirety for the first time ever! The 7" is scheduled for a Fall release on the Flower Shop Recordings.

Pukkelpop time-table

2005-08-02T11:03:00.000+02:00

Pukkelpop have just released full time-tables for the festival. They're still subject to changes (there's always a number of bands that cancel) but it's a start.
The Marquee line-up has changed a bit: Morcheeba got a different spot and Ghinzu has been added. Sophia is still headlining and get the 22:30-23:45 spot which means they have a 75 minutes set.
There's no big overlaps with other good bands: only a tiny bit of Nick Cave and The Dresden Dolls, so that's ok.
Check a large jpg of the Saturday time-table right HERE.