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Art Brut

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For the French art term "art brut", see outsider art.
Art Brut

Art Brut are an English and German indie rock band. Their debut album, Bang Bang Rock & Roll, was released on 30 May 2005, with its follow up, It's a Bit Complicated, released on 25 June 2007. Named after French painter Jean Dubuffet's definition of outsider art -- art by prisoners, loners, the mentally ill, and other marginalized people, and made without thought to imitation or presentation—South London's Art Brut were tagged by NME as part of the "Art Wave" scene that also includes bands such as Athlete, Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party.

Biography

The band was formed in 2003 and played its first gig in May of that year. The band recorded Brutlegs later in 2003 containing the first versions of "Formed a Band", "Modern Art" and "Moving to LA" and made it available. Angular Recording Corporation put out a compilation featuring "Formed a Band". A journalist heard the song and sent an MP3 to Rough Trade and the label offered Art Brut a deal to release it as a single. Frank Black of The Pixies stated he was a fan soon after hearing them.

"Formed a Band" was released in the UK as a single in May 2004 reaching #52 on the charts. It also appeared on the soundtrack to FIFA Street 2 - a game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Gamecube and Playstation Portable. Blender described them as the best unsigned band in the UK. During the rest of 2004, they played gigs throughout the UK with The Fades including a first anniversary gig at the Tate Britain.

Another bootleg EP Brutlegs 04 was recorded featuring "Good Weekend", "Bang Bang Rock & Roll", and an acoustic version of "Moving to LA". A double A-side was released in December 2004 on Fierce Panda reaching #49 on the charts. The album Bang Bang Rock & Roll was released in May 2005 with "Emily Kane" as the first single. The latter missed the UK Top 40 by two sales, yet remains the highest-charting single on Fierce Panda. Bang Bang Rock & Roll was produced by John Fortis, who has also worked with artists such as Razorlight, Maxim Reality, The Pipettes, Neneh Cherry and Assembly Now.

Art Brut have a quite widespread following of "franchises", whose names range from AB0 (the original Art Brut) to AB3.14/Pi, AB² or even to AB17. The band We Are Scientists are also an Art Brut franchise, AB47. These franchises often record and play Art Brut songs during performances.

Chris Chinchilla amicably left the band for personal reasons in September 2005 forming new band Macaca Mulatta. He was replaced by Jeff aka Jasper Future, guitarist from Eddie Argos' old band, The Art Goblins. The band appeared on the cover of the German edition of Rolling Stone magazine in September 2005.

Art Brut performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on April 30, 2006, at Pitchfork Music Festival in June 2006, and at the Festival Internacional de Benicàssim and the Dour Festival in Belgium, in July 2006 and are due to headline the Two Thousand Trees Festival in July 2008. Art Brut also released a split 7" with We Are Scientists, which was only released in America. We Are Scientists returned the idea and covered Art Brut's song 'Bang Bang Rock & Roll' on the single. Their version of "Bang Bang Rock & Roll" is also available on their b-sides album Crap Attack.

The band released their second album, It's a Bit Complicated, on Mute Records produced by Dan Swift , who has also worked with artists such as Help She Can't Swim, Victorian English Gentlemens Club, Kasabian and Snow Patrol. The first single to be taken from the album, "Nag Nag Nag Nag", was released on 20 November 2006, featuring the b-side "I Found This Song in the Road" and 5 live tracks from the Eurockéennes de Belfort Festival 2006. The song made Single of the Week in The Guardian's "The Guide" section. In 2007 they played on the American NME Rock and Roll Riot tour with The Hold Steady. In the United States, the album reached #14 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and #32 on the Independent Albums chart.[1]

The second single "Direct Hit" was released a week before the album featuring the B-sides "Don't Blame it on the Trains" and " I Want to be Double A-Sided"

In February 2008 EMI released the "Pump up the volume" third single from "It's a bit complicated" apparently without the band even knowing. There was no physical release of the single and only a video that was released after the single had been and gone. On 1 March 2008 Argos revealed on his blog that Art Brut have amicably left EMI. In August 2008 Eddie Argos announced on his blog that the band have been recording songs for the third album. Art Brut are also lined up to play various festivals over the summer.

In late 2008 Art Brut returned to the studio to record their third LP Art Brut vs. Satan which was released on April 20 2009. The album was produced by Frank Black formerly of the Pixies. Art Brut vs. Satan was released to mainly good reviews scoring 75 on Metacritic. There were two singles released from the album "Alcoholics Unanimous" and "DC Comics & Chocolate Milkshake" The band toured throughout the year and played Glastonbury festival amongst others.

In 2010 Eddie Argos released his album for his first side project under the name of "Everybody Was In the French Reistance.. Now" The album called "Fixin' the Charts" was a collection of songs in responses to classic pop songs including responses to Michael Jackson, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas and Kanye West. The band also features Eddie's girlfriend Dylan Valdes who is a member of The Blood Arm on vocals and keyboards.

Art Brut are due to go back into the studio in late 2010 to record their fourth album.

Members

Discography

Albums

Singles

  • "Formed a Band" (March 2004) #52
  • "Modern Art/My Little Brother" (December 2004) #49
  • "Emily Kane" (May 2005) #41
  • "Good Weekend" (September 2005) #56
  • "Nag Nag Nag Nag" (November 2006) (Released as a seven track CD single featuring five live tracks)
  • "Direct Hit" (June 2007)
  • "Pump Up The Volume" (February 2008) (Download only single)
  • "Alcoholics Unanimous" (6 April 2009)
  • "DC Comics & Chocolate Milkshake" (24 August 2009) (Download only single)

References

  1. ^ Billboard, Allmusic
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