spoken word

8hands featured interview: George Pringle

alon — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 10:28:41 -0400

Not long ago, we said that Pringle will be bigger than Google. Until it happens, we grabbed her for a chat and discovered a talkative and recluse girl that dreams of being an organ philanthropist and hates Windows. Don’t worry Georgina – we are in the process of making a Mac version of 8hands, and it will be as amazing as you!

You know how we feel about George Pringle – if you don’t, feel free to click here and read all about it. Today, we won’t talk too much and we’ll let Pringle spread her charm around, because as you’ll soon find out, she is very good at that.

Everyone describes you as ‘the next big thing’. Are you becoming an indie star?

“I'm pretty low profile really. People never recognize me. But that may be because I am a bit of a recluse and I don't go and hang out like indie stars do or associate myself with a particular scene. I never have many friends and I just spend a lot of time by myself, I always have done. I guess that people have been covering me recently, which is great, but I don't know if people will ever catch me like a fever. People latch on to stuff and it becomes ‘the next big thing’ when there's a gang mentality, I think. When a band is coming out and sounds fresh, it becomes like a football team or something. You want to be in their gang, you want to be affiliated with them in some way. I've never had a gang to speak of and I suppose that even though my music is very personal and it is something a listener can relate to and feel a part of, it's also quite isolating to listen to. That's why I don't think I will ever be ‘the next big thing’ in the true sense of the expression. I'm always going to be somewhere in the sidelines, spying on everyone”.

It's hard to describe your music. Let’s see you try.

“I think my music is the result of a need to articulate things that aren't articulated in current music. Like, for example, the beginning of ‘SW10’ - that was me trying to acoustically communicate sounds of my childhood, so I was using nostalgic strings but I also used that precarious moog part bleeping over the top because I wanted to make the track feel like a beginning, like an internet connection dialing up and wavering. So, I wanted the track to sound like waking up or, like, the end of something. The beginning or the end. I wanted it to sound primitive and abstract. I want things to sound suggested and un-generic. I think that the worst thing is when you can pigeonhole an artist within a genre. I think that in many ways I am deliberately trying to avoid subscribing to a genre but loosely it's electro or electronica. I think that my key motive is to create atmospheres and make music that is cinematic but direct and with a message, not just background music”.

Others who tried to describe you called used the terms ‘the art school Streets’, or ‘the British Uffie’. Which one fits you better?

“I think they're both pretty fine. I grew up loving Mike Skinner and I think that Uffie is fabulous. I suppose what I'm doing with my lyrics is probably closer to what Mike Skinner does but in terms of the use of my style and opinions, I'm more similar to Uffie. I think the result is a blend which is unique unto itself but can certainly remind you of other artists and Skinner and Uffie are pretty good company to be in to be honest”.

You’ve just released you debut EP, DIY style. How did it go? Would you rather have a label doing all the leg work for you?

“I think labels are good because they are a bank and they give you money but it was really empowering to self-release. I liked making each one individually, I think it suited my music - specifically the nature of my first EP, the songs, the sentiments - and was a kind of statement about Mass production. I think it made the experience for the listener more personal but if I get any more popular, I think I'm going to need more assistance, alas, I may have to sell my soul.”

So when will we get a full album?

“The full album may be out in September but I'm not about to rush myself. It will have some EP tracks on it but I'm still pondering as to how to knit all the tracks I have together in a way that makes sense. I tend to write very varied stuff, so I've made a real challenge for myself there”.

A tiny head with a huge talent. Georgina Pringle.

LCD Soundsystem are mentioned in your RCRDLB bio, and you also did a song called "LCD I love you" - How much did James Murphy influence you?

“A hell of a lot. LCD Soundsystem really inspired me from the use of the vocals to the beats, just everything. James Murphy is "the godfather" and he's paving the way and inspiring people who are much less able at production and songwriting”.

Who else influenced you?

“Blondie, Daft Punk, Air, The Kills, The Human League, M83, Ricardo Villalobos, the Velvet Underground and a whole load of film directors. They're more important to what ‘George Pringle’ is than the musicians, to be frank. I don't like musicians, I like people that directly affect culture with their attitudes and atmospheres. Photographers, writers, film makers and artists. I hoover all of them up, much more than musicians”.

You had other music projects in the past - what were they like? I couldn’t find any of it.

“I used to be in a punk band playing guitar, writing songs and singing. We were around before the whole MySpace phenomenon so that's probably why you can't find any evidence of us, thankfully… I also used to make music on an acoustic guitar and that was just dire. No platform for guitars and broken hearts. We need synthetic melancholia right now. I'm so sick of folky singers… I just find myself sitting there going: We had Dylan, why are they even bothering”?

What's the last really stupid thing that you did?

“I do a lot of really stupid things a lot of the time. I have a big mouth and get in trouble quite a lot with people. I suppose, though, the last really stupid thing I did was fall over and pour beer in my hair at a gig because I was so drunk because I thought it went badly and then this stupid guy was laughing at me, so I shouted at him”.

The relationship you have with GarageBand is known. Are you a true Mac geek as well? Are you a geek at all?

“I'm kind of a fickle geek. I adore Macs and I'm a real snob about Windows. I actually judge people that use Windows. Like, ‘urgh... You use windows?’ - I am anti-PC through and through. I think that I am a geek but I'm bad at problem solving, when my laptop messes up, I get confused. I like the creative side of computing and always have, since I was a child, on Claris Works, drawing pictures on the computer. I think that was the beginning of it all. On the other hand, I like not checking my email or using a computer for weeks if I can help it. I hate my mobile phone and I hate email even more”.

And how do you feel about social networks? Because the way I see it, they helped your carrier quite a lot.

“I hate social networks, but I think they're a necessary evil. Especially with my music, the internet has been the only way for me to get noticed. I suppose I use Facebook more than MySpace now, because all my friends have buggered off and made their ‘cyber home’ there - MySpace is so yesterday, apparently. But, I hate Facebook more than MySpace, it's so ugly and it's not really that nice to use and people put ugly pictures up of you the whole time. I hate that”.

A typical MySpace pic, but not a typical artist. Georgina Pringle.

Do you find music online?

“I've always been a fan of the 8bit which there is a worth of online. I really adore The Rubber Souls who are in my top friends. They are an 8bit act who do computer game, Moog based covers of Beatles songs. It's a very simple, anonymous and original way to make music. They're hilarious. I also like Watching Arthouse Films With My Daughter who is in my top friends, we've done some collaborations but we haven't even met. It's all very synthetic and I like that. We want to start a fanzine thing but I don't know if it'll happen”.

What's the best album you've heard lately?

“I don't know...I quite liked The Kills new record. I liked the new Gui Borrato record but I don't know... I am always disappointed by things”.

So let’s make it easy for you - what is the worst album you've heard lately?

“The Chromatics album was dreadful. It was really so boring”.

Last question, and probably our favorite: What would you do if you had eight hands?

“Do my hair and makeup in about three minutes flat? That would be great. I would save so much time. I would also maybe join a circus and get a lot of money from doing card tricks or something and then I would become a millionaire if we toured enough and then I'd pay for my surplus hands to be surgically removed and then I'd donate the surgically removed hands to people that need prosthetic hands. Now that's Celebrity charity work”!

8hands featured finding: The Brokerdealer

alon — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:37:31 -0400

Craig Finn is a god. Seriously. When I’m in my adoring mood (as I am at this moment) I can honestly say that he is the best writer of the decade. The lyrics that he delivers in the Hold Steady albums & b-sides are phenomenal, and his previous work with Lifter Puller is also nothing to sneeze at.

Add the wisdom and song writing to Finn’s excellent half-speaking-half-singing voice **ignore his extra-boring looks** and think of the energy and charisma that can be found in songs like “Your Little Hoodrat Friend” or “Massive Nights”. Now try to claim that he ain’t all that. Can’t do it, right?

Finn showed us that he can turn dirty bar rock into a pretty fun thing and that he can rap like the best of them (in a P.O.S. single that’s embedded at the bottom). Now, I found an old project of his, the Brokedealer, and realized that he can also be an amazing front man for some pure electronic beats. It makes sense.

Way cooler than his looks. Craig Finn. (photo taken from Enrico Fuente's Flickr stream)

The Brokedealer is a collaboration between Craig Finn and Matt “Mr. Projectile” Arnold. Around 2002 they have released two unnamed EPs, that are hard as hell to find – you can’t buy them anywhere and even the illegal ways of getting music aren’t that helpful.

I have managed to find the first EP via a members-only bittorrent site, and a link to a weird site with two other songs was sent to me by Lead_Ninja – a last.fm member that I nagged into telling me where he got them from (thank you Lead_Ninja and thank you last.fm!).

The Brokedealer are making simple old electronics – the music is far from blowing the mind, and the spirit is so not up to date that it’s ridicules. But still, Finn is nailing it, once again. He just speaks over the beat - you know… they call it “Spoken Word” and it’s got a very preachy feel to it – but it’s just so right on the money that I can’t understand why he isn’t calling up Hot Chip and demanding a collaboration that will fit his potential.

For now, all we have are these rare songs – feel free to send us the ones that we don’t have, if you are lucky enough to own them.

Download: The Brokerdealer - Sophomore Slump

Download: The Brokerdealer - The Dead Ones Look Like Dolls

8hands knows the future: George Pringle will be bigger than Google!

alon — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:50:00 -0500

It's only been a few weeks since i randomly wandered into George Pringle's RCRD LBL page and downloaded the free mp3s that are offered there - but I can already declare her as the greatest thing I have heard in 2008.

Ok... let me go back a bit, shake my head, come down and start again. Oxford based George Pringle is a 22 years old girly-girl that has been expose to the perfect amount of whatever that the counter culture has to offer. She doesn't have a full album yet, but two days ago she has released her limited 300 copy debut EP, "Poor EP, Poor EP Without A Name", which you can still order from her MySpace page (you know I have already). Of course, you can also scout the net for her demos and singles - most chances are that you will absolutely love them.

They may call her George, but she is definitely one hot indie chick.

Like any lo-fi electronic artist you should respect, all she's got is a laptop, a witty tongue and too much style. She started writing music at the age of 16, loves to name bands and genre drop (Joy Division, Techno, Shoegaze and even a wink to My Bloody Valentine is in her songs) and most importantly, she's a huge LCD Soundsystem fan - The first time that her brother played her the song "Losing My Edge" is written in her bio, and her MySpace features a song called "LCD I love you but you're bringing me down".

Don't get me wrong. Pringle isn't James Murphy yet - her production is usually a very simple and cute electronic beat (although in "We Could Have Been Heroes" she shows that she can be a bit more complex too), but she's great just the way she is: The production is exvactly what her white girl spoken word style calls for.

Sometimes when you hear her, you can think of The Streets - mostly because of the british accent and the day to day topics. Other times, you may jump to Uffie, only without all the filth and the club atmosphere. But you know what? I'm going back to my original statement and to the top paragraph of this post: George Pringle is incredibly special and we shouldn't compare her to anybody. All we have to do is enjoy her music, and that's not a hard thing to do.