On their self-titled debut, Friendly Fires serve up a very slick -- and very appealing -- mix of synth pop and dance-rock with unexpected nods to shoegaze that suggest the hard-edged, nu-rave sound might blur into something more interesting. The band crafts a big, hooky sound that loves melody, rhythms, and choruses equally, especially on "Jump in the Pool," which is just as fun and refreshing as its title suggests (the tropical-sounding drum breaks don't hurt), and "In the Hospital," a sleek track that sounds like the D.F.A. collaborating with Franz Ferdinand on an especially poppy day. For the rest of Friendly Fires, the band switches between these two approaches, and while they do a pretty good job of bringing the punk-funk, particularly on "Lovesick," this is very familiar territory that the band doesn't embellish much -- and "On Board" and "Photobooth" narrowly avoid coming off as parodies of that sound. Friendly Fires are more convincing, and more intriguing, when they give into their lush pop side. "Strobe"'s aptly shimmering guitars, flickering keyboards, and almost ridiculously pretty melody nod to M83 and New Order, and the band saves the best for last with "Ex Lover," which pits steep, tone-bending guitars and sleepy vocals against brisk dance beats, suggesting what Chapterhouse might have sounded like if they were actually influenced by house. As it stands, Friendly Fires seem to be influenced by dream pop and whatever trend is big in dance music -- "Skeleton Boy"'s bleepy keyboards borrow from the 8-bit craze -- but when the results are as fun as this album is at its best, it's hard to slam them too much for being derivative; better just to enjoy Friendly Fires as fleeting fun.
Praise record holder of year 2008; Friendly Fires made it to Istanbul the night before. With an absolutely grower self-titled debut and sort of a fusion dance style specying synth-pop added to noisy shoegazing; the band did shake the newbies department; both chart and fan-wise. Stood out clearly among the rest of line up (The Whip - Gabriella Cilmi (headliner) etc.); it was a pleasure to get to...
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"Raquelita Marie's 1 of many boogie down inspirations of the moment" A french friend of mine turned me onto the UK's Friendly Fires explosive sound this past summer and since then I have been properly hooked! Their front man, Ed Macfarlane's powerful voice and fun lyrics, backed by their melodic guitar riffs and their insane percussion rhythms are enough to make you want to jump on the wall l...
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Is it just me or Aeroplane 's remixes actually keeps getting better with every new release? We should give out a round of applause for Friendly Fire s ' great thinking... I already like the album version of Paris but the band decided to scrape out their vocals & replace them completely with new ones for the re-release & let's thank god in our prayers tonight that they didn't ask Lady GaGa to...
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.Thankfully Friendly Fires haven't been too tarnished by the endless glow stick paradigms associated with the now dreaded nu-rave tag, and their laboriously recorded, self-titled debut only serves to confirm the burgeoning distance from a world of garish neon and questionable colour combinations.Eschewing the acid revivalism of Klaxons, Friendly Fires are the laidback older sibling to their sno...
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Thankfully Friendly Fires haven't been too tarnished by the endless glow stick paradigms associated with the now dreaded nu-rave tag, and their laboriously recorded, self-titled debut only serves to confirm the burgeoning distance from a world of garish~~
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A chance listen to Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show introduced me to Friendly Fires . Having just returned from playing shows in Los Angeles and New York, this Hertforshire based triplet are soon to embark on an extensive UK tour, furnishing venues with their danceable indie/electro/shoegaze sound. I kind of want to say Friendly Fires are Britain's answer to Van She , just without the album delays. T...
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Thankfully Friendly Fires haven't been too tarnished by the endless glow stick paradigms associated with the now dreaded nu-rave tag, and their laboriously recorded, self-titled debut only serves to confirm the burgeoning distance from a world of garish~~
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I feel pretty fortunate to have three outstanding boys as my offspring. To borrow a phrase from a classmate, if I was not their father I'd still want to know them. In their different ways, they're just outstanding people.Jordan has always held a specal place in my heart, though. I'm not sure if it's an unconscious decision to take special care of him so he doesn't become the classic "middle chi...
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After seeing Friendly Fires on several of my trusteds year end lists but especially on Poebegone's post(http://mog.com/poebegone/blog/279616), I finally checked them out further. I listened to their self titled debut album just now and damn, damn, damn it's JUMPIN' good! You can't help but move to this. Check out red button song 'On Board' above and the video below.'Paris':I had a hard time dec...
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.Thankfully Friendly Fires haven't been too tarnished by the endless glow stick paradigms associated with the now dreaded nu-rave tag, and their laboriously recorded, self-titled debut only serves to confirm the burgeoning distance from a world of garish neon and questionable colour combinations.Eschewing the acid revivalism of Klaxons, Friendly Fires are the laidback older sibling to their sno...
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Friendly Fires - "Kiss of Life" Friendly Fires can do no wrong. Major song, major video. But woah watch out for the moose knuckle, ohmigod…
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Friendly Fires 'Jump in the Pool' has been remixed by Stuart Price under his Think White Duke moniker. The opener from their self-titled debut is extended and the vocals are pushed back to bring out more of the instruments and added sounds. You can download the remix...Click the link to read more
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WOWOWOW. ok now, i've been delaying this for too long. I have to write something about at least one of these wonderful bands that just seem to be springing out of no where! It's incredibly difficult to keep up with the scene but I was never one to back down from a challenge. Got wind of these bad ass mother fuckers via www.electroqueer.com. Not only will this single, Skeleton Boy, be one of the...
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When Friendly Fires‘ self titled album came out I pretty much listened to it around the clock. So when a solid remix comes along and inspires me to spin that album again, I could not be happier. This solid remix is courtesy of the UK’s Grum and it’s a re-work of “Skeleton Boy”. Play. Dance. [...]
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Praise record holder of year 2008; Friendly Fires made it to Istanbul the night before. With an absolutely grower self-titled debut and sort of a fusion dance style specying synth-pop added to noisy shoegazing; the band did shake the newbies department; both chart and fan-wise. Stood out clearly among the rest of line up (The Whip - Gabriella Cilmi (headliner) etc.); it was a pleasure to get to...
More >
Many people’s festival highlight of the summer, Friendly Fires release a special double CD version of their self-titled debut album at the end of the month. It comes complete with three new tracks, one of which is the single ‘Kiss Of Life’. Here’s the video…RelatedState Mix#9 – Talulah Does The HulaBenicassim – Day FourOxegen Sunday [...]
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"Raquelita Marie's 1 of many boogie down inspirations of the moment" A french friend of mine turned me onto the UK's Friendly Fires explosive sound this past summer and since then I have been properly hooked! Their front man, Ed Macfarlane's powerful voice and fun lyrics, backed by their melodic guitar riffs and their insane percussion rhythms are enough to make you want to jump on the wall l...
More >
Friendly Fires - Skeleton Boyafter the Ben Kweller twang I figured we could use some uk dance from Friendly Fires. I really like this video for its simplicity. Black and white with skeleton gettups and fake snow. I was flipping through the 5,000 channels on tv that I never watch and found a MTV channel called MTVU, which I'm guessing is spinning college radio-esque tunes.
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A chance listen to Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show introduced me to Friendly Fires . Having just returned from playing shows in Los Angeles and New York, this Hertforshire based triplet are soon to embark on an extensive UK tour, furnishing venues with their danceable indie/electro/shoegaze sound. I kind of want to say Friendly Fires are Britain's answer to Van She , just without the album delays. T...
More >
Did you see this? Friendly Fires have started planning the follow-up to the group’s 2008 debut, which, according to the band, will be a Peruvian, “Festejo”-inspired record. From the lead singer Ed MacFarlane “It’s that samba, calypso vibe that’s been pushed further. It’s a progression from [single] ‘Jump in the Pool.’ It’s really Brazilian. There’s [...]
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This song really made my day, I'm quite happy now. Skeleton Boy by Friendly Fires isn't really a new track, it's from their self-titled debut album that came out September 1st, 2008. But the video is quite new and I loved it. What a simple idea. Although these days CG is so close to real life visuals that I confuse the two a lot, so I can't really figure out if the white pellets are real or
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Jump In The Pool |
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| 2 In The Hospital |
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| 3 Paris |
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| 4 White Diamonds |
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| 5 Strobe |
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| 6 On Board |
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| 7 Lovesick |
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| 8 Skeleton Boy |
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| 9 Photobooth |
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| 10 Ex Lover |
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| 11 Kiss Of Life |
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| 12 Bored Of Each Other |
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| 13 Relationships |
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| 14 Skeleton Boy (7-inch Single) |
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| 15 Paris (Aeroplane Remix) |
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| 16 Jump In The Pool (Thin White Duke Remix) |
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| 17 White Diamonds (Ray Mang Remix) |
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| 18 Skeleton Boy (Air France Remix) |
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Click to purchase…
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 "Friendly Fires")
