Last February or thereabouts, I assembled a folder that contained Mp3's sent to me by bands hoping for some coverage on TVD. My plan was to do a theme week to coincide with the SXSW music festival held in Austin, Texas each year and this folder would ONLY contain acts I felt had great things ahead of them. From the literally hundreds of notes received, my folder contained--FIVE bands. That's it--five. (Which I actually think IS pretty decent, all things considered...) London's The Joy Formidable was one of those five acts. 'Austere' got me right away. Punky, hooky, well-played, and teeming with an energy and a sound that I hadn't realized I'd been missing 'til then. And thus, TJF joined the SXSW TVD theme week.
A week or two later I was over at my favorite watering hole, The Fox and Hounds and Chris the bartender who's a bit of a vinyl fan himself I come to find out, says "Hey Jon, that band in your SXSW line-up, The Joy Formidable, they used to be in here all the time talking about starting a band..." Apparently, good taste knows no bounds AND frequents the same venue for a pint (or six).
Later on I emailed Ritzy from TJF about our shared venue of choice in DC and soon we were sharing stories about the place and catching up on the goings-on of some of the regulars. As if it even needs to be said, music does indeed bring people together--and a cocktail among them doesn't hurt, right?
So, with the release of their new single, 'Cradle' (on VINYL, I might add) I thought it was a good time to check in with the band. Take 'er away Ms. R:
"Greetings from The Joy Formidable! Our next single 'Cradle' is released on January 12th through Try Harder Records. We're delighted to unveil that it's on double 7" with new track 'The Last Drop' and remixes by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Kyte. It's available now to pre-order from our myspace page and if you do, you'll get a CD of the tracks, a signed 7" vinyl AND signed artwork. You'll also be entered into a competition to win one of 5 copies of our exclusively Japanese album 'A Balloon Called Moaning'".
Love to all at the F&H! XXX
The Joy Formidable - Austere (Mp3)
The Joy Formidable - The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade (Mp3)
