Stainless Style

Infobox Album
Name = Stainless Style
Type = studio
Artist = Neon Neon


Released = March 18, 2008
Recorded =
Genre = Pop, Electronica, Hip hop
Length = 42:58
Label = Lex Records
Producer =
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:39ftxzrjldje link]
*Drowned in Sound (7/10) [http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/3058081 link]
*The Guardian Rating|4|5 [http://music.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,,2264950,00.html link]
*Hot Press (9/10) [http://www.hotpress.com/music/reviews/albums/4515161.html link]
*musicOMH.com Rating|4|5 [http://www.musicomh.com/albums/neon-neon_0308.htm link]
*The Observer Rating|4|5 [http://music.guardian.co.uk/pop/reviews/story/0,,2256533,00.html link]
*Pitchfork Media (7.7/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/49197-stainless-style link]
*Uncut Rating|4|5 [http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/gruff_rhys/reviews/11126 link]
Last album =
This album = "Stainless Style"
(2008)
Next album =

"Stainless Style" is the debut album from Neon Neon—a project from Super Furry Animals front man Gruff Rhys and electronic artist Boom Bip—which was released on March 18, 2008 via Lex Records. The album was streamed in its entirety on the band's Myspace page for one week before its physical release. [ cite web | url= http://www.nme.com/news/neon-neon/35128 | title= Neon Neon to stream entire album online | publisher= NME]

"Stainless Style" is a loose concept album based on the tumultuous life of De Lorean Motor Company founder John De Lorean, [ cite web| url=http://www.spin.com/features/news/2007/01/070105_neonneon/| title= Super Furry Animals Frontman, Boom Bip Join Forces| accessdate= 2007-10-26| Publisher= spin.com| ] and features a number of high-profile guest appearances from Fab Moretti of The Strokes, Har Mar Superstar, Yo Majesty, Spank Rock, Cate Le Bon, Fatlip and The Magic Numbers. The album was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Music Prize [ cite web | url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jul/22/mercury.music.prize.2008.nominations | title= Mercury Music Prize 2008 nominations announced| publisher= The Guardian] .

Background

According to Rhys, he and Boom Bip (real name Bryan Hollon) had been working together on various projects before they finally came up with Neon Neon. In interview with Sam Richards Rhys stated:

We've been touring and recording together occasionally for around six years. Early in 2006 Boom Bip contacted me about coming to LA to make a bonkers disco record. I was on the next flight. [ cite web | url= http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/gruff_rhys/reviews/11126 | last= Richards | first= Sam | title= UNCUT Q&A: Gruff Rhys | publisher= Uncut Magazine]

Rhys and Boom Bip had also previously collaborated on "Do's & Don'ts" from the latter's 2005 album "Blue Eyed In The Red Room".

Production

Recording for the album began in London in August 2006, and it was gradually mixed and finished over the course of the following year in London and Los Angeles. cite web | url= http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/44804-interview-super-furry-animals | last= Hogan | first= Marc | title= Interview: Super Furry Animals | publisher= Pitchfork Media] According to the band, the primary goal was to make something entirely different from their previous work. "It had to be something completely outside of ourselves," said Hollon. cite web | url= http://remixmag.com/artists/electronic/remix_neon_neon/ | last= Herman | first= Max | title= Hot Wheels: L.A. Beat Whiz and Welsh Rocker Revisit the '80S, Inspired by an American Auto Icom | publisher= remixmag.com ] Rhys adds that although the duo were trying to make something different, "we didn't realize we were going to make a mid-'80s synth-pop record. That was never part of the plan."

In order to recreate this mid-'80s synth-pop sound, the band relied on keyboards such as the Casio SK-5, Korg MiniKorg 700 and Roland SH-101, as well as Casio drum pads and sticks and a 1964 Silvertone Jupiter guitar. Concerning the album's production Hollon said

We wanted the tracks to sound like a new version of something familiar but also hit hard on a sound system, so it was a careful process of making sure some sounds were full and warm while others were thin and ping-y. For guitars, we mostly recorded those direct into an Eventide chorus [effects pedal] . There wasn't any reason to have an amp color the sound. It just needed to be thin, with the chorus dominating the sound.

Concept album

"Stainless Style" is a concept album based on the tumultuous life of playboy car designer John De Lorean. In interview with Marc Hogan Rhys described it as

a full-on concept record about the wives and lives [...] Of John DeLorean, so it's been a real pleasure to write about a specific subject, and to think about various scenarios relating to his life and imaginary scenarios that may have happened to him on the way. And so musically we've been writing in a style that personally mirrored his kind of fast, cocktail-driven lifestyle. [...] It's a very frivolous electro-pop record about the first playboy engineer.

The album's title is a pun on stainless steel, deriving from the fact that the most famous car produced by the De Lorean Motor Company—the De Lorean DMC-12—was distinctive by the fact that its body was made from stainless steel. Delorean also began selling "D=MC2" stainless steel watches for $3,495 each on the internet in 2000 [ cite web | url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/mar/21/guardianobituaries.usa | last= Reed | first= Christopher | title= Obituary: John DeLorean; American car-maker and conman whose victims included the UK and the US governments | publisher= The Guardian] . The song "Raquel" is based upon tales of an affair DeLorean allegedly had with actress Raquel Welch in the mid-70s, and mentions many true-life biographical details about Welch, such as her Bolivian father and Irish mother, her birth in "north Chicago," and education and upbringing in California. The song is sung from DeLorean's perspective, as he delivers lines to Welch such as "I saw you as a movie star, but now you're riding in my car." [ cite web | url= http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/46148-neon-neon-super-furry-animals-gruff-rhys-and-boom-bip-raquel-stream | last= Hogan | first= Marc | title= New Music: Neon Neon [Super Furry Animals' Gruff Rhys and Boom Bip] : "Raquel" | publisher= Pitchfork Media] According to Rhys "I Lust U" recounts "a dark period in DeLorean's life when he was having lots of affairs", while "Michael Douglas" describes the time when DeLorean "redesigned his own chin while sitting at pool parties in LA with Michael Douglas." [ cite web | url= http://www.nme.com/news/sxsw/35149 | title= Neon Neon make live debut at SXSW pool party | publisher= NME ]

Tracklisting

# "Neon Theme" – 2:20
# "Dream Cars" (feat. Fab Moretti) – 3:24
# "I Told Her on Alderaan" – 3:41
# "Raquel" – 5:01
# "Trick for Treat" (feat. Spank Rock & Sean Tillmann) – 4:42
# "Steel Your Girl" (feat. Josh Klinghoffer) – 3:32
# "I Lust U" (feat. Cate Le Bon) – 2:57
# "Sweat Shop" (feat. Yo Majesty) – 3:57
# "Belfast" – 3:08
# "Michael Douglas" – 4:12
# "Luxury Pool" (feat. Fatlip) – 3:53
# "Stainless Style" 1:59

Notes

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/neonx2 Neon Neon Myspace page]
* [http://www.lexrecords.com/067.shtml Official Lex Records album page]