Ours: Mercy (Release Date April 1st)

Music, movies, poetry, writing, critical analysis.
User avatar
Mortis
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 1452
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 1979 01:00
Contact:

Ours: Mercy (Release Date April 1st)

Postby Mortis » Fri Feb 02, 2007 01:03

I just wanted to let you all know that one of my favourite bands, Ours, is coming out with a new record soon. They took four years to make the record and hopefully they'll break it big this time! Chart Attack has a bit more information on the situation:
Although no track list has been announced, Gnecco previously said the album will feature 12 songs and be more than 60 minutes in length. Updates from last year revealed some songs that the band were working on, including "I Ran Away To Tell The World," "Saint Down The Hall," "Lost," "Live Again" and "Worst Things Beautiful." The band also recorded additional B-sides that could be included on a future EP.


Back in 2003, I burned myself a cd of their Bowery Ballroom live while I was in the military, and the disc was probably the one that I listened to most. It was amazing listening while I watched over the tent stove. I love those tracks to death and I hope they will get released :)

User avatar
Armand
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 267
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2001 20:16

Re: Ours: Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy

Postby Armand » Sat Feb 03, 2007 19:21

\o/

User avatar
Smeagol
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 1422
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2001 14:32
Location: Vänersborg, Sweden
Contact:

Re: Ours: Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy

Postby Smeagol » Sat Feb 03, 2007 20:01

great news!


/me \\\ The Ours - Dancing Alone
He's not heavy, he's my brother.

User avatar
Mortis
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 1452
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 1979 01:00
Contact:

Re: Ours: Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy

Postby Mortis » Sat Jul 07, 2007 13:18

Though we have been able to listen to new songs on the band's MySpace site for several months now, the album is/has been being delayed and delayed more due to label shuffles and recording contract negotiations. The current word is that the band will be negotiating over the summer. As Rick Rubin has joined Columbia, it is being speculated that Ours would sign to Columbia as well.

In an interview in January, Jimmy said he had some regrets over signing to DreamWorks Records instead of Rubin's label back in the year 1997. It's miraculous that he's yet to burn out as it has already been five years between Precious and the new album - and as I see it, Gnecco (interestingly enough he has always been signed to labels as a solo artist under the name of Ours) could be huge were it not for sinking labels, bad executive moves and a sub-par second album that was hampered by an incompetent producer and drummer (Ethan Johns).

User avatar
Mortis
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 1452
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 1979 01:00
Contact:

Re: Ours: Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy

Postby Mortis » Sat Jul 14, 2007 23:57

http://thescenestar.typepad.com/ss/2007/07/interview-jimmy.html wrote:So we’re going to try to get over [to Europe] before this record comes out and try to build something over there.


From a recent interview! Interesting!!1

Also regarding the new album:
http://thescenestar.typepad.com/ss/2007/07/interview-jimmy.html wrote:There might be one more round of mastering or just some minor changes.

User avatar
Mortis
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 1452
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 1979 01:00
Contact:

Re: Ours: Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy

Postby Mortis » Sat Jul 21, 2007 13:23

Michael Maxxis' site contains some new (and cool!) photographs from either the forthcoming video to the song Live Again or from its shooting.

User avatar
Mortis
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 1452
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 1979 01:00
Contact:

Re: Ours: Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy

Postby Mortis » Fri Feb 15, 2008 02:51

The album, now titled Mercy (Dancing for the Death of an Imaginary Enemy), will be released on April 1st - once again delayed with two more weeks for reasons unknown. The earlier street date was March 18th. I still can't believe it has been six years since Precious. Am I really that much older?

A two-part video, directed by Michael Maxxis, has been released for the songs Live Again and God Only Wants You.

Live Again:


God Only Wants You:


Edit: Videos work now.
"...the public dissolves as fact and fiction blend, history becomes derealized by media into a happening, science takes its own models as the only accessible reality, cybernetics confronts us with the enigma of artificial intelligence, and technologies project our perceptions to the edge of the receding universe or into the ghostly interstices of matter." - Hassan, Ihab: "Toward a Concept of Postmodernism" (1987).

User avatar
Mortis
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 1452
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 1979 01:00
Contact:

Re: Ours: Mercy (Release Date April 1st)

Postby Mortis » Sun Feb 17, 2008 17:35

I've just learned that the delay is related to cover art. Perhaps they've decided to get proper cover art after all?

Edit: DURR! Both videos are crapped, the "Live Again" video link - straight from the official site no less - is set private, and the other one has been deleted. The problem with the official website is you only have a direct contact link to Sony BMG which is useless in this kind of thing. You'd have to get right at the webmaster and there is no e-mail no nothing.

"God Only Wants You" can be seen here, though.
"...the public dissolves as fact and fiction blend, history becomes derealized by media into a happening, science takes its own models as the only accessible reality, cybernetics confronts us with the enigma of artificial intelligence, and technologies project our perceptions to the edge of the receding universe or into the ghostly interstices of matter." - Hassan, Ihab: "Toward a Concept of Postmodernism" (1987).

User avatar
Mortis
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 1452
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 1979 01:00
Contact:

Re: Ours: Mercy (Release Date April 1st)

Postby Mortis » Mon Mar 17, 2008 22:43

...the release date is April 15th now. The album has leaked, however... with little to no fanfare, too. Will be interesting to see what'll follow.
"...the public dissolves as fact and fiction blend, history becomes derealized by media into a happening, science takes its own models as the only accessible reality, cybernetics confronts us with the enigma of artificial intelligence, and technologies project our perceptions to the edge of the receding universe or into the ghostly interstices of matter." - Hassan, Ihab: "Toward a Concept of Postmodernism" (1987).

User avatar
Mortis
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 1452
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 1979 01:00
Contact:

Re: Ours: Mercy (Release Date April 1st)

Postby Mortis » Fri Apr 25, 2008 22:16

I finally received my autographed copy of the record from Newbury Comics today... after a few listens, I'd say it's worth the six years' wait - or if you want to look at it from a different viewpoint, you could say that it encapsulates the wait! It is a very good album and contains some songs that indicate a very healthy and refreshing future for the band. Hopefully the record company allows the band to thrive.

As it is, most of the songs on the record are indeed very old, some of them from 1999-2000, most from 2002-2003 and one from as far back as 1990/1991. In one interview Gnecco goes as far as to say that he felt "tortured by" the songs that now made the album and felt that it was good to have a recorded version of them in existence.

Here are some images:

Image

Image
"...the public dissolves as fact and fiction blend, history becomes derealized by media into a happening, science takes its own models as the only accessible reality, cybernetics confronts us with the enigma of artificial intelligence, and technologies project our perceptions to the edge of the receding universe or into the ghostly interstices of matter." - Hassan, Ihab: "Toward a Concept of Postmodernism" (1987).

User avatar
Mortis
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 1452
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 1979 01:00
Contact:

Re: Ours: Mercy (Release Date April 1st)

Postby Mortis » Tue Jun 10, 2008 14:26

How are you guys feeling about the album at this point? :)

For me, the tracks "The Worst Things Beautiful" and "Willing" stand out from the rest, partially because Jimmy came out and admitted that quite a few of the tracks (compared to just Mercy) are in fact from the early 1990s, partially because they have a great post-punk vibe. In a way it's such an old album :D Nevertheless, I think the aforementioned two songs are the freshest out of the crop and it is them that really reveal Ours as a band that can and will produce a great follow-up album to Mercy...

What's more, the two tracks really do match up with other "new" tracks from their live shows circa 2003: Since a big portion of those tracks never made the album (Death in the City, Living in a Video, Mechanical Lovers), I wouldn't be completely surprised if the band decided to pursue those songs now that the avenue, in the form of TWTB and Willing, has been opened :{}
"...the public dissolves as fact and fiction blend, history becomes derealized by media into a happening, science takes its own models as the only accessible reality, cybernetics confronts us with the enigma of artificial intelligence, and technologies project our perceptions to the edge of the receding universe or into the ghostly interstices of matter." - Hassan, Ihab: "Toward a Concept of Postmodernism" (1987).

User avatar
Darkelth
Kakaist
Kakaist
Posts: 109
Joined: Tue Feb 28, 2006 18:48
SteamID: Darkelth
Location: Tampere (Lempäälä), Finland
Contact:

Re: Ours: Mercy (Release Date April 1st)

Postby Darkelth » Tue Jun 10, 2008 16:03

Well, Ours was a totally new band for me, when I got the songs, but after I started listening to them, I fell a bit in love. I do like the songs very much. The album itself has a very strong and kinda aggressive start, and I actually do like it. And now I've gotten interest in getting my hands on their "older" stuff too :)
If you want to be happy for a day, drink alcohol. If you want to be happy for a year, get yourself married. If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, start gardening. - An old Chinese aphorism.


Return to “Art Attack”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests