Schnipper’s Slept On
- story Matthew Schnipper
Each Tuesday (Wednesday Special!), FADER editor Matthew Schnipper highlights an underappreciated recent release he thinks we need to know about. This week it’s The Horrors’ Primary Colours LP. Watch the video for “Sea Within a Sea,” buy the record and read Schnipper’s thoughts on it after the jump.
Stream: The Horrors, “Whole New Way”
- story Sam Hockley-Smith
Ever since the world deaded its beef with The Horrors for being popular because it turned out they had some great songs in them (and because they’re actually really cool dudes) it’s been more fun than ever to track their moves. Where will they pop up next? Will their hair still look like it came right from a Japanese cartoon? Do we care as long as their jams keep jamming? Just as the grooves on our copy of their album Primary Colours are wearing down, the band resurfaces with a beefed up version of their previously Japanese import only single “Whole New Way.” Grab the 7-inch when it comes out.
Video: The Horrors, “Mirror’s Image”
- story Matthew Schnipper
When we spoke with The Horrors in late spring, we half jokingly lamented their lack of black souled depression. They were wearing all black, at least, but they were chipper guys, excited to talk about going to New Mexico and, like, those pennies that you can get flattened at rest stops in New Jersey. They loved America and life and hanging out and being in a band! Though it may be personally sad, there is still a nice tinge to a gloomy idol. So, as if to bludgeon their brooding personae (our peppy perception: their true identity!), The Horrors new video, “Mirror’s Image,” has butterflies and flowers. Of different colors. Not grey and black—though, at least, those are the only colors they are wearing. And to those who say we are missing the point, that this is just an homage to Jefferson Airplane, well, remember that no one was more in tune with rainbows than them.
FADER TV: The Horrors Come Stateside, Aren’t Brooding
- story THE FADER
When we sat for wine and cheese with The Horrors earlier this week—the week of the release of their second album, Primary Colours—we weren’t sure what to expect. They’re kind of famous in Europe! They’re heartthrobs with fan websites! Were they going to be gloomy and quiet? Mean and aloof? Well, uh, no, singer Faris Badwan and guitarist Josh Hayward asked us to make funny faces and told us about their day off visiting museums in Manhattan. Fun! We were kind of disappointed. We wanted them to put a spell on us and call us heathens. But a discussion on living up to the hype and flea marketed photos works, too. Check out Primary Colours streaming in its entirety and judge their bleakness for yourself.
Video: Horrors, “Sea Within a Sea”
- story THE FADER
We live in America so we don’t see NME too much and when we do it’s usually white dudes with guitars or Beth Ditto—don’t get us wrong we love white dudes and/or guitars and Beth Ditto!—but don’t get us wrong, it’s a little predictable. So a few years ago when The Horrors were on the magazine’s cover, we didn’t listen, as, apparently, didn’t the rest of this side of the Atlantic. But now they are matured and good? So says a bunch of people we trust and we just listened and they weren’t lying. What happened in two and a half years to get them to sound like driving around in the dark listening to “Bela Legosi is Dead”? Maybe production from Portishead’s Geoff Barrow. Or a bunch of drugs. Whichever.
