Jimi has chosen ‘Extinction’ by The Soft Pack, to be Q The Music’s Thursday “Track Of The Day”, as part of Doves’ role as guest editors of the website this week.
Jimi Goodwin: “A band I’ve just got into from San Diego. Not sure if this is out yet, but check the video made for about 15 bucks on their Myspace page it’s really funny and makes me smile. They used to be called The Muslims… Anyone know why they changed their name?”
Doves put their best feet forward by opening the album with what may quite possibly be their strongest song yet. Jetstream has a tangible push and pull which keeps the listener in a state of positive tension throughout. The subtle build of sounds, textures and dynamics, the clattering electronic drums, rolling fuzz bass and the tired, distant vocals come together to form a beautiful unifying whole. The explosive ending is a really gratifying pay-off too and really underlines the bands ear for an epic crescendo, they are firing on all cylinders here.
To read the full review, click here.
It’s been four years since Some Cities, Doves’ last release, but there’s been no sonic upheaval here, no dramatic change of pace or direction: Kingdom Of Rust is unmistakably Doves, and you feel comfortable in its presence, like the return of an easy-going friend.
To read the full review, click here.
***
This is the band’s fourth album, and its most glaring virtue is the manner in which it mixes all that has been charming about the first three records into a new song-based stew. There are elements of the Manchester druggy dance music scene of yore, touches of electronica — even a nod to Kraftwerk in the sterling album-opener “Jetstream” — and a dash of the flirting-with-the-avant–garde stylings of the noise-pop that informed the band’s debut effort.
To read the full review, click here.
Josh Hathaway’s Fanboy Pick: Doves – Kingdom of Rust
Stop me when you’ve heard this one before: two brothers from Manchester, UK form a band – no, not Oasis! I’m talking about Doves.
Kingdom of Rust is the fourth full length album from Manchester’s other brothers and the long-awaited follow up to the fantastic Some Cities. Jimi Goodwin, the non-Williams brother in the trio, said the band went through a lot while making this record and likened the process to “therapy.” That makes for a bad time for the artist but often makes for great listening. First single “Jetstream” was briefly offered as a free single. Whatever the band did during their extended recording process, it doesn’t sound like they spent too much time messing with a good thing.
It’s the startling new sounds Goodwin and the Williams brothers try on, as found on the hard-charging, sharp-elbowed opener Jetstream or the sprawling 10:03, that give the Dan Austin/John Leckie-produced Rust its irresistible energy. While the more familiar moments are — duh — the most immediately gratifying, the spikier, stranger tunes burrow under your skin on repeated listens, creating an utterly satisfying whole.
To read the full review, click here.
Daily Egyptian
“Kingdom of Rust” does not stray from the band’s sound on previous ventures but still remains fresh. The one thing holding the album back is the tracks begin to flow together with only a few really standing out.
“10:03″ is a beautiful movement of melancholy vocals, which swells into a heavy hitting garage rock ending.
To read the full review, click here.
Confirmation of Doves’ appearance at Northern Ireland’s Oxegen festival, comes courtesy of The Antrim Times.
Doves will play the festival on Saturday, July 11th.
Click here for further details.
Especially for those of you in the US who could not view the BBC iplayer video. Here is the video of the Dermot O’Leary session available for you to download. Video is very poor mp4 quality.
Recorded on the same day at Maida Vale, this time for 6 music video ..
There’s more Doves content at Q The Music.com, where Doves are guest editors all this week.
Today, Andy recounts the making of 2005’s Some Cities album.
Jez Williams (Doves): “I also remember a writing session before recording in this really knackered old farmhouse near Snowdon where, guess what, we wrote Snowden (was a working title that stuck). The place had no heating or carpets and the bed sheets looked like they hadn’t been changed in 12 months, old pubes all over the place. It was like something out of Withnail And I!!”
To read more, visit the site, here.
There’s also a new feature, posted today, listing some acts associated with Doves. To read the feature, click here.
Manchester Confidential.com has a great new video interview with Jimi. He addresses just how authentically Mancunian the band are, and also notes how comparisons to Coldplay and Radiohead are “lazy”.
“When someone’s drained with a track, it’s hang about, I’ve got an idea. Jez is the dominant character in this, his gift for melody is incredible and his drive. But what takes the time is that we do honour and respect each other.”
To view the video, visit this link.
Jez has chosen ‘Tonight’s Today’ by Jack Penate, to be Q The Music’s Tuesday “Track Of The Day”, as part of Doves’ role as guest editors of the website this week.
Jez Williams (Doves): “I really like the new Jack Penate single Tonight’s Today. I couldn’t believe it was him. I first heard it when I was driving back from rehearsals. It was so instant I fell in love with it, I must confess I wasn’t the biggest fan of his first album but, my God, this is a tune!”
To read more, visit the site, here.
Doves’ guest editorship of Q The Music.com this week, continues apace. Today’s Doves feature is Andy’s recollections of creating the Lost Souls album.
…By this time the studio fire had happened in our first studio in Ancoats, Manchester and as we were signed to Rob Gretton’s label he suggested renting New Order’s Cheetham Hill studio off them. This was where the bulk of the album was recorded. We really did lock ourselves away for 3 to 4 years until we discovered how we wanted to sound, it was a pretty oppressive place with no windows and thieves trying to break in!
To read more, visit the site, here.
Jimi & Jez appeared last week on MTV Two’s U.K. Gonzo show. Their appearance was originally scheduled for the prior week, so apologies for the previous misinformation.
Click here to download a video of their appearance; chatting about their work-ethic and trying to decipher anagrams of their song titles. WARNING: Contains Zane Lowe.
The video is an Xvid-encoded MPEG4 AVI file which should be standalone-compatible with most new DVD or AV players which are equipped to play DivX files.
More reviews of Doves’ Kingdom Of Rust album.
Popmatters, Album Review:
While the consistent Some Cities cruised along comfortably, Kingdom of Rust is a bumpier ride, as we hear Doves playing to their strengths one minute, and giving in to their schmaltzy instincts the next. However, for a good half hour we’re hearing what sounds like a rejuvenated band, the three musicians up to their old eclectic mischief, sounding as ambitious as ever. “Jetstream” is inspired, the band’s dance element returning with a vengeance, thrumming synths, pounding kick drum, and flange-enhanced hi-hat beats backing Jez’s coy, detached vocals, and the furious “The Outsiders” rocks harder than the threesome ever has before, the song’s churning, swaggering hard rock at times evoking Swervedriver’s “Last Train to Satansville”. With its wistful mellotron loops, ambient touches, and the simple phrasing by smooth-voiced Goodwin, “Winter Hill” captures a pastoral feeling far better than the last album, while the shifts from rich layers of trilling melodies to the abrupt, tense bassline of the chorus on “The Greatest Denier” is an inspired touch.
To read the full review, click here.
Metro.co.uk, Album Review:
Doves are still shaking a tail feather
Doves must be getting sick of the comparison by now but it’s hard not to wonder if the recent success enjoyed by Elbow could also happen to them.
After all, they’re both scruffy but charming gangs from the North-west who write impassioned, anthemic songs deeply connected to the region and who have been plodding along reliably in the background throughout the last decade.
So is Kingdom Of Rust their Seldom Seen Kid? In some ways, it could be.
What has always made Doves so appealing –the rhythmic undercurrents that betrayed their early days as dance act Sub Sub, the multi-textured songs which slowly reveal themselves –is confidently displayed here on songs such as the searing opener Jetstream or the dizzying Winter Hill.
There are also successful moves outside the band’s comfort zone, such as the throbbing, motorik rhythm that powers The Outsiders or the title track, a shuffling, achingly sad song which paints Lancashire as the dusty setting for a spaghetti western.
However, Kingdom Of Rust doesn’t maintain this early quality, flagging in the centre and exposing the craggier edges of singer Jimi Goodwin’s vocals.
With a cluster of formulaic tracks forming the album’s core, only the surprisingly funky Compulsion and the more forceful House Of Mirrors lift the record again towards its close.
A complex, multi-faceted record, Kingdom Of Rust will certainly appeal to Doves’ existing fans but it lacks the sheer force of personality needed to make everyone else sit up and take note again.
Yorkshire Evening Post, Album Review:
Doves’ epic indie rock mightn’t fall under what we class as “urban” and “industrial” music, but there’s arguably no-one more suited to that description. Their sound conjures up huge rain-lashed cooling towers, crumbling apartment blocks huddled under cumulonimbus-clogged skies, weed-cracked concrete and traffic-clogged sliproads. In these imposing landscapes stand the glum-faced Doves, the beating human heart of these soulless spaces.
Highlights are the Morricone-flavoured title track with its unexpected, uplifting Mike Oldfield-esque melody, the atmospheric Jetstream with its driving Kraftwerkian beats and spacy electronic flourishes, the waking dream of 10:03, and the rousing Compulsion, which mixes a funky bassline with vast sweeps of atmospheric guitar to great effect.
As ever, there’s something highly satisfying and strangely comforting about their sullen pomp, guaranteed to put some drama into a dreary drive over the M62.
Rating 4/5
Cutting Edge, Album Review:
‘Jetstream’ is de knaller die ‘Kingdom of rust’ opent. De groep beweert zelf dat het nummer gestoeld is op hun voorliefde voor Vangelis (!). Wij horen enkel de binnenrollende drums zoals wij dat enkel Larry Mullen jr hebben weten doen, in goede doen. De groep boet hier misschien wat in aan melodie, maar pompt zo de wilskracht naar het voorste plan. Ook verder in het album zijn het de drums en de baslijnen die voor de hoogste noot zorgen. Nummers als ‘The outsiders’ en ‘The great denier’ zorgen voor een dynamisch tempo.
To read the full review, click here.
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