spaceships are cool

Live review - Leftlion

live review of the band's performance at Canadian music week - Sound of pop

Genre: Pop, Electro-pop

Comments: Sometimes sounding like my Super NES made a pop album, sometimes showing a much more layered sound, Spaceships are Cool really shows the versatility of the electronic pop sub-genre. Also, more bonus points for another cool band name.



http://wlurradio.blogspot.com/2009/02/spaceships-are-cool.html
- WLUR FM

Spaceships Are Cool
“Strawberry Kicks”
Hometown: Nottingham, United Kingdom

Sure, “Strawberry Kicks” is best described by the band’s self-applied genre title “sci-fi sunshine pop”, but what’s behind the song lends a deeper meaning. Spaceships Are Cool is a throwback to the good old days of two-tone video game soundtracks, omnichords, and Fisher Price tape decks – a testament to how being nerdy is now the new cool. This dreamy ditty mixes their obsession with early synths with a healthy understanding of acoustic guitar and a vocal layer that you couldn’t find on Super Nintendo (though it would be great set to Mario Kart’s rainbow level for N64). Leading the Spaceships, Rob Maddison is involved in a host of productions, including playing live shows, contributing to various compilations, and producing music for outlets such as MTV and BBC. Check out the band’s new LP Heart Echoes!

http://spinearth.tv/report/spinearth-tv-exclusive-twelve-singles-from-rising-bands - SPINearth TV

Feature about fashion designers SS/10
with spaceships are cool & tatatamoto music as the soundtrack to Noriko okaku's animation.


http://www.dazeddigital.com/Fashion/article/5549/1/In_Process_SS_10 - DAZED AND CONFUSED

Sounding like a retro childhood mindscape, Spaceships Are Cool build dream-like romps through digital and aural playgrounds with airy falsettos and blip-rock flourishes. Like a bunch of pop princes, Spaceships push the boundaries of digital cartoon jams with their drum machines. The harmonies and optimistic chord crunching feeds into a sound that sounds like '60s mentality trapped in a future world of music-making. Their toys include stylophones, glockenspiels, mood theremin, korg vocoders, omnichords, melodica, Fisher Price tape decks and acoustic guitars.

Spaceships was formed in 2006 by UK electronica musician Rob Maddison, who, over the years, has collaborated with dozens of different members. The band has performed as a Rob-only solo project and a group jam of up to eight different musicians. Other regular members include Ben James, Rob Yunioshi, Helen Maltby and Tim Maddison. Recently the band appeared on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6's music show,and the BBC Radio Nottingham's new music show, >em>The Beat. They've appeared on numerous compilations, including ones released by underground labels in Berlin and Japan and one titled Indie Circuit, which was released by Universal. They've also released a self titled EP.

The band has been asked to play the famous Glastonbury Festival in June, official dates are still forthcoming.
- http://prod1.cmj.com/articles/display_article.php?id=129048058

Past, Present, Future: Spaceships are Cool
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
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I am a fan of honesty. So when I saw the band name “Spaceships Are Cool”, I said “yes, that is a true statement, spaceships are cool”. Although the awesome band name would have been enough to get me to do an interview, it just so happens that Spaceships Are Cool have some great music. It’s Nintendeo meets 70’s UK pop. While there are blips and bleeps to be had, the real heart of the music comes from the soft, harmonic vocals and acoustic guitar. It’s an introspective vocal pop group in a NASA wrapper, and I love it.

Not only is the music fun and interesting, it also sounds like they have a blast at their live shows. From the interview below: Their shows feature “bright orange spacesuits, cartoon animation, astronaut marionettes and free flying saucer candy.” Sign me up!

Download the track below, read the interview and click the Spaceships Are Cool banner below to hear some more music.

http://www.twogroove.com/blog/2010/01/28/past-present-future-spaceships-are-cool/ - TWO GROOVE BLOG

Nottingham's Spaceships Are Cool is primarily the work of Rob Maddison, a tinkerer of many things electronica who sings, plays drums, synths, melodica, guitars, theremin, toy phones & glockenspiel. Think Eno's Green World, Beach Boys, Kraftwerk, Beta Band, beeps & bleeps and daydream believing. New debut EP is worth seeking out - http://somevelvetblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/spaceships-are-cool.html

I picked up this EP from the radio station to review thinking it was going to be a joke band playing keytars and singing about PacMan (you think I’m kidding, but there’s a precedent - Mr. Pacman). I was very pleasantly surprised to find a delightful bastard-love-child from Beck and Of Montreal encapsulated in this short but very rich EP. It’s 5 songs long but features examples of both simple poppy songs and deeply layered tracks. The album as a whole leaves an impression of a band(-ish) that doesn’t take themselves overly seriously, but also has a strong understanding of what they feel music should be with the ability to write and record precisely what they want. I use the term ‘band’ as that’s what the promotional material makes them out to be. In reality they’re only a band when performing live. When recording it’s just Rob Maddison of Nottingham, England.

I enjoyed this album a substantial amount, particularly tracks 3 and 4, “This Fond Farewell” and “Gingerbread Houses”. “This Fond Farewell” is an excellent electro-indie ballad which showcases the band’s ability to layer its mayhem. “Gingerbread Houses” takes a much more simplistic route as it meanders across the tune. Add in tracks 1, 2, and 5 to get a complete and worthwhile album: “Let Things Go” is what you wish NES music would have been, featuring very cool guitar and synth lines layered heavily with staccato drums while fading in and out of more melodic interludes; “Strawberry Knickers” is simple but fun (you can listen by following the first BBC link below); and “Sooner or Later “ is a saccharine-sweet melody that deserves to be played with a black turtleneck sweater and cappuccino.

DJ’s – play any of the first four tracks on air. Baristas – play track 5 on the coffee shops loudspeakers.

Will I play it on my show? Yes. RIYL – Beck, Of Montreal. - the sounding post

Recommended if you like: The Beta Band, Grandaddy
Why we picked them: Glitchy psychedelia, matched up with sunny harmonies. - http://www.spin.com/articles/spin-picks-even-more-undiscovered-bands-worth-listen

Spaceships Are Cool (AKA Rob Maddison) are Nottingham's prime exponents of gorgeous dollops of delightful indietronica that is so irresistible and moreish, they must have found a cheeky way of slipping MSG into the music. This eponymous EP takes all the best bits of artists like the Flaming Lips, Beck, Dntel and lashings of 60s psych-rock to create a world where blips and bleeps collide head-on with occasional I Am The Walrus-esque stream-of-consciousness lyrics, especially noticeable on Gingerbread House. Let Things Go is full of clattering drums and dark melodies that demonstrate just what a great talent is on show here. This EP, along with a collaboration with Mr Bird entitled The Tokyo EP, is throughly recommended. - Leftlion magazine uk

Spaceships Are Cool are a self-styled ¡°sci-fi sunshine pop¡± act geared around the talents of Nottingham¡¯s Rob Maddison, who is just as comfortable performing solo as with a plethora of guest musicians. His debut EP is a thoroughly entertaining and varied collection of songs which certainly whets the appetite for an album.

The first reference point I picked up on were Simian; especially where Maddison¡¯s vocals are concerned. ¡®We Were Created¡ ¡¯ is a brightly coloured pop confection consisting of multiple layers of analog and digital instruments, guitars and presumably kitchen sinks. ¡®Strawberry Kickers¡¯ is a song that a few may have heard before from its appearance on the recent ¡®I Can Count Vol 2¡ä comp. A less complicated number than the opener, it¡¯s a song which captures the essence of 1970¡¯s American radio rock rather than a quirky modern day songwriter; Maddison also shows that he can carry a melody using his voice which is not often the case with his fellow one-man band electronica performers.

Elsewhere, ¡®This Fond Farewell¡¯ is the clearest indication of Maddison¡¯s fondness for vintage instruments whilst ¡®Gingerbread Houses¡¯ is a childlike fantasy which reminded me of 60¡¯s cult hero Mark Wirtz and his ¡®Teenage Opera¡¯ soundtrack. Finally, ¡®Sooner Or Later¡¯ is a gentle lulllaby, as fragile as the earlier songs are ebullient.

Admittedly there¡¯s just five tracks here, covering just over twenty minutes of listening time but each of them possesses a glorious, ramshackle charm. The music world needs artists such as Mr. Maddison and I hope to hear more from him soon.

Further Listening:
Simian, Mark Wirtz, Flaming Lips - Leonards lair blog

Spaceships Are Cool (AKA Rob Maddison) are Nottingham's prime exponents of gorgeous dollops of delightful indietronica that is so irresistible and moreish, they must have found a cheeky way of slipping MSG into the music. This eponymous EP takes all the best bits of artists like the Flaming Lips, Beck, Dntel and lashings of 60s psych-rock to create a world where blips and bleeps collide head-on with occasional I Am The Walrus-esque stream-of-consciousness lyrics, especially noticeable on Gingerbread House. Let Things Go is full of clattering drums and dark melodies that demonstrate just what a great talent is on show here. This EP, along with a collaboration with Mr Bird entitled The Tokyo EP, is throughly recommended. - Leftlion magazine uk