My Favorite review on Louder Than War

"Named with all the hubris of Napoleon III strutting back into his uncle’s old office, it takes a position in their oeuvre equivalent to that of Bowie’s Let’s Dance or Roxy’s Dance Away. It’s even about dancing, sort of, and there are lyrical nods to the Duke and Bryan too. It’s middle aged My Favorite, which is only right and proper. “Too old to die young, too young to die slow” would be a fine opening couplet in any context, but as a scene setter for this melancholic meditation on the possibility of rebirth on the dancefloor, it’s devastating"

read the whole review here

a video for My Favorite's Second Empire

as previewed on Skatterbrain, and all ready for your own karaoke party

release date - My Favorite

yep - it's been 10 years coming, and it's out today - 7th October - Luke Haines', John Mellencamp's and Simon Cowell's birthday!

Second Empire and Dance With A Stranger are anthems for a bookish overachiever making the most of his best man's yacht for the after party… and then burning it down in the water. Each lyric is a slogan, tattooed in Helvetica, to the sounds of a dark disco Domino Dancing... if these tunes were the John Hughes soundtrack that Electronic and BEF never made Andie would have left with Duckie.

Formed as teenagers in early 90s on Long Island, My Favorite were a critically acclaimed enigmatic indiepop group during the first era of their career, beginning with their debut single The Last New Wave Record 7” in 1994 through to 2003’s The Happiest Days Of Our Lives double LP. Aside from a cult of devoted fans in America, Sweden and Japan, My Favorite also had fans amongst the best of their peers, leading to invitations to open for Belle & Sebastian and The Magnetic Fields, as well as being chosen by Morrissey for his pre-concert mix in 2005. At the same time they were influencing the next wave of indie and alternative bands; members of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and The Drums are on the record as fans.

The group turned the haunted suburbs of Long Island into an array of heavenly pop hits, which in some tangent universe might have landed them on Top Of The Pops, or the cover of the NME. Monsters, misfits, and the ghosts of dead teenagers populated songwriter Michael Grace Jr’s atmospheric short stories about youth and love squandered in squalor. From synthpop to punk, to the echoes of reggae and goth, My Favorite were chameleons, pop artists who borrowed and deconstructed the marginalized music of the 80s to frame a kind of End Of The Century last stand against the coming constructs of the digital age.

And now, through chance, design and metaphysical obligation, My Favorite have returned.

The picture disc is illustrated by Jeff Mellin

Scared to Dance Podcast

yup - more My Favorite stuff, this time the single is featured on the latest Scared To Dance podcast:

Scared To Dance Podcast #36 by Scared To Dance on Mixcloud

My Favorite

yep, it's a big deal... yep, it's the first My Favorite single in a decade... yep, it's RAD... yep, you can get it here:

getting promos ready for the first My Favorite single in a decade

77 days is too long - My Favorite

oh, yes, you've been waiting 9 years, so what's another 77 days?

the brand new record from My Favorite is released on 7th October, and you can pre order it here, there are just 77 copies, so get in sharpish (it's already been compared to a moonlit Domino Dancing):

the masters have been sent!

the masters for the last 3 singles of wiaiwya-7777777 2014 were sent off this morning

that's three killer singles from My Favorite, the Human Hearts (with Franklin Bruno and Jenny Toomey) and eagleowl

and, of course, it's not too late to subscribe, and get all seven remarkable picture discs before they sell out:

to subscribe to wiaiwya-7777777 2014 (seven 7" picture discs)

incl UK p&p £35.00 GBP incl EUR p&p £42.00 GBP incl US & ROW p&p £49.00 GBP

add 2013 membership number

the last day in the Studio for My Favorite

oooh-oh, we're half way there...

we're at the half way point of 2014's wiaiwya-7777777 schedule, and subscribers should now have had the first 3 picture discs, and a download code for the School single (the record will follow)

i've got the final mixes for the Human Hearts single (the return of Jenny Toomey!!! - i'm thrilled) and the eagleowl christmas record (gorgeous and melancholy, lovely) with the brand new My Favorite single being mastered this weekend

7th April - Freschard and the Wave Pictures

7th May - Trick Mammoth

7th June - the Leaf Library

7th August - the School

7th October - My Favorite

7th November - the Human Hearts

7th December - Eagleowl

and if you haven't subscribed yet, you still can, HERE:

to subscribe to wiaiwya-7777777 2014 (seven 7" picture discs)

incl UK p&p £35.00 GBP incl EUR p&p £42.00 GBP incl US & ROW p&p £49.00 GBP

add 2013 membership number

release dates

the first 3 records should be shipping out this week and next, so if you have subscribed keep an eye on your postbox - just to clarify the release dates this year will be

7th April - Freschard and the Wave Pictures

7th May - Trick Mammoth

7th June - the Leaf Library

7th August - the School

7th October - My Favourite

7th November - the Human Hearts

7th December - Eagleowl

and if you haven't subscribed yet, you still can, HERE:

to subscribe to wiaiwya-7777777 2014 (seven 7" picture discs)

incl UK p&p £35.00 GBP incl EUR p&p £42.00 GBP incl US & ROW p&p £49.00 GBP

add 2013 membership number

no more Secret History

i'm sorry to let you know that the Secret History will no longer be able to do a single for this year's wiaiwya-7777777... 

BUT in their place we have the first new recordings from MY FAVORITE in 9 years!!!

MY FAVORITE were true New York cult heroes, elusive and enigmatic stars of a secret history.They crawled from the suburbs of Long Island to the battered boroughs of New York City, all the while managing to belong nowhere. They created pop songs that feel like films, casting as heroes the misfits, hipsters and monsters of modern life. Beneath shimmering walls of guitars, synthesizers, and melodicas, beat the burning heart of a new wave dream gone wrong. They proposed that our age is worth remembering. They redeemed us by caring. 

let's just remind ourselves why we love(d) them so much:

to subscribe to wiaiwya-7777777 2014 (seven 7" picture discs)

incl UK p&p £35.00 GBP incl EUR p&p £42.00 GBP incl US & ROW p&p £49.00 GBP

add 2013 membership number