it's December 1st... the official release of: Fear Of Tigers debut album "Cossus Snufsigalonica" the long awaited, anticipated and totally free for grabs album is here!
TRACKLISTING:
I Can Make The Pain Disappear
Please Don't Leave
What Did I Do?
The Adventures of Pippi Longstrump
Friday Night At Geek Club
Cossus Snufsigalonica
Study Hard Drugs School
The Rich Cry Too
Sirkka
Calling Your Name
Download Here!
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Included in his press release is an interview with Ben Tigers:
What do you want to achieve with the album?
Some peace and quiet! I hadn’t actually planned to make an album this year. My girlfriend suggested it and I foolishly decided to mention it to a few people. Of course, people started asking me about it so I had to make one really. It’s been pretty hard finding the time to work on the new tracks and I’ve now got a computer full of unfinished ideas. So it’s an opportunity to draw a line under them, get what tracks I could finish out there and start again.
What Does ‘Cossus Snufsigalonica’ mean?
It’s not a secret but it is a cryptic reference to something wonderful. I don’t want to say too much and I’ll be impressed if anyone can work it out.
What are your influences?
When I was a moody teenager, bands like The Cure and The Pixies. I was a big indie kid but I also worshiped a lot of the ambient pioneers like Autechre and the Aphex Twin. One fateful night back at a club called Vauge in Leeds, everything changed. I discovered disco, piano house and poppers and the years that followed were dominated by people like Chic, Inner Life, Jocelyn Brown et al. From my days as a DJ, UK garage but also epic trance records (which I hated at the time, but look back on with a certain fondness). I recently bought a piano so back at home you’re likely to catch me listening to Ryuichi Sakamoto, Philip Glass or Ennio Morricone. I’ve recently discovered the music of the 30s and I’m really enjoying all the classic Ivor Novello penned songs. I’m really quite nostalgic for the 30s at the moment.
What do you think of the state of music at the moment?
If you ever read a magazine like Q, the NME or even Mixmag, they’ll tell you that the naughties were a terrible decade for music but I think they’ve just getting old. An article in the Telegraph recently revealed that of Q’s best artists of the decade “men outnumber women 7 to 1, and that the ratio of white people to black is 15.5 to 1”. So if you basically look at white men with guitars, yes they’re just regurgitating the same old shit and it’s getting very boring. But in our new world of music there is some really exciting stuff going on. New genres are being invented and the scene has become truly global. The fact that a lot of this new music is ignored by the mainstream magazines and radio is merely testament to their ultimate decline.
Why don’t you have a record label?
I know people who’ve signed to big record labels and spent loads of time recording an album only to never have it released because the label’s gone bust or the person that signed them left the company or in some cases the label have just done a really bad job of marketing it.. Like most writers, my music’s my life’s work and the thought of signing it away to somebody who has a shaky business model seems like madness. Also I love the freedom of just being able to make a track and put it online. If I’d have signed to a label we’d have probably spent 1 year clearing the samples and polishing the record. Which would have probably made for something quite slick, but perhaps just a little bit boring!
What’s next for Fear of Tigers?
I’m going to release an album of my remixes next year. There are a couple of new ones and a few from the past that have never been heard before. Then the next step is to upgrade my software and start experimenting with some new ideas. I’d also like to do more collaborations and maybe even get a singer. There are a couple of things in the pipeline already that I’m quite excited about!
We'd like to thank Mr. B for releasing this insightful interview, the totally free album, and for the inspiration and love he represents!