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THE SOULBOY COLLECTIVE - Clique Tragedy

Year: 2011

Direct order: 12,-€    +1,45€ P+P (Deutschland)/ +5,-€ ( Europe/ World)  via Paypal (info@firestation-records.de)

Presseinfo (deutsch) hier 

Pressinfo (english) here 

Cover

Photo    Photo2   

Photos by Alexandra Falken

Tracklist:

It’s All Because Of You

Let’s Stay Undecided

It Will Never Be Over For Me

I’m Glad She’s Not My Girlfriend

You Can Do Magic

I Wish She’d Asked Me Out

It Must Be You

I’m Not In Love But I Could Be

Casino Action

What’s The Point To Start Anew

Don’t Worry About Me  

Nicking songs, sounds and styles since 1994.

This could well be some kind of music business record: 17 years after the band formed in Kornwestheim (near Stuttgart/Germany) in 1994, The Soulboy Collective finally release their debut album "Clique Tragedy" on Firestation Records. Originally a loose group of DJs, musicians and lifestyle fanatics, united by their love for Northern Soul, Nineties UK pop und Sergio Tacchini track tops, The Soulboy Collective only managed to release a couple of remixes (for New Order/Smiths spin off Electronic, German rap giants Die Fantastischen Vier and downbeat maestros Boozoo Bayou) and one song - the Tom-Jones-sampling lo-fi indie pop ditty "Pattonville Soulgirl", which appeared on the "Harakiri" compilation in 1995.

Come 2011, the only remaining member is TSC founder Jürgen Dobelmann. Having spent the last ten years working for independent and major labels in Hamburg and Berlin , he now locates in Munich . The debut album "Clique Tragedy" (a hint towards the sad demise of the collective) was recorded with the help of two singers: St. Louis-based Ahlie Schaubel, who temporarily used work with the band in the nineties while still living in Stuttgart (namely "Pattonville Soulgirl"), and Munich indie princess Antenne Danger, member of sci-fi rock heroes High Voltage Humans and all female DIY art rock outfit Damenkapelle.

The eleven tracks on "Clique Tragedy" not only include the two songs from last year's debut single, "Casino Action" and "It's All Because Of You" (featuring Ahlie), but the reasonably popular "Let's Stay Undecided" and "It Must Be You" (both featuring Antenne Danger) whose homemade video clips garnered a few thousand views on YouTube and proved not be completely out of place in Munich indie clubs and radio stations. Musically, the songs combine all the ingredients Jürgen has grown to love over the last three decades: scratchy Northern Soul samples, elegant New Order basslines and drum patterns, sparkling melodies and eighties indie pop guitars - delivered with sheer Lightning-Seeds-esque naïvety, a soft spot for Saint Etienne's retro chic and Sarah-Label-ish DIY production ethics.

It's the sound of young Kornwestheim.

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Was tut man nicht alles für einen Platz in der Musikgeschichte? Eine Ära, in der alle Dezibel-, Chart-, Ticketumsatz- und Bandmitgliedszahlen-Rekorde  abgegrast scheinen, lässt ambitionierten Newcomern nicht allzu viel Spielraum für Epoche-machende Smartmoves. Das Alleinstellungsmerkmal, das dem Soulboy Collective eine Erwähnung in den Pop-Geschichtsbüchern sichern soll, ist die konkurrenzlose Verschnarchheit, die die Gruppe seit 1994 an den Tag legt. Hatte man die ersten fünfzehn Jahre noch mit einem Marginal-Output von drei Remixen (Die Fantastischen Vier, Electronic, Boozoo Bajou) und 1 Compilation-Betrag verjuxt, so flasht das mittlerweile zur Ein-Mann-Unternehmung geschrumpfte Kollektiv Fans und Fachwelt nun mit einer berauschenden Ereignisdichte. Der Debütsingle „Casino Action“, die in einer Zusammenarbeit des japanischen Labels Fastcut Records und des Berliner Pendants Firestation Records erschien, folgt im Herbst 2010 (sechzehn Jahre nach Gründung) das Debütalbum „Clique Tragedy“ via Firestation Records, das ein Dutzend Songs im Einflussbereich von Saint Etienne, Motown, New Order, Northern Soul und klassischem Wimp Pop featured - the sound of young Kornwestheim.

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