Benedict Cumberbatch Reads R. Kelly's 'Genius' (audience edited)

Benedict Cumberbatch in Star Trek Into Darkness

Benedict Cumberbatch narrates the conclusion to ‘Flat Of Angles’, the story by Simon Cleary that has spanned the previous three editions of Late Night Tales (Friendly Fires, Royksopp, Bonobo). 

Late Night Tales: Django Django is released 12th May.

iTunes: goo.gl/oCfZrk
Late Night Tales Webshop: goo.gl/HyYIZ.

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Django Django is the latest band invited to curate a prestigious Late Night Tales collection. Like many of the best British groups, the Djangos met at art school, specifically Edinburgh College Of Art, before reconnecting in London. Django Django released their self-titled debut album on UK independent label Because Music in early 2012 to some acclaim, winding up in many critics’ end of year lists (Top Ten in the NME and Top 30 in Rolling Stone, among them) and a Mercury Prize nomination.

Their oddball approach to music, which sounds like the rich harmonies of the Mamas & Papas beamed through a refracting prism pointing towards Bo Diddley, Chicago house and outer-space (it’s no surprise to learn that Django producer/drummer Dave Maclean’s brother John was in the Beta Band, who also shared the same cinemascopic view of the pop landscape). 

“Rollicking sing-alongs, galloping into disco sunsets like whisky-addled and leather-saddled bandits on the stolen backs of prairie wild mustangs,” is how Django Django describe themselves. Which is another way of saying they’re pop adventurists, as at home with Mad Mike’s Underground Resistance as they are the blues rumble of Canned Heat. A bit like this delightful mix, then, which darts about like a gurgle of guppies after two too many espressos.

Check out mixes that rock between two-step delights like Roy Davis Jr’s ‘Gabrielle’ to Nilsson’s lyrically winsome ‘Coconut’. At one end of the Django spectrum there’s James Last, the terminally unhip Teuton, whose ‘Inner City Blues’ shows you can never underestimate the Germans, while at the far reaches of the mix, they manage to sneak in Ramadanman (‘Bass Drums’) and Hudson Mohawke and Lunice collaboration TNGHT’s ‘Bugg’n’. You can hear the echoes of influences in some of the selections, like The Beach Boys whose peerless ‘Surf’s Up’ makes a welcome appearance halfway through, while Seals & Crofts’ ‘Get Closer’ show what sun-drenched pop can sound like when it’s done well. 

And because it’s Late Night Tales there’s a sparkling cover version of ‘Porpoise Song’, the theme from The Monkees daffily brilliant ‘Head’, an admirably lysergic termination to this waltz through pop’s nooks and cranberries. “You should never be afraid to make a fool of yourself for art,” Dave Maclean once said. Let’s raise a dram to Scotland’s favourite fools on the hill. 

“We wanted to produce a mix that represented the band. It’s what we’re all into, so everyone put forward suggestions. It’s what we are as a band; and we’re kids that have grown up with an obsession about our mum and dad’s record collections, like ‘50s and 60s stuff and then got into hip hop and dance music as we grew up. At the heart of it all is our parents’ collections, with our tastes mixed in. Our Late Night Tales pays homage to that.” - Dave Maclean (Django Django)

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Benedict Cumberbatch reads Flat Of Angles (Part 4)

Benedict Cumberbatch (Casanova) 1/5

Late Night Tales: Friendly Fires presents Benedict Cumberbatch - Flat Of Angles (Part 1); a spoken word piece.


Follow Late Night Tales:

Web: http://latenighttales.co.uk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/latenighttales1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LateNightTales
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Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/curator/late-night-tales/1233898093
Bandcamp: https://latenighttales.bandcamp.com/

Buy the compilation

Benedict Cumberbatch reads Flat Of Angles [Part 1] (Late Night Tales: Friendly Fires)

The second part of the four-part Late Night Tales story 'Flat of Angles', written by Simon Cleary and read by Benedict Cumberbatch.

Order: http://latenighttales.co.uk/product.php/200/r-yksopp-late-night-tales
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/late-night-tales-royksopp/id643663833

The new edition of Late Night Tales journeys to Scandinavia to invite Norwegian duo Röyksopp to delve through their record collection. Their Late Night Tales mix is eclectic, diverse and wonderful. Sliding from light folk to widescreen ambience to experimental rock to prog-pop (seasoned with the occasional guilty pleasure); it’s all in the spirit of the night.

Following the exclusive introduction track 'Daddy's Groove', Rare Bird's beautiful 1975 B-side'Passing Through' then leads into Australian supergroup Little River Band. The first of several delicate folk moments, it's joined by the ever soulful John Martyn. There's a strong representation of alternative European sounds. Röyksopp mine deep and wide to unearth the rare and unusual German psych-pop of Richard Schneider Jnr (featuring none other than Can's Jaki Leibezeit on drums), France's unique F.R. David and the new age melodies of Switzerland's Andreas Vollenweider - it's pop Jim, but not as we know it. There are also the more familiar names of XTCand Thomas Dolby, as well as Röyksopp's exclusive cover of Depeche Mode's 'Ice Machine' and brand new track opening Daddys Groove. The music draws to a close with goth-dream-pop 4ADfounders The Mortal Coil's Emmylou Harris cover 'Till I Can Gain Control Again'; blending into a cinematic moment from German electronic avant-garde band Popol Vuh, contributing to the soundtrack of Werner Herzog's 1972 movie Aguirre, the Wrath of God. The second part of theBenedict Cumberbatch narrated story 'Flat of Angles' closes time on this coolly individual edition of Late Night Tales.

Follow Late Night Tales:

Web: http://latenighttales.co.uk
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/latenighttales1
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LateNightTales
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YouTube: http://youtube.com/latenighttalestv
Instagram: http://instagram.com/latenighttalesofficial
Spotify: http://goo.gl/Q98T7d
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/curator/late-night-tales/1233898093
Bandcamp: https://latenighttales.bandcamp.com/

Ben

Ann Swader Angvick