Lo Fidelity Allstars Return to the States For Four Very Special Full Band Performances
Critically Acclaimed New Album Don't Be Afraid Of Love In Stores Tuesday March 5th
PRNewswire
NEW YORK
02/27/2002
The Lo Fidelity Allstars, the band Stuff magazine (March 2002) called "England's best rock-techno combo ever," are returning to the States in March to perform the group's first American concert dates since December 1999. The Allstars' mini-tour of four select American cities -- Austin, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles -- celebrates the release of Don't Be Afraid Of Love, the Lo Fi's eagerly-awaited successor to 1999's breakthrough debut How To Operate With A Blown Mind. The Lo Fidelity Allstars will be making their first US return performance with a full band concert -- with labelmates Riddlin' Kids, the Ataris, Quarashi, and X-ecutioners -- at the Columbia Records Showcase at La Zona Rosa at the South By Southwest (SxSW) festival in Austin, Texas, on March 14 (see itinerary following).
The advance word on Don't Be Afraid Of Love has been phenomenal. Kirk Miller, writing in Stuff (March 2002), gave the record a 5 Star "Album of the Month" review pointing out that "...Despite losing their lead singer and keyboardist, the Allstars are 10 times funkier and harder on their new record. 'What You Want' kicks things off with a psychedelic guitar number, but the rest of the record is pure funk, Ibiza-style: lots of vocoders (the title track is what Pink Floyd might sound like if it was mugged by Parliament), mixed in with enough club beats to get the glowstick crowd grooving and just enough guitar to, you know, rock....."
Maxim's Dan Catalano gave the album 4 Stars (out of 5) in the magazine's March 2002 issue: "...On Love they roar back with a parade of vocalists (including funk messiah Bootsy Collins) and an ever-inventive electronic palette, creating the first rump-shaking party platter of 2002."
Keri Mason, writing in the March 2002 issue of Mixer, gave the album "8 out of 10" and raved: "Who'd have thought that the Lo Fidelity Allstars ... would record the feelgood pop song of the year and do it with nary a pinch of sarcasm? 'Feel What I Feel' is The Jackson 5 meets Katrina and The Waves; hooky, buoyant pop at its best. The album sounds like the product of the band's own summer of love...Don't Be Afraid Of Love is the album everyone will think Fatboy made; an Ibizan version of the Big Beat Boutique crew's acidic, gleefully warped, four-on-the-floor pop rock. Only they've managed to mix equal parts madness and sunshine."
Meanwhile Michaelangelo Matos found this to say in the March 2002 issue of Urb: "...the Lo Fi's have recruited some guest stars to take the weight (of departed lead vocalist Dave Randall), which means that even a dirge like 'On the Pier' intrigues, particularly when Bootsy Collins' cartoon-like voice cuts through the grime. And (the Afghan Whigs') Greg Dulli's come-ons during 'Somebody Needs You' extends the sleaze factor -- it's like Primal Scream gone rich and jaded. What may be most surprising here is that the Allstars have dipped their toes into the previously uncharted waters of (gasp!) pop songs. 'Feel What I Feel' is super-bouncy, '70s-kissed pop-soul..."
Alternative Press (April 2002) found critic Andrew Lentz enthusing: "...judging from the psych(o)-soul meltdown Don't Be Afraid Of Love, the U.K.'s Lo-Fidelity Allstars are having the genre-smashing time of their lives. 'Feel What I Feel,' 'Cattleprod' and the Franco filter-funk of 'Sleeping Faster' will detonate any discotheque, while the housey thump of 'Lo-Fi's In Ibiza' is as sweltering as the Spanish isle's famed summer-long parties; Afghan Whigs' Greg Dulli's broody croon is a piquant contrast to the sleaze-cheeze vocoders and acoustic boom-bap of 'Somebody Needs You' ...but weirder still is the title track, a dark-gospel judgment-day scenario as sobering as a Pentecostal church service. Good thing the sprawling 'Dark Is Easy' is the smoothest come-down track ever."
Lo Fidelity Allstars Tour Dates Date City/State Venue 3/14 Austin, TX La Zona Rosa 3/16 Chicago, IL Metro/Smart Bar 3/18 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom 3/20 Los Angeles, CA Vynyl http://www.lofidelityallstars.com http://www.columbiarecords.com
SOURCE: Columbia Records
Contact: Jocelynn Loebl of Columbia Records, Media, New York,
+1-212-833-5022, jocelynn_loebl@sonymusic.com
Website: http://www.columbiarecords.com/
http://www.lofidelityallstars.com/