A series of images from the You Know Me Better video, which was filmed in East London in the spring of 2008.
Thanks to Betty.
30/03/2010
You Know Me Better video shots
A series of images from the You Know Me Better video, which was filmed in East London in the spring of 2008.
Thanks to Betty.
25/03/2010
Remix Momma's Place
Roisin is teaming up with gossip queen Perez Hilton, of all people, for a remix contest.
If you think you've got what it takes to remix Momma's Place, head over to Indaba Music and start mixing it up on the decks.
If you think you've got what it takes to remix Momma's Place, head over to Indaba Music and start mixing it up on the decks.
22/03/2010
Making the Overpowered video
A few images taken during the making of Roisin's iconic video Overpowered, back in 2007.
Thanks to Betty!
Next up: a series of images from the You Know Me Better shoot!
15/03/2010
BlackBook interview
A recent interview with Roisin from BlackBook Magazine:
In 2008, Róisín Murphy told BlackBook, "Those are other parts of me that I live all the time. I’m a very down-to-earth, normal person. But I also have a really expressive, creative, flamboyant side." And having become a new mother, the pop star is unperturbed by scaling the latter back for the former. She hasn't completely abandoned her love for music. She's simply shying away from the conventional business model. Instead, Murphy's quietly pushing one-off songs online as she completes them, having released "Orally Fixated" last year and "Momma's Place"--which sounds like a cautionary tale for her daughter--earlier this year. And although she stayed mum on her creative camaraderie with the late Alexander McQueen--he provided garments for one of her most memorable music videos---out of respect for the late designer, Murphy exuberantly detailed the transition from dancefloor demigoddess to first-time mother.
Hi there. How’s motherhood treating you?
It’s great. I’m really enjoying it. She’s a really healthy baby. She’s fun. She’s very unpredictable. But I think we all are. I think she’s very cute...but any mother would say that.
Have you been taking time off from working on new material--to make time for motherhood?
I was working while I was pregnant. I was in the studio a lot. I got a lot of songs written. In the last two months I’ve been resting and getting ready to have the baby. Then I had the baby. Then it was Christmas. I’m still working it out. Right now, I’m very far away from that world in which I work.
You’ve put out two new songs—“Orally Fixated” and “Momma’s Place”--but ignored the decorum of singles and albums. It’s like you’re trying to reinvent the business a little.
I don’t know about reinventing. I just found that it’s something I can do. Certainly while I’ve been pregnant. Having a baby and having the time to commit to massive publicity schedule and touring is difficult. I’ve been very prolific. All these songs are there. So what’s the point in them lying there? They can come out. It’s no philosophy behind it. It’s just the way it is. I looked at the way things are you can just put things out. Keep feeding the fans something and let the music be alive. Because if it’s there for too long it kind of dies. It is what it is right now. I’m just taking every day at a time. I’m just seeing how much I feel like how much I want to do as I go along.
What inspired you with these new songs?
Well, British urban music was inspiring music. Old house music was inspiring. I found drum machines very inspiring. I wanted raw sound. I wanted to make pure dance music. Certainly with “Momma’s Place,” I wanted a big epic club record. The next track I’ve done is “Demon Lover”---it’s urban-sounding. I’ve got UK MCs like Wiley, Kano, and Donaeo. They all inspired me. I was DJing a lot during pregnancy. People were giving me backing tracks and I was trying them while DJing. So I was able to figure out which tracks sort of really worked. That was inspiring. And of course being pregnant. Though secretly at first—when I wrote “Momma’s Place,” I didn’t tell the people I was working with I was pregnant. So I had this secret thing in my head. “Oh I have this song about me and the baby!” Nobody knew.
Your last record leaned towards pop. But this one tends for a grittier sound. Did your pregnancy inform that?
It might have subconsciously. Maybe I wanted to make big brash sounds that would penetrate through all the layers of skin so the baby could hear it. I don’t know. I’ve always wanted to make music that works on dancefloors. It’s a good place for me to be. You really have to approach it clearly. You have to say, “That’s what I want to do. I want it to work on a big system. For people to freak out dancing to it.” The best dance music does have a sense of lineage in it--it’s kind of historical context too as well as just sounding really big and hammering your head off.
Was there any part of Overpowered that didn’t work for you and so you had to learn from that experience?
No, I think it was a really positive experience making the record. I don’t think I would be as prolific now had I not made Overpowered the way I did, working with all these people. Even on one track, working with 4 or 5 people. It broke down an immense amount of barriers with me, coming from a place where I wrote with my boyfriend--while in Moloko. I wrote solely with Matthew Herbert on Ruby Blue. He produced, mixed, and did everything on Ruby Blue. And being in a place where I was working with all these different people and having never met them before, having to be creative in front of brand new people. It broke a lot of barriers for me. I can pretty much go into the studio with anyone I respect now and get something now. Whether or not its good or not is a different case. I can sing. Or tell them my lyrics. I’m not scared. It’s a very positive experience for me.
Tell me about the album.
There isn’t a plan planned for the album as yet. It’s just me putting out some tracks. They may or may not make an album one day. I may make an album and these tracks may never even go on the album. I may make an album which do have these tracks on them. I haven’t had time to really do the whole thing you do for an album. So I thought it would be really cool to just put tracks out as I was making them--they were still fresh.
There are many musicians who work to strike a balance between motherhood and the demands of the music industry. How are you finding that balance?
You’ve got to ask me in a few months. I don’t think I know yet. I’m taking every day as it comes and just see. It isn’t just motherhood that I’ve got to contend with. At the end of the day the industry is changing. So much, so fast. I have to figure it out--day to day, week to week, month to month. And see how this thing plays out. But I can tell you that I’ve never been more prolific, more creative in terms of the music that I’ve been making. And more able to continue to make music. And that’s the backbone of everything else. I know people really want me to make videos and imagery. And I’m very flattered they want that of me. But none of that can happen without music. So if you are my fan, then at least you can rest assured that the thing that creates everything else is there. There’s nothing to worry about.
In 2008, Róisín Murphy told BlackBook, "Those are other parts of me that I live all the time. I’m a very down-to-earth, normal person. But I also have a really expressive, creative, flamboyant side." And having become a new mother, the pop star is unperturbed by scaling the latter back for the former. She hasn't completely abandoned her love for music. She's simply shying away from the conventional business model. Instead, Murphy's quietly pushing one-off songs online as she completes them, having released "Orally Fixated" last year and "Momma's Place"--which sounds like a cautionary tale for her daughter--earlier this year. And although she stayed mum on her creative camaraderie with the late Alexander McQueen--he provided garments for one of her most memorable music videos---out of respect for the late designer, Murphy exuberantly detailed the transition from dancefloor demigoddess to first-time mother.
Hi there. How’s motherhood treating you?
It’s great. I’m really enjoying it. She’s a really healthy baby. She’s fun. She’s very unpredictable. But I think we all are. I think she’s very cute...but any mother would say that.
Have you been taking time off from working on new material--to make time for motherhood?
I was working while I was pregnant. I was in the studio a lot. I got a lot of songs written. In the last two months I’ve been resting and getting ready to have the baby. Then I had the baby. Then it was Christmas. I’m still working it out. Right now, I’m very far away from that world in which I work.
You’ve put out two new songs—“Orally Fixated” and “Momma’s Place”--but ignored the decorum of singles and albums. It’s like you’re trying to reinvent the business a little.
I don’t know about reinventing. I just found that it’s something I can do. Certainly while I’ve been pregnant. Having a baby and having the time to commit to massive publicity schedule and touring is difficult. I’ve been very prolific. All these songs are there. So what’s the point in them lying there? They can come out. It’s no philosophy behind it. It’s just the way it is. I looked at the way things are you can just put things out. Keep feeding the fans something and let the music be alive. Because if it’s there for too long it kind of dies. It is what it is right now. I’m just taking every day at a time. I’m just seeing how much I feel like how much I want to do as I go along.
What inspired you with these new songs?
Well, British urban music was inspiring music. Old house music was inspiring. I found drum machines very inspiring. I wanted raw sound. I wanted to make pure dance music. Certainly with “Momma’s Place,” I wanted a big epic club record. The next track I’ve done is “Demon Lover”---it’s urban-sounding. I’ve got UK MCs like Wiley, Kano, and Donaeo. They all inspired me. I was DJing a lot during pregnancy. People were giving me backing tracks and I was trying them while DJing. So I was able to figure out which tracks sort of really worked. That was inspiring. And of course being pregnant. Though secretly at first—when I wrote “Momma’s Place,” I didn’t tell the people I was working with I was pregnant. So I had this secret thing in my head. “Oh I have this song about me and the baby!” Nobody knew.
Your last record leaned towards pop. But this one tends for a grittier sound. Did your pregnancy inform that?
It might have subconsciously. Maybe I wanted to make big brash sounds that would penetrate through all the layers of skin so the baby could hear it. I don’t know. I’ve always wanted to make music that works on dancefloors. It’s a good place for me to be. You really have to approach it clearly. You have to say, “That’s what I want to do. I want it to work on a big system. For people to freak out dancing to it.” The best dance music does have a sense of lineage in it--it’s kind of historical context too as well as just sounding really big and hammering your head off.
Was there any part of Overpowered that didn’t work for you and so you had to learn from that experience?
No, I think it was a really positive experience making the record. I don’t think I would be as prolific now had I not made Overpowered the way I did, working with all these people. Even on one track, working with 4 or 5 people. It broke down an immense amount of barriers with me, coming from a place where I wrote with my boyfriend--while in Moloko. I wrote solely with Matthew Herbert on Ruby Blue. He produced, mixed, and did everything on Ruby Blue. And being in a place where I was working with all these different people and having never met them before, having to be creative in front of brand new people. It broke a lot of barriers for me. I can pretty much go into the studio with anyone I respect now and get something now. Whether or not its good or not is a different case. I can sing. Or tell them my lyrics. I’m not scared. It’s a very positive experience for me.
Tell me about the album.
There isn’t a plan planned for the album as yet. It’s just me putting out some tracks. They may or may not make an album one day. I may make an album and these tracks may never even go on the album. I may make an album which do have these tracks on them. I haven’t had time to really do the whole thing you do for an album. So I thought it would be really cool to just put tracks out as I was making them--they were still fresh.
There are many musicians who work to strike a balance between motherhood and the demands of the music industry. How are you finding that balance?
You’ve got to ask me in a few months. I don’t think I know yet. I’m taking every day as it comes and just see. It isn’t just motherhood that I’ve got to contend with. At the end of the day the industry is changing. So much, so fast. I have to figure it out--day to day, week to week, month to month. And see how this thing plays out. But I can tell you that I’ve never been more prolific, more creative in terms of the music that I’ve been making. And more able to continue to make music. And that’s the backbone of everything else. I know people really want me to make videos and imagery. And I’m very flattered they want that of me. But none of that can happen without music. So if you are my fan, then at least you can rest assured that the thing that creates everything else is there. There’s nothing to worry about.
10/03/2010
Clash Music interview
A recent interview with Roisin from clashmusic.com:There are troopers, and then there’s Roisin Murphy. Not only did she film the famous ‘Sing It Back’ video with a dance-threatening injury, but here she is, spurting out new material not three weeks after becoming a mum.
Salutes all round, then. Mind you, even dancefloor icons have their limits...
“It’s much too soon for me to be thinking about going out and playing again… maybe when Clodagh’s past the ‘nightclub’ stage. Right now she sleeps all day and likes to come alive for a bit of a dance through the night. She’s a lot like her mother that way.”
Still, even before Murphy Jr came into the world, she’d already inspired the recently-emerged track ‘Momma’s Place’, in which Roisin dishes out sound motherly advice while incongruous jagged disco implosions blart away, suggesting that being with child did wonderful things for her muse.
“I’ve been very prolific while pregnant,” she admits. “Hormonally I was very inspired, and, of course, doing [big single] ‘Overpowered’ has given me lots more confidence, I don’t get shy any more about working in any situation or with anyone at all, which is quite new for me.”
Indeed, the ex-Moloko lass can now hand-pick her production partners, the likes of cutting-edge dance types Crookers, although those collaborations are unlikely to see the light of day in traditional fashion. Even for someone who once swam, albeit slightly off-kilterdly, in proper pop circles, that’s not how this return is panning out at all. She’s releasing tracks one at a time, but good-naturedly refutes the idea that they’re singles.
“I like the idea that you can just bring something out now and have it not be about the video, not be about being a pop star, just be about the music. You can let it live and find its own level with people, and I’m finding that really interesting at the moment,” she explains. “Mind you, I’m never interested in anything for too long, but this is much better than having endless discussions with a record label about which single to start with and what’s going to go with it, which is probably wrong anyway.”
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with all the new stuff, though,” she concedes. “I might well decide that it probably should be an album at some point.”
Still no master plan then, but at least she knows what’s coming next. “The next track’s going to be ‘Demon Lover’, which is a lot more funky house. And it’s got some MCing on it! It’s got Wiley on, Donaeo, Kano’s on there too. I asked them - well, I begged them - to do it, and they all really wanted to. They’re all fans of my stuff - well, maybe it’s their girlfriends that are fans of it, but they did it anyway.”
So that’s what 2010 holds: lots of people she likes, songs that’ll show up when and how they’re good and ready, and a sensibility that’s broadly dancefloor-based but otherwise impossible to classify. Is she conscious of constantly challenging her audience?
“I’m conscious of always challenging myself,” comes the reply. “Every record I’ve ever made has been a huge jump for me. I’m probably a bit of a challenge addict, to be honest, although if I was totally addicted I’d probably bring out an Irish folk album! You should see me doing that in the pub. There’s not a dry eye in the house.”
Words by Iain Moffat
Roisin & Crookers live
A picture of Roisin performing live with Crookers on Friday in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
If you've missed it, click here to listen to Pete Tong's show.
Thanks to Betty!
05/03/2010
Momma's Place - the 'lost' remix
When I first reported on the release of the Momma's Place EP, the track listing included a remix by HeavyFeet. However, when the EP was released it did not include this remix for some unknown reason.
You can now download the remix for free via the official HeavyFeet blog. Click here for the links.
You can now download the remix for free via the official HeavyFeet blog. Click here for the links.