Art Brut recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of their debut single, “Formed a Band,” and they’re getting ready to look back on two decades of witty, shouty observational songs with two retrospective compilations. There’s a two-LP vinyl set, A Record Collection, Reduced To A Mixtape, and the five-CD And Yes, This Is My Singing Voice! Both are out July 5 and you can pre-order here.
Where the double-LP set is basically a greatest hits, pulling from their entire discography, plus a few rarities, the CD box set contains Art Brut’s first two albums — 2005’s Bang Bang Rock and Roll and 2007’s It’s a Bit Complicated — in full, plus full discs worth of b-sides, unreleased songs, rarities, and bootlegs for each of those albums, and a fifth disc with is a full live recording from Paris, 2006. The box also comes with a zine and new liner notes by frontman Eddie Argos.
“I’ve compiled a very thorough scrapbook of Art Brut’s first five years,” says frontman Eddie Argos of the box set. “It has all the self released ‘Brutlegs’, recordings with Russell Senior, the songs released on Rough Trade, our first two albums, a live album from Paris that I’ve just this second realised I should have titled ‘That’s in Paris’, all our B-Sides (remember B-Sides?) and pretty much anything else we recorded in that period. I hid all my darkest secrets on our B-Sides so I’m excited for you to hear them.”
You can listen to “Home Altars of Mexico” which is from the Bang Bang Rock and Roll bonus disc and was originally a b-side to “Good Weekend.” Says Eddie, “‘Home Altars of Mexico’ is about me not being able to throw anything away because I attach a lot of sentiment to everything. I’m still like that, I don’t throw anything away my flat is full of the detritus of my personal life – passport booth photos, concert tickets, just loads of scraps of paper. I’m a nightmare. It turns out though, my hoarder mentality, was especially useful when it came to compiling a series of career-long Box Sets.”
Listen to “Home Altars of Mexico,” and check out artwork and tracklists for both compilations, below.
A second CD box set will feature the rest of Art Brut’s output to date — stay tuned for details on that. They’ve also got fall UK/EU tour dates lined up and those are listed below.
A Record Collection, Reduced To A Mixtape:
Side A
1) Formed a Band
2) My Little Brother
3) Emily Kane
4) Good Weekend
5) Pump Up The Volume
6) Nag Nag Nag
Side B
1) St Pauli
2) Alcoholics Unanimous
3) DC Comics & Chocolate Milkshake
4) Summer Job
5) Unprofessional Wrestling
6) Axl Rose
Side C
1) Lost Weekend
2) Hooray!
3) She Kissed Me (And It Felt Like A Hit)
4) I Hope You’re Very Happy Together
5) Modern Art Berlin Live
Side D
1) Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out!
2) Arizona Bay
3) Just Deserts
4) We Make Pop Music (Berlin Live)
5) Post Soothing Out (Berlin Live)
And Yes, This Is My Singing Voice!:
CD1 – Bang Bang Rock and Roll
1) Formed A Band
2) My Little Brother
3) Emily Kane
4) Rusted Guns Of Milan
5) Modern Art
6) Good Weekend
7) Bang Bang Rock & Roll
8) Fight!
9) Moving To L.A.
10) Bad Weekend
11) 18,000 Lira
12) Subliminal Desire For Adventure
CD2 – It’s A Bit Complicated
1) Pump Up The Volume
2) Direct Hit
3) St. Pauli
4) People In Love
5) Late Sunday Evening
6) I Will Survive
7) Post Soothing Out
8) Blame It On The Trains
9) Soundtrack Of The Summer
10) Nag Nag Nag Nag
11) Jealous Guy
CD3 – Bang Bang Rock and Roll, Bootlegs and B-Sides + Live From ULU w/ Horns
1) Formed a Band (Brutleg/Single Version)
2) Bad Weekend (Brutleg/Single Version)
3) Modern Art (Brutleg / Single Version)
4) My Little Brother (Brutleg / Single Version)
5) Good Weekend (Brutleg)
6) 18,000 Lira (Brutleg)
7) Bang Bang Rock and Roll (Brutleg)
8) Moving to LA (Brutleg)
9) Moving to LA Acoustic (Brutleg)
10) These Animal Menswe@r
11) It’s About Time
12) Maternity Ward
13) Really Bad Weekend
14) Every Other Weekend
15) Home Altars of Mexico
16) Top Of The Pops! Art Brut (and Friends)
17) Don’t Blame It On the Trains
18) Enrique Gatti (Subliminal Desire For Adventure) (Brutleg)
19) Pump Up The Volume – With Horns
20) Moving To LA – With Horns
21) Late Sunday Evening – With Horns
22) Emily Kane – With Horns
23) Post Soothing Out – With Horns
24) Direct Hit – With Horns
25) Good Weekend – With Horns
CD4 – It’s A Bit Complicated (Bootlegs & B-Sides)
1) I Found This Song In The Road
2) Our Parents Record Collection
3) Wasted Week-End
4) I Want To Be Double A-Sided
5) Ignorance Is Bliss
6) Direct Hit (Alternate Vesrion)
7) Direct Hit (Duet With Hank Starrs From Animals That Swim)
8) Late Sunday Evening (Alternate Version)
9) Blame It On The Trains (Russell Senior Version)
10) Post Soothing Out (Russell Senior Version)
11) St Pauli (Russell Senior Version)
12) Bad Weekend (Live Eurokéennes Festival 06)
13) Formed A Band (Live Eurokéennes Festival 06)
14) Emily Kane (Live Eurokéennes Festival 06)
15) These Animal Menswe@r (Live Eurokéennes Festival 06)
CD5 – Live in Paris 06/02/2006
1) Formed A Band
2) My Little Brother
3) These Animal Menswe@r
4) Bang Bang Rock and Roll
5) Blame It On The Trains
6) Moving To LA
7) Rusted Guns of Milan
8) Modern Art
9) St Pauli
10) Post Soothing Out
11) Emily Kane
12) Bad Weekend
13) Stand Down
14) 18,000 Lira
15) Good Weekend
Art Brut – 2024 Tour Dates
05.09 – Edinburgh – Voodoo
06.09 – Newcastle – The Grove
25.09 – Mainz – Schon Schön
26.09 – Schorndorf – Manufaktur
27.09 – Berlin – Lido
28.09 – Hamburg – Molotow
29.09 – Dresden – Beatpol
30.09 – Köln – Gebäude 9
25.10 – Birmingham – C&F
26.10 – London – Brixton Electric
27.10 – Brighton – Concorde 2
28.10 – Margate – Where Else