CITY Issue 52

He’s now exhibited everywhere from London and Paris to Perth, Copenhagen, and New York, and has earned himself cult-figure status worldwide with his quirky books, short films, and public artwork. In 2003, he animated the music video for Blur’s “Good Song” and more recently designed the cover for Deerhoof ’s Friend Opportunity, a job perfectly suited for someone whose interest in art stemmed from a desire at the age of 12 to make album covers for Adam and the Ants. Two years ago, continuing on a somewhat musical path, Shrigley joined forces with indie German record label Tomlab to create Worried Noodles, a conceptual artwork that consisted of “a record sleeve without a record inside” and a songbook. This first version was so popular that earlier this year Shrigley and Tomlab decided to develop the project into a proper, full-length album. Numerous musicians were sent a copy of the songbook and asked to turn any of the poetry into music without any guidance as to how it should be performed. “The book had lots of drawings and texts in it. I guess the texts were only ‘songs’ because they were called such,” says Shrigley. The metamorphosis was more than anyone expected. “The words written on a page are different from the words spoken, and are different again from the words sung,” he says. “The different performances of my words on the record are a delight to me.” The final version of Worried Noodles is a 39-track album of Shrigley’s lyrics performed by musicians and bands like David Byrne, TV on the Radio, Franz Ferdinand, Deerhoof, and Hot Chip. The two-disc album is also accompanied by a hardcover version of the original songbook of Shrigley’s illustrations. This unusual crossbreeding of art forms makes for a fantastic modern day mash-up actually worth paying attention to. Not bad for a guy with a piece of paper, a black pen, and a creative process that he describes this way: “I just sit in front of a blank page and fill it up.” Spoken like a true (not-so-amateur) doodler. To promote the album, multimedia gigs will be taking place in London, Berlin, New York, and San Francisco this fall. The shows will feature live sets from bands who contributed to Worried Noodles along with animated films throughout the night. Visit www.worriednoodles.com or www.davidshrigley .com for more information and dates. Worried Noodles, a 39track, multiple-musician album inspired by the illustrations of artist David Shrigley (like the four above), is available now from Tomlab. CITY 59 http://www.worriednoodles.com http://www.davidshrigley.com http://www.davidshrigley.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CITY Issue 52

CITY Issue 52 Contents Letter from CITY Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment In Rogue Fit The Amused Bouche Fast Food Must Haves Hot Wheels Idol Handlers Design Public Affairs Pluck of the Draw Novel Ideas Monster's Belle Not Guilty The Understudies The Hunger Elastique Where to Buy It Socials Icon

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