In a statement released this morning, Owen said:

“Friends,

I began playing solo violin shows in 2004. Although it was essentially a solo project, I named the band Final Fantasy, as the experience–and the tone of the material–was reminiscent of the hours and hours I had spent as an adolescent playing those epic JRPGs.

But the laws of trademark infringement exist for good reason, and so I am voluntarily retiring my band name. In the new year, my record Heartland is coming out, and it is my first to be released in many territories, including Japan. With this in mind, I feel it is in my own best interests to definitively distinguish my music from Square/Enix’s games.

So, I am no longer playing shows as Final Fantasy. Subsequent releases, including Heartland, will be issued under my own name, Owen Pallett. Prior releases will sometime soon be re-packaged and re-issued.

I thank Square/Enix their kindness and support, and I thank you all for your understanding.

Salud!

Owen Pallett”

Makes sense really!

Picture by Regis Andrade

Our original review of the album said:

The Resistance may not be their most cohesive work yet, and certainly not their finest, but it’s not too far off. Any producer in the world would probably have changed so much of this that you’d never recognise it, but it’s Muse’s ability to take risks and do things their own way which has made them one of the greatest bands in the world.

So, a worthy winner? There was some pretty stiff competition from Bombay Bicycle Club, Grammatics and Arctic Monkeys, but the boys from Devon held firm until the very end to win our first end of year poll.

Stay tuned for the TMM Writers’ Choice Award, which is slightly different to the winner of our public poll.

After the album is released, the band will be heading out to perform the following shows:

FEBRUARY
12 Glasgow O2 Academy
13 Edinburgh Picture House
15 Nottingham Rock City
16 Leeds O2 Academy
18 Newcastle O2 Academy
19 Manchester Academy
20 Birmingham O2 Academy
22 Bournemouth O2 Academy
23 Bristol O2 Academy
24 Norwich UEA
26 London O2 Brixton Academy
27 London O2 Brixton Academy

You can catch the band on the following dates:

JANUARY
07 London, Hoxton Bar and Grill (already sold out)

FEBRUARY
24 Glasgow, Nice n Sleazy
25 Leeds Brudenell Social Club
26 Manchester, Islington Mill
28 Sheffield

MARCH
01 Birmingham, O2 Academy 2
02 Oxford, O2 Academy 2
03 London, Scala
05 Dublin, Crawdaddy
06 Belfast, The Pavilion First

Picture by PixelJelly

This year’s list is no different, and alongside the Drums, Everything Everything and Marina And The Diamonds you’ll find Owl City, Hurts and Devlin. The list spreads from bubblegum pop (Daisy Dares You) to rap (Giggs) via soul (Rox), with electronica also represented fairly well through the aforementioned Everything Everything, Delphic and Gold Panda.

So, that longlist in full:

• Daisy Dares You
• Delphic
• Devlin
• The Drums
• Everything Everything
• Giggs
• Gold Panda
• Ellie Goulding
• Hurts
• Joy Orbison
• Marina And The Diamonds
• Owl City
• Rox
• Stornoway
• Two Door Cinema Club

All worthy winners, I’m sure you’ll agree. With the exception of Daisy Dares You who appears to have made it onto the list as a joke. For us, it’s between Everything Everything, Delphic and Two Door Cinema Club – but we’ve been wrong before.

You can find the full BBC coverage of this year’s competition here.

Dispersing with the myth that “Asobi Seksu will make loads and loads of cash touring England with White Lies”, the band have said:

Support bands on large tours like this make next to nothing. The headliners rely on the fact that the exposure is incentive enough – so they don’t offer much in the way of actual money. It’s nothing against White Lies – we most definitely appreciate the chance to tour with them. It’s simply the nature of this business we’re in. And since we’re traveling [sic] all the way to England from New York, we have to spend a lot of money on necessities: plane tickets, gear rental, van rental, tour manager, sound engineer, hotels (even the cheap ones without heat are expensive!), gas, food, etc. These costs add up quickly, and each day we’ll spend more money than we earn. So we actually stand to lose over $10,000 on the tour. That’s the trade-off to play for 4,000 people a night, instead of, say, 300. Worth it? We think so!

The band are asking fans to help out and make their UK support slot a reality. They have until 31 December to raise as much money as possible and at the time of writing – midday on 4 December – they’ve managed to make 75% of their target.

Anyone who stumps up cash in support of the band won’t just be helping them come over here though, there are actually incentives for people to pledge more and more. Including…

• Pledge $1 or more: A digital download of one song from our new acoustic album, ReWolf.
• Pledge $5 or more: A digital download of the entire acoustic album.
• Pledge $10 or more: A personalized thank you postcard + Asobi Seksu buttons + the acoustic album download.
• Pledge $15 or more: A signed physical copy of the Transparence 10” (on clear vinyl!) which was released in August + the acoustic album download.
• Pledge $25 or more: A signed and personalized Asobi Seksu poster + a signed physical copy of the Transparence 10” (on clear vinyl!) + the acoustic album download + Asobi Seksu buttons.

You get the idea. Anyway, this goes on up to a pledge of $5,000 or more, for which the lucky donater will receive “a private acoustic performance for you and your friends anywhere in the New York/Tri-State area”.

Not bad, and certainly a novel idea. You can head over here to track the band’s progress, see how many people have pledged, and maybe donate a bit of cash of your own. They’ve been here with the band since November, and there are only three nights of the tour left – lets hope it’s all been worthwhile!

Starring Dev Hynes himself – pretty obvious, since he is Lightspeed Champion – it’s set in the sweltering hit of Death Valley and comes complete with bouncy rhythm and a short but sweet guitar solo. Its the first song from Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You, which is down for a 1 Feb release via Domino.

Anyway, enough of us. Check it out below:

It’s the third such record, titled Heartland, and will be available on January 18 to wash away your post-Christmas blues. We realise we’re teasing you here, so if you can’t wait that long the good folk over at Domino are giving you lucky people the chance to listen to it now in exchange for that most vital of music-buying commodity – your e-mail address.

So, if that’s your thing, head on over to www.dominorecordco.com/freelewis (or just click the link if you’re lazy) and get your own copy of Lewis Takes Action absolutely free. And as if that wasn’t enough, you’ll also be entered into a competition to win one of 25 limited edition signed 7″ singles of the same song.

The upcoming album, Heartland, is the third Final Fantasy album to date and comes after nine months of work in four different countries. True to form, it’s a fully orchestral record, which is apparently designed “to exist simultaneously as an album, a 45 minute piece of orchestral music and a set of songs for looped violin and voice”. Sounds fancy.

Final Fantasy will be performing at the Union Chapel in London on January 25, with further dates for March 2010 to be announced soon.

Says Pallett of Heartland:

The songs themselves form a narrative concerning a farmer named Lewis and the fictional world of Spectrum. The songs are one-sided dialogues with Lewis, a young, ultra-violent farmer, speaking to his creator. The album was compositionally modeled upon the principles of electronic music. The principles of analog synthesis informing symphonic writing, like an inversion of a Tomita record. These songs, too, were designed to be as dense with polyphony as the Final Fantasy live shows can become. While writing it, I kept an image in my head of putting so many notes on the page that the paper turned black. This record encapsulates a whole year of work for me, and was difficult to see through, but I’m immensely proud of the results. I hope you enjoy it.

We do too.

Bad For Lazarus: Old Rats On A New Ship (Shit Chic)

Normally songs that feature a distorted, shouty vocal tend to drift away from me fairly quickly, however I’m surprised to find that Bad For Lazarus’ single is, actually, pretty good. There’s an edge to the band, and it comes across on this raw introduction. It’s offbeat, catchy, and definitely one of the more unique offerings this time round – meaning it’s this week’s best song.

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Detachments: Circles (Thisisnotanexit)

I half expected the intro to Circles to lapse into Funky Town at points, which would have improved the song ten-fold as it happens. Four minutes of the same plodding synth and bass is just dull, and Detachments seem somewhat lacking in inspiration. It doesn’t go anywhere, and could definitely have done with being at least half the length.

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Lily Allen: Who’d Have Known (Regal)

Lily Allen’s attempt at an everywoman ballad – “who’d have known, when you flash up on my phone, I no longer feel alone” – just doesn’t wash here. The everyday banality of her lyrics is exposed horribly when it’s not backed up by a half-decent tune, ala Smile and It’s Not Fair. This low tempo affair is one of the worst things she’s ever released… so avoid at all costs.

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Newton Faulkner: Over And Out (RCA)

It’s strange that Newton’s label choose to release his attempts at pop ballads. The brilliant Dream Catch Me aside, it’s just not what this incrediby talented individual is about. This latest effort is standard chart fare – good vocal, catchy melody, powerful chorus. But considering this is a man who was tutored by the late Eric Roche (who mentored Faulkner in his unique percussion style of guitar playing), then surely his guitar playing should be given more room to shine? A good song, but you get the feeling they’re trying to turn him into an everyday popstar.

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