British indie rock band Art Brut have announced the release of two new ‘best of’ compilations and an upcoming UK and European tour. The compilations, titled ‘A Record Collection, Reduced To A Mixtape’ and ‘And Yes, This Is My Singing Voice!’, will be released on July 4th via Demon Records and Edsel. ‘A Record Collection, Reduced To A Mixtape’ is a double LP featuring tracks from Art Brut’s seminal albums ‘Bang Bang Rock And Roll’, ‘It’s A Bit Complicated’, ‘Art Brut vs Satan’, and ‘Brilliant! Tragic!’, alongside rare live and alternate takes. The compilation was compiled by the band members and serves as the first comprehensive career retrospective from Art Brut since the release of their Top of the Pops album in 2014. It will be pressed on 140g marine green vinyl and limited to 500 copies. A liner note written by frontman Eddie Argos will also be featured, as well as a hand-signed print. ‘And Yes, This Is My Singing Voice!’ is a five-CD box set that includes Art Brut’s first two albums, ‘Bang Bang Rock and Roll’ and ‘It’s A Bit Complicated’, as well as unreleased live material, demo takes, alternative mixes, and a 24-page zine. The set also includes a 2,000-word liner note from Argos, exclusive photography of the band, and a signed print of an original Art Brut artwork, painted by the singer. In addition to the new compilations, Art Brut have announced a series of UK and European tour dates throughout the latter half of the year. The gigs kick off with a slot at Voodoo in Edinburgh on September 5th, and continue with slots in Newcastle, Mainz, Schornforf, Berlin, Hamburg, Dresden, and Köln across the month. The tour then continues at the end of October, when the band return to the UK for gigs at Birmingham’s C&F, London’s Brixton Electric, Brighton’s Concorde 2, and Where Else in Margate. Tickets for the tour will go on sale this Friday, April 26th. The announcement of the new shows comes after Art Brut performed their 2005 debut album ‘Bang Bang Rock & Roll’ in full at a special show in London in 2022, as well as some fan favorites. In an interview with NME’s series Does Rock n’ Roll Kill Braincells?! in 2021, Eddie Argos recalled the time that We Are Scientists covered the ‘Bang Bang Rock & Roll’ title track “in the style of The Velvet Underground”. “We toured with them around America in 2006 and we were going to do a split seven-inch so they covered ‘Bang Bang Rock & Roll’ and we covered [We Are Scientists’] ‘The Great Escape’,” Argos remembered. “We thought it would be funny to go into a note-for-note rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Free Bird’ but we couldn’t get the publishing clearance for a decade.”
Art Brut Announce New Compilations and UK/European Tour
