Rotifer are pleased to announce a succession of European live dates in March following the release of their 60 + 70s tinged album "The Hosting Couple", which was released on Edwyn Collins, Grace Maxell and James Endeacott's label AED Records. The two UK dates are in London on 1 March at The Hideaway and on 30 March at Power Lunches.
March 1 The Hideaway, Tufnell Pk - http://www.wegottickets.com/event/153682
March 2 Flex, Vienna
March 3 Forum Stadtpark, Graz
March 4 Baeckerei, Innsbruck
March 30, Power Lunches (Tigercats)
Fronted by creative multi-tasker Robert Rotifer, a songwriter, guitarist, writer and artist of Viennese extraction who has been based in the UK since the late 90s, Rotifer explores various styles of music from 60s psychedelia to garage punk to create a rich and varied listening experience. Having gone through various line-ups, a permanent three-piece was formed with the additions of Darren Hayman (ex-Hefner) on bass and producer/multi-instrumentalist Ian Button on drums.
Rotifer's knack for teaming up with significant collaborators extended to the recording of The Hosting Couple, which was produced by Stiff Records legend Wreckless Eric at his mad-cap studio in the French Countryside, where he and his wife (American songwriter Amy Rigby) made Rotifer feel very welcome. This feeds in to the themes of The Hosting Couple, which in turn refers to Eric and Amy (at their studio in France), Edwyn and Grace (on their record label) as well as the couple who hosted Robert as a youngster on an exchange to England from Austria.
Other themes on the record range from the whimsical - such as childhood holidays in Essex on "Canvey Island" (taken as the first single from the album, which received plaudits from the likes of Drowned in Sound), to the paranoid - remote-controlled drones dropping bombs on your hometown, to a tribute - a song about the deceased Austrian sound poet Ernst Jandl.
Robert Rotifer was part of the Vostok 5 collective along with Darren Hayman, Paul Rains (Allo Darlin'), Duncan Fletcher (Tigercats) and Sarah Lipsett (Fever Dream), who were all musicians exhibiting together with artwork featuring animals and people in space. Robert also designs and illustrates all of his sleeve designs and videos, one of which ended up being exhibited in New York's MoMA last year.
Robert had penned a tribute song "The Frankfurt Kitchen" (which came out on an earlier album, and was rerecorded last year as a b-side for the "Canvey Island" seven inch single), which focused around Grete Schütte-Lihotzky, who was the first woman architect in Austria and inventor of one of the first prototypes for the fitted kitchen that is generally used in the West today. Both Grete and Robert's grandmother had faught in the resistance together against the Nazis during the Second World War and subsequently become members of the underground Austrian Communist Party. Grete lived to be over 100 before she died. Robert had created a video for the song using simple animation of his own drawings and artwork as a backdrop to him singing solo with a guitar. The video was used by MoMa in New York to compliment their exhibition of Schütte-Lihotzky's work. You can watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbV5tUWhpGg&feature=youtube_gdata_player and for more info read the article here: http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2010/counter_space/blog/the-curse-of-the-kitchen
Already an established muician in his native Austria (where he has topped the indie charts with his five solo albums), he is also the co-founder of Vienna's annual popfest which showcases local talent.
Praise for Rotifer
"When I'm not playing with the Secondary Modern, I sometimes play bass in a band called Rotifer, and I've never had more fun than when I'm playing bass guitar with Robert Rotifer and Ian Button. Robert writes really intelligent, detailed, very exciting and complex pop songs, and it's a pleasure to play with him." Darren Hayman
"My favourite record of the year is an album called The Hosting Couple by a band called Rotifer, especially the tune Aberdeen Marine Lab, a ridiculous garage punk thrash in the fine tradition of The Prisoners, Milkshakes, Headcoats etc." (Andy Lewis (Paul Weller's bass player and founder of Blow Up club)
"If you found the most recent Wave Pictures album a little same, might I suggest Robert Rotifer, who works in a similar you-are-there tales of English life (though he’s Australian-born) but is maybe — maybe — a little more varied musically. It might interest you further to know that Wreckless Eric produced the album and that Darren Hayman is in the band. Hefner, Wave Pictures, Wreckless Eric… Rotifer!" - Soundbites NYC - Top 50 albums of the year
"While plundering the music of the 60s and 70s for influence can often go wrong (see Oasis) Rotifer’s genuine fondness for the music and culture of the country he now calls home gives this album a warmth and honesty that other plunderers can only dream of." - Neon Filler
http://www.robertrotifer.co.uk/
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