The Rotifer album "Coach Number 12 of 11" is out in Austria, Germany (what about Switzerland?) and the Benelux countries. You can get it in the UK at Rough Trade shops, as well as pretty much everywhere via the Wohnzimmer Records online shop, roughtrade.com or amazon, or as an mp3 approximation on itunes, emusic and various other music sites.
Here's a very nice thing Robert Wyatt wrote about it on a postcard:
"In fact I really like your no-nonsense accompaniments to your terrific lyrics: I'm thinking of the Frankfurt Kitchen - I love that... Artists can be so vague, I love the specificity of such stuff. The 1st rate artwork also."
And here are Darren Hayman's liner notes:
"Robert Rotifer claims to be Austrian, but he’s lying through his teeth. Robert Rotifer is English, as English as Lacoste, as English as Rickenbacker guitars, as English as Chicken Tikka Masala. Robert writes in his second language better than I think in my first.
I’m 37, and I don’t really know how to make friends anymore. You can’t say ‘Do you want to come round my house to play?’. I guess I’ve met Robert maybe ten times in ten years. The last time was in his kitchen and his wife, Judith, made Leek and Fennel soup. So I guess we might be friends now. Robert lives in a very old English house, in a very old English town. What’s he trying to prove?
It’s all about travel with Robert. He commutes from Canterbury to London, and sometimes from London to Vienna. He seems to find travelling difficult too. He worries if he’s on the right train carriage, especially when the announcement tells him he’s on coach twelve of eleven.
I spent a whole evening watching Battlestar Galactica while Robert kept texting me from a three-hour traffic jam in Bexleyheath. I spent four hours in congestion with him on the M11. The man’s a jinx. The planes and motorways do get him home eventually. Robert writes songs about home and travel. He writes about things close to him and the things that drag him away.
There is a real need for unknown songwriters, its Robert’s tough luck that he isn’t more popular, but it’s our good fortune. We need the undiscovered to write songs about trains and kitchen designers for us. Successful artists don’t tend to do that as much.
Robert is good too, very good. I might even say he’s one of the best Kent based Austrian songwriters in the business and I know a few."
Let's just say I prefer Perrys, Fenders and Korma, but apart from that he's spot on.
dbl7", 1996
CD, 2001
7", 2002
CD, 2004
CD, 2006
CD, 2008
In the meantime, you could also go to my proper website www.robertrotifer.co.uk which has a handy album player, some old songs, diary entries, videos and more.
Finally, a few generous quotes on 2006's "Before the Water Wars":
"I don't understand how, with English as a second language, Robert Rotifer writes better lyrics than most English songwriters including myself. (Of course, I'd never let him know this). Before The Water Wars is an absolutely charming album that stands comfortably alongside anything by Richard Hawley. Great musical moments, really confident vocals and those lyrics: 'Sit down here with me boy / look at my face / I've got more chins than you've got balls...' I wish I'd written that. (But don't tell Robert.)" - Eric Goulden aka Wreckless Eric
"You can hear The Fear in this beautiful record. To me this sounds like Belle & Sebastian in Ziggy outfits. A wonderful sixites country melody, and in the background five gay English cowboys blowing their hunting horns (I might have watched too much Brokeback Mountain). My favourite song on the record is 'Schengenländer Die!' I think I'm going to cry. That poor Schengenländer, his game is up. The swine!" - Nick McCarthy, Franz Ferdinand
"Here we have the fantastic new long player from Vienna's finest singer-songwriter Robert Rotifer. It was recorded in (almost) 24 hours, Robert Rotifer's third album shows that it's crafted by someone who's got the ear, the brains, the heart and the fingers of a great songwriter. This is a great album." -
Rough Trade Record Shop
The Stowaway by theyshootmusic.com, now full version!
NTSOBC presents two slices of magic pie with Michael J Sheehy & Gemma Ray at The Lexington this Thursday (16/7) and O'Death at The 100 Club next Thursday (23/7).
Thanks for your compliments. Picturebox are still on the go but these are songs which don't really fit with the band. Seem to be writing more of these than band ones lately.
The BellRays headline a night of maximum rock'n'soul on Thursday next
week at The Borderline with Los Chicos and King Salami & The
Cumberland 3 playing live and Corn Rocket Club DJs on the wheels of
steel.
Click on flyer for tickets.....
Other forthcoming NTSOBC action:
July
Thrs 9 BellRays + Los Chicos + King Salami & The Cumberland 3 @ Borderline, London, W1
Thrs 16 Micheal Sheehy & The Hired Mourners + Gemma Ray @ The Lexington, London, N1
Thrs 23 O’Death @ The 100 Club, London, W1
September
Friday 11 T-Model Ford @ The Luminaire, London, NW6
Saturday 12 T-Model Ford @ The Luminaire, London, NW6
Tues 15 Bob Log III @ The Luminaire, Kilburn, London, NW6
Thanks Robert! Good to hear from you too. the demos were recorded at Blue Room, Steve Freeman's studio in canterbury, where i usually record. Close mikiing and relaxed live takes i think helped with the vibe. Cheers, iain
Ich Bin Zu Dritt sind Franz Bröckel, Peter Bellmond und Chris Duller. Am Fr 19.06. erstmals live im B72. PÜNKTLICHST um 22.00 Uhr! http://www.myspace.com/ichbinzudritt
Hi Robert... just passed by to let you know that I enjoyed your show with Darren in Vienna very much...please keep me informed about any upcoming show in Vienna...can't wait any longer... Best regards Bernhard
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