Pitchfork

Hey kids! Welcome to the Super Furry Clubhouse, where we have another Super Furry Update on those Super Furry Welshmen, the Super Furry Animals. We told you two weeks ago that the psychedelic pop-proggers were releasing a new disc to be called Phantom Power in July. In honor of the French and their fighting spirit, SFA will celebrate Bastille Day with a July 14th (July 15th here) street date via Beggars Group. As a forerunner to the LP, the first single "Golden Retriever" will hit airwaves on June 30th. Phantom Power will be available in both the standard plastic disc with mere 5.1 stereo surround sound and as a DVD, thereby creating a new basis for division of social classes, as foretold by Marx. Tracklist:

01 Hello Sunshine
02 Liberty Belle
03 Golden Retriever
04 Sex, War And Robots
05 The Piccolo Snare
06 Venus And Serena
07 Father Father #1
08 Bleed Forever
09 Out Of Control
10 City Scape Sky Baby
11 Father Father #2
12 Valet Parking
13 The Undefeated
14 Slow Life

Talking to the NME (because they're more conveniently located in relation to Wales, we tell ourselves, sobbing), head Furry Gruff Rhys commented on a few of the upcoming album's tracks. With respect to "Golden Retriever" he noted, "This is different [from previous album Rings Around the World's single "Juktapozed With U"], but it's still got a Furry sound. There's never gonna be a song that represents the whole album, but we talked about it and agreed on this one."

He also tried to deny the fact that "Liberty Belle" is clearly an innuendo about how Britain is America's beeyatch: "But the song's not specifically about the U.S. It's saying that responsibility [for Sept. 11] lies with everyone in the world. There's no point blaming Americans for everything. People are the same everywhere. It's saying we have to learn from our mistakes." Hey Gruff, we haven't. Give up your oil! We know you have some.

Meanwhile, the band is still scheduled to play Stephen Malkmus' "Down the Dustpipe" festival and is rumored to be appearing at the Glastonbury festival. As for the show with the Jicks' leader, Rhys had this to say: "We're big fans of Stephen Malkmus. I think that night we're going to concentrate on the more acoustic side of the band." Alright, so no club drugs at the Malkmus show, kids, this is strictly a cannibis-friendly environ.