With their much-anticipated debut album, Performance, out this week on Double Denim, Liverpudlian five-piece Outfit put together a guest playlist for us based around the connotations of the record’s title: Performance. Watch and read on for vintage Jim Carrey stand-up, the ‘worst band ever’ (though they’re probably not), and, of course, Goodnight Moon. But first, here’s the recently released video for ’I Want What’s Best’, which itself highlights another type of performance.
1. The Songsmiths – ‘Sleep Gets Your Ghost’ (Buke and Gase Cover)
“We went to see these guys play in Liverpool last night. They play self-modified instruments which sound really trashy and cool, and their songs are like dense, folk-infused, noise pop. This is a cool choir version of ‘Sleep Gets Your Ghost’ by Buke and Gase. In a sterile gymnasium for extra weird.”
2. Jim Carrey – ‘Faces’
“The actor of our generation? Half man, half modelling balloon? This video was good for neutralising tension within the Outfit camp. Apply liberally to the eyes and just you try and disagree about reverb with the person sat next to you…”
3. The Associates – ‘Party Fears Two’
“Such nerves and tension in this amazing song. Piece of pop trivia – apparently ‘William, It Was Really Nothing‘ by The Smiths is about lead singer Billy MacKenzie.”
4. Greek Stars In Their Eyes – ‘Your Face Sounds Familiar’
“This is insanity. ¯\(°_o)/¯”
5. Ulay & Abramović – ‘AAA AAA’
“The film is black and white, the audio charmingly thin. A man and a woman appear onscreen screaming into each other’s mouths. Only after a few minutes does the sound they make begin to resonate with a primal urgency and unsettling sexual fury as each one falls into chance harmonic encounters with the other and desperately, gratefully, lets it all out.”
6. Hennessy Youngman – ‘Performance Art’
“Then along comes art badass Hennessy Youngman to tell them that “Performance Art is a pre-internet method of annoying groups of people using your body and voice in conjunction in order to create a compelling spectacle that heightens said annoyance”.
All of a sudden Jay-Z is cancelling his plans to furiously masturbate and rap the entirety of Magna Carta under the MOMA gallery floor. Shame.”
7. Daniel Songer – ‘Child In My Mind’
“A long-time source of entertainment for Outfit and a perfect model to embody our culture’s need to share, holler and gyrate just to know someone’s watching. After the past two videos, it’s hard not to look at Daniel’s 200 or so videos and not see them as both a feat of endurance and a radical exploration of identity. Maybe I’m reading too much into it….”
8. ‘Worst Band Ever’
“I’d argue that they aren’t the worst band ever, certainly not the best but there aren’t many bands trying to sound like that at that age and for that they have my respect. Looks like a pretty awkward show..”
9. McAlmont & Butler – ‘Yes’
“In one of the YouTube comments sections for this song someone says, ‘when McAlmont opens his mouth a cathedral falls out’. Truth.”
10. ‘Goodnight Moon’
“If this doesn’t make you feel good, you’re dead.”
- Alex Cull
Performance is available now on Double Denim. You can order it here.