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styrofoam

a thousand words

About Me


STYROFOAM
"A Thousand Words" new album
out now digitally in North America and UK/Europe Itunes US go here
Itunes UK go here Itunes Belgium go here Itunes Netherlands go here Itunes Germany go here

cd release April 20 (UK/Europe) - June 10, 2008 (North America)

A THOUSAND WORDS is the sixth album for indie/electro pop artist STYROFOAM. It is also the first for Nettwerk, and Styrofoam creator Arne Van Petegem is audibly excited about his new worldwide home.

Styrofoam phase one found the project coming to international acclaim after joining the roster of Berlin-based Morr Music in 2000. Working with the label afforded the Antwerp, Belgium-based producer an active participating role in the burgeoning Berlin scene, which was then hybridizing indie rock with experimental electronics. He also cross-pollinated with collaborations with fellow Morr artists like the Notwist and Lali Puna and remixed other artists such as Jimmy Eat World (which he’s toured with), the Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie.

Phase two eschews previous methods of what he calls “bedroom producing” in favor of a fresh approach. Breaking the mold from previous Styrofoam albums, which were self-produced, A Thousand Words enlisted the guidance of WAX LTD (Wally Gagel and Xandy Berry), a Los Angeles production team with some pretty varied credits ranging from Sebadoh and Tanya Donelly to the Eels and Folk Implosion—and even the Backstreet Boys and Jessica Simpson. That experience with both indie rock and pop was something Van Petegem found very attractive.

The album features a diverse yet cohesive array of guest vocalists, like Jimmy Eat World’s Jim Adkins (who shines on the rose-colored “My Next Mistake”), Blake Hazard (a indie-pop singer gone digital on “Microscope”) and Josh Rouse (offering a brief memoir of otherness in “Lil White Boy”). But the star vocalist on the album is Van Petegem himself, who has grown out of the, as he puts it, “shy electronic guy afraid of singing” to return to his roots singing in indie rock bands. He sounds relaxed and joyful as he delivers bright, multi-layered harmonies and simple, thought-provoking lyrics.

“I basically wanted to make an uptempo pop album with big choruses to sing along to. I sort of figured I’d made enough sulky midtempo music for the rest of my life . . . I’m very interested in presenting all these weird sounds, bleeps etc. in a package that is quite accessible overall. But when you listen a little deeper, there is still a lot there to discover.

And every second's worth a thousand words.

north american bookings: aero booking
european bookings: mikrokultur
management + benelux bookings: rockoco

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Member Since: 1/13/2005
Band Website: myspace.com/styrofoam
Band Members:

when we play live we sometimes have two boys and one girl and sometimes also two girls and one boy

styrofoam blog blog blog!


Influences: new order, caffé nation , steamed milk, sneaker obsessions, shiny black jackets, cabin fever, sleep deprivation, jawbreaker, cheese sandwich with mustard, caffe etc , the go-betweens, michael faber, ultra vivid scene, new fast automatic daffodils, evolver synths, kick snare kick snare kick snare kick snare kick snare kick snare kick snare, filter sweeps, the stars of heaven, green tea/ginger, classic era creation records (that's before oasis silly), none of this happened for real - it's all made up (no, really), we really like sushi as well but the actual influence of that on how the music sounds is rather minimal
Sounds Like:

happy beats and sad lyrics during an early morning sunrise while downing your first espresso macchiato of the day


Record Label: nettwerk
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

AB release show pictures

A couple days ago we played our record release show at Brussels AB club. Tim Broddin was there to take some cool pictures for wannabes.be (click on "slideshow" which is Dutch for "slideshow)....
Posted by styrofoam on Sun, 04 May 2008 11:18:00 PST

July shows with Death Cab For Cutie!

Our new record "A Thousand Words" just came out in Europe and the UK two days ago and will be out in North America on June 10th.We will be doing a short tour of Germany and Austria early May, then hea...
Posted by styrofoam on Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:49:00 PST

styrofoam on tumblr.com

I started a brand new (micro-)blog on tumblr.com because I heard it's the hip and cool thing to do. Honestly it seemed like the most convenient way to share things and post stuff while on tour.styrofo...
Posted by styrofoam on Sun, 20 Apr 2008 06:08:00 PST

Bright Red Helmet (another new song posted)

I just loaded another song off the new album "A Thousand Words" into the player. This one’s called "Bright Red Helmet". It’s a song about adultery and crash helmets. Don’t try this a...
Posted by styrofoam on Thu, 03 Apr 2008 06:22:00 PST

North American tour June 2 -18

Hello all,I just finished posting all of our upcoming North American tour dates. We will be touring as a three piece band. Broken Spindles (aka Joel Peterson of The Faint) will be joining us for the f...
Posted by styrofoam on Thu, 27 Mar 2008 05:07:00 PST

Polsslag Festival and AB Club shows announced

We are very happy to announce our first Belgian shows of the year. Styrofoam will be appearing at the Polsslag Festival (April 19) where we will be sharing the stage with wonderful artists such as The...
Posted by styrofoam on Sat, 22 Mar 2008 12:12:00 PST

pssst... try-out show tomorrow

For those of you in or around Belgium. We are playing a small try-out show tomorrow (wednesday 12 March) at our friend's Café Video in Ghent. We'll be performing pretty much every song off the new alb...
Posted by styrofoam on Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:00:00 PST

london and then back home

We're almost on our way to London to play our final show opening up for Jimmy Eat World. We've been having a blast playing to lots of new faces. Thanks for showing us so much love. It's been an amazin...
Posted by styrofoam on Sun, 02 Mar 2008 02:28:00 PST

van listening

Hey all a y'all!We're having a blast opening for jimmy eat world in the UK + Ireland. Whoever came to the shows - thanks for showing us so much love... Three shows left now and then it's back to the r...
Posted by styrofoam on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 02:55:00 PST

uk + ireland tour with jimmy eat world

It's been a long long long time but after finishing up the new album "A Thousand Words" (out April 20th in UK/Europe, May 27th in North America), we're now finally ready to head out on tour again. Jim...
Posted by styrofoam on Thu, 21 Feb 2008 01:33:00 PST