The Line Of Best Fit

Shutting Up Shop

2007-02-27T16:16:00.000Z

The Line Of Best Fit as you know and love is closing down.....

And re-opening at a new address with a brand new look.

Myself and a fellow blogger have decided to combine our efforts into one site called remarkably - The Line Of Best Fit which can be found here:

http://www.thelineofbestfit.com

so update your bookmarks etc...

We have big plans for it and hopefully we'll be able to carry them off.

We've got interviews coming up with the Duke Spirit about their new album (a bit of an exclusive that) and The Maccabees talk influences and live on the road, plus there's a chat with the Swedish sensation known as Loney, Dear.

Anyway, please come over and visit us. We'll be nice, I promise.

Q&A with Loney, Dear

2007-02-24T20:36:00.000Z

The moment I heard Loney, Dear back in September of last year I was completely smitten. They were on tour with fellow Swedish band Peter, Bjorn & John and had popped in to do a live session for the Gideon Coe show on BBC6 music. I rarely listen to the station, in fact I can probably count the times on one hand that I've tuned in so I guess it might have been fate? The song I heard was The City, The Airport from last years Sologne - it had me hooked instantly, and, by the power of the Internet a day later I had the album. By the end of the week I'd discovered not only was Loney, Dear in fact a one man band, recording all of his music solely at his home studio but had, in fact self released four albums in three years! Burning CD-R's and selling them through his website he had slowly built an army of loyal fans. It wasn't until Sub Pop discovered him at last years SXSW festival in Austin, Tx that things really took off. Offering to release his fourth album Loney, Noir; it finally hit the streets on February 6th. Its mix of tender confessional lyrics subtly backed with layer upon layer of instrumentals has been met with open arms by fans and critics alike. The man behind the music Emil Svanängen graciously agreed to answer a few questions for me on a rare day off from a busy touring schedule. Here's what he had to say.

Hi Emil, as we are doing this interview by email - where are you right now?

I'm in Solna, Stockholm my last Friday off til summer!

Can you tell me a little bit of background history. When did you first realise you wanted to make music?

I have always wanted to record multitrack, as long as i can remember. Started off first as a kid with two cassette decks, moving on to midisynths, or some kind of built-in-2-track sequencers. Made some music on my Atari 1040, wrote folk songs for two acoustic nylon guitars a bit later. Finally I got a computer 4-5 years ago and everything started.

Where did the name Loney, Dear come from?

The feeling of staying home Friday night building a career instead of being out.

Loney, Noir has been released to fantastic reviews and you seem to be the new darling of the music press. 2007 is shaping up to be a pretty great year for you. How are you enjoying your new found success so far?

I am so glad for hearing that, its hard for me to understand how things are going, but I'm very happy with the reviews, especially since i originally released the album in august 2005 (05:00 13th august in the morning) and only my friends and a couple of fans noticed it. So, I am so happy for getting it out on a broader scale.

But! There is a bit too much touring and I don't have time for making new music. This has been a problem and has made me grieve sometimes. I hope to make some music during the year. I have a couple of songs ready for the next album Dear John, and some of them are very good. Hoping to finish it sometime.

The songs on Loney, Noir are the most consistent of your career so far. Did you have the songs ready before you started recording or was the whole thing a work in progress?

It was a work in progress. Started working on it right after the album Sologne was finished, so I didn't have anything old to rely on. (But Carrying A Stone is a pretty old song)

A lot of your songs start from a simple acoustic guitar backing and slowly build and build into multi layered symphonies. Do you intend for the songs to sound this way or do you just have way too much fun in the studio!?

I love seamless transitions in the changes. Never really liked when things are too obvious and I try to hide the parts to not be easily heard.

Is commercial success important to you? Or are you just happy to put records out?

Yes it is. It makes things a bit easier. But, everything is for the best of the music, I'm not interested in the commerce itself, just want to make the best home for the music. You know, I record the music quite simple, so its something else. Don't know so much about the industry, and don't want to know too much either.

You've been described in the press as Sweden's answer to Bright Eyes. Do you see any similarities there?

No not really, do you?

There is a thriving indie music community in Sweden at the moment, most notably in Stockholm. Is everyone supportive of each other or is the scene very competitive?

Impossible for me to say. The things lying far away from what you're doing is easy to encourage.

All four of your albums have been recorded at your home studio. Do you think you will ever consider recording an album with your full band in a professional studio with a producer in tow?

I might work with a producer sometime if I hear someone I like. I cannot think of any modern classic album I love being recorded live in a studio. I don't like the sound of bands on recordings. But playing live on stage is a completely different game, the band is essential there.

Since putting out Year Of River Fontana and the subsequent albums you have applied a DIY ethic to your work. Burning CD-R's and printing off artwork etc. Now that you are signed to Sub Pop is it nice to sit back and let others do all the work!?

Yes! I'm not finished with the two first yet, and have to fold and burn them still!

On the printed sleeves for your CD-R's it lists another album yet to be released "Dear John". Is this record finished or still a work in progress and, what can we expect from it?

In the middle of it. Have too little time!

Sologne was released last year through Something In Construction. Are there any plans to release River Fontana & Citadel Band commercially?

Yes. When there is time.

How did the CSS remix of "The City, The Airport" come about? Have you met the band or was it just organised through Sub Pop.

We were talking bout The City and remixes, and I said id like CSS to make it, didn't hear anything about it until I heard the song. Good one.

You sang on "This Boy" from I'm From Barcelona's current album. Any other plans to collaborate any other artists in the future. Perhaps a duet with Jens Lekman or El Perro Del Mar? That would be rather special.

I really like what they do, but I'm not sure they feel the same about my music.

"Now, Let It Go" from The Year Of River Fontana is a personal favourite of mine. Can you tell me a little bit of how that song came about?

Oh nice to hear, which version? The one with the modem sound? I'm glad you like it, interesting to get response on the old songs. I've been working on redressing them now when I guess its gonna reach a wider audience. I've gotten to learn so much since then and i felt it was a good thing to do to renew them a bit. [The album Year Of River Fontana was originally released in 2003, but remixed and re-recorded in 2006 and re-released as River Fontana Redux]

About the song.. I read an article a long time ago about a song I had never heard. The writer was raving about the bassline, the bassline! And I got inspired. A good friend told me "let nothing let you down" and I stole it.

Was the sound of a modem firing on the track recorded by accident? Strangely, it adds to the atmosphere of the track.

Ok there it was. No it was intentional, felt it was a great sound. It felt a little to much like a Swedish schlager from the 90's song "World wide web" by Nick Borgen, some kind of Internet romanticism, and I got tired of it. I guess I'll have to put it back now!

Name one song from your past four records that you are proudest of as a songwriter. Where the words, music and the way it has been recorded are, in your opinion, to complete perfection.

In With The Arms from Sologne. The recording in combination with the growing of the live version makes it a great song.

Ignorant Boy from Citadel Band for being such a strange song.

When you're writing - what comes first. The music or the lyrics?

Music comes first, but I'm trying more and more to write everything in the same moment.

Loney, Noir opener Sinister In A State Of Hope is such a beautifully arranged song, both vocally and musically. Can you tell me a little about the history of that track.

I thought I wasn't gonna make any more songs, still think so, and sat a bit sad in an apartment too close to a road, so I could record there. Came up with the chords and started to make a little melody. Don't remember when the words came up, but I think it kind of grew for a while.

Can you tell how you went about choosing members for your backing band? Were they all originally friends or did you audition for parts?

Malin [Ståhlerg, Tambourine & vocals] just joined one gig to get free entrance and then it turned out so good. Ola [Huntgren, Drums] jumped in when the first drummer resigned. Trumpeter Emils advice. I met Samuel [Stark, Keyboards] at a concert for our old folk school, and really liked his playing. I wanted to play with David [Lindvall, Bass] for a long time and when bassist Oskar [Schönning] took a timeout I asked him to play. Ola had ideas to bring the hornplayers Emil [Strandberg], Thomas [Backman] and Nils [Berg]. Oscar [Svenningsson, Guitar] is the one I've played with for the longest time.

If you could choose only one, what would be your all time favourite album?

My inner picture of "Dear John"

What new music are you currently listening to?

JS Bach. Not so new.

What is your take on illegal downloading. Do you think it helps or hinders artists?

Don't know. Its not possible to stop it so you better like it. I think it can be good. But you must remember the western society is built on the principle of owning. I don't feel that way though, if people want to support what I'm doing I'm only happy. On the other side, what is the difference between a patent and a song? Dunno.

What band would be your dream act to open for on a major tour?

I don't know, is it fun to open up for a huge band, or is the audience not listening. I would say Of Montreal. Can we start 10th of March please?

What are you passionate about in life, apart from music?

Love, life, death. The last as a contrast, not as a goal. No, I'd say near and dear ones.

Any plans to come back to the UK this year?

Sure yes. I heard something bout middle of April.

Loney, Dear will be on a US tour with Of Montreal in March. Dates are:

03/10/2007 New York,NY - Irving Plaza
03/11/2007 Boston, MA - Avalon Ballroom
03/16/2007 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
03/17/2007 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre
03/18/2007 Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern (Headlining show)
03/19/2007 Cleveland, OH - Beachland Ballroom
03/20/2007 Newport, KY - Southgate House
03/21/2007 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
03/22/2007 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle Tavern
03/23/2007 Columbia, SC - Headliners @ Banana Joes
03/29/2007 Gainesville, FL - Abbey Road
03/30/2007 Miami, FL -Studio A
03/31/2007 Orlando, FL - The Club at Firestone
04/01/2007 Jacksonville Beach, FL - Freebird Live
04/02/2007 Tallahassee, FL - The Moon

Music
[mp3] Loney, Dear - I Am John [via Sub Pop]

Video
Loney, Dear - In With The Arms

Official Site
Myspace
Sub Pop
Photos by Kathryn Yu (website)

Wilco confirm ATP 2007 appearence

2007-02-23T14:08:00.000Z

News just in. Wilco have today confirmed that they will be appearing at this years All Tomorrows Parties Festival which will take place between May 18th - 20th at Butlins Holiday Centre in Minehead, Somerset. This is a major draw for the festival whose line-up is already mouth wateringly fantastic with acts such as Modest Mouse, Explosions In The Sky, Patti Smith & Yo La Tengo confirmed to play. Limited tickets are still available from here.

The full line up, at present looks something like this.

YOUTHMOVIE SOUNDTRACK STRATEGIES
BUILT TO SPILL
SPARKLEHORSE
AKRON FAMILY
NOTWIST
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
DO MAKE SAY THINK
DEATH VESSEL
BRIGHTBLACK MORNINGLIGHT
SHELLAC OF NORTH AMERICA
MICAH P. HINSON
THE BOOKS
BAND OF HORSES
GRIZZLY BEAR
EDAN + MC DAGHA
PATTI SMITH
GHOST
ALEXANDER TUCKER
CAPRICORNS
TALL FIRS
CURRENT 93
ISIS
EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY
APPLES IN STEREO
MODEST MOUSE
BATTLES
MOGWAI
YO LA TENGO
LES SAVY FAV
WILCO

The fact that Wilco are appearing hopefully indicates the band are due to do a few UK dates in and around May. Dates in Europe have already been confirmed so its only a matter of time. More news on this as I get it.

For more info on the ATP festival, visit the official site: www.atpfestival.com

2007-02-23T08:44:00.000Z

A great article was printed in the Guardian today about Denton, Texas and the astonishing amount of talent thats emerging from there at the moment: led by Midlake who, in April are set to play their biggest headline shows in the UK so far.

Melody makers

Deep in Texas lies a town where everyone is a musician. So what's its secret? Jude Rogers tours Denton with its hottest property, Midlake, and takes in a gig - or six

Why the hell d'ya wanna go to Denton?" The taxi driver is incredulous. "There's nothin' there - nothin'!" We head north-east up Route 35, a cloggy artery of Texas full of listless malls and high-rises, Sack'n'Saves and Sud Things, aiming for a small, strange city in the state's north-eastern corner, miles away from Dallas and Houston, the state's corporate lungs. For Denton, like Nashville, Memphis, Seattle or Portland before it, is fast becoming an American musical heartland where something is happening.

The big buzz around Denton today is all about Midlake. Their second album, The Trials of Van Occupanther, came out in the UK last June, graced the upper rungs of many end-of-year polls, and is currently shifting 1,000 copies a week in the US - the same number of records the Arcade Fire were selling when the hype about them started to heat up. It's one of those records you feel like you've known for ever; a dreamy concoction of Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty and The Yardbirds, mixing together 1970s MOR, harmonies dripping with honey, and lyrics about young brides, stonecutters and mountaineers. It's music that seems to have emerged fully formed from another time and another place.

Which is fitting, says Simon Raymonde, former Cocteau Twin and boss of British label, Bella Union, who has signed five Denton bands since 2000. "Denton is a very curious place. It's a place where music, for some reason, is the lifeblood of these people, their main form of expression." He should know. The cult band Lift to Experience were his first signing, their only album, The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads, being a concept LP about the end of the world with Texas as the promised land. Punky blues band Jetscreamer and the experimental Mandarin followed, before Midlake inked their initials in 2005. New signing Robert Gomez, a soft, wistful singer-songwriter and a friend of the Midlake boys, joined the label's ranks late last year.

"Denton's a little like how Brighton used to be," Raymonde says. "Everyone knows everyone's business, but not in an intrusive way. Perhaps because Texas is so huge, there's a real sense of small-town togetherness within this huge expanse of land. And, for some reason, everyone I keep getting recommendations about from there is talented, gracious and good company."

And so this bears out. The weekend before they embark on their first American tour, Midlake have planned a full itinerary that shows their town at its best. Admittedly, this isn't difficult to arrange: most of Denton's hangouts sit around or just off its central square, a quiet, tranquil place overwhelmed by the recently restored Denton County courthouse, "the kind of building you imagine horses and carts and civil-war cavalry swarming around", says the band's soft-faced, bearded guitarist Eric Pulido. A few doors down from two shops selling chain mail and ceremonial swords squats a sprawling second-hand store, Recycled, where books and records are browsed by bookish young locals. Its local-band section boasts CDs from breaking acts like Centro-matic, long-loved local concerns like Brave Combo, and local oddities like Mulched Losenge and Sleezus Fist, as well as Bowling For Soup and Deep Blue Something.

"But it still looks like it's a building in the wild west, doesn't it?" laughs drummer McKenzie Smith, as we leave with our purchases. The venues nearby, from the outside, also look dusty and genteel, like relics from another century.

But at night they're transformed, full to the brim with people ready to party. Our Friday evening is a hazy spin through The Secret Headquarters - a reconfigured office space with a beer keg in the corner and a deer skull on the wall - and Hailey's, a sizeable venue on the other side of the road named after the proprietor's daughter, where Midlake played their first gig in 2000. We watch Night Game Cult, a performance-art duo in military fatigues and black face paint in the first; and Grass Fight, a Joy Division-influenced three-piece in the second. They couldn't be more different. "But that's how it works here," Pulido says. "Everyone's always eager to see and hear whatever's going on."

Perhaps this is because Denton is, essentially, a town brimming with music students. Midlake all studied jazz musicianship at the University of North Texas Music College, which has its home here. It boasts seven buildings, 300 practice rooms, eight performance halls and more than 100 ensembles; its alumni include classical soloists, as well as Meat Loaf, Don Henley and Norah Jones, who used to go out with Robert Gomez's room-mate. Given that Jones has taken time out of her multi-million-selling schedule to preside over a campaign to save Fry Street, a university area that hosts a music festival every April, the city's warmth and influence, even for ex-students, is pervasive.

Eric Nichelsen, Midlake's apple-cheeked pianist, expands upon this as we all drive round the campus. None of Midlake are from Denton, it transpires, but apart from Nichelsen, born in Louisiana, they're all from other Texan towns such as Houston and San Antonio. "People come here to study, and then they stay. It's a nice town, cheap, and with enough musicians to keep things going." He smiles. "Even musicians like us who didn't finish our degrees." Only Tim Smith, Midlake's quiet singer and songwriter, got his honours. "I still could finish my degree if I wanted to," Nichelsen continues, "but I got disillusioned. We all did. But it doesn't matter... there are so many people like us. Denton's a town of pretty happy music school dropouts."

We stop off briefly at the old Midlake house, a plantation-style bungalow shared, until recently, by some of the band. Here they recorded 2004's Bamnan and Slivercork, and created the highly glossed studio sheen of Van Occupanther - which some critics thought was the work of Fleetwood Mac's Lindsay Buckingham. Then we pick up Robert Gomez, all curly mop and gangly limbs, still recovering from a 2am jazz set the previous night, one of his many musical projects.

As Gomez whips up a mean guacamole, Paul Alexander, Midlake's flinty-eyed bassist, drinks a beer and talks about the band's jazz backgrounds. "To play jazz properly, you've got to immerse yourself in it. I used to listen to jazz two or three times a day, and for hours. Now I listen to it two or three times a year." So what happened? "Studying jazz just becomes pointless after a while. Nothing really extraordinary, to me anyway, has been made in jazz since the 70s, and realising that became a huge point of frustration."

When Midlake started, they were also hugely keen to play music which really affected people. "And sadly," Alexander says, "not a lot of people listen to jazz in that way." In the band's early days, they got into progressive pop musicians like Björk and Radiohead, artists who experiment, while still remaining accessible.

And then came the sucker punch: the friends fell in love with 70s soft rock. Jethro Tull and America LPs fill the band members' record racks, sleeves of albums like Neil Young's Harvest and Jethro Tull's Heavy Horses are tacked to the walls, and in Eric Pulido's car, an early Bee Gees compilation is permanently on play. Have they softened, perhaps, with age? "No, I don't think so," says Tim Smith. "How we play and produce is still very important to us. We're all concerned about the arrangements, and the musical balance." Smith is also a fan of grand Romantic composers such as Tchaikovsky and Wagner, with whom these bands, he suggests, share an emotional resonance. "Music like that just gets me. It's music that stays with you."

The plates and bottles empty, the fun starts again: Gomez taking a convoy to see local band Tre Orsi, a Fugazi-like trio recently returned from a European tour, at the Secret Headquarters, passing round earplugs like a professional for the feedback. Then it's Dan's Bar, just off the square, to see Wayne "the Train" Hancock playing hillbilly swing - a rollicking sort of country full of double-bass fingerpicks and lap steel virtuosity. Younger audience members whoop alongside chain-smoking grandmas and old fellers in cowboy hats. And although this is the sort of Texan music you'd conjure up in cliche, there's no irony present in the younger listeners' enjoyment. The joy is for all.

The night ends in the early hours, at a house show, for much-loved local band, The Baptist Generals. Cars are double-parked all down the highway, and the house is wall-to-wall with fans. In the corner loll the two musical legends of Denton - Paul Slevens, from Ten Hands, a rock band (much loved by REM) who split up in 1995, and Lift to Experience's Andy Young. "It's fucking crazy here tonight," slurs Young, helping himself to someone else's beer. "It's been fucking crazy here for ages." But has it always been this way? "Uh-uh. But in the last few years it's all gone like this." He gestures at the rammed room with his hands, his voice buried in the noise of the hordes.

Soon after, the Baptist Generals play a moving, sweaty, acoustic set. A drunk teenager keeps shouting "Denton's the shit!" and cops with flashlights eventually arrive to break up the chaos. By 2.30am, Gomez is tired, but reflective, as we slowly ride home.

"There's only one thing," he says, "that you need to know about Denton. People come here because they're compelled to make music, not because they're compelled to make it." By "making it" he means fame and commercial success. We pass the silver university dome, that symbol of so much of the city's potential and potency, and head back up the freeway.

Pictures - Jason Upshaw

Midlake w/Robert Gomez
Sunday 8 April – Liverpool, Academy
Monday 9 April – Glasgow, Oran Mor
Tuesday 10 April – Sheffield, Plug
Wednesday 11 April – London, Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Thursday 12 April – Brighton, Concorde2
Friday 13 April – Oxford, Zodiac

Lavender Diamond debut gets May release

2007-02-22T10:58:00.000Z

My introduction to Lavender Diamond was literally only a couple of weeks ago whilst they were supporting The Decemberists on their UK tour. I was instantly captivated by them. The band are a perfect mix of classic folk and genius like pop hooks along with the undeniably kooky personality of front woman Becky Stark it would be a slight understatement to say I was instantly smitten these guys. So far the only thing commercially available is a 4 track EP "The Cavalry Of Light" which was released on Rough Trade on January 30th of this year. However, the debut album "Imagine Our Love" is released on May 7th, and, after hearing if for the first time this morning can honestly say will be worth the wait.

For anyone wanting to know a little more about the group, heres a little bit of history:

While living in Providence, Rhode Island, Stark began performing as Lavender Diamond in a play that she and a friend wrote, created and toured with called Bird Songs of the Bauharoque, inspired by the work of artist Paul Laffoley. A self-produced CD of Stark's songs accompanied the tour in a hand-sewn, silkscreened sleeve. Lavender Diamond grew into a four-piece band after Stark relocated to Los Angeles. They self-released a four-song EP and have performed at L.A.'s ArthurFest, at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, and at the CMJ New Music Seminar in New York City. In 2006 Lavender Diamond signed to Rough Trade Records in Europe, and Matador Records in the U.S.

Listen to possibly the best pop song you'll hear all year right now. Download the magnificent "Open Your Heart" below.

[MP3] Lavender Diamond - Open Your Heart

The Art Of Kissing Properly

2007-02-22T09:15:00.000Z

Stylus magazine hit the nail on the head last year when describing moi Caprice's third album The Art Of Kissing Properly as “soundtrack music”. It can literally turn a dull dreary walk into work into a cinematic experience, to transport you to another place. Jesus, if a song like "The Town & The City" can make Ipswich feel like Paris then it must be good huh? For those of you, like myself new to the dramatic synth pop of moi Caprice please allow myself to give you a quick recap of their career thus far. (with a little help from the internet).

Danish 4 piece band moi Caprice rose to underground fame in the late nineties when they entered the top slot on the Alternative Chart with the song The Sun & the Silence as the first unsigned band ever. A few years would pass before the band released their first actual single, Daisies, and despite it being a slightly awkward ballad, the song turned into a minor hit in Denmark, and with 7 consecutive weeks in the top slot of the Alternative Chart is was the biggest hit on the chart in 2002.

The band ended the year with a nomination for best new band of the year at the Danish Radio Awards. The next single, Artboy Meets Artgirl, proved moi Caprice one of the finest art rock bands in the country, and paved the way for their 2003 full-length debut, Once Upon a Time in the North, which was widely praised by the critics. After an extensive tour moi Caprice released their second album, You Cant Say No Forever, in early 2005. Again the reviews were amazing, some claiming it a true masterpiece. Both To the Lighthouse and My Girl You Blush turned into hits, on both the Alternative and the mainstream charts. In early 2006 moi Caprice was nominated for the grand prize of the Radio Awards. moi Caprice has been widely acknowledged for their skillful song writing, their apt ear for the pop tune in a dark melancholic musical setting, their highly intelligent lyrics in an original style that is in arguably the sound of no one but themselves.

All clued up now? Excellent. So the bands third full length was released last year on Glorious Records and for the first half at least is a pretty solid record. It mixes perfectly crafted love lorn lyrics with lush synths and breathy atmospherics with Phil Spector-esque drums thrown in for good measure. Think what the Pet Shop Boys would sound like if they spent a fortnight in Europe making beautiful music with Camera Obscura and you'd be headed in the right direction. It starts off strong with the title track followed by "The Town & The City" and "For Once In Your Life Try To Fight For Something You Believe In", the latter sounding somewhat like a distant relative to The Flaming Lips'' "Do You Realize?". It is an album, I've found, best played in small portions. After a while things to start to get a little samey, almost as if the band have put all their best ideas into the first four or five songs and then repeated the formula for the remainder of the record. When its good though, its absolutely breathtaking and certainly worthy of investigation.

The band are yet to confirm any UK dates as of yet but are heading over to Canada and the States next month for a quick tour, most notably for the SXSW festival. Dates are as follows:

8 March - Silver Dollar Room. Toronto
10 March - Canadian Music Week. Toronto
12 March - Union Hall. New York
13 March - Pianos. New York
15 March - Uncle Flirty's. Austin, Texas
16 March - SXSW. Austin, Texas
17 March - Tiswas, The Annex. New York

[MP3] moi Caprice - The Town & The City

For more info visit the bands myspace page @ www.myspace.com/moicaprice

Wilco Reveal Sky Blue Sky Tracklisting

2007-02-15T18:51:00.000Z

Now this is exciting. Finally some solid news on the new Wilco album.

Pitchfork reports:
On May 15, Nonesuch will give birth to a new ghost: Sky Blue Sky, Wilco's latest album. As expected, it contains the songs "Side With the Seeds", "What Light", "Shake It Off", "Impossible Germany", "Please Be Patient With Me", "On and On and On", and "Walken", which have been floating around the internet for awhile.

Wilco were just announced as one of the acts playing Bonnaroo this year, and they have a few dates in Australia scheduled in April. But other than that, their schedule is wiiide open. Autumn Defense, John Stirrat and Pat Sansone's other band, however, are on the road until late March. So we probably shouldn't expect much live Wilco action before then.

Sky Blue Sky tracklist:

01 Either Way
02 You Are My Face
03 Impossible Germany
04 Sky Blue Sky
05 Side With the Seeds
06 Shake It Off
07 Please Be Patient With Me
08 Hate It Here
09 Leave Me (Like You Found Me)
10 Walken
11 What Light
12 On and On and On

Review: Blackstrap - Steal My Horses And Run

2007-02-14T13:46:00.000Z

I swear they must be putting something in the water in Sweden. Sure, the past decade has seen the country produce a number of successful indie bands - The Cardigans, The Wannadies & The Hives being the most successful internationally - but never has there been a rush like this.

Last year saw a load of fabulous Swedish indie pop releases from I'm From Barcelona, Jens Lekman, Surburban Kids With Biblical Names, Loney, Dear and Peter, Bjorn & John to name just a handful. All these albums were greeted with vast critical acclaim with Pitchfork scoring the Jens Lekman album "Oh You're So Silent Jens" a whopping 8.5/10 and Bella Union label boss Simon Raymonde claiming Loney, Dear's "Sologne" to be "one of the most incredible albums i own, it will seriously make your life better". An album that slipped under the radar though was "Steal My Horses And Run" the sophomore album from Stockholm 4-piece Blackstrap. Released at the tail end of 2006 to rave reviews in Sweden, Germany & Holland and receiving a fair amount of radio play on US indie stations, it has pretty much gone unnoticed here in the UK.

Lets hope that will change soon because this is an album to fall in love with, to cherish and to tell all you're friends about. The easiest way to describe the sound of these guys is to mention their influences; Jesus & Mary Chain, Spiritualized, Joy Division & Primal Scream. Its blissfully fucked up rock n roll drenched in fuzzed out guitars and atmospheric shared lead vocals from Jonatan Westh and Maria Lindén.

The opener "Winning Speech" sounds like a harder, better, faster, stronger version of "Medication" from Primal Scream's Vanishing Point. Its a perfect blueprint for whats to follow, and just as the final chord rings out you're smacked around the face with the juggernaut of a track that is "Rough Parade", an obvious choice for a single and a sure fire hit at festivals this summer with its call and response boy girl vocal in the same vein as The Ravonettes but with a more poppy sheen to it. Things continue at full throttle with "Lay Down Low", this track has a great vocal by Westh, his Swedish drawl fits perfectly with the pounding rhythm section. Things slow down a little with "The Far Gone" and "The Open Road", a real gem of a track, this would fit perfectly on the Lost In Translation soundtrack, a hypnotic drone of guitars and vocals which leads onto possibly the strongest moment "The Bitter, The Sweet", even though it draws comparisons to early Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, it has more bite, more attitude. The only acoustic track on the album is the dark and brooding "Still Lost", swathes of background noise combined with acoustic guitar and a haunting vocal by Lindén lead the song, its not until a pounding floor tom draws the song to a close is in its final minute.

Weighing in at just under 50 minutes there really isn't a weak moment on these 13 songs. If you're a fan of the twisted rock n roll that The Duke Spirit or Howling Bells produce then I strongly urge you to check it out. An overlooked classic that hopefully will be heard by many more sets of ears this year.

The album will get a UK release later this year but for now you can buy the CD for €16 which works out at about £10 from youmakemusic.com

For more info on the band visit:

blackstrap.net [official site]
myspace.com/blackstrap001 [myspace]
sallyforth records [label]

Watch:
Blackstrap - Winning Speech & Lay Down Low

Listen:
Blackstrap - Rough Parade

Blackstrap - The Bitter, The Sweet

New LCD Soundsystem video

2007-02-12T22:40:00.000Z

Rejoice! James Murphy returns next month with new album "Sound Of Silver". Could it be the album of the year? To help you decide watch the new video for new single "North American Scum".

LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum

Stream and download new Kings Of Leon

2007-02-12T21:34:00.000Z

Hear a brand new track from the forthcoming third album "Because Of The Times" from Kings Of Leon. Released on April 2nd (3rd in the UK). Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Ray Lamontagne) is back behind the mixing desk having produced the bands two previous albums.

The new release is promised to be an eclectic mix, “I think people tend to expect a certain sound from us,” says Kings of Leon’s drummer Nathan Followill, “but on this record, we tried to throw them for a loop.” Frontman Caleb adds “We took the limitations off of ourselves.” “We went into the studio with an open mind, thinking let’s do whatever it takes to get these songs to the next level. Because we really have a lot of music inside of us and a lot of different places we can go.”

You can download a track from the album right here. It certainly is a different direction for the band who have admitted to rush releasing Aha-Shake Heartbreak. Judging by this track we're in for a mighty return.

Stream the track below - or hit the download button.

Kings Of Leon - On Call

The band are in the UK for a whistle stop tour at the end of February and are back for more once the album hits the shelves in April. Dates are:

22 Feb
Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone
23 Feb
Norwich UEA, Norwich
24 Feb
Engine Shed, Lincoln
26 Feb
Astoria, London

14 Apr - Oasis, Swindon
15 Apr - Pavilions, Plymouth
18 Apr - Hammersmith Apollo, London
19 Apr - Academy, Birmingham
20 Apr - Apollo, Manchester
22 Apr - Academy, Newcastle
23 Apr - Dome, Doncaster
24 Apr - Academy, Glasgow

Review: The Morning Stars - You Can't Change The World

2007-02-11T21:26:00.000Z

Creating a bit of a stir in the Canadian music scene of late have been 4-piece The Morning Stars. The band got together in 2004 as a vehicle for the songs of brothers Mars & Michael Ivic but have only just gotten round to putting out their debut "You Can't Change The World".

The band play an interesting mix of classic rock which has a definite British influence but mixed successfully with intelligent West Coast harmonies. Think Oasis or The Who having a love in with The Byrds and you're almost there.

Kicking things off is foot stomper "Hearts For The Living", its apparent from the first couple of minutes that these guys have an ear for writing a decent pop song. The mix of harmonies and atmospheric guitar in the chorus is so infectious it gets stuck in your head for hours. Things continue at a steady pace with "Wrong" with its New Order-esque intro it quickly transforms into a 3 minute power pop track that would have fit nicely onto the last Big Star album. Alex Chilton would be proud.

However, things take a turn for the middle of the road with the instantly forgetable title track "You Can't Change The World". Its pleasant enough but doesn't quite have the bite of the previous tracks. Things continue at a similar pace with "Steal My Love" and its not until the psychedelic stomp of "All Coming Down" until things pick up. Its like The Second Coming by The Stone Roses condensed into three and a half minutes.
The real highlight and centrepiece of the album though is "Don't Waste Time" with its stadium sized guitar riff and pounding drums its an instantly lovable track with some great production techniques and a melody that Bono would kill for if he wasn't too busy trying to save the world. A sure sign that there is greater things to come from these guys.

Unfortunately the last two tracks are pretty much throwaway. I found myself grating my teeth at the Liam Gallagher imitations on album closer "Fall". It has a nice sentiment "You've got to hold on / Tomorrow will be better" but comes across as one of those arse clenching ballads that get played over football highlights. A total Oasis rip off, akin to "Stop Crying Your Heart Out " or "Let There Be Love" and lets face it, even they don't do it very well.

All in all its a fairly enjoyable but ultimately patchy debut. Fans of no nonsense rock music should check them out. If they stick to what they're good at these guys could go places.

Links:
official website
myspace page

The track "Don't Waste Time" appears on this months Line Of Best Fit playlist which you can download from here.

The Decemberists - London Shepherds Bush Empire 08/02/07

2007-02-10T14:27:00.000Z

Thursday night saw The Decemberists play an outstanding show at the Shepherds Bush Empire. Playing to a sell out crowd the band put on a good two hour set - Colin was in fine humour and interacted with the crowd really well. The main event occured in the first encore when the band were joined by Robyn Hitchcock and Mike Scott from The Waterboys.

The setlist went something like this:

The Crane Wife 3
The Island:

Come And See / The Landlord's Daughter / You'll Not Feel The Drowning
Billy Liar
We Both Go Down Together
The Engine Driver
Yankee Bayonet
Shankill Butchers
O Valencia!
16 Military Wives
The Crane Wife 1 & 2
Sons & Daughters
***
Eli, The Barrow Boy
Madonna of the Wasps (with Robyn Hitchcock)
Fisherman's Blues (with Mike Scott)
***
A Cautionary Song (including a re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party)

Supporting the band were LA 4-piece Lavender Diamond who play quirky indie pop, certainly worth further investigation - their myspace page is here.

I was pleased to discover my pictures have been mentioned on The Decemberists tour blog over on Gigwise. Check it out here.

Fellow blogger and friend Richard Hughes, who, unfortunately was unable to attend the show has review the new album over on CD Times. Like myself, he thinks its rather good. Read all about it here.

The pick of the best pictures are below in a couple of slideshows - enjoy...

Lavender Diamond:

The Decemberists:

Also a couple of videos I found on YouTube....

Sons & Daughters [with Audience members]

Some crowd aerobics......

16 Military Wives

The Line Of Best Fit: February 2007 Playlist

2007-02-07T12:43:00.000Z

Every month I will be posting a mix of songs currently taking priority place on my mp3 player. Mixing new material with hard to find tracks plus a few old classics just for the hell of it. Hopefully there is something for everyone here so dive in and help yourself.

The Line Of Best Fit: February 2007 Playlist
1. Counting Backwards - The Velvet Teen
2. Brand New Bass Guitar - Jamie T
3. April Showers - Math & Physics Club
4. North American Scum - LCD Soundsystem
5. Hang Me Up To Dry - Cold War Kids
6. Sundowntown - Neal Casal
7. Don't Waste Time - The Morning Stars
8. Where You Are - The Autumn Defense
9. Country Music Promoter - Ox
10. Headed For A Fall - M. Ward
11. Honest - The Long Winters
12. This Day - The Sleepy Jackson
13. Split Needles - The Shins
14. Now, Let It Go - Loney, Dear
15. (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding - Elvis Costello

Get it here

Download the Best Of 2006 Playlist here.

Disclaimer
I don't condone piracy in any way, shape or form. MP3s posted at this site are for evaluation purposes only. The playlists are intended to encourage people to seek out new music, if you like any of these tracks - please support the artists and buy the music or go to a show. Contact me if you are the copyright holder and want the files removed.

First Post-War single release date

2007-02-05T14:12:00.000Z

'To Go Home' will be M. Wards first single release from his acclaimed 2006 album 'Post-War'. Released on February 11th in the US and a week later in the UK (19th) it features three previously unreleased tracks from the Post-War sessions. 'Headed For A Fall' features guest backing vocals from Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Neko Case plus a face melting guitar solo from Nels Cline (Wilco). In my humble opinion this track could be Matt Wards best work to date.

Full tracklisting:
1. To Go Home
2. Cosmopolitan Pap
3. Human Punching Bag
4. Headed For A Fall

Download the stand-out track 'Headed For A Fall' here. Just click on the link below.

[MP3] M. Ward - Headed For A Fall

Loney, Dear single and album news.

2007-02-03T13:08:00.000Z

The Line Of Best Fit favourites Loney, Dear have signed a record deal in the UK with Regal, having recently signed to Sub Pop in the US.

The first Regal release will be a single. 'I Am John' is out February 12th and features a CSS remix of 'The City, The Airport' as a b-side. Loney, Noir is released in the US on February 6th but wont see a UK release until April 16th. Madness!

If you pre-order 'Loney, Noir' via the Sub Pop website they will throw in a 7" UK import of 'The City, The Airport' b/w 'Ignorant Boy, Beautiful Girl'. Plus stickers and badges. How can one resist??

Remember you can also purchase the first two Loney, Dear albums direct through the website here priced at 80 kr each - which works out about a fiver each. See the website for more details.

Download the CSS remix of The City, The Airport right here, right now. Just click on the link below.

[MP3] Loney, Dear - The City, The Airport (CSS Remix)

Loney, Dear - I Am John

Elbow reveal plans for new album

2007-02-01T14:11:00.000Z

Manchester band Elbow have spilled the beans on their new album, saying it is "darker and heavier" than 2005's Leaders Of The Free World.

Frontman Guy Garvey told NME.com that their new material is a collaborative effort.

"It feels very much like we've done it just the five of us. There's been nobody else in the room," he explained.

"There's still lots of light and shade on it. There's just a lot of things going on. There's been some not so great stuff and some amazing stuff. Just in terms of the families that are growing up in the band - the babies are turning into little boys now, and everybody's happy in that respect."

He added that early in 2006 some of the members of the band went through a difficult time.

"It's quite a mixed bag," he said. "It's certainly got the darkest stuff that we've done. I've never been so confident about anything we've written."

No release date has been confirmed as of yet.

[MP3]Elbow - Leaders Of The Free World

News Updates

2007-02-01T10:54:00.000Z

I've searched the internet for news.
So you don't have to.

Kings Of Leon Return!

Southern-rock outfit Kings of Leon will offer up its third album, "Because of the Times," April 3. The forthcoming set follows 2004's "Aha Shake Heartbreak."

"On Call," the first single from "Because of the Times," will be available from the iTunes Music Store beginning Feb. 6, and will hit radio stations Feb. 12, according to a press release.

I'll post some mp3's as soon as I get my hands on them.

****

The Beautiful South have split up after 19 years together.
The band rose from the ashes of The Housemartins, two of whom, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway, formed the outfit in 1988.

The Beautiful South scored their first hit in 1989 with 'Song For Whoever' , which reached Number Two. They then scored their only Number One single in 1990 with 'A Little Time'.

They also had three Number One albums - their hits compilation 'Carry On Up The Charts' in 1994, 'Blue Is The Colour' (1996) and 'Quench' (1998).

The band issued a statement explaining the split saying: "The Beautiful South have split up due to musical similarities. The band would like to thank everyone for their 19 wonderful years in music."

****

The Shins storm Billboard chart...
Wincing The Night Away has debuted at Number Two on the Billboard chart!

They sold 118, 000 of their third album and were beaten to the top spot by boy band Pretty Ricky.

The album marks the highest chart placing ever for a Sub Pop album, beating the record set by Afghan Whigs album 'Black Love' which reached number 79 is 1996, reports Pitchfork.

The band are set to play the Shockwaves NME Awards show on February 25 at London's Astoria.

****

Band Of Horses will re-enter the studio this March to record the rather-very-much-anticipated follow-up to last year's rather-very-much-adored debut Sub Pop LP Everything All the Time.

According to a post on the Band's website, they'll shack up in Asheville, North Carolina's Echo Mountain Recording to lay to tape a "brand spanking new BOH album of songs." No word quite yet on what those songs will sound like, but Horses do happily report that San Diego-based photographer Christopher Wilson (whose work adorned Everything) will provide artwork for this release as well.

After canceling last year, Band of Horses will honour their appearence at this years ATP festival at Butlins in Minehead, Somerset. Other acts playing are Modest Mouse, Grizzly Bear, Sparklehorse, Echo & the Bunnymen. For the full line up click here.

****

Arcade Fire cover The Clash.
Arcade Fire covered The Clash at the third of their week of London shows last night (January 31).

The Canadian band, performing their final night at St James' Church in Westminster, started their set in similar fashion to the previous night by going into the middle of the crowd to perform acoustically. But instead of playing their own 'Wake Up', they performed a mandolin-led acoustic version of The Clash track, a Paul Simonon number which appears on their 1979 classic 'London Calling'.

The band then took to the stage and kicked off the set proper with forthcoming single 'Keep The Car Running'. Most tracks were lifted from forthcoming album 'Neon Bible', including 'Black Mirror', 'Intervention', 'Windowsill' and 'Ocean Of Noise'.

Arcade Fire did find time to play tracks from their debut album 'Funeral' - 'Rebellion (Lies)' and set closer 'Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)'.

The set was:

'The Guns Of Brixton'
'Keep The Car Running'
'Black Mirror'
'No Cars Go'
'Black Wave/Bad Vibrations'
'Windowsill'
'The Well And The Lighthouse'
'Ocean Of Noise'
'Rebellion (Lies)'
'Intervention'
'(Antichrist Television Blues)'
'My Body Is A Cage'
'Neighbourhood # 1 (Tunnels)'

The band now head for Porchester Hall in the west of the city to play two sold-out shows tonight and tomorrow (February 1, 2).

'Neon Bible' is released on March 5, with a single, 'Keep The Car Running', following on March 19. They return to the UK as part of a sold-out European tour.

Order the new album direct from Merge Records as either a CD, Deluxe CD or Vinyl. The deluxe CD version is packaged in a hinged box with two 32-page flip books designed by the band. The Vinyl is double 180-gram audiophile quality with three sides of music and an etching on the fourth side. The LP also includes a coupon for a free MP3 download of Neon Bible.

The deluxe edition preorder will have a special price of $15 through March 6 ($2 off!). Preorders will be shipped to arrive on or around the release date March 6, 2007!

All preorders will receive free with purchase a Neon Bible poster and other assorted goodies!

I ordered a deluxe CD the other day, and with shipping it comes in at just under £10. Bargain!

Pre-order your copy HERE.

****

Download Cold War Kids live session
Cold War Kids bassist Matt Maust could barely muster the strength to lift his feet the two long flights of stairs up into the studio on this day just two weeks ago. They’d gotten on the road early that morning, coming from Chicago, where they’d opened for Mates of State the night before. The Mates were playing a post-Lollapalooza show while the Kids were playing something more along the preview lens. [Read more]

[MP3] Cold War Kids - God Make Up Your Mind
[MP3] Cold War Kids - Hospital Beds
[MP3] Cold War Kids - Passing The Hat
[MP3] Cold War Kids - We Used To Vacation

The bands new single Hang Me Out To Dry was released on Monday (29th January). Its getting a fair bit of radio play at the moment and deservedly so. Even though the album is patchy this has to be one of my favourite singles of the year so far.

****

I've re-uploaded The Line Of Best Fit Playlist 2006. It proved pretty popular but unfortunately the previous link expired. It is now stored permanately so feel free to grab it. Its a 17 track mix of my favourite tracks from last year.

Tracklist:

01.Consolation Prizes - Phoenix
02.Black & Blue - Tim O'Reagan
03.Fire In The Sky - The Hazey Janes
04.Where Are You Go Go Going To? - Loney, Dear
05.7/4 (Shoreline) - Broken Social Scene
06.Be Good Or Be Gone - Fionn Regan
07.The Crane Wife 3 - The Decemberists
08.Low Happening - The Howling Bells
09.Eyes on the Prize - M. Ward
10.Waiting for the Time to Be Right - The Brother Kite
11.Black Swan - Thom Yorke
12.The Jeopardy of Contentment - What Made Milwaukee Famous
13.Let's Get Out Of This Country - Camera Obscura
14.There Goes My Outfit - The Dears
15.The Hope Edition - My Latest Novel
16. ABC - The Pipettes
17.Head Home - Midlake

Download it by clicking here

****

A recomendation made me check out Ox - American Lo-Fi, released last year independently its an absolute classic. Below is an article printed in American magazine Vue Weekly. Also you can download the albums opening track in the downloads section at the bottom of this post.

For more info and to buy the album visit the official Ox website here.

When Ox released their debut album a couple of years ago, there was a distinctly familiar feel to the music. Many of the reviews made reference to the similarities between Ox and the work of Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and others in the Americana fold.

Singer Mark Browning says that he has no problem with those reviews, though—partly because he considers a comparison to Neil Young to be lofty praise, and partly because the similarities were intentional nods from a band staking their ground before striking out on their own.

With their new album, American Lo Fi, Ox leaves the comparisons behind, as the band’s own sound overshadows their influences.

“I really felt good about it,” Browning says, recalling the album’s recording. “When we were tracking it, I felt like we were really onto something that sounded like us. I didn’t want it to end; so I extended the sessions so we could finish what we were doing and get that statement onto tape while we were in the zone.”

While the band was in that zone, they let the songs guide them, rather than trying to plan out the completed album beforehand. They finished up with nearly 30 songs before choosing the 11 that worked best together for American Lo Fi (some of the others will see the light of day on the band’s third album, which they plan to release next year).

“You never know where your record’s going to go when you step into the studio,” Browning offers. “You’ve got a few songs that you’re pretty sure you’ve got to get on the record, because they sort of define where you’re going at the moment, but other than that you never know which songs are going to work and which songs aren’t going to work. So you’ve just got to have a lot of them, and you’ve just got to play and see how it goes in the studio. It becomes like another performance, but it’s happening in the studio. The band sets up, and you just play live and see what happens.”

Browning explains that the result of that approach was to allow the band to experiment and explore different songs until they found their own sound. And while there are still whispers of Browning’s influences deep inside the music, it’s no longer an easy matter to describe Ox with nice, tight little Neil Young references. In an industry where the record labels tend to gravitate towards acts who are easily marketable, Browning admits that Ox’s evolving sound might make the business side of the game a little tougher for the band—they recently had a grant application turned down by VideoFACT, who actually said that they don’t know how to handle the Ox aesthetic—but he’s not about to alter his songwriting so that it fits into a popular mould, suggesting that there’s something to be said for remaining true to one’s independent spirit when it comes to creating music.

“That’s what rock ‘n’ roll’s all about,” Browning exclaims. “That’s how rock ‘n’ roll started, that’s how it was always at its best, and that’s how it’s going to continue to be great. Fitting into commercial radio formats is not how we want to make music.

“There’s just not enough money in this business to do something that you don’t believe in,” he continues. “If the industry doesn’t know what to do with us, that’s the good news. I remember someone saying that if you’re parents like what you’re doing, then you’re doing something wrong, as far as rock ‘n’ roll goes. I guess it’s kind of a similar idea to that.”

Ox’s music has grown without the band sounding like they’re chasing popular trends mainly because that’s exactly what they won’t do. They want to make the music that interests them, carving out a career on their own terms.

While some musicians put together an album and then hold themselves back while they wait for a major label to come along and give them a truckload of cash and put them on the road with a big band—in effect, waiting for their careers to start—Browning has a different outlook.

“I realized one day when we were on the road, the career has already started,” he reflects. “With each record we’re gonna keep trying to define whatever it is we’re trying to define, and we’re gonna stumble along the way somewhere. I’m sure we’re going to make some bad records as we go along, or there are going to be some bad tracks that, for some reason, we need to put on the record. When you’re making records you’ve got to just put them out and then make the next one and keep going.”

Bright Eyes Returns

2007-01-23T22:08:00.000Z

With the once revolving line-up of musicians settled on the three constants of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott, Bright Eyes spent much of 2006 in the studio working on their follow-up to the acclaimed simultaneous releases Digital Ash in a Digital Urn and I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning. "Four Winds" is the first single from these sessions that took place in New York City, Los Angeles, Portland, OR, and Lincoln, NE featuring Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, M. Ward, and Janet Weiss of Sleater Kinney. "Four Winds", is backed along with 5 exclusive B-sides not included on the forthcoming album Cassadega which is expected to be released on April 10th.

Bright Eyes - Four Winds (EP)
Released 06/03/07
Tracklisting:
1. Four Winds
2. Reinvent The Wheel
3. Smoke Without Fire
4. Stray Dog Freedom
5. Cartoon Blues
6. Tourist Trap [DOWNLOAD]

Arcade Fire Rock School Cafeteria

2007-01-22T23:06:00.000Z

See the full article and pictures here.

Further proof that Canada is cooler than America: While our high schools get motivational speakers and pep rallies for special events, Canada's kids get concerts by the Arcade Fire in their cafeteria. Okay, so it's not that common an occurrence, and Canterbury isn't just any Ottawa high school; it's the alma mater of Arcade Fire charter member Richard Reed Parry. On Friday night, Parry brought his colleagues to the lunchroom of his youth for a special, top-secret performance, open only to Canterbury students and their guests, with all proceeds going to Canterbury Arts Centre Development Association, the organization that helps fund the school's highly-regarded arts programs. Thanks to a tip from the Pitchfork Intelligence Agency's Ottawa bureau (local student Matt Bostelaar) and the good graces of the band's management, we were given the privilege of being the creepy old guy at the show, the lone media witness to the proceedings.

Of course, this wasn't just a special-venue one-off for the band-- it was also the premiere performance of material from their forthcoming album Neon Bible, and the first show on a tour that promises to rival the marathon jaunt to promote the band's breakthrough debut, Funeral. Having already sold out three five-night runs each in New York, Montreal, and London, this show (and an equally hush-hush appearance in their hometown the next night) served as an open rehearsal for the Neon Bible songs, a chance to test out the new equipment in a humble space. And it doesn't get much more humble than one end of a small school cafeteria, where the crew had to cover overhead fluorescent lights that couldn't be turned off, the security staff was a dozen grandparents in matching t-shirts, and the Green Room was hastily set up in the teacher's lounge.

With such a hospitable audience, the obligatory technical issues and fumbling associated with the new songs from Neon Bible were no big deal. All but three songs in the set were from the upcoming record, and these performances largely lacked the Arcade Fire's characteristic stage frenzy, as if the group still has to concentrate hard on playing each song correctly before they can resume attacking each other with percussion instruments. But the statelier sound of the new album was still given a more unhinged flavor on stage-- the shoutalong choral parts of the newly recorded "No Cars Go" and "Black Wave/Bad Vibrations" were every bit as heart-skipping as those from "Rebellion (Lies)" or "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)". New toys were in abundance: Win Butler strummed a mandolin for "Keep the Car Running", Régine Chassagne cranked a hurdy-gurdy, and a laptop was used to replicate the massive church organ from "Intervention" (although it seemed to have some unfortunate triggering problems).

But such hiccups couldn't dent the show's feel-good armor, as the band shyly fed off the energy of the young crowd. Parry, repeatedly referred to as "Richie" by the school organizers, obviously seemed to be the most bemused of all, lecturing the kids on how lucky they are to attend Canterbury and smiling at the girls with homemade "CHS Lit Program Loves Richard!" shirts in the front row. Raw and unpracticed as it was, the setting was ultimately perfect for the Arcade Fire, whose undiluted melodrama and emotional sweep is the perfect soundtrack for the struggles of high school students, or the high school feelings that linger deep within us older fans. For a band on the brink of storming the globe for a second time, it was a chance to reconnect with the world they're so good at portraying, a reminder as valuable as any rehearsal.

Worth The Wait

2007-01-22T22:25:00.000Z

At last! 10th February sees The Crane Wife, the fourth full length from Portland, Oregons favourite literate indie-pop troupe get a UK release. God knows why its taken so long, it was released in October in the States! Rough Trade are putting it out over here. Pre-order it here.

The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
1. Crane Wife 3 [DOWNLOAD]
2. The Island
Come and See / The Landlord's Daughter / You'll Not Feel the Drowning
3. Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) [DOWNLOAD]
4. O Valencia
5. The Perfect Crime 2
6. When The War Came
7. Shankhill Butchers
8. Summersong
9. Crane Wife 1 And 2
10. Sons And Daughters

WATCH >>>
The Decemberists - O Valencia [Live on The David Letterman Show]

Allmusic.com review
Colin Meloy and his brave Decemberists made the unlikely jump to a major label after 2005's excellent Picaresque, a move that surprised both longtime fans and detractors of the band. While it is difficult to imagine the suits at Capitol seeing dollar signs in the eyes of an accordion- and bouzouki-wielding, British folk-inspired collective from Portland, OR, that dresses in period Civil War outfits and has been known to cover Morrissey, it's hard to argue with what the Decemberists have wrought from their bounty. The Crane Wife is loosely based on a Japanese folk tale that concerns a crane, an arrow, a beautiful woman, and a whole lot of clandestine weaving. The record's spirited opener and namesake picks off almost exactly where Picaresque left off, building slowly off a simple folk melody before exploding into some serious Who power chords. This is the first indication that the band itself was ready to take the loosely ornate, reverb-heavy Decemberists sound to a new sonic level, or rather that producers Tucker Martine and Chris Walla were. On first listen, the tight, dry, and compressed production style sounds more like Queens of the Stone Age than Fairport Convention, but as The Crane Wife develops over its 60-plus minutes, a bigger picture appears. Meloy, who along with Destroyer's Dan Bejar has mastered the art of the North American English accent, has given himself over to early-'70s progressive rock with gleeful abandon, and while many of the tracks pale in comparison to those on Picaresque, the ones that succeed do so in the grandest of fashions. Fans of the group's Tain EP will find themselves drawn to "Island: Come and See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel the Drowning" and "The Crane Wife, Pts. 1 & 2," both of which are well over ten minutes long and feature some truly inspired moments that echo everyone from the Waterboys and R.E.M. to Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, while those who embrace the band's poppier side will flock around the winsome "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)," which relies heavily on the breathy delivery of Seattle singer/songwriter and part-time Decemberist Laura Veirs. Some cuts, like the English murder ballad "Shankill Butchers" and "Summersong" (the latter eerily reminiscent of Edie Brickell's "What I Am"), sound like outtakes from previous records, but by the time the listener arrives at the Donovan-esque (in a good way) closer, "Sons & Daughters," the less tasty bits of The Crane Wife seem a wee bit sweeter.

Death Cab For Cutie - Bonnaroo Festival June 2006

2007-01-21T14:48:00.000Z

I stumbled across this and thought i'd share the wealth. Its an audience recording but the quality is pretty damn good. If anyone reading this has a copy of the bands gig from Brixton Academy last year i'd love to hear it - just get in touch with me via myspace.

Death Cab For Cutie - Live Bonnaroo Festival 16/06/06
Tracklisting:
01. Passenger Seat
02. Different Names for the Same Thing
03. The New Year
04. We Laugh Indoors
05. Title And Registration
06. Soul Meets Body
07. Lowell, Ma
08. Crooked Teeth
09. Your Heart Is an Empty Room
10. A Movie Script Ending
11. Company Calls
12. What Sarah Said
13. I Will Follow You Into the Dark
14. We Looked Like Giants
15. The Sound of Settling
16. Transatlanticism

[DOWNLOAD]

Download The Good, The Bad & The Queen Live Track

2007-01-21T13:01:00.000Z

Nature Springs (Live At The Tabernacle) - The Good, The Bad & The Queen [Download]

Watch a live set from Wilton's Music Hall in London.

www.myspace.com/thegoodthebadandthequeen
www.thegoodthebadandthequeen.com

Dylan Gets Deluxe Treatment

2007-01-21T09:30:00.000Z

The classic Bob Dylan rockumentary, Don't Look Back, will be reissued on DVD with a bunch of extras in the 65 Tour Deluxe Edition.

D.A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop, Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars) directed the original film, which followed Dylan on a 1965 British tour, and it was critically acclaimed for its inside look at the young singer/songwriter when it hit theatres in 1967. The new version has been digitally transferred from the original film, which also features Joan Baez, The Animals' Alan Price, Marianne Faithfull, Donovan and Dylan's manager, Alan Grossman. Pennebaker and Dylan tour manager Bob Neuwirth provide audio commentary.

The two-DVD package also includes Bob Dylan 65 Revisited, an hour-long film featuring previously unseen archival material, with commentary from Pennebaker and Neuwirth. The original 168-page 1968 companion book to the film, the theatrical trailer, a Pennebaker filmography, a Dylan discography, and cast and crew member biographies are also included along with collectible packaging.

A "Subterranean Homesick Blues" flip book, which provides a frame-by-frame look at what many people consider to be the first music video, is included along with an alternate version of the song's infamous cue-card sequence.

Docurama will release both the deluxe two-DVD set and the single-disc remastered version of the film on Feb. 27.

Pitch your questions to The Duke Spirit

2007-01-21T09:07:00.000Z

The Duke Spirit are going to be making a short film in the coming weeks and one of the elements they'll be incorporating is a Question & Answer scenario...so if there's anything you'd like to find out about The Duke Spirit then send your question to duke.spirit@gmail.com or enter it as a comment on this blog or here.

For other Duke Spirit gubbins click here

New Shins Streaming via Myspace

2007-01-21T08:44:00.000Z

The Shins excellent and long overdue new album Wincing The Night Away is now streaming via the bands myspace page here. The album will be officially released through Sub Pop on 29th January and is expected to send the band into the mainstream once and for all. Its been getting mixed reviews on the internets since its leak a few months ago but ill stand by it and say its their finest album to date. Its certainly not as instant as Chutes Too Narrow or Oh, Inverted World but worth sticking with for sure.

Tracklisting:
1. Sleeping Lessons
2. Australia
3. Pam Barry
4. Phantom Limb
5. Sea Legs
6. Red Rabbits
7. Turn On Me
8. Black Wave
9. Split Needles
10. Girl Sailor
11. Comet Appears

Heres the video for the leading single "Phantom Limb"

Heres the band performing "New Slang" on Saturday Night Live

Death Cab For Download

2007-01-20T16:51:00.000Z

Released on March 1st is Endless Highway, a tribute album dedicated to the music of The Band. Normally these things are pretty poor, and there is some crap on there - the Jack Johnson track is as drab as can be, but hey whats new. There are definately a few decent tracks worth checking out though, especially Death Cab For Cutie's take on "Rocking Chair" and "It Makes No Difference" performed by My Morning Jacket.

The full tracklisting is:

1. Wheel's on Fire - Guster
2. King Harvest - Bruce Hornsby,
3. It Makes No Difference - My Morning Jacket
4. I Shall Be Released - Jack Johnson
5. Weight - Lee Ann Womack
6. Chest Fever - Widespread Panic
7. Up on Cripple Creek - Gomez
8. Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - The Allman Brothers Band
9. Stage Fright - Steve Reynolds
10. Rag Mama Rag - Blues Traveler
11. Whispering Pines - Jakob Dylan, Lizz Wright
12. Acadian Driftwood - The Roches
13. Unfaithful Servant - Rosanne Cash
14. When I Paint My Masterpiece - Josh Turner
15. Life Is a Carnival - Trevor Hall
16. Look out Cleveland - Jackie Greene
17. Rockin' Chair - Death Cab for Cutie

Download the Death Cab For Cutie track here

Bob Dylan & The Band - Like A Rolling Stone (1966)

Covered In Love

2007-01-19T14:04:00.000Z

I meant to post this before Christmas but never got round to it...

The mighty Duke Spirit are back. Well, sort of. Until the new album surfaces at some point this year we can make do with a four track EP of cover versions of recently departed good spirits. The band recorded the tracks in Somerset during October of last year. The tracks are: Desmond Dekker's '007 (Shanty Town)'; Jessie Mae Hemphill’s ‘I’m So Glad’ and two Tracks by Love 'A House Is Not A Motel' & 'A Message To A Pretty'.

Its available as an exclusive download on Rough Trades website priced at £2.99. You can stream the tracks via the bands myspace page www.myspace.com/thedukespirit

So far no details have been revealed about the new album, though back in September 2005 Leila told me the demos had a definite Stax feel to them. The bands website is currently under reconstruction so hopefully when its back up some news will also be posted. After checking the website of Loog records I notice that The Duke Spirit have been taken off their artists roster. I'm speculating here but I have a feeling that the new album may come out on Bella Union, the label run by the bands close friend and producer of the debut album, Simon Raymonde (ex-Cocteau Twins bass player ). Wishful thinking maybe but Bella Unions list of bands is amazing (Midlake, The Howling Bells, My Latest Novel, Fionn Regan, Explosions In The Sky to name just a few) and the Spirit would fit nicely in there dont you think?

Download a live session from The Duke Spirit from Seattle radio station KEXP - Recorded last year whilst the group were in America.

The version of Win Your Love is stunning.

Songs played:
Love Is An Unfamiliar Name
Hello To The Floor
Interview
Win Your Game
Love Is An Unfamiliar Name

Right click and choose save-as. [DOWNLOAD]

The Duke Spirit - Love Is An Unfamiliar Name

Loney, Dear - Loney, Noir

2007-01-18T16:35:00.000Z

Sub Pop have struck gold in their recent signing. Loney, Dear or Emil Svanängen as he's known to his friends will release his fourth album Loney, Noir through the label on February 6th.

His music has been described as soulful indie folk with a powerful mini orchestra. Layer upon layer, adding instrumentation and vocals, these songs seem to bloom like time-lapse photography, depicting glimpsed scenes of modern disaffection and timeless yearning. Loney, Noir is at once effervescent and resigned, exhilarating and melancholy, joyous and confessional.

Preview tracks from the album below. Plus, as an extra treat watch a live performance of The City, The Airport from last years equally brilliant Sologne.

Loney, Dear - I Am John
Loney, Dear - Hard Days
Loney, Dear - I Will Call You Lover Again
Loney, Dear - I Am The Odd One

"The City, The Airport"
I'd just like to add that after watching the below video I now have a king size crush on the cute Backing Vocalist...

The Hold Steady - Boys And Girls In America

2007-01-18T15:04:00.000Z

Currently on extreme heavy rotation on my ipod is The Hold Steady's third album Boys And Girls In America. It took a while to sink in (6 months to be precise) but my god it was worth it. Friend of Line Of Best Fit Richard Hughes reviewed it over here.

The band are jetting over to the UK for a brief tour in February.

Feb 13th Manchester Night & Day (Club Fandango)
Feb 14th Glasgow Cathouse
Feb 15th Hoxton Bar And Grill SOLD OUT
Feb 16th Club NME @ Camden Koko
Feb 17th London Borderline
Feb 18th London Borderline

These guys have a fabulous live reputation so seeing them in such an intimate venue as the Borderline should be a real treat.

Stream the album here.

Welcome Back

2007-01-18T13:37:00.000Z

Hi and a happy 2007 to all of you. Admittedly a slight delay in getting this thing back up and running after christmas. This is mainly due to my Mac breaking down thus losing EVERYTHING, having a stomach bug, but mainly just enjoying being a Dad. Anyhoo, there are a couple of things worthy of a post so here goes.

First off, Wilco have finally given a release date for their new album. According to frontman Jeff Tweedy the title is "Sky Blue Sky" and will be released on May 15th. I'll post more news on this as I get it but so far track titles include; "On and On and On," " The Thanks I Get" "Walkin'," "Impossible Germany," "What Light," "Let's Fight," "Either Way" "Let's Not Get Carried Away," "You are my face," "Patient with Me", "Sky blue Sky," "Shake it Off," and "Side With the Seeds." The bands drummer, Glenn Kotche has said that some of the new songs were written on the spot in the studio by the band as a whole, as opposed to Tweedy fleshing out the song and bringing it to the rest of the band.

In other Wilco related news, the side project of members John Stiratt and Pat Sansone"The Autumn Defense" released their third self titled album on January 9th. Its certainly more of the same laid back indie rock and could be accused of simply being background music but its well worth checking out. Its certainly their strongest set of songs to date with the stand out tracks being "Where You Are" and "We Would Never Die" which features a stunning guest guitar solo from Nels Cline.

The tragically underated Portland, Oregon band Richmond Fontaine return with their new album "Thirteen Cities" released on 5th February on Decor records. This could well be the album that betters the classic 2004 release "Post To Wire". Its a perfect blend of Pedal Steel driven country rock mixed with the stark acoustic led story telling of the bands previous effort "The Fitzgerald". This could be one of the front runners for album of 2007 for me. The band are set to tour the UK in February. The venues are all tiny, especially Leicesters The Musician which only holds around 150 people. If you're at a loose end you wont want to miss out on seeing these guys.

Click here for the tour dates in full.

Download Barely Losing from Post To Wire here.

Brand New - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me
Sometimes the only excuse for listening to an album is because it has a great cover, the bonus with this was that it had a great title too. If loud guitars float your boat and you feel a little bit emo (and lets face it, we all have a bit of emo inside us) then this is for you. It was released in November of last year and completely past me by...
Heres what allmusic.com have to say about them:
"When Brand New released Deja Entendu in mid-2003, it caught a lot of their fans off guard. It found the band taking a stylistic leap forward from the clever pop-punk of their 2001 debut, exploring expanded sonic textures and indie rock overtones, their urgent choruses tempered by acoustic musings and softer introspections. It all seemed very deliberate, yet completely natural all the same, and the record was an underground smash. Something even more substantial was definitely brewing beneath the band's emo façade, and as a result, Brand New's follow-up was hotly anticipated for the three years it took the band to release it. The resulting The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me is the completion of their pop-punk molting process and one of the best surprises -- that isn't really a surprise at all -- to come out of 2006" - All Music Guide

You can preview tracks from the album over on the bands myspace page.

The band are currently on tour and hit the UK on the following dates:

2/5/07 - Guildhall, Southampton, UK
2/6/07 - Apollo, Manchester, UK
2/8/07 - Academy, Newcastle, UK
2/9/07 - Academy, Glasgow, UK
2/11/07 - Academy, Birmingham, UK
2/12/07 - Uni, Cardiff, UK
2/13/07 - Hammersmith, London, UK
2/15/07 - Tripod, Dublin, Ireland

In case you havent already noticed there are now RSS feed links on the right hand side of the site. Which basically means you can check out the latest headlines from NME.com and Pitchfork. Plus a whole load of reviews from the excellent CD Times.

Finally here are just a few albums released in the imminent future that are well worth checking out. Some ive heard the entire album, others just a select few tracks.

January
23/01/07 Broken West - I Can't Go On, I'll Go On
23/01/07 David Vandervelde - The Moonstation House Band
23/01/07 Earlies - The Enemy Chorus
23/01/07 Field Music - Tones of Town
23/01/07 The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
30/01/07 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Some Loud Thunder

February
06/02/07 Bloc Party - A Weekend In The City
06/02/07 Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - Like, Love, Lust, and the Open Halls of the Soul
06/02/07 Loney, Dear - Loney, Noir
20/02/07 Explosions In The Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone

March
06/03/07 Air - Pocket Symphony
06/03/07 Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
06/03/07 Bright Eyes - Four Winds EP
06/03/07 Gruff Rhys - Candylion
06/03/07 Jesse Malin - Glitter in the Gutter
20/03/07 LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
20/03/07 Willy Mason - If The Ocean Gets Rough

The Line Of Best Fit: 2006 Playlist

2006-12-21T15:51:00.000Z

A Christmas present to you all. As this will be the last post of the year I thought i'd treat you all...

The Line Of Best Fit: 2006 Playlist is a 17 track compilation of my choice picks of the year. There is something for everyone here so feel free to grab it. I hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas!

Tracklist:

01.Consolation Prizes - Phoenix
02.Black & Blue - Tim O'Reagan
03.Fire In The Sky - The Hazey Janes
04.Where Are You Go Go Going To? - Loney, Dear
05.7/4 (Shoreline) - Broken Social Scene
06.Be Good Or Be Gone - Fionn Regan
07.The Crane Wife 3 - The Decemberists
08.Low Happening - The Howling Bells
09.Eyes on the Prize - M. Ward
10.Waiting for the Time to Be Right - The Brother Kite
11.Black Swan - Thom Yorke
12.The Jeopardy of Contentment - What Made Milwaukee Famous
13.Let's Get Out Of This Country - Camera Obscura
14.There Goes My Outfit - The Dears
15.The Hope Edition - My Latest Novel
16. ABC - The Pipettes
17.Head Home - Midlake

Download it by clicking here.

A look towards next year

2006-12-21T09:05:00.000Z

Theres lots to look forward to though - 2007 is already shaping upto being a great year for music with new releases from:

Air
Arcade Fire
Architecture In Helsinki
Art Brut
Andrew Bird
Bloc Party
Bright Eyes
British Sea Power
BRMC
Built To Spill
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Dntel
Doves
Explosions In The Sky
Feist
Field Music
The Go! Team
Jose Gonzalez
PJ Harvey
Interpol
Idlewild
Norah Jones
LCD Soundsystem
Ted Leo
Massive Attack
Maximo Park
Metric
Modest Mouse
New Pornographers
Of Montreal
Pinback
Polyphonic Spree
Portishead
The Postal Service
Radiohead
Gruff Rhys
Rilo Kiley
The Shins
Son Volt
Spiritualized
Spoon
Wilco
Lucinda Williams

I've heard a few of the above already and havent been dissapointed as of yet. Roll on 2007!

Yep. Its End Of Year List Time.

2006-12-13T14:13:00.000Z

Its that time of year again when the best of lists come out. Bloggers and critics from around the globe spend far too much time contemplating what should go in the top spot. Does it really matter? Probably not. But I care and to start things off here is my top 25 of the year.

The Line Of Best Fit Top 25 from 2006

25. Loose Fur - Born Again In The USA
24. The Rapture - Pieces Of The People We Love
23. What Made Milwaukee Famous - Trying To Never Catch Up
22. Stars Of Track And Field - Centuries Before Love And War
21. Mystery Jets - Making Dens

20. The Dears - Gang Of Losers
19. My Morning Jacket - Okonokos
18. The Futureheads - News & Tributes
17. DFA - The DFA Remixes: Chapter Two
16. CSS - Cansei De Ser Sexy

15. Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
14. Fionn Regan - End Of History
13. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Show Your Bones
12. My Latest Novel - Wolves
11. Brakes - The Beatific Visions

10. Loney, Dear - Sologne
9. Howling Bells - Howling Bells
8. Bob Dylan - Modern Times
7. Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out Of This Country
6. M Ward - Post War

5. Band Of Horses - Everything All The Time
4. Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat
3. The Brother Kite - Waiting For The Time To Be Right
2. The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
1. Midlake - The Trials Of Van Occupanther

Other albums id like to give an honourable mention to are:
The Early Years - The Early Years
TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Mountain
Josh Ritter - The Animal Years
I'm From Barcelona - Let Me Introduce My Friends
Tim O'Reagan - Tim O'Reagan
Ben Kweller - Ben Kweller
The Elected - Sun, Sun, Sun
Calexico - Garden Ruin
Sound Team - Movie Monster
Portastatic - Be Still Please
My Brightest Diamond - Bring Me The Workhorse
Tapes n' Tapes - The Loon
Dirty On Purpose - Hallelujah Sirens
The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes
Centro-Matic - Fort Recovery
The Kooks - Inside In/Inside Out
Beck - The Information
Metric - Live it Out
Forward Russia - Give Me a Wall
Lilly Allen - Alright, Still
Amy Millan - Honey From The Tombs
Cat Power - The Greatest
The Spinto Band - Nice and Nicely Done
Jarvis Cocker - Jarvis
The Strokes - First Impressions Of Earth
Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Drive By Truckers - A Blessing And A Curse
The Velvet Teen - Cum Laude
Amy Millan - Honey From The Tombs
Snow Patrol - Eyes Open
Be Your Own PET - Be Your Own PET
Fields - 7 From The Village
Golden Smog - Another Fine Day
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad Of The Broken Seas
Johnny Cash - American V
The Hazey Janes - Hotel Radio
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
Peter Bjorn And John - Writer's Block
The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldiers
The Charlatans - Simpatico
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche
Voxtrot - Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives EP
Wolfmother - Wolfmother
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid Of You And Will Beat Your Ass
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
The Magic Numbers - Those The Brokes
The Album Leaf - Into The Blue Again

Phew!, what a year. Really any of the albums between 1 and 6 could have been my favourite. All six of them are very very special records that, if you havent already checked out you must do so and quickly!

Some other year end lists from around the globe.....
[I will edit this as more lists are released]

To start things off here is the link for Pitchforks top 25 music videos of 2006. Some pretty great ones are included such as Lilly Allen, CSS, Emily Haines and ofcourse the video that im sure will scoop lots of awards next year Ok, Go.

Watch them here

Some other year end lists worthy of posting:

Amazon.com top 100 of the year
NME top 50 albums
NME top 50 singles
More Cowbell Top 20
Bridgets' Blog Top 50
Richard Hughes of CD Times top albums of the year
Muzzle Of Bees Favourites of the year

Review: The Charlatans - Brixton Academy, London. 8th December 2006.

2006-12-11T22:28:00.000Z

Its typical of The Charlatans to end the year on top of their game. Its what they've spent their entire career doing. Damning anyone and everyone who has ever stood in their way. They're survivors after all.
2006 has been a funny old year for the band. Appearing in the first half of the year with the poorly recieved 9th studio album Simpatico, its Reggae and Dub influences confused both fans and critics alike. But credit to them, they tried something new and with most experiments sometimes they work sometimes they don't. But they've always had spirit and when the new musical directions work they really work; take 2001's Wonderland for example - a pure slice of glorious Californian soul or the Dylanesque country of Us & Us Only for examples of their bloody mindedness and talent.

Who would have thought they would be ending this year in such a celebrated way? November saw the band release their second retrospective of their career, Forever contained a selection of the bands favourite and most successful singles to date and with this came a full UK tour. What a tour its been too - playing all their favourite haunts its clear the band have been enjoying it as much as their ever loyal fans. Just listen to the daily podcasts to hear Burgess and co gushing after every show. Brixton Academy has always been an important venue for the band, some legendary shows have taken place here, most recently from the 2004 show where the bands only live DVD was filmed.

As LCD Soundsystems' Disco Infiltrator booms from the PA and the curtain falls to reveal a huge Charlatans logo backdrop the atmosphere becomes purely electric and its not long until the band appear and kick in with career high Forever. Tim Burgess looking revitalised after kicking drink and drugs earlier this year, he skulks the stage in the way that only Tim Burgess can, its certainly clear he and the rest of the guys are on a mission, yet the audience didn't react in such the manic way that I was expecting and it wasn't until Cant Get Out Of Bed until the atmosphere clicked into place and the band shifted it up a notch. Love Is The Key blew the roof off, one of the many highlights of the evening Up At The Lake sounded fresher than ever and The Only One I Know, as it always does, sent the audience into a complete frenzy.

A Man Needs To Be Told calms things down slightly with Burgess introducing it as his "War Song" its plods along quite nicely but I cant help but feel they should have canned it for a more lesser heard live track. With no studio album to tour and a classic song cannon, surely this is the time to do it? But apart from the encore the set is all pretty safe, or maybe its just what the crowd want to hear. This is only a very minor complaint though, The Charlatans are still one of the only bands that can make me feel the way they do live. Everytime i've ever had the opportunity to see them there has always been a oneness between band and audience, a Charlatans army if you like. They are a band of the people, and not in a yobbish Kasabian way either. You can live your life through this band and you can tell from the audience that many people do. Every member of the crowd I look at are singing the words right back at TIm with such conviction you'd think they were the songs authors.

A sterling rendition of How High concludes and the band leave the stage. What follows is an encore that should blow the roof off Brixton once and for all but, never really takes off. Kicking off with NYC from Simpatico Tim announces that he's just figured out "We've got another half an hour left yet" they break into a classic rendition of debut single Indian Rope with Tony Rogers ressurecting the ghost of Rob Collins in a hammond solo that completely blows my mind. I cant help but think that the majority of the audience haven't even heard the song before though. Up next comes Then which is a late addition to the set and like Indian Rope just doesn't get the audience reaction i'd expect. A lackluster run through of Impossible follows and its not until classic set closer Sproston Green that the encore finally picks up pace. The crowd literally go mental as the self styled King of the Mods Martin Blunt kicks into the pulsating bass line and the rest of the band follow. Tim Burgess still skulking around zapping the audience with his imaginary gun. At this point i've nearly lost not only my glasses but my jeans and my right shoe. Tim leaves the stage and the guys wrap things up in their own time - Jon Brookes pounding the drums, as always as if his life depended on it. Mark Collins and Martin Blunt knowingly cool as fuck and Tony Rogers tearing his Hammond to pieces. A completely exhilarating 2 hour set is over, and as always the band won hands down. They always do.

The Charlatans - Sproston Green

Manchester Charity Event. Line-Up Revealed.

2006-12-08T09:53:00.000Z

John Lennon ‘Imagine’ Charity Event at RNCM Manchester.
Friday 22nd December.

This event is to raise funds for the John Lennon ‘Imagine’ Trust which treats and cares for over 200,000 patients each year at The Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

This is a one off event in which the celebrated singer songwriters of Manchester have come together to help raise funds and give the trust an amazing Christmas present. The artists who have kindly offered to perform at the event and support the charity are;

Badly Drawn Boy
Stephen Fretwell
Guy Garvey and Craig Potter (of Elbow)
Lazy Bones
Autopilot
Nomad Jones

All are here to participate in an incredible acknowledgement to the trust and play to support and publicise the charity. All the artists will be offering their services for free and all proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to the charity.

For further information on the charity www.imagineappeal.com.

Tickets are £17.50 available at
RNCM Box office. 0161 907 5555
Piccadilly Box Office.0161 832 1111 (No booking fee applies).
or online at www.rncm.ac.uk / www.ticketline.co.uk

Signing In....

2006-12-07T09:19:00.000Z

Wow - has been a month already since my last post? Time flies when youre having fun I guess. Lots of exciting stuff happening at the moment... Tomorrow sees The Charlatans play at Brixton Academy in London which I am very much looking forward to. The setlist is looking great with the band throwing in all sorts of old goodies - expect a full review at the start of next week. In the meantime though why not subscribe to the bands daily podcast - so far it been highly entertaining. Click here for more info...

Also on Friday check out the Album Chart show on Channel 4 as a band called Brinkman are making their TV debut. A few years ago under a different name - The Vessels - the band made a tiny splash with their excellent countrified debut. After losing their guitarist and bass player though, the band regrouped and changed their name, and their sound. Check out their myspace page here.

Much to many an artists frustration there have been a fair few leaks of 2007 releases in the past few weeks. Most notably LCD Soundsystems new album "Sound Of Silver" - now, im not posting any links on here but it is outthere and its bloody good. In fact, its raised the bar pretty high for new music next year - its a huge leap forward from the debut album. James Murphy isnt too pleased about it though, he spoke of the news on his forum "the leak makes me sad. I mean, I knew it was ineveitable to some degree, but I barely finished the record, and I just wanted to get through the new year without this. It sucks - I didn't leak it. It wasn't intentional. Please don't share it if you have it. please."
Now, as much as I can simpify with Mr LCD unfortuantely this is how things work nowadays - everything leaks at some point, but as ive come to realise, people will generally still buy the album anyway. Its normally the big fans who can't wait for the new material.

Other leaks available are The Shins third album "Wincing The Night Away" which contrary to what most people are saying is fucking brilliant, Super Furries head boy Gruff Rhys's second solo outing entitled "Candylion" and notably the new Field Music album "Tones Of Town".
2007 is shaping up to be a great year already!

Speaking of great music in 2007 - Wilco have finished touring for the year to finish off their new as yet untitled album due for release on Nonesuch records sometime in May. The band have been roadtesting new material for some time now, whether or not all the tracks will appear on the new album or not is to be debated but song titles include; "Let's Not Get Carried Away", "Side With the Seeds", "What Light", "Shake It Off", "Impossible Germany", "Lullaby for Rafter and Beams", "Patient With Me", "Let's Fight", "Is That the Thanks I Get?", "Maybe the Sun Will Shine" "On and On and On" and "Walken". Whats more you lucky people can sample these new tracks by wandering over to Jesse Jarnow's Frank and Earthy blog where you can download a selection of currently available songs taped at recent shows. Know one knows how long these links will be up for so go and fill yer boots quickly. Major kudos for Wilco as they have always been really cool about having their shows taped and shared on the internet.

Review: The Karabal Nightlife - The Other Shore

2006-11-10T16:06:00.000Z

Murder ballads, Pixies-esque quite / loud melodies, and Jazz-fusion - and thats just in the first two minutes, The Karabal Nightlife sure know how to kick start an album. What follows is an intense, but often enjoyable 45 minutes of thought provoking indie rock.

The nice thing about this band which sets them apart from their peers is that they obviously are strongly influenced by classic rock n roll but arent afraid of putting their own unique stamp on it - rather than doing the easy thing of conforming into todays current trends. Most of the songs here could be garage rock stompers, but the band choose to challenge the listener instead - and it pays off. Though, its not for the occasional music listener - apart from the straight-ahead rockers "I Know Too Much" & "Short Years" you really have to work at this record to get the most out of it. Its full of rich harmonies and musical tapestries that only reveal themself to the listener after repeated plays. Album highlights "I Need A Girl (Who's Light On Her Feet" is a tender love song that puts frontman Jesse Davis' cracked vulnerable vocal to use beautifully, while "Sea Of Sleep" explores the bands obsession with Beatle-esque harmonies perfectly.

All in all its a strong debut, but I do have one small critiscm, though not to do with the music, and arguably it shouldnt matter, but to me it does... Its the very amatuer front cover design - looking like it was knocked up in Microsoft Word inbetween song takes. Album artwork is very important, and can often put people off the music before they've even put the disc in the player. Luckily, the inlay makes up for it and suits the style of the band perfectly - acting like a postcard from another era.

I urge you to investigate these guys futher. Visit the bands official website here, where you can purchase a copy of the album. Or preview tracks on their myspace page here.

Tim Burgess: "My girlfriend buys me underwear, it makes me feel special"

2006-11-10T14:13:00.000Z

He's been around the block, up the charts and over to California. But now, with the release of a singles collection, the Charlatans' Tim Burgess is kicking back and reflecting on those important matters: like pomegranates, Christmas and underpants.

Brought to you by the nice people @ Guardian Unlimited Music.

LCD Soundsystem new album & tour

2006-11-09T14:11:00.000Z

As well as releasing a 45 minute workout song for Nike, James Murphy has been busy putting the finishing touches to his second, as yet untitled album. Due out in March 2007 he will also take his band on tour in the UK and Europe next year.

Dates as follows:

March 2007
07 Birmingham, England - Academy
08 Leeds, England - Metropolitan University
09 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowlands
10 Manchester, England - Academy
11 Norwich, England - UEA
13 Bristol, England - Academy
14 London, England - Astoria
15 London, England - Astoria
16 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique
17 Amsterdam, Holland - Melkweg MAX
19 Cologne, Germany - Stollwerck
20 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
21 Munich, Germany - Kleine Elserhalle
22 Milan, Italy - Rolling Stone
24 Toulouse, France - Salle de Tourefeuille
26 Barcelona, Spain - Razzamatazz
27 Paris, France - Bataclan

Stream entire Sufjan Stevens Christmas Boxset

2006-10-31T16:17:00.000Z

[from Ashmatic Kitty website]

Celebrate Christmas on Halloween!? Who ever heard of such a thing? Of course we haven't forgotten Halloween either.

In the same way that brisk, Northern wind whipped by you last week with its chilly reminder that the holiday season is closer than you think, here it is: Sufjan's 5 CD Songs for Christmas in all its free, streamy goodness, available for enjoyment right now. These computer bytes of joy broadcast over the Internet feature albums recorded by Sufjan over the course of 5 yuletides (from 2001 to 2006), each employing different friends, instruments, and moods to tease and swizzle the Christmas spirit in all of us, even as early as October. Say, maybe it is time to cook a little shortbread and toss a little tinsel.

Of course, you can't gift-wrap an internet stream. For those who prefer their Christmas with lovingly reused golden bows and Santa-in-pajama wrapping paper, we will be taking preorders for Songs for Christmas on October 31st, the Christmas of October to ship November 14th. This wonderful set weighs at least 15 pieces of coal, with 5 individually wrapped CDs, stickers, short stories, an essay, a video, a comic strip, songbooks, and an Official Original Christmas Family Portrait of Santa Sufjan! Check those off your list! If we could have placed the CDs in snowman adorned cookie tins and delivered them to you by hand at your Christmas office party, we would have. But we just don’t have enough helper elves.

Stream the tracks right here.

2006-10-30T10:23:00.000Z

There's so much music on myspace. From bands with 60,000 friends and great reviews in the mainstream media to kids with songs they recorded yesterday and 17 views on their profiles - everything is there. It's a mess.

But it's a good mess, you know. A good problem. No such thing as too-much-information when this information is music. This is where bestmyspaceband steps in.

Bestmyspaceband.com is a community site solely devoted to the art of finding good shit on myspace. Launched only a few months ago, it means to be a place to explore and vote on new stuff that music addicts came across, and where anyone can promote their favourite acts they find on their own myspace journeys.

You can think of it as a human filter that plucks out the good stuff from this huge universe of almost unlimited music. And as it'll attract the music-obsessed to post the gems they discover (and vote on what others had promoted), it could eventually help us in getting deeper into the groove.

Some good unsigned acts on BMB in the last week:

The Morning Benders
It won't take too long for this band from Berkeley, California to get signed. Their songs sound like a mix of the Shins and the Strokes, and it works like magic.

One Trick Pony
The guy who promoted them on BMB wrote: "Music, stolen from around the world and mashed together in the Fens. Designed to get you dancing around your kitchen". It does sound organic, lively and healthy.

Jd Allbass
Described as "Stanley Kubrick and Bruce Lee driving Miss Daisy", this eclectic instrument-backed cut&paste effort by Madrid based Taylor Holidays (who also leads a Spanish band called Holidays in the Sun) is a real cutie.

Laila's Lounge
This group of psychedelic indie-rockers from Malaysia has some good sounds and the right attitude.

AIDS
Submitted to BMB when it had only 25 profile views, this band of New Zealand teenagers uses exactly the right amount of stupidity to make their music brilliant.

The Oohlas - Best Stop Pop

2006-10-27T08:33:00.000Z

Three minute blasts of power pop with more hooks than you can shake a stick at and great shared vocals from all three band members; ex-Everclear drummer (don't let that put you off) Greg Eklund, his brother Mark and Olivia (Ollie) Stone. Whats not to like?

First and foremost, lets get this straight. By no means is this debut album perfect, in fact part of me feels it would be better as an EP or mini-album. You see, the twelve tracks here offer the listener nothing new in terms of orginality, in fact it helps that the tracks alternate between Eklund and Olivia as the whole thing otherwise would end up being quite samey. From the leading single "TV Dinner" and onwards through "Cahuenga Shuffle" and "Octopus," you start to feel that the formula has reached a point where Stone's breathy drone (a cross between Metrics' Emily Haines and a punkier Jenny Lewis) begins to sink under the weight of samey-ness and the songs start to sound quite forgettable.

But underneath it all there are moments of real greatness here, in particular "Small Parts" which on the surface sounds like a summery-pop gem but underneath tells the tale of a relationship breaking down, with the lyrics "The decay of a former stone heart / Distributed into small parts / Now I cease to glow I cannot function anymore" isn't as happy go lucky as the rhythm section would suggest. You can't help but hum the chorus either with its "ahhhhh ahhhhh Dont go out the backdoor / ahhhhh ahhhh Thats what the fronts for / Chew me up & spit me out / I can't take anymore - Hardly what you'd expect from a summer anthem but it works perfectly. Other highlights include the opening tracks "Gone" & "Tripped", the latter featuring a melody again sung by the real star of the record Ollie, with her instantly likable vocal that wouldnt sound out of place on a Rilo Kiley record.

All in all this is an impressive debut which (with no fault to the band) really should have been released several months ago, to cash in on the heat of the summer.

Visit the bands myspace page here.

Second Coming Rehearsal Sessions (1993/1994)

2006-10-27T07:57:00.000Z

Download this fascinating insight of The Stone Roses' rehearsal sessions for The Second Coming. All the tracks here are completely unmixed and are direct from the studio tapes.

1. Ian & Reni Recording Water For Breaking Into Heaven Intro
2. Producer Giving Instructions/John In Background
3. Alternate Ten Storey Love Song Intro
4. John/Reni: The Tribal Jam 1
5. Good Times
6. Love Spreads
7. Love Spreads 2
8. Begging You
9. John/Reni: Jam 2
10. Daybreak (JB Groove)
11. Reni Solo 1
12. Tightrope
13. John/Reni: The Funky Jam
14. Breaking Into Heaven
15. Driving South
16. John/Reni: The Crazy Jam
17. How Do You Sleep
18. Reni Solo 2

Download [click here]

Tracklisting for new Charlatans Best-Of

2006-10-23T15:22:00.000Z

As reported a couple of months ago, The Charlatans are releasing a greatest hits package - Forever. The Singles - Is set for release on 6th November as a 2 x CD deluxe set, with a DVD following a week later on the 13th. The tracklisting is as follows:

CD1
Indian Rope
The Only One I Know
Weirdo
Can't Get Out Of Bed
Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over
One To Another
North Country Boy
How High
Tellin' Stories
Forever
My Beautiful Friend
Impossible
Love Is The Key
A Man Needs To Be Told
Up At The Lake
Try Again Today
Blackened Blue Eyes
You're So Pretty, We're So Pretty (Version '06)

CD2
The Charlatans Live at the BBC
Always In Mind - John Peel Show 20.3.90
Polar Bear - John Peel Show 20.3.90
Between 10th & 11th - John Peel Show 22.1.91
(No One) Not Even The Rain - Mark Goodier Show 5.10.91
Autograph - Mark Radcliffe Show 7.7.94
Up To Our Hips - Steve LaMacq show 14.3.94
Another Rider Up In Flames - Steve Lamacq Show 14.3.94
Crashin' In - Mark Radcliffe Show - 31.7.95
A Man Needs To Be Told - Live Lounge, Jo Whiley 18.11.01

Up At The Lake Demos
Feel The Pressure
Wave The World Goodbye
See How Clear It Is
Try Again Today

Im pretty dissapointed with the tracklisting for the main disc to be honest, I can't believe they have only included one track each off Up To Our Hips & The Charlatans. Surely their best period? Looking forward to the second disc though - lets hope the Demo's for Up At The Lake are better than the actual album. Maybe thats why they've included them?

Review: Wondernaut - The Youth Is Wasted

2006-10-23T10:03:00.000Z

Currently signed on the up and coming indie label American Laundromat Records is Billy Gro, or Wondernaut as he's most commonly known hails from Oklahoma City. He's been making a splash on American college radio stations for some time, and, after limited copies of his debut self-titled EP sold out he's back with a 12 track debut album "The Youth Is Wasted". Recorded over a period of 10 months by Billy and an 8 track, the album certainly has some moments of lo-fi beauty.

Kicking off with a 3 minute waltz of layered fuzzed out guitars and an infectious melody "Chemical Attraction Ecstasy" its obvious that Billy wears his influences on his sleeve. Not thats neccesarily a bad thing. The vocals on the opening track especially remind me of fellow Oklahoma resident Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips.

"U Think Yer Cool" is a stab at the uber cool underground scene with its playground-ish jibes of "U think yer cool and I am not, u think yer cool but your'e not" - its not going to win any awards for lyrical genius - but maybe thats the point. It does get your foot tapping though.

One of the oldest songs here, "Whisper" has a simple heart wrenching melody, the only downside to it, as with a lot of these songs is the over use of effects on the tracks, especially the vocals. I'd love to hear this song in particular broken down with just an acoustic guitar and vocals. The continuous flanging effects on the instruments and vocals are ultimately a distraction to what could be one of the strongest songs here.

Things pick up though with the buzz saw pop of "Valerie", "Such Sweet Melancholy" and "Out Of Friction", if you close your eyes for long enough you almost feel like you're listening to a band from the C86 era or maybe even Teengage Fanclub'isms circa Bandwagonesque / Thirteen - particulary the bands main songwriter Norman Blake, I think it might be the vocal delivery, I don't know.

What I do know is that if lo-fi college indie pop is youre thing you should certainly check this guy out.

myspace links:

Record Label - http://www.myspace.com/americanlaundromat
Artists Page - http://www.myspace.com/wondernautmusic

Ryan Adams tells all about new Punk direction

2006-10-20T20:46:00.000Z

Tuned into Ryan Adams' website recently? Well, if you have you will have found Mr Adams brand new punk rock album streaming on his "Cardinals Radio" section.

Ryan has been streaming an album titled “You Are The Audience”. Adams has said today that these recordings will only ever be available streamed through Cardinal Radio online, they will never be commercially released.

Adams says of the material “Its just stuff I do in my spare time, under the name “The Shit,” it’s been an ongoing project since I can remember to record some punk stuff when I get bored, ‘cause I like to play music when I’m not busy playing music.”

He also revealed details of another metal side project. He says, “My other metal project is called “Werewolph” but it’s too scary to release as it is so metal and scary that people actually turn to ice when I play it for them. Those few unlucky souls now haunt the offices of the NME instructed by my witchmaster.”

Explaining the history of "The Shit" - He said the band is “me on everything except drums which is sometimes Brad sometimes JT.” He says they have made five albums, named as follows “Is This Shit", “Hits The Fans,” "General Ulysses S Hospitol," "HillybillyJoel" (with The Cardinals and called “CardinalShits” and "slef-protrait."

Adams says he is also working on a whole other new project, he calls it the ‘garageband wars’. He concludes “I have an alternative death metal country band called “Wilcoven”. Its pretty sick.”

Stay tuned to Cardinals Radio at ryan-adams.com

Dunedin To Nashvillle

2006-10-20T20:39:00.000Z

A new alt-country documentary has screened at the Raindance Film Festival.

“Far Off Town - Dunedin to Nashville” documents underground rock legend David Kilgour’s journey from his small New Zealand town of Dunedin to Nashville, Tennessee to record his album “Frozen Orange” with his friends who just happen to be alt.country kings Lambchop.

The film features unique footage of Lambchop’s world as Kilgour travels from Kurt Wagner’s basement, to the recording studio of maverick producer Mark Nevers, via the underworld haunts of the Nashville music scene.

Culminating with a journey through the Blue Ridge Mountains to the home of Kilgour’s indie label - Merge Records in Chapel Hill - Kilgour is joined by Yo La Tengo’s Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley as well as members of Lambchop for a concert at the historic Carolina Theatre, celebrating Merge’s 15 years as an independent label.

Others appearing among the stellar musical cast include Will ‘Bonnie Prince Billy’ Oldham, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Silver Jews’ David Berman, Jason and the Scorchers, Billy Joe Shaver, Allison Moorer, and Sebadoh’s Jason Loewenstein.

The release date of “Far Off Town – Dunedin To Nashvillle” is likely to be in early 2007.

Lambchop play London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire next Monday (October 23).

Jeff Tweedy Hits Fan

2006-10-20T15:45:00.001Z

From Pitchfork:

Still in disbelief that the kind, mild-mannered Jeff Tweedy could have punched a dude in the face at last Monday's Springfield, MO Wilco show? We were too...until a Pitchfork reader sent links to YouTube videos of both the incident and Tweedy's apology.

At roughly a minute into the Woody Guthrie-penned favorite "Airline to Heaven," a crazed fan flies out of the audience and onto the stage, raising his arms above his head and, you know, rocking out. Tweedy plays it cool until said fan goes in for a smooch. Tweedy is rightfully taken aback and swats the dude's face before going in for the choke (a light one, admittedly). Totally justified, in our humble opinion.

He then gives a short speech, and Wilco picks up "Airline to Heaven" from where they left off earlier.

In the second clip, Tweedy apologizes to the crowd, saying, "I feel terrible. I don't like to fuckin' punch somebody in the face. Why would I? It sucks. It sucks, man." At this point, someone from the audience calls out ("The Thanks I Get" lyric) "we can make it better." Tweedy responds, "We can make it better than that!"

"I was having a really good time, but now I feel like going and sitting down somewhere. But I know we can't do that. We're not going to do that. We're not going to let the bastards win!"

On their official website, Wilco have issued a statement about the incident. It reads, "It was clear fairly early on that security was a bit lax at the Shrine Mosque. We had decided in advance to not have a barricade in front of the stage (a mistake?) so the band and crowd could be as close together as possible. The band prefer it that way...

"During the first encore a young man jumped onto the stage and did the requisite salute to his pals. While we certainly do not encourage that kind of behavior, we were prepared to let it go, as he was, it seemed, heading back into the crowd. Just when it appeared he was walking off the stage he turned around and moved towards Tweedy from behind. Jeff did not see him approaching, but felt the guy's hands on his head. To this, Jeff reacted. As Jeff put it... 'I really regret what happened last night. I wish it had gone another way... and i suspect had i felt safer on that stage, had security been doing a better job all night long, well things would have gone differently. He approached me from behind... and I reacted in defense to get him away. I didn't know what his intentions were... and I had to get him off of me. I'm sad that it happened at all.'"

We Are Scientists set to release rarities CD & DVD

2006-10-20T13:07:00.002Z

We Are Scientists, fresh from their With Love And Squalor debut, are to release Crap Attack, a compilation of videos, rarities, remixes and b-sides to be released on november 6th.

The CD features, amongst other things, covers of Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros and Art Brut's Bang Bang Rock & Roll. The DVD included in Crap Attack, features videos for all 12 album tracks and the full version of their gig earlier this year at Shepherds Bush with band commentary.

The track listings are:

CD
1. Ram It Home
2. Surprise
3. The Great Escape (The Silence Remix)
4. Mucho Mas
5. Call Backs Under The Sea
6. Hoppipolla
7. Bang Bang Rock & Roll
8. Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt Under The Sea
9. Sie Hat Was Vermisst
10. Be My Baby
11. This Scene Is Dead (Pete Predictable Remix)
12. History Repeats

DVD
1. Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt
2. This Scene Is Dead
3. Inaction
4. Can’t Lose
5. Call Backs
6. Cash Cow
7. It’s A Hit
8. The Great Escape
9.Textbook
10. Lousy Reputation
11. Worth The Wait
12. What’s the Word
13. Live at Shepherds Bush Empire
14. Commentary from the band

The release will be supported by the band's sold out UK tour, which sees them play 2 nights in Brixton.

Download Complete Jenny Lewis Show

2006-10-18T07:59:00.000Z

The Jenny Lewis show mentioned yesterday was so so good I decided to split up the mp3 in seperate tracks, and, as i'm the nice i've uploaded it here.

The setlist is:

Long Black Dress
The Big Guns
You are What You Love
Melt Your Heart
The Charging Sky
Happy
Fernando
Rise Up With Fists!!
Carpet Baggers
Sunday
When Jack Killed Mom
Born Secular
Rabbit Fur Coat
Acid Tongue
Handle Me With Care

In Anticipation of the new Jeff Tweedy DVD....

2006-10-17T12:31:00.000Z

Here are two clips from Sunken Treasure the live DVD of Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy. Released through Nonesuch on October 24th. Its available to pre-order from all good stockists.

Jeff Tweedy "Sunken Treasure" Trailer

Jeff Tweedy - Is That The Thanks I Get

Stream and Download Exclusive Live Shows

2006-10-17T12:25:00.000Z

The US public radio station NPR is currently streaming a handful of live shows including a full set by Jenny Lewis.

Also its worth noting that on 19th October they will be streaming Wilco at the famous 9:30 club in Washington DC. The show will be archived for a year after the transmission date. Hopefully it will be available as a download like the Jenny Lewis show.

Visit the archive here.

The Shins new album tracklisting revealed.

2006-10-17T08:29:00.000Z

The Shins have revealed the tracklisting for their hugely anticipated third album Wincing The Night Away set for release on January 23rd of next year. The lead single from the album, Phantom Limb will be available as a download exclusively through itunes on November 14th and gets its CD release a week later on the 21st. The single will contain two unreleased tracks from the albums sessions, one being an alernate version of album track Split Needles.

Tracklisting as follows....
Phantom Limb
01 Phantom Limb (album version)
02 Nothing at All
03 Spilt Needles (alternate version)

Wincing the Night Away
01 Sleeping Lessons
02 Australia
03 Pam Berry
04 Phantom Limb
05 Sea Legs
06 Red Rabbits
07 Turn on Me
08 Black Wave
09 Spilt Needles
10 Girl Sailor
11 A Comet Appears

Death Cab's Chris Walla Goes Solo

2006-10-06T14:36:00.000Z

Death Cab cutie and philandering producer Chris Walla, having planted his infamous seeds of production pretty much everywhere by now, is about to get busy in the studio with, um, himself. Walla has announced on his website that former DCFC home Barsuk Records will release his latest solo offering, tentatively titled It's Unsustainable, in March 2007. First critic to dismiss Walla's efforts as "masturbatory" gets a hearty smack on the wrist.

Walla's yet to decide on a moniker, but after flinging with the idea of billing himself "The Convincer", he's now close to settling on his given name. Smart move, Chris. It also seems this won't be a Martin Youth Auxiliary thang, the solo tag under which Walla released a self-titled cassette way back in 1999.

Walla, who's presently putting together a brand new studio called the Alberta Court, has already written the songs that will appear on It's Unsustainable, which he says bear a "pretty dark political stripe." Neocons, watch your backs!! He's also posted a Clinic cover on his website, revealed plans to tour, and beseeched his fans to help him make some damn decisions already.

Pitchfork

Brakes Are Back!

2006-10-06T09:30:00.000Z

Brakes return next month with a brand new 11-track studio album entitled Beatific Visions. The follow up to last years Give Blood will be released on November 8th through Rough Trade. I've just heard a copy of it and have to say it doesnt dissapoint. Its certainly a step up from their debut - with more focused, rounded songs. A highlight for me is Spring Chicken. Great stuff.

A statement from the band follows....

Brakes are the rollin', bowlin', tumblin', toilin', boilin', wheelin', bleedin', blood givin' buddies that have been throwing eyes into the valleys of the blind and sending mp3s to the moon or further for over three years now YEAH!!! Roll over cold dog' cause a hot dog's movin' in!! HELL YEAH!!!

So far this year, Brakes backed Belle and Sebastian and Editors in the UK & Europe before seeing in the spring with trips to warmer climbs; March saw the band head to Texas for a string of successful shows at the South by South West festival in Austin, a return to NYC and a debut tour of Italy.

Come April and Brakes' super-duper smash hit 'All Night Disco Party' received a repeat release disguised in Graham Sutton, Matthew Herbert and FC Kahuna remix formats. The band then toured from Aberdeen all the way down to the city of London where they did a good job of filling the popular Mean Fiddler venue.

It was high time for Brakes II by now, so, on an invitation from Seth Riddle (husband of Cerys Mathews) they flew to Nashville, Tennessee to record with Stuart Sikes (Cat Power: The Greatest, White Stripes: Red Blood Cells...) After a few days acclimatisation; catching fireflys; drinking 45 ounce margheritas; swapping guitar licks and rocking on rocking chairs on various porches, they got to work at The House of David studio, where records have been made by the likes of JJ Cale, Yo La Tengo and Elvis Presley.

The band stuck to their old habits by recording fast and live to tape. They recruited a few extra pairs of hands in the shape of local axe hombre Kevin Teel (lapsteel) and the man of 'The House' himself, Mr David Briggs (piano) David was an original Muscle Shoals band member and went on to play piano with Elvis between '68 and '77. Brakes asked him to lay down some 'ragtime' piano on 'If I Should Die Tonight' offering him $10. "Well, that was worth 50c." he said. They squeezed in gigs at the legendary record shop 'Grimeys' and its sister venue The Basement in between sessions, and were greeted by Nashville with hollers, whoops and screams.

Between festivals around the UK and Europe, Brakes mixed their new album 'Beatific Visions' at Radiohead's studio, Courtyard, in Oxfordshire. They paid their dues at the grave of Eric Blair (George Orwell), drank too much at the local mind bending pub 'The Plough', recorded a string section and mixed a fine record, which was later mastered by Neil Young's mastering engineer in Nashville.

The band played festivals until the end of the summer, and will be out on tour somewhere near you soon.

'The Beatific Visions' Tracklisting:

Hold Me In The River
Margarita
If I Should Die Tonight
Mobile Communication
Spring Chicken
Isabel
Beatific Vision
Porcupine or Pineapple
Cease and Desist
On Your Side
No Return

The band are touring the album in December with the following dates. Tickets are available at usual outlets.

Oct 16	White Heat @ Luminaire - more info
Oct 23	Trash @ The End (10pm-3am)
Oct 26	Adventures In The Beetroot Field @ Fabric
Nov 9	Another Music = Another Kitchen @ Proud Galleries
Nov 28	The Point
Nov 29	Crawdaddy
Nov 30	Radar Club @ Speakeasy
Dec 1	King Tuts
Dec 2	Cockpit
Dec 3	Roadhouse
Dec 4	Bar Academy
Dec 5	Kings College
Dec 8	Pavilion Theatre

Ryan Adams & The Cardinals - Cambridge Corn Exchange 27/09/2006

2006-09-28T11:54:00.000Z

Sometimes you go to a gig and come away knowing that you've seen something really special....

Last night was the first time i'd seen Ryan Adams, after two cancellations on two previous tours, to say I was looking forward to it would be an understatement. We got to the venue in good time so were able to push our way down to the front fairly easily, and pretty much as soon as we got there Neal Casal came on and did a solid 40 minute set with just himself and his drummer "Reggie" (aka Ryan Adams). I never thought that the first time I ever saw Ryan would be behind a drum kit but there you go... Neal played highlights from his current album, including my personal favourites You Dont See Me Crying & Grand Island. His set really translated well into the acoustic environment and, if anything sounded better than the full band versions on record. Mesmerising stuff.

Twenty minutes later and The Cardinals are kicking off with Magnolia Mountain and following with five more songs from Cold Roses including a barnstorming Beatiful Sorta. The sound in the venue was awesome, with Neal Casel commenting its a really beautiful sounding room. A new song Party Clown followed which was a feel good Stones-esque rocker.

It occured to me during Peacful Valley what an incredible lead guitarist Ryan actually is, and the tone he got out of his guitar was jaw dropping. With Neal Casal and Jon Graboff adding guitar and pedal steel to the mix, the overall sound made my face nearly melt off.

In between numbers a background tape was played with random traffic and nature noises with Ryan mumbling to himself and with his bandmates. Hecklers started shouting "speak up" with Ryan retorting "Sorry cant hear you". I think this tape was being played in response to the constant audience banter that goes on in his shows. He was probably playing it just to piss the audience off - and it seemed to work.

Funniest moment of the night came when the band kicked into an improvised hip-hop jam, with the Cardinals all taking turns to freestyle. It was a "you had to be there moment" but very funny.

Highlight of the night for me was probably Dear John, which is fast becoming one of my favourite songs in the Ryan Adams cannon. The harmonies were faultless and sent shivers down my spine.

After a rocking Please Do Not Let Me Go the band kicked into a 13 song non-stop attack playing a couple of new songs, a Grateful Dead cover and even dropping in some Billy Ocean! Shakedown on 9th Street got the pretty much static audience moving with Ryan and Neal each taking it in turns to thrash out a solo.

They ended with I See Monsters from Love Is Hell and left the stage. No encore. No bullshit - Just two hours of incredible rock n roll.

The setlist in full:

Magnolia Montain
Let It Ride
Tears Of Gold
Easy Plateau
Cold Roses
Beautiful Sorta
Party Clown(new)
A Kiss Before I Go
Arkham Asylum
Peaceful Valley
The End
Dear John
Please Don't Let Me Go
Mockingbird Song >
Dear Chicago >
Blue Hotel >
Bartering Lines >
Games >
29
21st Century Wars (new)
Shakedown on 9th St >
Franklin's Tower >
Stella Blue >
Bruce Wayne >
Caribean Queen >
I See Monsters

You can view some more of the photos I took here

Loney, Dear

2006-09-26T11:21:00.000Z

Don't you just love it when you stumble upon an artist that suddenly stops you in your tracks and leaves you wanting more, lots lots more.

Well, I was listening to Gideon Coes 6music radio show this morning and a Swedish act were in session for him - "Loney, Dear". Apparently on tour in the UK at the moment with Peter, Bjorn & John.

After a little more investigating Loney, Dear (aka Emil Svanangen) appear to have just signed a deal with Sub Pop in the states. Their current album "Sologne" has just been released in the UK via Dear John records. Heres what Rough Trade have to say about it:

"big big talent from sweden,emil svanangen hits all the right buttons with his beautifully crafted songs about love and depair and everyday anxiety, he'll make the hairs on your neck stand up one minute then get your hips swaying the next.
this is set to do what bright eyes and sufjan stevens did over the last few years.fantastic"

So, my advice for today. Wander over to myspace and give this wonderful stuff a listen.

Current tour dates are:

Sep 26 2006 Louisiana, Bristol
Sep 27 2006 Sumo, Brighton
Sep 28 2006 First Floor Club, Derby
Sep 29 2006 Fibbers, York
Sep 30 2006 ABC2, Glasgow
Oct 3 2006 Dublin Castle, London
Oct 28 2006 Tavasti, Helsinki
Nov 2 2006 Bowery Ballroom, New York

PJ Harvey to Release Peel Sessions Collection

2006-09-21T09:01:00.000Z

PJ Harvey's power is best experienced live and raw, and who better captured that energy than John Peel? The magic of the relationship between the artist and the legendary DJ will be unleashed upon the masses with the release of PJ Harvey - The Peel Sessions 1991-2004, due via Island Records in conjunction with the BBC on October 23 in the UK.

The due date falls during a month of commemorative events honoring the second anniversary of Peel's death.

Louise Kattenhorn, Peel's former producer, said in a press release, "John loved the sessions and was thrilled to have Polly record so many for his show. He considered her a wonderful artist and they were great friends."

The collection includes tracks spanning from early versions of Polly Jean's 1992 debut, Dry, to her most recent LP, 2004's Uh Huh Her.

Tracklist:

01 Oh My Lover [Peel session, October 29, 1991]
02 Victory [Peel session, October 29, 1991]
03 Sheela-Na-Gig [Peel session, October 29, 1991]
04 Water [Peel session, October 29, 1991]
05 Naked Cousin [Peel session, March 3, 1993]
06 Wang Dang Doodle [Peel session, March 3, 1993]
07 Losing Ground [Peel session, September 5, 1996]
08 Snake [Peel session, September 5, 1996]
09 That Was My Veil [Peel session, September 5, 1996]
10 This Wicked Tongue [Peel session, November 10, 2000]
11 Beautiful Feeling [Peel session, November 10, 2000]
12 You Come Through [John Peel tribute, December 16, 2004]

Jeff Tweedy DVD set for late Ocober release.

2006-09-14T13:37:00.000Z

The hugely anticipated concert DVD from Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy will be released on October 31st (in the USA). The concert was features performances from Tweedy's 2006 solo tour with footage from Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Arcata & San Francisco shows.

The DVD will document Jeff Tweedy performing songs from the Wilco, Uncle Tupelo & Loose Fur cannon. The tracklisting in full is:

01 Sunken Treasure
02 Theologians
03 The Ruling Class
04 How to Fight Loneliness
05 Summerteeth
06 The Thanks I Get
07 I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
08 ELT
09 Shot in the Arm
10 Black Eye
11 In a Future Age
12 Laminated Cat
13 (Was I) In Your Dreams
14 Airline to Heaven
15 Heavy Metal Drummer
16 War on War
17 Acuff Rose

The DVD was directed by Christoph Green and Brenan Canty and can't come soon enough for some fans, as a DVD from Wilco was scrapped last year after the band weren't happy with the footage.

You can pre-order the DVD from Amazon.com priced $17.99. Bargain.

The Thursday 3 [14/9/06]

2006-09-14T13:00:00.000Z

There's been a distinct lack of UK bands on this blog, especially in the videos section, so this week we've got two bands that are really popular on the UK gig scene at the moment. Larrikin Love & iForward, Russia!. I missed out on seeing Larrikin Love back in March when they played the Astoria as part of the NME awards show, but caught iForward, Russia! who were on after. It was the second time i've seen them, and to be honest wasn't overly impressed either time. Their album though "Give Me A Wall" completely suprised me. Well worth checking out...
The third video is a classic from The Rapture - House Of Jealous Lovers.

Larrikin Love - Happy As Annie

iForward Russia! - Eighteen

The Rapture - House Of Jealous Lovers

Jenny Lewis to support Death Cab in US

2006-09-14T12:52:00.000Z

America always gets the good stuff....

Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins will be supporting Death Cab For Cutie for four shows on their fall tour. The dates are:

2 December Mesa Amphitheatre Mesa, AZ
5 December Bren Events Center Irvine, CA
6 December Arlington Theatre Santa Barbara, CA
9 December Key Arena Seattle, WA

Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.

All Eyes On The Shins!

2006-09-12T09:47:00.000Z

The Shins have asked every member of their audience who attends their set at Austin City Limits to record the show using mobile phones or digital cameras.

The band will be performing new songs from their forthcoming album 'Wincing the Night Away', and the band want the footage to create a video showing the band performing from hundreds of different angles.

The band will give the audience a cue to begin recording, and they can then go to http://www.myspace.com/StareAllYouWant for details on where to send the video clips.

The band will take to the AT&T Stage at the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Texas at 4.30pm on September 16.

Arab Strap Split

2006-09-12T09:30:00.000Z

Arab Strap have announced that they are to split up after ten years of performing and recording.

The duo - Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton - are to focus on their blossoming solo careers: Middleton released his second long-player, Into The Woods, to great acclaim last year, while Moffat's Lucky Pierre material has been equally praised.

One further Arab Strap album is forthcoming, though: Ten Years Of Tears, a collection of b-sides and rare tracks, will be released on October 23.

Albert Hammond Jnr Debut Single

2006-09-07T15:38:00.000Z

Friend of Line Of Best Fit and fellow blogger Rich Hughes reviews Albert Hammond Jnrs new single Everyone Gets A Star for CD Times:

Albert Hammond Jnr. - Everyone Gets A Star

It sounds like The Strokes. C'mon, did you expect anything else? Albert Hammond, Jr's solo single is everything you might imagine it to be, except that it's rather good. His voice comes across not like Julian Casablancas' rock n roll scream, but more like Willy Mason - deep and gentle.

Otherwise it's business as usual with its post-punk meanderings and highly strung guitars with the unexpected bonus of the chorus thrashing about a bit. In my mind, at least, it's better than most of the songs from the last Strokes album. Certainly, the proposition of his solo album is now more eagerly awaited than previously.

Download Everyone Gets A Star [here]

The Thursday 3 [7/9/06]

2006-09-07T14:54:00.000Z

Don't the weeks just fly by?

Some "interesting" news...I heard the other day that one of the guys who wrote Robbie Williams' new single has moved into my old flat.. If anyone wants the address so they can punish him email me and I'll give it to you for a tenner.

So, videos for this weeks then, we have M. Wards amazing new single "Chinese Translation" taken from the equally amazing "Post-War" album. Ryan Adams break-through single New York, New York - shot days before 9/11 - can you believe its 5 years? And, finally a live video of Yeah Yeah Yeah's new single "Cheated Hearts".

M. Ward - Chinese Translation

Ryan Adams - New York, New York

Yeah Yeah Yeah's - Cheated Hearts (Live)

Phoenix - Live Review

2006-09-07T14:47:00.000Z

Live: Phoenix
Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY: 08 Aug 2006
Live Review by Jessica Suarez
[Pitchfork]

Cancer can't sponsor a show, but cigarette companies can-- even though they don't actually allow smoking indoors in New York City. Camel reps gave away so many tickets for the last stop on the Phoenix/French Kicks tour that the line outside the Bowery Ballroom wound around the block. Bouncers sent half the line home, and those that made it in looked more like freeloaders than fans.

After a longish set by openers the French Kicks, stage guys unfurled a large banner with four crests on it, which read "Nec Pluribus Impar", or "No unequal match for many". Less literally, it translates to "Second to none," the name of the last song on Phoenix's latest, It's Never Been Like That. This album is more rock than slick French pop, and fittingly their shows have become louder and less polished. On "Run Run Run", from 2004's Alphabetical, the band showed off its best live attribute: A gift for manipulating its songs' dynamics by stretching out their breaks and silences, creating maximum drama. But even live, smoothness can be a hindrance-- the band was so tight that I was tempted to look for an iPod plugged into the boards.

The audience loved new single "Long Distance Call" but showed more enthusiasm for the band's back catalog. After a few polite merci beaucoups Phoenix returned to perform "Too Young", a song best know for its use in the party scene in Lost in Translation. Singer Thomas Mars-- a striking if somewhat distant front man-- is the father of Sofia Coppola's baby, and the LiT director watched the show from the balcony. The band closed by reprising the show-opening "Napoleon Says", speeding up the song to double time, and then ran through bits and pieces of some of the other tracks they performed that night, for a bizarre live mash-up/encore/look back at the evening's selections, which gave the show a pleasant arc. Too bad so many people missed this: By that point, the freeloaders had streamed out of the Bowery. Maybe they needed a cigarette.

Postal Service Live Download

2006-09-05T15:22:00.000Z

Heres a show from Line Of Best Fit favourites The Postal Service. Recorded in Minneapolis on 25th April 2003. It was recorded direct from the Soundboard so its real good quality apart from some slight feedback in one of the tracks.

Jimmy and Ben are joined by the very fine Jenny Lewis for backing vocal duties. Hope you enjoy it. Tracklisting as follows:

The Postal Service - 2003-04-25 Minneapolis

1. District Sleeps Alone Tonight
2. We Will Become Silhouettes
3. Sleeping In
4. Nothing Better
5. Recycled Air
6. Clark Gable
7. This Place Is A Prison
8. There's Never Enough Time
9. Brand New Colony
10. Such Great Heights
11. Natural Anthem
12. Against All Odds

Paris Hilton targeted in CD prank

2006-09-04T13:15:00.000Z

Hundreds of Paris Hilton albums have been tampered with in the latest stunt by "guerrilla artist" Banksy.
Banksy has replaced Hilton's CD with his own remixes and given them titles such as Why am I Famous?, What Have I Done? and What Am I For?
He has also changed pictures of her on the CD sleeve to show the US socialite topless and with a dog's head. A spokeswoman for Banksy said he had doctored 500 copies of her debut album Paris in 48 record shops across the UK.
She told the BBC News website: "He switched the CDs in store, so he took the old ones out and put his version in."
But he left the original barcode so people could buy the CD without realising it had been interfered with.
Banksy is notorious for his secretive and subversive stunts such as sneaking doctored versions of classic paintings into major art galleries.
His spokeswoman said he had tampered with the CDs in branches of HMV and Virgin as well as independent record stores.
He visited cities including Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow and London, she added.
A spokesman for HMV said the chain had recovered seven CDs from two Brighton shops but was unaware that other locations were affected.
No customers had complained or returned a doctored version, he said.
"It's not the type of behaviour you'd want to see happening very often," he said.
"I guess you can give an individual such as Banksy a little bit of leeway for his own particular brand of artistic engagement.
"Often people might have a view on something but feel they can't always express it, but it's down to the likes of Banksy to say often what people think about things.
"And it might be that there will be some people who agree with his views on the Paris Hilton album."
A spokesman for Virgin Megastores said staff were searching for affected CDs but it was proving hard to find them all.
"I have to take my hat off - it's a very good stunt," he added.

Thundering Guitars & Songs About Snakes.

2006-09-04T09:18:00.001Z

Alas, its Monday morning. The weekend is over and I'm back at work. What better way is there then to start the week by mentioning Thee Single Spy whos self styled Gothic Black and Blues is the perfect soundtrack!

Armed with an acoustic guitar and a voice that brings the unlikely pairing of Coner Oberst and Shane McGowan to mind the two tracks on his myspace page are outstanding, and if they're anything to go by - the forthcoming debut release should be an absolute corker.

As a live act Single Spy also has the helping hand of upto ten musicians (Lambchop anyone?) including (in his own words) Organ, Skateboard Wheel Spinners, Wood Slappers, Trumpeters, Clarinettists, Saxophonists, Melodicas, Hummers, Xylophone tinklers, Harmony makers and mischief makers.

I insist you go over to his myspace site now and download the two tracks on offer - then after you've fallen in love with them ask nicely for a CD, im sure he won't mind. Then you can repay the favour by going to see him play at the following shows:

Sep 17 2006 'What's Wrong With My Boyfriend?' @
Page 2 Bar, London SE15
Sep 26 2006 Fight The Night @
The New Cross Inn, New Cross, London SE14
Nov 29 2006 Lark in the Park, Islington, London N1

Liquid Sunshine EP launch.

2006-09-04T08:46:00.000Z

West London five piece Liquid Sunshine are all set to release their debut E.P entitled "Ghosts" on October 27th at the infamous Queen Is Dead Night run by a certain Alan McGee @ The Borderline, London.

Liquid Sunshine are another band enjoying success with myspace. One of the tracks previewing on the site - Payroll, with its pounding bass line sounds similar to Editors or Doves, but theres no gloomy vocals on display here - vocalist Darryl Higgs spits out the lyrics with a cock sure swagger you don't hear everyday.

The band are also set to play the Mean Fiddler, London on September 26th supporting The Stone Roses Exprerience with Dave Haslam behind the decks. Tickets are prices at £12.50 - available at the usual outlets.

myspace page.

The Thursday 3

2006-08-31T13:15:00.000Z

So this week we've got the latest videos from Death Cab For Cutie and Peter Bjorn & John. Plus an absolute belter from the new Bob Dylan - Modern Times bonus DVD. Its a performance of "Love Sick" he did at the '97 Grammy awards. Fantastic stuff.

Peter Bjorn & John - Young Folks

Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Follow You Into The Dark

Bob Dylan - Love Sick (live)

As an added treat this week heres an exclusive peek at Bob Dylans' new video "When The Deal Goes Down"starring the lovely Scarlett Johansson. Here.

The Black Keys Tour Dates

2006-08-30T11:56:00.000Z

Just a quickie. Here are The Black Keys tour dates in support for their incredible new album Magic Potion, released on September 11th.

25 September - Music Centre - Dublin
26 September - ABC - Glasgow
27 September - Northumbria University - Newcastle
28 September - Cockpit - Leeds
30 September - Birmingham Academy 2 - Birmingham
1 October - Bristol University - Birmingham
2 October - Manchester University 2 - Manchester - SOLD OUT
4 October - Forum - London

Tickets on sale from the usual outlets.

Whoo! Alright-Yeah...Uh Huh

2006-08-30T10:30:00.000Z

Indie discos of the world rejoice, the new album from NY disco punks The Rapture has arrived and it does not dissapoint. A huge step forward from Echoes, its a throbbing electro/indie mash up with a far more commercial edge to it than their previous efforts.

It gets it official release on September 12th in the States and September 18th in the UK. But, you lucky peeps can get your hands on it two weeks early. Enjoy.

The Rapture - Pieces Of The People We Love [here]

In support of the album the band are playing the following shows:

Sep 3 2006

4:00P

Electric Picnic

Stradbally

Sep 4 2006

6:00P

HMV oxford circus (INSTORE)

London

Sep 12 2006

8:00P

Apple Soho Store (INSTORE)

New York, NY

Sep 20 2006

8:00P

Popkomm

Berlin

Sep 21 2006

8:00P

Reeperbahn Festival

Hamburg

Sep 23 2006

8:00P

NAME Festival

Lille

Sep 24 2006

8:00P

Rolling Stone Red

Milan

Sep 25 2006

8:00P

Mascotte

Zurich

Sep 26 2006

8:00P

Bataclan

Paris

Sep 28 2006

8:00P

Razzmatazz

Barcelona

Sep 29 2006

8:00P

Marsatac Festival

Marseille

Sep 30 2006

8:00P

Ososphere Festival

Strasbourg

Oct 1 2006

8:00P

Magnitude Festival

Reims

Oct 3 2006

8:00P

Muffathalle

Munich

Oct 4 2006

8:00P

Stollwerk

Cologne

Oct 5 2006

8:00P

Tivioli

Utrecht

Oct 6 2006

8:00P

Botanique Orangie

Brussels

Oct 8 2006

8:00P

Rescue Rooms

Nottingham

Oct 9 2006

8:00P

Concorde

Brighton

Oct 10 2006

8:00P

Waterfront

Norwich

Oct 12 2006

8:00P

Liquid Room

Edinburgh

Oct 13 2006

8:00P

University

Belfast

Oct 14 2006

8:00P

Leadmill

Sheffield

Oct 15 2006

8:00P

University MDH

Manchester

Oct 17 2006

8:00P

Koko

London

Oct 18 2006

8:00P

Melkweg Max

Amsterdam

Nov 11 2006

8:00P

Be the Riottt! (Bill Graham Civic Auditorium)

San Francisco, CA

Reading & Leeds Festival Coverage

2006-08-29T15:23:00.001Z

I have to say - I was mightily impressed with the BBC's coverage of Reading and Leeds over the weekend. A thousand times better than E4's amateur attempt at capturing V's "Highlights" - the most frustrating TV I've ever been subjected too. Anyhoo, Some mighty fine performances were captured by the Beeb including The Spinto Band, Arctic Monkeys & Yeah Yeah Yeah's. For me, the best was saved until last for the Sunday headliners at Reading - Pearl Jam. They played a sterling set which made me dig out all my old PJ albums from the 90's.

If you missed the coverage on BBC Three you can catch some of it here on the BBC website.
Who nows how long the link will be up for though...

(Pictured above - Karen O / Yeah Yeah Yeah's)

Blame Canada

2006-08-29T10:05:00.000Z

Just one big happy family, eh?
How can you keep track of a band with no fixed line-up, scores of side projects, and whose founder is disappointed in himself? Laura Barton reports from Toronto on the soap opera that is Broken Social Scene

Friday August 25, 2006
The Guardian

Ableary-eyed Amy Millan is winding her way across Toronto in a desperate search for coffee. The traffic lights switch to green and she scans the streets with a face dogged by a hangover and startled by makeup. A pair of sparkly red ballet slippers sits in the passenger seat. We pull up outside Jet Fuel Coffee in Cabbagetown, where Millan used to work, and she is two steps on to the pavement when the heckling starts. "Hey Amy!" they holler. "Aren't you some big star now?"
Millan is indeed some big star here in Toronto. Poised to release her solo album, Honey From the Tombs, she notched up a fine reputation with the Montreal-based band Stars, flaunting a voice that is fine-spun, breathy and distinctive. But it was her role as a vocalist for Broken Social Scene that truly led her into the limelight; with Millan, as with so many Canadian artists today, all roads lead to Broken Social Scene.

BSS is a Canadian supergroup or artistic collective, call it what you will, that began in 1999 with Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning, and has been accumulating members ever since. Today some 20 musicians drift in and out, including solo performers Leslie Feist and Jason Collett, plus Emily Haines and James Shaw of Metric, as well as countess others. BSS has somehow succeeded in producing three albums: the mainly instrumental debut Feel Good Lost (2001), the exceptional and impressionistic You Forgot It in People (2002) and last year's Broken Social Scene. But it is live that they catch fire, as a kind of indie jam band. At times BSS on stage will accommodate five guitarists, horns, drums, strings, three female vocalists and a couple of male voices to create a whirling, diving, clamour of sound, in shows that can stretch to three hours.
Today the offices of the BSS's Toronto-based record label, Arts & Crafts, are crammed with boxes of merchandise, waiting to be shipped across to Olympic Island where tomorrow the group are curating a festival. The show will see 10,000 fans make the short ferry-hop from the mainland to bask in the sunshine and in performances by Raising the Fawn, J Mascis, Feist and Bloc Party, with a grand finale by BSS.

To Jeffrey Remedios of Arts & Crafts, the Olympic Island show is a celebration of four years of hard graft, during which all involved lived with a persistent fear "that we were going to fuck it up". Five years ago Remedios was working for Virgin, craving a little more independence, a tad more creativity. "At the same time what was happening in Toronto was this incredible burgeoning music community," he recalls. "All these bands were starting to really come together, all these clubs were full, everyone would be going out to see local bands, which was a relatively new thing for us. It sort of hit critical mass at a certain time."

Already a good friend and sometime roommate of Canning and Drew, he at first took a mild interest in their project. "But then they made You Forgot It in People, and they got me into the studio and said whaddyathink? And I said I'm in, I'm totally in." That meant leaving Virgin to found a record label, management company and music publisher with Drew, "that would just be like an arts collective, like the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts, that kind of theory".

Arts & Crafts started with one band, Broken Social Scene, and has grown steadily since. "Social Scene really are the band that are at the centre of this community," insists Remedios. "The true ethos of that band is a collection of people collaborating together from other projects. So they're in the core. In the beginning they would play shows at [Toronto venue] Ted's Wrecking Yard, and they'd play all new songs every show, and they'd play once a month. You Forgot It in People was birthed from that. So one week James and Emily from Metric would be there, the next month Feist, the next month Amy and Evan from Stars. And it just hit, it hit really fast."

Back in Cabbagetown, Millan, propped up by latte, is attempting to explain the complex, intertwining histories of the members of BSS. She first met Kevin Drew at summer camp. "And of course Emily I met on the first day at school. She came up and asked where the music class was. We walked in and we were late, and there was what felt like 200 kids all facing us. But it was better because we had each other, and that sort of bonded us as a force. We were very, very good friends for a very, very long time. Emily was already writing absolutely amazing songs and I started singing with her and ..." She has barely begun her story when another fan wanders over. "Amy! Hey Amy!"

While its shape-shifting enormity has been part of BSS's attraction, it has also provided its own complications, particularly for Canning and Drew. "The family is constantly expanding," nods Canning. "But we let ourselves get pulled in a lot of different ways, and you can kinda forget we're the founding members of this group. It just feels like this abstract thing." And the difficulties have not just been musical. "Over the years there's been such emotional tumult. It must be the same with every band, but then when you throw men and women together and start playing music together, it's like being at summer camp."

It's easy to imagine that Canning and Drew might grow a little irked by the constant to-ing and fro-ing of their band members, but Drew insists not. "It would annoy me if their bands were bad. But they're not. Bands like Stars and Metric need to be there, and we've been very grateful for the time they've devoted to us." Besides, he argues, they enjoy a kind of symbiotic relationship. "They will burn out on their own shit and come back to us and say, 'Can I just not think about stuff for a month?' And they take that energy and they use it really well in their own bands."

Two BSS members currently pursuing another project in earnest are Emily Haines and James Shaw, singer and guitarist in the more straightforward, punky Metric. "James and I write with BSS pretty regularly," she explains, "but it's a very different kind of role, especially for me. I really enjoy playing the supporting part. Social Scene is about donating yourself. And the thing is, we don't see each other that often. It's a way to romanticise your friendships, because you don't have to put up with the day-to-day."

Though Metric formed in New York, the band members have since returned home to Toronto, making them more available, presumably, for further collaborations. "It just felt like the right time," says Haines. "[Canada's] a pretty utopian place at the moment, there's a lot happening. I guess what keeps me going is my interest in other people. Everyone I know, that seems to be their desire: to collaborate. They need to connect."

Drew, however, isn't feeling the connections so profoundly these days. "None of us has any time any more in this band," he says over dinner the night before the Olympic Island festival, spearing his pasta. "There's lots of families and personal stuff, other bands going on, so Social Scene has become ... it's lost a bit of its love outside of when we're together, but when we're together it's there." Does the loss of love concern him? "It disappoints me a bit because I feel that if we all gave it 170% then we would be doing a lot better than we are. We were always a music band that loved music. And we've now gone into a format of playing the same songs all the time. It's great because we have rotating members so you always have different magic, and personality-wise it's difficult to always be on the road so it's nice to have different conversations. But we've been touring non-stop for the last four years now, so it's just at a point where we've got to find something new about it."

He is quick to point out that he has thoroughly enjoyed the past few years. "But it's also been some of the most stereotypical narcissistic times in our lives," he says. "I think you hit a point where you're disappointed in yourself maybe, and that point for me was when I kind of took it for granted. And it's also very difficult to make music when you're talking about it all the time, you're always planning your future and where you're going to go and all that, and it does suck the life out of why you wanted to do it."

What would he rather talk about? "I'd rather learn," he replies earnestly. "I'd rather use conversation as an education platform, instead of talking about booze and how fucking hard it is to cope as a group or a family or a band. We were always an experiment in intimacy. That's something Jason Collett said to me once, and I liked that. I liked the idea that people were into us because it never was supposed to work with this many people, and financially we were supposed to be ruined and internally we were supposed to be ruined. There's be a lot of fucked up things that have happened over the last couple of years, but we're still here and there's still love for each other."

It is 12.59pm on Olympic Island, and there is a still patch of calm before the gates open. The sun shines slow and steady, beers sit cooling in big icy barrels. You hear the squeals first, then the thunderous approach of the first stampede of hipsters charging across the grass to secure their territory at the front of the stage. By the time Broken Social Scene take to the stage shortly before 9pm, the crowd is itchy with anticipation. It is an outstanding, unexpectedly moving performance, the already preposterous number of band members on stage bolstered by the friends and family that seem to spill from the wings. The night concludes in a final, stunning triumvirate of Ibi Dreams of Pavement, It's All Gonna Break, and KC Accidental. And, for a glorious while, Broken Social Scene, in all its fragmented, dissonant, weary parts, seem again united.

Five essential records from the Canadian scene

Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
Back in 2002, cramming umpteen musicians on to an album seemed an outlandish concept. Yet You Forgot It in People bloomed with a mesmerising creativity, best illustrated by the breathless, otherworldly Anthems for a 17-Year-Old Girl.

Metric - Live It Out
One of this year's best albums so far, this is the second offering from Metric, and marks out Haines as one of the brightest stars in music right now. Politically charged and with a stoked-up fire in its belly, Live It Out is also disturbingly danceable.

Feist - Let It Die
The solo project of BSS's Leslie Feist. Unabashedly romantic, Let It Die is steeped in cocktail jazz and bossa nova; it's her most sumptuous offering yet.

Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
Stars are made up of Chris Seligman and Pat McGee, along with BSS members Amy Millan, Torquil Campbell and Evan Cranley. Their piece de resistance is this album from 2005: a cathartic confection of strings, horns, colliding female-male vocals and Casio keyboards.

Jason Collett - Idols of Exile
Collett is a part of BSS's wall-of-guitar sound, but here he drifts back to his folkier roots to bring us a delightful album, full of summery, wistful tracks such as Hangover Days.

Sub Pop Singles Club Downloads

2006-08-29T08:34:00.000Z

The Sub Pop Singles Club was a legendary mail delivery service that provided the subscriber with one 7" single per month by one of the most talented and physically attractive bands of the day.

The madness began in November 1988 with the now mythic Nirvana 'Love Buzz' single and continued through five years of unadulterated bliss, finally reaching its end with Lou Barlow's 'I Am Not Mocking You'. Beginning in April 1998, Sub Pop Records unhesitatingly re-launched the Singles Club and once again provided a reason to live for the countless morbidly lonesome shut-ins of this generation. Since then, we have, without pause, released one magically delicious single per month to divert, delight and enjoy.

For a good indication of the caliber of music you will be receiving just take a look at some of the bands that participated in the first incarnation: Smashing Pumpkins, Fugazi, The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Rapeman, Unrest, Rocket From the Crypt, Jon Spencer, Ween, Soundgarden, Afghan Whigs, Poster Children, The Muffs, Reverend Horton Heat and lots more. Subscribers to the re-launched club in April 1998 have received singles from the likes of Luna, Modest Mouse, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Team Dresch/Longstocking, Creeper Lagoon, The Get Up Kids, Beachwood Sparks, Dot Allison, Bonny Prince Billy, Pedro The Lion, Crooked Fingers, Mudhoney, Dead C, Death Cab For Cutie, To Rococco Rot, The Yo-Yo's, The Creatures, Trumans Water & Zeke among others, with many more yet-to-be announced sonic delights.

To download, in mp3 format the singles from '98 - '02 follow this link.

Details on The Shins Third

2006-08-24T14:32:00.000Z

From Billboard.com

Indie rock kingpins the Shins stretch out on their third album, "Wincing the Night Away," due in January via Sub Pop. Save for a handful of backing vocals, the set is completely finished and will be mixed in the coming weeks in Portland, Ore. Frontman James Mercer tells Billboard.com the album will likely feature 10 songs and one short introduction.

"Wincing the Night Away" was initially expected this summer, then bumped to October and finally into early 2007, but Mercer says the extra time paid huge dividends for the band.

"It would have been great to have released this a year ago, but the benefits [of waiting] are big," he said backstage before the Shins' performance last night (Aug. 23) at Brooklyn's McCarren Park Pool. "I'm constantly reminded of how much better the project gets as new discoveries are made. That only happens through taking your time and being able to approach it with some new perspective."

Mercer is particularly enthused about the song "Phantom Limb," which he says was inspired from a production standpoint by early Jesus & Mary Chain albums. "The song is a hypothetical, fictional account of a young, lesbian couple in high school dealing with the sh*tty small town they live in," he says.

Elsewhere, "Red Rabbits" is what Mercer describes as "a strange, psychedelic piano number with this really tweaked out sound," while "Sea Legs" employs a hip-hop beat reminiscent of the Beta Band. "Spelling Lessons," "Spilled Needles" and "A Comet Appears" will also make the final cut.

"I was just talking to some of the people at Sub Pop who were listening to the rough mixes, and they agree with me that we've stretched," Mercer says. "We're trying some different styles."

"Wincing the Night Away" is the follow-up to 2003's "Chutes Too Narrow," which has sold more than 393,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's also the band's final album under contract for Sub Pop, and although the Shins have not ruled out re-signing with the label, they are also entertaining other offers.

"We really like the more creative sort of ways people have been putting out their records lately," Mercer says. "People are owning their own masters and having distribution deals. That's real attractive. It's an expensive business. It's probably more expensive for the artists than anyone else."

A smattering of live shows are on tap in the next few weeks, as well as a Nov. 2 appearance at Sub Pop's showcase during the CMJ Music Marathon, but the Shins will hold off on extensive touring until the release of "Wincing the Night Away."

The Shins - New Slang
Live Video:

The Crane Wife

2006-08-24T11:39:00.000Z

Well, The Decemberists new album is being released October 3rd and as with pretty much every release nowadays its leaked a couple of months early. Its been getting some serious love from me for a couple of weeks now and I'm sure will be considered their strongest release to date. As with the bands previous album Picaresque, the album was co-produced by Chris Walla of Death Cab For Cutie and also features Ben Gibbard on guest vocals for the closing track Sons & Daughters.

The Decemberists - The Crane Wife is available to download here.

For Your Entertainment

2006-08-24T08:27:00.000Z

So, every week I'm going to post 2-3 music videos for your viewing pleasure. To kick things off this week we've got videos from Midlake, Band Of Horses and a classic from The Postal Service.

There is nothing I can really say about Midlake & Band Of Horses that hasn't alreadly been said on a thousand blogs and reviews sites except for these bands are outstanding. Along with The Decemberists new album they are certainly my personal highlights of 2006.

Enjoy the videos....

Midlake - Young Bride
myspace.com/midlake

Band Of Horses - The Funeral
myspace.com/bandofhorses

Postal Service - We Will Become Bilhouettes
myspace.com/postalservice
Apparently there is a new Postal Service album in the works. There are no release dates at present but it has been confirmed that both Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamberello are both working on tracks. Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley has apparently penned a couple of tracks for the record too.
Very exciting stuff.

Albert Hammond Jnr. Set To Go Solo

2006-08-24T08:10:00.000Z

Interesting news for Strokes fans. Guitarist Albert Hammond Jnr. is releasing a solo album through Rough Trade on 9th October, as reported by CD Times. There are some tracks from the album streaming over on his myspace site. They sound pretty good, especially Everyone Gets A Star - which turns out is going to be the lead single from the album.

The full tracklisting is as follows:

Cartoon Music for Superheroes (Goodnight)
In Transit
Everyone Gets a Star
Bright Young Thing
Blue Skies
Back To The 101
Call An Ambulance
Scared
Holiday
Hard to Live (in the City)

Some helping hands come in the shape of Julian Casablancas, Jody Porter (Fountains of Wayne), Ben Kweller, Sean Lennon and Strokes manager Ryan Gentles.

"I hate you guys"

2006-08-23T14:20:00.000Z

The new Kasabian album is released on August 28th.

I for one won't be buying it. It seems I'm not the only one....

Article taken from Stylus Magazine

An open letter to the uninitiated by Nick Southall.

I hate Kasabian for many reasons. Firstly, I hate the etymology of their name. Linda Kasabian is the name of Charles Manson’s getaway driver, or something. She was certainly a member of the “Manson Family”. Some might write that off as tasteless in the extreme, but tasteless has never bothered me particularly – I’m a Chris Morris fan. It’s rather the fact that this deliberate self-association with infamous murderers and the darker aspects of pop culture smacks of “keeping it real” in the most affected and unreal way possible (people DIED, that’s SO REAL); it’s not designed to shock in the sense that shock = realigning peoples perception of everyday life enabling them to better live that life. It’s about looking cool because your parents might take offence, which is never good.

I hate the way they dress with that faux rock aristocracy conceit, all scarves, choppy, highlighted feather cuts and vintage jackets from designer second-hand shops. I hate their shitty, over-considered facial hair. I hate their professional lad personas, the fact that they’re from Leicester and like football and drinking and swearing, the fact that they veil their song titles in vaguely drug-centric acronyms because, presumably, they think that doing so is cool. It’s the same with The Libertines and all the crack-chic that follows them around, the heroin-mystique; I thought thinking drugs were cool had become passé years ago.

But most of all I hate their fucking awful music. I hate their shitty beats and shouty choruses, their Beatles-aping, rockist-pleasing backwards fills, the whole fucking shitty lads-down-the-disco aesthetic. I hate the fact that they called a song “Processed Beats” when it doesn’t sound very processed and barely has a beat. I hate the fact that critics praise them by using phrases like “They’re a classic indie disco band”, as if that a; had any meaning or b; was a good thing in the slightest. I hate the fact that they were nominated for Brit Awards in the same year that the dance category was disbanded. Dizzee Rascal, Talvin Singh and Roni Size have both won the Mercury Prize in recent years. Dance music is not a scary, radical, leftfield concern anymore. It does not need watering down for the proles.

People keep saying they sound like Primal Scream, but I have never heard Primal Scream do anything as clunky and boring and lager-lout obnoxious as “LSF” or “Cut Off”. Is this the legacy of Screamadelica? Lest we forget, that album didn’t embrace dance culture by sticking a clumsy hip hop beat and some widdly effects over a three-chord indie strum+shout. Perhaps people mean latter-day Primal Scream, but I don’t know where they’d get that from. Vanishing Point is a dub record, XTRMNTR a discopunkwhitenoise leviathan which spawned The Rapture and LCD Soundsystem, Evil Heat is basically electroclash-meets-krautrock. Perhaps they mean the much maligned Give Out But Don’t Give Up, a clumsy blues-funk album. Kasabian are closer to “Rocks” or “Jailbird” than anything else Primal Scream have done.

People keep saying Kasabian sound like The Stone Roses – which songs in The Stone Roses catalogue sound ANYTHING like Kasabian’s snarling masculinity? “Fools Gold”? With its intricate groove (the 10-beat kick-drum loop on that song is more intricate and inspired than anything I’ve heard from Kasabian), its bassline cribbed from Can, it’s ten-minute lope that still sounds strange and alien today? Or maybe “Begging You”? No, it’s still a hundred times more furious and exciting than anything Kasabian could come up with, the sequencing more radical, the beats less predictable, the lyrics more intriguing.

People keep saying Kasabian sound like Happy Mondays. I saw the video for “Wrote For Luck” for the first time in ages the other day. Kasabian sound nothing like that. New Order. !!!. Lo Fidelity Allstars. Daft Punk. Prodigy. LCD Soundsystem. Basment Jaxx. Even Black Grape, for heaven’s sake. All have mixed dance beats and textures and aesthetics with rock structures and sounds. Kasabian sound nothing like them. They’re derivative but not of an idea or a sound; they’re derivative of a poor description of an idea or a sound. “Indie music with dance beats.” Good fucking god it was tired fourteen years ago and it’s tired now. After 20 years of rhythmic evolution and invention in dance music, after house, drum n bass, UK garage, Asian underground, trance, dubstep and countless others, to hear someone do the same “funky drummer” fill that the fucking Mock Turtles used in 1991, and for people to praise that and think it’s something new or clever, is depressing and backwards. I cannot fathom people who would choose to listen to a bad, misremembered refraction of dance music, especially when those same people are generally also the types most likely dismiss actual dance music itself out of hand.

Forever. The Singles Tour.

2006-08-23T13:12:00.000Z

Good news for all Charlatans fans...
After the bands triumphant sets at the V festival at the weekend the band announced a November/December tour. Not only will it be the second tour of the UK this year it will coincide with the release of "Forever" - a greatest hits CD/DVD package.

The release will feature an 18 track CD compilation and limited edition DVD box set with rare and unseen footage from the past 16 years, archive material, demos and other rarities.

The tour dates are as follows:

NOVEMBER
23 - Halifax Victoria Hall
24 - Leicester De Montfort Hall
25 - Cardiff Uni Great Hall
26 - Reading Hexagon
28 - Lincoln Engine Shed
29 - Birmingham Academy
30 - Portsmouth Guildhall

DECEMBER
02 - Middlesborough Town Hall
03 - Sheffield Octagon
04 - Glasgow Academy
05 - Newcastle Academy
07 - Hull City Hall
08 - London Brixton Academy
09 - Blackpool Empress Ballroom
10 - Llandudno Cymru Hall

Support comes from Manchester band The Longcut.

Tickets cost £22.50, except London £25.00, plus booking fees. Tickets go on general sale from 9am on Wednesday 23rd August through www.gigsandtours.com and www.ticketmaster.co.uk (Glasgow only).

I'll see you down the front at Brixton.....

Throw Shapes

2006-08-23T08:33:00.000Z

Ipswich has never really been a hotbed for live music. Unless, you count Busted and Lemar playing the Regent Theatre (but we wont talk about that)... However, last year, as part of an NME tour taking in towns & cities that were out of the live music radar The Duke Spirit came to town and played an excellent set at the Cock & Pye. Soon after a fortnightly night started out called UPROCK, and over the past year has seen such bands as ¡Forward, Russia!, Bromheads Jacket, New Rhodes, Good Shoes, This Aint Vegas, Redjetson, Charlie Brown, We Start Fires, Love Ends Disaster!, The Fold, Misty's Big Adventure, Louie, Rosalita, Shut Your Eyes And You'll Burst Into Flames, Black Wire, The Pigeon Detectives and Jamie T.
You can keep an eye out for whos playing on UPROCKS very own myspace page.

Fair Warning

2006-08-22T14:37:00.000Z

What better way to kick this thing off than to mention a band who are very close to my heart.

Saltflat have just released their second full length album "Cold Morning Light" on Bonedry records.

Its been about 18 months in the making, and their first release since 2003's Asphalt Good and it doesn't dissapoint - this release is a huge step forward in terms of frontman Neal Cooks (ex-Wildflowers) songwriting. A sense of distance and longing echoes throughout the nine tracks, from the Neil Young apeing "Coming Home" to the barnstorming "MAP" .

Fans of Wilco, The Replacements, Ryan Adams and Richmond Fontaine should take note.

The band will be playing the following dates over the next couple of months:

August 27th, September 19th & October 7th
Wolverhampton Little Civic

Tickets are available from the boxoffice on 01902 552121 or you can book online here

October 28th
Jug Of Ale, Birmingham

To preview tracks from the album visit their myspace site. Or, for any other info or to buy the album visit the official site here.