Another week another article from my main man Steve Albini. This time a slightly older one about the “Problem with the Music industry”… Full link here.

It includes sums as well, but it’s certainly a word of warning to bands wanting to sign to major labels and things that should be avoided.

Good luck to all unsigned bands out there… I try and do my bit to help increase awareness for the ones that are good and in that vain, I’ve reviewed some tracks by The Ideals this week from their Myspace site.

Harking back to the musical hay days of 90’s Britpop, these three superbly crafted songs are full of hooks and chiming guitars that put the recent attempts by Oasis into the shade. Combining the Beatles-tinged pop influences favoured by The La’s and Shack with hints of Americana in the vocal harmonies of The Jayhawks, these guys are creating songs of indie-pop goodness. Shine is the highlight of the three tracks streaming here, a sunshine filled pop gem that rattles along with it’s 60’s tinged guitar hooks laden with wistful lyrics and vocal harmonies. Signs of Life prove their no one trick pony however as the elegant string arrangement is just hidden in the mix behind the guitars whilst Come On Come On is a playful romp of rock n roll dreams with trashy guitars and clattering drums that sounds like Oasis at their Definitely Maybe peak.

Full review here.

[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.

A few bits and pieces to post as I’ve been silent for a couple of days.

First up is an interview with the great Tom Waits in The Observer on Sunday. Now that he’s teetotal, he’s decided he wants to write something meaningful as he turns his hand to American politics. Interview here.

I also went to see Howling Bells last night… after cancelling their last two shoes in Cambridge due to PA problems and illness, they had something to prove, and by heck did they do it. I’ll be posting a proper review shortly, but they’ve never sounded so tight and focused, it seems as though they’ve allowed the songs from their debut to breath on the road, they’ve tweaked their sound bring new life to them even they must be sick of touring by now.

Having had a stack of records to review recently, just a quick heads up on the new Deftones and Brakes albums.

The Deftones is a quality slice of rock, twisted with metal and yet focused through some amazing music. They’re in turns made, screaming banshees and thoughtful art-rock, aping current tour partners Tool. Great stuff, look out for a full review shortly.

As for the Brakes second album, it’s a lot more focused and polished than their excellent debut Give Blood and yet they’ve not lost their sense of humour and ability to make a proper Garage rock band. From the bonkers lyrics of “Spring Chicken” to the heartfelt ballad of “No Return” it may have lost it’s kooky charm, but it’s a quality slice of indie-rock n roll.

Ok, so I know it’s Halloween today, but it’s not really my thing. So instead, here’s some lovely news on Sufjan Stevens streaming the entire 5 disc content of his christmas albums! Brilliant.

The box set is going to be released on November 21, the five-disc set comes with stickers, an essay by Rick Moody, a music video and a comic book by Tom Eaton, a “Christmas Songbook with lyric sheets and chord charts,” and the “Official Original Christmas Family Portrait of Santa Sufjan painted by Jacques Bredy.” Ruling… It’s not too expensive, so I might treat myself…

Stream it here!

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.

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.

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]

A quiet week this one, not much going on as I still work my way through a stack of music I’ve been given and acquired recently. So to brighten up the week, here’s a couple of recent reviews:

Bright Eyes - Noise Floor (B-Sides & Rarities)
Releasing records of rarities and b-sides has always intrigued me. Most die-hard fans have already sought out and bought, downloaded and acquired all the material even vaguely associated with their favourite artist. Sometimes it becomes glaringly obvious why the tracks were unreleased in the first place. As for Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst’s full time band, after his rush of activity with the release of I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning and Digital Ash In A Digital Urn on the same day back in 2005, things have gone a little quiet. So, whilst he’s holed up in studios across the length and breadth of the US of A, something to fill the silence. Full review.

The Album Leaf - Into the Blue Again
The Album Leaf have gone about their business for four records and a couple of EP’s, quietly creating beautifully simplistic and haunting musical soundscapes that have only recently seen them break into the public conscious, especially with their previous and much vaunted album, In A Safe Place, which included contributions from Sigur Ros. Full review.

A quick update today… Bloc Party have announced a huge tour in Jan / Feb next year including a date at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on Tues Feb 13th.

No news on ticket prices, but they go on sale this Friday morning at 9am.

After listening to the album on my iPod on my recent holiday, I’d forgotten just how damn good it is… I shall endeavour to get there. Next year is already looking busy with tickets for The Decemberists show at Shepherds Bush purchased today…

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?

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

As I bid to increase my field of influence over the local music scene (yeah, right!) I’ve signed up for a Myspace account. To give this blog a few more hits and to also investigate and find new bands and artists that might otherwise get lost. I’ve been quiet successful recently and a few artists have sprung up that deserve wider attention.

First up is Darren Michelangelo Smith who’s a local artist and formed in a similar mold to Jamie T and Billy Brag. It’s basic acoustic music but the heavily accented delivery of the angry and relevant lyrics make this something special. There’s also the added bonus of a brass section accompanying it, giving it a very odd twist when you concentrate on the very modern lyrics. DMS Myspace.

Something a little bit different is Jeff Zenter and his own brand of alt-folk americana. I especially like the “hymns to the darkness” quote on the site. Reminding me of a more embellished Nick Drake and recent folk-lovey Fionn Regan, these are beautiful songs that also have a hint of Morrissey about their lyrics. They maybe dark, but there’s something wonderfully uplifting about them. Jeff Zenter Myspace.

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

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).

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, 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.

The Early Years - s/t
It’s been a poor year for British bands has 2006. Seemingly intent on following their American brethren and rehashing old 70’s and 80’s riffs there’s not been many UK singles that have captured the imagination or set the pulse racing. However, with The Early Years we have British band brimming with ideas, songs and attitude that deserves to set them apart. They’ve taken their obvious influences (including The Verve, The Stone Roses and Spiritualized) and imposed their own unique take on them. Full review.

And something not quite so good…

Badly Drawn Boy - Born In The UK
Perhaps it’s time for Badly Drawn Boy, aka Damon Gough, to change his name to Badly Drawn Middle Aged Man. Sure, it doesn’t trip of the tongue as his earlier manifestation, but it’s a better reflection on his character and musical direction. On this, his fifth album, he’s toned things down a little, accepting the fact that he’s maturing and writing “proper” songs. Full review.

Sorry it’s been quiet this week, I’ve not been well unfortunately so I missed out on The Long Blondes last night at the Junction but didn’t miss Howling Bells on Tues night… they cancelled again!

Anyway, here’s a few reviews I’ve written recently.

Lindsay Buckingham - Under The Skin
Anyone who’s heard the reconvened Fleetwood Mac album, 2003’s Say You Will, might be expecting something entirely different to Lindsay Buckingham’s first solo effort in nearly 15 years. This is an intensely personal album and one which bares no resemblance to both recent Mac albums as well as previous solo offerings. The production and arrangements are stripped back and laid bare with little more than an acoustic guitar to accompany his delicate vocals. Full review.

Deftones - Hole In The Earth
The much anticipated return of the Deftones begins with a wall of crashing guitars and a cry of excitement from Chino Moreno. Not a bad way to begin your comeback. Full review.

And the best thing I’ve heard in ages from a British band…
Battle - Back To Earth EP
The single Isabelle by Battle was one of the first download singles I ever purchased. After catching them at a small pub venue in Cambridge last year I was won over by their eloquent lyrics, catchy guitar riffs and ear for a tune. With Back To Earth they’ve collected a couple of their singles as well as including four new tracks ahead of their debut album pencilled in for a release early next year. Full review.

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