Brian Wilson has revealed details on brand new material he is to premiere on a UK tour later this year. The iconic Beach Boy has called the piece ‘The Lucky Old Sun (a narrative)’ and says it “will consist of four ’rounds’, with interspersed spoken word”.

Wilson will be backed on the dates by a 10-piece band, and will also play a number of his classic songs that have never been performed live, as well as at least one song “in honour of a very important anniversary”.

The dates are as follows:
London Royal Festival Hall (September 10-16)
Bristol Colston Hall (18)
Bournemouth Opera House (20)
Edinburgh Festival Theatre (22)
Manchester Palace Theatre (23)
Birmingham Symphony Hall (24)

Here’s the brand new video from the James Lavelle and Richard File collective UNKLE. Back with new album War Stories (released 2nd July) this is the first single to be taken from it. Featuring The Cult’s Ian Astbury on vocals, this is Burn My Shadow.

Two years ago I doubled up on Wilco shows by making a Eurostar trip, primarily just to see Jeff Tweedy in more relaxed mood away from a London audience. With that elongated gap, and able to make only one of Wilco’s two nights at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, I had decided to treat myself again for the current European tour. Probably designed to let the band cement the songs from new album Sky Blue Sky into their repertoire before embarking on another round of their usual hectic U.S. circuit, it’s a real treat to witness them play at the kind of small club venue being used for this Continental warm up. With Sky Blue Sky having briefly cracked the Billboard Top 5, this is a venue US fans may only dream about in future, and there were indeed a fair few ex-pats in the audience. For the record, none of them looked much like Gene Kelly, which is probably a good thing.

The Monday night in London last week was a special show, with Wilco almost orchestral in the breadth of musicianship that the six piece could demonstrate – weaving delicacy and power into a tempered sound that, at least where I was standing, reached controlled perfection whilst still retaining the spark of vitality. And shock horror, Mr. Tweedy was even enjoying himself in London. Maybe my trip was redundant after all? My position practically on top of the Nels Cline’s and Jeff Tweedy’s monitors was one reason the Paris sound had a rawer guitar-heavy edge, but in general Wilco were letting off a bit more steam, showing a different facet of this complex band, and none the worse for it. Nels Cline especially had slipped his Wilco leash, and was often a shuddering force of nature – taking Parkinson’s disease as inspiration for a guitar style. Generally not much of a worshipper of guitar maestros, I could do nothing but admire a man laying down so much sweat for the cause. Tweedy and Cline going at it head to head during At Least That’s What You Said with such relish was an obvious highlight. (But can they do it with banjos I hear you ask?) Rather than practicing his Franglais with too much of his (in)famous banter, Jeff Tweedy preferred to cram as many songs as possible into the set started early and working to a tight curfew, but he did venture that Paris was their favourite venue in the whole world. Pandering to the audience or not, it was clear that they were playing their guts out and having a ball in front of a generally younger (and prettier) Parisian crowd that proved very responsive hosts. There was even hints of a mosh pit during the monumental Spiders and encores – though my perception of the night was again coloured by my immediate surroundings – with the sudden arrival of a flailing armed nutter to my right. The next morning he might have found a few bruises he couldn’t explain, if you know what I mean. Regular Wilco watchers will know that no mention for drummer Glenn Kotche is necessary – he’s always extraordinary.

It has to be said that I was apprehensive about Sky Blue Sky. I’m not one of the Wilco fans who needs them to be overtly musically exploratory/challenging, it was just that some of the songs I had heard previewed live just weren’t working for me. But with the exception of a single track, with time I’ve found the album a more consistent listen than almost any of their others, and it gets more spins. In concert, all those songs go up a few notches, and the word “mellow” oft-used in reviews goes straight out the window. Maybe it was recorded a few months too early – given that the ethos of the album was to, more or less, record ‘live’, perhaps a good thrashing on the road first would have just given it a bit more edge. One big plus for Sky Blue Sky is that a nicotine free Jeff Tweedy is now delivering great vocal performances that are allowed to be high up in the mix. It’s a fantastic asset, a broken, lived-in, expressive asset. And this is coming through in both the shows I’ve seen with songs such as Side With The Seeds. I hope it’s a feature from here on in. Bang goes my cut of a Marlboro endorsement then. Nicotine patches maybe? Anyone?

Wilco are back in the UK and Europe for a run of festivals in July.

Links
Wilco [official site] [myspace] [album review]

Photo: Simon Rees

The Mystery Jets are currently recording the follow up to last years criminally undervalued debut Making Dens. Here, we catch up with guitarist William Rees as he answers our well endowed 20 Questions.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Many malodious odours
2. What would be your ideal holiday?
Me, my girlfriend, a book and some monkeys.
3. Whats the best cure for a hangover?
Ibuprofene
4. What’s on your rider?
Apples, Pears, Towels, Nuts, Yop, Bread, Butter. Nothing strange.
5. How do you get ready for a live show?
We sing in a big circle, we’re either totally excited or really scared.
6. Favourite song to play live?
Zoo Time
7. When was the last time you told a lie?
Question 1 of this interview.
8. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
Goat…..very horny.
9. What was the last album you bought?
DAF - Alles ist gut.
10. If you could rid the world of one song - what would it be?
Star Spangled banner…..but then Hendrix would never have covered it, which would be a shame.
11. Who would play you in a film based upon your life?
Edward Norton
12. Dead or alive. What 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival.
Late Of The Pier, The Associates, Jesus and Mary Chain, KLF, and Cyndi Lauper.
13. Desert Island Disc? Pick only one.
ABC - Lexicon of Love.
14. What’s your most memorable on the road story?
Flying over Texas with thunder and lightning in the sky.
15. If your life flashed before your eyes, what would be the highlights?
I don’t know, running away from school, playing at fuji rock in Japan, meeting certain people - Blaine (Harrison - vocalist) being one of them
16. Do you read your own reviews?
Yes…..its a form of lust, ego lust that is. Horrible. But sometimes its nice to know what people think.
17. Are you a morning bird or a night fox?
Both i think, i go through cycles.
18. If you could travel back in time where would you set the dial?
I’d go to Rome and be a gladiator hero.
19. What three things could you not live without?
The people in my band, morning muesli and guitars.
20. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
My feet can smell very bad…i don’t know why, i’ve researched the possible causes and i’m still left clueless.

Links
Mystery Jets [official site] [myspace]

Hot off the press and straight from the PR sheet…

We are pleased to announce the first confirmations in the Portishead line-up for the Nightmare Before Christmas on December 7, 8 and 9 at Butlins Holiday Resort in Minehead. Aphex Twin, Julian Cope, Black Mountain, Sparklehorse, Oneida, Seasick Steve have all been confirmed as well as Team Brick, Crippled Black Phoenix and Fuzz Against Junk from Geoff Barrows Invada label.

This is of course in addition to Portishead who will not only curate the event but also play exclusively at it.

Tickets are on sale now from www.seetickets.com. Further information at www.atpfestival.com.

Now come on, ain’t those the best tour posters in the world EVER… especially the Never Ending Story version. Did you know TLOBF’s Rich Thane is a huge fan? I didn’t either… probably a good thing.

Anyway, the quite excellent Menomena have produced those posters with a view of advertising the dates of their upcoming EU tour:

27-06 London, England - Barfly
29-06 Stockholm, Sweden - Accelerator Festival
01-07 Rotterdam, Netherlands - Metropolis Festival
02-07 Dortmund, Germany - FZW
04-07 Berlin, Germany - Festsaal Kreuzberg
06-07 Paris, France - La Fleche D’or
07-07 Evreux, France - Le Rock Dans Tous Ses Etats Festival

Read our review of their recent album, Friend & Foe, here.

It seems to me, at least, that 2007 is turning into a bit of a year for artists and bands whose main influence is folk or roots music. We’ve had, to name a few, Death Vessel, Lewis & Clarke, Indigo Moss and Laura Veirs all release records this year, some to greater acclaim than others, but all covered in a folk infused blanket. Bella Union’s recent signing, Stephanie Dosen, is no exception. Her debut record, A Lily for the Spectre, is more of this quietly pleasant music that is destined to soundtrack dinner parties from here on in.

I do the album a disservice though by saying that though. All the songs are wonderfully and perfectly executed, Dosen’s voice is pitch perfect and clear through out. The strings, acoustic guitars and piano barely rise above a whisper, a light and delicate background to her vocals. The songs all deal in the usual affairs of the heart, breaking rarely from the usual tails of love and it’s perils with comments on, with the Lakes of Canada, something grand and environmental, bringing to mind impressive pieces of Mother Nature and how they dwarf us. The problem with this record is that, for all its obvious beauty, it gets a bit repetitive over the whole record. It also doesn’t help that it begins with the best songs. Recent single This Joy reflects its subject matter, the guitars themselves seem to sound happy and excited. Only Getting Better also keeps this up-beat approach, it has a bit of momentum about it and Dosen’s voice ducks and weaves through the music, shifting the mix a bit. The simple approach to the rest of the songs just gets a bit boring, they’re practically lullabies with their gentleness.

All this album needs is something a bit different, like Laura Veirs who manages to invoke similar feelings but does so with a more twisted approach to the arrangements, she mixes the instruments and the sounds up to create something musically different. Unfortunately, for all the clarity here, you just wish for a bit of darkness and noise to break things up and wake you from your slumber.
65%

Links
Stephanie Dosen [official site] [myspace]

It’s very rare that albums and/or artists come from nowhere to drop onto your lap. Ahem. When From The Ground Up popped through my letterbox I was a little surprised - I’d never heard of the mysterious Bard on the front cover and the odd artwork looking like something Blue Peter would have used copious amounts of double-sided sticky tape to create. As it found its way onto my hi-fi for review, I was pleasantly surprised. Rich, deep vocals surrounded by music that could best be describe as twisted folk and quiet self-reflection pierced with soaring guitars. Welcome to the Bard’s weird and wonderful world.

Further investigation showed this album to be something of a concept album. The songs were all created with an ecological theme in mind, commenting on our environmental responsibility, or lack of it, and crafting a world in which we care for all living things. Bobby brings this responsibility to the fore, “We’re all to blame in the end” echoes through the song, seemingly taking aim at the more direct impact of hunting whilst the opening Fires is a delicately produced piece of balladry, wistful and peaceful, the simple acoustic guitars augmented by a perfusion of haunting feedback that feels like the roots of a tree growing into the earth. Singer Lawrence Becko’s voice comes from the same stable as iLiKETRAiN’s Dave Martin, an oddly affecting and throaty vocal that seems breathless in places. What makes these songs powerful is their arrangements. The vocals are to the fore, the music acting as a canvas, a background, for these vivid lyrics to paint their picture on. The brilliant These Quiet Times is positively anthemic with it’s female backing vocals, piano and drums that kick in later and remind me of early Coldplay. The lyrics do come across as an advert for the RSPB with it’s tag line of “Feed the birds in the winter time”, but there’s something about it that makes you want to take heed. Sometimes it can get a bit sparse and depressing though. The bland Torch Song doesn’t really go anywhere and sounds suspiciously like Athlete with it’s guitar and piano combo, whilst the disappointing album closer When We Were Falling Out is just plain boring with it’s jewelry box tinkles and whispered vocals, it just lets the album finish with a whimper rather than a real explosion for an album full of messages.

But the highlights on here are worth the fee alone. The soaring Winter Coats and Treeology more than make up for the lowlights. The album may be short on tunes you can whistle, but the messages are well conveyed and the music that accompanies them is appropriate. Some of the lyrics are a little heavy handed in places (”Faced with environmental catastrophe, it wasn’t me!” from Treeology hits the hardest) and could come straight from a Greenpeace brochure, but sometimes the only way to get your message across is to be blunt. In fact, perhaps Greenpeace should pick up the phone and call these guys rather than Bono. At least they sound like they mean it.
75%

Links
Shady Bard [official site] [myspace]

Here is a short set from Band of Horses performing at last years Emmaboda festival in Sweden. Broadcast live on FM radio this is a great quality show from one of the best live bands around at the moment.

01. Monsters [download mp3 ♫]
02. The First Song [download mp3 ♫]
03. The Great Salt Lake [download mp3 ♫]
04. Our Swords [download mp3 ♫]
05. Part One (Savannah) [download mp3 ♫]
06. No One’s Gonna Love You [download mp3 ♫]
07. Funeral [download mp3 ♫]

An interesting mix of stuff this week. Two “skinny guys with guitars” bands, two warbling ladies and a dance outfit. Surely there’s a joke in there somewhere…

First up sees a Dirty Little Shop by Dogs. This is normally a cue for me to ramble on about these being this weeks “guys with guitars” band, but this is actually really good. It might start slowly and predictably but when the chorus crashes in, this becomes something very anthemic and I find my foot tapping and my mouth singing the words. In fact, the chorus feels out of place when following the usual angular, post-Libertines opening, but it’s a real highlight and what drags this out of the mire.

This week sees the debut single release of Bella Union’s latest signing Stephanie Dosen. They can’t seem to do any wrong at the moment, their current rosta featuring bands that create some of the most ambitious and beautiful music. And Midlake. Anyway, this falls into Fionn Regan territory, with it’s gentle folk arrangements and acousitc guitar. What makes This Joy stand out is Dosen’s amazing voice, crystal clear and yet hinting at some deep and dark emotional craving just under the surface. Maybe not an obvious choice for a single, it’s still a song of real and gentle beauty.

As a duel of female singers, up next is Regina Spektor with her double A-Side release of Samson and On The Radio. The latter was released as a lead single from her last album, but never mind. Whilst not as straightforward as Dosen, Spektor’s music is also rooted in some kind of twisted folk music. On The Radio is just that, but it’s embellished with flourishes of drums and odd haunting electronica. Samson, however, is more stripped back with just a piano and some gentle strings as accompaniment. Coming across very much like Tori Amos, it’s really a lovely song and Spektor’s voice haunting and yet lulling at the same time.

And now for something completely different. LCD Soundsystem return with their indie-dance anthems, this time with All My Friends from the quite stunning album Sound of Silver. By default, and with my brimming love for this album, this would usually be my single of the week, but it doesn’t quite work as a single for me. The sparse arrangement doesn’t really lend itself to the shortened format. Though every time I hear the New Order-esque guitars I feel like throwing my arms in the air and dancing around the room like a loon. Anyway, this misses out this week…

To some, no doubt skinny, guys with guitars. Who’d have thought it. I’m like a twisted, contradictory bastard. Anyway, The Changes are my Single of the Week with their double A side Such A Scene / Her, You & I. It might not be the most original piece of music here, but there’s something about it that I like. From the opening reverberating chords and the Beatles-esque vocal delivery of Such A Scene, I feel myself falling under their spell. The guitars seem to be guiding me on some weird and wonderful journey along a rugged and impressive coastline, the cheeky solo towards the end just augments this feeling of air and movement. Her, You & I is a little more straightforward and suspiciously sounds like Maroon 5 in places, but its oddly angular guitars and vocals seem to be steeped in lounge acts of the 50’s and 60’s until the tempo slowly increases and it descends into something more aggressive and unsafe, like The Stones in their 60’s prime. Great stuff.

In days gone by our fore fathers and even the elders of TLOBF would delight in the joys of coloured vinyl, picture discs, gatefold sleeves and all manner of collectable music formats. As music formats by their very nature have got smaller and entered the digital age are we set to lose the optical delights that have often gone into the packaging?

For many music fans as much joy was taken thumbing through the shelves of their local record store as in actually listening to the recordings themselves. Often an LP would jump out at you just because of its fantastic or slighlty quirky artwork. Artists have since been forced to downsize their Da Vinchi-like ambitions with the dawn of the Compact Disc era. Now as more and more music is downloaded are we in danger of losing what some consider to be an extension of the music itself? Cover artwork.

Some artists put more effort into the design of their packaging than others. Its always a disappointment to see your favourite artist resort to a moody shot of the band for the cover of their latest studio offering. Given free reign you would expect them to come up with something more original. That said on occassion a band shot can be the perfect epitome of the music contained within. For example Skunk Anansies debut was a band portrait with Skin to the fore looking bloody hard and her anger was what the band were all about. However when their second and thrid albums also had band portraits for cover artwork you wondered if that was as far as their imagination ran.

Some bands have used their covers to further promote their skills. The Stone Roses used paintings by the creative genius John Squire. As they frequently churned out twelve inch singles in their hey day you could make a nice collection of his paintings reportedly based on the work of Jason Pollock.

The heavy metal genre is famous for its, at times gruesome, collection of cover artworks. Most notably Iron Maiden wowed fans with the ubiquitous Eddie (and often slipping in the odd reference to their beloved West Ham). A halfman/half monster Eddie was found in a variety of poses and he proved so popular that the band would often take him on tour in the form of a 60ft giant Eddie!
The heavy metal Genre have also cleverly utilised type faces for band names which then provide the customer with instant b(r)and recognition; Maiden, Slayer, Megadeth and Metallica spring immediately to mind. The use of iconic band type faces have spread around the music world and it works a treat to sell T-shirts and posters for the likes of Oasis and The Strokes.

Back to the covers…often artists will go further than just interesting artwork and come up with a novel packaging idea. Super Furry Animals collection of B-sides Outspaced came in what can only be described as a nipple shaped sleeve. The disc itself was gold on both sides which was annoying when you found that it was in your CD player upside down. Likewise Spiritualized released Let it Come Down in a jelly mould of a girls head. DJ Shadow harked back to his Vinyl roots with Entroducing being sold in Cardboard sleeves with a nice cotton dust sleeve inside.
And on the subject of Cardboard sleeves, even the humble CD feels a bit more special when it is housed in Cardboard as oppoosed to the awful jewel cases.

As for my favourite artwork, well several criteria are preferable, the cover picture/painting/photo says something about the music or the band themselves, the sleeve or booklet has the lyrics and some kind of a theme is always nice. So after a mispent youth dissecting the artwork in my entire music collection I came up with a winner many years ago and to this day I think it holds its own. And the winner was Blur’s Parklife. The Greyhounds seemed to capture the essence of the cheeky cockernee repartee that Blur had perfected on that record. The lyrics were there and the back cover had the tracklisting in the form of a racecard. Genius indeed.

Enough of my mindless drivel, let me know what makes the ideal album packaging and what your favourites are…….And if you like a bit of controversy check out an interesting list of banned covers here.

In an interview with the NME, Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys has revealed full details of the band’s new album ‘Hey Venus!’ plus news of comeback live dates ahead of their appearance at the Glastonbury Festival next month.

The band will play four nights at Cardiff’s notorious Clwb Ifor Bach in June. The band last played at this venue prior to signing to Creation over 12 years ago. SFA will then follow up those shows with a one off gig at London’s ICA on June 19, before heading for Glastonbury to kick off a summer of festival dates.

The record, the follow-up to 2005’s ‘Love Kraft’, is released on August 27 by the band’s new label Rough Trade. It’s preceded by a single, ‘Show Your Hand’, on August 13. Explaining the title, Rhys revealed that the album initially started out as a concept album based around a character called Venus. He stated: “At lot of the songs have the same central theme - following a young woman called Venus moving from a small town to a big metropolis and following her adventures. “Some songs link up to that story more than others, but some were left off the record, they’ll be on the next one, which we’re working on already. It started off as a concept, but then we chose songs for their merit rather than their themes.”

The tracklisting for ‘Hey Venus!’ is as follows:
1. The Gateway Song
2. Runaway
3. Show Your Hand
4. The Gift
5. Neo Consumer
6. Into The Night
7. Baby Ate My Eight Ball
8. Carbon Dating
9. Suckers
10. Battersea Odyssey
11. Wolves

Speaking about the Cardiff dates, Rhys said: “Usually we go on a tour of Wales or a tour of the Western Isles of Scotland to get warmed up for touring properly and usually by the end of the tour to work out how to play the songs we’ve partied so hard cos we’re excited to get back on the road we’re too knackered for the actual tour, we’re half dead by the time we start touring. “So we thought we’d just play a tour of Cardiff so we can have a lie-in every morning!”

The band’s full list of summer shows is as follows:
Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach - June 11-14
London ICA - June 19
Glastonbury Festival (Other Stage) - June 22
Kent Lounge On The Farm - July 13
Coventry Godiva Festival - July 14
Lovebox Festival (Dublin and London) - July 21
Cardiff Metro Weekender - August 25
Connect Festival - August 31
Jersey Live - September 2
End of The Road Festival - September 15

Welcome to this weeks video roundup. We have some corking shorts for you this week kicking off with Band of Horses with The Great Salt Lake, yes I know they were also featured in last weeks V5 but being as they were hands down the best thing we saw all weekend at ATP we thought we’d feature them again. Its a great video too. Next up is another TLOBF favourite Loney, Dear with their fantastic new dog themed video for Saturday Waits, which isn’t out until July 16th. Woof! Next is old Macca with new single Dance Tonight. There are cameos galore in his new video, most notably from Natalie Portman and Gareth from The Office. Queens Of The Stone Age have a brand new record coming out and from what we’ve heard of it here at TLOBF towers its pretty damn good. They are here this week with a live video of No One Knows filmed at the Reading Festival. Finally, as the sun set on last weekends ATP festival it was announced that Portishead will curate this Winters ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ weekend. Oh yes! Two words Glory Box, thats this weeks classic. Enjoy….

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Ok, so their new album has split fans and journos alike right down the middle, but there’s no denying that Maximo Park are a great live band. Exclusive info on new tour dates for the end of the year below!

Tickets go on sale next Friday morning (1st June) from 9am. No info on ticket prices, though they’ll probably be around the £20 mark…

OCTOBER
Tue 2 - Glasgow Barrowlands #
Wed 3 - Dundee Caird Hall #
Fri 5 - Doncaster Dome #
Sat 6 - Manchester Apollo #
Sun 7 - Cambridge Corn Exchange *
Mon 8 - Portsmouth Guildhall *
Wed 10 - Wolverhampton Civic Hall *
Thu 11 - London Brixton Academy *
Fri 12 - London Brixton Academy #

DECEMBER
Sat 15 - Newcastle Metro Radio Arena ~

# with Good Shoes & Blood Red Shoes
* with Good Shoes & Theoretical Girl
~ with Very Special Guests TBA & Good Shoes

Boris are an interesting bunch. Collaborating with a whole range of people over a series of records from the heavy drone of Sun O))) to, on Rainbow, one of Japan’s most inventive guitarists, Michio Kurihara. Their previous “solo” album, Pink, was one of the highlights of last year. A mad, bad and raucous stream of drone and feedback that was as accessible as it was obscure. With Rainbow, they’ve stepped back from the brink and crafted, with the help of Kurihara, an album of understated presence and poise.

As opening track Rafflesia bursts into life with a wall of slurred guitars and half-wailed vocals, the guitars arch and swoop through the dense atmosphere of music. It’s grand and surprisingly focused, there’s a piercing sense of direction crafted by Kurihara’s guitar whilst Boris make a swelling ocean of drums and guitars around it, gently coaxing it into life. The title track is a brooding piece of rock that reminds me of recent Sonic Youth records, a straightforward song with whispered vocals over shuffling drums and a solitary but gentle electric guitar. It seems like the quiet after the storm of the opening track. That is until more guitars creak into existence about half way through, a juttering and fuzzy angle of a solo that then gives way to the gentle shuffle again. Starship Narrator is a thumping 70’s stomp of a track, the guitars are deep and dark in the mix, slowly chugging their way around the spaced out vocals and crashing drums. Kurihara’s solo then smashes it’s way to the fore, shredding its way through all the other music and dominating the song like King Kong over New York, faint chants seemingly worshipping this noise in the background. Once again this is followed by a gently beautiful track called My Rain. It’s quiet guitars pick their way through it’s meager two minutes, a backwards skip the only thing to disturb the still pool of music that they’ve created. The record hits these peaks and troughs of energy continually, ripping it up and calming it down. From the sprawling shoe-gaze of Shine to the prog-rock swirls of Fuzzy Reactor and finishing with the gentle stream of …And, I Want that may start with a sinister piece of electronica, but sweeps into a piece of music that could soundtrack a love scene.

This might be Boris’ most accessible work to date. There’s nothing here to scare people and, as a means of an introduction into Boris, it’s the best place to start. But, in the end, this is the records greatest failing. That’s not to say that the record sucks, it’s still great, it’s just that, from Boris, you expect something a bit more, music that wants to crack open your skull and suck out what’s inside. With Rainbow they’ve wrong footed everyone again and crafted a soundtrack to something completely different, a soundtrack to a summer’s day or a Sunday morning. What they’ll do next though, is anyone’s guess.
80%

Links
Boris [official site]

On this sunny Thursday afternoon, why not enjoy a whole array of rock videos whilst you quench your thirst with a nice lemonade… or something…

First up is the cheeky young scamps known as The Ripps. Ok, this isn’t strictly speaking "rock" but it’s a pleasant enough way to while away the hours in the office. This is the video for their single Holiday which is out in a couple of weeks time (look out for a review on TLOBF). So click here to see the fella’s in action on their glorious myspace site. Also on there will be their current tour dates which seem to take in most of the UK.

Next up is a whole host of videos by Juliette & The Licks who re-release their album Four On The Floor next Monday with an extra DVD full of stuff. Included on that DVD will be these videos of the band working in the studio. There’s a set of six and they’re all Windows Media Player… Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6. Enjoy!

Just to finish things off, here’s the video for Gallow’s new single, Abandon Ship, which is out digitally on Monday and physically on June 4th. Enjoy it in an array of formats:
Windows Media Player Hi / Lo
RealPlayer Hi / Lo
Quicktime Hi / Lo

As I’ve mentioned before, my musical knowledge advances at a rate best measured in geological timescales, so it was only when I came across a mesmerising live on French TV (as I remember) version of Start A War posted on this very site, that The National got a real foothold in my consciousness. But I know a good thing when I see it, and I was instantly converted. On Monday night I saw them kick off their current live tour with an hour at Fopp Records at Tottenham Court Road – a marvelously relaxed and intimate way to first encounter these guys live. In what could have doubled for a run-through in their garage, they dusted off most of Boxer and a couple of raucous favourites from Alligator in preparation for the following night’s big show.

Having spent the rest of that night enjoying Wilco at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and a fractured journey home afterwards, I was a bit low on energy and opted to lurk upstairs at the Astoria for the first time. I couldn’t quite bring myself to sit down, and secured a nice standing view on the balcony as North Carolina’s Annuals spilled out on stage to an already pretty full audience. They seemed to feed off this atmosphere, and turned in a spectacularly entertaining set. I’m a fan of most of Be He Me, and they brought those quirky indie-pop songs to life with an energy not often seen in a support act. And four out of the six of them are closet drummers. A tad too loud at times to allow some of that quirkiness to breath properly, but all in all top marks for effort, and I was glad to have caught them.

Half an hour later the Astoria was heaving and Simon and Garfunkel’s The Boxer (not sure if there’s a real link of some sort there) heralded The National’s rather endearingly disheveled entrance on stage. For a band with such potential, they need to work on their stage craft, but that is part of their appeal. Only drummer Bryan Devendorf is cultivating a mean demeanor with some kind of long black haired Rhys Ifans thing going on, the others are thoroughly nice young men (I was lucky enough to have a few words with some of them on the Monday night). Your mother would like them. Which makes their brooding songs all the more unexpected. Scratch the surface and we all have our anxieties and fears - often only find release in surrender to your fate and rising above – if you’re lucky.  

Start A War kicked things off, and Fake Empire was another obvious highlight in their demonstration of the art of the smoldering build present in many of their songs. Ongoing collaborator Padma Newsome added texture with keyboards, mandolin and violin, and the drumming was a talking point for many throughout. Reluctant front man Matt Berninger seems trapped on stage. Most of the time he looks like he would much rather be somewhere else, awkward and fidgety, driving himself to stay in the limelight and work himself into the mindset required to deliver. He must have a set of false fingernails on the rider each night. His bandmates must call him Forrest. It’s compelling. Then, unseen, the pressure builds as if Mr. Nice Guy has been taunted that little bit too far just once too often. From nowhere an incendiary version of Mr. November explodes and the crowd follow suite. A jaw-drop moment – magnificent. Mr. Nice Guy is almost crowd surfing as the expletives flow. Still waters run deep.

Abel in the encore is another burst of rage to contrast with the majestic beauty of Daughters Of The Soho Riots. The band have enjoyed their reception and the full house. The album is all set to do great things. The Astoria’s time is running out apparently, despite petitions and protests, and nights like this will be sorely missed. And I was there all because of that video posted on TLOBF … I think I owe someone a pint.

The National have just announced a show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire at the start of November. Your ever attentive reporter has managed to loose one of the advertising slips being handed out, but you know where to check. Don’t miss it.

Links
The National [official site] [myspace] [album review] [interview]

The Orange Lights have an epic sound, and an album’s worth of big songs with uplifting lyrics. The themes are universal: loss and redemption, clutching hope out of the jaws of desolation and despair. Thats what the press release says anyway… This years Coldplay released their debut single Let The Love Back In this week, so we thought we’d catch up with the band as they embark on world domination with their Ken Nelson (Coldplay / The Charlatans) produced debut album.

1. Describe your sound in 3 words.
Widescreen Soul Rock
2. Diet coca-cola or normal coke?
Normal Coke please
3. What would be your ideal holiday?
A cool European city in early summer with great food, great tunes, late nights and chilled times.
4. Whats the best cure for a hangover?
One banana, one packet of crisps. And one drink of the dog that bit you.
5. What’s on your rider?
Zubrovka (bison) vodka and apple juice
6. How do you get ready for a live show?
A spliff works quite well about an hour before.
7. Favourite song to play live?
‘The Explanation’ and ‘Life is Still Beautiful’.
8. When was the last time you told a lie?
My rule of thumb is that lies are fine as long as they are small white ones and dont hurt anybody.
9. Who would win in a fight, a stoat or a goat and why?
A stoat. Stoats are seriously fierce .
10. What was the last album you bought?
Thirteen Senses
11. What’s your pet hate?
People who dont do what they say they are going to do. If you’re not going do do it, then don’t say it. We’re all grown ups, we can take the truth.
12. Dead or alive. What 5 acts would you have play with you at a festival.
Hendrix. The Rolling Stones. Beatles. Portishead. Radiohead
13. Desert Island Disc? Pick only one.
Police - ‘Walking on the Moon’
14. Most memorable moment of the bands career thus far?
Ibiza Rocks for Channel 4 supporting Editors. San Antonio bay, sun coming down, crowd going mad and singing along to songs they hadn’t heard before. What could be better?
15. Whats the best thing about being in The Orange Lights?
Being able to make the album we wanted to make, and play songs we love that come from a real emotional place without having some major record company tosser pulling our strings. It’s nice to be a captain of your own destiny, it’s a rare thing.
16. Do you read your own reviews?
Not really. I love what I’m doing, thats all that matters.
17. Tell us a fact about yourself we probably don’t already know.
I used to be a karate kid and got a black belt when I was 17.
18. Are you a morning bird or a night fox?
Mornings are my favourite time of day but I know I’ll be a retired old biddy before I get to see one every day , so that makes me a night fox.
19. If you could travel back in time where would you set the dial?
Seeing Hendrix at Woodstock.
20. Least favourite person in the universe.
I’m not into politicians getting in the way of people power. So any politician. Politicians tend to just build their own castles in my opinion, they’re no better than a Punch and Judy show.

Links
The Orange Lights [myspace]

As the dust settles over the tiny seaside town of Minehead, TLOBF’s two Rich’s have recovered enough to bring to you, dear reader, an account of the wonderful ATP v The Fans event.

When the original idea for this festival was aired, if seemed as if everyone’s dreams had come true. A chance to pick and mix your own festival. Brilliant. Of course, as the realities of this all dawn on the voters and the organisers it was, perhaps, an idea too far. The line up was great, but scheduling was always going to be a nightmare and the extended sets just meant that you got to see a lot less bands.

As a site upgrade from the WWII Camp at Camber, the facilities were really impressive. The chalets were nice and the presence of a full shower a welcome addition. Stuff like Pizza Hut and Burger King are always nice at 2am, even if the the Pavilion Stage was set in their surroundings. Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy mentioning that this was the first time they’d ever played in a food court. Anyway… enough idle banter, let’s get on with it…

Words: Richard Hughes
Photos: Richard Thane

Friday 18th May

The Thermals, Centre Stage
A perfect way to start the festival, a blast of three chord punk rock charged with political bite. A chance to blow the cobwebs from your head after the five hour drive down. True to their records, The Thermals were short, sharp and tight with sweat dripping off Hutch Harris as he hollered his way through their well received and impressive set.

Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo, Pavilion Stage
Suffered from poor sound initially but a move down the front from your intrepid reporter yielded a better experience. YLT crafted a whirlwind mix of rhythmic droning with swathes of feedback drenched guitars, playing the highlights from their most recent record (even if they couldn’t remember when it was released). They still confound listeners with their twist from their more laid back songs through to the ear damaging walls of noise that would make even Sonic Youth blush.

Mogwai

Mogwai, Pavilion Stage
Fantastic. Easy as that. Their set perfectly complement their location in the Pavilion. As the sun was setting the stage took on a bit of a glow as the crowd was mesmerised by the wall of sound created by Stuart Murdoch and crew. They played a set with material from the entire back catalogue, from Young Team to Mr. Beast and it was like experiencing a journey through swarves of beautifully realised soundscapes of music. Ending with the amazing Glasgow Mega Snake from their most recent album, the entire court was bathed in an amazing aura of noise. Nothing wrong with the sound for these guys.

Tall Firs, Reds Stage
Well, the come down had to begin somewhere and these guys delivered. A disappointing and generic alt-rock experience and very College Radio friendly. For a group who rarely play live, they didn’t look like they enjoyed doing so when they finally manage to get together. Uninvolving and unmoving.

Akron/Family w/ audience members

Akron/Family, Centre Stage
Another disappointment of the weekend. Having really enjoyed their last two records, I was underwhelmed by them live where they came across as being a bit too cool and removed, the sound was boring and rhythmically lulling. The only excitement came from their last song when members of the crowd were invited onstage to play general instruments of percussion and created a rather rousing and impressive finale.

Youthmovies, Centre Stage
Ok, so by this time the tiredness of driving down and my intake of copious amounts of lager made this set a little fragmented. But, through the haze, hints of impressive guitars and post-rock tendancies flooded my ears. Certainly one of the most interesting British acts of recent times, next time I’ll remember to take it easy before their show starts.

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With the release of The National’s latest album Boxer, on Monday, the band have managed to improve on their already impressive repetoire. Creating an ambitious and moving album full of twisted love songs and left-field anthems that infiltrate your world. Rich Hughes caught up with bassist Aaron Dessner recently to talk about the past, present and future of The National.

How did The National form? Your wikipedia entry suggests something to do with the dotcom boom of the 90’s.
We all moved to Brooklyn in late ’90’s from Ohio, both for jobs and to be able to pursue artistic interests more easily. My brother, Bryan and I have played in bands together since we were teenagers in Cincinnati, Ohio. But the National started as an accident. Bryan, Matt, Scott and I just got together as friends one Saturday in July 1999 at Matt’s loft in this industrial building by the Gowanus canal in Brooklyn. Another friend from Ohio, Mike Brewer, had just bought a digital eight track and wanted to try making some songs. We drank a lot of beer and recorded a few loose ideas. Matt wrote lyrics for them and recorded vocals. We were shocked by the sound and the chemistry. I didn’t realize he could sing.

I read that you start with music and then fit in ready made lyrics to suit the mood? Is this true and does it always work out that way or do you have to “write to demand” sometimes?
It is true that the music usually comes together first, but Matt is always writing. He writes books full of ideas and gradually pieces together songs over time drawing on many different veins of thought I think. It is quite rare that a song comes together quickly.

Willy Vlautin from Richmond Fontaine has just written a novel. Your songs are similarly dialog heavy, would Matt, or anyone in the band, ever consider writing a novel?
Bryan worked as an assistant editor at Soho Press for a long time and he is a great writer. I wish he would write a book as I think he’s capable of it, but he claims that he has never had an original idea in his life. But then, being the musical scavenger he is, he knows that everything is derivative on some level, stolen from somewhere. So we think he is secretly writing something. I wouldn’t be surprised.

Your latest album, Boxer, sounds like a natural progression from Alligator, was this a conscious effort?
No I dont think so. We knew we didn’t want to repeat ourselves and we’re not a band that can force a certain kind of song. We don’t inhabit certain styles really and we’re very critical of ourselves. From the earliest sketches, a song has to feel alive for us to keep working on it. When we write music, it’s all very simple in the beginning. Somehow a lot of this music started as sort of hypnotic, meditative circular patterns. I thought of a lot of it as spiritual music in the beginning. Songs like Ada, Start a War, Green Gloves, Racing Like A Pro and Gospel….actually now that I’m thinking about it, most of the songs have this quality. They seemed spiritual to me in a way, not in a overtly religious sense at all, but there’s just something contemplative about them.

What were your major influences for this album and is there a specific theme that runs through it?
Bob Dylan’s “Time Out of Mind” was a reference point for me. I love many of Dylan’s albums, especially his first several, but we were thinking a lot about this recent one in terms of it’s production and themes and somehow I kept coming back to it. We have so many different influences though….for example, you can hear Steve Reich in the minimalist fanfare Padma wrote for Fake Empire and it’s obvious we love the Band, the Smiths, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. A lot of the songs seem to be about struggling to reconnect with loved ones and things that are meaningful. And there is also a sense of hiding away with someone you love, living in a kind of surreal fantasy state, both for pleasure and perhaps to avoid or escape certain realities. Matt’s lyrics are usually ambiguous, which is on purpose, so songs can be about many things at once.

Where did the idea for the album cover come from?
That photo is from Peter Katis’ wedding in Greenwich, CT. We were just there as guests. It was actually at the urging of Paul Banks and Peter that we got on stage and borrowed the wedding band’s instruments to play Geese of Beverly Road for Peter and his wife Ann. This photographer, Abbey Drucker, who was also just there as a guest randomly took one photo of us playing. That’s where it comes from…..it wasn’t posed!

How long after finishing an album do you think about writing / recording the next one?
I am already thinking about the next one.

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