You know you’re at a Korn gig when the mic stand gets the biggest cheer of the night - once when it’s brought out and screwed to the floor, then again when the roadie returns, and with a magician’s flourish, removes its cover. There she stands, the golden goddess of metal, alone on the stage soaking up the applause. It’s insane to cheer an inanimate object but cheer we do. To be honest, support act Flyleaf’sleading lady, Lacey Mosley, was less animated. Like a rocked-out Bjork she stood, playing with her hair, giving us the odd flick of her dress whilst all around her band were leaping off every amp they could find. “We want Korn” was chanted in return. They deserved a little more and eventually received it. Continue Reading
So what do we know about Robots in Disguise so far? It’s fronted by a female duo (I’m resisting the obligatory paragraph on Shampoo, Fuzzbox and erm… Daphne and Celeste) who produce a killer combination of rock and electro pop. They are friends of and appear in The Mighty Boosh, which is reason enough to like them for a start. Their sound is akin to being caught in the cupboard of a music room in an all girl’s school, clutching onto your CRB form in case you get caught. Its exuberant, stupid at times, and everything you would expect it to be.
One of the hottest acts of 2008, Vampire Weekend have not only been touted as a band to watch by our good selves, but also fine establishments as the BBC, Drowned In Sound and Rolling Stone. What great company we keep! Anyway, we caught up with bassist Chris Baio to create one of the highlights of their short career to date. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the ramshackle, twisted rural pop of Vampire Weekend… Continue Reading
You’ll have to excuse us at TLOBF today, we’re not well. A supposed outing (knees up) for Rich’s Hughes and Thane to witness the monsterous wall of sound that is Explosions in the Sky got cancelled. We would have loved to have written some more words about how great it was to finally catch them live for these rescheduled dates. Instead, all we have are these excellent photographs from Jacob Saunders who, fortuntately for us, isn’t old and riddled with disease. Continue Reading
Jim O’Rourke, or Big Jim as I like to call him, has announced a set of reissues in May via Drag City. O’Rourke’s Tamper (1991) and Osorezan (2006) are the albums given the treatment, which will include the original album (duh!) and a set of bonus tracks / material.
Following the release of those, Drag City imprint Streamline will continue the process with the release of Long Nights, “a double-disc release of pure drone that dates way, way back but is only now seeing the light of day,” according to Drag City. Sounds great!
Finally, according to P4K, O’Rourke has a new album in the works. Details are few at the moment, but he’s planning to have it finished early this year.
Shortest news post ever? Quite possibly. Death Cab For Cutie have named their new album. *Drum roll please*…
Narrow Stairs will be released via Atlantic sometime in May. There have been grumblings already on the blogosphere about the album name, but you won’t see me complaining. I’m just happy they chose something I can spell. I’ve struggled with Transatlantataliscmmm for years now.. Whilst you wait patiently for some other gripping news, like a tracklisting, mp3 or cover art perhaps, you can read our review of Death Cab guitarist Chris Walla’s new album Field Manualhere. Watch a teaser for the new album below.
Harrisons’ debut album, No Fighting In The War Room, has been a long time in the making. The Sheffield four-piece signed with Melodic in 2006, and while the album was originally set to be released last summer, it was pushed back to January 2008. So, let’s just get this out of the way right now: Harrisons sound like Arctic Monkeys. While it may be refreshing to find a review of this album that doesn’t mention that other Sheffield four-piece, it’s damn near impossible not to make the comparison. Now, of course Harrisons can’t help the Sheffield accents or their jangle-guitar rock style, but seeing as how the Arctic Monkeys phenomenon occurred first, it’s a comparison that will be treading on Harrisons’ heels for a long time.
I have something very important to tell you. You might want to sit down, as this is going to come as a surprise. I have seen the future. In the year 2046, we will be celebrating the career of Paolo Nutini. From his humble, some would say wretched debut album, he will go on to have a succession of triumphs, taking in a wide range of musical styles. In 2014 we will be marvelling at his reinvention into “Barry Mindbend and the Locusts of Twix”. In 2018 he will become The Chubby Red Jock, to much acclaim. The end of that decade will see him holed up in Butlins recording a trio of extreme death-metal albums. Few will care at his involvement in the band “Copper Engine”, but all will be forgiven with his “White Scarf, Nice Trousers” album in 2030. He is going to be amazing. He will straddle the planet. His music will be life-changing.
When I think of Simon Breed, I picture him standing in a dank room, the walls slick and shiny with damp and moss. The carpets have been lifted, the floorboards squeaking and cracking under his weight. As he walks across the room to pick up his guitar, woodlice crunch underfoot. From out of the window, he can see a forbidding copse, the sun flashing through with a haze of mist between the trees. He makes music that at times sounds both simplistic and sinister in equal measure. It occasionally causes you to glance over your shoulder, and sometimes fills the heart with joy as well as menace. Continue Reading
It didn’t start well. As Art Brut triumphantly mounted the stage at the front of a packed Barfly, a smoke machine billowed out its wares to an unsuspecting band and public. As the first chords of ‘Pump Up The Volume’ rang out, the entire venue was filled with smoke, the machine seemingly intent on drowning everyone out, including poor Eddie Argos who couldn’t find his microphone stand. As the second verse began, now including Argos’ drawl, the crowd finally responded. The song finished and Argos apologised. In the thick fog, now falling away, he couldn’t find the microphone stand to start the song. And this was all after the rather dire set by A Human, who were fronted by a man who could only be described as a sinister mix of Richie from Bottom and your drunken Uncle at a Wedding lecherously peering at the young girls.
Well, this is a bit of good news on an otherwise dull and grey Tuesday afternoon.
One of the best new acts we’ve heard for some time, Fleet Foxes, have signed a UK deal with none other than our friends Bella Union. There was some news recently of them having signed to Sub Pop, but that’s just for the US.
Their wonderfully delicate and tuneful spin of Americana is awash with delicate vocal harmonies and guitars that sound like the flow of fresh water on a Spring’s day. Yes, they’re THAT good. If Band of Horses, Phoshporescent, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Blitzen Trapper are your cup of tea, you’ve just found your new favourite band.
Stream the excellent acapella drenched goodness of ‘Winter White Hymnal’ below:
And, whilst you wait for more details, here’s their Myspace page so you can brush up on some of their songs.
Tindersticks are back; there’s a new lineup, new outlook and a shiney new album called The Hungry Saw out April 28th.
It’s their first in five years - bring back the misery!
The band have gone all web-savvy and have set up a MySpace page and, as a taster of things yet to come, they’re offering the album track ‘The Flicker Of A Little Girl’ as a totally free download MP3 to keep you going in the meantime.
Single handeldy restoring our faith in British guitar music, to say that British Sea Power have come up trumps with their third album Do You Like Rock Music? would be a slight understatement. Rich Hughes even slated it for album of the year in his review from a few weeks back. The band are currently on tour in the UK and Europe followed by a month long treck across North America. Jacob Saunders headed on down to Oxford last night to catch the band play an astonishing set at the Academy. Continue Reading
What do you expect from a Chris Walla studio album? The production genius behind The Decemberists, Nada Surf and Tegan & Sara whilst his day job consists of being the guitarist with indie troubadours Death Cab For Cutie. The sound of the album is already forming in your mind. You can practically hear the bright instruments, guitar licks and pained vocals before you’ve even pressed the play button. So the problem is this; have you already judged this album before you’ve heard it?
Hailing from Los Angeles, Sarabeth Tucek is yet another artist in a long list who has embraced the United Kingdom’s music scene. Currently enjoying critical plaudits for her beatifully understated self-titled debut, The Line of Best Fit caught up with her a few weeks ago to discuss the album and its inspiration, taking in musical influences and brief encounters with Bob Dylan along the way. Continue Reading
Xiu Xiu have built up a reputation over the years as a ‘difficult’ band, and it’s easy to see why. Their music is devoutly artistic in intent, with glimpses of tender melodic beauty punctuated with bursts of raw, discordant noise, jarring percussion and violent poetry. Xiu Xiu’s output has encompassed explorations of gender anxiety, nihilism, war, murder, HIV, and tales of grinding fear, psychological horror and sexual obsession, told in the distinctive wailing falsetto of founder member Jamie Stewart and a rotating cast of band members.
“Morrissey’s concerts scheduled for Saturday and Sunday night at The Roundhouse have been postponed due to illness. The iconic artist lost his voice last night 5 songs in to the fourth night of a run of six sold out shows at the legendary venue. He has been ordered by doctors to rest for four days. The sold out UK tour is scheduled to continue in Doncaster on Wednesday night. All ticket holders to the Roundhouse dates should retain their tickets and an announcement will be made this week.
All ticket holders will be contacted directly where possible.
Information regarding rescheduling or refunding will be carried on www.gigsandtours.com as soon as available.”
This is in reponse to Morrissey cancelling the last dates of his Roundhouse run after coming off the stage on Friday night having only performed four songs.
