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totally wired
nice to see the papers catching up w what we've been saying on chimpomatic for a long time? the wire rules! uk chimps can catch series 4 on FX tuesday 10pm and the season 3 box set is out as well. slightly less convinced by their merchandise though?

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11th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Junior Boys Video? - Don't Lye!
I swear that the new Junior Boys video ('Like A Child') is a rip off of one of my own film school efforts, for which I was merely 'inspired' by Len Lye (example on You Tube). It's very good - check it out on You Tube or at the links below.
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10th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Brits
Just watched the Album Chart Show's Brits Special. Kasabian, Jarvis, Razorlight offered timid performances, and surprisingly Jamelia's pro session band rocked harder than all 3. Flaming Lips stole the show though, with a rousing Yeah Yeah Yeah Song.
10th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Ghost
In Stormy Nights
Ghost first came to my attention as the backing band for ex-Galaxie 500 maestros Damon & Naomi, on their timeless album "With Ghost". To this day it's an a permanent favourite, with the soft folk sounds creating a gentle, complex base for the soaring, beautiful vocals.
In Stormy Nights sees the band release their ninth album through Drag City, and Masaki Batoh leads his rotating band of followers though a varied, eclectic range of songs and styles, drawing from a diverse range of musical styles.
The opening sounds of Motherly Bluster were exactly what I was expecting, with Batoh's thick Japanese accent presiding over a textured layer of sounds and acoustic guitar. However, second track Hemicyclic Anthelion is a 28 minute marathon of experimentation that unfortunately drifts along without much focus or direction. Akin to hanging around in a late night Tokyo tube station, I rarely find myself in a situation or mood to listen to it. As a result it disrupts the flow of the album, which without it only clocks in at 5 songs / 30 minutes.
Things bang back into action with the military stomp of Water Door Yellow Gate, sounding like a Japanese Nick Cave poisoned poem. Gareki No Toshi segues on from this, with distorted shouts and sound effects sounding like a Fugazi rehearsal session (the opening of Birthday Pony is actually the track I'm thinking of - for you Fugazi heads).
Most comparable to This Mortal Coil, Ghost has much of the same eclectic feel, with strange successes (such as the rambling bagpipes on Caledonia) and unfortunate failings. Moody soundscapes and soundtracks are often misplaced, and seem at odds with each other - rather than sounding like a cohesive body of work by one artist. While the final track Grisaille brings hints of the captivating acid-folk charm that I heard on Damon & Naomi with Ghost, for the most part those moments are unfortunately often drowned out.
10th Feb 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 2.5 star reviewsGhost Club
Suicide Train
Enthusiastic? - maybe. Under produced and under developed? - definitely. In fact it was recorded over a single day.
This garage rock from New Zealand unfortunately offers nothing new, and with David Mitchell's grating voice often struggling to hold a tune, the music fades into derivative sound-a-like.
10th Feb 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
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His Name Is Alive
Detrola
4AD
4 years ago His Name Is Alive released Last Night which would prove to be their final outing with longstanding partners 4AD. Now they resurface with Detrola, their debut for the aptly named Reincarnate Music and after repeated listens this proves to justify the wait. Sounding like a best of compilation of the band Detrola is a very rewarding listening experience spanning many tempos and moods. After the ever increasing applause of the introduction that turns into a deafening wave of noise the listener settles into some of the warmest and sublime avant-pop produced by this band for years.
I Thought I Saw is perfect lounge jazz while In My Dreams is more of a pushier, synth driven affair. *C*A*T*S* is the standout peak of the album, and with it this band reach new heights of song craft perfection. Lovetta Pippen's sweet vocals are simply heart melting and dance effortlessly around the delicate beat and layered textures. Though nothing after this quite reaches its heights the mood is sustained and the beauty maintained until Send My Face ends things on a somber note and makes you want to start over again.
Detrola mixes a spot on blend of glitchy power pop, melancholic soul and soaring beauty with such refreshing playfulness. It's broody and sexy yet profoundly heart breaking. In My Dreams' innocent lyric sums it all up perfectly. "It's so beautiful, it's like a 6 it's like a 9."
9th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Electrelane
Sure, eveybody's loving Arcade Fire at the moment, but to make things even better a lot of their UK tour will be supported by Electrelane. And if that's not good enough, Electrelane will carry on with their own tour in support of their great new album No Shouts, No Calls which is out in April. Check the Scala show for a great line up: Electrelane, Brakes and The Early Years.
20 Apr - CARDIFF The Point
27 Apr - PARIS La Cigale
07 May - MANCHESTER Academy 3 (with The Early Years)
08 May - NOTTINGHAM Social (with The Early Years)
09 May - LONDON Scala (with The Brakes & The Early Years)
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9th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
ATP vs The Fans
Even though they beat our ass late last year, the fans are still coming back for more - and have voted for Yo La Tengo to headline the next ATP Festival. Like some sick version of Pop Idol (indie rock idol?) the headliners were voted for from a long list of luminaries, and will have a tough posse on their side - including Band Of Horses and Brightblack Morning Light.
9th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The Hours
Narcissus Road
The Hours is the brainchild of Martin Slattery and Antony Genn - veterans of various bands and production credits from Unkle to Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. Slattery's keyboard work for the likes of Black Grape is an instant reference on the album, which begins well with a tense opening piano beat that threatens to explode but never does. This is the structure of much of the album and it really works. Antony Genn's vocals are intense and urgent and come at you with an Interpol-like might. These are epic songs and this is totally down to a great use of restraint. The rarely let go and so retain the tension throughout the album.
Lyrically it's a mixed bag. All In The Jungle repeats the excellent line "The greatest comeback since Lazarus" and builds up a nice boxing story with Ali fight samples over the end, but then a few tracks later you get this..."I love you more than all my hooded tops, I love you more than Tony Soprano and for those who don't know me that's a fuck of a lot." The song has the same tension as the other songs but the lyrics are laughable. They seem to be tongue in cheek but are sung with such seriousness. I mean who doesn't love Mr. Soprano and every now and again I could be seen in a hooded top but I wouldn't use them to declare my undying love for someone. Unfortunately this song undermines things and makes for the rest of the album difficult listening - emphasised later on with a dose of fucking swearing. I like a dose of Explicit Lyrics as much of the next time, but it's so unnecessary here that it just seems trite in the context of these often operatic storylines. It's like sitting through a family gathering when your 90 year old granddad could come out with anything at any time and you're just waiting for it.
The slow jams like Icarus don't work as well as the others. They fall into the Coldplay/Snow Patrol grey area and are left behind by the strength of their pent-up counterparts. Murder Or Suicide disappears off into a fantastic piano based instrumental pounding session which really hammers home the fact that the piano is definitely man of the match here.
This is a debut with more than its fair share of promise but it seems far too aware of itself. It's too literal and sometimes takes itself way too seriously. It's no surprise that Jarvis Cocker is a fan of these guys as storytelling third-person lyrics are his forte but The Hours don't have the kitchen sink wit that made Cocker's work so original.
9th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Eruption!
Cleveland Volcano, situated on the western half of Chuginadak Island, is one of the most active of the volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands, which extend west-southwest from the Alaska mainland. It is a stratovolcano, composed of alternating layers of hardened lava, compacted volcanic ash, and volcanic rocks.
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9th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Yeah, But
Following Steve Jobs recent thoughts on music distibution, the RIAA has answered back with their own thoughts.
8th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Armchair Cruisers
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The most comfortable RIDES on the planet!!!
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8th Feb 2007 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Thoughts on music
He might not have the word skills of Brian May, but Apple boss Steve Jobs has chipped in on the ongoing debate about selling music online - falling on the trust-the-customer side of the fence.
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7th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Arcade Fire
Neon Bible
Rough Trade
In 2005 the Arcade Fire gave us Funeral - and with it music was exciting again. No sooner had the music industry heard all 10 songs that it set about desperately trying to find the next source of this feeling. The well timed release of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah saw that band ride this wave with another stunningly exciting debut. So it's 2 years on and Clap Your Hands got in there first with their reply, so what of Neon Bible? Is this a one trick pony? Well, what do you do after such a powerful debut? As we are seeing with Some Loud Thunder, the answer is to play it cool and take it all down a notch. No such idea ever crossed the mind of Win Butler and co. when making Neon Bible. The agenda is clear here, take everything great about Funeral and times it by ten - reveal the iceberg. It's the sound of a band who know full well that they make big music. The best word to describe Neon Bible is massive. If you intend to listen to this album you will need to brush up on 'The Platoon Position', as mid way through the opening track Black Mirror you'll find yourself in need of a suitable body position to justify such grandiosity. It's triumphant music which is surprising considering all the previous themes of death, resentment and wasted life are at its heart and the inclusion of war and the demise of America it's thematically pretty bleak. Musically and stylistically it hasn't changed much from Funeral although it seems quite obvious that someone's been listening to Bruce Springsteen. So with the immortal words of The Boss "Just wrap your legs round these velvet ribs and strap your hands across my engines," I will begin with what will undoubtedly become a tired and over-used driving/cars metaphor to describe this album.
If the opening track with its rumble of thunder and deep, pounding drums is akin to the feeling of getting behind the wheel of a high performance vehicle then Keep The Car Running is the point where you come over the brow of a hill and see the open road ahead. The delicate guitar strum at the start hints at the pace ahead and makes your heart flutter with impending excitement.
Title track Neon Bible is the early stop at the service station to refuel when all women and children hear the words they dread. "Get what you need cos we're not stopping again." And with Intervention we are most certainly back at full speed. It's the grandest song on the album, shit it's the fucking grandest song this side of God Save The Queen (National Anthem not Sex Pistols.) Anyone frowning at my use of cuss words will see that they certainly are justified. Starting with a chapel organ the size of St Pauls Cathedral if every hair on your body doesn't stand on end consider yourself paralyzed. I don't know how this song will be played live as no building with a roof could possibly contain it.
Black Wave is pure Blondie with it's sublime melodies courtesy of Regine Chassagne, who until now has been the power house behind the backing vocals. Ocean Of Noise brings things down a notch with it's washes of strings and soft vocals but the driver of this car wasn't joking when he said we wouldn't be stopping again. This was merely a momentary drop in intensity before the full mariachi band bring this song to a glorious close.
The Well And The Lighthouse comes in with rapid pounding drums and Butler's frenzied vocals forever building and with Antichrist Television Blues The Boss really comes to the forefront. With it's strumming acoustic structure, passion fueled tales of working for the minimum wage and unstoppable tempo this would make Bruce wish he'd written it. As do many of these songs this one builds and builds to such tremendous heights then suddenly stops and makes you think that had it not stopped so suddenly you could very easily have shit yourself with joy. Windowsill is more of a slow builder but guess what, it lifts you up on yet another earth shattering wave of sound and rings you out at the end.
The inclusion of No Cars Go is the only questionable element to this album. Having heard its original form on the early EP this feels like all too familiar territory and even though it's been working out since its first appearance its inclusion here still feels a bit unnecessary.
Things are brought to an exhaustive close with My Body Is A Cage and please welcome back on to the stage, the huge fucking chapel organ. "My body is a cage that keeps me from dancing with the one I love, but my mind holds the key," sings Butler "Set my body free." This song is the end of a movie, it's the unfeasible tracking-crane-shot that lifts from close proximity and keeps on lifting, encompassing everything, showing us the whole picture. And with it's climax your body drops from the Platoon Position and though all your senses try to stop you, you press play again.
So to put this tired metaphor to rest, this is an awesome journey that covers a lot of ground. It never hits traffic, it sometimes slows down for safety reasons while passing through small villages but never opts for monotonous motorway driving and always takes the scenic route.
7th Feb 2007 - 6 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4.5 star reviewsthis is b@uer
more from the world of be@rbricks: jacks bauer & sparrow, the beatles and brian jones

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7th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Electrojazzfest
Steve Reid and Keiren Hebden have a new album on the way - Tongues. It's burning BC's ears as we speak.
Here's a sample:
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7th Feb 2007 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Hot Gossip
Angles
Ghost Records
My finger is about 789 miles away from the pulse of what’s the shit and what’s just plain shit, but if Milan’s Hot Gossip aren’t the name on every groover’s lips at the moment, then I don’t want to be anywhere near that pulse, or the stinking corpse it used to work for.
At least that’s what I thought on hearing track 1of their debut album Angles - a straight to it 1 minute riff, with some proper meat behind it and has the balls to call itself ‘Intro’. What an introduction, sadly the rest of the album doesn’t quite live up to this, admittedly high, early promise. It’s like being told you are going to spend the night with Christina Ricci and then end up with Charlotte Church. Sure, it’s still going to be fun, with some obvious ups and surprises along the way - but after a while, when the pace slackens, you’ll be thinking about what might have been.
In summary - a nice slice of hardcore pop that lives up to its angular title. Better than a lot of stuff I’ve heard recently and ones to keep an ear out for.
7th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
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blades of glory
there's no stopping the ferrell machine? here he's teaming up w jon "napoleon dynamite" heder for this pairs figure skating outing
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6th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Scrawl Or Nothing
never one to resist the chance for adding to the world's trivia, the mighty Inkquest has got a quiz going at the moment: what does this say?
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6th Feb 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
VBS
saving your eyes from the blinding pain of television, apparently. david cross, spike jonze, will oldham, heavy metal in baghdad... could be good
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6th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Desert Hearts
Hotsy Totsy Nagasaki
Gargleblast / No Dancing
It's always a delight to put on a new album by a band you've never heard of and get some instant satisfaction, and it's a surprising uncommon situation.
I can openly admit that I had never heard of Desert Hearts before, and certainly never heard their 2002 debut album - Let's Get Worse. Released through Rough Trade in 2002, that album got some good reviews from the likes of Mojo and Uncut, but never really broke through... instead settling for 'cult classic' status - apparently evident my the number of myspace users using it's track titles as their moniker. This is certainly not a band that you would associate with myspace however, and what is even more surprising is the news that the band is from Belfast. Not that there's anything wrong with that of course, just that their sound is so American, with it's blend of Pavement/Fugazi/Misc American Indie.
Opener D Moon Pilot's version of a slow Fugazi shuffle quickly dispenses with the vocals to power up some extra hardware and get this party started. Sea Punk is pure Pavement with it's instrumental licks and arrangements, overlaid with Charlie Mooney's deceptively pleasant vocals ...but again with this track and the next vocals often play second fiddle to the guitars.
This three piece can unleash when necessary and they often do. While it's title might suggest one thing, the furious groove of Central Line suggests nothing of the sort.
Roisin Stewarts vocals add another element to their sound in power pop jam Ocean - beefed up by Mooney's back up vocals. Once again the guitars show they really know how to rock, and perhaps the Andy Miller production credit can offer some explanation. As well as showing some of the roots of the band's sound, his previous credits of Arab Strap and Mogwai do give the album some non-American reference points - particularly Mogwai's slow building rhythms and lines. Goodbye Everything's strong bass line builds slowly, with slight lyrics build around an instrumental esque jam that would site happily on a Tortoise or Mogwai album.
This is a surprising record, and one that will hopefully keep expanding as I spend more time with it.... hopefully cementing it's current place as one of this year's early favourites.
5th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Monkey Business
Arctic Monkeys new album 'Favourite Worst Nightmare' is already done, and will be out 23rd of April on Domino. They don't monkey around do they?
1. Brianstorm
2. Teddy Picker
3. D is for Dangerous
4. Balaclava
5. Fluorescent Adolescent
6. Only Ones Who Know
7. Do Me a Favour
8. This House Is a Circus
9. If You Were There, Beware
10. The Bad Thing
11. Old Yellow Bricks
12. 505
5th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

The View
Hats Off To The Buskers
With Owen Morris (Oasis, The Verve) at the production controls The View have upped their game and produced an energetic album with plenty of hits that could give the Arctic Monkeys a chill.
5th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Howling Bells
Howling Bells
Bella Union
This distinctly English sounding band (a la The Sundays) are surprisingly Australian - with a heavy dose of inspiration do doubt coming from the Throwing Muses school of early 90's, pre-nirvana indie. Their soulful Indie Blues (a term I'm coining now - TM) is immediately engaging, and with Kirsten Hersh and Tanya Donnely back in business, former Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde's Bella Union have obviously decided to pre-empt a 4AD revival. Break out the maroon Doc Marten's - this is great stuff.
5th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviewsAcross The Universe
a whole film based around beatles songs? this could be the new mamma mia?
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4th Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Hailing Van
dave lee roth's taking time out from playing poker with the sopranos to tour with van halen again; original line-up except for Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen replacing Michael Anthony on bass?
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4th Feb 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Song Of The Day: Volume IV
The new LP from Kings Of Leon is currently blowing my mind, as they move on again from 2004's Aha Shake Heartbreak. Counting the standout tracks is a two-handed job, but I'm picking Fans as today's favourite. Mixing heavy rock with a rolling funk beat appears to be a winning combination.
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2nd Feb 2007 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

The Shins
Wincing The Night Away
Sub Pop
Anyone not taken with the first two albums by The Shins - 'Chutes too Narrow' and 'Oh. Inverted Word' - won't find anything here to convince them otherwise. Those, on the other hand, who found them to be a refreshing breeze of Beatle-ish pop should be satisfied, as 'Wincing the Night Away' is basically more of the same 'It shouldn't work but it does' formula.
Opener, 'Sleeping Lessons' has already edged into the leading pack of my favourite Shins' songs. The band obviously feel comfortable that they have a committed fan base, so start the song off slowly; main-man James Russell Mercer singing over looping keyboard scales, before the rest of the band confidently crash in after 2 and a half minutes. First single 'Phantom Limb' sounds a bit cheesy at first, but is a grower (there's that Shins formula).
Things take a slight left turn with 'Sealegs' slowing it down and making good use of a new drum machine, the squelchy synth solo at the end gets dangerously twee however. But hey. This is The Shins. The band that Natalie Portman said would change your life, in the film ' Garden State' and if there is one thing I'm sure of in life, it's that when Natalie Portman talks to me, I listen and I listen hard.
2nd Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Deerhoof
Friend Opportunity
ATP
You get a fair idea about a band who have a touring list as diverse as Deerhoof's. Radiohead, The Roots and Wilco are but a few, and not every band would appeal to such a varied range of fans. That's because Deerhoof are not just any band. They used to be a good band who made intriguing and challenging unclassifiable pop music. Now they are great band who are just as unclassifiable but produce such sublime musical moments that will undoubtedly shape your life if you let them. They're the kind of band that have the power to make you feel smug if you get them and embarrassed if you don't and for the last 13 years they have kept us wondering if we do truly get them.
With their new album Friend Opportunity a lot of questions are answered. They seem to have listened to their previous album The Runners Four the same way I did and come to similar conclusions. They've taken all that was great about that album and crafted this one. They've trimmed away a lot of the avant guard sprawl that they started with back in the day making Friend Opportunity a beautifully paced and refreshingly brief delight.
Satomi Matsuzaki's achingly sweet, candy-pop vocals are given full range here and are perfectly contrasted and complimented by the thrilling brut force power pop that drives this sugar coated juggernaut. The album hits the ground running with The Perfect Me. It's driving guitar opener is abruptly punctuated with Matsuzaki's Roadrunner like lyrics, "Meet me, meet me, meet the perfect me." and it's somewhere during this song that you begin to suspect that these words herald the beginning of a glorious introduction to the perfect Deerhoof.
There is no point in describing each high point here as it changes every time I listen to the record. At the moment Believe E.S.P is doing it for me in a big way, but last week it was Wither The Invisible Birds? This is where this album shifts gear and gracefully pulls away from its predecessors. It's a wondrously orchestrated landscape in which Satomi's voice spreads its wings and soars to new heights. It ceases to be sugar pop and blossoms before your ears into sublime maturity.
Unfortunately however for a band like Deerhoof one cannot sit comfortably through these wonderful moments. They're not out to please unconditionally and there's always a lesson or two that needs to be taught. The album finishes with Look Away, a 12 minute marathon of feet shuffling noise that very nearly undoes all the good work that went before. But as it finally fizzles out you realise that lurking in this irritation lies the reason you love this band. It's not the kind of song you want to hear again but without its threat the whole experience wouldn't be anywhere near as thrilling and the success of this album rests in the balance between this threat and the delivery of pure unrivaled joy.
2nd Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4 star reviewsExplosions In The Sky
London Indie label Bella Union (home of favourites Bikini Atoll and Midlake amongst others) are running a contest to get a video made for epic Texan rock band Explosions In The Sky.
We're looking for fans and budding young directors to make a video for the amazing song "Welcome, Ghosts" taken from EITS new album "All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone".
The winner will receive the new vinyl album of "All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone", plus two tickets for an EITS concert of your choice and the chance to meet with the band.
Check out www.myspace.com/eitsvideo for conditions and rules - but it sounds good to us - if only as a reason to listen to the song non-stop for a few days while running around with a video camera.
2nd Feb 2007 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Soho Venue Bar, London
With their second album Some Loud Thunder about to hit the shelves, Brooklyn's Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are in the UK for a promotional tour - starting with this low-key gig at TVFKARRB (The Venue Formerly Known As Raymond's Revue Bar). Currently called "Soho Revue Bar", the venue is in the legendary former strip club (poles still intact) at the bottom of Berwick St. It's a nice little place, with Goodfellas style table lamps and velvet booths - and the perfect place for a little warm-up gig like this.
The band showed up on stage a little late and seemed slightly nervous about things as they kicked of the show. Alec Ounsworth led his band through the proceedings, sticking mainly with the new album for a while - with "Love Song No 7" and "Underwater (You and Me)" sounding particularly good.
There were certainly some sound problems in the venue, with a partial power cut through one song. The band were certainly in no hurry however, meaning the momentum of the show was often lost a little between tracks - but when things picked up and the chatty crowd quietened down the band showed some of their magic. While some of the new songs seemed a little under developed and malnourished in a live setting there were plenty of highlights. "Satan Said Dance" has been in live rotation for a while now and it showed - fast, tight and furious guitars rolling along to a pounding beat. "Yankee Go Home" was beefed up from it's album version - with a Brian May-esque guitar solo added for good measure. Out of the context of the (possibly over-produced) album, the songs true strengths have more of a chance to shine through - and while there is still plenty of room for development, a handful of the new tracks were already standing up well next to old favourites like "In This Home On Ice" (described as a 'song about ice') and "Details of the War" - which was stretched out here like a long-lost Neil Young classic.
45 minutes later and the show is wrapped up, with the epic first album closer "Upon This Tidal Wave Of Young Blood" proving to be the final track. A Wedding Present style guitar frenzy classic that showed plenty of what this band is capable... and will hopefully be delivering for many more years to come.
1st Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviewsTower, this is Chimp rider requesting a flyby...
you can be my wingman anytime jet-chimp!
1st Feb 2007 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet

Various Artists
Paris Calling
Bonus Tracks Records
'Allo Allo. This is Paris Calling.' It turns out 2003 was an important year for French music, with The White Stripes, The Strokes and The Libertines all touring new material; and whilst this tight-trousered triumvirate may not be obviously Gaelic in origin, their musical charms crossed various seas and passed into the ears of a bunch of young friends in Paris, who picked up guitars, formed a number of bands and let rip unto the world their take on Jack, Julian and one man crime wave Pete's rock n roll philosophy.
And if that paragraph felt like it was struggling for breath, well screw you old man - these kids aren't hanging around with their cocksure energy and sexy French cool dammit! Such is the adoration of the above music, the compilation could well be called 'Paris Calling: the state of UK guitar music today.' Most of the songs are sung in English and at times the music is a note for note sound alike of some of Britain's finest. Special mention to the Hellboys and Les Shades (great name - sound like a new wave oldboy down at the Royal Variety) who stick to singing in French, which gives them a bit more attitude and the four girls of Plasticines, who sound like Sleater-Kinney meets Gang of Four and are definitely due further research.
So if you are tired of the exposure of The Kooks, The (Arctic) Monkeys, The Razorlights etc but still get a kick from the tunes, then this is a safe bet to play on a Friday night, before wrapping on a long scarf, sucking on a non-filter and heading out into the streets with your crew, looking every inch the two-page fashion shoot.
Listen to the whole album here:
1st Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviewsNew Music Videos
First up, a nicely synced perfromance video from Goose:
Low Mode - Out 19th Feb on Skint.
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'Possibly THE dance track of the summer' - DAILY STAR
And then a slice of classic-90's-indie-style rock from Howling Bells:
Low Happening - Out March 5th on Bella Union
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"Blues-noir desolation" - MOJO
1st Feb 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Schoolyard Penis Seen From Space
Stop sniggering, this is a proper news story.
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31st Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Dude Does Not Abide
Bad news for the Dude, seminal 70s soft rockers The Eagles are about to release their first new album in 30 years.
31st Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet

Working For A Nuclear Free City
Rocket
It's no secret these days that the kids are wearing the rock trousers and they're in danger of showing up their older and wiser counterparts when it comes to sheer quantity of quality. The much favored Arctic Monkeys are still fresh from a prize winning debut and we already have enough new material from them to fill another. Likewise Working For A Nuclear Free City gave us their self titled debut late last year and here we are in January with a fantastic 4 track ep of songs not only new but that display a definite progression.
This ep shows a more mature sound and will go some way to dispel the Stone Roses comparison which was so tempting in their debut. Opening track "Rocket" shuffles its feet beautifully for the first half then explodes with a cacophony of just about every instrument available and the result is thrilling. The boys do it again with "Heaven Kissing Hill" which starts with an Arab Strap style monologue which then opens up into soaring instrumentals. This song ends with the same beard stroking spoken word but soon crumbles into laughter showing this bands refreshing ability to not take itself too seriously. Another great instrumental master-class follows then things are brought to a close with "Stone Cold". This revisits their earlier Roses sound but still works and judging by the first 3 tracks and this songs title this closer could be the bands way of laying to rest their previous influences and preparing the ground for new seeds. But we shall have to wait and see what's in store for this band but if this little taster is anything to go by it could come at any time and the chances of quality is pretty high.
31st Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
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The Early Years
The Great Awakening
Beggars Banquet
With their debut LP only recently slipping from heavy rotation, The Early Years are already back in business. While their outstanding debut had it's fair share of 5 star classics - it did somehow have a hint that the best was yet to come with these guys. In between a lot of touring and shows (including a brief stint as the backing band to Can's Damo Suzuki), plus ramping up the debut album for release in the US, the band have still found time to record four completely new tracks for this EP.
Stomping first tune Say What I Want To plays on all of the debut albums strengths, pounding beats layer and build upon like a tidal wave. On Fire applies the same method, but with a minimal electronica slant. There's a slight Edge jangle to the guitars on those last few tracks - which give it a nice 80's indie sound, almost on a Stones Roses vibe.
As The Early Years start to meet their early promise, let's hope that things only get better and a second album builds even further in the same direction.... Viva ze Early Years!
31st Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Starter for Ten
(dir: Tom Vaughan)
Great little 80s set film around the Bristol University team for University Challenge. Sprinkled with quirky perfromance including a scene stealing Mark Gatiss as Bamber Gascoigne.
31st Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3.5 star reviewsLCD Soundsystem
Sound Of Silver
These days fashion is a major player in making an album hit or miss - and James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem proved this in 2005 when their self titled debut took everyone by storm. It being the right time for their blend of self referencing, witty beat punk wasn't the only reason it was such a success. The album was full of well crafted, intelligent music which set the bar high for their second installment. "Sound Of Silver" sees them take stock of all that has gone before and move on confidently.
'Get Innocuous' creeps in with a whisper and the album is off to a perfect start. A 2 minute gently rolling beat intro is the frame work for Murphy's unassuming vocals. This could be vintage Talking Heads if it wasn't for the fiercely electronic structure. It tells us from the outset that some new strings have been added to this bow and to start the difficult second album off with a 7 minute piece of lushness like this sends out a message of confidence and progression. 'Time To Get Away' revisits old ground with wailing vocals stabbing at stuttering beats but the new ideas soon return. 'Someone Great' opens with an almost Top Gun theme morphing into Human League synths and the stand out track 'All My Friends' continues the 80's synth revival with a more piano led driving beat that never pauses and could go on forever. James Murphy's vocals are taken down a notch as in the opening track and the result of this change is stunning. Its relentlessness is awesome and even though the pace never changes you feel as if you're building up to something powerful. As in the best Joy Division moments it's this combination of a rolling bass structure, subtly building vocals and the guts to take a song past the 4 minute mark that make this album memorable.
This is a band settling into their sound and a displaying a progression that shows a lot of maturity. Their 2005 debut was perfect for that time both in content and style. Murphy's DFA label was huge, pioneering a very exciting electro/indie crossover and the sound that emerged from the labels history was fresh and a generation of super-cool indie kids were more than ready to accept Murphy's blend of synth beats and abrasive punk musings even though his lyrics often ridiculed the image conscious demographic that followed him. But since then the elctro-punk style has become somewhat tired so this album couldn't have been easy for the band. Talking Heads have been the principle influence for some of the best bands to emerge in the last 3 years and they certainly feature here. But this influence has brought a more earthy sound to LCD and that's where the maturity lies. Just as with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Some Loud Thunder we see a band who after making people sit up and take notice of their first statement are now settling in for the long-haul and although they've eased off on the gas they're making music with more depth and durability.
30th Jan 2007 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
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I'm A Cyborg But That's OK
cute site up for the new Park Chan-Wook film, I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK. Also trailers for Danny "28 Days Later" Boyle's new sci-fi Sunshine, Mark Wahlberg's assassin thriller Shooter and Joseph "Brick" Gordon-Levitt in The Lookout
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30th Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Future Boy
Diamond Geezer has been writing his blog ...from the future. It takes in a nice blend of day-to-day blog style facts with future-set fiction.
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Have A Gay Old TIme
Nirvana, The Doors and even Chimp favourites Wilco can turn your children gay, apparently.
Can anyone find a photo to illustrate this?
29th Jan 2007 - Add Comment - Tweet
Cassadaga
Bright Eyes have firmed up details of their new album Cassadaga - scheduled for release on April 9th. M.Ward, Gillian Welch and Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney make guest appearances.
You can road-test new track Endless Entertainment here.
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