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The Double Fantasy
myspace up for Song Man, Will Hodgkinson's follow up to Guitar Man - featuring a few tracks recorded at Studio Chimp Towers… (yes, there is some actual musical activity in there)
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19th Sep 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Mmm. Delicious.
I'm totally loving Delicious Library at the moment - a little app for Macs that acts as a library, letting you look up and archive CDs, books and DVDs and then search them, find links and recieve suggestions for similar items.
I tried it a while back without much impact, and while it's actual purpose is still essentially unnecessary, the ability to use the webcam on your computer as a bar-code scanner now makes it irresistible fun. I can now check out my DVDs and CDs to friends and issue them with fines and penalties at will.... a situation which may sound familiar to CJ.
18th Sep 2006 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Big Cat Britain
exotic animal sightings are on the rise in the uk; here's the score over the last six years:
5,931 big cats (including panthers, pumas, leopards, lynx); 3,389 sharks; 332 wild boars; 51 wallabies; 43 snakes; 15 owls; 13 dangerous spiders (including a tarantula and a Black Widow); 13 racoons; 10 crocodiles; 7 wolves; 4 eagles; 3 pandas; 2 scorpions;1 penguin
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18th Sep 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
DJ Shadow
The Outsider
Shadows inspired first album Entroducing has dated, his second The Private Press hasn't. His third, The Outsider is less likely to even get off the ground.
Shadow has indulged in some of his own musical preferences here with the majority of the first half of the album as straight hiphop with guest rappers. Unfortunately on the whole the quality of these initial tracks is poor. The rapping, both lyrically and stylistically, as well as the beats, sound like something from a Busta Ryhmes b-sides album. A case in point being Keep Em Close (featuring Nump!), with chorus lyrics "keep your friends close but those that you want to rob, keep them closer"
One of the most appealing aspects of Shadow as an artist was his commitment to producing hiphop that shied away from this kind of predictable bragadosery nonsense. Its a shame he has included this too many times on this album. Much of the rapping sounds like it was recorded in one day as a freestyle with no preparation. Set against Shadows reputation for attention to detail this just doesn't work. Enuff featuring Q-Tip and Lateef exemplify this most glaringly.
Having said all this the second half of the album largely moves back to the innovation and eclecticism of samples, beats and instrumentation upon which Shadow made his name. The guitar on the New Orleans inspired Brocken Levee Blues, and the drumbeats on Artifiact really shake the listener out of the monotony that the first tracks slip them into. Unfortunately for this album I suspect it will be a case of too little too late.
18th Sep 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 2 star reviewsSearch
mara c at john peel day
mara carlyle's playing a free gig at the Paradise in Kensal Green, Sunday October 15th for john peel day
plus some videos here:
I BLAME YOU NOT
BABY BLOODHEART
BABY BLOODHEART (lo-fi sauciness version)
17th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Slappers
site for dani siciliano's new Slappers album up, mpfree of they can wait if you sign up…
17th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
happy?
test your work/life balance with this handy happiness calibrator
16th Sep 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
No FWD!
FX (home to the wire and chris rock in the uk) have come up with a way to make an ad for people zapping through at 30X sky+ superspeeds. damn.
16th Sep 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Interview: M. Ward
Following the release of his new album Post-War and a short UK tour, Chimpomatic caught up with M.Ward for a very brief Q&A. read article
15th Sep 2006 - Add Comment
Chavez
Matt Sweeney's former band Chavez have a retrospective coming out in October. "Better Days Will Haunt You" collects together both studio albums plus some bonus stuff.
The somewhat over-looked Matador favourites re-united to support GBV's final tour in NYC are were awesome.
15th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Slowness Of Sleep
Gondry's 'new' movie The Science Of Sleep (chimp review here) has been bumped back to November for a UK release, but his website howdoyoudream.com might keep you mildly amused for now. You might have noticed the ads for it on RES (talk about overkill!).
15th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Song Of The Day: Volume III
Wolfmother's beefed up album version of Woman. The video is awesome - animating photographs to form a frenzy of stage action.... even though it is a rip off of INXS's superb 80's video What You Need, directed by Aussie psuedo legend Richard Lowenstein, director of the superb Dogs In Space.
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14th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Blood On The Wall
Awesomer
Recently bands like Brakes and Blood On The Wall have opened the floodgates and made albums like department stores, there's something for everyone. They don't claim to specialise in anything but as a whole they create a record that reflects our current state of pluralism. This is the second full length from the New York trio and the pace and furious energy is maintained here as it was on their self-titled 2004 debut.
As their name may suggest Blood On The Wall don't create Gwar style death metal, instead Awesomer is a medley of furious punk, rolling indie-pop and ominous stoner rock. Vocal duties are shared between brother and sister duo Ben and Courtney Shanks and their styles couldn't be more different or more complimentary. Courtney delivers slow, brooding, breathy vocals not unlike the Cowboy Junkies while Brad takes the less subtle approach, screeching and wining like Frank Black's little brother.
Courtney's opener Stoner Jam is exactly what it claims to be until brother Brad comes in and scratches his nails down the blackboard of your ears with Reunite On Ice. You start to think how annoying this voice should be but it's not. Though Brad is certainly given the dirty work while Courtney is there to give the record weight she plays him at his own game on the dirty little number Can You Hear Me and Brad, not to be outdone, turns out some very listenable indie-pop gems like Right To Light Tonight and You Are A Mess. His finest moment is the short but sharp Gone, while she shines on Dead Edge Of Town.
Though it doesn't always work the eclectic nature of this band recalls early Beastie Boys, throwing in some truly pulverising punk interludes. If you chuck enough ideas around you are bound to end up with something exciting and that is what Awesomer is, it's one idea after another coming at you fast and with out care to the point where it seems so packed full that you find yourself amazed it only takes up 31 minutes of your time.
14th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviews
Danielson
Ships
More conceptual weirdness from the leader of art-rock collective the Danielson Family. Once you've got past the often irritating screeched vocals this is a rewarding experience.
14th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviewsStar Bores
George Lucas has deemed us worthy to own the 'original' version of the first three Star Wars movies on DVD this week, no doubt so he can then sell us them again on Blu-Ray or HD-DVD next year. He's even been kind enough to give us a detailed breakdown of the improvements/rubbish bits made for the 'new' versions. That's the 2004 versions, not the 1997 re-releases versions, dumbass.
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The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
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14th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Curb Season 5 on DVD
Most of this week's news is being re-cycled from Metro:
Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 5 is now on DVD, before it's even shown on TV. Krazy.
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14th Sep 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Duck Pizza
Such was its reputation that the Marx Brothers insisted on eating at the restaurant on their one and only visit to England.
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13th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club
The Victorian English Gentlemen's Club
This is the debut album from the Cardiff based trio and although terms like art-pop or art punk are being banded around (like having met at art school makes this album a sure thing), don't be fooled. I was sceptical at first as they had all the makings of a big disappointment - lots of media hype, quirky name and heavy styling - but after the first listen you start to see that these early signs are very misleading. With Adam Taylor on vocals and guitar, Emma Daman on drums, Louise Mason on bass and all contributing to backing vocals the result is a rich yet stripped down noise that assaults and delights at the same time.
The first highlight comes early on with Stupid As Wood. It's dark rolling guitars tell you that it means business. Adam Taylor's vocals stab at you with erratic energy putting your nerves on full alert. Impossible Sightings Over Shelton could be the Pixies in their heyday while Such A Chore clatters around almost unrecognisably until a gloriously catchy chorus blasts in out of nowhere. A Hundred Years Of This Street is a minor masterpiece, changing pace at an unrelenting rate while Ban The Gin is pure, precocious noise. The finest moment has to be Under The Yews. Just as you've summed them up as angular punk who's power comes from it's simplified, raw sound you get this multi layered, slow burning ground assault that confidently creeps up and kicks your arse.
The great thing here is that, while very conscious of their roots and not ashamed to show their influences, this trio seems to bash around like they aren't even aware of a music scene and this honesty is displayed with cocky ease and the result is thrilling.
13th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3.5 star reviewsTab Free
Bad news for budding guitarists: Tab archive Olga.net (amongst others) is under some serious legal pressure from The Man.
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13th Sep 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Tweedy TV
Not sure if this is related to the new dvd, but C4 are showing JEFF TWEEDY: LIVE IN CONCERT in the prime time 4MUSIC slot of 1:15am, Sat 23 Sep
13th Sep 2006 - 4 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Revenge!
It seems like the suggestion of a Zissou style revenge attack for the death of Steve Irwin was not far off. 10 mutilated stringrays have so far turned up on the beaches of Australia.
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13th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Cate Dylan
Todd Haynes' Dylan movie I'm Not There is shaping up to be a real indie fest: as well as Cate Blanchett as one of the Dylans, there's also Stephen Malkmus covering Maggie's Farm and Ballad Of A Thin Man - produced by Lee Renaldo, and Chimp hero/My Morning Jacket mainman Jim James also popping up on the soundtrack…
13th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
iTunes 7
Apple's iTunes software has seen it's biggest update in a while - so much so that they have changed the colour of the little icon, like they used to do in the old days, ah.
It's looking like a big improvement so far, with the highlights being the ability to automatically download album artwork (which surely means less traffic for Amazon) and the ability to flip through album covers like you would while digging the crates in the olden days of yore. You can also buy movies, but that's looking like a slow roll out with only a few studios onboard for a US only launch.
Apple also previewed a set-top box (temporarily called iTV - hardly a classy name in the UK), which will stream music and movies from Mac or PC to your TV set.
12th Sep 2006 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Wargames 2
don't think matthew broderick is on board, but apparently they're lining up a sequel to 80s hacker classic war games
12th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
BBC4 goes west coast
BBC4's getting into west coast rock this autumn with California Dreaming, which sounds a lot like Hotel California the Barney Hoskyns book. Eagles, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Jackson Browne, the whole Laurel Canyon scene etc. They've also got a show about Californian innovations like jacuzzis and waterbeds, essential components of the WCR lifestyle…
12th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Solo Tweedy
Our favourite wandering front man Jeff Tweedy has found time to squeeze in one-more side project before really knuckling down to give us what we really want - a new Wilco album.
"Nonesuch Records will release Sunken Treasure: Live in the Pacific Northwest, a performance DVD by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, on October 24. The disc includes performances and conversations gathered over five nights on Tweedy's February 2006 solo acoustic tour, with footage from concerts at Seattle's Moore Theater, Portland's Crystal Ballroom, Eugene's McDonald Theater, Arcata's Humboldt State University, and The Fillmore in San Francisco. The film was directed by Christoph Green and Fugazi's Brendan Canty, the creators of the documentary series Burn to Shine."
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12th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Banksy v Disney
following on from his Paris Hilton stunt, Banksy has hit Disneyland
12th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
9/11 mihops v lihops
"Reality is a thin line between denial and paranoia."
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11th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Little Miss Sunshine
(dir. Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris)
This is the feature film debut for directorial partnership Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and sees them produce a delightful piece of cinema on a par with 2005's Sideways. Like Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine is a road movie that depicts deeply flawed characters in unusual and often forced situations struggling to cope with the pressures of life.
Here we have the Hoover family who are dysfunctional to say the least. Father Richard (Greg Kinnear), a hopelessly optimistic motivational speaker is trying to sell his nine-step programme to being a winner, supported and pitied by his wife (Toni Collette) whose brother (Steve Carell), a troubled Proust scholar, has just failed in his attempt to commit suicide. Meanwhile their Nietzsche obsessed son Dwayne has taken a vow of silence until he fulfils his goal of becoming a pilot while seven year old Olive, a slightly plump, four- eyed little girl dreams of becoming a beauty queen. As if all this wasn't eccentric enough they have a coke-snorting grandfather (Alan Arkin) living with them as well.
The film sees the Hoovers embarking on a long and tiresome journey to California in an old camper van after Olive gains a place in the Little Miss Sunshine finals. What we are treated to along the way is a touching portrait of family dynamics, the difficulties of being young and old and developing the ability to see what is truly important in life. The thing that makes this story so delightful is that the characters never slip into a stereotype, this is largely down to the writing but the subtle and heartfelt acting by everyone makes it compelling viewing. Abigail Breslin, who plays Olive is utterly charming and truly electrifying to watch but the foul mouthed grandfather is the one that really steals the show, one of his finest moments being his life lessons to the 15 year old son to "fuck a lot of women, not just one, a lot." He then goes on to say what a great position he's in being fifteen as he can have any fifteen year old he wants, if he waits till he's sixteen he could be looking at eight to ten.
The film doesn't try to make any judgements or provide any answers to the problems confronting these characters but that's where it shines. It is quite outrageous at times but always retains reality and with a proper belly laugh ending leaves you on a high. We have been swamped with Hollywood big budget movies this summer but with films like this it's important to remember that the American independent scene is, on the whole, a place of real quality and rare beauty.
11th Sep 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4 star reviews
Road House
I managed to catch some of Road House at the weekend, which you would assume was a low point for many of those involved - and turned out to be a necessary source of investigation for a lot of them.
First up, Sam Elliot has a reputation as a distinguished elder statesman of Hollywood, playing up to just that role in Tombstone and of course as The Stranger in The Big Lebowski. A turn as a straight-up-jack-drinking-bar-brawler here however led me to pull up his rap sheet and it's not a pretty picture. He has a string of previous offenses, from bit-parts in Mission:Impossible (the TV show, not the movie) and The Streets of San Francisco, to the role of Card player #2 in Butch and Sundance. The original, thank god, not The Early Years. He did manage to marry Katherine Ross however.
Next up, Marshall Teague was a guy I recognised but couldn't place. Turns out it could have been anything, as he has 86 minor offences on his sheet, ranging from Knight Rider, Baywatch, The A-Team or Quantum Leap through to playing three totally different characters in various episodes of The Fall Guy, and two in MacGyver. Book him, Danno.
Swayze is hardly even worth mentioning - being such an easy target - but one positive outcome of this movie is that it obviously had some impact on the Coen brothers, as alongside Sam Elliot they also cast Ben Gazzara as Jackie Treehorn in The Big Lebowski - a role not dissimilar to his performance here as Brad Wesley, town bad guy. Gazzara also has that air of "cameo by a guy you should know" about his career, but again it's patchy at best. He did do his time in Cassavetes movies in the 70's, but from then on it's mostly bit-parts and the odd TV movie - often in Italian. A role as Gallo's dad in Buffalo '66 is a possible 'high-point'.
11th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
New Hockney
new David Hockney portrait exhibition coming to the National Portrait Gallery, 12 October 2006 - 21 January 2007
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8th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Rockit Festival 2006
hong kong's rockit festival is back for another year 14 & 15 october, with ian brown, goldie and local boys uptown rockers
8th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
King Freeosote
King Creosote has a new EP out on September 18th, but you can get the main track You Are Could I for free over at his website. That's a new version of a song from his excellent LP K.C. Rules O.K..
7th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Midlake
The Trials Of Van Occupanther
This is the second outing for the Texas based lo-fi quintet Midlake, and sees them exploring 70's influenced soft rock to beautiful effect. Perfect vocal harmonies, layered guitar, strings and organs all contribute to make this a corny and yet surprisingly appealing piece of work.
The album begins with its finest moment. Roscoe could be a lost Fleetwood Mac classic. The lyric "When I was a child I wondered what if my name had changed to something more productive like Roscoe, and born in 1891 waiting with my aunt Roselyn," sets the scene of this song and, in fact, the whole album. It has an 'other worldly' quality to it as if hailing from a time long ago. Bandits floats gracefully on the breeze while Head Home picks up its feet slightly and threatens to disappear off into a classic Neil Young guitar solo but sadly never does. In This Camp does a similar thing but ups the anti a bit more making these two songs some of the most interesting moments. They change pace nicely with confident guitar work blowing out the cobwebs.
This record is so effortless in terms of a listening experience that I am surprised it doesn't become too easy and therefore forgettable, especially as it sometimes treads dangerously close to Travis territory. It's akin to looking through an old family photo album, with its bleached out images of you and your brother in 70's clothing, squinting at the sun, but then you keep flicking and the photos get older and you see how your grandparents used to live. There are moments of melancholy but overall the feeling of nostalgia is a comforting one.
7th Sep 2006 - 5 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3.5 star reviewsThe Bronx: History's Stranglers
I'm enjoying The Bronx's album The Bronx (II) at the moment, and had been expecting them to be more G'n'R than Black Flag... but after seeing this great video I'm not so sure.
6th Sep 2006 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
banksy v paris
banksy has been slipping his own versions of paris hilton's album into record shops… some on ebay now
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5th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
bruce leebots
one for anyone who remembers the five bruce lee hand of bruce lee: news of a bruce lee theme park, complete with bruce leebots
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5th Sep 2006 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
mercury 2006
arctic monkeys seem to be the favourites, thom yorke's got enough $/respek already surely… guillemots might be the smart bet tonight, falling into that "critical acclaim, still quite obscure" zone. any advance on that? bbc4 9pm, if you're in
5th Sep 2006 - 6 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Psapp
The Only Thing I Ever Wanted
Now on Domino, Psapp put up an intriguing cross between Four Tet and Stereolab with fascinating, organic sampled beats and floaty vocals. Gets dull in places but works overall.
4th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
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The Mountain Goats
Get Lonely
Get lonely is exactly what you will do when you listen to John Darnielle's follow up to 2005's harrowing "The Sunset Tree". Anyone who has ever suffered a painful split from a loved one will find plenty of familiar ground here and anyone who is going through this right now I urge you to steer clear. I listened to this on a drive home one evening and on pulling up to my house I had to shake myself from this dream and remind myself that I was still loved and she was just inside that door. The music here is as sparse and minimal as the moments of joy in Darnielle's life and his falsetto delivery of woe is powerful and crippling.
Many of the songs chart the various stages one has to go through after a break-up. "Woke Up New" describes the first morning you wake up alone and how your daily routine is peppered with memories of the person that shared your life. He wanders through the house, lost, and states "an astronaut could have seen the hunger in my eyes from space." In "Half Dead" he throws himself into menial jobs "trying not to get caught, try to think like a machine," he tells himself as he sorts through her old things. "Moon Over Goldsboro" charts that time in the break up recovery when you allow yourself to reminisce about your lost love either thinking you can handle it or knowing you can't but the masochist in you needs the pain. Each memory is followed by the line "Still wake up alone," as if she is following him everywhere like a ghost.
But the song that really finishes you off is the title track where Darnielle really sets the scene of a world empty and cold that has no place for you now that you're alone. It features the achingly beautiful line, "and I will get lonely and gasp for air, and send your name up from my lips like a signal flare."
Darnielle's emotional power doesn't really come from intricately crafted poetry as it would from Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, but from his simple descriptive lyrics and hushed, delicate singing and although "Get Lonely" navigates very well known waters it does it with heart breaking grace.
4th Sep 2006 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviewsExtras
Season Two
Still not convinced this is a work of unparalled genius, but there's just enough in Extras to keep it watchable. In a way, it's a much smaller scale enterprise than The Office, despite the gaggle of cameos they've roped in (this series includes Orlando Bloom, David Bowie, Chris Martin of Coldplay, Sir Ian McKellen, Daniel Radcliffe, Robert Lindsay and Keith Chegwin).
For series two, Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais) has landed a sitcom, but it's not turning out to be the realistic show that's going to stand the test of time he wanted it to be (hmmm, what can he be thinking of there?). Meanwhile his sidekick Maggie is still arsing about as an extra - first ep sees her in some legal drama w Orlando Legolas, who can't believe she doesn't fancy him (and craps on about how everyone fancied him and not Johnny Depp on the Pirates set).
Sort of works, but it is all pretty luvvieish really, and the bits where celebs say outrage stuff (Keith Chegwin going on about blacks, queers and jews in this one) just so Millman can be baffled is getting a bit tired...
4th Sep 2006 - 35 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 2.5 star reviewsR.I.P. The Crocodile Hunter
The Crocodile Hunter, aka Steve Irwin, has been killed by a Stringray while filming in Australia.
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4th Sep 2006 - 5 comments - Add Comment - Tweet