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Spoon
P.S. Caught the SPOON show at Koko on Friday, and they rocked. Ice Hockey style.
Review coming soon.
P.P.S. The pic on the right show audience support for Amusement Parks On Fire. Whaaack Nirvana wannabies.
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2nd Oct 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Jim James Solo Acoustic
The Enterprise, Camden
After September's DJ/My Morning Jacket/Jim James triple cancellation it was a pleasant surprise to see this re-scheduled solo gig pop up on the MMJ website, particularly as they were about to start a big US tour. Things only got weirder when the chimp contingent got to the venue - above The Enterprise pub in Camden. The room was tiny (around 100-150 max) and totally empty. Doors opened at 7 and we got seats at a Goodfellas-style table, literally right in front of the six inch high stage. The venue was totally empty for ages, and the rumour was that the record label had block booked most of the tickets - presumably for press purposes. That kind of sucked for all the people who kept coming up looking for tickets, but to be fair it did fill right up at nine on the dot, and a couple of desperate fans were invited in for free...
Jim James shuffled on with a keyboard/sample/drum machine type thing (apparantly called an Omnichord), and took off one shoe (making fists with his toes after a long haul flight?). The crowd was hushed instantly as he started off playing only the omnichord, building it up into a layered rhythm before unleashing his amazing voice. The small size of the room and the closeness of the stage meant that half the time he could be heard louder off the mic as he soared and reached all the high notes... always sounding like he should crack, but never even coming close. While the 90-odd minute set was made up of both old classics and a lot of songs from the forthcoming My Morning Jacket album Z there was never a moment when the crowd was less than mesmerised. Seeing one person create such a delicate sound, but still whip up a storming finale for tracks like The Bear, was unforgetable and the sound is still ringing through my mind several days later.
New track Dondante was a particular highlight, given extra poignancy by Jim's introductary explanation of waking from a dream with this song for a dead friend in his mind. The Bear and Bermuda Highway were awesome, as well as newer tracks like Anytime and Off The Record. Covers of Eels' 3 Speed, All The Best by John Prine and Dylan's You're A Big Girl Now finished things off.
After seeing a lot of gigs recently, this was far and a way one of the best. If you don't own any MMJ, please get some. If you do, keep an eye out for this gig as there were rumours of it being taped....
2nd Oct 2005 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 5 star reviews
My Name Is Earl
Just added Jason Lee's new sitcom My Name Is Earl to the Chimpomatic viewing rosta after watching the pilot. Snappy dialogue, funny jokes and no Tom Cruise. Jason Lee at his best.
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2nd Oct 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
More Cowbell!
Great sketch from Saturday Night Live over at Milk & Cookies, with Old School legend Will Ferrell paying tribute to the mighty Blue Oyster Cult.
1st Oct 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
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nice, unusual, kylie
showing on livingtv in november, the kylie epponee rae ep of Kath & Kim looks like it'll be pacifically unusual
30th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Jim James Was Ossum!
Far and away the best gig I have seen in recent years, last night's Solo/Acoustic show from My Morning Jacket front man Jim James was mesmerising. Playing only acoustic guitar and an omnichord keyboard/sampler/drum machine type toy, the show was 90 minutes of unmissable songs, sung with the most flawless haunting vocals... ossum!
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Live Boots
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30th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Song Of The Day: II
She's Your Lover Now from Bootlegs 1-3 by the B.O.B. Dylan... just because he's ruling this week. Love that rolling vibe.
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29th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
bilderberg speaks
notorious "secret evil rulers of the world" the bilderberg group are actually being interviewed on bbc world service tomorrow
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28th Sep 2005 - 5 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Fear of Music w/The Chap
Fear of Music this Friday at the Montague arms... as well a Spoon at Koko, and Club Clor at the Windmill. Busy Busy Busy.
Zongamin are back at the Montague on November 25th.
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28th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Select-A-Ray
Not sure what the implications of this are.... but I'm not happy.
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27th Sep 2005 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
kiss kiss, bang bang
surprised to report that the new robert downey jr/val kilmer outing kiss kiss, bang bang is actually a lot better than the trailer makes it look. chimpreview here
27th Sep 2005 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
(dir. Shane Black)
always been a sucker for films with good opening credits. the kind of opening where they've actually bothered to think about it, do some fun stuff with graphics, play around a bit before the film gets going - you know, saul bass, pink panther etc. add in a snappy plot, a film where they get away with smart-ass narration AND find something good for robert downey jr, and pack in as many raymond chandler references as they can, and you've got a small-scale winner.
plotwise, we follow low-level new york burglar RDJ as he bumbles his way into a screen test, gets packed off to LA, hooks up with gay PI/movie consultant val kilmer (probably the first time i've ever actually enjoyed one of his films) and then falls into a chandler-style murder thriller, that follows the general pomo big sleep noir conventions - double crossing, little sisters, sassy dames, mucho confusion and lots of great lines. it's written by shane black, who churned out much of the lethal weapon franchise, but it feels more like watching something like midnight run - 80s, but smart. and it also gets away with lots of "hey let's stop the movie to look at what just happened there" moments without being annoying. actually better than the trailer makes it out to be, for once.
26th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4 star reviews24 meg
more tech speed to keep up with: don't know what they're like, but Bethere.co.uk are offering 24meg broadband for £24 a month
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26th Sep 2005 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Stephen Malkmus
Koko, Camden
I made a few Pavement related errors as a younger music fan - most notably missing out on seeing them support Sonic Youth, due to a lack of train fare money. I've been totally loving Stephen Malkmus' solo albums, so I wasn't about to drop the ball and miss this show.
Support came from Clor, who've been causing a 'buzz' on the Chimp Towers 'should-get-round-to-checking them-out' list, and they were great. Malkmus and the Jicks then kicked off, unfortunately disproving the myth that support bands are deliberately mixed badly to make the headliners sound great. The kidney wobbling bass that was working well with Clor's disco groove just drowned out the witty lyrics etc that make Malkmus' songs tick. Dodgy cabling led to a few more sound problems, and while the band were pro enough to ride it out you did get the feeling that it was holding them back.... as they started to run out of banter and never really got on a roll. Moaning aside though, they did kick out some great tracks... notably long form chimp favourite No More Shoes.
3 stars and no grudges.
26th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviewsCaptain of the Dolphin Rescue Squadron
No, not the title of an unreleased mythical Guided By Voices track, but an actual real-life story of Post-cold-war-post-hurricaine-Katrina mania:
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26th Sep 2005 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Solo Small Jacket
After a few ups and downs with their recently cancelled gigs Jim James from My Morning Jacket is playing a solo accoustic show at the Barfly in Camden this Thursday.
26th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
i feel like dylan tonight
just a reminder to catch no direction home bbc2 9pm tonight - as good a dylan film as you'll ever see… plus loads more on bbc4 all week.
26th Sep 2005 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Song Of The Day: II
Anytime by My Morning Jacket from their forthcoming album Z. Maybe it's kind of boring that this mixtape is featuring most of the same people as the last one.... but that's what we're listening to at the moment, and I'm listening to this a lot. Hopefully it will become a time-capsule style mixtape in year's to come.
23rd Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Jack's New Boots
Plenty of Whites Stripes bootlegs over at www.redcandycane.net, including their great set from Glastonbury 2005....
22nd Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
private sector psy-ops
the world gets more like the watchmen everyday…
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22nd Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Robin Rhode
There's some cool performance-animation(TM) from South African artist Robin Rhode over at the BBC website.
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22nd Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
think ink
new chimp-offiliated blog looking for the perfect ink…
22nd Sep 2005 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Wolfmother
Just in from IC "...Fantastic gig from Wolfmother last night, including three power surges during the final song. Shades of zeppelin, sabbath, at the drive in etc all the good stuff basically..."
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22nd Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
i'm a lady
the third part of Chanwook Park’s revenge trilogy, sympathy for lady vengeance, is premiering in this year's london film festival, oct 22
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21st Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Jix!
Made up for several years of personal Pavement gig errors last night by catching the Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks show at Koko. Great venue, kidney rumbling bass a bit much and some sound problems.... but some rocking jams. London rockers Clor were in support and have been bumped up the 'to buy' list.
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21st Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
John Wu-sciante
John Frusciante will apparantly be making an appearance on Raekwon's new Cuban Linx Part II album.... as the Wu-Tang clan gear up for more fighting.
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20th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Jeff Tweedy Solo Show
Jeff Tweedy from Chimp favourites Wilco is playing solo at Shepherd's Bush Empire on November 22nd...... same day as I'm seeing Dylan at Brixton. It never rains, but it pours.
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19th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
keep it peeled
As part of a John Peel Day, New Order, The Fall, Super Furry Animals, Laura Cantrell, Jawbone, Misty in Roots and Venetian Snares are playing queen elizabeth hall, 12 oct. looks like it's already sold out though. there are another 300 gigs across the UK, as well as events in Spain, Germany, Italy, USA, Holland, New Zealand and Canada on the actual day, 13th oct though.
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19th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Song Of The Day: II
Animal Midnight from Pig Lib by Stephen Malkmus.... because it rocks and we're seeing him tomorrow. uh uh.
19th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
gondry beeyatch!
Dave Chappelle and Michel Gondry have teamed up to film a hip hop Block Party, featuring a reunited Fugees, Common, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Kool G, Cody Chesnutt, Kanye West, the Roots etc etc, with Chappelle handing out free willy wonka-style tickets to people on the day and not telling them who they were going to see
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18th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
Beeches Smoke Rocks
It's not quite surveillance of Kate Moss proportions, but there are some snaps of Beeches recording their new record here.
17th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
loo force one
george gets condi to help him out of another tricky situation
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16th Sep 2005 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Field of Sound
Sound Transit is an interesting field recording project that allows you to book a journey between cities and the listen to a custom mixed field recording of the journey from a library of sources.
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Sound interesting?
Sound boring?
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16th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
25 Years Of 4AD
4AD are lining up a series of gigs to celebrate 25 years of very nice covers… and releasing a new 4AD compilation, a "deluxe Cocteau Twins 4 CD box set", and something from the label's founder Ivo Watts-Russell, operating as Hope Blister.
Thursday 17th Nov: TV On The Radio plus special guests - The Scala
Friday 18th Nov: Minotaur Shock & Magnetophone plus special guests - The Luminaire
Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th Nov: The Breeders plus special guests - Blackheath Halls
(also : an exhibition of the artwork of Vaughan Oliver / v23)
Monday 21st Nov: Kristin Hersh performing the songs of Throwing Muses - The Scala
Tuesday 22nd Nov: Kristin Hersh performing songs from Hips And Makers onwards - The Scala
Wednesday 23rd Nov: The Mountain Goats plus special guests - Bush Hall
Thursday 24th Nov: Celebration plus special guests - The Water Rats
Friday 25th Nov: Mojave 3 & Mark Kozelek performing the songs of Red House Painters - Conway Hall
Sunday 27th Nov: Blonde Redhead & Johann Johannsson - The Scala
Tickets: ticketweb
15th Sep 2005 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Song Of The Day: II
Late Night Bus by The Longcut from the single Transition. Saw these guys at the recent PSP promotathon, and they rocked... in the style of Yoga Means Union.
14th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
live wolf
THE MODULAR PARTY (OF THE YEAR)
FRIDAY 23RD SEPTEMBER 2005
@ CARGO. LIVE: WOLFMOTHER + DIBIDIM
DJS: KITSUNE DJS + BANG GANG DJS + MODULAR DJS
7-3, £8 B4 9 / £10 AFTER OR IN ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM ticketweb
13th Sep 2005 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
curb 4
it will be on More4 when it launches, but the dvd of curb your enthusiasm series 4 is out in the uk sep 26. "David offends a doctor, a lesbian couple, a wheelchair user, and Ben Stiller…"
PLUS: Season 5 starts in the US the day before...
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13th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
MMoviestars
Alongside recording a new album ('Z', which is sounding good, and a little bit 'disco') and not turning up to play in London, My Morning Jacket also found time to make a cameo appearance in Cameron Crowe's cheesy-looking new movie Elizabethtown. The good news is they play a Southern Rock band called Ruckus, and they kick out a cover of all-time chimp favourite 7+ minute driving jam Freebird.
12th Sep 2005 - Add Comment - Tweet
