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Interview: No Age
I'd have to say that No Age's LP Nouns has really been the stand out record of this year for me and in more ways than one. Its infectious energy has made it hard to resist but has also encouraged me to delve deeper into the context in which it was created, and as a result a whole new scene has opened up to me and introduced me to a wealth of new talent. It's a scene loosely centered around certain clubs in LA, but by no means exclusive. It's a scene that revolves around creativity and encompasses all forms from punk to skateboarding to art to film making.
Read our interview with No Age here.
11th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Hip With The Kids
Paul McCartney's side-project The Fireman have a third (?!) album out - and it's available online AND non-DRMed in a wide variety of formats.
Pretty audacious move for such a big name, especially considering that The Beatles are still unavailable on iTunes. Big thumbs up, Sir Paul.
11th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Terminator Salvation
Action packed trailer up for the not-too-shoddy looking Terminator Salvation, with gravel voiced Christian Bale going toe to toe with an Army of Arnie types.
11th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
THE Aaron Rose
You may have heard us mention Aaron Rose on this site, as a pioneer of the Lower East Side art scene, one-time boss of English Steve, promotor of many fine Skateboard related artists and director of the recent documentary Beautiful Losers.
Well it turns out he's now in Gossip Girl as rich chick Selena's artist squeeze. Or is he? Huffington Post has the details, via the New York Post.
10th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Notes from the Big Banana
Back from a successful mission in New York and Brooklyn, taking in New York's best steak (24 years running!), a great William Eggleston exhibition at the Whitney and a trip to Coney Island ...all topped off with an unscheduled sighting of Bret from Flight of the Conchords at Union Pool in Williamsburg. Boom!
More snaps in surveillance and on Flickr.
10th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Secret Origin Of The Muppets Hit Mah Na Mah Na
it's a cover of a 1968 Swedish porn theme apparently...
10th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
NYT Credit Munch London
the New York Times looks for credit munch food in London with Savoir Fare London
10th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Blur Back
Blur are lined up for a comeback in 09 - tickets go on sale on Friday for a gig at Hyde Park, 3 July
9th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
More Gigs, Albums & Films Of The Year
Here's the Guardian's top ten gigs of 2008 and the Times' top 100 films & 100 Albums - get yours ready, Chimps, we'll be rounding all our lists up soon...
8th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Ripley + Ridley - Alien = ?
are Sigourney Weaver and Ridley Scott really up for an Alien-less Alien 5?
6th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Skate or die: Spike Jonze
This week we celebrate the skate-related films of Spike Jonze. In his youth Jonze was more into BMXs and was a member of the Rockville BMX crew. He has been involved in the making of some of the most creative skate videos in the genre and co-owns Girl Skateboards which is where the first clip comes from. Featured on the Yea Right video this is a clever little piece of what has now become classic Jonze quirky effects. The second clip is his legendary intro to the Lakai - Fully Flared video. Apparently all the explosions are totally real.
5th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Dark Was The Night
The National's Dessner brothers have produced a new compilation titled Dark Was The Night - aimed at raising money for Aids charity the Red Hot Organization.
32 artists have recorded exclusive tracks for the album, which will be released by 4AD on February 16th. In alphabetical order:
Andrew Bird
Antony + Bryce Dessner
Arcade Fire
Beach House
Beirut
Blonde Redhead + Devastations
Bon Iver
Bon Iver & Aaron Dessner
The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens
and Serengeti)
Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
The Decemberists
Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
Kevin Drew
Feist + Ben Gibbard
Grizzly Bear
Grizzly Bear + Feist
Iron & Wine
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Kronos Quartet
Stuart Murdoch
My Brightest Diamond
My Morning Jacket
The National
The New Pornographers
Conor Oberst & Gillian Welch
Riceboy Sleeps
Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio)
Spoon
Sufjan Stevens
Yeasayer
Yo La Tengo
5th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Shopping With Kanye
Sure, Kanye West might have a new album out - but I'll leave the review to HHG. If you're looking for christmas present tips however, you could do with checking out his excellent blog. The pin art clock above is just one product he tips his hat to.
5th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
New York I Love You
Marmot and I will be leaving in a jet plane by the time you read this - off to the Big Banana for some R&R with English Steve. Tour reports will undoubtedly flow, but for now I leave you with a message from everybody's favourite frog.
Via David Emery.
4th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Best of the year....
The end of the year 'Best Ofs' are starting to trickle in, with Rough Trade beating a fairly similar track to some Chimpo favourites - but the numbers don't lie, and Last FM's chart clocks Coldplay as the favourite album and single of the year, with MGMT taking the artist top spot. Top 50s from Uncut and Mojo here
4th Dec 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Guns N' Pepper
"It turned out that Dr Pepper did not define 'everyone in America' the same way as 'everyone in America' defined 'everyone in America.'" The GNR v Dr Pepper saga continues...
4th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Blood Letting
Phillip Noyce is capitalizing on the current Pirate phenomenon, with a proposed remake of the Errol Flynn classic Captain Blood. Truly one of my favourite films. ArrrrRR!
4th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
MP3 Pounds
In case you don't read Metro as you slog to work in the morning, you may have missed the low key launch of Amazon's UK MP3 store. The big news is they have a ton of albums at £3, reportedly to get a foot in the door and compete with iTunes. Far from being the usual low-rent crap, the £3 selection includes big sellers and new albums from the likes of Take That, Girls Aloud, Coldplay and Kings of Leon - as well albums you might want to actually listen to from heavy hitters like Led Zeppelin ...although they also have the CD of some of them for £3.98.
UPDATE: That didn't take long - iTunes now have a bunch of stuff for £4, including Fleet Foxes and The Black Keys.
4th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Duplicity
more who's zooming who action with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen in corporate espionage thriller Duplicity
4th Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Relaunching The Conchords
The new Flight of the Conchords series is set to premier on HBO on January 9th, but the Ferrell/Apatow/McKay website funnyordie.com will get an exclusive heads up on the first episode, showing it for a week from December 17th. They also have a bunch of clips and stuff from the excellent first series.
3rd Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Roboguitar
It's not quite The Empire Strikes Back, but Long Blondes guitarist Dorian Cox has been working with a robot hand to hopefully enable him to start playing guitar again, after he suffered a stroke.
3rd Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trial By Fire
Tim Ferriss, life management sensei and author of the excellent 4 Hour Work Week (more on that later), has a pilot coming for a TV show - Trial By Fire. The concept takes the ethos of his book, where organising your life better (i.e. not checking your email every 2 minutes) can leave you with lots of time to learn extra curricular activities super-quick. He's starting by attempting master the ancient Samurai sport of Yabusame.
3rd Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Listen Again: Matthew Herbert
Today's Today on R4 has a chat with our favourite jazzketeer Matthew Herbert - listen again here if you weren't up at 7:41
3rd Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Let Them Chirp Awhile
more US indie romance on the way: Let Them Chirp Awhile
3rd Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Devil Uses Poladroid
Looks like reality might be emulating art, with rumours spreading that long standing US Vogue editor (and inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada movie) might be getting the boot to make way for her French counterpart. More interesting perhaps is the fact that Gawker seem to be using Poladroid to make their graphics.
2nd Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Battlestar / Caprica
The never ending stream of spin-offs and specials from the Battlestar Galactica re-boot continues, with prequel stand-alone Caprica now being developed into a full blown series. That's going to be after the next series proper wraps, as well as another prequel stand-alone The Plan, to be directed by Edward James Olmos.
P.S. Loving the Galactica propaganda posters pictured above. Available here and here.
2nd Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: Gedge In Jolly Hollywood
The Wedding Present's new Christmas EP is now available for download, and they have even gone to the trouble to film a new video for the track, with Uncle Gedge driving round his unlikely home of Hollywood.
2nd Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Two Riders Were Approaching
Just noticed they've sneaked a peek at the "two riders were approaching..." scene in the latest Watchmen trailer - possibly my all-time favourite moment in comics. Saw an extended preview of around 30 minutes of footage a few weeks ago with both Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons doing a Q&A afterwards - all looks pretty great to me: the opening sequence is a montage that sets the scene, with lots of nods to the backstory in the book and opening up the idea of an alternate 80s where Nixon is still in power; the prison break scene does have a lot of slow-then-fast-then-slow-mo, a style that might date it later, but they kept in some of the dark humour with Rorschach finding time to finish some business; and the John on Mars scene was played out beautifully, jumping across time (and space) to tell his story and show how alien the human experience has become to him after his accident. What I also liked was that Snyder said that he realised that if he didn't say yes when he was offered it, that the studio would plough on looking for another director, and be v likely to get someone who wasn't a real fan and would be happy to update it from the 1985 setting, go for all the changes they wanted etc etc. As well as the parallel pirate story Tales Of The Black Freighter that will be an animated DVD extra, they're also going to include Under The Hood - a "news documentary" interviewing the original Nite Owl they've shot as if it had been filmed in the 80s, featuring loads of footage of the Watchmen and their precursors, the Minutemen, in action in the 50s and 60s. Sounds like a set of DVD extras you'll actually want to watch, man...
2nd Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
More From The Basement
Nigel Godrich's music show From The Basement is back on Sky Arts 1 in the UK this month (and on IFC in the US in Jan), with a pretty decent Chimp-friendly line-up - including some online stuff already from Fleet Foxes, Seasick Steve and White Denim. Think Later without Jools or an audience if you haven't seen it.
Weds 3rd Dec - Gnarls Barkley, Sparks, The Kills
Weds 10th Dec - My Morning Jacket, The Fall, White Denim
Weds 17th Dec - Iggy Pop, CSS, Shortwave Set
Weds 24th Dec - Radiohead, Andrew Bird, Fleet Foxes
Weds 31st Dec - The Raconteurs, Seasick Steve, Band of Horses
Weds 7th Jan - TBC supported by Mercury Rev and Terry Callier
1st Dec 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Big Picture: Mumbai
The Big Picture has an unsurprisingly excellent set of photos up from Mumbai. Proceed with caution.
28th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Skate or die: Mike Maldonado
I've been listening to a lot of The Misfits recently so it would be wrong not to feature the "East Coast Powerhouse" Mike Maldonado in this weeks Skate Or Die. Reaching his peak with his slot in the legendary Welcome To Hell video, when signed to Toy Machine he became famous for the sheer size of his tricks. While other guys were perfecting their flips Mike would pull the gutsiest ollies over walls, trash cans and off buildings. His section, included here, is set to The Misfits' London Dungeon and has got to be one of the best sections on the film. Check his ollie onto a bench then clean over the wall at the end of it, incredible.
He's also associated with Bam Margera's CKY crew - check him out below with Bam, Mike and Kerry Getz.
28th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Bruce Lee Ping Pong
alright, it's a viral, but a pretty good one...
28th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
One Man Flash Mob
Great commentary on this crowd-shot video of a protestor raining on the Queen's parade in Oxfordshire.
28th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Chic-A-Go-Go
indie kids show from Chicago talking to TV On The Radio, Sleater Kinney and Sonic Youth "pretty soon you guys are going to have to change your name to Sonic Grownups!"
28th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Song Of The Day: Volume V
thanks to Dr Chimp for reminding us of the genius of Martha and Rufus's dad...
28th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Future Begins Here
trailer up for Battlestar Galactica's 4.5 final episodes, starting Jan 16 in the US
27th Nov 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
No Signal
Interesting run-down over at TidBits about how a mobile phone network actually works, allowing a call to a single number to find you pretty much anywhere in the world. Except the area around the second floor of my house.
27th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Shake It Like A Fuji Instax Picture
Doesn't quite have the same ring about it as "Polaroid" really, but Fujifilm and Tomy are hoping to sweep up the instant picture void with their new cameras
27th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Just One Tiny Flaw In The Pirate Masterplan
d'oh! they forgot about satellites... Captain Jack never had this problem - isn't there a secret lagoon somewhere they could have hidden it?
27th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Neil Young, Fashion Pioneer
"They missed me! The whole fashion industry totally missed what I was about!" Outtake from the recent BBC4 Neil Young night featuring the man himself on the joys of wearing check shirts. Big news for Spring 09 apparently. There's also a great clip of Thom Yorke talking about playing After The Goldrush on the piano that Young wrote it on at The Bridge School Concert in 2002.
27th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
TVcatchup is back
Apparently it's been legalled - TVCatchup is back online with live coverage of the UK's Freeview channels...
26th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
R.I.P. Richey Edwards
RIP Richey Edwards. Officially dead, 13 years later.
26th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
The WaterMill
new product that could help get rid of the bottled water madness: "Technically speaking, the WaterMill is an atmospheric water collection device that condenses water vapor and purifies it. In English: It's a home appliance that makes drinking water for your whole family - using only air."
26th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Word Could Not Fire Event...
...and sadly, I could not fire Word.
26th Nov 2008 - 3 comments - Add Comment - Tweet