Yeasayer Announce One-off Gig.

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:08:00 GMT

Following tours with MGMT and Beck, psychedelic New Yorkers Yeasayer are to play a one off gig at Club Uncut at King's College London on August 20th as a warm up up to their Reading and Leeds appearances.

Yeasayer will play Leeds Festival on 22nd August and Reading on 24th.

Don't mind me folks...I'm just popping up here as this article is so short it's fucking up our news page. But seriously, go and see these guys...they're pretty awesome. - Ed.

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zZz Get to 'Grip' With New Single

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:23:00 GMT

Dutch 'dirt rockers' (a mix, it says here, of psychedelic electro wave, garage soul and dirty rock & roll) zZz recently signed to Anti- Records and have wasted no time in getting new single 'Grip' from next Monday (July 28th).

It's the first taste of their debut album 'Running With The Beast' and already has a video which has cleaned up on awards on the continent which you can watch below.

Londoners eager to catch the band's live show should make themselves aware of the following upcoming dates.

July 2008
27 - Sexfest @ 93 Feet East
29 - White Heat @ Madame Jojo's

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The Peth Go Fucking Mental!

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:20:00 GMT

Being a Welsh supergroup fronted by actor Rhys Ifans, The Peth have been picked up by The Sun who helpfully explain to their readership how they allegedly sound by the gift of association with well-known acts with this quote:

"A ferocious collision of Oasis-style singalongs coupled with the quirky electronics of Super Furry Animals. A dose of Happy Mondays� low-slung funk completes the picture� Ifans rocks."

Stuck in Aberdeen, miles from where The Peth have played their handful of club shows and festivals, I'll just have to wait to find out if the quote does justice or, as I suspect, serious injustice to their sound. Fortunately, there's less than a month to wait as the band are releasing debut single, the conservatively-titled 'Let's Go Fucking Mental' on August 18th as a free download from their site and selected others.

This is followed by their debut album 'The Golden MIle' on September 1st.

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Look out everyone, it's the new Fratellis video:

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:55:00 GMT

The single will be released August 18th and will be available from all good record stores (real and virtual).

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Looking for somewhere to get your fix of Hollyoaks AND Taio Cruz at the same time?

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:45:00 GMT

You can catch Hollyoaks temptress Roxanne McKee in Taio's new video for 'She's Like A Star', released August 18th. Enjoy.

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Oh, that's Stryderman...

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:33:00 GMT

Another of East London's grime exports will be gracing your television screens and radio airwaves come August 4th with the release of Tinchy Stryder's new single 'Stryderman' on 4th & Broadway, an Island Records subsidiary.

The 21 year old was 'snapped up' 3 weeks before the release date and looks set to follow on from the underground success of his debut album, Star In The Hood, and reap the benefits from the surge in popularity of UK grime, albeit in a 'friendlier' form.

The video was directed by Mighty Mo and features non other than Tim Westwood; rap's real life answer to Sacha Baron Cohen. Check it out and let us know what you think.

N.B. By the look of all his trinkets, grime does pay.

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Do Deerhoof 'Offend Maggie', Yeah?

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:38:00 GMT

Arty San Francisco rockers Deerhoof have a new album out called 'Offend Maggie' through ATP on October 6th and they've unleashed a taster in the form of the first single 'Fresh Born', available to download for free.

There's a catch though. Instead of a digital MP3 featuring the band's take on the track, the download available to fans is a pdf featuing the hand-drawn sheet music. What better way to learn to love the song than learn to play it? Also, such a move represents an about-turn slap in the kisser of music technology with the band harking back to the preferred media of old.

To get your hands on the sheet music just visit http://deerhoof.cashmusic.org/. Music lessons cost extra.

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Esser Announces UK Tour, Gives Away MP3

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:12:00 GMT

New Transgressive signing Esser AKA Ben from Ladyfuzz has announced a big autumn tour taking in fourteen venues around the UK, he's also made a track 'Headlock' available to download for free which you can grab now from www.esserhq.com/freedownload or you can watch the video for it first.

If you like the sound of 'Headlock' and want to prove your support for Esser by wearing the name on your chest, you can buy a t-shirt at forthcoming gigs, online or in stores, each with its own unique bar code and catalogue number. By entering the code into a website, you can download the rest of the EP, which runs down like this...

1. 'Headlock'
2. 'Baby It's A Boring'
3. 'Headlock' (12" Version)

Always nice to see a 12" version I think, makes me yearn equally for the ubiquitous 'club mix' that would generally appear on late 80's and early 90's releases. Anyway, those tour dates I told you about earlier...

October 2008
9 - Portland, Cambridge
10 - Evol, Liverpool
11 - Music Library, Lancaster
12 - Bodega, Nottingham
13 - Night and Day, Manchester
14 - ICA, London
16 - New Slang, Kingston
18 - Lennons, Southampton
20 - Cooler, Bristol
21 - Barfly, Cardiff
22 - Central Station, Wrexham
23 - 53 Degrees, Preston
24 - King Tuts, Glasgow
25 - Faversham, Leeds

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A Heavenly Festival

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:43:00 GMT

Hard to believe, but Heavenly Records will be eighteen years old in September and, to celebrate this coming of age, the label have announced five shows over three nights on London's South Bank with some of the finest acts to ever grace their roster playing.

Things kick off on Friday 12th Setember at the Royal Festival Hall where Doves and Cherry Ghost mingle with 'Very Special Guests' that Culturedeluxe has decided must either be baggy heroes Flowered Up or, although less likely, a full glammed-up Manic Street Preachers.

Saturday sees The Magic Numbers, Beth Orton and Pete Greenwood go head to head with Edwyn Collins, The Rockingbirds and The Loose Salute while Sunday has Saint Ettienne headlining a fantastic show at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with Little Ones and Dot Allison in support with an equally fabulous line-up of Nada Surf, Jaymay and former Blow Monkey Dr Robert playing the Purcell Room.

Some highlights to watch out for are Doves showcasing material from their fourth LP with their first gig in three years, Beth Orton and Nada Surf playing classic albums in full - 'Trailer Park' and 'Let Go' respectively and reformations by The Rockingbirds and 22-20s specially for the event.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow and are available from www.southbankcentre.co.uk/.

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Psychotic Horseshit

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:54:00 GMT

Rising stars of the somewhat worryingly titled 'shitgaze' scene, Psychedelic Horseshit have hit out at their label Half Machine Records after their new record was pressed with spaces between the tracks. Matt from the band contacted the label to vent his anger about the EP of which considerably less copies will now be in the shops on Monday:

"dude, got the ep's today, what the fuck is with the spaces in between the tracks. they were strung together with care. THERE ARE GUITAR AND DRUM PARTS CHOPPED IN HALF. i am beyond pissed off. this is why bands are supposed to get test pressings. this thing is a piece of junk now, completely worthless, and all copies must be burned or otherwise destroyed. i am deadly serious about this. if this gets out i will personally make it my job to see to it that every copy is retreived and destroyed. starting at yr offices."

The label have promised that the copies they have left will be set on fire with filmed evidence put on Youtube in an artistic, albeit necessary, statement not seen since the days of The KLF.

You can read our review of this soon to be incredibly rare EP here, to be honest it wasn't the silence between tracks that we found unsettling!

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CSS Announce Autumn UK Tour

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:47:00 GMT

CSS will give fans of their new album 'Donkey' a live taste this autumn when they play nine dates around the UK in October.

Fans can buy early bird tickets from the band's website and myspace from tomorrow morning at 9am with tickets going on sale to the slower, general public on Friday, also at nine.

CDX's review of 'Donkey' is coming soon, so have a read and, if you live anywhere near these nine venues, get along and check them out!

October 2008
5 - Leadmill, Sheffield
6 - Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
7 - Waterfront, Norwich
9 - Kasbah, Coventry
10 - Academy 2, Manchester
12 - Liquid Room, Edinburgh
13 - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
14 - Thekla, Bristol
15 - Concorde, Brighton

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I Get Excited Too

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:25:00 GMT

Sometime Pop Will Eat Itself wannabies Hadouken have just announced their new mini-live album is available exclusively through I-Tunes. The full tracklisting runs as follows:

Get Smashed Gate Crash [Live]
Declaration Of War [Live]
What She Did [Live]
Bounce [Live]
Crank It Up [Live]
That Boy That Girl [Live]

So pretty much the best parts of the debut album then. Culture Deluxe hopes this is the last signs of the barrel being scraped and new material is forthcoming as although turning gradually away from the much maligned Nu-Rave genre with each release, you have to wonder if Hadouken will be Game Over before long....

DJ Skully Wins UK DMC Championship

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:36:00 GMT

DJ Skully has been crowned the 2008 UK DMC Champion at this year's event at Islington Academy and now goes on to represent the UK at the World event later this year.

Seeing off stiff competition from JFB and Switch who finished second and third respectively, Skully made it a hat-trick of victories in the competition and now has his sights set on going one better in the World championship where he has finished second twice.

An understandably happy Skully said, "It's an unbelievable feeling to represent the United Kingdom in the DMC's again. I am really excited and cannot wait to compete against the best DJ's from across the world in September.''

The event takes place at IndigO2 on 26th and 27th September and for more information head over to www.dmcworld.com.

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Gorillaz Head West

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 21:18:00 GMT

Following the news that Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn are planning a new project entitled 'Carousel', their soundtrack album to 'Journey to the West' by Monkey will be released this summer.

Albarn is joined on the release by musicians from Europe and China to soundtrack the tales of Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy based on ancient Chinese texts and sung in the native Mandarin language.

The show itself premiered in Manchester last year and opens at the Royal Opera House in London tomorrow night - all memories of the slightly camp 70's series should be left at the door.

The full tracklisting is:

Monkey - 'Journey to the West'
1. 'Monkey�s World'
2. 'Monkey Travels'
3. 'Into the Eastern Sea'
4. 'The Living Sea'
5. 'The Dragon King'
6. 'Iron Rod'
7. 'Out of the Eastern Sea'
8. 'Heavenly Peach Banquet'
9. 'Battle in Heaven'
10. 'O Mi To Fu'
11. 'Whisper'
12. 'Tripitaka�s Curse'
13. 'Confessions of a Pig'
14. 'Sandy the River Demon'
15. 'March of the Volunteers'
16. 'The White Skeleton Demon'
17. 'Monk�s Song'
18. 'I love Buddha'
19. 'March of the Iron Army'
20. 'Pigsy in Space'
21. 'Monkey Bee'
22. 'Disappearing Volcano'

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The Indie Top 20 - 20th July 2008

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:42:00 GMT

It's been bloody ages since I counted down the Indie Top 20 on these pages and I apologise for that as Marlon Brando would say. But, sitting here listening to 'Muscle Milk' by the irrepressable Gay Against You, I suddenly felt the need to get back to the indie. This week the Top 20 features some genuine quality, some absolute dross and, sadly, no sign of the excellent Mumford & Sons who stumbled in at 22. Tsk.

UK Indie Top 20 Single - 20th July 2008
1. (1) Dizzee Rascal - 'Dance Wiv Me' (Dirtee Skank)
2. (2) Last Shadow Puppets - 'Standing Next To Me' (Domino)
3. (--) The Whip - 'Blackout' (Southern Fried)
4. (--) Albert Hammond Jr - 'GFC' (Rough Trade)
5. (9) Ebony Dusters - 'Ra' (Ebony Dubs)
6. (5) Kitty Daisy & Lewis - 'Going Up The Country' (Sunday Best)
7. (10) Sub Focus - 'Timewarp / Join the Dots' (Ram)
8. (--) Mr Scruff - 'Kalimba' (Ninja Tune)
9. (--) Strange Death of Liberal England - 'Angelou' (Fantastic Plastic)
10. (7) Last Shadow Puppets - 'The Age of the Understatement' (Domino)
11. (18) Various - 'Mastercuts - Breaks' (Apace)
12. (3) Pint Shot Riot - 'Start Digging' (Life in the Big City)
13. (16) Pigeon Detectives - 'This is an Emergency' (Dance to the Radio)
14. (14) Tricky - 'Council Estate' (Domino)
15. (15) Audio Bullys - 'Gimme that Punk' (Vizo)
16. (17) Baron - 'Turn Up the Sun' (Breakbeat Kaos)
17. (6) White Denim - 'All You Really Have To Do' (Full Time Hobby)
18. (--) Nic Fanciulli & Zoo Brazil - 'Ide' (Renaissance)
19. (12) Arctic Monkeys - 'Brianstorm' (Domino)
20. (4) Laura - 'Today's Another Day' (Big Print)

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Mercury Music Prize Nominees Announced

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:40:00 GMT

The twelve finalists in the race for the Mercury Music Prize have been announced and, as always, it's something of a mixed bag. Radiohead are nominated, as expected, for the groundbreaking (in distribution terms at least) 'In Rainbows' but there are surprise omissions for this year's biggest selling albums from Duffy and Coldplay.

Elsewhere there is a deserved nomination for the multi-coloured swap shop that is Neon Neon's 'Stainless Style' giving Gruff Rhys his first nomination since 'Rings Around The World' in 2001 for Super Furry Animals. Congratulations must also go out to Elbow whose 'The Seldom Seen Kid' was awarded top marks by Culturedeluxe earlier this year and the ever-improving British Sea Power who score a surprise nomination for 'Do You Like Rock Music?'

Alex Turner makes it three years in a row at the ceremony with a rather generous nomination for the so-so self-titled Last Shadow Puppets album while the hype surrounding Adele continues as '19' gains a surely unwarranted nod.

Two outsiders to get your money on quickly are dubstep guru Burial whose 'Untrue' album has proved a massive underground success this year and Laura Marling, possibly the UK's brightest female hope with her debut album 'Alas I Cannot Swim'.

The full list of nominees:

Adele - '19' 8/1
British Sea Power - 'Do You Like Rock Music?' 8/1
Burial - 'Untrue' 6/1
Elbow - 'The Seldom Seen Kid' 8/1
Estelle - 'Shine' 8/1
The Last Shadow Puppets - 'The Age Of The Understatement' 5/1
Laura Marling - 'Alas I Cannot Swim' 8/1
Neon Neon - 'Stainless Style' 10/1
Robert Plant And Alison Krauss � 'Raising Sand' 6/1
Portico Quartet - 'Knee-Deep In The North Sea' 10/1
Radiohead - 'In Rainbows' 5/1
Rachel Unthank And The Winterset � 'The Bairns' 10/1

The prize will be awarded to one of the acts at a ceremony in London on September 9th.

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Go! Team Give It All Away

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:46:00 GMT

The Go! Team are having a huge digital clearout and are making a number of tasty items available for free to their fans.

Mailing list members will, no doubt, already have received details and will have logged in to the special area on their website - http://www.thegoteam.co.uk/freestuff/ - but those of us who haven't can register there now for some of the following...

* - A brand new recording of current single 'Milk Crisis'
* - a full download of their debut EP 'Get It Together'
* - Remix parts for both 'Ladyflash' and 'Flashlight Fight'.

Which is surely more than enough to be getting on with. The band promise to add new stuff to the site as time moves on.

The band have three UK dates next month at the Belsonic Festival in Belfast on the 15th, the Surfstock Festival in Newquay on 30th and the Jersey Live Festival in Trinity, Jersey on 31st.

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Clinic Unleash New Video For 'Tomorrow'

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:57:00 GMT

Clinic will release 'Tomorrow' from their acclaimed latest album 'Do It!' in the vey near future and you can check out the video for this track right now.

It's directed by that maverick master of the pop promo WIZ (who you may remember from his fifteen minute epic clip for Flowered Up's 'Weekender' back in 1992) and it's well arty!

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Lydon Brands Attack Claims As 'Jealousy'

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:39:00 GMT

Clearly feeling the need to have his say regarding the allegations that have been aimed his way all day, John Lydon has reacted to claims he racially abused singer Kele Okereke before his entourage assaulted him in Spain this weekend.

In an issued statement, Lydon referred to himself in the third person and denounced Okereke's claims as 'jealousy' and 'publicity seeking'.

"I feel very sorry for a man who needs to lie about what was a perfect evening. After the show John Rotten and management remained behind to sign autographs, which we did for four solid hours without incident and had a great time talking to other Spanish bands. This seems to have sparked jealousy in certain bands."

"The trouble was brought to us, resulting in those causing the trouble being physically removed by festival security."

"We are in the middle of a wonderful tour, after 30 years we are achieving a true unity in our audience. They are multi-varied, all ages, all races, creeds and colours."

"When you are at a festival with bands who are jealous fools, lies and confusion usually follow. If they need publicity so badly this is the allegation universe they run into."

"Grow up and learn to be a true man. When you have achieved as much as I have, come back and talk to me. It's a shame that the wonderful world of the media is riddled with nonsense like this."

With Bloc Party allegedly having Foals, Kaiser Chiefs, Neon Neon and Har Mar Superstar among others as eye witnesses, Lydon may need to call on those 'other Spanish bands' to come forward as the incident has been reported to both Spanish and English police.

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Q&A with Underground Heroes

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:01:00 GMT

Dubbed by the NME as �The Ordinary Boys Gargling Glass� or �The Jam if they'd read the Razzle instead of books on politics", Underground Heroes are currently the most talked about thing to come out of Chatham in Kent since the word �Chav�. They are brothers Aaron(19) and Joe Dollimore(17), George Penfold(21) and Jak Miller(19).

Ha you're from Chatham which I guess makes you Chavs by default! Is Chatham really that bad?

Some places are but it�s like anywhere, it has its good and bad places. It does have a bad rep though. But no, we�re not chavs- well maybe half and half!

You're MySpace site states that you are Influenced by The Specials, The Jam and The Clash, are the sound of booze-sodden, crap fag smoking, cheap drug taking, concrete Britain and are lyrically inspired by the day to day life you know - the fights, night life, friends, birds - and the identikit town you live in. So what do you think differentiates your band from say The Enemy or Hard Fi and do you think with the news constantly reporting youth crime the credit crunch and other "real life" issues that people are now looking for escapism from their music and not particularly wanting to be reminded of everyday life?

Yeah I think people use music to escape from anything and I think with the increase in crime, you don�t want to be reminded about things like that but it�s kinda impossible so of course it affects you- it�s the places we live. You just can�t help but be influenced by things like that. But we are different to those bands, we�re just different people. We have a new sound that no other band has. We believe in what we�re saying rather than doing it just to sound good.

You've released two independent releases, is it important to you to have that DIY ethic?

Yeah we really like the DIY ethic that we have. George understands and is involved with all of that. At the moment, obviously we�re unsigned so pretty much everything is done ourselves and we�re vinyl junkies so when we do put stuff out, it�s usually on limited vinyl so that�s really cool. But I guess help along the way is never a bad thing!

Although the band formed in 2005 you are all still young lads and things seem to be picking up the pace this year, are you worried that things might start getting a bit over hyped?

Nah we don�t worry too much about things like that. We get a bit of hype from when we play in that our fans go and tell our people to listen to us or come see us play but we don�t have much press hype. So I guess we just have to play gigs all the time! It�s kinda all flowing now. It started from our support slots with Kasabian at the beginning of the year which helped and Ibiza Rocks which is on the TV on Ibiza on Living- more is gonna kick off with that now.

You've shared stages with the likes of The View, Kasabian, The Cribs, The Holloways, Kate Nash and Lily Allen, as well as playing Glastonbury. What's been your favourite gig?

We were chatting about this the other day actually, we�ve all got different ones. Mine was at Stoke Sugarmill on 5th December as it was my 20th and it was completely sold out and packed. But our favourite places to play are Southampton Joiners, anywhere in Scotland and our home town so not necessarily just with big gigs!

You are playing the Underage Festival in August do you think opening gigs to all ages is a good thing?

Definitely, we love playing underage shows. Like Stoke and Southampton are usually 14 or 16 plus and I love it. I think when you get older and go to gigs, you kinda worry what people think of you or what you look like but when you�re younger, you just go mental and don�t care. It�s also nice when no-ones completely pissed up coz they can�t get served- you know they really are just going mental! So yeah underage gigs are more energetic and usually more packed for us.

Your official website is built around a forum, how important is it for you to get your fans feedback on issues like what you are do to release etc?

We love getting feedback from our fans. All our fans talk a lot amongst themselves and swap demos and things, they go to gigs and suggest other bands etc. We have a massive online following and it shows us that we�re doing alright and people are still listening. You know one person can keep pushing our play counted up but we know that that�s not the case through fan�s comments.

How was the whole Ibiza Rocks TV experience?

It was really fun- a massive opportunity to do things together we wouldn�t usually do like going quadbiking and parasailing and then getting filmed for it. At first though we thought the crew would get in the way but all the crew were really nice. It got us more exposure and any publicity�..

How's the debut LP shaping up?

Quite well. We�ve got some tracks decided on but we�re not sure whether to go and do one massive recording session again or work on the ones we have. But we�re all so into it and really excited for when it comes out. We just want to be proud of it and for it to be something that we want to listen to ourselves. Honestly though, we were hoping it would be out by now but loadsa things get in the way and we have been away a lot but hopefully it will be out in the next 6 months or so.

You can watch the band in action on Ibiza, Living TV Thursdays at 10pm LivingTV.

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Pete Doherty Burgled

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:01:00 GMT

According to The Sun, Pete Doherty's Wiltshire home was broken into at the weekend while the star was performing with Babyshambles in Madrid. Thieves stole a guitar worth an alleged �1000 and three of his 'blood paintings'.

Doherty is no stranger to burglary having famously burgled former Libertines bandmate Carl Barat's flat himself in 2003, a crime for which he served a two month jail sentence.

Rumours that it was Amy Winehouse who broke into Doherty's house are fanciful nonsense, but nevertheless amusing.

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Never Mind The Bigots - Kele Bloc Party Attacked By John Lydon

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:50:00 GMT

In a startling incident which started the day as a reported scuffle between Foals frontman Yannis Philippakis and Sex Pistol John Lydon at Barcelona's Summercase Festival, it now turns out that Yannis was, in fact, coming to the aid of Bloc Party lead singer Kele Okereke - the subject of attack by Lydon and members of his entourage.

According to Okereke, he approached Lydon backstage at the festival, declared himself a fan of Public Image Ltd and asked if Lydon would be reforming that particular act any time soon. Lydon responsed angrily claiming Okereke had a "black attitude" before his crew punched and kicked the Bloc Party front man.

At this point Philippakis and Kaiser Chief Ricky Wilson tried to come to Kele's aid before security broke up the fight. Okereke was left with various cuts and bruises and visibly shaken as a result. He has since made a statement:

"It's not an issue of the physical assault, even though it was an unprovoked attack. It is the fact that race was brought into the matter so readily. Someone as respected and as intelligent as Lydon should know better than to bring race into the equation, or socialise with and encourage those who hold such narrow-minded attitudes. I am disappointed that someone I held with such high regard turns out to be such a bigot."

Culturedeluxe joins those condemning the has-been rocker, for years a shadow of his former self who hasn't done anything of note since 1993's 'Open Up' collaboration with Leftfield. Now that it turns out he's a bigot too, well, ever had the feeling you've been cheated?

Love and wishes for a speedy recovery go out to Kele Okereke.

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Momus Returns With New Album

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:24:00 GMT

Momus returns to our stereos for the first time since 2006's 'Ocky Milk' album later this year with a new collection with three working titles - 'Mr Proctor', 'Cig Jam' or 'Joemus'.

He will also play two UK shows next week, one in Newcastle with an 'Evening with Momus' theme and one in Glasgow previewing the new material.

Writing on his Click Opera blog, Momus (real name Nick Currie) wrote:

"Getting ready for next week's shows in Berlin, Newcastle and Glasgow, I've been programming some new backing tracks for old songs. Some of them I've never performed before live. The retro format started when Craig Wilson, who's organised the Newcastle show, asked me to make quite a long, intimate, cabaret-ish show, something like 'An Evening with Momus'. So I decided to do a song from each of my eighteen (soon to be nineteen) studio albums. The Berlin warm-up will feature the same set, but will be 'An Auction with Momus and Michael Portnoy', with Michael haggling my prices down between the songs, dressed as a fish auctioneer. The Glasgow show will concentrate on the future, featuring a live collaboration with Joe Howe, who's working with me on 'Mr Proctor' or 'Cig Jam' or 'Joemus' or whatever we end up calling the new one."

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Gorillaz Duo Announce Next Project

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 08:14:00 GMT

Not content with their success with Gorillaz and last year's mandarin china meets 70's western pop culture opera version of 'Monkey : Journey to the West', Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn are to collaborate yet again on a new film / stage project known as 'Carousel'.

However, any of you expecting Albarn to lead the audience in a sing-a-long of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' will be disappointed as this has nothing to do with the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

Speaking to The Observer, Hewlett said, "It's even bigger and more difficult than 'Monkey'. I've done a lot of visuals and Damon's done a lot of music but we haven�t figured out how they�re going to fit together."

"It's sort of like a film but not with one narrative story. There's many stories, told around a bigger story, set to music, and done in live action, animation, all different styles."

"Originally it was a film but now we think it's a film and it's a stage thing as well. Damon's written around 70 songs for it, and I've got great plans for the visuals."

Seventy songs?! Wow, looks like you'll need at least two bags of popcorn then.

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Richie Deluxe's Singles Chart Hell

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:12:00 GMT

Dizzee Rascal made it three weeks at number one with 'Dance Wiv Me' today holding off McFly whose three CD single (buy them all...please!) set for 'One For The Radio' failed to take them to the top of the charts - no doubt due, ironically, to gaining little radio play.

Also challenging for the top spot is the Lynyrd Skynyrd meets Nickelback sound of Kid Rock's atrocious 'All Summer Long'. A title which should strike fear into the heart of any music fan as there's every chance the song may emulate Bryan Adams, hit number one and remain there for exactly that length of time.

Having written off The Ting Tings' chance of scoring another top ten hit, I'm glad to announce their arrival at number nine. Meanwhile indie hopefuls Noah and the Whale crash in at number 24 with '5 Year's Time'

It's bad news for Primal Scream, however, as their much-maligned new single 'Can't Go Back' limps in at number 48 while Annie stumbles in at 54 with 'I Know Ur Girlfriend Hates Me'.

Top 10 Singles
1. Dizzee Rascal Feat. Calvin Harris & Chrome - 'Dance Wiv Me'
2. McFly - 'One For The Radio'
3. Kid Rock - 'All Summer Long'
4. Basshunter - 'All I Ever Wanted'
5. Jordin Sparks feat. Chris Brown - 'No Air'
6. Ne-Yo - 'Closer'
7. Madonna - 'Give It 2 Me'
8. Ironik - 'Stay With Me'
9. The Ting Tings - 'Shut Up And Let Me Go'
10. Chris Brown - 'Forever'

Five Less Popular All Summer Long Number One Singles
1. Bryan Adams - '(Everything I Do) I Do It For You'
2. Rihanna - 'Umbrella'
3. Black Lace - 'Agadoo'
4. Whigfield - 'Saturday Night'
5. The sound of nails being scratched down a blackboard

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Reverend / Arctics Crossbreeds Post Songs Online

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:25:00 GMT

The aptly-named new group Mongrel is a literal cross-breed of Jon McClure and Joe Moskow from Reverend and the Makers, Arctic Monkeys past and present Andy Nicholson and Matt Helders, Babyshambles' Drew McConnell, rapper Low-Key and former Sabre of Paradise and Aloof man Jagz Kooner. In a world of side projects and supergroups this looks to be one of the most exciting for some time, particularly since they list their influences as being Public Enemy and Crass.

The band have added four new songs to their MySpace page - 'The Menace', 'Lies', 'Better than Julian' and 'Heavy' - each with a Gorillaz-esque hip hop-meets-indie knowingly danceworthy groove. First track 'The Menace' could be a future single with a political message that addresses the problem of religious fundamentalism while 'Lies' refers to those of politicians and spin doctors. 'Better Than Heavy' is an Adrian Sherwood-produced, humongous dub sidestep which, indeed, 'heavy' doesn't quite sum up. The percussion-heavy 'Julian' (Casablancas? Cope? Julian from the Famous Five?) rounds off the foursome in trippy style.

The band debut their material live at Beirut's BIG BANG festival next month before three dates in October in Dublin, Sheffield and London and will release material at some time in the future on the Wall of Sound label.

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Feist Appears On Sesame Street

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:33:00 GMT

Well, I heard it was coming and, frankly, I didn't even know they still made Sesame Street but Feist's recent appearance to sing a new, educational version of her iPod-assisted hit single '1234' is the best Muppet-related thing I've seen since Leo Sayer stuck half way up a tree singing 'When I Need You' to a group of forest creatures desperate to cut him down.

So here's Feist...

Oh, go on then, here's Leo...

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2008's Time for the Guru

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Hey may have had a rather strange spiky mullet, an ill-advised, thin moustache and horrendous taste in jumpers, but Guru Josh was responsible for one of 1990's biggest dancefloor hits with 'Infinity (1990's Time for the Guru)'. Those of a certain age will, no doubt, remember its sunkist swirling symphonic synths and, of course, that iconic saxophone line.

Just like Utah Saints and, er, Snap! in recent times, it looks as though Guru Josh (or the Guru Josh Project as he now calls himself) may be about to score a hit with a new version of an old classic. Already highly popular in Germany (since Tiesto of all people has been hammering it) and with a growing underground following in the UK, this could be a huge hit if coupled with a typically sexist Ministry of Sound style video...

By the way, if anyone has the radio edit (not speedball) of 'Whose Law (Is It Anyway?)', his follow up single, then please get in touch!

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The Reverend Strikes Back Against 'Indie Rich'

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:28:00 GMT

With today's news that Luke Pritchard has criticised The Pigeon Detectives and others for 'diluting the indie scene' while remaining incredibly un-rock 'n' roll and a fully paid up member of the 'indie rich', Reverend and the Makers' Jon McClure has hit out at the Pritchard set.

Reported on teletext today, McClure has accused British music of being dominated by "middle class rich kids".

He said, "Against my better judgement, I was taken to a private members' club in London last week."

He added: "I spotted Faris Rotter, a Klaxon and Peaches Geldof there. It was �12.50 a drink, I left immediately. That's British music for you - full of rich kids spending daddy's trust fund."

I smell a class war brewing, check next week's copy of the NME for more details

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Brian Jonestown - No Massacre To Report

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:05:00 GMT

Perhaps too quick to quash 'rumours' about an altercation between band members at London's Forum on Wednesday night before they even enjoyed any real publicity, the Brian Jonestown Massacre have issued the following statement:

With regards to the incident that took place on Wednesday night 16th July 2008 at the Forum in London, the facts are to the story are:

1) There was no knife or knives involved in any shape or form in this incident

2) The cuts to Frankie Emerson were caused by some glass splinters

3) Frankie Emerson injuries were superficial to his arm & stomach, he was treated at the Royal Free Hospital in London .

4) These injuries were caused by horseplay by the band in their own changing room after the gig.

5) Anton Newcombe was questioned at Kentish Police Station to help the police with their enquiries & was released with no charge or caution .

6) Frankie Emerson did not press any charges on Anton Newcombe .

7) Any comments by anyone within or outside the media to the contrary are completely false .

8) The band will continue with their successful European tour

Well, if there was any band you'd believe it of it's them (even though I'm still not quite sure what has been claimed elsewhere in the media). But nothing happened., so there you go.

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