Dancing About Architecture 01.24.06

Posted by Ian Wright on 01.24.2006

Axl speaks, the Flaming Lips, Bell X1, The Thrills and SXSW.

The bit at the start

Oh Christ I'm wrecked. Three 3AM bedtimes with 9 AM wakeups to follow are not a good idea, I can't be this old and tired at 25.

This week's column is gonna be short, badly researched and proofread in only the loosest sense of the term. Maybe I'll get some sleep this week and it'll be better next week. Or maybe I'll die of exhaustion.

Either would be good.

Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album

Waiting Room – Catering For Headphones.



This is what happens when Slint meets folk. Great stuff.

Experience the workings of other people's minds.

So sleepy.

You news, you lose

Can you feel my excitement? Perhaps if I stood a little closer.

With rumours that new albums by Arcade Fire and Radiohead will be released in 2006 this year could be a truly great one for music, but those records only "might" see the light of day in the coming months, one album which should make the world a slightly better place that will definitely come out soon however it the Flaming Lips' "At War With The Mystics" which is being released in early April. The tracklisting was announced this week and it looks like this:

01 The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
02 Free Radicals
03 The Sound of Failure/It's Dark...Is It Always This Dark??
04 My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion
05 Vein of Stars
06 The Wizard Turns On...
07 It Overtakes Me/The Stars Are So Big, I Am So Small...Do I Stand a Chance?
08 Mr. Ambulance Driver
09 Haven't Got a Clue
10 The W.A.N.D.
11 Pompeii Am Gotterdammerung
12 Goin' On

If you're in London I highly recommend this.

So Bell X1 are probably my all time favourite Irish band, they're pretty big here but haven't made much of an impression beyond there shores but their latest album, Flock, is being released in the UK at the end of March and they're doing a full UK tour then.

However they're playing a gig at the Bush Hall this Thursday (the 26th), tickets are only £1 and the proceeds go to the Carbon Neutral Company. Tickets are available from bellx1.com. You should go.

Berry you bastard.

More names were added to the South by Southwest lineup last week and includes the following:

Adult.,Aloha, Animal Collective, the Apples in Stereo, Arab Strap, Art Brut, the Avalanches, Belong, Black Dice, Black Heart Procession, Brakes, Brazilian Girls, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Buck 65, Chin Up Chin Up, Clem Snide, the Concretes, Cut Copy, Dirty Projectors, DMBQ, Dosh, Earlimart, Echo & The Bunnymen, Editors, Goblin Cock, Gogol Bordello, Goldfrapp, the Gossip, the Go! Team, Great Lake Swimmers, the Hidden Cameras, His Name Is Alive, I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness, Islands, the Juan Maclean, Damien Jurado, k-os, Ladytron, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, the Magic Numbers, Magnolia Electric Company, Mates of State, Mazarin, the Minus 5, Minus the Bear, Mogwai, the New Pornographers, Of Montreal, OK GO, Beth Orton, Oxford Collapse, Peaches, Ariel Pink, Pit er Pat, Robert Pollard, Josh Ritter, the Secret Machines, Serena Maneesh, the Spinto Band, Test Icicles, Thunderbirds Are Now!, John Vanderslice, We Are Scientists, Whitehouse, WHY?, Wooden Wand, Xiu Xiu

Holy shit, that list it too big for me to even consider commenting on. There is some great stuff there though.

There was a time when it looked like free elections in China were more likely.

It seems Slash was right when he said that Chinese Democracy would be released this year as Axl Rose told Rolling Stone last week that the follow up to the Use Your Illusion albums was nearing completion.

"People will hear music this year," he said. "I'm trying to do something different. Some of the arrangements are kind of like Queen. Some people are going to say, 'It doesn't sound like Axl Rose, it doesn't sound like Guns n' Roses.' But you'll like at least a few songs on there." "We're working on 32 songs, and 26 are nearly done."

13 of the songs will appear on the final version of the album Rose named 'Better', 'There Was A Time' and 'The Blues' as the strongest songs recorded.

Rose did however nix the possibility of a reunion of the classic G n' R lineup saying "I haven't spoken to Slash in ten years. I love the guy, I always wanted everyone to know how great he was, but.... I was just talking to Izzy (Stradlin) the other day though," but he did say the current group could hit the road this summer.

"Every time there's a big festival announced, we get rumoured to be on there," he said. "But we'll see what happens."

It was inevitable but dear God why did it have to happen so soon?

The Thrill's first single was pretty good. They then went on to ruin it by re-recording the same song more than 20 times over the course of 2 albums. And chances are the next album, which they are currently finishing, isn't going to be a Kid A style jump in sound.

Posting on the band's official website singer Conor Deasy wheezed (yes, he even wheezes when he types), "We will return to our rural retreat in a few weeks to give the songs a final polish and tie up any loose ends. In the intervening weeks I'll continue writing and hopefully have a couple of new songs ready to throw on the heap."

He added that Tony Hoffer, who produced their 2003 debut 'So Much For The City' is working on the new album, "We used to think that for a band to progress, you couldn't use the same producer again. In hindsight that was a bad case of tunnel vision and group think. Tony is a great producer and a lovely guy. I believe we can make a really exciting record together without repeating ourselves."

I really don't see where the comparisons between the Beach Boys and The Thrills come from, the biggest part of the Beach Boys' music for me was the amazing vocal harmonies they had; the Thrills have one singer, and he can't sing for shit.

If you can you should go to these gigs.

Morrissey

04-18 Salford, England - Lowry
04-19 Llandudno, Wales - North Wales Theatre
04-20 Leeds, England - Town Hall
04-22 Aberdeen, Scotland - Music Hall
04-23 Stirling, Scotland - Albert Halls
04-25 Dundee, Scotland - Caird Hall
04-26 Greenock, Scotland - Town Hall
04-27 Glasgow, Scotland - Academy
04-29 Whitehaven, England - Civic
04-30 Gateshead, England - Sage
05-03 Sheffield, England - City Hall
05-04 Grimsby, England - Auditorium
05-06 Manchester, England - Apollo
05-07 Manchester, England - Opera House
05-08 Manchester, England - Bridgewater Hall
05-10 Halifax, England - Victoria Hall
05-11 Blackburn, England - King Georges Hall
05-12 Liverpool, England - Philharmonic
05-14 London, England - Palladium
05-15 Cardiff, Wales - St David's Hall
05-17 Reading, England - Hexagon
05-19 Portsmouth, England - Guildhall
05-20 Birmingham, England - Symphony Hall
05-21 London, England - Palladium
05-23 Truro, England - Hall For Cornwall
05-24 Cheltenham, England - Town Hall
05-25 Oxford, England - New Theatre
05-27 Kings Lynn - Corn Exchange
05-28 London, England - Palladium

Writing under the influence

Without which this column would not have been possible:

Tom Dunne's Pet Sounds on Today FM, Monday to Thursday, 19:00 – 22:00 GMT
The Decemberists – Picaresque
Rogue Wave – Descended like vultures

The bit at the end

Sorry for the poor effort this week, I'm so tired it's unbelievable. One of the reasons for the late nights was the fact that my band played our first ever gig last night. Words can't describe how good it felt, regardless of what the crowd thought of us (and we went over pretty well, but we were playing to our friends and families in the main so they had to be supportive, the big question is now that they've fulfilled their duty to see us once how many keep coming) it was a lifetimes ambition fulfilled to get to play. It's the most amazing feeling and I've been buzzing from it ever since.

Have a good week folks, for once I actually mean it.