Dancing About Architecture 03.07.06
Posted by Ian Wright on 03.07.2006
The only thing old punks love is publicity, TV On The Radio, New Springsteen, Cohen is broke and a touching confession from The Vines.
The bit at the start
Hello, there wasn't a column last week, maybe you noticed, maybe you didn't; maybe you didn't care, maybe you were so distraught by the lack of my snide comments about Franz Ferdinand or whatever it is I'm expected to do here that you jumped off a bridge. If you did that then you're dead, and probably not reading this as a result.
Me? I was away in England last week stalking following The Wrens on their tour of the UK. The 3 gigs I went too were wonderful, the rest of the trip was something of a drag. Only having hotel staff to talk to during the day got old pretty quickly and British train fares are ridiculously expensive. Security there has really been stepped up since the last time I was over last May too, I got to see some girl backpacker be descended upon by about 8 bobbies in a tube station when one of their dogs went nuts at her, so that was nice.
What was also nice was the fact that I got to go up on stage to play percussion with the band each night I saw them, I got a wee bit carried away the first night and wound up breaking a drumstick and fucking up my hand, for some reason not getting up the next night to prevent further damage didn't seem like a smart option but just remember the pain I'm going through to ensure that I don't miss 2 weeks in a row.
Too many have died already.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album
The Wrens – Secaucus.
Good luck finding it, but it is incredible.
Experience the workings of other people's minds.
Read everyone.
You news, you lose
Punks gob on hall of fame.
The Sex Pistols announced last week they will be boycotting the ceremony marking their inauguration into the Rock n' Roll Hall Of Fame next Monday. It was announced last November that the pistols would be inaugurated along with Blondie, Miles Davis (a genius and a legend yes, but Rock n' Roll?), Black Sabbath and Lynard Skynyrd (do hecklers shout "Freebird" at their gigs).
The following message appeared on the band's official site last month where they addressed the issue (the whole thing should probably be surrounded by the biggest "(sic)" in the history of writing):
"Next to the SEX-PISTOLS rock and roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain. Your museum. Urine in wine. Were not coming. Were not your monkey and so what? Fame at $25,000 if we paid for a table, or $15000 to squeak up in the gallery, goes to a non-profit organisation selling us a load of old famous. Congradulations. If you voted for us, hope you noted your reasons. Your anonymous as judges, but your still music industry people. Were not coming. Your not paying attention. Outside the shit-stem is a real SEX PISTOL"
What I always find funny about punks, especially ones that were around from the start is that they go on about being so anti-establishment but they see absolutely nothing wrong with using the media to get themselves as much publicity as possible, and not just when they've got something to promote, they just do it to be talked about, it's like Paris Hilton but with cheaper cloths. If they genuinely didn't care about the ceremony they could have just not gone and said nothing about it, what's with all the comedy venom?
Altogether now, in one unified whiney voice; "You Sold Out, You Sold Out".
TV On The Radio (whose last album was #2 on my 2004 end of year list) are to leave Touch And Go Records and have signed to Interscope records. Although the details are sketchy right now the bands forthcoming second album (which leaked online a couple of weeks ago) will be released on the Universal Music imprint in the States but the band remain signed to 4AD internationally, so if you're a complete douchbag you can buy the album on import and crow about not feeding the machine (or get it from indietorrents/oink, whatever; I'm not bothered, you're a jackass).
No release date has been announced yet but going by the leaked version the tracklisting will look a little bit like this:
01 Playhouses
02 I Was a Lover
03 Province
04 Snakes and Martyrs
05 Wolf Like Me
06 Tonight
07 Dirty Whirlwind
08 A Method
09 Let the Devil In
10 Blues From Down Here
11 Wash the Day Away
Baby we were born to strum wistfully.
Last year's "Devils And Dust" saw Bruce Springsteen return to the acoustic territory that he first explored on the seminal "Nebraska" album and he'll follow it up next month with his 21st studio album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, an album comprised entirely of songs associated with folk legend Pete Seeger.
Speaking about his reasons for making this album Springsteen said, "So much of my writing, particularly when I write acoustically, comes straight out of the folk tradition. Making this album was creatively liberating because I have a love of all those different roots sounds... they can conjure up a world with just a few notes and a few words."
The album will be released with a DVD containing extensive footage of the recording of the album and The Boss will be embarking on a short tour to promote the record in Europe and the US next month.
Tracklisting:
'Old Dan Tucker'
'Jessie James'
'Mrs McGrath'
'Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep'
'John Henry'
'Erie Canal'
'Jacob's Ladder'
'My Oklahoma Home'
'Eyes On The Prize'
'Shenandoah'
'Pay Me My Money Down'
'We Shall Overcome'
'Froggie Went A-Courtin'
'Buffalo Gals'
'How Can I Keep From Singing'
Does this mean he'll have to go on tour?
Leonard Cohen is "unlikely" to recover the $9.5million that a LA Superior Court judge ruled was stolen from him by his former manager Kelley Lynch.
Cohen fired Lynch in 2004 after a 17 year long business relationship and in addition to all the cash Lynch ran off with memorabilia and photographs belonging to the singer (Cohen is believed to have said that the money was one thing, but the it's photo's from the trip they took to Mount Rushmore that Lynch has are what he really wants) and after 40 years of being one of the world's best songwriters Cohen has been left with $150,000 to show for it.
Scott Edelman, Cohen's lawyer, said of Lynch "She's hard to get in touch with...we don't know what she's done with the money.""
They got a new album out, so here comes a touching personal revelation.
On the eve of the release of their third album Vines frontman Craig Nicholls broke his silence about his diagnosis with Aspergers Syndrome in an interview with the Observer newspaper in Britain.
"I think it's a mild case that I have," he said. "I remember when I was 15, I spoke to a couple of psychologists. But I don't think they diagnosed me with anything. So. Maybe it grew. Maybe it became more intense when I started in the band. But I'm not really sure."
The current plan is for The Vines to be a mainly studio based project and he said, "I feel comfortable writing songs. It's a good outlet for me. Seeing as though I'm not that social, it's a way to communicate," but he did say that there is a good chance that the band will play some lives dates this year.
Mental illness is a serious matter of course, however, and you can call me childish if you want, but I'm sorry, I have to giggle when someone has a disease that is pronounced "Ass Burger".
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Sigur Ros
3-27 Manchester, England - Manchester Apollo
3-28 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
3-29 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo
4-02 Nagoya, Japan - Zepp
4-03 Osaka, Japan - Namba Hatch
4-04 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya-Ax
4-05 Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya-Ax
4-07 Hong Kong, Hong Kong - Hitec
4-09 Perth, Australia - Perth Concert Hall
4-11 Melbourne, Australia - The Palais
4-12 Sydney, Australia - The Enmore
4-13 Byron Bay, Australia - East Coast Blues & Roots Festival *
4-15 Brisbane, Australia - The Tivoli
4-17 Auckland, New Zealand - St. James
4-29 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella) %
5-01 San Rafael, CA - Marin Center
5-03 Seattle, WA - Benaroya Hall
5-04 Portland, OR - Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
5-05 Boise, ID - Big Easy Concert House
5-08 Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theatre
5-09 Chicago, IL - Civic Opera House
5-10 Milwaukee, WI - The Riverside
5-11 Detroit, MI - State Theatre
5-13 Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall
5-14 Boston, MA - Bank of America Pavilion
6-23 Eichenring, Germany - Hurricane Festival #
6-24 Beuhausen ob Eck, Germany - Southside Festival #
6-28 Rättvik, Sweden - Dalhalla
6-29 Roskilde, Denmark - Roskilde Festival $
7-01 Werchter, Belgium - Rock Werchter Festival
* with India.Arie, Amadou & Mariam, Bob Evans
% with Depeche Mode, Daft Punk (dance tent), Franz Ferdinand, Common, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, Atmosphere, My Morning Jacket, TV on the Radio, Ladytron, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Cat Power, Animal Collective, etc.
# with Arctic Monkeys, Death Cab for Cutie, Elbow, Hard-Fi, Maximo Park, the Hives, the Strokes, more
$ with Morrissey, Animal Collective, Coldcut, Deftones, Franz Ferdinand, Lady Sovereign, the Streets, Tool, Kanye West, more
Mogwai
03-06 New York, NY - Avalon *
03-07 Baltimore, MD - Sonar *
03-08 Chapel Hill, NC - Cat's Cradle *
03-09 Asheville, NC - Orange Peel *
03-10 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge *
03-11 Atlanta, GA - WhirlyBall Atlanta *
03-12 Atlanta, GA - WhirlyBall Atlanta +
03-14 Houston, TX - Numbers +%
03-15 Austin, TX - Stubb's (Matador SXSW Showcase) #
03-17 Mexico City, Mexico - Venustiano Carranza 25
03-29 Bristol, England - Academy
03-30 Southampton, England - Southampton University
03-31 Wolverhampton, England - Wulfrun Hall
04-01 Oxford, England - Brookes University
04-02 Cardiff, Wales - Coal Exchange
04-04 Cambridge, England - Junction
04-05 Liverpool, England - Carling Academy
04-06 Newcastle, England - Northumbria University
04-07 Sheffield, England - The Plug
04-08 Lille, France - Splendid
04-09 Strasbourg, France - Laiterie
04-11 Toulouse, France - SDF
04-12 Clermont-Ferrand, France - Cooperative de Mai
04-13 Paris, France - Bataclan
04-14 Rotterdam, Holland - Motel Mozaique Festival
04-15 Cologne, Germany - Live Music Hall
04-16 Brussels, Belgium - Ancienne Belgique (Domino Festival)
04-18 Florence, Italy - Flog
04-19 Rome, Italy - Qube
04-20 Milan, Italy - Rolling Stone
04-21 Treviso, Italy - New Age
04-22 Krems, Austria - Danube Festival
04-23 Munich, Germany - Elserhalle
04-24 Berlin, Germany - Postbahnhof
04-25 Hamburg, Germany - Gruenspan
04-27 Edinburgh, Scotland - Usher Hall (Triptych Festival) $
04-30 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella Festival) ^
09-22 London, England - Royal Albert Hall
* with Growing
+ with Torche
% with About This Product
# with Belle and Sebastian, Cat Power, New Pornographers, Brightblack Morning Light, Jennifer O'Connor
$ with Belle and Sebastian, Aphex Twin, A Certain Ratio, Silver Jews, Battles, the Long Blondes, the Concretes, Big Daddy Kane, Kool Keith, Juana Molina, Keiran Hebden and Steve Reid, Vashti Bunyan, Wolf Eyes, et al
^ with Tool, Massive Attack, Madonna, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, Scissor Sisters, Sleater-Kinney, Wolf Parade, Gnarls Barkley, Amadou & Mariam, the Go! Team, Ted Leo, Metric, Art Brut, Dungen, et al
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Neutral Milk Hotel – In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
The Favours – Magpies Revenge
