Dancing About Architecture 07.01.08
Posted by Ian Wright on 07.01.2008
Radiohead, The Wrens, My Bloody Valentine, Tom Waits, almost all of my favourites, oh and the Jesus And Mary Chain.
The bit at the start
The year is half over. Goes quick don't it? I think that I said the exact same thing when the calendar turned over into April but I don't think 2008 has been a particularly stellar year for music. Perhaps it's unfair to compare it to last year which had, I think, 5 genuinely amazing albums but as yet there's been nothing this year to completely blow me away.
That being said if you're on the lookout for 08 music then you wouldn't go far wrong if you checked out Why?, Fuck Buttons, The Hold Steady, Brendan Canning's solo record, the new Sigur Ros, Frightened Rabbit, The Tallest Man On Earth and British Sea Power amongst others.
Fingers crossed the next 6 months sees the quality upped a smidge.
Beg, borrow, buy, steal or download this album.
Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
As ever from them, an astoundingly gorgeous collection.
You news, you lose
New Wrens music, holy shit, new Wrens music.
It's been almost 5 years since they released The Meadowlands so you can hardly say that The Wrens are prolific a prolific bunch but thanks to a compilation album in support of net neutrality being put out by the Future Of Music Coalition there's a new Wrens song on the way to record store shelves near you.
The album will be hitting stores on July 29th but if you absolutely can't wait to get a listen it's streaming here and you can also buy individual tracks from it at that site.
Regarding The Wrens song, it's a slow burning piano driven Kevin Whelan number that reminds me in part of "William" from their debut album Secaucus. As for the other songs on the comp, I uhh haven't got around to listening to them yet.
Radiohead.
Well Radiohead have certainly backed down from their "no to iTunes" stance haven't they? Last week the band released 10 live renditions of songs from last year's In Rainbows recorded at The Hospital studio in Covent Garden. The session was filmed in one day for producer Nigel Godrich's "From The Basement" TV show.
It's similar to the band's NYE "Scotch Mist" webcast, except you have to pay for it.
The band played the following songs and they're all currently available on iTunes:
‘Bodysnatchers'
‘House of Cards'
‘Nude'
‘WeirdFishes/Arpeggi'
‘15 Step'
‘Reckoner'
‘Go Slowly'
‘Videotape'
‘Bangers n Mash'
‘All I Need'
New MBV music, holy shit, new MBV music.
Famously unprolific, even more so than my beloved Wrens are My Bloody Valentine. They're just into the second week of their comeback tour but Kevin Shields has given hope to people dreaming of new material from the band. In an interview with London's XFM Shields said of the mythical lost follow up to Loveless that it would be ready "Whenever I get the chance to finish it." (uh, it's been 17 years Kev.)
"It was pretty much three quarters made in the 90s. We've got no label support so everything will be finished pretty much independently."
Drummer Colm O'Ciosoig is similarly optimistic that the recordings will see the light of day eventually, "It's [completion and release is] a very real possibility. There's some good stuff. Yeah, it's just one of those things that had to be that way I guess."
Following the completion of the Loveless tour the band began writing new material in London in 1993 and 6 years later Shields delivered up to 60 hours of unreleased music to Island Records but no album ever came of it.
When XFM asked him why the band came back when they did Shields admitted that it was inevitable but didn't think that they had done so in ideal circumstances, "We were always gonna do it so we just did. We would've ideally done a record first and then done some gigs in ideal world but we're not in an ideal world."
Seemingly I'm just writing about my favourite acts this week.
All I need is a Sonic Youth story and I'm set.
But a Tom Waits one is just as good.
Tricky has recently been claiming that plans are in motion for him to record an album with Waits. The pair were initially introduced by Island Records founder Chris Blackwell and have been in contact since then.
"We talked on the phone six months ago. Tom's not usually a fan of other people, but Chris said he likes me," said Tricky.
"Tom invited me to chill out with him in San Francisco, and when I've got time, I will. It's almost like me and Tom were fated to work together."
"I can't imagine what will come out of it, but I know it'd be a brand new type of music, different to him or me. I was compared to 'Tom Waits on acid' when I first came out. I didn't know his stuff then, but it led me to checking him out and I love it".
I'm not sure if anything will come of this but anyway Tricky has a new album out this week. You don't think he leaked this story to drum up coverage for him do you?
Nah, it'd never happen.
JAMC Sandwich.
The Jesus And Mary Chain have announced the details of their forthcoming rarities box set due out on September 30th.
The Power Of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities will be made up of almost all the tracks from 1988's Barbed Wire Kisses, a cassette sourced recording of "Up Too High" from 1983 as well as previously unreleased demos and alternate versions.
The 4-disc set is arranged chronologically and features the Psychocandy-era "Walk and Crawl", alternate versions of "Never Understand" and "Coast to Coast," as well as demos of "My Little Underground," "The Living End" and "Dirty Water" and the never-before-heard "Till I Found You". The collection comes in a 6*10 gatefold shell and includes a 18*24 double sided poster of the JAMC family tree.
Tracklisiting:
Disc one:
"Up Too High"
"Upside Down"
"Vegetable Man"
"Suck"
"Ambition"
"Just Out of Reach"
"Boyfriend's Dead"
"Head"
"Just Like Honey" (demo, October 1984)
"Cracked"
"Taste of Cindy" (acoustic)
"The Hardest Walk"
"Never Understand" (alternate)
"My Little Underground" (demo)
"The Living End" (demo)
"Some Candy Talking"
"Psychocandy"
"Hit"
"Cut Dead" (acoustic)
"You Trip Me Up" (acoustic)
"Walk and Crawl"
Disc two:
"Kill Surf City"
"Bo Diddle Is Jesus"
"Who Do You Love"
"Everything's Alright When You're Down"
"Shake"
"Happy When It Rains" (demo)
"Happy Place"
"F. Hole"
"Rider"
"On the Wall" (demo)
"Surfin' USA" (outtake)
"Here It Comes Again"
"Don't Ever Change"
"Swing"
"Sidewalking"
"Surfin' USA" (summer mix)
"Shimmer"
"Penetration"
"Break Me Down"
"Subway"
"My Girl"
Disc three:
"In the Black"
"Terminal Beach"
"Deviant Slice"
"I'm Glad I Never"
"Drop" (acoustic remix)
"Rollercoaster"
"Silverblade"
"Lowlife"
"Tower of Song"
"Heat"
"Guitarman"
"Why'd You Want Me"
"Sometimes"
"Teenage Lust" (acoustic version)
"Reverberation (Doubt)"
"Don't Come Down"
"Snakedriver"
"Something I Can't Have"
"Write Record Release Blues"
"Little Red Rooster"
Disc four:
"The Perfect Crime"
"Little Stars"
"Drop" (re-recorded version)
"I'm in With the Out Crowd"
"New York City"
"Taking It Away"
"Ghost of a Smile"
"Alphabet Street"
"Coast to Coast" (alternate take)
"Dirty Water" (alternate take)
"Till I Found You"
"Bleed Me"
"33 1/3"
"Lost Star"
"Hide Myself"
"Rocket"
"Easylife, Easylove"
"40,000K"
"Nineteen666
The YouTube video of the week
Dear Noel Gallagher,
Kindly eat it bitch.
Best regards,
Jay Z
If you can you should go to these gigs.
Iggy And The Stooges
Skaanevik, Norway - Skaanevik Blues Festival (July 4)
Empuriabrava, Spain - Doctor Loft 05:00 Festival (6)
Rouen, France - La Grande Armada (13)
Angouleme, France - Garden Nef Party Festival (19)
Lahti, Finland - Race and Rock Festival (26)
Camden, NJ - Download Festival (August 2)
Montreal, Quebec - Osheaga Music and Arts Festival (3)
Toronto, Ontario - Massey Hall (6)
New York, NY - Terminal 5 (8)
Baltimore, MD - Virgin Festival (10)
London, England - Get Loaded in the Park (24)
Berlin, Germany - Zitadelle (28)
Konstanz, Germany - Rock am See (30)
St. Nolff, France - St. Nolff Festival (September 13)
Gelsenkirchen, Germany - Amphitheater (16)
Hamburg, Germany - Stadtpark (18)
Prague, Czech Republic - HC Sparta Arena (20)
Saint Petersburg, Russia - Lodovy Dvoryetz (22)
Moscow, Russia - B1 (24)
Cannes, France - Palais des Festivals (27)
Writing under the influence
Without which this column would not have been possible:
Liars – They Were Wrong, So We Drowned
Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Laura Marling – Alas I Cannot Swim
The bit at the end
New Dudley Corporation album is out on Friday on Absolutely Kosher. They're a good band and good people, you should check it out.
Spain, deserved winners of Euro 2008. The final was by no means a classic but it's still one of the best tournaments I've ever seen.
Semi permanent plug for my blog. Loads of music went up there this week.
