Traffic

Pavement’s ex-mainman plays to strengths in his first since becoming a Berliner. By Jason Anderson

Bruce Springsteen and Jimmy Fallon performed a spoof version of "Born To Run" on US TV show Late Night last night (January 14). The song was reworked in reference to the ongoing 'bridgegate' scandal, in which an aide working for New Jersey governor is accused of orchestrating traffic mayhem on the George Washington Bridge connecting New Jersey to Manhattan. The gridlock was allegedly intended to punish a Democratic mayor who did not endorse the governor's re-election.

Happy new year, everyone. Since we’re into 2014 now, and (perhaps more pertinently) since all of our 2013 charts generated so much traffic to www.www.uncut.co.uk last month, I thought it’d be useful/cynical to post a Best Of 2014 (Thus Far) list.

The Texans continue their radical evolution with a kaleidoscopic concept album...

Pavement frontman and solo artist Malkmus is releasing a new album, Wig Out At Jagbags, with his band, The Jicks, on January 6, 2014. Here, though, is a classic archive feature from our September 2011 issue (Take 172), in which the guitarist and songwriter answers questions from fans and celebrity admirers including Graham Coxon, Nigel Godrich, Avey Tare, Stewart Lee and Scrabble enthusiast Giles Brandreth. Prepare for confessions about ripping off The Fall, horse-racing and a pubic-hair-eating contest… Interview: John Lewis ___________________

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks have announced plans for a new album and a UK tour, both set for January of next year. Wig Out At Jagbags is the follow-up to 2011's Mirror Traffic and will be released on January 6, 2014. The LP will be followed by a run of four tour dates, starting at Leeds Brudenell on January 13, followed by Glasgow Oran Mor on January 14, Manchester Gorilla on January 15 and London Forum on January 16.

The coverage in last weekend’s broadsheet arts pages of Cormac McCarthy’s new book was puzzling, to say the least: there wasn’t any. As you might expect, there were plenty of reviews of Thomas Pynchon’s Bleeding Edge, which was also released this week – The Times even ran with a preview/review of The Goldfish, Donna Tartt’s first novel in a decade, which isn’t published for another month. But, strangely, the publication of The Counselor by Cormac McCarthy passed by without comment.

I’ve just noticed it’s Jarvis Cocker’s 50th birthday, and used it as an excuse to dig this out: my NME interview with a pre-fame Pulp in June 1992. Had a look for the one I did with them just before the (at the time) last gig a decade later and couldn’t find it, annoyingly…

It’s not only who you know, it’s what you know, too...

"They're bad people, they deserve to be punished," notes one character in Ben Wheatley’s second film, Kill List.