I first came across the English folk singer Sam Lee just over a year ago, when I wrote about a tribute album to Peter Bellamy. Alongside more familiar names like The Unthanks and Trembling Bells, it was Lee’s version of “Puck’s Song” that stood out, as he cut a fine path through an artful mix of old folk recordings and incantatory drones.
Residents of Brooklyn Heights, New York have started a petition, campaigning to rename the rapper's local park, Squibb Park, in honour of the Beastie Boys' Adam 'MCA' Yauch.
For the current issue of Uncut, I interviewed Damon Albarn as part of my piece on his “Dr Dee” project (you can read it here). There wasn’t room for all of his answers in the mag, but today’s announcement of extra Blur dates prompted me to post the whole thing here.
In case you missed them yesterday, I’ve embedded the two new Animal Collective tracks after the jump. Back into relative focus after the “Transverse Temporal Gyrus” thing, and with Avey Tare seemingly to the the fore; he almost seems to be rapping at the start of “Honeycomb”.
Graham Coxon’s new album A+E is reviewed in the latest Uncut (May 2012, Take 180), out now – so we thought we’d revisit the last time the guitarist featured in our pages. In 2009, John Robinson met the guitarist at his Camden home to find out about his folk-infused solo album The Spinning Top, and hear all about the little matter of his old band’s reunion… Picture: Essy Syad
Neil Young has penned brief historical details about each of the songs on Americana, his forthcoming album with Crazy Horse.
Comprised on classic American folk songs including “Clementine”, “She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain” and “Gallow’s Pole”, it features some arrangements originally made by The Squires, the band Neil Young formed in 1963 while at High School in Winnepeg.
An amazing vernal equinox morning here in London, and a fine walk through the city: down St John Street, into Smithfield, past St Paul’s and the rat-run of old streets down to the river, and over the Millennium Bridge.
For various reasons. I found myself in New York the other week, and in a resiliently unhip part of Williamsburg at a bar called Don Pedro. The opportunity had come up to see one of my favourite artists of the past couple of years, a firebrand piano man called Hans Chew, whose debut solo album, “Tennessee And Other Stories”, was a surprise entry at the sharp end of Uncut’s 2010 Top 50 (Lots more on that here).
The new April issue of Uncut, out now, features David Bowie peering from the cover in his guise as sleazy space-star Ziggy Stardust. To celebrate this look at Bowie’s greatest creation 40 years on, here’s a fantastic piece from Uncut’s 18th issue, in November 1998, in which Chris Roberts looks back at the glammed-up, transgressive superstars who changed his adolescent world.
LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, Beck, Devendra Banhart, No Age and more are set to provide the soundtrack to a new artwork by Doug Aitken in Washington, DC.
