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The 33rd Uncut Playlist Of 2013

John Mulvey
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The 33rd Uncut Playlist Of 2013

Can’t hang around today as deadline hassle mounts, but lots to listen to here: an Atoms For Peace mix, something from Nicolas Jaar’s fine new Darkside project, a precious and ancient demo from Roddy Frame, a remix from The Avalanches, and my favourite track from Light In The Attic’s New Age comp, among other things. Things I hope to share when they become publically available: the Cian Nugent and Chris Forsyth albums, which both sound increasingly terrific; and the Josephine Foster, which is maybe my favourite arrival of the past seven days. As I mentioned last week, we have a new comments facility on our blogs, news stories and reviews, which doesn’t entail you logging into Facebook, so please let me know your thoughts/enthusiasms/prejudices etc when you have a moment. I’ve resisted the temptation to log a pre-emptive rant about the Mercury Music Prize this morning, but don’t let me hold you back… Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey 1 Josephine Foster – I’m A Dreamer (Fire) 2 Hunters & Collectors – Talking To A Stranger [Avalanches Rework] (Liberation Music) 3 Nils Frahm – Spaces (Erased Tapes) 4 The Darkside – Psychic (Other People/Matador) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8NaWT0WvEE 5 Arcade Fire – Reflektor (Sonovox) 6 Cian Nugent & The Cosmos – Born With The Caul (No Quarter) 7 Atoms For Peace – You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry Mush Mx 8 Holy Ghost – Dynamics (DFA) 9 Larry Gus – Years Not Living (DFA) 10 Pedro Iturralde – Jazz Flamenco (Vampi Soul) 11 Bill Callahan – Dream River (Drag City) 12 RM Hubbert – Breaks & Bone (Chemikal Underground) 13 Magik Markers – Surrender To The Fantasy (Drag City) 14 White Denim – Corsicana Lemonade (Downtown) 15 Chris Forsyth – Solar Motel (Paradise Of Bachelors) 16 Matthew E White – Outer Face EP (Domino) 17 Blitzen Trapper – VII (Lojinx) 18 Rene Hell – Vanilla Call Option (PAN) 19 Various Artists – I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age Music In America 1950-1990 (Light In The Attic) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnaQubdRlSU 20 Roddy Frame – Green Jacket Grey 21 The Grateful Dead – Sunshine Daydream (Rhino)

Can’t hang around today as deadline hassle mounts, but lots to listen to here: an Atoms For Peace mix, something from Nicolas Jaar’s fine new Darkside project, a precious and ancient demo from Roddy Frame, a remix from The Avalanches, and my favourite track from Light In The Attic’s New Age comp, among other things.

Things I hope to share when they become publically available: the Cian Nugent and Chris Forsyth albums, which both sound increasingly terrific; and the Josephine Foster, which is maybe my favourite arrival of the past seven days. As I mentioned last week, we have a new comments facility on our blogs, news stories and reviews, which doesn’t entail you logging into Facebook, so please let me know your thoughts/enthusiasms/prejudices etc when you have a moment. I’ve resisted the temptation to log a pre-emptive rant about the Mercury Music Prize this morning, but don’t let me hold you back…

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

1 Josephine Foster – I’m A Dreamer (Fire)

2 Hunters & Collectors – Talking To A Stranger [Avalanches Rework] (Liberation Music)

3 Nils Frahm – Spaces (Erased Tapes)

4 The Darkside – Psychic (Other People/Matador)

5 Arcade Fire – Reflektor (Sonovox)

6 Cian Nugent & The Cosmos – Born With The Caul (No Quarter)

7 Atoms For Peace – You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry Mush Mx

8 Holy Ghost – Dynamics (DFA)

9 Larry Gus – Years Not Living (DFA)

10 Pedro Iturralde – Jazz Flamenco (Vampi Soul)

11 Bill Callahan – Dream River (Drag City)

12 RM Hubbert – Breaks & Bone (Chemikal Underground)

13 Magik Markers – Surrender To The Fantasy (Drag City)

14 White Denim – Corsicana Lemonade (Downtown)

15 Chris Forsyth – Solar Motel (Paradise Of Bachelors)

16 Matthew E White – Outer Face EP (Domino)

17 Blitzen Trapper – VII (Lojinx)

18 Rene Hell – Vanilla Call Option (PAN)

19 Various Artists – I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age Music In America 1950-1990 (Light In The Attic)

20 Roddy Frame – Green Jacket Grey

21 The Grateful Dead – Sunshine Daydream (Rhino)

Mazzy Star announce tour dates

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Mazzy Star announce tour dates
Mazzy Star have announced dates for a 14-date North American tour. The tour will be in support of Seasons Of Your Day, their first album in 17 years which is released later this month. In an exclusive interview in this month's edition of Uncut, Hope Sandoval said, "We're planning to start touring ...

Mazzy Star have announced dates for a 14-date North American tour.

The tour will be in support of Seasons Of Your Day, their first album in 17 years which is released later this month.

In an exclusive interview in this month’s edition of Uncut, Hope Sandoval said, “We’re planning to start touring around November in the US and we’ll come to Europe to do a few shows. I’m looking forward to getting together with everybody and playing some of the old songs and having dinner and wine, catching up with everybody.”

Speaking about her well-documented aversion to playing live, Sandoval said: “It’s difficult, but it’s there.”

Mazzy Star will play:

Nov. 3: Crystal Ballroom, Portland, OR

Nov. 4: Neptune, Seattle, WA

Nov 6: Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, CA

Nov 7: The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA

Nov 10: Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO

Nov 12: Mill City Nights, Minneapolis, MN

Nov 13: Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL

Nov 15: Majestic Theatre, Detroit, MI

Nov 16: Danforth Music Hall, Toronto, ON

Nov 17: Club Soda, Montreal, QC

Nov 19: Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA

Nov 20: Terminal 5, New York, NY

Nov 22: Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA

Nov 23: The Fillmore, Silver Spring, MD

Sigur Rós to guest star in next series of Game Of Thrones

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Sigur Rós to guest star in next series of Game Of Thrones

Members of Sigur Róswill appear in the new series of Game Of Thrones. Jonsi Birigisson, Georg Hólm and Orri Páll Dýrason are currently in Croatia shooting scenes for the HBO show's forthcoming fourth series. Entertainment Weekly reports that the bandmates will play musicians in the programme and that their cameo came about as showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are big fans of the Icelandic band and listened to their music while shooting previous series in Iceland. Game of Thrones has a long running association with musicians, with both The National and The Hold Steady contributing songs to the shows soundtrack. Both bands wrote original material inspired by the writing of George RR Martin, Game Of Thrones author. Meanwhile, Coldplay drummer Will Champion and Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody made cameo appearances in series three of the programme, which airs in the UK on Sky Atlantic. Earlier this year Sigur Rós also made a guest appearance in The Simpsons. Entitled 'The Saga Of Carl', the episode saw Homer, Moe, Lenny and Carl chase Carl to his home country of Iceland after he runs off with a winning lottery ticket the group bought together. It features new music by the band, as well as their take on the theme song. Björk also makes a cameo in her swan dress.

Members of Sigur Róswill appear in the new series of Game Of Thrones.

Jonsi Birigisson, Georg Hólm and Orri Páll Dýrason are currently in Croatia shooting scenes for the HBO show’s forthcoming fourth series. Entertainment Weekly reports that the bandmates will play musicians in the programme and that their cameo came about as showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss are big fans of the Icelandic band and listened to their music while shooting previous series in Iceland.

Game of Thrones has a long running association with musicians, with both The National and The Hold Steady contributing songs to the shows soundtrack. Both bands wrote original material inspired by the writing of George RR Martin, Game Of Thrones author. Meanwhile, Coldplay drummer Will Champion and Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody made cameo appearances in series three of the programme, which airs in the UK on Sky Atlantic.

Earlier this year Sigur Rós also made a guest appearance in The Simpsons. Entitled ‘The Saga Of Carl’, the episode saw Homer, Moe, Lenny and Carl chase Carl to his home country of Iceland after he runs off with a winning lottery ticket the group bought together. It features new music by the band, as well as their take on the theme song. Björk also makes a cameo in her swan dress.

Rory Gallagher inspires new Ian Rankin book

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Rory Gallagher inspires new Ian Rankin book

The crime writer Ian Rankin has written a novella inspired by the music of Rory Gallagher. The book is being published as part of a new compilation of Gallagher's music called kback City, inspired by his love of crime fiction. Kickback City will feature Gallagher’s best crime novel influenced music alongside Rankin's novella which has been fully illustrated by graphic artist Timothy Truman. This album also includes a special narration of the story by actor Aidan Quinn. Ian Rankin said: “I was approached by Rory’s brother Donal Gallagher who asked if I knew that Rory was a big fan of crime fiction? And of course when you look at it, the songs, the lyrics and especially the titles: Kickback City, Continental Op (the title of a Dashiell Hammett book) it all makes sense. Donal mentioned that he was thinking of putting together an album of Rory’s songs that are to do with crime and thriller elements and asked if I wanted to get involved. It was great fun and writing the story for the Rory Gallagher album was just obvious to me. It would be noir, the classic Raymond Chandler or Philip Marlowe private eye.” DISC ONE: KICKBACK CITY STUDIO 1) Kickback City 2) Continental Op 3) Kid Gloves 4) Big Guns 5) Loanshark Blues 6) Secret Agent 7) B Girl 8) Slumming Angel 9) Barley & Grape Rag 10) Doing Time 11) In Your Town 12) Sinner Boy 13) The Devil Made Me Do It 14) Seven Days DISC TWO: KICKBACK CITY LIVE 1) Continental Op 2) Tattoo’d Lady 3) I Ain’t No Saint 4) Off The Handle 5) The Loop 6) Messin’ With The Kid 7) Loanshark Blues DISC THREE 44 Page novella – The Lie Factory The Lie Factory narrated by Aidan Quinn 4 x ‘Crime’ scene Postcards

The crime writer Ian Rankin has written a novella inspired by the music of Rory Gallagher.

The book is being published as part of a new compilation of Gallagher’s music called kback City, inspired by his love of crime fiction.

Kickback City will feature Gallagher’s best crime novel influenced music alongside Rankin’s novella which has been fully illustrated by graphic artist Timothy Truman. This album also includes a special narration of the story by actor Aidan Quinn.

Ian Rankin said: “I was approached by Rory’s brother Donal Gallagher who asked if I knew that Rory was a big fan of crime fiction? And of course when you look at it, the songs, the lyrics and especially the titles: Kickback City, Continental Op (the title of a Dashiell Hammett book) it all makes sense. Donal mentioned that he was thinking of putting together an album of Rory’s songs that are to do with crime and thriller elements and asked if I wanted to get involved. It was great fun and writing the story for the Rory Gallagher album was just obvious to me. It would be noir, the classic Raymond Chandler or Philip Marlowe private eye.”

DISC ONE: KICKBACK CITY STUDIO

1) Kickback City

2) Continental Op

3) Kid Gloves

4) Big Guns

5) Loanshark Blues

6) Secret Agent

7) B Girl

8) Slumming Angel

9) Barley & Grape Rag

10) Doing Time

11) In Your Town

12) Sinner Boy

13) The Devil Made Me Do It

14) Seven Days

DISC TWO: KICKBACK CITY LIVE

1) Continental Op

2) Tattoo’d Lady

3) I Ain’t No Saint

4) Off The Handle

5) The Loop

6) Messin’ With The Kid

7) Loanshark Blues

DISC THREE

44 Page novella – The Lie Factory

The Lie Factory narrated by Aidan Quinn

4 x ‘Crime’ scene Postcards

The return of Arcade Fire

Michael Bonner
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The return of Arcade Fire

For me, the strangest moment during last night’s flurry of Arcade Fire activity – Bowie! two videos! world tour! – was the footage of the band stepping out of a limousine in Montreal wearing giant papier mâché heads. They had arrived to play a ‘surprise’ show at a small Salsa bar in the city, and cameras from the Canadian Broadcasting Network filmed them walking silently in single file from the car towards the venue’s door, their voices presumably inaudible beneath the papier mâché. As they passed fans gathered for the show, they’d occasionally high five them; one of the band (it might have been William Butler, though it's hard to tell with all the papier mâché) would occasionally capture the proceedings on his smart phone, which he’d rather comically raise to the mouth of the papier mâché head, presumably in line with his eyes. We’d already seen the heads a little while earlier in Anton Corbijn’s video for the “Reflektor” single – along with a giant discoball, a man who appeared to be covered entirely in shards from a mirror, and shots of the band dancing at night round a coffin filled with children’s dolls. I wondered at one point whether this was all part of some cryptic tribute to Frank Sidebottom – another noted papier mâché enthusiast. Whatever, it was a diverting and entertaining return from the band; though any hope of a cameo from David Bowie, who'd earlier confirmed he'd contributed backing vocals to the single, seemed unlikely. And if you've not watched Vincent Morisset's interactive "Reflektor" video, you can find it here. Technical alert: users must have the Google Chrome web browser to interact with the film. Of course, in all the news about the new single, videos, album and world tour (details to be announced), it's worth mentioning that they’re also scoring Spike Jonze’s new film, Her, which finds Joaquin Phoenix falling in love with a computer operating system voiced by Scarlett Johansson. It’s due later in the year, and I’m wondering whether it might appear as the “surprise film” at this year’s London Film Festival. The LFF line-up was announced last week, incidentally: I blogged about the highlights here, and I’m especially looking forward to the Coens’ long-awaited Inside Llewyn Davis, Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive and Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, as well as a Frank Pavich’s documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune, which explores Alejandro Jodorowsky’s attempt to film Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel in the mid 1970’s. Anyway, the BFI London Film Festival runs from October 9 – 20 and you can find a full list of what’s on – and when – over here. Enjoy the rest of your week. Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner.

For me, the strangest moment during last night’s flurry of Arcade Fire activity – Bowie! two videos! world tour! – was the footage of the band stepping out of a limousine in Montreal wearing giant papier mâché heads.

They had arrived to play a ‘surprise’ show at a small Salsa bar in the city, and cameras from the Canadian Broadcasting Network filmed them walking silently in single file from the car towards the venue’s door, their voices presumably inaudible beneath the papier mâché. As they passed fans gathered for the show, they’d occasionally high five them; one of the band (it might have been William Butler, though it’s hard to tell with all the papier mâché) would occasionally capture the proceedings on his smart phone, which he’d rather comically raise to the mouth of the papier mâché head, presumably in line with his eyes.

We’d already seen the heads a little while earlier in Anton Corbijn’s video for the “Reflektor” single – along with a giant discoball, a man who appeared to be covered entirely in shards from a mirror, and shots of the band dancing at night round a coffin filled with children’s dolls. I wondered at one point whether this was all part of some cryptic tribute to Frank Sidebottom – another noted papier mâché enthusiast. Whatever, it was a diverting and entertaining return from the band; though any hope of a cameo from David Bowie, who’d earlier confirmed he’d contributed backing vocals to the single, seemed unlikely. And if you’ve not watched Vincent Morisset‘s interactive “Reflektor” video, you can find it here. Technical alert: users must have the Google Chrome web browser to interact with the film.

Of course, in all the news about the new single, videos, album and world tour (details to be announced), it’s worth mentioning that they’re also scoring Spike Jonze’s new film, Her, which finds Joaquin Phoenix falling in love with a computer operating system voiced by Scarlett Johansson. It’s due later in the year, and I’m wondering whether it might appear as the “surprise film” at this year’s London Film Festival. The LFF line-up was announced last week, incidentally: I blogged about the highlights here, and I’m especially looking forward to the Coens’ long-awaited Inside Llewyn Davis, Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive and Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, as well as a Frank Pavich’s documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune, which explores Alejandro Jodorowsky’s attempt to film Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel in the mid 1970’s.

Anyway, the BFI London Film Festival runs from October 9 – 20 and you can find a full list of what’s on – and when – over here.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Follow me on Twitter @MichaelBonner.

Bill Callahan, “Dream River”

John Mulvey
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0
Bill Callahan, “Dream River”

Jaan Uhelszki, as you may have seen in the current issue of Uncut, recently spent some time with Bill Callahan at his home in Austin. One of Jaan’s great skills is her ability to conduct a forensic sweep of any environment she finds herself in, and on Callahan’s bookshelves, she notes, are “Bass Playing For Dummies… a King Tubby DVD… Learning Spanish by Michael Thomas, ‘The Language Teacher To The Stars’… a Stephen Crane reader.” Given the singer’s elusiveness, it came as a surprise, a few days after I read Jaan’s copy, to discover that her observations had included a clue to one of Callahan’s latest schemes. Not hitherto an obvious fan of reggae, Callahan launched his 15th album by leaking a song from “Dream River”, “Javelin Unlanding”, in dub. After 20 years of discreet obfuscations and evasions, “Expanding Dub” seemed to signal a new strategy in Callahan’s ongoing project to confound – and, in the process, delight – his loyal audience; a substantially more playful strategy, at that. Reggae does not feature noticeably on the finished version of “Dream River”, but the experiment does serve to draw attention to the enduring spaciousness of Callahan’s music; to the sense that the most significant details in his songs are unspoken, hidden in the interstices between his lines. There’s a lightness of touch here, too, an aspect of Callahan’s music that’s often been ignored in the face of his prevailingly lugubrious tone. I was making notes on the tracks a week or two back, and a bunch of old Callahan and Smog references kept cropping up, especially songs where his melodies - strophic, perhaps? (something I learned from the Prefab Sprout piece in this month’s issue) – circle around at a relative clip: “The Well”, “Our Anniversary”, “Keep Some Steady Friends Around”. Whenever I played “Javelin Unlanding”, I remembered the weird idea that Callahan had been influenced by Afrobeat from “Bloodflow”, on “Dongs Of Sevotion”. More recently, the obvious musical jump-off point for “Dream River” is “Universal Applicant” on his last set, “Apocalypse”; the band is more or less the same as that album, and the “Astral Weeks”-style flute keeps darting to the fore, amidst the pattering hand percussion. If “Apocalypse” was predominantly American landscape music, though - rugged, twanging, earthed – “Dream River” is airier, more evanescent. The geographical metaphors still proliferate, and one suspects Callahan will continue to find new poetic uses for the concept of a river until he retires from the game. But this time, the familiar eagle allusions are expanded into a suite of songs alluding to flight: “Javelin Unlanding”, “Ride My Arrow”, “Seagull”, the exceptional “Small Plane”; metaphors which can harbour a phallic dimension, too. It is one of the myriad complexities of Callahan’s work that, while his stories have so frequently been seen as melancholic and introverted, few of his peers have written about sex with such cool vigour. “Spring” – also notable for some superb guitar work by Matt Kinsey – is a reiteration and droll subversion of sap rising, in which the nature metaphors gradually give way to a direct imperative from the narrator: “All I wanna do is make love to you/ In the fertile dirt/ With a careless mind.” The cruelty and hurt that have underpinned some of Callahan’s previous explorations of this area are much less prominent, and there’s a sense that his protagonists have found a calmer understanding of their worlds in midlife. “Small Plane” is one of those slow meditations at which Callahan has always excelled, now exhibiting a zen-like critical distance as he flies above the action rather than being dragged into it. “I really am a lucky man,” he decides, and there’s a warmth and tenderness to his baritone, as if it accrues emotional depth as he gets older and more experienced – notwithstanding the fact that he sounded preternaturally old and experienced two decades ago. Even bearing in mind Callahan’s determinedly anti-autoiographical perspective on his own songs, Jaan parses all this – and the presence of two bikes in his hallway - as indication that Callahan is in love. “I think you have somebody to live for,” she tells him. Some hours later, Callahan, uncharacteristically admits as much. “OK, yeah, I’m in a good relationship. I just try to keep my personal life out of things. The songs should just stand on their own.” And of course, like all the best songs, they do. Callahan is one of those musicians who encourages obsession and, maybe like a very different character, Mark Kozelek, I’ve written plenty about him in the past. I just searched for a few recent-ish pieces if you want to dig further… A review of Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle A review of Apocalypse A review of Rough Travel For A Rare Thing An email interview with Bill Callahan circa Sometimes I Wish… A review of Woke On A Whaleheart Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey Photograph: Hanly Banks

Jaan Uhelszki, as you may have seen in the current issue of Uncut, recently spent some time with Bill Callahan at his home in Austin. One of Jaan’s great skills is her ability to conduct a forensic sweep of any environment she finds herself in, and on Callahan’s bookshelves, she notes, are “Bass Playing For Dummies… a King Tubby DVD… Learning Spanish by Michael Thomas, ‘The Language Teacher To The Stars’… a Stephen Crane reader.”

Given the singer’s elusiveness, it came as a surprise, a few days after I read Jaan’s copy, to discover that her observations had included a clue to one of Callahan’s latest schemes. Not hitherto an obvious fan of reggae, Callahan launched his 15th album by leaking a song from “Dream River”, “Javelin Unlanding”, in dub.

After 20 years of discreet obfuscations and evasions, “Expanding Dub” seemed to signal a new strategy in Callahan’s ongoing project to confound – and, in the process, delight – his loyal audience; a substantially more playful strategy, at that. Reggae does not feature noticeably on the finished version of “Dream River”, but the experiment does serve to draw attention to the enduring spaciousness of Callahan’s music; to the sense that the most significant details in his songs are unspoken, hidden in the interstices between his lines.

There’s a lightness of touch here, too, an aspect of Callahan’s music that’s often been ignored in the face of his prevailingly lugubrious tone. I was making notes on the tracks a week or two back, and a bunch of old Callahan and Smog references kept cropping up, especially songs where his melodies – strophic, perhaps? (something I learned from the Prefab Sprout piece in this month’s issue) – circle around at a relative clip: “The Well”, “Our Anniversary”, “Keep Some Steady Friends Around”. Whenever I played “Javelin Unlanding”, I remembered the weird idea that Callahan had been influenced by Afrobeat from “Bloodflow”, on “Dongs Of Sevotion”.

More recently, the obvious musical jump-off point for “Dream River” is “Universal Applicant” on his last set, “Apocalypse”; the band is more or less the same as that album, and the “Astral Weeks”-style flute keeps darting to the fore, amidst the pattering hand percussion. If “Apocalypse” was predominantly American landscape music, though – rugged, twanging, earthed – “Dream River” is airier, more evanescent. The geographical metaphors still proliferate, and one suspects Callahan will continue to find new poetic uses for the concept of a river until he retires from the game.

But this time, the familiar eagle allusions are expanded into a suite of songs alluding to flight: “Javelin Unlanding”, “Ride My Arrow”, “Seagull”, the exceptional “Small Plane”; metaphors which can harbour a phallic dimension, too. It is one of the myriad complexities of Callahan’s work that, while his stories have so frequently been seen as melancholic and introverted, few of his peers have written about sex with such cool vigour. “Spring” – also notable for some superb guitar work by Matt Kinsey – is a reiteration and droll subversion of sap rising, in which the nature metaphors gradually give way to a direct imperative from the narrator: “All I wanna do is make love to you/ In the fertile dirt/ With a careless mind.”

The cruelty and hurt that have underpinned some of Callahan’s previous explorations of this area are much less prominent, and there’s a sense that his protagonists have found a calmer understanding of their worlds in midlife. “Small Plane” is one of those slow meditations at which Callahan has always excelled, now exhibiting a zen-like critical distance as he flies above the action rather than being dragged into it. “I really am a lucky man,” he decides, and there’s a warmth and tenderness to his baritone, as if it accrues emotional depth as he gets older and more experienced – notwithstanding the fact that he sounded preternaturally old and experienced two decades ago.

Even bearing in mind Callahan’s determinedly anti-autoiographical perspective on his own songs, Jaan parses all this – and the presence of two bikes in his hallway – as indication that Callahan is in love. “I think you have somebody to live for,” she tells him.

Some hours later, Callahan, uncharacteristically admits as much. “OK, yeah, I’m in a good relationship. I just try to keep my personal life out of things. The songs should just stand on their own.”

And of course, like all the best songs, they do. Callahan is one of those musicians who encourages obsession and, maybe like a very different character, Mark Kozelek, I’ve written plenty about him in the past. I just searched for a few recent-ish pieces if you want to dig further…

A review of Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

A review of Apocalypse

A review of Rough Travel For A Rare Thing

An email interview with Bill Callahan circa Sometimes I Wish…

A review of Woke On A Whaleheart

Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Photograph: Hanly Banks

Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters set for benefit show

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Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters set for benefit show
Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters are among the acts confirmed to take part in the Stand Up For Heroes benefit this November. The event takes place on November 6 at the Theater at Madison Square Garden. Springsteen and Waters both previously played at last year's Stand Up For Heroes/ benefit, whi...

Bruce Springsteen and Roger Waters are among the acts confirmed to take part in the Stand Up For Heroes benefit this November.

The event takes place on November 6 at the Theater at Madison Square Garden.

Springsteen and Waters both previously played at last year’s Stand Up For Heroes/ benefit, which raising pledges for wounded troops battling the hardships of returning home from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jerry Seinfeld and The Daily Show host Jon Stewart are also scheduled to take part in the show, which runs during the New York Comedy Festival.

Springsteen recently announced a run of dates in 2014 in Australia and New Zealand.

More information about the Stand Up For Heroes event can be found here.

David Bowie backs campaign to save Croydon bandstand that inspired ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’

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David Bowie backs campaign to save Croydon bandstand that inspired ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’
David Bowie has backed a campaign to get a bandstand he once performed on in Croydon, South London, restored to its former glory. On August 16, 1969 – the same weekend as Woodstock – Bowie was an aspiring psychedelic folk singer and organised a gig at Croydon Road Recreation Ground in Beckenha...

David Bowie has backed a campaign to get a bandstand he once performed on in Croydon, South London, restored to its former glory.

On August 16, 1969 – the same weekend as Woodstock – Bowie was an aspiring psychedelic folk singer and organised a gig at Croydon Road Recreation Ground in Beckenham, which aimed to encourage donations for his Beckenham Arts Lab project. He later wrote about the experience in the single ‘Memory Of A Free Festival’ – listen to the track below.

The Independent reports that a fan who moved from Russia to Beckenham and discovered that the bandstand has now fallen into disrepair is organising a gig next Sunday (September 15) to raise money to return the site to its former glory. While Bowie won’t be appearing on the day, he has sent a stash of signed albums which will be raffled for the cause.

“We’re very grateful for David Bowie’s generosity in supporting our event,” organiser Natasha Ryzhova Lau said. “We want to celebrate [his] time in Beckenham but our most important objective is to rescue the bandstand, which is part of Beckenham’s heritage and urgently needs repairs. It is totally dilapidated but cannot be restored with funding from the public purse.”

In Bowie’s place, a tribute band will perform as well as US folk singer Amory Kane, who performed at the original show in 1969.

Yesterday [September 9], Bowie here confirmed his appearance on the new Arcade Fire single, “Reflektor”.

Arcade Fire’s new album is double LP, world tour to take place

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Arcade Fire’s new album is double LP, world tour to take place
Arcade Fire have revealed that their forthcoming new album will be a double LP. Pre-orders for the Reflektor album have opened up for the double album at Arcadefire.com, with the website stating that early orders will come with first access to ticket sales for special shows as well as the band's fo...

Arcade Fire have revealed that their forthcoming new album will be a double LP.

Pre-orders for the Reflektor album have opened up for the double album at Arcadefire.com, with the website stating that early orders will come with first access to ticket sales for special shows as well as the band’s forthcoming world tour. The album artwork – which features a sculpture by Auguste Rodin, from the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice – has also been confirmed.

Meanwhile, Arcade Fire have launched their “Reflektor” single with a surprise show in Montreal. The band played the small Salsatheque venue under the alias The Reflektors on Monday night (September 9). CBC News reports that only 100 tickets went on sale for the show, which started at 9pm [ET]. Fans were asked to wear fancy dress to the gig – with Arcade Fire’s Twitter account stating: “Formal attire or costume MANDATORY. (Formal wear = suit, dress or fancy something…)”. The band also linked to the venue’s website, however this soon crashed, as the bandwidth limit was exceed due to the amount of fans visiting the site. Tickets for the show were $9, in keeping with the ‘9’ theme, which saw the single released on the ninth day of the ninth month. Record stores also began selling limited vinyl copies of the single, which was listed on the sleeve as being by The Reflektors, at 9pm last night.

Arcade Fire arrived at the venue wearing the oversized papier-mâché heads used in the video for ‘Reflektor’, which was unveiled a few hours before the gig. Click below to see CBC’s footage of Arcade Fire entering the venue and high-fiving fans wearing costume and fancy dress.

Yesterday [September 9], David Bowie confirmed he’d contributed “brief backing vocals” to the track.

The band also released two videos for “Reflektor”. The first appeared on the website, justareflektor.com. Produced by the band’s longtime collaborator Vincent Morisset, the film is “an interactive short film that explores the themes in Arcade Fire’s ‘Reflektor’ through two devices simultaneously: the computer and smartphone/tablet. Filmed in Haiti, where the band’s singer Régine Chassagne was raised, the story follows a young woman who travels between her world an our own.” The film was shot in Jacmel and features the track ‘Reflektor’ in full. Users must have the Google Chrome web browser to interact with the film.

Another video, directed by Anton Corbjin was also released. You can watch it below.

Watch video for new Arcade Fire single, “Reflektor”

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Watch video for new Arcade Fire single, “Reflektor”
Arcade Fire have finally released "Reflektor", after weeks of anticipation. Earlier this evening, David Bowie confirmed he'd contributed "brief backing vocals" to the track. The band also released the much anticipated video for "Reflektor" via website, justareflektor.com. Produced by the band's lo...

Arcade Fire have finally released “Reflektor”, after weeks of anticipation.

Earlier this evening, David Bowie confirmed he’d contributed “brief backing vocals” to the track.

The band also released the much anticipated video for “Reflektor” via website, justareflektor.com. Produced by the band’s longtime collaborator Vincent Morisset, the film is “an interactive short film that explores the themes in Arcade Fire’s ‘Reflektor’ through two devices simultaneously: the computer and smartphone/tablet. Filmed in Haiti, where the band’s singer Régine Chassagne was raised, the story follows a young woman who travels between her world an our own.” The film was shot in Jacmel and features the track ‘Reflektor’ in full. Users must have the Google Chrome web browser to interact with the film.

Another video, directed by Anton Corbjin has also been released. You can watch it below.

The band’s new album, Reflektor, can be pre-ordered here by UK users.

David Bowie confirms appearance on Arcade Fire single

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David Bowie confirms appearance on Arcade Fire single
David Bowie has contributed "brief backing vocals" to Arcade Fire's new single, "Reflektor". The news was confirmed on Bowie's Facebook page: "As 9 o'clock pm creeps around the globe on the 9th day of the 9th month, Reflektor, (the latest offering from Arcade Fire) becomes available from participa...

David Bowie has contributed “brief backing vocals” to Arcade Fire’s new single, “Reflektor”.

The news was confirmed on Bowie’s Facebook page:

“As 9 o’clock pm creeps around the globe on the 9th day of the 9th month, Reflektor, (the latest offering from Arcade Fire) becomes available from participating stores across the planet.

“We can confirm that David Bowie has supplied a brief backing vocal on the James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) produced track (no saxophone though), which is being issued under the alias of The Reflektors in the reflekting sleeve pictured here.

“The vinyl is a very limited 2-track 12” with an instrumental of the A-side on the reverse and will only be available in stores at 9:00pm at your nearest participating store.

“The reverse of the sleeve is designed to look like it has an album tracklisting for the upcoming album due on October 29th, but it is in fact just snippets of lyrics from Reflektor.

“There will also be an Anton Corbijn directed video of the song premiered this evening.”

We want your questions for Smokey Robinson

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We want your questions for Smokey Robinson

As he begins work on his new album, Duets due for release next year, Smokey Robinson is set to answer your questions in Uncut as part of our regular Audience With… feature. So is there anything you’ve always wanted to ask the legendary singer? What does he remember about living next door to Diana Ross as a child? Who are his favourite Motown artists? What are his memories of writing "Tears Of A Clown" with Stevie Wonder? Send up your questions by noon, Wednesday, September 11 to uncutaudiencewith@ipcmedia.com. The best questions, and Smokey's answers, will be published in a future edition of Uncut magazine. Please include your name and location with your question.

As he begins work on his new album, Duets due for release next year, Smokey Robinson is set to answer your questions in Uncut as part of our regular Audience With… feature.

So is there anything you’ve always wanted to ask the legendary singer?

What does he remember about living next door to Diana Ross as a child?

Who are his favourite Motown artists?

What are his memories of writing “Tears Of A Clown” with Stevie Wonder?

Send up your questions by noon, Wednesday, September 11 to uncutaudiencewith@ipcmedia.com. The best questions, and Smokey’s answers, will be published in a future edition of Uncut magazine. Please include your name and location with your question.

Arcade Fire debut new single “Reflektor” tonight

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Arcade Fire debut new single “Reflektor” tonight
Arcade Fire are to unveil their new single, "Reflektor", tonight [September 9]. The single appeared to leak over the weekend, with Tumblr site Onmimusic posting on Saturday [September 7] what was claimed to be "Reflektor". Since then, all working links to the leak have been taken down. The video f...

Arcade Fire are to unveil their new single, “Reflektor”, tonight [September 9].

The single appeared to leak over the weekend, with Tumblr site Onmimusic posting on Saturday [September 7] what was claimed to be “Reflektor“. Since then, all working links to the leak have been taken down.

The video for “Reflektor” has been directed by Anton Corbijn.

The track is taken from the band’s fourth album, which has been produced by James Murphy.

According to reports in The Sun newspaper, David Bowie features on a track after it was reported yesterday that he had joined the band and former LCD Soundsystem man James Murphy in recording sessions at New York’s Electric Lady studios. Whilst Bowie is known to be a fan of the group and once performed ‘Wake Up’ with them, representatives for Arcade Fire have stated they can “neither confirm nor deny” the rumours.

Meanwhile, Arcade Fire reportedly debuted a host of new songs at an intimate surprise set at a Montreal salsa bar last Wednesday [September 4]. Local website The Main reported that the band played to a “couple dozen” fans at the Salsatheque venue, who were told they would be removed from the venue if they attempted to record or take pictures of the gig on their cameraphones.

The Main described the ‘standout’ song of the short set as: “Imagine the Talking Heads’ ‘Once In A Lifetime’, but if David Bowie had written it while on vacation.” They added that the all-new-material set “was unexpectedly dance-oriented, due to the upbeat rhythms of conga drums and electronic flourishes alongside their most poppy sounds.”

Marc Bolan At The BBC: Radio Sessions And Broadcasts 1967-77

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Marc Bolan At The BBC: Radio Sessions And Broadcasts 1967-77

Six disc document of Bolan's evolution... The treasure trove of classic rock material recorded for the BBC has become a key part of the vintage reissue catalogue. But few artists possessed a destiny so intertwined with Auntie Beeb that it could produce a six-CD box set. As the excellent Mark Paytress liner notes – designed to look like early ‘70s ‘inkie’ music press coverage – explain at length, this is largely down to the extraordinary relationship between former Stoke Newington mod Marc Feld and laconic Liverpudlian hippy music crusader John Peel, which coincided with the launch of Radio One in September 1967. Peel’s promotion of his androgynous, elfin, rockabilly-loving friend on the alternative margins of The BBC’s new pop channel was so persistent that, at one point on this fascinating set, Peel feels compelled to make an on-air denial of the rumours that he has a financial stake in Bolan’s success. Famously, the pair fell out abruptly and terminally as Bolan made the transition from underground purveyor of Tolkien-esque acoustic whimsy to pop star so huge that he invented a genre – glam-rock – and caused scenes of teen hysteria so uncontrolled that Britain’s tabloids routinely compared ‘T.Rextasy’ to Beatlemania. The music that made this phenomenon is all here. But what makes Marc Bolan At The BBC a great box set is that, through live shows, interviews and even oddly barbed announcements of T.Rex tracks, it tells the story of Bolan’s rise, fall and tragically terminated redemption in the manner of a good documentary. The first two discs document the struggle of an ambitious, prolific writer of inspired hippy gibberish to find an audience beyond a relatively small coterie of ‘freaks’. Discs three and four place the glory of one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll noises ever created within the context of Bolan’s often startling hubris, pretentiousness and defensiveness when faced with an interviewer. And the final two discs chart a genuinely depressing creative decline, yet more hubris, increasing disrespect from BBC voices and the beginnings of a humble, self-mocking comeback before a car-crash at Barnes Common deprived us of a unique figure in British music. Whether this is the cunning agenda of compiler Clive Zone is unclear. But the story is so vivid that there’s absolutely no need for a narrator. For Bolan fans hungry for new music, the first two discs are the treasure trove. Kicking off with five tracks from Bolan’s strange Simon Napier-Bell-instigated stint as songwriter-guitarist with proto-punk troublemakers John’s Children, the abrupt switch just four months later to the mystical acoustica of the Tyrannosaurus Rex partnership with bongo player Steve Peregrine Took possesses a breathtaking chutzpah, and flags up Bolan’s ability to make abrupt U-turns that worked. Through sessions, concerts and even a poetry recital or two, the base Bolan elements take shape and coalesce into something increasingly special; the rockabilly themes of cars and girls reinterpreted through a personal mythology of meetings with wizards and bucolic imagery, with the generation gap between square adults and The Kids presented as a kind of metaphorical netherworld; a Middle-Earth of star-children prancing carefree to the funky strums and crackling vocals of Pied Piper Marc. By the time Mickey Finn replaced Took in late 1969, electric guitar is making its first tentative appearance, and songs like “Fist Heart Mighty Dawn Dart” and “By The Light Of The Magical Moon” are becoming a new kind of pop music, reaching for the James Burton licks, proper drums and Tolkien-meets-Little Richard teen poetry that finally changed everything for Bolan with the success of the “Ride A White Swan” single in October 1970. Many of the tracks covering the 1971-72 imperial phase here are simply the Tony Visconti-produced studio backing tracks with Bolan overdubbing new guitar and vocals. They show off what a pro Bolan was in even the most rudimentary studio situation, but, in the end, just sound like more sonically muffled versions of the superior originals. It’s the interviews that become increasingly fascinating, as even the most friendly question about the possibility that Bolan has lost the support of his underground audience is met with increasingly lofty pronouncements where he compares himself to Dylan and Hendrix, defines himself as a best-selling poet, suggests that both critics and old fans are too thick to understand the complex political messages hidden in lines like “She’s faster than most and she lives on the coast, uh-huh-huh.” Marc Bolan At The BBC lays this story bare, and, as well as thrilling you with at least four discs-worth of great music, feels like the most poignant release of Bolan’s posthumous career; a sad, frustrating unmade movie about a doomed rock star. But the soundtrack is a thriller. Garry Mulholland Q&A BOB HARRIS How did you first meet Bolan? It was at John Peel’s basement flat in Fulham in late 1967. I went round to interview John for a student magazine called Unit, so I was meeting him for the first time, too. Marc looked amazing, with his corkscrew hair and silk trousers, sitting on the carpet cross-legged strumming an acoustic guitar. It was the trigger moment for a great friendship with both of them. You went on to compere throughout the legendary T.Rextasy tour in early 1971… Yes. It was bedlam. At the first gig in Portsmouth there were hundreds of kids waiting outside afterwards. We went out through this corridor formed by policemen and all the girls were waving scissors around, trying to get locks of Marc’s hair. I was behind him so the blades of these scissors were coming at me at exactly eye-level. It was completely unexpected for Marc but very exciting. For the rest of the tour we were in the cars and gone while the last note was still resonating. Was the sudden change from cult-hippy Tyrannosaurus Rex to teen-glam T. Rex contrived ambition or natural progression? A combination of the two. The most important element was that Marc’s music was always underpinned by his enormous love for and knowledge of early rock ‘n’ roll. You get to “Ride A White Swan” – the turning point – and its exactly halfway between what “Deborah” was and what “Get It On” was going to become.’ The Bolan At The Beeb booklet reveals your take on the abrupt end of the Bolan/Peel relationship. Maybe it wasn’t Marc’s hubris after all… No. John wrote a hurtful review of T.Rex in Disc And Music Echo magazine. But John had a track record of doing this. Not long after I started on Whistle Test in 1970 he stopped talking to me, and didn’t until I started doing the country show on Radio 2 in 1998. He never explained why. INTERVIEW: GARRY MULHOLLAND

Six disc document of Bolan’s evolution…

The treasure trove of classic rock material recorded for the BBC has become a key part of the vintage reissue catalogue. But few artists possessed a destiny so intertwined with Auntie Beeb that it could produce a six-CD box set. As the excellent Mark Paytress liner notes – designed to look like early ‘70s ‘inkie’ music press coverage – explain at length, this is largely down to the extraordinary relationship between former Stoke Newington mod Marc Feld and laconic Liverpudlian hippy music crusader John Peel, which coincided with the launch of Radio One in September 1967. Peel’s promotion of his androgynous, elfin, rockabilly-loving friend on the alternative margins of The BBC’s new pop channel was so persistent that, at one point on this fascinating set, Peel feels compelled to make an on-air denial of the rumours that he has a financial stake in Bolan’s success.

Famously, the pair fell out abruptly and terminally as Bolan made the transition from underground purveyor of Tolkien-esque acoustic whimsy to pop star so huge that he invented a genre – glam-rock – and caused scenes of teen hysteria so uncontrolled that Britain’s tabloids routinely compared ‘T.Rextasy’ to Beatlemania.

The music that made this phenomenon is all here. But what makes Marc Bolan At The BBC a great box set is that, through live shows, interviews and even oddly barbed announcements of T.Rex tracks, it tells the story of Bolan’s rise, fall and tragically terminated redemption in the manner of a good documentary.

The first two discs document the struggle of an ambitious, prolific writer of inspired hippy gibberish to find an audience beyond a relatively small coterie of ‘freaks’. Discs three and four place the glory of one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll noises ever created within the context of Bolan’s often startling hubris, pretentiousness and defensiveness when faced with an interviewer. And the final two discs chart a genuinely depressing creative decline, yet more hubris, increasing disrespect from BBC voices and the beginnings of a humble, self-mocking comeback before a car-crash at Barnes Common deprived us of a unique figure in British music. Whether this is the cunning agenda of compiler Clive Zone is unclear. But the story is so vivid that there’s absolutely no need for a narrator.

For Bolan fans hungry for new music, the first two discs are the treasure trove. Kicking off with five tracks from Bolan’s strange Simon Napier-Bell-instigated stint as songwriter-guitarist with proto-punk troublemakers John’s Children, the abrupt switch just four months later to the mystical acoustica of the Tyrannosaurus Rex partnership with bongo player Steve Peregrine Took possesses a breathtaking chutzpah, and flags up Bolan’s ability to make abrupt U-turns that worked. Through sessions, concerts and even a poetry recital or two, the base Bolan elements take shape and coalesce into something increasingly special; the rockabilly themes of cars and girls reinterpreted through a personal mythology of meetings with wizards and bucolic imagery, with the generation gap between square adults and The Kids presented as a kind of metaphorical netherworld; a Middle-Earth of star-children prancing carefree to the funky strums and crackling vocals of Pied Piper Marc.

By the time Mickey Finn replaced Took in late 1969, electric guitar is making its first tentative appearance, and songs like “Fist Heart Mighty Dawn Dart” and “By The Light Of The Magical Moon” are becoming a new kind of pop music, reaching for the James Burton licks, proper drums and Tolkien-meets-Little Richard teen poetry that finally changed everything for Bolan with the success of the “Ride A White Swan” single in October 1970.

Many of the tracks covering the 1971-72 imperial phase here are simply the Tony Visconti-produced studio backing tracks with Bolan overdubbing new guitar and vocals. They show off what a pro Bolan was in even the most rudimentary studio situation, but, in the end, just sound like more sonically muffled versions of the superior originals. It’s the interviews that become increasingly fascinating, as even the most friendly question about the possibility that Bolan has lost the support of his underground audience is met with increasingly lofty pronouncements where he compares himself to Dylan and Hendrix, defines himself as a best-selling poet, suggests that both critics and old fans are too thick to understand the complex political messages hidden in lines like “She’s faster than most and she lives on the coast, uh-huh-huh.”

Marc Bolan At The BBC lays this story bare, and, as well as thrilling you with at least four discs-worth of great music, feels like the most poignant release of Bolan’s posthumous career; a sad, frustrating unmade movie about a doomed rock star. But the soundtrack is a thriller.

Garry Mulholland

Q&A

BOB HARRIS

How did you first meet Bolan?

It was at John Peel’s basement flat in Fulham in late 1967. I went round to interview John for a student magazine called Unit, so I was meeting him for the first time, too. Marc looked amazing, with his corkscrew hair and silk trousers, sitting on the carpet cross-legged strumming an acoustic guitar. It was the trigger moment for a great friendship with both of them.

You went on to compere throughout the legendary T.Rextasy tour in early 1971…

Yes. It was bedlam. At the first gig in Portsmouth there were hundreds of kids waiting outside afterwards. We went out through this corridor formed by policemen and all the girls were waving scissors around, trying to get locks of Marc’s hair. I was behind him so the blades of these scissors were coming at me at exactly eye-level. It was completely unexpected for Marc but very exciting. For the rest of the tour we were in the cars and gone while the last note was still resonating.

Was the sudden change from cult-hippy Tyrannosaurus Rex to teen-glam T. Rex contrived ambition or natural progression?

A combination of the two. The most important element was that Marc’s music was always underpinned by his enormous love for and knowledge of early rock ‘n’ roll. You get to “Ride A White Swan” – the turning point – and its exactly halfway between what “Deborah” was and what “Get It On” was going to become.’

The Bolan At The Beeb booklet reveals your take on the abrupt end of the Bolan/Peel relationship. Maybe it wasn’t Marc’s hubris after all…

No. John wrote a hurtful review of T.Rex in Disc And Music Echo magazine. But John had a track record of doing this. Not long after I started on Whistle Test in 1970 he stopped talking to me, and didn’t until I started doing the country show on Radio 2 in 1998. He never explained why.

INTERVIEW: GARRY MULHOLLAND

Watch Pixies debut new songs live

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Watch Pixies debut new songs live
The Pixies debuted a number of new songs at a surprise show at the Echo in Los Angeles on Friday [September 6]. The band are due to begin their world tour tonight [September 9]. According to Slicing Up Eyeballs, the band played six new songs, among them "Bagboy" and three songs - "Another Toe", "W...

The Pixies debuted a number of new songs at a surprise show at the Echo in Los Angeles on Friday [September 6].

The band are due to begin their world tour tonight [September 9].

According to Slicing Up Eyeballs, the band played six new songs, among them “Bagboy” and three songs – “Another Toe”, “What Goes Boom” and “Indie Cindy” – from EP-1, which the band released last week.

The Pixies also played two unreleased songs, reportedly called “Blue Eyed Hexe” and “Greens and Blues”.

It was the band’s first show in nearly two years, and their first to feature new bassist, Kim Shattuck of The Muffs, who replaced Kim Deal.

“Blue Eyed Hexe” and “Greens and Blues”

“What Goes Boom”

“Another Toe In The Ocean”

“Bagboy”

Neil Young prepping latest Archives release

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Neil Young prepping latest Archives release
Neil Young is to release the latest instalment of his Archives series before the end of this year. According to a report on Vintage Vinyl News, Young will release Live At the Cellar Door 1970. The recording is taken from six shows Young played at The Cellar Door, Washington, DC on November 30, and...

Neil Young is to release the latest instalment of his Archives series before the end of this year.

According to a report on Vintage Vinyl News, Young will release Live At the Cellar Door 1970.

The recording is taken from six shows Young played at The Cellar Door, Washington, DC on November 30, and December 1 and 2, 1970.

Previous stand-alone releases in the Archives series have included Live At The Fillmore East 1970 (with Crazy Horse), Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968 and Massey Hall 1971.

A release date of September 6, 2013 had originally been reported; although a revised date suggests the album is now due for November.

Neil Young fansite Thrasher’s Wheat has posted the following tracklisting:

On The Way Home

Tell Me Why

Only Love Can Break Your Heart

Old Man

Down By The River

After The Gold Rush

Expecting To Fly

Flying On The Ground Is Wrong

Bad Fog Of Loneliness

See The Sky About To Rain

Kurt Vile to release new collaborative EP with Sore Eros

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Kurt Vile to release new collaborative EP with Sore Eros
Kurt Vile has announced a new EP in collaboration with Sore Eros, Pitchfork reports. The three-track record - called Jamaica Plain - will feature material recorded in the early 2000s, when Vile was still working as a forklift truck driver before he signed a record deal with the Matador label. Cre...

Kurt Vile has announced a new EP in collaboration with Sore Eros, Pitchfork reports.

The three-track record – called Jamaica Plain – will feature material recorded in the early 2000s, when Vile was still working as a forklift truck driver before he signed a record deal with the Matador label.

Created in collaboration with Sore Eros – aka Robert Robinson, who was once a member of Vile’s band The Violators – the tracks were recorded in Vile’s hometown of Philadelphia and in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

Last month, Vile was presented with the Liberty Bell Award after it was announced August 28 would be named Kurt Vile Day in Philadelphia. The award is the highest honour the city can bestow upon one of its citizens and is only eligible to be received by natives of the area. It is presented in recognition of outstanding professional achievements and civic generosity. Vile was born in Philadelphia in 1980 and is known for his love of the city.

The Jamaica Plain EP will be released on November 4 and will be available as a 10″ and digital download. The tracklisting is as follows:

‘Jamaica Plain’

‘Serum’

‘Calling Out Of Work’

Kurt Vile returns to the UK in December for a six-date tour. Vile will play the following dates:

London O2 Shepherds Bush Empire (Dec 11)

Leeds Brudenell Social Club (13)

Manchester Academy 2 (14)

Glasgow Arches (15)

Bristol Fleece (16)

Brighton Concorde 2 (17)

John Lennon reveals “hell” of recording Let It Be in lost interview

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John Lennon reveals “hell” of recording Let It Be in lost interview

A lost, decades-old interview with John Lennon sees the singer reveal that recording Let It Be was "hell". As the Telegraph reports, the audio interview – with Village Voice journalist Howard Smith – was recorded shortly after The Beatles had finished work on the 1969 studio album. However, it lay forgotten in Smith's attic for nearly four decades but will now be put up for sale by RR Auction. In the interview, Lennon – who was speaking to Smith along with his wife, Yoko Ono – says of working on the record: "We were going through hell. We often do. It's torture every time we produce anything. The Beatles haven't got any magic you haven't got. We suffer like hell anytime we make anything, and we got each other to contend with. Imagine working with The Beatles, it's tough." He added: "There's just tension. It's tense every time the red light goes on." Lennon, who also described the LP as a "strange album", continued: "We never really finished it. We didn't really want to do it. Paul was hustling for us to do it. It's The Beatles with their suits off." RR Auction vice president Bobby Livingston said that the tape had a minimum bid price of $300, but estimated that it could reach between $5,000 and $10,000. It is just one of 100 Beatles-related items that will go under the hammer of their Marvels Of Modern Music memorabilia sale. "It's a frank and honest interview from one of the most revered musicians and activists of all time," he said.

A lost, decades-old interview with John Lennon sees the singer reveal that recording Let It Be was “hell”.

As the Telegraph reports, the audio interview – with Village Voice journalist Howard Smith – was recorded shortly after The Beatles had finished work on the 1969 studio album. However, it lay forgotten in Smith’s attic for nearly four decades but will now be put up for sale by RR Auction.

In the interview, Lennon – who was speaking to Smith along with his wife, Yoko Ono – says of working on the record: “We were going through hell. We often do. It’s torture every time we produce anything. The Beatles haven’t got any magic you haven’t got. We suffer like hell anytime we make anything, and we got each other to contend with. Imagine working with The Beatles, it’s tough.”

He added: “There’s just tension. It’s tense every time the red light goes on.” Lennon, who also described the LP as a “strange album”, continued: “We never really finished it. We didn’t really want to do it. Paul was hustling for us to do it. It’s The Beatles with their suits off.”

RR Auction vice president Bobby Livingston said that the tape had a minimum bid price of $300, but estimated that it could reach between $5,000 and $10,000. It is just one of 100 Beatles-related items that will go under the hammer of their Marvels Of Modern Music memorabilia sale. “It’s a frank and honest interview from one of the most revered musicians and activists of all time,” he said.

Stephen Stills confirms CSNY appearance at Bridge School concert

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Stephen Stills confirms CSNY appearance at Bridge School concert
Stephen Stills has confirmed that CSNY will perform at this year's Bridge School Benefit concerts. In an interview in the Boston Globe, Stills says, "We’re doing the Bridge School Benefit with Neil at the end of October so I will see everybody then. But we were on the road for 18 months, me and D...

Stephen Stills has confirmed that CSNY will perform at this year’s Bridge School Benefit concerts.

In an interview in the Boston Globe, Stills says, “We’re doing the Bridge School Benefit with Neil at the end of October so I will see everybody then. But we were on the road for 18 months, me and David and Graham, so we’re having a little vacation.”

Neil Young has recently cancelled dates on the latest tour with Crazy Horse due to an ongoing injury to guitarist Poncho Sampedro’s hand.

Young has also unveiled plans for his Pono audio service, which is due to launch in 2014.

Stills and Young’s bandmate, David Crosby confirmed details of his new album earlier this week on Twitter.

Meanwhile, CSNY are working on a set of their 1974 live tour, which has been has been delayed until next year.

We want your questions for Howe Gelb

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We want your questions for Howe Gelb

As he releases his new album The Coincidentalist, the legendary Howe Gelb is set to answer your questions in Uncut as part of our regular Audience With… feature. So is there anything you’ve always wanted to ask the alt.country guru? How did Calexico end up becoming his backing band? What does he remember about working with PJ Harvey on Giant Sand's Cover Magazine album? What are his memories of the music scene in Tuscon in the late 1970s? Send up your questions by noon, Tuesday, September 10 to uncutaudiencewith@ipcmedia.com. The best questions, and Howe's answers, will be published in a future edition of Uncut magazine. Please include your name and location with your question.

As he releases his new album The Coincidentalist, the legendary Howe Gelb is set to answer your questions in Uncut as part of our regular Audience With… feature.

So is there anything you’ve always wanted to ask the alt.country guru?

How did Calexico end up becoming his backing band?

What does he remember about working with PJ Harvey on Giant Sand‘s Cover Magazine album?

What are his memories of the music scene in Tuscon in the late 1970s?

Send up your questions by noon, Tuesday, September 10 to uncutaudiencewith@ipcmedia.com. The best questions, and Howe’s answers, will be published in a future edition of Uncut magazine. Please include your name and location with your question.

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