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Isle of Wight, Hop Farm and Doctor Dee

Michael Bonner
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Isle of Wight, Hop Farm and Doctor Dee

Hi there, I hope those of you who braved the abysmal weather last weekend to go to the Isle of Wight festival had a good time and made it back unscathed. I realise I'm probably damning myself as I write this, but at this point I’m cautiously optimistic that the weather will hold for Hop Farm this coming weekend. That said, it’s only Tuesday and the summer’s not exactly covered itself in glory this year, has it? Anyway, rain or shine, Allan and I will be heading down on Saturday, and both of us are predictably excited to see Patti Smith and, of course, Bob Dylan. I must admit, the prospect of a set from Bruce Forsyth also holds a strange appeal. Allan will, I’m sure, write about the show over on his blog when he’s back in the office. At the moment, we’re eagerly anticipating the arrival of some early copies of the new issue of Uncut. I don’t want to tease you too much about the content, but look out for an exclusive interview with one of our favourite artists. Needless to say, we’re very, very pleased with the issue – and we think you’ll be thrilled, too. Over on the blogs, John’s report on the Best Of 2012 So Far continues to generate debate, while I’ve filed an early preview piece on Lawless, the new film written by Nick Cave and anchored by a typically muscular performance from Tom Hardy. This evening, John and I are off to see Damon Albarn’s opera, Doctor Dee, so expect one of us to report back on that tomorrow. Anyway, I hope the rest of your week passes peacefully. And if you see Allan at Hop Farm, do please come up and say hi. I’m sure he’d be delighted to stop for a blether. Especially if you buy him a pint, too. Cheers! Michael Photo: Andy Willsher/NME/IPC+ Syndication

Hi there,

I hope those of you who braved the abysmal weather last weekend to go to the Isle of Wight festival had a good time and made it back unscathed.

I realise I’m probably damning myself as I write this, but at this point I’m cautiously optimistic that the weather will hold for Hop Farm this coming weekend. That said, it’s only Tuesday and the summer’s not exactly covered itself in glory this year, has it? Anyway, rain or shine, Allan and I will be heading down on Saturday, and both of us are predictably excited to see Patti Smith and, of course, Bob Dylan. I must admit, the prospect of a set from Bruce Forsyth also holds a strange appeal. Allan will, I’m sure, write about the show over on his blog when he’s back in the office.

At the moment, we’re eagerly anticipating the arrival of some early copies of the new issue of Uncut. I don’t want to tease you too much about the content, but look out for an exclusive interview with one of our favourite artists. Needless to say, we’re very, very pleased with the issue – and we think you’ll be thrilled, too.

Over on the blogs, John’s report on the Best Of 2012 So Far continues to generate debate, while I’ve filed an early preview piece on Lawless, the new film written by Nick Cave and anchored by a typically muscular performance from Tom Hardy. This evening, John and I are off to see Damon Albarn’s opera, Doctor Dee, so expect one of us to report back on that tomorrow.

Anyway, I hope the rest of your week passes peacefully. And if you see Allan at Hop Farm, do please come up and say hi. I’m sure he’d be delighted to stop for a blether. Especially if you buy him a pint, too.

Cheers!

Michael

Photo: Andy Willsher/NME/IPC+ Syndication

Beachwood Sparks – The Tarnished Gold

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Beachwood Sparks – The Tarnished Gold

Zen and the art of twang: LA's cosmic psych cowboys return after a decade-long hiatus... Picking up nearly where they left off in their early-2000s prime, Los Angeles’ Beachwood Sparks’ reunion renews their kaleidoscopic, Californian approach to country-rock—a good-natured, soul-searching wash of sound in which vibe is everything. The Tarnished Gold, mature, with a revelatory appreciation for the simple life, might prove to be the true spiritual heir to their auspicious 2000 debut: winsome Zen-like roots/rock bursting from the heart with rich, ebullient harmonies, and atmospheric smears of steel guitar amid gentle sun-baked melodies. In their original 1997-2002 run, Beachwood Sparks were a band out of time. Too late for much notice by the No Depression generation, but appearing well in advance of the waves of Fleet Foxes and Bon Ivers, their timing was questionable. Yet in their unassuming way, they were perhaps the most convincing descendants yet in a cross-generational lineage of classic LA country-rockers, starting with the Byrds, and winding through the Flying Burritos, the Long Ryders, Minneapolis transports the Jayhawks, and Sparklehorse—though with an Elephant 6 twist: a raw sense wonder in their voices (and those heavenly harmonies), and a fascinatingly trippy bit of noise/rock and psychedelic experimentation in their sound. All four Sparks principals—including main songwriters Chris Guntz and Brent Rademaker—plus guitarist and frequent Ryan Adams collaborator Neal Casal, are on board for the rebirth, recorded essentially live in the studio. From the ease-in of the opener, "Forget the Song," softly burnished vocals enveloped in electric guitar curlicues and ethereal steel, the group pulls off their particular and peculiar world-unto-itself, floating-dream ambiance. While the self-explanatory “Sparks Will Fly,” a relatively rambunctious tribute-to-themselves replete with exhortative Beach Boys-style backing vocals—“Tampa to LA on a West Coast flight!” sings Farmer Dave Scher with a radiance worthy of Chuck Berry on “Promised Land”—kicks up some dust (especially given its shimmering Notorious Byrd Brothers guitar break), most of The Tarnished Gold inhabits those groggy moments between dreamland and wakefulness—gauzy, pensive mindtrips atop simple folk structures, lyrics zeroing in on love and loneliness, dead-ends and simple acceptance, basic human existence. “Water From the Well” is a case in point: With its gentle, stair-step guitar and rolling-river melody—rustic contemplations on freedom and the wonder of nature—it's a kind of salve, soul music for complicated times. “Nature’s Light” and "Leave That Light On," sister songs both, follow suit, sprawling, expansive pieces, hushed voices merging with gentle cascades of fingerpicked guitar. Not everything works to perfection: “No Queremos Oro,” a mariachi-style tribute to Gunst’s LA roots, ambitious and warmly executed, simply doesn't fit in; Rademaker’s down-home “Talk About Lonesome” is surely the album’s catchiest, most straight-ahead number, exuding pure Nashville-style songcraft, with harmonica accents and a sing-songy chorus. But it doesn't play to the band's strengths, its lack of depth rendering it (admittedly, over many listens) as a kind of throwaway. “Earl Jean,” showing off their innate pop sense, though, might be Tarnished Gold's most impressive cut. Buried toward discs' end, it's a love song, its laidback seesaw melody ushering listeners into their own personal daydream, before pin-prick guitar leads explode into an open-hearted vocal. “Don’t feel so strange/As there could be at any moment a change,” goes one lyric, reminiscent of Dillard & Clark's "Out On the Side." Other highlights abound: "The Orange Grass Special," echoes of Johnny Cash and Carter Family Americana, is a nice detour; brief closer, "Goodbye," verging on lullaby, wraps things up as pure dreamscape. Still, Tarnished Gold's gorgeous title track is its centerpiece—musically and philosophically—and definitive Beachwood Sparks: with Gunst's vocal cradling its evergreen melody like a newborn baby amid tender harmonies and sunrays of steel guitar, it's part love song, part elegy to the mysteries of life: "Funny how when you find what you’re looking for/It was already there.” Luke Torn Q&A Chris Gunst What is it about Byrds/Burritos country-rock that holds such sway? I think that the connection to Byrds, Burritos, etc. became more of a talking point for press rather than how we felt, and I think it kind of pigeonholed us a bit. I mean obviously the sound of some of those records was influential, but so was . . . Felt, Ride, Spiritualized, Joy Division etc. But how do you wrap that craziness up in a soundbite? How would you characterize it then? I don't think it was a desire to live in the 70's or something. I think the style was influential as well as enjoyment of the aesthetic. It is in our collective conscious as a band, and a place where we have common ground and meet. When we are together, this is the music we make. The band seems to take on a meta-identity of its own. What does "Cosmic American Music" mean to you? Two things: When I hear that, I have attachments to certain music or bands--such as Parsons, Byrds, Burritos, Beach Boys, but I also have a more literal understanding: America, the openness of the landscape, independent nature as a tradition of some Americans, connection to the land, mixing of cultures, creating new traditions, reinvention, alchemy. INTERVIEW: Luke Torn Photo: Jim Goodrich

Zen and the art of twang: LA’s cosmic psych cowboys return after a decade-long hiatus…

Picking up nearly where they left off in their early-2000s prime, Los Angeles’ Beachwood Sparks’ reunion renews their kaleidoscopic, Californian approach to country-rock—a good-natured, soul-searching wash of sound in which vibe is everything. The Tarnished Gold, mature, with a revelatory appreciation for the simple life, might prove to be the true spiritual heir to their auspicious 2000 debut: winsome Zen-like roots/rock bursting from the heart with rich, ebullient harmonies, and atmospheric smears of steel guitar amid gentle sun-baked melodies.

In their original 1997-2002 run, Beachwood Sparks were a band out of time. Too late for much notice by the No Depression generation, but appearing well in advance of the waves of Fleet Foxes and Bon Ivers, their timing was questionable. Yet in their unassuming way, they were perhaps the most convincing descendants yet in a cross-generational lineage of classic LA country-rockers, starting with the Byrds, and winding through the Flying Burritos, the Long Ryders, Minneapolis transports the Jayhawks, and Sparklehorse—though with an Elephant 6 twist: a raw sense wonder in their voices (and those heavenly harmonies), and a fascinatingly trippy bit of noise/rock and psychedelic experimentation in their sound.

All four Sparks principals—including main songwriters Chris Guntz and Brent Rademaker—plus guitarist and frequent Ryan Adams collaborator Neal Casal, are on board for the rebirth, recorded essentially live in the studio. From the ease-in of the opener, “Forget the Song,” softly burnished vocals enveloped in electric guitar curlicues and ethereal steel, the group pulls off their particular and peculiar world-unto-itself, floating-dream ambiance.

While the self-explanatory “Sparks Will Fly,” a relatively rambunctious tribute-to-themselves replete with exhortative Beach Boys-style backing vocals—“Tampa to LA on a West Coast flight!” sings Farmer Dave Scher with a radiance worthy of Chuck Berry on “Promised Land”—kicks up some dust (especially given its shimmering Notorious Byrd Brothers guitar break), most of The Tarnished Gold inhabits those groggy moments between dreamland and wakefulness—gauzy, pensive mindtrips atop simple folk structures, lyrics zeroing in on love and loneliness, dead-ends and simple acceptance, basic human existence.

“Water From the Well” is a case in point: With its gentle, stair-step guitar and rolling-river melody—rustic contemplations on freedom and the wonder of nature—it’s a kind of salve, soul music for complicated times. “Nature’s Light” and “Leave That Light On,” sister songs both, follow suit, sprawling, expansive pieces, hushed voices merging with gentle cascades of fingerpicked guitar.

Not everything works to perfection: “No Queremos Oro,” a mariachi-style tribute to Gunst’s LA roots, ambitious and warmly executed, simply doesn’t fit in; Rademaker’s down-home “Talk About Lonesome” is surely the album’s catchiest, most straight-ahead number, exuding pure Nashville-style songcraft, with harmonica accents and a sing-songy chorus. But it doesn’t play to the band’s strengths, its lack of depth rendering it (admittedly, over many listens) as a kind of throwaway.

“Earl Jean,” showing off their innate pop sense, though, might be Tarnished Gold’s most impressive cut. Buried toward discs’ end, it’s a love song, its laidback seesaw melody ushering listeners into their own personal daydream, before pin-prick guitar leads explode into an open-hearted vocal. “Don’t feel so strange/As there could be at any moment a change,” goes one lyric, reminiscent of Dillard & Clark‘s “Out On the Side.”

Other highlights abound: “The Orange Grass Special,” echoes of Johnny Cash and Carter Family Americana, is a nice detour; brief closer, “Goodbye,” verging on lullaby, wraps things up as pure dreamscape. Still, Tarnished Gold’s gorgeous title track is its centerpiece—musically and philosophically—and definitive Beachwood Sparks: with Gunst’s vocal cradling its evergreen melody like a newborn baby amid tender harmonies and sunrays of steel guitar, it’s part love song, part elegy to the mysteries of life: “Funny how when you find what you’re looking for/It was already there.”

Luke Torn

Q&A

Chris Gunst

What is it about Byrds/Burritos country-rock that holds such sway?

I think that the connection to Byrds, Burritos, etc. became more of a talking point for press rather than how we felt, and I think it kind of pigeonholed us a bit. I mean obviously the sound of some of those records was influential, but so was . . . Felt, Ride, Spiritualized, Joy Division etc. But how do you wrap that craziness up in a soundbite?

How would you characterize it then?

I don’t think it was a desire to live in the 70’s or something. I think the style was influential as well as enjoyment of the aesthetic. It is in our collective conscious as a band, and a place where we have common ground and meet. When we are together, this is the music we make. The band seems to take on a meta-identity of its own.

What does “Cosmic American Music” mean to you?

Two things: When I hear that, I have attachments to certain music or bands–such as Parsons, Byrds, Burritos, Beach Boys, but I also have a more literal understanding: America, the openness of the landscape, independent nature as a tradition of some Americans, connection to the land, mixing of cultures, creating new traditions, reinvention, alchemy.

INTERVIEW: Luke Torn

Photo: Jim Goodrich

Jack White: “There’s no romance in singing about an iPod”

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Jack White: “There’s no romance in singing about an iPod”
Jack White has spoken about his issues with digital format music and his love of vinyl records. Speaking in a video interview with the BBC, the former frontman of The White Stripes said that he enjoys the "romance" of vinyl, adding that "invisible" digital music "makes you feel like some other bein...

Jack White has spoken about his issues with digital format music and his love of vinyl records.

Speaking in a video interview with the BBC, the former frontman of The White Stripes said that he enjoys the “romance” of vinyl, adding that “invisible” digital music “makes you feel like some other being is in charge”.

White, whose Third Man Records label uses a vinyl plant local to its base in Nashville to press their records, said: “The whole experience of vinyl is what we’re after, the romance of it… The smell of vinyl, the smell of a newly opened record. If we don’t see something moving, we lose romance. There’s no romance for me to sing to you about an iPod.”

He continued: “But why? Because nothing’s moving. I think digital and invisible things, they make you feel like some other being is in charge of this somewhere else, ‘I’m just a witness to this and I’ll just sit here politely’.”

White also explained his reasoning for giving Third Man Records a yellow, white and black colour theme. “I don’t like image for the sake of image,” he said. “It has to come from a place that means something. The colours yellow, white and black go all the way back to my upholstery hand tools from my upholstery shop.”

Earlier this month Radiohead’s Thom Yorke hinted that he could be set to collaborate with Jack White. According to Billboard, the singer made a cryptic announcement from the stage during the band’s set at the Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival in Tennessee, suggesting that he and White had some exciting plans in the pipeline.

Dedicating the track “Supercollider” to the Blunderbuss singer, he said: “This song is for Jack White. We saw him yesterday. A big thank-you to him, but we can’t tell you why. You’ll find out.”

Photo: Jo McCaughey/Press

Sex Pistols to re-release Pretty Vacant for 35th anniversary

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Sex Pistols to re-release Pretty Vacant for 35th anniversary
The Sex Pistols are to reissue their 1977 single, "Pretty Vacant". A limited edition seven-inch picture disc will be released via Universal Music on July 2 - 35 years to the day that the single originally came out. "Pretty Vacant", released as the band's third single following "Anarchy In The UK" ...

The Sex Pistols are to reissue their 1977 single, “Pretty Vacant”.

A limited edition seven-inch picture disc will be released via Universal Music on July 2 – 35 years to the day that the single originally came out.

“Pretty Vacant”, released as the band’s third single following “Anarchy In The UK” and “God Save The Queen”, peaked at number 6 in its fourth week on the UK singles chart.

Reissued versions of the single charted again in 1992 and 2007, while a live version of the song cracked the top 20 in 1996.

In a press release announcing the latest reissue, Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon simply said: “This is the Pretty Vacünt press release. Thank you.”

The new picture disc will receive a limited pressing of 3,500 copies. An expanded edition of the band’s legendary debut album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols, will follow in September.

Blur on their Hyde Park show: ‘Who knows if it will ever happen again?’

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Blur on their Hyde Park show: ‘Who knows if it will ever happen again?’
Blur have cast doubt on their future once again, with bassist Alex James hinting that the band's show in Hyde Park this summer could be their last. The band will headline a huge outdoor gig at London's Hyde Park on August 12, which sees them topping a bill that also includes New Order and The Speci...

Blur have cast doubt on their future once again, with bassist Alex James hinting that the band’s show in Hyde Park this summer could be their last.

The band will headline a huge outdoor gig at London’s Hyde Park on August 12, which sees them topping a bill that also includes New Order and The Specials. The gig has been put on to coincide with the closing ceremony of the Olympic games.

Speaking in a new video, which you can see by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking, James said that the band are expecting “an emotional show” when they play Hyde Park and are unsure “if it will ever happen again”.

He said of the band’s plans for their Hyde Park show: “The shows we did in 2009 were the best we’ve ever done and to be asked to close the Olympics was something we didn’t feel we could turn down. I think it’s going to be quite an emotional show, we certainly get quite overwhelmed by playing the songs, which doesn’t happen if you’re playing them all the time.”

He continued: “This is something that happens incredibly rarely and who knows if it will ever happen again? Or if this is the end or the beginning of the next chapter.”

James also gave more details on the band’s planned release of new tracks “Under The Westway” and “The Puritan”, which will debut next Monday (July 2) in a live video stream performance on Twitter.

Speaking about the premiere, James said: “Monday 2nd of July, somewhere in London, on a rooftop, we will be performing both new songs, live on Twitter, which is the first time anything like that’s happened.”

He then gave more details about the tracks, adding: “The two new tracks have been written specifically for the Hyde Park show. Two tracks that show completely different sides of Blur. ‘The Puritan‘ is a big, up and at em’, bouncy, sing-a-long special and ‘Under The Westway’ is more of a hymn, but I think they’ll go down really well.”

Blur will embark on an intimate UK tour this August. The Britpop icons will play four shows, beginning at Margate’s Winter Gardens on August 1. They will then play two shows at Wolverhampton’s Civic Hall on August 5 and 6, before finishing off at Plymouth’s Pavilions on August 7.

Blur will release a career-spanning boxset on July 30. Titled 21, the collection includes the band’s seven studio albums as well as over five hours of previously unreleased material including 65 tracks, rarities, three DVDs, a collector’s edition book and special limited edition Seymour seven-inch vinyl.

First Look – Nick Cave’s Lawless

Michael Bonner
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0
First Look – Nick Cave’s Lawless

Speaking to Uncut around the release of The Proposition, Nick Cave conceded, “The whole thing was a struggle. So much effort was put into it. It’s the most agonising, frustrating business to be in. Years go by trying to get something off the ground – one idea! It’s unbelievable, the vision you have at the beginning is constantly chipped away at, and you haven’t even filmed anything.” By the time The Proposition screenplay finally went before the cameras in the summer of 2004, it had been through almost a decade of rewrites, endured wearisome financial wrangles and scheduling conflicts. With this in mind, you could be forgiven for wondering why Cave persists with his film projects. For someone with such a clearly defined creative agenda as Cave, who presumably enjoys final say over his music with the Bad Seeds or Grinderman, it must be especially infuriating to adopt a defensive position when shepherding through extra-curricular projects like screenplays. But The Proposition is one of the lucky ones that got made. The most famous of Cave’s lost scripts is his screenplay for a mooted sequel to Gladiator. At the invitation of the film’s star Russell Crowe, Cave worked up a script that envisaged Crowe’s character Maximus, who died at the end of the original film, resurrected by ancient gods and sent back to Earth. “For some ridiculous, fucked-up Hollywood reason, he can’t die and goes and fights all the wars in history,” Cave explained (you can see Cave discussing the project in the clip below). There were plans to collaborate again with The Proposition director John Hillcoat, this time on a yarn about the exploits of a lecherous travelling salesman set in Cave’s adopted hometown of Brighton, provisionally titled Death Of A Ladies Man. The writer and director even had a star attached to the project – Ray Winstone. But the project stalled and Cave eventually converted his screenplay into the novel, The Death Of Bunny Monro. Since then, Cave’s name has been linked – accurately or not – to several other film projects, among them a stop-motion adaptation of Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera and rewrite duties on a remake of The Crow. Neither of these sound like half as much fun as his sterling voiceover work on an animated short called The Cat Piano (see below). Meanwhile, Cave and Hillcoat have finally managed to get another film off the ground: an adaptation of Matt Bondurant’s 2008 novel, The Wettest County In The World. As with The Proposition, the focus of Lawless is on three brothers – the Bondurants, who’re running their moonshine business from the hills of Franklin County, Virginia during Prohibition. The relationship between criminals and the law is a recurring theme in all of Cave’s (produced) screenplays. You might think of the guards and inmates locked down in Central Industrial prison in Hillcoat and Cave’s first collaboration, 1988’s Ghosts… Of The Civil Dead, or the Burns gang and their dealings with the colonial police in The Proposition. Indeed, it’s easy to see the appeal of Bondurant’s book to Cave. The prose is lyrical – the nods to Cormac McCarthy are there – the violence almost constant, from the opening scene of a pig being slaughtered onwards, and the patterns Bondurant divines in the story seem to reach for something more profound than a simple hillbilly gangster tale. In Forrest Bondurant, the seemingly indestructible eldest brother, Bondurant has created a character as mythic as The Proposition’s Arthur Burns. It’s been retitled Lawless, which feels as generic as it comes. The soundtrack is a strange fish. The incidental score – a moody, minimal thing from Cave and Warren Ellis – feels like a welcome continuation of their work on The Proposition and Hillcoat's Cormac McCarthy adaptation, The Road. But there is also a second soundtrack, performed by The Bootleggers (Cave, Ellis, Martyn Casey, George Vjestica and David Sardy) with guests including Mark Lanegan, Emmylou Harris and bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley. They perform a mix of covers – the Velvet Underground, Townes Van Zandt, Link Wray – alongside original compositions. It doesn’t entirely work. The covers are too disruptive (“White Light/White Heat” over a montage of scenes from the 1930s), and you might wish for more contemporaneous folk ballads from the Smithsonian Folkways vaults. The acting, though, is tremendous. Is there a more watchable actor at the moment than Tom Hardy? As Forrest Bondurant, he speaks in a slow, deep voice that sounds like a creaking door hinge. His bulk is immense. Guy Pearce, as the Special Deputy sent to bring the Bondurants to justice, is a perfumed, preening sadist, who brings to mind Eden Fletcher, the English landowner in The Proposition, with his declaration to “civilise this land.” Certainly, Pearce's Charley Rakes would have fitted in well amongst The Proposition's cast of grotesques. There is a good extended cameo from Gary Oldman as a mob boss who gets to do something unpleasant with a shovel, while Shia LaBeouf tries hard as the youngest Bondurant, Jack, a nervous figure, trying manfully to live up to his elder brother’s expectations. It is mostly good stuff. But I wish it had a cleaner, leaner sense of purpose, like The Proposition, and more surprises, too. If Cave and Hillcoat's previous film was as hard and inhospitable as the Australian Outback, then this feels a mite too loose, as if writer and director have been sipping away on the grog coming out of those hills and let their focus drift. Lawless opens in the UK on September 7.

Speaking to Uncut around the release of The Proposition, Nick Cave conceded, “The whole thing was a struggle. So much effort was put into it. It’s the most agonising, frustrating business to be in. Years go by trying to get something off the ground – one idea! It’s unbelievable, the vision you have at the beginning is constantly chipped away at, and you haven’t even filmed anything.”

By the time The Proposition screenplay finally went before the cameras in the summer of 2004, it had been through almost a decade of rewrites, endured wearisome financial wrangles and scheduling conflicts. With this in mind, you could be forgiven for wondering why Cave persists with his film projects. For someone with such a clearly defined creative agenda as Cave, who presumably enjoys final say over his music with the Bad Seeds or Grinderman, it must be especially infuriating to adopt a defensive position when shepherding through extra-curricular projects like screenplays.

But The Proposition is one of the lucky ones that got made. The most famous of Cave’s lost scripts is his screenplay for a mooted sequel to Gladiator. At the invitation of the film’s star Russell Crowe, Cave worked up a script that envisaged Crowe’s character Maximus, who died at the end of the original film, resurrected by ancient gods and sent back to Earth. “For some ridiculous, fucked-up Hollywood reason, he can’t die and goes and fights all the wars in history,” Cave explained (you can see Cave discussing the project in the clip below).

There were plans to collaborate again with The Proposition director John Hillcoat, this time on a yarn about the exploits of a lecherous travelling salesman set in Cave’s adopted hometown of Brighton, provisionally titled Death Of A Ladies Man. The writer and director even had a star attached to the project – Ray Winstone. But the project stalled and Cave eventually converted his screenplay into the novel, The Death Of Bunny Monro.

Since then, Cave’s name has been linked – accurately or not – to several other film projects, among them a stop-motion adaptation of Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera and rewrite duties on a remake of The Crow. Neither of these sound like half as much fun as his sterling voiceover work on an animated short called The Cat Piano (see below).

Meanwhile, Cave and Hillcoat have finally managed to get another film off the ground: an adaptation of Matt Bondurant’s 2008 novel, The Wettest County In The World. As with The Proposition, the focus of Lawless is on three brothers – the Bondurants, who’re running their moonshine business from the hills of Franklin County, Virginia during Prohibition. The relationship between criminals and the law is a recurring theme in all of Cave’s (produced) screenplays. You might think of the guards and inmates locked down in Central Industrial prison in Hillcoat and Cave’s first collaboration, 1988’s Ghosts… Of The Civil Dead, or the Burns gang and their dealings with the colonial police in The Proposition. Indeed, it’s easy to see the appeal of Bondurant’s book to Cave. The prose is lyrical – the nods to Cormac McCarthy are there – the violence almost constant, from the opening scene of a pig being slaughtered onwards, and the patterns Bondurant divines in the story seem to reach for something more profound than a simple hillbilly gangster tale. In Forrest Bondurant, the seemingly indestructible eldest brother, Bondurant has created a character as mythic as The Proposition’s Arthur Burns.

It’s been retitled Lawless, which feels as generic as it comes. The soundtrack is a strange fish. The incidental score – a moody, minimal thing from Cave and Warren Ellis – feels like a welcome continuation of their work on The Proposition and Hillcoat’s Cormac McCarthy adaptation, The Road. But there is also a second soundtrack, performed by The Bootleggers (Cave, Ellis, Martyn Casey, George Vjestica and David Sardy) with guests including Mark Lanegan, Emmylou Harris and bluegrass musician Ralph Stanley. They perform a mix of covers – the Velvet Underground, Townes Van Zandt, Link Wray – alongside original compositions. It doesn’t entirely work. The covers are too disruptive (“White Light/White Heat” over a montage of scenes from the 1930s), and you might wish for more contemporaneous folk ballads from the Smithsonian Folkways vaults.

The acting, though, is tremendous. Is there a more watchable actor at the moment than Tom Hardy? As Forrest Bondurant, he speaks in a slow, deep voice that sounds like a creaking door hinge. His bulk is immense. Guy Pearce, as the Special Deputy sent to bring the Bondurants to justice, is a perfumed, preening sadist, who brings to mind Eden Fletcher, the English landowner in The Proposition, with his declaration to “civilise this land.” Certainly, Pearce’s Charley Rakes would have fitted in well amongst The Proposition’s cast of grotesques.

There is a good extended cameo from Gary Oldman as a mob boss who gets to do something unpleasant with a shovel, while Shia LaBeouf tries hard as the youngest Bondurant, Jack, a nervous figure, trying manfully to live up to his elder brother’s expectations.

It is mostly good stuff. But I wish it had a cleaner, leaner sense of purpose, like The Proposition, and more surprises, too. If Cave and Hillcoat’s previous film was as hard and inhospitable as the Australian Outback, then this feels a mite too loose, as if writer and director have been sipping away on the grog coming out of those hills and let their focus drift.

Lawless opens in the UK on September 7.

Experts call for change to industry guidelines following Radiohead stage collapse tragedy

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Experts call for change to industry guidelines following Radiohead stage collapse tragedy

Industry veteran Lars Brogaard has called for a fundamental change to stage erection guidelines following this month's fatal stage collapse at a Radiohead concert in Toronto. Brogaard, who has been production manager for Rod Stewart since 1985, recommended that the use of steel roofs should become an industry standard. Speaking to Rolling Stone, he insisted: "You need to go to steel. The shows nowadays are getting heavier and heavier with the lighting and the video screens. These aluminium roofs, they can't take the weight." According to Brogaard, the roof above the stage at Toronto's Downsview Park appeared to made of aluminium, which is still commonly used in North America because, being lighter than steel, it is cheaper to transport. Drum technician Scott Johnson was killed after a stage collapsed an hour before Radiohead's concert in Toronto on June 16. Three other people were injured in the incident, which has forced the band to reschedule seven European shows while they await replacement equipment. Four companies, including concert promoter Live Nation and Radiohead's Ticker Tape Touring, have been asked to comply with an investigation by the Canadian government into the stage collapse. According to veteran promoter John Scher, standard operating procedure for large outdoor concerts such as Radiohead's Toronto show suggest that Live Nation would have been responsible for the erection of the stage. Also speaking to Rolling Stone, Scher said: "It's not a theatre, it's not an arena, so you've got to go to a company that builds outdoor stages. Hopefully you'll check and make sure they've got the experience and references. It's the promoter's responsibility to be able to hire somebody who can deliver the specifications that the production manager and the act ask for." It is not known how long the investigation into the stage collapse will take, but spokesman Matt Blajer said: "This is a very complex one and it'll take some time."

Industry veteran Lars Brogaard has called for a fundamental change to stage erection guidelines following this month’s fatal stage collapse at a Radiohead concert in Toronto.

Brogaard, who has been production manager for Rod Stewart since 1985, recommended that the use of steel roofs should become an industry standard.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, he insisted: “You need to go to steel. The shows nowadays are getting heavier and heavier with the lighting and the video screens. These aluminium roofs, they can’t take the weight.”

According to Brogaard, the roof above the stage at Toronto’s Downsview Park appeared to made of aluminium, which is still commonly used in North America because, being lighter than steel, it is cheaper to transport.

Drum technician Scott Johnson was killed after a stage collapsed an hour before Radiohead’s concert in Toronto on June 16. Three other people were injured in the incident, which has forced the band to reschedule seven European shows while they await replacement equipment.

Four companies, including concert promoter Live Nation and Radiohead’s Ticker Tape Touring, have been asked to comply with an investigation by the Canadian government into the stage collapse.

According to veteran promoter John Scher, standard operating procedure for large outdoor concerts such as Radiohead’s Toronto show suggest that Live Nation would have been responsible for the erection of the stage.

Also speaking to Rolling Stone, Scher said: “It’s not a theatre, it’s not an arena, so you’ve got to go to a company that builds outdoor stages. Hopefully you’ll check and make sure they’ve got the experience and references. It’s the promoter’s responsibility to be able to hire somebody who can deliver the specifications that the production manager and the act ask for.”

It is not known how long the investigation into the stage collapse will take, but spokesman Matt Blajer said: “This is a very complex one and it’ll take some time.”

The Beach Boys announce new UK show for September

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The Beach Boys announce new UK show for September
The Beach Boys have announced a second UK show for later this year. The band, who announced that they had reformed to celebrate their 50th anniversary last December, will play London's Royal Albert Hall on September 27. The new show is the second London date of the band's full European tour, which...

The Beach Boys have announced a second UK show for later this year.

The band, who announced that they had reformed to celebrate their 50th anniversary last December, will play London’s Royal Albert Hall on September 27.

The new show is the second London date of the band’s full European tour, which will also see them play London’s Wembley Arena on September 28.

The Beach Boys, who now consist of Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston and David Marks, released their 29th studio album That’s Why God Made The Radio on June 4.

That’s Why God Made The Radio is the first album to feature all of the band’s surviving original members since 1963, and has been produced by Brian Wilson and executive produced by Mike Love.

Ron Wood to play with former Rolling Stones members

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Ron Wood to play with former Rolling Stones members

Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood is to reunite with former Rolling Stones members at a one-off gig this coming Saturday (June 30). The show, curated by Wood, is a celebration of legendary blues label, Chess Records, home to Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, Etta James and Muddy Waters. Taking place at London's HMV Hammersmith Apollo, Wood will be joined by the Stones' original bassist Bill Wyman and his immediate predecessor in the band, guitarist Mick Taylor. Wyman left the Rolling Stones in 1993, while Taylor played with the band between 1969 and 1974, on a run of albums including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street. The show is part of this year's BluesFest. Other festival highlights include Van Morrison Sings The Blues at the Hammersmith Apollo on Friday, June 29. You can find more information at www.bluesfest.co.uk.

Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood is to reunite with former Rolling Stones members at a one-off gig this coming Saturday (June 30).

The show, curated by Wood, is a celebration of legendary blues label, Chess Records, home to Howlin’ Wolf, Chuck Berry, Etta James and Muddy Waters.

Taking place at London’s HMV Hammersmith Apollo, Wood will be joined by the Stones’ original bassist Bill Wyman and his immediate predecessor in the band, guitarist Mick Taylor.

Wyman left the Rolling Stones in 1993, while Taylor played with the band between 1969 and 1974, on a run of albums including Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street.

The show is part of this year’s BluesFest. Other festival highlights include Van Morrison Sings The Blues at the Hammersmith Apollo on Friday, June 29.

You can find more information at www.bluesfest.co.uk.

We want your questions for Wayne Coyne

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We want your questions for Wayne Coyne
The Flaming Lips frontman, Wayne Coyne, 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 Wayne..? When working as a restaurant fry cook for in Oklahoma City, what were his specialities? A well-dressed man ...

The Flaming Lips frontman, Wayne Coyne, 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 Wayne..?

When working as a restaurant fry cook for in Oklahoma City, what were his specialities?

A well-dressed man by nature, who’s his favourite tailor?

Who would he most like to collaborate with next?

Send your questions to us by noon, Friday June 29 to uncutaudiencewith@ipcmedia.com.

The best questions, and Wayne’s answers, will be published in a future edition of Uncut magazine.

Please include your name and location with your question.

Thurston Moore unveils new band, Chelsea Light Moving

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Thurston Moore unveils new band, Chelsea Light Moving

Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore has unveiled his brand new band, Chelsea Light Moving. As well as Moore, the band also features Keith Moore on guitar, Samara Lubelski on bass and John Moloney on drums. The band's first release, "Burroughs", is inspired by the last words of Beat author William Burroughs, reports Spin. You can listen to the track at Matadorrecords.com. The band are set to air another track later this week. Last week, it was announced that Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore are set to release a mini-album in collaboration with Yoko Ono, entitled 'YOKOKIMTHURSTON'. The six track album will be released on September 24 and will feature the 14 minute long single, "Early In The Morning". In October last year, Gordon and Moore announced that they were separating after 27 years of marriage. The announcement raised doubts over the future of Sonic Youth after Matador revealed that plans for the band remained "uncertain", even though they had previously hinted they would record new material in 2011.

Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore has unveiled his brand new band, Chelsea Light Moving.

As well as Moore, the band also features Keith Moore on guitar, Samara Lubelski on bass and John Moloney on drums.

The band’s first release, “Burroughs”, is inspired by the last words of Beat author William Burroughs, reports Spin.

You can listen to the track at Matadorrecords.com.

The band are set to air another track later this week.

Last week, it was announced that Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore are set to release a mini-album in collaboration with Yoko Ono, entitled ‘YOKOKIMTHURSTON’. The six track album will be released on September 24 and will feature the 14 minute long single, “Early In The Morning”.

In October last year, Gordon and Moore announced that they were separating after 27 years of marriage.

The announcement raised doubts over the future of Sonic Youth after Matador revealed that plans for the band remained “uncertain”, even though they had previously hinted they would record new material in 2011.

Bruce Springsteen closes Isle Of Wight Festival 2012

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Bruce Springsteen closes Isle Of Wight Festival 2012
Bruce Springsteen closed the Isle Of Wight Festival last night (June 24) with a three-hour set ending in a cover of "Twist And Shout", the song made famous by The Beatles. Opening with "Badlands", the 62-year-old joked with the crowd about the coverage of the weekend's weather. "It looked bad on TV...

Bruce Springsteen closed the Isle Of Wight Festival last night (June 24) with a three-hour set ending in a cover of “Twist And Shout”, the song made famous by The Beatles.

Opening with “Badlands“, the 62-year-old joked with the crowd about the coverage of the weekend’s weather. “It looked bad on TV,” he told the crowd. “I didn’t bring my wellies, I think I left them at Glastonbury.”

Springsteen was in playful mood, taking a straw hat from a woman in the crowd and trying it on, noting “looks good”. Several times he descended from the stage in order to touch the hands of the crowd in the front rows, while during “Dancing In The Dark” he pulled a girl from the crowd in homage to its video, while also trying on her white cat hat for size.

The set featured several songs from his new album Wrecking Ball alongside classic hits. “There are hard times at home in the US and there are hard times here too,” he said before “Jack Of All Trades”.

Ending with a final run of classics including “Born In The USA“, “Born To Run” and “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”, Springsteen then said “I’m gonna leave you with a folk song,” before playing “Twist And Shout” – which The Who had also covered when they played the Isle of Wight in 1970.

Bruce Springsteen played:

‘Badlands’

‘No Surrender’

‘We Take Care Of Our Own’

‘Wrecking Ball’

‘Death To My Hometown’

‘My City Of Ruins’

‘Spirit In The Night’

‘Lonesome Day’

‘Jack Of All Trades’

‘Atlantic City’

‘Because The Night’

‘Working On The Highway’

‘Shackled And Drawn’

‘Waiting On A Sunny Day’

‘The River’

‘The Rising’

‘Out In The Street’

‘Land Of Hope And Dreams’

‘We Are Alive’

‘Born In The USA’

‘Born To Run’

‘Glory Days’

‘Dancing In The Dark’

‘Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out’

‘Twist And Shout’

Uncut Springsteen App

Tom Waits to perform songs from Bad As Me live for the first time

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Tom Waits to perform songs from Bad As Me live for the first time
Tom Waits is set to perform tracks from his most recent album, 2011's Bad As Me, live for the first time. The legendary singer songwriter will appear on the Late Show with David Letterman on July 9 and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on July 10, where he will be playing songs from his 17th studio albu...

Tom Waits is set to perform tracks from his most recent album, 2011’s Bad As Me, live for the first time.

The legendary singer songwriter will appear on the Late Show with David Letterman on July 9 and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on July 10, where he will be playing songs from his 17th studio album as well as appearing in conversation with the hosts.

News of the performances was announced via Tom Waits’ Facebook page, which read: “Tom will appear on late night television for Letterman on July 9 and Fallon on July 10. He will be talking with the hosts and giving the first live performance of songs from his latest recording, Bad As Me. Musicians joining Waits on stage include his son Casey Waits on drums, long time bassist Larry Taylor, guitarist David Hidalgo, keyboardist Augie Myers and guitarist Big Bill Morganfield.”

Both of Waits’ talk show appearances have been rescheduled from earlier in the year. Scroll down to listen to the title track from Bad As Me.

Blur to debut two new songs on live Twitter video stream

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Blur to debut two new songs on live Twitter video stream
Blur will debut two new songs next Monday (July 2) in a live video stream performance on Twitter. The band will perform "Under The Westway" and "The Puritan", written for their forthcoming sold-out Hyde Park gig on August 12, live from a secret UK location and it will be broadcast around the world ...

Blur will debut two new songs next Monday (July 2) in a live video stream performance on Twitter.

The band will perform “Under The Westway” and “The Puritan”, written for their forthcoming sold-out Hyde Park gig on August 12, live from a secret UK location and it will be broadcast around the world on Twitter.com/blurofficial at 6:15pm. Scroll down the page and click to hear versions of the songs.

An interview with the band will follow the performance of the first track before they will debut the second song at 7:15pm. Both songs will then be immediately available to download. A limited edition double A-side 7-inch single will be released by Parlophone on August 6.

Commenting on the live video stream performance, Damon Albarn said: “I wrote these songs for Hyde Park and I’m really excited about getting out there and playing them for people.”

On Friday, Blur teased fans by posting times and the names of the tracks on their Twitter page.

“The Puritan” post features a picture of a neon lettering stating “Hey puritan what you gonna do about it” while the shot which accompanies the “Under The Westway” tweet features a photo of the West London overpass emblazoned with the words: “Bring us the day they switch off the machines.”

Blur will embark on an intimate UK tour this August. The band play four shows, beginning at Margate’s Winter Gardens on August 1. They will then play two shows at Wolverhampton’s Civic Hall on August 5 and 6, before finishing off at Plymouth’s Pavilions on August 7.

The shows will act as a warm-up for the band’s huge outdoor gig at London’s Hyde Park on August 12, which sees Blur topping a bill that also includes New Order and The Specials. The gig has been put on to coincide with the closing ceremony of the Olympic games. Blur are also scheduled to headline Sweden’s Way Out West festival in August.

Blur will release a career-spanning boxset on July 30. Titled 21, the collection includes the band’s seven studio albums as well as over five hours of previously unreleased material including 65 tracks, rarities, three DVDs, a collector’s edition book and special limited edition Seymour seven-inch vinyl.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WPKXPgMkbc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX1ccrvM-E4

Dark Horse

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Dark Horse

Car crashes, comas, hepatatis and death. It's the return of Todd Solondz, of course! One encouraging trend I’ve noticed this year is the return of some leading lights from 1990s indie cinema. First, Whit Stillman emerged after a 13 year hiatus with Damsels In Distress, swiftly followed by Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom in May and now Todd Solondz is back with his first film since 2009’s Life During Wartime. Dark Horse is perhaps Solondz most straightforward movie – that’s to say, there’s no suicide, paedophilia or on-screen masturbation here – but it does at least find the director engaging with his favourite theme: suburban loneliness. Abe (Jordan Gelber), is a man of a certain age and girth, who still lives at home with his parents. “My parents need me!” He explains. “Grow up,” he’s told. “No one needs you.” His mother (Mia Farrow) mollycoddles him. Abe works – not very effectively – for his father’s real estate business. As his father is played by Christopher Walken, you sense this is not a healthy set of circumstances. Superficially, at least, this state of affairs seems not to trouble Abe unduly: the stereo in his bright yellow truck (resembling a giant Lego toy) pumps out air-punching, aspirational pop rock; he appears relentlessly upbeat. At a wedding, Abe meets the highly-medicated Miranda (Selma Blair), and you begin to suspect that in another universe, this could pan out as a romantic comedy with Seth Rogen or Zack Galifianakis playing the arrested adolescent opposite – God help us – Emily Blunt. Typically, Solondz prefers to grind out agonies for his protagonists – here you will find car crashes, comas, hepatatis and death. It’s the cinematic equivalent of setting fire to ants with a magnifying glass. Michael Bonner

Car crashes, comas, hepatatis and death. It’s the return of Todd Solondz, of course!

One encouraging trend I’ve noticed this year is the return of some leading lights from 1990s indie cinema. First, Whit Stillman emerged after a 13 year hiatus with Damsels In Distress, swiftly followed by Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom in May and now Todd Solondz is back with his first film since 2009’s Life During Wartime.

Dark Horse is perhaps Solondz most straightforward movie – that’s to say, there’s no suicide, paedophilia or on-screen masturbation here – but it does at least find the director engaging with his favourite theme: suburban loneliness. Abe (Jordan Gelber), is a man of a certain age and girth, who still lives at home with his parents. “My parents need me!” He explains. “Grow up,” he’s told. “No one needs you.” His mother (Mia Farrow) mollycoddles him. Abe works – not very effectively – for his father’s real estate business. As his father is played by Christopher Walken, you sense this is not a healthy set of circumstances.

Superficially, at least, this state of affairs seems not to trouble Abe unduly: the stereo in his bright yellow truck (resembling a giant Lego toy) pumps out air-punching, aspirational pop rock; he appears relentlessly upbeat. At a wedding, Abe meets the highly-medicated Miranda (Selma Blair), and you begin to suspect that in another universe, this could pan out as a romantic comedy with Seth Rogen or Zack Galifianakis playing the arrested adolescent opposite – God help us – Emily Blunt. Typically, Solondz prefers to grind out agonies for his protagonists – here you will find car crashes, comas, hepatatis and death. It’s the cinematic equivalent of setting fire to ants with a magnifying glass.

Michael Bonner

Jesus And Mary Chain Add New US Tour Dates

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Jesus And Mary Chain Add New US Tour Dates
The Jesus And Mary Chain have announced a new run of American tour dates. The band have just completed their first US tour in four years, and have now confirmed 18 dates to come starting in August. The band will play: August 2 – Buffalo, NY @ Thursday at the Harbor August 3 – Toronto, ON @ Ph...

The Jesus And Mary Chain have announced a new run of American tour dates. The band have just completed their first US tour in four years, and have now confirmed 18 dates to come starting in August.

The band will play:

August 2 – Buffalo, NY @ Thursday at the Harbor

August 3 – Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Theatre

August 4 – Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Festival

August 5 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues

September 6 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse

September 7 – Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Music Festival

September 8 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer

September 9 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club

September 11 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club

September 12 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Cub

September 13 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza

September 14 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza

September 15 – Detroit, MI @ Saint Andrew’s Hall

September 16 – Chicago, IL @ Riot Fest

September 19 – Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre

September 20 – Indianapolis, IN @ Vogue

September 21 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues

September 22 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Orbit Room

Tori Amos to play one-off show at London’s Royal Albert Hall

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Tori Amos to play one-off show at London’s Royal Albert Hall
Tori Amos is set to play a one-off show at London's Royal Albert Hall on October 3. The singer-songwriter will be joined by The Metropole Orchestra for the show, which will happen around the time of the release of her brand new album, Gold Dust. Her 13th studio album will be comprised of re-working...

Tori Amos is set to play a one-off show at London’s Royal Albert Hall on October 3.

The singer-songwriter will be joined by The Metropole Orchestra for the show, which will happen around the time of the release of her brand new album, Gold Dust. Her 13th studio album will be comprised of re-workings of previously released material from throughout her career. She released her last record, the classically inspired Night Of Hunters in 2011.

Last year the musical written by Tori Amos that was set to debut at London’s National Theatre this year was ‘postponed indefinitely’.

The singer was working on a theatrical adaptation of The Light Princess, an 1864 fairy tale by George MacDonald, which was due to open at the London Southbank venue’s Lyttelton auditorium in April 2012. A spokeswoman for the National Theatre said: “Development is continuing on The Light Princess and we’ll announce a new date for the production in due course.”

Isle of Wight Festival organisers insist no acts have pulled out after weather chaos

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Isle of Wight Festival organisers insist no acts have pulled out after weather chaos

No acts have pulled out of the Isle Of Wight Festival, despite heavy flooding throwing the event into chaos, a spokesperson has told NME. Earlier today, organiser John Giddings told the BBC that he would consider refunding ticket holders if they sent their tickets back. "I'm really sorry" he said. "I really appreciate all the support everyone has given us under the conditions... but the weather has been absolutely horrendous." The festival's site has already been hit by heavy rain, with the main car park for this weekend's event becoming waterlogged, leading to traffic congestion. Around 600 people were stranded on ferries overnight because traffic build-up meant passengers could not disembark. According to the latest Met Office forecast, today (June 22) will be pretty wet, with showers predicted to fall from around 10am (GMT) through to mid-afternoon. It should be dry after that though, meaning tonight's headliner Tom Petty should enjoy a rain-free set. Tomorrow (June 23) is expected to be dry throughout the day, with temperatures even reaching as high as 16 degrees. However, rain is predicted to hit the site after 7pm, meaning headliners Pearl Jam may well play to a damp crowd. Sunday (June 24) is the set to be the worst day for conditions, with rain expected to fall throughout the night and day, right up until the early evening, although it is predicted to stop for closing headliner Bruce Springsteen's set.

No acts have pulled out of the Isle Of Wight Festival, despite heavy flooding throwing the event into chaos, a spokesperson has told NME.

Earlier today, organiser John Giddings told the BBC that he would consider refunding ticket holders if they sent their tickets back. “I’m really sorry” he said. “I really appreciate all the support everyone has given us under the conditions… but the weather has been absolutely horrendous.”

The festival’s site has already been hit by heavy rain, with the main car park for this weekend’s event becoming waterlogged, leading to traffic congestion. Around 600 people were stranded on ferries overnight because traffic build-up meant passengers could not disembark.

According to the latest Met Office forecast, today (June 22) will be pretty wet, with showers predicted to fall from around 10am (GMT) through to mid-afternoon. It should be dry after that though, meaning tonight’s headliner Tom Petty should enjoy a rain-free set.

Tomorrow (June 23) is expected to be dry throughout the day, with temperatures even reaching as high as 16 degrees. However, rain is predicted to hit the site after 7pm, meaning headliners Pearl Jam may well play to a damp crowd.

Sunday (June 24) is the set to be the worst day for conditions, with rain expected to fall throughout the night and day, right up until the early evening, although it is predicted to stop for closing headliner Bruce Springsteen‘s set.

Stars announce new album ‘The North’

Tom Goodwyn
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Stars announce new album ‘The North’
Stars have announced that their new album will be titled 'The North' and that it will be released in September. The Canadian five-piece will release the record, which is their sixth studio album, on September 3. The album is the follow-up to their 2010 effort 'The Five Ghosts'. The band have al...

Stars have announced that their new album will be titled ‘The North’ and that it will be released in September.

The Canadian five-piece will release the record, which is their sixth studio album, on September 3. The album is the follow-up to their 2010 effort ‘The Five Ghosts’.

The band have also unveiled the album’s opening track ‘The Theory Of Relativity’, which you can hear by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.

Three of the band’s five members have previously been part of Broken Social Scene, who announced in late 2011 that they were now on indefinite hiatus, leaving their many members to pursue other projects.

Stars have yet to announce any tour dates in support of their new album.

The tracklisting for ‘The North’ is as follows:

‘The Theory Of Relativity’

‘Backlines’

‘The North’

‘Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It’

‘Through The Mines’

‘Do You Want To Die Together?’

‘Lights Changing Colour’

‘The Loose Ends Will Make Knots’

‘A Song Is A Weapon’

‘Progress’

‘The 400’

‘Walls’

The Best Of 2012 So Far: Additions, Footnotes etc…

John Mulvey
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The Best Of 2012 So Far: Additions, Footnotes etc…

Pondering what to write about this morning, it occurred to me that there were more things to say about my favourite albums of 2012 so far, following up from this Top 40 that I posted last week. For a start, a bunch of records that I forgot to include: 1. Earth – Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II (Southern Lord) 2. Kandodo – Kandodo (Thrill Jockey) 3. Motion Sickness Of Time Travel - Motion Sickness Of Time Travel (Spectrum Spools) 4. Panabrite – The Baroque Atrium (Preservation) 5. Plankton Wat – Spirits (Thrill Jockey) 6. Raajmahal – Raajmahal (Kelippah) 7. Terry Riley – Aleph (Tzadik) 8. Mike Wexler – Dispossession (Bella Union) Thanks to those of you who reminded me of some of these, and also to this next tranche of albums, which I think are worth a mention, even though I’m not 100 per cent sold on them: 9. Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls (Rough Trade) 10. Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral (4AD) 11. Tindersticks – The Something Rain (Lucky Dog) 12. Trembling Bells & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – The Marble Downs (Honest Jon’s) 13. Sharon Van Etten – Tramp (Jagjaguwar) I suspect 9-13 will be pretty familiar, but a few notes on 1-8, which seem to feature quite a concentration of longform synth/kosmische meditations of one kind or another, from Kandodo (Simon Price from The Heads, making ambient crust out of the Stooges’ “We Will Fall” and Sonic Boom’s early Spectrum records), to Motion Sickness Of Time Travel’s epic, glazed effort for the Emeralds’ label, which sits alongside Mark McGuire’s solo work as a bridge between ‘70s proto New Age and ‘90s dreampop, after a fashion. Raajmahal is one of a bunch of vinyl records made by and sent over by Decimus AKA Pat Murano, one of the the extended No Neck Blues Band family that also includes people like Dave ‘D Charles Speer’ Shuford. The Raajmahal s/t is a diffident, super-minimal drift set that reminds me a little bit of some of those Natural Snow Buildings records, but with a more pronounced weightlessness and space. Really lovely. Panabrite is straightahead kosmische synth that’s no less nice for all that, and is my favourite entry in Preservation’s Circa series since the Deep Magic and Quiet Evenings (featuring Motion Sickness Of Time Travel, incidentally) albums last year. Mike Wexler is a singer-songwriter with some arcane prog-folk inclinations, who hasn’t received the same levels of attention as most Bella Union artists. If you’ve got into “Dispossession”, I can vigorously recommend his “Sun Wheel” album that came out on Amish a few years back, and which I prefer. Finally, there’s this great new Terry Riley double CD trip, “Aleph”, that I didn’t even know existed until I picked up a tweet on the subject from The Wire’s Derek Walmsley last week. First time in a while that Riley has revisited the patient, unravelling organ reveries of “Descending Moonshine Dervishes” and “Persian Surgery Dervishes”, I think, and while the tuning of this particular just intonation can be hairy in places, the complete journey is hugely rewarding. Thanks for all your responses to the original list, by the way. I’m thinking that it may be hard to construct a readers’ chart out of them, but please keep them coming: always interesting to see your recommendations. Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Pondering what to write about this morning, it occurred to me that there were more things to say about my favourite albums of 2012 so far, following up from this Top 40 that I posted last week. For a start, a bunch of records that I forgot to include:

1. Earth – Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II (Southern Lord)

2. Kandodo – Kandodo (Thrill Jockey)

3. Motion Sickness Of Time Travel – Motion Sickness Of Time Travel (Spectrum Spools)

4. Panabrite – The Baroque Atrium (Preservation)

5. Plankton Wat – Spirits (Thrill Jockey)

6. Raajmahal – Raajmahal (Kelippah)

7. Terry Riley – Aleph (Tzadik)

8. Mike Wexler – Dispossession (Bella Union)

Thanks to those of you who reminded me of some of these, and also to this next tranche of albums, which I think are worth a mention, even though I’m not 100 per cent sold on them:

9. Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls (Rough Trade)

10. Mark Lanegan Band – Blues Funeral (4AD)

11. Tindersticks – The Something Rain (Lucky Dog)

12. Trembling Bells & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – The Marble Downs (Honest Jon’s)

13. Sharon Van Etten – Tramp (Jagjaguwar)

I suspect 9-13 will be pretty familiar, but a few notes on 1-8, which seem to feature quite a concentration of longform synth/kosmische meditations of one kind or another, from Kandodo (Simon Price from The Heads, making ambient crust out of the Stooges’ “We Will Fall” and Sonic Boom’s early Spectrum records), to Motion Sickness Of Time Travel’s epic, glazed effort for the Emeralds’ label, which sits alongside Mark McGuire’s solo work as a bridge between ‘70s proto New Age and ‘90s dreampop, after a fashion.

Raajmahal is one of a bunch of vinyl records made by and sent over by Decimus AKA Pat Murano, one of the the extended No Neck Blues Band family that also includes people like Dave ‘D Charles Speer’ Shuford. The Raajmahal s/t is a diffident, super-minimal drift set that reminds me a little bit of some of those Natural Snow Buildings records, but with a more pronounced weightlessness and space. Really lovely. Panabrite is straightahead kosmische synth that’s no less nice for all that, and is my favourite entry in Preservation’s Circa series since the Deep Magic and Quiet Evenings (featuring Motion Sickness Of Time Travel, incidentally) albums last year.

Mike Wexler is a singer-songwriter with some arcane prog-folk inclinations, who hasn’t received the same levels of attention as most Bella Union artists. If you’ve got into “Dispossession”, I can vigorously recommend his “Sun Wheel” album that came out on Amish a few years back, and which I prefer.

Finally, there’s this great new Terry Riley double CD trip, “Aleph”, that I didn’t even know existed until I picked up a tweet on the subject from The Wire’s Derek Walmsley last week. First time in a while that Riley has revisited the patient, unravelling organ reveries of “Descending Moonshine Dervishes” and “Persian Surgery Dervishes”, I think, and while the tuning of this particular just intonation can be hairy in places, the complete journey is hugely rewarding.

Thanks for all your responses to the original list, by the way. I’m thinking that it may be hard to construct a readers’ chart out of them, but please keep them coming: always interesting to see your recommendations.

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