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The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess: ‘We used to blow coke up each other’s arses’

Tom Goodwyn
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0
The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess: ‘We used to blow coke up each other’s arses’
The Charlatans' singer Tim Burgess has made a rather startling revelation in his new autobiography, Telling Stories. The book, which is described as a "frank and vivid memoir" by its publishers, promises tales of rock'n'roll excess and it certainly offers that, especially with one particular reve...

The Charlatans‘ singer Tim Burgess has made a rather startling revelation in his new autobiography, Telling Stories.

The book, which is described as a “frank and vivid memoir” by its publishers, promises tales of rock’n’roll excess and it certainly offers that, especially with one particular revelation.

Part way through, Burgess casually reveals that he and his bandmates used to indulge in offering each other ‘Manhattan-powdered doughnuts’. For the uninitiated, that’s not New York-specific snack, but the practice of blowing cocaine up each others’ arses.

He writes: “We discovered the process of blowing coke up each others’ arses. There, I have said it. It’s not like we invented the practice, but I realise now it’s not an everyday thing for most people.”

Burgess then goes on to placate libel lawyers by assuring the general public that the whole band did not take part and also smashes that age old cliché that it’s better to give than receive.

He continues: “Not every member of The Charlatans took part in this highly-charged ritual, which has been described as having ‘a Manhattan-powdered doughnut’. I was a giver and receiver. They say giving is better than receiving, but believe me, in this case the giving is not that great.”

No wonder, then, that Burgess named his limited-edition breakfast cereal ‘Totes Amazeballs’ rather than ‘Manhattan Powdered Doughnuts’. The book is published next Thursday (April 26).

Watch: Your favourite Levon Helm performances

John Mulvey
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Watch: Your favourite Levon Helm performances

To celebrate the life and music of Levon Helm today, I’ve been collecting your favourite songs and clips of him over on Twitter @JohnRMulvey. Enormous thanks, then, to @DanPatonMusic, @BDStanley, @Trickytoon, @HarrieBosma, @DanJones655, @HughesRich, @p_wood, @thescrvnr and @Ed_Oldham for their suggestions. I’ve collected them all below. Nice way to memorialise a remarkable musician, I hope. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZaU3VtMfoM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te7KW4K-00E http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF32IZggmBg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpYsBArEg30 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P-NuPWKQDg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaKD1Vdarnw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBuJB218UvU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDgu6iE4od0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLTZGTlRTus http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbSkXWCh5Z4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqbTPVvZ5pA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNVFu7c3yMU

To celebrate the life and music of Levon Helm today, I’ve been collecting your favourite songs and clips of him over on Twitter @JohnRMulvey.

Enormous thanks, then, to @DanPatonMusic, @BDStanley, @Trickytoon, @HarrieBosma, @DanJones655, @HughesRich, @p_wood, @thescrvnr and @Ed_Oldham for their suggestions. I’ve collected them all below. Nice way to memorialise a remarkable musician, I hope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF32IZggmBg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P-NuPWKQDg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqbTPVvZ5pA

Leonard Cohen’s former manager sentenced to 18 months in prison

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Leonard Cohen’s former manager sentenced to 18 months in prison
Leonard Cohen's former manager, Kelley Lynch, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, with five years probation, after being found guilty of harassing the singer. She will also have to attend anger management classes, psychological training and alcohol education sessions, Rolling Stone reports...

Leonard Cohen‘s former manager, Kelley Lynch, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, with five years probation, after being found guilty of harassing the singer.

She will also have to attend anger management classes, psychological training and alcohol education sessions, Rolling Stone reports. In addition, Lynch is now banned from owning weapons for the next 10 years.

Lynch was last week also convicted of violating court orders forbidding her to contact Cohen after a campaign of expletive-strewn emails and letters.

Cohen severed all ties with Lynch in 2004 after accusing her of stealing $5 million from him, suing her in 2005. He had told the court that his former manager made up lies claiming he was a drug addict in order to destroy his reputation.

Cohen said that Lynch had accused him of tax evasion and perjury in a series of messages he claimed had made his life “a complete and utter living hell”. He added that the voicemail messages would sometimes be 10 minutes in length and that Lynch said he “needed to be taken down and shot”.

Lynch’s lawyer Nikhil Ramnaney had claimed that the messages were prompted by the loss of her career and that they were actually “cries for help”, rather than threats.

Cohen recently announced a one-off UK outdoor show for later this year. The singer, who released his 12th studio album ‘Old Ideas’ in January, will headline a new event put on by the promoters of Hop Farm Festival, which is named A Day At Hop Farm.

The show takes place on September 8 at Hop Farm Country Park in Kent and will have a capacity of around 10,000. Cohen will play a three-hour set and will also have a full supporting bill. It will be Cohen’s only UK show of his 2012 world tour.

Red Hot Chili Peppers cover David Bowie, Ramones, Beach Boys on new EP

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Red Hot Chili Peppers cover David Bowie, Ramones, Beach Boys on new EP
Red Hot Chili Peppers are set to release a covers EP to celebrate their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last weekend in Cleveland, Ohio. The six track EP sees them covering tracks by fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members, including their versions of the Ramones' 'Havana Affair',...

Red Hot Chili Peppers are set to release a covers EP to celebrate their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last weekend in Cleveland, Ohio.

The six track EP sees them covering tracks by fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members, including their versions of the Ramones‘ ‘Havana Affair’, Iggy and the Stooges’ ‘Search and Destroy’, Neil Young‘s ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’, David Bowie‘s ‘Suffragette City’, the Beach Boys‘ ‘I Get Around’ and Dion and the Belmonts’ ‘A Teenager In Love’, reports Rolling Stone.

Most of the tracks have previously been available – but only one of them digitally. The band’s version of ‘Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere’ was recorded during their current tour.

Earlier this month Red Hot Chili Peppers gave away a live EP as a free download from their official website Redhotchillipeppers.com.

The EP was recorded on the band’s 2011 European arena tour, with four of the five tracks on the free download recorded on the band’s UK run of shows. The EP included the band’s early singles ‘Give It Away’ and ‘If You Have To Ask’, ‘Dani California’ and recent cuts ‘Look Around’ and ‘Monarchy Of Roses’.

Red Hot Chili Peppers will return to the UK and Ireland this summer to play three huge outdoor shows. The band will play Knebworth Park near Stevenage on June 23, Sunderland‘s Stadium Of Light on June 24 and Dublin‘s Croke Park on June 26.

Feist and Mastodon cover each other for Record Store Day – listen

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Feist and Mastodon cover each other for Record Store Day – listen
Feist and Mastodon have covered each other's songs to celebrate this year's Record Store Day and you can hear the covers now by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking. The Georgia metallers have covered Feist's 'A Commotion' from her recent album 'Metals', while Feist has in turn c...

Feist and Mastodon have covered each other’s songs to celebrate this year’s Record Store Day and you can hear the covers now by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.

The Georgia metallers have covered Feist’s ‘A Commotion’ from her recent album ‘Metals’, while Feist has in turn covered Mastodon’s ‘Black Tongue’, which is taken from their 2011 album ‘The Hunter’. Both tracks will be released on limited edition 7” vinyl this Saturday (April 21).

Mastodon will also release a cover of The Flaming Lips’ ‘A Spoonful Weighs A Ton’ over the record. They join the likes of Arcade Fire, The Black Keys and Arctic Monkeys in putting out special releases for Record Store Day.

Feist returns to the UK later this summer to headline Green Man Festival, joining the likes of Van Morrison, Slow Club, The Walkmen and Of Montreal at the festival.

‘Black Tongue’

‘A Commotion’

Primal Scream announce June UK tour

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Primal Scream announce June UK tour
Primal Scream have announced an intimate UK tour for this June. The band, who completed their 18-month tour in support of the reissue of their seminal 1991 album 'Screamadelica' last year, will play three dates in Scotland this summer. The gigs kick off at Inverness Ironworks on June 14, before ...

Primal Scream have announced an intimate UK tour for this June.

The band, who completed their 18-month tour in support of the reissue of their seminal 1991 album ‘Screamadelica’ last year, will play three dates in Scotland this summer.

The gigs kick off at Inverness Ironworks on June 14, before moving on to Aberdeen Music Hall on June 15. The band wrap things up with a headline show at Edinburgh’s Queens Hall on June 16.

The shows, which will act as warm-ups for the band’s shows at Isle Of Wight Festival and Hop Farm Festival, will be the group’s first scheduled live dates since bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield left to rejoin The Stone Roses.

Speaking to NME about this previously, singer Bobby Gillespie revealed that he asked Happy Mondays‘ dancer Bez to replace Mani, but the dancer told him he couldn’t play.

He said of this: “I was at an awards ceremony and Bez said to me, ‘What are you gonna do now that Mani’s gone?’ and I said, ‘Can you play the bass, Bez?’ How cool would that be? Bass and maracas! He was like, ‘I’d love to do it Bob, but I can’t fucking play!'”

Primal Scream are currently working on the follow-up to their 2008 album ‘Beautiful Future’.

Primal Scream will play:

Inverness Ironworks (June 14)

Aberdeen Music Hall (15)

Edinburgh Queens Hall (16)

Richard Thompson – My Life In Music

Tom Pinnock
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Richard Thompson – My Life In Music
Fairport Convention founder, solo artist and folk-rock guitar legend Richard Thompson is featured in Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes in the latest issue of Uncut (May 2012, Take 181), out now. The songwriter appeared in My Life In Music in our February 2009 issue, speaking to Terry Staunton about his favourite ...

Fairport Convention founder, solo artist and folk-rock guitar legend Richard Thompson is featured in Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes in the latest issue of Uncut (May 2012, Take 181), out now. The songwriter appeared in My Life In Music in our February 2009 issue, speaking to Terry Staunton about his favourite cuts, from Les Paul to Klaxons…

__________________________________

The First Record I Bought

Roy Rogers – A Four Legged Friend (1952)

“I must have been about three when I got this, a bit young to be buying records I suppose. I first heard it on the radio, on Family Favourites or such like, rather than in a cowboy film. I don’t think it was from any deep love of country and western, but I liked the idea of a man with a hat and a horse making a record together. It’s important to mention Trigger – he sort of neighs at the end.”

The Record That Made Me Pick Up A Guitar

Les Paul – Caravan (1950)

“This was in my dad’s record collection, and it really stood out from the other jazz stuff. It was

an odd-sounding start, sort of Oriental, and then Les Paul’s echo, multi-tracking effects and double-speed guitar made it seem like music from another planet. He was the first person I ever saw on TV holding a guitar. He inspired me to pose in front of the mirror with a tennis racket, long before Elvis came along.”

The Song I Wish I’d Written

Bob Dylan – Tangled Up In Blue (1975)

“It’s a ballad of sorts, but it’s not a linear ballad, the story jumps about back and forth. It’s great storytelling, and it shows how Dylan really studied Irish and Scottish folk music. He really knows that stuff, and it’s reflected in his contemporary take on the story song. There’s dozens of equally good examples in his back catalogue, but how he gets the message across in this one is particularly breathtaking.”

The Song That Changed My View Of Love Songs

Leonard Cohen – Suzanne (1967)

“Fairport Convention used to play this a lot in the early days, though I think we learnt it from the Judy Collins version. It struck me as an extraordinary way of writing about a love affair, really groundbreaking. It was clearly written by a poet. “Famous Blue Raincoat” is another with a great poetic quality, a remarkable song about a complex triangular relationship that very few writers are articulate enough to pull off.”

The Record I Wanted To Steal From My Sister

Jerry Lee Lewis – Big Blon’ Baby (1959)

“My first exposure to rock’n’roll was at Hampstead fairgrounds, blasting over the dodgems, or from the music seeping through my sister’s bedroom wall. Jerry Lee was the biggest influence on me. I still sing his stuff at gigs, and “Big Blon Baby” [the B-side to “Lovin’ Up A Storm”] is the ultimate lascivious rocker – a perfect picture of an obscene Mamie Van Doren type. If there was ever a reason to ban rock’n’roll, here it is.”

The Record That Makes Me Miss Vinyl

Louis Armstrong – St James Infirmary (1928)

“A song I heard a lot growing up, it sounded like it was from the Victorian age, dusty and ancient. It was a scratchy copy that my dad had, very poorly recorded to start with, but that just made it seem more exotic. There was always a sense of anticipation before you dropped the needle onto the groove, and then there’d be two seconds of hiss. I’d give anything to get those back again.”

The Record That Taught Me Something New

Klaxons – Myths Of The Near Future (2007)

“There’s very little new stuff that has the ability to blow you away. I don’t hear another Hendrix or Beatles, but I do find the Klaxons very interesting. It’s hard to come up with original melodies or chord structures, but they have a spirit of reinvention and seem to have found a way to rearrange the building blocks of rock’n’roll into something fresh and extremely listenable.”

The Music That Scared Me At The Cinema

Bernard Herrmann – Psycho (1960)

“He was a trained classical composer, but to most people he’ll be most closely identified by his Hitchcock scores. The Psycho score was as terrifying as the film itself. I’d never heard anything so menacing, especially when you’re sitting in the dark. There was a less-is-more simplicity. It was just strings but it was very disturbing, and you can hear how he harnessed influences like Ravel and Shostakovich.”

The Song That Restored My Faith In Pop

Abba – The Name Of The Game (1977)

“They’re a classic example of pop music surpassing its supposed limitations. It’s rare that something so sophisticated can have such mainstream appeal, popular music as a whole hasn’t had much sophistication since the swing era. ‘The Name Of The Game’ is a multi-layered work of art, full of musical and lyrical sub-plots. It may seem simple, but there’s so much detail.”

The Band That Taught Me Trad Folk Was Cool

The Watersons – For Pence And Spicy Ale (1975)

“Seeing The Watersons really opened my eyes. It was rare to hear that kind of harmony singing back then; it wasn’t considered cool compared to all the singer-songwriter types, but I thought they were very, very cool. This was sort of a comeback for them, nearly all traditional songs, and time proved just how influential they were. They certainly had a huge impact on Fairport.”

Avengers Assemble

Michael Bonner
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0
Avengers Assemble

Superior superhero mash up... Avengers Assemble represents a gearshift for Marvel Comics’ Marvel Studios division; “the initiation of Phase Two protocols”, as Robert Downey egomaniacal billionaire industrialist Tony Stark might say. It shepherds into one mega-franchise a number of Marvel’s successful current properties – Iron Man, Captain America, Thor – and reboots another, The Hulk, for a third time. This is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – an ambitious strategy to crossover plots, cast and concepts that finds actors signed up not just for one sequel, but in certain cases optioned for nine films. This kind of forward thinking is to be admired, but such is the nature of superhero movies that there is very little that is unpredictable here. It features six superdudes, some of whom are initially in conflict with one another before uniting to fight a common foe. An American city is imperiled. That it stars Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L Jackson and Tom Hiddleston ensures the acting is of quality. As Buffy creator Joss Whedon directs it, it has a savvy, pop culture wit about it. As it cost $220 million, the effects are satisfactorily high end. It’s in 3D, but that’s no longer really a selling point any longer.. The only surprise – and sorry for spoiling it for you – is an unexpected but entirely welcome cameo from Harry Dean Stanton, a warm, analogue presence in a robustly digital-age product. Discerning followers of the Marvel movies may quibble with the programmatic nature of Avengers Assemble. (Certainly, there’s none of the blithe, whimsical qualities that made the best Marvel films fly: it seems extraordinary now to think that Marvel took such a high-risk gamble signing up Robert Downey Jnr for Iron Man, at a time when Downey’s stock was at the very least uncertain). Whedon directs with professional skill. It would be daft to truffle around for depth, motivation or emotional resonance here, but there is some attempt – particularly by Mark Ruffalo, as the Hulk’s human counterpart, Bruce Banner – to push a little deeper into his character. Ruffalo brings a quiet, melancholic dignity to Banner while his colleagues work their way through the full repertoire of superhero cliché; in many ways, he is the most intriguing player here, a more reflective presence alongside Downey Jnr's deadpan cynicism. Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner – as super-assassins the Black Widow and Hawkeye – seem to come from have interesting, morally questionable backstories, which the film doesn’t feel obliged to address. Certainly not when there’s some witty banter to be had, or a “Hulk smash!” sequence. Indeed, as one watches Manhattan decimated in a final, exhausting battle between the Avengers and an army of alien baddies led by Hiddleston’s Loki, you might wonder how the insurance companies in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe pay out against claims relating to ‘damage caused by exploding giant alien slug.’ MICHAEL BONNER

Superior superhero mash up…

Avengers Assemble represents a gearshift for Marvel Comics’ Marvel Studios division; “the initiation of Phase Two protocols”, as Robert Downey egomaniacal billionaire industrialist Tony Stark might say. It shepherds into one mega-franchise a number of Marvel’s successful current properties – Iron Man, Captain America, Thor – and reboots another, The Hulk, for a third time. This is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – an ambitious strategy to crossover plots, cast and concepts that finds actors signed up not just for one sequel, but in certain cases optioned for nine films.

This kind of forward thinking is to be admired, but such is the nature of superhero movies that there is very little that is unpredictable here. It features six superdudes, some of whom are initially in conflict with one another before uniting to fight a common foe. An American city is imperiled. That it stars Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L Jackson and Tom Hiddleston ensures the acting is of quality. As Buffy creator Joss Whedon directs it, it has a savvy, pop culture wit about it. As it cost $220 million, the effects are satisfactorily high end. It’s in 3D, but that’s no longer really a selling point any longer.. The only surprise – and sorry for spoiling it for you – is an unexpected but entirely welcome cameo from Harry Dean Stanton, a warm, analogue presence in a robustly digital-age product.

Discerning followers of the Marvel movies may quibble with the programmatic nature of Avengers Assemble. (Certainly, there’s none of the blithe, whimsical qualities that made the best Marvel films fly: it seems extraordinary now to think that Marvel took such a high-risk gamble signing up Robert Downey Jnr for Iron Man, at a time when Downey’s stock was at the very least uncertain). Whedon directs with professional skill. It would be daft to truffle around for depth, motivation or emotional resonance here, but there is some attempt – particularly by Mark Ruffalo, as the Hulk’s human counterpart, Bruce Banner – to push a little deeper into his character. Ruffalo brings a quiet, melancholic dignity to Banner while his colleagues work their way through the full repertoire of superhero cliché; in many ways, he is the most intriguing player here, a more reflective presence alongside Downey Jnr’s deadpan cynicism. Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner – as super-assassins the Black Widow and Hawkeye – seem to come from have interesting, morally questionable backstories, which the film doesn’t feel obliged to address. Certainly not when there’s some witty banter to be had, or a “Hulk smash!” sequence.

Indeed, as one watches Manhattan decimated in a final, exhausting battle between the Avengers and an army of alien baddies led by Hiddleston’s Loki, you might wonder how the insurance companies in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe pay out against claims relating to ‘damage caused by exploding giant alien slug.’

MICHAEL BONNER

Levon Helm of The Band dies aged 71

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Levon Helm of The Band dies aged 71
Levon Helm, singer and drummer with The Band has died, aged 71. The news was announced in a message posted by his family on Facebook and Twitter, which read: "Levon Helm passed peacefully this afternoon. He was surrounded by family, friends and band mates and will be remembered by all he touched ...

Levon Helm, singer and drummer with The Band has died, aged 71.

The news was announced in a message posted by his family on Facebook and Twitter, which read: “Levon Helm passed peacefully this afternoon. He was surrounded by family, friends and band mates and will be remembered by all he touched as a brilliant musician and a beautiful soul.”

Earlier this week it was announced that Helm was in the final stages of his ‘battle with cancer’. A number of artists have paid tribute to the musician via Twitter. The Maccabees said: “Goodbye and thank you Levon xxx” while Yim Yames from My Morning Jacket wrote: “Sending well wishes and healing thoughts to the great Levon Helm and his family right now.”

The Mountain Goats posted “I am sad Levon Helm is dead that guy was great in every way long live Levon Helm’s spirit in all the musicians his life has touched” while BBC 6 Music DJ Lauren Laverne wrote that it was “awful news”.

The Band released their debut album, ‘Music From Big Pink’, in 1968, and went on to perform at the legendary Woodstock Festival in 1969. Their final show in 1976, which saw guest appearances from Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris and Neil Young, was the subject of the acclaimed Martin Scorsese documentary, ‘The Last Waltz’. The band went on to reform in the early 1980s, splitting for good in 1999 upon the death of Rick Danko.

Levon Helm won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album in 2010 with ‘Electric Dirt’ and in 2012 for the live album ‘Ramble At The Ryman’.

Watch Levon Helm and The Band performing ‘The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down’ and ‘The Weight’ from ‘The Last Waltz’ below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQYj2ltJKe8

US TV host Dick Clark dies

Tom Goodwyn
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0
US TV host Dick Clark dies

US TV host Dick Clark has died after suffering a massive heart attack yesterday (April 18). The 82-year-old fronted the popular live music show American Bandstand from 1956 until 1989. The music driven television programme saw appearances from the likes of The Jackson 5, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Link Wray. Clark also hosted the game show Pyramid. In the early 1970s Clark began hosting Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, a New Year's Eve broadcast direct from New York's Times Square, which he appeared on every year until his death - aside from 2004, after he suffered a stroke. The show has recently been co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest. Clark – who was nicknamed America's Oldest Teenager - leaves behind a wife and three children. The veteran presenter and businessman was undergoing a medical procedure when he suffered the heart attack which killed him. His death was announced by his agent, Paul Shefrin, reports ABC. Clark was the winner of several Emmy Awards and is a member of the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Watch The Jackson 5 and Link Wray appearing on American Bandstand below: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyn1cqSpUBE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l0c9wFoT1I

US TV host Dick Clark has died after suffering a massive heart attack yesterday (April 18).

The 82-year-old fronted the popular live music show American Bandstand from 1956 until 1989. The music driven television programme saw appearances from the likes of The Jackson 5, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Link Wray. Clark also hosted the game show Pyramid.

In the early 1970s Clark began hosting Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, a New Year’s Eve broadcast direct from New York’s Times Square, which he appeared on every year until his death – aside from 2004, after he suffered a stroke. The show has recently been co-hosted by Ryan Seacrest.

Clark – who was nicknamed America’s Oldest Teenager – leaves behind a wife and three children. The veteran presenter and businessman was undergoing a medical procedure when he suffered the heart attack which killed him. His death was announced by his agent, Paul Shefrin, reports ABC.

Clark was the winner of several Emmy Awards and is a member of the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Watch The Jackson 5 and Link Wray appearing on American Bandstand below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyn1cqSpUBE

Lee Ranaldo: ‘Sonic Youth’s future is up in the air’

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Lee Ranaldo: ‘Sonic Youth’s future is up in the air’
Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo has said that the band's future remains "up in the air". Last October, the band's members Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore announced they were separating after 27 years of marriage and sparked rumours that the band could split up, with their label Matador Records ad...

Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo has said that the band’s future remains “up in the air”.

Last October, the band’s members Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore announced they were separating after 27 years of marriage and sparked rumours that the band could split up, with their label Matador Records admitting they were “uncertain” of their future plans.

Ranaldo has been vague on the group’s future ever since and has now said that, although nothing has been decided, he and his bandmates are not making plans for new material or live dates.

Speaking to Spinner, Ranaldo said when asked about Sonic Youth’s future: “It’s up in the air. We’re taking a much-needed break and leaving it at that. We’re not saying anything final, but we’re not discussing anything for the future either. We’re just letting it be.”

Ranaldo went on to say that he’s relaxed about the possibility of the band ending as they’ve had “an amazing 30-year run” and that he believes whatever happens in the future, the band’s members will always be “tied to each other”.

He added: “Our lives and careers are so intertwined that, even if nothing is happening as far as new recordings and new performances, we’ll be tied to each other. We’ve had an amazing 30-year run. We’ll see what the future holds.”

Ranaldo released his ninth solo LP ‘Between The Times And The Tides’ in March.

Arctic Monkeys unveil new track ‘Electricity’ – listen

Tom Goodwyn
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0
Arctic Monkeys unveil new track ‘Electricity’ – listen
Arctic Monkeys have debuted their new track 'Electricity' online, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to hear it now. The track will be released as the B-Side to the band's new single 'R U Mine?' on special purple vinyl for this Saturday's (April 21) Record Store Day. The band have ...

Arctic Monkeys have debuted their new track ‘Electricity’ online, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to hear it now.

The track will be released as the B-Side to the band’s new single ‘R U Mine?’ on special purple vinyl for this Saturday’s (April 21) Record Store Day.

The band have spoken recently about the follow-up to their fourth studio album ‘Suck It And See’ and drummer Matt Helders has said that the Sheffield rockers are keen to continue writing material in the vein of ‘R U Mine?’ and recent B-Side ‘Evil Twin’ for their next LP.

He said of this: “The way ‘R U Mine?’ has gone we are more into doing songs like that for now. We are kind of into the idea of doing a record that is like ‘Evil Twin’ and ‘R U Mine?’.”

The band are in the midst of a lengthy stint across the USA and Canada as support to The Black Keys on their US arena tour and will make their second appearance at Coachella Festival this weekend.

Jack White – Blunderbuss

Michael Bonner
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0
Jack White – Blunderbuss

Love'll play some dirty tricks on ya. Jack White goes noirishly solo... He may call himself White, but there's always been a touch of noir about Jack. This is a man, let's not forget, who owns guitars adorned with the visages of '40s vamps like Rita Hayworth and Veronica Lake, and whose home base studio in Nashville is named after The Third Man. So it's perhaps not too surprising to find that on his first solo album, recorded in that very studio, Jack White has fallen amongst dangerous women and treacherous men - some of whom, song lyrics being such a tricky, amorphous matter of metaphor and maybe, may be Jack himself. Recorded by Vance Powell, a man splendidly blessed of both name and beard, with whom White has previously worked on Raconteurs recordings, it's a surly, spiky piece of work, on which the few shafts of sweetness are soon soured with guilt, recrimination and reproach. Jack himself is clearly not precious about his own role, pragmatically switching between keyboards, guitars and bass according to each track's needs, alongside a core crew that includes Carla Azar on drums, Bryn Davies on bass, Olivia Jean on guitar and Brooke Waggoner on keys, with occasional extra colour furnished by mandolin, fiddle, pedal steel and clarinet, and the welcome attentions of a trio of soulful backing vocalists whose number includes Jack's ex-wife Karen Elson. Confounding expectations as usual, the first sound heard on the album is not guitar but a lovely Fender Rhodes piano figure that leads into the rolling R&B groove of "Missing Pieces". Sketched through briefly-glimpsed memories of a liaison, it carries a sharp moral about being careful how you deal with obsessional love. "Sixteen Saltines", which follows, uses terse bursts of imagery - "Lipstick, eyelash, broke mirror, broken home" sums up one girl's character with not a syllable too many - to depict how jealousy breeds paranoia, its edgy manner reflected in the brusque guitar riff and splashy cymbals. Love, clearly, is the brooding heart of the matter here, with protagonists trapped in a co-dependency of dark desire. "Freedom At 21" and "Love Interruption" present this as a sado-masochistic dichotomy, the girl in the former using her new-found freedom to trample ruthlessly over his affections with "no responsibility, no guilt or morals", while the latter, more warmly acoustic piece finds the victim prostrate before such pain: "I want love to roll me over slowly," claims the narrator, "stick a knife inside me and twist it all around". It couldn't be more perfectly film noir if James M. Cain had scripted this relationship, our hero exulting in the sweet pain of some spider-woman's stilettos piercing his spirit. From there, the album slips into a more general survey of lax morals and scummy behaviour. "Hypocritical Kiss" and "Trash Tongue Talker" - on which Jack essays some stylish, Nicky Hopkins-esque piano - both launch heat-seeking missiles aimed at the shame of treacherous betrayers; while "Weep Themselves To Sleep" employs two simultaneous itchy, edgy guitar breaks to animate another undercurrent of paranoid speculation, with noble "men who fight the world" battling against the "rules that try to bind them", their struggle etched in vicious, bloody imagery. It's a blend of romance, neurosis and violence akin to a James Crumley novel, and when it's done you're more than ready for the relief of "I'm Shakin'", a cover of the Little Willie John R&B hit on which, save for pronouncing nervous "noyvus", White sounds uncannily like Robert Plant in full Zep splendour, over a great swingy blues groove. As the album approaches its final reels, though, one starts to suspect, in best psychological-thriller manner, that the real, underlying subject of Jack's attacks is, yes, himself. "It turns me on when the song takes over me," he admits in "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy", another ostensible putdown, this time with multi-tracked piano parts riding a New Orleans second-line shuffle; before nervously admitting in "Take Me With You When You Go" that when left to pursue his desires unrestrained, he risks unconsciously harming others. It leaves hanging the question of whether, if and when he gets to go, he'll ever be able to successfully escape his own self. Which is, of course, the fate of every man who ever walked alone down those mean streets. Andy Gill

Love’ll play some dirty tricks on ya. Jack White goes noirishly solo…

He may call himself White, but there’s always been a touch of noir about Jack. This is a man, let’s not forget, who owns guitars adorned with the visages of ’40s vamps like Rita Hayworth and Veronica Lake, and whose home base studio in Nashville is named after The Third Man.

So it’s perhaps not too surprising to find that on his first solo album, recorded in that very studio, Jack White has fallen amongst dangerous women and treacherous men – some of whom, song lyrics being such a tricky, amorphous matter of metaphor and maybe, may be Jack himself. Recorded by Vance Powell, a man splendidly blessed of both name and beard, with whom White has previously worked on Raconteurs recordings, it’s a surly, spiky piece of work, on which the few shafts of sweetness are soon soured with guilt, recrimination and reproach. Jack himself is clearly not precious about his own role, pragmatically switching between keyboards, guitars and bass according to each track’s needs, alongside a core crew that includes Carla Azar on drums, Bryn Davies on bass, Olivia Jean on guitar and Brooke Waggoner on keys, with occasional extra colour furnished by mandolin, fiddle, pedal steel and clarinet, and the welcome attentions of a trio of soulful backing vocalists whose number includes Jack’s ex-wife Karen Elson.

Confounding expectations as usual, the first sound heard on the album is not guitar but a lovely Fender Rhodes piano figure that leads into the rolling R&B groove of “Missing Pieces”. Sketched through briefly-glimpsed memories of a liaison, it carries a sharp moral about being careful how you deal with obsessional love. “Sixteen Saltines“, which follows, uses terse bursts of imagery – “Lipstick, eyelash, broke mirror, broken home” sums up one girl’s character with not a syllable too many – to depict how jealousy breeds paranoia, its edgy manner reflected in the brusque guitar riff and splashy cymbals.

Love, clearly, is the brooding heart of the matter here, with protagonists trapped in a co-dependency of dark desire. “Freedom At 21” and “Love Interruption” present this as a sado-masochistic dichotomy, the girl in the former using her new-found freedom to trample ruthlessly over his affections with “no responsibility, no guilt or morals”, while the latter, more warmly acoustic piece finds the victim prostrate before such pain: “I want love to roll me over slowly,” claims the narrator, “stick a knife inside me and twist it all around”. It couldn’t be more perfectly film noir if James M. Cain had scripted this relationship, our hero exulting in the sweet pain of some spider-woman’s stilettos piercing his spirit.

From there, the album slips into a more general survey of lax morals and scummy behaviour. “Hypocritical Kiss” and “Trash Tongue Talker” – on which Jack essays some stylish, Nicky Hopkins-esque piano – both launch heat-seeking missiles aimed at the shame of treacherous betrayers; while “Weep Themselves To Sleep” employs two simultaneous itchy, edgy guitar breaks to animate another undercurrent of paranoid speculation, with noble “men who fight the world” battling against the “rules that try to bind them”, their struggle etched in vicious, bloody imagery. It’s a blend of romance, neurosis and violence akin to a James Crumley novel, and when it’s done you’re more than ready for the relief of “I’m Shakin'”, a cover of the Little Willie John R&B hit on which, save for pronouncing nervous “noyvus”, White sounds uncannily like Robert Plant in full Zep splendour, over a great swingy blues groove.

As the album approaches its final reels, though, one starts to suspect, in best psychological-thriller manner, that the real, underlying subject of Jack’s attacks is, yes, himself. “It turns me on when the song takes over me,” he admits in “Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy”, another ostensible putdown, this time with multi-tracked piano parts riding a New Orleans second-line shuffle; before nervously admitting in “Take Me With You When You Go” that when left to pursue his desires unrestrained, he risks unconsciously harming others. It leaves hanging the question of whether, if and when he gets to go, he’ll ever be able to successfully escape his own self. Which is, of course, the fate of every man who ever walked alone down those mean streets.

Andy Gill

Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Michael Bonner
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0
Spiritualized – Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Spiritualized’s seventh album is a lavish and sentimental paean to rock’n’roll... Heartbreak, drug addiction, near-death experiences… Few other musicians have spun their personal tribulations into song as vividly as Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce over the last couple of decades. Not that the author himself necessarily sees it that way. Pierce has regularly complained that the break-up narrative of Ladies And Gentleman… is a journalistic invention, and that songs such as “Medication” and “The Twelve Steps” shouldn’t be interpreted as literal readings of his own experiences. He’s even dismissed those who made the apparently straightforward connection between his last album, 2008’s Songs In A&E, and the time he was rushed to hospital suffering from bilateral pneumonia. Perhaps that’s why, despite a troubled gestation during which Pierce was housebound for almost a year following another round of debilitating medical treatment, Sweet Heart Sweet Light resists all attempts to impose a convenient backstory. As always, there are lyrical teases – “Sometimes I wish that I was dead/ ‘Cos only the living can feel the pain,” runs the conspicuous first line of the lilting “Little Girl” – but on the whole this is a sanguine and at times even sentimental record. Life may be tough, it counsels, but everything will be OK as long as we gather our loved ones around us and submit to the healing power of rock’n’roll. “Play loud and drive fast” instruct the sleeve notes, and some of Sweet Heart Sweet Light’s finest moments recall the gleeful motorik chug of prime Spacemen 3 – albeit with a busload of string players and the cream of the UK’s free jazz scene along for the ride. Yet despite the presence of experimental musicians such as Evan Parker and Finn Peters skronking away in the background, it’s Pierce’s formative, canonical influences that continue to dominate the Spiritualized sound. His homages may often be clunky – when you name an album Sweet Heart Sweet Light and its first song “Hey Jane”, it’s pretty obvious who you’re channelling – but they are always lavish and heartfelt. “Get What You Deserve” and “Headin’ For The Top Now” kick up a righteous stink, with Pierce running through his full repertoire of stock rock’n’roll rhetoric. He “ain’t got time to make no mistakes”, he “ain’t gonna stop until I die” and at one point he’s even “living my life on a prayer”. Confirmation that he’s regurgitating these vintage clichés with a sly grin on his face is provided when he starts retelling a nursery rhyme in the style of James Ellroy (“Mary, Mary quite contrary/ How does your future go? / Backstreet dealin’, midnight stealing’/ Oh, does your mother know?”). As a contrast, there are Pierce’s ‘pop’ efforts – his attempts to write in a classic, sumptuous Brill Building style. “Little Girl” and “Too Late” – originally intended for Marianne Faithful or Candi Staton, until Pierce got “the fear” – are actually pretty glorious. But “Life Is Problem”’s over-egged Jesus metaphors are too much to stomach, and “Freedom” is unforgivably syrupy. Spiritualized’s scorching two-chord burners can generally withstand most of the orchestral indulgence thrown at them, but on some of these slower numbers, Pierce’s songwriting staggers under the weight. The Roundhouse Choir are deployed rather too greedily, occasionally sounding more Godspell than gospel. And whether you view the appearance of Pierce’s giggling 11-year-old daughter Poppy on “So Long You Pretty Thing” as a touching moment or a cloying indulgence probably depends on your attachment to Pierce’s whole sentimental journey up until this point. The song itself is a typical Spiritualized extravagance, nudged along by blossoming strings and a sterling banjo part courtesy of The Magic Numbers’ Romeo Stodart, before finally bursting into a jubilant extended coda on which Pierce appears to be joined by most of the fifty or so musicians and singers on the album, all swaying in unison. It’s undeniably stirring, but also a little bit ridiculous. Just like rock’n’roll itself, then. Sam Richards Q&A Jason Pierce Did any overarching themes present themselves as the album started coming together? The overriding idea was I was going to make a pop record – not a pop record like you’re going to find on a rack in Boots or something, but a record that doesn’t ask too much of the listener ahead of time. I had to have treatment for a disease I had, and I knew the treatment was going to take it out of me, so I figured I’d make a pop album and make it easy on myself. Hah! Little did I know that it wasn’t going to be easy. What I learned along the way is that when you make distorted or abstract music you put up a kind of barrier. But with pop music there’s nowhere to hide – everybody understands the medium. I felt really exposed. What did you learn about the songs from playing them live at the Royal Albert Hall last year, when you premiered the whole album in its entirety? Not a lot. It was a proper inconvenience, that was. I didn’t do it to say ‘Hey, I’ll show you what I’ve been doing’, it was more that I didn’t know what the hell to do otherwise. I’d just about got through my treatment at that stage and I wasn’t very fit. It just threw up a whole lot of indecision. The studio is all about the meticulous details, but live is like being under a huge waterfall that you can’t capture. It was weird mixing the two things up. INTERVIEW: SAM RICHARDS

Spiritualized’s seventh album is a lavish and sentimental paean to rock’n’roll…

Heartbreak, drug addiction, near-death experiences… Few other musicians have spun their personal tribulations into song as vividly as Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce over the last couple of decades. Not that the author himself necessarily sees it that way.

Pierce has regularly complained that the break-up narrative of Ladies And Gentleman… is a journalistic invention, and that songs such as “Medication” and “The Twelve Steps” shouldn’t be interpreted as literal readings of his own experiences. He’s even dismissed those who made the apparently straightforward connection between his last album, 2008’s Songs In A&E, and the time he was rushed to hospital suffering from bilateral pneumonia.

Perhaps that’s why, despite a troubled gestation during which Pierce was housebound for almost a year following another round of debilitating medical treatment, Sweet Heart Sweet Light resists all attempts to impose a convenient backstory. As always, there are lyrical teases – “Sometimes I wish that I was dead/ ‘Cos only the living can feel the pain,” runs the conspicuous first line of the lilting “Little Girl” – but on the whole this is a sanguine and at times even sentimental record. Life may be tough, it counsels, but everything will be OK as long as we gather our loved ones around us and submit to the healing power of rock’n’roll.

“Play loud and drive fast” instruct the sleeve notes, and some of Sweet Heart Sweet Light’s finest moments recall the gleeful motorik chug of prime Spacemen 3 – albeit with a busload of string players and the cream of the UK’s free jazz scene along for the ride. Yet despite the presence of experimental musicians such as Evan Parker and Finn Peters skronking away in the background, it’s Pierce’s formative, canonical influences that continue to dominate the Spiritualized sound. His homages may often be clunky – when you name an album Sweet Heart Sweet Light and its first song “Hey Jane”, it’s pretty obvious who you’re channelling – but they are always lavish and heartfelt.

“Get What You Deserve” and “Headin’ For The Top Now” kick up a righteous stink, with Pierce running through his full repertoire of stock rock’n’roll rhetoric. He “ain’t got time to make no mistakes”, he “ain’t gonna stop until I die” and at one point he’s even “living my life on a prayer”. Confirmation that he’s regurgitating these vintage clichés with a sly grin on his face is provided when he starts retelling a nursery rhyme in the style of James Ellroy (“Mary, Mary quite contrary/ How does your future go? / Backstreet dealin’, midnight stealing’/ Oh, does your mother know?”).

As a contrast, there are Pierce’s ‘pop’ efforts – his attempts to write in a classic, sumptuous Brill Building style. “Little Girl” and “Too Late” – originally intended for Marianne Faithful or Candi Staton, until Pierce got “the fear” – are actually pretty glorious. But “Life Is Problem”’s over-egged Jesus metaphors are too much to stomach, and “Freedom” is unforgivably syrupy. Spiritualized’s scorching two-chord burners can generally withstand most of the orchestral indulgence thrown at them, but on some of these slower numbers, Pierce’s songwriting staggers under the weight.

The Roundhouse Choir are deployed rather too greedily, occasionally sounding more Godspell than gospel. And whether you view the appearance of Pierce’s giggling 11-year-old daughter Poppy on “So Long You Pretty Thing” as a touching moment or a cloying indulgence probably depends on your attachment to Pierce’s whole sentimental journey up until this point.

The song itself is a typical Spiritualized extravagance, nudged along by blossoming strings and a sterling banjo part courtesy of The Magic Numbers’ Romeo Stodart, before finally bursting into a jubilant extended coda on which Pierce appears to be joined by most of the fifty or so musicians and singers on the album, all swaying in unison. It’s undeniably stirring, but also a little bit ridiculous. Just like rock’n’roll itself, then.

Sam Richards

Q&A

Jason Pierce

Did any overarching themes present themselves as the album started coming together?

The overriding idea was I was going to make a pop record – not a pop record like you’re going to find on a rack in Boots or something, but a record that doesn’t ask too much of the listener ahead of time. I had to have treatment for a disease I had, and I knew the treatment was going to take it out of me, so I figured I’d make a pop album and make it easy on myself. Hah! Little did I know that it wasn’t going to be easy. What I learned along the way is that when you make distorted or abstract music you put up a kind of barrier. But with pop music there’s nowhere to hide – everybody understands the medium. I felt really exposed.

What did you learn about the songs from playing them live at the Royal Albert Hall last year, when you premiered the whole album in its entirety?

Not a lot. It was a proper inconvenience, that was. I didn’t do it to say ‘Hey, I’ll show you what I’ve been doing’, it was more that I didn’t know what the hell to do otherwise. I’d just about got through my treatment at that stage and I wasn’t very fit. It just threw up a whole lot of indecision. The studio is all about the meticulous details, but live is like being under a huge waterfall that you can’t capture. It was weird mixing the two things up.

INTERVIEW: SAM RICHARDS

Spacin’, “Deep Thuds”

John Mulvey
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0
Spacin’, “Deep Thuds”

Last year, I spent a fair amount of time listening to a mighty blown-out Philadelphia band called Purling Hiss, whose mainman Mike Pollize was sprung from another excellent local band called the Birds Of Maya. This week, I’ve got caught up with another moonlighting member of Birds Of Maya, Jason Killinger, who’s resurfaced with an amazing album called “Deep Thuds” under the name of Spacin’. The Richie Records/Testoster Tunes blurb for “Deep Thuds” sells it pretty perfectly: “. It’s five blasted anthems of basement motorik fuzz-rock and a couple of circular ambient explorations that’ll send ya’ searching for Visine and peanut butter cups.” A slightly different way of putting it, maybe, is that Spacin’ moves in a very similar way to the best bits of Purling Hiss’ messy oeuvre (my old piece about them is here). The Comets On Fire-like noise jams aren’t so prevalent; for that sort of thing, try another fine new Richie/Testoster album, “Vengeance, Man” by King Blood, which I’ll try and write about soon. Instead, Spacin’s songs mostly sound like kin to Purling Hiss’ more obviously tuneful stand-outs like “Run To The City” and “Been Teased”. References again would be Big Star, and Ariel Pink’s super-fuzzy early recreations of FM rock. Killinger’s key trick, though, is to graft a certain wasted variant of classic rock– check out their blood-drip mangling of the Stones’ tongue logo - onto the glazed mercury chug of the Velvets. The opener, “Empty Mind”, does this perfectly, unravelling into a jam that then morphs into one of those “circular ambient explorations”. This one is called “Some Future (Burger)”, and it’s a terrific kosmische afterburn, fractionally suggesting Ash Ra Tempel reborn as a Goner band. The other ambientish thing is titled “Oh, Man”, a lo-fi Latino jam with, again, Kraut undertones, that occasionally sounds like Santana in a wardrobe. Not the most glowing recommendation in theory, perhaps, but it sounds terrific. Crowning glory, though, is a song called “Sunshine No Shoes” in which all of Killinger’s whacked-out, melodic sensibilities casually crystallise into a blindingly great song. It’s available to download here for free, and I really can’t recommend it enough. Have a listen and, as is traditional, please let me know what you think. Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/JohnRMulvey

Last year, I spent a fair amount of time listening to a mighty blown-out Philadelphia band called Purling Hiss, whose mainman Mike Pollize was sprung from another excellent local band called the Birds Of Maya.

This week, I’ve got caught up with another moonlighting member of Birds Of Maya, Jason Killinger, who’s resurfaced with an amazing album called “Deep Thuds” under the name of Spacin’. The Richie Records/Testoster Tunes blurb for “Deep Thuds” sells it pretty perfectly: “. It’s five blasted anthems of basement motorik fuzz-rock and a couple of circular ambient explorations that’ll send ya’ searching for Visine and peanut butter cups.”

A slightly different way of putting it, maybe, is that Spacin’ moves in a very similar way to the best bits of Purling Hiss’ messy oeuvre (my old piece about them is here). The Comets On Fire-like noise jams aren’t so prevalent; for that sort of thing, try another fine new Richie/Testoster album, “Vengeance, Man” by King Blood, which I’ll try and write about soon.

Instead, Spacin’s songs mostly sound like kin to Purling Hiss’ more obviously tuneful stand-outs like “Run To The City” and “Been Teased”. References again would be Big Star, and Ariel Pink’s super-fuzzy early recreations of FM rock. Killinger’s key trick, though, is to graft a certain wasted variant of classic rock– check out their blood-drip mangling of the Stones’ tongue logo – onto the glazed mercury chug of the Velvets. The opener, “Empty Mind”, does this perfectly, unravelling into a jam that then morphs into one of those “circular ambient explorations”. This one is called “Some Future (Burger)”, and it’s a terrific kosmische afterburn, fractionally suggesting Ash Ra Tempel reborn as a Goner band.

The other ambientish thing is titled “Oh, Man”, a lo-fi Latino jam with, again, Kraut undertones, that occasionally sounds like Santana in a wardrobe. Not the most glowing recommendation in theory, perhaps, but it sounds terrific.

Crowning glory, though, is a song called “Sunshine No Shoes” in which all of Killinger’s whacked-out, melodic sensibilities casually crystallise into a blindingly great song. It’s available to download here for free, and I really can’t recommend it enough. Have a listen and, as is traditional, please let me know what you think.

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

Blur announce massive reissue campaign

Michael Bonner
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0
Blur announce massive reissue campaign
Blur are set to celebrate the 21st anniversary will a comprehensive reissue campaign. All seven of the band's studio albums are to be re-released on July 30 in expanded Special Edition formats, each featuring a bonus disc of previously unreleased material, booklets, and more. The band are also pla...

Blur are set to celebrate the 21st anniversary will a comprehensive reissue campaign.

All seven of the band’s studio albums are to be re-released on July 30 in expanded Special Edition formats, each featuring a bonus disc of previously unreleased material, booklets, and more.

The band are also planning a 21-disc box set, collecting all seven Special Editions, plus four more discs of rarities, three DVDs including three and a half hours of previously unreleased material, a collectable 7″ single of the rare and previously unreleased live recording of Seymour-era Blur song “Superman”, and a deluxe hardback book with liner notes based on a brand new interviews with the band.

Finally, there will be vinyl box set containing all seven albums in a sturdy hard case. Each LP will also be sold separately.

Blur will also headline a show in London’s Hyde Park later this year. The band will be joined by New Order and The Specials at the concert on August 12, to coincide with the Olympics closing ceremony.

Blur 21: The Box Tracklist:

CD1 – Leisure Remastered

01. She’s So High

02. Bang

03. Slow Down

04. Repetition

05. Bad Day

06. Sing

07. There’s No Other Way

08. Fool

09. Come Together

10. High Cool

11. Birthday

12. Wear Me Down

CD2 – Leisure Bonus Material

01. I Know (Extended Mix)

02. Down

03. There’s No Other Way (Extended Version)

04. Inertia

05. Mr Briggs

06. I’m All Over

07. Won’t Do It

08. Day Upon Day (Live)

09. There’s No Other Way (Blur Remix)

10. Bang (Extended Version)

11. Explain

12. Luminous

13. Berserk

14. Uncle Love

15. I Love Her (Demo Version) (Fan Club Single)

16. Close (Fan Club Single)

CD3 – Modern Life Is Rubbish Remastered

01. For Tomorrow

02. Advert

03. Colin Zeal

04. Pressure On Julian

05. Star Shaped

06. Blue Jeans

07. Chemical World

08. Intermission

09. Sunday Sunday

10. Oily Water

11. Miss America

12. Villa Rosie

13. Coping

14. Turn It Up

15. Resigned

16. Commercial Break

CD4 – Modern Life Is Rubbish Bonus Material

01. Popscene

02. Mace

03. Badgeman Brown

04. I’m Fine

05. Garden Central

06. For Tomorrow (Visit to Primrose Hill Extended Version)

07. Into Another

08. Peach

09. Bone Bag

10. Hanging Over

11. When the Cows Come Home

12. Beachcoma

13. Chemical World (Reworked)

14. Es Schmecht

15. Young and Lovely

16. Maggie May

17. My Ark

18. Daisy Bell (A Bicycle Made for Two)

19. Let’s All Go Down the Strand

CD5 – Parklife Remastered

01. Girls and Boys

02. Tracy Jacks

03. End of a Century

04. Parklife

05. Bank Holiday

06. Bad Head

07. The Debt Collector

08. Far Out

09. To the End

10. London Loves

11. Trouble in the Message Centre

12. Clover Over Dover

13. Magic America

14. Jubilee

15. This Is a Low

16. Lot 105

CD6 – Parklife Bonus Material

01. Magpie

02. Anniversary Waltz

03. People in Europe

04. Peter Panic

05. Girls and Boys (Pet Shop Boys 12” Remix)

06. Threadneedle Street

07. Got Yer!

08. Beard

09. To The End (French Version)

10. Supa Shoppa

11. Theme From An Imaginary Film

12. Red Necks

13. Alex’s Song

14. Jubilee (Acoustic) (BBC Radio 1 Session, 1994) *

15. Parklife (Acoustic) (BBC Radio 1 Session, 1994) *

16. End Of A Century (Cadena 40 Principales Acoustic Version)

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD7 – The Great Escape Remastered

01. Stereotypes

02. Country House

03. Best Days

04. Charmless Man

05. Fade Away

06. Top Man

07. The Universal

08. Mr Robinson’s Quango

09. He Thought of Cars

10. It Could Be You

11. Ernold Same

12. Globe Alone

13. Dan Abnormal

14. Entertain Me

15. Yuko and Hiro

CD8 – The Great Escape Bonus Material

01. One Born Every Minute

02. To the End (La Comedie) (Feat. Francoise Hardy)

03. Ultranol

04. No Monsters in Me

05. Entertain Me (Live It!) (Remix)

06. The Man Who Left Himself

07. Tame

08. Ludwig

09. The Horrors

10. A Song

11. St Louis

12. Country House (Live at Mile End)

13. Girls and Boys (Live at Mile End)

14. Parklife (Live at Mile End)

15. For Tomorrow (Live at Mile End)

16. Charmless Man (Live At The Budokan)

17. Chemical World (Live At The Budokan)

18. Eine Kleine Lift Musik

CD9 – Blur Remastered

01. Beetlebum

02. Song 2

03. Country Sad Ballad Man

04. M.O.R.

05. On Your Own

06. Theme from Retro

07. You’re So Great

08. Death of a Party

09. Chinese Bombs

10. I’m Just a Killer for Your Love

11. Look Inside America

12. Strange News from Another Star

13. Movin’ On

14. Essex Dogs

CD10 – Blur Bonus Material

01. All Your Life

02. A Spell (For Money)

03. Woodpigeon Song

04. Dancehall

05. Get Out of Cities

06. Polished Stone

07. Bustin’ + Dronin’

08. M.O.R. (Road Version)

09. Swallows in the Heatwave

10. Death Of A Party (7” Remix)

11. Cowboy Song

12. Beetlebum (Live Acoustic Version)

13. On Your Own (Live Acoustic Version)

14. Country Sad Ballad Man (Live Acoustic Version)

15. This Is A Low (Live Acoustic Version)

16. M.O.R. (Live In Utrecht)

17. Death Of A Party (Live In Utrecht)

18. Song 2 (Live In Utrecht)

CD11 – 13 Remastered:

01. Tender

02. Bugman

03. Coffee and TV

04. Swamp Song

05. 1992

06. B.L.U.R.E.M.I

07. Battle

08. Mellow Song

09. Trailerpark

10. Caramel

11. Trimm Trabb

12. No Distance Left to Run

13. Optigan I

CD12 – 13 Bonus Material

01. French Song

02. All We Want

03. Mellow Jam

04. X-Offender (Damon/Control Freak’s Bugman Remix)

05. Coyote (Dave’s Bugman Remix)

06. Trade Stylee (Alex’s Bugman Remix)

07. Metal Hip Slop (Graham’s Bugman Remix)

08. So You

09. Beagle 2

10. Tender (Cornelius Remix)

11. Far Out (Beagle 2 Remix)

12. I Got Law (Demo)

13. Music Is My Radar

14. Black Book

CD13 – Think Tank Remastered

01. Ambulance

02. Out of Time

03. Crazy Beat

04. Good Song

05. On the Way to the Club

06. Brothers and Sisters

07. Caravan

08. We’ve Got a File On You

09. Moroccan Peoples Revolutionary Bowls Club

10. Sweet Song

11. Jets

12. Gene By Gene

13. Battery in Your Leg

14. Me, White Noise (Hidden Track)

CD14 – Think Tank Bonus Material

01. Money Makes Me Crazy (Marrakech Mix)

02. Tune 2

03. The Outsider

04. Don’t Be

05. Morricone

06. Me, White Noise (Alternate Version)

07. Some Glad Morning (Fan Club Single)

08. Don’t Be (Acoustic mix)

09. Sweet Song (demo)

10. Caravan (XFM Session, October 2003) *

11. End Of A Century (XFM Session, October 2003) *

12. Good Song (XFM Session, October 2003) *

13. Out Of Time (XFM Session, October 2003) *

14. Tender (XFM Session, October 2003) *

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD15 – Rarities 1 (Seymour & Leisure Era)

01. Dizzy (Seymour Rehearsal & Demo)

02. Mixed Up (Seymour Rehearsal & Demo)

03. Birthday (Seymour Demo) *

04. Sing (To Me) (Sing Demo) (Fan Club Single)

05. Fool (Seymour 4-Track Demo) *

06. She’s So High (Seymour Rehearsal) *

07. Won’t Do It (Demo) (Fan Club Single)

08. I Know (Falconer Studio Demo) *

09. Repetition (Falconer Studio Demo) *

10. High Cool (7” Master) *

11. Always (I’m Fine Early Version) *

12. Come Together (Demo) (Fan Club Single)

13. I’m All Over (Demo) *

14. Wear Me Down (Demo) *

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD16 – Rarities 2 (Modern Life is Rubbish Era)

01. I Love Her (Alt Version) *

02. Popscene (1991 Demo) *

03. Beached Whale (4-Track Demo) *

04. Death Of A Party (Demo) (Fan Club Single)

05. Pap Pop (4-Track Demo) *

06. Pressure On Julian (Demo) *

07. Colin Zeal (Demo) *

08. Sunday Sunday (Demo) *

09. Never Clever

10. Advert (Demo) *

11. Star Shaped (Demo) *

12. She Don’t Mind (Blue Jeans demo) *

13. Coping (Andy Partridge version) *

14. Sunday Sleep (Sunday Sunday Andy Partridge Version) *

15. 7 Days (Andy Partridge Version) *

16. Kazoo (Turn It Up Early Version) *

17. The Wassailing Song (The 7” Giveaway at Hibernian Club, Fulham)

18. When The Cows Come Home (demo) *

19. For Tomorrow (Mix 1 – Early Demo) *

20. Magpie (Early Demo) *

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD17 – Rarities 3 (Parklife & The Great Escape Era)

01. Parklife (Demo) *

02. Clover Over Dover (Demo) *

03. Jubilee (Demo) *

04. One A Minute (One Born Every Minute Demo) *

05. Badhead (Demo) *

06. Far Out (Electric Version) *

07. The Debt Collector (Demo) *

08. Trouble In The Message Centre (Demo) *

09. Rednecks (Take 1) *

10. Rednecks (Take 2) *

11. Alex’s Song (Demo) *

12. Cross Channel Love (Home Demo) *

13. Ernold Same (Demo) *

14. Saturday Morning (Demo) *

15. Hope You Find Your Suburb (A.K.A. Eine Kleine Lift Musik Vocal Demo) *

16. Rico (Fade Away Demo) *

17. Bored House Wives (Entertain Me Early Version) *

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

CD18 – Rarities 4 (Blur, 13, Best Of & Think Tank Era)

01. Beetlebum (Demo) *

02. On Your Own (Mario Caldato Jr Mix) *

03. Woodpigeon Song (Original Full Length) *

04. Battle (Jam, Mayfair Studios 11 August 1999) *

05. Caramel (Ambient Version) *

06. So You (Alternative Version) *

07. Squeezebox (Music Is My Radar Alternative Version) *

08. Jawbone (Black Book Alternative Version) *

09. “1” (Bill Laswell Session, 2000) *

10. “3” (Bill Laswell Session, 2000) *

11. Sir Elton John’s Cock *

12. Avoid The Traffic *

13. Money Makes Me Crazy (Deepest Darkest Devon Mix)

14. Don’t Bomb When You’re The Bomb *

15. Nutter *

16. Piano *

17. Kissin’ Time

18. Fool’s Day

19. Track tbc

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

DVD1 – Showtime: Live at Alexandra Palace, 7 October 1994

01. Lot 105

02. Sunday Sunday

03. Jubilee

04. Tracy Jacks

05. Magic America

06. End Of A Century

07. Popscene

08. Trouble In The Message Centre

09. She’s So High

10. Chemical World

11. Bad Head

12. There’s No Other Way

13. To The End

14. Advert

15. Supa Shoppa

16. Mr Robinson’s Quango

17. Parklife

18. Girls And Boys

19. Bank Holiday

20. This Is A Low

DVD2 – The Singles Night – Live at Wembley, 11 December 1999

01. I Know *

02. She’s So High *

03. There’s No Other Way *

04. Popscene *

05. For Tomorrow *

06. Chemical World *

07. Girls And Boys *

08. To The End *

09. Parklife (With Phil Daniels) *

10. End Of A Century *

11. Country House *

12. The Universal *

13. Charmless Man *

14. Beetlebum *

15. Song 2 *

16. On Your Own *

17. M.O.R. *

18. Tender *

19. Coffee & TV *

20. No Distance Left To Run *

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

DVD3 – Rarities

01. B.L.U.R.E.M.I (Live 13 at London Depot, 10 March 1999) *

02. No Distance Left To Run (Live 13 at London Depot, 10 March 1999)

03. Tender (Live 13 at London Depot, 10 March 1999)

04. Battle (Live 13 at London Depot, 10 March 1999)

05. Beetlebum (Live 13 at London Depot, 10 March 1999) *

06. Bugman (Live 13 at London Depot, 10 March 1999) *

07. Trimm Trabb (Live 13 at London Depot, 10 March 1999) *

08. Mellow Song (Live 13 at London Depot, 10 March 1999) *

09. Song 2 (Live 13 at London Depot, 10 March 1999) *

10. Seymour: Dizzy *

11. There’s No Other Way (BBC Eggs & Baker) (Blur’s 1st TV Performance) *

12. To The End (La Comedie) Feat. Francoise Hardy (French Promo Video)

13. It Could Be You (Japanese Promo Video) *

14. Music Is My Radar (Promo Video)

15. Out Of Time (Promo Video)

16. Crazy Beat (Promo Video)

17. Good Song (Promo Video)

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

7” Single (Previously Unreleased)

01. Superman (Recorded December 1989 at The Square in Harlow, Essex)

The Black Keys: ‘We didn’t want to be rock stars’

Michael Bonner
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0
The Black Keys: ‘We didn’t want to be rock stars’
Dan Auerbach, frontman of blues duo The Black Keys, has said in a new interview that he and drummer Patrick Carney 'didn't want to be rock stars'. Speaking to Interview Magazine, Auerbach said that success doesn't matter to the band. He explained: "We don't have expectations or dreams, because thos...

Dan Auerbach, frontman of blues duo The Black Keys, has said in a new interview that he and drummer Patrick Carney ‘didn’t want to be rock stars’.

Speaking to Interview Magazine, Auerbach said that success doesn’t matter to the band. He explained: “We don’t have expectations or dreams, because those will always just bite you in the ass. We’re very content with where we are and the speed we’ve been going. The only way we got through was by keeping our expectations very low. We didn’t want to be rock stars.”

He added: “It’s not about success. Whatever happens, it doesn’t matter. I would like to not go bankrupt or get some incurable disease, but other than that, I’m just happy to keep going.”

In the same interview, Auerbach said that he wasn’t “typical frontman material”, stating that he doesn’t crave the spotlight. “Some people love being on stage and really open up, and I’m sort of the opposite of that,” he said. “I don’t crave the spotlight. I’m still not comfortable even talking on stage.”

The Black Keys recently featured on a brand new episode of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s cult travel show No Reservations. The programme aired in the United States earlier this week.

The Black Keys headlined the first weekend of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California on April 13 – and return to the site this Friday night (April 20) for the festival’s second weekend.

Stone Roses photography exhibition to open in London

Michael Bonner
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0
Stone Roses photography exhibition to open in London

An exhibition featuring photographs of the Stone Roses taken by Kevin Cummins, Paul Slattery and Ian Tilton is set to open in London this summer. Running from June 13 to August 12, the exhibit coincides with the Manchester band's comeback shows in Manchester and at a number of European festivals. The Stone Roses: The Third Coming is being called The Definitive Stone Roses Exhibition and will feature over 70 images of the band as well as memorabilia. The exhibition, which takes place at Whiteleys Shopping Centre in Bayswater, London, will be made up of live, on the road, in the studio and previously unseen portrait shots of the iconic group, and has been curated by Dave Brolan. Of the exhibition Brolan says: "These three photographers – Kevin Cummins, Paul Slattery and Ian Tilton – have, between them, captured pretty much every major artist of the last 30 years, many as they were still unknown or emerging... Together, they helped shape the image of The Stone Roses." Ian Brown and the band will play V Festival and T In The Park this summer, along with slots at Benicassim, Optimus Alive, Fuji Rock, Tennent's Vital, NorthSide and Hultsfred. Meanwhile, the group recently revealed the full support bills of their Heaton Park reunion shows, with Primal Scream, Beady Eye and Plan B heading up the support slots on each of the three nights from June 28 to July 1.

An exhibition featuring photographs of the Stone Roses taken by Kevin Cummins, Paul Slattery and Ian Tilton is set to open in London this summer.

Running from June 13 to August 12, the exhibit coincides with the Manchester band’s comeback shows in Manchester and at a number of European festivals. The Stone Roses: The Third Coming is being called The Definitive Stone Roses Exhibition and will feature over 70 images of the band as well as memorabilia.

The exhibition, which takes place at Whiteleys Shopping Centre in Bayswater, London, will be made up of live, on the road, in the studio and previously unseen portrait shots of the iconic group, and has been curated by Dave Brolan. Of the exhibition Brolan says: “These three photographers – Kevin Cummins, Paul Slattery and Ian Tilton – have, between them, captured pretty much every major artist of the last 30 years, many as they were still unknown or emerging… Together, they helped shape the image of The Stone Roses.”

Ian Brown and the band will play V Festival and T In The Park this summer, along with slots at Benicassim, Optimus Alive, Fuji Rock, Tennent’s Vital, NorthSide and Hultsfred.

Meanwhile, the group recently revealed the full support bills of their Heaton Park reunion shows, with Primal Scream, Beady Eye and Plan B heading up the support slots on each of the three nights from June 28 to July 1.

Pixies give away free four-track EP

Michael Bonner
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0
Pixies give away free four-track EP
Pixies are giving away a new free EP from their official website. The EP consists of four live tracks which were recorded during the band's set at Coachella in 2004, including their hit singles "Monkey Gone To Heaven" and "Caribou" and is available to be downloaded now from Pixiesmusic.com. The ...

Pixies are giving away a new free EP from their official website.

The EP consists of four live tracks which were recorded during the band’s set at Coachella in 2004, including their hit singles “Monkey Gone To Heaven” and “Caribou” and is available to be downloaded now from Pixiesmusic.com.

The show was the first time the influential band had played together for over 11 years and they posted a message about the set on their website, writing: “We have a special treat for you. This week, finding ourselves between two consecutive weekends of Coachella for the first time ever, we thought it fitting to rifle through the Pixies vault in search of an apt celebration. So, we’re very pleased to bring you a completely free download of 4 tracks from Pixies memorable ’04 Coachella performance.”

Pixies completed a full US tour last year, playing their 1989 album Doolittle sequentially in its entirely. They haven’t scheduled any further shows since that tour came to an end.

The tracklisting for ‘Coachella ’04 EP’ is as follows:

‘U-Mass’

‘Monkey Gone To Heaven’

‘Hey’

‘Caribou’

John Lydon distances himself from 35th anniversary re-release of Sex Pistols’ ‘God Save The Queen’

Michael Bonner
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0
John Lydon distances himself from 35th anniversary re-release of Sex Pistols’ ‘God Save The Queen’
John Lydon has distanced himself from the scheduled re-release of Sex Pistols' "God Save The Queen" next month. On Monday [April 16], it was announced the band's controversial classic would be re-released on May 28, almost 35 years to the day that it first hit shelves and ruffled feathers around th...

John Lydon has distanced himself from the scheduled re-release of Sex Pistols’ “God Save The Queen” next month.

On Monday [April 16], it was announced the band’s controversial classic would be re-released on May 28, almost 35 years to the day that it first hit shelves and ruffled feathers around the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.

With this year’s 35th anniversary re-release also coinciding with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Lydon has released a statement claiming he is unhappy with the “campaign to push ‘God Save The Queen‘ for the Number 1 spot over the Jubilee weekend”.

He commented: “It is certainly not my personal plan or aim. I am proud of what the Sex Pistols achieved and always will be but this campaign totally undermines what the Sex Pistols stood for. This is not my campaign.”

Lydon continued by acknowledging that although he is “pleased” that a new generation of music fans are being given the chance to discover the punk legends’ music, he wants “no part in the circus that is being built up around” the release.

He concluded that he was instead focusing on Public Image Ltd his post-Pistols band who are preparing to release their first album for 20 years – also on May 28.

Public Image Ltd, who made their live comeback last month, are also set to release an EP titled ‘One Drop’ this Saturday [April 21], to coincide with this year’s Record Store Day.

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