The collaboration between The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Michael Kiwanuka has been posted online – scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to listen.
The songwriter and guitarist Billy Strange has died aged 81.
The musician co-wrote several songs for Elvis Presley with Mac Davis, including 'A Little Less Conversation', which, while only a minor success on release in 1968, became a worldwide hit after it was heard in 2001 film 'Ocean's 11' thanks to Junkie XL's remix.
First things first: you can grab this one for free right now, by heading over to http://natchmusic.tumblr.com. As you’ll see there from the Tumblr’s subtitle, this marvellous Steve Gunn/Black Twig Pickers session is the first in a series of “collaborative recordings from Black Dirt Studio”; Black Dirt being a facility in upstate New York that’s birthed a bunch of superb records in the past few years.
Trying hard to disregard the fact that one record here has possibly irritated me more than anything I’ve played for a while, another nice list this week. Second Jack White track out is another keeper, and the Ililta! 12, especially, is really growing on me.
Dry The River, A Winged Victory For The Sullen and Perfume Genius are among the bands confirmed to play sets at The Great Escape this year.
The Brighton festival, which takes place between May 10 and 12 at various venues in the city, has announced its first set of artists, with many more to be confirmed in the coming weeks.
Also among the first acts announced for the festival are Zulu Winter, Django Django, Grimes, Spector and Howler.
Mildly annoying evening last night, as I watched the ecstatic tweets coming in from the Lubomyr Melnyk show at Café Oto, unable to be there myself. Comfort came from the Ukrainian pianist’s new album, “The Voice Of Trees”, which I think has been one of my favourite personal discoveries of the last month or two.
The clock was ticking yesterday afternoon as we approached the final deadlines for the next issue of Uncut. But we were finished early enough for me to rush hot-foot across London to The May Fair hotel, near Hyde Park, where Leonard Cohen was due to present a playback of his new album, Old Ideas, to a specially invited audience.
