Lykke Li has announced some UK dates.
The Swedish singer will hit these shores in April to support her upcoming album, which is currently untitled and due in early 2011. The dates are:
12th – Bristol Trinity
14th – London O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
15th – Leeds Cockpit
16th – Dublin Tripod
18th- Glasgow Arches
19th – Manchester Academy 2
Get in the mood with her new video:
Arcade Fire have released their new video.
It’s for the title track of their latest album The Suburbs and was directed by Spike Jonze, famed for his work on Video Days and Girl Skateboard films as well as his work on feature films such as Being John Malkovich and Where The Wild Things are.
Here’s the video, get to watching!
It seems that true fans of the The xx are mystified by this cover of Crystalised by Damon Albarn’s Gorillaz that was released this weekend. The track was recorded for a Live Lounge Session for the BBC and has split opinions so far across the web. What do you think of this version, beauty or beast?
London, Luminaire
02.11.10
Ah, the Luminaire. This small north-west London venue deserves recognition – not just for its excellent acoustics, good layout and friendly staff, but also for its low tolerance of idiots rabbiting away on their mobiles whilst bands are playing. The day it becomes the O2 Academy Kilburn will be the day I flood the entire city with my tears of anti-corporate rage.
Tonight it’s playing host to Chicago native Owen Ashworth, better known as Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, and blessed with an ability to craft world-weary, lo-fi musical vignettes on little more than a couple of small keyboards. This is his last UK tour after 13 years and 5 albums under that somewhat unwieldy moniker; a pity, as last year’s ‘Vs Children’ record is arguably Ashworth’s best – more sonically expansive and varied than previous efforts, but with his knack for great storytelling very much intact.
Having toured with a couple of friends last year, he’s back to playing solo this time around, and his trusty keyboard/mixer set-up can’t quite compensate for the resulting lack of stage presence. Still, as he kicks off with ‘Harsh The Herald Angels Sing’, the assembled crowd seems happy enough, even though only a few are dancing.
In any case, Ashworth gets by on two things: the quality of his songs, and the sense of intimacy that he manages to create. Between renditions of ‘Killers’ and ‘Young Shields’, he lets his dry humour shine through: telling short anecdotes related to his songs, joking around as he rearranges his keyboard set-up, and fielding song requests good-naturedly. It feels more like the 21st century equivalent of a campfire gathering than any kind of show, and although his songs deserve a far larger audience than tonight’s, Ashworth ensures that his presence will be missed by those in the know.
Alex Gosman
London Forum w/ The Skints, Zebrahead
08.11.10
Let’s do the time warp again. Say, to a time when the US ska/punk boom was in full swing, the inaugural Deconstruction festival drew 10,000-odd skanking, spiky-haired punters to east London, and Less Than Jake’s UK profile was rapidly rising. That was TEN YEARS AGO, people; an eternity in music, and one which has seen many of LTJ’s peers split up, run out of steam, or simply fall out of favour. Tonight, the Forum is not sold out, but it is respectably full; and that’s not bad going for a band arguably long past their apex of popularity.
London quartet The Skints are somewhat at odds with the sun-kissed vibe of the bands that follow them, but their rootsy ska sound deservedly finds favour with the early birds. ‘Get Me’ comes across likes the Clash’s ‘Guns Of Brixton’ updated via an Operation Ivy filter, and there’s a refreshing frankness and honesty to the band’s tales of troubled 21st century London lives.
Zebrahead, alas, reside at the other end of the intelligence/subtlety scale. Granted, you can’t fault the Californians for energy and enthusiasm, but the world does not need another Bloodhound Gang – albeit this time with added guitars and very few memorable songs. Add some painfully crass banter and a ramshackle Britney Spears cover into the bargain, and it’s hard to see how Zebrahead will ever escape their UK reputation as the perennial support band.
Less Than Jake are no strangers to onstage dicking around, either, but such antics are forgiveable as they ignite the pit with suitably scorching renditions of ‘Plastic Cup Politics’ and ‘Automatic’. The vocal tag-team of Chris and Roger is still on fine form, and even though the band are leaning quite heavily on 1996’s ‘Losing Streak’ album tonight, they still rip through those songs with same vigour that infuses recent cut ‘Does The Lion City Still Roar?’ (possibly written about Singapore).
The majority of the crowd have clearly grown up with the band, and the resulting sense of affinity is not lost on either side, with Roger happily declaring that the UK has always warmly welcomed them since their first trip to these shores. The only new songs played tonight are a couple of TV theme tune covers from an upcoming stop-gap EP, but even if this is the sign of LTJ starting to rest on their laurels, you can still rely on them to bring some Floridian cheer to a cold November evening.
Alex Gosman
Glitch-hop producer extraordinaire Prefuse 73 is hitting London for an intimate show this month.
The man behind such huge albums as One Word Extinguisher and Surrounded By Silence will play the Queen of Hoxton on November 28th. Ably supported by Anchorsong, it’s a chance to see the great man at a cosy venue. Pick up your tickets from here.
Further to his fantastic recent album, $, on Last Gang Records, Mark Sultan has been a significant figure in garage rock over the past decade. Whether it be his inspired collaborations with King Khan as The King Khan and BBQ show, or gospel rock supergroup The Almighty Defenders, Sultan can be relied upon to make great sounding records, and to tour them, hard. Most significantly, the three albums made with King Khan stick in our minds as perhaps his best work to date, and essential additions to any good record collection.
On the week of the release of his new solo album, we caught up with Mark to discuss his influences, playing the Sydney Opera House and what he’s got planned for the near future. We also got the low down on the making of ‘$’, which recently joined the Buzz Chart here.
Hey Mark! How’s life?
Life is great! I just moved to Toronto and I am pretty stoked.
First off, could you tell us about your new album ‘$’ and how it came together.
Well, that album was recorded a while ago – in fact the earliest recording on the CD, anyway, is the original version of ‘I’ll Be Lovin You’, which ended up being reworked as a King Khan & BBQ Show song. Most tracks were recorded in late 2008/2009, with some alterations done a bit later. I basically wanted to stretch my wings a bit after focusing more on KKBBQ and my decision to write and sing more basic and primitive rock’n’roll with that band. I wanted to write songs as ‘Mark Sultan’ and record them with more experimentation and more ‘orchestration’. It was cathartic, cuz I was pretty dark at that point. Made sense.
Why did you decide to call it ‘$’?
The name was just another in a series of bad decisions I have made in music. Nah, I dunno. Probably could argue that it’s all a joke on the fact that I never make money from my shit. But honestly, I just like the way a dollar sign looks.
I think the album really showcases your talent as a vocalist, what singers do you draw inspiration from?
Thanks. I would say it probably has been showcased more on King Khan & BBQ Show albums, as far as talking pure R&B-style howling, but I think ‘$’ is a decent showcase, if not more varied, vocally. I draw most inspiration from a long line of 50’s gospel singers, R&B vocal group singers and soul dudes. Just a bunch of remarkable talents whom you have either heard of or who have washed away with time.
What kind of music did you listen to growing up? How did you end up playing garage rock and doo-wop influenced music?
I received ‘Abbey Road’ for Christmas when I was 5 and started buying Led Zeppelin albums with saved up holiday bucks the year after, on recommendation from my cousin Steven. So, ya, lots of Classic rock and 50’s-60’s rock’n’roll stuff that I found in parents’ boxes as a kid staying home from school. That was until I was, say, 8-9. Then came metal, hardcore, punk, etc… The garage stuff was always a curiosity for me even through my hardcore days. I mean, I still had a love for the Stones, etc… and when bands like Minor Threat would cover Standells songs, I’d track down the originals. And then I started getting into all the old shit and stuff like the Mummies or Billy Childish or whatever. It all seemed punk to me! As for Doo-Wop, that also was part of growing up, on like ‘Party Rock’ albums and shit. All the novelty stuff. But my love of more ‘serious’ R&B, etc… came later, probably from researching garagebands doing old covers and going into it further. I love vocal sounds and melodies and harmonies. I love getting the chills from the ethereal sound of one person’s voice so full of soul and emotion. It makes me feel alive.
You’ve toured with some great bands in your time – are there any particular tours or stories from the road which stick out in your mind?
Man, too many stories. I’ll write a book one day. It will be funny.
What three things can you not live without when you’re on tour?
I dunno… Sometimes, when I smoke, it’s something as simple as a cigarette. Or chocolate. Mostly, I just can’t live without the love to keep going; to keep touring. Once you lose that, you should go home.
What’s your live setup like now? Have things mellowed at all since you started out?
I just toured the US as my one-man band ‘BBQ’, but which often gets billed as ‘Mark Sultan’. Weird. In any case, my performances were generally more energetic and perhaps ‘evil’ than ever. I was happy. But I also have a 4-5 piece band which I will start touring with, with me as front man. Things are not slowing down. I am never complacent.
We really love the music you’ve released as King Khan & BBQ, how would you describe your relationship with King Khan?
Well, we are brothers. We are going through a tough time at present, but we still love each other. Just gotta let time heal a few things.
Have you settled on playing under your own name now, or are there any other projects or aliases on the horizon?
Well, contrary to popular thought, that isn’t my real name, more a reliable alias so I can put one name out for now and draw less confusion. But even my real name isn’t real. I hope to use the REAL name on an upcoming release.
Of all the musical projects you’ve worked on to date, is there a record or moment that you’re most proud of?
There were a bunch of moments that could have been the proudest, but have somehow always fucked up. A good example is when me and Khan played the Sydney Opera house at the request of Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. Disastrous. Hahahaha. Anyway, I am as proud as I can be with most shit I make, cuz I also have a good sense of self-censorship. I only put out stuff I kinda like.
Are there any plans to come back to the UK in the near future?
For a long time, the UK was on my personal blacklist, as I had nothing but horrid experiences there, but I am now willing to give it another go. More and more ‘fans’ ask and I guess I should try.
Any last words?
If music challenges your first impressions, will you shut it off or keep listening? Are you a fan of music or a fan of being a ‘fan’?
Since announcing that they were on-board to compose the soundtrack for the upcoming Tron sequel, Daft Punk have been mostly quiet about the project, drip-feeding fans with 20 second snippets of tracks and tiny molecules of information that the press continue to swarm over like vultures. Understandable, given that the 22-track album will be the influential duo’s first original full-length since 2005’s Human After All, for which the producers have called upon an entire orchestra to assist them. For the first time, Daft Punk have spoken at length about the project with Dazed and Confused magazine, and have finally answered all those questions many have been dying to ask.
They talk about the contrasts between the origins, producing music in bedrooms and how hearing it performed by a 90-piece orchestra was an “very intense experience”. Guy-Manuel (gold helmet) has put forward his optimism that this could encourage many of their fans to listen to more classical music and focus their attention on orchestral instruments rather than synths, which unlike the “timelessness” of a cello, Thomas Bangalter (silver helmet) argues “will probably be gone in the next 20 [years]”. Indeed, despite their dance music origins, the pair appear to have fallen in love with the more traditional music composition experience, as Thomas continues…
“We knew from the start that there was no way we were going to do this film score with two synthesizers and a drum machine… there’s more latitude to experiment with an orchestra than an 808 drum machine and synth.”
The soundtrack will be released on December 6th, 11 days prior to the movie hitting cinemas. We are excited, Rick McCrank is excited, are you?
London’s most talked about singer/producer of the NOW, James Blake has revealed that the release date of his highly anticipated debut album will be February 7th 2011.
It will be dropped via his own ATLAS Label (with major label funding) and is “probably self-titled”. Like his recent work on ‘Limit To Your Love‘ and ‘I Never Learnt To Share‘, the album will prominently display Blake’s vocal capabilities and the focus on lyrics (“taken from [his] own emotional experiences at uni”) will give the listener a insight into the musical soul of Blake far greater than what that of his post-dubstep RnB re-works permitted.
More exciting news comes in the form of a full live show as the singer continues, “We’ve done trial runs and it’s going great. I’m rehearsing with a proper band – we’re going to be playing 100% live.”
Watch the video to his Feist cover below and read our review for it here.
Torche
Songs For Singles
(Hydrahead)
“It’s just a bunch of radio rock bullshit”. A slightly harsh one-sentence review there, courtesy of none other than Torche drummer Rick Smith, as quoted from the sticker on the front of the CD. Clearly, there’s some kind of sarcastic sense of humour at work here; not least in the album’s title, as Torche are hardly likely to be bothering mainstream radio anytime in the foreseeable future.
That said, ‘Songs For Singles‘ is an unashamedly melodic beast, from a band that are better known for their arsenal of bowel-loosening riffs (as displayed to dazzling effect on 2008’s ‘Meanderthal’ album). Intended as a stop-gap release (as opposed to a full-length album), it’s also surprisingly short, with the first six tracks zipping by in roughly twelve minutes combined; a melée of ultra-fuzzy guitars, stop-start rhythms and Steve Brooks’ signature beer-drenched howl.
Enjoyable enough, but Torche are far better when they give those aforementioned riffs time to breathe and develop – which they do on the last two tracks. ‘Face The Wall’ is an atmospheric slice of post-rock, with Brooks crooning plaintively over a funereal beat and a sea of jet-engine guitar noise. Meanwhile, the closing ‘Out Again’ is a largely instrumental work out set to a driving beat, but proves eerily hypnotic over its six-minute course.
‘Songs For Singles’ may not scale the dizzy heights of ‘Meanderthal’, but it does prove that the Torche of 2010 are still very much a force to be reckoned with. Be sure to play it LOUD.
Alex Gosman
Torche – “U.F.O.” by Hydra Head Records